1. Evaluation
By Medina Hughes

2. Form/convention Use, develop
or challenge
Explanation Evidence
Introduce setting Use/
develop
The first shot we see is a mid shot of one of the main
characters. I used it because it allows the audience to
become familiar with the character and you are able to
see his body language and how he is presenting
himself. It is similar to general film openings as your are
able to see the character and who they are.
Titles Develop The titles which I used are similar to how normal titles
are in general film openings. However, the font
remained the same throughout the opening but when
the title of the film came on I decided to change it. I
changed it as I wanted it to engage the audience and
hint to them what the film is about.
Music Challenge In my film opening, I chose to have up beat music right
at the beginning to show happiness and connection
between the couple. However, when they split I chose to
have a mellow sound to show the emotion in what was
happening in the scene. It is not like the general film
opening as it changes and does not have the same
constant type of music throughout the opening.
Narrative Challenge My film opening is not continuous as it has flashbacks of
pictures of when the couple were together. It allows the
audience to see the couple before they split and how
they were when they together. It is not like general
openings as it brings flashbacks right at the opening.
In what ways does your Media product use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

3. How does your Media Product represent social groups?
In the opening of my media product, there are many interpretations of how different social
groups can be represented. One particular group which was portrayed was gender.
Stereotypes of gender can see men as patriarchal and domineering and women can be seen
as housewives and mothers. However, in my media product both men and women can be
represented in a completely different way. The different kinds of representations can be seen
through camera and angles and mise-en-scene for example.
In the media women can be portrayed as housewives and sex objects. Some women can be
portrayed as being vulnerable which can be seen through one of my main characters which is
female and the shot angle. In this particular shot angle, she has just been told that her
boyfriend wants to split up with her. The low angle makes her seem vulnerable and small.
This tells the audience that at that moment in time she is vulnerable and emotional about the
situation after receiving the devastating news. This low angle shot captures the moment
where she is most vulnerable and can be represented as an emotional women. The shot
allows the audience to sympathise with the character as she is portrayed as being tender and
sensitive. With this shot as well, the slow and emotional music comes on straight after. This
captures the audience even more and helps them to gain the understanding of what she is
going through and feeling about the break up between the couple.
Although in the media, some women can be portrayed as sex objects, my media product
goes opposite this and portrays the women as a housewife instead. Throughout my media
product, it is represented at the home. This can indicate to the audience that the women
spends a lot of time at home and is more of a housewife. This can be seen through what she
is wearing. She is wearing a jumper and jogging bottoms with filp flops. The colour of her
jumper is green which can be shown in different ways. The colour green can symbolise peace
and environment. This can show to the audience that she is a calm women and is in her own
environment (being the home) a lot of the time. The grey from the jogging bottoms can
symbolise security and conservatism. Security can symbolise to the audience that she feels
safest in her own home and can portray her to be even more like a housewife. The
conservatism can represent her to be traditional. For example, a traditional view could be
that the women stay at home and do the housework, while men go out to work and be the
breadwinner. Overall, the audience can portray her to be a housewife who is traditional and
stays at home. Particularly because the whole of the opening of the film is set in the home.

4. Who would be the audience for your Media Product?
.The genre of my film is a romantic drama and can appeal to a
range of people for different reasons. The audience for my
media product would be for people aged 12 and onwards. I
chose it to target this age group as I thought it would appeal to
them most. Under the age of 12 would be too young and may
find it hard to understand what is happening in my media
product. From the age of 12 and onwards, the audience may
have more of an understand of the story line then the younger
generation would. I targeted it at this age and onwards as I
wanted it to target a wide range of people as it could be
suitable for anyone above the age of 12.
As my media product genre was a romantic drama, some may
think that it was targeted at just females. However, with my
media product I wanted it to target both male and female as it
opened up the audience to a wider range. The media product
itself is similar to films such as The Last Song, The Notebook,
The Time Traveler’s Wife and The Lucky One. People who
enjoy these type of films would definitely target the same kind
of audience for my media product. The main target audience
which would be for my media product would be young adults.
This is because many young adults may be able to relate the
story from my media production with there own. This allows the
audience to engage and capture them self in the media
product and want to find out what happens in the end with the
couple.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?
When it came to attracting my audience, I was able to use a range of techniques
which helped me to capture them into my media production. The specific genre
in media production was romantic drama. There are only two people in the
whole of my media product, who happen to be a couple who split up. I wanted to
attract people from the age of 12 and onwards. However, I think that my media
product would target mostly young adults. This is why I used a young adult
couple as I felt like this would target young adults more rather than mature
adults as they may be able to relate to the situation which is happening in my
media product.
At the opening of my media product, it begins with soft up beat music in the
background. The audience are then introduced to the couple and they seem to
be happy and loving with each other. The music helped me to capture the
audience and reach what my genre was which was a romantic drama. Later on
in the opening, the couple are split and then the slow mellow music comes on in
the background. This kind of music helped me to attract me to the audience to
have the drama element in the genre which I had originally chosen.
In my media product, I used particular shots and camera angles which would
engage the audience. For example, the shot where the girl receives the bad
news that the boy wants to split from her, I used a particular shot and angle. I
used a close up at a low angle as I wanted the audience to engage with how
she is feeling at that moment in time. The low angle attracts the audience to how
vulnerable she is and what she is feeling. The close up captures the audience
into her facial expressions. Having this particular shot and angle can attract the
audience to relate to the situation which is happening.

6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of
constructing this product?
Throughout making my media product, I have been
able to familiarise myself with different programmes. I
have learnt a lot about how different programmes
work and how to use them. I used the programme
final cut express to make my media product. During
this process I learnt about how to use the programme
and familiarise myself with different techniques. For
example, I learnt how to capture the footage which I
had recorded and upload to final cut express. From
there I was able to learn how to cut particular parts of
the footage which I did not need. This enabled me to
shorten down my media product to the required time
which was needed. I was also able to add in
transitions when needed. When creating titles I learnt
how to use the safeguard so that all the titles stayed
in the position which I needed them to and how I
needed them.
When all my footage was in the correct places, I
started to work on the sound. I was able to alternate
the sound waves so that different parts where lower at
different times. For example, at the beginning of my
media product I had music playing in the background.
I had to alternate the sound of the conversation when
they were talking so that it was loud enough for
people to hear, but not too loud that it is
overpowering. All my music for my media product was
done on Garageband. I learnt how to put the music on
GarageBand and port it into final cut express. This in
lauded me learning how to loop the music so that it
carried on playing for as long as I needed it to.

7. What do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to
the full product?
With my continuity exercise, I learnt a number of skills and experienced how to use different programs. I learned how to use different
shots and different angle types. I learnt that planning my shots on a storyboard made it easier to shoot everything as it made me
organized. I was able to practice filming and how to use the camera before I did my final footage for my media product. I also learnt that
180° rule which I followed when shooting my final footage for my media product. I had some technical issues when using final cut
express as it was my first time using it for the continuity exercise. I overcame this and produced my final continuity exercise.