Note to the examiner

My blog is a simple layout and easy to follow. The labels on the right hand side will direct you through the planning, research, production, continuity exercise and evaluation of my work. All of the work I have done is coloured in grey and any work that has been coloured in red has been done by another member of my group. Our group member Jay dropped out of media so I have not highlighted him for credit.

The Final Product

Alone

Showcase + Audience questionnaire response

The Main Showcase

In the main showcase we showed all our openings for our films to the pupils of the school. The overall audience response was good we gave out questionnaire's to the audience and the response were bellow.

Audience questionnaire response-

1 what did you like about the thriller opening ?

 Editing and camera was good.

·         The narrative was clear and a good use of camera shots and editing to create effects.

·         Good use of creating suspense and atmosphere at the end.

·         Excellent use of close ups at the park scene, a good use of music. A simple story line, which strikes a chord.

2. How could we improve on the following films?

·            To use a wider range of sounds.

·            ‘Wanted to know what happens to the boy at the end of the film.’

Overall this is a good response to our opening. People asked 'What happened to the to the boy at the end of the film' which was the response we wanted to get. Our simple narrative hook was used efficiently to get the results we wanted.   

Evaluation Question 7

Question 7
7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Over all I think the preliminary task was easier than I expected. But the full product took a lot of work and a lot of improvements to try and get it right.  I expected the full product to be as straightforward as the preliminary task but it was a lot more complicated than I expected. The task to a few re-filming and some think overs which was harder than I expected. The preliminary task did not require any music, sound effects or transitions. It only required for it to be a continuity.  

One thing I have learnt from the preliminary task was that continuity is extremely important in any sort of film. I have also learnt for the preliminary task that continuity errors are a common error while filming. I have learnt a few different skills from the full product. One of the skills I have learnt is time management. I have learnt this by all our group deciding on what time to go filming and what time different pieces of work has to be in for example having the script on time so we could go out filming. But the most important thing I have learnt from this task is team work. I have found that teamwork is very important in a task like this because everyone depends on each for it to work. For example me, Ashley and Harry all split up the script, storyboard and shot list and did one each. This task would have been difficult to do by ourselves so with teamwork we made the task easier.

It didn't take that long to get all the shots in the preliminary task because they were simple shots and the refilming we did only took an hour to do because most of the shots were taken close together . But in the full product It took a long time to get all the shots. It took a long time due to the weather and we couldn't film the outside shots. This interrupted our filming timetable. Another factor which affected our filming was that Harrys brother was only able to film of weekends which affected how long it took us to get the shots greatly. We also went and refilmed most of the shots because we changed the storyline so it took even longer to film. The inside shots weren't a problem because we could do it at any time and it wasn't effect by the weather.

Through the preliminary task I have learnt the basic of the camera and didn't use many complexe shots. We all shared the task in filming in the preliminary task. But in the full product I have learnt a lot more about the camera and how to use the camera effectively. I was the lead cameraman during our task and I have a better understanding on how  to use the camera. I have learnt that many different shots could be used in different ways. For example the POV shot can show the emotion of the character is-well as the point of view.

The preliminary task helped us to manage our time and resources. The deadlines we created help us get the task and other work in on time. We had to manage our resources well because it would get us ready for when we make the full product.

Overall the preliminary task was simple and easy to do whereas the full product took time and was hard to make. The full product took a lot more thought and resources to make and the preliminary did need that much thought and needed very little resources.

Evaluation Question 6

Question 6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

I have learnt a lot about technologies from the process of constructing this product. One of the main technologies I have learnt is iMovie for editing skills. I think that this is one of the most important skills because I can use this in the future and is a useful skill to know. I have learnt splitting clips, voice-overs, adding sound effects, adding text and transitions. We used all of these effects in our main product. One example of these editing skills is in our opening. We used a slow-mo effect in one of the scenes to build up tension. We used adding sound effects in the last few scenes of our opening. We added in the sound effect of Jack (Harry) shouting his brothers name. This was an important scene to our film and our editing skills helped us achieve it.

Another way I have learnt different technologies is by creating and setting up a blog on blogger. This has taught me how to set up and work my own blog. This also taught me such skills as managing and communicating. The blog has helped me keep up with managing my work.

