Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Task 1: I have taken 16 screen grabs from our short film and I have explained what is happening in each screen grab.
I have chosen these particular screen grabs from the short film because they all play a big part as they are the main points within the short film. I have chosen these individually as they each show an important message in the short film. I have created a table to say whether each screen grab challenges or breaks away from conventions in other Media products.
Task 2: I have annotated my postcard and said why I have done what I have done on it. I have explained each part of it. I have said what I have changed from the original image and why I have done this.
This is the front of my postcard.
I am very happy with the way that the front of my postcard has come out as I think that it looks very effective and would make someone stop and look at it and question what it is about. I have made the main character Billy stand out even though I have placed him to the left hand side of the image I still believe that when you look at the front of the postcard your attention is drawn to Billy. I have done this by making the background blurred and this makes the character stand out. I have also used Photo Shop and used the magnetic lasso tool to cut out the writing which our actor did for us for the title. I think that this makes it look more interesting as the short film is about a young boy and by having a child's handwriting keeps the same theme going on. I have used the same font that was used for the titles within the short film for the slogan on. I have done this to again carry on the same theme and I feel that this slogan will also make the audience who is looking at the postcard be more intrigued about what the short film is about. The postcard is a very good way of promoting and marketing a short film as it is easier to pass around that a poster is.
This is the back of my postcard.
On the back of my postcard I feel that this makes the short film look more interesting and more appealing as the images used are very faint but yet they are bold enough to have an impact. I have used two images for the background. I have used an image of the stairs and I have placed another image over the top of Billy sitting under the stairs and I have made these images light and faint but is still noticeable. I have done the same as the front but using the magnetic lasso to make the title but I have made it black instead so it stands out more. I have also used the same bold font for the slogan to carry on the same theme. I have added information in about the short film such as the director, producer etc. I have also added in the names of the cast members. In the bottom left had corner I have made a website for the short film so this will allow people to find out more about the short film. I have split the back of the postcard up by putting a faint line down the middle of the image. On the right hand side I have written the synopsis for the short film and again this is giving the audience more of an understanding of what the short film is about. I have left a space in the top right hand corner to put a stamp which is a typical convention on a postcard and also adding in the lines for the address. I have modernised it by putting a QR code which takes you directly to my blog account which will also have more information about the short film.
Task 3:
This is my film review.
I am very happy with the end result of my film review as I think that it fits in with the style of Sight & Sound and this is what I was trying to achieve. I feel that I have written the film review in the style as Sight & Sound have done. I have used all of the typical conventions which they have used such as the way the information about the cast and the producers has been laied out. I have broken away from one of the conventions as I have shown that it is a short film review, in Sight & Sound they do not have a section on short film reviews and I have broken away from the original conventions. I have used different elements from the house style magazine to support the idea of the new section of short film reviews. I have also added in logos of short film festivals which would show the short film. I am very happy with the way in which I have written the film review as I feel that it has a balance of critique and positives about the short film. I feel that it is important to have this balance as it is not a bias viewpoint.
Question 2: How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
I have made a short video of me talking about the short film. I have shown the short film playing and I have paused it at appropriate times when there is a part of the film which has shown how the ancillary tasks have worked with the short film. I have done this to show how they all work together and how each one links together and all work in the same way.
Question 3: What have you learnt from your audience feedback?
Feedback for short film.
I got feedback from a range of people of different ages as I thought that by getting feedback from different age groups would be more effective as I can see how different ages react to the final products.
As a group we asked people to watch our short film and give us feedback on what they thought of the final result. We asked people from our school to give us feedback and found this very useful as we was able to get feedback from people our own age to see what they thought of it.
Feedback 1.
Feedback 2.
I also got other feedback from family at home as I wanted a different age range to get their thoughts of the sort film. I thought it is best to have feedback from people of different ages as it would give me more of an idea of what things were good and what things were not understood by the audience.
Feedback 1.
Feedback 2.
Feedback 3.
Feedback for Postcard.
I got feedback for the front and back of my postcard and I asked them questions of what they thought was good and bad. I asked a range of people of different ages and I thought it would be a good idea to do this as I can get the thoughts of different people and how different ages might react to it.
Feedback 1.
Feedback 2.
Feedback 3.
Feedback for Film Review.
I asked people for feedback of my film review and I asked them for their ideas about if they thought it looked good, and also whether they thought the layout and images used were good and fit in with the theme of the short film.
Feedback 1.
My response to feedback of short film.
After getting all of the feedback for all three tasks of this project I have used this advice to answer what I have learnt from the feedback. By listening to all of the feedback for the short film I have learnt that people do understand the main ideas about the short film. I have realised that people may not have caught on to what the meaning was behind the idea of Billy sitting under the stairs as we had hoped people would. From the feedback I have learnt that the concept of the short film did work well and that people did understand the different things which we included such as the sound when Billy was running as this was an important part of the film and was glad that this idea was understood by the audience. If I was to do the short film again I would have made the idea of Billy sitting under the stairs more clear so the audience would of understood the idea behind it more and could point out what they meant.
My response to feedback of postcard.
When looking back at the feedback I got for my postcard I was happy with the feedback that I got because it was the reaction that I wanted for my postcard. I am happy that they picked up on the idea of Billy standing out and also liked the way the title was written. I am also happy that they liked the images I used on the back of the postcard. I have learnt that people like the way that it is modernised by having the QR code in the bottom right hand corner as this appeals to the younger audience and will get more attention.
My response to feedback of film review.
The response I got for my film review was good because people liked the way that it was laid out because they thought that it was very clear and I was happy that they thought this. I learnt that people liked the way it was laid out and the titles and images that were used. I was very happy with the feedback that I had got for my film review. If I was the do my film review again I would add in another image from the film. I am also happy that they thought that what I had written within the film review was good because they thought that what I had written was good as it was not biased.
