Here is our finished product: Behind Closed Doors.
Wednesday, 31 March 2010
Thursday, 25 March 2010
Audience Feedback
In order to gain some feedback about our film and ancillery texts from our audience we created a survey using www.surveymonkey.com
This is the survey we created:
Click here to take survey
We then made a powerpoint that explains the feedback we recieved:
http://www.slideshare.net/LaurenDee/audience-evaluation-powerpoint
This is the survey we created:
Click here to take survey
We then made a powerpoint that explains the feedback we recieved:
Audience Evaluation Powerpoint
View more presentations from LaurenDee.
http://www.slideshare.net/LaurenDee/audience-evaluation-powerpoint
Tuesday, 2 March 2010
Evaluation of our Production
In what ways does your media product use or challenge the conventions of real media products?
After watching our short film we saw that we had used many of the main conventions of filming, making our film very similar to real media products. For example, as our film was not allowed to exceed 5 minutes in length we had to rely on ways of communicating the nature of our characters personality without the use of lots of dialogue. We therefore used the stereotypical filming convention of putting a low angled shot on the more powerful and authoritative figures and a high angle shot of the vulnerable, weaker ones. This is a common feature of many real media products, particularly films and TV drama as it is a key element of characterisation; if the viewer finds themselves looking up at a main character they are immediately aware that this is a person of high strength/status/importance. Therefore in our film we used a low angle shot on the poorer girls Dad and a high angle on the girl to show the power and strength the Dad possessed and the fear that he invoked in her. Similarly we also used many long shots in our film, particularly when the poorer girl was in shot. This is because the use of long shots is useful when exploring the issue of social circumstance as it places a slight emphasis not only on the character in the shot, but also their surroundings. For example, in our film when the poorer girl is walking home we used a long shot to show that she was getting off a bus and another one when she was preparing food in her kitchen to show the shabby condition of her house in the background; this communicated the idea that she was of a low social class. Other filming conventions we used include shot-reverse-shot (where we get alternate shots of each character as they have a conversation) and match on action (where an action of a character starts in one shot and continues in another). Examples of these include the conversation’s each girl has with her parent and the scene where the poorer girl picks up the picture of her mum in one shot and then carries it to the sofa in the next. The final filming convention that I am going to discuss is our decision to include studio and parallel sound. The studio sound we used was the poor girls monologue as she holds the picture of her dead Mum; because there was so much distracting noise in the background of the room we were filming it in we decided to record the monologue separately and play it over the top of the live action, in order to make sure there was no distracting the audience from the anguish that the girl is feeling, as they will clearly be able to hear our actors emotions. The parallel sound occurs when the poorer girl is walking home; the soundtrack begins to play as the girl is at the bus stop and then the songs pace quickens as the scene changes and the girl starts walking, thus the speed of the song matches the movement of the character. It also happens when the wealthy girl comes in from school, the soundtrack goes from being non-diagetic to diagetic, by coming out of the radio in her kitchen, which the girl then turns off; again this shows an example of the sound matching the action on screen. By using typical aspects of media such as this in our film we have ensured that our short film is very similar and shares similar visual and audio conventions to that of real media products.
However when it comes to narrative conventions, our film both uses and challenges certain aspects. After watching our finished film we decided that it fit into the genre of a drama, as it deals with serious issues (grief, financial strain, child abuse), realistic characters (teenage girls and their parents), realistic places (working class area) and a strong emphasis on character interaction and development (the relationships between the two girls and their parents). McConnell’s idea of the five genres particularly helped us in reaching this decision as he describes the melodrama in terms of the antagonist being trapped in the institutionalized state - which in our films case is the family; the poor girl being stuck with her father. However our narrative goes against the conventions of Schatz’s idea of a melodrama in which the hero’s personal antagonisms are resolved. Our film does not end with a resolution, instead it just shows the poor girl being hit by her Dad and calling her friend up afterwards for some support (which she doesn’t get as her friend does not answer the phone). Therefore our film does not stick to this particular aspect of the drama genre, rather it challenges it as there is no type of resolution at the end; the character is actually in a worse position than she was at the start. This idea of ending the film on the climax of the story is a convention of some dramas though, as it serves to leave the audience with a lasting impression on the serious and dramatic issue that our film addresses – child abuse and problematic relationships.
Finally, in relation to critical perspectives our film does adhere to some of the major ideas that are frequently used in many real media product. For example our film draws on Levi-Strauss’ idea of binary opposites – the inclusion of 2 characters, a protagonist and an antagonist, who are opposite in most characteristics, most commonly in films this is the hero and the villain. In our film we have the young poor girl who is the antagonist; she is the innocent character with whom the audience sympathise. In contrast we then have her abusive father – the typical villain of the film. Another critical perspective that influenced our film and makes it similar to real media products is postmodernism, in particular the theories of Baudrillard. When researching and planning our film around our stimulus of a crisis we were influenced by Baudrillards stress on the importance of signs and symbols in modern society, and how influential they are in the smooth running of society. In our film the symbol we focused on was that of money. Baudrillard would argue that money is merely a worthless symbol, and that it is just the value that we associate with it that makes it so important. In our film we reflect this idea as we show the contrast in two girls lives; one of the girls has plenty of money whilst the other doesn’t have much. Our film shows how different the quality of life is for the two girls, with the poorer girl having a much more depressing and deprived life, thus conveying that money is an extremely valuable symbol, not just in terms of finance, but the happiness it brings to those who have lots. On the other hand, there is a key convention of real media products, in particular those belonging to the genre of drama, which our film does not adhere to. This is Tordorovs idea of there being a state of equilibrium, disequilibrium, and then equilibrium during the film/narrative; the theory that the film should start with everything in order, then an event should upset that order and finally it returns to restored order. After researching different TV and film dramas we saw that this was usually the case (except for soaps as they were long running, therefore the drama must continue). However in our film the story does begin with an element of order, but at the end the we see a shot of the poor girl getting hit by her dad; the film finishes with no restored order or resolution.
