Evaluation

Part 1: In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of media products?

The film we have made has been classified as a 'Crime-Action-Thriller' because of the elements it contains each Genre is represented within our film.

The crime side of our film is labeled so because of costumes, props and editing.

The costumes are designed to be detective looking, here is Columbo (left) a well know detective character and Noah (right) he is the main detective character in our film Noah's costume was based on Columbo's, as you can see both have a long trench coat, and both are smarty dressed with a shirt, tie and trousers. The idea of using a well known detective Character as a template for our's was Oliver's, it helps set the character, how they will act and stereotypically what they will be like by using what is already there rather than creating a new stereotype or inventing subverted stereotype.

We have included some props you would associate with a cop film such as- a gun as a lot of policemen are armed, a knife stereotypically used by criminals, blood- people would think of it if you asked them what they would find at a crime scene.

At the same time as our titles are set out in an easy to understand fashion they are also a little like a police report, below you can see a mock example, it has a photo of the person and their

name (if you look below) this is very similar to how our titles are constructed, it is a hidden clue which helps identify what you can expect in the film similar to die hard the Fox Logo is made to look like a computer crash, giving the audience a little insight that computer crashes will be a theme in the film.

this title layout is also part of the editing which gives it the identity of a crime film, the use of slow motion and rhythmic editing coupled with fast paced editing also identifies our film as a Crime film.

The Action side to our film is because of various different aspects such as music, Acting and Props.

Most of the music used in our film is fast paced and rhythmically edited to the film for example the beginning scene where Noah closes his front door (above). This technique helps make the film move along quickly it also adds excitement to the film establishing it as a fast paced action film.

Later in the film i am acting as a villain and i (Matt) shoot my captive, this also highlights the film as an action film as there is violence and weapons.

The film is also Thriller because of effects and music.

As my character (Matt)kills their captive the lighting behind them is supposed to look a little like an interrogation room as stereotypically the captive has a bright flood light shone in their face, also i think it adds a deeper meaning to it, you could say that light behind me shows life and as soon as i pull the trigger it goes dark and of course that is supposed to be the victim closing their eyes. this also highlights it as a Thriller as there is the dark side of someone dying in it. At the same time the crime scenes all have eerie music to them this effect adds tension and make the film a thriller, also the fact that the murders are part of a mystery to the 2 detectives help makes this film a thriller.

the conventions in the film indicate that it is in fact a hybrid-Genre we also have a sub-Genre of romance that runs though the full film, it involves Noah being 'in love' with Sarah but he is in denial about it, later in the film if we were to make it his feelings would become apparent but the romance side of things never really takes effect and it is only a minor theme.

You can probably tell this film was greatly influenced by Die Hard 4.0, and the main title idea comes from Snatch, Die Hard is an Action Crime Thrill the same hybrid genre as our film the plot is similar and parts of our film are based on Die Hard, snatch is a Crime Thriller both have a lot of similarities to our film. Die Hards plot, that one by one John (the main character) hunts down and kills all the bad guys who have taken his daughter hostage mirrors our full film as Noah would find the person he loves (Sarah) kidnapped and he would have to save her. Snatch shares the titles with our film it also has plot similarities as in Snatch a diamond gets stolen and they find out and hunt down who did it, this mirrors my Character (Matt) who is hunting for some weapons he has illegally bought but have gone missing. Our film is bringing both sides criminal and Law enforcement together and looking at them from different angles.

Here is a still from Snatch and a still from our film, they both have similarities both have picture of the character and the characters name a quick and easy way to establish the character. although in our titles we decided to take it a step further and give the name of the Actor alongside the Characters name, we also chose to have a small video (top right) of the Character 'in action' this helps to clarify the type of genre in this case, in Oliver's video his character is holding a gun as is 'ready to shoot round the corner this highlights the genre as action and the way he is dressed alongside the action genre highlights that it is an action cop film.

Part 2: How does your media product represent particular social groups?
In Hunting for Matt the range of social groups involved is in reality quite small, in the film both male and females are represented fairly equally  the woman character has a lesser Role than both the males but without her the film would not be complete. Although in terms of a fighting character her role is much smaller, her role of Noah’s lover and helper shows her as competent and capable, and so to an extent the Female character is still shown to be less dominant compared to both male characters. Also in terms of race only British white people are involved and only young adults in terms of age range, i would say it mostly applies to young people and Adults ranging from  15-40 years old.

