2. I N W H A T WAY S D O E S Y O U R M E D I A P R O D U C T U S E ,
DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND
CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?
My film both uses and develops conventions of real media products as well as challenging them. There are a
few ways in which my opening sequence uses the conventions of real media products, the first, how we are
introduced to the main character. Within the first 10 seconds of the film, we are introduced to the main character.
A further way in which I used the conventions of real media products is how location was introduced. After being
introduced to the main character, we see her emerging from a house and walking down the street in central
London. This gives us an idea of where she could be from and potentially from which social status she comes
from. Having opening credits is another way in which I use conventions of real media products, but I take this
further by developing this aspect. In my opening sequence the credits are integrated within the set of the rolling
film , something that more and more films are beginning to do as conventions are changing with the advances in
modern technology. Further more, as well as using and developing conventions, my opening sequence also
challenged the conventions of real media products. Within my opening sequence, the climax happens within
minute. Conventions of regular films are build ups , a climax and a resolution but I decided to have my film in
non-chronological order, staging the climax at the beginning.
4. H OW DO E S YO U R M E DI A P RO DU C T
A R E P R E S E N T PA R T I C U L A R S O C I A L G R O U P ?
I believe that my character represents the stereotypical teenage girl who has a passion.
She appears young but pretty and in the opening sequence is doing stereotypical girly
stuff such as putting on makeup and doing her hair. She comes across to be from a
middle class background due to the luxurious house we see her in and walking out off but
we can’t be sure. The main girl in the film Black Swan is someone
who I would relate my character to as they both have ambitions to be
dancers and both are young.
5. WHAT WOULD BE THE AUDIENCE FOR
YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT?
DEMOGRAPHIC PSYCHOGRAPHIC
My film could also be applied to an audience of people who
Being a film about a teenage girl with aspirations of
have interests in dance due to the fact that my opening
being a dancer, the demographics of my opening sequence is about a girl who has a strong passion for ballet.
sequence would be teenagers say 13 +. Being about Being interested in dance doesn’t have an age cap, so the film
could also have an audience of people between the age of 8-80
a girl and featuring a girly subject such as ballet,
but this is dependant on whether the film is something they
mainly female teenagers would be my demographic. can relate to. Likewise, dealing with a car crash and the
Saying this, having a theme of a psychological aftermath could be another potential audience, people who
thriller, boys could potentially be interested in this have experienced a serious accident or know people who have,
could connect to the film and be intrigued to watch it.
aspect of the film. Taking up 21.6% of the UK’s
population, teenagers and young adults from middle
class backgrounds would be the type of people I’m
targeting due to the fact that the character in the
film is from a middle class background so audiences
could relate.
6. W H A T H AV E YO U L E A R N T A B O U T
TECHNOLOGIES FROM THE PROCESS OF
CONSTRUCTING THIS PRODUCT?
Editing software
In my opening sequence task, I included the main character being hit by a car using special editing in
Adobe Premier and Adobe After Effects. Although at the beginning I found it difficult to come to terms
with all the differing editing tools, I managed and was very happy with the finished product. One of the
hardest parts was tracking the movement of the actors feet for it to match the movement of her upper body
yet still making sure there wasn’t any green, (from the green screen that I had removed), showing.
Planning
Planning was a big stage of my opening sequence process. Storyboards were drawn up and
we had to create a thorough plan of how we were going to shoot the car crash scene as it had to be specifically shot in order
for it to be edited right and to look effective.
Camera
When first using the camera, we found light a large problem and the frames were not lit effectively. We also found that when shooting In
the bathroom, using the camera without a tripod was more beneficial to get the eerie, handheld effect. Saying this when filming outside in
the street, the use of the handheld camera wasn’t as effective and made the shot quite blurry and out of focus.
7. LOOKING BACK AT Y O U R P R E L I M I N A RY TA S K
(THE CONTINUITY E D I T I N G TA S K ) W H A T D O
YOU FEEL YOU H AV E L E A R N T I N T H E
PROGRESSION FROM IT TO THE FULL PRODUCT?
From my preliminary task, I progressed and learnt a lot about the planning, shooting and editing process
of the film. In my preliminary task I did not plan effectively. I had not chosen specific locations until the day
of the shoot, which added extra time and hassle to the process as I had to find appropriate locations where
the light was right. On top of this I had not catered for the difficult shots I wanted to create. For example
when filming my actor cycling down the street, I wasted a lot of time trying to perfect this scene as without a
tripod or anything to stable my camera, the shot kept coming out blurry. In my final task when filming, I
used a tripod to stable the camera and to make sure the shot was in focus. With ›editing, I simply advanced
the skills I used in my preliminary task. I incorporated special effects with a stunts performed by the actor
instead of just focusing on including different camera angles. In my preliminary task I used safe editing
where as in my final task, from knowing how to use the programming already, I advanced into using Adobe
After Effects to even stage a car crash and reflect and manipulate clips to play in the reflection of mirrors.
