Evaluation: In what ways does your media product use, develop and challenge forms and conventions on real media products?

I do not feel my film has challenged the codes and conventions because I have tried not to stray to far from the codes and conventions of Social Realism. For example, my film is based around real life, unlike a fantasy film for example. All of this was done in the planning to ensure that the film remained true to the genre.

One thing I think my project does diferently is have very little dialogue, and use an instrumental rock song throught the entire film. I feel this challenges the codes and conventions because normally a lot of diegetic sound would be used.

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

Research:

The new media technoloogy I used during the research stage helped me find out what I needed to do to create an effective socal realist film. I used a variety of websites to find out the codes and conventions, and which films/directors to watch out for. These sites included Screen Online, Wikipedia and Filmsite.

To conduct audience research, I created a questionnaire on Microsoft Word, which I handed out around the college.

Planning:

In the planning stages a lot of NMT was used to arrange the filming schedule. This involved using facebook to message multiple people, and phones to text individuals.

Using a storyboard sheet I planned each shot, although not strictly NMT, they were created on a word processor

Construction:

Everything was filmed using a college provided video camera, filming to tape.

Location pictures were taken using the camera on my mobile phone.

Editing was done using Sony Vegas video editing software

Evaluation:

Audience feedback was filmed on my mobile phone camera. Everything was played back using my computer.

Evaluation: What have you learned from your audience feedback?

I got a lot of useful audience feedback, and this will be applied to any further projects.

1. Have more spoken parts - There is very little dialog in my film, and this created a barrier between the audience and the characters, making it difficult for them to empathise with the storyline.

2. Keep consistent lighting - Due to the filming being done in winter, the shots filmed later on in the day are quite dark in comparison to other shots. Also due to the first scene being done in the middle of the day, the curtain had to be closed to stop camera glare. This made the scene very dark and not very professional looking.

3. Smoother cuts between scenes - The editing makes some cuts very choppy, and not very clear. There are also some missing shots that make watching it difficult, and stop the creation of any verisimilitude.

Evaluation: How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

My main product is a short film. The two ancillary texts are a film poster and film review.

I feel that the short film was not very effective because of a lacking soundtrack as well as a poor script. I think this pulls down how effective the overall product is.

I think the film review is effective, because it draws the audience in with a lot of colour and pictures, aswell as a quick fact box so people can get a quick idea whether or not this film is for them. The layout and general idea is lifted directly from film reviews in magazines such as Total Film, I think in doing this I have created a realistic and effective film review

The film poster

Review

Review Analysis

I have to do a review for my film so to see how it is done here is an analysis of a film review



This magazine review is dominated by images to draw attention to it. These images help give the reader a general overview of what to expect in the film (in this case an animation/fantasy) as well as show any star actors that may be in it. Need-to-know information is in a red box, making it stand out.

Poster