Evaluation

Our media project is a short film designed, story-boarded and shot by me and my group, as  well as the sort film we have incorporated a film poster and a film magazine review both adding to the short film and making this a all round product.

Question 1 

In what ways do your media product USE DEVELOP or CHALLENGE forms and conventions of a real media product?

There are many forms and conventions of short film, when viewing some short films it was clear at some of the themes that were coming up. We have worked in the genre of Crime and the sub genre could be anti-social behaviour. This is a very common theme in film however we wanted to add a different twist to just simply educated people about Knife crime. One form and convention which we have incorporated into are film is the purpose. Our film purpose is mainly educational. It has been created to educate people about the dangers and consequences of carrying a knife. This is a common purpose short film, this is because short films can easily be shown in schools due to their length. The educational purpose of the film is meant to leave the audience with a message also to tell them that knife crime is wrong and not “cartoon violence”. This is inspired by the viewing of ‘Gravity’ a short film about gun crime that tells people the consequences of playing with a gun.    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0422346

  Another convention we have worked in is the genre this being the theme of knife crime. This theme and narrative is a very establish theme as it must have been done on numerous occasions by directors. This theme was chosen due to be purpose and we felt that the two worked well together. Another convention of short films which we have worked in is social realism. Our film has a very “gritty” feel to it this adds to the social realism of the film. The film is purposes gritty and we have not changed any saturation or hue to make the film seem more “professional” this only adds to the social realism. We have also looked into is the type of narrative. A common narrative in short films is a non linear narrative which we have used. The day of our film gets played out twice this highlights the non linear narrative.  The conventions are used to a certain extent.  The purpose of the film has met the conventions of short films by using educational. It is clear that the film is purposely made to educate the audience the end of the film highlights this the most with a message being shown. I believe that the purposes couldn’t be more educational, it could be argued that the film is experimental due too due to the use animation this is the case however animation isn’t a typical convention of short films it is unusual for animation to be mixed with live action in short films. The choice of genre meets the conventions of a short film because it clearly is about knife crime (a genre of short films) and its consequences. The film follows the conventions of short films with the choice of social realism it is seen as this due to the gritty showing this makes it partly social realistic. The other part is the narrative which is a non linear narrative which is a very common convention of a short film. To an extent the film could be seen as a “classic” which follows standard conventions. The film could be because of some of the shots such as the point of view and some of its cinematography as well as its common narrative. However I believe overall this cannot be a “classic” due to the animation. The animation is the part of the film that no one expects or when they do see it they have seen it somewhere else before this is why it cannot be a classic. 

The next product is the poster, the poster uses many of the conventions that’s some of the reviewed posters have. Some of the conventions of a film poster a picture of the star or iconic image from the film this suggests the genre of the film as well as giving hints at possible plot and themes. If picture is the star it is usually intended to further advertise the film on the “fame” of the star. Are film follow this convention however it could be argued that Dominic (the main character) isn’t the focus point of this film. Another convention is background images; used to further promote the film, while also further suggesting the genre and themes of the film. This is used in our poster and shows that there is animation in our film so this also gives the audience an idea of what they would be going to watch.  In is poster we use a film title which simply promotes the name of the film. Another convention we use is the tag line This Enticing, catchy short phrases used to advertise the film and sell a movie, while also summing up the plot, tone, or theme of a film. The final convention we used was a billing block this promotes the studio and producers behind the film. The Typography of the billing block is usually 25% to 35% of each letter in the film title. These are all conventions that make up a poster all of them must be used/considered in order for the audience to know that the poster is a film poster. Our poster meets all the conventions, as all the conventions are necessities in order for the audience to notice they are looking for at a film poster, if some of the conventions don’t feature on the poster then the audience might not one notice the poster, or two even know that it is for a film. The poster also follows standard conventions of a poster so therefore it could be seen as a “classic” this is because all the conventions must be on the poster to make it a poster, the effect is that it becomes a poster and stands out as a film poster. The audience must know immediately that the poster is for a film.

