Production Evaluation Feedback

What to do in your evaluation …• Describe what you have done!

• Evaluate the strengths / weaknesses / areas for improvement.

• Consider how effective you thriller is and how it attracts your audience and uses / develops / changes conventions.

• Reflect on the media skills / learning that you have developed.

• Compare your production to ‘real’ productions to evaluate you use of conventions.

Evaluation Questions:1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or

challenge forms and conventions of real media products?2. How does your media product represent particular social

groups?3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media

product and why? 4. Who would be the audience for your media product? 5. How did you attract/address your audience? 6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of

constructing this product? 7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you

have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Key Dates• Write a DRAFT of your evaluation – marked by your mentor

• Word process – DOUBLE SPACED (Remember that you will need to think about presentation – not just and essay!)

• Hand FIRST DRAFT to J COLLIER by Friday 10th January – FAILURE TO DO THIS = ZERO Score!!!

• Drafts returned and feedback / redrafting in lesson until Friday 17th January

• Post your final EVALUATION on your blog FRIDAY 24th January - FAILURE TO DO THIS = ZERO Score!!!

Help!

• Bring sheets to ALL media lessons!

• Copies of sheets on shared area – Media students’ resources > Y12 Foundation Production Evaluation Help Sheets

• Evaluations completed / marked individually – then improve!!! (can share some aspects – e.g. director’s commentary videos)

Outside Lessons• You must work outside lessons to keep up to date.

• After input on each question make sure you work on your draft for that question and complete it before your next media lesson.

• Over Christmas – ensure that you have written up your evaluation to the question we have reached – they’ll be checked in January!!

Focus on:

• Explaining and justifying the decisions you have made

• Explaining how you have developed your ideas

• Reflecting on how successful you have been.

Getting the Grade (A!): Marks SchemeA. Excellent skill in the use of appropriate digital technology or

ICT in the evaluation.

B. Excellent understanding of issues around audience, institution, technology, representation, forms and conventions in relation to production.

C. Excellent ability to refer to the choices made and outcomes.

D. Excellent understanding of their development from preliminary to full task.

E. Excellent ability to communicate.

Which marking criteria relate to which question?1. In what ways does your media

product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

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

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

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

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

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

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

A. Excellent skill in the use of appropriate digital technology or ICT in the evaluation.

B. Excellent understanding of issues around audience, institution, technology, representation, forms and conventions in relation to production.

C. Excellent ability to refer to the choices made and outcomes.

D. Excellent understanding of their development from preliminary to full task.

E. Excellent ability to communicate.

Key Points• Remember to add bullet point subheadings

• Ensure standard of English is good – sentences, clear expression, etc

• Board are keen to move away from purely ‘essay’ style response – include visuals, video clips, stills, annotated visuals, screen grabs, sound recordings, prezzis, wordles, etc.

• Also could use ‘director’s commentaries’ (Q1, 2, 5, 6) – I can mark scripts for this – voice over your production

• NB: The exam board state ‘candidates should be discouraged from seeing the evaluation as simply a written essay and the potential of the format chosen should be exploited through the use of images, audio, video and links to online resources.’

• Remember to use MEDIA LANGUAGE! (e.g. camerawork, editing, etc)

• Remember to use the material on your blogs as part of your planning to complete your evaluation – you can re-use / improve images, deconstructions, etc.

Example Blogs

• http://matthewbostockfoundationproduction.blogspot.co.uk/

• http://amykingfoundationproduction.blogspot.com/

• http://edkirkfoundationproduction.blogspot.co.uk/

What makes a successful evaluation?

Research and Planning

• Remember that you can use / improve material from your R&P that is relevant for questions in your evaluation.

Q1

In what ways does your media product use, develop or

challenge forms and conventions of real media

products?

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

• For this section you must refer to REAL MEDIA TEXTS (thrillers you’ve seen) and your own thriller production.

• Define what a thriller is – which elements did you use / develop / challenge?

• State conventions – typical shot types, editing, mise-en-scene, sound, narrative, etc

• Refer to thriller openings that you’ve studied, showing how they use / break conventions

• Explain how real thrillers inspired / influenced your work• Explain how you used the conventions in your work –

give e.g.s of shot types, editing, mise-en-scene, sound, narrative, etc

EVALUATION ACTIVITY Q1In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (i.e. of thriller film openings)

You should go through the final version of your production and select nine distinct frames which you screengrab. You will be using these to write about how typical or not of opening sequences your particular design is, so choose them carefully.

You should explore how conventional the following are:

The title of the filmSetting/locationCostumes and propsCamerawork and editingTitle font and styleStory and how the opening sets it upGenre and how the opening suggests itHow characters are introducedSpecial effects

Look at an A Grade Response:

• http://matthewbostockfoundationproduction.blogspot.co.uk/

• What has the candidate included in Q1?

• How has she demonstrated effective use of ICT?

Q2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

• What do we mean by representation?

• How can media producers (us!) create representations of specific groups of people?

• What elements make up a representation?

How are representations created? What meanings do they convey?

How do the following contribute to Bond’s representation?

•Appearance?•Costume?•Camera shot?•Props?•Make up?•Location?

How are representations created? What meanings do they convey?

How do the following contribute to Bond’s representation?

•Appearance?•Costume?•Camera shot?•Props?•Make up?•Location?

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

• Representation focus – which groups have you represented? How? What ideas did you wish to convey about them?

• Could focus on representations of age, gender, killer, victim, etc

• Consider how you have represented age, gender, etc?

• Consider how props, location, lighting might help create meanings in your representation of people?

