EVALUATION-How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluatiuon stages?

4 - How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluatiuon stages?

Media Technologies

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EVALUATION-What have you learned from your audience feedback?

3- What have you learned from your audience feedback?

From our audience feedback, we have learnt that people found it hard at the beginning to understand weather the mockumentary was supposed to be real or believable. They didn’t necessarily understand what was going on and they found this a little confusing. They said that the title cards helped with this, yet these title cards were hard to see as the writing was quite small.

"I LIKED THE WAY IT CHANGED IN THE MIDDLE"

None of the focus group said they had witnessed this kind of situation themselves and they didn’t realize that it was such an issue among teenagers and they thought that this mockumentary helped them and would help other people to realize the dangers. The majority of the focus group were aged between 17 and 18 but we had one teacher, this pretty much matcyhed our target audience.

Charlotte’s character reminded a lot of the focus group of an American teenager which made them feel like our mockumentary was similar to an American teen movie.

The focus group didn’t say that they wanted to know what happened later on, as they didn’t feel that there was a later on.

"NOT VERY REALISTIC BUT IT MADE SENSE WITHIN THE GIVEN GENRE"

The last question, people had a mixed feeling about. Some said that if a drug results in death then it isn’t for a good or legit reason and therefore it is just as bad as other drugs.

On the whole people enjoyed our film and were impressed with it, they thought that more time would have resulted in maybe a better production but the enjoyed it.

"IT WAS VERY INFORMATIVE"

In general comments, people said that it looked like a real documentary and was very professional looking.

EVALUATION- How effective is the combination of your main product with ancillary texts?

2- How effective is the combination of your main product with ancillary texts?
Our movie poster targeted teenagers. We used anindependent style that appealed to the niche audience that we tried to attract.We used a de-saturated image which connoted the nostalgic and independent stylewe wear aiming for.  The poster revealedthe main subject of our film, Ben Collins, the boy who died and the title ofthe movie, ‘Why did Ben Collins die?’ A name that catches your eye andsummarizes what the mocumentary is all about.

We made a double page spread for a magazine,featuring an interview with us, the directors, and a summary of themocumentary. This was similar to the two art house magazines, ‘Little WhiteLies’ and ‘Sight and Sound’. Both magazines targeted a certain niche audiencesimilar to the one that we wanted to attract to our mocumentary. We consciouslydecided not to use successful actors as we didn’t want the audience to bedetracted from the films verisimilitude. Therefore the magazine article focusesmore on us, the directors of the mocumentary and our motivations and reasonsfor the film.


(CLICK ON PIC TO SEE LARGE)

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

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

The media product that we chose was a short film, a ‘mocumentary’.  To create this mocumentary, we developed and challenged forms and conventions of real media products. The two genres that we chose to use were Teen and documentary and so we experimented with their forms and conventions. We joined these two genres’ together to form a hybrid movie as we didn’t want to just create a Teen movie or a documentary. After researching about them we decided as a group whether or not each convention would be suitable for our mocumentary.

In our mocumentary we have used ‘real’ footage, in the way that we have used real photos of our main subject, ‘Ben Collins’. We used these photographs to make the mocumentary seem more ‘real’. A convention that we used that we were not planning to use was using a handheld camera.

We only used this in part of the mocumentary and for the beginning we had a very formal and conventional style which split the style of our mocumentary. We however didn’t use voice over to guide our audience through this break in style, the reason being, that we thought a voiceover was too influential and leading for the audience. Instead we wanted it to be a hybrid which would create an active audience rather than a passive audience.

We referenced the convention of interviewing experts in our mocumentary. This could be called ‘pastiche’ as it was a fake expert in our ‘fake’ world, this could have been regarded as mocking real documentaries.

One convention that we did use to help guide our audience throughout our mocumentary was text. We used this to show time, place and what was happening. This is ordinarily would be the voice of code.

The codes and conventions from a teen movie that we used were that we situated our mocumentary in a high school and we included a relationship and illegal substances.

Anotated final film

(make sure that you turn on the annotations on YouTube.) )

Feedback questionaire sample

Production

Having watched the final copy of our Mockumentary and spent time annotating and analysis it, i have found a few small mistakes. For example, there isn't a question mark after 'Why Did Ben Collins Die' at the beginning of the film. Another mistake is a spelling on 'regularly' and a few other small ones. Overall i really like the way that it has coem out an di think it is very succesful and has conveyed what we wanted to achieve.

