MEDIA EVALUATION Q.7- Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel that have learnt in the progression of it to the final task?

In order to answer this, as a group we filmed us discussing this question. Unfortunately we couldn't load this onto Blogger, so we uploaded our video to YouTube instead. 

Here is the link -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvNpFaDeDuw&feature=youtu.be

Storyboard - Main Task

Here are our storyboards for our main task. We've changed and changed and changed our idea, but finally we decided on our story.

 

 

Poster Analysis

As I am thinking of creating a poster for my media evaluation q.5- I decided it would good research to look at a poster which is of the similar genre to our. I chose the Insidious poster -

Looking at and analysing has really helped me to learn what makes a good poster in the horror genre. 

Evaluation Planning

After we have finished our Main Task we have to evaluate it. We have seven questions to answer and it is advised that we use different medias to answer the question.

In this blog post I will share what I am planning to do in order to answer these seven questions.

 

1st Question- In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge the forms and conventions of real media products?

 For this question we need to link it to research we have done about our chosen genre, such as camera shots and movement, colour correction and title style. For this I might look at using a PowerPoint to be able to pinpoint specific moments in our opening sequence or perhaps a directors commentary where I can pause it to be able to talk about how our opening sequence uses, develops or challenges conventions.

 

2nd Question- How does your media product represent particular social groups?

For this question again we need to again link to research and particularly audience research that we have done. Also I need to think about our actor and how she is presenting young girls in our opening sequences. In terms of response I think I will use the interview technique so that someone can ask me questions about the opening sequence and I can hopefully answer the question better.

3rd Question- What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

 Here we need to identify the different media outlets we know such as cinema or straight to TV or DVD? Or perhaps even stream it online on website such as Netflix or just YouTube. It would be good I think to create a poster if we were thinking of distributing it in a cinema to show that we have thought about how films that do go to cinema are presented. For this I might just speak to the camera. For example from research online I found a video that shows what I plan to do- Here's the link -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xd7XFs7jsM0 I think this type of format works really well as it engages you with the audience.

4th Question- Who would be the audience for your film?
This is specific to audience research so what I might do is ask people who they think the audience for our opening sequence is and then record this making sound bites that I can add to a video I do expressing my view about who I think the audience is for.

5th Question- How did you attract/ address your audience?
Here is would be good to talk about advertising our opening sequence. I think I will make a DVD pocket or a poster as these attract people into watching films. For example a poster from the film the Conjuring conveys the tone of the film and gets the audience's attention-
 Also other ideas could be radio ad's, trailers etc... For this I think I will do a PowerPoint or blog post as then I can show pictures of what I want to create.

6th Question- What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
For this I will talk about all the equipment used in making our opening sequence in all 3 stages of production. I again might do a PowerPoint or just sitting down and talking to the camera. From the same person I showed earlier here is another example- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3fTPu48f0Y. I like how she has used actual clips of her using the equipment and I will be thinking of using this idea in my response. I also like the idea of using a website as a way to present what I have learnt.

7th Question- Looking back at your preliminary task what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the final product?
Here I will analyse how my skills have progressed. For this I want to do a podcast or perhaps a side by side video commentary. I think a good idea for this would be to do a group evaluation as then we can think about what we all learnt.

Thanks for reading :)
 

Naming our Opening Sequence

Naming our opening sequence was a very important part of the process. The name of a film can often convey the message and tone of the piece. We chose the name Somnium which is Latin for dreams. As our film is supposed to be about a monster that creates nightmare we thought that this would be quite fitting for the title of the piece. As in most films we want the title to appear at the end of opening the sequence. Also to create a creepier effect we want to have the title appear out of smoke. Joel has been doing some research in how to create this effect in after effects and hopefully it will turn out the way we want it to.

Audience Research

 When creating our opening sequence we need to think about our audience as we need to think about the age rating of our opening sequence. The media industry spends millions making sure they are giving the audience what they want by doing lots of audience research.

For the our production we will need to know-

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Who our audience is

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Age/interests/views/opinions

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What other types of media they consume

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How they consume it

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Where do they get it from

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Who they identify themselves with

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How much they consume

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Who they consume it with

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The effect it has on them and the effect they have on it

 After doing some research, the target audience seems to be around the age of 15-25. An answer on Ask suggest this idea -

"The target audience of a horror movie is usually teenagers who are mostly curious and daring. This is because most horror films involve unknowing naive teenagers as the main protagonists."

This fits with what we thought it would be in our original production pitch


I also did poll and Facebook and Blogger- asking -What age of audience is the most likely to go see a psychological thriller/horror? - 10-14, 15-20, 21-29, 30+?
80% of people asked responded with 15-20 years old, which was what I expected. From this I think we should be targeting  our opening sequence at people aged 15 and above.

Media Trip to BFI about Youth, Media and Collective Identity

On Wednesday 5th Feb Y12 and Y13 Media Studies students went to Southbank in London to visit the BFI. What it involved was presentations from Matthew Hall, where we got to learn about psychoanalysts such Jacques Lean, and also about psychanalytic film theory, which is how we use the cinema/TV screen as  a 'mirror' to reinforce our identity. We also looked at how the role of the teenager has changed from the late 19th Century till the present day.

Later we watched some clips from various films such as The Wild One, Quadrophenia and Kidulthood. We were then asked to analysis and write down what we thought the dominant messages sent about youth was. For example in Quadrophenia (the clip on the right), message sent about youth is that they are loud, misbehaving and out of control. For the audience watching at the time it was released in 1979 this would perhaps promote a negative view on youth, however some may feel nostalgic as the film, set in the 60's, could remind the audience of their own life. Many of the clips we watched showed a negative view of youth, mainly painting them as rebellious.

 

 

 

 

We then watched a film called My Brother, The Devil, directed by Sally El Hosaini. It tried to portray what life was like for teenagers growing up in Hackney, with gangs, family drama and a twist, overall I thought it was quite a good film. After the film we had a Q&A with one of the producers which was very helpful as we learnt about how and why they did what they did in the film. I found this very useful and interesting and it gave me a lot to think about in terms our my own opening sequence.

As a side-note it would be really helpful to me if when you have finished reading this, if you could vote in the pole I put up.
Thank you :)