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

This helped me when shooting the film by keeping the camera still for a static shot or a still image needed. This equipment was also easy to use and was easy to adjust for different angles and heights. Canon camera I used this to shoot my film, the camera was easy to use and allowed for zooming and focus changes which was great, it also allowed me to review footage on the scene of the shoot so I could get better shots if the shot already taken wasn’t good enough. The shots came out clear and made the shots in the dark lighter than they were when shooting, which was a large help. Go Pro This camera was chosen not to be used as I did not need to use this as it would have not fit into the plot/narrative of the story I had planned the tripod and track with the Canon was what I required to create the effect I need for the film. Crane This equipment was not needed also as non of my characters had the ability to fly and I was trying to create a realistic gritty dark reality of superhero films and a crane shot would have been overkill as this is used I large budget superhero films such as Iron man and Batman and this is not the effect I wanted. Track This was used to create the opening to my film by keeping the camera still and doing on consistent motion. This equipment was just enough to create the tracking affect I wanted to create for the opening of my film. Blogger This was the website I used to track my progress and display my work throughout the year. I have used blogger before for previous tasks so the software was familiar and easy to use. I have however learned to do new things working with the technology such as labels and customize the layout, which makes it easier to find the work I have created. This site also allowed me to embed other work created on different media platforms such as YouTube and Slideshare. This website also allows me to update work at anytime which is useful as I can work on multiple things at once while uploading them to blogger. All these feature make it easy for people who view my blog to find what there looking for. YouTube YouTube is the site where I uploaded my product for my audience to view I also gave out links to a survey monkey questionnaire which allowed me to gather information on the product. I used this site because I am familiar with the site and the website has millions of users on the platform which means I can gather a larger audience which will give me better feedback. This platform also allowed me to embed my work onto blogger, which was also useful. YouTube also helped with research with me being able to view trailers of films like watchmen and Chronicle which where the main two films my product is based on. Imovie Imovie was the software I used to editing my product as it allowed me to detach audio so I could use it in different places. It also allowed me to use transitions, speed up effects, sound effects, audio effects and lighting editing. These all help me create my product it also allowed me to salvage clips that I normally wouldn’t be able to use without editing. For example a school bell ruined the audio of one shot so I used audio from another shot line synced the clips and the footage was saved. Adobe premier This editing software was available for me to use but I choose not to use it as t was unfamiliar and I did not need the special effects the editing software offered imovie offered the real life effect I was looking for when creating my film. SurveyMonkey This website allowed me to gather information on my own film and take the results of my audience and turn it into information I could see to see if my film had challenge superhero stereotypes. This website was easy to use and allowed me to create a questionnaire that people could use and find easily as it gave me a lot of options to distribute the questionnaire like email or Links.

Question 3: What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Draft 1: The first draft of my film was shown to friends and my teacher they gave me positive and negative feedback on my project for example most people said that shots and takes where longer than they should have been or rougher than they should have been. With this feedback I acted a made the appropriate changes although people did like the effects and transitions I had used. Draft 2: The second draft of my project was shown to my friends and teacher as well and I got more feedback, this feedback was more technical. This feedback was where people told me to tighten up editing and advance on my techniques. I acted on this feedback and created the 3rd and final draft. Draft 3 the final draft: the final draft of my film was where I received a lot of positive feedback although I did receive some negative which I could not act upon such as some dark scenes which I tried to fix but I could not and I could not reshoot because of time. Survey Monkey: The first question pulled in two people who where my target audience and some people above the age I intended to aim the film towards. Although I pulled 5 people to answer the survey the highest percentage that answered where my target audience. The following question showed that I got 3 males and 2 females with my film intended for males this was also good information to see as this shows that my film was attracting my target audience at least. There favorite films pulled mixed results with animation, thriller and other genres being chosen as there favorite film tis information will be useful as there favorite genre of film may affect there opinion of the film. The favorite genre question that followed was also there to gather information on the audience to see if it had any effect on their opinion. I asked whether the film felt like a superhero film the majority said yes but some said no this however is to be expected with my audience taking negotiated reading of the film but the results way in my favor. I then asked how dark was the film as my intension was to create a dark interpretation of a superhero film and the results also weigh in my favor with the results being over the half way mark, not everyone saw it as dark but the majority did which is a god result for me. I then asked what age group would you recommend this film to and everyone voted 18-24 years old which is my target audience and a perfect result. Unfortunately the next result did not go in my favor as I asked would you recommend this to a friend and people votd no more than yes this may be due to the fact that the people who watched it where over the intended age range and there friends would not appreciate this film. I then finally asked for feedback by asking to see if there was any improvements to the film that people wanted in the future if possible and people asked for better lighting and more devoted acting and some people had no opinion on improvements but from these results I will in the future make sure that lighting is not a problem in future films.

Question 2: How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary tasks?

My main product works effectively with my ancillary because my main product is a Superhero film when creating them all I had to make sure that all my tasks where connected in some way although this was easy with my choosing to create a film, magazine article on the film and a poster for the film. The ancillary tasks are used a promotional methods for the film itself. The poster will allow the audience to know who the actors in my film are and give incentive to their roles within the film and the location the film is set in. Magazine review this was used to attract an audience to watch the film, as this is to be read to incise the audience to watch the film because it gives a short summary of what happens and the feel of the film itself. The review contains photos from the films itself so the main product and the ancillary task definitely work together in that way. The review itself is based off the Empire film magazine review but is my own take. The theme for all three tasks was superhero because that’s the genre of the film that is why the poster is set out like it is with the characters in the poses normally seen in superhero films. The positions of the characters are also seen in superhero posters such as the marvel posters for the marvel films, this was because my ancillary task is based off the marvel posters, as they are iconic as superhero posters. The characters are visible in the poster and the pose they pull reflect on there characters within the film itself this tells the audience what there character type is and what role they may play within the film, the size of the character in the posters as well with there position also tells the audience how important they are to the overall film. But the color pallettes used are all consistent with each other so the audience can clearly see there all connected. This is also done through the number of colors and images that reflect the film onto the other tasks. I think all my tasks work and interlink with each other very well as they all advertise each other and link in theme. This is useful for my main product as the ancillary tasks back it up and give it more publicity for my audience to witness.

