Wednesday 24 April 2013

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

In my preliminary task, I failed to create a solid and effective script, which is something I was able to change between the preliminary task and the main project. For my preliminary task, to say there was little planning would be an understatement, as there was effectively no planning involved. My group and I simply had one or two discussions about ideas and then proceeded to film the scenes, which is the main reason as to why the preliminary task was a failure. These failures, however, allowed me to see what I had done wrong, and then build upon those things to ensure that all planning for the main project was thorough. During the editing process, the job of editor was left to one of my group members, with little to no input or help from anyone else in the group, a factor which I was able to alter during my main project. The best thing about my preliminary task was the feedback I received from my classmates, as this was the main basis for improvement which I later applied to my main project. one area which remained constant from the preliminary task to the main project is teamwork, or rather, the lack of it. for the preliminary task, i effectively threw an idea down,and everyone in the group accepted it, without question, so there was a lac of creativity and deviation which could have potentially improved out preliminary sequence.

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


Given the fact that my film is based around the Action, Thriller and Science Fiction genres, I would target people who are roughly between the ages of 16 and 25. My reasoning for this is that people of between these ages visit cinemas more often that people of any other age, which also links in with my choice of target gender - Male. generally Males visit cinemas more often than females, and therefore it would make sense to tailor my film for and gear it towards Males rather than females, as there would be more potential revenue from this gender. Because my film is in english, the nationality of the audience is fairly elastic, as a high proportion of the world population speak fluent english which benefits me greatly, as again the potential revenue of my film will be higher than a film in italian, for example. I would suggest that people who would enjoy my film would be the kinds of people who visit smaller independent cinemas and who regularly attend film festivals and have a fairly high expertise of independent film rather than people who visit multiplex cinemas, as my film is nowhere near the quality of box office hits such as "Avatar" or "Skyfall".


I know that my film is very niche, and therefore will not attract the mass audiences that films such as "Skyfall" did.






Friday 19 April 2013

Narrative

A narrative structure is defined as the order in which a narrative is presented to the viewer.
The narrative structure of a film can be divided into five sections: the equalibrium point, the...




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

In my film, there are four main individuals: two scientists, one shadowy figure (who is the boss of a criminal organisation) and finally one courier (hired by the boss of the criminal organisation to retrieve a serum). I feel that the boss of the criminal organisation could stand to represent one of two sectors of society; upper-class, or lower-middle class, which could create a sense of controversy. my reasoning for stating that he could represent the upper classes is odd, in that i feel he doesn't necessarily represent the people themselves, or as a group, but he can be used to represent their desires and resources, such as the desire to gain more power, material items, the money they have, and the inferior people which tasks can be delegated to, which is reminiscent of people in our society such as government ministers, corporate bosses, CEO's and so on. in regards to the scientists in the film, we tried to go for a simple, stereotypical look (white lab coat, protective goggles etc...), to help the audience identify the type of character they will be dealing with as quick as possible. of course, we decided to set the scenes involving the scientists in a science lab, to further reinforce the stereotype, and with that, the representation. now, the actor chosen to portray the boss of the criminal organisation. he is tall, with a deep clear voice, with an undertone of frustration about him, which allowed him to fit the role almost perfectly, and therefore only enriched the representation. generally, people of high status in our society dress smart (suit and tie) and are looked up to for their vast wealth, intellect, and of course - power.

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


My film is based on three genre's, as you will have found out in my answer to question one, perhaps the most noticeable of the three is science fiction, which is why I have identified "Hammer Films" as my production company as they have experience producing not only science fiction films, but also thriller films, which is another of my focus genre's. Below are a few examples of thriller films produced by Hammer Films.
Nightmare (1964).
Hysteria (1965).
Fear in the Night (1972).

The Curse of Frankenstein was a horror/ science fiction film produced by Hammer Films.




I have chosen Entertainment Films as my distributor, purely because they have a lot of experience with the distribution of science fiction films. "DREDD", "Apollo 18" and "Mutant Chronicles" are some examples of films distributed by Entertainment Films.

Fig 1. "Apollo 18" Official Film Trailer.





My film could be released in smaller, independent cinemas, and it could be made available to watch either on youtube or as a digital download on one of many other video sharing websites.