Evaluation of A2 media production

My film ‘The Call’ is finally finished, along with the article and poster which were produced
as ancillary tasks. I am going to evaluate all projects that were part of my whole media
product.

‘The Call’ is a thriller based on a phone call. The film is made up of short scenes which made
it all the more exciting.

There are many forms and conventions of short films that are of the genre of my film,
thriller.
The ways in which my film uses forms and conventions is through the use of music, shots,
and camera work.
The music we chose for our film really sets the mood as being slightly scary and mysterious.
In other thriller films that I researched into, I discovered that music is important to the film
as the music can tell the story without any dialogue or action, so if used appropriately it can
be very effective. This is a generic convention, this helped us a lot because we knew before
we made our film, from research into other short thriller films that the music was key and if
we applied the right sort, we would make a successful thriller. One shot in the film which
this applies to greatly is the first shot of the anonymous person at the other end of the
phone.

We added this same music to every scene of this character as it differentiates between the
scene of the two people in the office and that of the anonymous caller. The audience
immediately knows there is something suspicious about this character from the strange
music and this helps the audience to realise that something might happen, which
subsequently, defines it as a thriller.
Establishing shots are a typical feature of films. This is to allow the audience to get an idea
of the sort of setting and locations the characters are in. We needed an establishing shot, as
the film starts off with the characters inside an office, so we needed to be able to show the
audience the location from outside. Not having an establishing shot could result in the
audience not getting the film or becoming confused as they can’t understand the locations
of the characters.
Our establishing shot doesn’t just set the scene; I think it sets the mood as well. There is a
sun glare as the camera pans down from the sky and across the building, this sets the mood
as weather is a good way of adding some effect. It gives the effect of a quiet, sunny day
which lures the audience into a false preconception at the beginning; they don’t see
anything scary or thrilling at the start.

For the shot of the anonymous caller walking around, we used a typical use of camera idea,
where the camera is not on a tripod. The shot is shaky and at times blurry, so it looks as if
the shot is coming from the characters point of view. Giving the audience the point of view
of a character makes them feel involved.
Another way in which we used forms and conventions of other thriller films would be the
cliff hanger at the end. This was used in other thriller films I researched in to, an example is
a short thriller film called ‘Asleep’, although the audience would get an idea of what had
happened there was not a definite answer to what had happened in the film. A cliff hanger
is a good way of keeping the audience intrigued even at the end of the film and after it has
been watched. We wanted a cliff hanger as we felt the story would suit not having a
resolved ending.

The way in which my film challenges forms and conventions is through lighting. The film
was filmed in the day so it is very light with natural lighting. From other thriller films I
watched, they were quite dark as this added to the tension and added a scary factor to it.
 This scene is a prime example of where we have
challenged forms and conventions; this is when the film is becoming tense as the story
unfolds. We filmed it in the daytime because we wanted to challenge the forms and
conventions of other films, and not have the scene in darkness. The daylight gives it a real-
life feel and we wanted the audience to feel as though it is realistic.
Another way in which my film challenges the forms and conventions of other thriller films is
through the location.
The main part of the film is filmed on a housing estate; this would mean that the characters
aren’t necessarily alone. Thriller films tend to be set in places which can easily cause
suspense, so somewhere in the middle of nowhere or somewhere empty were the locations
most used in films that I researched into.

We used this location as almost everyone has been on a housing estate and there is one in
every town so this meant everyone could relate to this and it would hopefully make the
audience feel like this could maybe happen to them.
This location was useful as it had the wooded, greenery area inside the estate so we had
the houses but also the empty woods, so we had both areas we were looking for in one
place. Although we catch other cars in the scene, there are no people around that get in the
shot, so there is a slight sense of aloneness.

We were asked to complete ancillary tasks to go with our films. I created a poster and a film
review. I think these things both use and challenge forms and conventions of other real
media products.
The ways in which I used the forms and conventions for my article were:

Using a picture which is a screen shot from the film- This is used in most film review
articles. It gives the reader a snapshot of the film, to interest them and give them
an idea of what the film will be like. I chose the screen shot which didn’t give too
much away but showed the two characters. I think I should have included more
than one screen shot, to show different aspects of the film; I don’t think one image
was enough.
Star rating- Every film review article has a star rating. This shows the reader how it
has been rated and therefore how good the film is.
Quotes from other film magazines- This is to show the views of other film reviewers.
It shows the readers that it’s not just this magazine that thinks the film is very good.
I added two quotes, I think this was enough. Too many quotes take the attention
away from the review they are reading about.

