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?

The preliminary task was designed to introduce us in to the use of Final Cut and Motion as programs which were relatively new to all of us, with only our previous project "The Package" utilizing them, and even then only Final Cut. The Final product we produced shows, in my opinion, a whole other level of what can be achieved through the programs we had at our dispense than anything previously produced. The introduction of other technologies such as Motion, artificial lighting and microtracks to sync audio are all paramount in achieving what we did in our final film opening compared to the very amateur and low value first tasks.

Becoming more familiar with these products has allowed my partner and I to produce a whole other level of production quality, which has lead to not only better looking results but also a product of higher quality and care. Implementing such things as visual and sound effects which come as default with Final Cut, as well as the multiple more advance perks such as the true effects program motion and other editing programs such as Sony Vegas 12 and Adobe After Effects, allowed us to create something quite different from what was originally produced, even since our first draft of the fished product "Existence". Taking a look at the preliminary task (Shown below) the main skill in making it look like it does is the syncing of the shot reverse shots and music in conjunction with what was occurring in the scene. The more complex and advanced transitions and change in location in our final product however meant that these techniques could only be used to a certain extent, with a majority of the shots in our final product being action shots in locations with external conditions that could be detrimental to the look of the final piece. An example of this was the weather in the tower between the two days we shot the scene - from a tranquil and warm night to one where it was raining, bitterly cold and windy to the extent no voice could be heard even through the directional microphone. This meant that the voices had to be recorded separately, which could have had a majorly negative effect in the look of the shot (Bad lip syncing etc.) In this way, I learnt to take account for other variables than the actors and equipment as when filming in a real life situation, these are more likely to effect the look of the final product. It also helped me to learn back up shots should be taken for every shot, as if one has some sort of problem it is less hassle than reassembling actors and retaining permission for use of location.

Another way in which I have improved the way in which I made the opening scene to my film than the preliminary task is understanding of the media industry in general. Constant research as to our target audience, what people find interesting in different genre's of films (And in turn what is overdone and considered boring), certification and finally representation of social classes in media has allowed us to create something on basically no budget but with an interesting feel of something which hasn't been done much before. The idea, previously unoriginal and considered overdone, was added to by bringing in elements of the psychological. As shown in our audience research published earlier (http://alleynsmedia-levart.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/target-audience.html) there was a major love for suspenseful, ambiguous action films in the 16-24 group especially. Because of this we tried to cater the opening especially to this group, with them also preferring films such as "Se7en" and "Dark Knight Rises" than "No Country for Old Men" and "Dual" of those who had seen all films. Likening our product to these, we had to focus on atmosphere and major character development than simple, everyday shots and characters. We also saw that this type of film had a niche market in the prime of life males, at around 40-50. This means that we would not only be attracting one type of audience, increasing popularity and almost making it a family film, being something a father could take his son (or even daughter) to. The Male Female gender difference was not emphasised much as in our target audience many of the females interviewed preferred an exciting, fast paced action film than the more stereotypical rom-com. In terms of characters, close observations as to everyday teenage/young adult tendencies and behaviours allowed us to not only develop characters in a more realistic way but also avoid the problem of obvious and derogatory stereotypes which represent the younger generation in a negative light. Implementing this research in to our film opening was vital in differentiating it from something made by School Students to one made by aspiring media amateurs.

A final way in which me and my partner have majorly improved since our preliminary task was how we use various equipment and the variety of shots taken. Taking the preliminary task as an example, the only shots used were that of shot reverse shot (Not very well done) panning shot (Shaky) and match on action. These are very easy to do as all include a steady camera with no artificial lighting and no need for additional sound being recorded. In our final product however (Shown below) the type of shot vary from panning establishing shots, to moving action shots, to perspective shots and everything in between. The sheer variety of shots without additional effects or music is enough to entertain an audience who understand the story. There was also a distinct lack off effects and technical skill involved with the making of the preliminary task. The Titles were made from a motion template on a regular black background with no skill needed. In our final product however a use of the effects program motion allowed us not only to make more interactive titles, with better looking colours and font type but also our production companies Ident. Completely animated in motion, we took individual layers of a Photoshop .PSD file made by both of us and saved them as .PNG, then imported them in to a motion project and added movement. Not only did this give us a greater ability to make more complex titles with various fades and colour schemes but also would differentiate ours from other Media A level students who would use regular templates.

