Main Task - 12.7 - Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

In our preliminary task, I was new to using Adobe Premier Pro, so our editing was not up to a great standard, we broke the 30 degree rule and because of this, had some trouble editing. The first picture below shows the two shots which broke the rule, and we used a fading transition between shots.

In our main task, we practiced our editing, the cuts between shots are much clearer, and even the jump cuts, which was a last minute, was done with much more care and the finish looks much more professional and clear.

During the preliminary task, we weren't overly careful with the camera placement, in the shot below, Sabene is cut off the side of the shot and thus ruins the shot. We also had a few problems with other shots where part of a character is cut off.

In the main task, we were much more careful with the camera placement, we had Sabene do a lot more retakes in comparison to the preliminary task. Below is a shot where the actor placement, I think, is the best.

I think that we learnt how to set up shots much better, although we were aware of the continuity error in the main task, in the preliminary we spent a long time making sure we wouldn't break the continuity. However, in the main task, we made a mistake in not double checking the outfits after a long break in filming, so I am missing a cardigan in over half the shots.

These two shots are consecutive

Main Task - 12.6 - What have you learnt about techonologies from the process of constructing this product?

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

Below is a of a Powerpoint presentation with my moodboard of the equipment we used for the filming of this opening sequence. It also contains annotations of what exactly I learnt from these.

Main Task - 12.5 - How did you attract/address your audience?

How did you attract/addres your audience?

Our unique selling point to me is the plot, the abandoned school and the polar opposite characters, it's common in comedy films, however there aren't that many films with two opposite characters, usually it's the heroine character against multiple people of the opposite behaviour/personality. I think that the editing also was a selling point, the match up of some actions in the film and different shots made it funnier and thus more appealing/attractive.

For our feedback, we collected an audience that consisted both media students and non-media students, they were all in the age range of 15-18. One member of our group posted the opening sequence on Facebook and asked for feedback, whilst there weren't many comments, we gained feedback from those who had seen it, they did our final film feedback questionnaire.

After looking at the BFFC website, and the classifications for film ratings, I decided that a 12a would be suitable for our film, whilst the film does not have violence, it may have some swearing. Because our audience is teenagers, a PG rating would discourage them from going to a cinema and watching it, due to the fact there would be young children. 

Main Task - 12.4 - Who would be the audience for your media product?

Who would be the audience for your media product?

From my pre-production research, our target audience was that of teenagers and young adults. The responses we got from people in the age range of 16-18 gained positive responses, therefore our film would be targeted at them/possibly at younger children due to the nature of the film. (no violence, swearing etc)

A recent film that was targeted at the teenage/young adult audience was 'Warm Bodies', from the Box Office data, it is evident that as a teen film, it has a clearly greater Positive:Negative ratio (around 10:1). Another film is 'Scary Movie V', the spoof genre of the movie attracts a teenage/young adult audience and there is evidence of success (due to the fact that the film was released mid-April and has already nearly made $47million).

Target Audience Details

For a detailed description of a target audience member, I talked to one of my friends and asked her to tell be about: Her hobbies, films she likes, who (if they have) has influenced her choice of film and general information. Below is her side of the conversation.

Name: Gina

Age: 18
Hobbies: Drawing, writing, cosplaying, making videos, going on the internet and just being a nerd
Films: Most superhero films, especially Iron Man, Star Wars, BBC's Pride movie (it was a film about lions) and lots of Disney

My dad mainly influenced my movie taste, especially the superhero movies as he read all the comics as a kid the same as watching Star Wars and making me watch it as well. My mum and sisters are the complete opposite, they're into romantic comedies and such.

For general life I was born in 1994 and I remember being completely obsessed with Pokemon as a child. I really hated school for most of my life, up until the last year of sixth form really because I was always so shy and had such a difficult time talking to people and making friends and I was also bullied a lot as well. I started cosplaying properly a couple of years ago and that really helped me grow as a person and allowed me to be able to talk to other people much more easily. I love video games and have pretty much played them my whole life and I used to draw a whole lot and I really enjoyed it so I went to De Montfort University to study Game Art Design but hated it and dropped out after my second term. I'd really love to do something in the media industry instead as that's something I have always enjoyed and been good at and I'm currently looking for an apprenticeship within this field. My life dream is to be a YouTube celebrity.

Main Task - 12.3 - What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

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

The production company of a film generally only take the film up to the distribution stage, where synergy and convergence with other companies can occur, because of this, those who produce the film can sometime not have full control of the distribution nor marketing of a film. Unless a big Hollywood studio, the production company will leave the expensive distributing and marketing to another company, with general input.

A lot of independent films require stakeholders, or donations from fans/business deals, to budget the distribution of the film. British films often have many stakeholders, whom believe the film will make the money and want a part of it. Along with this, if a film has been shared and hyped up, stakeholders may provide money for financing, just to get a profit.

Because our film would be a British Independent  we would require a distributor whom focuses on independent films and would not require a lot of money. Personally, I would want 'Picturehouse' (A US distributor of British Independent films) or 'Working Title' (a British film distributor) as our films distributor. Both of these companies have brought great success to independent films, such as 'Picturehouse' with the film 'Starter for 10'.

Main Task - 12.2 - How does your media product represent particular social groups?

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

For this post, I have made another Prezi to answer the questions given in a clear layout.

Main Task - 12.1 - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

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

Below is a link to my directors commentary of the film. For this I tried to mention aspects of the below factors, however, I did not comment on each when aspects of the opening appeared, as I did not have a set script:

Structure of sequence

Style of presentation

Style/colour of font

Genre

Narrative enigma

Introduction of characters

Camera

Sound

Editing & Special Effects

Mise-en-scene

(In the above video, there is a sudden jump between the alien shot and the science stairs, this is because, when exporting, a cut clip of audio replaced itself and there is a part with my swearing and going off topic, so I have had to use the YouTuber editor to cut that part.)

Main Task - 12 - Evaluation: Audience Feedback

Rough Cut Audience Feedback



Above is a video of our target audience, due to time constriaints, I was unable to write about the key feedback we had, so below is bullet points of the key points from our feeback audience.

• Lighting in the first shot was bad, it would have been better if we had turned lights on or added more natural light.
• The running around with no known end added tension, although our feedback suggests that the genre is thought to be more thriller or one that involves more tension.
• They liked the different types of shots and liked the end 360 degree shot too.
• The end shot make them laugh, therefore the comedic aspect of the end was a success.

Final Film Audience Feedback

For this, I created a questionnaire and gave it to 4 people, so analyse what they thought of the film opening sequence. (Questionnaire)

Below is a table showing the responses we got from the 4 people.

Main Task - 11 - Final Opening Sequence

Here is the opening to our film: