Evaluation

On this page I shall discuss my final piece of work and evaluate it. I shall be answering questions about the film in order to show that I can be critical of my own work but also to show that I fully understood the task at hand and what I was required to do. The evaluation will also be useful for future work as I can look back at it and see what I need to do in order to make improvements and make my next film even better.




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

Below are two grids of stills from existing products and our final film in which I show conventions that have been used, developed and challenged.


Images 1-3 are of conventions we have used, 4-6 are conventions we have developed and 7-9 are conventions we have challenged.

Existing Products

Our Product

Below is an explanation of the images used:

1. The colour red to represent violence

2. Female as victim

3. Action taking place at night in eery setting

4. Victim/killer as mentally unstable

5. Element of mystery is included
6. The end of the film as the start
7. Female as killer as opposed to a male
8. Male as victim as opposed to it being a female
9. Protagonist is also antagonist



Below is a video of Holly, Josh and Sam answering this question:

Evaluation Question Two
How does your Media product represent particular social groups?

Our media product represents three social groups. We have tried to use groups that our target audience could easily recognise and connect with. I feel that we have successfully managed to show these three different groups through the different parts of the film.

During the opening we see our protagonist wearing a white dress, akin to that of a mental hospital patient, staring into the camera and crying. She then screams out to an empty theatre, throwing her arms back and putting her all into it. This is the first of the social groups; young people with psychological problems, particularly those in the 18-25 year old age group. She is both the protagonist and antagonist of the film, and although it wasn't shown during the opening two minutes, the whole film is about her spiral into insanity. After having her drink spiked she ends up killing those she loved the most around her, yet she has absolutely no recollection of what happened. This also shows some of the issues that young people have to face, despite them appearing to be care-free. Many young people lose those they love and those they are closest to every day and have to deal with the aftermath, and our film shows one extreme end of this spectrum.

During the following scene, we see our lead character wearing a red dress and high-heels. This is used to represent 18-25 year olds who go out clubbing and drinking and have a good time, with the after effects rippling through the rest of the film. From the scene it is easy to determine that she has had an argument with her boyfriend and he has driven off in anger and frustration, later he then begrudgingly stops the car and lets her back in. She is also wearing somewhat revealing clothes, not in a provocative way, but almost flaunting what she's got. This is representing the section of young girls who like to flaunt what they've got. We also wanted to show someone dealing with the extreme consequences of their actions, as would be shown throughout the rest of the film.

Finally, we have Ryan, the boyfriend. He is portraying the typically short-tempered and not very understanding young male character. He has had an argument with his girlfriend and is trying to drive off, to run away from the problem, leaving her, and it, behind him. Eventually, after she screams her lungs out, he stops the car and lets her back in. We wanted people to feel sorry for her, to almost trick them into believing that she is the innocent victim in the whole of this film, and this was the perfect way of doing it. His actions also border on a mild form of abusive, which again is another audience that can relate to the film.

The girl in the red dress is almost like a completely different character to the one in the white dress. She has gone from a party animal who loves having a good time to a severely traumatised young woman with severe psychological problems. Her persona and personality completely changes throughout the film, and we see a small glimpse of this in the opening two minutes with the way she is screaming at the car. Although we have only used young characters in our film, we feel that any audience of a mature enough age will be able to understand the issues and relate to them.

We also have various items in the titles that show a typical teenager, such as the notebook (as seen on the right) and the mobile phone. Later in the film she also uses her phone to try and call people, showing that modern life revolves around technology as she doesn't think to go downstairs or outside first. The room she wakes up in is also typical of a teenagers room, since it is messy and cluttered, with a TV and a computer on the desk, showing she could 'work and play' at the same time and that she is easily distracted.

The external shot of the house shows that it is quite an expensive house. Because of this, the audience would assume that if she comes from a well-off family she is less likely to commit a crime. Here we are challenging convention, however, showing a completely different representation of a well-off girl.








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

From Wikipedia:

This is the final stage, where the film is released to cinemas or, occasionally, to consumer media (DVD, VCD, VHS, Blu-ray) or direct download from a provider. The film is duplicated as required for distribution to cinemas. Press kits, posters, and other advertising materials are published and the film is advertised. Film companies usually release a film with a launch party, press releases, interviews with the press, press preview screenings, and film festival screenings. Most films have a website. The film plays at selected cinemas and the DVD typically is released a few months later. The distribution rights for the film and DVD are also usually sold for worldwide distribution. The distributor and the production company share profits.

Since our film is an independent film made on a very low budget, it is improbable that we would be able to get it distributed by a large company. Looking at small, independent distributors, 'Coffee Shorts', a small distribution company from the people behind 'Coffee Films', based in London, seems like the ideal choice.

