Evaluation Question 4

Question 4:

How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

In the planning stages of my main task, I created a time lapse of my artist drawing a rough sketch of what my story is going to be consisting of. I used my Canon 550D DSLR camera with my standard 35 to 125mm lens and a SLIK tripod to film from so that the camera would stay steady throughout. This was a great idea to give me clear thoughts about the type of shots that I will be planning to take at the time of shooting.

 

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Furthermore, I have also used media technologies in the making of my two voluntary teaser trailers edited on Final Cut Pro X, where all of my test shots for my main task were composed to music as a first initial practise on video editing as this was my weaker area out of filming and post production. I am extremely pleased with the outcome of this trailer in particular though.

 

 

In the duration of my research stages I have predominantly used Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel to gather audience feedback into tables and charts to enable results to be a lot more visual than just numbers on a spreadsheet. In terms of construction, I also used Adobe Photoshop to manipulate my poster and double page spread images. Final Cut Pro X was the video editing software that I have used throughout the entirety of this year due to the fact that I feel most confident on that programme. Premiere Pro was also available to me however did not feel as confident and competent using it for film editing. Below is my final poster idea and how I managed to manipulate three photographs into one:

 

 

To begin with I started with two raw shots taken in separate photography shoots. I planned on making one half of my model’s face the antagonistic alter ego, and the other half as the warming, innocent girl. By creating masked layers I was able to place the two photos together and merge the face; however the leaf in the right hand side photo was covering too much of her facial expression, so I used the clone stamp tool and the blemish tool to recreate the missing part of her face.After the reconstruction, I used the vivid light tool on a low opacity and fluency to create dark crevices and highlight dark circles under the eyes to create a demonic look about her. Finally, after all of the use with the clone stamp tool I decided to take a picture of trees and thought of the idea on merging the trees of the rise en scene into her hair. After turning the transparency down it created a lovely main focal point for my poster which I was very pleased with.

 

Finally, in the evaluation aspect and the technology I used was a very clear presentation site called Prezi. This was a lovely way to be able to collect up everything that needed to be said and place all the information in to a very clear and visual alternative .

 

Evaluation Question 3

Question 3:

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary tasks?

I have decided to create a Prezi presentation to construct my question 3 answer which explores the different ways in which i have used media technologies within my evaluation.

 PREZI PRESENTATION

 

Evaluation Question 2

Question 2:

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

 

Conventions of the genres:

My final product short film is classed as a hybrid/cross genre and this means that it is unconventional; fantasy/adventure/thriller/gothic. Common conventions of the thriller genre include shadowing, low-key lighting and quick cuts during action stages of the film. The protagonist is often shown at the mercy of the antagonist also. Moving onto the conventions of the fairytale/folktale genre, these would often include, a female protagonist acting as the victim, characters with supernatural powers and/or descend from old folktale stories from hundreds of years ago. They conventionally follow Vladimir Propp’s character types with a hero often in attempt to defeat disequilibrium and resolve back to equilibrium and end with the won over prize/princess. Hyper reality is a feature of postmodernism that is conventional of most fantasy films; incorporating magic, mystery and mythical beasts. The adventure genre is quite commonly hybridized with animation, romance and Sci-Fi. They often have clear binary oppositions with a linear format followed.

 

Narrative:

My short film mostly adheres to the conventions of a gothic fantasy genre due to the mise en scene of the woodland environment much in comparison with the Brothers Grimm version of ‘Red Riding Hood’. The heightened red tones in ‘Recluse’ bring about a similar idea to Red Riding Hood with features of discovery especially emphasized. Discovery is panned throughout my short film with the use of three red mysterious objects that are found in the depths of the wood; leading the protagonist on a journey to meet her ‘doom’. ‘Recluse’ does not conform to Propp’s character types due to the ongoing curiosity in our main protagonist and antagonist.

 

Conventions:

An enigmatic approach to the beginning stages of my film lead slowly onto an anchored and enthralling story that has an impact on my demographic as a whole. The use of tense audio pieces composed together to create a tonal changing music piece is the main aspect of convention, I have been able to coincide this with my sequence of shots, exposing the darker elements of the short. With the use of intertextuality, I have taken inspiration from the Brothers Grimm ‘Red Riding Hood’ and incorporate a conventional woodland environment with the discovery element of mysterious and ominous objects around the mise en scene.

 

Character Attire:

Shannon as my main protagonist is dressed simplistically and casually which definitely brings her innocent personality through the screen to the audience. She goes against Laura Mulvey’s theory of male gaze and conforms for towards a childlike character with an abundance of curiosity and a sense of adventure.

Ancillary:

Poster:

My final poster product is rather conventional of the thriller/gothic/horror genre moreover the fantasy genre, however, this was the look I was intending to create as I believe that this can allure audiences away from the film’s identity and can portray a much more ominous theme through just the pictures and photography used. It certainly coheres to other film posters of similar genres.

One poster that has clear reflections onto my simplistic, yet effective portrait style manipulated film poster would have to be the gothic Sci-Fi ‘Dorian Gray’. The portrait style central focal point of the main character has been continued onto my piece of work and I believe it creates this exclusive and personal feel on primary audiences as they are already being introduced to the character. The contrast between the lighter background and the darker silhouette of the character’s torso creates almost a film noire style with predominantly used bland, cooling colours such as black and pale blue. I have also conformed to this style through bland house colours of beige, pale red, blue and grey.

 

Typography:

During the planning stages of my ancillary tasks, I ensured that I analyzed font ideas to make me aware of what typography went best with my genre. The simplicity of my poster fonts adds to the conventions of horror and gothic genres in particular. I decided to design and create my own font from scratch to enable me to fully customize and manipulate my title. Overall I am extremely pleased with how my final poster design turned out.

 

Magazine spread:

The images could have been improved for this product due to the fact that the director image takes up quite a lot of space in the article section which made my film review a little more limited than I would have liked. On the other hand I am rather pleased with how well my double page spread conforms to other film review pages as it gives an exclusive ‘VIP’ insight onto the directors intentions for the film.

To follow on, all of my products seem to challenge, use and develop conventions of other media products. Todorov’s theory is followed to an extent due to my film containing an equilibrium and disequilibrium; however no clear ending concludes a resolved issue in the ending stages of my film intentionally. This, in turn, allows audiences to interpret the conclusion in their own individual way. I was very pleased with each of my product outcomes.