Amanda Wan - Question 7

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

Comparing our final media product with our initial preliminary task, I have realized that my ability in using both the camera and the equiptment, the skills in editing and my general knowledge in filming and editing have improved immensely. 

Our preliminary task was an exercise to demonstrate the basic knowledge ad skills we had about filming and our understanding about the rules of filming including the 180 degree rule and shot reverse shot, editing technique such as match on action as well as the importance of continuity which was actually very difficult to comply.

For example, the natural lighting of the setting can change very quickly, our preliminary task had inconsistent lighting where parts of it was very gloomy and dim and others were normal.We have also experience other problems during our preliminary task such as the sound which was very low and quiet which made it very difficult to hear the conversation between the two characters.

We have experimented with the rule of shot reverse shot and the 180 degree rule which is usually applied when two characters are having interactions with one another on opposite sides and in my opinion, was quite easy to achieve, however we did not apply these techniques in our final media product as it did not consist of any conversation between characters.

Another technique which we have practiced was match on action, this is a film editing technique which the action cuts from one shot to another view that matches the first shot's action, giving a continuous flow.  We did really well with the match on action editing so it was a technique which we as a group felt really confident of using in our final media product.

The preliminary task also allowed me to gain a chance in learning how to edit. As I have never used an editing software before, I found it extremely hard to use. Personally I think that it is the most difficult aspect in creating our media product as well as being the most important aspect. Smooth editing is very important as prevents the audience from noticing the cut between shots. 

Through the preliminary exercise, it also gave me a chance to practice using the camera and getting used to the way it works as I have never used a video camera before. Other filming equiptments were also used such as the tripod, the crane and the tracks which allows the camera to move smoothly.   

Overall I think that the progression between our preliminary task to our final media product was a very successful one, it has helped me to identify my strength and weaknesses when working with the camera, equipments, as well as my filming and editing techniques.   



Amanda Wan - Question 6

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

Question 6 on Prezi

Amanda Wan - Question 5

Question 5 – How did you attract/ address your audience?

Our media piece is specifically tailored to attract our audience through many different aspects. One of the main features which we have used is character types. Our opening title shows the main character as a stereotypical teenage girl; beautiful appearance as well the sexual appeal through her dress code. This instantly creates a positive reception from our audience as the character and the audience are near the same age group, audiences will tend to want a similar lifestyle that the character has, treating the character as a person they would like to become.

From our target audience research, we have also concluded that aspects of tension, psychopaths and sense of fear are the most desired aspects that our target audience would be interested to see. We have incorporated this by combining all three of these elements in our media product to attract our audiences. The first scene shows the main character Chloe in a psychiatric hospital, both the setting and the music used instantly created tension. The fact that Chloe is a patient fills the psychopath aspect as well as creating the desired sense on fear, making the opening instantly very gripping for our target audience. 

The music which we have chosen to use is also another method which we have used to attract our target audience. Initially we have decided to incorporate RnB and Pop music in our opening sequence as it was the most popular choice of music in our audience research but it was too upbeat; this did not suit the tension we were trying to create, instead we chose to use generic thriller music such as eerie build ups to enhance the tension created which made our audience become more absorbed in to the opening sequence. 

Amanda Wan - Question 4

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

Our media product is aimed at mainly female teenagers ranging from 15 to 21, most probably still in education. This is because the setting of our media product is based in school, as well as the fact that the issue which the storyline revolves around is about stalking which some female students may experience to some degree and therefore our audiences can relate themselves with the storyline.

Also, the main character and the audience are in a similar age group and may therefore share a similar lifestyle and interest which makes the character much more "real" and believable; this can enforce the realism of the storyline which audiences can associate themselves with the character making them more engaged to the film.

As our media product is a psychological thriller, it is either fall into the 15 or 18 categories as it is very likely that it would include drug use, violence, abusive language and sexual content, therefore it is very important that our media product has a suitable certification so that our film is appropriate for our demographic to watch.

Looking at BBFC(British Board of Certification) statistics for film works processed in 2011, the majority of the movie certification granted was category 15, and the least being category 18. This means that if our media product was certified as an 18 our targeted group of audience would decrease dramatically as our media product is aimed at 15 - 21 years of age. Furthermore, from the guidelines provided from the BBFC website, elements of drug use, violence, abusive language and sex can be used moderately in appropriate context which still allowed us to include those elements.