Log sheets

Log Sheet 1
Log Sheet 2

Shoot report

During the day when we shot the scenes with Archie and Phoebe, a few changes were made. For example when the mobile phone goes off and Phoebe storms out the room. This was decided while filming the scene, i think that this works nicely and it gave us a chance to experiment with a handheld camera. We had some trouble witht the mobile phone going off at the correct time as i had to send a text message to her phone at the exact right time, whilst trying to make no noise. We also added the scene where the camera follows Phoebe down the stairs and hides behind one of the computers, filmin gher talk to Archie. This was written in the script but the directions were cvhanged. We had a problem with Archie learnign his lines, as hye found this particularly difficult so we allowed him to change some of the words around to suit him better. When we filmed Vesna who played the Doctor, she was very easy and quick to film as she acts part time anyway. This was really good as she could direct herself and instantly became a very good character as a Doctor. Kerim, Ben's personal tutor was also particularly straight forward to film as he learnt his lines, and understood is character well, although we did have trouble with his articulation.

Rough cut analysis

• Spelling mistakes in text • Change font of titles and add in some • Music at opening and ending of film • Add fade ins and outs • Titles • Add in mother scene Having seen the film for the first time, I think that it will appeal to our target audience a great deal and although it is a mocumentary it could be seen as quite emotional. There are still a lot of alterations to be made but so far I am pleased with what we have done. The timing exceeds the guidance so we shall examine what can be cut and try and do that. There are a few small mistakes, such as spellings but that can easily be changed. We are planning on going on Sound Cloud and other similar websites to find appropriate music the opening and ending of the film. This will help with the atmosphere of the film and should be a good finishing touch. We have yet to film the last scene of the Mother talking to the reporters and that should conclude the film nicely.

Feedback Questionaire

Feedback Questionnaire

Rough Cut

Call sheet

Media a2 Call Sheet

Target audience description

Our target audience mainly consisted of Caucasian 18-25 year old Males, living in the South West mainly looking at London as our main Area. The majority do not read film magazines and seem to be attracted to movies based on their storyline and stars. According to our ratings the genre of the movies is the thing our target audience cared the least about. A significant portion of our audience stated that their preferred way to consume movies is online via the Internet and streaming websites as opposed to actually going to the cinema.

The favored genre for a feature film is the Drama genre while Horror movies are featured in Short Films.

Our movie is targeted at a male audience mainly which is highlighted by several artistic choices within our mockumentary. The story revolves around the death of an alpha male, a young student who was overly bright, talented and popular. Out of the two main characters Tom and Charlotte, Tom is the one the audience is able to sympathize the most as his character offers redeeming qualities where as the character of Charlotte is almost antagonized and is supposed to upset the viewer with her behavior.

Poster Shoot Plan

A rough plan and collection of ideas for the shooting of our official movie poster. We brainstormed things such as Equipment, Costumes and generally needed Props.

Equipment

- Lights

- Studio 

- Camera (Nikon/Canon DSL)

- Tripod
- Gels

Costume (ideas)

- White shirt and cardigan

- Collared t-shirt

- Glasses

- Gelled hair

- Skinny jeans

- Tracksuit bottoms

- Rugby shirt

Props

- Rugby ball

- Football

- Pen

- A*

- Prefect badge

Poster Final

Poster Final

Finished Magazine Spread

Finished Magazine Spread

PRODUCTION SCHEDULE

65050591-53933051-Production-Schedule[1]

Our Movie Poster

 After having done our poster mock up awhile back (for the tutorial and the mock up click here), and having shot our pictures for the poster, we were finally able to edit the final version of the poster. Mostly, we are happy with how the poster turned out although we are going to have a few adjustments, such as possibly changing the position of the image and changing the credits at the bottom of the poster. As of now, we used a template from the internet which looks out of place. Other than that, we are happy how the poster turned out. At the moment, we have two version but we are most likely to use the more saturated version (the one on the left), with the actor looking to the side.

Poster Image - Editing Process

After choosing our favourite pictures in Adobo Bridge, we tried various ways of editing in Adobe Photoshop. We used two different, one of our actor facing the camera and one of him looking away. Both images are shot with a year book style. We took the photographs in our school studio where we could control the lighting and had a black back drop. This brought simplicity to our shoot. 

We used various tools to edit the two images. We started by using the "levels" tool in order to adjust the lightness and contrast of the image and then used the "exposure" tool to soften the image and create a vintage old style.

                     

We proceeded by adding a texture over the image which added a bit of grain, again, this was to create a vintage style to our image. We then played around with the "grey-scale" and the "hue & saturation" tool having two final versions to choose from. The black and white version and the slightly saturated version. 

 For the second image we chose a similar editing style. We again worked with the "levels" tool to adjust the lighting and the contrast of the image and also altered the "exposure" settings in order for the image to soften.

