Evaluation: Who are your audience? & How did you address/attract them?

This video addresses the questions: who are your audience? And how did you address/attract them?

As we can see from the movie, the audience I have targeted is British teenagers. This is because the film is set in a college and is about teenagers- this may help them to relate to the characters and therefore find it much funnier than someone who has never experienced it. I do not believe there is specific gender which would prefer our film, but based on audience feedback and the fact that both lead characters are male- I would guess that male teenagers would find this much funnier, and the feedback supports this. As I was observing when our film was watched, the males in the class laughed much more than the females and asked to see it again.

We addressed the audience by using a voiceover, we thought this would be much more effective and funnier. Originally we wanted a male to narrate- someone who sounded much like David Attenborough or Stephen Fry, but as there was no one available I did it instead. We have no dialogue in the movie, I believe this to be much more effective because it allows the audience to make their own story instead of us forcing them to interpret it. We attracted them by making the beginning the most humorous part, we used music which contradicted Brian’s persona and this has a very positive effect. Thus, making this the funniest part it probed the audience to watch the rest.

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

From this task I have learnt a number of things, these are as follows:

·         How to operate a video camera: Before this task I had never used one, I had used digital cameras which were combined to make one item and I had used mobile phone devices. I believe this has helped me because I can now take this skill with me and use it throughout my life, I can also practice using them and discover new and exciting effects and angles which will enhance my work.

·         I have learnt how to edit a number of things on iMovie. Some of things consist of: Slowing down and up the film, adjusting the audio and adding in special effects. This is good because it means that I now know the basics, and can further enhance my knowledge thus making my future work better.

·         I have learnt that if you do not have the correct equipment- for example, a boom microphone cover- then you should never film outside on a windy day because it distorts the audio and makes it extremely difficult to understand.

·         I have learnt how to connect the camera to the tripod safely, and remove it in an equally safe manner. 

All images from Google Images.

Evaluation: In what way does your media product use, develop of challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Codes and conventions of media are defined as:

"The familiar and predictable forms and techniques used by the media to communicate certain ideas or to convey a desired impression. Technical codes include camera angles, sound, and lighting. Symbolic codes include the language, dress, and actions of characters"

- http://www.saskschools.ca

We aimed for our media product to be as realistic and professional as possible. We took inspiration from a number of comedy films and used the tilt upwards in the beginning scenes to add a comic effect. We started at Brian’s feet because we wanted to slowly reveal the rest of his features, we then added the music in which made this even more humorous

We have challenged the usual media conventions because we have stereotyped two people to the absolute maximum, we did this purely for a comic effect- as you can see from the audience feedback, this has been entirely successful and if this were to be distributed for real- then it would be a hit with the support of the target market.

Google Images

Evaluation: Questions via Animation

The following video addresses the questions: "What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?" and "What have you learnt in progression from the preliminary task to the main task?"

You may also watch the same video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Khpgk991z2A if the video is not working.

Following on from the movie I have made, I would like to talk about what kind of media institution may distribute my product. As I mentioned, a firm such as Entertainment Film may do this- they are very well known in the UK and have distributed television programs such as ‘The Inbetweeners’. This is exactly the type of company we need to target because the shows that they are known for distributing are comedies, just as Brian is. 

 Entertainment Film Site

Here is a link to the Entertainment Film website: http://www.entertainmentfilms.co.uk/ 

Entertainment has had further success with other big box office hits such as Gangs of New York, Hairspray, Sex and the City ,Saw, 17 Again and The Final Destination franchise and British films such as Stormbreaker, Run Fat Boy Run and St Trinian’s 1 & 2.

There is a previous post in my archives which addresses the question further on what I have learnt from my preliminary task, it can be seen here: http://charlotteharbour.blogspot.com/2011/02/three-things-i-have-learnt.html

Main Task: Audience analysis- Graphs

Below are graphs which represent the audience feedback I collated in a previous post, this visual aide helps show the overall consensus. 

1. This graph shows whether or not the audience believed 'Brian' followed conventions, as we can see 8 out of 9 people believed that it did.

2. This graph shows whether the audience thought that the angles used in 'Brian' kept them interested and informed. There were three options for this question and as we can see that overall, the angles did keep them interested.

3. This pie chart shows whether or not the opening of the film created suspense and encouraged them to watch the rest. This was a very successful result and we can see that 100% of the people asked wanted to watch the rest of the film.

4. This graph shows the results when asking the audience if they would buy a copy of 'Brian' on DVD if it were available. We can see that overall the audience would buy a copy, with 6 saying yes, 2 saying maybe and 1 saying no.

5. This graph shows the results when asking the audience if they enjoyed the film. We can see that there is no question about the results, as 100% of the people questioned enjoyed watching the opening to our film.

6. This final graph shows whether or not the opening of the film made sense to the audience. This is an overall positive result as it shows that over 70% of people did understand (7 people)- with the other 30% saying 'slightly' (3 people).

Evaluation: How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our short film depicts a stereotypical representation of a British teenage male who is academically successful and intelligent. The typical derogatory word for this persona may be: ‘geek’ or ‘nerd’. We have represented this character, Brian, comically by dressing him in clothing that provokes a humorous response. As well as this we have forced him to portray entertaining mannerisms which again provoke a positive response from the audience. Brian is an ambitious person who doesn't have much luck with friends, this may be considered a negative representation because it suggests that this social group is not liked by others and may be seen as discriminative.

We have also represented another type of social group: bullies. This is shown through our character, Mario. Mario’s costume consists of trainers, baggy clothes and a hat. This is a stereotypical representation of a bully- I believe it is difficult to judge whether or not this is a positive or negative representation because a bully is a negative character anyway; therefore some may say it is positive because it shows that a bully is not a nice person, but it may be negative because it suggests that everyone who wears this costume is a bully.

Define 'Geek' : (courtesy of Wikipedia) "The word geek is a slang term, with different meanings ranging from "a computer expert or enthusiast" to "a carnival performer who performs sensationally morbid or disgusting acts", with a general pejorative meaning of "a peculiar or otherwise dislikable person, esp[ecially] one who is perceived to be overly intellectual"

"Bullying is a form of abuse. It involves repeated acts over time attempting to create or enforce one person's (or group's) power over another person (or group) , thus an "imbalance of power" - Wikipedia

Preliminary Task: Props

In our preliminary task there were not a lot of props that were used. We made use of the items that were already there such as the automatic doors of college, the entrance and swipe machines- and of course the lunchtime bench that we sat on.

The props that we used in the preliminary task were as follows:

The homework paper