Evaluation - Question 8 Looking back at your preliminary task what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product

The preliminary task involved a master shot and a shot reverse shot while also having to adhere to the 180 degree rule. Since that time we have learnt how to use numerous different angles like the extreme close ups in the first scene and the point of view shots. We made a lot of use of camera movement especially in the recording of Ashley’s movements down the stairs. We learnt more about pacing our shots, for example we decided to spend a fair amount of time shooting her in the act of crying. It was imperative for us to learn how to direct our actors into accomplishing the desired affects we most wanted to achieve which was an easy enough task as we were collaborating with our school peers. The preliminary task did not have the same intricate planning as the opening sequence meaning that we did not make much use of staging or integrated much sound. There was also more emphasis on Mise-en-scene in the opening sequence with our costume designs for specific characters. Props was also discussed and agreed upon with more care as each element was moving towards creating this fictional world of our characters. Though we made use of studio lights in the preliminary as they were at our disposable and in the opening sequence we decided to go with a naturalistic style. It is evident within our opening sequence that we made certain editing decisions that we would have been unable to accomplish in our preliminary, for example we made use of the cross cutting technique that helps to tell the story of our flashbacks. The preliminary task was more about capturing the action of our movements and being able to edit those actions into a comprehensible moving image while the final piece had the intent of telling a story and capturing the emotional response of each character, taking a more in depth look to the portrayed images on screen. Sound I believe is the one element we played around with most as we had diegetic and non-diegetic music, we played with the levels of volume, getting them to fade in and out with each cut.

Evaluation - Question 7 What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Toni F. Power Point

Throughout the whole process of the creation of our opening sequence our most important non-tangible possession was our blog. The blog held every aspect of pre-production/production/ and post-production, making the whole process extremely efficient. We uploaded our questionnaires and the answers that came with them on to the blog. These responses were then transferred onto Excel graphs. Our analysis of other opening sequences and film posters were also embedded onto the blogs. Scribd and Slideshare both act as storage devices for us to place our documents in and then use the embed code to transfer onto our blogs. Social networking sites like Facebook and hotmail were of high importance in keeping in contact with our crew and actors and helped us to be quite organised. We made use of Adobe Photoshop to create our credits sequence, which involved cropping some photos and superimposing the text onto the image. Finally we used the Adobe Premiere to edit our opening sequence, which after having experienced has made me appreciate those artists that put together movies as a career, as the work is very tedious and strenuous especially if your personality is that of a perfectionist. I believe that due to our status as amateur editors the final result was beyond what I expected us to accomplish, and is a testament to our teacher’s skills and our ability to take on new technology and harness it in a way that is successful. It took us some time to come to terms with the many different functions on Photoshop and our first few attempts were less than sufficient however with time we were able to use it with efficiency. An online technology that we agreed did not give much input was the Wordle that we used to brainstorm ideas for our title; it did not give us any inspiration and seemed redundant. I have now learnt how embed video or image codes onto blogs along with uploading documents onto online storage spaces. I have learnt how to plan for making a movie as well as camera handling and the editing of clips and sounds. I have also learnt how to collect research and transfer all the information into a discernable graph that is simple to read and efficient.

Evaluation - Question 6 How did you attract/address your audience (video/blog entry)

I believe that we have successfully created a product that will appeal to our chosen audience, as the feedback received was mostly positive. In our planning we wanted to go with a direction for the narrative that would challenge our viewers mind and would stimulate them to address and contemplate on the serious issues that are being dealt with in the opening sequence. Our decision to use actors of the same age as our characters was also pertinent as it helped audiences to slip more freely into the suspension of disbelief. The locations we felt were akin to those spaces that other teenagers would find themselves in thus making the space of our opening sequence another home to the audience. The responses were very positive regarding the technical aspects of editing and mixing of sound as we continuously interchanged from two distinctively contrasting melodies. Some audiences did not manage to follow the purpose of the flashback scenes and our use of cross cutting left them confused at times. Also towards the last couple of scenes the music started to come a little bit early which we decided upon as to represent that the actions of her past were now going to be affecting her future. We firmly believe that the lighting in the scenes was not up to par with our standards and could have been tackled differently.

Evaluation - Question 5 How does your media product represent particular social groups?

N.B. Please ensure that the annotations gadget is turned on.

