Evaluation - Question 1

EVALUATION ACTIVITY ONE: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (i.e. film openings)


Below are nine screenshots from our opening sequence, presented in the style of those on

http://www.artofthetitle.com/

Annotations have been made on some of the frames (the ones in yellow); these identify the features of the sequence which show conventions of the genre(s). (Click on the image to enlarge and read the annotations).

Our opening titles were inspired by those in Zombieland. We found the Zombieland titles interesting because the typography is bold and appropriate for the genre, and they are positioned and animated to look as if they are hovering on buildings, people, etc... (see below also)

We also took inspiration from the camerawork of similar films such as Shaun of the Dead and Scott Pilgrim Vs the World. Edgar Wright frequently uses quick cuts of this style throughout his films, including these and Hot Fuzz and The World's End. Edgar uses them for a comedic effect, as we have also; the sequence starts off with very fast paced shots to give an 'epic montage' - like effect, which is juxtaposed with an almost painfully slow shot at the end.

Character Conventions

Penny and Dory reflect typical gamer-girls as portrayed in film and television. Penny, in particular, reflects (of the same), Penny from The Big Bang Theory, in one episode when her character profile is flipped as she becomes addicted to computer-games.


Similarly, Dory's costume/persona takes inspiration
from the character Amy, also from The Big Bang
Theory.















Somewhat alike the use of female actors in The Big Bang Theory, we decided to challenge the typical convention of male 'gamer-nerds' such as Shaun and Ed in Shaun of the Dead. We feel that this successfully added an element of originality to our film.

Evaluation - Question 2

EVALUATION ACTIVITY TWO: How does your media product represent particular social groups?



Our media product only presents one particular social group. There are not enough films that present the alternative social group made up of 'geeks', 'gamers', 'emos', 'goths', 'hipsters' etc. Due to this we found it hard to find sources in other movies showing similar people to our characters.

Although our characters are presented as geeky, socially awkward game addicts, we did not go completely stereo-typical in the way we showed them.We conducted a survey and approached people we felt would like our movie. From this we felt we would take a much more realistic approach towards our characters and allow the target audience to relate to our characters.We have added in small stereo-typical elements within the opening scene to define the genre. Although we have used stereo-typical elements we have shown the alternative social group as nothing more than what it really is; Penny the lead protagonist is shown to be a Japanese culture obsessed gamer girl with many social issues, hiding herself behind her hair and her yellow Pikachu onesie. Dory however is presented as a 'goody two shoes' 'book worm' that in her spare time tends to be a little bit of a rebel and play video games with her friend Penny. Dory is shown not to have any apparent social issues, therefore we show two sides of the alternative scene. The issues that these girls have are real issues that people within this particular social group tend to have, therefore the audience can find themselves relating to either the main protagonist Penny or the sidekick Dory.

We also raise the issue of bullying within this social group and show exactly how out-casted the rest of society makes these people feel. When Dory asks Penny about having a house party she replies "Yeah, I could invite you, and........... never mind";This shows that People like Dory and Penny, who are in fact a representation of the alternative scene,  are taken for granted and pushed out of society like unwanted stray dogs. For this reason they stick together to allow themselves at least a small amount of friendship in their lives. The fact that we raise the bullying issue helps connect with the audience but also shows people who would not be considered of an alternative style how their small actions make this particular group of people feel. In summary we present the alternative social group as completely separate from conventional social standards; Unlike typical mainstream social groups such as popular girls, jocks etc. each person is completely unique.

Evaluation - Question 3

EVALUATION ACTIVITY THREE: What kind of media institute might distribute your media product and why?

http://www.universalpictures.co.uk/

http://www.hammerfilms.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twisted_Pictures

http://uk.eonefilms.com/home

Evaluation - Question 4

EVALUATION ACTIVITY FOUR: Who would be the audience for your media product?

This is an image that Kaitlyn drew to present our target audience.Our movie targets teens from ages 15-21, Male and Female. The ideal group we are looking to target is of an alternative style, most likely gamers, obviously lovers of zombie and comedy films, who are perhaps fans of films such as Scott Pilgrim VS the World , Shaun of the Dead and Zombieland.This social group could be considered as hipsters or even geeks. We feel that the selling point to this certain social group would be the fact we incorporate a lot of what these people enjoy e.g. games,comics,movies and even Anime. Their dress sense normally is influenced by the things they like, therefore a person that has a love for Anime and Japanese culture will almost definitely colour their hair much like the girl you see below. 

