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

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

Evaluation - Question 3 - What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

Evaluation - Question 4 - What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

For the process of constructing this product, I had to use many different tools.

RESEARCH -

For my research, I used search engines such as -


In order to gain a better understanding of both the mind of the internet predator and the victim. Since I was making a film, I thought it was important to include looking into organization websites such as CEOP to obtain access to documentaries about the same topic. Google was a helpful tool in gaining my secondary research, enabling me to cross-reference different statistics and present them on my blog. I also used google to research for my ancillary tasks, looking at the codes and conventions for typical film magazines and posters. All the time when researching I kept in mind that my main and ancillary products were a whole product in themselves, so my research needed to work around this. I also used google to research my audiences age and what I could do to help appeal to them.


CONSTRUCTION -

I have been introduced to software for editing such as Pixlr from Open Source Software, which has many of the same functions as photoshop. Pixlr enabled me to edit my images for my poster and my magazine front cover. I was able to warp my images using bulge tools, the magic lasso tool and
 others. Once I got the hang of pixlr, it was a very easy application to use.

I was also introduced to a D.T.P or desktop publishing programme called Scribus from Open Source Software. From my AS Coursework, I was familiar with desktop publishing programmes however I was new to scribus. It is a complicated programme, because of it's many functions and it's need for you to find it's toolbars etc. However, once you aqquaint yourself with the basics it proves to be an effective and professional programme. This programme helped me to create the products I envisaged and was effective in helping me to create my work professionally and work with layers.

I also used a new editing software - Movie Studio Platinum by SONY - to edit my shots into my social realist trailer. This software made it easy for me to create transitions, cuts, to trim shots and many other useful tools. I found this software very easy to use and it was similar to Windows Movie Maker, just with more tools to use. I was also able to create colour edits on shots in edit, which you are unable to do with some editing programmes. In terms of over-coming obstacles, I had to learn how to be patient about my shots while leaning how to string them together to create a flowing product.




I have also learnt how to effectively use a DSLR camera. The camera I used was the Canon EOS 550D. Following a camera workshop with my school technician and my teacher, I became more comfortable with using the camers and I was taught how to set the camera onto the tri-pod etc. The manual features of the camera such as the exposure, focus and zoom made it easier to compose shots and create more interesting shots for my trailer. The manual focus enabled me to create the effect of seeing through teary eyes in my trailer, as when Annie was crying the camera un-focus's but focus's back in, creating a ''blinking'' effect.



PRESENTATION -

To present my work, I used a website called Blogger. Blogger enabled me to keep all of my work in one place. Blogger also enabled me to use images and text to better explain my work - for example - the use of screen-shots when explaining the construction of my poster helped me to do this more effectively.


For some of my evaluation posts I have used a zooming presentation editor called 'Prezzi' in order to more creatively produce answers to questions. Prezzi enables you to choose different layouts for presentations of questions or answers. It enables you to get creative with the way in which you examine your questions.

To obtain audience feedback, I decided to upload my finished trailer to my personal YouTube account. When the trailer had uploaded, I was able to post the URL into several social networking sites, gaining feedback from many people. YouTube also has a thumbs up and thumbs down rating system which helped me to gain a better understanding of whether people liked or disliked the trailer.

My Finished Film Trailer.

My Magazine Front Cover.

This is the Magazine Front Cover I have constructed to feature my social realist film ''Bound''.

I opted to feature my film in a magazine which combined film and technology.  As a reference for my layout and style, I looked at the aesthetics of Film, Technology and even Music magazines such as Total Film, Q, Android Magazine and Empire. However, my inspiration to take on a more ''vintage'' aesthetic came from my desire to use Film Noir style for my trailer. I wanted to bring this theme into my other media products and so I felt that a minimalist approach to my magazine would be more pleasing to the eye.

Because I decided to combine technology in my magazine, although ''Rush'' is first and foremost a film magazine, in the form of articles about the latest in xbox and playstation, I had more variety for my choice of feature articles which worked in my favour as my image left a lot of space for me to work with. I combined all the usual forms and conventions of a magazine cover, including a; masthead, strap line, selling line and features. These are essential to create a realistic magazine cover.

I chose to compose this image in this way as I felt that it created a silhouette of my male model, keeping the idea I wanted that this could be anyone. I chose for Jodie to be in the fore-ground as it clearly shows her emotion and innocence which I thought looked effective with my trailer themes. I chose to use the image as the background as I felt that it would be easier to construct text around the image with the monochromatic colour-scheme. 

To produce my magazine, I used a publishing software called ''Scribus''. This software enabled me to create shapes, runners and shadows to create an authentic front cover. 

 

 

I began constructing my magazine front cover by adding the mast-head, selling and strap lines. This gave me something to work around when it came to adding my image and feature articles.

 

I wasn't able to obtain more screen-shots, however after adding my image as my background I added the feature articles in a way in which they looked cohesive with this image. By this I mean I posititoned and spaces the articles around the silhouette of Annie, the main woman in the photograph.

Aware of typical forms and conventions, I constructed a barcode with an online generator named  - http://www.barcode-generator.org/.

 

Casting.

Annie Forrest -

For the role of Annie, I needed an actor that brought both innocence and strength to the role in aesthetics and build. I wanted Annie to be ''cute'' and have similarity in terms of looks to other teenage girls.

 I chose Jodie for this role as she has a very round face and round eyes which adds to the younger and innocent look I wanted to go for. Jodie also has a background in naturalistic theatre, so I felt as if she was a good choice for the role as she was experienced.

Jenna Croft -

For the role of Jenna, I needed somebody who would be believable as a friend next to the actor playing Annie.

I chose Alex for this role as Jodie and Alex are friends in real life and so already possess the naturalistic chemistry I needed to portray the friendship between Annie and Jenna. I also felt that Alex's dress sense (as to maintain a realistic effect, I let her wear her own clothes) was fashionable, and thus was a modern and accurate representation of the fashion sense of teenage girls.

Chris Gromes (16 year old) -

For the role of Chris, I wanted a handsome young man with a fashionable dress sense. Chris's percieved character is caring and it is known that he has a background in athletics so his build is particular - tall, thin but muscular.

I chose Sam for this role as I feel that he pulls off being 16 very well, as he is well shaven and youthful. His build matches the criteria for Chris perfectly - tall and slender. And when I trial-ran shots, his smiles during the typing scenes were very natural.

Chris Gromes (36 year old) -

For this role, for the trailer atleast, it did not entirely matter who I used for the role. All I felt that I needed to get spot on was build and height. I wanted Chris to remain faceless in the trailer to keep the idea in the audience's head that this could be anyone.

Film Noir

As I thought about my trailer more, I decided that I was interested in the idea of filming my trailer in black and white - Film Noir style. Film Noir is a cycle of mainly American films of the 1940's and 50's, exploring the darker aspects of modernity and are ususally focused on the consequences of a criminal act.

Although my trailer is social realist, I feel that shooting my trailer with the Film Noir style with give the audience a better understanding of the impending doom of the situation that my main character - Annie - has put herself in. Also, meeting an under-age child online for sexual advances is a criminal act and so ties in with the themes and conventions of typical film noir.

The film dubbed as the first ''true'' film noir is called Stranger on the Third Floor (1940) directed by Boris Ingster.

I wish for my film to be a social realist thriller of sorts - combining real life events with a macabre shooting style. The idea of meeting someone online that isn't who they say they are is scary, so I feel this needs to be portrayed in my trailer.

 

 

These are images taken from films that use the Film Noir style. As you can see, the use of shadows is apparent. Though Film Noir is a very deliberate and dramatic style, I feel that the black and white shadowy appearance of it's shots could benefit my social realist drama. I feel that using this will help me to challenge the forms and conventions of typical Social Realist trailers. 

Why I chose Internet Predators as a focal point for my social realist trailer...

I feel that internet predators are an overlooked epidemic in our society. The internet is a free, easily accessible tool for anyone to meet anyone. In modern society, children are exposed and have access to the internet at a very young age. It is used frequently in schools and technology is a crucial part of completing homework.

However, I feel that (because I have seen things like this happen) many men and women abuse the safety of the internet as a tool to threaten the safety of others.

In 2011, I watched a film directed by David Schwimmer titled ''Trust''. In this film, Schwimmer effectively and poignantly highlights the issues of online chat-rooms. For me, the film sparked interest into the minds of the people that pursue children online and also how often this happens. In my film, I am attempting to convey that the internet can lead to the destruction of families and individuals.

Here is a link to the trailer for the film ''Trust'' directed by David Schwimmer -

Planning and creating a poster



I first decided that my poster should include technology in some way - as my main theme is how technology can lead to danger. I decided to cover one of my eyes with a Blackberry Smartphone and have the one eye being the main focus of the image. Because my film is called ''Bound'' I wanted there to be a physical representation of her limitations. For this, I used a black bandana and tied it around the bottom half of my models face to create a silencer of sorts.

 

This is how my image looked originally.

 

When I came to edit the image, I used Pixlr editor - this is similar to Adobe Photoshop - and highly contrasted the image. I then decided to make the entirety of the bottom half of the poster to be black. I used the Clone Stamp Tool to make the black colour the same as the bandaana around the face of my model and coloured in the entirety of the bottom half of the image.

 

I then decided that the image would make more of an impact if the eye was slightly exaggerated. For this, I used the Bulge Tool and worked on the pupil, iris and then the outside of the eye to enlarge it and make it stand out. The effect it gave me was that the eye looks slightly hazy, glassy almost as if she has been crying.

 

After this editing process, I was left with this image -

 

 

I then had to widen the images canvas in order to use it for a landscape poster. I used the free image transform tool and changed wideness and height of my image. After pasting the image into scribus, a publishing program, I selected areas that were not black and changed them so that the entirety of my poster was black.

 

 



 

First poster draft - No text.

