Evaluation Task 7 - Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Evaluatiion Task 6 - What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

I have learnt that different software’s can work together in order to create a successful final product. For example, Sony Vegas and Adobe After Effects are the programs that used in order to construct my final piece; as Sony Vegas was the software that was more orientated towards the organisation of scenes and clips, whereas Adobe After Effects is used for the look of the final product. For example, I used After Effects for the RGB distortion transition effect, I also used it in order to change the RGB colouring on the product, so I could make the colours look more ‘movie like’. I also used After Effects to create the typography for the final product, with the assistance of Adobe Photoshop. I used Photoshop to create most of the objects and the background of the typography, and then I used After Effects to do the technical aspects of the typography, such as adding the effects and text. On After Effects you are capable of incorporating the ratio aspects in order to enhance the resolution of the product (e.g. 720p, 1020p etc.). I learned that some programs can develop the final product significantly; however, they can be extremely difficult to use and get a hold of. Programs that are hard to learn and use also come with regularly updated plugins, which is beneficial as new plugins can add new effects to your work. However, these plugins can sometimes come in big files such as 1GB or even 3GB, and some plugins are not free and are expensive to buy and download.

Evaluation task 5; How did you attract/address your audience?

Evaluation Task 4; Who would the audience for your media project?

Evaluation task 2; How does your media product represent particular social groups?

We also tried to emphasise how much ‘next generation’ technology that teenagers use and within the first scene it is made Our product represents several social groups in today’s society. One of the main social groups represented is the teenage demographic consisting of ages 13-19. During our opening the main protagonist can be seen to be representing certain stereotypes associated with today’s youth. In the opening the character ‘Rakim’ can be seen playing a violent video game known as ‘Grand Theft Auto’ which has been criticised for its violent nature and explicit content. We believe that this suggests that the youth of today are constantly being exposed to violence in and around them every day and in turn is leading to a much more dangerous society e obvious to the audience that the character has a large television, game consoles and a high tech phone. This suggests that teenagers have almost unlimited use of technology and have almost become unattached to society as a whole choosing to stay in their own home rather than socialising outside, signalling that times are changing, almost as if today’s teenagers are becoming anti-social. Regarding Rakim’s costume we believed it was best if we captured the stereotype that urban youths are most likely to be dressed in tracksuits and dark clothing. We did this in order to reinforce common stereotypes for our audience before they had an opportunity to form their own, because as the opening carries on the audience are made aware of Rakim’s true character, leading to our audience having to reconsider their own stereotypes, in all suggesting a misrepresentation of urban youths in our society.

We believe that our thriller opening addresses the issue of peer pressure among teenagers today, as in one particular scene where Rakim and Ahmed are conversing it is apparent that Rakim is having second thoughts about carrying out the favour that Ahmed asked of which leads to Ahmed pressuring regarding a possible payment, it is also apparent that Rakim is slightly afraid of Ahmed. This scene suggests that among teenagers there is a social issue of peer pressure and fear of other opinions regarding their own character. As a result this leads to many teenagers being forced into situations that they shouldn't be involved in; often leading to issues which could have been avoided. We believe that this shows that our youth have self-confidence issues which lead to them being unable to stand up for themselves in certain situations, such as the issue that Rakim encountered in London’s Burning.
Regarding social groups we tried to make sure that the costumes we used were able to portray the image we were trying to put across to our audience. Both Ahmed and Saeed were dressed in suits. We wanted this to connote that the two characters were both of great wealth and intelligence, representing the upper class and almost elite like in wealth. It is quite obvious from the opening that both Saeed and Ahmed command some sort of power over Rakim who is not as fiscally secure as the other two, with Ahmed even offering him money to do a job for him with Rakim willing to do it. We wanted this to denote that the upper class/ the 1% have greater influence in society today rather than the general public. This is evident as Ahmed and Saeed were able to do their bidding, suggesting that the upper class profit from the work that the middle and lower class do We believed idiolect to be a pivotal part of our thriller opening. The various use of slang helped us to represent and cater to a much younger and urban audience. Throughout the opening it is apparent that all characters use type of urban slang as the following video is likely to identify.

Evaluation Task 1 - In What Ways Does Media Product Use Develop Or Challenge Forms And Conventions Of Real Media Products?

Our product uses conventions of the theme we have decided to use in many ways; a few scenes from our final piece can show that we did, evidentially use the convention correctly and appropriately. For example, the interrogation scene uses the lighting, props and correct camera angles in order to give an ominous and macabre effect. We used low-key (Figure 1), lighting in order to exclude the main characters surroundings which would raise fear for the viewer (if in the perspective of the character, point-of-view). We used shots and camera angles which were tilted and excluded a lot of the interrogators features; this was effective as this could cause the viewer to want to know more about this vague character. In one of our shots, we placed the camera by the ceiling in one of the corners of the room; this was able to create a CCTV effect in order to imply further that the current scene was an interrogation. Our mise-en-scene was also effective as it was also linked to the type of business that the characters were all involved in; for example, the scene where Rakim had to deliver the bag with unknown contents, to Saeed by the alley way next to the train station. Using this location for this sort of scene can successfully further imply that their business has to be conducted discreetly, which must mean that the business that they are in is illegal. Our media product developed conventions of real media by the type of editing that we used. Within the whole piece, we used cut transitions in order to speed up the flashback (which is what the first segment was before the interrogation scene). The use of speeding up the events that happened up until the interrogation can show our audience how the main character has got him into the predicament he is in. Furthermore, cut transitions allow more information to be shown to the audience in less time, which can prevent the opening from being slow and boring. In some of our transitions, we used a RGB distortion effect when switching from one scene to another one. This distortion can suggest to the viewer that the events being shown are all blurs of memory trying to be fitted together by the main character. 

Final Piece (Shortened)