Media evaluation

In order to follow the conventions of a short drama film I researched into shots, music and editing of other similar dramas. I did most of my research on “Strangers” because it has a strong similarity to our film. The meaning behind the film is different but it evidences the conventions of a drama film such as dramatic music, quick shots when the tempo of film is heightened and some sort of conflict. We added these three conventions to our drama film. The location of Strangers is set on a train and our film has the same location so this helped me to analyse the shots from strangers and then use similar shots in our own film. One other element we tried to follow from stranger is the not having much speech in our film however we added a narration which isn’t common in drama. “About a boy” is one example of a film that uses narration however it has a subgenre of drama but would be classified as a comedy so using a narration could be viewed as challenging a convention of a drama film.



Flashbacks can be used in drama films and programs such as “doctor who” in places uses flashbacks and also “James Bond casino royale”.Flashbacks in dramas can often have less colour in order to show the audience the scene is from the past. We copied this method by removing the colour from the flashbacks. We attempted to keep continuity throughout our film. However we did slip up once or twice but did not have enough time to film again and felt these continuity errors had no major influence to the plot of the film. An example of one of these errors would be the two shot of the boxes when she shakes them and puts them into the bag. It’s very difficult to spot but the boxes are different but the shot is done very quickly and due to the shots been in black and white it is only noticeable if notified of the mistake before viewing the film.


We tried to create a film that would be satisfying to our target audience and create an interest throughout. We have done this using an interesting storyline and trying to portray this storyline using a Varity of shots that fit the criteria of a drama film and also using music to create an atmosphere and certain emotion in our audience. I think we achieved this by sticking to the convention of a drama film and also by creating a strong plot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHKtOSACV9A

In our project we wanted to achieve entertainment for our viewers through drama. We intended to do this using a dramatic storyline which captures the feelings of a girl trapped in a life of crime and to also show there is light for people in situation that seem out of control. Our film was hopefully made to portray a moral message to the audience and also entertain them at the same time. Our two advertising products were a radio trailer and a film poster.

I think the posters selling points are the simplicity of the poster. We decided to keep it simple and without a tagline just so it leaves the potential audience guessing. One of the main selling points of our poster is the title; we made it bold and large to stand out. The certificate is standard we decided to rate it a 12A because we feel the plot is more directed towards adults but there is no explicit scenes so a 15 to 18 rating was unnecessary. The starring actors names are on the poster this is a great advertising method if you have major starring actors because if an audience’s favourite actor is in the production then they usually are more encouraged to go see the film. We have put ratings from highly respected newspapers in order to influence more people to go view the film. This is a common method for low budget films as they lack in forms of expensive advertising. Finally the actual photograph on the poster, we used a watercolour effect to enhance the photo, which is not common in film posters, but I believe it helps our poster to stand out.

For our radio trailer we used the H4 zoom to record our narratives for the trailer and then used garage band to add music and enhance the sound of our trailer. The purpose of our radio trailer is to persuade and inform because we want to persuade the listeners to watch the film but also we have to inform them of release dates and the title so they know what there going to watch. We have taken lines from the film and put them on the trailer and added information about release dates to meet our two main purposes. Radio trailers are not the most popular selling points for films but are still often used as a form of advertisement. We have tried to stick to the main conventions of a radio trailer and developed in my opinion a successful radio trailer. This is the link to our final radio trailer. http://njjdproductions.blogspot.com/2011/04/interchange-radio-trailer.html

After creating our plot for the film we decided if we needed to include violence, bad language or criminal acts that were justified. This was to work out what in our opinion was the best potential target audience and after research into certificates and gaining the required information off http://www.bbfc.co.uk/ we decided to certificate our film around a 12. However the storyline is progressively complex at certain points which required us to aim at an older target audience. We then began getting other opinions from fellow students we did this by writing up a few basic questions about their interest in film and also their preferred genres. We recorded these interviews and then took on board their opinions. The interview can be found our blog. The sort of reaction we got from these interview were that our potential target audience would be interested in a drama film that has a 12A certificate but would prefer a 15 rated film due to the increase of explicit scenes which can often create more satisfaction to the audience.

