Evaluation

Marking Criteria for Evaluation
This information is taken from the OCR website

http://www.ocr.org.uk/download/kd/ocr_9646_kd_gce_spec.pdf

Each candidate will evaluate and reflect on the creative process and their experience of it. Candidates will evaluate their work electronically. The format of the evaluation has some flexibility and its form can be negotiated between teacher and student: it may take place with individual candidates or with the production group as a whole, or each individual candidate or production group may make a formal or informal presentation to the whole class.
The questions that must be addressed in the evaluation are:

• In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
• How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
• What have you learned from your audience feedback?
• How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

• Ideas for the format for the presentation of the evaluation can be found in the Guidance Notes.
• Level 1 0–7 marks

• There is minimal understanding of the forms and conventions used in the productions.
• There is minimal understanding of the role and use of new media in various stages of the production.
• There is minimal understanding of the combination of main product and ancillary texts.
• There is minimal understanding of the significance of audience feedback.
• There is minimal skill in choice of form in which to present the evaluation.
• There is minimal ability to communicate.
• There is minimal use of digital technology or ICT in the evaluation.
• Level 2 8–11 marks
• There is basic understanding of the forms and conventions used in the productions.
• There is basic understanding of the role and use of new media in various stages of the production.
• There is basic understanding of the combination of main product and ancillary texts.
• There is basic understanding of the significance of audience feedback.
• There is basic skill in choice of form in which to present the evaluation.
• There is basic ability to communicate.
• There is basic use of digital technology or ICT in the evaluation.

• Level 3 12–15 marks
• There is proficient understanding of the forms and conventions used in the productions.
• There is proficient understanding of the role and use of new media in various stages of the production.
• There is proficient understanding of the combination of main product and ancillary texts.
• There is proficient understanding of the significance of audience feedback.
• There is proficient skill in choice of form in which to present the evaluation.
• There is proficient ability to communicate.
• There is proficient use of digital technology or ICT in the evaluation.

• Level 4 16–20 marks
• There is excellent understanding of the forms and conventions used in the productions.
• There is excellent understanding of the role and use of new media in various stages of the production.
• There is excellent understanding of the combination of main product and ancillary texts.
• There is excellent understanding of the significance of audience feedback.
• There is excellent skill in choice of form in which to present the evaluation.
• There is excellent ability to communicate.
• There is excellent use of digital technology or ICT in the evaluation.

Evaluation 


Throughout the majority of the school year I have undergone the coursework segment of the A2 media course. In my personal opinion I felt it was slightly rushed and hectic, due to my poor time keeping and other issues. Therefore if given the opportunity I would plan my time more wisely, to achieve the highest quality from my ability. So if any additions needed to be made I would have more time to do so, however I feel it could have gone a lot worse, and considering this was my first solo production I think I have done my self proud.



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

Gaining an insight into the common occurrences used in short films, was one of the first tasks I underwent during the coursework. And throughout my own short film I have tried to work towards these, but not in a way that ticks every stereotype.

Codes and Conventions of Short Films and Film Trailers

Characters

• Unlike trailers, names don't tend to be included throughout, as the majority of short films have a either a low key or unknown cast. So taking this on board I added all these details into a diegetic credits sequence at the end of the film. I did this so that the audience are able to absorb the narrative, instead of being bombarded by cast names they will never have heard of.
• Characters themselves are based highly upon counter types and inter textual references. The choice of persona for each character was crucial to gain the desired effect. Clearly the central protagonist is based highly upon Spiderman, due to his choice of attire. But instead of the character being portrayed as a stereotypical male who is tough, gets the girls and beats up the bad guys. Instead binary opposition occurs, as he is portrayed as a total counter type. As a guy, who wakes up with another in his bed, gets beaten up by a Caucasian middle class gangster and is afraid of heights. I tried to incorporate this into all of my characters, to bring a sense of comedic value to my short film. (From looking back at my final cut you could say that the central protagonist has a slight inter textual reference to the Stig, due to the way he reacts to some situations.) As I have briefly mentioned the countertype American gangster who infact is British and Caucasian. With this set of character types I hoped to appeal to a youth audience spanning from 15 to 34 years of age. By labelling my film with a 12 age certificate, A larger market can be branched out to. To make sure that my text is easy to interpret I avoided complex sentence structure, opting for a more informal approach. Ideally avoiding dialogue if possible, as it may accidentally provide an oppositional or contested reading.

