Transcript of Media AS Evaluation II
- 1. Evaluation By Harry Garside Media AS Level
- 2. Q1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions of real media products? I analysed
the se7en film opening and looked closely at the use of fonts,
titles and animation. The animation of the titles were extremely
effective as the font flashed around the frame. However, we did not
use this as it wouldve been extremely difficult to replicate.
Nonetheless, we looked closely at the typography rather than the
animation and took some ideas from this. Our plot as a whole is
rather unique and diverse in the way that a young man is hiking and
comes across a caravan where he seeks warmth. Despite this, the
caravan is a rather disconsolate place and the abandoned location
is conventional of horror. This is because there is a sense of
eeriness, also, the vulnerability of the young boy creates a
character exposition. In addition to this, the non-verbal language
is vital in the clip as the audience can see Darrens reactions
first-hand as he picks up the objects. One idea we took from this
opening is the white font on a rather dark, gloomy background
featuring low-key lighting making it look obtrusive and
outstanding. In our clip, we have incorporated the white prominent
font with a black outline creating a 3D effect. Se7en research
Analysis of Plot
- 3. From our audience research, we discovered that a young boy
would be one of the more conventional characters to play the main
role, this is because of the exposed, vulnerable connotations. We
revolved the plot around our flashbacks, as I mentioned previously,
the flashbacks are very effective as it shows that the caravan has
an unknown past, creating an enigma and creating a sense of
uneasiness. Our sound is evidence of non-diegetic sound, it is a
rather upbeat, happy, country song which is contradictory to the
mood of the clip which is murder and gore. Our sound is very much
unconventional in these terms. Nevertheless, as soon as Darren is
closes the door on the inside of the caravan this non-diegetic
sound stops. This is when the diegetic sound comes in, which has a
more realistic, eerie tone creating a sense of verisimilitude when
the flashbacks appear. Stock characters Sound The wood location was
very beneficial for our team, this is because the forest/wood has
connotations of isolation and loneliness which is conventional of
horror as a whole. Location
- 4. Q1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions of real media products? The lead up
to the discovery of the caravan is conventional as it creates an
audience enigma as both the audience and Darren are unaware of what
is going to be inside, this build-up of tension is very effective.
Our horror genre is psychological and our effective use of
flashbacks are conventional of this sub- genre. Nevertheless, the
flashbacks are extremely gory and unpleasant which is also
conventional of a slasher horror genre. Therefore, one could argue
that our horror clip is a cross-over between a psychological and a
slasher horror. As a group we are very pleased with the footage we
captured on the Canon DSLR camera, our clip features an array of
tracking shots, POV shots and high/low angle shots. The POV shots
are conventional of horror as the audience view the action through
the eyes of the protagonist. In terms of our titles, we took
positioning into consideration as it is vital to have the titles at
the forefront of the frame. Evidence of effective positioning is
evident in the tracking shot alongside the caravan. The tracking
shots we used are also conventional of horror, and contribute to
the professionalism of the clip. Our editing is fast-paced and
there is evidence of continuity editing where the action seems to
be happening very quickly which is typical of horror. Analysis of
Plot II/ Genre Filming/Shots Editing/Shots
- 5. Initially, we used a font named Cold Night For Alligators.
However, we felt that this particular font was more conventional of
a slasher horror film rather than a psychological. Because of this,
we then decided against this font, and used a more ordinary yet
effective font which is associated more with a psychological horror
genre. Typography It was not long before our final cut was aired,
that we decided on the font above. A serif font that looks more
ordinary yet effective. Camera Angles Many of our shots were
similar to those found in various other horror films. A good
example would be the tracking shot along the objects, which adds to
the old context and overall atmosphere, as well as the canted angle
shot of the cupboards which appears to be disjointed and
uncomfortable. The majority of our shots were straight forward with
film productions in general, including a variety of stills, low
angled and high angled shots and a POV.
