As media studies evaluation2

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AS Media Studies Evaluation Hannah Dunsdon

Transcript of As media studies evaluation2

AS Media Studies Evaluation

Hannah Dunsdon

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

When making our media product ‘Vengeance’ we used, developed and challenge forms and conventions of real media products. We met the conventions of a typical political thriller yet challenged them through our development in order to for our audience to receive area’s they are familiar with but give them some variation as well.During the research process each of us looked at previous media products to help us achieve our political thriller. With this in mind I analysed the use of camera, mise en scene, sound and editing, this helped me understand the typical codes and conventions . One of the openings I analysed was ‘The Bourne Ultimatum’ and found that the titles used were on a black screen with white writing and placed in the centre of the screen. When looking at other thrillers I found that a lot have used their titles in the same way which is why we decided to use this generic convention in our own product. I also found that strong characters appear to be dressed smartly and presented well for exampleJames Bond in ‘Casino Royale’ He is always has a suite on and is cleanly shaven. This compares to our actress who like James Bond is always wearing a suite and looks presentable and smart therefore he shows a similar mise en scene. Not only this but we placed him in the centre of the screen to show his importance in the film. This develops the generic conventions as our male protagonist is presented stereotypically.

See 0.35

See 0.21

• We have not just developed forms, but subverted the forms and conventions of real media products. We included flashbacks into our opening to add to the intensity of the thriller. To make sure the flashbacks were clear to the audience we decided they should go in black and white. The openings we looked at did not have flashbacks, therefore it subverts expectations of an opening . Even though we decided to challenge the conventions it creates suspense and keeps the audience intrigued.

See 1.39The choices we made during the editing and film process always comes back to our genre (Political Thriller). In many aspects we have developed forms to give the audience awareness and familiarity that’s why we looked at other opening to give us idea’s and concepts . This shows through the camera, editing, sound and mise en scene. For example one of the political conventions was different locations therefore we thought The Houses of Parliament would be perfect because it is relevant to politics and it is such an iconic building.

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I believe by subverting some conventions it adds to the intensity of the genre. Audience responded positively towards this because there are still elements they are familiar with for example presenting gender stereotypically. Personally I think from researching real media products we have been able to achieve this. We could have chosen to do terrorism as main theme to make it more political, but overall I think we have successfully developed and challenged forms and conventions.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Throughout our opening we considered the representation of characters in terms of age, class, gender and race. Our first scene shows that we have presented gender in a very stereotypical way [ see 0.11] with the male in the centre of our screens and the wife on the left, who is slouching a little which connotes that males are deemed to be more important in our opening.

This is reinforced by through the mise en scene as he is wearing a dark blue suite and a white shirt which connotes masculinity and power. The use of setting andalso Influences this idea which makes him more important within the scene, throughthe use of the desk and apple mac computer. Compare to his wife who is just standing in the foreground, off centre highlights her lack of importance within the opening.

We considered race when creating our opening. The protagonist is white British which would be atypical because stereotypically it is normally men from different cultures who are against the Prime Minister. From doing this we were hoping to engage a different range of audience as they wouldn’t expect to see a British male from upper class to be against the Prime Minister of his country. This idea is reinforced by the close up again connoting his importance. By subverting social ideology it makes the plot more believable as the would be able to relate to our male protagonist.

We have presented the audience with a stereotypical representation of a house wife. This is reinforced through mise en scene once again as she is dressed in a baggy red jumper which connotes love and also danger , if the film continued this is what we would see. The audience can not connect with her as she is always side on this highlights her lack of importance in the opening yet juxtaposes with the on going of the opening.

We used an establishing shot of the Westminster Station sign [see 1.30] in London because it is so well known to the world. Not only this but it fits in well with our genre (Political Thriller), giving the opening a sense of realism. The audience can relate to this as they are being presented with such an iconic part of London which continues into the next shot.