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

My media product was created to challenge the forms of real media products as my product was a dark interpretation of a superhero film although this has been done before with Watchmen and Chronicle which are the two main films I focused on when creating my film with the dark tone taken from Watchmen and the question of what someone would really do if they had powers taken from Chronicle. This is because in normal superhero films such as Batman and Superman use their powers for good and keeping civilians safe, Superman is a Boy Scout hero, which is a generic superhero personality. Batman however takes a darker approach to the superhero genre but he still uses his power for good and doesn’t kill. My product aimed to break these stereotypes and media conventions this is shown when the one of the heroes played by Meghan Kills Kira. There is also the fact f when I tried to break these stereotypes that my characters fell into another stereotype of the Anti-hero as these are heroes who do kill but do it for “justice” which is determined by them, this includes the Punisher and other hero as these heroes are not bad but good but they do it in a bad way. Although in the film I do embrace some generic media conventions such as having a mad scientist who give the teenagers powers a this is seen in a lot of superhero film such as Spiderman although he does not directly gain his powers from the mad scientist it is the scientist who experimented on the spider that bite him. My film develops characters over time like Chronicle whose characters develop over time. These character developments and generally used and seen in superhero films for example when Kira goes crazy from the overwhelming power getting to her this happens in chronicle as well to the main character. This is common convention seen in superhero films with characters not being able to cope with the power they gain. The same happens in Spiderman 3 once Spiderman gain the venom symbiote with drastic character changes. The same can be said for Patryk he decides to use is power for good which is what most superhero’s chose to do once they gain there new powers this is another convention I chose to adhere to. My film does try to challenge the technical aspect of superhero films though through the use of special effects, costume and editing as my film unlike most superhero films does not rely on my females costumes being minimalistic to appeal to the male audience and I chose to go for subtle costumes by just having my characters dawn masks instead of full body costumes as I tried to create a realistic interpretation of a superhero film. This is not normal done in superhero films as characters generally dawn a full body super suit but for my film I decided my characters would only wear masks in real life. The special effects I used do conform to the convention of superhero films as they are used to create the superpower of my characters that consist of super speed and teleportation these are powers commonly seen in superhero films such as the flash or quicksilver with super speed and Nightcrawler with teleportation all these heroes are commonly known and are in large budget superhero films. The editing for my film does also conform to the conventions with the slow pace editing at the beginning building suspense for the following film this is similar to the opening of Spiderman which is where I got the inspiration from with the scientist in his lab creating the formula that will create the heroes. The camera angle and shots used in my project also conform to generic media conventions stereotypically seen in superhero films although I have a few shots that are stereotypically seen in other genres as well. The opening camera angle is a low down shot that tracks the main villain this is commonly seen in superhero films such as Spiderman where the main scientist is creating the formula that ends up creating Spiderman I tried to achieve the same effect with my own spin. The camera angles used to create the opening scene are purposefully slow and controlled to highlight what the villain is doing but also to show that he is methodical and not panicked/in a rush, demonstrating how cold and calculating he is. The next main shot is the confrontation between Ryan and Kira this camera angle is a low and high shot this is to show power between two characters to the audience without establishing or writing it into the narrative. This shot is commonly used in action films during scenes of intimidation or intense discussion. These shots can be seen in superhero films such as Batman and his interrogation with the Joker the camera angle changes back and forth depending on the character that has the most power. This can also be seen in the next scene in my product between Levi and Ryan who have an intense discussion and the camera angle is slightly tilted in the favor of the character that poses the most threat at the time. The next shot is the stand off shot in the field this shot is commonly used in western films as it a transition from one opponent to the other in their stand off stances this is used to create tension between these characters and display this tension to the audience. This can also be used in superhero films with Captain America civil war for example with Captain America and Iron man standing off in the middle of the airport this creates tension for the following fight scene to come.

Retribution Magazine Review

Film Magazine Review Page Analysis

Magazine Review Page Plan

Retribution Film Poster

Poster Analysis

Josh poster analysis from Josh Woodburn

My Poster Ideas and Drawings

Questionnaire Results

Questionnaire for research on my film

The questionnaire was created to record my audiences opinions to see if my project filled the requirements I created it to fill. The questions are there because i needed some form in which to record my audiences results after watching the film.The point of the questions was to record data so i could see if the film met the requirements i had set it to fill. The results tell me that the film does meet some requirements but my audience have negotiated responses to the film. I have learned that my film meets some of my requirements wth some audience members but not others this may be due to the deeper messages I put within the film being misinterpreted by my audience. Next time I won't create such a controversial plot and keep it simpler.

Final Product

Second film draft

Film First Draft

Existing products (Kick-Ass)

In this post I am displaying films in my chosen genre that have ideas I want to avoid and borrow for my media product. They where created using Thinglink which is used by selecting the image which then allows the dots to appear on the image which displays extra information or extra images or trailers on the image.

Existing products (Watchmen)

Existing products (Chronicle)