- 6. Mise-en-scene The props we used were very conventional in
psychological horror films. An example of this is the mask we used.
We took this idea from The Strangers (Bertino, 2008). Also, our
choice of iconography consisted of harmful objects which are
associated with a slow, painful death rather than a quick death
(i.e a shooting conventional in a thriller genre). Below is an
example of the pliers that we utilized which are conventional of
horror. Editing Our editing contained several transition sequences
that are typical of horror. For example, at the beginning,
everything seems to be normal and therefore the clip does not
contain any horror element. At this point it is very slow-paced,
yet as the horror element is introduced mid-way through, the
fast-paced editing seems to occur which is conventional of horror
as it has connotations of panic building up tension and hysteria.
The use of our shot reverse shot is also vital in showing the
reaction shot, as in every horror movie the reaction shot provides
a basis for the way in which the audience follow the mood.
- 7. Q2. How does your media product represent particular social
groups? In this clip, all that the audience can see is a white
young British male (Darren) and an antagonist whom is masked and
anonymous in terms of age, race and ethnicity. Despite this, the
audience can assume that this antagonist is male due to the fact
that a male antagonist is typical of horror. Because of this
assumption, a binary opposition is evident between Darren and the
antagonist, this binary is sanity/insanity. I say this because
Darren is seen hiking through the woods which shows him to be
healthy and very much sane, this is culturally marked in society as
it is what people would expect/like to see. On the other hand,
through the flashbacks, the audience can see the disgusting nature
of the antagonists actions and the audience can infer that the
antagonist has mental health issues and receives some sort of
thrill from it. The fact that the antagonist obtrusively has
problems in terms of his mental health is conventional of horror.
This is because the antagonists in several horror films have to be
insane to murder in that malice. Therefore, because of this
evaluation, a binary opposition of mental health is present between
Darren and the antagonist. Representation Binary Opposition
Representation II
- 8. The young boy is shown progressively in the text as he is
shown to be brave amidst the severity of the situation. Despite
this, his reaction to the flashbacks can be interpreted in one of
two ways. One of these ways is purely shock, and one of which is
vulnerability, which is regressive in the context of the situation.
Darren is depicted as being simply a common, regular young boy
around the age of 16/17. He is also shown to be hiking through the
woods, on a normal morning intimating that he is again an ordinary
young man which has very positive connotations. Representation III
Representation IV
- 9. On the whole, if the view is taken that Darren is being
brave considering the situation, the connotations of bravery
associated with Darrens character is a dominant ideology in terms
of patriarchy as it shows men to be less vulnerable than females,
not only this, but the audience expectation is for men to be
unafraid in horror clips as a whole. On the other hand, the
antagonist (whom is masked to create effectiveness in the
characters anonymity) has a powerful weapon which is used at the
end of the clip to kill Darren, again showing his dominance in the
clip. Also, in the flashbacks, several different, powerful weapons
were used by the antagonist to kill his victims which again shows
his power and authority. At times in the clip, there are some shots
that depict Darren regressively in terms of status. This includes
the angle used to unveil the antagonist, which shows him as having
a larger presence and more power. Furthermore, in terms of mise-en-
scene, the iconography is important when discussing representation.
Evidence of this is the fact that Darren uses very few props if
any, which intimate that he is vulnerable in the situation.
Representation/Mise-en-scene Representation V Representation
VI
- 10. Despite the negative connotations of females in terms of
the dominant ideology of male power in horror films, I researched
the final girl which counteracted this ideology. The final girl
was: smarter and more cautious than her friends; Clover describes
her as intelligent, watchful, level-headed. morally pure and
therefore does not get involved in drinking, drug-taking or sexual
activity. the first to recognize both the lack of morals in her
peer group and the potential threat of danger. Females have a
negative absence in this clip, this is rather unconventional of
horror as they are shown to be stereotypically vulnerable. There is
no evidence of disability in this clip, despite this, the insanity
of the antagonist could present a disability as the villain is in
many ways unable to normalise in society. Female Absence The Final
Girl
- 11. Q3. What kind of media institution might distribute your
media product and why? Our film is most likely to secure a deal
with Vertigo UK Films. This is because our film is extremely low-
budget; our equipment was available to us, no A-Listers featured
and we had a very small cast. As well as this, our location was
very accessible and the majority of our costume/props were
previously owned. As well as this, our film could be shown at
festivals, this would be an effective promotional technique as
obtrusively it will be presented to our target demographic of
15-24. Furthermore, web 2.0 is another determining factor in terms
of adverting any film product. Our film also utilized pro-filmic
effects and contained no animation. Vertigo UK Films are an
independent film distributing company whom have proved to be
extremely successful in terms of publicising and distributing
low-budget films like ours. Some of this success has transpired due
to synergy with other institutions creating and maximising audience
exposure which intrinsically creates a mass buzz, pre-release.
Distributing our film Vertigo UK Films
- 12. In terms of our film, we should take advantage of social
media sites such as twitter and Facebook to maximise audience
exposure. An advantage of this is that our film would meet our
target demographic as they are the most likely to be on social
media sites. As well as this, we can create a teaser campaign,
which will feature a 48 page printed advertisement and a large
poster. This is evidence of a traditional ad campaign creating
excitement before the film is released. Our film would be a
platform release rather than a blanket release. I say this because
we could therefore distribute our film in urban areas such as
Manchester to see if it initially creates interest. If it is
consequently creating media interest then we could use this to
present our film at cinemas such as vue cinema and odeon. This has
been utilized by many other independent films to maximise audience
exposure and to create a mass buzz pre-release. Publicising our
film Distributing our film II
- 13. . In my institutional context study of an independent film,
I researched paranormal activity: an American Supernatural Horror
Film written, co-produced, photographed, edited, and directed by
Oren Peli. The film focuses on a Katie and Micah, a young couple
whom are troubled by a ghostly existence in their home. It is shown
in the style of "Found Footage", from cameras placed by Katie and
Micah whom try to document what it is that is distressing them.
Furthermore, there were midnight screenings pre-release in Los
Angeles and select college towns, this generated unprecedented
amounts of demand at the studio and at local theatres. Also, it
took advantage of social media sites, including Twitter where the
target audience would tweet @TweetYourScream. Institutional Context
Study Institutional Context Study II
- 14. One of the most effective promotional techniques that
Paranormal Activity utilized was the idea of letting consumers be
the distribution chief. Therefore, fans nationwide were able to
literally demand by hitting a "Demand" button on its website so
that the movie screen in their area. The "Demand" ticker had
surpassed 860,000 by mid-afternoon on the Friday, nearly triple the
amount of demands logged 72 hours before, with "Paranormal
Activity" becoming a constant trending topic on Twitter during the
midnight hour for many consecutive weeknights. It reached 1 million
demands not long after. Institutional Context Study III
Institutional Context Study IV
- 15. Q4/Q5. Who would be the audience for your media product?