I have also learnt a lot from using cameras for the preliminary task. We have learnt how the cameras work and we used them in our main task of creating a film. Using the cameras taught us about the different types of video files we could use for the editing. We also changed the type of video file so it would work for iMovie. I have also learnt the importance of a tripod when filming. The tripod helped us greatly in many shots. It was essential in every pan and establishing shot. Without the tripod we would have struggled in filming 

Through this task we also learnt more about doing research, for example researching different film openings on Google. This helped us in the research process of the task and we developed a better knowledge on how to research the different subjects through such medias as Youtube. 

Another skill I have learnt is that I have developed my skills at photoshop. Near the end of the task I had to create a poster to promote our opening. I used photoshop to create this which overall helped me to work a figure out some of the features on photoshop which I didn't know before. For example I have learnt a better knowledge in using different overlays so it would fit the pictures.  

Evaluation Question 5

 Question 5. How did you attract/address your audience?

We addressed the target audience by making one of the characters (the main protagonist) relate to the audience. Are target audience is people with either children or siblings. We attracted the target audience by creating a certain atmosphere in which some of the audience might have been in before. We also attracted the audience by making the opening as realistic as possible. We done this by making the opening that the older brother has to look after his younger brother. This opening would relate to the audience because most of the audience would have been put in this position before. We did this by making him a stereotypical teenager. This would link to some of the audience because some of the audience would be around that age and understand the character because it relates to them. The younger brother would also relate to the audience. The character would relate to the parents of the audience because the character is played as a stereotypical 6-8 years old. We did this by making him look innocent and venerable.  The parents of the audience would relate to this because they would understand what it would be like to have a child at that age and because of that, they could relate to the whole opening.


The types of camera angles we used to make the audience relate in different ways. One camera angle we used was a POV shot of Jack (Harry) running around looking for his brother. This shot was used to make it look like he was panicking. This might address some of the audience because they could have been in a similar situation and could relate to the panicking.

 Another way we have addressed our audience is from the reaction shot of the younger brother in the flat when the older brother tells them they are going to the park. The reaction shot of the brother was an important shot because it showed the characters attitude. The characters attitude would be similar to other kids around his age (6-8). That would mean that some of the parents of the audience will understand this shot and reaction.


The music we used in the opening would attract most of our audience. It would attract most of the audience because the music we chose had a every creep theme. We chose a piece of music which sounded similar to a nursery rhyme and that would symbolise a child. The overall creep theme of the song is there to build tension in the scene. This would attract the audience by the use of enigma codes that work with the song.

The editing we did for the opening would attract our audience. We used different types of editing techniques to attract our audience. One of which was quick cuts. We used this near the end of the film quick cuts to show the build of tensen. The build of tensen will attract audience by creating the enigma code of 'What will happen next?'.
  

Evaluation question 4

Question 4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

The target audience is extremely important throughout media studies. All media is made with a target audience in mind. There are many ways we could split up the target audience. The 5 main categories is income bracket/status, age, gender, race and location.

There is one common way that of showing the income bracket. At the top of the income bracket it would be lawyers and doctors for example. At the end of the bracket there would be unemployed and casual works. our target audience would be the people within the middle bracket so that would be tradesperson and junior managers. These type of people would be used for our target audience because The characters and setting we used would be common in the middle of the income bracket.

The age for our audience would be 16-40. We chose this age because we thought that people between this age would have a younger sibling or have a child. Age was a important factor in our target audience because it was also a big part in our opening sequence. The age between the two characters was important because it could also be represented as the same age as our target audience. Gender wasn't that important in our target audience because our target audience was directed at both. But females might have a greater emotional  attachment to the younger brother and that might make a difference in our audience gender.

The location would be people who live in a suburban area. This would be people who live outside the main city. We chose a suburban area because the film was set in an suburban area which would mean the audience also lives in a suburban area or has lived in a suburban.

Our group decided on our film classification to be 15. We decided this classification because it meets with our target audience. We didn't chose lower because we think that younger people wouldn't be interested with the thriller genre. We also agreed that having the classification at 15 would allow us to use forms of graphical scenes if we were going to make it into a whole film.