Evaluation

How does the media product use, develop and challenge forms and
conventions?
To form challenges and conventions we included various inter textual
references to films in the similar hybrid genre. As well as this we followed the
post-modern idea. The actual references we used
were mostly from Four Weddings and a Funeral. We
based the film upon the narrative of a male character
late for an event, as taken from the scene in Four
Weddings when Charles (played by Hugh Grant) is
late for a Wedding. To make this scenario more
original we opted to use the narrative where the male
character would be late for work, as this is a situation
that occurs on a daily basis and that a wide audience
will be able to refer to. The explicit dialogue, which is
used in Four Weddings, was also used in our project,
yet we developed this concept by changing the
dialogue to something a little less explicit to keep the
BBFC rating at a 15.This may be portrayed as
unoriginal so as to create sense of a developing
media we chose to incorporate a new and exciting title
sequence using various methods to portray the titles in a diegetic sense
(which is explained in more depth in the cinematography section).
To become more original in the piece we could have used less inter textual
references, or developed further concepts from this idea. Yet these references
will give the film cross appeal to those fans of the referenced films.

How does the media project portray particular social groups

From the setting (a built up town, set in a modern day housing estate, to show
the characters involved clearly have some form of wealth) , dress sense (Jake
being dressed in a suit denotes that he is engaging in some form of well paid
employment) and accents of the characters (signify that the character is from
the south of England which tends to be stereotypically well built up and have a
higher standard of living). It is signified that the characters portrayed reflect
upon the higher spectrum of the socio-economic scale, ABC1 Upper and
upper middle class.
The films characters are predominately heterosexual. However, this does not
exclude a pink pound market due to the character appeal and the genre of the
film.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media project and
why?
I have previously stated, in another section of
this blog, how I would go about distributing this
project. As the film is set on an extremely low
budget I would have to work my way from the
bottom to the top of the media chain. To start
with I would need to gain some form of audience
feedback, using social networking sites such as My
Space and Face Book to get feedback from the mostly teen based views. Also
I would use YouTube to gain vast feedback; I will then take the comments on
board and work back into my original project to increase its standard.
To step up its presence I will premiere the
improved project at a nearby film festival to gain
more feedback and preview how the project
appears on the big screen, and take criticism and
positives from this experience. If the film goes
down well, and gains recognition, I would then use
this to advertise my project further. Then, to take
this well developed idea to an actual
distribution company such as Unviersal
which would allow the film to have world
wide distribution, and aim towards some
form of company such as Warp X that is
a low budget independent Production
Company. As well as this companies such a Warp X have an appeal to many
fans, as certain film critics see indie companies as having more quality and
are into the project.
Who would be the audience for your media project?
Stereotypically Rom Com's tend to be based around the lower end of the
socio economic scale, BC1C2D. However, I feel that the project has a mass
cross over appeal to a variety of audiences. So it would range fully across the
socio economic scale. However, it would be based more towards the youth
audience of 15 to 34 year olds.

How did I attract /address your audience?

There were several conventions the group and I used to attract and address
an audience. To start with, the audience which we were trying to appeal to
was the youth market, from age 15 range to 34. Most cinemagoers are from
this age range. Having the audience in mind we then built up an idea of what
attracts this particular viewing group. Stereotypes are a key factor in any
production that wishes to appeal to a global audience, as other countries will
almost immediately be able to denote that this character is from a certain
country, perhaps with their dress sense or regional accent. The Southern
English accent tends to be used as a worldwide portrayal of England on a
whole, which makes it recognisable to such markets as the US. Moving to the
next point, we aimed our production towards various audiences, using the
soundtrack. Sound is a key aspect in any
production as without sound the viewer is left
with no sense or term of what they are supposed
to denote from the scene. For our film we used
an upbeat indie based soundtrack (which can be
previewed via the sound and music post), as this
is a rather popular genre type at the moment,
and in the hybrid genre of which we were
creating it seemed like a good method to attract
a widespread audience.
Next the narrative throughout the film easily reaches out to the audience, as it
is a situation which is highly relatable to anyone from a range of backgrounds,
as everyone will have been in a rush at some point in their, life so in a way
this method portrays the whole of society.
Finally the incorporation of undisguised references helped both to address
and attract an audience. It will help to attract as fans of the films which
references have been taken from, e.g. Four Weddings And A Funeral, will be
able to interpret what we have done and appreciate how our own concept has
been laid down. Also it will help address fans via the same methods in the
way that they are able to refer to the situation.
As I have previously mentioned we also attracted the market of the pink
pound with the inclusion of romantic issues and attractive characters.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of

