Evaluation: How Does Your Media Product Represent Particular Social Groups?

How Does Your Media Product Represent Particular Social Groups

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

Shot Types.

The shot types selected are often designed in order for the audience to follow the narrative of the film through the eyes of the main characters. Typical chick flick shot types includes two shots to show personal relationships between characters, close ups to show feelings and portrayed by the actors and a rage of establishing shots.  Low angle shots are used to make the characters appear strong and powerful.  We aimed to uses as many of these shot types as possible in order to make the genre of our film opening clear.

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions

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This shot was filmed so that the back ground was in clear focus in order for the setting to be established (in front of school gates). This goes against the forms of our chosen genre as you would expect the characters to be the main focal point of each shot throughout but in contrast, this does portray the character as rebellious and dangerous.

Her appearance creates juxtaposition with the peaceful back drop.

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

My group have chosen Universal  Pictures as our distributor. We have chosen them because Universal Pictures are a very well known American film company who are popular for distributing large budget films. They are also known for they’re influence on British cinema and partnership between Universal Vivendi and Working Title. They have produced box office hits like: 'Bridget Jones’ Dairy‘ and 'Bridesmaids' . We have aimed to achieved this level of quality in the film opening we have created by using the best quality equipment that were available to us with little to no budget.

Final cut- no sound

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

The targeted audience for our opening would be girls aged between 12 and 18. I believe as though a more western target audience would find it easier to relate to the characters because of the stereotypes portrayed in the narrative. Because of the different personality traits of each character, girls from various different social backgrounds will feel that they are able to relate to at least one of the characters and this connection in the first two minutes of the film will make them keen to watch on. 


http://asfoundationportfolioparysgardener1.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/claire-targeted-audience-rep.html -Here is a link to my previous target audience analysis 


Age Rating.
In order to ensure that I am able to excess  all of my audience, I think it would be best if my film would  be a certificate 12. Although there are scenes of implied smoking and some anti-social behaviour therefore I think that our final product should be a 12A making it up the the child's carer weather to let the child watch the film, particularly if they are extremely impressionable. 

Communication in the Group

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

Feedback from target audience

Adding the Logo and a Cross Zoom

Today, I added the logo to the scrap book opening. Unfortunately, I had to simplify the design as my group and I felt as though it didn't look professional enough. I had to change the colour of the text but kept the positioning and the image (crown) on the top of the 'B'. 
As well as this, I have taken a screen capture of the Goth character which is the same as the opening shot. I have tried to add a cross zoom so the the camera will zoom into the image in the scarp book and the image will come to life on the screen. 

Second Location Shoot.

Star Productions video

Research and Development of Film Title Font.

Fronts For Film Title

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Shot List.

Chosen Song.

Reasons Behind Our Chosen Song

The backing track we have chosen to use in our film opening is called ‘Addicted’ by unsigned, British artist Suchy LA. It took our longer than expected to find a suitable sound track which would fit the codes and conventions of a chick flick that was from an unsigned artiest and was of a proficient quality to be downloaded.  As a group we think that this track is a good choice because of its female vocals and light, upbeat tempo which will work parallel to what the audience will be able to see on screen.

Here is a link to the artists MySpace - http://www.myspace.com/suchyla

Filming with Digital Cameras.

This is footage from our first couple of days filming. My group and I are worried about the quality level of our footage so I have suggested that we film using SLR cameras rather than digital and to re-film the shots we have already filmed to ensure we achieve the best out come possible.

Sounds and Music.

For our film opening, my group and I need a up-beat and light song- ideally a British artist with female vocals. Our group are also considering having a narrator speaking over the music about 30 seconds in to the opening. After our opening credits (scrap book scene).

Book Opening Angles



1

2



3

4

For the first seconds of our opening, we are going to have an over the shoulder shot of a girl going thought a A3 black and pink sketch book with images of the main characters and the opening credits. Much like the opening for St Trinians but it will not be animation. In these pictures, we have asked a model to sit holding an A3 sketch book which is the same size, shape and colour as the one we shall be using. These pictures show the possible an angles and camera positions we could use. Some were more successful than the others. I personally think the third shot is the most successful as you are able to see the book most clearly.

Next we shall experiment with filming.

Locatian Shoot.

The main setting for our film is a college, I have gone out and taken a location shoot for my group and here are the images. This is where the opening of our film will be set.

Names for Film.

