Evaluation 1- In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

 This shot shows what can be assumed to be either an antagonist or protagonist since this it so significantly placed. It shows the character being looked at has high importance to the film and it's plot and that they may be a big part in the scenes to follow. This is typical of action films as many of them do give hints and show future characters within scenes like this, while giving audiences a bit of a backstory as to why they are so important for the rest of the film and the scenes to come.


This shot now shows the Protagonist that was shown previously and further shows their importance as well as consolidating the identity of the character for the audience. This shot can also been seen as typical since many films of the genre have characters appear coincidentally at sections where they are mentioned.



These shots show the fast running and action shots following the previous encounter. These kinds of quick-paced and quite frantic shots are very typical of many chase scenes within action films since they can be very immersive and give across the intense atmosphere of a chase that is needed.

The weapon the Antagonist uses is shown here in a way that can be regularly seen in this kind of genre, as it shows a cause and effect sequence of what is happening. It also increases tension as it further increases the threat to the Protagonist.




This shows the Protagonist after they've stopped during the chase in order to see if they are still being chased. This is very typical of action films as many Protagonists do this during chase scenes when they need to catch their breath behind cover. This usually results in something bad happening afterwards.




The Protagonist has now been temporarily caught in a fight with the Antagonist after their mistake. This follows on from the previous shot in being typical in action movies because of how common these kinds of sequences are.

The Antagonist picking back up their weapon after it being knocked away from them is also seen many times within films. However, it may not always be the Antagonist who picks it up, since the Protagonist may get there first. In the case of our film, the Protagonist has ran and so has left the Antagonist to freely pick up the weapon and carry on the chase


The Antagonist can usually be seen following the tracks of the Protagonist or person they are chasing, in some way. We decided to have the Antagonist inspecting the path they would have gone through.



Once again, the Protagonist is catching their breath behind some sort of cover, hoping they are now safe. Something bad usually happens again.





This shot gives across the idea that in most movies of this type, the characters have some kind of 'Boss' who directs them on their missions. This is typical of films in our specific genre, as it is very common within those that they include spies, secret agents and other aspects similar to these.




 It is sometimes seen that an Antagonist's face is kept secret or hidden, because their identities may went to be kept a mystery so as to add suspense and potential surprise if it revealed who they are later on. However, from this shot, you can also see that this Antagonist is clearly a female. This goes against and subverts the usual stereotypes of action films, in which the women are often shown to be weak and overpowered by men, by making them the main villain and in a threatening position to the male.



Blurred shots from a characters point of view are often seen during fight scenes where the disorientation of them needs to be shown in an engaging way that doesn't break the action too much.

The weapon is shown here again to show a cause and effect during the firing of the gun. This is used frequently when weapons are used in order to show what it is and what happens because of them.

This shows an aspect that is only seen within certain films, where the screen cuts to black shortly to reinforce cause and effect of what may be happening. It also helps to increase tension again as it emphasises a point.

Shots like this are very common within the genre as they are used to show the importance of many kinds of objects, as well as finally letting the audience know another key point of the plot and ending the chase scenes with the answer to the reason of why it began in the first place.

A shot of someone walking away from the scene of a crime, in this case the shooting, is typical too as it shows a wide overview of the final conclusion to the previous events that have occurred. However, the way we have ended it may not be very typical and go against the conventions of this genre too, since it is common that the Protagonist survives and may even overcome the Antagonist.

This final shot shows a typical concept of this genre, in the way that  it is shown that there is a another mysterious character 'behind-the-scenes', who we assume has had an impact on the events that have happened. They are also likely to be gradually revealed throughout the course film.

Evaluation 2- How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Overall, these points serve to show how our production represented some types of social groups and in what way. This includes stereotypes of both the 'Hero' and 'Villain' as well as gender. However, it also goes over how we actually reversed some of these, making them unique to our production. It also discusses the what undercover agents and spies are typically thought to look and act like.

Evaluation 3- What kind of media institutions might distribute your media product and why?

Evaluation 4- Who would be the audience for your media product?

 

 

 

Evaluation 5- How did you attract/address your audience?