Then, just like the fist image, we added the same texture and put its opacity down in order for it to only slightly affect the image. We finished by using the "hue and saturation" tool.

Two Final Magazine Layouts

Magazine Spread - Basic Layout

Finally, we designed the actual magazine spread in InDesgin. Important Note: The actual Text is not done but the pictures and the layouts are.

What we did in Photoshop

We started by pressing Ctrl + D to insert my Portrait. Originally we were thinking to put both our portraits in but we thought the layout looked much more interesting with the emphasis on one of us. We then inserted an image of us during the interview on the second page, much smaller, but making clear that this is an interview.

We then proceeded to add some text using the "Placeholder"-text tool. We arranged them and decided where the text would look the best. We also added a subtitle for the actual title "Why Did Ben Collins Die" making it look much more neat and less empty and spacy. As the background colour for the two pages are different we decided to highlight this in the colour of the heading aswell, something we first saw in the magazine "Little White Lies"

Magazine Spread Images- Editing

After looking at magazines such as "Little White Lies", we knew that that sort of niche magazine would be right for  our movie. Pictures in niche magazines such as "Little White Lies" are usually edited mildly to look a little more edgy etc. We decided to change the saturation of the images and go for a sort of grey scale-esque style just like our initial magazine spread layout.


What we did in Photoshop

 We started by using the "Levels" tool on Adobe Photoshop to adjust the right amount of Brightness and Contrast. We then used the "Hue & Saturation" tool to minimize the colours on the image. This way it looks more classy, edgier and is more likely to be in a magazine such as "Little White Lies".

For the interview still of both of us ,we edited in a similiar way to the portraits but instead of using the "Hue & Saturation" tool to cut down on the colours, we decided to go all the way and used the "Black & White"- Tool. Other tools we used were again the "Levels"- Tool to adjust brightness and contrast plus the Filter selection "Lens Distraction" to add a subtle vignette around the image. 

Magazine Review - Image Selection

 We took photographs in front of a black backdrop which we chose because we felt it gave a good sense of artists at work. We didn't want to over do this value as it would look 'try hard' and not professional. We took a set on self timer of us talking comfortably together and then we took a set of us on our own, serious at first and then casual. And lastly a set of side profile shots. We uploaded the photographs on to Adobe Bridge where we could select the images we wanted.

 After having taken the photographs and uploaded them to Adobe Bridge we starred and couloured 15 images that we felt had the best atmosphere about them and would work the best.

We then had to go through these images and select only a few that we really liked. We chose two of us talking, one of Mehran smiling and one of me to the side.

Shot List

We put together a shot list in preparation for the filming of our documentary. This shot lists includes timing, what kind of shots and small details that will help us on the day. We don't want to be sitting around not knowing or remembering what to do on the day so we want to be as prepared as possible.


Shot List

Magazine Mock Ups

Before creating our actual magazine spreads, we tried around InDesign and created two different Mock-Ups in order to establish what kind of layout we want to use for our own article. The first layout is quite a simple one with a small range on different colours, appealing to a more niche and arty kind of magazine such as "Little White Lies". The second spread is aimed at a more mainstream magazine, using more colours, different shapes and sizes and less text in order to appeal to that kind of magazine readers.                                

TUTORIAL: WHAT WE DID IN IN DESIGN

 First, we created a new InDesign file and made a double site spread. We started of with choosing the background colour. As this  spread is aimed at a more arty magazine, we didn't want anything to vivid and distracting but didn't want to leave it white either. We choose to go for a greyish creamy mix. In order to set this as the Background colour, we created a large "Content Frame", and used the "Swatches" option to create our colour. Then we arranged the "Content Frame" to be set in the back of the page in order for us to be able to put the article on top. We continued by looking for a picture online that we could use as a Director's portrait. Then, we created tree columns and using the various grid's InDesign has to offer, we sized them all the same and justified the text within them.

We proceeded by adding a heading and a subtitle. We decreased the tint of the subtitles as we wanted it to look subtle and didnt want it to distract from the heading or the picture. In order for the double spread page not to look too plain and boring, we went trough the various available fonts and changed from "Arial" to "Times New Roman" for the columns and "Trebuchet" for the Heading.  The last step in creating this double spread was to find another picture of our fictional director and to put it on the page at the right. We choose another black & white image to maintain the sort of contemporary and classy vibe of the previous page.

 For the second doublespread page, we decided to use an female director. Again, we started by setting the background colour. Again, we used a "Content Frame" and the "Swatches" option to choose a colour of our choice and set it over the two pages. We then arranged it to be in the back again. As opposed to our first layout, we decided to keep the director's picture in colour and also had a more colourful approach on the rest of the page. Using a "Text Frame" and the "Swatches" we created the Heading of the pages, maintaining blue as the dominant colour on the page, but colouring the Heading in Red and yellow in order for a more vivid and quirky vibe.

