February feedback

Your web-log looks good an now needs to be completed.  Ensure that creative technologies have been used to present your evaluation.

Complete the evaluation and put all the questions in order

Put the preliminary task and your production as last posts then the questions

Add any extra elements to the research and planning.

Set targets for what you need to do over half-term to fully complete the coursework

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

Preliminary Task



Main Task



I have learnt a lot from the preliminary task and this meant that my main task was much better than my preliminary task. I learnt more about the editing and camera work and this made my main task better because i used more variety in the camera shots and movements that i used and the editing techniques as well.

In the filming stage of the preliminary task i didn't really know much about the cameras and equipment that we used and this meant that it probably wasn't as good as it could have been. we used all of the tips we were given in class to make our preliminary task. There were such things like the 180 degree rule and the match on action that is in the video. But overall we didn't have great variety of shots that we used. In the editing stage of the preliminary task i had never never used the editing software before and it was a challenge for me at first because i didn't know what i was doing. but i did have some prior knowledge of some editing techniques because i had done some before but i had never used that software before. In the main task we also did some sound editing that we didn't do in the preliminary task this made our main production look better and more professional that the preliminary task and this was something else I learnt to do as well.

I learnt a lot about the mise-en-scene as well and this improved my main task as I gave my film more meaning because I added props and other stuff in to the scene that made my main production more meaning full and had some enigmas in it. This contributed to the story line of the whole film because there was things in the opening scene that didn't really make sense but they would have if I could have made the whole film.

Overall i think i learnt a lot from my preliminary task that made my main task look much better than it probably would have done if i hadn't made the preliminary task. This was the advantage of doing it because it gave me the appropriate skills that i needed to complete my main task to a good level.

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

As part of my media production i had to use technology that i had never used before. For the editing stage of the production I used Premiere Pro to edit the media product together. The was a change for me as i had never used, this was the software that we did most of the editing. This has benefited me because in the media industry they always use macs and Premiere pro to edit and i will have the knowledge to use these in the future.

This was the wound recorder that we used to record the voice over and this is a piece of equipment that i had never used before and this meant that i had to learn how to use it. to record the voice over I used a software called Cubase and i had some previous experience with this and this meant i knew how to use it. this was good because it saved some time in the making of the voice over and this meant that we had more time for editing.

This was the type of camera that I used and i have had previous experience with this as well. this meant that i could get straight into the filming and not have to worry about learning how to use it before filming i could just go straight to the filming. This was good because it meant that i could get the filming done sooner and i could make the shots look as professional as possible because I knew how to use the camera and set the camera up properly.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Who would be the audience for you media product?

My media product is a Neo Noir style Thriller film called Truth. My primary audience is Male and Female young adults between the ages of 16 and 25.  This is because young adults watch more Thriller films than the majority of other people and ages. A film that is similar to mine as it is also a Neo Noir Thriller is Sin City - A Dame to Kill For. This is aimed at the same sort of audience because it is also aimed at your adults, male and female. Globally Sin City - A Dame to Kill For Grossed $39,407,616 in the Box Office. MY film that i have made will be aimed at 16-21 year old because the main character is 18 years old. for my film their will be an older audience as well because of the main characters grandmother in the film.

For similar films the target audience is males between the ages of  25-39 in the social group C2DE. Their views is very right wing and live around the north west of England. They like motor sports and ad going to the cinema and playing musical instrument.

How did you attract/address the audience?

I Attracted the audience because I made the actors relatable because the main character is and 18 year old female and wants to find out what happened to her parents. The main antagonist in the product is a Corrupt Businessman this is also related to the secondary audience because everyone has had a boss that they didn't like or they thought was corrupt making him relatable as well. This means that My film will work because people will be able to relate to the characters and will mean that they will want to watch the film.

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

Distribution is where big companies put there name to your film and they can give the film the opportunity to be in a cinema or on DVD. This is a big part of the media production because it is the part that means that the public can see the film. There are some big film distributors like Warner Brothers, Lionsgate, Universal and Disney. these are big companies that can get the media product shown to lots of people because they have the resources to be able to do it.