In the magazine review we have incorporated many different conventions of a magazine review that are similar to the media products we see today. These included font, colour schemes, images and layouts.  The magazine section title is positioned at the top of the page. It has been shown with a red font colour to provide a clear visual element and also this is used as a way of a starting point for the reader. The selected main image is a gritty close up two characters within the film. It brings forth a connotation of conflict and this is shown through the way they are looking at each other, this is in context to the film as it shows a key scene where by the actors are in conflict over something, the audience begin to think of bullying due to the age, it is also clear that Dominic is a school boy. Plus there has been cropping of this image to focus on the two characters. All have been used in our magazine review to give it a professional look. We have used the graphics of red because this is the colour scheme of the magazine and it also is there to catch the reader’s eye on the review. The magazine meets the conventions of the magazine poster well. It has all the typical things you would expect to see on a magazine. We have followed a very traditional layout of a magazine. This could then make are magazine a classic technical layout with a main image, 2^nd image, main text, breakouts and layout left to right. The reason why we have stuck to a very traditional style is because we didn’t want to experiment with a magazine review and then for it to turn not looking like a magazine. The traditional layout also makes the article easily accessible and easy to read for the audience, rather than confuse them. We needed the audience to immediately notice that what they were reading was a magazine review. The type of article is also very important we have used a positive article. This is down to our type of magazine we have made it to promote the film and not be a critic of the film. This could be seen as a challenged convention, as film reviews normally present objectives and critical opinions.


 In the short film are film has definitely updated the standard forms and conventions of a short film. With the use of animation it has changed the typical conventions of a short film. The animation is the one part of the film that changes the forms and conventions of a short film. The animation has added a major twist to the film which is an important convention of many short films. When the audience are watching the beginning of the film they assume that the film is going to be an ordinary film about knife crime however when the animation kicks in the audience are surprised it’s also after the animation that the twist really kicks in. The audience are left with a major contrast of the animation (a childish, innocent way of portraying something) to then the real shot of a knife. The audience are left to reflect on what has happened. We have also tried to capture the contrast by the score stopping and then the credits rolling out with no credits to add to the reflection period. This twist is also defiantly unexpected this adds to the shock of the audience. I also believe that we have developed a standard purpose of educational, by using the animation we have put a vibrant, enjoyable thing into a much more serious situation. I think this is rare for an educational film to feature such a contrasting way of portraying a story.

I believe that the poster has not developed any standard forms I feel it is hard for a poster to develop the conventions without leading the poster away from it looking like a poster. For example if the billing block was developed into a more clearly colourful convention to make it stand out the audience would not be sure if it is an actually poster. I think the conventions can’t be developed for a poster they need to be featured in order for it to be a poster. However I do believe that we are poster has a twist, are genre is knife crime a very dark side of Britain, some of the connotations of knife crime is death, police and youths. We associate quite dark colours with this situation however are final poster is a very colourful I think this is a twist as it is unexpected. The reason for the colours is because of the graffiti which is also linked to the youth, so the colours are linked to the genre

The magazine is also very similar to the poster is that it can be hard to develop some conventions without the audience not understanding it’s a magazine review. The magazine uses all the conventions that a magazine should have. The magazine has no twists and uses al the standard layout.

 The short films has definitely challenged the conventions of short films with the use of animations we have challenged some of the connotations of animation. Animations are usually used for child films such as Wall-E( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZisWjdjs-gM) , Up (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkqzFUhGPJg) and Winnie the Poo (http://www.vidoemo.com/yvideo.php?disney-winnie-the-pooh-1995-vhs-uk-trailer=&i=bjJoaDNWcWuRpOVBfeTg) all these are noticeable are seen as “happy films” we have challenged this by using the animation in a negative narrative. This has never really been done before and this is why I feel we have challenged the conventions and forms of a short film. We have also challenged the genre we have chosen to use animation with a serious genre of knife crime this is the total opposite of what the audience expect. We have used standard cinematography and haven’t really challenged any of the short films connotations for cinematography this meant that the audience wasn’t shocked by any of the cinematography. The reason for this standard cinematography is due to the limitations. I also feel in the choice of using a replayed day it has challenged the expectation of the audience. I think that because we use a repeated day the audience don’t expect to see that in a short film.

We have also challenged the conventions of posters. On are poster we have not got the name of our main characters this is because they are unknown actors and it would have no real impact on the poster, so therefore it would be pointless to have the names of Dominic McCoy and Joshua Pascall-Noel. We have also not used a really large or bold title. It is very common that film posters have a really large title that hits the audience when first viewing. However we have decided not to go with the typical title but to blend it in to the colours this makes sense as the colours are so bright and vivid that the title is easily noticed.

