Evaluation Questions

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

Question 2: How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

Question 3: What have you learned from your audience feedback?

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

Website deconstruction

• Social links listed on top right
• Promotes film - how you can own it on top of the page
• Tabs such as overview, story, cast and crew, videos, photos, news
• Have to scroll down for the rest of the information - doesn't fit onto one page

• Plays music automatically - also has the option to turn it off
• Can text 'Go London' to 85080 for exclusive clips
• Promoting dvd edition
• Has production company at the bottom and when the dvd comes out
• Tabs about the film such as: about, competitions, trailer, soundtrack, etc.
• Sites for advice and help listed under forums but no facebook, twitter, etc.

• Social media links listed on top right
• Synopsis listed when you arrive on home page
• Trailer at bottom
• Has 'buy now' button to promote film
• In cinemas now, age certificate: 15 - targets right audience

Deconstruction of typography in posters

• The font is bold like teen urban dramas
• The colours aren't opaque and have a faded effect so you can see the brick wall behind
• Billings block is below the title of the film
• Consistent colour scheme - white and a faded brown
• Main actors/actress' at the top; Freddie Highmore and Emma Roberts
• No tagline

• The title is yellow and bold to make it eye catching
• The tagline is below the title in white and a smaller font 'we are infinite'
• 2 colours - yellow and white
• The O is filled in unlike other posters
• Main actors/actress' names at the top of the poster

• Just like the above posters, basic colour scheme with blue and black
• Main actor/actress' names at the top of the poster
• Title of the film is placed in the middle, with some words bigger than others
• Billings block is below the film name in a colour which doesn't stand out so it doesn't draw attention
• Billings block is smaller, in non capitals, unlike The Perks Of Being A Wallflower

Deconstruction of the characters in "It's kind of a funny story"

Vladimir Propp's theory of narrative

Vladimir Propp suggested that characters took on the role of narrative 'spheres of action' or functions. He came up with 7 different character types:

• The hero - usually male, is the agent who restores the narrative equilibrium often by embarking upon a quest. The hero is invariably the texts central character.

• The villain - usually creates the narrative disruption

• The donor - gives the hero something, it may be the object, information or advice, which helps in resolution of the narrative. 

• The princess - is usually the character most threatened by the villain and has to saved by the hero.

• The dispatcher sends the hero on her or his task

• The false hero appears to be good but is revealed at the narrative's end to be bad.

Craig Gilner is 15 years old and suffers from depression. He started having symptom's a few weeks after starting highschool at Executive Pre-Professional. The school's intense academic pressure caused him much stress. After going to countless doctors and therapist's he stops taking his medicationand his suicidal thought's become greater to the point he contemplated jumping off the Brooklyn bridge. He then check's himself into a hospital and meets other patients. This is the main protagonist as the story revolves around him and his mental illness. I decided to look into this character because they are very similar to the protagonist in our teaser trailer; both suffering  from depression and suicidal thoughts.

Noelle is a patient at the hospital that Craig forms a strong bond with. Like Craig, Noelle broke under the pressure and became very stressed, leading to her depression. Unlike Craig however, she was pressured by boys. She cut her face with scissor's and was admitted into the hospital for self-harm. According to Propp's theory, Noelle can be seen as the helper as she forms a strong bond with Craig and helps him through his depression. 

Bobby is one of the mental patient's in the hospital. Bobby and Craig form a quick bond and Craig looks up to him, almost like a mentor. Bobby end's up getting a job, after Craig let's him borrow one of his shirts to wear to a job interview. Bobby can be seen as the donor in this film because Craig looks up to him and he offers advice for Craig.


Our trailer
Our character fulfils more than one sphere character type; the victim and the villain. She is self-destructive and destroys her own life by taking drugs. This was done by featuring a close up shot of her heating up syrup on a spoon which acted as heroin, followed by a tracking shot of her running away in a subway under low-key lighting; further emphasizing how her life has changed and that there is little hope. This shows that there is not always a hero and that she has to face her problems alone; conforming to social realism.

Soundcloud inspiration

For our teaser trailer, we wanted to use music within the indie pop/alternative pop genre. Therefore, I decided to look on soundcloud for possible music we could use, ensuring that it was for commercial use so it's not copyrighted. 

Vampire Weekend

Ed Sheeran

The XX

In conclusion, I feel that the remixes for Angels by The XX is the most appropriate from the tracks I found on sound cloud as the music gradually builds up, which suits the disequilibrium in our trailer.

Analysing posters I've created

In order to create a poster appropriate for our genre, I produced a few posters on photoshop so I could develop them for the final poster.

This is my first draft. In this poster, the text is very simple and random names and reviews have been inserted. I have also inserted a billings block found on google on the bottom of the poster. However, these elements will be made by our group for our final poster.

