Shannon - Evaluation 2

Final film

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZx6dDGneaQ

Evaluation 4

How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Throughout research, planning and evaluation stages we have used Google blogger to record our journey from planning our 5 minute film to the end product. Having the blog allowed us to keep all our research in one place making it easier to create our plot as all the information like what makes a movie in the thriller genre and what makes it a age 12A certificate was very accessible. On this blog we were able to record what we were doing weekly and what we still needed to do helping us stay on track to meet our deadline.



The internet played a huge part in being able to make our film as all the information we found was from the internet without it, the process of research would have taken longer meaning less time to create the actual film. Without YouTube we would not have been able to put our film on view to the public so we are thankful for a free video upload service allowing our film to be watched. YouTube also allowed us to research into other thriller films by watching clips of conventions used in those type of films which helped us get an idea of what our film needed to be put in the thriller genre.

When we had gathered all the research we needed, we made a detailed plotline and used Google Docs to create a questionnaire. Having access to this type of technology made it easier to get feedback on whether our story would do well. In order to get our questionnaire to as many people as possible in as little time we used Facebook to send the questionnaire around, allowing us to get a rough idea of whether our target audience would like it.

Once we had finished research we used Celtx to create our script. Celtx is easy to use and has all the things needed to create a script. Although making the script wasn't a fast process using this application made it a little easier as if we had used something like Microsoft Word we would have had to do the layout of the script our self, whereas Celtx does it for you.

When we came to creating the film we needed a number of technologies to help us. One of the main technologies needed was a camera. We used a Sony HD 1000 camera to film all of our shots. The use of advanced equipment allowed us to do more tricky shots which would increase the quality of our finished film. We were able to adjust focus manually and zoom in closer giving us better shots to work with. One slight difficulty we found when first using the Sony camera was that after filming a scene we decided to watch it to see how the shots were but we made a mistake in carrying on filming without rewinding the tape back to where we finished so we had to reshoot the scenes again, which delayed the process by a day or two.

We found it a smart option to film for a day then bring the camera back in and upload our footage onto Final Cut Express to ensure we wouldn't do the mistake of filming over our existing shots. This made the process a lot easier as we would know what still had to be filmed. When we began editing on this software, we were already used to using it from our AS year so the process ran smoothly. Having the chance to use Final Cut Express allows us to ensure our film is continuous and ran smoothly without any glitches. Final Cut Express gave us the chance to edit our film with tricky shots like the passing of time scene where we sped up the shot making it look like Hollie had been watching the world go creating a sad feeling for Hollie.

When we had finished editing shots and began looking at the sound and adding music on the internet we used a Zoom Recorder for Hollie when talking on the phone as the sound on the footage was hard to hear because of the wind, using this equipment made it easier to understand our film. We also used the Zoom Recorder when creating our radio trailer, we were able to do a few takes on the recorder giving us options of which one to choose.

 We also used Photoshop elements to create our film poster, as we hadn't had much experience with this, we had a workshop with our teacher which showed us how to Photoshop things together allowing us to create a realistic poster.

Having this type of technology available to us allowed us to speed up the process ensuring we met the deadline. The use of advanced equipment like the cameras and Final Cut Express allowed us to create our film to the best it could be as we were able to edit our film just like the main stream companies do. The fact we could edit a little then take a break and do blog work but still be able to go back to edit allowed us more freedom as we didn't need to sit editing all day to finish it. We were able to go back and edit whenever we wanted, which allowed us to spot mistakes that we may have not seen straight away like the sound for instance. On some cases we found the technology to hinder our process as some days the internet wouldn't work so we were unable to research or blog where we were at. Final Cut Express was relatively reliable but on the odd occasion would freeze meaning we would have to turn the computer on and off losing our work if we hadn't saved it.



Evaluation 3

https://www.examtime.com/p/809774-What-have-you-learned-from-your-audience-feedback--mind_mapsby megannewton27

Evaluation 2

Evaluation 1

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

 

As we planned our film, Low Profile we knew continuity would be needed in order to allow our film to be understood by our audience, giving a sense of believability. In order to keep continuity, when we filmed scenes on different days we made sure mise en scene never changed so once we filmed a scene in one location like the fountain scene, we took note of Hollies outfit making sure she wore the exact same thing the following day for the kidnap seen. 

 

These two shots were taken on different days at different times but you can't tell as we made sure the weather and outfit was the same.

As most of our scenes were indoor we did not have to worry about the time of filming, however for our kidnap and fountain scene we had to plan ahead what time of day we would film and decide how long we needed to film each scene to make sure the lighting did not get too dark. Throughout our film we have kept to the 180 degree rule, making sure that even when re filming or editing we did not change the 180 degree shot. During filming when using the large camera and tripod we found it hard to do shot reverse shots as we found the laptop scenes tricky to shoot when trying to get close enough to the laptop on the bed to allow us to see the writing however it made filming establishing shots at the start of new scenes easier allowing the audience to know what’s happening in the film. We also knew during editing that we would have to change the sound levels so that the changes in scenery weren't too obvious, so by adding music to our film it makes continuity better.

Our A2 5 minute film sticks to the conventions of thriller films rather than challenging typical conventions. In order to understand what our film needed to be classed in the thriller genre, we researched and looked in to other films. During research we found inspiration from a number of films like The Call where the villain is never seen until the end which we incorporated into our film to keep the audience intrigued to find out who it is. We also stuck to the typical convention of the protagonist being a young girl who finds herself in trouble which sticks to Strauss’ theory of binary opposition where there is evil vs good and men vs women where the man overpowers the woman. Using these conventions we knew it would give the audience what they expected. There are no elements within our film that uses parody or deliberate pastiche, as we were aiming for our film to be a serious thriller and comedic in no way.

The villains face is never seen until the very end in the kidnap film.

The main aim of our film was to entertain the audience giving them satisfaction and pleasure in what they were seeing, to do this we used an entertaining genre which allows us to use suspense and action in our 5 minute film. The plot of the film keeps the audience intrigued throughout, right until the very end. I feel we have achieved this as our film gives a range of emotions keeping it entertaining to watch. However, although it is there to entertain we felt our film could be used in educational ways to show the dangers of the internet. We aimed to show that no one is entirely sure who they are speaking to which we took inspiration from the Catfish series, and I am very confident that we achieved this by using the most dramatic way possible of showing Hollie being kidnapped as it gives a sense of shock and highlights the dangers.

3 - What have you learned from your audience feedback? - Ellie Lovatt

When we first agreed on the chosen plot we were going to go with, we wrote it down and created a questionnaire to which we presented to various members of the public. We did this questionnaire in two ways. The first was an online questionnaire we created on Google Docs of which various members of the public answered the questions themed around our plot. These were the results.



Another way of discovering audience feedback on our first draft of out plot was doing a face to face interview and recording our findings. We asked the same questions, yet found we got more genuine results when the audience were put on the spot. These are the results.

Throughout this initial research it gave us the opportunity to let the public scrutinize any problems they may have had with the plot and helped us develop and better our original plot into one we were happy with and one we knew our audience would like.



After clearing up any problems and changing anything that wouldn't have worked with the audience, we managed to create and export a final film we were happy with. We then created another questionnaire for the audience to complete on our film to see what they liked and disliked, which again gave us another opportunity to fine tune any other problems that may have been found. One problem was the sound at the beginning that without audience feedback us as a group wouldn't have picked up on. We feel as though the audience feedback has helped us make our film reach a higher standard and achieve a better quality.

Using digital technology made obtaining audience feedback a lot easier than doing it manually. It was much less time consuming and allowed us to get more feedback than we would have done originally.