Our protagonist targets a wide range of audience’s because of the way we presented him. A business man in his late 20’s , we were targeting mostly middle to upper class as our opening as linked to politics and traditionally it is those who are upper/middle class who are interested in that. He dominates most scenes in our opening being placed in the centre reinforcing his importance. Therefore the audience are able to connect with him and engage in what he is doing within it.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Before deciding which media institution would be best for distributing our media product I look at existing films withthe same genre as ours and then researched them in more detail finding what media institution distributed theirs. Firstly I looked at ‘Enemy Of The State’ and found that they had been distributed by ‘Touchstone Pictures’.

The title has been placed in the centre with bold, capitalised white writing so it is clear for people to see.

Will Smith has been centralised and made bigger than the other character on the poster suggesting he has more importance.

Mise en scene, he is wearing a suite symbolising business ,professional . Linking it to the title , it could infer that he is a lawyeror something with high pay.

The picture looks like it has been taken through a surveillance Camera which could infer that someone is after them and following them.

Touchstone Pictures is an American film studio, owned by The Walt Disney Company. However it releases film that have more mature themes and darker tones.

Another film we looked at was ‘Spy Game’ which was distributed by ‘Universal Studio’s Inc’

Universal Studios Inc (Also known as Universal Pictures is an American motion picture studio owned by Comast. It is one of the longest lived motion pictures located outside of Hollywood.

Again the title has been centralised with Bold, white capitalised writing so It is clear and easy to read. Behind is a red banner symbolising danger or blood.

Much like ‘Enemy Of The State’ Robert Redford has been centralised and has been positioned at the top of the poster which could infer he has higherImportance within the film.

Brad Pitt is presented to the audience in a much darker light. This could infer he is in some sort of danger.

Mise En Scene, although it is not clear on what the characters are wearing they both look well presented and Brad Pitt is wearing sunglasses, making it hard for the audience to connect with him.

Although both films have similar features to our film ‘Vengeance’ I feel that our product would be best suited to ‘Touchstone Pictures’ as they distribute their products through the cinema’s, this way we gain a bigger range of audiences. Therefore ‘Vengeance’ would have the potential to make more money.

By challenging and developing generic factors of a typical ‘Political Thriller’ it may attract different audiences who may not normally watch thrillers. By creating a ‘Political Thriller’ it will hopefully attract businessmen/ women because of the iconic location that are presented to them throughout the opening making them relate to it.

From look at ‘The Enemy Of The State’ our mise en scene is quite similar to theirs and work well within the Political Thriller genre. This is because we have used typical conventions such as the locations and costume choices, but have also challenged them to make sure it is not cliché.

After doing the research on different media institutions I have come to the conclusion that ‘Vengeance’ our film will be best suited to be distributed by ‘Touchstone Pictures’ rather that ‘Universal Studios’., as they target more mature themes with darker tones which I believe would benefit our opening more.

Who would be the audience for you media product?

The audience we were aiming towards is 15+ but before we decided on this the group and I decided to research the ‘BBFC’ in order to help us understand what we could and couldn’t include if we were going to make our film a 15. We also included questions in our survey to determine which aged audiences we’re going to want to watch it the most. LOOK AT QUESTIONNAIRE AND TALK ABOUT MORE! Many other films with the same genre as ours such as ‘Enemy Of The State’ have been rated 15 by the BBFC.

From our Preliminary Task survey we found that our opening would attract mainly males and as has links to the business world such as the locations (Westminster, London) this is understandable. As we have challenged and developed generic factors of a typical Political Thriller it has broadened our audience range and makes it more intriguing for our audience.

The audience is being put in the male protagonists position as he is the most central character and you get and insight into his thoughts and feelings, this adds to the suspense of the opening as you don’t find out what the protagonist is planning for the Prime Minister.

Target Audience Feedback

In order to evaluate our opening properly, we created a survey for our audience to feedback to us what they thought was good/what needed to be improved. We created this on Google Docs and posted the link on social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and underneath our final product on Youtube to gain as much feedback as possible.

