Evaluation Write Up: Amirah Mukoko

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

The film our production company created “Like it was Yesterday” challenges the forms and conventions of real media products. The fact that our resources were so limited meant that we were not able to create our film to the same standard as popular psychological thrillers such as the movie “Silence of the Lambs”. Therefore, rather than making our film predictable we challenged different aspects of real media products. For example, for our sound track we decided to begin it with a calm Tupac song (“Escape to Heaven Instrumental”) in order to set a calm atmosphere so that further events would come across as more dramatic. However, we also used the media products as inspiration for our Camera shots specifically, our Point of view shot (POV) when Jessica and Layla push Porsha down the stairs as well as the dramatic music, which accompanied this event. After watching thrillers like the Silence of the Lambs we found that shots such as these help intensify the scene and make it more thrilling therefore we incorporated it into our own production.

2.     How does your media represent particular social groups?

Within our film the two main social groups we were able to represent were Race and Age. Our film revolved around characters that are around 16 years of age. Stereotypically, the youth are commonly perceived as violent and also powerless beings. Our aim was to incorporate these views in order to make our film more relatable and the way in which we had done this were through The characters of Layla, Jessica and Porsha. Layla and Jessica represent the violent stereotype as youth as they torment and bully their new foster sister stretching their behaviour as far as threatening her with a knife. These events make Porsha seem weak which demonstrates the stereotype of young people being powerless against greater threats. The second social group we were able to demonstrate was race as all the characters in our film were Black. The way in which ethnic minority groups such as black people are stereotyped displays them to be Aggressive, Loud and short tempered individuals who behave in an anti-social manor due to their incapability of climbing the social ladder. This stereotype of black people is heavily portrayed in our film and is demonstrated in Porsha’s past as she has been a witness to violence from an early age as her father abused her mother as well as growing up in foster care as a result of her unstable home life. Although Porsha herself does not fit this violent stereotype her new stepsisters do. Layla and Jessica are extremely violent individuals and are angry at the fact that they have to welcome a new sister. They act out on their angry by abusing Porsha in ways such as pushing her down the stairs and placing a knife to her throat.

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

Seeing as our production company is new and unknown we distributed our film onto YouTube. YouTube is a very popular site which allows people to share videos on a global scale, we thought posting our film here would be effective as it is not only free to use but free to post so anyone can easily view it. Post on this site would allow us to get feedback on our film so we are able to get an idea of whether our production was successful and if not what improvements we may make for the future. In addition to this it would allow our company to gain recognition and if our production is successful on this site we may be able to progress onto Independent Film festivals where we would have the opportunity to move our film into National Cinemas if it is popular. If our film is shown in National Cinemas it allows our production to be distributed into cinemas within the country and later if it shows signs of success it can be internationally shared. With this plan in mind we felt that YouTube would be the best place for us to begin this process and posted our film.

4.     Who would be the audience for your media product?

Our target audience were people who ranged from the ages 17-23 and mainly the female population. The reason we had chosen this age range is because statistically it is people who are around this age group that watch more thriller films along with the fact that the characters in our film are quite young so it the film would be more relatable to people of this age compared to the older generation. We felt as though teenage girls would more interested in our thriller seeing as the main characters themselves are teenage girls therefore they are able to relate to the characters. The reason our target audience is mainly female is because the main characters in our film are female also and men prefer watching thriller films, which contain a male lead. In addition 53% of women like to watch horror films and 42% of men therefore our set of demographics were created mainly to please the highest percentage of thriller watchers which are women. However, we did not only base our film to please women although they were our main target audience we made our story diverse so that men would be able to enjoy the film as well as women.

5.     How did you attract/address your audience?

At the start of our production we conducted a number of surveys using the survey monkey website in order to gain knowledge on the preferences of our target audience. We also conducted interviews with people in order to find out what type of thriller they would like to see and what they felt makes a great production. In the interviews and surveys we asked our target audience what kind of music they preferred and where they would find themselves on a Friday night. The majority voted they enjoyed Hip-Hop music, which is why for our non-diegetic soundtrack we use the instrumental of a Tupac song. As for location most people said they would be at home, therefore, in order to make it more relatable we set our opening scene inside a house. Through this research we found that unexpected and exciting props played an important role in the popularity of the thriller, which is why during the intense abuse scene we had the sisters bring out the knife to threaten Porsha. Most of the people we had asked described our storyline as unique as it is not a common plot for thriller films as well as the fact that there are not many Psychological thrillers being made and people who ranged in the middle ages of our target audience voted they enjoyed psychological thrillers. Our production company included as many of our target audience’s preferences as we could with our limited resources.

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

Throughout our construction process I had come to realise just how dependent on technology creating a film is. For example, during the creation of our film we had to use the Adobe Premiere software in order to edit and merge our clips. This software helped us with the continuity of our film as well as allowing us to include special effects such as slow motion. Although this task was not as difficult as I expected it was still rather frustrating and time-consuming. Another piece of technology we used was Celtx, this software allowed us to create a script and a storyboard for our movie as well as a schedule for filming times. I’ve also learnt that without technology creating a film would be a very difficult task, technology and media come together as a pair. Not only does technology help better the production of the film it aids in your understanding of film and allows you to become an efficient filmmaker.

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

Throughout this whole preliminary task I have learnt that media is not simply holding a camera and filming clips. Planning a film and editing the film is more time consuming than the actual filming. In addition I have also learnt a variety of skills such as editing and Photoshop as well as how to direct a film and the importance of continuity. The knowledge I’ve gained from this experience can also benefit me in the future for example if I were to create short clips for work or create presentations I would now be able to do that quickly. Now when I am watching programs and movies I am able to apply my media knowledge. To create a film requires a large amount of thought for example, Mise-En-Scene allowed me to understand the impact of costume, lighting, space, props and location can have on a film as a change in either of these aspects can create a whole different atmosphere. On top of this I learnt the different camera angles and what kind of effect each angle would have on a specific scene. I feel that if I were to complete this task again with the knowledge I now have I would be able to create a far greater piece of work.