2. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products?
My media product for example my short film, develops and challenges some conventions of real media
products. My decision to develop traditional conventions is to inform my intended audience of my chosen
genre by the use of a typical narrative and my use of music and dance. However, the effect of challenging
existing products was for me to create something new and different for my target audience.
• Flashdance was a big influence in the development
of my product. I decided to stick with the variety use
in camera angles which is a typical convention of a
short dance film. The dance scene had static and
moving shots throughout, as well as the variety of
them progressing within the sequence which I
decided to follow in my short film. I also decided to
use an audience to fit my intended message of a
person expressing themselves to grab people’s
attention and Flashdance was a perfect example of
what I was trying to create.
I focused on my use of camera angles for my dance sequence as I found in my research that camera was
extremely important for audiences to feel engaged with dance, as a piece of dance can be beautiful however
an audience needs to be drawn in to what the director wants them to see or feel, which is why Flashdance
was a good part of my research, as it uses various camera angles to draw its audience in.
3. Close up of audience member tapping his feet Moving foot sequence
I decided to use close ups to
draw the audience in and I wanted to add variety to my
engage with the characters to short film so I decided to have
show my protagonist’s moving frames so my audience
progression with expressing could follow my dancer and feel
herself. connected to her.
Close up of audience members tapping their feet
Moving foot sequence
I felt that this My camera
worked well work
to show progresses
they’re with my
enjoying the moving shots
performance. as it adds
variety.
4. Character coming into a frame Mid shot of interested audience member
I thought this frame was effective
and decided to use it in my short I wanted to engage my audience
film to add variety. It also with my film audience to show their
centralizes my dancer and acts as interacting with my dancer, the use
a close up to engage my of this is to show the growing
audience with her. attention she is receiving as she
dances.
Character coming into a frame
Mid shot of interested audience members
My audience
I think I should
are to engage
of used far more
my audience
close ups of my
which I feel
dancer to show
they do, and
her emotions.
is proven by
feedback.
5. To recap…
• I feel by developing these conventions my audience are aware of my chosen genre and the
message I wanted to portray. However my lack of close ups which is key in a dance film
hindered my intention of creating synthetic personalization between my character and the
audience. My protagonist is meant to act as a role model for teenagers who have an inability
to express themselves, whereas my dancer progresses through the film because of dance, to
show that she stands out and is noticed, instead of being discarded and ostracized. My
product is postmodern as it develops conventions of existing media products which means
the style is being overused.
The effect of challenging existing media
• Challenging existing media products gives me the opportunity to create something new for my
audience and something they wouldn’t perhaps expect. I feel that some of my creative decisions
have been effective such as making my short film silent and my choice of music, although I
believe other ideas haven’t been successful. For example, not filming enough various and risky
shots or not keeping my shots from behind the dancer to show her in front of the audience.
6. • I also decided to focus on my research of other dance
films or scenes. Flashdance had a big impact on my
final product, but I wanted to combined it’s ideas with
conventions of other genres of film and also different
techniques.
May- silent film was a video I watched early on in my research and I
knew the use of it being a silent film could be an effective way of
portraying my message of teenage girls not having the confidence to
speak up. I decided to make my dance film a silent one, with no
spoken dialogue, it did however have diegetic sounds as well as the
soundtrack so it could be easily differentiated from a music video.
I think that combining different conventions and challenging real media products worked well for me in
this sense as I knew I wanted to follow my dance theme, but my message was something I really wanted
to put across, and I find the use of no dialogue helped me convey my intentions effectively.. However, the
narrative of my short film could have been portrayed more effectively, I find my message seems vague
when I watch back my short film, instead of to the point.
7. Olympia’s short dance film, Streetdance 3D and Make it happen are also important parts of my
research when I decided to pick the dance genre. I found my research limited when looking for
dance short films as the genre is niche as well as a short film so to extend my research and get as
much out of it as possible I decided to look for scenes that I had previously seen in feature films.
I liked the interpretive dance within this text, and from this decided I
wanted to have acoustic music and wanted to have interpretive dance. I
found this sort of dance can show how free she feels when she dances.
Also the genre of the music would be fitting with my isolation theme.
I therefore emailed Natalie Lungley an unsigned artist
and asked for permission for her song, which I was
given. I decided on this song as the instruments and the
lyrics all added to an acoustic style which was what I
was looking for.
8. This video had huge significance in the rest of my production and not
just the routine. I liked the intercutting between two different
locations and I attempted to intercut my scenes, however I found that
her progress was made through her dancing so I used intercutting from
the routine to the audience.
