The document discusses an evaluation of a student film project. It summarizes the genres and conventions used in the film, including handheld "Blair Witch Project" style cameras and themes of stalking victims from slasher films. The film represents young adult and female audiences as the main characters. A major studio like Columbia Pictures would be suited to distribute the film to mainstream audiences. Special effects and suspenseful pacing were used to attract target teenage audiences who enjoy thriller and slasher genres. The filmmaking process taught the students video editing, sound design, and the importance of planning and research.
1. Evaluation
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products?
The film that we made used traditional stereotypes that have been and are
still used in films of the same genre. We based our film type on the way that
the Blair Witch Project was filmed, using hand held cameras, but had the
basic story line from films like Scream or I No What You Did Last Summer,
where the killer stalks their victims. Our film followed the normal conventions
or real media projects because of all of the still pictures at the start, and the
main character, shows that the stalker, or the presence, only targets women.
This is a normal convention because most films of the same genre use
women as the victim.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Our film represents the young adult and women social groups because the
main characters fall under this category. The film that we made has traditional
representation to the young adult group that are students because the film
shows the social side of this group (when the main character meets with
friend on the bridge, chats on the bench and on the phone) and is filmed in a
school. Our film represents women more than any other group because the
main character is female and is shown to be an independent woman. She is
also not placed into any sort of group, such as Goth or chav, and will
represent a wider range of women.
Meeting with friend on bridge
What kind of institution might distribute your media product and why?
I think a main stream distributor might distribute our film because it has a
good plot and has a big fan base of that genre (thriller/slasher). A distributor
like Columbia would more likely distribute it because they have done films like
the Grudge which comes under the same genre as our film. Because a main
2. stream distributor might distribute it then it will be in all cinemas across the
country, it will also have more money to work on special effects that might
unveil themselves later in the film
INCLUDEPICTURE "http://www.michaeldeas.com/Mike%20Deas
%20Website/site_images/columbia_pictures_logo_520.jpg" * MERGEFORMAT
This is the logo for Columbia Pictures
Who would be the main audience for your media product?
The main target group for our film is teenagers that like thriller/slasher type of
films. This is our target audience because this is the style of the film, and I
think that this audience is easier to please since this genre has so many
possibilities and plots that can happen. I think that the main target group is
teenagers because they can relate to the characters in the film. Although the
main audience is teenagers, I think that this would appeal to any one that likes
this type of genre. We made the film for this genre because of the large fan
base that it has and the fact that it has so many possibilities that the film can
go down and then have a twist at the end.
How did you attract/address your audience?
We attracted the audience by using special effects on the still pictures at the
start. We use the ken burns effect, where the picture moves from one side of
the screen to the other, for the pictures to make them look eerie to set the
mood whilst the titles a rolling at the start. We also used sepia on the pictures
to make them look used and slightly older. We also paused the film at certain
places to add suspense. Another tactic that we used was not having any
3. dialogue in the film to so that the audience can make up there own minds
about what is happening.
This is a picture that uses the ken Burns effect and sepia
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this
product?
From making the film I have learn how to edit the film using i-movie
programme and how to combine two clips together. How to add sound effects
to the film, for example the shutter effect of a camera at the start of the film,
and how to use the camcorder to maximise the shots in the film. I also learnt
that big special effects are harder to create than I first thought. I also learnt
that the storyboard is very important to the making of the film, and that the
research helps make the film run smother.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the
progression from it to the full product?
Some of the preliminary tasks that we did before we started to film were found
harder to film than we thought. For example the original start for the film was
the main character walking in through the school gates. We found this hard to
film because there were too many people getting in the way of the shots and
the zoom on the camera was not as good as we thought that it would be. We
also had to change some of the locations because they were to hard to get to
or film at, e.g. crossing the road outside of school. We also had to cut some of
the scenes form the planning of the film when we found out that we were not
allowed to take the cameras of off the school grounds.