Evaluation Part 8

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to a full product?

Preliminary task

The strengths of my preliminary task are the use of various camera language such as match on action and shot-reverse shot. Another strength would be the effective use of iMovie. My editing is spot on and the video flows well error-free. The music suits the style of the video as the upbeat sound matches with the pace of the character walking. The transition effects were creative and linked well between some shots.

The weaknesses of my preliminary task are in terms of planning and research, it was somewhat rushed as i didn't have a lot of time to plan in order to start filming on time. The storyline could have been more creative and in depth with the plot to make it more interesting. I could have improved my sound editing as the background noise from 00:41 was too loud and this caused the audience to have difficulty in hearing the actor's voice.

There are many ways that I have developed my skills since making the preliminary task. I have become more knowledgeable with using editing softwares like iMovie. Before the preliminary task i had no experience with professional video editing and I was new to using iMovie. I know how to use features like precision editor and being able to blend in sound in different layers. I have gotten better at camerawork as some shots were not very still in the preliminary task, but are more clear now. The dialogue is easier to understand in the final production, because the voiceover was recorded in a quiet space, unlike the preliminary task where the wind was blowing loudly in the microphone which made it harder to hear the actor's dialogue.

Evaluation Part 7

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Evaluation Part 6

How did you attract/address your audience?

Evaluation Part 5

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

In my media product, the main character is represented as a pessimistic male teenage who has a bad life and faces loneliness. He wants to get revenge on everyone around him, because he cant stand people who do have a good life and wants to make them feel terrified and miserable.

In the start of the first scene, the audience are introduced to a male teenager and they have no idea who this person is or what he is doing.

The camera shot is a close-up and my partner and I have used many of these to connote the facial expressions and body language to the audience. We can see the character have an angry face through his furrowed eyebrows so the audience can already tell he is depicting his anger and is frustrated at something. This represents his social group as a disheartened teenager through the emotions he is showing in the close up.

By using this over the shoulder shot, we can see the character is typing a blog post on a laptop which connotes he is typing something privately but, since he is in a public place this could show its not very secretive. 

The lighting in this shot is slightly darker than other shots which could suggest the audience are not meant to see what the character is typing. This can also imply the character is plotting something dark and mysterious, because the lighting only gets dark when the camera shows him typing on the laptop. This representation portrays him as a mysterious character with a hidden vendetta.

There is a voiceover present over most of the shots in the library and the audience can tell through its tone of voice the character is serious and sounds menacing. The audience also figures out from the dialogue that the character has a bad, hateful life and sounds like he wants to get revenge on people that makes his life bad to gain self-satisfactory.                   

This scene here has a much different atmosphere than the library scene. The camera shots are more fast paced and has more movement whereas in the library, the camera language was more calm, slow and still. The sound bridge also dictates that as it transforms from a slow, powerful beat to a faster upbeat music which suggests the character may lead a double life; one being calm and a normal average boy and the other being a violent gang member.

We see through mise-en-scene that the character is now portrayed wearing a hoodie which represents typical teenagers in gangs. This connotes that the character has some association with gangs and violence, which is related to him having a bad life and he had to result to this.

My film will not apply Propp's character types as my film is about verisimilitude and doesn't follow the representations used in Propp's character theory. My film will subvert some of the typical representations seen in many British social realism films such as drugs, abuse, sex etc. This is because we want to show different aspects of our society that isn't commonly shown as every person is different.

Evaluation Part 4

In what ways does your media production use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Evaluation Part 3

What impact did the media institution Film4 have on each production stage and why?

Evaluation Part 2

Who would be the target audience for our product?

Evaluation Part 1

Brief

The brief is to create a new British Social Realist film that is aimed at British 16-24 year old's for Film4. I had to produce the first two minutes of the film to give a clear graphical, editing and musical style my film would use. In order to maintain Film4's reputation in British cinema, I must keep to the typical conventions used in their previous films in the Social Realist genre and meet all audience expectations. I must keep a low budget so all visual and audio material must be original. I believe i have met this brief, because I have targeted my film at teenagers and i have stuck to the usual themes and conventions that are normally present in Film4's productions. All camerawork I used are recorded myself and the music, which starts at 00:33, is originally created by a friend who allowed me to use it.

I chose this title "Hit List" because it connotes the themes and aspects I used in my film such as violence which represents the protagonists as his actions will lead to negative outcome. Another meaning of the title is that the protagonist has a list of people he wants to target for reasons like revenge.

In my opening sequence we denote a troubled teen is typing in a document inside a library, speaking his thoughts about life through a voice-over. In the next scene, we see the teenager rushing out of a house in anger and partly walking, partly running towards the park. He looks around frustrated as he strolls through before stopping by the lake and waits until the audience sees a mysterious hooded figure slowly approaching him. This creates an enigma as people are left wondering what happens between the two. This would have then led on to a fight between the pair and the protagonist takes out all his frustration. This opening foreshadows something bad is going to hit back on the character and this will lead to his eventual fate. My film establishes some of the themes used in BSR like loneliness which is exemplified during the first scene in the library, as the character is alone and talks very pessimist about his life. The theme of violence can be signified at the end of my opening sequence where a hooded figure walks up to another hooded figure, because teenagers in hoodies are stereotyped as part of gangs and bullying.