I liked the intercutting in Streetdance so I wanted to
develop this in my production. This particular scene is
also influenced by Flashdance as the audience on
screen represent the target audience, as they look to
them for emotion to engage with the piece. I decided
to use jump cuts from the routine to the audience to
show their involvement and growing interest as the
audience gets larger and larger.
9. I liked the variety of shots in this piece and also the use of cutting out
parts of the soundtrack to keep sequences from dragging on. I decided
to have scenes from behind my dancer, however after facing problems
I had to cut them out instead. Although I did use moving camera and
also different angles such as her spins which was influenced by this
text.
My first draft contained jump shots from the dancer to
the audience as seen in the picture. However, when it
came to filming my final audience shots my dancer
couldn’t be present so I had to cancel out these shots
and just shoot the audience’s reactions from P.O.V and
close ups.
10. Pug- to engage the audience
Name of the magazine to Main image for the audience to by stating no other magazine
remind the audience what get an understanding of what would have this review, as it
they’re reading. the film will have in it, as they updates on all the latest
are screen grabs. releases.
Information box Colourful background
for my audience to draw readers in.
to get a brief
description of
Smaller image to
what kind of film
show different
the review will
times within the
be about.
film.
My review
written in Rating with a quote
columns and use from the magazine
of sophisticated and also a page
language and number which is
also includes typical in a magazine
critics as well as review.
praise.
I feel that my review follows the typical conventions of a magazine review. The magazine ‘Empire’ was my
influence as I used the format of the review itself, also the information box and also the use of multiple
images. I kept the same structure as it didn’t seem cluttered, however I did add colour to my background as I
thought it would be more engaging then Empire’s plain backgrounds.
11. Acknowledging the producer at
the top to show it’s
importance.
Plain background to
being focus to my main
image and the title. Main image- for my audience
to know my character, it’s
also to create synthetic
personalization.
Title- bold and bigger then
the rest of the text so it
stands out, informing the
audience of the name of the
short film.
I introduced my actor as this is a
character poster and I wanted
my audience to feel connected
to her.
I feel that my poster follows a basic structure to a character poster which I decided on as my short film is all
about my protagonist and her resolving her problem. I feel that the simplicity of my poster challenges real
media as posters from the magazine ‘Empire’ had backgrounds to their images or stronger colours whereas I
decided to have a simple colour scheme and make her stand out by her dark hair and also her looking away
to show themes such as isolation and loneliness.
12. How effective is the combination of your main and ancillary texts?
My main and ancillary tasks as a combination are connected because of the same use of style.
For example my production and my poster both use the same font to show that they are
connected. They all feature the same protagonist and the themes such as isolation are shown
throughout. However I feel I have approached each of them in a different way. When creating my
film review I wanted to follow conventions and show the genre through the image, whereas
when creating my poster I challenged conventions of a character poster with lack of colour or
image, as I wanted to present themes. My approach to all three texts hinders the synergy
between them as they all have different meaning and aren’t recognized as one production.
Although I do believe that my intention for each task was the best outcome because of my
research, preparation and listening to feedback from the audience.
13. I decided to use a long shot in the review as my main image to show a part of the routine to
establish my dance genre which I think is important in a review for the audience to know
what they are reading about. I decided to use a mid shot for my poster as it’s typical for
character posters to use mid shots or close ups to engage them with the intended audience.
The reason I used different types of images for my ancillary tasks was to have a variety
amongst my products and challenge real media texts. I do still believe all three of my products
are effective and link because of the feminine and bold font choice, however my choice of
images makes them seem separate and therefore the combination might not be as clear as
other products.
I feel the font acts as a logo for my products as it’s the same in the
film and the poster. The use of the font being feminine is to target
teenage girls as my protagonist is a teenager and problem she faces
is a common one faced by teenagers in society.
14. The information box contains information that connects with the
poster such as the director’s name and also the actor appearing in
it. Also the plot connects with the main production as it acts as a
teaser to the audience.
Also, ‘Unheard’ as a short film contains different sequences such as the title sequence which
presents a problem, the home scene which defines her character, the routine where she’s
resolving her problem and then the end where she seems happier with herself, my film is
about a girl who gains confidence because her friends start to notice her and my review
describes the plot and comments on problems teenagers face, and my poster presents a
isolated girl and also confirms to the audience of it’s dance genre through the slogan, which
proves they are all effectively advertising my production.