For my film Warner Brothers would be the distributor because they deal with a lot of Neo Noir style films like sin city and this mean that they will know how to distribute my media product the best because they have the most experience with that style of film. The relationship SDK would have with Warner Brothers would be that they funded the film and Distributed it and SDK would do the rest of the work and we would give them some of the profit that the film makes. This is the way that other Companies work. Working Title Films and universal is an example of this because Working Title Films makes the film but Universal pay for it and distribute it and this is that way that other companies work. Universal get their money back through the profits and the box office success of the film. If big companies think that the media product wont work they won't sponsor it.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My media product focuses on age, gender and Class. It also focuses on the upper class because the two main characters are from the upper class. this is shown through the where they live and the way they act. Roseanne is an 18 year old upper class citizen and we have shown this through what clothes she wears and the way she acts. They are both stereotypical characteristics of the upper class. She wears posh clothes and acts posh. She is also 18 and this shows the younger generation of the upper class, this shows the representation of age because Roseanne's Grandmother is the older generation of upper class and this shows the age difference of the way that they act and dress. The Grandmother in the film is the older generation of upper class and this is shown through the way she dresses and the way she acts.

In the film the femme fatal is the Grandmother because she is old and she is vulnerable. The detective in the film is Roseanne and this challenges the normal stereotype of the Neo Noir film genre because normally the detective is a man but in our film it is a woman. This is the unique part of our film is that the main character is an Upper class woman instead of an Upper class man.

I didn't really challenge the stereotypes in the film apart from the detective is a woman. This was because people like to watch stereotypical film and i did my research and this meant that i didn't challenge the stereotypes because i didn't want people to not watch the film.  

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

Our film was a Neo Noir Style thriller, this means that the film was in black and white. This is a typical convention of the Neo Noir sub genre. I took inspiration from films like Sin City for this. Other codes and conventions of Neo Noir thrillers are voice overs and my film has a voice over in as well. The colours that I used in my film was black, white and red. These are typical colours used in a Neo Noir film because the films themselves are in black and white and the key colour that is usually picked out is red because it can sybolise love and hope but it can death and destruction. 

As seen in this screenshot. The film is in black and white and the text is in black with red accents on the first letter of each word. 

Normally the protagonist and antagonist are male in thrillers but in my film the protagonist is female. This breaks the normal conventions for a thriller film. I decided to do this to make my film unique and this means i could use this point to sell my film on. The antagonist in my film is male this is more standard for thrillers. The antagonist is also a corrupt businessman and this is stereotypical because the businessman is corrupt and has a lot of money to spend on what he wants to this can be bad because they are in a position of power and can lead to bad consequences. All of the themes in my film are common because in my film the colour schemes that I used are commonly used in Neo Noir and Film Noir films.

This was taken from another Neo Noir film and this is similar to my film with the way that bthe colour schemes are. This shows that my film is develops the conventions of real media products because my film has the typical features for a Neo Noir film. Where as my media product challenges the conventions of a typical film because the protagonist is female and in most other films the protagonist is usually male. the female character in the Neo Noir genre is normally the femme fetal and this means that she is the cause of the protagonist being captured by the antagonist and this is not the case in my media product.

I wanted to make some features in my film challenge the conventions because it means that it is a a semi-unique idea and this will be the selling point for my media product. 

Coursework feedback

Research and Planning - 14

Excellent script, Organisation of actors and cast is excellent, schedules, recce, props and equipment etc. the film is also well planned, but I would have liked to see a detailed pitch. The storyboard is written and I would have liked to see a traditional drawn one though. However overall this is a detailed and confident preparation and planning effort. The research into potential target audiences is much weaker, with a reliance on another student’s research and no application of audience theories to his own film. I would have liked to see secondary research onto his genre as well as a look at demographics etc. However the research into similar products is wide-ranging and proficient. Overall though the blog is a little muddled, with elements clearly added at a later date rather than showing a natural progression throughout the process. 

