Evaluation - Lauren Westlake

  Evaluation

1. I believe that our final media product uses forms and conventions of real media products because like other thriller films we have used the same camera angles that they would ensuring we create the same atmosphere and look as them. From our research we discovered all the different types of camera shots that a typical thriller film would use, for example panning and close ups. From which we then incorporated into our opening thriller sequence. Also our film typically used thriller conventions by in our opening sequence we had a lot of screaming, which is stereotypically found in thriller films. Also the music we used was very mysterious and created a lot of tense atmosphere within the media product. I believe this was effective as the music related to our thriller a lot and without it the sense of anxiousness towards the films would be much less.

2. As the characters in our media product were around 15-16 years old I believe that the social groups we represented were teenagers and young adults. Although the characters are very sly and mysterious as they are hiding a very big secret, I believe this can be perceived in some ways an accurate representation of young adults and some teenagers. This being as they are stereotypically scorned by many members of the general public as being associated with getting up to no good and causing trouble.

3. The types of media institution that I would like distribute our product would be a small independent production company. I would like a company like this to produce it as they are most likely to specialise in low budget films, like ours. A reason why as a group we would choose this is because it will cost less money for them to make the film, which means potentially a higher profit could be made which we can therefore spend on developing new ideas for the film and for next time maybe more famous actors. Also we can spend the money on marketing getting our film more recognised by our target audience, making us more popular and making more money. An example of a small production we may choose to use is South West Film who focus on clients in the Bristol area. The company specialise partivcualry in film and marketing and therefore could be very useful for us .

the marketing of the product so people get to know your film or a better cast.

4. As our film was rated as 15 this would mean that you would have to be that age or above to watch it, therefore I believe the products target audience is of teenagers and young adults who are looking for a good thriller, with an element of mystery and anticipation throughout.

Ways we attracted out target audience was that in our thriller the characters are around the same age as what we predict our target audience to be therefore we felt they would enjoy it more as it could possibly be relatable to them. Also another form of attracting the target audience was that the music that we used in the product was of a fast paced beat therefore making it more interesting and exhilarating.
For more information about what people of around the age of 15+ liked in a film I asked a few people their opinions of some quesations I asked them.
First of all I asked Sam who is aged 17 years old. She told me that her favourite type of films is thriller and horror. She said she paticularly liked the thriller genre as it 'gives you a rush and excitement and is enjoyable because it leaves you wondering what will be happening next'. Then I asked Sam what typical conventions she would expect in a thriller film and she answered with 'I would expect to hear scary and creepy music which add to making the atmoshpere very on edge'.
Next I asked a 17 year old boy Jack who said his favourite type of films is also thriller. When I asked Jack what typical conventions he would expect to see or hear in a thriller film he answered 'Alot of makeup used to make the characters look scary, and alot of special effects making the film have alot of action'.

5. From constructing our media product I have learnt many new skills on the forms of technology. For example I have learn how to use a video camera in order to produce a film opening camera, creating different shots and angles in order to create a professional look and create typical thriller convention features. Also I have learnt to use iMovie to do editing for our media product on an apple mac computer. This has helped me as without learning to do this we would not have been able to add music and titles to our scenes. Also it was useful as we could cut and crop scenes to our satisfaction, creating a smooth running film.

6. From looking back at our Prelim Task in comparison to where we are at now I feel I have progressed significantly. This is as in our prelim task we did not use all different camera shots whereas now we have used a different range of camera shots and angles in order to become successful and effective in creating a media product. Also now as a group our editing skills have improved significantly as our prelim task editing was very basic, compared to now where we can add effects, music, colours and titles to our scenes which we could not have done a few months ago.

As an overall conclusion I believe our thriller film is effective as it does include typical conventions of a thriller genre however if I was to do this task again there are many things that as a group we would decide to differently. However the main part that we would do differently to improve upon next time would be the time of day we film. This is because the first time we started filming our thriller it was in the dark and although at the time we could see everything clearly on the camera, once we got back to do the editing the video clips were very dark and it was unclear what was going on within the scenes. Therefore we had to film it all over again but this time in the daytime so we were able to see everything going on in the scenes, but to add effect we darkened some of the scenes on iMovie to make it seem darker than it actually was. This did lose us a lot of time within our work, although we were still able to complete it in the given time.