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

'Follow' follows the life of Grace,  a teenage girl we find out is obsessed with another girl, Ella. Grace's obsession with Ella only amplifies when she realises that Ella is now dating her ex-boyfriend. Upon realising this, Grace takes her mere obsession with Ella to a whole new level of jealousy, with a number of murder attempts that follow. Fortunately for Ella, Grace is unsuccessful every time and this eventually sees her run away from home to another town. 

'Choppy' editing style

The 2 minute opening sequence that we produced for 'Follow', both uses and develops the conventions of British Independent films of a psychological thriller genre. This was achieved through careful attention to form, genre, narrative structure and style, and our knowledge of key theories such as Todorov thoery and the enigma code furthered this.

(Please see the below slides to find out more)

Evaluation Question 2: How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The main social groups that we are representing are age and gender. As our film idea is strongly focused on a few characters, we were limited with the social groups we could represent; the main protagonist, Grace, is a teenage girl and Ella, one of the other 3 characters, is also a teenage girl.

Through Grace and Ella especially, we were able to effectively represent teenage girls through conforming to, and in a few cases challenging common/typical stereotypes that the would audience would already have and expect. Things such as character dress, settings, dialogue and character behaviors also helped in the representation of age and gender.

(please see the table below for examples of this)

Grace's clothing

Ella's clothing

Evaluation Question 3: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

British, independent media institutions are most likely to be responsible for the distribution of our media product. Typically, these type of media institutions deal with low budget films, with plots, themes, and aspects that are trying to reach and appeal to British audiences. Our film 'Follow' tries to do this as well and we therefore decided it should be distributed by Film4.

Film 4 institutional logo animation

(Please see the prezi presentation below in full screen for further information)

Evaluation Question 4: Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience of our film is fans of psychological thrillers.Within this niche, we decided that we would be primarily targeting 15-24 year olds. Furthermore, for a secondary audience we wanted to target fans of British independent films.

The prezi presentation below looks into this in greater detail. (Be sure to access it in full screen for better viewing)

Evaluation Question 5: How did you attract/address your audience?

Our knowledge of the Uses and Gratifications theory helped us to ensure we successfully attracted and appealed to our target audience of psychological thriller fans. This theory means that consumers of media play an active role in deciding on a media; They do so with the aim of satisfying their specific needs. There are four things that media users aim to fulfill for themselves:

• Personal identity/identification 
• Social interaction/personal relationships
• Education
• Entertainment

The table below entails how we applied the Uses and Gratifications theory in our film opening to attract our audience and gratify their needs:

In addition to our use of the Uses and gratifications theory, we also ensured that we successfully appealed to and attracted our audience by conforming to the conventions of the psychological thriller genre that we are trying to connote. By doing this, we are able to also conform to the expectations of our target audience, further appealing to them. One way in which we did this, was through attention to Mise en Scene, such as the props that we used:

• A moodboard that grace used for the stalking of Ella 
• A knife and leather gloves that grace packed into her bag

The use of these props were effective as they not only created enigma in our film opening, but they promoted a real sense of danger, tension and uncertainty, which in turn helps to sustain the interests of our audience by keeping them intrigued and at a point of great suspense and tension.
Additionally, to further our appeal to our target audience, we used continuity techniques such as match on actions when editing. These techniques help to increase the realism of our film and the use of closely framed shots in the match on action sequences, helps to immerse them in what is going on. The GIF video below is an example of this in our film opening.

Audience reaction and feedback:

Through the production of our film opening, there were stages where we obtained feedback from members of our target audience. The feedback was very beneficial as it helped us to identify areas of/things in our film opening that worked well and not so well, which we would then use to make any changes or adjustments that we felt necessary. We decided to sample a group of 8 people from our target audience, having equal numbers of both genders in the group that varied in age between the ages of 15 and 24.

During the production process, there were two points at which we gathered feedback from this sample group:

• After the test shoot when we had created a rough cut edit
• After the main and back-up shoots when we had created the final edit

The chart below shows the feedback we received from our sample group for the rough cut edit:

Overall, the reaction we received was not positive, however with that said, the comments that lacked positivity were very useful as they contained lots of criticisms and suggestions which we took into account in the next stages. We few points of criticism that were brought to our attention were:

• "A need for better characterisation. Who is this girl and why is doing what she is doing?"

