4. How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

For the making of my production, i used a Cannon Legria HF M306 HD camera. i found some of its manual focus tools quite interesting to work with for some shots. I know that the screen consumes a lot of battery life but i didnt find it a problem as i was never far from a socket!

I also used a Tri-pod for some shots, but i also found a steady hand was required for others, i didnt find that a problem either, because the iMovie software sorted the unsteadyness of the frames.

I used a apple mac laptop to create my piece with imovie. it had many different tools to help with constructing the video. i also used a bamboo tablet to sketch the fly from one layer of photoshop to another and then moving it to another layer.

for my main uploading i had to use Vimeo and Youtube as there were problems with the youtube uploading settings. once youtube had finally worked i was hoping i could keep track of how many views i got. i had 9 views and 1 like (which was from myself which doesnt count) so 9 random people in the world have seen my short. who knows, maybe it will inspire a new short film?

3. What have you learned from your audience feedback?

my audience feedback helped me a lot with constructing my final piece of work. My film poster was also tweaked a little so the fly was a bit smaller and a slightly darker shade. this was from a comment i received from a classmate when we watched each others work. generally the other feedback was positive, scoring 7 and 8 out of 10. there were helpful tips on how to make it better which i did in the editing room. there were several complaints about one particularly long shot in the middle of the film. i justified this however as showing solidarity and loneliness which were expressed in the main characters anger at the fly. furthermore i cut to a clock to break up the long shot. i have to remember that different people want different things from films, for example the long shot could work perfectly for some viewers however for some it could cause them to loose interest and stop watching. for my ancillary task reviews i had some particularly good pieces of advice on the wording of some sentences and phrases which led to a complete breakdown and re structuring of my work.

2. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary task?

my ancillary task was done in photo-shop and was not an actual still from the film, but an interpretation, therefor leaving the audience to interpret what the film will be like. The fly on the computer i traced using a tablet and then pasted onto the main picture. this is the only point you see the fly, as you do not see it in the main film. the general feedback was good; - "like the fly, nice drawing!" - "font really stands out, good job" - " nice font and star rating" i believe that my poster is a warm-up act to the final piece, as the rooms do not look alike and neither is the lighting. however when do you see the A-Team standing in such a picturesque location and in such a good line with a perfect pose? The poster's sole purpose was to entice the audience into watching the film. why is there a fly on the guys computer? why is the man silhouetted? all questions asked by viewers before going to see it.

However with the review i wrote i stuck to a simplistic design, with a blown up heading 'BUZZ OFF HITS BACK' and a big picture just like a film magazine such as 'Empire'. the term 'hits back' also hints at the large mess and mayhem that the film entails.

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

When we started to look at genre of films back in AS we saw that all different forms of media have different set ups. for example, a horror film would be dark with lots of shadows, long cuts of the actor looking scared to build up suspense, that kind of thing. whereas an action film would be very fast paced cuts, different lighting depending on the shot ect. when i looked into comedy deeper i noticed that it had many sub layers of editing to keep the audience laughing, for example the contrasting colours of objects can subconsciously make the item more funny. I found that with my piece of work, i developed on this idea, and so even though you don't actually see the fly in the film itself, you can imagine it, and i personally think that has a more powerful effect on the audience than watching the fly. sometimes the best jokes are the ones you have to picture in your head right? The contrast of colour's i used helped the film's comedy value, with dark and contrasting light symbolizing anger, paranoia and frustration from the main character. in our generation today, all young people are sharing videos of all sorts on youtube and vimeo. from escaping parrots to rapping teachers the internet has the lot and guarantee someone has filmed it. My film follows the general lines of a straight foreward comedy. guy gets annoyed at fly, breaks things and gets fired. simple yet effective. however in most films which includes a fly you would probably see the fly, but i challenge the conventions of this and decided to let the audience picture the fly themselves adding comedy effect.

Buzz off

Audience feedback

My audience feedback on my poster was mixed. I had several very good reviews and a few bad ones. many people liked the colours i used, especially in the silouette and the fly. I do need to make sure the blinds are aligned better however because it is obvious when looking close up that the image has been edited with the clone stamp tool in photoshop. I also am going to change the star ratings so the name of the magzine that 'Reviewed' it is on show.i am also going to make the fly slightly darker, because it looks a little bit unnatural, however it may stay the same if it does not have the same effect.

Film Ancillary Task

Practise posters!

i got the two pictures below to make this one!