The magazine has also challenged conventions and forms. One challenge is the lack of statistic boxes or fact files for the reader. It is very common for the magazine review to have a fact file on the director or the cast however we have not featured this the effect is that you are left with a very simplistic magazine review. Another challenged convention could be the type of article instead of doing a critical one we have chosen to do a promotional one that talks about the positive aspects of the film. This is a challenge of the conventions of a magazine review as people do not expect it they can expect either, positive or negative.

Overall the film challenges, uses and develops many conventions all of these effect the outcome of the products.

Question 2

How effective is combination of main and ancillary texts?

The three products work very well together all three have been designed, planed and made as parts of one a whole project. The parts we have had to work in to make sure that all the 3 products work well together are:

·                     Genre

·                     Narrative

·                     Audience

·                     Institution

The common genre which is seen in all 3 of the products is anti-social behaviour. The main genre isn’t always picked as the image of a knife is not evident in the poster and magazine so therefore the audience cannot pick this up. This was purposely done in the poster and magazine as we didn’t want to give too much away. The audience would need to watch the film to grasp that the film’s main genre is about knife crime, this is an advertising ploy to make the audience view the film.  The genre of knife crime is a lot stronger in the film then any of the other texts this is because we didn’t want the audience to know too much about the film before even watching it. The effect is that the purposes of the texts are solid. The magazine and poster is to get the audience to see the film to find out the genre, and then when they see the film they can get that the first hand genre is knife crime.  Overall the texts work well in giving an indication of “a” genre but to get the full genre of knife crime is the audience have to watch the film.   

I believe that the texts work very well in giving an indication of the narrative. The texts work together in the way that each gives parts of the narrative. And to get the full narrative the 3 must be seen as a package. Out of the poster and the article, the article is the best at getting across the narrative this is due to the article. The poster can only tell you the narrative to an extent but the article enables the audience to get description of the narrative, the article also has pictures. The audience could easily pick up the narrative from the film and wouldn’t need to see the poster or article before viewing the film. This is highlighted during our audience feedback

It is also important that different products have different target audiences. This is because of the different information on each product. The short film has a target audience of around 15-20 this is because it is 15 because it is for teenagers. It is also for the minimum of 15 year olds because of the knife scene and the use of “blood” is quite explicit. The target audience is different for the poster as it can be from around a 15+ the bright colours will capture the youth’s eyes however the deeper meaning will be picked up by the older audience. There is no limitation on the poster as anyone can view it and pick up something about the film it is whether the poster actually makes them want to see the film. The people that will be affected by the poster will be the 15+. However I believe that the 3 products struggle to reach the wider target audience. The short film has no characters above the age of 18 so therefore the older audience will not be able to relate to the film so therefore it will not have reached the older audience. I also believe that the article will struggle to reach our wider audience due to the type of magazine it is. The article’s language is not extremely advanced and it is written so that teenagers can read it with ease and get an indication of what the film is about. The wider audience might not be interested in reading such an article. Also the poster is not of a very “serious” view the older audience might not be attracted by the bright colours and want a more gritty/dark poster.

The poster and magazine both have been produced to promote the film and work in conjunction with the film. The poster is there to promote the film as when the audience see the poster it makes them want to watch the film. I believe it makes the audience want to see the film because of the sub title the sentence “We have a choice: Don’t let knives choose for you” This is a title that makes the audience think about the film and hopefully makes them want to explore the film. The magazine review is also key in promoting the film as it gives a detail article on what the audience can experience without giving the story away. When viewing both of them in conjunction I believe that they work well in promoting the film. The two work very difference in promoting the film. The poster can be viewed by anyone. This means that the poster promotes more a visual side of the film. If the poster looks nice then it will promote the film. However the magazine review is very different in that it is on the audience to pick it up and read it. All though both attract the audience they both attract very different audiences. Both are as important as each other when attracting a audience. As there is such a wide spread in the age for the target audience the magazine and poster have to attract the all ages within the target. The poster attracts the younger audience due to the visuals they don’t have to read anything to get the idea of the film, unlike a poster. The poster attracts the audience with its visuals if it looks good they will watch it. For the older audience the magazine might appeal to them, instead of going to see a film on the basis of a poster they might want to read more deeper into the film they can do this by reading the magazine review.