Evaluation 6- What have you learnt about technologies in the process of constructing this product?

Evaluation 7- Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel like you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

When it came to our preliminary task, we completed it relatively quickly, since not much planning or time was needed to in order to incorporate all the aspects we needed to present. With our original preliminaries we had filmed, one had sound issues relating to the camera, while the other one felt strange and not entirely relevant to what we wanted. This final preliminary was filmed in two locations: a local park and our school.

Example of the shot we used

One technique that we used within our preliminary was the 180 Degree Rule. This concept involves the having the camera placed exclusively to either the left or right side of any characters shown and sticking to this positioned side throughout any dialogue, actions, etc. This is used to keep the shots clear and continuous so as to not confuse the audience with all the different angels being quickly cut between and keep them following the event happening. It also helps to engage the audience more since having the shots more concise and , keeps a flow during any dialogue and actions, showing that they are all happening within the very same time frame. The shots during this concept are usually shot reverse shots.

Another technique that was used was a Match on Action Shot, which involves changing shots during editing. It is when the one shot cuts to another view that matches that of the original shot and it's action. These are used to show the cause and effect of what is being shown, making it a lot clearer for audiences as to why something has happened. We had done a very typical shot of someone walking out of door, in which the person pushes the doors handle and are then shown walking out of it.



Examples of where these techniques are used during our film opening...

This example shows the technique of the 180 Degree Rule. We recognised it would be suitable for this particular part of the action scene since we wanted the conflict happening, to flow and be very concise so that audiences understand what is going on in this, otherwise, fast-paced mix of shots.



This example is part of what was used to show the technique of Match on Action. It was used so that we could show the Antagonist finally obtaining the device from the Protagonist. In the previous shot, the  body of the injured Protagonist is shown with the Antagonist searching them. It then cuts to this shot of the Antagonist actually finding and taking the device from the Protagonist's pocket. This sequence all shows cause and effect in what is happening.

 





Our Final Production- 'Tech Runner'

This is our final production!!!

Audience Feedback on Production

Me and Maddy recently decided to show our finished production to some classmates and peers, who are based around our target audience.

Kate-Aged 17, who isn't a media student says, "I think it's really good and i especially like the gunshot part where the sound stops and the screen goes black as the gun is fired." I actually agree with this as it's my favourite part of our production and think the way it was edited is really good and makes it work very well. She also said"the music through out the whole thing went really well and seemed to flow" This comment lets us know that the time that went into Maddy's editing, of matching the soundtrack up, was noticed and this makes us very happy.

Abbie-Aged 16, who was a Media student at GCSE said, "I really like it, definitely how it takes place in more then one location, i feel that it keeps mine and the audiences attention more then it would if it was in just one place for the whole time." This was actually one of our aims, and the reason we actually used a range of locations and switched between them, so we are glad that she said this.

Olaf-Aged 18, who is also an AS Media student said, "The ending title sequence of the production name was brilliant because the entering and exiting of the text matched with the soundtrack which emphasised the importance of the title but not only linked to it being an action film but it look amazing! Also, it was good how you only had the production name and no fancy effects as that would of took some the attention away from the name itself, one thing i would suggest is maybe make the font slightly thicker but other then that, loved it! I also noticed that you used the same font for your credits at the beginning as you did for the production name at the end which i think was a good choice. We are pleased that he decided to comment on our title sequence at the end as this was an area that was very uncertain for us for most of our planning. We are also glad that he did still give some constructive criticism on it too though, as this will be taken on board and thought about.

Abigail-Aged 12, who isn't a Media student said,"I think it looks really cool, the music in the background suited it and i like how there was some mystery in there like, what does that USB/device do? I also really liked the end part of "THE TECH RUNNER" I re-watched that part over again because i liked it a lot, and how there wasn't lots of talking because that can be really boring." We are, once again, really happy with this response as it lets us know that some of the decisions we made, such as limiting the dialogue, were the right ones to make as they did actually get noticed by the audience and with a positive response.

