James Monahan Media Evaluation

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

Our media product uses British gangster conventions. An alleyway and dark pool room were used for the setting, these being one of the conventions of the genre as they are two places used commonly in British gangster films. Our treatment also uses a general convention of British gangster in which the main character is a small time hit man who is forced into a power struggle between two big time crime lords and comes out on top, an underdog convention used in many gangster films. We also use the convention of power and money that is in the genre. In our opening sequence we use credits to introduce the characters as they appear which is a convention used in some British gangster films, another convention would have been using a voice over to introduce the characters but we decided it worked better to just use credits as the opening sequence tells the audience what they need to know already. Our diegetic sound ties in with conventions used in British gangster films with the characters having London "cockney" accent Our non diegetic soundtrack also fits in with the British gangster conventions as it is fast paced which is generally used in the British gangster genre.

2.How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our product represents gangsters in Britain. The audience can see from their suits and the house that Vinny T owns that they are higher class criminals who have a lot of power and are more likely to have men to work for them then to be doing the work. They are also seen as power hungry and ruthless with Micky telling Jason to kill Vinny T so he can take his power and money.

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

The media institution most likely to distribute this film would be a large company that has already distributed a British gangster film, a company like Sony for example who distributed Snatch or Universal Pictures who distributed Lock stock and two smoking barrels. The film would be distributed across cinemas in Britain as the film will be mainstream and would expect a good box office.

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

Our main target audience would be from the late teens to young adults as that is the audience for most British gangster films. The actors are young as well and so are easier to relate to by late teens and young adults than older adults. The lifestyles of the characters are lively and exciting which is more likely to appeal to the younger generation which is another reason why we chose them as our main target audience.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

People who like British gangster films will already be attracted since it is the British gangster genre and we use many conventions of British gangster film, rather than trying to alter the genre, so it is guaranteed to be similar to mainstream British gangster films. For example organising a assassination in the opening sequence, promising action which is a main convention of British gangster films. Fast non diegetic music plays throughout the opening sequence which tells the audience it will be a fast paced film full of action which is appeals to our target audience the most.

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

We have learnt how useful the tripod is and how hard it is to keep the camera steady without it. We have also learnt how useful programmes like iMovie are in the editing process. Allowing us to edit our shots to place them in the correct order and length, as well as being able to use credits and add music to the media product. The practice from the preliminary task really helped us learn how to use the software effectively. Although the more complicated things such as adding the soundtrack which was not practiced in the preliminary task was harder to do we worked hard on it and eventually got the hang of it so that the non diegetic soundtrack works really well with the product and it is easy to hear the diegetic sounds as we raised it to a higher volume and lowered the non diegetic sounds volume when needed.


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

From the preliminary task we have learnt how to first use a camera and we have improved in our handling of the camera throughout the filming of the full product. Now that we had experienced filming we were better at shooting the scenes we needed and choosing a place, angle and height for the camera to be to get the best shots. We had also learnt from the first task how helpful planning can be in the filming process and we needed a more detailed plan for the full product so we thought more carefully about the storyboard and treatment. As we began filming we knew exactly what shots we needed to do, how long we needed the shot for, the script for each shot which allowed things to run smoothly. We did look through the storyboard throughout filming and thought of ways to improve it if we thought it could be improved.

The mise en scene for the full piece had to tie in with the British gangster genre to keep the products verisimilitude, so for our setting we used a dark pool room and an alleyway both being used in many British gangster films. We learnt how important our opening shot was and we made it a shot of a big house which established the scene of where the pool room is and also showed how rich and powerful the character Vinny T was to have such a house from a life of crime. We wore suits as that is what is normally worn in gangster films. We also used a pool cue in one of the opening shots to establish it is a pool room.

I think are best improvement was in the editing process, we organised it really well in deciding which shots worked best and which shots would not be needed. It was important are shots worked together and that we had a variety of shots so as not to be repetitive and to keep the audience interested. We also used the editing to include credits during the product to show the film name and characters, as they appeared, to introduce them as main characters. The main part to the process was choosing a non diegetic soundtrack that would fit it in with the scene. We had three original choices that we felt all fitted in with the genre and picked the one we thought would work best with the product, after we finished editing it with the product we felt we made the right choice as it seemed to work really well together.