The idea of having a female character in the film make it complete, most good films that have action in them have an underlying love story even if the love story does not play a major role without it the film is not complete, in our story the underling love story is not only there to help make the film but the female character will also be appealing to other females as her role is not as passive as 'just the lover' but she also has quite an active role as well. The male characters are both stereotypical males and stereotypical apply to male viewers. Because of the age rating the film does not apply to under 15s but over 15 to 40-50s I would say is the main age range older people will probably not find it interesting due to the content of fighting and the whole action scene.

Character similarities from our film to Die Hard 4.0:

 







To the Left is Mai Linh she is the second in command bad guy in the film Die Hard 4.0 however the top bad guy does not appear in the opening sequence so i will compare and contrast Matt Morgan (right) to her. First difference is obviously Gender another difference is the way in which the characters get 'what they want' Mai lies and manipulates she is very deceptive and impersonates someone in power to gain what she is after, where as Matt is more ruthless he would kidnap someone he wants information from and threaten them with various different results, both are criminals and both are skilled in the way they both initially get what they are after.

 







The main characters, detectives and hero's from the 2 films John Mcclane (right)  in Die Hard 4.0 Noah Jones (left) in Hunting for Matt. Both are physical men getting what they want by physically getting it in both films they track down the main baddy leaders to save people they love both characters use brute force i.e guns, fighting, however there are differences John starts by already having this attitude of hands on however Noah does not he starts more casual and less involved until Sarah is kidnapped. another difference is that one has hair and the other doesn't. but both men are good guys and are after justice.

 







Lucy Mcclane (left) and Sarah Jenkins (right) have similar roles but not at the start, to start with both characters are very bold and have minds of their own, however Lucy doesn't really do much in Die Hard 4.0 where as Sarah is part of the police department Sarah is hands on helping Noah all the time where as Lucy doesn't want anything to do with John and is very rebellious in his direction. however both are people who are close to the main characters Lucy is Johns Daughter and Sarah is Noah's love. both of these characters end up being kidnapped and eventually saved by the hero.

Part 3: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
The film would have to be distributed by 20th century fox because of the sear scale of stunts, explosions and the amount of action needed for the film to work, it would require a large well know company to resource it. Fox has already distributed a vast amount of action films similar to the film i wanted to create, also Fox distributed 'Die Hard 4.0' the film i researched and based my film on.

The film is very similar to something like Die Hard hence why i did an analysis on it when looking at the scale of that film and looking at the scale of the one we would have made it would require a large film company.



An Action Still from Die Hard 4.0



The film it's self does not support much room for merchandise, one reason is the age ranged involved toys and child's a major merchandising industry would not apply because of the age range. However because it is an action film gaming could apply to a great extent due to all the action and explosions. Other things could also be merchandised from the film. but this is more likely to be things with the films logo or a saying from the film on it eg mugs or t-shirts.

Video games: Made from Die Hard, our film could support similar products.

 

 

Titles:                        

• Die Hard for Nintendo Entertainment System
• Die Hard for MS-DOS
• Die Hard 2: Die Harder for Commodore Amiga
• Die Hard Arcade for arcade and Sega Saturn
• Die Hard Trilogy for PC, PlayStation, and Saturn
• Die Hard Trilogy 2: Viva Las Vegas for PC and PlayStation
• Die Hard: Nakatomi Plaza for PC
• Die Hard: Vendetta for Nintendo GameCube, Xbox, and PlayStation 2

Part 4: Who would be the audience for your media product?
The target audience for our film would be between the ages of 15 and 40 and generally more appealing to males rather than females because of the action content, however there is an element of a man trying to win a woman's heart which some females would find interesting.

I looked up BBFC classifications and our film only bridges into the 15 category because of the violence involved in the action of the film.

 "Violence

Violence may be strong but should not dwell on the infliction

of pain or injury. The strongest gory images are unlikely to

be acceptable. Strong sadistic or sexualised violence is also

unlikely to be acceptable.

There may be detailed verbal references to sexual violence

but any portrayal of sexual violence must be discreet and

have a strong contextual justification."

The film we are wanting to produce is a typical action film like Die Hard it contains violence blood and explosions, this appeals mostly to men (under 40s down to 15 year olds).



Part 5: How did you attract/address your audience? 

The major selling point is the type of film,with the stunts the action fights and explosions involved in the film it is most appealing to males. the underlying love theme also makes it apply to some females, but not all.