The ways in which I challenged the forms and conventions for my article were:

Snap facts- This is something I created, I decided that as I hadn’t included some
information in the article, it would be a good idea to include some facts that are
easily read. None of the other review articles I researched into had this, so here I
have challenged the forms and conventions.
One image- In the other review articles I looked at there were a series of images; of
the characters, screenshots, or from behind the scenes.
Tagline- I haven’t seen a tagline in any of the articles I researched into. I included a
tagline as it’s a good way of starting off the article and it interests the reader. My
tagline gives a slight insight to what the film is about.
The ways in which I used the forms and conventions for my poster were:

Including the actors name- the posters I looked at did this, as the actors can
persuade people to watch the film.
Using a picture not from the film- on the posters I researched none of the images
were taken from the film, they were all edited images. This is so you can choose
what you want for the image. As a screenshot may not be clear enough.
Tagline- this was on every poster I researched; it gives an idea of the storyline.

The ways in which I challenged forms and conventions for my poster were:

Very little writing- there are only three lots of writing; the actors, the producers and
the title of the film. The writing is easily read.
No real life images; there are no images of the actors, this gives a mysterious feel as
it is not really clear as to what is in the film.

Overall I felt my ancillary tasks went well. They portrayed what the film was about, which
was the aim, so that the audience can see that they are all linked. This was achieved
through font, pictures and colours. Picking particular sorts of colours, for instance with the
film being a thriller I decided I wanted to use dark colours; black and greys. However for
the article I used some brighter colours as I had to make it stand out. So I feel these all fit
well together.
Audience feedback was important so we could see what everyone thought of our film;
whether it lived up to the expectations we thought it would. To gain the best audience
feedback, I produced an audience feedback form and distributed it to everyone we showed
the film to.

The form was easy to fill out as we did not want something that would take time to fill out
as this could put people off or we people might not have filled it out correctly, which would
have resulted in incorrect results.

We asked our questions and allowed the audience to tick how well that was done. This was
a good way of filling out the form as it is easy to gather up the results and it was clear to
those filling it out.

We included an extra notes section so that people who had extra things to say could write
them here.

The feedback we received from the audience feedback form and from our teachers made us
realise that the ending could have been made better, luckily we had time so the ending was
re-filmed. We added in more shots so that there was more suspense and a build up. So
audience feedback helped us to make our film better, without it we wouldn’t have realised
that there were any problems.

Audience feedback is important, as the audience is who we are aiming our items at. So we
need to find out what the audience is thinking in order to be successful with our
productions.

Technology played an important part in this production. There would have been a lot that
couldn’t have been done without being able to use media technologies.
For the making of the film the technology used was a video camera and a programme called
iMovie which was for editing. This programme enabled us to cut the scenes and put them
together, we could then speed up scenes, add effects, or add text to scenes. This helped us
to add the effects that added something important to our film, for example, the typewriter font
for the title and the credits. Without this programme we wouldn’t have been able to edit the
film or put it together.

To upload the film I used a video site called youtube, this is a good place to upload
the film to as it has a very wide audience as it is international. This site also allowed
me to research into short films, so it also helped me in my research process.

For my ancillary tasks I used the programme Photoshop, this helped me to add my
images and text neatly and add colour. It would have been hard to make my poster
and article without the programme; I wouldn’t have been able to add what I wanted and
would have been limited with what I could have done with it.

Another media technology was blogspot. This was used to put everything so that it could be
seen. Without this I would have had to have printed everything out and it wouldn’t have been
as easy and efficient. I then used Scribd, this was used to upload some items to my blog,
Scribd helps things to be seen easier and upload easier.

Overall I think my A2 media production went well and I have come a long way from my AS
production, by learning new things but also using what I did learn from last year for this year
all helped.