These are the ideas for our film we have come up with. The idea we have chosen is "Queen B's" and our slogan is "Oh No She Didn't" because these are two title that we all really liked and thought followed the codes and conventions of a Chick Flick.  

First Storyboard

Today, our group spoke about how we wanted our film opening to look. This is the rough storyboard we created, it shows a basic outline we will use to create the final storyboard. 

Chav.

Goth.

Posh Totty.

Geek.

Costumes

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Audience Tageting - interviews

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The targeted audience for our genre are girls aged 14-20. I have got together a focus group of girls my age and showed them openings of chick flicks and asked them to tell me what they liked about it. I then interviewed girls from different age groups.

Analysis - Mean Girls

Mean Girls Opening.

There is a plan black screen as the cast names fade in and out in femine colours- purple and pink. This is what we expect form a chick flick as the targeted audience is very femine young girls. About eight seconds into the opening, the film’s title and logo fade into the centre of the black screen larger than the previous text but in the same font/colour in order to link them.
The camera fades in to a low angle mid shot of a middle aged man and woman. This is unconventional as the first person the audience expect to see is a main character who is most commonly a teenage girl. But through dialoge, we assume that these characters are the parents of the main character.
There is a cut to a over the shoulder shot behind the parents allowing the audience to see who we assume to be the main character, Kady. She is a 16 year old girl who as what seems to be natural hair colour, is wearing plain and dull casual clothes. We assume that she is the protagonist as she is ‘normal’, not pushing any stereotype making her easy to relate to and the audience warm to her. At this point, there is a light and upbeat non-diegetic sound track which starts to play.
There is a cut to an establishing shot of the family outside before the cut to a mid shot of Kady and her mother poising for a picture. We are able to hear the diegetic sound of the father winding up the camera/taking pictures. At this point, the voice over (in Kady’s voice) begins as she talks about her background.
Throughout this, there are cuts to humours senses and interviews which display the same type of humour the audience can expect to see throughout the film. The opening then continues with the theme of pictures showing snap shots of Kady’s life as she describes it. 
Fast pasted music begins to play at the end of the flash back sequence as Kady enters the school for the first time, signifying its importance. This is typical on a high school chick flick. As Kady walks, all of the students around her are pushing stereotypes and some doing outrageous things (stomping out and starting fires) making the main character feel very uncomfortable. This is shown through cuts to close ups of Kady’s horrified face and eye-line matches between her and other students.
We are not introduced to any other of the significant characters in the first two minutes allowing the audience to get to know the main protagonist.

Opening of St Trinian's.

Watch Stt01 in Entertainment | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Script for Voice Over.

Spoken by Posh Totty (aka Jade Delaney):
"Kandra a kick ass teenager covered in black, who is as fiery as the smokes she breathes. Its safe to say she's dangerous.

Peaches, that's me. I'm the prettiest girl in school, I have everything I've ever wanted and can be easily distracted when… oh… well you get the drift.

Iris, the awkward one, the quiet one… yet the brainiest of them all. Her IQ is as large as her sense of fashion.

Chardonnay, her attitude is as bad as her attendance, she's definitely the mouthiest of us all, 

But together all of us are the best of friends!"

Story Board.

Claire - Targeted Audience Rep.

Begining Resreach

To begin our research into our chosen genre, we have made a list of existing films which are similar to the film we are going to produce a film opening for. Here are the films we came up with;

Mean Girls
Clueless
Bring it On

The Clique
Stick It
10 Things I Hate about You
She's All That

St. Trinians
John Tucker Must Die
She's the Man
What a Girl Wants
Picture This
The Hot Chick
A Cinderella Story

Next, we are going to start by analysing the first two minutes of five these films...

This week, my group and I discussed possible genre by exploring different ideas. As a team, we created a table of ideas as seen in the picture. We then decided to on chick flick as our chosen genre. We feel as though we could make a successful as have chosen this genre needed to create a successful with the resources available to us. We thought this would be our best option as we are a group of four grils and this would allow each of us to have an active part in every part of the film prosses, enclueding a chance to play a star role!

Preliminary Task.

Preliminary Exereise

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 they then exchange a couple of dialogue. This task should demonstrate match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180 degree rule.

Research - Film Opening Analysis

Brief

I will be producing a short 2 minute opening for a fiction film with a group of three other girls which shall be uploaded and evaluated on this blog.