Overall, since the making of me and my partners preliminary task we have not only learnt technical skills as to the programs we used but organisational skills and general practices which can be applied to future projects. The importance of thorough research with reference to target audience, certification and other films in the same genre has allowed us to create something fitting the topes of the thriller while having another dimension of the psychological. A highly detailed level of preparation is also required to create a high quality of the final product, two things that we found had a strong correlation. Obviously, regarding the editing stage, increased levels of understanding of Final Cut, Motion and Adobe After Effects has allowed us to create a more professional looking project. Overall, the development of editing skills, research techniques and use of general technical equipment usage has allowed us to create something much better looking and advance than our original project.






JL

Evaluation Question 6

What Have you Learnt About Technologies from the Process of Constructing this Product?


As can be seen above, a voice over of our film opening talking about what me and my partner have learnt from the extensive use of technology in the construction of our final product. Mentioned are Motion, Adobe After Effects, Final Cut and Various other things which were essential in making our film as it is at this point. A full write up can be seen in the essay on evaluation Question 7, which summarizes how we used various medial equipment in order to create different effects.

Evaluation Question 5

How Did You Attract/Address your Audience?

The target audience for the opening titles of the film, which we created, was 15-25. The scene is set in London in a small hotel room and then moves into a large building with a tall tower. The link between the opening titles and the audience is that all of the characters were between these ages as well. Although this was a student film and the characters were all 16/17 years of age, the characters were suppose to play roles of young adults. The link to the audience that my partner and I wanted to create was the characters age and situations they can relate to.

The modern aspects of the opening such as the smart phone that the main character has and the flat screen television in the lobby of the tower has a link to the target audience as modern technology and equipment. As we live in an age of technology and systematic devices, some of the target audience will almost likely have the same smartphone as the character if not one that is similar and/or having a flat screen television in their house or even in their own room.

These pictures show the modern technology in the smart phone and the flat screen television in the corner of the lobby.

 With the weapon and the killing of the Tyrone in the opening, my partner and I wanted to make the murder as realistic as possible. This being shown as a knife is very easy to get hold of and everyone has a knife in his or her house. The unrealistic side of a killing in a film would be the normality and coincidence of the character having a gun. This I why we chose to use the idea of a knife as the murder weapon.

Crime in London is also a big topic. There are many news articles and stories about stabbings and killings in and around London all the time. As crime is normality in London, this can attract the audience, as it is something that they would be familiar with. This is not something that we wanted to spotlight in the film, which is why you cannot see the murder weapon during the killing. Also having a real knife in the location whilst filming could have been dangerous with the public still milling around the area and walking into shot.

This is the questionnaire that my partner and I sent out to determine our target audience and what kind of films and genres people liked. From these results we could understand what was the best way to display the opening to the target audience.

According to the survey that my partner and I made for market research, of 100 people that took the survey, only 35% of the people that took it were male. The majority of people that took the survey were between the ages of 30-50. Only 15% of the people that took the survey were between the ages of our target audience which we thought would be 15-24 before we had even collected the results from the survey. As we already had the genre of a psychological thriller in mind, the survey collected the results that the second highest genre of the people’s choice was the thriller genre. The highest was the genre of comedy. The survey showed me and my partner that the genre of Thriller would be a good idea as it was the second highest choice for the genre of film and also most of the people that took the survey were not even from our target market. If more of the people from our target market took the survey then the choice for the thriller genre probably would have been higher.