Locations

• With this being a small scale A2 project, I was working from my own pocket, so I had to scout out all of the locations myself. Unlike glossy Hollywood blockbuster I wasn't looking for something breathtaking and exotic. Instead I was searching for a backdrop that almost blends in. One that interlinks with the narrative but doesn't cause the audience to be drawn towards it. Throughout all of this I am attempting to achieve a sole selling point, which I think most short films also do. This is having the narrative as the focal point, and from watching back my final cut and seeing reactions on a personal level I feel I have done so.

Effects 

• In terms of computer genreated effects (CGI) in short films, I have expanded upon the common codes and conventions of having very little amounts of these effects and editing techniques. Having the Sin City effect towards the end of the film, is that main use of these techniques. This effect used in Frank Millers adaptation will have cost millions to achieve the finished product. However I was able to recreate this with no added cost using merely Final Cut Express and on line tutorials.

Sin City

Tutorial using Final Cut Express

Example of footage from my film

The main aim of this was to mimic the graphic novel aesthetic of Sin 
City, to signify my own films comic book reference . 
However going further into detail, it also has a polysemic meaning. 
In the sense that all of the colour and happiness is gradually being
drained from the protagonists life. 
Which eventuallyfades out towards the end of the film.

Example of colour fade out

Distribution

Having looked into this on my AS project and further more in A2,
there is only a small array of options available for a short film 
maker on an extremely low budget. 

However I could aim towards one of the major British film companies.
To get my project onto the big screen I would first preview a screening
for free at a local film festival,this would most likely be Leeds. 
Where I would gain access to feedbackfrom a vast audience , at a 
next to nothing cost. If my film were to go down well,
and I were to gain recognition, I could incorporate this as further 
advertisement and publicity.Warp X the low budget film company 
would be my pro choice of companies to work with, as one of the 
five main conglomerates would not be achievable at my level of film. 
I would choose this company as it would allow me to produce 
my film on a higher budget, perhaps gaining access to local cinemas
to screens for regional viewings. Following in the footsteps of other
low budget movies such as Billy Elliot, which produced on a
$5,000,000 budget grossed a $87,285,000 worldwide gross profit.

If this were to fall through, or just to gain additional distribution I
would aim towards specialist television channels such as 
Propeller Tv, On Sky, channel 195. Which is a company established
to support the short film industry.

Soundtrack

This was created by a fellow peer, who is currently undertaking the 
A-level music course at my school.The music in my piece is 
designed to create desired emotions, a technique used in both
short films and trailers. However from listening to the tracks 
several times I have found them to be quite catchy. Which if
my film were to become a success, would be an additional 
selling point, which many mainstream film use.

Track 1 - Morning Scene : Gives a sense that the character is relaxed, 
but ready to start the day and no-thing is wrong, however when the 
track drops the narrative alters, providing deposition that the situation
is going to develop. And with the use of mild bass slight tension is 
created, but not enough to displace the audience.

http://ia341320.us.archive.org/3/items/WakeUpSceneMusic/ChrisWakeUpScene.wav

Track 2 - Travel Scene: This track uses a male voice over with a 
predominant accent to give a heavy urban feel, also it appears rather
gritty and hard hitting with the use of heavy bass. The tempo of the 
track allows this area of the short film to flow well.

http://ia341302.us.archive.org/1/items/TrainSequence/TrainSequenceChris_vbr.mp3
 

Track 3 - Fight Scene: This track is aimed to create binary opposition.

The scene itself is quite pathetic in terms of a fight scene.