Overall, we can clearly see that non-Media students tended to give more generalised views of the whole production, which were useful for getting an overview of what a normal audience would see from the film. Media students on the other hand, seemed to pick out a specific part of the production and focus on that, which was useful for getting in-depth views and opinions on all of the smaller decisions we made. We also noticed that everyone we asked all had different views and commented on different things, but in a positive way, which is great as this lets us know that the decisions we had decided to make during pre-production were valuable and the right ones to have made.

Unused/Changed Ideas

While filming, we removed or changed some aspects of our production:

The first thing we decided to change within our production was to not have the Antagonist using supernatural powers. Before and during the scene in which we were going to use it, we had thought that it would just end up making the scene look unrealistic as it would be too hard to film and incorporate. We completely removed this element from our production and are glad it didn't effect anything else major within our production s a whole.

Another thing we decided to change was some of the use of dialogue. We didn't have too much dialogue in our production to begin with, but some of the bits we did have seemed to be quite unnecessary so we got rid or adapted them. We decided that it was best not to have as much dialogue in the production anyway because we felt it might ruin the flow of the action sequences and break it up in an unusual way. During editing, Maddy had compared two different versions of our production, one with the extra dialogue and one without. She had decided to stick with having the one without the extra dialogue as she felt it wasn't lacking anything and was, therefore, fine the way it was. An example of a time we got rid of dialogue was when the Antagonist is battling and about to shoot the victim and says "You didn't have to die". We decided to scrap this because of the fact that they don't actually shoot the victim until slightly later on, and we felt as though this acted as a kind of spoiler for the events ahead. This is because it would let the audience know what is about to happen, but without it, it creates a surprise for the audience and is more suspenseful.

Also, while editing Maddy changed a few things:

On our shot lists and storyboards it is shown that when the Antagonist shoots the victim for the first time, you see the gun firing and the victim get hit and fall. However, during editing this was changed to where you just see the Antagonist lift up the gun to shoot and then a black screen with a gunshot, after which you see the victim fall. This change is because Maddy noticed that while editing the sound, there was a quite spot in the audio soundtrack, so instead was changed to stop before the black screen and gunshot, and then begin to build back up after.

Holding Gun Up

Black Screen

 Another change Maddy made during editing was during the scenes while the Antagonist and Victim are in the woodland and forest area. More specifically, when the victim stops at a tree and the Antagonist tries to shoot, but hits the tree instead. So, when editing, it was changed so that you only see the Antagonist pull out the gun and the victim run again. This is because if a gunshot hitting a tree was added, it would look strange and fake

Antagonist Pulling out Gun

Victim Running

Our Production Title-Tech Runner

This is the title for our production that we have finally decided on. The way we came up with this name originally was by gathering the key concepts and ideas of our film together and seeing if they helped us think of a name. Most of our suggestions (including this one) seemed to mostly revolve around how the device is an important part as well as how it seems very technological overall. We then asked people for what they would suggest for names and after gathering quite a few ideas, we had put together this title. First reason we decided to choose this name is because it ended up being the most popular in during our focus group and in general when we asked people. Another reason is that it just suits the plot of our film in general as it incorporates the technical side of it, with the chasing and combat. We were also able to reflect this idea into the actual title by having the font suit this style and by having the contrasting colours.

Another interesting point about our title is about how we also decided to try and link our film to the popular film 'The Maze Runner' through intertextuality. This meant using the same font type as 'The Maze Runner', which we had researched and found out to be 'Pirulen Bold', as well as having very similar colour schemes. Another similarity between the productions is how they both involve action, such as running, chasing and fights. The aim of this is to attract and appeal to a similar audience as both of our productions are targeted towards teens. It also means that because they are both so similar, people may be more likely to watch ours.

Production Title Interviews

Over the past few days, me and Maddy decided to do a few little focus groups based around creating a title for our production. We asked our fellow students for their opinions on the production names we had already gathered, as well as asking them for any potential ideas they had. We think this was a good thing to do since this allowed people of our target audience to give their opinions on another aspect of our film, making it more suited towards them.