Some of the comments and responses of people and what they liked most about their favourite genre, which was thriller, was that the thriller genre “creates a fantastic thrill which keeps me intrigued” and “a good murder, not knowing who the killer is and the thriller murder”. This showed us that people liked a good thrill from the genre and that a murder is what would make the film more exciting.

When asked what was the three highest factors that would make them go and see a new film the top three choices from the survey were; storyline, friends recommendation and actors. My partner and I knew that to grasp the attention of our audience we would need to create a thrilling storyline that people would want to carry on and watch and stay through till the end of the film.

Evaluation Question 4

Who Would be the Audience for Your Media Product?

Initially we did not know what the audience was going to be for our media product. The typical thriller genre would usually collect a broader range of people who would be interested in viewing the product at mainstream cinemas, however with the low budget we had and the distinct lack of high quality actors it would be difficult to generalise our films to other of a similar nature. The inclusion of an element of the psychological is also vital in differentiating our films from others of a similar genre, adding a feeling of the intellectual. Although this would narrow our range as a for targeting an audience, we saw this as a positive as we could cater to make the film appeal to the audience as much as possible. We did this by including action and character development, while maintaining a sense of mystery and ambiguity which was considered "Paramount" by the sample audience of our screening. Vox Pop's of reactions to the film can be seen below from various people who were in the audience of the screening, showing what they liked and disliked about the film, as well as what they would have wished to be done better. This sort of feedback is useful as in future projects we can not only see what to do better but what to subtly change in order to cater to a wider audience.



The idea of a 16-24 year old target audience came from the results of surveys we did which will be shown below:

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The paper Based Survey was as follows:

1) Please State your age group

1. 0-15
2. 16-24
3. 25-40
4. 41-60
5. 60+

2) What is your gender?

1. Male
2. Female

3) Please State your favourite genre of film - (space underneath to fill in)

4) If there are significant sub genres of this film, please state which one is preferred (space under)

5) State a reason why you prefer this genre/Sub-genre and if there are any specific characteristics of the film genre which appeal to you

6) Please Rate the following films from 1-5, 1 being not seen the film hated and 5 being outstanding -

Se7en
Dual
Skyfall
No Country For Old Men
Dark Knight Rises

7) Where do you prefer to watch films? Please circle 1

1. Cinema
2. Online (streaming or other)
3. TV
4. DVD/Blu-Ray
5. Tablet

8) How Often do you watch films at the cinema? -

1. More than 2 per week
2. Once a week
3. Once Every 2 weeks
4. Once a month
5. Less than once a month

9) Which type of cinema is your preference? 

1. Arthouse
2. Multiplex
3. IMAX

Thank you for your time

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This research was majorly infulential in our understanding of what sort of films were enjoyed by different age groups, as well as which tropes we should include and which we should leave out - this was to avoid stereotyping our film in to a specific genre while still making it accessible and typical of a psychological thriller. A follow up questionnaire was held post screening as well, asking similar questions but with a slight bias towards the thriller genre. The questionnaire and results were as follows:

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1) Please State your age group

1. 0-15
2. 16-24
3. 25-40
4. 41-60
5. 60+

2) What is your gender?

1. Male
2. Female

3) Please State your favourite sub-genre of the thriller category - 


4) Of the product you have seen, please state what you enjoyed and thought could have been done better. If there were things you think could have been done better - please expand on this

5) Finally, what do you predict to come in the rest of the film? 

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This was filled out on a whole 14 times. Of the people who took part in the screening, 10 were of the age category 16-24 with 3 from 41-60 and 1 from 0-15. This range in audience participation was vital in seeing what could be improved as well as what was enjoyed. A mainly male audience however does not show the effect gender has on the opinions of the film opening which is something which we would definitely change in a future screening. We also found that of the 41-60 year old group, who were all male, 2 out of the three were massive psychological thriller fans. We believed that growing up with films like Se7en, Dual, Fight Club and many others which are influential in the genre it has created a niche market for fans of that age. Because of this, we believe that in future productions we should cater more to this audience as not only would it increase attendance but also possibly allow for our film to go in to the larger cinema's. One of these fans was shown previously in my audience research.



