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

During the process of constructing our film I learnt about many technologies. During the research section of our film I used google to collect information on the genre of our film and its conventions.

I also used celtx to create a script during the planning section of our film. This allowed us to create a successful script including stage directions with dialogue. This caused successful production of our film in the filming process as actors were aware of their placement within the camera and the dialogue they had to say.

I used blogger as a site to upload my work. This helped me communicate my ideas to the rest of my group as well as embed several forms of media such as images and videos. However blogger is internet dependent meaning I could only upload posts when connected to the internet.

During the production process of our film we used a panasonic hd camcorder. It was my first time using this technology however found the filming process simple as the camera didn't have many buttons or settings, perfect for an amateur.   

When editing our film we used final cut express. I had experience working with this software from our preliminary exercise which allowed me to understand how to edit our clips. Despite this I lacked an advance editing skill and struggled to add a red overlay to our film meaning I had to use a tutorial from Youtube to learn how.

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

Looking back at a our preliminary task we have learnt that continuity is harder to achieve than we initially anticipated with discrepancies across our film. Such as people that shouldn't be seen being present within the shot.

 From our preliminary excersize we have carried on with the use of match on actions and shot reverse shot. We feel these are strong points with us as they have worked well and effectively within our media product. We have gotten better at editing and our selection and variety of shot within our film.  

We have used several shots and techniques we didn't use during our preliminary exercise such as POV shots and post editing effects such as turning the screen red to further reinforce the illusion of the viewer seeing what the zombie is seeing. 

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

We decided to use adobe final cut express as our editing suite as it offers great functionality and ease of use for amateurs like us. This programme was easily picked up by out group and we all did some editing together which benefitted us.

 We used a small camera with a range of attachments which was great for us as we were on the move with all our equipment at once. We used the same small camera throughout and ran into no problems with it as it greatly catered to our needs or we would've reconsidered our choice of camera.

Other technologies aided the success of our camera such as the tripod which allowed for smooth pans and a stable base to operate the camera from.

 One particular good use of final cut express were the zombie's POV shot in which we used red colour correction to further the zombie effect. Another great example of final cut express's functionality was our green screen footage in which we told the program to ignore the green screen which helped add to the illusion  of a newsroom.

We used blogger as our online platform to post our work and document all our progress within the process.

Who would be the audience for your media product? evaluation

Our target audience was older teenagers and young adults, this is due to many factors including violence within our film, the actors costume and our dialogue. We aimed our production towards people with an already existing interest in horror, especially the zombie genre. Their lifestyle would be very much rushed and spontaneous which makes us feel that this product would benefit hugely from being able to be streamed online as well as being shown in cinemas, physical copies and digital download. With young people having less disposable income than the older generation online streaming is the best way to get our product shown as cinemas can be quite expensive.

Our pre research consisted of asking peers and sending a review out among them to gauge the sensibility of the plot and the possible success of the film. We also did a few interviews with members of the public to gather opinions for our product.    

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Film Screening Reviews

Film Screening Reviews 

We asked our target audience a few questions after we showed them our final cut of the film, they were showed it in a room with 5 individuals in. Each individual came from a different audience such as we had someone who was older, someone who was younger, someone who liked horror films, somebody who didn't like horror films and somebody who didn't watch films or movies often. This gave us a really good idea of what audiences our film appealed to and who it didn't really strike a chord with, when the screening finished we asked the audience some questions to get some more data and we are pleased to say that we got mostly positive reviews. We also asked these questions individually so that views could not be swayed by the more popular opinion of others as this wouldn't be a fair test.

Question 1:
What did you think of the film?
Candidate 1: Yeah I liked the film.
Candidate 2: It was alright.
Candidate 3: Yes, I really liked the film.
Candidate 4: Yes it was good.
Candidate 5: No I didn't really like it.
This question came out with a pretty good answer because we got mainly positive reviews from 4 of the 5 and only 1 person didn't like it, 4/5 isn't bad for  a first time film with a varied audience its been screened to.

Question 2:
Could you tell what genre the film was?
Candidate 1: Horror
Candidate 2: Horror
Candidate 3: Horror
Candidate 4: Horror
Candidate 5: Horror
This question had a unanimous answer which is always welcome especially with this because at least people know what genre our film is and if its recognised easily then we have done a good job at making the film.

Question 3:
Would you go and watch a film like this regularly?
Candidate 1: No.
Candidate 2: Maybe.
Candidate 3: Yes.
Candidate 4: Yes.
Candidate 5: No.
This question had a rather varied answer but was expected because we asked a rather varied audience who represent both those who like films like this and those that don't.

Question 4:
Would you go see this film?
Candidate 1: Yes.
Candidate 2: It depends.
Candidate 3: Yes.
Candidate 4: Yes.
Candidate 5: Probably not, no.
I would also consider this a good response from the target audience because 4/5 people still liked the finished product and for a first time film that actually quite an achievement. It's also really good because the genre we are trying to crack into is a very well used one so for people to like a low budget first time production of the same genre is amazing, people would used to be seeing high budget productions of this but still like ours. To me and everyone else who worked as part of JAMM Films that means quite a lot.

Question 5: would you now go and see similar films after watching ours?
Candidate 1: Yes
Candidate 2: Yes
Candidate 3: Yes
Candidate 4: YES
Candidate 5: No
This one was still a 4/5 answer but we expected that because even though we made a good film for a first time film, you can't change some peoples opinions on the subject.

Evaluation Question 4:Who would be the audience for your media product?

Media evaluation: Question 4 from mlsmedia