Evaluation -Question Seven -Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

At the start when we were set the task it seemed fairly simple to do but after finally finishing it seemed like it would never end making us realise how hard it must be to direct and shoot major blockbuster films. It wasn't very hard to create the idea for the film but to actually implement our story was quite hard, We all found it fairly simple to get enough people for the shoot and while filming we found out how easy it is to work with a camera today, as we began to understand how literally anyone can make film now. Although our camera work was fairly shoddy in some places given the chance to shoot again it could be easily fixed after learning how vital it was to repeat shots again and again, even after filming our problems had only just started.
When we took the footage on to iMovie we realised how truly hard it was to edit shots together, after many painstaking hours of shortening shots and finally fitting the music to the correct time we realised how frustrating it can be to create 2 minute video, after the entire process we've all learnt how to use iMovie editing software and how to frame a shot fairly well.

Evaluation -Question Six -What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

We learnt how easy it is to operate a high quality camera and then produce a fairly high standard short film using software that is included for free on a apple mac showing us that technology today can be used by almost anyone with little experience. Although iMovie was our first choice we could have also used Adobe Premiere Pro but it does require alot more experience as it far more complex, but the software showed us that literally anyone can make a decent film for almost no money although the software can be quite expensive.
Less than ten years ago the process would be almost impossible but now its very easy to shoot a film even a child could make a film as editing software is getting easier and easier to use as tutorials are also available, even we used the tutorials just to understand how to correctly use transition effects.

Evaluation -Question Five -How did you attract/address your audience?

to attract the right audience, we checked out other films that had a similar storyline or genre. We used a setting that was noticeable and could be recognised giving the audience a connection to the film giving them an external view on the film, using Heygate estate in Elephant & Castle as the setting was a good way of making the zombie scenario come to life because its an abandoned, run-down estate with broken windows and boarded doors showing a tragedy thats happened. When people have lived on the Heygate Estate in the past or visited it you feel trapped but alone because of the large size and long roads. This gave them an understanding of how the actors felt. Instead of using people who would be seen as a person/ people of higher authority we used characters that were civilians giving the audience another connection to attract their attention.
Another way we attracted the audience was by using the genre of 'horror' and using the idea of a zombie invasion, The thought of a zombie invasion gets the audience to use their imagination to picture what they'd do it that situation. Whether they'd run or stand their ground rebel against the zombies. With this in mind people are more attracted to the film and they are eager to see it. Zombie are wired creatures and hard to understand making the audience excited to see what the director has done with the situation.
Using a rating of 15 addresses the audience and warns them of whats ahead this could also be a way of attracting the audience whether they are younger and yearn for a piece of the action or older and they want to be involved in a film that isn't going to be predictable or have a happy ending and have a caple living happily ever after it will give them a change and take them to sit comfortable zone giving them a craving therefore attracting them to see the film and films of the genre and of the same director.

Evaluation -Question Four -Who would be the audience for your media product?

Our piece is mainly targeted at teens seeking a cheap thrill from a typical cliché filled zombie movie, since horror films are generally aimed at teenagers. The audience really depends on the plot of the film as teenagers are just looking for a quick shock while adults generally look for deeper plot which is often found in thrillers which can be counted as horror flicks, while our piece simply relies on the creepy atmosphere of a deserted area. Although our piece could appeal to a wider audience as it starts with shots of the main character walking around with eerie music playing which could appeal to adults or couples while the second 'action' part features quick intense shots with fast paced music playing which could then appeal to teens.
Since the end of the piece leaves the main character running away alone it adds an intriguing twist that makes us think what's going to happen next which appeals to teens looking for the next zombie attack and leaves adults wondering how she'll survive alone and if she'll find anyone else to help her, since a more mature audience looks for relationships to build with others and wonders about her mental state while teens are just waiting for the next gorey mauling of someone, given the chance to develop the character further we would be able to appeal to both types of audiences.

Evaluation - Question Three -What find of media institution might distribute your media project and why?

A good example of a media institution that has the potential to distribute our film is a short or independent film label such a dazzle film. They are a company who are an independent short film label, who help to distribute films out into the world.

Another way is to distribute or film by adding an advert to certain magazine companies, this is because we used an instrumental audio tape for the beginning of our project and then it went into scream music, we used a scream song because its a up beat song and would get the audiences pumping to see whats going to happen. We could distribute it into a scream magazine such a karrang, this could include an advert which would have the official website of your film on the advert. 

Producing an email or webpage, which can be sent out to a range of people, to the audience we are trying to get out to and this may include a note about the film, the day in which it will be coming out in cinemas or on the television, a competition and most definitely have a trailer or a link tot he trailer on it. 

We could also use cross-media convergence, where we can upload our film piece of the 2 minute opening of the film that we have done for our project and add it to the internet using youtube, which we then can use the link from youtube and add it onto a social networking site such as facebook or twitter. This would help because if we are an independent film, so we have a low budget to work with and the social networking sites to be free this would help a lot and save the money we dont have. 

Evaluation - Question Two - How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The way in which our media product represents social groups is that all of our characters were teenagers aged between 16-18 year olds which is very similar to the characters in a movie which is newly released called ‘Attack the Block’ which is about a teen gang in South London defending their block from an alien invasion, this puts these characters and teenagers in a positive light because in the current society young adults and teenagers are put in a negative light because of anti-social behaviours, crime and other factors. Therefore this is one of the main reasons why we used teenagers as the main characters on the movie because it will hopefully add a positive effect on the way this social group is represented.

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

We looked at a range of real media products such as the film "28 Days Later" this used special effects in which they used to change the colour effect of the film that they shot. We also done this as we wanted to show that our project of the film we are making had a similarity with a real media product such as the film "28 Days Later".
The Film "Sean of the Dead" was a funny remake of the film "Dawn of the dead" made in 1978. This was a film that included zombies, like our project. their zombies were in their own regular clothes, we got the idea of our zombies in their own clothes from this. Although we didn't want our film to be a funny zombie film in some scenes of our project with the zombies, they came across some what funny, it was hard for it all to be very serious, but then the female actress Charleigh came across generally scared when she was being chased by the zombies, we can tell this because of her facial reactions.
We started filming early in the morning & midday. This gave us the day to film and only this day to film as we took our camera out of the school premisses and were only allowed it for the day. As we were filming during the day we got the natural day light, which was good for us as we wanted this effect so we would then be able to add special effects o colour. although, this is different to real media products as they would normally use other sources of light such as the "kino light".

Final Film

Filming- Rough Cut.