Kris' Evaluation

In our main media project, our group had aimed to create a conventional film with unique attributes to really entice our target audience, and leave them amazed. After spending a long period of time with a pen and a notebook, we formed a mutual agreement that in order to do this, we would have to come up with an idea and a story that could perform brilliantly within an incredibly short space of time. After brainstorming ideas we had decided that the best way to go about this would be with the incorporation of a quickly climatic genre – horror. However, we could not simply use any idea that we could muster, we had to make it special, and really stick-out from the rest, as well as including all the technical fragments that would wholly bring our product together.

Conventionally horror films are aimed at young adults, between the ages of 18 and 30 and our choice was to conserve this. Typically people of younger ages offer their excitement much easier than more matured adults and as we only had about two minutes to attain their arousal we would need all the help we could get from little things such as this.

To instantly capture our audience’s attention we would start the film with a chase scene which would address the audience in such a way that would provide watchers with a keen sense to ringing thoughts of “What’s going on?” “What’s going to happen next?” This would compel the audience to offer their full attention to our product and allow my group their success. Though we must keep this up throughout the full production to discard feeling of disappointment, and we thought we knew a way to do so.

We would give our watchers the chance to connect with the featured characters by giving an almost transparent social background upon them; allowing the audience a chance to interpret for themselves, therefore, as an unexpected bonus, leaving us without the need to explain some situations within the product itself. As the film sequence follows youthful characters, it serves this social group well as a guideline. We express the maturity that youths do potentially have, but also their unlearned instincts and childlike emotions. Personally I like the way in which we express how mature and self sufficient we younger generation are, contrary to popular belief. In the production we attempt to show this by the survival of our characters, and I believe adults could learn from this. To maximise desired effects, we treat the audience as if they are stereotypically viewed, opinionated adults, and try to constantly remind them that youths are too underrated and address them in this way.

During our project my group’s production has been influenced by real media products and we have learned a great deal from them, and also discovered their flaws and challenged them. We incorporate ideas which would probably seem stupid concerning the genre we have selected, and in so small a space of time, such as a flashback, and the constantly slowed down and sped up release of the plot. Personally I believe using and developing these ideas create an incredible final effect that film producers should really consider in different, or the same, forms.

With all respect I am aware of the un-cinematic quality of our production and therefore can say whole heartedly that film companies will not want to distribute it, but small, online video hosting communities may be more than happy to take it on board, and maybe film companies could learn from some of the ideas that we present within it, and eventually we could see our film sequence in the theatres, maybe not as it is, but certainly bits of it, and I for one am proud of that.

As I say above, our product is not of cinematic quality, not only because it is only two minutes long, but because we are merely media students studying at AS level, and have never before attempted anything like this. From participating in this project I have learnt much about new technologies, Apple Macs, Video editing software (and capturing) and so forth, and I will definitely remember some of what I have learnt for future use. Never have I tried capturing and editing footage in this way, I didn’t even know how to work the camera, but by the end I was referred to as the ‘technical genius’ of our group which just goes to show quite how much I had taken on board from this experience.

It’s not just my technological skills that have advanced during the making of our two film sequences; I have learnt so much about media in general. I can now fully appreciate movies out there on the real screens and the work that goes in behind them, and the acting that characters must do. I never knew how much planning went into a film, and how many small, subliminal effects are hidden from the audience and the way in which people can be so easily manipulated through a piece of media.

I am aware that throughout this evaluation I have spoken mostly about our main task, but I am also very pleased with our ‘preliminary’ task’s outcome, and just as much thought and planning went into that too, but an evaluation is usually only short and I’ve probably written more than enough already, but I would like to say that throughout making the preliminary production I learnt the most. We completed the prelim, as the name would suggest, before the main, so that we really knew what we would be doing, and therefore that is where most of my acceleration took place. The one thing that I have learnt in this and consider most valuable to me for the future would be what I have already highlighted – I can now appreciate the work of other people much more and learn a lot more easily from them, and I recommend this experience to most people, and hopefully the media and drama aspects of my life are now changed forever for the better.