Finished product ~ 'Shortcut'

Hey guys, this is our finished product as seen below. Take a look and enjoy!

Q7 ~ Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the main task?

Created with Padlet

Q6 ~ What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Q5 ~ How did you attract/address your audience?

Q4 ~ Who would be the audience for your media product?

Q3 ~ What kind of media institutions might distribute your media product and why?

Q2 ~ How does your product represent particular social groups?

Q1 ~ In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Props and equipment used for our production

This following PowerPoint presentation will give a clear idea of what we used in order to create our production...

Distribution and marketing of 'Shortcut'

To start the promotion of our film I would contact specific promoting companies that will help advertise the film on billboards in towns and on buses etc. as well as television and on the internet to try and get as many people as possible aware of the film and the background to it.

If parent companies such as Warner Bros or Fox Entertainment group will help to fund my film then i would look towards smaller companies such as Warp Films where however the budget for the film would be a lot lower, they would have more interest in the film.

Also, by going with a company such as Warp Films, I could get funding from BFL Film Fund as Warp Films have connections with BFL Film Fund which would give my film a much better advantage as I can gain funding from more than one company.

I could also market my film by doing things such as putting up posters on billboards and things such as buses so that passers by can see and know of the film while they are just living their everyday lives. I could also set up a social media site which releases different teasers and clips every so often which will always keep the audience wanting to know more about the film. In addition, I could contact media sites such as YouTube, Twitter and Instagram etc. to help advertise my film across different platforms and would reach out to different audience types and make the film more talked about between the public.

Summary of the opening of 'Shortcut'

Hello, I am just going to give a short summary to the opening of our film just to give you a rough idea of what to expect from the film.

So, in our opening scene there is the protagonist called Max. He is a teenager who suffers from schizophrenia and is sometimes prone to hallucinations, The protagonist is on his way home like he usually would except this time he is running a bit late and so because of this decides to take a different route home; a shortcut. As he is walking through this route he keeps hearing and seeing things. Is this real or is it his condition and the pressure of being in an environment he isn't used to? This is the question that keeps the audience guessing throughout the film.

Storyboard for 'Shortcut'

Hi, so this is our storyboard for our main task project 'Shortcut'. This was crucial in our planning process as it not only helped with the filming, it also helped with post-production.

Risk Assessment

Here is our risk assessment which was carried out in order to have the go ahead for the filming and production of our film.

One Page Pitch

Here is our one page pitch for our upcoming horror thriller.

Criteria - Analysing Thrillers

In our last lesson we looked at the mark scheme and criteria that our main task would be marked on. After doing this we looked at a few thriller openings from previous years and had a go at marking them ourselves to have an idea what exactly needs to be included in our thriller to hit the top marks. When we gave the clip a mark for ourselves we were then told the actual mark that the clip achieved which helped give a clear understanding of what a good thriller opening should and shouldn't look like. This is the first clip I watched:



I put this clip in the Level 2 band as most of us criticised this clip for being more like a trailer than an opening to a film due to the fact that there is someone shown in the end of the clip being killed which you wouldn't usually see in an opening. The actual mark for this clip was 47/60 which is the Level 3 mark band.

This is the second clip we watched:



For this clip I was undecided whether to put this clip in the Level 3 mark band or the Level 4 mark band. This is because the clip was fairly simple but effective. For example, the font was really simple and easy to read on darker backgrounds but as the font is white, at some points in the clip the font was a little less easy to read as it blended in with the light background. There was a lot of shots used ranging from low angle shots to point of view shots. The actual mark for this clip was in the Level 4 mark band with 56/60 marks.

This is the final clip that we watched:



For this opening I put the clip within the Level 4 mark band. This clip had a lot of mystery to it which kept the audience engaged and wanting to know the actual plot to what this film would be. The use of a voice over was also very effective instead of using just dialogue between two characters. The actual mark for this clip was placed within the Level 4 mark band and managed to get 48/60 marks.

Audience Theories

Hypodermic Needle Theory

Theory that media messages are injected directly into the brain of the passive audience and that everyone responds to media messages in the same way.

Mass vs. Niche

Mass targets larger audience and have a higher budget to prove a film that will accommodate all audiences, whereas niche targets more specific audiences with a lower budget.

Two Step Flow

Says that most people from their opinions under the influence of opinion leaders, who in turn are influenced by the mass media. So according to this model, ideas flow from mass media to opinion leaders, and from them to a wider population .