Evaluation-Question 7 (Ellie Taylor and Ellie Boyle)

Evaluation-Question 7

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

Ellie Taylor- While filming the film opening we noticed that during our preliminary task we had made several mistakes that we hoped we didn't make in the opening. The technologies we used was different which meant that the camera angles and the movements were different for example the quality of the camera was different as for the film opening we used a HD camera which meant that the quality was less blurry. However, if we were to do some filming again then a few scenes would be different as we had to use a phone for one scene which meant that the quality was slightly off. The bad quality of the-camera meant that the audience could not see the facial reaction of the characters.

From the preliminary task to the film opening we used more information and research to help develop out final piece. While making our task at the start of the year we had done very little research which meant when filming we were not sure what the conventions were and the speech that we needed to use. In our film opening we made sure that we did plenty of research so that we knew the conventions of the genre (romantic Drama)  and understood what we needed to include in the opening. Our research included timelines, storyboard, a photographic storyboard and schedules that would help us when filming; this helped us because during the preliminary task it seemed rushed and we only did a storyboard however it was not well detailed and some scenes changed. It was easier for the film, opening because we were more organised, efficient and we knew more about how we should organise our narrative so that the audience understood the story line.

There were a couple mistakes in the preliminary task with regards to the props which meant that it looked hurried. The first mistake in the preliminary task was the knife and the pencil case; this was the scene when we were showing the evidence that the criminal used however because we had very little time we had to use a butter knife and a pencil case. If we were to re do this scene we would have acquired the proper equipment needed to make it look realistic. The second mistake in the preliminary task was the gun at the end of the scene, this was when one of the characters used their fingers as a gun. by making the mistakes in the preliminary task it enabled us to get the correct props to film for example the wine glasses in the restaurant and the watch that was used to show the time and how the wife looked aggravated. The mistake in the film opening was that in two scenes the phone had moved from one side of the table to the other. 

In the preliminary task we had very little time to film for instance we had a maximum of 2-3 hours which meant that it was rushed and appeared to the audience in a amateurish way. In our film opening we spent on average 5 hours in the first time shooting; 3 hours in the second shooting and and the final time filming we spent 1 hour. This gave us time to re shoot any scenes that we weren't satisfied with and improve them with the feedback we received from the teachers. We have progressed from the preliminary task we used the schools location to shoot our scenes; we made sure in our film opening to use a location which had an audience to make the film look appealing and realistic. The locations used the top of the car park to film the sunset, pizza express and the train station to film our scenes.   

Evaluation-Question 6 (Gabrielle Chambers)

Evaluation-Question 6

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

In the making of our product we used multiple technologies which some where new to us and some we had used before. However we all had our best shot at understanding our technologies and had many practices with them as well.

The four main technologies we used where the camera we used; this camera was a HD camera borrowed from our school. At first it was difficult to use and we has to have a few practices with it but we soon got the hold of it. This was the first time any of us had used a HD camera before so we learnt new skills such as how to attach the camera to the tripod, zoom in and out without it looking to jumpy and more. Unfortunately we did find it quite difficult to control the amount of light the camera was taking in, this especially became a problem during our sunset scene.

The second main technology we used was the tripod, this allowed us to manoeuvre the camera smoothly and easily. This really helped when filming the sunset as we where able to get the pan we wanted across the horizon. Also it meant the camera was level in our shot and we where able to get great shots with the tripod aswell. However unfortunately the tripod was a bit stiff than we would have preferred so therefore in the sunset pan it ended up being a bit jump from where we tried to get a smooth transition.

The third main technology we used was the Apple Mac, We used this to edit our film. We used imovie to edit our final film. We had all used imovie before in previous media tasks, so therefore we already had some skills from this piece of software. We learnt how to add transitions in smoothly and make them shorter and longer, we also learnt how to split the clip to make editing the clip much easier.

The final piece of technology we used was blogger, blogger is a internet blogging site where we posted all of our coursework. this enabled us to keep our coursework in the same place we where also enabled to keep it organised so we knew what we needed to do and what we`d done. we learnt many skills from this as none of us had made a blog before.

Evaluation-Question 5 (Jennifer Skeel)

Evaluation-Question 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

Evaluation-Question 4 (Ellie Taylor)

Evaluation question 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Evaluation-Question 3 (Gabrielle Chambers)

Evaluation-Question 3


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

After doing many planning and research into what company we would like to distribute our media product we finally came up with the conclusion to be distributed by a mainstream company. We believed this was sensible idea as other films similar to ours, like the other woman, were distributed by mainstream companies.

We would like our mainstream company to be a big company for example a company like the big six which involve companies such as Warner Brothers & Universal. We researched into mainstream companies before and we wanted ours to look a lot like a mainstream company. One major thing we noticed was their logos where animated. However when we tried to make this we struggled so ended up having a still logo.

We would want our film to be distributed firstly to cinemas. This is what the majority of mainstream companies do, release the film to the cinema before allowing the audience to see it at home. We would then want to release the film onto DVD, perhaps Blu-ray and sky-downloads to attract a wider audience and obtain more profit.

We chose to distribute our film in this was as we are a mainstream company which means we have more funds which will allow us to get our film out to more screens meaning we get a wider audience. We originally wanted it in the cinema because we believe this will allow us to attract our target audience, woman aged 25-40, as they are most likely to go to the cinema.

There are other ways we could release our film however they will not be as effective as the cinema will be. For example distributing the film on the internet, this would mean that we wouldn't gain as much profit as we would like to. Also we wouldn't be able to control where the film would go because anyone would be able to access this and this could lead to piracy.