In our filming we used various shots that would ensure the point we were trying to put across to the audience but the challenge was through the editing of our film. When we watched our film back before adding the current narration we found that our audience would find it a challenge to grasp the storyline which would lead to confusion and a lack of interest. This is when we recorded our narration to correspond with parts of our film. Throughout our film we have various flashbacks from our main characters life. We felt that the narration alone wasn’t enough to make it clear that these scenes were flashbacks from our characters past, so we removed the colour from each flashback. We added music at certain points of the film to illustrate that a key part of the film was about to take place.

After we had finished our editing and the whole construction of our film we asked for our audience’s opinion again. This time we used internet sites such as Facebook and YouTube to get feedback. These are a couple of comment we received from them which include praise and some healthy criticism.


We took these we comments into consideration and tried to correct any of the issues mentioned. However due to time of the hand in deadline we were unable to film again and dispose of the continuity errors but we need attempt to improve the sound. Finally we produced a recording of audience feedback which can be found at this link. http://njjdproductions.blogspot.com/ 2011/04/audience-feedback-recording.html

In our media project we used a digital camera to capture all of our action shots which enabled us to create a photographic story board to represent our film. We also in our research took photographs of the locations we planned to film at. We then used some of the photographs from our story board to create individual and group posters. Using Photoshop which the majority of our group are strongly familiar with we edited our own posters and then together created the final poster.

The video camera we used is called a V1000 which in my opinion was a very impressive piece of equipment which extremely helped add to the quality of our film. However we did have a couple of small issues with the camera, the first problem was the weight of the camera and its lack of flexibility but after a few hours of practice it became much easier. The only other problem was the sound recording. We dint have much dialog in our filming only in the form of voice over’s which we recorded using a voice recorder, but the problem we had was the little dialog we had sounded quiet on so to get around this problem we had to try reposition the camera and talk at a moderate volume. I was overall impressed more with the V1000 than the much smaller and less quality JVC-DV camera we used for our project last year but for some of our shots I think we should have used the JVC-DV due to the lack of space. When we filmed on the train we were limited to time and because of the size of the camera we struggled to position it in time for the correct shots that we required. This limited us to what type of shots we could use for this particular part of the film but we still got the shots we needed.

The third piece of equipment we used was a tripod. The tripod was used to help stabilize our shots but personally I believe it can at times limit shot types but for this project this dint effect us. Apart from that it is a light piece of equipment which is easy to set up. The two final stages were to record the narration to our film and edit it. We edited it using final cut pro which in honestly is one of my weakest categories the reason for this is I was not very knowledgeable about using it but after help from my group and tutor I played a much larger role in the editing on the project in comparison to past projects.
Finally we recorded our narratives using a H4 Zoom recorder which was mostly jasmines recording but after we recorded voice over’s for our radio trailer that involved most of our group recording parts. The H4 Zoom is rather simple to use in comparison to V100 cameras. It has a record and stop then a play back button which are clearly marked so we had no problems on this section of our project.
In the development of our poster we used photo shop to add effects and change elements of the photography.

Evaluation

Q1
To follow the same continuity conventions in our film as other drama genre films, I researched into the types of shot most frequently used, temporal editing, and whether the music matched the rhythm of the editing. These things were particularly important to focus on because they can play important parts in building up the tension often found in dramas, and also these features are frequently not carried out in an expected way in drama films, which also creates key emotions and the effects of awe. The drama films I researched, contained a lot of point of view shots and close ups. ‘An Education’ was one I researched that had good point of view shots and we copied some of these shots, including a point of view shot looking at a train ticket and a point of view shot looking at a text message, both from Holly’s eyes. Similar to the shots from ‘An Education’ because all three are of shots of significant writing in the films that the main characters see.