• So to build up a sense of action this track was chosen. 
• To create a sense of comedy to the audience, as it is portraying 
• something completely out of place. This was reiterated via 
• feedback from a fellow student.

http://ia341307.us.archive.org/0/items/FightSceneMusic/ChrisFightScene_vbr.mp3

Track 4 - Corridor: Proffered reading of this track, is to give a heavy
sense of displacement and confusion. This is achieved via a heavy,
fast paced base line that increases the heart rate. To mimic the
protagonists reactions in the audience.

http://ia341329.us.archive.org/2/items/ConfusionSequence/ChirsConfusedScene.wav

Cinematography

•  I personally feel that I haven't followed the conventions of a short film, in the sense that I didn't capture enough interesting shot types. Granted I took plenty of footage and when placed it together it worked well. 
• In certain areas of my film I have added footage where feedback has been given. Re shoots were possible, but due to cast commitments not everything was achieved. But there are certain subtle aspects I have included into my short film. Certain set dressing is used to portray gender types. The use of a guitar and darts board denotes the masculinity, where as the South Park figure gives more of a comedic camp aspect. Also creating a reference as its an animated character which has a fantasy aspect. The window in the bedroom sheds through large amounts of light during the opening scene, to denote that the outside world is a surreal place.
• Another cinematic touch I have added is during the shot focussed upon the protagonists arm. During this I lined it up with the street markings to almost give a sense that a web should come out in this direction. As well as this it also links into the direction that the character moves next.

Narrative

• I feel it is typical in the style of most short films. I took a normal everyday scenario, getting up and going into town, but slightly altered one element. This being the fact that the central protagonist thinks he is Spiderman, but not the hero you would expect. Instead you get someone who is weak and vulnerable, both mentally and physically. Without the costume the narrative would be no were near as effective. As without it the audience wouldn't be able to relate properly to the film.

Tag line

• Tag line to my film is heavily influenced by my main intertextual reference whichis Spiderman. From hearing or reading the line 'No dignity, No shame, No powers' it paints a rough outline of the narrative. Yet it still creates some narrative enigma to draw in an audience, in the sense that they will ask what this  relates to and what exaclty the main character will be doing. 
• The line itself is actually a play on the Scary Movie tag line, 'No mercy No shame No sequel'. Which is also relevant as I have researched a great deal into the film and used it as the basic concept of my own idea.

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

            

• In comparison to the time I designated for editing the ancillary tasks were rather rushed, as they had to be completed in tandem with the editing process and other school comitments. But the final products I am left with are highly effective and due to that I am reasonably pleased.
• Whilst doing all of these tasks simultaneously it gave me the advantage that everything would link easier, as all the information would be fresh in my mind. This was crucial as they all need to be tied together, otherwise in terms of advertising it wouldn't appear clear that both of the texts are linked to my film.
• For my magazine there are several techniques that I used. The company name 'Comic Com', was strategically chosen to link in with the themes of the article and the film itself. So not to appear overly confident and egotistical  as it signifies that I am able to pick flaws in my own work and take on board criticism. I incorporated  still s from the actual film to give a glimpse into my film for those yet to see and to provide something to relate to for those you have.
• Throughout both ancillary texts I used a relatively similar colour pallet, this being red and black. As these are the primary colours related to Spiderman. The poster follows this, but is based more towards an Scary Movie intertextual reference. The concept of having several characters abusing the protagonist was my initial idea. However the casting for my film was minimal, so I opted to have the main character sat by himself in centre frame. The image I used was independently taken ( not a screen shot from the movie ), as this seemed to be more creative. Plus it allows the audience to view a range of images related to my film, instead of being bombarded by similar movie stills. Plus there are no great opportunities I feel a screen shot could have been used.
• BBFC rating for my film has been added to my poster and was classified into its designated 12 age certificate using the placement criteria from the BBFC website.

http://benisek-chrisa2.blogspot.com/2009/10/target-audience-and-bbfc-classification.html

 see article for more detail on age ratings....

At first I used an American rating symbol as it matched with the colour scheme of my poster,
however it didn't appear accurate. 
As my film has a much larger chance of being distributed throughout the UK rather than the US.
The image of the character is to show that the he is trapped in a world of his own, 
which I personally think works very well.
In terms of the billing block it isn't a hundred percent accurate. As some names mentioned in 

the credits were added at the last minute and the poster was completed before this stage.
As I have already mentioned these tasks were slightly rushed and as a result I have found areas 

for improvement. 
In terms of the article I should have but the film name in italics when it was mentioned ,

as this is a common trend amonst magazines which I failed to pick up on. 
As well as this I would go through and get all of the spacing correct, in order to avoid words 

overlaying onto the next line, as dashes create a poor aesthetic.
As I have briefly brought up the billing block could have been more accurate and I could have perhaps

experimented with various main images, to make the poster stand out more.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Throughout the project I have gained solid audience feedback, which I have aimed to take on board at every possible instance. The downside to this was that it was mainly students ages 17 to 18 that provided the majority of this. With these being friends that I asked most of the comments were positive, which appeared a little bias. So I moved away from this and asked my subject teacher who would be able to give a professional, experienced opinion and my parents. However asking my parents may have had the same bias effect.

