Tolga Media AS

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

Our title sequence in which my group and I created consists of the stereotypical conventions of a psychological war-based thriller, as for example the primary conventions of this particular genre are as follows:

Violence

Death

This particular convention was also included in our media product. A scene of a violent nature is seen through the use of mise-en-scene in our title sequence's final scene. With the mise-en-scene, there was a prop of a gun, and this gun prop was used during the death of one of the characters in our media product. I would say that as a group we develop this particular convention with real media products mainly because we have stuck to what you normally see in a psychological war based thriller film.

The involvement of two or more nations

As it is made aware in our media product, two countries are involved during the cold war; these countries being Russia and America. We portrayed and developed upon this specific convention through the use of the typography in which consists in our title sequence. For example, in each typography text, there is either a Russian or American font for each character based on what sort of role they are playing. I feel that what we did with this convention challenges the form of real media products mainly due to the fact that it is unusual for a film of our genre to contain typography text fonts of two different kinds.

Our title sequence features all of these particular conventions and I must admit that we successfully developed these conventions by the fact that we built upon them and in which consequently resulted in our sequence having a higher quality of verisimilitude.

In addition, the title sequence in which we created features all of the basic, primary conventions/criteria in which are usually found within title sequences. For example, we endorsed, text, music, & on screen natural footage. We challenged these particular title sequence conventions by the fact that we carefully selected and worked towards what sort of music, titles and text we wanted to be on our title sequence’s footage. The benefit of building upon the primary conventions of title sequences was that we was able to make our title sequence seem professional and of course a significant effect of realism.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The media product in which my group and I created represents the middle – class and predominately average male social group. I would say that our title sequence represents this specific social group mainly due to the narrative in which our media product consists of. For instance, our title sequence is set during the 1950’s and of course during this period of time the cold war was in action. The cold war connotes to the audience violence and of course conflict in which is occurring between both Americans and Russians; therefore our media product is an iconic representative of older teenagers/young men as during the cold war this particular social group were involved.

Furthermore, our media product represents our targeted social group in a fair, equal and undivided way. For example, as a group we decided to show both the American and Russian perspectives of the cold war. The purpose of showing both point of views is that our title sequence would become of more great importance as we would attract a larger range of an audience. In addition, the popularity would significantly grow due to the fairness in which we demonstrated.

Our media product does not target a particular ethnicity or religion as during the cold war, religion and ethnicity was not a significant factor in which was involved. Although the predominantly involved ethnicity during the cold war was white, we decided not to target solely this ethnicity as our title sequence does not entirely represent the white race. In fact our sequence does not target or represent any ethnicity at all; therefore as a group we represented a a middle class social group with no dependant on ethnicity.

Overall, I am pleased with how our title sequence represents our social group as we carefully decided which social group best fits into the category of our media product.

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

As a group we each individually researched into different film distributions and film companies. After researching into film distributions, we came across the ‘big five’ film companies. After doing relevant information on the ‘big five’, as a group we agreed that there were only three film studios/companies who were realistically able to distribute our film due to our high budget which ranges between the cost of $80 million - $100 million. Therefore as a group we knew that only either Warner Bros, Universal or Paramount could distribute our film, as they are the most popular and able media institutions who can distribute our film.

After a long process of research and thinking we came to the conclusion that Universal shall be distributing our film due to the fact that they are highly recognized and popular film institutions who have the appropriate experience to distribute big, great and high budget films. Universal have previously demonstrated the evidence in the past that they have produced and distributed big budget films in the past. For example, Universal distributed the film "The Incredible Hulk" in which had a budget of $150 million; therefore we had not doubt as a group that Universal would be the most ideal choice to distribute our film, especially seeing as they the necessary amount of money, and also the facilities ot distribute our film.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience for our media product is late male teenagers who are aged between the ages of 15-19. We agreed to have this particular audience as our demographic audience as they are the most suitable demographic to go out and pay money to watch a film which is about the cold war.