We also included a lot of close up of Holly’s face, and some of Harley’s face, our main characters. We filmed these close up shots, when we needed to emphasise emotions and create the tension of our drama genre film. In these ways our film reflects the conventions of the drama genre. I believe our film does challenge the usual conventions of drama film too though. In most of the drama films I researched, the time scale of the story was always in the present. I think our film subverts expectations, because we don’t focus in the present, most of our scenes our in the past and we use a non-linear sequence of events. At the start of each different scene, we used an establishing shot to set the scene, which are also conventions of the drama genre. When Holly is stealing from Harley’s house, we used rhythmic editing to quicken the pace to match the on screen action. This built up the tension in this scene that led up to intensity between the two characters.


Seconds 4:32 to 4:50 show this fast paced editing and intensity.

We tried to maintain consistent continuity throughout our film and obey to continuity rules. We used shot reverse shot filming multiple times throughout Holly and Harleys meetings. This preserved good continuity during our film and broke up longer shots so our audience would not be as disinterested watching our film. Shot reverse shots in our film were also a good way to shows the feelings of both characters on one subject. For example in the scene where Holly breaks into Harley’s house, the shot reverse shots between them, show how angry then shocked and disappointed Harley was, when at the same time Holly was apologetic and disappointed. I wanted our film to provide pleasure to our audience by entertainment through intensity and transparency. I believe we were successful in creating both the intensity and transparency. In the scene where Harley discovers Holly stealing from his house, there is this intensity factor which provides entertainment. Transparency is shown in our film, right at the end when our main character Holly chooses to face up to her problems and not run away, learning morals. I also think, like in Laura Mulvey’s Theory of Visual Pleasure, our film provides a mirror image/role model for people to admire to in the character of Harley Edwards.

Q2
One of the initial things we did was to gather audience research. This would help us with who our most appropriate target audience was to be. We asked a variety of people 10 questions about the genre of our film and generic conventions that they would expect to see it etc. We also asked questions on distribution, so we knew what would be the best way to distribute our film to the largest possible audience.










In our main project, our five minute short film, we were aiming to entertain our audience through use of an element of Richard Dyers’ theory, Transparency. At the start of the film our main character ‘Holly’ is shown stealing and burgling, an insight into how she has been brought up. Towards the end of the film, after Holly has broken into ‘Harley’s’ house and been discovered by ‘Harley’ the looks of regret and disappointment in herself are eminent. The film then end’s with ‘Holly’ not running away and returning to be truthful about her problems and confront them. This provides moral to our film and shows truth and honesty in the end. We also hoped to achieve entertainment for our audience by use of a positive role model. ‘Harley’ in our film, is the rich kid. He could be a snob, but instead without knowing ‘Holly’s’ lifestyle and background he befriends her. In the end ‘Harley’ also proves to be an influential factor on ‘Holly’s’ positive decision to confront her problems, he triggers this. His kind behaviour throughout the duration of the film could provide as an inspirational role model to the audience. We also wanted to achieve an interesting storyline that would appeal to our audience. We tried to achieve this by creating a twist in the story, where the close relationship between ‘Holly’ and ‘Harley’ is contrasted by the discovery of her breaking into his house. This provides intensity in this scene. I think our radio trailer, reflects the intensity of this scene in our film. We recorded script of ‘Holly’ and ‘Harley’ from the film to include that told both the most important and dramatic lines from our film, so that the audience would be intrigued. I think in this sense our radio trailer is successful at pulling our audience in and making them want to see our film. I think our radio trailer is also successful as it is professional, because we included all the mandatory features about our film our audience needs to know. We included release dates, certificate, and where the film will be available to view. Using script from our film and a different voice to give narrative and film information provided a nice contrast to our radio trailer and kept it interesting. Music in the background of our radio trailer also kept it from being boring and added to the atmosphere we wanted to portray of our film. I researched exsisting radio trailers which helped us know the features that were necessities and would prove positive to promoting our film.