So when the opportunity arose to premier a relatively complete cut at creative arts evening, I immediately signed up. And from doing so I was able to screen my film to a vast audience, ranging from 11 to those in their mid 50's. Who could all give a fair and un bias opinion, as they were unaware of me as a person, or of my narrative. Thus being ideal candidates for feedback.

This spanning crowd was useful, even though my target audience is the youth market of 15 to 34 years of age. So it appeared very positive when an audience below and above this, stayed to watch my concept several times through.

With all of this praise it was also important to take on-board criticisms, which are as followed.

Pre Creative Arts Comments

• When the protagonist awakes and goes to the wardrobe, he lifts up his hand to grab the handle, in a first person shot. After this it changes to an over the shoulder. Yet in doing so it cut back to an earlier part in the sequence. With this being early feedback I had time to work into this and cut it accordingly. However a re shoot would have been ideal.
• Secondly the structure of the fight scene. As the gangster character swings for a punch it appears too out of context and cereal. Which was not the intended outcome, to improve upon this I was given more feedback on how to do so. Being given the options to speed it up, slow it down, or use a combination of the two. After testing this out I opted for both as it makes up for the miss swing, and emphasizes the impact.
• Final editing mishap was near to the end. When the main Spiderman runs down the corridor. Certain scenes are not well interlinked, as the the character goes from sprinting to stationary, to sprinting again. Instead of one simultaneous motion. This was then rearranged, and interwoven with transitions to rectify the issue.
• Initially I was going to avoid a title sequence as the concept I had initially was not feasible. But with the news that I would get docked marks for simply having white text over a black background, I became welcome to ideas.

• A concept was brought to my attention, consisting of numerous people wearing white tee shirts , having the name of the film written upon them. To adapt upon this I chose to have a camera zoomed fully on a tee shirt, with the film title written upon it. It then zooms out at a rapid pace to reveal the central protagonist stood wearing the item of clothing.

• Primarily this was going to be shot in Ilkley, but due to time restraints a location within school was chose.
• After showing an audience the footage of the Sin City effect (where only certain colours are made visible) and stating that I planned to use it throughout I was advised to concentrate it towards the end of the film.
• Signifying that the central protaganist is in a different world or state of mind, as well as this it shows that the colour has been drained from his life, resulting in a monochrome effect. 
• The comedic aspects went down well but this may be down to the viewers can relate to the cast, so whether it appeals to a vast audience depends on personnel opinion of comedy.

Post creative arts feedback

• Spiderman was the main draw in of the film.
• The soundtrack and editing effects went down well, proving an excellent example of what Final Cut Express and additional aid can achieve.
• Writing and certain linking scenes needed to be made more legable and in some cases were mis spelt.
• Also all background noise had not been removed.

All of these were taken on board and improved in the little time I had left.

• One individual found the narrative unclear.  This is something I cannot really improve at this stage.  Perhaps including a written or verbal overview of the film before screening.
• It was also brought to my attention that I should include Spiderman undergoing more mundane tasks, such as attempting to take a drink and facing the concequences due to his mask.
• Having being denied of my original location choice, Tesco, I was granted permission by Holland & Barrett for the character to browse the shelves of their store.
• Finally a voice over was mentioned to be included, as more exposition was needed for the characters whereabouts.

no voice over

with voice over

Having taken the majority of this constructive criticism on board I am now left with my final cut, which overall I am pleased with.  However, amongst all this feedback I have found personnel faults, that if given the opportunity I would go back and reiterate and add to.

The additions I would include would be more mundane tasks, such as having the character sat in his boxer shorts, still masked, watching his suit going round in a washing machine/tumble dryer, or have him sitting at the barbers waiting for a haircut.  This could be developed further by having and elipse shot to show a lapse in time, so that every time the character turns around in the barbers chair his sporting a new hair style. I can gain an intertextual reference from this as something similar has been done using Predator on a music video for Bring Me The Horizon.

