Evaluation - Ziaul

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

LWL review, Poster and film.

The task we were given was too make 3 film media products which included: film poster, film review and short film. We also carried out research planning for all three of these, as well as consistently improving our blogs. A short film can range from as little as two minutes too 10 minutes each with different plot, story-lines and genres. As well as the ancillary product (the short film) we had to also concentrate on making a brilliant film review and poster. Our group did a certain amount of research and all created our own poster, however only one being the final product. All media products have conventions which allow audiences to be able to identify what they are. For the media products we had to create they all had typical conventions which we had to follow. These conventions can tell audiences what to expect in the film they are about to watch or tell audiences the genre when they are watching the film. These conventions can relate to the content of the media, such as articles, character stereotypes or the medium such as film or magazines. These conventions exist across all media platforms. Although conventions may differ slightly in different media products depending on content, purpose and audience. I think the fact that the main protagonist of our film was Asian already challenges the conventions of thriller but also any film, because finding a film where the main character is Asian is very rare. Our main character is played by an Asian, this is unusal in most types of thrillers because film directors usually tend to keep with people of White or Black efnicity. Asian people generally are precieved as a weaker efnicity or terrorists during films and not an protagonist. I have not seen many films where an Asain plays a hero.

Only since the last ten years have Asian people been represented in a better way. The hit 'Bend it like Beckham' was the first time where the main character was a female Asian. This was a huge stepping stone for more Asian, not just females but also males try to get more lead roles within big films. A poll BBC conducted shows that 78% of people think that ethnic minorities are better represented on television now compared to 10 years ago. A clear indication as to how far people for different efnicity have come in the world of film. Before 1980's, Asian people were never on T.V, during the 80's the slowly came on T.V, but they were not given major roles, only small roles and stereotyped as; corner shop owners; taxi drivers; restaurant owners.

On September 11th 2001, one thing happened that would change everyone’s perceptions of Asian people: suicide bombers crashed into the twin towers (in America, New York), causing total devastation and hatred between white and Asian communities. After that Asian people were labelled as terrorists, suicide bombers, being stopped by police just because they were Asian. On 7th July 2005 another attack happened but this time in London. 7 main stations were bombed in London and a bus which just fuelled the hatred for Asian people. There were a series of shootings and stabbings aimed at black people and they were killed. The media attacked it and made people believe that all Asians for at fault.

Clearly shown as evil and bad.



Because our film is a thriller there are basic conventions most thrillers follow.

Protagonist:The protagonist is always the leading character for and drama or thrillers. The person that the whole story is revolved around. It is some times the character who speaks first making him the main purpose of the film. Most times the protagonist is the hero, heroine or champion. In the 'Taken' film the protagonist is Lee Neeson because the films revolves around him. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCbDUREBwUg

Antagonist:  The antagonist is usually the the villain who opposes the hero or heroine. It can be a single character or more a group of people. The antagonist is usually trying to stop and get in the way of the goal of the protagonist. In Taken the antagonist is the Albanians who kidnap the girl.

Restricted narration:
This is when the audience knows less or the same amount of information that the the character knows. Point of view shot is the main way the director gets this across because it feels like we see and feels the same as the main character.

Enigma code:
The enigma code is a mystery that is not answered straight away, it is used to keep the film intriguing and keep the audience engaged and asking various questions. A good example is in Inception with the spinning top, the audience doesn't know what it is tell much later within the film.

Suspense:
Arguably the most important ingredient for a good thriller film. Suspense in an uncertainty of what is going to happen, this usually creates a atmosphere of anxiety and doubt within the audience. There aren't many thrillers where this technique wouldn't be used.
Real life: 
Thrillers usually get mixed up with horrors but they're different. Thrillers are based on non supernatural events that could happen in real life time. Horrors are completely different and have a lower chance of realism compared to a thriller.




Our films narrative is about a young male our has a gambling addiction which happens to ruin his life. The audience do not find out the fact that the male is a gambler until halfway through the short film where he is participating in a poker match. At the beginning there is a tracking shot of his room. We wanted the audience to assume that this character does not take care of himself and is probably working class.

The fact that our male has an empty whisky bottle on the floor shows that he can be perceived as an alcoholic, setting up the audience to guess this characters lifestyle.