I think the film poster we made to promote our film, would also be quite successful at selling our product. It incorporates all the necessary information again, certificate, cast, crew and film title. In addition we included rating from well known trusted resources such as ‘The Sun’ and ‘Daily Mirror’. High rating are often how audiences establish an idea of the film and cam base their decision on whether or not to go see the film on these. I think the water stroke effect we have on our promotional poster depicts the atmosphere of our film, giving audiences an insight into the genre of our film. I think our film is similar to films such as, ‘An Education’ and ‘Welcome to the Rileys’ where all the storylines contain the same features to try and entertain. All events going smoothly and then a twist to shatter this presence, but then the main character learns from their mistakes. Each story has a moral it portrays to its audience.














Q3
One of the initial things we did was to gather audience research. This would help us with who our most appropriate target audience was to be. We asked a variety of people 10 questions about the genre of our film and generic conventions that they would expect to see it etc. We also asked questions on distribution, so we knew what would be the best way to distribute our film to the largest possible audience. One question we asked was “what kind of features would you expect to find in a film about a teenage runaway?” People answered with statements such as family problems, romance, background stories etc. We tried to include those things in our film, such as showing how Holly has grown up stealing. Through our audience research we also learnt that more people would prefer to buy the film when it was released on DVD instead of going to see it at the cinema. Knowing this we decided to release our film onto iTunes, available to buy. Releasing our film onto iTunes, this would also mean that we were giving our target audience the best available chance to buy our film, as iTunes has the same target audience as our film has. During and before filming we decided to record a narrative to be used over the top of our film throughout its duration. This would ensure understanding throughout switching between our flashbacks and present timing to our audience. Using audience feedback we also learnt that using an effect would make our the scenes that were flashbacks more obvious too, so in editing on final cut we added filters to transform our flashbacks into high contrast black and white scenes. Our audience made further comments that this made the storyline easier to follow, so we improved on that following our audience feedback.











I think we also creatively selected music in throughout our film that reflected both the genre of the film and the mood we wanted to emanate. We used sad and slightly dramatic music for our title sequence. This fitting with the gloomy rain scenes featured and also was the first insight into our film genre. We also used the same music in the scene Holly breaks into Harley’s house, and we edited the music to fit so that the most dramatic notes was with the quickest edited dramatic scenes. Once we had shown our audience our finale edit of our five minute short film ‘Interchange’, we received feedback such as “the title sequence was very well edited” and “the storyline and concept of the film was believable and taught a good moral”. We think our movie would be understandable to a variety of different people and we don’t think it is culturally bound because it would make sense to all cultures.

Q4
New technologies enabled me to experiment with new forms of development that I would not have been able to do otherwise. Throughout the duration of this project I have used a variety of different new media technologies including Final Cut, Blogger, a H4 Zoom Recorder, Youtube, and a V1000 video camera. Using a V1000 camera and tripod, myself and my group filmed members from college of different ages answering questions.












This was our audience research which helped us make crucial decisions before filming; we used digital technology to then upload our filming footage, and edited it into a short video on final cut. We clipped our footage into sections, and used the text feature on Final Cut to add a question to the beginning of the corresponding answers. By being able to do this, Final Cut allowed us to be creative with the organisation of our audience research, and experiment with new and exciting digital technology techniques.













In addition to the audience research we did, to research generic conventions of the drama genre, I used the internet and Youtube. Watching clips of other drama films, I was able to note down some of the specialist features we should try to include in our film. Looking at drama films on Youtube, I was also able to take note on the shots they used the most. By using these new media technologies, I learnt point of view shots and close ups and long shots were most often used in drama films, so I knew I had to try and incorporate those into our film. We used Final Cut to edit our footage once we have finished filming. With this new media technology we were able to develop creatively and to our own desires and tastes. Our film contains a lot of flashback and swaps between different locations, which could have confused our audience. With Final Cut we were able to add filters and transitions to make our flashback scenes more obvious to our audience. Changing the saturation of our flashback footage to greyscale and then changing the composure and brightness would not have been possible without Final Cut. Deciding to change the flashbacks to greyscale was a creative choice made by me and my group, and Final Cut allowed us to be creative in that choice by offering the resources to do so. We could also be creative in our film because we were able to add music through a CD and the use of iTunes, another new media technology. We also added narration onto our film in Final Cut, which we recorded on a H4 Zoom Recorder. It used a basic push button to start recording and stop button to end the recording. There was also the option to playback our record to check we were loud enough etc.














