Evaluation Question 7

Looking back at your preliminary task (the continuity editing task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

I have learnt a lot since doing my Prelim task earlier in the year. My skills in editing and filming have vastly improved and I now understand the whole process of making films a lot more. I started off not knowing much about the process of filming and editing but now I know how the process works. I have also learnt how important production and distribution companies are in making films and how it is important that each person plays a role in the making of a film.

 

When making our final film, I took part in the editing and putting each shot together in Adobe Premiere. When filming, I started off rather unsure of how to use the camera and film the shots perfectly, by keeping them steady and avoiding shadows. In our film, we worked with lighting and angles to do these two things and I am now able to use the camera much better than when I started off.

 

I think that my confidence and group work has also vastly improved. Making this product has been a big learning curve in terms of how much input I put in the group. I think that I am now much better at group work and our group has worked well together and we have all put our individual ideas into the final film.

 

Overall, making this product has been a really good learning curve in terms of learning how a film is made and how to work the filming and editing part of the process. I have gone from not really liking group working to finding it a good process where everyone works together to complete the same outcome. This film has helped me understand about target audience, setting and advertising in the right way too.

Evaluation Question 6

What have you learnt about technologies in the process of constructing this product?

Camera:

We used a camera to record the actual film. It was sometimes difficult to use as it didn’t always focus so we had to move the camera slower for it to be able to stay in focus. We also used a camera to take pictures of our progress which we then put on our blog.

Tripod:

We used this to keep the camera steady. It was sometimes better not to have the tripod when moving as it gave us less movable capability when walking round the room.

Here is a photo of a camera and tripod like the ones we used in filming:

Computer:

We used this for lots of different programs such as:

- YouTube

We used YouTube to look at other similar film openings and to find the music that we would use. Sometimes it didn’t always give us usable music so we had to search through a lot of results to find a good one.

- Adobe Premiere

We used this to edit our film. Some of the features were difficult to use so we had to learn by trial and error. Overall, this was a good programme to use because it enabled us to edit our film to be the way we wanted it to be.

- Blogger

We used this to show our progress through making the film. We kept a diary of what we were doing  and completed different tasks to show our progress throughout the filming project.

- Photoshop

We used this to make our film poster. Like Premiere, some of the features were difficult to use but after trying them out we got the hang of them.

Here is a photo of a Mac like the one we used to create our finished film:

Evaluation Question 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

We have attracted our audience through the props and lighting. The costumes the characters are wearing are colourful, apart from the Robber's, and the props add to the colourful atmosphere created by the lighting. The Christmas tree is the first thing the audience will see when watching our film and it is full of colourful baubles and bright lights.
 

We have used upbeat music for our film which immediately focuses the attention of the audience onto the film. The loud drumming draws the attention of the viewer so they wonder why there is music. The music relates to the film as it sounds festive and suggests a Christmas scene is about to be shown.

The first thing shown in the film are the titles which use colour and light which again attract the audience, the baubles and lights on the tree is the first image which attracts the audience as they are young. Christmas is an exciting time for young children and when they see a Christmas tree with cheerful colours, they will want to watch the film.

The baubles, tinsel and lights create excitement for the young viewers and the images/props we have used make them associate the film with something they like.

 

The image above shows a screenshot from our opening, we wrote some of the titles on the baubles on the tree which were the first to be seen. The image uses high key lighting to attract the audience.

 

Shown in the images above are some of the props and costumes we used. Again, they are bright and fit well with the narrative.

We also attracted the audience by the music we used, we used two tracks to link with the narrative. Firstly we used an upbeat piece which captures the attention of the viewers. We then show the audience that the music is being used in the headphones of an elf. When Santa then appears another piece of music is used which again is upbeat to show the part where he is 'kidnapped'. The music plays a big part of attracting the audience because if we hadn't used any then it would be less exciting to watch as no dialogue is used. 

Evaluation Question 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

 Our 'Saving Santa' film has a certificate of PG because it is aimed at families so has to be suitable for children. Everyone can watch our film, apart from very young children because of the comic fight scenes. Our film is suitable as a PG because the slapstick fighting scenes are quite comical and have a cartoon effect to them. The music, costumes and narrative all make our film suitable for all ages. The music aspect is likely to appeal to older children and teenagers the most, whilst the costumes are likely to entice younger children. The narrative is interesting and the story line for the film is original and not just another cheesy Christmas film. This would be a fantastic family film because it has something for all ages.

