EVALUATION

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

“Run” is a short comedy film that also has the conventions of a silent movie. The whole of the film uses the forms and conventions of a silent movie, apart from the beginning and end where I challenge the silent film conventions as there is dialogue to start and end the film.

Comedy is a big part of our film so we used the basic forms and conventions of a typical comedy, in particular, slapstick comedy; slapstick works better in silent films due to no sound being produced, so jokes and sound effects wouldn’t work. This would include the character doing “stupid” and “silly” things that would never really happen in the everyday world, something extraordinary and out of this world to make the audience laugh along. The film had to be quick and energetic along with the acting in the film, this would make the film become a lot funnier, even though at the beginning of the film you think something is wrong with the leading character's Nana. Just like most comedies, the film seems serious, but funny and humorous things happen along the way to uplift the mood of the audience. Because the film was silent the actor had to use elaborate movements and over exaggerated facial expressions to add humour and comedy, which I feel worked very well throughout our film. When watching past silent films, all of the actors do this, and to get the same effect; a laugh from the audience.

If we hadn’t of stuck to the codes and conventions, the film wouldn’t have been as funny as it was, and the audience could have become bored and confused. The film seems like a real media product due to the different camera angles and editing, which makes the film quick and professional looking. Also due to the choice of actor, the film seems highly rated due to the pure talent of the actor and how he worked with the script. He also as an actor stuck to the forms and conventions, to create a performance that is very comedic.

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

Ancillary texts are equally as important as the film itself. These products draw the audience into the cinema to watch the film advertised and it gives the audience a first opinion on what they are about to see. The poster that we created had to match the film, so we wanted it to look quite serious but still funny at the same time. We created a poster layout on paper which we then created on Adobe Photoshop, once we had created this we needed to select a photo. We had a bunch of photos of Andrew so all we had to do was choose a few and add them, one by one, to the layout to see which one worked well.

The first one we chose was of Andrew pulling a humourous pose, we liked this photo, but it wasn’t the right one for the poster, as it didn't go with the title and tag line. We tried another photo and the pose that Andrew was doing worked really well with everything else on the poster. However there was a problem, he wasn’t wearing the tracksuit that he was wearing in the film, he was wearing a shirt. Another dilemma was if we would use the photo in Black and White or in colour. We decided that colour made the poster seem a little less serious, so we went with colour but we needed to add something else to add comedic effect. We took another photo of Andrew, this time with him wearing a tracksuit style top, and to add comedy we added a sweatband around his head on Adobe Photoshop. This made the poster looking comical yet serious, just like the film itself. Therefore the poster matches the film.

For the radio advert, we wanted to create a funny advert that people would laugh at whilst listening. It had to be a different type of comedy, as there is no visuals and only sound. So we decided to start the advert as if it was a cheesy thriller and then go into the details of our film. We decided to use Andrew again to do this, as his use of accents and voices is exceptional and he could change his voice quickly to another. We wrote out the script and then recorded it on GarageBand, it took one take to record and then we added some sound effects to make the advert seem professional and real.

All of the ancillary texts have to be a comedy so that the audience realise the film is a comedy before they go and see it. Some people don’t like this genre and if they think the film is a thriller or a drama from the adverts then when they buy a ticket to see it and it is comedy then a bad rating will be given.
So I feel that the combination of the final product and our ancillary products is effective, and if I was the audience I would go and see the film advertised on both the radio and through poster. 80% of the people asked said they would go and see the film after seeing the poster, so as a whole I feel that the poster does work well with the film. When we played the radio advert to a few people they all agreed that they would also go and see the short film, as the advert was "memorable" and "funny". The combination is strong and effective and all together work brilliant with the short film.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

(Above- Feedback from the Premier)

When we premiered our short film, we gave out a number of questionnaires so we could get some feedback on how our film was. The feedback we got back was better than expected, with all the people who filled in the questionnaire saying that they fully understood the storyline and that the film worked well.  From this result we were so proud of our film and we didn’t think most people would get the idea of the film due to the many scenes and scenarios. The rating of our film was a PG, so the film relates to everyone (with parental guidance) so we tried to get a range of people in the audience so that the feedback would be wide spread and fair.
One of the questions on the questionnaire was "If you could would you change anything and what would it be", 67% of people said they wouldn't change anything, however 33% said they would and the only thing they would change would be the stunt double, as they didn't think it was as realistic as it could be. If we were to film the footage again, we would take this on board, and from this we would probably get 100% of the people questioned saying that they wouldn't change anything. I feel that people wouldn't change anything due to us sticking to forms and conventions and doing something that, we as a group, do well.
From reading through our feedback, we realise that our short film works well and that people would go and see the film from what they see/hear when advertised. We also had a few people over the age of 51 within the audience, and they also said that they would go and see the film and that it worked really well. Because our film has been likened by people of all ages, I feel this is more of an achievement because for a film to be liked by all generations is a triumph and most films cannot reach this fantastic goal. If I was to premier the film again I would hand out questionnaires to more people to get a larger amount of feedback, from different ages, styles and media groups. This would give me and Hollie more knowledge into our final product.

How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Throughout the production of “Run!” we have used many media technologies to help complete the film to the full. The most important piece of equipment we used was the video camera and the use of a computer, without these we wouldn’t of been able to catch footage and use these files to then edit and create the final product. The cameras we used weren't top quality, professional cameras but they had a good specification and they were also HD. This would ensure that we got good quality footage that would be good enough to edit. We decided to do a silent film due to the fact that the microphones on these camera's didn't produce  great sound and because of this we didn't want our production to seem unprofessional, so we kept sound to a minimum. Whilst filming, we used two cameras so we could experiment with different angles this would make sure our film looked as professional as possible. The use of a computer also helped as this is what we used to edit our final film and also create our ancillary products too.

The internet and a computer played a big part in the production of the film too; we used the internet to research the specific genre that we chose (comedy) and how other people have created a successful short film. “We Media” was used to go onto YouTube and watch other student’s short films and get ideas of what camera angles work, when the equipment you have isn’t 100% professional. We also watched for different storylines and the ways in which people acted within Silent movies so that we could spread this knowledge to the people that acted in our film. We could also use this research to plan our filming and editing, as we could see how many clips go together and how they all need to be stitched together to make a free flowing and quick short film. Without the use of the internet we wouldn't have been able to have done the in-depth research that we did and the final product wouldn't have been as successful.
Overall the use of media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages has been crucial. Without any of the technologies, we wouldn't have a final product and the whole build up to the final product wouldn't have been as strong and successful.