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

Since we started making "The Watched" we have learnt how to operate lots of media equipment. The first thing we learnt was how to operate the video camera.  The photo below shows the camera we used. All of us had a small amount of experience with this technology.

We then learnt how too attach the Video camera to a tripod.                  

The tripod allowed to keep the camera steady and to get smoother shots. 

We also learnt how to use Final Cut to edit our film. We first learnt how to capture footage off the camera and then to select clips and build up a sequence on the time line. We learnt how to fine tune edits on the timeline. We also had to insert credits into our videos.

We used Garage Band for the sound in our film, but I had some experience on this program.

 

Who would be the audience for your media product? How did you attract/ address your audience?

Presentation

How does our media product represent particular social groups?

Our thriller opening represents the life of 16-24 year old men. The film consists of 2 boys walking on their own in a wood, splitting up and one of them being taken. With the title 'Watched' and the story line quite violent and thriller based the film would be rated as a 15. So the target audience would represent both men and women of all ages above 15. It would represent and be a typical stereotype of boys with a country lifestyle with very naive attitudes towards violence and kidnapping. This is what creates suspense and the unknown in our thriller as it is not expected to happen in such a small rural area.
The connotations of how the boys are dressed in simple country clothes, wellies and trainers and fleece's. Typical rural clothing.
The basic story line of the boys walking along the countryside keeps it simple and therefore even more thrilling and exciting when the action scene kicks in.
The soundtrack: The soundtrack makes a huge difference to the film. The genre of music can represent various social groups, as well as the age of people it appeals to.
Camerawork: The type of shot used in the film resented different social groups as the different angle resembled different peoples way of looking at things from their perspective. For example the point of view shot of the watcher in our film.

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

Here we are comparing our film to a proffesional film. We decided to compare it to Se7en as we can compare credits, shots and how the enigma is created. We used Final cut to edit pieces from our film, pieces from Se7en and voice overs from us so the viewer knows what we're comparing.

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

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

I would expect to see our thriller opening mostly on the internet. Youtube is the largest video sharing site with many other thriller openings that people have made. As our thriller opening is made on a very low budget with basic equipment, I wouldn't expect to see it competing for a place on cinema screens.

AS Media is new to us therefore we haven't experienced creating shots or editing before. This makes our film very unprofessional, we also are using our production team as our actors.

A production company such as '20th Century Fox' has an extremely large budget which they can afford to pay professional actors, producers and directors. They can also afford to use far superior equipment to film, edit and create scenes. This is why our film wouldn't be shown in cinemas or put on DVD.


You could also expect students to publish work on their social networking group as they want to share it with their friends on sites such as Facebook or Myspace. 

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