- It was not clear that Grace was stalking Ella. This could be due to the fact that we used the same actor for both roles, however even with that taken into consideration, their roles in the film are not explicit enough. Following this piece of feedback our aim was to ensure that we use the different actors for the two roles, pay attention to hair and make-up and carefully select outfits for the characters.

• "Storyline isn't obvious. What is actually happening?"

- There was no real sense of the plot; It is not clear what is going on. This is likely be down to a poor setting and a weak sense of genre caused by a poor storyline and insufficient props. To rectify this, we decided to look for an alternative shooting location, rethink our whole storyline and ensure all props ready and all brought to the shoot (the moodboard was not prepared).

The same questions were asked to the sample group but this time for the final edit where we were sure to work on areas that the audience (sample group) felt needed work and attention. The chart below shows the feedback from this:

It is clear that there is a difference between the two charts. The feedback for the final edit showed that the changes that were made had a positive effect on the reaction to our film opening. There were no areas of negative feedback and every member of our sample group said that they would go and watch the rest of the film, highlighting the successful appeal that we had created.

Evaluation Question 6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

 The construction of our 2 minute opening sequence taught me a lot about technologies. I feel that the skills I have when working with both hardware and software have improved significantly over the process.

Hardware

For the construction of our opening sequence, we had use a number of different hardware technologies. This included:

• Camera - Cannon Legria HFG30
• Tripod

The table below details my overall experience after working with hardware.

Software

We also had to use various types of software technologies particularly for the editing process:

• Adobe Premier Pro CS5.5
• LiveType
• Audible

This table details my overall experience after working with software

In conclusion, I feel that my ability and confidence when working with technical equipment, both hardware and software, has improved. This was especially the case with software, as my biggest technological challenge came when working on the Adobe Premier Pro software to grade shots. After, consulting with my fellow editing partners and the media technician for help, by the end of the process I was able to confidently grade shots to create desired effect and atmosphere. Additionally, I am now aware of the benefits to using certain technologies instead of others.

Evaluation Question 7: Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

My preliminary task

Our aim when approaching the Prelim task was to showcase our technical ability through the creation of a sequence that put a lot of emphasis on continuity and camerawork. Having looked back, the prelim task proved to be very important as it allowed for the development of these technical skills. This differed to our approach to the film brief, most likely because the two tasks asked for different things. With our now developed technical skills following the preliminary task, our aim for the film brief was to be as creative as possible through the process as this would allow our product to be more unique and original.

The preliminary task brief - "Continuity task involving filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. This task should demonstrate match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180 degree rule."


The production task brief - "To produce a 2 minute opening sequence for a fiction film. All video and audio material must be original, produced by the candidate(s), with the exception of music and audio effects from a copyright-free source. It should be clear from your sequence who he target audience is."

The main differences between these two task are:

• The film brief emphasises a need for originality and creativity in task
• Film brief focuses on audience unlike the prelim task brief
• Final product is to be shorter in the prelim task

Pre-production

The planning processes that we carried out for the prelim task and the film brief were different in a few ways:

• We created more documents for the film brief such as the re-shoot shot list, the call sheet and the props list
• We held a significantly greater number of group meetings for the film brief
• The preliminary task did not put as much pressure on the groups organisational skills so there was little need for the documents that we created for the film brief

As the film brief was more demanding and required good organisation, it became a necessity to have detailed documents to help keep the group organised and on top of things during the planning stages of production. That said, we were sure to sustain this level of organisation for the rest of the task through the use of documents and careful planning during the following production and post-production processes.

Production

The production process that each task required was also different:

• The people that were actors in the prelim task were only from our group, unlike the film task where we used one actor that was not a member of our group
• We had a lot more time for the shooting of the film task
• We were only able to shoot in school for the prelim task
• We completed the shooting of the prelim task in two lessons (1hour 20minutes), unlike the two 9am - 5pm weekend main and back-up shooting sessions for the film task

Following the success of the product for the prelim task, we were sure we could repeat this in the film task, and even better it by using different locations and different actors.

