Key Questions
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of a real media product?
Our media product it an opening sequence, this is shown through different conventions. These are; cliff-hangers and social realism. The cliff-hanger is where a story line is left at a point of most tension and usually (in some films) has ‘to be continued...’ We used this because it was only the opening sequence of a film and to have to titles at the end of the sequence with a cliff-hanger would keep the audience interested in what is to occur after. It contains the convention of social realism as we believe that our sequence occurs in real life schools. People see this activity in everyday life, so we thought it was about time there was a social realist film made about this kind of activity. The language used is also another convention as it represents the time its set in and how these characters live in general life throughout the film. Our film contains strong language and violence, this represents how bullying is foreseen in today’s society. We chose our location in a school common room, because it sets the right atmosphere for the film, however, bullying can happen everywhere, schools are the most common place. It also gives a slight urban surrounding by the way the characters are dressed and how the room is set out. Its quite empty and worn down.
We included titles at the beginning of our media product because in most real media products they show them to show who’s in the film and who directed it for example; Andrea Wheld – Fish Tank (social realism independent production). She used a documentary style to show social realism, which is what we achieved to.
We used a macro structure to make our film linear. We filmed all the shots for one scene throughout a certain time period, the shots however were not in order. We then used an editing programme to produce our film; this means we were capable of putting all the shots and scenes in the right order to make a linear film. Our film included continuity editing skills such as the 180 degree rule and shot-reverse-shot which was all achieved.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Our media product represents many different social groups. It represents bullies, teenagers, disabled teenagers, victims of bulling. The bullies are shown in a very aggressive way, he seems very physical and the idea of him hitting a girl in society is seen as completely wrong. The victim is shown as quiet, weak and very self conscious. This is the case for most victims however; in reality a victim can be quite strong. The victim in our media product is also disabled which is represented by her being in a wheelchair, this shows that its not just the physically able are bullied but so are the disabled. Teenagers are shown in general in the background of the scenes, however not all teenagers react this way to bullying; it was just an idea of what ‘could’ happen.
The language used in our media product also represents social groups and class. In our film it represents middle/lower class urban teenagers.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
Channel Four Film might distribute our film because it contains social realism, and it is an independent film. Channel Four Films have a reputation for distributing independent productions. Our media production is not a mainstream production so no big mainstream companies for the cinema will distribute it. However, marketing would be quite good for distributing of our media product, for example DVD labels. Our film wouldn’t be sold in supermarkets as it is not what the ‘typical movie audience’ is looking for i.e. blockbusters. However, it could be sold in DVD/Music stores online or in store such as HMV.
Our media product could also be used for educational purposes such as anti-bulling clubs and teacher training. This would help educate teachers and young people in society the effects of bullying.
Who would be your audience for your media product?
We have aimed for the ‘skin generation’ (teenagers) because this is the right target audience that will acknowledge the effects of bullying and will hopefully do something against it. Children between 12-19 years of age, who are still in schooling, can watch this as part of a PSHE lesson to also widen the acknowledgement of bullying. However, adults might use this for educational purposes and teacher training for example; how to spot a child being bullied.
How did you attract/address your audience?
Our media product attracted our audience because it’s a realism film about bullying. It keeps them interested through using tension and anticipation throughout the sequence, we showed our media product to our media class and the reaction we received was very good to what we thought we would receive. It takes bullying to the extreme, which appeals to our chosen audience because they don’t quite know what’s going to happen next.
When we showed our media product to our media class we handed out some questionnaires for feedback. 25% of the class didn’t expect the sequence to end in a cliff-hanger. 36% of the class did not foresee the physical encounter between the bully and the victim. 15% of the class didn’t understand the sequence and 83% of the class were shocked that she was in a wheelchair at the end of the sequence.
This shows that the sequence kept our audience intrigued in the film.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
We learnt many skills whilst producing our media product. We learnt the basics of camera operations such as; pan, zoom, hand held, use of a tripod, etc, throughout our preliminary task. This helped us film our product very quickly as we knew what we needed, and how we were going to go about it. We each learnt all different roles within the filming process like director and sound recorder. This helped us understand and fulfil these roles to our best ability, it also helped if one of us was absent throughout filming. Throughout editing, we learnt how to cut, add titles and put our film in order. We used non-linear editing to help us make our linear film. This helped as it meant we didn’t have to use a micro structure to film our media product. We also learnt how to produce and maintain a blog to upload our finished work. This helped as we could upload, organise and add videos of our media product from Youtube.com on to our blog.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Chelsea – Looking back at the preliminary task I believe I have learnt how to use a camera with a tripod confidently and have improved my editing dramatically. It was far better in the main task than in the preliminary.
Jess – I also believe I have improved my editing skills a lot, especially when synchronising the sound from the sound recorder to the chosen bit of film. I feel I have learnt a lot from being in the director role at certain times, it really has helped me realise how hard it takes for a film to take place.
Lauren – I believe I have learnt a lot about sound recording since the preliminary task as it was more challenging to get the right sound in the main task. It can be very impatient just sitting there recording sound but I have learnt to control that. I also took some part in the writing of the script so I believe that my script writing skills have improved tremendously.
As a group we have learnt that organisation needs to be kept at all times as we lost track very quickly. Also we learnt that being well prepared is a key element when making a film as without everything ready filming can not proceed. We believe that we are more confident with making films and feel that this is a skill to keep.