Target Audience

 Despite our film being a PG, we thought that our main target audience would be teenage boys and older children because the comic fight scenes would appeal to them more and they would be the ones to enjoy the story line the most.
For example, our target audience would be someone like Joe. He is 12 years old and likes comedies. He also enjoys music. He would like the slapstick fighting scenes in this film because it has a comical aspect to it and would also be interested in the music used fr this film.
Our main target audience would be people from the UK and America, although we would get other audiences from around the world.

Home Alone

Similar to our film, Home Alone is also a PG. This is also a comedy and works well as a Christmas family film. There are many different types of merchandise for this film and all suit the PG certificate. For example, there is a fun family board game which is based on the film.

What I have learnt...

I have learnt a lot about audiences whilst making this film and have discovered what genres might appeal to what people. Our film has a comedy genre, as well as the obvious Christmas film genre, which, unlike Romances which is likely to appeal to women, appeals to everyone and is a good genre for a family Christmas film.

Evaluation Question 3

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

Evalation Question 2

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of media products? (i.e. of film openings)

Genre

The genre of our film is first seen as festive. We made this clear when filming as the very first image seen is a bauble on a Christmas tree with tinsel and sparkles which are objects associated with the time of year. However, an aim we tried to stick to was the fact that there was a twist. We wanted the audience to believe that the film was like any other festive happy film which went with a predictive narrative. We decided to make it have a different beginning, one where Santa gets taken away by someone dressed in black. 

Looking at the film opening we produced, we took this plot twist and created what looks like Santa being kidnapped which changed the genre from a happy cheerful story to a quick and dark one. We did this when filming by having two parts, the first was the upbeat, decorative view then we added in a 'fight' scene where Santa (who normally is a large loved man) who is then dragged away by a more powerful person. 

Looking at the two screenshots below show images that suggest the happy narrative at the very start, then the image later on in the opening when Santa is being punched and taken. 

These two images are both showing the same genre, yet the left shows a more pleasant side of the genre where as the image on the right shows a less predictive image, Santa being less powerful than someone else. The lighting in the image on the left is bright, where as the image on the right is darker and has less lighting by Christmas decorations. 


What we did to show the genre

As explained with the images above, we used props and costume to show the audience it was a film for the Christmas festive period. Traditional colours are shown for Christmas, green and red which are seen clearly in both photographs. We have used a cosy family home to set the scene for the film, which is typical for a film with this genre. When we planned Saving Santa we were not sure about what location to use, i believe this location worked really well. The one room we used throughout was the perfect size to work with as it had room for the titles at the start and the characters to move about, any bigger or smaller and it wouldn't have worked as well. 

Location

Choosing a location when planning was a struggle, we couldn't decide between a few of our houses some didn't have room for all the scenes, and we couldn't find a house with a fireplace big enough for Santa. In the end, we asked to use a lounge area of a friend which she agreed to.  As seen in our final opening, the room was perfect. We had everything we needed in the room plus extra props and of course, our costumes. 

We could have used many other houses but this one was just right. Also, there were a lot of rooms to choose from but we decided to use just one room to make it a realistic setting.

Costumes and props

The costumes and props we used created a great real media product as we used very detailed costumes which even included the eyebrows and glasses of Santa. We used actual Christmas decorations instead of little cheap ones which made it so much better (we know this from our poor practice when we used a tiny tree that looked silly in the room and random decorations that we had all bought separately. The second time filming improved our film opening incredibly and props improvement was the main cause.  

Titles and fonts

When we planned our titles, we didn't think too much about the font, we thought we would just create simple and basic fonts for labels to make them more realistic. When it came to feedback for our first draft, we had negative comments which said 'titles were boring' and 'could have a lot better fonts'. We decided we needed to change this straight away. We changed the person who wrote them, they wrote them with extra time and care to produce what looked like Christmas font with different names.
Looking back at the draft and then looking at the final opening, font has improved dramatically which has played another big part in improving the film opening to make it more like a real media product. 


(Shown below is a variety of labels and titles we created.)

Camera work and editing

When we planned, we really didn't think about camera work. We knew ways we could use the camera to make certain shots but we didn't plan enough which became an issue when creating the first draft. When shooting the draft, we took the first long shot which was too quick, the lighting was poor and there were shadows seen in the shot. 

When we got feedback, people picked up on the lighting and shadows so we knew we had to re-do the scenes. When we re-filmed, we improved the lighting by shining a torch on the objects in the shot so they stood out and were lighter. Although this was improved hugely, it was difficult to cut out shadows so there are still a couple in the opening which we didn't have time to fix. 


How characters were introduced

In the final opening, we introduced Santa a lot better compared to the draft. Shown below is the first image of Santa (not the filming image, a photograph taken whilst filming.) He is in the centre and takes up a lot of room, his arms are spread out which makes him look important. 

Evaluation Question 1

How does your media product represent particular social groups?