Evaluation- Question 7

Looking back at your preliminary taks, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression form it to the full product?

As this year was my first year at studying media, I went into the year not knowing anything. I was looking forward to starting it as it was something very new to me and I was ready for the challenge. Firstly I had to do a preliminary task, I felt like a goldfish in the sea. I got totally lost but once I got my head down I started getting it. It felt like my had to learn so much, we had to learn all different shot types and angles, the 180 degree, using the camera properly and even editing. It took us about 3 times to film our preliminary task, so it took us longer than we wanted. We also went with the flow too much, it wasn’t very organised and this is something I knew we would have to change with our actual filming. 

I feel that the preliminary task helped me so much with the filming of our title opening sequence. I think the preliminary task taught me all the basics and I had to expand on them for my actual title opening sequence. Some things we done in our final Title Opening sequence which we didn't do in our preliminary task was:

• We started it off with our titles name instead of just starting it of at a random scene.

This picture is the start of our prelim task. As you can see it doesn't look professional at all, it doesnt look right at all.

The next picture is off how we started our Title Opening Sequence, I think this looks a lot more realistic. Also we made up our own writing for it and we are the only group in the whole world to have the same writing.

• We made up our own writing to put in our title opening sequence whereas in our prelim task we didn't put any writing in it.

The picture below is of the writing which we put in our title opeing sequence.

• We had some great transactions in our title opening sequence which was well thought out and flowed really nicely. With our prelim task we put transactions in it but they didn't really make sense with the storyline.

• We made sure that the music we used went with the storyline and made the whole atmosphere more tense. With our prelim task the music wasn't really thought about it was just chucked into it. 

Evaluation- Question 6

What have you learnt about the technologies from the process of constructing this product?

From constructing this product I have learnt so much from it all. Before this school year I have never done media before and did not have a clue how to do anything. Slowly but surely I started to get the hang of everything. The different types of technology I used throughout this project was:

Adobe premiere elements 3.0 

Before starting media I did not have a clue about adobe premier elements 3.0. I had to learn it all from scratch, now I can use everything to do with it. I even edited our Title Opening sequence. From this I learned how to edit, use transaction, embed music, make the music fasten up and make a DVD.

Microsft Word:

Microsoft word is something that I have been using ever since I started using computers. I did not learn anything from using it but it did help me a lot throughout this project. Mainly it helped me to check my spellings, just in case I had spelt something wrong on the blog I would always write it on word then paste it from there.

Blogger:

I had heard about blogger before I started using it as my friends have done media before, but I had not a clue how to use it myself. Once I started using it, I found it very easy. I learned how to upload blogs, edit posts, embed videos, important pictures and I also know how to change all settings for my blog. For example I have changed the background to my blog.

Windows Hotmail:

Hotmail is something that I have been using for many years. So therefore I have not learned everything new from it but I did use it a number of time. As our group only saw each other twice a week it was so important that we emailed each other. We sent each other files and documents, along with telling people what had and hadn't been done.

Video Camera:

Before I started media I only had a little previous knowledge of how to use a video camera. Throughout this project I have learnt so much about a video camera. I now can fully use a camera, I can zoom in and out, take pictures, upload videos from it to a computer and I also know different shot angles.

Google:

I have been using Google ever since I started using a computer. So I did not learn anything about Google while I was doing this project. Google did play a massive part throughout my project. As Google is a search engine, I used every time I needed to find thing. From it I got videos, pictures and information.

Evaluation- Question 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

We all done a lot of research on target audiences and as a group we decided that we wanted to attract people between 16-24 years old. So therefore we felt to get our intended target audience we will have to put a stereotype of a teenager in our title opening sequence. We felt that the audience could relate to our character and make them feel more involved within it. Our charcter is Samantha Evans.

Samantha Evans:

Just like I have stated in the character profile, Samantha Evans is like an ordinary 16 year old. She likes to party and socialize with her friends. Samantha is a stereotype of a teenager now days.

By doing all of this, We wanted to address our audience through our own character. By showing our character has a normal teenager’s life, we then felt we could address our audience at many different level. From everyday normal teenage issues which they can relate too, to seeing  everyday issues from the prospective of another person.

As we wanted to address an audence of the ages between 16 and 24 we did find a problem. There is no such thing of a film for people 16+, so what we had to do is make our film suitable for people aged 15+. This does not make much of a difference to our title opening sequence, it just means we open our project to more people.