Photoshop was another form of a new media technology I used during our project. I created a promotional poster using Photoshop, adding a filter, an effect, text and pictures. Photoshop defiantly allowed me to be creative, I could use an effect to achieve a sad dramatic feel I was aiming for, and I would rotate text to give it a canted angle appearance with an awkward feel.

Evaluation Question 1

I believe the continuity in our film was done to a correct and sufficient standard . Upon reflection, I believe there were slight continuity errors; although they were barely noticable, they still were apparant after we read our audience feedback. One example which was given was that when Holly runs away from Harley's house, the bag she ran down the stairs with dissapears when she runs out of the house. To rectify this we would have had to re shoot the shot, something which we did not have time to do. Moreover, there is a shot right at the start of the film where a man appears behind Holly, but in the close up he is no longer there. However, again it was barely noticable. These errors could have easily been corrected, they did not affect our films quality. We did not break any continuity rules however on purpose, as this did not fit with our films narrative.

Our film genre, being drama, does challange some conventions sof a normal drama film. For example, in my expirience, dramas generally contain adult characters, as adult characters provide greater depth in their character, more can be done with them compared with a teenager for example, the adult generally has more life expirience hence more to talk about. We see this with the 2009 film 'Uncertain' which contains two adults as its main characters. However our film only has teenagers in it, no adults are present at any time. Morevover, our film challenges the genre by the relatively happy ending we have, Normally in drama films, there is a sense of tragedy, revenge, or some sort of dark theme. Although our film does have some of these features (the main character is a thief), our films ending is resolved easily, with no complications. Most drama films end on uncertainty, you only have to look at the Italian Job which ends on a cliffhanger, even the original Rocky, where Rocky loses the fight but still gains pride, it's a bitter sweet ending, however our film is resolved clearly.

Our film sticks to drama conventions also, by having twists and turns throughout the narrative, tense scenes, and scenes of sadness, such as when our main character Holly breaks down and cries at the thought of her betrayal and the thought of living on the streets. This is also a convention of drama films, challenging issues within society, such as homelessness and having to thieve in order to survive.

I believe we try to provide audience pleasure, through the suspense and tension we create, in scenes such as where our protagonist burgles someones house, and the home owner catches her. I believe we do this very well, through rhythmic editing in the robbing a house scene, and also when we use shots which provide twists, such as the zoom on the photo which reveals Holly has burgled the house of her love interest. Also, I believe the audience gains pleasure from our ending, where everything is seemingly resolved. Moreover, we use aspects which support Richard Dyers theory of entertainement. An example of this is where Holly states she is a thief, why she is a thief and what she does to be a thief. This shows transparancy, she is being honest with the audience, not confusing them or being implicit in what she is saying, she is being explicit and telling the audience what is what at the start of the film.

In terms of the language of film and editing, we did use rhytmic editing at certain times throughout our film. This was used in order to create a dramatic effect, particularly in scenes where we tried to create an atmosphere of tensiom. An example of this can be seen where out main protagonist, Holly, burgles Harley's house. The eiting is slow as with the music, but when Harley comes home, the editing increases in pace, along with the music.