EVALUATION ACTIVITY 2How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Pick the key character(s) from your opening. Take a screengrab of a reasonable sized image of them. Think of one or more characters from other films with some similarity to them (but maybe some differences too!), find an image on the web of that/those characters and grab it as well. In your evaluation write about the similarities and differences in terms of appearance, costume, role in film etc.

So for example if you have a lone cop type character, look for other lone cops to compare him with...

You might consider how you have represented one or more of the following: gender, age, role (hero / villain / victim, etc), status, class, ethnicity, etc.

Only choose representations that are relevant!

Q3

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

• Refer to professional companies• Outline the organisation – location,

ownership, structure (owned by larger media company?) etc

• Summarise the films / genres they are involved in

• Say why they are an appropriate institution to produce / distribute your film

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

You could either do a voice over director’s commentary over your opening or use a series of images / words (a prezi?) to show this evidence.

You should:•discuss your production company name and logo and the role of such companies•Explain what a production company does. (consider thriller genre / film distributors)•Select a distributor - who that might be and why. (consider thriller genre / film distributors)•where the money might have come from for a film such as yours •why the various people are named in the titles- which jobs appear in titles and in what order and how have you reflected this?•what your film is similar to 'institutionally' (name some films which would be released in a similar way)•You need to refer to actual company names and processes so you will need to go back to the early posts on film companies and maybe do a bit more research

Q4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

• Refer to your research – what methodology did you use to research your audience? Why?

• Who did you identify as your audience? Why? Discuss gender, age, etc – any demographic issues.

• What findings did you glean from your audience – their expectations / preference from a thriller opening – refer to your audience research.

• Produce an audience profile – picture of typical audience member, demographic details (age, gender, etc), their media usage / interests

• Explain what BBFC age rating your movie would have, why your film would have this rating (refer to the content and classification details – violence, theme, etc) and how this impacts your target audience.

EVALUATION ACTIVITY 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Produce an audience profile – from Google Images upload a photo of a typical audience member that you targeted. Produce a profile that includes demographic details (age, gender, etc), their media usage / interests – e.g. what other media would they consume (e.g. films / TV shows they would watch, music preferences, magazines, multi-media usage) . You should have an image of a typical member of your target audience and an explanation of what kinds of tastes they might have- where they would shop, what music they would listen to, what their favourite TV programme would be, etc. What other film genres / thrillers would they watch?

Examples of Audience Profiles

• CORE BUYER• Men’s Health is the magazine for active,

successful, intelligent men who want to make the most of their physical, professional and emotional lives. We give men the tools they need to make their lives better.

Men’s Health Readers are...• Affluent Sporty • Fashionable Successful• Ambitious Technology• Loving• Well informed Heavy Consumers

Consumers

• CIRCULATION: 233,000 PER MONTH• AGE/SEX OF AVERAGE READER: Male

30+• ADVERTISING PAGE COST: £10,000

Q5

How did you attract/address your audience?

• Explain how you made your opening appeal to your audience. Refer to screen grabs, shot types, editing, sound, mise-en-scene

• Say how you fulfilled your audience’s expectations, based on what they ‘wanted’ in their questionnaires.

• How did your audience respond to your opening? (beware of simplistic comments / analysis)

EVALUATION ACTIVITY 5How did you attract/address your audience?

You could record a director’s commentary where you explain how your film appeals to your audience. You should include the following:

•Explain how you made your opening appeal to your audience. Take at least FIVE screen grabs of shot that attract your audience. Deconstruct them to explain how they attract the target audience. You could refer to how you have used: shot types, editing, sound, mise-en-scene and narrative. You could explore how your opening links to other similar films in order to attract the audience.

Q6

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

• Discuss, with specific examples, what you have learnt about using a digital video camera (shot types, how to shoot effectively) and editing software (how to capture, use of transitions, specific editing skills / effects). You might also explain why you use specific shots, editing techniques, etc – their intended impact and meaning.

• Discuss any other technologies you’ve used and their impact on your work – internet, social network sites, wordle, prezi, you tube, etc.

Learning: Shooting Digital Video

Learning: Shooting Digital Video

• Use of tripod • Lighting• Location factors – weather, etc• Camera shot types / when to use them• Composition / framing – rules of thirds /

golden mean• Camera movement – pan, tilt, track, etc

Learning: Editing

Learning: Editing

• iMovie / Final Cut• How to import footage• Editing to structure narrative• Use of transitions• How to add visual effects • How to add non-diegetic sound• How to create effective idents / credits• How to export completed projects• Burn DVD, create DVD menus

Learning: Other Technogies

• Blogger, YouTube, etc

Evaluation Activity Q6

• Use screen shots to show evidence of your skills.

• Use any on location shots you took as evidence.

• Use screenshots of iMovie to show specific skills or techniques you used

• Include any try outs and test shots

Q7

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

• How have you developed as a film maker?

• Explain the strengths / shortcomings of your prelim – and how you built on / addressed these.

• Discuss specific skills that you have developed – filming, editing, etc – you MUST mention: continuity, 180˚ rule, shot reverse-shot, match on action, etc

• Refer to how you approach planning, ideas for shots / editing, etc

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

• Review how successful your opening is. Point out any areas you would have improved, stating why. Evaluate the strengths / weaknesses of your thriller!

• Show any screen grabs that demonstrate a specific skill (e.g. shot composition, editing technique)

• Use subject specific language to discuss camera shot type and editing

EVALUATION ACTIVITY 7Looking back at your preliminary task (the continuity editing task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

Concentrate on editing and camerawork.

Grab some frames from both tasks and put them on the blog and show what you know about shot types, edit terms and techniques.

Make sure you mention the 180 degree rule, match on action and shot/reverse shot.