This is my second draft for our poster. We thought that the wall behind our protagonist was too plain so I found some images of grafitti on Google then layered it on top of the walls.This poster is much more developed as her make up has been enhanced to give a more tired appearance as our trailer talks about the consequences of drug-use. The tagline is also more visible compared to the previous poster but we are unsure whether this will be our final tagline.

This is our final poster for our teaser trailer "Eighteen". I have decided to use the above title for our poster because it matches the font and writing in our teaser trailer. I have also replaced the previous reviews with the reviews we used in our final media product. We have updated our tagline as we thought that this was much more appropriate as well as making "From the director of FISHTANK" smaller so it draws less attention. Awards used in our teaser trailer have been placed on the right of the poster to balance it out and the 18 age rating has been placed beside our billings block so we target the right audience. I have also ensured that the font used is the same as our teaser trailer and website. 

Evaluation

In conclusion, I feel that creating multiple products benefited me because it ensured that our final poster looked professional and conformed to common conventions in posters within our genre. I found that layering the graffiti on top worked really well as our genre is teen urban. I think that the tagline in the previous posters were too transparent and could have been edited better.

Representation of youths

To help with our teaser trailer, I decided to research into youth culture and how they are represented. British youth culture has changed dramatically over the past 50 years due to the strong influence of technology and the demonization of youths in the media. 

The wariness of youth culture made it easy for the media to demonise youth in the 50's, shown in the creation of films such as "Blackboard Jungle", "Rebel Without A Cause" and "Teenage Bad Girl". These are some of the oldest examples of demonization of youth by the media. During the 2000s, hoodies had gained a negative image and was associated with trouble making teens and anti-social behaviour. Due to the increase in gang violence crimes, hoodies became nationally feared and there were many protests in favour to have hoodies banned. Chav refers to an anti-social subculture. Chav is an informal British derogatory meaning a young lower-class person who displays brash and loutish behaviour and wears real or imitation designer clothes.

Teenagers are often represented in the media as being rebellious, disrespectful, lazy and being associated with drugs and alcohol.

Representation of teenage boys

Teenage boys are usually presented as violent, irresponsible and having little respect for authority. Some teenage males have modelled their behaviour on representations these films promote, leading to the rise of gang culture, in particular, middle and lower class areas.

Hoodies have become a symbol of this representation and the wearing of them and constant reinforcement of the representation by the media has created a climate of fear surrounding one item of clothing.

Representation of teenage girls

Another representation is the sexualisation of teenage girls; ie. "Angus, thongs and perfect snogging". Girls are still portrayed as sex/boy obsessed and concerned with their appearance. Girls are bombarded with images of how they should look by the media, causing their perceptions of beauty to be altered. As a result, the distortion of reality causes insecurities and low self esteem as girls feel as if they don't look like the models in magazines

Examples

Breakfast Club(1985)

• Their dress sense is much more covered up and dull
• Youths didn't do many bad things as the consequence would be a weak punishment (detention)

Kidulthood (2006)

• Teenagers are much more free
• Their dress sense has changed; much more revealing with trackies and short clothing
• Youths are much more rebellious and the punishment is much more severe (jail)

Mean Girls (2004)

• Based on a group of girls
• Lots of different hierarchy/segregated
• Much more deceitful

Final poster

Final poster

Process

This is the original image that I started off with. I thought that this image was effective due to the brick wall behind her; conforming to conventions in urban films. I also liked how we took the golden rule into consideration when we took this photo so that the majority of the writing could go on the left hand side.

I took the feedback I got from my first draft into account and made the walls darker by using the burn tool on Photoshop as well as duplicating another layer of our actress to give the appearance of a shadow behind her. To make this appropriate for our genre, I also found some photos of graffiti on google images then layering this on top and lowering the opacity. I rubbed some parts of the graffiti out using the eraser tool to give it a more realistic, faded appearance.

I then added our title and billing block created by Chloe onto our poster. We decided to use the title from our teaser trailer with the orange background instead of a plain white or black title because we wanted to ensure that our fonts were the same throughout our trailer, poster and website. Due to the black background on the billing block, I had to use the effect 'divide' to get rid of the black background but keep the white text. 

The star ratings/reviews were created by finding an image of a 5 star rating on google then writing the review using the text tool on Photoshop. These reviews were taken from our previous poster deconstructions. This was repeated three times vertically to give us 3 reviews. I also included images of the awards received for this film on the side of our poster but making them white to follow the colour scheme.

Lastly, I added our age rating by our billing block and "From the producer of Fishtank" so that those who enjoyed Fishtank may also enjoy our film. We then added our tagline "Freedom comes with responsibility. Consciousness comes with pain" ensuring that it was smaller than our title.

British social realism

Social realism is a genre of film that focuses on issues in modern society which is represented in different ideologies. Some themes that occur in modern contemporary social realism films include money, drugs, prostitution and sex as well as class and political views.

Common conventions

• Usually focuses on the working class
• Based in run down areas in different cities
• Young teenagers and young adults; appeals to a young audience

Examples of social realist films

• This is England
• London to Brighton
• Fishtank
• Adulthood
• Kidulthood
• Anuvahood
• Billy Elliot
• Trainspotting

Deconstruction of mise-en scene and titles in Ill Manors

Ill Manors is a British crime drama film written, co-scored and directed by Plan B. The film revolves around the lives of eight main characters and features six original songs by Plan B, which act as a narration for the film. Ill Manors is a multi-character story, set over the course of seven days, a scenario where everyone is fighting for respect. The film focuses on eight core characters, and their circles of violence, as they struggle to survive on the streets. Each story is also represented by a different rap song performed by Plan B.

Mise-en Scene

I feel that the mise-en scene in this trailer is relevant to our teaser trailer as it includes shots of cocaine, a teenage girl smoking, a blade, abuse and alcohol. These are all issues that teenagers might face so I think that we can take inspiration from these mise-en scene and incorporate them into our teaser trailer. The shots of the blade, cocaine, smoking and alcohol are effective because our genre is based on teen urban/social realism and these are some things that people associate teenagers with. Our teaser trailer has a sense of mental illness so the blade may be effective as it could symbolize that she has to turn to self harm because she is struggling to cope with her problems.

Titles/Reviews

These titles are placed in front of a time-lapse of a motorway. I think that this is effective as establishing/wide shots are usually used in urban films and the time-lapse captures the movement of the cars and how busy the city is.

Deconstruction of Adulthood

Adulthood is a 2008 British drama film. It was directed and written by Noel Clarke, who also stars as the protagonist, Sam Peel. Adulthood is a sequel to the 2006 film Kidulthood, which Clarke also wrote, and depicts Peel’s experiences after he is released from jail.

Six years after being jailed for killing Trife, Sam is released from prison. During the course of the film, it is revealed that Sam has changed dramatically and is not the person he was six years ago. He has learnt from his mistakes and is still haunted by his crime.

Production Company

Adulthood is produced by IFC Films; a production company that we have chosen to distribute our teaser trailer. Through my research into our genre, I've found that IFC Films tend to distribute teen urban/social realist films, making it appropriate for our trailer. 

Mise-en Scene - Location

The mise-en scene used in this film conforms to common conventions of an urban film as it is based in an urban area/inner city of London featuring shots of council estate and ‘chavs’. The trailer shows iconography of London such as undergrounds, hammersmith station and red buses.

Titles

The titles are in bold which is commonly used in urban films. The titles tells us the storyline and creates a sense of enigma.

Soundtrack

• "End in the Streets" (Plan B)
• "Paranoid" (Dizzee Rascal)
• "Kids of the Underground" (Scarlett & Viva featuring The Audio Bullys)
• "Reppin' London" (Sincere featuring D Double E & Scorcher)
• "Follow" (Tinchy Stryder)
• "Running for Life" (Eliza Doolittle)
• "Look What You've Done" (Lethal Bizzle featuring Kate Nash)

Awards and nominations

• Screen Nation: Honorary Production Award 2009 – Adulthood – Winner

• BAFTA Awards: Orange Rising Star Award 2009 – Noel Clarke – Winner

Reviews in Boyhood

We will be using titles and reviews in our teaser trailer so I have taken inspiration from Boyhood since it's a social realist film in our genre. Some of the reviews come from well known newspapers and film critics. 

 

I think that the font used in the trailer is effective because this font is commonly used in teen urban films. The reviews and quotes are also relatively short, making it easy to read. The reviews towards the end of the trailer consists of short buzzwords such as 'dazzling' 'perfect' 'extraordinary' etc, which captures the audience's attention. I also like how they have listed their social media on the end screen with each iconic logo from each social networking site.

Deconstruction of Boyhood

Boyhood is a 2014 American independent coming-of-age drama film, written and directed by Richard Linklater, and starring Patricia Arquette, Ellar Coltrane, Lorelei Linklater, and Ethan Hawke. Shot intermittently from 2002 to 2013, Boyhood depicts the childhood and adolescence of Mason Evans, Jr. (Coltrane) from ages six to eighteen as he grows up in Texas with divorced parents. 

Boyhood is produced by IFC Ptroductions and distributed by IFC Films and Universal Pictures. IFC Films is a production company that distributes similar films in our genre which is why we have taken inspiration from Boyhood. 

Boyhood is a social realism film and covers issues such as divorce, domestic abuse, alcohol, drugs, school/graduation and relationships.

