1. By Sheryl Teather

2. In what ways does your media product use,
develop or challenge forms and conventions of
real media products?
Our film uses titles and music suited to the genre of the film. The key prop
which we used was in the action scene, where we had a close up shot of a
gun as the trigger was being pulled, this is because it was significant to the
whole sequence and mustn’t be missed by the audience. We used an enigma
in our opening sequence to draw in the audience and make them want to
watch the rest of the film to find out what is going on, the one that we used
was the phone call at the end of the sequence, which is also a cliff hanger to
hook the audience. We used the rule of thirds in the aerial shot of the man
running to create more tension and interest to the audience, framing also
helped to create more interest for the audience and help focus their
attention. As with all media products we featured our production company at
the start of the film.
I think we developed our media product by using interesting
original titles and production logos. The original music which we chose helps
support the meaning of the different scenes.
We challenged the conventions of real media products by having an
action sequence before the titles to hook in the reader.

3. How does your media product represent
particular social groups?
For the female ingénue protagonist we wanted her to be represented as an
innocent, pure, young woman. We tried to emphasize this representation by
keeping her make-up natural, her hair in loose curls and her clothing bright
to contrast with the darkness of the men’s costumes. This is a very positive
representation of her; the audience would be able to tell that she has nothing
to do with the bad things happening around her.
The driver of the car is dressed all in black with black gloves, this
was to portray him as someone that isn’t too bothered about his actions and
is used to doing things that he shouldn’t be doing.
The other man is also dressed in black, but with a white shirt which
may make the audience think of a James Bond kind of character and shows
that he could be innocent. This concept comes from the Western films in
which the heroes/heroines wear white and the villains wears black.

4. What kind of media institution might distribute
your media product and why?
We maybe could find an independent local cinema that would be willing to
exhibit our media product in exchange for a percentage of profits.
We would also be able to apply for development funding through
the first feature film development programme with the UK Film
Council, receiving up to £25,000 to write and develop our feature film.
Screen East has a Digital Shorts Programme, which partners with the
UK Film Cinema New Cinema Fund. These offer help to filmmakers in the
East of England with creating short films. They offer up to £15,000 to
produce films. However they are only offering to help make 5 films, so we
would have to apply quickly.
We could try to get a foreign distribution company with similar
products to ours that might put our film on their lists, one way in which we
could make this happen is to perhaps persuade them with a US Star or
represent their country in some way.

5. Who would be the audience for your media
product?
I think our film would mainly be aimed at males from the age of 16 to 45.
This is due to the action in it and the representation of the villains. Also I
think the issues raised in our media product, mean the male audience are
more likely to respond and relate to them.
However, females could also be attracted to our film, because of the
males in the film and the way the woman is represented – that kind of
ingénue feels she needs a man to look after her but we develop her character
later in the film.
I think the film classification for our film would be 15. This is
because of it’s theme and the violence content.

6. How did you attract/address your audience?
One of the ways we attracted our audience was to start off our sequence with
lots of action right from the start to keep them interested and focused, also
by using a cliff hanger at the end to keep the audience wanting more.
Another thing is our choice of music which is very fast paced, this
keeps the audience alert and concentrating on the film to see what will
happen next. Action/thriller is a very popular genre, so that on its own will
attract our target audience. Also the use of a gun makes the sequence more
shocking and worrying for the audience. The location also in some ways can
help to attract the audience because of the low-key lighting helping to create
an eerie atmosphere. We used editing to slow down some of the face paced
action scenes, so that it adds more interest for the audience.
Other ways in which we could attract our audience would be a
poster from the DVD design, which would be placed on buses, newspapers
such as ‘The Sun’ and magazines such as ‘FHM’. We would also create a
trailer which would be broadcast in between programmes such as Skins,
Shameless, Inbetweeners and other ones aimed at our target audience.
We distributed questionnaires to a range of demographics and our
results showed that whilst watching action films they expect: upbeat music,
special effects, introduction to main character, titles and action. So whilst
creating our film we made sure to feature these qualities.

7. What have you learnt about technologies from
the process of constructing this product?
I have learnt a lot about technologies whilst making this product, one of
these is how to use Adobe Premier Pro 1.5 editing programme, which I had
no idea how to use before I started. Such as importing our film onto the
computer, editing the footage, adding in different transitions, adding music,
editing the sound and how to burn the film on to disc. Another thing was
how to use Photoshop, which before creating our media project I had no idea
how to use.
Also I have learnt how different camera angles help to create
meaning in certain shots, as well as the framing of the shot.
Before I started constructing this product, I had no idea how to use
a blog, but over the course of making our film I have learnt a lot from how to
publish posts to how to import photos and video.
The advantages of learning how to do all these new things is that
next year my media production can be completed earlier and include much
more complex things than this one.

8. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do
you feel you have learnt in the progression from
it to the full product?
I feel I have learnt how to incorporate different camera angles into the
filming to make it more interesting and to add more meaning. Another thing
I found that makes the sequence more interesting to watch is the editing and
all the different transitions and how different ones can be used to create
certain meanings.
I also learnt how different music, titles and colours make you think
of certain genres and using the correct things make your finished product
more similar to real media products.
I found it easier to create and develop my own storyboard to suit
the genre rather than being very limited after creating my preliminary task,
as I had a more complex idea of what was needed.
Also, I learnt a lot from examining opening sequences for their
conventions and form and that the selection of mise en scène effects the
overall feel of the film.