Final product: IMPACT

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

The codes and conventions of a drama film are structured in a specific way in order to keep the audiences attention and make them become emotionally attached to the action and that is going on in the film and the character. We have structured our film like this by introducing the character first and explaining her feeling in a voice-over. We based this on Girl, Interrupted as the main character also had a voice-over. Both of the voice-overs show emotion and demonstrate the inner-feelings of both characters. Our story-line mirrors the introduction as Girl, interrupted such as the sad beginning to the film with both main characters expressing how bad their lives are.

Shot one (Top left):

This is an establishing shot which features in both films. Our media product's shot is of the school classroom in contrast to Girl, interrupted where they show a dark room. We decided to challenge Girl, interrupted as their establishing shot reflects the sad, dark mood of the characters and gives an incline to what the film's story-line might be. In contrast to this we decided to have a 'normal' school classroom with what seems to be happy teenagers which then allows the audience to feel shocked when the voice-over begins. 

Shot two (Middle):

This is the main title of our film 'Impact' and 'Girl, Interrupted'. We decided to make our title in black so that it would match the rest of our titles and also so that it can reflect the darkness that is depression. Girl, interrupted has a title which is in white. We decided not to use the same font colour as we associate white with purity. We felt that purity was not part of the codes of a teen drama therefore decided to have our title in black as we felt that the connotations fit better.

Shot three (Top right):

In this shot both our main characters are looking directly into the camera. In Girl, interrupted the main character is looking with a more blank expression whereas in our media product she is crying. We wanted to mirror this shot as it makes the audience feel connected to the character and it also allows for the audience to sympathise with them. We liked this shot as it reflected the codes and conventions of a teen drama as well. We wanted the audience to feel like they could relate to the main character therefore by having our main character starring into the camera it makes it more personal. 

Close up shots (top and bottom right and middle left) :

As you can see from the pictures we have use many close up shots of our main character similar to Girl, interrupted. We have shot our media product like this as we wanted the audience to get to know the character's straight away meaning that they could be more relatable. We took inspiration from Girl, interrupted as it shares many similarities to our film and we also felt that by having close ups it leaves the character feeling vulnerable and showing that there is no where to hide - just like she cannot hide from her feelings.

Music:

When researching the drama genre we found that most of the music that is used in typical drama films such as Girl, Interrupted and Kidulthood has a melancholy feel to it. The music used in the openings to both these films does not have lyrics and the tone of the music doesn't distract from the action happening on screen. The music we used was 'Boat Floating':

 The music used in Girl, interrupted and Kidulthood are 'Bookends' and 'The Angel'.



 

All of these instrumentals create tension subtly and add to the feel of the film. Music is important in teen drama's as it sets the tone for the film and allows the audience to feel more connected.

Costumes:

Due to Girl, Interrupted being set in a different time period to our film we wanted to take inspiration from another teen drama due to our film being more current. We took inspiration from 'It's Kind of a Funny Story' as this is again a teen drama focusing on teenage depression. We noticed that the clothes that they wore in 'It's Kind of a Funny Story' were casual and 'normal'. We noticed as well that none of them wore school uniform therefore made our characters members of sixth form. We wanted our characters to look as normal as possible so that they could be relatable therefore we kept costume and make-up simple. As you can see below the two characters in 'It's kind of a funny story' are dressed like normal teenagers and we wanted to replicate this in our media product. We wanted the costume of our character to still reflect a dark nature so the costume was mainly black.

Setting:

A typical teen drama setting is inside a school. We decided that we would have our media product set in a school and a home as these are the two main places that most teenagers spend their time. In .Kidultood's opening we noticed that many of the shots were filmed in a school therefore used this to develop the conventions of a teen drama and represent them in our film opening. Below are examples of the school setting in 'Kidulthood' and our media product: Impact.

Evaluation 2:How does your media product represent particular social groups

Evaluation 3: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why

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

Profiles of our primary and secondary audience. 

It is clear that the teenage girl is our primary audience as her photo is bigger than the adult profiles as they are our secondary audience. 























Birth Name- Chloe Woodford. 
Birth Date- September 24th, 2000. 
Home country- England.
Age- 15. 
Education- Moushlam high school.
Hobbies- Dancing on Wednesdays and Fridays, then Art at home and at school. Also Chloe enjoys going to the cinema with her friends and family.
Skills- Drama on Saturdays and Sundays at a club and at school. 
Religion- Atheist. 
Family- Father John Woodford 49, Mother Stephanie Woodford 47. Siblings Joe Woodford age 17 and Vicki Woodford age 13.