 

While playing with Scribus, I encountered difficulties when attempting to add white text to my poster. Any text made white would show up black/grey. So, I created another layer and began to create my text on there. This worked better as the other layer did not effect the opacity of the text.

 

After this, I needed to decide the font for my ''masthead''. I chose a font from www.dafonts.com, called Mom's Typewriter. I chose this font because I felt as if it was an oxy moron of sorts between what is considered technology now and how people used to use typewriters instead of computers.

After spacing and sizing my letters occordingly, my poster looks like this -

 

 

After this, I decided to look at different posters for social realist films in order to gain a better understanding of the aesthetics. When looking at a poster from the social realist drama ''Fish Tank'' it caught my attention that films tend to show reviews from newspapers and/or magazines. Also, the actors, director, producers, distributers etc. all have a space on the poster. Posters tend to have a colour scheme, though I have already chosen mine - Monochromatic (black and white).

 

I used http://www.onlinelogomaker.com/free to construct a logo for my ''made up'' institution - Porchlight Films. The website already has images that can be used for logo's - I chose an arrow from the Arrow Forms list in the Add Symbol catagory. I then added the text Porchlight Films and chose a font from the website which I thought was appropriate.

 

I added this logo to my poster using the ''add image'' box on scribus

I feel that the placement of my logo keeps the eyes focused on the centre of the poster and the part I want to be the main focus - the image. I feel that this monochromatic theme causes an audience to think about an impending doom in this film.

 

 

This is my finished product!

I found my certificate from the internet and simply coloured the white background in black with Microsoft Paint.

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

Justifications for the name of my film trailer and character profiles.

I chose the name ''Bound'' for my social realist trailer because I feel that if someone were tangled in a web of  internet predators or even cyber bullies they would feel bound by silence. Social realist trailers tend to possess names with a hidden meaning such as the film ''Fish Tank'' who's name can be interpreted as the idea that the main character (Mia) can see her dreams, but she can't reach them.

As the story progresses we see the main character, Annie, lying to her mother about who she met the day she came  home crying and what happened. She feels as if she can't tell anyone. This ultimately leads to her unravel.

Character Profiles

• Annie Forrest - Annie Forrest is a 15 year old girl from a middle class family. She lives with her widowed mother in Herne Bay. Annie and her mother don't have the strongest relationship and Annie tends to stay out late and disobey her mother. At a young age, Annie started to be bullied, like many young girls and boys do. Though her hair is long and dark and her eyes are a bright blue she may not be what people deem ''attractive''. Her confidence is further lowered by the bullying.
• Jenna Croft (Annie's friend) - 15 years old from a working class family. Jenna and Annie met in primary school and have been friends ever since. Jenna has light brown hair and hazel eyes. Jenna tends to present herself as the boss in ever situation. Annie always tends to go to Jenna for advice.
• Chris Gromes (Imaginary) - A 16 year old boy from Canterbury, from a middle class family. His hair was dark and so was his eyes. He had a tall and muscular build. His nature was caring and he liked to listen to the people around him. Annie met Chris in an online chat room.
• Chris Gromes (In reality) - A 36 year old man from Canterbury  Lied about is identity online to meet teenage girls and groom them. He has brown hair and a long, bushy beard. His eyes are blue and he is tall and almost skeletal. His cheekbones sink in dramatically, revealing a chiselled jawline and facial structure. He tenses his fists when he talks.

Camera Angles, Editing, Sound and Mise en Scene...

When considering how I am to go about choosing camera angles, editing, sound and mise en scene for my film I need to consider that all of these elements are vital in producing a successful social realism trailer.

Because social realist films tend to be gritty and as true to life as possible, I feel it is important to have camera shots and angles that contribute to this -

• I am considering using eye line shot as to help the audience to feel as though they are at the same level with the characters and I have noticed that this angle is commonly used in social realist films. 
• Social realist films also tend to use long shots in the opening scene as to set the scene for themselves and to experience what the character/s is experiencing. It helps to help the viewer feel as part of the film.
• Establishing shots are also commonly used to verify where the scenes are. These usually include every-day locations e.g schools, housing estates etc.

In terms of Editing, social realist films are not usually edited smoothly. Instead, shots flick sharply between one another and sometimes even change location without warning. Continuity editing is often used in this film genre. This type of editing helps to verify the story clearer for the audience and emphasize it's normalcy and realism. There-fore, the audience are more involved. 

For sound, social realist films tend to focus heavily on atmospheric noise as it is not realistic to have complete silence in a real setting. Noises such as the sound of crickets, rain or busy traffic can contribute heavily to the realistic nature of this genre. I plan to use a mixture of atmospheric noise and music in my trailer, similar to the style of the film Trainspotting. 

In terms of Mise-en-scene for a social realist trailer, the imagery plays a huge role in defining a film as social realist. Things such as costume, location and props are crucial to creating the intended effect on the audience.  The surroundings must correspond with the conventions of social realist genre. I intend to use locations that depict ''rough'' or working class area's of Britain; council estates etc, in order to create a realistic feel.