Evaluation of Final Product

Christopher Chalk Media Studies - Evaluation of Final Product

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

In terms of my final product, I believe it uses and enforces multiple conventions from the Cop/comedy genre, focusing mainly on those from the cop films already on the market. I also believe that it challenges conventions in some minor ways which overall, add to the general dynamic of the product.
The first major feature my film contains that challenges real media products is its setting. Unlike most cop dramas/comedies which are set in large, well known cities where the audience can make assumptions on their characters based on this alone, my product sees the setting as a secondary school. This was an odd choice as the only assumption the audience can make is that my characters are all students or teachers, depending on their mise-en-scene and body language. I set my opening in a school as I believed it would be effective with the actors I had acquired, with them being young adults, I could build on the idea of a school having students monitoring the halls and add the conventions of hardened cop dramas into the mix to produce an odd yet interesting product which grabs a hold of the audience and intrigues them.
Another feature I decided to include in my opening is the addition of a love interest. A lot of the current action films will have a female lead that will create a sub-plot with the main protagonist which usually involves a relationship and this is not excluded from cop films. A number of cop films will have the main officer, presuming he is a laid back and non-serious officer which I have discussed in my initial ideas section will have a female who he is interested in and will pursue when not dealing with the main plot. This female is not always introduced in the first few scenes of the film, however I introduced her early so I could follow another convention, the main character being a smug and sometimes arrogant individual. It is close to the end, the main character known as 'Suraj' bumps into the female and while being polite at first, he is quick to show off and brag about his introduction into the school's safety patrol, regardless of being new to the school in a whole. Since I don't have a lot of time in the approximately 2 minutes my opening had to be, I wanted to make sure the characteristics of my characters were effectively portrayed, the main character being the focus. The interaction between a fellow student/love interest was the best choice as they wouldn't be an authority figure and it is often shown in other films that the character's true personality comes out when they are talking to a love interest.

During the product I have a shot where the camera follows the protagonist from behind, this scene is quite shaky and this was intentional. It was done like this to display his nerves as he walks towards the 'office' of the safety patrol as, in a number of other films including 'Rush Hour', we see that the camera is shaky in times of action or where the nerves of the character in the shot are very high. I used this so I could portray the character's feelings without having to make the focus of the shot his face or words, doing it via the camera covey's his feelings subliminally which makes it easier on the audience, allowing them to focus on other parts of the shot. I made the camera follow him from behind as it creates an element of mystery and surprise, often in films when they wish to hide the identity or the intentions of a character they will keep them in the dark and looking away from the camera as a form of proxemics and mise-en-scene, and while I have already shown his identity keeping his back to the audience portrays a lack of knowledge, it keeps his intentions with the safety patrol ambiguous, it could be good or it could be bad, to the audience his back being turned to the camera keeps it unknown and ominous.
In the same scene we see the door to the safety patrol, a big ominous black door again, creating mystery and a sense of the unknown. The sign is a low quality piece of paper and this was how it was meant to look. I frame it in the centre of the shot as my research has shown me that the important parts of the shot are best when they are the centre of said shot. The film is set in a school who would not have a lot of money to create and stick a high-quality and professional looking sign to the door, so the shoddy nature of the sign helps to convey this information to the audience, challenging the thought that every police department or in my case, safety patrol, has a large budget and works in a professional environment with a large number of officers or students like Hot Fuzz which shows a large police station filled with a large quantity of officers all with outstanding uniforms and a professional work-space. I do, however, frame a billboard to the right of the shot where certificates can be seen, I aimed to include these in the shot so it would look as the achievements of the safety patrol are clearly on display for everyone to see just as they focus on the awards in Hot Fuzz.
A convention of films based in schools, while I did not research them, I am aware that often in the class rooms the students often leave their class rooms in a mess, especially if they are going to be returning to the room, with their bags left over their tables and their seats un-tucked. Realising this I decided to add a sense of realism to my product and place some coats and bags on the visible tables in the class room scene. This lets my audience know that the base of the safety patrol is inside a class room and allows my product to follow more conventions helping build on the overall dynamic of it.
With looking through many other film openings to then talk about in my research I had noticed another convention. Many films do a few establishing shots to set the scene, for example Beverly Hills Cop, where they show the surrounding area before going into the main film, this is usually where the studios involved are shown as well as the stars and key employees. Following this I decided to start my opening with a shot of my main character walking along a path, which was inspired by the first shot of Hot Fuzz and I changed it slightly so it could turn into an establishing shot. I put in some example title credits as well as my main title. Knowing the title card usually comes after the scene is established I made sure to include it soon after the building was revealed. The title credits simulated the movement of the main character, coming in from the left and leaving on the right. When the shot zooms out and shows the title card, I make sure to position my actor in the centre of the credits, making him the centre of attention besides the actual title, and this is because films such as Beverly Hills Cop aim to show their title in an establishing shot, where the setting of the film is shown behind the title.
Another convention I have gone against is the personality of my main character, as shown in the first few scenes and the classroom scene he is shown as semi-serious but a bit laid back, which goes against the convention I found in a lot of films where if there is one main protagonist, he will be extremely laid back in the way he conducts his work, especially if he is black and if he is a solo act. What I mean by solo act is if in the film he does not have an official partner, examples of this is Axel Fowley (Beverly Hills Cop) and the black man in Rush Hour, while if he has a partner or is white he is often overly serious about work, e.g. Nicholas Angel in Hot Fuzz. My main character is not only alone, but black and breaks these conventions by being serious about his position. He, however, conforms to these when talking to his love interest, showing that he wants to act 'cool' in front of her but when in nature he is serious.


