Evaluation 1

Evaluation Question 1 

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

My media products have used, developed, and challenged forms and conventions of real media products in many ways, as it is what I had to do in order to ensure my product looks original and professional, so that I was able to achieve a high quality product.

I used YouTube to present my final film product, I chose this as it is a website that allows you to share videos on the internet and it is accessible by anyone who has access to a computer device and has connection to the internet. By presenting it on YouTube it means that I will have the ability to have a large audience that will be able to view my product, also it can be shared, meaning that this can increase the size of my audience further.

The genre conventions are the conventions that would be things typically expected with the genre that I have chosen (war). Conventions are mainly genre-specific as the conventions will change dependent on the genre of the product. Some conventions of the war genre are; explosions and shooting, destruction and damage, and blood and gore. These conventions are associated with the war genre as they are seen within nearly all war films, and that is why they have become associated with that specific genre. An example of conventions within real media products are in the film 'Fury', as within the film there are the conventions of explosions and shooting (throughout the battle scenes and fighting), destruction and damage (in certain scenes where things are blown-up and destroyed), and blood and gore (in scenes after battles where the injuries are shown as a result). I also included these conventions in my ancillary products, so that the genre is easily identifiable and that it links closely to the other product.

I have conformed to these conventions within my product as I wanted to keep my product original and not to steer too far away from the traditional conventions of the war genre. I decided to do this so that the genre of my product will be easily recognisable to the audience and anyone who views it. Conventions evident in my product are explosions and shooting as there is a battle between the main character and the 'German' where there is shooting and also the use of an explosion when the 'German' throws a grenade. I have also used symbolic codes within my product too, symbolic codes are codes that symbolise the genre of the product. A symbolic code can be; mise-en-scene, props., or setting. A symbolic code I used was the costume of my actors as they wore military uniforms and helmets, which instantly connote war and danger, they are also symbolic to the war genre. I think that the forms and conventions that I used in my product work well, as they enforce the genre and also make the genre of my product clearly recognisable.

One thing that I did change about my product compared to professional media texts was the use of only two characters, as in real media texts, war films often focus on a group of soldiers as opposed to one individual soldier. I found that by doing this it enables me to have a more personal feel to the story of the product. By having only one main character, it allows the audience to focus on the one character and develop a sense of emotion towards the character, instead of there being a range of characters and the audience does not develop much emotion for any of them. The use of two characters also supports the main plot of my film, that he is all alone and has no way of getting help.

I was inspired by professional media texts and also the history behind it, as I am interested in the Second World War and this has had a large influence on my product. Professional media texts that I was inspired by were things such as; Fury (2014), Band of Brothers, and Saving Private Ryan. These media texts inspired me due to the way that they are filmed, the plot behind them, and the action sequences that take place. They also had an influence on my product, in terms of mise-en-scene, camera, costume, and props.

Sound

Sound

Track:
I sourced the sound for my product from different sites in order to gain a varied array of sound within my product. 

I sourced the music from www.purpleplanet.com as this site offered a wide choice of different musics to suit different needs and i also found that the music from this site was of high quality and suited the genre of my product, which is war.
When looking for sound I would download different tracks and play them over the footage until I found one that I was happy with and that I thought worked well with the footage and tempo of the product. The sort of sound I was looking for was one that had a military-like feel but also built up tension and had a beat that would fit in with the action taking place in the trailer.

Sound Effects:
I sourced the sound effects of my product from 2 different site as each site offered a large amount of choices which would suit the needs of my product, these two sites were soundbible.com and freesound.org . Both of these sites contained a lot of different sound effects that were helpful for my product but I only chose a few due to the length of my product and what i needed them for.

The sound of the tank was from a video i had taken before when i saw a tiger tank, this is helpful as it means the sound is right for the tank and is also the real sound for the 'tank' which i had used in my product.

muzzle flash

muzzle flash

In order to make my product more realistic and also make it seem more professional, i edited in some muzzle flashes for when the weapons were fired. These muzzle flashes allowed me to make my product more professional and also look of a higher quality to what it looked like before the muzzle flashes were added in.

An example of muzzle flash within my product

Adding muzzle flash enabled my product to have another sense of realism. It also worked well with the blow-back from the pistol firing as it made it look as if it was a real gun shooting.