15. What have you learned from your audience feedback?
Throughout the process I have been making questionnaires about my chosen dance genre.
- My first questionnaire focuses on the genre that I had chosen and what people expected
from it such as good music and dancing. It was also to know who would be more interested in
watching my short dance film and from this I found that girls between the ages of 16-20 were
the most likely, so by this I decided to focus my attention on targeting teenage girls through
the use of font, protagonist and also music.
- My next questionnaire was aimed at my specific audience to find out what kind of music they
listened to, which helped me get a better understanding of how I wanted my character to be.
- I then made three final questionnaires on all three of my products with questions such as
‘what would you rate this on 1-10?’, ‘Did you enjoy it and why?’ etc. I also had a final
question of which of the 3 products did my audience favour the most. The reason I had that
final question is for me to know my audience’s opinions on my finished products and if my
use of research and challenging real media products worked to my advantage and if it came
across as effective in my main and ancillary tasks.
16. • Facebook was how I gained my audience feedback. After uploading to my blogger through
YouTube I would post my video onto Facebook and ask for positives and improvements I
could do on my short film. I found this was effective as I also posted the link to a few of my
friends via Facebook chat so I could get their attention. For my first draft I got a lot of
feedback from boys and girls, all teenagers. Using the internet was effective as being able to
link from your blog was a quick and easy process. The feedback I received was helpful as
comments included things they liked and things they picked up on that were editing or
camera faults.
• I then created the three questionnaires and decided to bring a few people into a classroom
so they could watch and read my products and write out their questionnaires there. I found
this useful as they had direct questions to answer instead of a general statement I put when
uploading to Facebook. The feedback was really useful as my products were commonly
marked the same number in terms of quality and their liking to it, so I found the
questionnaires to be useful as they proved my audience liked my products and found them
engaging.
17. Feedback on short film first draft
'That's so good Laura! You've edited it so well and I love the way more people
enter the room as the video goes on :) and great song!'
• This was one of the feedback comments I received on my first draft. I decided to get feedback
early on so I could make changes to my short film in the right direction by using the audience
feedback as they are my target.
• The quote comments on the build up of the audience within the production. I decided to
start off with the room empty and then slowly build up to show the room is full to emphasis
her growing confidence and also people noticing her. The effect is shown through the quote
as I have done this effectively for my audience to notice and understand my intended
message.
• Also, this particular comment mentions the song which lead me to believe that my choice of
soundtrack worked well with my piece to make it enjoyable for my audience.
This is so good, Laura! I love the way you edited it'
This is another comment about my first draft where it mentions my editing skills. I feel I have
improved from AS, as my editing on the production was limited therefore it wasn’t my strong
point. However in A2 I decided to choose dance genre where my editing would be challenged for
the different movements and to fit in pace with the music. The use of an audience member
noticing the editing shows that it has worked in an effective way and made the routine enjoyable
to watch.
18. Feedback on final draft of short film
‘Even without many words it was easy to understand by expressions and the
tone.’
• This shows understanding of the text, even without any dialogue which shows that my
narrative is clear, and my order of the sequences aren’t confusing. My doubts in my narrative
and how effectively it is put across are put at ease with my final audience feedback as my
creative decision to challenge conventions of a short dance film and make it silent worked
well and my audience seemed to enjoy it.
• The tone that this audience member is focusing on is created by the music therefore they feel
that it works well with my narrative and is a good stand in for dialogue. They also must like
acoustic music for them to enjoy watching and listening to the lyrics.
• I find that when looking through feedback about my short film a lot of it focuses a lot on the
narrative at the beginning instead of the routine. So perhaps I should have included direct
questions about the routine to get feedback on that. However, by getting help from friends
when filming the routine I was influenced by how they would like the shots to be as they are
my target audience, so even though I didn’t get feedback from the majority of my target
audience on the routine, I did listen to comments made from various teenagers that helped
me film.
19. Feedback on film review final draft
‘I felt it covered both positives and negatives and I tended to agree with the
whole piece.’
• The focus on the content as well as the presentation of my review is important as the quality
of writing needs to match my hard work during the construction of my short film. A critical
journalist will always focus on positives and negatives no matter what their conclusion is,
which is confirmed in my research of reading reviews in the magazine ‘Empire’ and other
magazines such as ‘T.V Guide.’ I decided to overall focus on the positives however critic my
own work with how it could have been better, as I want my audience to trust my opinion and
not feel I am being bias.
• The use of my reader agreeing with the whole piece shows that my interpretation when I
watch my short film is similar to there's, proving that I have targeted my audience
successfully.
