Evaluation:Part 1

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

A title sequence is an introduction of a film, and in our case it allows the audience to be introduced to the main characters and the settings. One of our main focuses was allowing the audience to have enigma for the audience to reveal. 

For my Title sequence i had used STINC to symbolise my micro-features: Cinematography, Sound, Editing and Mise-en-scene. I had also uncovered this with my Macro-features: Representation, Genre, Narrative and audience. 

S = Settings. Setting is one of the key points for any film, making sure the setting is conventional and a very important matter, if the setting is not perfect for your genre this could really effect the whole title sequence. However choosing the Settings for our title sequence had turned out fairly simple, evidently the main setting was chose for use - A school, however we still had to plan out the different social groups settings. We had chose each characters settings by re-searching into other films and TV series that had represented characters with the same characteristics, one of the main TV series we had based a lot of our settings on was 'Gossip girl' for example the popular girls within gossip girls sit on the characteristics within the school had come to terms that this was their iconic place, therefore we wanted to do the same with our 'Elite' group of girls within our sequence, this is how we decided to placing them under the shelter. Thinking for a setting for both 'The Jocks' and 'The Geeks' was fairly easy, undoubtedly the perfect setting for the Jocks is the sports hall, and for the geek he needed to be in a area where it was clear that it was a American high school classroom, therefore our schools science rooms were the perfect idea. Where 'The Freak' would be placed was one of our hardest decisions, however me and my group had sat down and spoke about the most isolated setting within a school, after the discussion we decided that the schools toilet were the perfect place. Not only did we have to search for settings but we also had to make sure that the settings we had chose were conveyed to look like an American High school, rather than a secondary school, and i believe that all of our settings had looked American therefore were all successful. 

T = Themes. Within our title sequence we have a recurring theme of 'American high school', me and my group heavily had relied on the setting and Mise-en-scene to help communicate the theme of an American high school. The other theme that runs throughout our film is the theme of 'Romance' however this was not shown throughout our sequence as its something we wanted the audience to uncover. 

I = Iconography. Due to our film having a genre of 'High school drama/comedy' focusing on key iconography became extremely important and therefore one of the main aspects of iconography both me and my group had to focus on was the use of different social groups being used which in our title sequence i believe we very successfully achieved due to us having four social groups; 'The Geek', 'The freak', 'The Elite' and 'The Jocks'. A main iconic event you would see in high school films is a prom, which we was also able to place in our film, however not in our Title Sequence. The base of our title sequence was the use of the Yearbook being open, this was our main prop for our title sequence and what i believe also to be the set of the iconography as it perfectly fits in with our American High school genre. 

N = Narrative. Within our title sequence we focus on the introduction of the characters and their relationships however something we do not particular focus on is the narrative of our actual film, however from the use of our iconography and settings it becomes very clear to the audience the narrative we may try to fulfil, one of the main reason we did not add a strong narrative to be shown throughout our title sequence due to us not wanting it to look more like a trailer. However the narrative we had pitched was a very conventional narrative for a High school drama, this is due to it showing drama, romance, partying and teen issues throughout. 

C = Characters. Characters had played a huge role within our sequence, the most important iconography shown throughout high school dramas is the use of different social groups, however unlike most high school dramas the geek is normally outcasted from the rest of the groups but due to the link with the geek and the main elite girl the geek becomes a very important character within our film. 

S = Style. Me and my group had used a very similar style to films such as Mean girls, Clueless and The breakfast club as it represents the different social groups of teenagers. With the help of post-production editing we was able to emphasise the high school drama theme. 

Evaluation:Part 2

How does your media product present particular social groups?

Due to us picking a High school comedy drama making sure our title sequence presented particular social groups was crucial due to set social groups are very conventional of the genre. All of our groups within the title sequence all hold their own particular generalisations. The social groups we decided to represent within our sequence included 'The Elite', 'The Geek', 'The Jocks' and 'The Freak' and within these social groups we also showed groups of different ethnicity for example our main Jock had his own minority group due to him having an African background.