Post-production

The differences in the processes carried out during post-production are as followed:

• The film task allowed for numerous editing sessions over a 3 week period where as the total editing time for the prelim task was 1 week
• The preliminary task did not require us to add extra effects to the finished edit e.g. grading, titles and/or music and a soundtrack

The skills learnt in the post-production of our prelim task were transferable, and we were sure to make use of them in the post-production of our film task. These skills included things such as organisation, teamwork, decision making and communication.

Construction Post 10: Looking back - reflections on our final outcome

I am very happy with the final outcome of our film opening sequence; we successfully constructed film opening through the use of good team work, organisation and effective time management. Although there were a few points in the process where we encountered problems that could have jeopardised the success of our final product, as a group we managed to overcome them and ensure the success of our product. The test shoot was one point in the process that proved difficult; it highlighted how a lack of organisation can cause problems. We managed to overcome this by identifying areas to improve and putting them right for the upcoming main shoot.

Once these issues were sorted out, we were able to advance our product to ensure that it met the terms of our brief; to create a 2 minute film opening sequence for a story and plot of your choice. We showed our final product to our target audience focus group once again and they were not able to pick out any issues in opening sequence, and could confirm that the changes made since their last viewing made for a better final product and viewing pleasure.. This positive feedback epitomised of the success of our final product, and it meant that we had effectively met the brief and done things such as connoting the relevant genre of psychological thriller and conforming to the conventions of films with a similar genre and institutions.

In hindsight, if I were to change anything, I would have ensured that our levels of organisation and team work were sustained throughout the project which would have most definitely avoided the problems faced regarding our storyline, the test shoot and edit sessions. If this change was made, I am sure that our already successful final product would have been more appealing and of a higher quality. This said, I am still very pleased with how our final product turned out and hope that our hard work is reflected in the standard of the product.

Construction Post 9: My technical learning curve

I feel that I learnt a lot from this process. Although I was comfortable both editing and working with the camera, as I had not worked with either for a while before this process, I was not as good as I knew I could be. This process helped me to regather my skills and in some cases enhance them, for example in the editing stage I was required to work with new tools such as with key frames. To help me to understand how to use them I googled tutorials and also asked our technician, Emma, to help me understand how to use this tool. This helped to improve my technical skills when editing and allowed to pick up a few skills and tips that I could transfer into the production of our opening sequence. Additionally, this process required me to work with the camera for our shoot sessions. From past experiences of working with the camera, I vaguely remembered how everything worked. Nevertheless, after some time working with the camera, I again quickly regathered my camera skills and in fact furthered them through the help of Emma.

Adjusting camera settings 

Construction Post 8: My personal contribution to the Edit Sessions

I feel like I was very involved in the editing stage of the construction of our film opening. To begin with, I allocated the majority of the time I had free to working on and progressing the edit. This required me to be organised so that I was sure to attend every allocated editing session, and it also required me to have good communication skills as I was constantly in contact with my editing partner, Gabriel, to talk about when we were to be editing.

Editing the sequence on Adobe Premier Pro

Following on from this, there were a few things that Gabriel and I assigned each other to do as we felt that it best suited our expertise, therefore making the editing process more efficient.

Gabriel  - creating the final/official titles and grading the shots

Josh (Me) - cutting shots in the sequence to match the soundtrack and editing for special shots such as editing  the 3 shot split screen using key frames

Looking back, I am very happy with my contribution to this stage of construction as I feel that I put in as much time and effort as possible, which contributed significantly to the success of our final product.

Construction Post 7: My personal contribution to the Shoot Sessions

I think that I made many useful contributions to the shoot sessions. I was actively involved in many roles during the shoot sessions; this includes both the filming and directing of our film opening, and playing the role of Grace's brother in the film which required me to act for a brief part of our shoot. Playing these roles enabled me to enhance my skills using technical equipment and develop leadership skills.