From their website:

Established as a short film collective playing with camcorders in 1996, Coffee Films incorporated in 2003 and within a year was recognised as one of Europe's best young production companies. Progressing to documentaries on music and wildlife we gained critical acclaim for the film Last of the Scottish Wildcats as only the second company to film Britain's rarest mammal.

Coffee Shorts is an independent short film channel showing off exceptional indie filmmaking work we've discovered kicking around the web, at short film festivals and from friends of ours. Stuff comes on board by invite only and we try to be picky. There is some focus on narrative dramas, thrillers and experimental short films but you'll also find animation, music videos, documentaries, film trailers and comedy shorts scattered throughout.

More available here and here.

This is a small British production company who help distribute the films of young, talented filmmakers. They would be ideal to distribute our film opening and would help us gain a lot of attention and possibly even interest from large film producers and distributers who would be interested in helping us take the opening to the next level.

Assuming we were to produce our film in its entirety, a film distributor, such as Sony Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Warner Brothers or Momentum Pictures would be ideal for a world-wide release of our film. Below, I have listed each company with some information about them and previous films they have distributed.

Sony Pictures

James Bond Franchise
The Da Vinci Code (2006)
The Grudge (2004)
Resident Evil (2002)
The 6th Day (2000)

Paramount Pictures

Along Came A Spider (2001)
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001)
Don't Look Now (1998)

Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Titanic (1997)

Warner Borthers Pictures

Final Destination Films
The Dark Knight (2008)
The Invasion (2007)
Game Over (2007)
V For Vendetta (2006)
House of Wax (2005)

Momentum Pictures

The Crazies (2010)

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2009)

The Wave (2008)

The Mist (2007)

Hannibal Rising (2007)

As you can see, all of the above film distributors have distributed films of a similar style and genre and to a similar audience as our film. This would make any of them ideal distributors, however I feel that 'Momentum Pictures' are the perfect choice as they have distributed films that are most similar to our own. If they were to see our film and become interested in it, we could pitch it further by showing them, and other investors, a full treatment and script, as well as a storyboard. If we were to gain a larger budget from this it would allow us to produce our film in its entirety, thus allowing us to get it distributed in cinemas across the world.



Evaluation Question 4
Who would be the audience for your media product?

We have created our film with the intended audience being young adults in the 15-25 year old age range, but obviously this could extend upwards. We have chosen this because firstly, they are one of the largest film-watching demographics. Secondly, they are the age range that will most easily associate with drinking and going out and partying. Many of them may also have experience of drinks being spiked. A lot of teenagers and young adults enjoy films with shocks and twists, that tackle extremes of real life situations as it may make them either feel better about their own situation, or, helps them to gain another perspective on serious issues, such as those touched upon within our film.

To the left is an analysis of the viewers of the trailer for 'Black Swan', with 16,631,102 views. Since this is a similar type of film to the one we produced it makes sense to see what type of audience is watching it. It is easy to see that the largest demographic is females between the ages of 13 and 24, which fits very well with our target audience of 15-25. Males between the ages of 25 and 34 are the third most popular audience, meaning our target audience could very easily extend to this range. This information also gives evidence to show that thrillers are very popular with young people. Since the protagonist of both of these films is female, it makes sense that the audience would mostly be female, since they can relate more easily.

When looking at similar products and their age ratings, a vast majority of them are rated either 15 or 18 (Black Swan being a 15, like our film),and their target audience is based around the same age range, another reason as to why our target audience is 15-25 year olds. To the right is a picture of the typical audience I expect to be watching our film.






Evaluation Question 5
How did you attract/address your audience?

A variety of methods were used in order to attarct our target audience. Firstly, we used a young female as our lead protagonist. This would attract females to our film since they would easily be able to relate to her and sympathise with what she's going through. She was also used to attract a male audience, since she is an attractive blonde young woman. Looking at other films, such as 'Black Swan', it is clear that many have an attractive female lead. Essentially, someone the girls all want to be like, and the guys all want to be with.

We have included a small car chase in our film as an action scene. A lot of thrillers include action-packed scenes and quite often they are car chases, therefore we felt it would be appropriate and would be a good choice to include since a shoot-out would be a lot harder to do on our very limited budget. Males tend to enjoy action-packed films, particularly in our target auidences age range, so this was our way of adding that element. The chase also builds tension and suspense, as well as intrigue over what exactly happened.

We have used modern technology during the opening with the use of a mobile phone. The rest of the film, should we continue it, heavily features the use of mobile phones too. Thiis helps anyone relate to the film, however since young adults have a greater understanding of modern technology, as well as much more contact with it, they will relate to it moreso. We wanted to show people that they have to be careful with the frivalous use of a device as seemingly innocent as a mobile phone since it can lead to many more problems later on, and relying on it can cause many problems.

