Final Film: Misguided

After recieving all of our audience feedback we edited it and went over the film various times in order to perfect it. This is our final film.

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

Our media product follows the stereotypical idea of a teen drama, the storyline is much the same as most other teen dramas with a serious twist that sends a message out to the audience. Teen drama’s such as ‘Mean Girls’ focus around the new girl who is evidently a smart girl, trying to fit in with the popular girls at school, to later realise that they were only doing it so they could make fun of her. This is much like our own, yet we have the added twist of things getting out of control and our main character, Fiona, being raped as a result of it. The opening of our film shows Fiona waking up and proceeding to continue with her every day morning routine. Fiona is portrayed as the stereotypical geek throughout the entire film. We first see this in the way she dresses and how she has an organised routine for the morning. Not only does she have teddy bears on her bed, but she arranges them in an order that seems planned. These act as the opening scene of our film, in the form of a montage as it cuts to her brushing her teeth, doing her hair and doing her work, to ensure that we would be able to fit it in with 5 minute limit of the whole film, while making it convince for the audience. We added longer shots of her walking out of her room, or collecting her work and starting her laptop up to break up the jumpiness of the multiple jump cuts within the first scene, to ensure continuity within the film was present throughout all of it.

Our film per the stereotypical teen drama includes a multitude of characters, from the geek to the popular girl. Fiona being the main character is the geek and Alice is the popular girl, who has large groups of friends and wild parties. Much like popular girls within modern films like ‘Mean Girls’ and ‘Wild Child’, Alice has a mean streak that makes her turn on Fiona and drug her. Other characters within the film also follow the stereotypical popular teen that drinks and does drugs at parties. The sense of control within the film is in the hands of Alice, who seems to have the last word with everything, including the drugging of Fiona, since she nods for Kieran to put the drug in Fiona’s abandoned drink. Rather than having a party at a club which would have proved difficult, the use of a house only added to the believability of our film since modern teenagers usually have house parties.




When deciding on how to create our film within the 5 minute limit, we decided that we needed to cut scenes down to make them more effective yet smaller in time, which is how we ended up using the cross cuts of Fiona applying her make-up and walking down the stairs out of the house. This intertextual moment was created after looking at familiar scenes from the film, ‘Wild Child’, where we are shown cross cuts of the girls getting ready and walking down the stairs. Using this sequence allowed us to create an upbeat scene of a girl going from a typical geek, to the glamorous party girl.

When we set about creating our film, our main target was to ensure that it would appeal to our target audience while conforming to the typical teen drama themes and ideas. Using the idea of peer pressure, we were able to both entertain and educate our audience, by sending out the message that drinking alcohol is okay if you are fully aware of what is in and you are among your actual friends, because trying to fit in isn’t really worth it. We were also able to create our film based on Richard Dyer's theory of Utopian solutions, allowing our audience to have a greater enjoyment when watching our film.

Evaluation, Question 2: How effective is the combination of your main product and the ancillary texts?

READS


As a group we intended to address how peer pressure affects young adults. Our film focuses around a typical geek, who gives in to this peer pressure to fit in with the popular kids at a party. I believe that our film addresses the situation effectively, getting the message across with the use of typical teenagers as the characters and a typical house party setting. Our audience is able to relate to the story, learning how easy you can be tricked once under the influence alongside fitting in with others around you.

When creating our film poster, we spent a lesson in the photography studio deciding on the best way in which our characters should be situated for the poster. We then used photoshop to transform the photos we had taken into our completed film poster. When creating the poster we realised that we needed a phrase that would represent our film, which is when we decided on ‘How far would you go to fit in?’ The phrase not only concludes the film as a whole, but it makes the audience consider the hidden message about peer pressure further. Our poster consists of reds and blacks, creating a horror feel to our film, which although that isn’t true the sinister message within our film is represented in the colours we have used. The characters within our poster are of our two key characters, Fiona and Alice. We considered using a photo with Chris also, since he is revealed as the attacker. The fact that Alice is standing behind Fiona with her hand placed on her shoulder allows us to see who is in control. Alice has a wicked grin on her face as she grips Fiona, who is looking off to the side, unaware of what Alice is doing to her.

