REACTION #1

Reaction from a member of the secondary target audience to my final piece.

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

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

I have become much more competent in using a Macbook Pro and Software such as LiveType, Final Cut Pro, Soundtrack Pro, and Logic. Evidence of some of the techniques I used are shown in the screenshots below.

This shot shows me using final cut to edit my film opening.  

These two screenshots show how I was able to convert video into a .mov file from final cut. 

This shot shows me using SoundTrack Pro, I decided soon after that using Logic would be a better option for my film opening as I knew there were synths in the software that I wanted to use in my piece.  

This is a shot of me using Logic to compose the soundtrack to my piece. 

How did you attract/address your audience?

Please open this video in a new tab and watch on YouTube in order to view the annotations. 

Who would be the target audience for your media product ?

PRIMARY TARGET AUDIENCE
Name: Tom
Age: 18
Lives: Leamington Spa
Dress/Style: Has tattoos, piercings, and usually wears skinny jeans and band shirts. 
Hobbies: Going to gigs, parties, drawing, Gaming, seeing his girlfriend and watching films.
Shops at: Hot Topic, Urban Outfitters, Vans, Converse.
Favourite Films: The Thing, The Shining, IT, Childs Play, Saw.
Favourite Bands: Lamb of God, Anthrax, The Descendants, Carnifex. Mainly Metal or Rock music, and usually not mainstream or chart music.
I think the film would appeal to Tom because of his interest in psychological thrillers and horror films, as well as the fact he fits into the stereotype that would most likely be associated with the kind of film I have made.

SECONDARY TARGET AUDIENCE

Name: Kate

Age: 17 

Lives: Banbury 

Dress/Style: Has long hair, piercings, and dresses mainly grunge style clothing that is alternative. 

Hobbies: Going to gigs, shopping with friends, seeing her boyfriend, watching films. 

Shops at: TopShop, Urban Outfitters, Hot Topic. 

Favourite Films: A clockwork orange, Requiem for a dream, Tank Girl, StepBrothers 

Favourite Bands: The Dead Weather, Band of Skulls, Blood Red Shoes. Mainly rock/bluesy music that involves women. 

I think the film would appeal to Kate as a secondary target audience because she will want to go and see it with Tom (her boyfriend). The secondary target audience is represented through the barbie doll who I have purposely dressed in an exaggerated grunge style. The character who dies at the end of the opening is also a girl of a similar age and this is also representative of the secondary target audience and therefore would make Kate want to see the film. 

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

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Instead of using human characters to depict social groups in my piece, I decided it would be more challenging and effective to use a doll instead. I coloured in her hair and make it look straw-like, and gave her 'tattoos'. I also ripped her clothes and made her make up heavier in order to represent her 'edgy'. This look is used successfully in the film 'run lola run', where lola also has the same bright, yet edgy looking hair. It is also a very similar look used for most of girls shot in the film opening to Blade.

I also decided that the hand I used for the 'murder' victim would be that of a young person. This contradicts my research and planning, however I decided it would be more relevant to my target audience (teenage boys with a secondary target audience of teenage girls), if the murder victim was of a similar age. The only way I would depict the age was through the hand and therefore it was of upmost importance that the hand looked like it was a 'young' hand. 

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

Evaluation question 1

View more PowerPoint from Eb Hill

FINAL PRODUCT

Disturbance

Rough Cut

Rough Cut

I've had a problem with the quality of this clip, mainly due to the reasons I mentioned in the progress post before. However I was determined to meet this deadline for the rough cut- and I actually think the bad quality supports the overall atmosphere of the clip. I hope you enjoy.

PLAN

I drew up a plan today of how I intend to edit my final piece. I want to be really specific about what happens during my film opening and therefore a plan in this format will be particularly useful to me, as apposed to a conventional storyboard.

Progress

I had everything planned shoot all the footage of my film today (8th Jan). I was planning to get the ingredients for fake blood after work and then go home to shoot, however about an hour and a half into my shift the shopping centre set on fire and we were evacuated from the building. Luckily, no one was hurt and the centre re-opened by the end of the day, however most shops stayed closed until the next day (Mon 9th Jan).

Although I got to go home an hour early from work, it does mean that my filming has to be postponed. This should not effect the time in which I have to edit it, as I have done ample research and am confident as to what editing techniques I wish to apply when I finally have footage to edit. I am planning to proceed with the filming this coming weekend (14-15th), leaving me plenty of time to finish my rough-cut before the 30th. Below is a link to the article that outlines what happened. 

Article on fire in Banbury

Hand Casting

In order for my final piece to show the right connotations of a thriller genre, I need to ensure that the hand that falls at the end of the scene is the right kind of hand. I have done some casting in order to make sure that most types of hand are accounted for, with an evaluation of each as to how successful I think they would be in my film opening. I'm looking for a preferably older female hand which is quite dark in complexion and not conventionally "dainty" or "pretty". When it comes to the actual filming, I wish to make the hand up to look like it's callused and dirty and cut, therefore I want the hand I use to be able to carry off this with the least amount of makeup possible.

 I think that this hand is a quite successful hand for the criteria I have for my opening. The complexion is similar to that of which I would want, and the fingernails are quite rounded and not too long- connoting masculinity. Although this hand would be very successful in my piece, the skin is still quite taut. This connotes that the person is quite young, which is a feature I do not want to get across in my film.

 These hands are quite long and elegant, and would therefore be easy to position when filming. However, there are many features to these hands that imply quite clearly that they belong to younger females- and are certainly too elegant and dainty for the character I wish to portray in my film opening. The complexion of both hands are too pale and the fingernails have been filed (and painted), again connoting too much femininity. These hands would not be successful in my opening because they do not portray the type of character I wish to portray in my film opening.

Although this hand fits some of the criteria for the hand I wish to use, I do not feel it would be entirely successful for the task I wish to fulfill. The hand is of a similar complexion to the one I wish to use, however I think it is slightly too pale in comparison to hand 1, for example. The skin on this hand is flawless and connotes innocence to an extent I would not wish to show in my final piece. Although this is a male hand, the fingers are long and elegant, thus connoting an innocent and kind character further. If I was to use this hand, I would have use lots of makeup in order to create the look that I want in my piece, and this would be inefficient in terms of both time and money. 

Consideration Presentation

It's important I think about a range of different aspects when executing my final piece. This presentation takes those aspects into more detail.

My final piece on Prezi