Evaluation Question 2

http://www.youtube.com/user/dan2105357?feature=mhum





This is my video answer to Question 2 of the Evaluation. The poster I refer to in the video is below

Evaluation Question 3

When given the original task and brief, it was important to carry out research with the audience in mind. We had to create a film that would be both interesting and entertaining, but also make it suitable and relevant to our target audience, teenagers aged 15 and above. As our film is a 15 certificate, we had to aim to include elements that would make our film a 15, therefore we used the bbfc website to research conventions that would guarantee a 15 rating. www.bbfc.co.uk/classification/guidelines/15-2

We also had to research conventions of a drama film, this involved watching drama films and clips from dramas to pick up on key elements. However it was important that these drama films were aimed at a similar target audience so we could be accurate with our films themes. One clip I personally watched is the trailer from the film 'Uncertainty' which helped me understand some conventions of a drama film. The film is also a 15 certificate. www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSC6jT8JYc

When filming and editing our film, we had to plan ahead so that our shots, when put together, would make absolute sense to the audience. Therefore we had to film the story in order as best we could, so that when editing our film it would be less complicated for us. Also, when editing the film, we had to use effects such as black and white on our flashback scenes, so that the audience definately knew what scenes were what. Also, we had to have a shot of Harley before the extra appears on the train, as without a clear shot of Harley, the audience may believe the boy who sits next to Holly on the train is in fact Harley, when he is just an extra.

The audience response to our film was generally positive. Below are examples of comments. A common theme amongst the comments was that the sound quality needed to be better, which I agree on. There are parts of the film where the film is difficult to hear, particularly the clips which have voiceovers. The sound is a little too quiet at times, however we didn't have time to re record the sound, something which I believe would have improved our production. Also, there were a few continuity errors, such as when Holly comes out of Harley's house, she is no longer carrying the bin liner that she had when running down the stairs. Although not too obvious, other continuity errors such as when Harley enters his house needed to be neater, as there is a time delay that wouldnt normally occur. This however was oblivious to us when making the film, as well as the bin liner miss, therefore the audience feedback helped us discover silly mistakes in our film that we needed to tidy up.

There were also good comments, the acting was praised, the music was praised and the choice of shots. The audience understood our film, and the overall the comments below are very good indeed, giving all our group a sense of staisfaction as we achieved what we set out to.

Evaluation Question 4

The process of constructing out film involved using a digital camera in order to capture our picture. The camera we used was a Sony HDV1000, a camera we acquired from college, which none of our group had ever used before. This therefore involved us learning how to use the new camera correctly and efficiently, as well as overcoming difficulties such as the transpirtation of the camera and the tripod we used, both of which were larger than the ones used in our first year production. The camera helped us capture our film in better quality, gave us more interesting clearer shots, and produced great sound quality which we didn't gain from our first year production.


To edit our film we used the editing software 'Final Cut Pro' available on the Apple Mac computers that we have available to us through college. This programme was the same as our first year production; however we used different aspects of the programme this time around. For example, we used the text input option for our title sequence; this involved making text appear on screen with the titles in order to give details of the cast and crew. We also used transitions and effects, such as the black and white effect, so our flashbacks became clearer to the audience.

When recording the voice over for our film, and to record our radio trailer, we used a H4 Zoom Recorder to record our dialogue. This was new to our group, as we had never recorded sound before. Therefore we encountered difficulties such as having to figure out how to balance the sound so everyone spoke at the same volume, at the right time and at the right to place, to fit in with the shots shown in our film, and to make our radio trailer seem both realistic as well as give the desired effect of drama. I believe we achieved both.

Whilst researching our film, I personally used the internet to search for films similar to the one we aimed to make. I used search engines such as Google and Bing to help find these, as wel as YouTube in order to search for clips from the films in question. I also watched some DVDs from home in order to research films similar to ours, for example I watched and evaluated a short film which appears before Pixars Toy Story 3.

In order to publish our work, we used the website http://www.blogger.com/, we used this to keep a record of our work, keep up to date with what we needed to do, and to publush our work for others to view. I believe this helped us manage our work effectively, as well as show others the interesting and complex expirience encountered when creating a film. Making a film doesnt just involve the actors and a film crew, it is a long process where everyone from health and safety to lighting play a key role in a film production, and I believe showing work helps put this message across. The website is extremely useful and one which I will use again without a doubt.