How did you attract/address your audience? Throughout the process,
we tested our concept on our audience. This featured our initial
research in which we tested our audience using a questionnaire
which featured a series of closed and open questions. From this
initial research, we discovered that an abandoned location would be
very effective, as the majority of our audience stated that it
would be the most conventional of horror. We also used a 1-10 scale
styled question, in which the audience circle the number they feel
most appropriate. For example: This particular question was very
useful as it gave us an idea as to the most conventional stock
character for our clip. From this question, we discovered that the
character would definitely have to be young and vulnerable, though
the sex was a less important matter. Therefore, we came up with
Darren, a young, vulnerable male, conventional of horror. We also
tested possible names in a fixed question format. Initial Audience
Questionnaire Initial Audience Questionnaire II
- 16. Our core audience is the 15-24 demographic, this is because
the horror genre is intrinsically aimed at a younger audience as
this age group enjoy the gore and scares which are evident
throughout. The characters appeal to this target audience as Darren
fits in with the age demographic due to being a young male around
the age of 16/17. This creates verisimilitude for the audience as
they feel that this could happen to them which creates an enigma
and a social currency. Despite this, after choosing hysteria, we
thought that the name the premonition was much more suited to our
piece. This is because the word premonition means to see something
before your eyes. Below you can see the question we originally
asked, however, nearer the time, we realized hysteria didnt really
fit with our piece, and premonition is far more suitable. Target
Audience Initial Audience Questionnaire III
- 17. From our audience testing many people liked the use of our
soundtrack, saying it fits well with the visuals and the high
pitched, discordant sounds of the flashbacks were very effective in
creating a sinister, scary feeling about the piece which shocked
audiences (this was the effect we wanted to create). Some people
thought that a couple of the shots looked a little bit shaky, which
did not fit as well with the piece as it should. As soon as we
received this feedback, we tried very hard to alter the graininess
of the image and change the colour to create a contrasting look to
the normal shots. Audiences also thought our camera work was
excellent, especially the frequent short and long tracking shots
which revealed various props as well as our protagonist in the
sequence. They also liked the use of pull focus shots and canted
angle shots, saying it made the piece more professional and more
fitting to our thriller/horror genre. One person thought that the
edited effects and composition of the flashbacks did not look very
effective, that our group should improve the look of these
flashbacks to make it more clear and sinister.
- 18. Additionally, people thought our location was perfect,
saying the caravans dingy, dull and abandoned look created a more
visceral experience for most people and believed that its small,
confined space actually contributed to build enigma. A few people
thought the continuity of our sequence could be improved, saying
that providing more shots with movement of our protagonist should
be added to make our sequence just that little bit better. Another
strength included the high quality resolution of the picture and
audiences believed that this made the sequence seem like an actual
film. Also, some of our audience stated that they were unsure as to
whether Darren should been killed or whether we should have left it
as a mystery to build up a further suspense.
- 19. They both felt that our flashbacks were extremely effective
yet felt that we may have done more with the sound in terms of a
sound mix to build tension and create a sense of eeriness which is
typical of horror films. Overall, we were pleased with this
response, though, as a group we were pleased with the soundtrack we
used. This is because we deliberately used the soundtrack to pose a
contrast to the general mood of the clip. In this short video,
features two people inside our age demographic (15-24) whom are
commenting on the strengths and weaknesses of our clip after seeing
our final cut at the advanced screening. Vox-pop clip Summary of
Clip
- 20. Q4/Q5. Audience Final Cut Questionnaire Results 1. Did you
understand what was going on in the opening? In terms of our
results for this first question, we are very happy. I say this
because out of our 10 respondents, 6 said they understood the plot
completely and 4 said they understood the plot mostly. This shows
that our plot is very coherent. 2. What genre would you class this
film as? Again, we are very pleased with these results. This is
because 70% of our respondents thought that it was clearly a horror
genre, which shows that on the whole we have succeeded creating a
horror opening.
- 21. 4. Do you think that in the opening the protagonist
shouldve died? 6. On a scale of 1-10 how tense did you find the
opening? (1- being not tense 10- being very tense) This chart shows
that the majority of our respondents thought that the protagonist
shouldve been killed, this is good for us as we were unsure whether
to not kill the protagonist and leave a cliff-hanger. We are
pleased with the results from this question as 60% felt that our
clip was an 8+ out of 10 in terms of tension which shows that our
clip was effective in terms of building up suspense.
- 22. 9. How many flashbacks were there? This question was more
to see if our audience were paying attention. As there were indeed
5 flashbacks, it shows that on the most-part, our audience were
paying attention meaning the other answers will be valid. 11. Do
you think our use of font was suitable? This another encouraging
result. I say this because 80% of our respondents felt that our
font was suitable. Considering we changed our font rather close to
the deadline, it was very pleasing to see this.
