Evaluation

Evaluation

In what way does your media product use, develop, or challenge forms and convections of media products ?

Through our media project and the film itself we tried to create a film that matches the generic convections of a film from the thriller genre. For example the main character Carl Price is typical of characters from the thriller genre .
In the film I have studied (Dirty Harry  )the main character Harry Callahan, has a resemblance to Carl price in our film.  Other examples of such characters include Max Payne, Shaft, Frank Bullitt, Jack Carter from the film get Carter, Edward Foxe in The Day of the Jackal, The Untouchables, Blade Runner and Liam Neeson in Taken.
 The music used in our film is similar to music that is used in films such as Dirty Harry, and Bullitt .Normally jazz type music that sets the scene ,as one that is quite  sleazy. This leads  to my next point , the area that the film is set in , sleazy and seedy. Typical of a film from the thriller genre. Both films contain a long shot, establishing the scene ,as well as match on, action, and point of view, and many close up shots. These are also typical of films from the thriller genre. In Dirty Harry the action takes place quite early into the opening sequence,  this is  similar to our film. Other similarities ,are the titles which start quite early in the film, and the most obvious similarity ,the resemblance to the main characters. Both are smartly dressed and  wear dark glasses. The weather at the time of  filming is similar  in both films being bright and sunny, the sort of weather which is often attributed to  the general feeling of a pleasant day ,and not murder. The villains in both films also show a resemblance ,with both of their faces not seen by the audience, a typical trait of  this type of thriller.

Both of theses two scenes show the camera panning ,while the character is walking past.


How does your media product represent particular social group’s?

There are a number of significant social groups used in our film. First gender is used mainly in a stereotypical way in the film, with the male character appearing to be the dominant figure of authority . Much like the film I have studied,. The female does not play a dominating figure in the film, she is seen as been hysterical when she finds the body.
 However our film does challenge the conventions associated with gender to some degree. The character that is killed ( Mike Bates) is not a female character ,much unlike Dirty Harry where the character shot in the opening sequence is female. Age also plays a part in the film.  The character that is killed at the start of the opening sequence is quite young in comparison to the detective who is in his 40s. This is also a similar to Dirty Harry , the main character played by Clint Eastwood is much older than the female who is killed. This use of age shows the older character as a dominating figure ,a contrast to the younger character who is seen as passive and vulnerable against an unseen and unknown attacker.

(Both the characters appear dominating and of authority in the opening scenes.)

(This in in contrast to the victims, who seem exposed and vulnerable following the attack.)

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

The main contrast between our film and the film I have studied is that Dirty Harry was a major production, produced by Warner bros. Our film however is more likely to be produced by companies such as Momentum Pictures ,and other small independent production companies. The production may also be better as a TV movie, or series. It may also be seen though limited distribution ,and could be an internet only film ,to save costs. However this is not to say that the film could  not be produced by a major production company such as Warner bros.
 As we have seen ,the film has many similarity’s to a major film production ,such as Dirty Harry or more recently Max Payne .It is possible that a large audience for the film ,would be there. Dirty Harry is seen as one of Clint Eastwood’s greatest films ,and is a cult classic .
This shows that there would be an audience who would be interested, even now, in this sort of film .Recently there have  not been many British films of the  genre we have produced. This may mean that there is further  local and national interest for this type of film.

(The logos of both production companies)

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The main audience for the film is 15 to 40 year olds ,though we thought it would appeal mainly to a male  audience,it could just as likely be female. There is a large element of mystery to the film, but also action ,this allows the film to cross gender boundaries ,attracting both male and female. There are fast paced sequences throughout the film, but some slow sequences filled with suspense, attracting both audience types. We thought that the age rating of the Film would probably be set at 15 years  for younger viewers. Movies such as Dirty Harry and Bullitt are enjoyed by a wide spectrum of people from their teens to people in there 70s. They have a large appeal to everybody, but are not really suitable for children and teens below 15.
The film also contains limited violence, and relies on fast paced action for affect if graphic violence and swearing were  included in the film, it would of course be given an 18 certificate.

How did you attract/address your audience.

In the opening sequence for the film ,when the first character is almost immediately attacked, and killed on a secluded track. The incident may most likely appeal to a female audience. We felt that they may empathise with the character, and place themselves in their mind, in a similar position. Feeling vulnerable , fearing attack ,or assault, when walking alone in  a situation similar to the scene that is shown.  The isolation of this character is seen by a long shot of the area showing his vulnerability to attack. Other scenes in the opening titles may also terrify a certain age group below the age of 15. The scene that  demonstrates this is the attack ,when the killer, wearing a balaclava and glasses kills Mick Bates. This may scare very young children. We also showed the film to members of the target audience they reviewed the film and gave us positive feedback on are production. This gave us evidence that the film would attract and appeal to the audience targeted.      


This close up shot also gives a violent view of the action used.

      










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

Much has been learnt in the way of technology since we started our project ,most notably the use of camera equipment ,and that of shots , shot types, that are required to make a movie. However ,there have been some weaknesses with the equipment provided to complete the filming. The quality of the cameras  was not always adequate for many of the shots we wanted to achieve, and did not always give good quality film and frame rate.
Cameras were not always available for use when we required them  which created problems with our filming schedule. Many of the cameras had not been maintained properly, and were smeared with finger prints .So much so it was hard to film.
Doing a white balance manually before filming was also difficulty , if we had no white paper available. The filming process also had many issues, most notably that we could not always rely on  our actors being able to change their schedules to fit in with ours .
This resulted in us having to film the opening scene in a relatively short period.
This combined with time constants, as well as the looming deadline caused us a number of difficulties. We also faced many problems when trying to find the correct music for the film, as many of the CDs we needed for none copyrighted music where not available. We did have a clear idea of the music that we wanted, but as it was copyrighted we could not use it .
 E.g.  we considered the theme to Get Carter or music by Brain Eno.

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

The detailed planning at he start of the project ,seemed to be helpful at the time ,allowing us to think though what we need to put into our film and storyboard.
However  on reflection this took a great deal of time ,and considering the limited time  that we had  available to make the film  we perhaps spent to long on this area.
We were also given a time constraint of 2 minutes in total for the film ,this was difficult to achieve . Many of our ideas once filmed were much longer than expected, and the total opening sequence length was 5 minutes. Designing the storyboards took me 5 weeks to complete, as well as doing the shooting script at the same time.
The number of people in our group was also  proved  to be an unhelpful factor within the completion of the project.
 Our group had only two members throughout  the project ,while some groups contained  five.
This meant that me and my partner had to share all the tasks between us ,overall we had a greater workload than the other groups ,who were able to divide tasks up between more members. The shooting script, though set out to help us was more a hindrance.
Unexpected events occurred, and people who were supposed to be helping the group, dropped out . I then had to get people I know at the last minute, to help us complete the project. It was very frustrating as all our plans at this point seemed to be failing us.
Another point to make is that there is no substitute for doing some rough filming beforehand. Even though we had done the shooting script ,and story board .Once we stared filming we soon realised that some of our ideas were not workable in practice  and we realised that we would have to go back to the drawing board for a rethink.

The shot types used in the filming sequence has improved  and when I personally do filming of family and friends I now try to include different shots such as close ups and long shots to make it seem more professional.

In the end although we faced many difficulties with the project, I feel confident that the final product is satisfactory.
The project as a whole has been a great leaning experience ,and has shown me just what I can achieve with planning ,and only limited resources to work with, and also the value of teamwork in completing the task set.

(Shots from the Preliminary Task)