Evaluation

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

When I came to do the Film Brief I thought at first I would like to make a psychological thriller like The Strangers or Hannibal, but after looking at some typical thrillers realised that its a bit cliched and a lot are the same plot rearranged and revised, so decide to do a thriller with a twist and do a war movie/thriller. I tried to make it different compared to normal thrillers or war films because of the film The Kingdom which inspired me to make a more anti-war film in the form of a war film. That's why I chose to do a Vietnam war film because so many people were in dispute about America's purpose in Vietnam, I've tried to push the conventions of a regular, action-filled Vietnam movie by focusing more on a soldier who doesn't really want to be there, which is why behind the credits I have the American propaganda about the Vietnam war.

2. How does your media represent particular social groups?

My film would change the way that in film the American's are always the 'goodies' because they are capitalist and fight for democracy, while the enemy is always foreign and Communist or another ideology that isn't the same as America's. In my film I would like to show the American's as the 'baddies' by having a soldier who didn't want to fight because he didn't agree with why America was in Vietnam, which a lot of American's didn't at the time. In my film, I would like to show how North Vietnam although violent, were fighting for a unified ad democratic Vietnam and that it was the American's lack of understanding that made them the 'baddies'. Strictly speaking the Vietcong are the 'baddies' as they are the opposition to the main character, but at the same time the main character understands why their fighting the Americans and doing what their doing. I think my film in the opening represents the Vietcong as the enemy and the stereotypical, Communist sympathizing, anti-USA enemies like in most movies about Vietnam, but only because of the propaganda reels at the start. Through the film I want this to develop so that you would, if we were making the whole film, see why they were fighting and understand the main characters feelings about the war in Vietnam.

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

The media institute that would distribute my media product would have to be cinema once it had compared the cost to release it and how much profit would be gained from the release, this would be after film institutes had bought the rights to distribute the film. The film institutes that would distribute my film would be Millennium Films as it is the company that distributes thrillers such as the Wicker Man and action movie's like Rambo, Equity would be another institute that would distribute my media product as it also distributes films like Rambo but also more independent films. Lionsgate is the main film institute that would distribute my media product as it does a lot of thrillers and action films such as The Haunting in Connecticut and Crank 2: High Voltage, I think these film institutes would work for my film as it would be a thriller but also an anti-war war movie so would be a bit different and also have action within the story because of being set in Vietnam. I don't think that my film would be aimed at TV rather than Cinema as it could create controversy because of the more anti-war stance of the story-line which could draw people in to see it as it is different to conventional war films which tend to focus more on the action, stright to DVD release wouldn't really suit a war film as they are generally received well and spark interest within audiences.

4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

I think the target audience for my media product would be males over 18, because generally females do not like war films. Despite males and females liking thrillers and some action films, I thought that because it is drawn more towards war that males would be more interested in my film. I definitely don't think people under 18 would be interested because of the extent of the violence in the Vietnam war and what would have to be shown to make the film accurate and interesting. I wouldn't say that older adults were a target audience as many older adults see war films or violent films as unpleasant so don't go and see them.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

I decided from the start that a war film based in Vietnam was not a film for people under 15 as it would have to have violence and some drug use, as drugs were a problem among American troops in Vietnam. I never thought of it as a young people's film because of the idea of war and it being a very controversial issue within film depending how it is portrays. I have tried to attract over 15 year olds and looking more toward over 18 year olds by making it seem like a more intelligent story-line supported by the violence and excitement of conventional war films. I then isolated the sex of my audience which is more likely to be males, as females generally are not interested in war films, that I decided on rating my film as an 18 because of what a film based in Vietnam would have to include. I did some research into the Vietnam war and found that things like burning down villages and decapitation happened throughout Vietnam which is why I made my film an 18 as I wanted it to be Historically accurate despite being 'based on a novel'.

6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Because I have never done filming before except to the extent of picking up a camera and filming something then putting it down, I have never properly learnt how to produce and make a film. I've learnt how difficult just the importing and piecing together of a film is as I kept misplacing footage or cutting it in the wrong places or making the wrong choice out of scenes. I learnt how to choose the right clips to make the film after I chose a blurry clip by accident and it took me ages to relocate the original few of that scene. I also learnt how to layer sound and add it onto films using iMovie HD, which I never thought was so useful, and how to do editing such as colour changing, layer credits over film clips, adding the footage together and making the transitions that make the film run smoothly. Presets, for example, were a big help, as the Day to Night preset saved me from having a very damp and British-looking Vietnam set as the day I booked for filming, it was ranging. Once the footage was made to look like it was shot in at night it looked a lot more realistic and effective in creating the illusion of Vietnam. Even the things I expected to be easy like filming a straight non-wobbly clip I found to be extremely difficult as because after I filmed I realised I don't have steady hands so the tri-pod helped me keep the shots fairly straight compared to my original tests. I also learnt that film posters are incredibly hard to make look authentic, it was only after I figured out layering more than one photo together on photoshop and downloaded a font that generates credits did my movie poster start looking fairly realistic. If I had not learnt to use all the technologies and processes then I could not have produced the film that I did.

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

I think I have learnt in progression from full as I can now use the camera and the programs needed to construct the film which when I start , I've also progressed from thinking that it would be easy and all I had to dow as pick up a camera, film, then put it together, when really there's so many things that can go wrong, like losing footage, changing ideas, ideas not working out, which can set you back, which makes filming a very difficult task to predict its success because you don't know how things are going to go when the editing and piecing together starts.

FINISHED FILM POSTERRR

Changes!

I have done my filming and used after effects to change the footage from day to night to make it look more like vietnam because the weather was bad on the day that I filmed. I have changed the idea of kinetic typography after my own footage to just using it to do the opening credits and titles. Instead of the opening just being my own footage i've decided that I'm going to open with the film institutions and then have the titles and credits, in between the credits there 3 small clips of my main character running with sounds from Rambo to make it seem like he's running away from a battle or fight, after these I'm going to have my own footage. 

I still have to make a poster which I am making at the moment. I had the idea of having my main character crouching or standing in the middle of a marshy bit on a log, I have been trying to layer 3 photo's together to make it seem like theres another body a bit behind him which makes it look like he's moving. Once i've done this i'd like to do black bars at the top and bottom with the credits and actor names in. 

After Effects

I have done some trials on After Effects of a speech by Martin Luther King about the Vietnam war. I am making Kinetic Typography of the speech and will use it as the opening titles of my film. When i have this part done I'll try it with footage behind and other things just to see how i like it.

I will also be filming in a week or so.