Evaluation

By Fahmida Begum

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

Our media product is intended to be a teen drama with elements of crime in it.

Teen dramas tend to be filmed in locations such as park and the streets which is what my group has done. In Kidulthood, there is a shot of three boys at the park which is similar to a shot in my final product where there are three boys at the park. All of the characters, in Kidulthood and my product are all black which enables us to represent different groups of people and such. We decided that as teen drama’s related to crime – especially knife crime or gun crime – usually are based on black males characters, we also decided to do this as this is obviously effective.

The way characters talk are also similar between Kidulthood and my product. The characters use a lot of slang and colloquial language. They talk really informally and very ‘street.’

In the first image – Kidulthood – the main character is introduced in a shot alone which is what I have also done in my final product as demonstrated in the image below.

In the first image – Kidulthood – three of the main characters are introduced together and we see the relationship between them which is also the same case for my product.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The two characters which have been circled in red are wearing hoodies and actually have their hoodies up. This represent young people.

Also people tend to have negative stereotypes about young people in hoodies – for example, they are trouble makers and related to gangs and crime, etc – and the fact that two of these characters are dressed in a way which provokes these stereotypes and in the film they are seen to conform to these stereotypes. The character on the right is seen to be asking for a fight at one pint of the film, and the character is involved in stabbing.

This shot portrays violence. The character in the hoodie is seen to be reaching into his bag and then later we hear and see Harvey being stabbed, so we know that the boy was reaching for his knife. Black males, especially ones dressed in hoodies like this character usually are stereotyped and are associated with gangs, stabbings, crime, etc and this character actually conforms to these associations of negative activities, especially as he is the one that does the stabbing.

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

Pathé Pictures International is a distribution company which may distribute my film and Cipher Films is a production company which could also help distribute my film. This is because they have been involved in the distribution of films such as Adulthood and Kidulthood , both which are teen dramas and are very similar films to my product.

Kidulthood My product

Examples of similarities between Kidulthood and my product.

Similarity: 3 boys socialising at the park

Similarity: violence and use of knife for stabbing

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Initially we decided that our target audience would be both males and females aged between 15-35 seeing as secondary research based on cinemagoers showed that cinemas and watching films were most popular amongst people aged between 15-35. However, we decided that our target audience are 15-21 year olds as they like watching teen dramas as our primary research shows and so are more likely to be interested in our film as it is a teen drama.

We also chose to have both males and females as our target audience as our research showed that both genders were pretty much equal in terms of visiting the cinema and watching films and the type of films they liked to watch.

How did you attract/address your audience?

This character is seen to be dressed in a pair of Adidas tracksuits, Adidas hoodie and trainers. Research showed that sporty clothing was very popular amongst the target audience.

This character is seen to be dressed in a smart casual outfit which consists of blue chino style trousers, a top and a jacket with a side bag. This sort of costume is also very popular amongst the target audience.

These two male characters are dressed in jeans and hoodies and this again appeals to the audience because as primary research shows, the target audience like sportier clothes such as hoodies and trainers more than other styles of clothing,

This character is dressed in a mac, leggings, ugg boots and a hat and again this is more of a casual look which is also favoured by 15-21 year olds. Ugg boots have also become more of a fashion trend having a character dressed in more of the latest fashion trends is more likely to attract the audience.

The characters also use slang and colloquial language which appeals to the target audience who are 15-20 year olds as they also use the same kind of language.

The characters are also seen to be hanging around at the park and socialising which is what the target audience enjoy doing. Primary research shows how socialising is one of the popular activities amongst 15-20 year olds.

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

There are many things to learn from planning, filming and editing your own product and you are always learning something new as you experiment with different types of technology – from a function of the camcorder you didn't know existed to how to add effects in Final Cut.

FilmingFor filming, the following equipment were used:-Camcorder and tripod-Microphone, boom pole and headphones

As we had already used equipment for filming before during the preliminary task, we sort of knew how to operate the equipment. However, as the camera person, I learnt new things about the camera such as how to put the lens back into which I didn't know how to before.

EditingDuring editing, we were able to use many different programmes:

Final Cut was used to construct the film and to add transitions and effects.

As I had already used Final Cut very briefly before during the editing process of the preliminary task, I already knew how to do the basic s such as adding in a transition and how to take out unwanted sections of footage, etc. For this main task, I had the opportunity to experience Final Cut better and learnt how to add more effects and more transitions and learnt how to export files from other sources such as Motion to make my product more interesting.

Converting into YouTube!

Adding effects and transitions.

Motion was used to create titling for the product.

Exporting the text!

Unlike Final Cut, Motion allows you to make the writing more interesting and allows you to make the titling more creative by letting you add behaviour and such – for example as the image shows, you can make the text grow/shrink in size and have light rays coming out of it.

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

In the preliminary task, I didn’t do much research or planning. In the main task, this is one thing I have improved on and have included lots of evidence of research and planning. I have looked at examples of existing products and done target audience research (both primary and secondary). This part of the process allowed me to see how the research changes your final idea.

In the preliminary task, my group weren’t very organised. Actors were only found just before filming so for the main task, actors were found and notified a week before filming was due to begin. Also for the preliminary task, the location of our film was inside college and so for the main task, we used a couple of different location, such as the park and the streets.

In the preliminary task, one mistake I made was that I didn’t plan each scene on a different storyboard. This is one mistake I learnt from and completed in the main task. One the first image, the two red circles indicate where the two scenes start.

Preliminary task storyboard

Main task storyboard