Main post 12.7- Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

When I now look back at out preliminary task, I believe that we have improved a great deal and have learnt from our mistakes.  However I believe that we still have made some mistakes which could have been avoided.For example, in the preliminary task we did lack knowledge on how to film some shots, and this consequently made us break the 30 degree rule, which was very difficult to change when editing. The image below shows how we had to try and use a transition effect to cover up the 30 degree rule mistake. Similarly, in our main task we did break the continuity rule, which was very hard to not notice when editing, however when we showed our film to our audience they did not notice. The images below show this:

On the other hand, I believe that the types of shots that we did use were more varied in our main task and added to the genre of the sequence. We used more techniques such as jump cuts to add a fast pace to the film, and also low angle shots to add some mystery as well. In our preliminary task, many of our shots where shaky and out of focus and some points, after gaining experience with the camera, this soon became less of a problem in our main task.

We have improved since the preliminary here because we have established a shot at the same level as the alien toy itself, this makes it more personal to the audience and add mystery as well.

This is in the preliminary task when the shot of the clock was shaky because we didn't have a tripod. The shot could have been made better as well inside of just a low angle shot.

In the above and below shot, we used jump-cuts to produce a fast pace. In our preliminary task we did not  have these because we did not make good use of the little space we had.

In the main task, I feel that we made better use of the locations that were available to us. For example, in the preliminary task we chose a very small room which did not allow for there to be much camera movement, thus making camera shots more shaky and jumpy. In the main task, we used different locations and used more long shots of the characters so the audience can establish who they are and how both of them interact with each other in a large space. This is demonstrated below:

This is an example of when in the preliminary task there was little  room to move the camera so he shot became quite shaky.

In our main task, we have improved and have made use of all the space here, to keep the audience engaged.

Main post 12.6- What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

For this question, I decided to produce a Prezi presentation to answer it.

Main post 12.5- How did you attract/address your audience?

There are many parts of our opening sequence which we feel are unique selling points to our audience. I have  decided to screenshot the parts of the sequence which I feel are the special parts of the film which will engage the audience.

This is a unique selling point because this is the first point in the sequence where the audience see an extreme long shot of both characters interacting together, it is evident from this point that these two social groups do not get along well together.

This is a unique selling point because this is the first shot where the audience have a reasonable close up of both the characters together, and their contrasting looks and personality.

This is a unique selling point because it adds mystery to the opening sequence. It questions the audience whether the two girls are actually 'alone' or is there something behind all the students going missing.

At the end of the opening sequence, when there is  360 degree shot, this is a unique selling point. This is because at the end Charlotte hits Erika around the head in a comedic manner in order to establish the contrasting characters. From our audience feedback, they did find this amusing so this is a good selling point for the film.

In order to gain some feedback from our final product, I decided to post our opening sequence onto the social networking site Facebook and asked my networks if they could comment on it what they liked about it and even some constructive criticism. Social networking has allowed institutions to create 'word of mouth ' to market a film. This is a really effective way of marketing, especially if you are an independent british film company with a low budget, it's free and can spread quickly. However, sometimes marketing it on social networks can create a reverse effect, and creates a bad word of mouth.

 Even though I did not get as much feedback as would have liked, I got a few comments from the target audience, and have provided some screenshots for this:

In this screenshot above there is a comment which claimed 'I liked your music and the funny slap at the end, it was easy to understand and you stayed in character'

This type of comment made it clear that me and my group made sure we got the comedy element right when editing the opening sequence because from the roughcut feedback we found that our audience found it difficult to establish what type of genre it was.

From the screenshot above, an individual from our target audience messaged me telling me what he thought of the opening sequence. He felt that the camera quality itself was of a good quality, there was no lagging or shaking of the camera, which was a good point because in our production we did not have access to a tripod, it was all handheld. They felt that the camera shots where effective also, such as tracking.

I would give my opening sequence a 12 BBFC rating. It could be argued that it could verge onto the PG rating due to it not having alot of violence in it. Our main target audience is 12 and above so putting the rating at a 12 will engage them because they will know that the film will not be unsuitable for them, this is why we are not putting rating it a PG because it might discourage our audience to watch it.

Main post 12.4- Who would be the audience for your media product?

From looking at recent box office statistics on the comedy genre, I have analysed what the top films age rating is. I have found out that the majority of the films here are of a PG or a U rating, meaning that they are mainly targeted and suitable for people either 12 or below, or even over 12 years of age.

From this, I can conclude that the audience for this media product would be for children around the 12 years of age mark, however I believe this could be stretched to older teengaers because when we gave out the questionnaires to our target audience, they were either 16 or above, and they claimed that would go and watch it.