Another way we could release our product is by having a blanket release like "A field in England" had where we release our film onto multiple platforms. However this is what an independent company would be looking at rather than a mainstream company as it doesn't get out to many people.

Evaluation-Question 2 (Ellie Boyle)

Evaluation-Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

There is not a wide range of social groups that are represented within our film opening. However we have highlighted representations of gender and age that are shown  in our film opening. 

Gender

The male within our piece is presented stereo typically for a man within this generation. He has a pretentious presence in which he goes around which is conventional for a man of his age and good looks. He is presented as a typical 'lad'. He has been shown in this way because his sexuality of a dominant male is over riding the vulnerable female (which is his wife). Furthermore, the husband makes a cunning smile as he walks to meet his mistress at the station he looks proud of his actions with no care for his wife at all. Empathising that he is selfish and careless towards what he already has which is normally stereotypical of men. Stereotypically, he takes his wife for a fool and doesn't think she will realise, taking her kindness for a weakness. However, non-stereotypically, she finds out that he is meeting another women which doesn’t meet her stereotypical role of an ignorant wife who adores him.

The patriarch has a sense about him when the mistress walks down the steps to meet him as he walks round from the corner he smirks its almost although he is imagining what is happening and gives the idea of The Male Gaze Theory. She is there to be looked at almost as an accessory for him and the camera is acting as the males eyes. The women are both stereotypically seen as vulnerable within the opening showing their stereotypical emotions and weaknesses. However, it is non stereotypical that the cheater is often found out as men are seen stereotypically as intellectual and physically strong. 


The wife has glasses this further adds to her intelligence and the black suit the husband wears represents strength as well as a dark side.

The mistress is dressed is a sexualised manor with a tight fitting little black dress on and this presents the sexual attractiveness to the married male.

The group of women are seen as oblivious of each other and depend upon the male. Whereas the one male is seen as independent he doesn’t seem to think about the repercussions of his actions and hasn’t been discreet about his where abouts. The text he replied to at the table was un stereotypical as men are meant to be seen as smart and he almost got found out. Finally, it seems the two women share the physical and mental attraction and the husband just cares about their physique; implying women are objects to be used and hurt emotionally.

Age

Age within our film did play a role it seemed the wife and him had a family which meant that he was not only betraying his marriage but his children which makes the film more emotional as it has a wider impact. The mistress seemed younger and her beauty seemed to draw him into her. However, this follows the stereotype young and beautiful women are those that catch your eye and she would make him feel good but the wife would catch his heart but stereotypically as a male he is thinking with his eyes and has over estimated his ability of keeping his little secret from is antagonist. The fast pace at the meal could even be seen as representing small snippets of the wives’ memories of her and him and the sunset at the beginning seemed bright like their meal and marriage with all the laughs and smiles but the tense music and her seeing him with another lady later on when it gets darker that the relationship isn’t so bright anymore. The sunset may be conveyed as a symbol almost although the wife is above looking down upon his sin against her. The story is told from the wives’ perspective we follow her upon her journey throughout the film opening. From the happy bubbly moments to the deceitful end of the opening and her look of shock and disgust. Her naivety is presented by way in which she is dressed she looks sophisticated and classy in comparison to the ‘other women’/ mistress.
 

Reason in which we did not incorporate race within our film was because we believed that we were already taking on enough social groups and therefore, it would have become too much for us to stay on track with our genre. However, to improve i am sure we could have used those of a different ethnicity, race or disability. Despite this it would be difficult to find those with a disability or race to cast as we weren't looking to address race within our narrative and it acts a roar subject within society.

The way in which the story is told by the wife is best for our audience as it is aimed at women from the ages of 25-40 by this age the majority of people have had some form or emotional and physical attachment to someone and felt heartbreak and pain. So for our genre we thought it would be best told from a middle aged women herself.

How we used camera and editing to show representation
We decided the binary opposites within our piece are male vs female and weak vs strong. The first shot we used was the panning shot of the sunset sky this connotes symbols of the romantic drama genre itself and was also used within the Best of me. Similarly as these two films shown our films title was too in Bold white text we believed this could connote the innocence of the wife within our film. Our text was also written like a romantic letter to a loved one showing connotations of love within our opening.

 This over the shoulder shot over dinner allows the audience to see the text but the wife cannot this is the use of dramatic irony. However, this Is also situational irony as the juxtaposition of the loving music and the romantic dinner doesn't fit the mood of him being devious. The placement of the watch and the phone being centre of the frame shows they are significant to the piece. This was done because we wanted the audience to be able to relate to the change in technology and believe that many of our audience will be able to relate to the fact advanced technology is ruining relationships so we placed it in the centre and slowed down the pace to show the significance of this gadget. The close up at the end of Gabby the wife was to show added emotional as a result of her husbands actions and to also gain a cliff-hanger onto our piece to immerse the audience in wanting to see what she does next.

 The change in pace from the meal to the train station gained suspense, the pace became quicker and you wait impatiently to see the reveal of who is walking and who they are walking to meet. You can tell they are important as the actor is being tracked and the music becomes more dramatic. There is then a tilting shot used to reveal that it is the husband and a low angle to show his dominance and that as a man looks down upon women as they look up to him. We used cuts between parts of our film and edited them so they were far smoother using transitions for the audience and fade to blacks. Furthermore, we used eyeliner matches between our characters to also show they are equals. The two main binary opposites in our film opening are wise vs foolish and naive vs cynical.

Evaluation-Question 1 (Jennifer Skeel)

Evaluation-Question 1

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