The Jocks are the representation of the popular sportsmen who are conventionally seen as the most attractive whilst being chased around by girls within their high school. The Jocks within our film are associated with the 'Elite' girls, both social groups abuse their popularity like the 'Elite' the groups are represented as rude,arrogant and shallow due to them only dating girls who are part of a high social status just like themselves. We chose to stick with the arrogant outlook on athletes due to us wanting to fulfil all conventions of our genre, therefore as the three jocks walked into their yearbook photos all three of them had to be boastful and smug, this was achieved by having Jacob (The main jock) walking in confidently with a basketball spinning on his finger whilst looking directly into the camera and having a smug smile, Tommy one of the other jocks walked in brushing his hair back this allows the audience to become identified with his vain, shallow outlook which is something that is shown a lot throughout high school comedies. The last jock, Oliver walks in clicking his fingers and pointing towards the camera, this allows the audience to be illustrated with his cocky, outgoing attitude that is usually found with jock characters.

'The Elite' social group within our sequences are shown as the popular bullies who single out individuals who are lower in the social hierarchy at their High school. Like the Jocks the Elite girls personality shines a lot through their yearbook recordings. The audience see myself who is known as queen B walking in with a smug grin on my face, which follows to me pulling a 'bitch face'. Ellie makes a gesture of blowing a kiss to the camera which is suggestive that she is the provocative character who is highly confident. Our last Elite girl is Ella, Ella is the blonde Elite girl therefore is stereotypically shown as the 'Dumb blonde', Ella also walks in playing with her ponytail and grins guiltlessly at the camera which suggest to the audience she is show as the "bimbo" of the group. These activities depicting every characters identity are bolstered by the young ladies physical appearance. From myself being the tallest this allows the audience to identify me as the most dominant due to my height over powering the other two characters . I am the dominant character of the group and this is exceptionally certain as it is shown through the way i conduct myself. My character seems to be shown as the Bitchy elite girl because of my permanent nonpartisan outward appearance.

The two last social groups represented within our Title sequence is 'The Geek' and 'The Freak' both of these two characters are shown as 'Otherness' throughout the sequence and this is represented from their isolation within the yearbook. Unlike the two popular social groups both The Geek and The Freak have their own page within the yearbook, this shows their isolation being represented within the high school due to them not having friends to share the page with. Unlike the Freak, the Geek is not a hated character and this is represented within the sequence through his 'Headboy' badge due to people within the school having to vote for him to become that, which he obviously had achieved, however on the other hand the Freaks page was completely blank, all the audience were notified about her characteristics from the Title sequence was the fact she was a Freak, no other information was stated about her which heightens on the point of how irrelevant her character really is. The Freak is not really shown to be in any social group, the social group she belongs in only involves herself.

Evaluation: Part 3

Evaluation:Part 4

Evaluation: Part 5

How did you attract address your audience?  

When planning our film we was adamant our film and sequence would attract and address the audience of teenage female girls, therefore the creation of our title sequence had to really convey this. Being a teenage girl our film would definitely attract myself due to the memorable soundtrack and the use of new and current actors and actress'. Most teenage girls are into comedy and drama therefore the use of a high school drama is a perfect way to attract the audience we want. When planning our title sequence focusing on the micro-features had become extremely important when wanting to attract our audience, these include of the cinematography, sound, editing and mise-en-Scene. When showing the class our sequence it was extremely beneifical, although the class is not all teenage girls, it is a class full of teenagers therefore the feedback was extremely helpful every time it was given. One of the main aspects that would attract an audience is the music used, this is due to it being a memorable aspect to the sequence, and when our feedback was given back it was said that all the class had liked our music and once asking the class afterwards, all of them seemed to remember the beat from our sequence.  

To a teenage female girl fashion is very important, therefore dressing our 'Elite' girls in pink, fluffy outfits was crucial due to us wanting our audience to look at their outfits and wanting to go straight to the shops and buy something similar. Throughout our feedback we was told how our mise-en-scene had really fitted well with our setting and audience. In films such as clueless and mean girls, costume of the girls are also a very important aspect to the film, this is something that we also wanted to convey throughout our sequence.