Our narrative also features a violent scene in which involves the shooting in one of the characters; therefore the most appropriate age range had to be 15+ as any age range below 15 would not legally be able to contain a scene of violent nature. The BBFC also claim on their website that any forms of violence is not granted permission or an age range below the age of 15.

How did you attract/address your audience?

As a group, we addressed our audience in a numerous amount of ways, but specifically we decided to attract our audience by making characters have a high sense of verisimilitude through the use of stereotypical 1950’s clothing (Trench coats, Russian style hats). I would say that by portraying the characters in our title sequence like this is useful as it connotes which era our film was set in.

Our primary target audience was male old/late teenagers aged between 15-19. We decided to address and attract this particular demographic mainly because they are the most relevant demographic profile to go out and watch our film due to our film being tied in with the theme of the ‘Cold War’. I strongly feel we attracted our particular audience mainly due to the fact that we used the most appropriate props in which we could find. Our main props being a classic, retro gun and of course fake blood in which seemed as original as possible.

The secondary target audience of our title sequence was once again males but this time aged between the ages of 21-35. The purpose of having this particular audience profile as our secondary target audience was the fact that they too would be the most likely to go out and watch a film in regards to the cold war. Furthermore, before coming to a conclusion on which audience profile we should target, i made sure individual research was conducted. The purpose of researching on an audience is that an individual can become aware and informative of a particular audience's profile and their preferences when it comes to what sort of film they are most likely to watch. As a group, we attracted our secondary target audience through the use of characters and props in which were used throughout our sequence. Of course, the props in which consisted in our sequence had a high quality sense of verisimilitude and this connotes the more realistic a sequence is, the more likely a particular audience are going to enjoy the film.

During our title sequence we also set up an iconic enigma, our enigmas being we made our audience wonder what will happen next, will the character eventually die? What was the purpose of the archive footage? All of course is revealed during the end of the title sequence. The inclusion of an enigma of course denotes an intriguing title sequence in which will leave our audience questioning. This of course attracts our audience, as they’ll be gripped with what’ll be happening next.

In general, I believe that my group and I attracted and addressed our audience successfully mainly because we carefully took into consideration what our audience like and throughout my blog as you will see I created feedback forms from our target audience. The benefit of feedback forms was that during the creation process, we were able to take on board feedback from our audience, in order to ensure we were targeting and addressing them appropriately and correctly.

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

I must admit that I especially have learnt a lot in regards to technologies during the constructing of our title sequence. As for example, I was assigned the role of ‘director’ and the primary filmmaker during the creation of our product. The benefit of being assigned this role was that I could not only film our title sequence but I also could become even more informative and knowledgeable with how the camera equipment works out. To film our media product we used a flip vide camera in which I must admit is a handy piece of equipment. I had previously used this piece of technology before, but not to its full extent.

In particular, I learnt how to zoom in and zoom out whilst filming for our title sequence. Although our final edited product does not feature any zoomed effect, I still think the fact that I learnt how use this particular effect was beneficial, just in case as a group we needed to use the zoom effect.

Furthermore, during the beginning stage of the construction of our media product, each individual was required to create their own blog, and I must admit that it was the first ever time I properly used a blog. For instance whilst updating my blog I learnt several things. These things ranged from uploading images to my posts all the way to simply hyperlinking information to my posts. In general, I am extremely proud with my blog and how it has shaped up. I have overall, over 50 posts which in my opinion is incredibly useful as each individual post represents how far we have gotten up to during the construction of our title sequence. All of my posts are of great significance and they demonstrate each process during the process of our title sequence.

Another useful piece of technology in which I have learnt is how to use the editing software during the editing process of our product. As a class we were given a particular lesson dedicated with how to use ‘Final Cut Pro’ and I feel this lesson was a huge success as I learnt a lot with regards how to use the editing software. Although I was not the primary editor of my group, I still believe by learning the basics of ‘Final Cut Pro’ was extremely helpful; just in case our editor of the group was having problems with issues, but fortunately everything went according to plan. I managed to edit one small particular scene, and I must admit I was pleased with the piece of the sequence I edited as it featured a lot of different editing techniques, like: Match On Action, Cross Cutting and a Shot Reverse Shot.

