Evaluation

Dead Man's Love:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBempkpo9Ow&feature=player_embedded

Above is the YouTube link to our final film product:

Ancillary Tasks:

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

Using technology in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages has allowed us to gain ideas, influence us and build upon the product. It is a very large advantage as these can be done quicker and information that is relevant can be found easily.

 When making our moodboard we used Prezi as it we collected images and words to show what our film represents. These images and words were searched and found from looking on Google.

 When we were looking for an actor to play the main role we used e-mail to message optional people as it was a quick way of communicating. On Facebook we also created a page on our film so people could comment on it and so we could gain feedback throughout, also this was a good way for the people involved in the film to communicate and we could keep a schedule of when filming and other events would take place, making planning easier. Youtube helped us search for films to watch so we could build on our own ideas for our product. Other ways the internet helped was to look for film reviews, posters and also films in general that were of the similar genre to ours.

 The equipment: digital video camera, microphone, etc...gave us the advantage of making filming, editing, deleting quick and easy to use, uploading footage onto computers too. We also used another camera which was owned by one of the camermen in the group which is of a high quality, this gave us the best focus and picture.

 Using blogger has allowed us to upload any new work we have completed, feedback and the opportunity to see each others so we know where we are going and what we need to do to improve.

3. What have you learned from the audience feedback?

From the audience feedback that we have already received we have gained different opinions which show a mixed response to our product.

 When we showed the film to our class, the audience didn't fully understand what was happening at times and agreed that the plot wasn't clear, but the camera work, setting and mise en scene was all good which is most important. Also we had the same response when we showed other people from the school when editing the film to it's final piece, the main problem is that the story isn't clear.

 Another area where we received feedback was when we uploaded the video publicly onto Facebook and had people responding with such comments as "hilarious!" and again saying the camera work and picture is great.

 From watching it ourselves we agree with most of the audience that the films work is good, but the script should have been written slightly better.

 The feedback we received for our poster has been mixed as some feel that the face should be split and some feel it should have two separate colours. Also, the colour of the face and how the eyes are positioned for example has been liked by some and disliked by others. We then changed our poster design to looking much more professional which we have gather feedback from posting it on Facebook, being more positive than the previous one, for example: "this is awesome!" 

 The magazine review was all positive feedback though which is why we are most proud of this. The audience have said that it looks very professional and matches the layout as the real one we used to influence us from the magazine. There is nothing we could change for the magazine review as it's had good feedback and we have made it as similar as we can do the real one, we don't need to improve this and feel it's as good quality as we could have done. With the target audience being similar to that of Shaun of the Dead, predominantly white males, teenagers and young adults.

2. How effective is the combination of your main products and ancillary tasks?

http://www.voki.com/pickup.php?scid=3824150&height=267&width=200

http://www.voki.com/pickup.php?scid=3824488&height=267&width=200

http://www.voki.com/pickup.php?scid=3824500&height=267&width=200

Above are the links to three voki videos answering the question with the text below.

We used the same clothing in all of them and the facial expressions too although they had to be slightly changed for effect. In the magazine we used images that are in our film, but we didn't do this for the poster because we didn't want them to look similar and also it would be interesting to see something which is more creative that hasn't been taken from the film. When I designed the logo using a graphics programme with the production name written on it, we decided to show this on our poster as they are shown on the real ones and also at the beginning of the film to show everyone who created it, but we didn't use it in the magazine as the real one didn't, so we wanted to keep it professional.
 We used the colour red for the titles in the magazine and in the actual film, but in the poster we didn't for certain effects reasons so it stands out. The film also used fairly dark lighting for effect, the poster is quite dark to show the mood of the film, but the magazine is different using quite bright colours such as yellow, blue and red to make it more appealing. We kept to using similar fonts in the film, magazine and poster so the title is recognisable.

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

The research and planning for our film influenced our work by showing us ways of being more creative with ideas and it helped us develop our product. Now that it is finished we honestly have agreed that we feel our product doesn't work because the plot isn't very clear for the audience and we may have tried to fit too much into the five minute time limit. I personally feel that looking back at it now, it would have been better to have been a serious film rather than involving comedy which is when the negative parts come in.
 We didn't have to research any films for plots as we had an idea about the genre being a horror, which then gave us the idea of Shaun of the Dead which we already knew about and so then decided to make it a horror comedy. Nothing that happens in the film as specific parts were influenced from research but instead our own ideas.
 When looking at an idea for a poster we looked at how real ones were laid out to understand the best way of  making ours not look too amateur. I had the idea of the main characters face as the main focus of the poster and then remembered the front cover of the film: Me, Myself and Irene, which is also a comedy. We used the idea of having the face split into two personalities as our character is half-human and half-zombie, so we decided to build upon this. Other posters we looked at for our research were all horror comedies: Shaun of the Dead, Scary Movie and Zombieland, although none of these were added into our final product. But eventually we changed our poster design and have something which is more serious and looks similar to that of the film, "Dead Man's Shoes."
 The magazine is probably the part of our product that we are most proud about because it looks very real. We used an Empire film magazine as research into how to lay out a film review and how to write the text. The finished piece looks almost identical to a real film review from the magazine which is why we're pleased with it. Text size, font, colour and images were all very important to research in order to give our product the best
chance of looking good.