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

Our production predominately uses and develops conventions of real cinema in order to aid its authenticity. However, it was essential our film had some unique selling points so we decided to challenge a number of typical conventions and make our product more individual and interesting for the audience.

We have researched in depth professional examples as inspiration and as a guideline in order to produce the best piece of work we could. In the Prezi below I have analysed the form, genre, narrative structure and style conventions of film openings in relation to our media product.

[Please make the Prezi full screen in order to view it properly]



The Titles
Inspirations:

'The Perks of Being a Wallflower' was one of the main references for our titles. I specifically liked the simple stylings and monochrome colorings of the typography. Also, the typeface was simplistic yet still interesting and clear. Despite this, the titles were only accompanied by background video, something that we felt wasn't challenging enough.

The best part of the 'Juno' sequence is the way the titles interact with the visuals. They appear in places that compliment the visual and they draw the audiences eye toward the action without interfering with it. This was something we were keen to reproduce, as the credits we saw that drew our attention away from the main visuals, immediately appeared unprofessional and ineffective. On the other hand, I thought the coloring and size of the typeface was a bit too intrusive and we preferred to take a more subtle approach.

We decided to use the simplistic white styling from 'The Perks of Being a Wallflower' and combine that with the placement of the credits from 'Juno' to develop our own unique titles. We also followed the order of credits used in 'The Perks of Being a Wallflower' to make our sequence look as authentic as possible.

Here is the final typeface that we chose:

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

Our film opening represents common british sixth-form social groups in a very stereotypical manor.
We represented 6 different social groups in our opening sequence:

• The Chavs
• The Outsiders
• The Goths
• The Hipsters
• The Athletes
• The Geeks

All the actors were dressed specifically in order to connote their designated cliques and our main tool for doing so was tailoring their costumes and props, to clearly define the groups. We used this method, because accents and scripts were not able to establish a clear difference between them, this was due to the lack of clear dialogue, with the exception of the chavs. 

Therefore, it was essential that we understood and connoted the different representations effectively.

We began by, making a character board (for each role) listing, what they were going to wear, why they were going to wear it and the references we found to support our ideas. 

Here is a selection of the boards we made:
[please click images below to enlarge]

Character board for the male geek (in relation to costume). 

Character board for the male goth (in relation to costume). 

In addition, we also styled their actions and mannerisms to enhance the recognizability of the different social cliques. Here is the chavs behavior board:
[please click images below to enlarge]

Character board for the male goth (in relation to accents and manerisms). 

The video below shows social cliques that we represented in the final cut of our opening sequence.

Overall, we represented a large range of social groups and Arthur doesn't fit in to any of them, further emphasizing his feelings of loneliness and isolation. This means yet another group is created and with the seven different groups we are able to represent and relate to a large cross-section of British youths.

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

After a lot of research into different production companies, distributors and the types of films they buy the rights to, we concluded that E.G.A productions and Universal Pictures UK were the right choices for us.

In this Prezi I explain a little bit about E.G.A productions and why they would produce our film:
[Please enlarge to read properly]


I have also created a screen recording of how Universal Pictures UK describe themselves of there website.
[Please read what i have highlighted with the mouse]

Our decision as to why they might distribute it was predominately based on how they described themselves (in the video above) and what films they have released (the list below).

Reasons from the website:

• They said that Universal Pictures Uk "creates and distributes theatrical and non-theatrical filmed entertainment" which means that even though our film is small and independent they will still distribute it, as a theatrical release (in cinemas) is not necessary.
• The website also stated that "Universal's theatrical slate includes films developed internally, along with co-productions, acquisitions and films developed by outside partners and distributed by the studio". This means that they would still be willing to buy the rights to distribute our film despite it being an E.G.A production.
• Finally, the website stated that "for almost a century, Universal has been known for its diverse slate of films". This anchors that they distribute both high-concept large blockbusters and small independent films.

Reasons from the films they usually distribute:

• Universal Pictures is a huge institution that distributes a large range of genres and styles of films, all with very different budgets (as can be seen from the list above). We like this as it gives us security that they will be able to distribute our film on the small scale that we want, but also, due to the fact that the company is vertically integrated, there is also the possibility of something larger.
• Secondly, other UK independent comedies have been distributed by them. Simon Pegg's 'The World's End' is just one example of this. Their whole budget was only $20,000,000 and it had huge success, grossing $13,354,358 in the UK alone. Another example is "Bridget Jones' Diary" which grossed $60,296,418 in the UK despite the $26,000,000 budget.
• Thirdly, due to Universal Pictures being an established household name, we thought that it would help make the film more accessible to young people (those who aren't very interested in independent cinema).

With all this in mind i think Universal would be well within their capabilities to market and distribute our film. Like "The World's End" i think that they would start by distributing our film in festivals and advertising on social networking sites. This is in order to create as much free interest and awareness as possible, so to prevent a loss of money. Following on from this, it would be likely they would exhibit it on online platforms, such as VOD (as they are doing with The Knife That Killed Me). However if the film had potential to do well in the box office, like "Bridget Jones' Diary" there is the potential to release it theatrically due to the companies vertical integration.

In conclusion, I think that Universal Pictures UK was a realistic and suitable choice for our film distributor and the partnership would work very effectively.  