Main Task – 52

An excellent and confident film opening. The camera work is controlled and there is a variety of shot lengths and framing. Close attention has been paid to creating meaning through editing, notable in the close-up eye cut between the letter shots. The titles are appropriate and used in accordance with institutional conventions, particularly when the logo changes to black and white to match the film. Excellent use of sound, especially when the non-diegetic music switches to be diegetic as she turns down the volume. I would have perhaps like to see another location and a little more attention paid to mise-en-scene to gain top marks, and perhaps one or two more varied shot lengths. On the whole an impressive piece of work.

Evaluation - Final Cut Deconstruction

The Film is in black and white because I wanted to go for a Neo Noir style thriller film and this what the effect that I was going for. The name of the film is "Truth" this is because the main character is trying to find the truth of what happened to her parents.

This is the opening shot of my film. This is a medium shot of a person walking. The camera stays stationary but the person walks past the camera. The text in the shot has red letters at the start of each word. Red is the key colour in my film and symbolises love and death. These are the two main that I went for the film opening because she loved her parents but they were killed. The stone wall in the background represents the main characters struggle to find the truth because the stone wall is "Blocking" her from the Truth hence the name of the film "Truth".

This shot is high angle shot and is looking down on a mysterious person walking up some steps. The high angle Suggest that the person in the shot is significant and has some importance in the story. At this point it makes you think Who is this person? and What is the person doing? This is the same person in the previous shot showing continuity because the shots follow on from each other. The dead leaves in the background symbolise death and sadness.

This shot is a high angle shot because it is looking down on the main character. It is also a long shot. this makes here small in the screen adding to the effect of her looking insignificant because the camera is looking down on the character and she is small in the middle of the screen. This scene also adds mystery because you wonder Who she is? and What she is going to do? In this scene we also have the text with the red letters to signify love and death. There is a stereo and a laptop on the desk this shows that it is a modern Neo Noir and adds to the effect of the whole film. There is also an incense this was used to add a smoke effect to the scene.

This is an over the shoulder shot of showing the letter that is addressed to the main character. In this shot you are also introduced to the secondary character which is the main characters grandmother. She represents age, responsibility and wisdom. There is really dark parts in the scene and light parts. the dark parts foreshadow a bad event happening and the light parts are for the hope that it will all be solved in the end, this creates mystery and an enigma for the audience.

This is a high angle shot and I used this because it make it seem like she is going deliver bad news because high angle shots are used to show that someone is inferior or that they are bringing bad news. The woman also represents wisdom so the person foreshadowing that the person receiving the news will do the right thing in the end.

This is a low angle shot showing that the grandmother is at the top of the family and the social class within the family. It also shows that the grandmother is respected by everyone else. This also shows where she is because she has just got to the top of the stairs which builds suspense because you know she is going to give someone some bad news.

In this scene Roseanne was listening to music but she turns down so she can talk to her grandmother. This shows that she respects her grandmother and wants to hear what she is going to say. Roseanne is smaller in this scene showing that she is less important than her grandmother and that her grandmother is going to be the key person in the scene because she is the bigger person.

In this scene the grandmother is giving Roseanne the letter. This is an over the shoulder and throughout this scene Roseanne maintains eye contact with her grandmother showing that she has respect for her and because of this she want it to remain like this show that is what she does. She is also the smaller person in the scene showing that Roseanne is the less important person in the scene at the time.

This shot is a low angle shot that she is the most important person because she is made to look taller because of the camera angle. This camera angle is also shows the emotion on the characters face with adds more effect to the whole scene because the scene is supposed to be emotional.

We have used the Imagery of a picture with the family in in my film. This is because in the opening scene it is based on her the anniversary of Rosseanne's parents death and Roseanne has a family picture on her desk for remembrance.