Evaluation

EVALUATION CRITERIA
Candidates will evaluate their work electronically. This MUST contain an element of audience feedback and may be either integrated with the presentation of the research and planning material or may be presented separately. Where candidates have worked in a group, the evaluation may be presented individually or collectively but the teacher must allocate a mark according the contribution/level of understanding demonstrated by the individual candidate.

The questions that must be addressed in the evaluation are:
1.In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

When I started creating my film I knew exactly what I wanted it to look like and the effect I wanted it to have on the audience. However I wanted it to comply with the conventions of horror/thriller films. I included titles in my intro, as this is a main convention of films of any genre. A prominent convention of horror films is that there is killing within the first few minutes, so I included a murder scene. As the genre I chose was a psychological thriller I choose the theme death. My character is a schizophrenic and the person in his head has a fascination with death, which is why he murders people. Another convention is that you never see the murders face, so I made sure that all my shots cut out the murders face. My establishing shot is fairly normal for any film; it starts off in a normal orchid with nothing-extraordinary happening. I also included a definition of schizophrenia, as it would have been difficult to portray this mental illness within the first few minutes of a film. Using the definition helps the audience understand what is wrong with this murderer. 

2.How does your media product represent particular social groups?  

Both characters in my intro are from similar social groups, middle class, they are both young guys so there not going to be in really successful jobs, their clothes are pretty casual but not untidy. Until they get ripped and covered in blood.

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

I decided to use Universal Studios as I noticed that they distribute many horror/thriller movies such as Van Helsing, Hell Boy and The Grudge.

4.Who would be the audience for your media product?

I have aimed my film at the older generation of the younger market, 25-40 year olds, as my film contains some quite gruesome scenes of torture. It also contains some scenes that could be upsetting and disturbing for younger audiences, e.g. when the voices in his head tart talking to him and he begins arguing with himself.

5.How did you attract/address your audience?

I attracted my audience by making the intro to my film quite confusing and made the shots quick, the audience would hopefully wonder why this man is torturing and causing pain to another person. Did this man do something to deserve this beating? Did he offend him in some way? Or is this man just doing it because he can? I was hoping hat these events would intrigue the audience enough to carry on watching the whole film.

  I made my actors look like normal people, so that the audience felt like they could relate and put themselves in the actors positions, this enables the audience to feel the horrific nature of the situation and get more out of the film.

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

  I have learnt how to use Adobe After Affects to alter shots, like my establishing shot, which is a pan of an orchid, and then zooming into a window on the side of a farmhouse. To give this shot greater affect I added a rain affect, this made the shot seem more eerie and gave the impression that something was wrong. Based on my audience feedback the raindrops seemed to be unrealistic and too random, which ruined the effect that had been created.

   I also used after affects to create my titles. I had to use many of the components available in after affects to make my titles, I used the camera and null object tool. I also used the sure target preset so that I could move between each title smoothly. The purpose of my titles was to create a confusing and weird environment that was similar to what was going on inside the killers mind, however, Looking back on my titles I think that they were to confusing and they may confuse the audience so they don’t know who’s has done what job. Based on my audience feedback I think that they were to fast and didn’t give the audience a chance to read them and take them in properly. The jobs and the people who did them also needed to be differentiated between somehow, such as putting the jobs in bold.  

  Finally I used after affects to create my definition of schizophrenia. I filmed my actor suing the iStop Motion software, and then imported the clip into After Effects. I blurred his face and then used the definition of schizophrenia that I found from wikipedia. The audience feedback I received on the definition was really positive, most people felt that the definition was important to understand the rest of the film and to begin to understand the introduction that I created. They felt that leaving it till the end improved the effect as they had a moment of realisation. 

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

I have learnt how to use Adobe After Effects to create effects on top of existing film and how to create titles that appear to travel using the camera and null object tool which I had never even heard of before I started this project. I have also learnt what shots are effective and how to create a particular atmosphere. I have also learnt how to edit and cut clips in iMovie and import clips that I have added effects to or created in After Effects. I also learnt how to use the iStop Motion software to create an eerie effect. I have also learnt that you have to make sure you are happy that the shot you have is the shot that you want and if its not then to try and try again until you are happy you have the shot that you want.     

Level 4 16–20 marks
Excellent understanding of issues around audience, institution, technology, representation, forms and conventions in relation to production.
Excellent ability to refer to the choices made and outcomes.
Excellent understanding of their development from preliminary to full task.
Excellent ability to communicate.
Excellent skill in the use of digital technology or ICT in the evaluation

My Final Film

This is the final edit of my film. As you can see i have used Adobe After Effects to create my titles, my definition of schizophrenia and to edit my establishing shot. 

Now that i have finished my film i am starting on my evaluation. Which will answer questions such as which age groups i have aimed my film at, how my film applies to traditional thriller/horror conventions and who would distribute this kind of film. 

Rough Cut

This is the rough cut of my film, I still have lots of editing to do. I need to add my titles in and i will also be editing some of the shots in Adobe After Affects.

The Making of My Film

This is a clip of the preparation of my film. Included is the fake blood that i made myself using golden syrup, chocolate syrup, red food colouring and water. It tasted really nice!!!!

I have also started writing my construction, which will include all my thoughts about how my filming went, how i want the audience to feel at different points in the film, how i created my titles and how i created my definition of schizophrenia. 

Music

Today I started looking at music that wold suit the genre of my film. I went on www.audionetworkplc.com and searched Dark, Tense, Eerie and listened to the tracks listed and picked out the ones i could imagine featuring in my film. I tried to choose several that were creepy and would put the audience in an anxious state. 

As my film is about a schizophrenic i tried to pick several tracks that include voices in the background, this will confuse the audience but also create a feel of anticipation. 

I also started creating a filming schedule. This is a li

st of what I'm going to film and when, it also states when I'm going to do my test shots. This is what it looks like; 

My Film Poster

This is my film poster, as you can see I have used one of my actors faces (the killer) and put half his face in the dark, like the spawn film poster, I have also put sunglasses on him and have reflected a city (like the Hot Fuzz film poster) and a women, this is the women in his head who has told him to kill the man in the intro, however the audience will not find this out until later on in the film.

Film Poster

I am now designing a poster to go with my movie. I have looked at a wide range of genres of film and picked a couple posters that I hope to emulate when making my poster.
Wanted

Twilight
In this poster Edward Cullen looks slightly creepy, his eyes have been altered to make them more intense and supernatural like. I hope to emulate this in my poster. 

Spawn

In my poster i would like to have a picture of my killer but like this poster only being able to see half his face with the other half in darkness.

Hot Fuzz

In this poster you can see a reflection in their glasses, in my poster i hope to emulate this. In my poster you will be able to see one of my killers eyes and in their eye there will be an image of the women in his head that tells him to kill people.

Pirates Of The Carribean

Men In Black
In their glasses they have the stars reflected in their glasses. This is a similar technique used in the Hot Fuzz poster, i hope to emulate this in my poster. 

Batman The Dark Knight