Evaluation (First Draft)

Changes to Sequence.

This is a shot that we are going to take out. this is just before she writes her name onto the mirror. We had intended to make her laugh before she wrote the name to subtlety hint at her character, however this did not come across to the audience and they suggested we change it. Therefore we are going to change it so that she is now just writing her name and and not laughing until later on when we show her personality fully.

Changes in Filming.

Unfortunately the problem with the shot is the light being in the front rather than the back. This is far too dark to keep in our title sequence and is one that our audience pointed out to be bad. As the light is so bad it does not link in well with our target audience or the feel of the genre as we want it to be enjoyable for the audience. This is one that is going to be re shoot and we will consider lighting before filming it again.

20th March

After re-looking over our shots we feel we need to re shoot some. This is because like the ones above they are too dark. I feel as if the shots need to be lighter so we need to re film these. I feel this will keep the on going light the same. We have decided to add more shots into the sequence, although we have a few shots of the girls getting ready we don't have much to show there power.

Now we have decided to add more shots of the girls individually, but now to show their power. For example we have decided to have me (Bubble Girl) blow bubbles toward the screen, Megan (Giggle Girl) to have various shots of her laughing, Bobbie (Fire Girl) doing something with fire and Hayley (Air Girl) doing something with air. We hope this will make their powers clearer as before it was unclear, and also make the sequence slightly longer.

Editing Changes.

We had some editing issues with this shot. After i have walked down the stairs you see me walk to the door and stand there for a second. We are going to keep this shot but just make a few editing changes to it to make it look more professional and ensure it is of the best quality.

Journal: 20th march

We have decided to add more shots into the sequence. This is after reviving feedback that our piece is a D grade. We feel that it needs to be a bit more longer and to show off the girls powers. So to do this we are going to add in after the girls are getting changed, shots of us, individually showing our powers in different ways. Again this will hint at the narrative.

There were also some concerns about the lighting in some of the shots as some were so dark you could only see the figure. Some shots can be fixed in final cut pro, where as some may have to be re shot. We hope this will make our film a better quality and give a more diverse feeling to the piece.

Questions for Evaluation (First Draft)

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? As the genre able to superhero follow the codes and conventions from superhero film and how they could be communicated within my title sequence, this consisted of upbeat fast pasted music and typography that looked magical. We took some title sequences into consideration when making our title sequence. For example we kept the titles in the usual order and kept the cinematography the same, we tried low angle shots to make us look powerful. Also included within our title sequence is fast cuts to fit in with with the music so everything is moving fast which fitted in with our genre. We decided to keep these conventions and tried to keep to the usual stereotypes as it would help to communicate the genre of the film to the audience and make it recognisable in the world of media. However we challenge the stereotypical image of male superheroes. This makes the girls have the dominance, this fits in with our target audience young girls around the age of 9. As like avengers, the girls start as individual superhero’s who comes together as one to fight against evil. The only major difference between our film and the avengers is that we have girls fight evil and no men and of course the target audience. 
2. How does your media product represent particular social groups? Social groups have been represented through girls. We tried to make a positive view on girls and to show that they aren’t all the damsel in distress and that they can be the hero. Featured in our title sequence is a stereotypical 'normal' group of girls. The stereotype was constructed and portrayed to the audience through the use of Mise en scene and costuming, the girls are shown getting up in the morning getting ready and eating breakfast. This sends a message to the audience that any normal girl or boy can be a superhero. However in the last shots we see the characters in their costumes, showing the normal codes and conventions of a typical superhero. 
3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why? Considering our target audience is quite young, we decided working title would be our distributor. Although the distributor did not make any of our ideal film choices, they still distribute films that fit into our genre. We believe they will be suited as they will be experienced in how to sell a film such as this to an audience. They are also a recognisable British company and therefore will definitely meet our pitch. 
4. Who would be the audience for your media product? Our primary audience would be girl of 6-13. This is because we believe the girls will have someone to look up to ans aspire to be like. It could change the stereotype of girls wanting to be a 'princess' and wanting to become something more. 
5. How did you attract/address your audience? Throughout the title sequence there is fast paced music and fast cuts that fit in with this to attract the audience. For the first 20 seconds of the title sequence the music is quiet low as they girls are waking up, the music is then turned up by Giggle Girl (Megan) on a stereo in the sequence. When this happens the cuts becomes a lot faster which fits in with the genre. 
6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product? During this process I have learnt some new techniques through the practice of editing and cinematography. As I was made in charge of props, I had to use programmes like photo shop and learnt different ways to make something look realistic in the world of media. An example of this the newspapers. When Using Final cut pro I found it difficult, therefore when editing I would help suggest what to cut and someone in our group would handle the programme. I managed to improve my cinematography skills very well as I was able to focus on how different shoots can create meaning as it can shows someone’s authority, for instance in the last shots we had shots of each of the superhero’s at a low angle. 
7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product? From the preliminary task I have gained and shown in the sequence skills that I had not experimented with before. Although dialogue can be important I found that it can not always be needed. In our sequence we used the shots and the music to determine the mood. Weather was key in our sequence as if the was bad then it would change the mood of the sequence. This was hard for us to find a sunny day in the middle of winter so we couldn't always film on the days we had planned. I have learnt now that storyboards are an important part in film making. It gives you a guideline of what to follow and forces you to know the shots and location before filming. This helps you get the best quality shot.