In our film Poster we clearly state our film is a 15+.

Evaluation- Question 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

In my research I found that the target audience for a Thriller film could be anyone. From Children to Adults or all different ages. It all depends on the context within the film, so if it has very serious violence in it then it will be for people over the age of 18. Just like the film IT, this for people over the age of 15. This is because the context within it. A child's thriller film is The Spiderwick Chronicles. The pictures below are of the film posters of IT and The Spiderwick Chronicles.

Straight from the start my group new what age range and target audience we wanted to attract. I have made up traget audience profiles of the type of audiences we want to attract. The profiles are as follows:

Evaluation- Question 3

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Now days their are a number of different production distribution companies. The best companies are the likes of: Universal, Dreamworks, Warner Bros and 20th Century Fox.

Universal:



Dreamworks:



Warner Bros:



20th Century Fox:



I think that project could be distributed by any of the above companies. If they feel that our film could be a blockbuster hit, then they would all love distribute our film. Most companies these days want a film that can bring in a lot of money.

I feel that they would want our product because it could be one of the best thriller films of our generation if it had a major investment. It has a great storyline as well as a great production team. Any production distribution companies that are successful would be stupid not to want our product.

Evaluation- Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The media plays a crucial part of our society today, they make up the stereotypes of different social groups. This is something that our group haven't really thought about, all that we was trying to aim for was the stereotype of a 16 year old girl. But now having taken these social groups into consideration, you can actually see that our product does represent a few different social groups.

The first social group that we represent are 16 year old girls. No matter what type of person you are, if you are a girl you will be able to relate to our character one way or another.

Secondly, I think the next social group we represent are young Caribbean girls. Our character Samantha Evans is a traditional Caribbean girl and I think other Caribbean girls could look up to her.

Finally, the last social group I think we represent are the lower class people. As you can see Samantha comes from a poor background and I think people from a poorer background, both male and female will be able to relate to her.

Evaluation - Question 1

In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

As I was doing my research on a number of different thriller films I always came across the same forms and conventions. I feel that all thriller films use the same basic types of conventions but they turn them into their own. I think these conventions are the: music, mystery, pace of the film, colours, gender and themes.

Mystery: This is the main way I feel you can tell that a Thriller film is actually a thriller. Every thriller film that I have researched has some kind of mystery or suspense in it. The mystery is mostly reviled at the end of the film but gives the audience clues the whole way through the film. This is so the audience are at the edge of their seat and are kept wanting more.

Music: The music for thriller films are always very tense. Usually starting off with a slow pace which keeps building up until it is very fast. The music in a thriller film for me makes the film, if you don’t have the right music then you can forget about the film. The music is what gets the audience at the edge of their seat, as the music gets faster so does their heartbeats. If this happens then you know you have picked the perfect music for a thriller.

Pace of the Film: Just like I have explained with music, the pace of the music gets faster and faster. So does the pace of the shots within the film. The pace of the shots usually matches up with the pace of the music. The shots are a lot faster when action is happening but seem to be slower when the protagonist is trying to work out what is going on around them or trying to solve the mystery.

As you can see from Batman: The Dark Nights title sequence below, the pace of the music and the pace of the shots match up. The faster the music the faster the shots.

Colours: I think that colours play a massive part in making a title opening sequence. You will find in a thriller title opening sequences the colours are usually blank and white, with some lighter colours coming to it noun and again. Red is often used as it symbols blood/death. For example, Se7en title opening sequence (I will include pictures of this title opening sequence to show you the different colour used). I think it is important to get the colours right, if the audience see dark colours they will feel the room where there are get smaller and make them tense, which is the overall goal for a thriller film.

As you can see from these pictures se7en's title opening sequence uses red which stands for blood. Also this sequence uses very light colours with black, this makes the black stand out.

Gender: Usually in thriller films the antagonist is male. This is because even in now day's men are seen as the stronger people and movies like to be very stereotypical. Even if the antagonist is not always human they are still normally percieved as a male type. The antagonist may work by himself or may have an entourage helping him. The protagonist is usually a mixture of female or male.

Themes: This is want I think separates thriller films from each other. Thriller film usually uses the following themes: Isolation, Betrayal, Revenge, Outcast, Obsession, Trouble Childhood, Jealousy, Loneliness and Love/Passion.

Overall our group have tried to add these conventions into our own Title Opening Sequence to make it look as good and professional as actual film Title Opening Sequences.