Question 4: How did you see new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
Task 1: I have created a collage of images of the new technologies that have been used throughout the production of our short film. All of these new technologies have contributed in the final product. Some of these have helped with the making and the completion of the short film and others have helped with the making of the postcard and the film review.
Blogger- I have used blogger throughout my media coursework and on this I have shown all of the work which has helped me research to get to the final idea and also the development to it. I have made different posts for each stage of research and development. I have done this because I am showing where the ideas have come from and how we have been influenced for our final short film. The blog is an easier way of getting our ideas across and showing our thoughts on different ideas throughout the project.
Digital SLR Camera- I have used the camera for showing the location of our film and also for showing the location during filming and showing the roles each person had when filming. The digital SLR camera would be used in the industry because a location scout would go around different locations and try to find the best to fit the location which the director wants. We used this idea as we went around different locations such as when we was trying to find the right corridor and stairs for the short film we took pictures of all of the possibilities and we decided on what location we thought would work best. The camera has helped show the filming stages. Also the camera was used for making the postcard. I used the camera when filming to take the picture that I wanted to use for my postcard. These pictures have also been used on the blog and also on the film review. In the film industry there would have to be a photographer which would work on the promotion and marketing of the film and they have to be clever in which photographs they use as they have to make it appeal to the audience for marketing purposes.
Flip Camera- I have used the flip camera for showing my ideas which we have done as a group. We were able to show our ideas more clearly through the film camera. Also we have used the flip camera for feedback on our first idea and also when we have developed a new idea. The flip camera was very useful as we was able to show the feedback which we got and look back and take that feedback into account. We also used the flip camera when filming, we filmed ourselves shooting the running scene using the dolly. We did this so that we could show how this part of filming turned out. Also in the film industry this piece of equipment may be used to make a little film to go with it such as 'the making of the film'. This would be used to show the different stages of the making of the film.
YouTube- I used you tube to research different short films. By researching different short films helped as I was able to watch them and take notes about the typical conventions that you would see in a short film. It was very useful to look at different short films as it advanced my knowledge and my ideas. I also used you tube to upload videos which we had made during the development and research stages such as feedback, I then put these videos onto my blog.
Sound Recorder- As a group we used the sound recorder to record our sound that we wanted to use in the final short film. We used this to film the piano music which goes at the beginning of the short film. We also used this to record the drowning sound which we used in the running scene. On a larger scale the sound recorder would be used to either record another sound to go over the top of a part of the film or it could be used to record ideas about the film such as new ideas and new thoughts of what can happen in the film.
Adobe Photo Shop- I used Adobe Photo Shop to make my postcard. I learnt how to use all of the different tools to create the front and the back of my postcard. I used the pictures that I had originally taken to do this and I played around with the tools until I was happy with the result. I also used this programme to format my film review. I had to make it look like a professional film review and I used this programme to do this. This software may be used to market or promote a film. It can be used to make pictures look better and to make them more appealing so that the audience would be more attracted to what they are seeing and this helps with the marketing of the film.
Google- I used Google to research things such as film festivals and other short films etc. I used the Internet for most of my research. This was very useful as it helped me to develop and gain more knowledge and this helped throughout the project.
Video Camera- We used the video camera to shoot our short film. We used this on every part of the short film as it gave a good quality picture and it gave options when there was trouble with lighting in certain locations. In the industry they use very high quality video cameras and they are able to get the best look that they can. In the film industry the quality of the picture must be of a high standard as the film would not be of a good quality.
QR Code- On the back of my postcard which I made I have added in a QR code which is a code in which you can scan on your phone and this will take you to a particular link. I have created a QR code which if you scan will take you directly to my blog account and this will enable you to look at the other work I have done on the short film. In the industry this new technology would be used for promotional purposes and it would allow people to look for more information about the particular film etc.
Adobe Premier Pro- During the post production stages as a group we edited our short film together and the reason why we used this software is because it is very good in what we needed to do. We had edit the film together and change things such as sound levels and lighting. In the industry they would use a software similar to this but it would be more advanced as they have more footage and this requires more to editing it.
Scanner- I have used a scanner to scan work for tasks such as the pre-production tasks for things such as the story board, technical reccee etc. I also used the scanner to scan ideas on for the ancillary tasks such as the postcard ideas. In the film industry they would use as scanner for photocopying documents that were needed in more than one place at one time. Such as the script would be needed by a number of people throughout the production of the film.
USB- I have used a USB throughout this project to transfer documents around the group. We have used this device to send the script around to everyone in the group and adding more detail and suggestions. I have used this device for many purposes throughout this project and I feel that this is the safest way of doing so. In the film industry a device such as this may be used also for the same reasons as these as information will need to be passed around and may need to be brought up quickly and this is the quickest way of getting information up quickly.
Disc- I have used a disc to put the short film on and I was able to take this places with me where I was able to get feedback and this was an easier way of showing people the short film and it is on a good quality. I was able to get more feedback from more people as the Internet was not always at access.
DVD Player and T.V.- The DVD player and the T.V. was used to show the short film to people and this enabled me to get the feedback that I needed. This was an easier way of showing people the short film as you was able to watch the short film at a good quality.
If these new technologies were not around today we would have to find alternate ways of doing them. The new technologies which I have shown put the short film, postcard and the film review up to a higher level as they allows us to do more with them and without these technologies this would really effect the final outcome. In the film industry they use these new technologies everyday and rely on them to create the best result and without them media would not be like it is today. Without these technologies media would have less of an effect on people would struggle to find different ways of producing their products.
No comments:
Post a Comment