constructing this project?
Throughout the project I have used various technologies to
end up at the final production. There were two main
technological aspects which were used throughout the
majority of the project, these were Imovie and Blogger.
Imovie is an Apple based movie editing software of
which all of the filming was imported onto and where
the final cut was produced. Under the software
section of the blog there is an in depth guide of how to
facilitate this program, and the pros and cons which I
found from its use. Secondly was the blogger website
system, which is the area where my coursework is stored. It is
an online site which allows you to set up a free account and
access it at any time. It is proved useful as work can be saved
and worked back into at any time, without the worry of having
to keep work neat, organised and worrying about loosing the
work.
Overall I feel that I have benefited greatly from the use of these technologies,
as they have allowed work to be kept organised, safe and allow each
individual to share their work with the rest of the class.

Looking back at the prelim what do I think I have learnt in progression

from it to the full product?
Firstly the main point, which I have taken onboard, is the importance of shot
variety. Because with a repetition of shots it makes the film sequence seem
repetitive and boring, and this will make the audience neglect what they are
seeing and not want to watch the rest of the production. To achieve, this we
included various types of shot, including shot reverse shot, over the shoulder
shots and a variety of mid and long shots.

Also, in my prelim, the shots are very shaky,

so to improve on the final production a tripod
was incorporated into the filming process. It
allowed smooth shots and easy panning to
make the final production appear smooth and
professional.
Another method, which was greatly beneficial,
was the use of planning. In the prelim no
planning was under taken, therefore filming was impromptu . The use of a
plan meant that filming didn't need to be rushed, or made up on the spot, and
allowed us to have time to work back into the project.
Which leads to my final point. The whole filming process needs to have time
taken over it. Unlike the final project, the prelim was shot throughout a lunch
time. The final cut was achieved over the period of three days, which allowed
more time to be taken to achieve a higher standard of film.

Overall I am generally pleased with the finished production. There are many
aspects which let it down, as has been found from audience feedback. This
feedback was taken after showing the finished film to the class. On the
positive side, as has been recorded previously on my blog, it was pointed out
that the films titles were interesting and original and provided
something different other than computer generated text
opting for a diegetic effect rather than non-diegetic. The
accompanying sound track for the piece (taken from an un
copy written source) was fed back to be perfectly in sync
with the actions taking place on screen. Also it was found
that the genre of a romantic comedy
was easy to pick up and follow, due to
anchors of the genre such as upbeat sound track, mid
age range character, the inclusion of comedic aspects
(such as the cursing and also the clumsiness of the
character). Also the chemistry between the male and
female protagonists was easy for the audience to
detect. Some notable negative aspects included that
the overall picture quality of the film could have been
improved, by using the white balance feature located on
the camera, which would have avoided any out of
contrast patches. Also, when the actresses name was written in the cereal, it
was pointed out that this could have been left, on screen, for a slightly longer
period of time, to enable the audience to recognise what is being portrayed on
screen.
Another point made about the title sequence, was that when the film
title appeared on screen (Just Another Day) it was applied nondiegtically
using Imovie, creating a sense of binary opposition. This is in a complete
contract to the rest of title sequence. This was rather disappointing. One of
the suggestions made was that the title could have been written on the
pavement, using either chalk or a non permanent spray paint. Another
suggestion was that a flyer for the film could have been blown into the frame,
which would have filled the screen enabling the sequence to move on. This
flyer could have been produced using Adobe Photoshop Elements, including
intertextual references to the DVD cover for Love Actually, using the ribbon
effect to give the impression that the film would be suitable for a gift. Also
placing the main characters faces on the cover would represent the contents
of the film, as would an actual screen shot. The main raised was focused
around the choice of actor used for the main character. It
was pointed out that the actor’s appearance did not really fit
the stereotype of a blue collar worker. He did not fit the
scenario we were trying to portray, of successful single male in his mid
twenties. Therefore, an improvement would be to have hosted a casting
session to find a more suitable character, denoting someone of a more mature
nature. The final criticism was based around the dialog used in the film.
The first of these being the swearing used could have been more varied, or
not used at all (which would give the film a greater appeal to a wider/younger
audience). Secondly, towards the end of the sequence, when the female
character speaks it was difficult to hear what she was saying non diegetic
soundtrack. This was recognised during the editing process and we
attempted to remedy this by lowering the level of audio, utilising Imovie (this is
processes is explained in my blog entitled Software). To improve this problem
we could have used a dubbing technique to emphasise the dialog, using the
record feature located on the Mac’s.