Antagonist Voice Update

After Maddy had created a compilation of voice effects added to our antagonist's voice, we were very uncertain as to whether we were going to actually use it or not. We eventually came to the decision that we weren't going to use it. This is because we just simply thought that it didn't go well and seemed a bit weird with how we wanted the antagonist to be shown in our production. This is because the voice effects seemed to add very supernatural or robotic voices, which may have caused confusion for the audience.

Production & Filming Is Now Complete!!!

Photo During our Final Shot

Another Photo During Last Day of Filming

The filming for our production was completed on Wednesday, and Maddy finished editing it all together yesterday, meaning we are all done with making our actual production! We are so excited that it's finished and think it's gone really well. These photo's are a quick snapshot of our last filming moments as well as showing the final stages before others can see what we've done.

Our Production Being Uploaded for Others to View

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Editing Update/Idea

During the editing process, Maddy also recently created the first text message that we will put into our film. This will allow the audience an insight into what the antagonist is looking at and, therefore, make them feel as though they are have a part and they become more immersed.

Plot Blocking

Editing Update

This is an update on some of what my team member Maddy has been doing in terms of editing, and in particular, the credits. She used the same font (Pirulen) for these credits and for our title, after me and her did some research into some fonts used in popular films of our genre. We thought this one suited our production in particular due to it's kind of technological seeming text, which links with a theme of our production. We also thought it was simple but effective in the way that it doesn't distract from the scenes too much, but is still noticable.

28th January 2016

Yesterday, me and my team finally finished all of our filming for the opening! This time we thankfully had no problems with anything and didn't get sidetracked, so could get it done easily. Maddy is in the process of editing it and is almost done. We think it's looking really good!

Dialogue Script

Dialogue #1

Ext. Over-Shoulder Shot (Victim bumps into Antagonist in public area, but then runs)

Victim- "Oh, Sorry! (In a panicked way)

Close up Shot

Antagonist- "That was too easy..."

Dialogue #2

Ext. Medium Shot (Victim about to kick up branch in self-defence, in a forest area)

Antagonist- "Give me the device!"

Victim- "Sure... Here you go... (Sarcastically. Then hits Antagonist with branch)

Dialogue #3

Ext. Long,Low-Angle Shot (In farm location. Victim hunched with Antagonist standing over them. Phone at bottom with someone speaking  on the other end)

Person on Phone- "Agent?!"

Dialogue #4

Ext. Close-Up Shot (Antagonist answering call on the phone)

Antagonist- "Sorry, they're busy right now" (Then hangs up call and possibly laughs)

Dialogue #5

Ext. Medium Shot- (Antagonist following the victim after they get away

Antagonist- "You didn't have to die..."

We've decided to have such little dialogue in our film due to the amount of action it has. We think it'd break up the action sequences which is something we don't want since we want them to flow well.

Production Name/Title Ideas- 26th January 2016

Today, me and Maddy decided to start coming up with some ideas for our actual production name since we now have a firm understanding of the overview of what our film is.
We started by coming up with elements of our opening which we felt could help give inspiration for names if incorporated into them, either directly or indirectly. Then we decided to get some ideas from other people based on these and also searched up other existing relevant films to help give us more ideas. Finally, we got some official ideas by taking into account what we had gathered. Our top and most popular decision for our action film opening was the title 'Tech Runner'

We've also planned to trying do a focus group recording with a few people too, which will be based around the title ideas and just finding out their overall opinions on them. As well as planning to hopefully finish filming the last part of our production tomorrow.

Risk Assessment

Hazard/Risk	Level of Risk	Control
Weather	Low level	We will be wearing suitable clothing for any weather we might encounter and will keep an eye on forecast too, as well as bringing covers to protect equipment.
Anything likely to cause slips, trips or falls	Low level	We’ll be sure to clear any areas we use so that there is no potential for us to fall over anything. We will also wear suitable footwear for the areas too so that we don’t slip.
Setting up, use and taking down of equipment	Low level	We will always be careful when using any equipment to make sure we don’t harm any of us, or the equipment itself.
Manual handling	Low level	All equipment will be safely carried around and protected.
General tidiness, cleaning area and disposal of rubbish	Low level	We will clean up the areas again so that there is no possible risk of falling over anything and just keeping the filming areas tidy in general.