Areas for improvement include irradicating all ambient noise, as it seems to be an issue in certain scenes.  As well as this the pauses need to be taken out to avoid blank black screens, as in my opinion this represents poor editing skills.  During the montage scene, around town, a glitch appears with the sound.  So to improve upon this point I would have to go back to the Cubase file, to shorten the track length.  Another issue with sound, is the fade in and fade out, which would have been a key skill to have as it creates too much of an abrupt change in audio.  When the character gets off the wall more low angle shots could have been used, to give the illusion of height for a longer period of time.  Also in terms of dialogue, words need to be lengthened out, as some tend to be cut in certain instances.  Finally, the credits, certain names were excluded and misspelling occurred due to human error, so a spell check should have been used.

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

New media technology was the focal point to the whole A Level media course.  The internet was primarily the key to my success.  For a start, the whole coursework element was based upon blogger.  This the hub for all of my work to be hosted upon.  From this you can upload videos, pictures and documents via scribd, which is another piece of media techology which allows you to upload documents then copy in an embed code, which creates a viewer onto blogger, this takes up less space and is more aesthetically pleasing.

Scribd Example

Bloggers main pro over writing, is that hand writing everything takes longer and has no spell checker, which is a large necessity in my case.  Also work can become damaged and lost, whereas Blogger saves itself regularly and is stored via the web allowing access anywhere.

As well as document uploaders, I accessed sites which allowed various media uploads.  To upload MP3 files (pod casts and my sound track) Archive.org was used regularly, which allows a small media player to be added to my blog.  In terms of video I used photobucket and YouTube.  photobucket was primarily used to upload my final cut and the process that went into it.  Whereas YouTube was used to watch and upload instructional videos, trailers and short films.

http://www.archive.org/index.php    

http://www.youtube.com/      

http://photobucket.com/  




Popular search engines such as Google were used for general information allowing me to gain access whatever necessary within a matter of seconds.  Using it to access sites such as IMDB, for film information e.g. release dates and box office figures.

   

To create one of my ancilliary texts (poster) and my teaser poster, Photoshop Elements 6 was used to create projects that can be manipulated in numerous creative ways.

This year Final Cut Express was introduced onto the operating system, so I opted for this over its predecessor iMovie.  With this piece of software, I used old media in terms of books and new media forms e.g. YouTube videos to get to grips with what was necessary, as it is a vast improvement compared to iMovie.  This being due to its wider range of effects and transmissions.

iDVD was used to create a menu for the DVD, making the experience interactive and professional.  Through this programme you can add audio files, stills and video projects.  This was used to complete my final cut as this allows you to burn content onto a disk, providing you with a physical copy of your project.

In terms of audio software the music creation programme named Cubase was used.  I am not aware how this programme works, but from picking the brain of the creator of my soundtrack, it allows you to create high quality music files in great depth, which can be saved in various formats.

To record audio, for example my pod cast episodes, I used a Nokia N95 8gb.  This has an intergrated voice recorded.  As well as this it has Bluetooth connectivity, so that files can be sent directly to the Macs, quickly and without the hassle of wires.  From this you are able to upload the files from the Blogger via archive.

With our DV camcorders no footage would have been taken.  The ones give were not the best pieces of equipment, yet in the end it still allowed me to produce a high quality product.  These camcorders and be easily connected to Macs or complient PC's, via the use of a firewire cable, so that recently captured footage can be uploaded in minutes.

To upload my story board I used my home printer which has an intergrated scanned, allowing hand drawn documents to be uploaded to the web.

Finally, the Apple Macs.  These were another piece of equipment, as without them none of the specialist editing software would have been available for use.  PC's were used, however, this tended to be out of school to compile Word and PowerPoint documents, and small tweeks to my blog.

Overall technology has made the course much more convenient, have a more professional aesthetic and feel, and allow anyone to access your work at anytime.

I am extremely proud of my final cut, even though I know that personnally I could have done much better.  But in the time I allotted myself, I feel that I reached the highest standards possible.  Hopefully this will be reflected in my final grade.