The document is a media evaluation submitted by Jade Parsley. It consists of 7 paragraphs summarizing how their media product used or challenged conventions of real media, represented social groups, might be distributed, targeted audiences, attracted audiences, technologies learned from the process, and progression from their preliminary task. The media product was influenced by the films Strangers on a Train and Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. It could be distributed as a 3 part thriller drama series on ITV targeting middle-aged audiences. The evaluation reflects on technical challenges encountered and skills developed in angles, effects, and setting since the preliminary task.

1. Media EvaluationJade Parsley 804442139

2. 1.In What Ways Does Your Media Product Use, Develop Or Challenge Forms And Convections Of Real Media Products?Looking at my research from the two films Sky Captain & The World of Tomorrow and Strangers On a train, I can see that when filming, a lot has been changed from my audience research. Looking at strangers on a train, I planned on using the black & white colour, once I got into the Adobe, I changed this to an old film effect, as it worked better at creating my team period. Also ‘strangers’ has tense music at the start to create an atmosphere, I didn’t use this exact style of music, as I wanted to build up tension, so instead I used an extract from Agatha Christies Poitot as there are crescendos and decrescendos, creating a good tension effect. Similar to Sky Captain my piece ends with a fade out in black, as it said this was a good effect to use by my peers, ‘simple but effective’. Due to the lack of props when shooting, the gun had to be wiped out of a shot, meaning that a low angle shot could not be used, like in sky captain, to signify the importance of the gun, and how much damage it could cause. My piece also relates to strangers with the train station as the main location, also the design of the train on strangers indicates the period the piece is set in, like in my piece. When using titles I kept it simple and effective, with the use of black and white text and background . This type of font is used in the start of strangers as well, along with a list of detail about the who made the film, make up artist ect. I decided to miss the added detail to my piece as a lot of modern films don't feature this detail at the start of a piece just the end. Also unlike Hitchcock, These titles were placed at the end of my opening titles instead of the start as I wanted to get straight into the story, so that when the piece starts the audience is already ‘hooked’. In conclusion, Strangers on a train was a main base for my media piece, with many aspects of both films similar. Both pieces create a sense of tension and mystery, with the no face shots of certain characters and tension musicJade Parsley 804442139

3. 2. How Does Your Media Product Represent Particular Social Groups?Looking at my media piece, it doesn’t really represent social groups. Instead we have two archetype groups of good and evil. Evil is represented with the dark clothing worn by the shooter. Also we can tell that this character has a darker side, by not seeing the persons face. Increasing the mystery of who it is, and asking the question why can’t we see the persons face. Yet with good we have light clothing worn and when we see the long shots of the reporter, a ring of light is around her, representing the light of good. If the piece had to represent a certain group, it would be a younger generation, as the hint of mystery is used, as the fact that many teenagers can run there life in a certain way without there parents knowing. Also the costume style shows the age range of the characters, with major labels like super dry being worn.Jade Parsley 804442139

4. 3. What Kind Of Media Institution Might Distribute Your Media Product And Why?Looking at my piece, I believe that it would be distributed as 3 part thriller drama series by a British TV company. I chose ITV as they show many thriller dramas, for example Inspector Morse, Midsummer Murders , Agatha Christie's, and most recently Marchlands. I decided this as, the plot could last as long as a film, but the end of each episode could end on a good cliff hanger, being the type of media film it is. Also the main channel viewed by my target audience is ITV, so this channel would be a good choice for my media piece to be shown on. Also if my piece is shown on ITV, there are good chances that I can digitalisation my piece and turn it into a DVD of the episodes.Jade Parsley 804442139

5. 4. Who Would Be The Audience For Your Media Product?My target audience for my piece was middle age people. I choose this because they are the main audience group that watch this genre tv. Also ITV’s audience is a large part middle- age people. Also my piece could attract a younger generation, with the use of teenagers as actors, but the simplicity of the plot could be a factor of stopping the younger generation from watching the piece. But being as my piece has strong links with Alfred Hitchcock's style, means that fans of Hitchcock's could be interested in watching my film. Even though I have certain small groups of audience that my piece would attract, there is potential for a wide mass audience with the fact that the piece doesn't create any social groups in the piece, so it doesn't attract to just one group of people.Jade Parsley 804442139

6. 5. How Do You Attract/Address Your Audience?I believe that I attracted my target audience with the contrast of old and new in my film, for example the use of old film and a type writer against the new clothes and mobile phones. Also the simplicity of the plot makes easy to follow, so that my target audience lead busy lives, so they can watch my media piece while doing another activity. Even though this is a positive it can have a negative effect on the younger audience as they might find the plot too simple for them to watch.Jade Parsley 804442139

7. 6. What Have You Learnt About Technologies From The Process Of Constructing This Product?Since we used camera and adobe for filming and editing my media product, I did learn that there are many technological difficulties that can happen due to the technology. When filming I found that cause we have a limited amount of cameras, that when filming in the half term holidays, there were no school cameras left, so I had to use an old tape camera that I had, this caused a noticeable change in quality of my film, when the scene changed. I have also learnt that technology can be un-reliable especially at school due to restrictions. At first I started to edit my piece on pinnacle but the software kept crashing on school computers, so adobe was used instead. Even though adobe is a better program for editing video, there were still problems of trying to edit the film, as the finding the video once imported into the computer, provided difficult as the video files could not be saved into my personal school files due to restrictions. Also due to the unreliability of the school system and programs, I had to make sure that all my video files were backed up. Another problems that caused problems was sound. Due to the difficult of getting the film off my tape, I lost sound on adobe, meaning that no sound was plying when editing. This problem couldn't be fixed, yet when I made the film into a movie the sound was restored. I also used programs like WinFF to convert media into a different format and DVD shrink to create a digital version of my DVD so clips could be put on to my blog. As well as using the word press blog, to place all my research and ideas. Facebook was used to contact actors about when we are filming. I choose to use facebook as most teenagers go on to the site at least once every two days, meaning that they would reply lot quicker then by sending them a text message, as I live in a low signal area.Jade Parsley 804442139

8. 7. Looking Back At Your Preliminary Task, What Do You Feel You Have Learnt In The Progression From It To The Full Product?Looking back at my preliminary task, I realise that I have learnt a lot more skills with camera angles and how they can help to show the audience how the characters feels. Unlike in the preliminary task where I just tried to get in the shots that had to be placed in the media, for example the shot reverse shot. Also in my preliminary task I made a large mistake of being shown in the media when filming, as there were mirrors in the background so they showed me filming. Also when editing my preliminary task, I didn’t use many effects, which could have improved my piece. In the main task, I used a train station from my local town, to set the time period. This is a contrast to my preliminary task where my piece was about two people fighting over something bad, yet there was a dance poster in the background. As I was creating a murder mystery genre of film, I knew that the shots I used, would need to create the feeling of mystery and tension. So to do this I used the close up shots of feet and a side shot of the of the body, when the character is speaking. Jade Parsley 804442139