Ancillary Text 2 - Poster

Media Evaluation Questions 1-4

A2 Media Evaluation Questions

Shown below are all of my media evaluation questions for the A2 course

Production Editing

With my production, I did not do a large amount of editing as I felt the light and colour treatment of the shots did not need considerable amounts of work to it and I also felt that it would have a more realistic appeal to the whole production if I did not edit it too much.

The main thing I did edit was the speed of some of the shots and the transitions into other shots. I tried to slow down some of the shots with my actor running to give it a more dramatic effect and so that I could get more use from using less shots. The slowing of the shots needed to be relatively consistent with each shot so I tried to ensure that I slowed each shot to the same time (either 0.6 or 0.7) as this meant there were no elements which were overly slow and all of them managed to compliment each other well. I did however slow one particular shot down much more and the clip can be seen at the end of this blog.

In terms of editing transitions, I only really used a very blunt transition of just going into the next shot and I also used a fade which lasted for different times depending on which shots I was trying to put together. I used these as they are the most common ways of transitioning shots in both music videos and in films, also they were more relevant and looked more suitable than those that looked as though they would be found on a power point presentation made by an 11 year old. This gave my production a more professional look to t and this would have increased the quality of the music video and hopefully increased the interest of the viewer(s). I also used the transition of fading the text out at the start just to introduce the band and song name as this is the way it is traditionally done by channels such as Viva and 4Music.

Final Song Choice

After changing my idea constantly about what song I was going to use in my final production, I decided to use an acoustic version of an original song. I chose to do this as I listened to the original and the lyrics were very relevant to the storyline but because it was by a slightly "punk rock" band, the beat was a bit harsh for the mood of the video and there was a lot of heavy electric guitar and drum use. This was not ideal for my production as the atmosphere of the production is relatively slow and this needs a softer and more comforting track to go with it to make it seem as though they compliment each other well. The original song can be seen below:

I had listened to the above song plenty of times as I am a fan of the band and therefore have listened to a lot of their records. Because of this, I decided to see whether or not their acoustic version of this song would fit into the production with a more complementing fit. The lyrics are the same and the way it is sung is completely the same but the difference is that it is very light drum use and just an acoustic guitar, which gives a softer touch to the song and makes it seem more suitable for the mood that the video is trying to portray. This is why I decided to choose this song and therefore this is my final choice for my production. The song can be seen below:

Characters

As my production is a music video with a genre of a love/break-up story, I felt that I needed to ensure that my characters fitted the traditional conventions of music videos with this genre. Therefore I decided to have a male character and a female character. I decided that I would act in my production myself as this meant it was easier for me to control what sorts of shots I wanted and how I wanted the actor to play the part. In terms of the female actress, I asked one of my friends, Sarah, to play the role. I wanted the typical characteristics of an actress for this particular genre. This would include someone who is smaller than me, is very innocent looking and just what a typical girl would be classed as. For my actor (me) I tried to dress in very basic colours to give a feeling of not being very interesting and not being very bothered about anything. This is so that it supports the way the argument starts at the beginning of the music video. Pictures of both the actors in their costume can be shown below:

Sarah

Ben (me)

Movie Review 5 - The Devil Inside

Similar to the last movie review, I watched a horror film but this time it was called 'The Devil Inside'. This film is about a girl called Isabella Rossi, who tries to find out what has happened to her mother after she was sent away from her daughter for killing three people in what looked like an attempted exorcism which had not been deemed safe or the correct treatment by the Vatican. The film follows Isabella's journey to Italy to document the teaching of exorcisms and a reunion with her mother but after coming into contact with a pair of trainee exorcists, she finds out much more than she would from just sitting in a classroom.

I was slightly apprehensive about watching this film at first as even though I am a fan of horror films, I had found out that the first screening of this film had been done in an old church at midnight with no light. The reviews from those who experienced this had stated that they were slightly unnerved after they had watched it and they felt even more worried once they had found out that the case of Isabella Rossi's mother is a real life case which is still to be resolved.

The film is shot almost all through the eyes of the camera man who accompanies Isabella on her journey and this makes it look as though it is a footage film. These films are not films i tend to watch very often but I wanted to try something new and to be honest, I like the way the used the camera man's point of view and the way they made it seem like a documentary. The film was very enjoyable and I would recommend it as long as the viewer isn't too squeamish as there is a lot of unnatural body movements and some aspects could make certain people feel sick. The trailer for 'The Devil Inside' can be seen below this text:

Film Review 4 - The Quiet Ones

Recently I watched a film called 'The Quiet Ones'. This is a horror film about supernatural events and in particular, the case of a university professor who specialises in the cases of the supernatural, and a small group of students who have been given the task of documenting the issue of a girl who is believed by some to be possessed while others have an opinion that she is just mentally insane. Their task is to try and prove she is possessed by documenting her movements and holding spiritual gatherings to see what or who is possessing her.

The film is shot from two different perspectives. The first is that it is filmed through the eyes of the audience, like most films. The second is that it is filmed in some areas through the eyes of some of the characters, especially the main student, Brian. He is the camera man who has been trusted to document the whole experience and the angles that the film is shot from at certain points is through the camera he uses. This gives a more genuine feel to things and also gives the audience more of a feeling that they are there alongside those in the film. Normally I am not a fan of films that are shot in this way but because there was a good mix of camera angles and shots, I ended up enjoying it a lot more than I thought. The trailer can be seen below this text: