Critical Evaluation question 1- Matthew Gollick

Question 1: In what Ways does the media product, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Our media product uses conventions of continuity through language and editing. Continuity editing is one way of continuity of post-production. The reason for continuity editing is to have a smooth cut between shots which makes it flow freely. However in some films just like ours we uses a large style of fast paced continuity just like at the beginning of our film where Brian is preparing for the day ahead. We used a fast paced edit once Brian has hit his head on the wall this shows something has changed to the character and fast paced cuts gives the sense of speed making it more intense. In comparison to the ending of our film we use UN rhythmic from slow to fast edit to capture the tensions in the upcoming moments before Brian is run over.

Throughout the filming process we had to take into account the continuity of our film so that it made sense and that it gave the audience a rhythm to the film as described above. Continuity is a big factor in terms of conventions of real media products as it ultimately makes the film or brakes the film. We noticed when editing our film that continuity was an issue in the morning scene when Brian is preparing for the day ahead. The continues shot didn't flow correctly so we had to make adjustments here and it turned out for the better as we captured tension at the beginning with the fast rhythmic cut and this really worked out for us. Also we had to consider the 180 degree rule which we used a lot in our film. At times we had to really take into account this rule when we was in production as it needed to be 100% accurate so that the film made sense in terms of character placement in the scene where Brian and Neil are sat at the table playing poker, as it could easily confuse the audience if this rule is broken as characters may appear placed different from one shot to the next. Another convention we had to consider was eye line matches and match on action which works really well throughout our film especially in the morning scene at the beginning of the play where we get a series of "Bangs" between each shot this helped draw in the audience and was something which naturally came to us when we filmed and edited our film to get this convention 100% accurate. 

We also during the post production stage of the film we had some sound effect which we planned to add later in our film. These really worked well in our film and really gave the effect which intended to do to the audience. Also whilst in the post production editing stage of our film we noticed sound at times from the background environment such as cars, public, wind and dogs these were all sounds which we found in the post production edit stage of our film. We used sound bridges and effects in final cut which helped the audio/ sound of the film run smoothly without the blowing of the wind this was a really useful filter effect which we used in post production editing. Also Final cut enabled us to alter sound levels this was key as we had music overlapping some aspects of the film and we still wanted the audio of the characters to standout above the non diagetic music. 

  

Our film works in nature of the supernatural thriller genre. Just like the genre states the supernatural aesthetic of the genre has the link to paranormal and horror as well as fiction fantasy which our fill has close hints to. The whole idea of the gift which Brian gains from hitting his head on the wall follows a paranormal and fiction narrative as it’s made up this would not really happen. We don’t subvert the expectations of our chosen genre we have only included the nature of the conventions of this genre.

Our film successfully provides pleasure to our audience. From the Richard dyers theory of entertainment I have pulled out the “Lack” which he refers to it as which makes the audience want to watch the film.  The lacks which this theory refers to are as follows tiredness, boredom, loneliness, poor, social and unaware. I feel that our film uses some aspects of this theory which provides the pleasure to the audience. First of all I feel our film engages the audience’s boredom lack through its Utopian solution of intensity throughout the film as the film flow a series of events that appear change from good too bad the instant story twister at the end of our film where Brian gets run over. I also feel the title name is always in the back of the audiences head as it states the unpredictable this is makes the audience think about the title and think why is everything predictable but the film states unpredictable then the sudden change in story sums it up at the end. This is a really big intense moment at the end of the film this Utopian solution of intensity is something we witness this engages the lack of boredom which the audience have. I also feel in connection with Richard Dyers theory of lack in terms of audience been entertained via money/ wealth. The Utopian solution which our film feeds to the audience is through the “gift” which leads to money and wealth which makes Brian richer. Our film successfully uses this lack to pleasure the audience, throughout the film Brian becomes wealthy as a result of the gift which he gains at the beginning of the film.  This makes the audience think about winning money and the audience will feel pleasure from this lack. Our film also covers aspects of the uses & gratifications theory which relates to the expectations of what we expect to get from watching that media text, which is the gratification. The kinds of gratifications which have been discovered cover four areas these are, Information which we would expect to find out details of the society today to satisfy our curiosity, this information comes from learning about society around the world and this helps the audience to learn about the things that happen in society allot of films capture this. Personal identity, is another gratification which inter prates the ways in which films use this gratification to make role models for example most action films like 007 for example use role models so the younger generation can be inspired to be come someone like him this gratification may change the way they dress or act to be more like their role model, also when the role model character succeeds it make us feel better ourselves. Another is Integration & social interaction, this gratification finds more detail into the character of the film, they become a friend to the audience which for example is used in more reality TV programs such as Big Brother which people may become drawn to a character throughout the show, this also happens in films for example a main character may change in a film which may effect the audience as if they have lost a friend. Watching a film helps the audience to sympathies with the character in the film which makes the audience feel like they have lost a friend. Finally, Entertainment, is also a gratification this simply highlights the main reason to why we watch a film and this highlights the more straight forward uses which we refer to as border  relaxing or even just to pass time. After researching the uses and gratification theory I feel our film uses only two of the four gratification theory's this being For information, As our film follows closely the events which unfold in Brian's life heavily impacted up society and gambling which turns out to be a positive impact until the end of the film where we see a drastic twist in the story line which shows how bad things can also happen from gambling, its as if our film is educating the audience on the world of today and the outcomes of such actions. The other use of gratification which our film "The Unpredictable" uses is Integration & social interaction, as our film follows a long story line we follow closely the day to day happenings of Brian's life and the audience gain a real incite to his life, the audience may feel drawn into the characters life and the drastic twist in the story line which makes the audience sympathies and feel as if Brian is a friend of their own. 

When I was researching into films from the same genre and similar genres I came across some great shots which I gave thought into how I could use similar shots in my film. The real media texts which I used were "psycho", "the gift" and "Alphas" these gave me a good set of ideas for producing my own film from these real media texts. The idea which I really liked the idea of was from the film psycho this was from the shower scene where the women is killed we see the camera cross zoom into the plug hole and out from the eye of the women where the camera zooms out from ( To help explain here is the shot bellow this paragraph which i am explaining from the film psycho). This shot was an aspect which I really liked so I decided to take it into our own film where we used it in the morning scene where Brian is getting ready to go to town. This consists of Brian turning on the tap where at this point the camera is looking down at the plug hole where the bubbles begin to flow down the camera zooms into the plug hole and out from an extreme close up of Brian’s eye once the camera reaches into a close up of Brian’s face he begins to dry his hair with the towel. We also used a similar shot in our title sequence where the camera zooms into the poker chip as it lands flat and out from Brian’s eye. This also works really well with the film. I really wanted to put this shot into our film as I feel it works really well and captures the effect of an inside perspective of Brian when the camera comes out from his eye we get a feeling for the film and character within. I also liked a shot which I decided to use in our film until we later decided not to. The reason we took this shot out is that we didn't feel it was relevant and large amounts of cuts had to be made to ensure we didn't run too far over the time requirement of 5 minutes.  This shot was from a short film text called “slippin” the shot which was used was showing a passage of time in a transition, when the young males were leaving the scene once they crossed to road a bus went by in front of the camera. I liked this shot however we later decided to cut it from our film as it didn't really need to be there as it already was clear a passage of time was taking place.During our title sequence i also took the inspiration form the film "se7en" the use of titles jumping and double glazing over each other gives it an effect which makes it feel abnormal this really worked well in our idea.