Anguish

Below is my final production, I hope that you enjoy my media product. I have used a label system to help with navigation around my blog, thank you.

Evaluation Question 1

I answered this question in the style of a directors commentary as this allowed my to talked about the visual whilst it was on the screen.

Evaluation Question 2

Media evaluation question 2 transcript - this is what the video reads in case it's unclear.

Within our media product we only have one character over all she represents the social group of a young female.

Megan’s character is around 18 years old, this is similar to our target audience which can help them relate to her. She is shown in the mirror which suggests that she is aware of how she looks, from Megan’s appearance the audience is able to see that she is a young female therefore representing that particular social group. During the first minute Megan is wearing light colours, she also has light hair and a bright face and this will help the audience identify her as a protagonist.

My group and I wanted the character to come across average as this follows the social groups in similar opening sequences I had watched.

She has clothes that are similar and popular with other girls her age.

The One Direction mug gives some insight to her interests and shows that she is in touch with popular culture and adds to the representation that she is a normal girl with a normal life.  The audience is able to see Megan in her own environment whilst she is following her routine, the order of this situation is able to portray Megan as being non-threatening.

Once Megan leaves her own environment and enters out side her body language changes and she becomes shifty, she is now also wearing black which helps emphasize this uncertainty.

Media often plays of stereotypes we decided to do this as we wanted as we wanted Megan to come venerable but not helpless. Despite her shifty behaviors Megan remains to have an open expression and clear face which helps represent her as honest.

However the deeper story of our plot portrays Megan’s character as having hidden secrets. Twisting her stereotype is good way to shock the audience and keep them guessing. 
From our opening sequence Megan is able to come across as an average girl, but it also give hints the audience that every thing is not always as it seems. 

Evaluation Question 3

What kind of media institutions might distribute your media product and why?

Evaluation Question 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Evaluation Question 5

Evaluation Question 6

When answering this question I realized that I had used many media technologies whilst planning my final task, however I only decided to write about the most useful ones through out my production as a whole.

Evaluation Question 7

Approaching this question my group and I decided the best way to answer it was in the style of a group discussion. To begin we started by talking about what we had learnt over all and after we spoke about our own individual areas of production.

Evaluation Questions

Now that my group and I are drawing closer to finishing our final production we are begging to think about the evaluation.
For the evaluation I will need to answer seven questions about the pre, post and final production as well as audiences and processes. When responding to the question I will aim to answer them in different ways that are unique from each other.

Questions:
1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?-
This question is asking me to identify how my final product is similar to real media products and in what ways it is different.
For this question I could answer in the style of a director’s commentary. By talking over the opening sequence I will be able to identify forms and conventions as well as having the visual on the screen as a reference.

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
This question is asking me how the characters in my opening sequence represent those of a similar age or group with in real life.

3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
For this question I am required to identify where would be the best place to show my opening sequence and reasons for why that would be.

4. Who would be the audience for your media product?
To answer this question I need to identify who would be the best audience for my opening sequence and who the film is aimed at.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?-
To answer question 5 I could look at similar genres and their audiences in order to address my audience. To attract I will create a poster as a form of advertising which would be able to promote the product.

6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
This question is asking me to evaluate and identify the things I learnt from the technologies I have used throughout the whole production; this includes pre, post and production I could answer this question in the form of a presentation as I will able show the technologies I used and write about the positives and negatives.

7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?-
When answering this question it was suggestion we could approach it in the style of a group discussion. Each member of our group will talk briefly about what they feel that they have learnt and gained since the preliminary, and then we will all talk individually about the specific areas of our final product, mine being editing.



  

BFI - Youth, Media and Collective Identity

http://www.bfi.org.uk/


On Wednesday the 5th of February my media class visited the BFI to experience and learn about the way media portrays young people and their culture. We viewed a presentation performed by Matthew Hall and he spoke about how teenagers begin to build up their identity, he also spoke about the Psychoanalytic film theory in which we use films and television that we watch in order to reinforce our own identity. Whilst at the presentation we were asked to analyse a variety of film clips and decide on what dominant message was being sent about the younger characters. We were also asked to think about  the oppositional interpretation and how adults may view the clips differently.

One of the pieces we were shown was a clip taken from the film The Wild One. In the this clip we see a group of people who are of the same age, the characters we all male and were shown wearing similar outfits. This film was made in 1953 and shows a good representation of a gang of people acting as one. This gang like behaviour is a trend in other youth drama films such as Quadrophenia and Bullet Boy. It begins to show that young people group together and identify with each other, this is demonstrated through the similar outfits and hair styles. This comradary with in the group can be seen as desirable to younger audience as it shows a good sense of belonging although when linked to violence and delinquency it can be viewed as a negative and threatening way to act by a audience of older viewers. This gang like behaviour may also play on the fears that parents may have about their own children acting in this way.