Through mise-en-scene we managed to demonstrate Ashley’s character of a sweet simple girl, specifically through the props that were used in her bedroom and her chosen attire of a plain and appropriate t-shirt and jeans. This created a stereotypical representation of the wholesome girl next door. As our film targets young women explicitly, it was very important to us to show them in a realistic light so as to create a foundation for young girls to learn from and relate to. Because Ashley succumbs to her temptations she is automatically seen as more human and therefore her character becomes more three-dimensional this directly challenges other representation of young girls as large studios prefer to distribute an image of a teenager that says no to peer pressure. Conventions are challenged this way due to Ashley’s human actions. However in the aspect of our representation of males we have created a fairly 2-dimensional character, this is acceptable due to the films explicit targeting at females. We only see two male characters within the opening sequence who are both instrumental in peer pressuring Ashley to taking drugs and having sex. They are therefore considered the evil characters and thus it becomes a fairly stereotypical model of the male gender. Youth has also been represented in our media product. We have portrayed a typical view of how the world perceives youth today that being as irresponsible, as substance and alcohol abusers and as sexually active which no regard for consequences. However this was pertinent to our product as we wanted to show that even those of the most wholesome personalities may fall to the pressures of teenagers. This was important in our creation of a realistic setting and character. It is evident from the large stair case that Ashley descends and the nicely furnished home that she is from the middle class of society which is then further enhanced by the diegetic sound of radio four coming from the kitchen in the background.

Evaluation - Question 4 In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

In the construction of our narrative we have complied to the codes and conventions of a normal teenage drama. In the sense that the story deals with alienation, rebellion, teen angst, conflict with parents and peer pressure with an underlying intricate storyline dealing with the universal issues that come with the journey of coming of age stories. We established these issues clearly in our opening sequence with the extreme close up of Ashley’s leaflets on abortion. This combined with shots designed in a central composition of her seated in the middle of the party clearly alienated for the other partygoers establishes her teen angst and awkward shy nature that one can easily relate to. We have decided to display the narrative in a non-linear fashion by utilising flashbacks to clue in the audience on the escapades that were the catalyst in her downward spiral. As the opening sequence conventionally sets up the whole atmosphere for the movie, the blatant lack of adults being present tells the audience that this film will be mainly focused on young adults, in turn this is evidence of our genre being directed at teens. This coupled with the melancholic and sombre music, establishes the movies status as a teen drama. We have undertaken a style of editing that involves numerous cross cutting between the present day shots of Ashley and the flashbacks this made the process quite laborious and meant using an intricate system of sounds and shots. The cross cutting was used as a representational method of portraying the madness and confusion plaguing her mind. It is noticeable in the movie that we have made use of very little locations; this shows the lack of budget, though it creates a realistic image of a teenage lifestyle. Our costumes are clearly representative of the fashion styles of modern day teenagers. The props used were instrumental of displaying the troubles and peer- pressure our character Ashley would have to face. These being the bottle of vodka Ashley clutches, nervously to her chest ass though it was a lifeline as she wonders in a her own social peril and the substances she is peer pressured into taking. We decided to go with a classic design for our typography, especially with the aesthetic as we were faced with the problem of having the colours being defined enough to be noticeable. The visual conventions of the genre are conspicuously displayed within the opening sequence and can be identified as the leaflets on abortion, the alcoholic drinks and substances offered to Ashley.

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

As our narrative is quite similar to many other productions take for example ‘Juno’, it could be said that it is capable of being transferred to any kind of Distribution Company. Company’s like Working Title who are renowned for producing movies that are focused more on the glamorous aspects of life and enjoy to create feel good movies like ‘Notting Hill’ would take this certain approach because they are a subsidiary of Universal Studios who in turn is owned by Vivendi making it possible for them to have a larger budget. However these big budgets come with the added pressure of having to construct a media product to be enjoyed by a universal audience directly meaning that those British issues would have to be excluded. Warp films however do not have the resources to create such glamorous portrayals, though this suits them well as they have established themselves as a film company that depicts the lives and harsh realities of British society, their film ‘This Is England’ being a great example of this. Their style is quintessential of the abrasive and gritty reality that life truly is for those who would most likely be watching the film. Thus I believe Warp Films would be the best contender for distributing our film as they will place most of their focus on portraying those teen tribulations being tackled within the film.

Evaluation - Question 2 Who would be the audience for your product

From the collection of results from our questionnaire we have come to the conclusion that our target audience should exhibit a female gender of a vast age from 14 to 25 and of a Caucasian race. The more preferred genre amongst the audience is that of comedy however we decided against following this genre because it was advised that it is quite hard to portray. We wanted to create something that would touch upon certain issues and would have an impact on the audience, thus we followed with the idea of creating a teen drama which should appeal to the majority of our viewership. Many of the people we asked admitted to watching their movies online whereby meaning that the marketing team should come up with a strategy that focuses itself heavily on the internet by releasing trailers onto YouTube and possibly streaming the movie via Netflix. The audience made it clear that they were not enough films that would portray realistically the harsh troubled conditions teenagers are facing today. This fused with our pre-production research of the questionnaire helped us in finding the right narrative that would attract a big enough audience to ensure maximum profit while still creating something with cultural advantages and would be relatable enough for one to respond to and learn from.