1. AS Media Studies - Evaluation
Danielle Rothero

2. Our film is similar to Kick Ass in that it has a comedy twist being the plot, it
develops the idea that a film is just simply a parody of another and swaps it for an
original story line and uses mostly camera shots and voice over’s to set the scene
and create atmosphere.
We have kept our film relatively simple so that the rest can be left to the
imagination without being so mysterious that it gets annoying. Also we have
decided that as this film is aimed at teenagers so minimal amount of violence is
used, instead replacing it for theoretical situations. Although our film is similar
because it has a deeper story line into what is a big issue of today – weight and
how to control it.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5mxBaXHcFw

3. Our media product is aimed to represent teenagers, we have tried to use a thin
person to represent the hero (Gastric Man) as the plot is aimed at getting people to
lose weight if they are overweight. In most superhero movies the hero and villain
are male, where as in our media product we have decided that our villain
(MacDonald’s Madonna) would be female. It reverses the idea of stereotyping men
and women in their roles which are stemmed from biological concepts. It also
creates a stronger binary opposition between the two characters as they are
complete opposites of each other which goes against most typical conventions of
superhero movies as there is usually some friction between the two main
characters in terms of strength and skill, where as in Gastric man the dual is not
physical but skilful.
I think our media product would attract both male and female viewers because it
involves both of those characters and obesity is a gender spread problem.
This shot shows binary oppositions between
the two supers. MacDonald's Madonna is
stood with food bags in her hands, showing
her background vengeance. Where as Gastric
Man is stood with his hands in his pockets,
showing he is slightly self conscious,
although he is also stood strong, showing he
has authority.

4. I think that a media institution such as Working Title would distribute our film as a
modified wide release similar to ‘The Boat That Rocked’. This is because our film has
an unpredictable level of success. Although I think it would only be distributed in
Britain because it does not contain any typical ‘English’ stereotypes, although it does
effect a worldwide issue of today.
I think a internet release of the trailer would benefit the film as it would offer ways to
get feedback from the audiences. And people would want to then go and see the film
in cinema’s after it had been modified due to comments.
I think this because it would give time to edit the film
before it was released, therefore more money would be
made as the film would have better viewing ratings.

5. What Attracts the audience?
The audience is attracted in Gastric man by using a twisting storyline which
reveals the past of both main characters, this being through the flashbacks where
they are both sat in the cafe at different times, this is where we learn of Gastric
Man’s powers for the first time and we can see why he gained them. Gastric
Man’s body language in the cafe scene tells us that he is now comfortable with
the way he looks through hard work on his appearance. The way he tats with the
straw in the milkshake shows that now he is more focused on the conversation
where as when he was little he would be more focused on the milkshake. Also in
the cafe scenes we have tried to use mise-en-scene with the help of the
milkshakes on the table to show the amount of fat content each character is
getting and it also shows how different MacDonald’s Madonna and Gastric Man
are.

6. Feedback
The negative feedback from our audience is that the storyline could be
confusing at times as there was not a lot of dialogue used in the sequence. To
alter the confusion we added a voice over effect to explain what the characters
emotions were at the time.
Although the positive feedback we got made it clear that people preferred a
refreshing storyline which also outlined one of the World’s largest problems of
today.

7. Camera Angles, Effects, Editing
Before we began filming, I was aware of the different camera shots and angles that
had to be used to keep interest from the audience, although having to use all of
these different angles took up a lot of time and it was not long shooting one clip
before we then had to move the camera and film from another angle. During the
editing process, I learnt that it can be easier to edit the footage in small clips and
make sure you have in as many shots as you can in each clip and to ensure that you
make the cut between one scene and the next very clear. I learnt that you can add
your own effects over the top, such as your own music and voiceovers. We did this
effectively by recording a short soliloquy from each character to be played over the
top of the footage so it gave an idea of what the characters were feeling. We had a
problem with editing our film as every time an effect was added the shot would go
black and play in a random order

8. What I have learnt
During the course, I have learnt how to film and edit a basic movie, such as the
difference between self-recorded home movies and professionally made
feature films. I can now understand the effort and time it must take to make a
box office movie and all the details involved, such as storyline, characters etc.
In the future, I need to brainstorm an idea that makes sense and is not over-
complicated. At first, we came up with the idea of Gastric Man and
MacDonald’s Madonna as young children in a playground. However, as we
had no way of recording this due to casting requirements, we had to use the
cafe scene instead. I've also learnt how important the editing process is, in the
sense that, if one detail of it is faulty, it could ruin the purpose of your film.

9. I enjoyed the general process of making the film and would love to do it again, as
in, I contributed to a lot of the film making process, as I was in the film, I filmed
some of the scenes and I helped with editing. When we first began planning the
idea, the storyline made perfect sense but as the planning progressed into filming,
I began to realise that perhaps it didn’t make as much sense as it did in my mind.
We did try to use as many of the features iMovie has to offer as possible but we
didn't want to overdo it so we only used the ones we considered to be more
effective and improve our film, rather than make it tacky with effects. Our
originally edited film had a duration of 4 minutes. As we had a limit of only 2-3
minutes, we had to cut it right down and by the end of it, our film barely made any
sense at all because there was a lack of content to hold it all together, it was just
the main events left. So to improve this next time, I would come up with a really
simple idea, no complications so that we can narrow it down to a more easily
manageable, yet effective 2 minutes.