To create our radio trailer, we used Final Cut Express, consisting of music, narrative and clips from the film. Our trailer allows the audience to get a better understanding of what our film is about with the mix of these three forms, allowing our audience to receive an authentic radio trailer. When creating the script for our radio trailer, we decided to intermingle it with the clips we were using from the film. The middle of the trailer grabs your attention when the narrator states ‘We all want to be part of the popular crew’ after a clip from the film states, ‘it’s a laugh you won’t regret it’ The mix of clips and narrative allows us to link together the idea that the main character is going to change who she is to fit in. The radio trailer progresses much like the story itself, with Fiona saying ‘no, no thank you’ to the drugs only for her to re-evaluate later saying ‘don’t be a spoil sport’ in between these two clips from the film, our narrator uses the iconic phrase for our film, ‘how far would you go to fit in?’ alerting the audience to the fact that trying to fit in has its consequence, which are shown in our film. This sinister trailer again may make the film seem like a horror, however it simply emphasises the fact that fitting in isn’t everything.   

Our ancillary texts are a very effective selling point for our main production, since they allow the audience to gain snippets of what will happen in our film. Our audience will be intrigued as to why we have put a sinister twist on our poster and radio trailer, making them want to see the film. The main link between all three products being our key phrase, ‘How are would you go to fit in?’ even if this is never said within the film, the storyline is based on the idea.

Evaluation, Question 3: What have you leaned from your audience feedback?

Evaluation, Question 4: How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

When creating our media film we realised as a group that media technologies were incredibly important. When deciding on what we would do for our film we knew that we would have to push ourselves to the limit when using the media technologies we had available to create the result we got. For the filming of our product we used a Sony HDV1000 camera and tripod. Setting the white balance whenever we changed rooms took up quite a lot of time when filming, we tried to film in bulks so that we stayed in one room at a time, making it less time consuming. Another time consuming aspect of using the Sony HDV1000 camera was the fact that we needed to adjust the focus for every shot. When we first filmed we didn't focus the camera so we ended up with a blurry background once we enlarged the screen. We had previously used HDV1000 cameras for our first year film, however this year we found ourselves recording in HD, which made the focus and white balance mistakes stand out more than the previous year. Our film also involves the use of a voice over, which we produced using a Zoom recorder. It was the first time any of us had used a Zoom recorder so we weren’t aware of how far away from the recorder we needed to be when recording the voiceovers resulting in us originally having a crackling version which we had to redo, causing us to spend more time correcting our mistake.  

The attention to detail needed when 
editing our film the use of the editing software Final Cut Express made the cuts and effect all the more plausible. Even after using the HDV1000 cameras to white balance our footage we found that some shots didn't match up with the previous one, mainly due to the fact we went from inside to outside. Using Final Cut Express allowed us to change the colour balance to allow continuity throughout the film. The white balancing effect on Final Cut Express made it easier for us to correct the colour matching the codes with that of a correctly white balanced shot. When we originally watched through our film footage we noticed that the focus wasn’t always correctly set alongside the white balance problems. When watching the footage back on the camera the focus bouncing wasn’t obvious, however when on the screen of the Mac, the focus bouncing was easier to see. This was something we couldn't fix using Final Cut Express so we had to re-shoot certain scenes to complete the collection of rough cuts. When we re-shot the footage, making sure we focused for each shot, we found that the spinning ring didn't have a barrier to it, so it continuously changed the level of focus, the spinning ring moved rather fast, so it was hard to find the right focus for shooting the scene. Some of our shots were also darker than expected when viewed on the Mac, resulting in us changing the colour on the shots once again; however this time it involved us doubling up the video footage, we changed the contrast settings on one of the frames which made the overall image lighter.

