Evaluation

My evaluation used many different forms of media to answer the seven questions we were given, I feel that I have presented my evaluation in a variety of ways which is hopefully interesting and appealing to the audience!

My evaluation was too long to upload to blogger or Youtube but I have created a short mash up video which speeds through my final evaluation to give the overall feel of my presentation. My full evaluation will be uploaded to a DVD and reviewed given that it was 25 minutes. The evaluation process was very interesting as it allowed me to be creative in the way that I answered the questions, i tried to use lots of diversity within my evaluation so that it would stand out and convey the information in an engaging way. I used a variety of programmes and software to create my evaluation.

iMovie 

I used the editing software iMovie to create and put together my evaluation as I found this to be easier than using Final Cut Pro X. iMovie allowed me to record voice overs quickly and easily, instantly layering them over the videos which I found to be extremely convenient, I also liked how everything was on one time line, creating one long presentation for my evaluation.

Prezi

I used Prezi for my evaluation as this was an effective way of combining text, images and videos whilst looking attractive. The many different theme/ background allowed me to make each Prezi look individual - although I was wary of not using too many Prezi's as I wanted to keep my evaluation interesting and not use the same programme over and over.

Powerpoint

I only used Powerpoint for one of my questions but it allowed me to use images and text to help the audience visualise what I was referring to as I was talking on a voice over. I chose to write only small key point on each slide, and talk around each point in the voice over so that I was not just reading off of every slide, I also added images of the films and production companies I was referencing.

GoAnimate

I used GoAnimate as an introduction to one of the questions, this was very fun to use and watch I feel, as the dialogue between characters and animations make the subject more appealing, I followed my GoAnimate with screen recordings of GarageBand, Blogger, iMovie and my Camera/ filming equipment.

YouTube

YouTube was key in my evaluation as I used many clips and trailers from thrillers to illustrate my points, I then included voice overs to explain the relevance of these videos in regards to the question. The music I used on my evaluation was also from YouTube.

 Filming Equipment

Filming Equipment was vital in the construction of my evaluation, I used a    camera and tripod to conduct several audience interviews to gain valuable feedback which I commented on and reviewed within my evaluation, this was vital in understanding how our thriller opening, 'The Lady In Red' would be received.

References

I used Youtube to present some of the videos and music within my evaluation:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcjY-VN8_l4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qYGDUt0mTA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1TRJ9iYyx8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsDNmRF-E1c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZSHuFasA0c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6_o_eFpmxA

Finished Product

We have now completed our final thriller opening, we are very pleased with how it came out and I have been reviewing the whole process within my evaluation.

Here is the video of our finished product - The Lady In Red

Evaluation Process

I have been working on my evaluation for some time and have now completed my finished video, I chose to put my evaluation together on iMovie as I found this to be slightly easier than Final Cut Pro. Something that I struggled with over the evaluation process was the need to complete the questions in different ways, however I soon realised how much control this gave me over my outcome and I used various forms of media to create my answers!

The following image is my list of evaluation questions which I annotated as I decided what form of media I would use for each question. 

This image is an example of one of my scripts that I used,for some of my questions I decided that a voice over would be beneficial and I therefore scripted what I wanted to say before recording myself and layering my voice over clips and images to make my evaluation more interesting and appealing to the audience. 

I used lots of different forms of media throughout the whole process, from the blog to the evaluation, just some of the technologies I used were; PowerPoint, Youtube, iMovie, Final Cut Pro X, Goanimate, Prezi, Google Images, Free music downloads and many more. I feel that in using so many websites and software I was able to make my finished product far more diverse and exciting for the viewer. 

The following screen shots show the construction of my evaluation taking place, I found it far easier having my whole presentation on one time line as I could chop and change various bits of film clip and audio quickly and effectively. 