Boyhood soundtrack

Yellow - Coldplay
Hate to say I told you so - The Hives
Anthem Part Two - Blink 182
Beyond the Horizon - Bob Dylan

Deconstruction of film posters

 

  

• Pastel/neutral colour scheme; blue and pink connotes elements of romance that may occur throughout the film which is commonly used in romance/teen films
• Reviews, star ratings and awards that the film has won stand out to show that it's a film worth seeing
• The main actress is the only one in the poster so this shows that she is the main focus and the film most likely revolves around her and her life
• Effective positioning as the golden rule has been used so your eyes automatically focus on the girl
• Sans serif font which is a contemporary font
• The torn wallpaper in the background could symbolize neglect and the poor lifestyle

•  Unique film poster which incorporates the use of illustrations, shading and black outlines which makes it look quite animated - the illustrations and shading further enhances the idea of a typical diary for a teenage girl as it makes it quite personal
• Again, the same colour scheme as Fishtank and the use of reviews and star ratings, conforming to common conventions in teen urban film posters
• The font is quite messy unlike Fishtank which is looks tidy with sharp edges, the font used in the poster imitates her handwriting since it's a diary
• "Some things are best kept secret" - the tagline is relevant to the film and title since it's about a diary
• This is a social realist film; the mum is holding a cigarette which could show that issues such as smoking/drug-use is covered in this film. Also, the review "finally a film that gets youth" shows that it is a relatable film which covers issues that youths will face

• The gun in the poster is coincidentally pointing to the young girl
• London and Brighton are both very different locations so there is a strong contrast; both London and Brighton are in bold
• Font has a scratched effect to show that it's an urban movie that covers social realism
• "Innocence has nowhere to hide" - although she is an innocent young girl, she still has to face reality and issues such as prostitution, being independent, etc.

• A young boy is laying on the grass which is effective as this film is about a boy growing up and we usually associate grass with childhood, parks and fun.
• The poster is very simple as the quote at the top of the poster tells us what it's about
• The font of 'Boyhood' looks quite messy, almost like a child wrote it; very simple colours - possibly enhancing how simple childhood is? 

Creating our poster

• We felt that the brick wall behind our actress was too plain so i used the burn tool on photoshop to make it darker and add graffiti 
• The brick wall was effective as our genre is typically set in an urban area with alleyways and council estates in the background.

• I then found an image of the star ratings and combined this with some reviews using photoshop. These reviews were found online for other similar films in our genre.
• Our tagline is much smaller than our title; conforming to common representations of film posters.
• The billings block was created by Chloe which was then inserted along the bottom of our poster.

Evaluation

I think that this poster is much better than the first draft as it includes much more advance photoshopping. However, I feel that this poster could be improved by changing the font of the title and making all of the text white.

Deconstruction of production companies in previous A2 trailers

Gateway Films

• An independent London based production company, specialising in crime and youth films. It was officially established in 2009 by Terry Stone. 
• Films produced: Shank, Sket, Anuvahood, Doghouse, Plastic, etc.

Revolver entertainment

• Revolver Entertainment is a film distributor in the United Kingdom and the United States. Justin Marciano founded it in 1997 in the UK and Revolver UK entered administration in April 2013
• Films produced: Shank, Sket, Bonded by Blood, etc.

IFC Films

• IFC Films is an American film distribution company based in New York City, an offshoot of IFC owned by AMC Networks. It distributes independent films and documentaries under the IFC Films, Sundance Selects and IFC Midnight brands
• Films produced: The Babadook, Boyhood, Fish Tank, etc.

Poster practical

• I have followed common conventions of posters and ensure that the tagline is smaller than the title of the film. A billings block has also been added at the bottom which is usually quite small. 
• Star ratings and reviews have been added to capture the viewer's attention which makes them want to watch the film
• I have chosen to use a landscape image as this conforms to teen urban dramas. The use of the brick wall is effective as it links to urban dramas and is quite a simple background.
• The colour palette is only made up of black and white as posters in this genre only consist of neutral colours. 
• The release date has been added at the bottom so that viewers who see this poster know when the film is coming out.
• I have used the rule of thirds rule by cropping the original image and placing her off center so that it draws the viewers attention.

Evaluation

I feel that this poster was relatively successful for a first draft but could be improved by doing more experimentation with the font of the title, making the tagline more visible and possible adding more text/images to fill the blank space on the wall.

Research: Writing on the mirror

To decide what we wanted to write on the mirror, I did some research to find some suitable quotes which would link to social realism. 

In the end, we decided to write 'Happy birthday to me' on the mirror instead to emphasize how lonely she is and how her life has changed compared to the year before. In the second to last scene, Verity is shown wiping the words then it ends with her sitting alone against a brick wall.