Construction Post 6: Reflections on Edit Week 2

A second week of editing followed the back up shoot, and these editing sessions required us to complete the construction of our film opening, ready for submission on our deadline. Previously in edit week 1, our group decided to split into pairs. This meant Gabriel and I were working together again. We worked diligently to keep on top of the editing of our version of the opening sequence, and to ensure that it was the best it could be. After show members of our target audience our video following the main shoot they noticed the inconsistency in the lighting and colour of all the shots, and they picked out shots that broke continuity, and it was this feedback that influenced us to re-shoot the relevant shots and add/replace the old shots with them, and then to add grading effects to each shots.

Things done in Edit Week 2:

• Added the newly filmed 're-shoot' list shots to the sequence, and replaced old shots were necessary
• Adjusted the sound track (i.e music, dialogue) to suit the sequence with the newly added re-shoot shots
• Added the official/final titles that we created on the Apple Mac Desktops using a software called LiveType
• Used Grading effects on all the shots to ensure a consistency with lighting and colour in all shots

This is me about to use the Apple Mac Desktop to create titles

Construction Post 5: The Back-Up Shoot

For our back up shoot, we needed a way of staying organised to ensure that we could shoot as efficiently as possible. To do this we created a reshoot shot list which entailed several short descriptions on all the shots that needed to be reshot, as well as a new shot that we decided to add in as after reviewing teacher comments, it would help to present a stronger sense of character and the mood.

Revised shot of Grace after back up shoot

Shot of Grace with shoes on

Construction Post 4: Reflections on Edit Week 1

 It became evident to us as a group that the editing stage would demand good organisation within our group, and as result we agreed to sort out an editing schedule. This was organised in one of our weekly meeting sessions, where as a group we discussed who is free at what times and from this. decided on and wrote down initials of the group member that would be present in that session. Throughout this, our underlying aim was to not only ensure that at least 2 members of the group were present at every session, but to ensure that we had a few sessions where the whole group was present. Looking back, this was probably one of the best decisions we made in the process because it meant that we could work as a group and have as many critical eyes working on the edit as possible.

Things we did in edit week 1:

• Renamed all the shots 
• Identified the best takes for each shot
• Set 'in and out' points for the shots with best takes
• Identified and selected a music track
• Put all chosen and cut down shots onto the sequence timeline
• Recorded any other dialogue that we needed
• Created titles

Although we worked well during the edit week, it became apparent that the conflicting ideas in the group were having an impact on group morality. We were struggling to be as productive as usual when editing, so we decided something had to be done. We decided to split our group of 4 into 2 and work as pairs, editing on 2 different timelines; the pairs were Gabriel and I, and Prudence and Ella. We consulted our teacher of this plan, and once we gained their permission, we were quick to start the editing again. From the group point of view, this was the right thing to do as it meant that group relations were not impacted anymore and although we would be working on separate sequences, we were sure to share ideas and consult eachother with any significant decisions made separately.

Construction Post 3: Reflections on our Main Shoot Session

Our Main shoot turned out to be very successful and especially in comparison to our test shoot. Our test shoot left us with a lot of things to think about going into our main shoot. One big thing was the change in location. This turned out to be a very good decision, as it helped to strengthen the presentation of any ideas or themes to do with storyline, genre and characters.

From the group point of view, the only negative that arose from the main shoot was a few minor continuity errors. While reviewing our shots, we noticed that a few of them broke continuity. We informed our teachers of our concerns and they confirmed that we had broken continuity. An example of an area where continuity was broken were 2 shots in which one of them Grace was wearing shoes and in the other she was not. This was one of a few continuity errors that arose and we were quick to ensure that they were included in our shots to 're-do' list for our back up shoot.

Construction Post 2: Our Post-production Kit

The Post-production kit was based around the editing stages in this process. To perform the editing, we were allocated an edit suite in our school media department by our teacher. On these edit suite, the computers had a software called Adobe Premier Pro, and it was this software that we were to use to edit.

Our sequence shots on Adobe Premiere Pro

Post production included:

• Dual-monitored computer
• Adobe Premiere Pro
• Macbooks/iMacs
• LiveType (for creating titles)
• Audacity (for recording non-diagetic sound)

Construction Post 1: Our Production Kit

The kit and equipment that we used are as follows:

Camera that was used

• Cannon Legria HF G30 Camera
• Tripod stand
• Shotgun Microphone
• Headphones
• Clapper board