Evaluation

Part 1- Brief

The brief that I was working towards to was to make an opening title sequence for a film. My title sequence is called Perks of growing up, I called it this because the film is set around a boy called Max who is about to have a sudden change of emotions, all down to puberty. The opening sequence starts off with footage of a random student, who is also preparing for her first day in secondary school. The scene then cuts into animation, telling a story of a sudden change, which for shadows the storyline of the movie.  The sub genre for my title sequence is coming of age/comedy; I choose these types of genre purely because it seems to be getting more and more popular with the younger generation, in regards to my research.

Part 2- Who would be the audience for your media product?

The target audience for our title sequence and film, Perks of growing up, would be between the ages on 12 and 20. The certificate of the film would be a PG as there would be quite a lot of inappropriate events that would not be suitable for children without parental guidance. I chose this certificate for the film by looking at the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) website and deciding from there what rating to use. When looking at the BBFC rules I looked more into the language and behaviour aspects of their rule book in order for a film to be a PG; it states that in order for a film to be a PG, ‘behaviour’ must not have any content of potentially dangerous behaviour which young children are likely to copy. No glamorisation of realistic or easily accessible weapons. For language, it should only contain mild bad language.

Our secondary audience would be families as it could be seen as a film for a group to watch and enjoy, as well as laugh and also get that feel good feeling at the end of the film which would bring families together and spread love between one another around the room. The reason that 12-20 would be our primary audience is because the comedy that is being portrayed in this film is that of which only this age group may laugh at because of the stage that there mind is at in the fact that older people above this age limit might not find the jokes that funny. I have not aimed my title sequence at a specific gender with regards to audience; I have tried to keep the audience open for both genders as I feel that both can and would enjoy the title sequence and film idea that I have created.

Part 3- What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

One of the many media institutions that may distribute my title sequence is DreamWorks. The reason in which I may use DreamWorks to distribute my title sequence is because they are the media institution that distributed the film Hotel for Dogs. Even though my film is a mixture of Hotel for Dogs and Dairy of a wimpy kid, I believe that it is more influence by the film Dairy of a wimpy kid than Hotel for Dogs. As we know DreamWorks have years of experience in distributing films for kids, such as Hotel for Dogs; this then is why I think that this media institution would know exactly how to distribute my film. Having researched further into DreamWorks, and their budgets when distributing films, I found that they typically focus on one particular genre and one specific target audience; they usually distribute movies for kids, where the genre is usually comedy or animated comedy movies that appeal to kids.

Part 4- In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

 The way in which my media product has used, developed or challenged forms and conventions of real media products is by the way that I have used genre as an economic strategy; genre as an economic strategy is where film industry is able to use and manipulate the genre, to gain money from the audience. In simpler terms, genre as an economic strategy is where the film industry may re-use props, settings or even story lines that have made lots of money. The way in which I have implemented this into my media product is by the way that I have used this process in adapting two different films, combining them together to make my genres narrative and the audience for my film. The way I had executed this idea and implemented it into my media product is by, using the movie Dairy of a Wimpy kid and Hotels for dogs; combining the two to make Perks of growing up. Using economic strategy is a full proof system for guaranteeing that the movie will capture an audience; as the movie idea has been based around two previous successful films, in Hollywood.  

In my title sequence I have used some of the main conventions that exist in real media products such as; the film’s title, information regarding mood and tone, information about the genre and introduction to the signature theme tune. The way in which I have incorporated these media conventions into my, media product, is through the use of the four micro elements; sound, cinematography, mise-en-scene and editing. In my opinion I feel that the sound and cinematography have played the two main parts in my media product, as they have communicated these conventions to the audience.

The way in which I have used these two micro elements to do this, is with the choice of sound such, as it is a fast pace, upbeat, cheerful music. When thinking of this type of music I tended to be stereotypical on which type of music would be associated with kids, as they are my target audience. I have used cinematography in my title sequence to give some information about the genre of the movie, and to bring in the element of characteristic, into my title sequence. For the cinematography, it is mostly the stop motion, animation that gives the audience some indication as to how old the characters are; as the title sequence is mainly animated, telling a simple story about a caterpillar that has a sudden change that turns into a butterfly. The storyline in the title sequence suggests to the audience, what the movies is going to be about; as the story of the caterpillar could be easily linked with the main character (Sam), and his sudden transitions into a teenager.  

Part 5- How does your media product present particular social groups?

When looking at the social groups that I have represented within my media product I can only think of one that could be seen as me representing, what is more of a group then a social group, in my title sequence. I think my representation of a group is the way in which I have represented children. The stereotypical image that is usually associated with kids, display them as immature, playful, full of emotions and love watching animation. In my media product I have backed this stereotype by the way I have implemented stop motion, animation, props and costume. The way in which I have presented these elements of cinematography and mise-en-scene, is by using props and costume that are usually associated with kids. Basing my title sequence on a short, simplistic animated story, would usually be found in a kid’s story book. These elements help me to represent my social group, as they are usually marketing for children. The costume also contributes to not only the representation of children but their stereotype; this piece of clothing is seen as a uniform that is compulsory for all kids to wear, when they are attending school. This help to develop a better visual of my social group, as it is compulsory for all children to attend school, up until the age of 18.