Evaluation

Critical Evaluation

1
There are many ways in which our film uses, develops and challenges the forms and conventions of real media products.
In terms of content, I think that our final product greatly reflects the conventions of a drama film, which is the genre that we decided our film would be. By representing both the idea of running away and romance in our storyline, both typical themes in dramas, our film deliberately fulfils the nature of the genre. By keeping the themes in our film specifically aimed at one genre, I believe that we will please our target audience.
By also keeping generic conventions in our film I believe that we easily provide audience pleasure. The easy to follow plot and clear theme within the film creates suspense, sympathy and shock within the audience, which are key to a successful drama. The idea that the two main characters, Harley and Holly, meet unsuspectingly and fall in love is a feature that is seen in many other drama films, such as ‘Derailed’ and ‘Cherrybomb’.

By using this element in our product and hinting at themes from other drama films, we knew that we would defiantly be able to reach a particular audience with our film.
In terms of editing and film continuity we have used this along with our knowledge of other drama films, to add certain elements in our final product that will make it easy for the audience to understand and pleasurable to watch. For example, we decided that our film was going to have a temporal duration, which contained flashbacks in linear order, showing the start of our two main characters relationship, up to its current point by the end of the film. Another film that uses this method of editing for example, is ‘American History X’ www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_b0-mMtp8Y .Also, we used black and white filters to tell the audience when the storyline is a flashback. By using Final Cut Pro to put together our final product we were able to easily and effectively do this. I believe that by doing this we add an extra depth to the felling of our final film.

2
Throughout the production of our main product, our five minute film, we aimed to entertain our audience mainly through the idea of ‘Transparency’, noted in Richard Dyers Theory of Entertainment. This means that we wanted to openly show the feelings of our main characters, Harley and Holly throughout our film, openly and truthfully.
At the beginning of our film the character Holly is shown breaking into a house a taking a large amount of money. This is an insight into Holly’s lifestyle. During this clip, Holly’s voiceover says, ‘ ‘I grew up with parents that didn’t care and didn’t want to know’’. This is a clear example of the use of transparency in our film, as it tells the audience openly why she may act the way she does. Our films other main character, Harley, is presented to the audience as a positive role model. His kind behaviour to Holly throughout the film, even when he is aware that he she had broken into his home, provides an inspirational role model and shows contrast between our two main characters. This contrast provides moral to our film as it shows two very diverse people from two different backgrounds being truthful and confronting their problems together. This difference in characters also adds interest to our storyline which is a positive outcome as we wanted to create and interesting storyline that would appeal to our audience.
One of the main parts in the storyline of our film is when Harley discovers Holly breaking into his house. This particular scene adds a great amount of intensity to our film which is another aspect in Richard Dyers Theory. When we began creating the radio trailer that would promote our film, we decided that we would use some of the script from this particular scene as a clip in the trailer because we believed that its intense tone would appeal to the target audience for our film. Because of this I think that our radio trailer is successful at pulling our audience in and making them want to see our film.
When listening to the radio trailer that we created as a group, I think that it sounds very well made and professional. This is mainly because we made sure that we included all of the essential features from our film into the information in our radio trailer, such as, release dates, the film certificate, and where the audience will be able to watch the film. By using voice clips from our film in our radio trailer I think that it gives the audience a preview into the intensity of our film. The music that we used in the background keeps the listener interested and adds to the intensity.
The poster that we created to run alongside our radio trailer in the promotion of our film I believe would also be very successful at enticing our target audience to want to see our film. Like our radio trailer, our film poster also includes all the essential features from or film that the audience will need to know, such as, certificate, cast, and film title. I think that the close relations between our film, radio trailer, and poster, is a very important as the audience need to be able to relate one to the other easily, to get a good understanding of our film.
I believe that our film is very similar to films such as, ‘Welcome to the Rileys’ and ‘Cherrybomb’ as they all contain a theme that we have tried to include in our own film, for example, the idea of running away, or a difference in character personality.