   

An example from our target audience

Name: Laura-Anne Connor

Age: 17

Hobbies: In her space time, Laura-Anne loves to spend time with her friends and participate in social activities. From a young age, she has always been interested in performing arts and singing, she does this as a hobby on side of going to college. She enjoys learning about health and social care at college and is eager to do this in later life.

In regards to watching films, she only rarely goes to the cinema about once a month, and she says this is due to how expensive it has become to watch them. If she does not go to the cinema, she will generally watch films on the Sky T.V or on the internet, she does not prefer this way though because using the internet makes the film look of a poor quality. Her favourite genre of film is either comedy or Action. She enjoys films such as 'Spiderman' and 'Ted' and even films like 'Mean girls' which is a social comedy about school life, which can be linked to our opening sequence.

When asking Laura-Anne who influenced her watching such films like 'Star Trek', she claimed that when she was growing up her Dad was a sort of a 'nerd' and was interested in spaceships and aliens. These type of action or adventure films were present throughout her life, if her Dad watched them, so would she. This is why she enjoys watching these types of films even at the age of 17.

Main post 12.3- What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

From looking back at the other films I  analysed, such as Starter 10, I believe that one of the most suitable distributors for our film would be Picture House. Picture house are a film production and distribution company which is a subsidiary arm from Time Warner, which is a multinational media corporation. 

I looked at the number of film releases that Picture House have distributed. The image below shows the notable releases, it is evident from looking at this to suggest that they do not focus on producing one type of genre, the genre has differed from horror all way to biographical films. The main point I noticed was that out of most of the films they have released, 8 of all of the below are comedy based films, or are 'action-comedy' for example. This is an example of why this distributor is suitable for our production because it is well-known for producing comedy films, such as ours.

Where will a distributor like this find the funding for making a British film?

Usually small company's such as Picturehouse will use different techniques in order for their film to be successful. They would usually ask or gain donations from perhaps larger company's or even from fans. In order to have a successful marketing campaign, they would use synergy or convergence to make their film more noticeable and engaging through other companies. For example, Time Warner and AOL used synergy to promote the film Harry Potter and the deathly hallows part 1. They launched competitions and videos to engage their audience from the AOL side and the Time Warner fans, to reach a wider audience. Slumdog millionaire is an example of a low budget independent film which worked with internet companies to reach to Indian film-goers as well.

Main post 12.2:- How does your media product represent particular social groups?

I have compared the character of Charlotte to the character in the film 'Mean girls' Regina George. Below I have displayed a photograph of Charlotte and the character Regina, whilst also providing a short video clip of a scene in Mean girls which I believe portrays Regina in a similar way to Charlotte in our production.

Comparable character- Regina George from Mean girls

This video clip from Mean girls can be compared to the character of charlotte in many ways. Regina in this film has been portrayed as an intimidating character who wants to be at the centre of attention. She comes across as a drama queen and a somewhat bully, however she hides the fact that she is behind a intimidating and fake smile, in order to gain being liked by her fellow pears. In our production, we have tried to incorporate some of Regina's characteristics into the character which is Charlotte. This can be seen in the last scene of the sequence when Charlotte hits Erika round the head when Erika says 'I guess we are alone'. Throughout the sequence we have tried to make sure that Charlotte is always in front of Erika to give the view to the audience that she believes she is the dominant personality and always knows best, even in a strange situation where they are alone together.

The actual character- Charlotte













I have decided to compare Erika to the character of Josie Geller in.'Never been kissed'. I have displayed a picture of Josie below and also a picture of Erika to show the comparison. It is evident to suggest that even by the way they are dressed they are similar. Not particularly fashionable or preppy, they both are the types of people to 'blend in the background'.

In the film 'Never been kissed', Josie is given the second chance to go back to high school when she is told to enroll as a teenage for a story on the state's youth by her magazine editor. Josie never fitted in at school and was a hopeless nerd at school, she didn't know how to fit in with the cool kids. This is very comparable to Erika's personality, in the opening sequence you can tell how she always seems to trip over her feet a lot or gets left behind by Charlotte, and never seems to be able to be like the preppy student that Charlotte portrays.

The actual character-Erika

Main post 12.1- In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

The video below shows my director's commentary for our opening sequence. I decided to talk about whether some parts of the sequence are either conventional or subversive of a typical comedy film. I talked about why we used certain elements for certain parts, for example why we decided to use many jump cuts and why we chose the font of our credits the way we did.