Evaluation question 7.

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


From the preliminary task, I learned alot about using the video cameras, such as how to work them, and the 180 degree rule, which must me paid attention to, otherwise, the footage looks unrealistic and it looks as though people are jumping to different places.


I also learned how to edit, and how to use the programme adobe premier pro. With my coursework, I started to use audio transitions on the music pieces, as they make the overall sound more more soother, and it flows better. Before this, I broke the music up into sections and changed the audio gain, which, without the crossfade audio transition, sounded clunky and unprofessional.

This is a shot of how I used audio tranistions to fade in music. It also shows how I added video transitions such as fades to black between scenes of the girls and scenes of the boys, in order to keep them seperate.
In addition, my camerawork developed alot better between the priliminary task and the main task, and I included more intersting shots in my final piece such as this tracking shot of Ryan.

Sometimes it was hard to find a time when all actors needed in a scene were all free at the same time, and it was almost impossible to film in dinnertimes at college due to there being lots of students around at that time and the college being a lot noisier, causing problems with sound. I ended up having to film the first scene with the boys twice before changing it completely to the phone conversation, which I think worked better in the end.

Gaining feedback off fellow students, who were prime examples of my target audience, helped enormously as, to me, it is their opinion which matters as they are who my work is aimed at, and the type of people who I would want to watch my film. The people who have watched my film have enjoyed it, and have particulary commented in a positive way on the music that I have used. For example, Rose Williams said "I wanted the video to continue to see what happened. I like the use of music especailly the piece used when the characters were choosing what to wear. I also like the split screen when they were choosing what to wear. I thought the script was good and the acting was too."

Evaluation question 5.

How did you attract/address your audience?
A genre covention which I have used in my film is the popular boy liking the geeky girl, rather than the other popular girl. I have also used the convention of the boy being more rebellious than the girl, as he skips college because he is staying in bed, hinting that he likes going out partying and doesn't care about his education, whereas the girls are good students, shown when they are in college and attending lessons. I included the scene of the boys sat playing guitar hero and taking about girls because I thought that boys would be able to identify with it well. I also thought that it gave insight into the boy friendships and personalities well, allowing the audience to engage with the characters.


I used the college setting as it follows the typical conventions of the teen film genre, and this allows addresses the audience well as it is aimed at both males and females of that age, and also allows the audience to identify with the characters. I also decided to have the smaller storyline of the characters Nicola and Ryan dating in order for the main storyline of Gavin and Pearl meeting to be more realistic, this is something that the audience could possibly be going through.

I followed conventions by having the stereotypical "bitch" character, and having this character allows the audience to identify with Pearl more, as it is hard to indentify with Megan as she is not a pleasant character.

The use of music in the film is important as music is a key aspect to the story, and the film is aimed at teenagers with a particular taste in music. This could also be seen as a Unique Selling Point of the film, as music is central to the story, but the film is not a musical.

Evaluation question 6.

With Premier, I used a split screen in post production in order to quicken to pace of the film, and also to show the audience two perspectives at once. Between different scenes, I added a fade to black which helped highlight that two different perspectives of the story were happening at the same day, and that the story was taking place in different locations. With music, I changed the volume so that the characters could be heard speaking, and also to ensure that the sound was diegetic, for instance, the music in the scene where the boys are playing on the guitar hero.




I added titles of the names of the actors, film companies and writers to make my opening scene look authentic.

This is the video camera which I used to film. I also used a tripod in order to keep the camera steady. When filming the scene of Ryan on the phone, I created a tracking shot by getting my friend to drive past slowly whilst I held the camera sat in the car. It was hard to keep the camera entirely steady but when the footage was edited it looked a lot steadier.

Online technology that I used:

Evaluation question 3.

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



As my film was a teen comedy, i researched what companies usually distribute them. It is similar to other films such as Nick and Norahs Infinite Playlist and Angus, Thongs, and Perfect Snogging. NIck and Norahs Infinite Playlist was initially released at Toronto film festival, then later released by Mandate Pictures, a division of the film company Columbia. Because of this, I also chose Columbia as the company which would distribute my film.

Evaluation question 4.

The target audience of my prduct was both male and female, which is why I give equal time to the male and female lead characters.

I aimed my film at teenagers, but I feel that teenagers who are into Indie music will enjoy it more because of the stpryline of the characters going to a gig, and the music which I have used in the film, such as The Strokes. I think that the audience of my film would shop at places like Topshop/Topman and listen to indie music.

Films which are similar to this are Nick and Norahs Infinate Playlist, which tends to appeal to both males and females, whereas Bandslam and Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging appeal to a younger audience, mainly consisting of females.

Evaluation question 2.

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

I wanted the male characters to be typical teenage boys in my product, so I looked at characters from other teen films such as Angus, Thongs, and Perfect Snogging, and also teen television programmes such as Skins and The Inbetweeners. I liked how banter was created between male characters in these media texts, so I throughly researched them.

I also looked at the way that male freindships are shown in the film Superbad.

With the female characters, I had to research a variety of different characters, as they are different from each other.