We used a girl going out drinking and partying on an evening as part of the opening for our film, as well as it being the cause of all the problems that follow. We felt that our target audience of young adults could very easily relate to this, as the vast majority of them will go out drinking and partying during the weekend and so can understand what it feels like not to remember the night before, or to do something stupid that they regret the morning after. We also have the element of drug use by drink spiking. Many young people will have experimented with drugs and a lot of them may also have experience of, or know someone that has experience of, drink spiking. This is definitely something that can all empathise with and relate to.

The opening credits for our film are more integrated than usual. Instead of having a screen full of text, we decided to directly integrate them into the mise-en-scene by placing the text onto objects in the scene. This was because many young people get bored by titles and wish that they weren't there. I feel that by integrating them in the way we did we showed a fresh approach to them and it allowed the film to flow more smoothly, meaning the viewers didn't switch off, instead they were focused on the on-screen action and wanted to keep watching to see what was going on and what was happening next.

By using a young couple and romance in our film we are appealing to a younger demographic. Many young people go on dates to the cinema, so by having young love torn apart and a story about trying to recover it we are reaching out to our target audience. May young people have been in a relationship where an argument has broken out and one of them has stormed off without thinking. We have a scene involving this very thing, therefore our target audience will be able to identify and sympathise with this.

Our main aim was getting the audience to relate to the actors on screen. I feel we accomplished this well using various different methods and techniques. By empathising with the female lead character, we feel that our audience would be even more shocked by the ending of our full-length film.



Evaluation Question 6
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Throughout the creation of our finished product, I have learnt many new things about the filming and production process. For starters, I learnt how to correctly use lighting in films. Below is a diagram of a three-point lighting setup:

As you can see, the three different lights all serve a different purpose. The 'Key Light' is the main light. It usually illuminates the object and provides the most light. The 'Fill Light' is to help stop shadows caused by the key light. If you only light something from one side, shadows will be cast on the opposite side. Finally, the 'Back Light' helps to make the object 'pop out' from the background. The object can appear very flat if it is not slightly highlighted from behind. Before creating our film I had no idea that lighting had to be so precise to produce a realistic effect, nor that even the slightest problem with lighting could dramatically affect a shot.

I also learnt about the different types of camera equipment, such as a tracking dolly and tripod, as well as there correct uses and implementation. We used both of these heavily in our final film.

Using video and sound editing software on the computer was also a bit of a challenge to start with, as we knew very little about it and only had limited experiences, so learning the ins and outs of Final Cut Express and Soundrack Pro. I shall discuss these later, but before that I shall talk about the storyboarding software used.

To film our opening we chose to use Josh's Panasonic HD camera. This camera records films directly to its HDD (hard disk drive) and so we felt was a much better method than using a DV (digital video) camera. Because of the way the files were stored it was very easy to import them onto the iMac without having to wait for the films to be captured from the video tape. This also made editing a lot easier since each of our shots were saved as seperate films, allowing us to navigate quickly without having to watch a lot of footage to find what we were looking for.


Initially, we were given the option of using StoryBoard Quick to create our storyboards. With this software, you can import backgrounds, interiors, exteriors and characters amongst other things.

This software was easy enough to use, however we found it quite limiting and frustrating to use since we couldn't get the camera angles we wanted, nor could we get it as accurate as we wanted, so we decided to hand-draw our storyboard instead.

Next, we used Final Cut Express to edit our storyboard together and then to edit our final film.

It is simple to import video from a camera and initially edit it, however adding transitions can cause problems. In order to edit the film, you simply drag a clip from the far-left window into the middle one. Here, you can set 'In' and 'Out' points for the clip, where you decide which parts you want to include and exclude. From here, you drag this over to the far-right window which will automatically place it on the timeline. The same process also applies for still images, which is why we used it to create our storyboard. This was a very useful tool, since it allowed us to use non-destructive editing. This means that we didn't have to physically cut any tape and put it all back together, instead, we did it all on the computer, preserving the original film just in case we made any mistakes. As well as editing, Final Cut allowed us to alter the sound levels in various clips, as well as overlay audio that wasn't in the original film. We were also able to add transitions, such as the bright flash that can be seen during the titles and the fade-outs we used at various points during the film.

Soundtrack Pro was a helpful application that allowed us to import the music we needed for our film. It allowed us to loop the piano track that can be heard right at the very start, as well as adjust the levels preciesly so that it sounded professional and of a high quality. It also allowed us to import copyright free music into our film without having to pay a licensing fee.