Another piece that we were shown was a clip from the film Quadrophenia. In this clip we see the youth subculture, the mods rival with another subculture, the rockers. This clip also demonstrates the gang like grouping of the characters who also behave in a delinquent and obstructive way. Then dominant message this clip shows the characters sticking together, working as one and acting in a collective way even though the way they are acting is destructive and violent. Further in the film we are shown parents and they come across idle and disinterested in their children, this could imply that they are to blame for the sub cultures. It may be more of the fact that teenagers want to be different from their parents and they achieve this by acting in a gang of people they identify with and this may relate to the audience who is younger and feels the same way about wanting to be different, even though they may achieve this through not being violent and destructive. Viewers of an older age may also identify with this film as it may cause them to become nostalgic about how they felt when the were younger.
Another film that showed idle parents was 'Kidlulthood'. They parents are show to be wrapped up in their own problems and from this the fail to notice the trouble that their daughter is going through, young people may relate to this as they feel that their parents do not understand them. 'Rebel with out a Cause' also shows the more emotional side of a conflicted teenager and again the parents seen to be unaware of how unaware they are in regards of their sons feelings. Adults watching this could feel that they never act in such a dismissive way but it could also cause them to feel worried about if they are and not realising they are doing so.

This scene of Kidulthood touches on many still current issues that cause frequent discussions in news and media such a under age drinking, teen pregnancy and bullying. It begins to show that the teenage life is not all care free and little responsibility as many parents see it to be, as well as gang violence and drug taking the film as shows the pressures that a young person may face in their life, although when reflected to reality in may not be such an intense representation.

One issue that is often up for discussion is the fear that films of this nature are the reasons for gang violence, drug taking and general delinquent behaviour. I disagree as if you are going to blame a gang film for gangs you must question a horror film for horrific murders and in the same way a heist film for robberies. A film that explores this questionable impressionability is 'Human Traffic'. In a ironic fashion is shows how films are not to blame for a young persons blameable behaviours.

Overall the day help us to explore the way that we interpret media  and how it portrays youth and collective identities. Also we learnt to think how an older audience may view them and that not every representation is an accurate one.

Opening Sequence - Practice

Before we began filming for our final piece we decided to have a run through of the opening sequence in order to try out different shots and angles. We felt that a run through would help us to decide on what we wanted our final piece to contain as well as over come any problems that we hadn't anticipated. After we filmed the short sequence below and edited it we felt that some changes should be made to make sure that our final sequence was of a high standard. I felt that the movement of the main character was to quick so we next time we filmed we made sure that she walked and moved with a slower pace, this will help the piece to not come across as too rushed. We also felt that a photograph would have more feeling and be more sentimental, rather than having an image on the phone. The colour should also be darker and not as bright as this will help to create a more mysterious feel.

The practice was a good opportunity for our group to make final changes and organise our ideas before filming for the real thing. 

Script and Shot list for Opening Seqence

This is my groups script and shot list. It is important that we created a script for our final task so that we are able to stay focused and on track whilst filiming. Having a good script will help us to acheive the shots that we want and need in order to make a good opening sequence.

 

Story Boards for Opening Sequence

Here are the story boards for our opening sequence. We tried  to include a variety of camera shots, movements and angles. We tried to create a clear narative with out telling the whole story and giving too much away.

Symbolism

Changes

Since the pitch of our opening sequence we have found that our direction has slightly changed. Our decided genre of drama - mystery now has some supernatural touches in it after we decided to alter the ending. Our original idea was to have the girl walk away in a hurry but we decided that this felt to forced and broke the gentle pace of our ideas in an awkward way. We have now decided to have a the girl be touch on the shoulder, by who is left to questioning. I felt this made a better possible ending for the sequence as it leaves the audience wanting to find out more about the mystery hand.

I think having the change will benefit us and being able to adapt and work with numerous ideas is a good skill for us to practice with in media.

Pitch for Opening Sequence

This is my groups power point of our pitch for are final piece. We decided to include a slide explaining the synopsis and the overall idea of what our opeing scene is going to be about. We used photos in our mood board in order to represent the feel and emotion of what we wanted to create, we also chose two main locations for our opening sequence as well as potentional soundtracks and characters. We decided to have only one character because this helps to get across the feel of isolation and lonliness. Although
we're happy with this pitch we are all open to any changes in ideas that we may have.