In the film the Audience are put into the position of 'the Hostage' due to a P.O.V shot, the audience witness quite a few sense which some could find upsetting like the murder of the hostage, this violence will have a shocking impact on the viewer. This links back to the film being a thriller because the audience guesses whats coming before the character does and they feel for them. Unlike the Character who has no pity.

The fast paced music during the titles should also enduces excitement in the viewers this creates that action genre in the film.

Scenes like these help to engage the audience in the film:



In shots like this one it is almost like the
character is directly addressing the audience,
giving the audience a sense of involvement
 in the film.





Here the Audience can clearly see information

about the character almost like a character profile they see

their name,the actor who plays them, they see the character
'in action' and they see a still 'passport style' photo of them



 

here the audience is put 'into the shoes' of a character in this case the victim, they see first hand what the victim sees this helps the audience associate with the characters and almost helps them build up relationships between them and the characters.

Part 6: What have you learned about technology from the process of constructing your product?

The camera we used was a HDV-1000 video camera which gave us a much better high quality picture, allowing us to film in HD and wide screen. There is a much better zoom feature than with previous cameras we have used for the preliminary task. 

For the editing we used Final Cut Express. This was a bit tricky to get used to but gave us more features we could do with our film. To start with we just imported all the clips we had, gave the ones we wanted to use names and then created a rough edit. this made it easier to alter bits and make it perfect although on a few occasions things worked out just right without too much messing around. This software allowed many effects such as colour correction which we needed after setting the white balance wrongly we could also do sound bridges because sound and video were separate. It also allowed us to import files such as the music we used as a soundtrack. it allowed us to have cool effects such as the titles at the beginning being wiped by the door or the type writer effect.

The camera equipment was clearly vital for our film, but what were it strengths and weaknesses?

well it's strengths include its versatile, due to the tripod it could be set up any where we chose even unlevel ground, it was fast in terms of features like the zoom, it's easy to use and the user friendly menu helped us correctly set the settings such as white balance.

it's greatest weakness was it's size, the camera was big and bulky which made it hard for us to transport around examples of when this was a problem was walking around and getting onto cramped buses.

The filming process was fun and enjoyable, it was also made easy with the use of the tripod. one of the biggest difficulties we faced when filming was the size of the rooms we filmed in, this was mostly our fault, but the camers tripod helped us cram it into small spaces and the beauty of the filming screen which moved around was i could film from the side of the camera rather than being stood behind it and still see what i was doing.

new equipment which we used obviously the cameras without them the film would not bee as good in quality. the tripod also helped keep the filming level and still it mean there was no shaky movements that you would get from a hand held camera.

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

The planning stages of our film were long and tiresome but in the end all the hard work paid off as it made shooting, editing, sound and mise-en-sen easier to work thought and easier to do. to start with me and my 2 friends were interested in doing a comedy however one of my Friends left Media so our group was brought down to 2, our teacher advised us that a comedy would be hard enough not to mention the fact that with only 2 of us there is a large work load already. so we changed Genre after a long debate to Action crime thriller. originally we were going to do a cop spoof so we kept the cop idea but moved towards an action thriller rather than a comedy- here is the work we did towards a comedy-

http://joeolcon.blogspot.com/2010/11/ideas-for-opening-so-far.html
After we changed what Genre we were doing mean a total re-draft of all our work and it mean we had to crack on with our research. after we had completed the script and story boards it made the filming easier as we knew exactly where to set up and what shots to take.


I can confidently say that my experience on the camera has improved, i got used to the zoom at last! to start with it puzzled me a little, and i have definitely got better at editing, now i can confidently and quickly edit my work to produce things like 'match on action' effectively and accurately.

The audience feedback we received on the film was good, quite small in terms of numbers of people that commented but it was encouraging still, people said they enjoyed it that even for 2 minutes they were at 'the edge of their seat' the rhythmic editing was a big hit people liked that and one person said it looked very professional.
here is a link to the audience feedback:
http://joeolcon.blogspot.com/2011/05/feedback-from-people-who-viewed-film.html

i am hopeful that the work i have produced is good and i hope that it will fulfil the requirements needed for a good grade, i am very happy and pleased with my work and thoroughly enjoyed making it... except the story boards. i look forward to doing another project in the future.

below are 2 videos the preliminary task (top) and the 2 minute opening sequence (bottom) please watch and enjoy!