This document contains an evaluation by a student of their media studies film project. It discusses how the film uses conventions of the "chick flick" genre without challenging them. Inspiration was drawn from the TV show Pretty Little Liars, including using a mirror message and camera angles. The intended audience is ages 15-35 due to drug use being depicted. The film would likely be distributed by a major studio like Paramount or a smaller company like DNA Films. Throughout the project, the student gained experience with storyboarding, camerawork, editing with iMovie, researching music, and more to integrate technologies into the production.

1. MEDIA STUDIES FILM
EVALUATION
BY AZMEH ADEEL
2016-847

2. Q1. HOW DOES YOUR PRODUCT USE AND
CHALLENGE CONVENTIONS AND HOW DOES IT
REPRESENT SOCIAL GROUPS OR ISSUES?

3. In my movie clip, it starts with an establishing shot of two girls using
their laptop this as well as the upbeat music at the very beginning
develops the idea that the genre is a “chick flick”. But by the end
there is a twist in the story which adds to mystery.
No, I have not challenged the conventions which were already
present in chick flick movies. We always see that there is one
character who has been with the most good looking boy on campus
and the best friend who was secretly admiring the guy. Looking at
pictures of the boy on social media is also present in movies of this
genre. Also the girls are up to date in technology, they have the latest
phone (Iphone & blackberry), the laptop (MacBook) which is 'pink'
giving a girly effect as well as the speakers which was blue and pink.
I took a lot of inspiration from a television show Pretty Little Liars.
Which showed a lot of mystery and the disappearing of a girl.

4. In the picture you can see that I have taken
the mirror message idea from the television
show Pretty Little Liars. This type of mirror
message is also shown in other movies but
my ideas was from Pretty Little Liars
At this moment they girl herself is shown as
confused and scared, she does not know if it
is a joke by her friend or is actually gone.

5. For my character I have taken a little inspiration
from Pretty Little Liar actress Aria Motgomery.
(Lucy Hale)
She is always seen wearing dark colors for which
I told my actress to do the same.

6. The camera angles for the scene of the room were also
mostly taken from Pretty Little Liars.
Even if we look at other chick flicks, the scene where
they are on the laptop is mostly portrayed in the way I
have.

7. The idea I got from hiding the drugs was
from the movie Cruel Intentions (1999),
in which the girl hides them in her Christ
necklace, I did not have one of those but
a bottle which was similar to it.

8. Q2. HOW DOES YOUR PRODUCT ENGAGE
WITH AUDIENCES AND HOW WOULD IT BE
DISTRIBUTED AS A REAL MEDIA TEXT?

9. My film being a chick flick mystery would be
enjoyed by a wide range audience. The age
group being above 15 and till the age of 35.
Mostly many young teenage girls enjoy
these kind of movies and will attract their
attention. I believe the age limit is 15
because my movie consists of drug use
which can not be shown in a movie for
children below 15. I researched the British
Board Film Classification which stated "The
misuse of easily accessible and highly
dangerous substances like aerosols or
solvents is unlikely to be acceptable at 15"
Also in the future, if the movie was
made there would be violence in the
movie as there would be murder
shown which is not to be seen by
young children. Where as young
adults would enjoy the suspense of
the movie

10. Paramount Pictures
Youtube
I believe Paramount may distribute my
film if it was made fully. They have
made and distributed many successful
films which are of a vast genre
including. Movies like Mean Girls
(2004), Mean Girls (2011), Grease (),
Top Gun (1986), Mission Impossible
(1996) and Disturbia (2007). Paramount
being one of the "Big Six" has a wide
market and will be able to reach my
market audience.
DNA Films
If my movie does not turn
out to be a big movie I
would just upload it on
youtube for different type
of audiences to view. This
way I may also be able to
reduce my costs on the
distribution of my film
If Paramount Pictures does not agree to
distribute my film, I would go to a smaller
company. DNA Films is one which I would
prefer. They have produced and distributed
many movies which have come out very
successful films including Love Actually
(2005) and 28 Weeks Later (2007). They will
surely be able to reach my audience.

11. Q3. HOW DID YOUR PRODUCTION SKILLS
DEVELOP THROUGHOUT THIS PROJECT?

12. There was a lot I learnt through the production of my clip. Before filming this clip, I was given
first hand practical experience at school which made the process easier. I believe that over the
period of my As level my teacher had taught me various ways in which I could make my work
unique and stand out from the others.
He taught us different uses of camera and through practical work we mastered those. We learnt
different camera angles which can be used to portray different meanings as well as how they can
show a character. For instance how a low angle can make a person taller, and also how a it is
shown when a character is seen as weak and a high angle to show the character as powerful.
In my clip trying to find the perfect and unique camera angles for each scene was very difficult as
I did not want any shot to be a drag shot or repeated many times, for which I shot one scene
more that 2 times to get different angles.
It was very difficult at first when I had to think of a script, I could not think of what type of genre
to do. After a lot of research and thinking I thought I should do the genre of chick flick with a
mystery. I learnt through this process on how to make a story board as well as a script. I
researched online for different ways to make a storyboard and then decided to go with a comic
book style. It was very difficult but I got through it.
I made sure that I used the same camera throughout as I wanted the video quality to remain
constant. Also while filming I had to be sure that I did not cut out the headroom which was very
important.

13. STORY BOARD
This was my story board which I learnt to make
through the internet after extensive research.

14. Q4. HOW DID YOU INTEGRATE
TECHNOLOGIES (HARDWARE, SOFTWARE &
ONLINE) IN THIS PROGRAM?

15. Throughout this project I learned many different concepts. I learned in terms of
technologies which include the making of a blog (through bloogspot.com), At first it
was a very new concept for me as I had no idea about how to upload videos. But
after a while I got used to it, as we were doing practical work throughout to get
used to it.
Before filming I had to do a lot of research on how I was going to portray the video,
I went through many websites and youtube videos on how I was going to show my
video which was very helpful.
While using the camera, I learnt the importance of a tripod, it helped me avoid
shakiness and jerks in my video clips. As I was taught how to use the tripod in my
class I was very comfortable with its use.
For my editing I used IMovie, I was aware of its uses as my teacher had taught me
and given me work throughout the year, but to discover and explore other new
mediums of IMovie I went through google and saw many tutorials.

16. I researched on what type of music should be used for both scenes as they were
quite different. I realized that for the opening scene I could use some girly music,
for which I found Taylor Swift's song We Are Never Getting Back Together. Where
as for the bathroom scene I found the music by a band called The Weeknd, and
the song called Next. I searched on youtube for the instrumental version of the
song (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRs55P9YHJU) and for the title of the
movie I used the original song.
While conducting research and editing I even went through google to look for the
opening credits order and also saw many movie openings so I would get an idea
and not make any mistake.

17. CAMERA :
CANON 60D IMOVIE
GOOGLE (RESEARCH)