Pearl:

I wanted Pearl to a bit unusal and quirky, so I researched characters such as Cassie from the TV show Skins, as she is ditzy, and has similar character traits to what I wanted to create for Pearl.
Nicola:
I wanted Nicola to be representative of the ordinary teenage girl. I looked at upbeat and friendly girls such as Gabriella Montez from High School Musical. I wanted to show that Nicola is studious and kind, but also makes time for all of her friends.
Megan:

Megan is the stereotypical "bitch" character, a negative representation of teenage girls. I used body language and costume to show this. Megan is wearing lots of black clothes, which are tight, showing her possible promiscousy.

Evaluation question 1.

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

The first four shots show how the titles come onto the screen. They are over a still shot of the maloe lead character asleep, and appear on screen one by one. I choose different fonts for the words to show that the main two characters are different from each other on the surface, and I usded the contarsting colours of pink and blue to show that the films lead charcters are a girl and a boy, and the film is centered around the stor of the two of them together. The fourth image is of the opening shot. I broke the conventions a little by having the film go straight into dialogue, and I chose to do this so that the audience are immetiatley engaged in the story, and to add a quicker pace to the film.

The fifth image is of one of the main male characters on the phone, and the shot which introduced him. I used the setting on him being outside on the phone as contrast to the shot of Joel on the phone to him whilst in bed to show the contrast between them both. The sixth screen shot is Joel in bed, on the phone to Ryan, and I used quick cuts between the two locations in order to show their phone conversation.

The seventh shot is of the female characters in college, and using an education institution as a setting in a film aimed at teenagers is a typical convention which I followed, in order to establish the age of the characters. This shot is establishing the difference between the three female characters, Pearl (the geek), Megan (the bitch) and Nicola (Pearls best friend). I established the differences through what the chaarcters were wearing, for example Megan is wearing tight, skimpy clothing, compared to Pearl who is wearing an oversized cardigan and a loose fitting dress, and her accessories do not match. I dressed Nicola to highlight that she is the middle ground bewteen the two characters, and both her and Pearl are holding notepads, showing that they are good hardworking students, whereas Megan is not.

The final screenshot is of the getting ready scene. I used the setting of the male and female lead characters bedrooms. showing similarities bewteen the two characters, but they are doing different activities, illustrating the contrasts between them. Both of their rooms are bright, and they both have music posters visible in their rooms, showing that they have similar interests. The spilt screen was used to show that they are both equally involved in the story, and are both as important as each other.

I wanted my opening to fit quite well into the genre, so I used stereotypical settings such as college, and bedrooms. I also chose not to feature any adult characters, such as parents or teachers, to make the film all about the teenagers. I also included the usual characters, such as "The Geek", "The Bitch" and "The Popular boy", and choose the typical love triangle storyline.

Feedback.

I shown my video to a group of students, in order to see whether it would be successful to a wider audience, and to test whether it had the effect which I wanted it to give. I aksed an equal amount of males and females for feedback, as my film was aimed at both sexes.
Katie Kenny:

Rose Williams: I wanted the video to continue to see what happened. I like the use of music especailly the piece used when the characters were choosing wha5
t to wear. I also like the split screen when they were choosing what to wear. I thought the script was good and the was too. I thought that the characters could have been introduced slightly better so that we knew more about them.

Stephen Rigby: The storyline seems enticing and would definately make me want to watch it all the way through. It links and refers to our students hectic lifestyle which has its twists, I would love to watch this full film.

Joel Durkin: I liked the video because it followed a clear narrative. The characters, especially the boys were very realistic and the music fitted in well because it seemed like the sort of music that the characters would like. i think that the settings were effective because they helped to reflect the characters personalities.

Completed video.

Getting ready scene.

This is a shot from the music video "I'm a realist" by The Cribs. I used this video as a springboard, which influence how I filmed the scene of Pearl and Gavin getting ready for the night out. Originally, I was going to use quick cuts between the two of them, but after watching this i decided to use this splitscreen, which I think hints at a romance between the two characters, and also quickens the pace of the film.

I thought that an upbeat song would work well as a backing track to this scene, so I used "Wild Young Hearts" by The Noisettes.

Script - boys scene.

In order for filming to go better, I thought that it would be a good idea to write a script. I got ideas for the script from watching interactions bewtween young male characters in shows such as the Inbetweeners.

GAVIN: Eurgh, not if you’re going, got my ticket Raz?
RYAN: Tenner’s worth of ticket right there mate, don’t turn up if a dress.
GAVIN: I’ll turn up in your mum’s dress.
RYAN: Mint, erm, is that Nicola going?
(GAVIN, RUSSELL and ALEX all cheer, RYAN looks embarrassed)
GAVIN: Yeah, she’ll be going with that Pearl.
ALEX: Oh yeah, that weird one?
(RYAN, RUSSELL and ALEX laugh, RYAN makes pretend glasses with his hands)
RYAN: (in a high pitched voice) Look at me, I’m Pearl!
(RYAN, RUSSELL and ALEX laugh again)
GAVIN: Aww, don’t be tight, she’s not that bad.
RUSSELL: Ooh, little Pearl!
(RYAN, RUSSELL and ALEX laugh again)
GAVIN: Don’t be tight, she helped me out in sociology last year.
(RYAN, RUSSELL and ALEX cheer)
ALEX: (puts on a squeaky voice) I love you Pearl, my lovely sociology friend.
RYAN: Since when did you do sociology?
GAVIN: I dropped it.
RUSSELL: Little Pearl wasn’t much help then.
GAVIN: Shut up.
ALEX: Are we going last lesson then?
RYAN: What time is it?
ALEX: Gone three.
GAVIN: Obviously not ladies.