  We continued by creating a few columns with an place holder text. We again, justified the text and edited various parts of it to make it look more like an interview. We did so by bolding various parts and leaving the "answers" in regular writing. Then, to finish this double spread, we created a stroke and a different background for the text columns, using the colours red and white in order to stay in sync with the colours previously used on the Page.

Poster Prop List

This is a rough plan of the collection of ideas for the shooting of our official movie poster. We brainstormed things such as equipment, costumes and generally needed props. 

Equipment

- Lights

- Studio 

- Camera (Nikon/Canon DSL)

- Tripod
- Gels

Costume (ideas)

- White shirt and cardigan

- Collared t-shirt

- Glasses

- Gelled hair

- Skinny jeans

- Tracksuit bottoms

- Rugby shirt

Props

- Rugby ball

- Football

- Pen

- A*

- Prefect badge

Visual examples of documentary conventions

                                             This is a visual example of a voice over- "David Attenbourough, World Life"

This is a visual example of a Interview documentary- "Kiry and Courtney"

This is a visual example of archival footage in a documentary- "Vietnam war air archival footage"

This is a visual example of a montage sequence- "Bowling for Columbine"

A visual example of the exposition of a documentary- "Supersize Me Opening"

Magasine layout research

'Little Whie Lies' aim at a similar audience type as us. Maybe different in age but the type of person is similar. This cover image is quite similar to the poster that we are creating. For example having a close up image of the person showing that he is the main charcter in the story.

This is a single page spread about the silent film, The Artist. When looking at this poster, your eyes look straight at the large black and white still. This is the main focus point on the poster. Next you have the ratings and viewings that are in the bottom right hand corner. These are high ratings and so therefore they have made it quite large and easy to see. The columns are all very neat and made to look like squares or rectangles and the font is also very neat. 

This is a double page spread that firstly focuses on the image and secondly on the colour. The first page has used lots of black, a small about of white and barely any pink, whereas the second page has used a large amount of pink, small about of black and barely any white. This is very well colour coded. They have also place the ratings in the bottom right hand corner which is important as a lot of people base watchign a film on other peoples views of it. 

      

This is a double page spread, where an interviewer asks 'Michael Fassbender' about his career. They have used bold font for the questions and then a space between the questions and the answers. This is a very clear way of laying out an interview. The large photo on the right hand side, clearly shows who is being interviewed. It is an effective layout. 

Marketing campaign for film

Having discussed our movie in huge detail we have decided that there will be a low budget and no stars. There are two reasons for this, one is that it is a documentary and it is being made to look like a student film therefore money won’t be needed and two, using stars will take away from the reality of the documentary. This leads us onto the question of 'How will we market it?' 

Marketing is a huge advantage for films, and the more marketing, the more popular the film you are making is. Unfortunately, without the funding and financial support it will be a lot harder to market our documentary. It would be an Independent production that is co-funded by a distribution company or television channel. Screening it at Sundance film festival would be a huge advantage as this is somewhere where lots of distributors will be and it would get a lot of exposure. The documentary is made for art house film only and wouldn’t be a blockbuster.

The unique selling point of our short mocumentary is that it is about academic performance enhancing drugs and although there have been many films about drug taking and the pressure of school life, there hasn’t been a successful one that focuses on academic performance enhancing drugs. This is an interesting selling point, students should be interested in this subject, but the we aren’t going to market the film around this point, instead around the enigma of the film.  

A good way of marketing our short film mocumentary could be screening the trailer for it before art house movies. This is because the kind of audience that we focus to capture would be in an art house cinema. We could also show the trailer at film festivals as well as on the internet, for example, YouTube. This is a very popular site for teenagers and students.  

The poster that we are making says in large, bold letters, ‘Why Did Ben Collins Die?’. Using a question will capture the audience we need and also by using a personal name and putting it into such a tragic question people will be shocked and want to know what the answer is and who this boy is.

Poster design mock-ups

Using the same idea of using a Year book image from school but changing the colour to black and white. I think that this is very effective as it brings a more old, vintage feel to the photo that matches the look of the young boy.                                                              

We used a simple but bold font to emphasise the question that we are asking. We want to grab the audiences attention, so that they want to watch it and find out the answer for themselves.

We next downloaded Credits from the internet, they were already in white so we just copied them onto the poster.

I really like the fuinished look of thi sposter, and i prefer it to the 'facebook' idea one. I wouldlike to work with this idea for the final poster.