- 23. 3. Which part of the opening couldve been improved? For
this question, we had a varied response. Some stated that the sound
couldve been improved in terms of a sound mix and others stated
that the build-up of tension couldve been enhanced. In our own
opinion, we thought the soundtrack was very effective as it created
a contrast to the general mood of the clip. 5. Was the opening
generally entertaining? If so..why? Again, for this question, there
were a wide array of answers, some stated the soundtrack made it
entertaining, some said it was so because of the diegetic sound. On
the whole, the most popular answer for this question was the
flashbacks.
- 24. 7. Would you recommend the film to others? For this
question, we was looking for a fixed answer of yes or no.
Encouragingly, 100% of our respondents stated that they would
recommend the film. 8. Did you understand the use of flashbacks?
This was also a very promising result, 90% of our respondents
understood the use of flashbacks in our clip, which was to
evidently show the caravan to have a past in terms of murder and
torture, therefore this was a very heartening result for us.
- 25. Q6.What have you learnt about technologies from the process
of constructing this product? Using blogger for our coursework is
advantageous in comparison with an A4 handwritten folder in many
ways. This includes the fact that I can edit my work without any
difficulty, also, I can suggest and share ideas with my team to
improve the quality of our work. Also, it means that we can have a
more creative, collaborative approach and it is accessible for the
whole group. I have learnt how to use blogger successfully through
this process. I know how to import video, pictures and make the
post look generally attractive. The easiest way to import videos
onto the blog is from YouTube via the button and search the video
you would like to include. Pictures can be included in a similar
way using the button and inserting the image from the file. Below
is an example of an imported video on our blog. What have I learnt?
Blogger
- 26. I have learnt to use various online software such as
freesound, blogger and premiere elements. With freesound, it is
extremely easy to import into premiere. The main steps is
downloading the sound, saving it to the Data Disk, clicking
GetMedia in premiere and inserting the sound. Once this has been
imported, you can drag the sound into the timeline in the
soundtrack section. Here are a few of the sounds we liked: We had
very few difficulties in terms of lighting limitations. This is
because in our shoots, we were very fortunate that the weather was
indistinguishable. Also, inside the caravan, it is extremely dark
anyway and therefore, lighting was not a problem. The bigger
problem was the size of the caravan as it was extremely small and
therefore it was a challenge to manoeuvre the camera around the
scene successfully. What have I learnt? II Did we have any lighting
limitations? Some sounds we liked:
- 27. In our filming process, we was fortunate enough to use a
Canon DSLR camera. Because of this, the quality of our shots looked
much better than the other cameras available to us. Also, we could
utilize the pull-focus to improve the quality of our shots, this is
evident in the shot where the focus is on the nail and then
switches focus to Darren as he walks closer. The image above is the
camera we were fortunate enough to use. This therefore meant that
it had a higher resolution and contributed further to the
professionalism of the clip. The shot next to this is my favourite
shot of our piece as we utilized the pull-focus successfully.
Filming Process
- 28. We faced another challenge when completing a tracking shot
inside the caravan because of the small amount of space we had to
position and move the dolly along the track. In my opinion, we shot
really well inside the caravan as it was very difficult to use the
equipment in a cramped space. In previous shoots, we had difficulty
with the track and dolly in terms of the steadiness of the shot.
This time around, it was a bigger challenge as for two of the
camera shots, the track was placed on uneven grass. Therefore,
before we took the shots, we removed any woodland or debris that
would cause a jolt in the shot and managed to shoot successfully.
Challenges IIChallenges I
- 29. Q7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel
you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
This is a short clip where we as a group discuss our progress from
our original preliminary task to our final product. We converse
about these improvements in terms of planning, narrative,
mise-en-scene, plot and filming. We also talk about the strengths
and weaknesses of our final piece.