After watching our short film we saw that we had used many of the main conventions of filming, making our film very similar to real media products. For example, as our film was not allowed to exceed 5 minutes in length we had to rely on ways of communicating the nature of our characters personality without the use of lots of dialogue. We therefore used the stereotypical filming convention of putting a low angled shot on the more powerful and authoritative figures and a high angle shot of the vulnerable, weaker ones. This is a common feature of many real media products, particularly films and TV drama as it is a key element of characterisation; if the viewer finds themselves looking up at a main character they are immediately aware that this is a person of high strength/status/importance. Therefore in our film we used a low angle shot on the poorer girls Dad and a high angle on the girl to show the power and strength the Dad possessed and the fear that he invoked in her. Similarly we also used many long shots in our film, particularly when the poorer girl was in shot. This is because the use of long shots is useful when exploring the issue of social circumstance as it places a slight emphasis not only on the character in the shot, but also their surroundings. For example, in our film when the poorer girl is walking home we used a long shot to show that she was getting off a bus and another one when she was preparing food in her kitchen to show the shabby condition of her house in the background; this communicated the idea that she was of a low social class. Other filming conventions we used include shot-reverse-shot (where we get alternate shots of each character as they have a conversation) and match on action (where an action of a character starts in one shot and continues in another). Examples of these include the conversation’s each girl has with her parent and the scene where the poorer girl picks up the picture of her mum in one shot and then carries it to the sofa in the next. The final filming convention that I am going to discuss is our decision to include studio and parallel sound. The studio sound we used was the poor girls monologue as she holds the picture of her dead Mum; because there was so much distracting noise in the background of the room we were filming it in we decided to record the monologue separately and play it over the top of the live action, in order to make sure there was no distracting the audience from the anguish that the girl is feeling, as they will clearly be able to hear our actors emotions. The parallel sound occurs when the poorer girl is walking home; the soundtrack begins to play as the girl is at the bus stop and then the songs pace quickens as the scene changes and the girl starts walking, thus the speed of the song matches the movement of the character. It also happens when the wealthy girl comes in from school, the soundtrack goes from being non-diagetic to diagetic, by coming out of the radio in her kitchen, which the girl then turns off; again this shows an example of the sound matching the action on screen. By using typical aspects of media such as this in our film we have ensured that our short film is very similar and shares similar visual and audio conventions to that of real media products.
However when it comes to narrative conventions, our film both uses and challenges certain aspects. After watching our finished film we decided that it fit into the genre of a drama, as it deals with serious issues (grief, financial strain, child abuse), realistic characters (teenage girls and their parents), realistic places (working class area) and a strong emphasis on character interaction and development (the relationships between the two girls and their parents). McConnell’s idea of the five genres particularly helped us in reaching this decision as he describes the melodrama in terms of the antagonist being trapped in the institutionalized state - which in our films case is the family; the poor girl being stuck with her father. However our narrative goes against the conventions of Schatz’s idea of a melodrama in which the hero’s personal antagonisms are resolved. Our film does not end with a resolution, instead it just shows the poor girl being hit by her Dad and calling her friend up afterwards for some support (which she doesn’t get as her friend does not answer the phone). Therefore our film does not stick to this particular aspect of the drama genre, rather it challenges it as there is no type of resolution at the end; the character is actually in a worse position than she was at the start. This idea of ending the film on the climax of the story is a convention of some dramas though, as it serves to leave the audience with a lasting impression on the serious and dramatic issue that our film addresses – child abuse and problematic relationships.
Finally, in relation to critical perspectives our film does adhere to some of the major ideas that are frequently used in many real media product. For example our film draws on Levi-Strauss’ idea of binary opposites – the inclusion of 2 characters, a protagonist and an antagonist, who are opposite in most characteristics, most commonly in films this is the hero and the villain. In our film we have the young poor girl who is the antagonist; she is the innocent character with whom the audience sympathise. In contrast we then have her abusive father – the typical villain of the film. Another critical perspective that influenced our film and makes it similar to real media products is postmodernism, in particular the theories of Baudrillard. When researching and planning our film around our stimulus of a crisis we were influenced by Baudrillards stress on the importance of signs and symbols in modern society, and how influential they are in the smooth running of society. In our film the symbol we focused on was that of money. Baudrillard would argue that money is merely a worthless symbol, and that it is just the value that we associate with it that makes it so important. In our film we reflect this idea as we show the contrast in two girls lives; one of the girls has plenty of money whilst the other doesn’t have much. Our film shows how different the quality of life is for the two girls, with the poorer girl having a much more depressing and deprived life, thus conveying that money is an extremely valuable symbol, not just in terms of finance, but the happiness it brings to those who have lots. On the other hand, there is a key convention of real media products, in particular those belonging to the genre of drama, which our film does not adhere to. This is Tordorovs idea of there being a state of equilibrium, disequilibrium, and then equilibrium during the film/narrative; the theory that the film should start with everything in order, then an event should upset that order and finally it returns to restored order. After researching different TV and film dramas we saw that this was usually the case (except for soaps as they were long running, therefore the drama must continue). However in our film the story does begin with an element of order, but at the end the we see a shot of the poor girl getting hit by her dad; the film finishes with no restored order or resolution.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)