Question 2: How does your media product represent particular social groups?
My product is based in a school; this allows it to be representative of several social groups which I then narrowed to a few specific ones and focused on those so I could provide emphasis on them and bring those social groups to attention easier.
The first notable one is the main character, Suraj, who is Indian, so therefore is representing the South Asian social group. In my product he is shown to be a hard worker, dedicated to treating his position in the safety patrol seriously, putting a lot of effort into being a good officer. This is typical of Indians; it is often a stereotype that Indians are hard-workers, dedicated to their careers, attempting to advance so they can create a stable environment for their families.
The second social group I represent in my product is the upper-class, shown through my main character and the support character, Calvin. These both represent the upper-class in different, contrasting but yet some similar ways. Firstly, they both are wearing suits that display their authority above the other characters as it is typical for the upper-class to be dressed in formal clothing such as suits and ties as it is believed this shows their class without them having to say it. Suraj, the main character, displays the nicer, polite side of the upper class in which they act, what we could define as 'posh' where he treats everyone with respect and uses a high standard of manners which I display throughout the entire product. Calvin, however, represents his polar opposite of the upper class, the rude, arrogant and head-strong part as shown when he encounters Suraj and begins to make fun of him and the ambitions he has. His general lack of respect for the newcomer displays the side of the upper class that looks down upon everyone else, seeing themselves as the highest of the high and that no one except their peers deserves their respect and manners. His class also comes from the accent, speaking in a clear, to the point tone, not speaking excessively quickly, but not excruciatingly slow either.
I also represent the middle/working class in the film through the female and leader characters portrayed by Misha and myself. Our mise-en-scene, regarding clothing, shows that while we are adhering to the uniform standards of the school, we can not afford to have either full-blown suits in my case, or an expensive dress, female suit, or bag in Misha's case. Misha's prop, the bag, shows her class as it is often shown for upper class women to have designer handbags which are clearly different from everyday bags, which Misha is shown to own. This decision of mise-en-scene allows the audience to mentally profile the characters, assigning classes to each based purely on their clothing, attitude and accessories.
Gender roles and characteristics are also displayed in my product, focusing on men, as 3 of my 4 non-background characters are men. The first stereotype I adhere to is the fact that men enjoy power over women, displayed through the fact that I have a male leader for the safety patrol and when Suraj and Misha are talking she folds her arms, showing her becoming defensive towards Suraj at first and the fact that Suraj dominates the majority of the conversation. The height difference between Suraj and Misha displays an inequality between the twos sexes as it displays Suraj as having power over Misha. I also display the lack of equality of women in society due to the lack of women in the opening.

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

A Media Institution is a company who would distribute the film to the masses be that a big company like Warner Brothers or Sony Pictures or a TV network. The most appropriate institute to distribute my product I believe would be Paramount Pictures and this is because they are known for distributing and creating films that feature a lot of action, suspense and drama while also sprinkling a bit of comedy into most of the films or the films featuring slight comedy. This is appropriate as my product would feature drama and comedy and Paramount have in the past distributed other kinds of cop films such as Beverly Hills Cop and The Naked Gun which I have featured aspect of in my product and therefore believe with their track record, they to be the most appropriate institute to then distribute a hypothetical product to the masses. I would ask them as they are an incredibly successful institute and I would have no fear in the quality of distribution and advertisement. They would also distribute it in many forms such as TV, DVDs and other ways of watching the film, boosting overall profit as they have done this for previous cop films and on most occasions this has been a success.