Results.

This is the final results of the questionnaire on the first question.

• On the first question 50% of the people who answered were 13 or over, 25% were 9-10 and 25% were 6-8.  This shows our target audience did answer the question.
•  62.50 % of the people who answered were girls and 37.50% were males. Our target audience was met
• 100% of the people who answered enjoyed the title sequence. I was very happy with this statistic as it showed our film was successful with our target audience.
• 75% of the respondents enjoyed the scenery the most, 50 % said the shots and 12.50 % said the narrative (baring in mind the respondents could choose more than one answer).
• 33.33% said that they enjoyed the genre the least, 33.33% said the shots and some respondents on the other section noted "The titles needed to be on screen a little longer", "It was all girls" and "nothing" which have all been noted for future reference.
• 100% understood the genre
• 62.50% of respondents understood the narrative and 37.50% answered with 'sort of'
•   On the question "would you go see the film?" 28.57% said yes, 14.29% said no and 57.14% maybe
• "Did the film suit your age group" 50% said yes, 12.50% said no, 25% said sort of and 12.50% said they wasn't sure. Half of the people said it suited their age group. I was quite disappointment with this statistic as i thought it suited the age group perfectly.

6th March

I created a online survey in order to see whether our title sequence was effective or not. The survey had questions like 'did you understand the narrative'. It then gives you the results, which I will check in a week and add to my blog and my evaluation.

Surveymonkey.com/s/3prmlt6

Bellow are some images of the survey and the results so far.

Feedback.

We showed our sequence to the class and received feedback on what they thought was good about it, what was bad and what needed to be improved. As we had to film quite a bit we didn't have a lot of time to edit. This left some of the shots poorly editing and some shots needing to be re-shot or brightened.

Most of the feedback we heard was to add more shots as the sequence itself was too short. We have took this into consideration and have decided to shoot more of the girls individually and showing off their powers. Show people commented on the fact that you couldn't tell that they were superhero's. We're hoping that our new shots will look better and show off the genre.

We heard positive comments about the music and the end establishing shot. We also got given mostly 3's and 2's. We are very happy with the feedback and have taken it on board.

title sequence

This is our title sequence, i am pleased with the progress we have made. Cosidering we ept changing the title sequence and the was complications with the weather and cinematography, we managed to pull it together. we hoped we have met the task and the genre for the peice. We took on board the feedback we heard eariler on and hope we have add or changed what they liked or disliked. A problem with the rough draft was that it was too short, this is what some people in the feedback complained off. We have now added in the shots of the girls waking up and changed the music so it is quiet as the girls wake up and goes louder and Giggle Girl (Megan) turns up the volume in the sequence. Some people found the shots were the guirls are walking down the stairs to be too jumpy. We have now changed it to just me (Bubble Girl) walking down the stairs and turning on the radio. This makes the sequence run more smoothly.

The orders of the title have been changed to what is considered the normal order. This again makes it look more like it would be able to fit in with other media films. I was pleased to hear that some of our audience thought it reminded them of The Incredible's, however i feel we could have added more suggestive shots of our powers. this does not come through to the audience and is something that could be worked on

1st March

Today we edited the shots we did yesterday. All the new shots we filmed were place before the ones we already had. We decided that when Megan (Giggle Girl) gets out of bed she should go straight to the stereo and turn the music up, this would then turn up the music in the title sequence. This fits in with our feedback as the slower shots are quiet and the after the music is turned up the cuts are much faster. We decided that when Bobbie (Fire Girl) is walking it was a bit too long and didn't fit in with the music, we now made the shot and jump cut and we feel it works much better. This makes the sequence a lot faster.

We feel pleased with the work we have done. We changed all off us coming down the stairs to just me (Bubble Girl) walking down as we felt before it made it seem that we lived in the same house, when in fact we are in separate houses getting ready and then meeting. We feel that this makes the sequence a lot more clearer and understandable.

28th February

Today we decided to film our new shots to go into our title sequence. Now we have each girl waking up in there own homes. We didn't cut too many shots out, however we decided to change the cuts of the fantastagirls walking down stairs to just me (bubble girl) walking down on my own. This was because in the feedback people said the shots were jumpy and suggested we make it just one person walking down. This makes the sequence more clear and avoids confusion.

We also re-shot us getting changed as the girls were all in the same room, now we have changed it so each girl is in a different room. We feel this fits in with the title sequence and gives more of an in sight to the narrative. This is because it shows the girls separate and then them coming together as a team. Each girl is shown waking up in different beds. Megan (Giggle Girl) is shown waking up and turning up the stereo which turns up the music in the sequence. It then leads to the shots we already have starting with Bobbie (Fire Girl) buttering her toast.