For the most part of our research for the film, we became reliant on the internet to help plan and compare out own film. We used sites such as IMDB to research the different types of films with the same genre of the one we had chosen, while using YouTube to view extracts from films related to ours. YouTube is also the site we used to upload our completed film to the internet, allowing others to view and comment on our film. When we originally tried to upload our completed film to YouTube, we found that the college had restricted the bandwidth for the internet, restricting us from uploading our film to YouTube, postponing our audience review stage. We used Facebook to gain feedback from a potential audience by showing them a rough cut of our film, before taking their improvements on board and making our film better.

When designing our film poster we all produced our own original idea before combining the groups to create our final design. Once we had settled on some ideas for our final poster, we used photography facilities within college to take professional looking photos using a compact SLR camera for our poster. During these sessions we experimented with the different type of photos we could have and how we could portray our characters through one single shot. Once we had looked over the photos and found the one we wanted to use that involved bits of everyone's ideas together we set one member the task of creating the poster due to her graphics background and extensive knowledge of photoshop. Our radio trailer was originally proving difficult to create since we wanted to make it believable while expressing our message. Once we had our script written, we set about creating the voice over parts we would use, by recording them on a Zoom recorder, like we used for the films voice overs. We also mixed in snippets of the film to allow the listener to get a feel for what will happen within the film without giving too much away. Using final cut express we were able to combine our voice overs, video snippets and copyright free music to create our final radio trailer.


As a whole the created of our film, poster and radio trailer, I believe they have allowed me to enhance my creativity as I was allowed to chance to create my own storyline for the final film, along with how to present ideas and films using images and sound as separate formats rather than both at the same time.

Evaluation, Question 1- In what ways does the media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Our product very much develops stereotypical forms and conventions of a real 'teen drama' film/television product. The storyline itself follows a typical teen drama storyline, as it has a underlining message; which teen dramas are mainly based around, ours is about peer pressure and the consequences of giving into it.

       Our Geek          Stereotypical Geek

From the very beginning our film introduces a stereotypical geek, wearing geeky pyjamas, reading glasses and pigtails. As the film goes on we are also introduced to some stereotypical popular kids with lots of makeup, long curly hair, fashionable. We write the characters to deliberatly conform with a typical teen drama character set up. We filmed in believable settings that our audience would be able to relate to, these settings are normal everyday household settings which are typically featured in 'teen drama' films.

Band Logo

Throughout the party scene we use original music by a local band called 'Scarlet Sunset' i feel that this music is a unique part of our film as we use different songs off just their album, this is effective because it holds the whole story together, and the rock theme behind it emphasises the house party that the film is set in, which again follows the conventions of a typical 'teen drama'. 

On a technical level i believe that we've used all the possible conventions of continuity and the language of film and editing. Continuity is particularly important in making a film run smoothly, due to having filmed on several occasion we have to make sure we had our hair and costumes the same every single time, we also made sure that we filmed at the right time of the day so that the lighting was right for the time of day. We made sure we stuck by the 180° rule, however in some parts of the party scene we broke the rule for effect. We also used match on action when cutting between different film shots, such as knocking on a door, walking in the door, and shutting it.(as shown in the clip below)
                                             Match on Action in Our Film

What is the 180 degree rule?

Editing of continuity, and
editing titles to the beat
of the music.

Furthermore, we used rhythmic editing in our titles editing to the beat of the music to again conform to continuity so that it was smooth and easy for our audience to watch.  However, when it came to editing continuity isn't something that was absolutely crucial within our film, as we used a very effective jump cut and cross cut editing techniques throughout a lot of the film.  We thought this was an effective way of showing passage of time as well as it being time efficient as we only had 5 minutes time limit for the entire film. (as shown in the clip below)

To avoid making the film too jumpy and hard to follow we made sure that we put in parts which were longer and have a lot of dialogue in order to shape the film.