Birth Name- Stephanie Woodford.
Birth Date- October 19th, 1968.
Home country- England.
Age- 47.
Education- English degree from Canterbury Christ church, English teacher at Sandon high school.
Hobbies- Badminton frequently with her friends and enjoys going to the cinema.
Skills- English.
Religion- Liberal Christian.
Family- Husband John Woodford 49, children Joe woodford age 17 and Vicki Woodford age 13.

Birth Name- John Woodford.
Birth Date- December 1st, 1966.
Home country- England. 
Age- 49.
Education- Lawyer. 
Hobbies- Cricket and football with his friends. 
Skills- Cricket.
Religion- Liberal Christian. 

Family- Wife Stephanie Woodford, children Joe Woodford age 17 and Vicki Woodford age 13.

Evaluation 5: How did you attract/address your audience

Above we have a video of a focus group and a member from our media group discussing the opening. we also got a large group of people to watch it and took photos of their reactions which is shown below.

Here are some reaction images of film watchers:

 

The images above show a group of peers watching our film. Low light conditions are in place to make sure that students are fully immersed into the film. Reactions throughout were varied. To my knowledge none of the viewers had experienced depression or anxiety. This made them even more interesting to analyse. Whilst watching the film most viewers looked awkward even confused. This may be due to the lack of understanding of the concept. When people are unfamiliar with difficult subjects they tend to laugh or show amusement to express that they may lack sensitivity in this area due to, again, a lack of understanding. However, all students grasped the seriousness of the film and showed that they felt sorry and upset for the main character which was the desired effect.

 

Questionnaire:

A questionnaire was conducted in order to gain audience feedback here are the questions and responses we found:

1.    What did you think of editing and production?

Had a creepy vibe

Helped convey sadness of the character

Made film lean towards scary

2.    Would you like to see the rest of the film?

Response was 100% yes

3.    Therefore, was enigma present?

Yes, enigma was present

4.    Would you recommend the film to a peer?

Answers were varied. Whilst some students said yes many said it depends on the condition of the peer. For example, if the individual was suffering with depression they wouldn’t recommend the film.

5.    Were there any unclear aspects of the film that could be better explained?

Not much that could be explained other than the violent approach from the teacher.

6.    What could be improved?

Main character could smash the mirror whilst looking at it.

Ease in the subject of depression rather than hard hitting.

7.    Would you pay to see the film?

Most students said no.

8.    Was genre and subject clear?

Most students guessed that it was a teen drama about depression.

9.    What would be an appropriate age rating for the film?

All students agreed that 15 would be a sensible rating.

This questionnaire shows that most of the audience had an enjoyable experience whilst watching the film opening. One major factor I picked up on was the sharp entrance of the subject of depression. For this reason, if I were to re film the opening I would introduce the subject of depression slower so I wouldn’t shock the audience as much. I feel from the feedback given that the most enjoyed part of the film was the storyline and the enigma that the opening left the audience with. I was however quite surprised when the audience said they probably wouldn’t pay to see the film. After further investigation I found out that this was because the majority of the audience were not into this specific genre which made sense.

Survey monkey feedback 
I also conducted a online questionnaire using survey monkey below are the results i found. 

What could be improved?

After analysing the feedback given I feel that a few things could be changed in order to raise the standards of our production even more. Here are a few:

·      Subject introduction. As I said previously after audience feedback I would probably introduce the subject of depression slowly to reduce the awkwardness in the audience.

·      Increase target audience. Even though the largest target audience for cinema viewers is aged 16-21 I feel because our genre is so specific that we have reduced our audience. To increase I would maybe implement some possibility of romance and maybe even a slightly comedic mood to help transfer the true meaning of the film.

·      Dramatic and surprising actions. When reviewing audience feedback, I found that most picked up on the violent actions displayed without reason by the teacher. I also feel after watching the film back that this was inappropriate and that the misunderstanding of the teacher could be displayed in other ways.

In conclusion feedback from peers and an audience was positive. Most liked our film and said they would like to carry on watching and that they had a new and interesting experience whilst watching. As with most productions there are things that can be improved however I feel these issues are swamped by the positive feedback that we received.

Below is also a PowerPoint of what else could be improved.

Evaluation 6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?