My Final A2 Evaluation

1. Graham Forward A2 Media Evaluation

2. In my short film I have used, developed as well as slightly challenged existing real media products, this can be seen in my planning stages as I was deciding the genre of my short film, In the end I went for a western/action sub genre short film. I originally wanted to create a horror genre short film, however after researching the codes and conventions of horror films as well as looking at real media products I decided against this as I found a main convention was a lot of graphic effects which I felt would be a bit too challenging for me as my skills using Adobe premier Pro and After Effects are not perfect. Therefore I continued research into a different genre namely the Action/Western Genre’s. After researching the conventions of Western/Action Sub Genre films I have found the inclusion of the following things: lots of cutting, Fades used to end the scene and more than one or two characters and camera is very important in terms of shot types e.g. cu, ecu etc in different situations. The way in which my media product uses conventions of real media products is through my use of camera, mise en scene, sound and editing in an attempt to create narrative. “Narrative theory studies the devices and conventions governing the organisation of a story (fictional or factual) into a sequence.” this is what I have attempted to achieve within my short film, Tzvetan Todorov (A Bulgarian structuralist linguist) suggests that “stories begin with an equilibrium where any potentially opposing forces are in balance. This is disrupted by some event (A.K.A Disequilibrium, setting in chain a series of events. Problems are solved so that order can be restored to the world of the fiction (A.K.A Re-equilibrium). This is how I tried to present narrative in my short film where at first everything seems balanced, however the spies have their meeting with “The Boss” and chaos ensures until finally The Spies get revenge on “The Boss” to restore equilibrium. However it is not often that Short Films contain a lot of dialogue nor a lot of characters as there is not a lot of time to properly allow the audience to interact with the characters, a great example of this is a short film called “ Traffic Warden” starring David Tennant (blog post July 1 st 2010) where the story is told through the eyes of a traffic warden who falls in love, with a rich upper class girl whom drops her handkerchief and leaves, determined not to let her go the traffic warden chases after her. In the entire short film there is barely any dialogue from the main characters until the very end of the short. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

5. I have also challenged the forms and conventions by changing the dialogue and adding in a few more shots once again to challenge the conventions of an action/ western film. I have also challenged the forms and conventions by using two blonde haired actors as leading parts against the stereotypical darker haired actors which are more common in Action/Western films. I looked at a variety of action films as well to see how to protagonist's where given there missions and how their bosses where presented for example I looked at Casino Royale and how the character M is played by a woman as opposed to the stereotypical male role and how she always seems in control of Bond and knows exactly where he is all the time as I have portrayed in my short film in the scene where The Boss sends a text to the spies telling them to go to the train station. Similarly I looked at the opening of Mission Impossible where the protagonist receives his mission over the phone whilst he is climbing a mountain, whilst I haven't gone to such extreme lengths to film in terms of location I have used the idea of a task being received from someone of a higher power. Another example of how I changed the codes and conventions of the action/western genre is in my opening scene of the spies receiving their packages in different ways e.g. ones slid across table, one is banged down on the table etc. The opening scenes of Casino Royale where M is giving Bond his mission. Close ups of the protagonist face whilst receiving his mission from a mysterious source. One of my blonde actors as “The Boss” A stereotypical actor such as Tom Cruise who is darker haired.

7. How effective is the combination of your main and ancillary texts? My Film Poster: My Movie review:

8. I feel that the combinations of both my main and ancillary texts are very effective. All three of which were inspired by the research I have done into short and feature films and how they are presented to the public on cinematic release. All three of my texts have synergy which is the ability to link the three pieces of work together so for example if you saw my film poster would you be able to tell that it goes with my film. How I have accomplished synergy is by using the same style of text on the Title on all the texts, as well as using similar images on my film review and poster. I have also created synergy by including similar if not the same images in all pieces as seen below: As you can see both my film review, poster and film use the same text style to create synergy as well as the same black and white colour scheme. From My movie review: From my Short Film: From My poster:

12. What have you learned from your audience feedback? After I used YouTube to upload my Rough Cut I posted a link onto Facebook and asked my friends to give me critical feedback on how they thought my work was going and I received the following bits of feedback and tried to take all bits of feedback into account when completing my Final Cut: I specifically took Andrews feedback into consideration when editing for my Final cut as I felt his feedback was the most detailed and useful. I also took into consideration this comment about my choice of location/ setting which I took into account and cut some shots of walking as they where too long. I also got feedback from fellow media students. A comment suggesting that again I speed up one or two of the end scenes to add pace and to keep the audience interested.

13. A comment critically analysing my film suggesting possible improvements by speeding up some shots and possibly changing the music that I have used as it is contrasting. A comment about my choice of actors height. Some overall positive feedback however there is the suggestion to possibly hold a couple of shots for longer for added effect. Another comment about my choice of music, perhaps I will have to reconsider my choice of track. A comment suggesting that I add more music in to help the continuity of the piece and to make it easier to understand. A comment complimenting my camerawork and again a suggestion of adding more music and sounds into places.

14. I used new media technologies all throughout the planning stages, creating and evaluating stages from Photoshop for drawings and sketches. I used the internet with websites such as blogger and Google to help with my research stages. I used YouTube to look up short films and the ending scenes of action/ western films. I used cameras, Imovie/premier pro to edit my Rough Cut and Animatic. This was to give me inspiration for the narrative of my film and I used the software's and cameras to edit the footage that I have shot and to edit the clips to the forms and conventions f an action/ western. I used cameras, tripods Macs premier pro I movie, YouTube and Blogger to manage and create my final project and Facebook to receive feedback from others to hear their opinions. I used presentation software’s such as PowerPoint and slide share to create and upload my evaluation. I used websites to teach me how to do a split screen effect in premier pro with tutorial videos of how to make these effective. I used a variety of company websites to look at short films and how they were created. How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages? An After effects tutorial I used. I used Premiere Pro to edit my whole project.

16. Planning: In this stage I started out by researching the difference between a mind map and a Rico Cluster (blog posts 27 th June 2010). I then decided on creating my own mind map (Blog Post July 8 th 2010) using Bubbl.us, what this website is is an online mind map creator and I created an online mind map showing my thoughts and ideas of what I wanted my short film to be based upon. Then once I had done this I compiled my questionnaire and asked a variety of questions about the action/western genre (Blog post July 15 th 2010). Then once I had my idea figured out I created a rough drawn storyboard by hand of what I wanted my shots to look like and how I wanted to film them e.g. angle distance etc. I used slideshare to upload my storyboard online and then worked on my props, setting and actors list again using blogger to blog about who and what I was planning to use to film and where about I was planning to film. Once this was complete I used adobe premier pro to create an animatic of my storyboard including sound effects showing near enough what I wanted my shots to look like.