The room represents what a 'stereotypical' males room should look like, already giving off he doesn't care about his lifestyle or maybe his life. This convention can be seen in another short film about gambling where the characters clothes are a mess on the floor, in comparisons to our character, with coins and other belongings on the floor.

Theorists:

There were many theorist we took into consideration throughout our production process, mainly through planning and research. Neal said that "genre is a repetition with a underlying pattern of variation". Our group knew that thriller/drama was popular and there are a lot of different or similar films out there. Therefore, we had to make sure we kept the audience entertained and not bored in a very short amount of time. We did this by using typical conventions of thriller genres like fast pace action (the house blowing up and the scene before it) but also some unconventional uses might have included the lack of dialogue from the main character. Nicolas Abercrombie suggested that "the boundaries between genres are shifting and becoming more permeable". In terms of narrative we followed Trodrov's who believed that there is five main structures of narrative. I think we used this structure but we changed it at the end because we did not add a new equilibrium, like Trodrov suggests.

Despite many films being very different, many films share the same conventions as each other.

• Editing/post production:

The editing process was difficult because we used complicated shots throughout the film and difficult edits/transitions. We used cross cutting to signify time passing, a technique that was effective and necessary when working with the constraint of a very short period of time. Because, we only had such a short running time we had to make sure that we set the scene effectively and quickly. To do this, we edited together short clips of features that allow the audience to recognize the genre of the film at the beginning of the film. We used cross cuts and black outs again to link them together. At the end of the film we put in the credits which is unusual for a thriller film. Most of the times it's at the beginning of the film. Because of time as well we were unable to put any sort of names at the beginning. This is something that is important to include to follow the conventions of films that are on the market. It also shows exactly when the film begins and finishes.

Here is a picture of the editing process Elliott used for this complicated scene/edit. A lot of research was needed for this to be done as effective as possible but also done so that it was believable and realistic. The main problem with this scene was that it turned dark very quickly making it incredibly difficult to edit.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gr76iSfSqgQ
Here is a link to a mock up of the credits we used for our final film. Initially to make it easier for the final credit product we needed to make the characters into stickmen because he didn't have the final picture. This made it easier because it was an outline of what we had to do to complete it. To edit this we weren't able to do it through final cut pro but had to use a better software and used Sonny Vegas Pro.

• Soundtrack research

This again took a long time to research for our film. Because it is about gambling we wanted slow paced music which was also old fashioned. Due to the lack of dialogue for the most part of the short film, we opted to have a lot of music in it, but have the correct type as well. It was important to distract the audience with non crescendo music because of the lack of dialogue throughout large proportion of the film. We had search for different classical music and a lot of different free music sites for the appropriate off screen track.

This is what we used at the beginning of the film. There is zero dialogue during the track being played. The track however continues for a little over 1 minute. This track was slow and created an atmosphere for the audience. We asked the a few people what they thought our film was going to be about whilst watching it, and none of them predicted it would become a thriller, thus creating an enigma. We had obviously asked permission from every track/music/sound we used when needed or appropriate.

• Camerawork

To make the film as best as we could, we wanted to incorporate as many camera angles and movements as possible. I wanted to use a use of close up shots and extreme close up as this is what is traditionally used in a horror film. This was a way of showing the protagonists emotion which in this case is fear.   Something, that we found wasn't common in horror film was the use of point of view shots. In films such as "The Woman in Black" the audience just watching the character experience the fear.

The fact that there's a quickly flow of shot reverse shots shows the incident and shows the horror/tear on the face of the main protagonist of this scene. The producer was clever when using 'point of view shot' because they used it when viewing the incident, still allowing close ups/medium shots of main protagonist.


We wanted to enhance this convention and try and get the audience to experience what the character is going through. We as well didn't use the 'point of view shot' as much we should have, however definitely when we did, the audience were able to feel the fear of main actor.

We used these pictures because we wanted to feel how the character might have felt. The purpose of 'point of view shot' was to make the opposing characters seem very intimidating. the music also added a lot to the tension. This scene the main character had lost his poker game and, putting his house on the line, were almost forced to submitting it.