Editing Process (Final Stage)

This week our group has been moving into the final stage of completing and editing our Thriller opening. We filmed this week an extra scene which includes multiple angles to improve the overall quality of our film. The scene will be placed at the beginning of the film as a serious of mysterious shots to build tension and grab the attention of the audience. The storyline behind our thriller is that the Lady In Red is searching to find the murderer of her love interest, on entering the jazz club she sees the killer and precedes to shoot him. However we wanted to convey the reasoning for the killing and thus filmed an extra scene in which only the hands of the woman are seen, picking up and considering a photograph which is entitled "Darling Edward" 1939 , the affectionate term 'darling' connoting their affection - the following shot is of the hands bringing a newspaper into the shot containing the strap line "Wanted... for murder" connoting that the interest has been killed by the man in the accompanying photograph. The next shot is the hands ominously drawing a cross on the 'Wanted mans face.As the opening progresses the Lady In Red recognises the same man from the picture, who she then precedes to shoot. Our aim in filming this extra scene was to clarify this and build suspense when the two characters come face to face later in the clip. Apart from this extra scene which we have edited we will make some minor adjustments to any glitches, especially within the soundtrack before moving on to our evaluations!

The newspaper and photograph props we used required some time and thought, firstly I wanted to make the props so that they would appear to fit our 1930/40s theme therefore for the photograph I found a picture of an old relative and printed it onto white photo paper which I cut down to size to look like an authentic portrait photograph that the main character would be likely to carry with her. Moreover, I wrote 'Darling Edward - 1939' on the bottom of the photograph as I have seen in various photo albums to authentic and personalise the image, moreover this was an effective way of conveying the relationship between The Lady In Red and the man in the photograph. Furthermore, for the newspaper I printed an image of the actor who the lady kills on to photographic paper, I then printed a front cover from a 1940s newspaper to fit our genre and stuck the photograph onto the front cover. To make both props more authentic I decided to age them, I did this by staining the photograph and newspaper with tea bags and coffee which I felt worked very effectively.

The image below is the storyboard that I made for the extra scene that we filmed.

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

Within my evaluation I have been considering the representation of various social groups and consequently must consider who the target audience for my media product would be.

I believe that due to the representation of social groups within my thriller film, this would subsequently attract a particular target audience. Our target audience is ideally women between the age of 16 and 25 of  Caucasian ethnicity and of no specific social class, this is who we believe our key audience demographic would appeal to for numerous reasons.

Gender

I believe that our thriller, 'The Lady In Red' would appeal predominantly to women given our strong, powerful female protagonist. Our female protagonist would most likely appeal to women as typically women are often seen as the 'damsel in distress' within thriller films and usually have a minor role in the action, however our main character subverts this stereotype of gender hopefully appealing to women and feeling satisfied after viewing given this change from the norm of stereotypes. 

This example from 'Taken' is a prime example of the stereotypical representation of women within thriller films, Kim is presented as being weak, vulnerable, unable to defend herself and reliant on her father - the male protagonist, the total opposite form the representation of women within our thriller, 'The Lady In Red'. 

Equally, I believe our thriller would appeal to women given the genre that it is, our thriller is a crime thriller but takes on a film noir, 1930/40s Hollywood Glamour theme which has violence but it is not incredibly gory or explicit, stereotypically this would be more likely to appeal to females than males, although this is not always the case. 

Age

I believe that the ideal age group of our audience would be between 16 and 25 years of age. I have concluded this given the similar age of the actors and actresses used in our thriller which would hopefully allow our target audience to relate to the characters. Similarly, the age rating of our thriller film is a 15 given the strong references to violence and small focus on blood, therefore we believe that any one over the age of 15 could enjoy our thriller. 

Ethnicity

I believe that the majority of our target audience would be of Caucasian ethnicity due to the representation of characters within our thriller, however this is not definite and I believe people of all ethnicity's could enjoy our thriller film. Within our thriller the representation of race and ethnicity is consistent with the stereotypes of the genre with our main protagonist being Caucasian and our antagonist being African American - therefore I believe this factor could influence the ethnicity of the people who would want to watch our thriller film.

Social Class

Our thriller is not aimed at specific social class, I believe that our group was more focused on conveying the 1930/40's theme through elements of mise-en-scene  such as costume, than trying to appeal or attract a specific social class. However, if I were to examine the costumes with social class in mind, the audience could potentially assume that the characters are middle class given the men are all in suits and the women in nice dresses and so could attract a middle class audience who could relate to the characters, although I do not believe our thriller opening limits the target audience to a specific class. 

Examples of character costumes representing class