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

Here I have done a directors commentary discussing the names mentioned in the credits of my opening sequence.

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

 Setting/location:
The opening image is of the main actor asleep in bed. This sets the location and mood of the following shots, as many other films start in this way.

 Title font and style:
Large size font filling up the screen, with scruffy style, all of the credits are this style but the title of the film. This ties along with the mise en scene of the following footage.

 Special Effects:
Not so much a special effect, but more of a mask, in this shot I have had to cover a mirror with a box the same colour as the wall and cut out the actor, frame by frame so that the reflection in the mirror is not seen.
Additional colour correction was applied to most of the footage in order to lower the mood, and enhance the effect produced on the audience.

 Costumes and Props:
Here we see for the first time a good view of the actor dressed up and with her bag (the only prop). The clothing and bag suggest to the audience that she is most likely still in education, this is suggested by the style of bag used.

 How characters are introduced:
The way that I have tried to really introduce this character to the audience is by videoing the majority of her face a fair way into the opening. It has taken a little while for the audience to be properly introduced to this character as they have not yet been able to really associate themselves with her, by not being shown any emotion up until this point.

 Story and how the opening scene sets it up:
After seeing the actor get into a car, in a following shot we see her leave the car at what looks like her final destination. This particular shot moves the story along and is aimed to focus the audience into what will happen next.

 Camera work and editing:
The POV (point of view) shot that I have taken a screen shot of. This was the first POV shot that I have taken and worked well, all of the other shots were either panning shots or were still shots as in my preliminary task.

 Genre and how the opening scene suggests it:
For me, this is the defining shot which sets the mood or genre of the opening sequence. There is a slow zoom as we watch the actor walk away from where she has been dropped off, and left her bag, which was only needed for the place she had been dropped off at.

The title of the film:
I decided to have the title of the film in a colder colour, with what is almost artificial lighting in order to illuminate it. This shows the 'coldness' and emphasises the genre of the film as well as reinforcing the subject of the following story.

Evaluation: Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

In my preliminary task, I used no camera movement, just still shots. This is a change compared to my full product as I make use of moving camera shots, one pan, and one point of view shot.
As in the preliminary task, where I used a match on action shot, I used this technique again when the character leaves the house and we cut to outside where she continues from the door to the car.
For my full product I made use of better quality video cameras (with greater dpi) than the 'flip mino' camera that I used throughout my preliminary task.
For my full product, the 180 degree rule did not come into play as I was only videoing one person, I did however use this technique during my preliminary task during the conversation between the two characters.
The editing specifically in my final product is much more flowing and tells more of a chronological story.

Preliminary task:

Final product:

Evaluation: Who would be the audience for your media product?

The target audience for my media product would be others of my own age (16-21). In my view, I don't see any other generation being that interested in my product as they may find it difficult to relate to, with the whole story revolving around the main character (at 17).
The sorts of shops I would expect the typical viewer to shop at would be shops that sell not particularly up market shops, but way off charity shop level stores. Typical programs they may watch on TV would be late night movies, maybe horror, or true stories.

Evaluation: What have you learnt about technologies from the processes of constructing this product?

 The first of the apparatus that I used was a mini tripod. This I used to hold the video camera when recording still shots or awkward angles that would be difficult to hold steady by hand. By using this it creates the need for less editing (artificial stabilisation) in after effects or final cut pro.

 Here is one of the video cameras I used. It is a high definition video camera with image stabilisation, providing smoother shots when the camera is being moved my hand compared to a camera without stabilisation, which would give unstable, almost jerky shots.
The other camera that I used was my own high definition camera at home. The majority of shots take were with this camera as I found that there was an image with the quality of the recordings with the camera pictured. This is visible in a couple of the shots in the final product.

 Pictured here is a tripod, I used this for most of the shots that I took as it produces smooth movement if required and provides a more professional looking shot compared to a shot that was taken by hand.
The most useful thing about the tripod that I used is that the legs are very adjustable, this meant that I was able to get the exact angle needed for each shot, and hold it throughout.

 This is the laptop which most of my video editing was carried out on, in order to cope with the high needs for using After Effects I bought some extra RAM for £100 so that the rendering took a reasonable time, as well as helping the computer to cope with everyday tasks.

Here is the image of me and the apparatus used. Unfortunately I was unable to gather the additional items discussed earlier for this image, but it shows the majority of things used in the production.
One other piece of hardware I made use of was an iMac, the reason for this is that Final Cut Pro is not supported on PC, so for this part of the editing it was necessary to use one of the department's computers.





Software:
After Effects:

Here is the user interface of After Effects, mid edit in one of my shots.












Final Cut Pro:

Here is an image of the user interface of final cut pro which I found on google images (hence the inappropriate footage being edited).










Youtube:

Here is a screen-grab I have taken of my youtube channel, currently looking at my final video.
I used youtube to upload my final video and then linked blogger to it so that people looking at my blog can directly see my final product.

Evaluation: How did you attract/address your audience?

To attract the audience I was aiming at, I focussed on the Mise en Scene of my film. Untidy surroundings, early mornings,the typical teenage life.
This addresses my target audience as most teenagers can relate to the Mise en Scene in their own life, making it more interesting for them to watch than other films as it is always intriguing to have an outsiders look into, potentially, your own life.

Final Cut Pro

For a small part of the video I used a program called Final Cut Pro, this is a program only supported on Mac.
The majority of my work was made using After Effects, however for simpler editing, Final Cut Pro was more suitable as the interface is easier to work with, less complex and faster to render.