I feel that my media coursework is targeted towards teenagers and generally the 'cool' group. I feel this way because in my media project there’s a bunch of girls going past an alleyway, two of them are dressed very femininely and the other one is wearing branded sports wear clothes (Nike). This shows that fashion and looking good matters a lot to them. One of the girls (Aneesah) is wearing a handbag and her hair is pushed back with a bold head band. She is conveying the general trend through her clothes and also stands out as she is wearing vivid bright colours. Her hair is also curled; this shows the importance and pride she takes in looking as good as she possibly can. I feel my opening scene is aimed for outgoing and adventurous teenagers, as the location is very scary and only adventurous people would take the risk in going down scary places.
In what way does you media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
My media product use's conventions from many different opening scene all merged together. The one that had inspired us the most was Black Swan, however, it was challenging conveying the similar shots and effects of Black Swan through the equipment we were given. We had also analysed the shots of Jaws, directed by Steven Spielberg, which was also very effective and motivating for us. On the other hand our plot was very different to jaws, however, our aim was not to use the plot but the effective camera angles and shots. There's an over the shoulder shot of the villain in my media product which is inspired by Paranormal Activity. In Paranormal Activity the psycho female character just stares at her husband towards the end of the film, this shot was very famous as it created suspense and tension. Therefore inspired by this shot in Paranormal activity we in interpreted it into ours.
However it was very hard challenging such renowned films, we tried to use their effective techniques and import them in our media project.
What kind of media products would distribute your media product and why?
I feel that working title two films would distribute our media product. I feel in this way as working title two films distribute the low budget films which are aimed at a particular audience. I feel that my media product is very different from other films and is aimed at 'cool' teenagers. As we are aware working title two films generally produce films that appeal a particular audience and could also attract other audience too, however, generally they appeal only a specific audience, for example; Billy Elliot, Love Guru and Ali G In Da house etc.
How did you attract/address your audience?
We attracted and addressed our audience by making the characters clothing’s attractive and suitable. We had used bright colours and branded names for the characters clothes. This was appealing to our target audience (teenager) as the youth tend to like wearing branded and fashionable clothes. Through research of famous franchise, we had found that long coats made from a fabric material are in fashion; therefore we had decided to get one of our main characters to wear a colour coat. The colour of the coat was pink and this represents danger. We purposely the protagonist character blue clothing yet again bright but not as bright as the other character. As the music starts at the beginning the audience will be aware that it’s a suspense thriller. By making the second main character that is not being attacked wear the bright colours diverges the audience attention to her, whereas it is the main character wearing blue (Aneesah) who is the victim. The music is another key element in attracting the audience, especially the thunder claps. I feel that the camera angles and shots itself can have a huge impact on the audience and by having point of view shots from the villain (madihah) is very effective and this allows the audience to see from both point of views. This is also attracts the audience by making them feel prioritised as they are aware that something is going to happen however, the characters are not, therefore, they are in anticipation to see the characters reaction.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing product?
I have learnt a huge amount about technologies from the process of constructing my product. I have learnt how to use an iMac. This was one of my biggest challenges as I am not very food with technology and find it very difficult to use other programmes. I was quite amazed at how fast I operated the iMacs towards the end of my project. I had also learnt how to insert videos on YouTube and most of all I was astonished at how we were able to insert music from garage band on to iMovies. After a bit of a struggle I had successfully inserted the correct music at the correct points and was happy with my final product.
One of the main technologies which I had never com across was blog spotter. I was never aware of this website and I had learnt how to use it which was essential for showing the analysis and research I had done to reach my final product.
One of the main technologies which I had never com across was blog spotter. I was never aware of this website and I had learnt how to use it which was essential for showing the analysis and research I had done to reach my final product.
Were there any problems in creating your media product?
There were many problems whilst creating our media product as on the day we had done majority of our shooting it was a windy day and there were grey clouds in the sky. Unfortunately after that day the weather was sunny and despite there being clouds the sun was bright and vivid. This was a major issue as we wanted to record some other bits on the following next day, however, we were unable to due to mismatch of the weather therefore we had to postpone our shooting schedule.
Another problem occurred was during the editing of our final product we were unable to take our media product home as everyone in my group did not have a apple computer. Therefore, we were only able to edit in school and during school time. The same problem occurred whilst making our sound for our media product. In this case the music was saved on a programme named Garage Band and we were unable to access that software at home as well.
One of the major issues which had occurred whilst processing my media product was publishing it on YouTube. I had accidently gone to the setting of my YouTube videos and changed the sound to a completely different sound and was unable to change it back as once the video has been audio swapped it’s unable to go back to the original sound. This created a hassle as I had to go back and re-upload it.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
There were many problems whilst creating our media product as on the day we had done majority of our shooting it was a windy day and there were grey clouds in the sky. Unfortunately after that day the weather was sunny and despite there being clouds the sun was bright and vivid. This was a major issue as we wanted to record some other bits on the following next day, however, we were unable to due to mismatch of the weather therefore we had to postpone our shooting schedule.
Another problem occurred was during the editing of our final product we were unable to take our media product home as everyone in my group did not have a apple computer. Therefore, we were only able to edit in school and during school time. The same problem occurred whilst making our sound for our media product. In this case the music was saved on a programme named Garage Band and we were unable to access that software at home as well.
One of the major issues which had occurred whilst processing my media product was publishing it on YouTube. I had accidently gone to the setting of my YouTube videos and changed the sound to a completely different sound and was unable to change it back as once the video has been audio swapped it’s unable to go back to the original sound. This created a hassle as I had to go back and re-upload it.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
I feel that I have progressed a lot from my preliminary task. My preliminary task did not show various shots. On the other hand my main product showed various shots and camera techniques such as; over the shoulder, pan, reverse shot, point of view shot, medium shot, close up and extreme close up shots. The techniques we had used whilst editing were also very advance. The preliminary task was yet not as bad as it portrayed the 180 degree rule and showed a match on action on the phone.
At the time of my preliminary task I was only able to portray basic shots keeping in mind basic rules. I was also finding it hard to have stable hands on the camera and felt that at times it was wobbly. To insure this did not occur in my final product I practised walking with the camera and taking numerous shots.
I have also learnt how to search for relevant sound for my final product and increase the time length or shorten it so that it fits the timeslot and specific part of my shot.
During preliminary task I had also struggled in which shots were best for the specific shot. However for my final product I researched camera and angles and shots of films that inspired my final product.
At the time of my preliminary task I was only able to portray basic shots keeping in mind basic rules. I was also finding it hard to have stable hands on the camera and felt that at times it was wobbly. To insure this did not occur in my final product I practised walking with the camera and taking numerous shots.
I have also learnt how to search for relevant sound for my final product and increase the time length or shorten it so that it fits the timeslot and specific part of my shot.
During preliminary task I had also struggled in which shots were best for the specific shot. However for my final product I researched camera and angles and shots of films that inspired my final product.