Choosing music.

Choosing the musical accompinent for my film was difficult, as music was a central theme to the film, as it is centered around the characters going to a gig.

I originally chose "Simple" by Katy Perry, as it is upbeat, and featured on the soundtrack for the teen film "The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants"
After putting it onto the video however, I felt that the song did not go very well, and did not create the effect that I wanted.
After some more research, I found the song "Someday" by The Strokes. I found that this song fitted in with the film much better, and seemed more representative of what both Pearl and Gavin would listen to.

Filming the girls scene.

I filmed the conversation between the three girls in a corridor in English. I used this corridor to show that the girls have been in a lesson, and to fit in with the usual conventions of the teen comedy genre.

I then filmed the scene where we are first introduced to Pearl and Nicola in a classroom, to look as though they were in lesson. However, this using this setting left us with sound problems, so we re-filmed the scene in a quiet corridor, still making use of the typical college setting.

Script- girls scene.

MEGAN: Hey Nic, have you heard about the gig later?
NICOLA: Yeah we're going, it should be good.
MEGAN: You and erm, Pearl?
NICOLA: Yeah, me and Pearl (Smiles at PEARL) who are you going with?
MEGAN: Oh, just this guy I know, he's been after me for months! I'm going to show Gavin what he's missing out on if you know what I mean babe.
NICOLA: Yeah, sounds erm, good.
MEGAN: Yeah it is. Nice dress Pearl, did your grandma let you borrow it?
PEARL: Nice osobnosti
MEGAN: What did you just say?
PEARL: (smiling) It was Czech
MEGAN: Who?
PEARL: It's a language
MEGAN: I know, freak, but what did it mean?
PEARL: It means I love your hair, it's just lovely
MEGAN: Right. I'll see you later Nicky! (barges into PEARL as she walks away)

Sound Problems.

Throughout filming, I have encountered lots of problems to do with sound. For example, the first part is the first attempt at filming the boys scene, but the corridor was too echoey so it was hard to understand. The second part is the second attempt at the boys scene, but I again encountered sound problems as hoovering is heard in the background. I rewrote the boys scene, changing it so that Gavin was in bed, and Ryan was walking to college, on the phone to him.

The final part is the girls scene, which wasd also hard to understand, so we filmed it again in a corridor.

Filming- boys first scene.

I fisrst filmed the fisrt scene where we see the group of boys in a corridor at college. I orginally began with him having 3 friends, which I thought would highlight his popularity, and asked the boys to do this scene improvised, providing them with rough guidelines on what to say. This provided some problems as filming took alot longer than planned, and made editing hard as the scene did not flow as well when cut together. When editing i also decided that the audience could not gain enough insight into the characters, and i also discovered problems with sound, so i decided to re-film this scene in a different part of college, where it was quieter.

Naming the film.

For my film, I wanted a name which reflects on both the aspect of music, and the possible romance in the story. I decided to name my film after a song, as I thought that this would be effective. In order to do this, I made a list of possible names and shortlisted them, leaving the choices "About Your Dress" or "Girls Like Mystery"
In the end, I chose "Girls Like Mystery" as I feel that it reflects the story well, and the name comes from the song "Girls Like Mystery" by The Cribs. The film also contains another intertexual refernence to The Cribs, as I took inspiration from the use of splitscreen in the getting ready scene. Hopefully the audience that I am targeting will pick on this reference, as the song is one of the most popular by The Cribs.

Characters and costume- boys.

The main inspiration for the main boys character, Gavin, was Robbie from the film Angus, Thongs, and Perfect Snogging. Robbie is in a band and I wanted to imply this through the way that Gavin dresses.

I dressed Gavin in clothes a bit brighter than his friends, in order to show a bit of a difference between them.

Costume - Nicola and Megan.

I wanted Nicola to look more attractive than Pearl, but i still wanted her to look down-to-earth and approachable. I looked at the character Lizzie McGuire, as she is similar to the sort of character I want Nicola to be. The girl who will be playing Nicola is blonde, and the friendly, sweet and innocent girls in films are usually blonde.

For the character of Megan, I looked at the typical Queen Bee characters in the media, for example Regina from Mean Girls.

I also looked at the character of Effy from Skins, and the way in which she dresses.

Characters & costume- Pearl.

Pearl:

From using these images I come up with this look for Pearl:

I wanted her to look unusal and creative, so I wore a polka dot dress, fitting in with the vintage look that the Skins character Cassie dresses like, and I thought that the bright red hair fits in with her being interested in art, which I wanted to show through her clothing. The glasses also highlight her geeky side.