The group's media product used and challenged conventions of comedy films by incorporating slapstick humor to pay homage to influences but also adding an existential plot for intelligence. It followed some conventions like using a montage and soundtrack but subverted expectations by not providing a satisfying resolution for the main character. Throughout the process, the group used school computers and software at every stage, from planning to editing, and shared their work online through websites like Slideshare and YouTube to get feedback from a wider audience.

2. In what ways does your media product
use, develop or challenge forms,
conventions of real media products?
As a group, we feel that our media product achieved all of the
criteria in the question above; we used stereotypical devices for a
comedy film as well as subverting the norm to challenge the
archetypal genre film. Primarily, our intention was to entertain the
viewer; by aiming for too subtle a brand of humour, the film would
appear distant and would not connect with an audience. We used
slapstick humour to pay homage to comedy films that had
influenced us; however we created an existential plot to give our
film some intelligence.

3. In what ways does your media product
use, develop or challenge forms,
conventions of real media products?
Conventionally, we used a montage and a soundtrack; a staple of
the modern day comedy, as it enables us to develop technique and
further the relationship between pre-existing products and our film.
The form was also conventional, as it partially followed a three-act
structure; equilibrium at the start, then a state of disequilibrium that
follows the initial process. However, the ending of our product didn’t
gain a satisfactory resolution, or re-equilibrium, for the main
character. This was a conscious decision on our part, as it gave us
more freedom to complete an ending that served the narrative
rather than the character; we also felt this would be satisfactory to
an audience as it would subvert form and become something
identifiable as a standalone product.

4. Throughout the process of creating our product, school computers
were used at every stage. We planned and created the radial
analyses on Powerpoint, using the slides to link our work together
to create a coherent portrait of the work we had completed.
We needed our Powerpoints to be uploaded onto the internet so
used a variety of different websites; Slideshare and Blogger.
Slideshare is a website used to upload slideshows onto media outlets
such as Blogger, and by combining the two we made our
slideshows containing our research and analysis easily accessible to
a wider audience. Photoshop was also used to develop the
ancillary products themselves, as we created both the review and
the poster of our finished product on the program. It was extremely helpful
and easy to use, and enabled us to create professional pieces of work.

5. For the production of the film itself, a camera was used to
capture each scene that we had storyboarded. The connectivity
between our chosen camera and an editing method was vital,
and the Apple MacBooks were key components. By using
iMovie, we were able to edit, add soundtracks and transitions,
and polish the footage we had previously filmed.
We then updated our movie using the popular website,
YouTube. This also made the film readily accessible to a wider
audience.

6. Our methodology was to include a number of different practises to garner response;
the internet, focus groups and questionnaires. By looking at the responses, we
gained advantages and disadvantages.
The pros of the usage of the internet was the easily accessible nature of the websites
we used – such as Blogger and YouTube – and the large amount of feedback
available to us. Cons included the number of websites and inaccessibility of a number
of programmes to the Apple MacBooks.
The pros of the focus groups – which we held twice, once for the ancillaries and once
for our final product - were the responses we could get back from our peer, and
generated impulses from watching the footage. However, one of the downsides of
this was that by gaining responses from only one age group, we had to make sure
our product was aimed significantly towards entertaining them.
The pros of the questionnaires were that they were easy to create and generated
responses that were easy to analyses, such was their quantitative nature. However
once again, they were targeted at a single age group and thus were narrow in scope.

7. What are your favourite genres of films?
10 What form of media are you more likely to read a review in? What would you consider the most appropriate running time for a short film?
5
8
4
Computer
iPhone or similar
5 Print
Radio/TV
3
Series1
3
1
0
Action Comedy Crime Drama Fantasy Horror Romance Sci-Fi Thriller Western
0
1-3 minutes 4-10 minutes 11+ minutes
What we learned from our audience feedback is prevalent in our questionnaires
(see questionnaire slideshow); however it is safe to say that after our focus groups
that the aim of the film was successful.

8. How have you used/followed the
theories about audience in your
productions?
We used Dyer’s Utopian Solutions Theory to motivate and engage our audience,
offering our target audience the ‘solutions’ of ‘clarity for the inadequacy of confusion’.
We also applied Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, but by using an unfamiliar environment
in the setting, subverted the audience’s need of ‘safety’ that was stereotypical. This
should engage our audience and make them aware that we will not be adhering to
general theories.
Levi-Strauss’ Binary Oppositions theory was considered as his theory shows that
there is an opposite; such as good and evil in a film that is recognised to show that
one person will be good and another will be a bad person. As our film doesn’t really
have many characters we have decided that the main character ‘Pete’ shows virtue
and innocence and as there is not a ‘bad guy’ the evil will be classed as an unseen
force that makes his belongings disappear.
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9. How effective is the combination
of your main product and
ancillary texts?
When we had decided on the concept of our film, it was necessary to create
marketing with the aesthetic feel of a professional film and one that was close to
our vision of our finished product.
The poster’s font and colour are indicative of the direction in which we wanted to
take the product; clinical, thoughtful and inventive, as well as summarising the plot
through merely images. The large font juxtaposed with the white space evident in
the majority of the poster is representative of our final product to an excellent
degree; the tagline of the poster as well as the key image define the genre as well
as the premise.
9

10. How effective is the combination
of your main product and
ancillary texts?
The review is more atypical and representative of a movie magazine’s layout -
specifically Empire Magazine - and we tried to justify being critical as well as
appreciative of our film in order to gain better composition and verisimilitude of a
real life review. The layout, font and colours are all generic for a print magazine and
we felt it represented the realistic and accurate depiction we wanted to achieve.
In conclusion, the combination of our finished product as well as its accompanying
poster was to great effect; the marketing succinctly portrayed the film and referred
to it as well as it possibly could. In addition, the review was honest about our own
efforts and how we felt we performed in creating a short film.
10