Evaluation Question 7

Evaluation Question 7:

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

 

We filmed our preliminary task in October. This was the beginning of the school year, and although I had taken media studies at GCSE level, I did not have much knowledge on filmmaking and editing. I now feel confident with using editing software such as iMovie, and with filming techniques and camera shots.

Before we recorded our preliminary task, we were taught 3 things that we had to focus on. These were shot/reverse shot, the 180-degree rule, and match-on-action. I think that it was really useful to try and focus on these things in the preliminary task as it allowed us to learn how they worked before applying the techniques to our film opening. After filming and editing our video, we realised that we broke the 180-degree rule at one point in our preliminary task video, so we were especially careful about ensuring the rule was in place when filming our actual film opening.

Another aspect of filmmaking we learnt a lot about in progression from our preliminary task to our full product is editing. Ellie edited our preliminary task using iMovie, as she had access to the software on her laptop and she was familiar with it. Our preliminary task did not require complex editing, so iMovie was perfect for the job. For our film opening, we wanted to try using a more challenging software in order to get more interesting results, which is why we used Final Cut Pro. There were more effects available to us on this programme, and we were able to change the colouring of our video clips, which was really useful for creating our film opening. We used iMovie to add titles to our film opening, as Final Cut Pro did not have a wide enough range of titles for us to choose from. I now feel confident with using both programmes and would be happy to use them again!

Our preliminary task did not include any added sound effects or music, so adding music to our opening sequence was a new concept for us. We used the software Garageband, a programme I was only vaguely familiar with. After creating our film opening sequence, I felt much more knowledgeable about how Garageband works, and think that I would be able to use it again with ease.

After we had filmed and edited our preliminary task, we noticed that some of our friends were visible in the background of shots that they weren't supposed to be in. This mistake made us more aware of who can be seen in certain scenes, so when filming our opening sequence we made sure that only the people who were supposed to be on camera were visible. I think that this awareness will be useful in the future if I do any more filmmaking.

The process that lead up to us recording and editing our full media product taught us a lot about the filming and editing processes, and that it is important to pay attention to detail whilst recording and editing videos. We all learnt a lot about technology, and feel confident using programmes that we had never really used before starting this Media Studies AS Level course. Overall, I'm really glad that we did so much research (including the preliminary task) before attempting to put together our final media product, as I think that it taught us a lot, and as a result, our final product was very successful.

 

Evaluation Question 6

Evaluation Question 5

Evaluation Question 4

Evaluation Question 3

Evaluation Question 2

Evaluation Question 2:

How does your media product represent a particular social group?

 

During the pre-production stage of creating our horror film opening sequence, my group and I discussed who would be appropriate to play the characters in our film. Firstly, we thought about who might play the antagonist in our film opening. We wanted to decide this first, as the killer was the key character in our film opening, and if the opening sequence were to continue into a full length film, the killer would be the focus of the film. After some discussion, we chose Kayleigh to be the antagonist, as she enjoys acting and owned appropriate clothing to play the role of the killer. Her hair is quite dark, so this added to the connotation of danger that her appearance showed. Originally, we were going to ask a boy to play this role, as in horror films this role is usually played by a male character, however, we decided to cast a girl in order to challenge this. 

 

 

 

 

 

In the film 'Orphan' (2009), the antagonist is a young girl named Esther. She appears to be sweet and innocent, often wearing bows in her hair, as a typical little girl would. However, her dark clothes suggest that there is an element of darkness about her. At a glance, the character of Esther does not appear to be remotely threatening or dangerous- this is what we wanted to achieve by dressing our antagonist in normal, everyday clothing. In the majority of horror films, men are presented as the more dominant characters, which is a concept we wanted to challenge within our film opening. In 'Orphan', Esther is the antagonist- she a powerful character whom the other characters fear. Orphan is one of the few horror films that challenge the idea that men are more dominant, and we wanted our film to also challenge this idea. Our media product represents women as a strong and powerful social group, and this is shown by our casting of a female antagonist.

 

 

Next, my group and I chose who should play the victim in our film opening. After doing some research on victims in horror films, we learned that the victim is usually a young girl who looks stereotypically feminine and vulnerable. We decided that Ellie would be the best choice to play this role as she looks quite feminine and petite, and owned clothing that was appropriate for the role. Her hair is also quite light, which could connote light and good as opposed to darkness and evil.

 

 

 

In the film 'Black Swan' (2010), the protagonist is a young woman named Nina. She looks feminine and innocent, so we decided to take inspiration from her character for our victim. We followed the conventions of a horror film by casting a girl to play the victim in our film opening, as in the majority of horror films, the victims are young girls. While casting a girl to play the antagonist in our film opening presented women as powerful, casting a girl to play the victim presented women as weak and vulnerable. We have presented contrasting and varied views of women in our film opening.

 

 

 

 

To conclude, I think that we presented women in an interesting way within our film opening. Whilst we challenged typical aspects of a horror film by casting a woman as the antagonist of our film, we also complied with these aspects by casting a woman as the victim in our film opening. We have managed to represent both the dominant and vulnerable sides of women within our film opening, and I think that this is what makes it unique.

 

 

 

Evaluation Question 1