Evaluation
Joe Turberville
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In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Question Two
Question Three and Four
Question Five
Question One
Question Six
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
What kind of media institutions might distribute your media product and why?
In my research and planning for my final media product, I used survey monkey to get the opinion from some possible audience members on certain decisions that I was going to make regarding the production of my film. I found this very helpful as some of the answers took me slightly by surprise meaning that I made certain vital decisions that I may not have made having not carried out the survey. For example, I was surprised by the response to question two where I asked “what location do you think best suits a thriller?” (see figure 1) and most people chose the option of either “a small town” or “countryside/little villages” I, therefore, changed my initial plan (to film in a built-up area) to base my thriller around a small town in the countryside. There were also some questions which supported my original ideas such as question four where I asked: “Do you think that having a child as the victim in a thriller has more of an emotional impact than using an adult would?” (see figure 2) as I expected, everyone selected the “yes” option. However, there were some answers to a few of the questions that I chose not to conform with the majority vote or included elements from two possible answers for example question one asked “would you rather watch a…” and gave the options of a “political thriller”, “psychological thriller”, “crime thriller” or “other” (see figure 3). Most people answered “crime thriller” with a few answering “psychological” because of this I included some quite psychologically complex characters and a major crime that triggers many psychological elements to be included.
Figure 1
Figure 2​
Figure 3
Throughout the process, I have discovered the importance of the different technologies used to create a film, for example, the importance of sound and pacing of editing to create certain atmospheres and tension. This is something that I had a large focus on when creating my opening scene, the use of different sounds to emphasise the actions of the different characters and their emotions through their own sound perspectives. I also used changes in the pace of editing to show how the different characters were reacting to what either they knew was taking place or what they didn’t know was taking place. This meant that the audience was able to understand how the different characters were involved in the situation presented in the opening scene and also the relationships between them. This allows the audience to make a judgement on each of the characters and develop some form of emotional attachment with each, whether it be one of sympathy or one of distrust.
Digital technology allowed me to develop creativity as through different technologies I could explore different techniques that enabled me to create different atmospheres throughout the opening scene. By using a digital camera, I could take more shots, at more angles to create different atmospheres throughout the scene. Through this I was also able to provide varying personalities for the characters to create more of a bond with the audience leading to a more social and psychological thriller which has become quite popular recently. Through editing I could change the filters on two of the shots to get the effect of a CCTV camera (see figure 4), this meant that I could get the desired reaction from the audience (where they frame the antagonist due to the filter). There was one obstruction to how creative I could be when it came to my final product, this was partly due to technology and partly due to the location. As most of my shots were filmed on the side of a swimming pool or in the pool I had little control over the lighting so I had to try and do the best with what I had.
Figure 4
I also used the blog to present my work both for the research & planning and the development sections of my final product. This was good because I could present my thought processes in a very clear way for people to see and for me to reflect on, such as setting out my shooting scripts and revised shooting scripts. I was also able to get feedback (see figure 5) on the blog regarding each of my edits that I posted on it which was very helpful as it allowed me to develop on each edit, therefore, resulting in a better final product.
Figure 5
Question 7
7) looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel that you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Click bellow for question 4 answer
Click bellow for question 5
Click bellow for answer to question 1
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this media product?
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