Placing the muzzle flash into my product was a long process as each gunshot required an individual muzzle flash to make it look realistic without making it look comical. the end result of having the muzzle flash was good as it worked well, looked realistic, and helped to improve the overall quality of my product. 

Adding muzzle flash:
To add the muzzle flash I had to find a gif of muzzle flash on  top of a plain background (which would be cut out) so that I could layer it on top of the existing footage to achieve the final result. Once I had found a gif that worked, I saved it and imported it into after effect. Once I had imported it into after effects I removed the background so that all that was left was the flash. After I had done this, I placed the flash on top of the footage and placed it where it was needed as well as sizing it right, to give it a more realistic look. Then I had to time the muzzle flashes with the 'bang' of the gunshot, which took a while in once seen due to the rapidity of the gunshots. 

Genre and my product

Genre and my product

The genre of my product is war, but also has aspects of thriller within it.

he genre of war is clear through the use of mise-en-scene and sound. It is clear with the mise-en-scene as I have conformed to the typical conventions associated with the war genre.
Steve Neale says that 'Genre is the instance of repetition' this is relatable to my product as my product repeats those conventions of the typical war genre, which makes my product original.
by conforming to the conventions it makes my product's genre easy to identify and also recognise. Having the genre easily recognisable it means that people who like the war genre will be interested in my product as it is more of a conventional sort of war film, opposed to one that covers many other aspects and genres.

Trailer (Draft)

Trailer (Draft) 

This is the draft of my trailer, there are a few things that I will need to tweak in order to make my product look more professional and to improve the quality. 
One of the things is the overlapping of cuts, as some repeat due to the inaccuracy of cutting the scenes, but it will be easy to fix by fine-editing the overlapping cuts out. 
The main thing that I need to improve are the minor details and other things that decrease the overall quality of the product. These improvements will make my product seem a lot more professional and will improve the quality overall. 

Editing - Software

Editing - Software

Within my product i used a lot of editing techniques to achieve  the final product.
I also used a variety of different software in order to complete my product, by using these different softwares it enabled me to achieve a variety of effects, definitions and also allowed me to create a realistic looking product.

iMovie
I used imovie to achieve a basic edit and allow me to piece together the main parts of my trailer to be able to see the basic layout and timing of the product. I would then use other software in order to refine my editing and to add effects to the footage, such as muzzle flash.
In imovie I placed sound over the footage to see the different effects that each different music had on the basic product. by dong this I was able to find music that suited the genre and the tempo of the trailer and was able to use movie to place it over the footage.

Premiere pro

I used premiere to refine my editing and also achieve a higher quality of footage as it improved the definition of the footage, this made it look more professional. Using premiere also allowed me to fine edit the footage so that the cuts looked better and also improved the overall look of my product.

After effects
In after effects i was able to add more effects to my product and I was also able to add muzzle flashes over the end of the guns as they 'fired' this made my product look a lot better and even more realistic as without the muzzle flashes my product did not realistic, and it was easy to tell that the weapons were not real. With the muzzle flashes it makes look much more realistic and as if it is a more professional product.

Ancillary 2 Feedback (unfinished)

Ancillary 2 Feedback

I gained feedback on my second ancillary product, which is a film magazine front cover. I gained feedback from a range of people and from different age ranges in order to gain a varied response to my product.

I gained feedback by showing an audience my product and then asked questions in the form of a questionnaire, by gaining written feedback it allows me to see what has been said and it also makes it easier to recognise what to improve. Questionnaires are also a good way of receiving feedback as they are easy to produce and hand out to people, the data collected from them is also qualitative meaning that I am able to see and interpret what has been suggested.

The overall feedback was quite positive and it was said that my product looked well put-together and also professional. The audience feedback has helped me in seeing what needed to be improved, or what I could do to make sure that the product looks like a real example of a film magazine front cover. My film magazine front cover was seen to be effective at catching the audience's attention and also that it makes them want to see the actual film/product. I made my film magazine front cover make the audience want to see the product by having an 'action shot' of the main actor running as the front cover image, I did this as I thought by adding an element of action, it would make the audience intrigued as to what is happening and then they will want to see the product in order to see what is happening in the film product.