Evaluation 1
In what ways does your media product use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions of real
media products?
In my media products is met and followed convention on the
location that I used, we used busy built up areas but they were run down
slightly which followed stereotypical social realism location. It was a dimmed
lit area that gave you the feeling that you wouldn’t want to walk around there
at night on your own. From the research that
we had we established that a large majority use this type of location, I felt
that it felt right using the location we used at it fit well with our storyline
of our character not fitting in.

In the trailer the music we used went against the usual stereotypical
music used, in a lot of social realism films hip hop/ rap music is used
indicating what the story is about and what kind of area it is the film in set
in. The music we used was made by an orchestra; it started off at a slow tempo
but gained pace throughout. I felt this music suited the trailer very well;
this is because the character is very emotional and sensitive and goes through
a tough time but ends well.
In my research I found that it is common that if the social
realism film is on a group it usual
contains some form of violence, drugs or a form of criminal activity. Due to
the lack of actors I had available which influenced me decision to choose that
I focused on one character.
My storyline followed conventions but was more realistic
than some other social realism films, my storyline revolves around a teenage
boy that has autism. Due to suffering from autism he has never really fit in
anywhere he has been and has struggled to get along with people in both a
friendship and relationship way. I felt this was an important issue that
doesn’t get addressed or publicised for people to understand what someone with
autism goes through on a daily basis and how they struggle to fit in to the
real world.
The main character in the film meets common codes and
conventions in social realisms films, the character is dressed all in black
other than his trainers. In a majority of social realism films people wear all
black to blend in to the people they socialise with, so they cannot be picked
out from a group. With my character I opted to use an all-black outfit as the
character wants to blend in, he wants to be hidden and not draw attention to
himself as he doesn’t know how to deal with it emotionally.
Evaluation question 2
How effective is the combination of your main product and
ancillary texts?
1) in the film
industry advertising is a key factor in the success of a film, this is because
without advertising no one would know when a movie is released or even what
some sort of understanding of what it is about.
One of the best ways to advertise is through using posters as it is a
cheap but affective method to use. This is because you can print on a mass
scale for a low cost so people can see them everywhere. This method is useful
for low budget productions that cannot afford to air television adverts.
2) In the poster we
used a real location, we edited in a way that gave off a sad effect to the
image, the black and white used made him just blend in to the background as he
watches the world go by. The main focus of the poster ‘the character’ isn’t
facing the camera; this is because he doesn’t want attention or people to stare
at him. He keeps himself to himself and doesn’t share how he feels or talks to
many people. From the research we did we
3) In the film industry magazines are a good way to
advertise a film, this is because production companies can form an agreement to
advertise the film and offer a competition in return. This gives both an
incentive to buy the magazine and view the film. You can also use it to address
your target audience also.
4) In my magazine, I met a lot of the codes and conventions
of film magazines. I used a consistent colour scheme of black, red and white
red as a background to most as it draws your attention to selected piece then
either used white or black to write over it so it was clear. The masthead is at
the top, price tag in the bottom.
5) In A2 media the coursework required me and my partner to
make a film trailer to go with an ancillary task of making a film poster and a
magazine cover for the film. Social
realism is the genre of the film, so after researching the codes and
conventions of a social realism film, magazines and posters we found out that
it should all link together. So when filming and taking photographs for the
poster and magazine the main actor wore the same clothing so you could see who
it was and that he was the main character.
In the film trailer you see him walking through a subway and
on a hill, were used the same settings of where we filmed and included it into
the poster and magazine. When filming in
the subway we took a photograph for the magazine, it fitted in well alongside
the trailer as the image has him not looking at the camera as he doesn’t
like/get much attention and he is in a subway which is commonly seen in social
realism films. When filming on the hill
we took a shot of the main actor standing on top of the hill looking out on his
own, this looked good because it suited the name ‘Outcast’ as he was on his own
and looked so small in comparison to the backdrop behind.
Evaluation question 3
“The editing was good and I thought the music went well with
footage but I wanted to see more as it was short .”
Mikaela reacted in a positive way, when she saw the trailer
she enjoyed it which was the main thing, from her comments above I have learnt
that I should have mixed up and filmed more. Looking back on how I filmed for the
raw footage to then edited it and put it together for the trailer I understand
why she said this and would agree with her of the trailer. Overall she liked it
but she wanted it to be longer to get a real taste for what the whole film is
about as she said it was to short.
“The
quality could have been better throughout.”
Miss aftab liked the trailer but she said the quality could
have been better which I do understand, when I attempted to use an actually
film camera things kept going wrong with the film and it wouldn’t save onto the
memory card so I ended up recording it on my phone because it had HD recording.
Given another chance to do it again I would definitely invest in a good quality
filming camera as it gives off a more professional look.
“It
was the same thing over and over there was no real story.”
Mustafa wouldn’t as positive about the trailer compared to
others but I was happy with that as without
criticism you can’t improve. He said he liked the idea but found it very
repetitive and the same thing over and over which I agree with. Due to it being
a teaser trailer I tried to not give too much away but while trying to do this
I made it very bland in a sense. You got a small snippet of the story but even
that isn’t clear. Id change the trailers content if given another go, I’d put
in a scene near where the film gets to the climax or even a bit of dialogue to
get the audience engaged.
“I
found it a bit repetitive throughout but I liked that it was on one character
mainly.”
Paige said she was 50/50 on the trailer this being due to
her finding it repetitive which put her off a little bit but she did enjoy it
only being focussed on one character as she didn’t find it hard to keep track
and she didn’t become confused. I would again edit the content and put in some
better clips to engage the audience and keep their attention and make them want
to see more.
“There
wasn’t that much facial expression and couldn’t see much in the scenes.”
Rohit enjoyed the trailer but found it lacked facial
expression, this was due to us using an inexperienced actor. I learnt from this
I should have used someone with more experience as they may draw an additional
fan base and will be more experienced at acting so will know how to act out
scenes better and will come across more convincing.
“The
setting you used was good and met the genre but It would have been better with
talking.”
Sian enjoyed the trailer, she liked that it followed the
stereotypical location of the run down area and the idea that the character
didn’t fit in due to the people that lived in his area, but she thought it
could have used some dialogue. I can understand this but I thought if I
included dialogue it may become confusing. I think given another go I would
have included some talking just to engage the audience a little more.
Evaluation question 4
• How did you use media technologies in the construction and
research, planning and evaluation
stages?
http://www.slideshare.net/connorpearce1234/eval-question-4-34200965
Connor