MaleFemaleYes

No

Did the opening titles sequences make sense to you?

We welcomed constructive criticism to aid us if we were able to re do our opening.

Like we thought the majority of our viewers were male.

How did you attract/address you audience?

Stereotypically, by having a male protagonist, it allows us to attract particular social group for example males. Meaning they are able to connect with him and his emotions.

The close up, it allows the audience to identify the protagonists emotions and feelings. Not only this but we are able to see clearly his facial expressions which has been influenced by the typical generic conventions of a thriller.

By calling our thriller ‘Vengeance’ we have created suspense as the audience does not know why or what the vengeance is about.

We decided to include flashbacks in our opening and by editing them to be black and white it is clear and intriguing to the audience we are targeting.

By choosing to dress the male protagonist smartly in suite and tie, it will once again attract the male sex as the colour blue connotes masculinity and power.

The locations we decided to use in our opening are very iconic to the business world therefore would attract business men/women because they are able to relate to our opening.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Throughout the process of filming and editing our political thriller, I have learnt a variety of skills and techniques when it comes to use of equipment and using Adobe Premiere Pro. This shows massively when you look back at our continuity task and animatic. For one more time and effort was put into our film opening and we took into consideration each and every shot.

At the beginning of the course, I knew absolutely nothing except how turn on a camera so this process has been a huge learning curve for me. I now know how to use a camera effectively and produce shots that create meaning. I found the movement of the camera quite difficult at first but through practising and re shooting shots I now feel comfortable shooting moving shots [see 1.44]. Furthermore I learnt how important framing was as it was important not to cut off any body parts when shooting an extreme close up unless it was your intent to not include a part of the body. For example in our close up of the protagonist it took a couple of shots to get his whole head in the shot otherwise it would have looked silly. [see 0.10] where an effective close up was used.

I really enjoyed the editing side, I learnt how to use Adobe Premiere Pro with the help of my teachers, peers and by looking it up on the internet. When editing one day Melissa and I came across a problem we realised after the London shoot that ticket we zoomed in on said ‘child’ rather than adult which would have broken the realism of the final product. We tried to edit it so the ‘child’ is blurred out, we really struggled doing it but with the help of the teachers and looking it up we managed to do it. However in the end we didn’t use the shot in the final cut but that didn’t matter because we now know how to do it for future purposes. Using this software it enabled me to learn how to use effects to make our media product better for example [ see 0.32] fades for the title.

Looking back at your Preliminary Task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full project?

Looking back to the preliminary task I have learnt that the research and planning is just as important if not more than the filming and editing process . In our continuity task we did not have a specific genre in mind, therefore when the time came to start making decisions about the final project we sat down as a group and discussed the possible genres we could use for our thriller. From there we research various genres and the codes and conventions within them. When we first started filming we had a completely different genre in mind, it started off a psychological thriller but we felt it was to cliché. So we went back and researched ‘political thrillers’.

Not only this but organisation was key to the process and progression. During the continuity task we had previously filmed some shots in one of the drama rooms and when we went back the next day to film a bit more the room was occupied, therefore we weren’t able to use it. When it came to filming the opening we made sure we much more organised. Furthermore I didn’t realise how important the storyboard, seeing it visually in the animatic helped us see what was good and what needed changing and what worked effectively. It helped us to work out the lengths of the shots and the transitions, although our final product has changed a great deal from our animatic it really helped us to produce a better quality film opening.

I think that, my filming has improved throughout and that there is so many different shots and angles that you have to think about when making a film. I feel that within our opening there is a variety of different shots compared to our continuity task. That is a result of feeling a lot more confident on how different shots can create different meanings. I feel that our product is a reflection on how much we have learnt individually and as a group and that we can take what we have learnt into next year. We have met the codes and conventions of a political thriller and also challenge them to make our opening as engaging and exciting as possible.