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

For our preliminary task we had to film a character walk through a door and talk to someone on the other side. With this we had very little time to plan and decide on what we were going to do, we simply just found a spare room and went for it with very little preperation. This is very different to my final piece where the planning began months ago and every little aspect was decided before I even stepped foot into my location. For our preliminary we used ourselves as actors as we couldn't find anyone available at the time who was willing whereas for my final piece the first thing I checked was whether I would have the actors to acheive what I wanted as it would have been very difficult to find two children who could speak french 30 minutes before I started filming. 

     With the preliminary task, not much thought went into the music which would accompany it but with my opening I had to find music that would fit the tone of the piece and appeal to my target audience. Also with the final piece we were not allowed to use copyrighted music whereas with the preliminary we just chose something off of our iPods that would fit with the footage. 

   Another contrasting aspect was the editing. With the preliminary task we spent a maximum of one lesson editing it, 1 hour. But with my opening I spent at least one lesson on trying to place the subtitles in the correct places, it took at least 5 or 6 lessons worth of editing to finish my opening with each sound clip, video clip and subtitle in its right place.

Therefore I feel that the main thing I've learnt throughout the whole process is timekeeping and how much time should be put into and allocated to each aspect of my final opening.

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

The main technologies I used throughout the filming and editing process were iMovie and a Canon HD camera. As I'd never used a Mac before I started doing media in September, it was initially quite difficult to get used to, but because we have been editing other things for practice before our coursework, I did have some experience by the time it was needed. The most difficult part I felt was the overlaying of the music and the speech. Trying to cut the sound clips to fade in and out with the subtitles and the music to soften when a character was speaking was challenging, but I feel that my skills with it had improved throughout the editing process.

As all my filming was done on a Canon HD camera I was fine getting used to it as in my family I've always been the one filming family events so I've had a lot of experience actually recording which worked in my favour when being placed with a camera I'd never used, luckily I was able to learn my way around it fairly quickly and get used to how i could go in and out of focus for shots. 

How did you attract/address your audience?

In my audience research I discovered that it was mainly people aged over 30 who enjoyed watching foreign language films, this made me realise that it would have to be a film that would appeal to older people and not a childish movie. Therefore I thought that having a documentary on a serious subject would help draw in that audience. I used plain fonts for my titles so as not to make it appear childish and I kept the colours throughout the film fairly dull and plain so as not to be exaggerating real life. The music I used throughout the piece also would attract an older audience I feel as it was gentle mellow piano music, which generally most ages enjoy, but it wasn't something that would deter my 35+ target audience.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

My target audience age would be 35+ as I do not feel that many young people would be interested in what my film has to offer. It would also be limited to those who enjoy foreign films and arthouse work. As I doubt my film would make it into your typical Odeon or Vue, I believe that it would again be restricted by being shown at select cinemas such as Cinema City in Norwich.

      I feel this age range would appreciate the film more as they would be at the age of being a parent and would be able to relate a lot more the the mother in the film. 

  My audience would enjoy films that show the 'nitty gritty' side of life and don't try to sweeten how things are, the realism of the piece would be its main selling point as by feedback I have received there is confusion as to whether the piece is real or not which was the effect I was going for. This means again that the audience would want to be stimulated by what they are watching, having to question the film and not just watching it to escape and watch some explosions. I feel my audience would be similar to those watching the film 'Catfish' as it has the similar aspect of making the audience question as to whether it is a true story or fiction.

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

A production company is in charge of finding funding for the films they produce.

I think that the most likely production companies that would take on my film would either be small independent foreign companies such as 'Esperanto Films' who produced the very popular spanish 'Pan's Labyrinth'.

Or 'Focus Features' which is a branch off of 'Universal Pictures' who often distribute foreign films. They also own 'Momentum Pictures' who realised the popular Swedish horror 'Let The Right One In'

Therefore I would either try and have it produced by 'Momentum' who would be able to get the film out there giving it more popularity or by finding a small independent company that would be able to keep it from becoming too mainstream and being recreated without subtitles like the spanish film 'Rec' which was Americanised and turned into 'Quarantine'.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My opening represents the idea of childhood innocence in the two young actors. Both are wearing matching uniforms, signifying that they are the same and a unit, although Violet suffers from a brain tumour, she is still the same as she has always been.

   Throughout my opening Violet and Alex are shown playing just like most children, for example on the swings when they are both having fun and being carefree, this suggests the childhood mentality where there never seem to be any problems, its all about having fun and playing. 

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

Title of the film

The title of my film is shown on the third frame after my production and studio companies. My title is on just a plain black background to fit with the idea of my film being about an ordinary family, and how what happens in my film could happen to any family. 

   The title itself is 'Vie Avec Violet', this means life with Violet, which pretty much is a brief summary of what is to happen in my film. This is common amongst films, giving away part of the stroy in the title, such as;

As my opening is filmed in the documentary style, the serious titles reflect this type of genre, as you don't see documentaries with huge bubble fonts.

Costumes and Props

In my opening, the props I've used are just those that were about in the house I filmed in. As I was using young actors, Ithought it would be best if I just let them act as natural as possible using their own toys, the toys show the children's youth and innocence. The placement of the baby photo of the main character, Violet, shows how young the girl is and adds to the emotion the audience feels towards her.
   The costumes used fit the convention of children, the school unifrom suggests a unity amongst the siblings, which is shown by the way they interact with each other. The uniform also suggests that Violet is the same as the other children she attends school with, but really she is different due to her brain tumor. The coats that the children wear outside also reflects the vunerability of these young children from more than just the weather, for Violet she is vunerable as her tumour grows, and for her little brother Alex, he is vunerable as he will soon be facing the loss of a loved one.

Setting and Location

My opening is set in the house of the family, this is due to it being filmed in a documentary style, so it would be odd to film a families life somewhere else. By using a family house, I have tried to imply just how normal this family would appear to be on the outside and how the tragedy that has fallen upon their household could happen to any other.

    The location I have used is the house of the actors in my film. I decided that their house would be best as I was using young actors, I wanted them to feel as comfortable and natural in my film as possible. Also having them use their own house gave me the advantage of just asking them to go about their daily routine and me just filming them, like in ordinary documentaries.

Camerawork and Editing

As I went for the documentary style, my filming was fairly simple to do as it was similar to that of making a home movie. I didn't need to worry about any of the actors looking at the camera and in parts of the opening it works well when this is done, such as at the end with the mother. 

  The main part of the editing was over laying the sound and putting in the subtitles. I feel that the sound of the interviewer isn't very realistic and sounds a bit fake now looking at it. Also with the subtitles I think that the red used when the mum is speaking isn't very clear and is difficult to read.