Evaluative Commentary

Forms and conventions

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?What was similar to your media product to others?

I think my title sequence was slightly similar to the one of Dexter.  This is because we used close up shots of props, characters, and the actions that characters were taking that would convey the genre of thriller/horror.  The close up shots are suppose to make the audience feel as if there is confined space and want to see outside the shot.  

What was your genre and what genre conventions did you follow?

The genre of my title sequence was horror/thriller.  The location in a good horror/thriller movie could be in a house, which is isolated.  Therefore in our title sequence we showed a long shot of the bedroom, which is isolated and quiet as no one is in the house except for the two main characters of Hannah and Zeba.  To convey a horror/thriller genre, films usually use jump-cuts as the quickening of the shots creates more tension for the audience.  We used quick shots in some areas of our title sequence, for example when Hannah is having thoughts about Rohan and Zeba together at school, the speed of the shots increases which also increases the tension for the audience.  Usually in horror/thriller movies, the evil character, who in this case is Hannah, are seen dressed in dark clothing.  So, in our title sequence Hannah is dressed in black clothing, which symbolises death, evil.  We normally associate horror/thriller movies to have an evil character and a naive character who ends up either dying in the movie or being heroic and killing the evil character.  In this case we have Hannah as the evil character who is planning to kill Zeba, who is the naive character and believes Hannah is her honest, trustworthy best friend.  The themes that we explored in our title sequence were death, good vs evil, and hate.  These are themes that are normally explored in horror/thriller films.  

What other film were you influenced by?

My film was influenced by Sorority Row - because of the storyline and the genre, Mean girls - the hatred between friends, and the TV show Dexter - the camera shots used to convey genre.

Role and use of new media technology

How have your shown awareness of the role of new media in your production?  How was it useful to use a HD camera instead of a traditional celluloid camera?

To build my knowledge about title sequences and what kind of music and camera shots are used to convey genre, I did some research by searching different title sequences on YouTube.  After watching these title sequences I analysed them.  This made me more aware of how the music and camera shots etc have a massive impact on how the genre is conveyed and established.  We also watched a range of DVDs and analysed their title sequences in order to understand how they are all different from one another.  In our Media lessons we used YouTube to listen to a variety of different music.  We had to note down how piece of music made us feel and we had to guess what genre it fulfilled.  This made us more aware about the sound that we should use in our title sequences and how it has to vary to convey a specific genre.  For our title sequence we used a software called Garage Band, where we created our own sound to fit our genre.  For our filming we used a HD camera.  It was much easier to use than a traditional celluloid camera as you are able to upload your footage onto a editing software such as Final Cut Pro, and cut whatever shots you don't need, add on any music etc.  HD cameras are also much better to use rather than a celluloid as it record in Hi Definition, which means footage will be much clearer.  Finally, with a celluloid camera you have to use extra lighting, however, with a HD camera you can use the natural light.

Audiences

Who were your target audience, and how did you attract them?

Our title sequence was targeted to both males and females, however we thought females may like our title sequence more as the killer and the victim are women, therefore it is challenging the traditional male killer convention.  We aimed it to young adults from the age of 15 and above, although it is a horror/thriller film, we thought it would be acceptable for them to watch with an adult.  

What feedback did you receive during pre-production? 

We had to present our idea to the class and ask our peers if they would be convinced to come and watch the film in the cinema.  Our peers told us that they would not come and watch our film in the cinemas and they thought the storyline was very similar to other horror/thriller movies such as Scream.  This was because we decided to have a male killer in our title sequence.  This made us want to twist our story and make it more interesting and unique, therefore our peers would be willing to watch it.  This made us decide to have a female killer as we thought that not many horror/thriller movies have female serial killers.  We thought this challenged the traditional male being a killer convention.  

What feedback did you get during post - production?

Whilst editing our first set of shots, our teacher pointed out many factors that could lower our marks.  These included errors such as bad composition, dark lighting, length of shots, jump cuts, unknown characters shown in scenes etc.  These errors made us worry that we will lose marks and receive a low grade, therefore we decided to add extra shots into our title sequence and film it all again from scratch.  When our teacher saw our second set of shots, he was pleased and thought the shots flowed, the lighting was great and the length of the shots is perfect.  

Relationship between preliminary and the main task

What have you learnt about new technologies?

I have learnt how to use a new software called Garage Band, where we were able to create sound and music for out title sequence.  I also learnt how to record a voice over through the same software, which can then be transferred onto the footage.  It was a difficult to use at first but I am now confident, and know how to use the software efficiently. I learnt how to cut out diegetic sound from our original footage and then replace it with my sound effects which I created on Garage Band.  This made my title sequence look more realistic and professional.  Finally, I learnt about the three second rule which should be used when filming, which I was no aware of when filming my preliminary task.  The three second rule means that you should leave three seconds before acting the shot and three seconds after ending the acting.  This allows the shot to have some blank space before and after the shot, therefore making it easier to edit.  In our preliminary task we were not aware of the three second rule, therefore our title sequence consisted of many jump-cuts which lead to dialogue being cut off.  This made us lose marks and made our title sequence look unprofessional.  So, for my final title sequence, I was aware of the three second rule, which made my shots consistent and easy to edit and fit together.