As you can tell from the sheer shock of the character, the intention was to make the audience pity him and feel some sort of emotion towards him. I feel as this was accomplished just from the fact of his deep sadness and shock of losing his home.

Our poker scene was very similar to that of James Bonds Casino Royale, which was the intention. We wanted to emulate or at least make a similar scene because of how brilliantly constructed it was. Having a poker scene like that of James Bond, you can track the emotion of each character by facial expressions or even movement. It also allows for good camera work when showing the cards that the characters have. This means that the audience knows the hand but other characters don't (dramatic irony).

This is James Bond, clearly giving the audience an insight of the character hand and cards.

In comparison, this was our attempt, obviously different shot but same outcome, giving the audience an insight of the cards the character had.

This is the face our main protagonist made once he lost the poker game and realised he was losing all of the money he had put fourth. We wanted a medium close up shot so you could see the sheer horror in the characters face when he had lost.

This is the main antagonist in Casino Royale. He had put up about 350 million pounds on the line. This was his face expression when he witnessed James Bonds hand. As you can tell by his facial expression, he is in sheer disbelief at the fact he had lost all that money. Our shot of the protagonist is that similar to the antagonist in Casino Royale. Same type of shot (medium close up) and same sort of facial expression. The audience are supposed to pity the characters but also feel uncomfortable by the fact they have lost so much money.


Mise en scene

This is a very important part of any film and if not used correctly can ruin the genre and type of film created. Mise en scene is used to create atmosphere but also can characterise a character is a certain way. The main conventions of mise en scene we used are; lighting, facial expression and certain movements.
Lighting - we used lighting so it could create atmosphere. It is a common used convention when trying to create horror or thriller.

For our film we used high key lighting in the poker scene, this made the characters seem much more intimidating when shuddered in mist and dark lighting. It was a good way to introduce the new characters because it shows them as being powerful within the scene.

As you can tell it is evident that this scene is very dark. The smoke as well creates an atmosphere of chilling nature. Because of low budget we couldn't use very strong lights in the poker scene, making it hard to see characters.

This is a short film called Picture. I did some research into this film for production planning and we needed it to compare our dark scene with. When watching this film it is hard to see the character as like our film in this scene.

There is a lot of our film where we are recording outside so we didn't need any artificial lights because we had natural light (sun).

Within our ancillary texts there were also many conventions in that we needed to add. For example, on real film posters there are many features in that need to be included. For example, star ratings, quotes, list of media productions and release dates. We felt that these were very important to add onto our poster. We challenged this convention though by laying out our poster slightly to the modern day film posters. There were also features that I added to my double page spread as well such as page numbers, quotes, a main image and a title. After completing our media short film, I then started to set out on making a poster and double page spread that would go along side our final film and give the target audience other media platforms to see and use. I wanted to make sure that there was a clear connection between our main film and ancillary texts. I used the same font and colour scheme throughout the three outcomes. An example of this is that we used the red spade when ever using the High Stakes name. The only exception to this was the review which had to be more professional. When creating a poster their are some conventions you must follow.

Title -
The research the group and I did on poster was vital in making the best possible poster we could make. And we had to start with a standout title which the viewer was hooker by instantly. A person viewing a poster will make a decision in a split second if they wanted to see the film or not. Most poster will make the title to a contrasting background to make it standout from every other word. And this is exactly what we had done. We made the title black and put it up  against a smokey background, which happened to be white as well. Because of the black and white, most people do not consider this with happy films but thriller or horrors. Also when viewing our poster you can see a red spade replacing the A. This was a clever but relevant technique our group wanted to use to make it unique.

The unique red spade. 

Actors names -
Most, if not all full length film poster will have the name of the main characters. The technique being used is to attract an audience. Depending on the actor, if he is quite big time, then people will want to come watch the film because that actor is in the film. In comparison to a short film, not many big time actors usually act in them because of low budgets and wouldn't be able to afford wage demands. On the main you wouldn't find many short film posters with actor names, even with research it is hard to find.

As you can tell the cast of Dark Knight is massive and hugely popular, this is one of the reasons it is so popular, the actors.

With the advise from fellow peers and teachers, our group decided to mention the actors name, mainly because our peers would watch it, especially depending to the name of actors.

