evaluation

Different media codes and conventions.
My media project follows the codes and conventions laid down in standard media production quite loosely, although there are some conventions that are broken due o to the limits placed upon us due to the fact that we are only part of a small organisation. The first media convention that I followed was the use of fairly fast shots in quick succession. I found this incredibly useful for making my trailer more exciting, as when I tried using slower shots, it slowed my production down and made it less enthralling for viewers to watch An example of this is during the chase scenes where the action cuts from one chase to the next in a matter of seconds.. A second media convention that I hollowed was the building up of tension throughout my trailer. This was particularly useful for me as it allowed time to give the viewer some insights into the plot while still keeping excitement levels high. This was achieved by cutting fairly quickly between shots of different people and locations effected by the power surges. Focusing in on the hero from the halfway point also helped, as it allowed the audience to see him dealing with various hazards create by the villain, and made them wonder whether he would make it through alive or not. Finally, I believe not giving away too much information about the plot was another key media convention that I followed.

There are also some media conventions that I did not follow, firstly, action movies like mine tend utilize a large amount of special effects., due to the fact that we are a small college with only 150 students, I knew right from the start that it could be impossible for me to follow this convention. Another thing that I did not follow were the rules regarding the use of dialogue, most trailers in the action genre use very little dialogue in order to keep the viewers focused on the action, but I had to ignore this rule because it would have been very difficult to get the story of my trailer across otherwise.

I will now look at the decisions made with regards to the mise en scene for my production. For the scenes that took place inside the Blackmore corporation headquarters, I shot these in the point 4 ( the colleges newly built sports complex) the reason for this is that with its highly polished floors and modern design, the Point 4 looks every bit the corporate headquarters that required for this production. Another example with regards to this is that we shot the scene where the citizens are listening to a radio in an actual house to make it more convincing to the viewer. I adjusted the lighting ales of some locations in order to help them better serve their purpose. An example of this is when I slightly darkened the lighting values of the point4 in order to make it look more sinister. As I mentioned previously, I had limited use fo special effects, I did use a lightning effect at the beginning of the trailer however, in order to better illustrate the power station being affected by the villain’s plot.

I will now look at how my three projects work together. On the positive side of things, I believe that all three projects were very well coordinated, as all three kept a gritty, dark theme throughout. This was achieved through the use of fairly dark colours and text. Pieces of music that also helped to build suspense allowed me to continue this theme into my radio productions. The music that was used was fairly fast paced and fitted into the rock genre in order to get the action oriented theme across to the consumer. However, I also made sure that any usic I used also had a slight electronic feel to it, in order to get the science fiction elements of my trailer across to consumers. The only piece of music that I used that did not follow these tow guidelines was that slow piece of music that I used at the beginning in order to help build tension. I also believe that my website does a good job of linking all the promotional methods together, as it has more in depth information than can be found on the other two methods of promotion.

On the other hand however, the three pieces repeat a lot of the same information. I therefore think that it would be more interesting for the view if all three pieces of material gave out slightly different information. I also believe that there needs to be more links between these pieces of material, as an example of this, I believe that both my radio trailer and my film trailer should have a link to my website, so that interested customers can visit it for more information.

I will now look at the audience feedback that I have received as a part of my production. My video was placed up on YouTube, with a wide variety of people from both my home and college environment viewing it So far, 77 people have viewed my production. The feedback from here was mainly positive, with almost everyone saying they enjoyed it. Some people, such as my mum’s work colleagues, posted the link up on their Face book pages, meaning that I have likely had people whom I have never met viewing the video and giving positive feedback.

On the other hand, some people have given not so positive feedback. One said that some of the props I used, such as the cardboard gun, were too obvious. This is a problem that cannot be rectified, as I believe that it would be very difficult for us to obtain more realistic props. Comments upon the acting ability of the actors involved were also varied, but this cannot be helped due to the relatively small budget of the college.

I will now look at how I have used new media technologies in my work, starting with research. The main way that new technologies were used was through the Internet to gain ideas for my project. This is because I was able to view real life trailers and websites for real films in order to see how an actual movie studio would complete these projects. The two ways I used new technologies in planning my projects was using email to communicate with all the different parties involved, and using an online blog to record this plan. So that I know where everyone was up to. An example of the s when communicated with all the different actors in order to set up my soot at 54 Venn’s Lane In production and post production digital technology became incredibly important to m production. This is because I completed most of my production work using digital technology. This was invaluable to me, as it meant that I could easily go back and alter things if I made a mistake.

I am aware that there was a continuity problem with my piece. this is that the actors who play the agent and the guard also play the civilians listening to the radio in 54. Although this does not present a major problem due to the fact that the scene is shot in semi darkness it is something that I wanted to avoid. Unfortunately, this was not possible due to the fact that it was difficult to contact other actors at extremely short notice, meaning we had no choice but to use the people already available to us.