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

As a group, we each individually feel that we have learnt a lot during the progression of our title sequence compared to what we each initially knew from the preliminarily continuity editing task.

One of the main aspects in which I feel I learnt and improved heavily upon during the creation of our title sequence was the editing element. For instance, during the editing process of our continuity editing sequence, I was not informative and confident with regards to how edit properly. So for example, I did not even know how to add text; however during the editing process of our title sequence I felt confident about how to edit and use the editing software in which we used.

In addition, during the filming process of our continuity sequence, I did not know how to use lighting to a significant effect. For example, I was not aware of high key, low key and natural lighting. However during the filming of our title sequence my group and I in particular took into careful consideration how the lighting can be used in it’s most effective and suitable way. Fortunately the lighting in our final completed title sequence was used appropriately and to a significant effect. The lighting throughout our sequence was both high key and natural lighting. This of course connotes to our target audience that lighting was carefully constructed.

Another key element in which I can admit I made progression on was the cinematography element; as during the preliminary task, I disappointingly did not use a range of camera angles/shots and consequently this showed up whilst editing our continuity sequence (Preliminary Task). However when it came to brainstorming ideas for our title sequence, I made sure I got across how important cinematography is during any media film. Furthermore, when it came down to storyboarding our media product, we used a variety of different camera angles, some of these shots being: Close-up, extreme close-up, mid-shot, long shot, point of view and worms eye view. The benefit of using all of these particular shots/angles was that our product became much more professional, and of course a professional title sequence connotes to the audience in general, that behind our sequence was a professional team which resulted in a successful title sequence.

Overall, I individually learnt a lot of things during the creation of our title sequence in comparison to the preliminary task; and the benefit of this was that I specifically could make clear signs of progression throughout the year. On a final note, I must admit that I am very happy with regards to our title sequence due to the professionalism in which was involved. I believe each individual group member has contributed fairly within the group to help produce a successful piece of a media product. Of course during the preliminary task, we were selected in groups and this was of great benefit as I was able to gel with other team members in which became beneficial when it came down to the creation of our title sequence.

For the past week in Media my group and I have successfully managed to get a firm move on with the editing process on our title sequence.

On the last Friday before half term, we were required to show and present our title sequences. Therefore during our first lesson on Friday we consistently worked hard on the editing process. After our first lesson, we came back to the classroom and we were chosen to present our title sequence first.

I would say our first draft of our title sequence worked well mainlybecause the audience in the classroom provided us with postive feedback as well as some negative feedbck.

The positive feedback we received was as follows:

Our idea had a good concept

Our title sequence was well structured

The typography in which we used was releavant to our title sequence

In general our mise-en-scene was brilliant

The negative feedback we received was as follows:

Our editing can be improved

To shorten our title sequence

To remove unneccesary examples of cinematography

Explanation of the feedback we received:

Overall, the feedback in which we received was of great significance as we received positive and negative points in regards to our first finished draft of our title sequence. As a group we shall take the feedback we received on board mainly so that we can alter and improve on our first draft of out title sequence.

The negative feedback in which we received shall also be beneficial to us as a group mainly due to the fact that we shall take our negative feedback into consideration and based on the comments we were given we shall alter our title sequence!

However in general, I am pleased with the comments in which were given to us especially seeing as we now know how to improve upon our title sequence.

What's next for us as a group?

My group and I should now begin to continue editing our tilte sequence by taking into consideration the feedback we received. This week eaach individual groujp member should also be starting to think and brainstorm what we shall write on our evaluation. I personally shall be brainstorming within this week; and hopefully during this week I should be able to make a start on my evaluation on our finished title sequence.