They have a great reputation in creating effective, eye-catching trailers and posters for the film and I believe that this will help in the overall profit of a hypothetical film.


Question 4: Who would be the audience for your media product?

I would target my product towards the young adults, looking at ages around 14/15 to around 25/26. I would aim it at this range to effectively capture the right audience for the contents of my product, featuring strong language, violence and a certain key of comedy that would be refined to focus on the generation this audience came from, including references to past media products that the majority of their generation has seen. It is also typical for this age range to be interested in action films, especially cop ones, using the recent successes of films such as 21 and 22 Jump Street which is about a pair of cops as an example. This range is also efficient due to the nature of my film, with its setting being in a school the audience could relate to the events in the film with current or recent memory. I think that inadvertently it would be focused towards white males instead of females or people of coloured ethnicity mainly due to the nature of the actors and the events of the film, not featuring a great number of ethnic groups or events these groups can relate to.


Question 5: How did you attract/address your audience?

To attract my audience I made sure to have the first scene of my film build suspense and anticipation, focusing on creating a sense of mystery that will entice my audience into watching my product and keeping their attention so they enjoy and do not get bored and leave in the middle of the product. I displayed my main character, Suraj during the first shot to gain the attention of my audience, putting focus on a coloured person promoting the racial diversity and also capturing the eye of the females of my audience who would be interested in seeing the male star. I also made sure my soundtrack was ominous and enticing, creating interest in the product which is imperative in such a short piece but also important in major films so they achieve good reviews and create memorable moments.
I met my target audience effectively in my product by basing it in a school in which the audience could see similarities between their secondary education and the one displayed in the product allowing for the audience to relate to the characters and situations.


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

With the process of creating this product I picked up many key skills which are imperative to the successful filming of any product or film. The first is the use of a video camera, learning how the zoom option would affect quality of the product and how to use the camera effectively to create meaningful shots. I learned about my camera and the different recording options, using the best option for each specific shot to create the best atmosphere. I also learned about sound and microphones and the like, I did not use a specific piece of technology to record my sound; however the camera had an on-board microphone so I needed to learn how to use it and my surroundings effectively to get the best sound. I learned that it is best to record in closed rooms or small corridors as this would provide the best sound quality and the least background noise which could potentially take away from the quality of the product.

I also learned  key aspects of editing software and the computers I was using. In the editing stage of the product I found how to effectively manage the creation, using numerous shortcuts and settings to alter the pre-recorded footage and improve factors the original footage lacked on, such as sound or visuals. The creation of this product allowed me to learn how to effectively organise my footage and then how to use brand new software. Using Sony Vegas Pro 13 to edit my project caused the issue that I did not know how to use it, but after research and practice from the multiple drafts of the final product I was able to confidently navigate the software quickly and efficiently, using many different aspects of the software to create the best effect.

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

Looking back on my preliminary task I have improved and developed my understanding of many techniques and conventions of video recording. The greatest development from my preliminary to my final product was the element of casting, and how important it was to the film. In my preliminary I was not bothered about who I got to act so long as I got people who could work with me when I needed them, moving this up to the final product, however, I learnt that casting played a much bigger part in the dynamics of the film, being used to put forward key personality traits in a character and eluding to how they will act in the future.

Another factor that I feel I learnt is the proper user of proxemics. In my preliminary I had just put people where they needed to be so I could have them in the shot but going into my final product I learnt where a character should be placed in the shot to provide the best dynamics and to shift focus onto them, for example learning that if I want to create focus on a character then I would place them in the centre of the shot, if I wanted them to be inferior to another character I would place them behind the main character or off to the side.

I also learnt the importance of a soundtrack in the product. My preliminary was quite bland with only background noise and voices but transitioning into a full blown project taught me that to provide emphasis on certain events or aspects of the product I would need an efficient soundtrack that properly expressed the tone of the scene and properly portray the tone of the scene.

The fact that I decided to give my preliminary task a genre allowed me to practice for the main product and develop my understanding, but the genre of my final product was clearly defined within the 2:30 minutes because I had completed research and I now had a definitive idea on how to display and present my genre.