Summarised, The elder age group preferred very specific parts of the psychological thriller genre, not wanting too many stereotypical parts of it but maintaining the best sections. Chase scenes were seen as boring, whether in cars or person, as they had been overused previously and did not uphold much originality.

A final group in which we believe our media product could cater to is that of Media students taking various degrees. As a similar project to one undertaken globally,  it can be looked to as an example of the use of more advanced technologies and equipment in order to create a film opening which both looks good and uses steady transitions and sound bridges to maintain a story line, moving from past to present and back again. This narrative structure is one commonly practiced in the genre, and as seen in both the vox pop's and the focus interview above, is one of the stronger points in the genre.

Finally, we found that the certification of the product was going to have a major effect on the audience we were going to attract. Previously in the term, a lot of time was spent researching the guidelines of the BFI Certification Ratings and the categories which were associated with each of these. Deciding on a 15 was a good choice in our opinion, due to what it is allowed and disallowed in this specific category. Quoting from the BBFC website, "No theme is prohibited, providing the treatment is appropriate for 15 year olds". This means that we could undergo our exploration of the psychological and pursue the causes of it without having to feel like we would hold back, as a 12 or 12a rating would have us do. Similarly, if we were to have an 18, it would rule out the lower two years of our target audience and also dissuade fathers from our niche audience to take son's as it suggests a more graphic, violent and disturbing tone in which nothing is prohibited. The lack of a moral compass found in 18's compared to the need for a moral compass in 15's was very influential in our decision, as it was the only thing that really determined the  two certifications as separate. My partner and I decided that for the sake of a few changes in narrative (providing the final product was made) we could introduce people over 3 years younger to the film legally than a lack of a moral compass would have us do.

Audience and exhibition of film

The institution that would most likely want to exhibit our film would most probably be the Art House cinema companies. Although the Art House cinema chain is actually quite popular and large, our film would require small screening places in comparison to the City Centre cinema style of Multi-Screen Cinema. This is because our film  is aimed at a younger generation who are more interested in studying film at University and at A Level than always going to see mainstream action thrillers in mainstream cinemas. The addition of the psychological element to an already overused plot was something which we wished would set our film aside, and as such move away from more typical blockbusters and independent thrillers.

The age of our target audience is 15-24 and so these would also be the ages studying film at higher levels. This makes our audience much smaller and so probably would not attract enough people for a place in a huge cinema. The niche market of mid 40's however allows scope for a broadening in marketing, and if was proven to be popular in Art house could be transposed to main cinema's as a father son or even father and mates film.

Because our film obviously is, and looks, low budget (especially as it is shot in London without big star Hollywood actors), our film may not attract the larger audience for mainstream films, such as Skyfall. This means that if distributed in a Multi-Screen or Multiplex cinema, the majority of people who went there to see mainstream/high budget films would not want to watch our film. Again, this could be questioned as success on a smaller stage would broaden our audience.

The low budget concept also means that if our film was distributed, it would be impossible to have enough money to advertise it on a big enough scale for it to be screened in main-stream cinemas. Because of our low budget, we also would not be able to carry on distributing our film over a number of weeks in Multiplex cinemas that tend to show the same film repeated over a series of weeks. By distributing it within a 'indie', arthouse cinema, people would come to see it, knowing that it would be of low budget.

Evaluation Question 3

What Kind of Media Institution Might Distribute Your Media Product and Why?




In order to decide which media institution will end up distributing our media product, we must first define distribution. A distribution company, as a distributor and marketer, is expected to raise awareness of the film through varying marketing campaigns as well as forming deals with other conglomerate's such as Sony in order to aid the DVD, TV and internet release. The above video describes the positives and negatives of 5 different distribution companies; from multinational to English and from part of a firm to independent.