Final Draft AV allowed us to write our scipt whilst discussing camera angles and shot types in one document. This was very helpful for us and our actors since we were able to see exactly what they needed to do, where they needed to be and where we were going to be all at the same time.

Using an iMac was no problem for myself since I use one at home on a daily basis and so am used to the differeces in the operating system when compared to Windows. It allowed us to use a lot of powerful software, something that I feel would be more limited if we were to use a Windows machine.

Blogspot was a very useful tool that allowed us to share our creative journey with the world. It was a brilliant way of sharing and communicating information that we otherwise would now have been able to. Because it is an interactive media format it is a lot more useful than a scrapbook, since we were able to upload both images and videos, collect feedback from viewers and readers across the world, post audio commentary from our peers and correct any mistakes as we went along. It has also allowed me to document the whole process from the very beginning in a manner that was a lot less time consuming than a scrapbook.

YouTube is a video sharing website available to everyone. It has been a useful tool throughout the entire process of making our film since it has allowed us to share our work at each stage with the entire world. This has allowed us to gather feedback throughout the process and has provided a way for us to post videos on our blogs.

Evaluation Question 7
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Looking back at our preliminary task it is clear to all of us that we have improved, not only as individuals but also as a group. Our communication skills have improved, as have our technical skills. We are able to work together much better now and can discuss all options, whereas before we may just have settled.

One thing we have learnt to be cautious of as a group is continuity errors. In our preliminary task we noticed that we missed a huge one (as seen below) when a wig inexplicably moved from a counter to my lap in one scene. We were constantly checking for errors in our main task and even named Sam our Continuity Checker.

We were also careful to make sure we were very critical during the editing process, getting rid of any unecessary footage. During our preliminary task there is a very extended shot of Josh walking along a corridor. Upon listening to peer feedback we have learnt that it would be better if we used an ellipse and had Josh turn the corner to the stairs a lot faster, letting the audience use their imagination to fill in the walk along the corridor.

We also noticed that there was a slight knock to the camera during this shot, something we didn't check for until post-production. When filming our opening, we ensured that we checked the footage after every shot and filmed it again when necessary.

Although we incorporated our titles into the mise-en-scene into our film opening, we were still careful of our choice of font for the title at the end due to a problem with our preliminary work. Although this lead to the name of our company, it was a mistake that we really didn't want to repeat.

The use of lighting was a small problem we encountered and is something we definitely should have been more careful with. During our preliminary film we didn't bother with a three-point lighting system, however we did for the opening 'insanity' shots in our opening. We did not continue this in the bedroom, however, simply using natural lighting to give a more natural feel to the film. This did not work in our favour as well as we would have hoped, however, since we have a slight colour change from the bedroom to bathroom as well as a dramatic change in light as our protagonist picks the phone up from the desk.

Something we transferred from our preliminary task was the 'mirror shot'. Upon peer review, we found that they all thought this was a very effective and technical shot, and one that they also felt we should repeat. In our film opening we did it in a slightly more dramatic way, by using the car mirror instead of a more stable one. This definitely paid off and was a great way to show our imrpoved camera techniques and put what we had learnt to the test.

Original 'mirror shot'

Improved 'mirror shot'

As well as this, we learnt a lot about how to correctly execute a match on action. We implemented this several times throughout both films, however I feel we really got it perfect in our opening as our protagonist leaves the bedroom and entered the bathroom. We used a lot of new shots and angles, as well as exploring where the camera was on the Y (vertical) axis and how this could alter our shots and imporve them.

We definitely learnt a lot of new techniques, particularly when it came down to directing and producing the film, as well as shooting it. We also learnt a lot about teamwork and how we could be both critical with our analysis of each others work, but supportive and constructive at the same time. This definitely lead to a lot of new ideas and shots. During the preliminary task, we all seemed to take on our own roles, with myself directing alongside Josh, Holly operating the camera and Sam advising us on production and how the set should look or how it should be framed. We decided that we all fit very well into these roles so kept them for the final film, something that I feel worked very well for us. I would say I learnt a lot about being a director and that it is something I would definitely take on again in another film. Also, by taking on individual roles we were able to spread the work load more evenly, ensuring everyone had to pull their weight and weren't relying on one person to get the work done.

We learnt that feedback is a very important tool in film making and that you need to be very self-critical of your work in order to make the necessary changes to make it perfect. Although it may be painful to do it at the time, in the end the final result will be a lot better, especially if you've listened to outside advice and viewpoints. Time management is a skill that we all learnt a lot about and I feel that if we were to work together again we would definitely need to come up with a proper shooting schedule in order to get things done on time with a lot let stress and tension.

Overall, we have all learnt a lot from this process and I will definitely be putting to use all of the skills I have gained in the future.