This is a poster with no actor name on because of the low budget, the mass audience do not know who he is.




This film has names on so they may be fairly well know and the film must have some money.


Main actors-
The chances are that almost every film poster will have the main actor/actors as the background of their poster. It is important for the audience to know who the character is when watching a film, because it can decide is they watch it or not. For our film, all three main characters are the background. 'Michael' is holding a knife, which he plays with during the poker scene, 'Trevor' is holding a gun which he also happens to use in the film and 'Franklin' is holding a card because of the poker match. The main protagonist in our film is in the middle of the poster, this is because he is the very main character and the other two antagonist are by his side.

This is a closer up view on the main character. This photo portrays a powerful, smart character who looks dominant because he is at the centre of the image. By staring straight at the camera with a powerful deep stare it shows that he is controlling but also confident about himself. The other two characters within this photo challenges what people think is going to happen because they look small compared to the male in the middle. The other two character however look intimidating as well considering they're the ones holding weapons. They're also portrayed as powerful individuals. All the characters within the poster have powerful stares, again showing all individuals are powerful.

Tagline-
Taglines are conceived a popular way to give away slight clues of the film. They are usually placed close to the title of the film. Our tag line we wanted to include was 'The stakes couldn't be any higher' but did not have enough room for it. There are several short films that will have a tag line in their film. The film poster I analysed earlier 'Malice' has a catchy tagline.

Credit block -
Having a credit block is a legal requirement when making an official film poster. You will not see an official film posters without a credit block. They're always at the bottom of the poster and include the names of  anyone involved with the production of the film.

There are other conventions like ratings and quotes from film industries but these are seen as less important. Some may argue they're important because the rating dictate if its going to be a good film or not. The only convention we really challenged is putting low key actor names down on the poster as if they were quite big time.

LWL

Here are some of the reasons why he chose Little White Lies to put our film in;
LWLs editorial staff are interested in independent, non-mainstream film makers, as well as the usual mainstream movies, reflected in the copy overall, but also in reviews

there is an interest in the magazine in experimental and alternative styles of film making, often found in short films

the magazine reports on the nominees and winners of international film festivals - often the first place a short film is showcased

the magazine targets a student audience (perhaps also specifically students in subjects such as Media, Film, Cultural Studies)

the magazine has strong links with the Picturehouse chain of cinemas, which screens short films every day as part of the main film programme (virgin media shorts)

no other film magazine carries reviews of short films, instead, usually focussing on very mainstream films.

This is what an average LWL article would look like which was annotated on by myself. Little White Lies is for mature more upper class or educated people. The slick sophisticated design shows it might be for middle/upper class. In comparison to the more bold and loud design of Empire, which is for more average film watchers and less enthusiastic critics. It always writes about films some people never hear about, independent films, these are films which cannot afford to put themselves of cinemas. There are always in depth analysis and knowledge about the film.


 This photo represents a LWL survey carried out for the general public to see who reads LWL and who don't read it as much. As you can tell males aged 25-25 are the people who seem to read the magazine the post compared to other age groups.
The above infographic is very helpful in determining which classes of people read the magazine, especially the statistic that states exactly half of their sample readership earns over 20k a year (a high percentage compared to many other types of magazine) this would suggest- in theory- that a large chunk of LWL's readership is of an upper class, and this influences the type of vocabulary that would be used in writing my film review: for example saying 'vernacular' instead of 'vocabulary'. To this end it's been pretty much decided for me that I will be the one writing the actual text for the film review, because I write far too posh-ly at the best of times.




This is our LWL review on our film. We incorporated all the essential information about the film as well as background info, such as 'zeppelin production' a name our group made up.

3. What have you learned from your audience feedback?

After some extensive research I found out that most users to social networking sites were teenagers (15-19). Our main source of audience feedback was through Youtube and Facebook, where we received some helpful comments and some constructive criticism.

Here are some of the comments from different social platforms.

 

 

 

Unfortunately I'm not popular enough to get feedback from twitter :(



4. How did you use new media technologies in the construction, and research, planning
and evaluation stages?
http://prezi.com/1j_gdolnemnr/edit/#106_24309637