A gamer however will not care too much for their appearance, and will normally wear a simple t-shirt with their favourite game logo on it e.g. Borderlands, Bio-Shock, Dead Rising etc. This is typically the same for both Male and Female. Although the themes in our movie are primarily Male influenced, we feel that this would target more so the Female audience - This is due to the two main protagonists being Female within a predominantly Male culture and can also be deemed quite feminist also saying that just because they are girls does not mean they cant do exactly what a guy can do. Conventionally within the genre of the film, it would be extremely Male based with only the Female as the "damsel", however we have decided to switch this idea completely to create something much more original.

The girls within our movie are presented as very powerful, headstrong young Females that do not let others get the best of them even though they are severely bullied and have no one to back themselves up but each other. For this reason our movie could also target the emotional side of our target audience and become appealing towards the handful of people that may get bullied, perhaps at school.This may give them a little more confidence in themselves whilst also being able to relate to Penny and Dory. Due to our movie having a little touch of everything we have an extremely wide range to consider for our target audience. There is a lot of violence, however no gore at all. This could appeal to families with teenage children, whilst also appealing to the parents, due to the 80's and 90's retro game references.

Evaluation - Question 5

EVALUATION ACTIVITY FIVE: How did you attract/address your audience?


Ramona Flowers (Scott Pilgrim Vs the World)

Penny (Zomped) 

We have decided that Scott Pilgrim vs the World's main female protagonist, Ramona Flowers, is very similar to our  main female protagonist Penny. Penny, much like Ramona, is a sarcastic and out of place teenager that doesn't get very close to the people around her. Although Penny and Ramona are social virgins, only really liking males they are both are surprisingly skilled at fighting. Penny and Ramona both are extremely flamboyant in the way they present themselves, Ramona and her constant hair colour changes and Penny with her crazy costumes.However. Penny and Ramona are considerably different. Ramona, unlike Penny, is an intense romantic, interesting within the film and while both of them get on better with boys; Ramona looks at them as more of a romantic interest opposed to just friends

Evaluation - Question 6

EVALUATION ACTIVITY SIX: What have you learnt about technologies from the processes of constructing this product?

Evaluation - Question 7

EVALUATION ACTIVITY SEVEN: Looking back at your preliminary task (the continuity editing task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to a full product?








These are screen-shots of both the prelim task and the real opening sequence, we are showing how we have widened our variety of shots, improved the quality and added titles to the film. Below we have added information about how we improved between both of the films and what we improved on.

What we have learnt since our prelim task:

We have improved on the 180 degree rule on our opening sequence Zomped by making the shot closer so therefore clearer. The shot is when Dory and Penny are having a conversation when Dory walks in the room. Our amount of Camerawork and angles has been widened and more varied for example we have a close up shot of when Penny is playing the video game. We have also improved because we have added some match on action in the task to vary the amount of camera shots too.Our Shot to reverse shot has improved because we have done it with better angles so this time it wasn’t so hard to make also it makes it more flowing because the conversation is faster. For example when Penny scares Dory at the beginning of the film we have the camera at the angle where you can see both of the actors talk. We have a lot less continuity errors to our prelim task because we now understand more how to film and edit after on research tasks.We have learnt and expanded our knowledge on how to build tension and suspense because we know to use good music and light settings and scenery too. For example in Zomped when Dory is walking to the shed there is breathing and dramatic music and its dark outside too so that helps with the atmosphere.


We were able to emphasise with the characters personalities due to their realistic problems for example Penny having no friends.Our skills with technology when using premier have improved for example we have added titles and animations during the film to make it more like a video game.
We researched the genre much more in depth than the prelim task we studied the costumes, scenery and plot a lot more to make it more accurate for example we looked at our target audience in a lot of detail so we know what we have to base the film around.When filming we improved our location that is more suitable to the genre because we researched the stereotypical ‘gamer girls’ location which was in a bedroom playing computer games.Overall looking back at the prelim task we made the whole film better because we were influenced by films like Scott Pilgrim Vs. the world, Shaun of the dead and Zombie land.