Question 3

 What have you learned from your audience feedback?

The audience feedback was given 6 questions each of the questions helped us in our final edited the questions and there most common answers were....

1) Is the theme of the film clear?

The majority of the answers were that they understood the theme .One person highlighted that the animation made it a lot clearer that it was about knife crime

2)Does the film achieve it purpose?

The most common answer was yes, they believed that it was experimental. One person highlighted that it was to an extent this made us review that it was fully experimental again.

3)Is it suitable for its intended audience?

Again the answer was yes. One person said that it should be specifically for males, as they are more likely to carry knives this must be considered.

4) Is there anything that can be altered or added to make the theme/narrative clearer and could be more suitable for its intended audience?

The most common answer was that the walking sections of the film was very long and needed to be cut.

5) What do you think of the editing? What works well? What needs changing?

Here people thought that the editing was good.

6) What do you think of the sound? What needs changing?

The most common answer was to add a score to as people thought it was a bit empty without it and that it was definitely missing a score

The audience feedback is important as it gives an outside opinion other than your own on what is good and needs to be improved. Also certain parts which you think are good may not be seen as good to an audience. This is not rare in the industry many film companies screen their films early as a first viewing after that viewing they will often take a survey or a interview on what they thought if there is a common problem then they can easily change it before they screen it to the general public.

The feedback was mostly positive, however the criticism came mainly about there being no score, we agreed with the feedback and we quickly responded and added a score that added a bit of thrill and some of the key parts of the story. Another criticism was that some shots were to long mainly some of the walking shots. The audience thought that they made the story partly boring and some of them were not necessary. Overall we reacted positively to the audience feedback and it helped us in finished off our final edit. We reacted by cutting shots and adding a score.

The feedback for the poster was very positive there were not many changes to make. The main changes were that it needed a bigger title and a different image size these changes were made and it helped in producing a really good poster. The article was very similar in that people thought that the image needed to be changed as well as the size.

Question 4

How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

To produce the media film, poster and article we had to use certain technologies all these programs and equipment enabled us to create 3 high quality products. At the research stage the main source of research which aided us was the internet. This was a huge part of our research and background. We used various websites to help us to find out about film posters, short films and magazine article. One part which helped us in the short films was YouTube we could get different types of short films to get inspiration. To document are research we used Microsoft word and then finally a blog to which we could add images, links and video

When it came to the production we used a DV camera to capture the film. These cameras filmed onto tape, the equipment used was a tripod to keep the camera steady. To create the animation we used an interactive whiteboard. The animation would be created by drawing in the character and then taking a screenshot which would be saved as a JPEG. This would be done to give the overall effect of an animation.

When it to to post production we used I-Movie HD to upload are footage and edited it. To create the newspaper we used Pages and to create the poster we used Photoshop CS4. We also used certain internet website for a score or sounds effects. There were many advantages and disadvantages of the technologies we had available. First when shooting the film we were limited in the shots we could do. It was not possible to do a tracking shot with a track rail.  We could not do a bird’s eye view so we were limited to certain shots due to the lack of equipment. An advantage of this was that it added a less “professional” feel which added to the gritty social realism side of it. Another disadvantage in the production side was the quality of the camera we did not have the option to use a HD camera to get the maximum quality. However again it could still be seen as a advantage due to the gritty effect the SD cameras gave. The technology affected the way in which we shot are film, when story-boarding we had to think about what we couldn’t do and choose a shot that we could do instead of couldn’t. One part that was a major limitation was the sound because of the cameras the quality of sound that was picked up was poor so when we story-boarded we thought it would be a better idea to limit the dialogue, this didn’t have a major effect on our film as the film didn’t have much dialogue. One other limitation was lighting, we had limited control over the lighting the only real control outside was the weather. If it was too sunny then the camera would have to much glare this would affect us filming on that day.

Overall the main technology that influenced are project was the internet. It helped us in the research stage which then influenced us on the first idea. Then at the production stage it helped us in getting a score. When it got to the post-production we could upload are film to YouTube so that the world could view it this helped when it came to audience feedback and publishing are film.