Amanda Wan - Question 3

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

Our media product "Broken Beauty" would be very suitable to be distributed by an independent distribution company such as 20^th Century Fox or Entertainment Films as our audience group is a niche one due to the fact that the content of our story line such as the issue of stalking is mostly related to young teenage school girls between the age of 14 - 18. 



Another reason as to why an independent distribution company would be our choice to distribute our media product is because our media product deals with more "real" issue in reality which our audience can relate to in contrast to the bigger issues in society which mainstream movie production companies tend to incorporate into their films to make it much more interesting and can therefore attract a bigger audience group would seem much more distant from the audiences normal daily life. The issues which our media product has targeted which audience could actually relate to would be a less interesting storyline for commercial viewers and will therefore only attract a more niche audience group.

We have decided to create our own distribution company which we have name it "Smashed Mirror Productions", the image which we have chosen to use for our logo is a smashed mirror which ties in with the exact meaning of the name of our production company.

Through my "Credits Research", I have also learned about the importance of credits within the title sequence of a movie. The order of names and job positions usually depend on their importance. Generally in a mainstream film the names of the lead actors would appear before the director as they will tend to be well  known actors or actresses as mainstream movies are usually a very big production which costs millions, but as our media product is an independent one, our director plays the most important role and was therefore the first to appear on the credits list. Other important names include the producer. 

Amanda Wan - Question 2

Question 2 – How does your media product represent particular social group?

Our media product portrays the typical social group of teenagers /students in particularly teenage girls in two different sides of the spectrum. Within our media product, our character Chloe transformed from a typical popular teenage student to a psychotic and mentally disturbed victim.

Famous chick flick movies such as Mean Girls and drama series such as 90210 have adapted stereotypical teenage characters in which they are glamorized and are portrayed as being attractive, privileged and popular amongst their peers. Their behavior are often presented as being self centered, irresponsible and sexualized, we have adapted a few featured of this stereotype of teenage girls in our media product to make our character Chloe easily identifiable to our audiences.

For the majority of our media product, our character Chloe is presented to be very collected and confident; this is shown through her perfect hair and makeup as well as her fashionable clothing which directly tie in with the typical member of a popular teenage social group.

On the other extreme end, the stereotypical representation of teenage girls is that they are often troubled, which often leads them to become mentally unstable and are constantly in unsound state of mind, television dramas such as Skins have successfully portrayed such character. During the first scene of our opening sequence, our character is shown to be in a isolated psychiatric centre, her messy hair and smudged makeup visibly shows that she is in an unstable state which furthers the idea that she is vulnerable and fragile which is generally also seen as the characteristics of a victim in a thriller movie.

Amanda Wan - Question 1

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

From my product research of looking at the opening sequence of “Se7en”, it uses the convention of having mystery characters which keeps the identity of the villain/murderer hidden to keep the suspense going. Throughout the opening sequence, the killer’s face is not shown, instead the audience can only see his hands crafting away. I have incorporated this convention into my opening sequence, in which the stalkers face is not shown during the opening sequence, by doing so it can keep my audience engaged to the opening as well as to keep the anticipation going.  

Another psychological thriller convention which I have integrated into my media product is the use of lighting. From looking at “Blood Simple”, it uses the contrast of lights as well as shadows to convey suspense.  The contrast between light and dark lightings creates a mysterious and dark setting, giving a sinister feel. We have developed and interpreted this into our own media product, which we have used a dark photography room to replicate. The dark lighting had a very effective result in creating the mysterious and sinister atmosphere.

The choice and use of camera shots is also very important in creating a conventional psychological thriller opening, one of the most commonly used camera shots which we have used are close ups.  Tension are usually created in psychological thrillers through implications, facial emotions of characters as well as iconography are effective tool for creating tension. The facial expressions of our character as well as the suspicious footsteps of our mystery character is captured and presented through close ups.

Conventional character types are another thriller feature which we have used in our media product. Many thriller movies uses archetypes of female presented as sex appeals which are usually portrayed by beautiful blonde female, Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho is the perfect example as it uses blonde female lead to attract his target audience’s interest. Femme fatale is another typical archetype which are frequently use, they are shown to be very dangerous and seductive and will tend to lead the male character to chaotic ends.

We have combined both conventional female character types to form the character in our media piece, our character Chloe – is a combination of  both, she is shown to be very seductive through her makeup, especially her bold and loud red lips. However her dress code presents her as more of a sex appeal as she is shown to be wearing revealing clothing.