• I do follow a typical review format and style of writing which could show no sense of
originality, which could make my product lose its value. Although, I do add colour to my
review which goes against traditional conventions, to draw in my audience with colour and
pugs such as ‘Exclusive!’ to grab their attention.
20. Feedback on final poster
‘I like that the image stands out from the background to show her standing
out as a dancer in the short film’
• This quote is different to the film review questionnaire, as the questions focus on the visual
aspect as those are the conventions I challenge of a character poster. Instead of creating a
background I decide to leave it blank to allow my image of my protagonist to stand out. The
quote shows that they understand my intention of creating my poster like this and
challenging conventions.
• The comment links back to ‘Unheard’ which shows they understand the products have
synergy, because of the connection of the character standing out.
• My overall view on my final products’ feedback is positive which means that I have
successfully created all of my products to my audience needs by the creative and technical
decisions I have made, by the influence of my audience throughout the planning and
construction stages.
21. Overall
• I feel that I took my research into consideration more so then at AS, which hindered our final
product. My feedback from my target audience has helped me throughout the process to
change or add in elements such as more variety in shots because of their needs for good
editing, or present a story at the beginning of the production to give meaning and a clear
narrative to ‘Unheard.’
• Also a few comments pointed out technical faults such as sound playing over the music that
should of been edited out, or my protagonist dancing off screen or even feedback from my
teacher on over exaggerating expression to really put my message across. My audience
feedback helped me to correct myself in my mistakes and to improve the acting as well.
• However, I feel I haven’t received enough feedback on my final prodcuts, therefore I won’t be
able to base my success through only two audience member’s feedback. Instead of creating
written out questionnaires I should have uploaded my final pieces on the internet with a
digital version of my questionnaire and asked them to fill it out online, which would have
been an easier process.
• Because short film is a niche institution, it therefore limits my audience which could effect my
feedback as there wouldn’t be enough to consider. However because of the quality and
preparation I have put into all three of my texts, my creative decisions pay off as I get praise
in the feedback focusing on the creative elements.
22. How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research,
planning and evaluation stages?
Research and Planning
• Media technologies were crucial throughout the entire
process. In the research and planning stages the World Wide
Web and Premiere were the dominant new technologies. I
used Google at first to gain knowledge on my chosen short film
brief and then to blog my understanding of the codes and
conventions. I decided to use YouTube to research dance films
so I could focus on the media terminology aspect, where I
linked together the typical conventions of dance scenes and
dance short films. When getting to the planning stages I found
analyzing the dance videos on Blogger very effective as it let
me see the similarities between them that I could use in my
production and also a variety of angles or editing techniques to
try. For example I linked a camera experimenting video onto
my Blogger and wrote a list on the techniques that I wanted to
try which I followed through with. I practiced a few camera
shots and decided to experiment with Premiere. This helped
me as it made me comfortable with a camera again, it also
gave me experience with editing as in my previous project I
was mainly behind the camera. I also then decided to analyze
dance posters using Google, where I decided I wanted to
choose a character poster as I want my audience to feel
engaged with my protagonist
23. Construction
• When constructing my short film, my research
and planning evidence helped me use typical
conventions such as centralizing my character
and using a variety of shots; both static and
moving. I also found it useful for me to
challenge the dance genre and short films
themselves. However, my teacher feedback and
my own opinion I find my narrative could've
been put across more effectively, also my
routine could have had more variety in shots
which is typical of dance genre. Premiere pro
and Adobe Photoshop were the two that I used
for my main task and my ancillary tasks, I found
that practicing helped me when it came to
filming as I was already comfortable with the
media technologies. I faced many problems
when filmig such as not being able to book out
my space when my dancer was free, having to
re-shoot because of a number of occasions
where I was at the risk of making continuity
errors and also having to add more shots to my
title sequence to make my message clearer.
However, I do think I have moved passed the
problems I faced and created a media product I
am proud of, creative wise and also because of
my technical skills.
24. Evaluation
• Throughout the evaluation process I
used Facebook to gain my audience
feedback on my final products, and
recorded all of my feedback on every
questionnaire on my Blogger. I also
used SlideShare to upload my
evaluation to my blogger for my
teacher to mark. I feel I have made a
huge improvement from As, as my
blogger has far more detail and analysis
within it and I’ve kept a record of my
progress. New media technology has
been helpful throughout the process as
it gave me a greater understanding of
the niche genre a short film is and how
effective the audience are on a
director’s product.
