Evaluation- Question Two

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My media product represents a younger social group as it is based around quite young people being the victims of these killings. Not any older social groups are mentioned in the film so they aren't involved in representing them. However, the younger generation that is represented are varied in what they look like for example there are groups in hoodies and then the more sportier- looking people. Although they are varied, there are not many girls used which could be quite unfair but if the film were to go on, more girls would be used. Below is a screenshot from my film of an example of one of the younger, hoody characters that are represented:

Evaluation- Question One

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

In my opening sequence I have used many conventions of real media products in a variety of different ways. The use of eerie music and the typical build up to the start of the film is seen quite clearly. Also, the use of shots of different eerie places that look abandoned help to develop the forms and conventions of the media products and the close ups of these show the typical thriller genre. The music I have used is quiet and builds up to allow an atmosphere to be created and to effect the way the audience watching it; they want to focus on what is about to come. Furthermore, with the music I used two different pieces because the film is starting to move on at that point which many thrillers tend to do. It challenges the conventions of media products by using many different shots that vary from one to the other quickly and at the beginning of films.

Above shows some shots from se7en which prove the conventions and forms of real media products with the use of such extreme close ups and close ups of different objects; giving clues to the rest of the film which many thrillers do. Also, the use of the titles placed everywhere across the screen over the objects to show the titles in a different, interesting and clear way that doesn't distract too much from the close ups behind it.

Editing

In the last lesson I edited more of my film, adding more effects to many of the clips and just overall, adding transitions to allow it to run a lot smoother then it did before and for it to make sense. I think so far it has gone quite well and I think my opening sequence looks like an effective opening thriller. Now, I just have to get some peer feedback off of people in our class and off the teacher in order to know what others think can be improved.

Editing

I have now started the editing of my opening sequence and so far it has gone really well, apart from the first time I did edit, in the end it didn't save so I had to start all over again. When I did it the second time round, starting all over again, I managed to think of a lot more ideas and chose some effective transitions between shots of the victims etc. I also listened to some music and sound effects that was available for me to use so next time I do my editing I will start to incorporate some of this. However, what I did do was add some effects to a lot of the shots like the pictures of the victims are in a black and white effect and they are all split up with the credits splitting each picture up. I think this went really well and it would have been better if I had more time to do it then and there and if I had a bit more practice on the mac's but I soon learnt how to use it.

Filming

The last time any filming was done of shots like the ring being on Nathan's hand as he is going about during everyday life were taken, although I was absent from this lesson. It would have been good if I was actually there to help but the shot only needed to be of Nathan's hand clicking on a mouse and then the camera zooming in onto this, so I may not have actually been needed to do anything in particular. The shots however, are very effective and help the story progress. It would have been better if we stuck to the original storyline of having the tattoo on Nathan's wrist but it isn't actually needed in order for the story to keep going so it doesn't really matter, however it would have looked like this (how we planned it to look like on Nathan's wrist):

Filming

The second time we filmed, we managed to get a lot done. We went out onto the field which was full of snow and ice, and we filmed our main section that we really needed to do out there. We were able to get some red food colouring to pour onto the snow and ice which looked even more effective then we first thought and Casey acted as the victim on the floor. It would of been EBI the floor wasn't so cold for Casey to lie on as this did create a few problems, as he couldn't go a long time laying on the floor, but this couldn't be helped. We filmed Nathan dropping the ring in the blood, some shots of the snow and ice of the scenery like footprints and deserted benches etc. Shots of Nathan running were also made, as he runs away from the dead body and then down the main road, which we used a range of shots from zooming into him running off and a hand-held shot when he is actually running. WWW was the fact that we got a lot of shots available for us to use, including eerie shots of everything being deserted and quiet, full of ice and snow; the fact there was a lot of this also helped a lot as it made it look much more scarier.
Below is a picture of the snow surrounding the area we took some shots of:

Filming

We first started filming and so far it has gone ok; We got the pictures of the victims and then stuck them up on a board to look like a victims board. We then filmed this many times so then we had various shots of the board to chose out of, from zooming into each individual picture, to panning across to each one. However, we also tried to get a shot of a newspaper with the murders written about on it, but this did not look effective and didn't look real enough so we decided not to use this; This would be my EBI for this session of filming as it could of looked effective if we had made the newspaper and been more prepared for it. My WWW was the fact that we managed to get some pictures filmed and the amount of various shots we were able to take was very effective.