Our Jump Cut Scene                                    Jump Cut Scene in Breathless (Godard, 1960)


Wild Child cross cutting                           Our cross cutting

This montage of cross cutting between getting ready and walking down the stairs was influenced by the teen drama film 'wild child', we thought that this sort of editing sequence would be upbeat and a great contrast between the conclusion of the film. This scene is used to subvert the expectations of our audience, in that they are made to believe that she's going to have a good time, shes going to meet new people and her life is going to be a whole lot better, however; this isn't how our film is concluded.

Our film creates a lot of audience pleasure, it follows richard dyers theory of entertainment and utopia.
Utopia is an ideal world, where people are transported when watching the film; Giving the feeling of what the audience lack.

If the audience are lonely, it gives the solution of community (lots of new people, house party)

If the audience are tired/exhausted, it gives the solution of energy(jump cuts, party scene)

• If the audience are Bored, it gives the solution of Intensity (high/low emotions)

Our main objective when researching, planning, filming and editing for our film was to involve as many conventions to conform with a typical 'teen drama', in order to both entertain and educate our audience about peer pressure and the possible consequences of giving into it and having the need to fit in with people, is it really worth it?

Evaluation, Question 2- How effective is the combination of your main product and its ancillary texts?

Reads:
Our intentions when starting the piece were to both entertain and educate our audience about peer pressure and the consequences. 

Throughout both filming and editing, I believe that we have included all the possible conventions in our main product in order to get across the message we were hoping.

We used close ups of alcohol and drugs and a combination of stereotypical characters and believable settings in the hope that our audience would be able to relate to it. 
 

We aimed to get across the idea that Fiona was in with a strike of luck and that she was going to develop a close friendship with a lot of new people whilst making it clear that she was a little nervous about being in a new situation, at the beginning of the film so that the ending it home harder when they realised that they guessed the ending wrong. 

Our film poster was initially designed and created in Photoshop and the pictures featured were taken in a photography studio to get the best authentic look possible. 

I feel that our poster strikes the right balance between shock and interest in order to intrigue our target audience.

The simple design is effective in that it gives the audience an initial insight into the characters, suggesting the hold Alice has over Fiona. (Hand on shoulder)

It attracts the attention of our audience, without giving too much away about the storyline.

In the studio we took a variety of shots, we wanted to get a picture which created the right vibe, we wanted to make Alice look cunning and Fiona look innocent. 

The poster directly asks the audience the rhetorical question ‘How far would you go to fit in?’ the pronoun ‘you’ makes it personal to every individual, therefore grabbing their attention and advertising our film effectively.

The colours used in the poster gives the impression of a horror/thriller, however our film is a teen drama, therefore making the film more pleasurable for our audience when they realise they’ve perceived the film wrongly. (Steve Neale’s Theory)

Our radio trailer was created in both final and garage band. In it is a mix of a musical sound track, important voice snippets for the film such as ‘here Fiona I’ve saved you some’ and ‘don’t be a spoilt sport’ and an effective female voiceover. 
 

When we researched into radio trailers we noticed that they all included a voiceover and snippets from the film, we wanted to make it sound as real as possible, so we featured these. 

Just like our poster, the radio trailer asks the same rhetorical question ‘How far would you go to fit in?’ the question is more effective in the radio trailer though, as the audience are directly asked the question rather than having to read it. This plants the seed of doubt, is it actually worth trying to fit in, and being pushed under by peer pressure, which was our initial aim. 

The mix of audio and voiceover is effective as the audio from the film gives the audience an idea of the storyline, whilst the voiceover talks directly to them, enticing the in. 

Overall, the combination of our ancillary text work well together in advertising our main product. 

The multiple use of the rhetorical question is the main link between the poster and the radio trailer.

Ultimately, the synergy between the three texts work brilliantly together, in creating one complete product, in both entertaining and educating our target audience.