Part 6- How did you attract/address your audience? 

The way in which my title sequence would attract my target audience, as well as other audiences would be mainly through the use of animation and comedy. This would be the main selling point of the product as it is what the title sequence and idea for the film is about. I would still count on the comedy that would come from the characters in order to attract the audience to the film. But the main selling point of the movie is the genre ‘coming of age’; this genre opened up many possibilities, as every human went through the stage of puberty and teenage embarrassment. This then help my audience to relate and feel the same emotions, which the main character may feel. The title sequence itself is enough to attract the audience, as I have used catchy music as well as the design of the titles and the animation. I feel that the illustrations drawn, for the title sequence, would be enough to draw the audience in; as they would give the sequence that little bit of extra spark and originality.

Part 7- What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

There is only one main technology that I have learnt in the process of constructing my title sequence and that is final cut pro. This technology that I have learnt and that has almost been engraved into my mind, has been one of the most useful and detailed programmer that I have come across in my life. Final cut pro is an editing programmer for when you wish to make a movie, you need only upload your footage so that you can edit and piece it together like a puzzle. Some of the things that I have learnt about this new technology is how to add sound, add footage, cut footage, manipulate sound to your liking, and as well as that changing the visuals of your movie to how you want it to be. This may seem like small thing in which I have learnt about when it comes to a vast programmer such as final cut pro as there are so many things to explore, however one of the things that I spent most time learning and doing is adding footage, plus images to my title sequence, to produce stop motion animation; this is one aspect of final cut pro in which I have learnt most about. If I had to pick one thing out of final cut pro that I think I learnt the most about, I would defiantly choose the adjustment and speed of the music, and the placing of the footage plus images on the timeline, as I had spent the most amount of time editing, then shooting or taking photos; trying and succeeding to make everything run as smooth as possible.

What I have also learnt in this process about technologies is the importance that they possess with regards to production as well as post production and how important they are to the overall making of not just a sequence but to a film in general. For example I learnt quite a few times in this process that it matters that you get the right shot within a sequence, and that it takes more than one shooting, even two or three in order to get that perfect shot. With regards to post production I feel that without the right editing programme such as final cut pro, I wouldn't have been able to produce any of the work that I had done as it was that editing programme that allowed me to do such things that I could only imagine of. An editing programme and tools used play a very vital part in creating a good film and that most films in the world depend on a good editor as well as the editor’s programme that he or she is using. The examples that I have given above of the technologies that I have used to create my title sequence play a huge role in developing my title sequence, to what I had imagined it to be.

Part 8- Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

In my opinion I feel that the creativity, digital technology and research and planning were perfect and that it couldn’t have been any better for me. For my title sequence to have the element of originality, I needed creativity, in regards to the titles themselves and the title sequence as a whole.  I feel that my strongest point was probably research and planning as well as the use of digital technology; with research and planning I had to make sure that all angles were covered and, so that all questions were answered when it comes to the title sequence and filming, Perks of growing up. The one thing that I felt went wrong was the orders of the titles, in my title sequence. Unfortunately because I drew my title, so I could accomplish the effect I wanted to create within stop motion, I wasn’t able to correct them as they were written right next to the illustrations. I found that if I were to move any of the images, to correct the orders of the titles, it would completely mess up the story of the caterpillar suddenly changing into a butterfly.  The titles that I recognized, which were in the wrong order was the name of the film (which should have been displayed nearer to the start of the film) and the name of the director (which should have been displayed at the end).

The two things that I feel I have improved on, as the making of the title sequence has gone on, is the post production as well as the technology side of making the title sequence. Before When I had started editing the title sequence footage and images, I had no idea of how to use the final cut pro software or how to even add a title, but now I feel like I can accomplish anything with the final cut pro programmer; as my editing skills as well as my placement or titles and transitions skills has rapidly and greatly increased in the small amount of time that I had to create the title sequences. The way in which I had improved on each of these two areas was by putting in the hard work and extra effort is by, staying past the end of school days and making sure that I knuckled down in class; trying my up most hardest in order to bring the best out of myself and learn what seemed to be an endless programmer filled with tools which I had never come across before.

The things that I feel I have developed since I started thinking of ideas, for my title sequence is my editing skills, on images using a programmer called snap seed. This help me to achieve the best of quality editing on an image; by editing and increasing clarity on my photos, I feel that it gave off an original feel that I wanted to posses in my images. I also feel like my production as well as my post production skills have improved as within the sequence I captured every angle that I wanted to for the title sequence in order for me to place the titles in. In the post production I feel like I have developed my skills with editing dramatically, on final cut pro, as I had never edited before. I am now almost practically an expert in doing such things as I have listed. Out of all the things above that I feel I have developed and improved on, has to be the amount of hard work and effort that I put into making the title sequence the best it could possibly be. This helped me to demonstrate that I had gotten better at things I was not so good at, at first. I showed my enthusiasm to learn and develop my skills in order to produce the best work possible for the audience and for myself.