3
When we had first decided that we wanted to create a drama film, we began research by looking at films of a similar genre. This helped us to understand what generic features we should include in our film to ensure that it satisfies our audience. One of the main things that we found from this research is that most films within the drama genre tended to be linked with a sub or multiple genres, such as romance or action. It became apparent that we would need to include a subgenre in our film to give it a more interesting storyline and appeal to a wider audience.
One of the key things we found from our research was that a defining feature of drama films is the ending. The majority of films seemed to have a ‘’happy’’ or ‘’moral’’ ending. We made sure that in our own film we achieved an ending that would leave the audience satisfied after watching; this is when Harley forgives Holly, and Holly owns up to her wrongs, at the end of our film.
The final research we carried out before starting to film our final product was to a few people what they would expect to see from a drama film. The main three things we found people associated with the drama genre were romance, death (or a loss of some sort), and a happy ending. We tried to put all three of these aspects into our film to ensure that it would appeal to our target audience in as many ways as possible.
In the filming and editing of our production we needed to make sure that the meaning of our film would be clearly received by the audience. One of the things that I think makes our film easy for the audience to interpret is the use of black and white clips throughout the production, which tells audience when they are seeing a flashback.

This is another aspect that can be seen in other drama films that adds to ensuring the meaning of our film is apparent to our audience.
When we had finished our final product we asked members of the public, via http://www.facebook.com/ and http://www.youtube.com/, to comment on what they thought of the film.

When we looked over the comments that we had received, we found that we had got mainly a female response. This indicates that our film had appealed more to this audience than a male one. As we had included romance as a sub-genre in our film we expected that we would see a more female response. Our decision to add romance into our storyline came from finding that it was a common factor of most drama films in our research.
Overall, the comments that our film received were mainly positive. The one thing that people thought could have been better with the final production was the volume and clarity of the voice overs. We looked into making our voice overs louder and clearer in the final edit of our film, and also making the background noise quieter.


4
Throughout the production of our film we used a range of new media technologies to help us creatively research, plan and produce our final product.
During the initial research for our film we used the internet to firstly create an online blog, to use as a base for documenting the making of our film, and secondly to gain information needed throughout the development towards our final product.
To create our blog we used the website http://www.blogger.com/ which helped us to easily document the research and production of our film. By putting our work onto the blog throughout the making of our film we were able to add each piece of film research, poster research, audience feedback, etc., neatly to our blog page in a way that will show how we methodically planned and worked through the creation of our film.
When gaining the information needed for the research we carried out before making our film we also used the internet. Websites such as http://www.youtube.com/ helped us to view other short films and films with the same genre as ours, and http://www.bbfc.co.uk/ allowed us to look into the certification and release of films like ours. This large use of a new media technology has greatly enabled us to creatively and efficiently find research for, and construct, our final product.
When creating the final outcomes for our project, such as our film and radio trailer, we used two different types of new media technologies. These were the HDV 1000 video cameras we used to capture our film and the H4 zoom recorder we used to record the voice overs on our film and radio trailer. Both these pieces of equipment, having used them in our previous projects, were easy to use and created high quality film and sound recordings. By using these two different types of new media technology, I believe that we achieved a high standard final film and a good quality radio trailer.
Alongside our radio trailer we needed to produce a film poster that would promote our film. For this we decided that we were going to use a photograph that we had taken during filming as the main image on the poster. We used Adobe Photoshop Elements to construct our poster which turned out looking very professional.

Without the use of Photoshop, I believe that we would not have been able to create a poster that was of a high enough standard to promote our film.
Looking through the work we have produced for this project, and considering the amount of new media technologies that we have used, I would confidently say that without these we would not have been able to produce work as creatively and professionally as we have.

Audience Feedback Internet

We posted our film on facebook, and people left us some feedback on there. We also got some comments on youtube from other users. Doing this as well as recording people's feedback gave us more feedback and more variety of feedback.

Audience Feedback Recording

When we had finished our film we asked 3 people to give us some audience feedback. We asked 10 questions (previously posted) which helped us determined what people thought of our films and how we could improve it. This is the recording from the audience feedback.

Interchange Final Movie