Main Task – Evaluation

By Ben Hubbard

In what ways does my media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products My media product as a Romantic Comedy, or romcom,

mainly uses and follows the forms and conventions of other previous romcoms, as this is what the audience look for when going to see or buying my product.

It also develops the idea of one of the main characters having a dysfunctional character – namely my co-star Claire being very pernickety about her food.

Having said this, my product challenges the convention of romcom as we utilise the Oxford College where I live, Christ Church, at the start of our film. This is to add an original aspect to the film, as no other romcom I have ever encountered has used this romantic setting or anything that really matches it.

How does my media product represent particular social groups?

As a romcom, there is the inevitable girl/boy social groups involved. This is essential to the story as these two characters follow the convention of a romcom and is what the audience look for.

Although on top of this there is the youth aspect of my film which is shown by way of the two main characters being early student age, and in a college. This age group is innovative as most romcoms will have older main parts to attract that sort of aged audience.

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

Firstly, I would ask the BBC, who have a section named Film-Network who find young talent in the UK and promote their films online. As my film contains a student nature, through the setting and age of the main characters, a good way to distribute the film would be via the internet.

After the film had been recognised through the internet, I would ask filmfour to distribute my media product, as it is a film company with the aim to produce and distribute home-grown British film making talent. Filmfour made its big break through a romcom, namely Four Weddings and a Funeral, and so I think they might be looking for another one but similarly original.

Who would be the audience for my media product? As stated in the social group slide, I have used two young, student age

main parts. This will attract a generally younger audience than most other romcoms, as younger people will have more to relate to. I believe the age group this film appeals to is 16-25 - student age.

Generally the audience the film appeals to is girls/women, as is the case with romcoms.

How did I attract/ address the audience? The opening titles consist of black screen with white writing – an often

used credit technique in romcoms – which goes to two roughly 15 second shots setting the scene of the two main characters missing each other, which are separated by a title screen. This happens in this order: title; shot; title; shot; main title; into the movie. This is also a used technique when filming a romcom. After setting the scene of the main storyline – asking about the date in the park – there are the credits which are again on a black background with white writing. This leads into the main event of the opening - the picnic.

All of this adds up to the expected start for a romcom for the audience, which attracts them as it ensures them that this is what they wanted to watch.

What have I learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product? Firstly, and most importantly, I have learnt to use the iMac, which was

essential to the quality of the film. At first it was difficult to use, as previously I had used the windows equivalent to imovie, but eventually I got used to it and was sufficiently able to edit my piece fully.

Secondly, I had to get to grips with the camera. It is surprisingly harder to use than I had previously thought it would be. During our main filming i.e the filming in the college and park I did not have a tripod which inevitably created quite a few problems like unstable shots and an inability to pan with the camera.

Looking back at my preliminary task, what do I feel I have learnt in the progression from it to the full product? Between the two there is mass improvement in every aspect of the filming. First, the sound quality in the prelim task is very poor as it is either with an echo, or filmed

outside where the wind effects the quality for example you can hear the difference in wind when the shot changes during the prelim. In the main task I eliminated this by only using a few lines of dialogue, and waiting for a clear day to film on, as to remove the problem of wind.

Second, there are no transitions used in the prelim as we had only just started using the iMac and were still getting used to the different aspects and effects. This drastically changes for the main task, as the use of transitions shows the change in time, most recognisably after the rolling credits, there is the turning page transition which shows the stretch in time between the filming in the college into the picnic in the park.

Lastly, there is a major improvement in sound during the main task. This is sound generally as opposed to dialogue quality. The music used in the main task is pretty much continuous and helps to convey the moods of the characters at the time. For example the upbeat music at the start gives the idea of a confused nature for the characters which turns into a slower, more romantic song during the date, and finally onto the celebratory type music at the end to signify the nice ending to the introduction.