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

When creating our project we thought a lot about the representations and connotations we wanted to include in order to specifically interest our primary target audience. We also tried to make our production as relatable and recognizable as possible so that our audience would be widened further. For the same intended effect, we avoided a gender skew and tried to keep the opening sequence as neutral as possible. Overall, our film does have quite a wide appeal due its familiar themes, characters and settings.

In the Prezi below I analyze our TA and that of similar films we used as references.

[Please make the Prezi full screen for better viewing]

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

Whilst making this film, our primary objective was to effectively attract our target audience. The methods by which we achieved this relied heavily on a theory developed by Blumler and Katz. Developed in 1974, the Uses and Gratifications theory draws upon four key motives. We implemented the theory and integrated its objectives with our own production.

Below is a diagram briefly outlining the theory.

How we used the uses and gratifications theory to attract our target audience:

As the film is a comedy and portrays a teenage boy attempting to form relationships in a social environment, it draws directly upon Diversion and Personal Relationships gratifications.

Diversion:

• Although our film operates within a setting that resembles everyday life, it is a light-hearted, comic take, perfect for providing an escape and diverting the viewer's attention.
• Our genre of film (Teen Comedy) relies heavily on the Diversion theory. If a film of this genre is unable to provide diversion, it would fail to attract and satisfy its audience. For this reason, it was of the upmost important for us to ensure our production was of high comedic value.
• In the opening, the portrayal of cliques, such as the geeks, is accentuated to an almost hysterical level, which acts as light relief, creating a more dynamic and entertaining sequence.

Personal Relationships:

• Due to our films relatable nature we are able to gratify the personal relationship needs of the TA. Our target age range (15-24 year olds) draws upon viewers who would have experienced similar scenarios in situations that are relatable and recognizable. 
• Therefore, this makes it easier for them to substitute their personal relationship needs for those provided in the film.

Despite it being less closely connected, our opening and film plot can also be used for Personal Identity and Surveillance gratifications.

Personal Identity: 

• In order for our production to satisfy Personal Identity gratifications it had to be relatable. Using stereotypical characterizations, we were able to ensure different roles and cliques would be both recognizable and able to provoke empathy. Through this, the viewer is able to understand and associate with the individual character, meaning reflection and learning can take place.

Surveillance:

• Overall, the film aims to inform people of the emotional roller coaster of school. It illustrates a particular situation which is directly relatable to a large cross-section of society.
• Specifically, in our opening sequence, where the character is confronted with, and taken aback by, the reality of social stigmas that can surround a school environment

Other ways we tried to attract our target audience:

• We made sure that we cast a range of ethnicities and people of different backgrounds. This is because, we wanted to create a multicultural society that accurately reflect the modern day UK public, more specifically of urban Britain.
• When editing we tried to use continuity editing as well. This was to enable the audience to be comfortably emerged in the story whilst ensuring that it is plausible.
• In addition, we made sure the ages of our actors were around 17 years old. The main reason for this was so that the younger side of our TA (15 and 16) would look up to these characters and look forward to what is to come. On the other side, they (18+) would be looking back in nostalgia on their younger years and would enjoy reminiscing.
• Finally, we made sure there was no gender skew to our opening. This was to kept our audience as large as possible.

The audience feedback and how we collected it:

We collected feedback in two ways; firstly through an interview process (one time about our production process, and then once about our final outcome) and then through an online survey.

Here is a video of the actors commenting on our production process:

Here is a video of the responses to our final opening that we obtained in the interviews. I have shortened it down and edited it together, making it quick and easy to watch.

Here is the feedback from the online survey:

-Despite trying to avoid a gender skew, the responses to our survey were predominantly from women. [As can be seen in the pie chart on the right]

The data above proves that we did manage to attract our primary target audience effectively. It also highlights that older audiences (tertiary audiences) are still interest in our production.

Following on from this we asked if people could identify the genre and storyline of our film, just based on the opening sequence. 

[Below is a small selection of answers]

The large majority of answers were exactly correct and I'm very pleased that our two minute opening was able to denote the storyline so clearly. In addition, when people identified the genre 42% said "teen comedy" and 58% said "teen drama". This information proves that the representations, settings and themes were typical of a teen movie and that the comedy was still connoted despite the more challenging and more "dramatic" themes.

Overall, i was very happy with the feedback we received. This is because 95% said they would continue watching the film after this opening; this was our main objective.

These were they ways in which we attracted and addressed our audience and as the data illustrates, it worked well.

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

Throughout this project I have learnt a lot about both software and hardware technologies. I have expanded my skills and techniques when using it, but also, i have learnt which pieces of technology are more effective and useful.
In the 2 Prezis below I have analysed the technologies we used, listing pros and cons for each, and then I have come to a conclusion on whether or not I would use it again.

[Please press full screen to view it properly]


What I have learnt from each technology:

     Canon Legria HFG30:
I have leant how to film rushes professionally on a digital camera, using tools such as a tripod,
a clapperboard, a dolly and a microphone. I have understood that this style of camera is becoming very popular among amateur filmmakers due its affordability and is meaning the film industry is becoming much more accessible for the wider public.

     GoPro:
Due to the style and nature of this camera i learnt a lot about new technologies and how they are widening the scope of creative possibilities in the film industry.

     Adobe Premiere Pro
Through using this program i learnt how to cut together a film sequence. I also learnt a large range of smaller skills. I am now able to; create a split screen using key frames, use exponential sound fades and rises, create lighting fades, use transitions and grade footage.

     Livetype
I have learnt how to create titles and animate them and then export them to another program (Adobe Premiere Pro).