Evaluation

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



My media product follows many of the main conventions of the period drama genre. I attempted to keep the pace of the editing rather slow, as is typical in all of the period dramas which I studied. I also chose to try and make my production appear close and intimate with panning shots over items important to the main character, which I was inspired to implement after watching the long panning shot across the young girls bedroom at the begining of the period drama Atonement.

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

I believe that the kind of institution that would distribute my media production could potentially be nearly every film institution since many do distribute period films of any age or subgenre. however with regard to the subgenre of my production being romance I would suggest a distribution company that is well known for releasing period drama's and has banked a reputation on this. I believe that an institution may be interested in distributing my product as period dramas are a niche market and that not that many are currently in production.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Having followed most of the typical conventions of this genre I believe that the audience for my production would be people who are over the age of 40, predominantly women since my production like many other period dramas carries a romance subgenre.

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

From creating this production I believe that I have come to use imovie more effectively than I previously could, since before I had only used it a handful of times. however now I understand considerably more about it and its many features and utilities. Also I believe that I have come to understand the functions and features of an apple mac in more detail as before I barely used one continuously.

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

From looking back at our preliminary task I would have to say that I have discovered several interesting camera angles which I can use to my advantage. Also I have learnt to use the camera more efficiently as at the begining of the project I was unsure of many of the cameras features and often took a long time to set up and use the camera.

Changes made whilst filming

During the course of my filming I found myself deciding to change certain aspects of my production. One of my first changes was to use a gramophone as a prop in the first few shots as I was lucky enough to acquire one shortly after I'd begun filming. One of the larger changes I made was to alter effectively most of the narrative by adding in a prop card reading "in loving memory" which altered the tone considerably since instead of walking out on her lover the main character was now getting over his death and going out to face the world. I also decided to reflect this decision by changing the title of my film to "In Loving Memory". In hindsight one thing I have realised is that the music I had chosen originally no longer matches the tone of the film.
Finally one other thing which I had to change when filming was the layout of the room I had chosen since originally I had wanted to place the desk the main character sits at against a wall on the opposite side of the room however from this position the radiator against the adjoining wall would have been clearly visable in nearly every shot. Which I felt would have detracted from the period feel of the room in the final piece.

Shooting Schedule

When creating my shooting schedule I had make sure that I picked days for filming when both me and my actor were free. Especially as both of us have outside commitments such as work and driving lessons.

I also had to be cautious of when I would be able to use the room I had planned for my filming so not to inconvenience any members of my family.

In the end I decided to film all the scenes with my actor over a 2 day period which means that I can leave the contents of the room set up over this amount of time. On the other days I intend to film the other remaining shots and finally to film my title sequence and the institutional shot.

Animated storyboard

StoryBoard

Questionnaire Analysis

From looking at the results of my questionnaire I am able to get a good idea of the opinions and expectations of my target audience and see how I can best integrate this in to my final piece.

The first question I asked was whether people would rather hear a piece of specially composed music or an authentic piece of period music. The vast majority of people (13/20) voted in favour of having a piece of period music and as a result of this I have begun searching for a relevant piece of music.

Secondly I asked people whether they were male or female in order to build up a picture of my target audience. The results showed that 14 out of 20 people I asked were female, while only 6 were male. From this I have determined that my target audience is mostly female orientated.

Continuing to try and build up a picture of my target audience I then asked how old each person was. The results of this question range considerably and go from 10-20 (years old) to over 60's.

However the largest age group which accounted for 25% of the vote was 40-50 with 5 people although both of the age groups 50-60 and over over 60 achieved 4 votes each. From this I can determine that the majority of my target audience is past the age of 40.

I then gave people a description/summary of two potential film openings which I had written and asked which of the two they preferred. The results indicate that 15 people (75%) of the people I asked preferred my first idea and I have subsequently chosen this as my final idea.

Next I asked which of four sub genres (Mystery, Thriller, Romance and Sci fi) they would prefer for a period drama. The results showed that 10 people (50%) voted for romance with mystery second, claiming 5 votes (25%). I have now decided to use romance as a sub genre as this also appears to fit with my target audience being women over the age of 40.

I then asked people what their favourite aspect of period dramas was. The results showed that the majority of people prefer the plot more than anything. Although "location" and "characters"

also proved popular and commanded nearly half of the overall vote.

After this I asked whether or not people would prefer to have a female lead character or a male lead character. The results showed that nearly three quarters (14/20) of people would rather have a female main character, with only 6 people (around 25%) who would prefer a male lead.

Finally I asked people which era they would rather see a period drama set in, The choices ranged from the 1830s right up to the 1940s. The majority of people (40%) chose early victorian (1830s-1870s) while 30% chose late victorian (1870s-1890s). The results show that the 19th century is the most popular subject for period dramas with the audience, The 20th century proved not to be as popular although the 20th century choice which gained the most votes (15%) was the 1920's. This conforms with my original choice to set a period drama in the 1920's.

For my film opening I have chosen to use only the one location the main character's (a young woman) bedroom. One such location I have chosen is in my house and I have already gained my parents permission to use it. However one of the disadvantages is that there is no wallpaper or decoration suitable for the period. Although a major advantage is that the room is currently empty and unused so I should be able to dress the room more appropriately and should have longer to prepare and a longer window of opportunity for filming than if the room were in use.

For the mise-en-scene I have considered using a newspaper and or calendar to reinforce the date and time period. To represent the main character (a young woman) I have chosen to have a wide range of photographs which the camera will pan across in order to show that the main character likes to keep memento's of her friends and memories etc. On the desk which the main character sits at I plan to various objects typically found on dressing tables such as makeup and accessories such as a hand mirror in order to exemplify that the main character is vain or at least conscious of her appearance as is typical in period dramas. Also on the desk I will now be placing a small card reading "In loving memory" to indicate that the main character has recently lost a close friend or relative (in this case her former lover).

Finally the last representational objects to symbolise the main character's relationship is a stack of (love) letters and a single photograph of a young man (her deceased lover). I plan to place both objects alone together on top of a table to indicate that the relationship was extremely important to the main character.

For non digetic sound I have been considering using a piece of authentic period music. Although concerns were raised over the issue of Copyrighted material. However now, having looked online at the UK Copyright laws which indicate that all pieces of music produced before 1923 are in the public domain and therefore copyright free At the moment I have found several songs that are both copyright free and representational of the era. Alternatively I could use garageband to create a piece of music myself however after investigating the program I was unable to find or begin to produce anything which I felt was worth using.

I had also originally planned to have just a single piece of music playing non digetically, however I am now considering using some digetic sound possibly in the form of the sounds made by a gramophone before introducing the music to give the appearance that the music is a record being played.