Media Report Finished Yay

Coursework Report Chris Forrest 12FE In order to complete the opening sequence for my pre production film script I undertook some background research for my run a way movie. Primarily, I researched the destination (London) to which my main character Amber would escape to pursuing her fashion industry dreams. I constructed a mood board which highlighted the stereotypical prosperous connotations of London, including sites such as Big Ben, the London Eye, Oxford Street and Pall Mall. I purposefully used the type of exciting, bustling and cosmopolitan photo’s that would have appealed to Ambers’ hunger for independence and individuality. This highlighted the distorted image presented to naïve teenagers of London’s supposed prosperity. If a real overview of London life were to be depicted on my mood board it would need to include crime, poverty, isolation, racism and prejudice among other things. The second piece of research I undertook was to make a detailed analysis of a DVD front cover from the same genre and era as my film script. I chose the recent Indiana Jones cover which I analyzed paying particular attention to advertising codes and audience theories. One thing I noticed was the use of a hierarchy style when arranging the characters on the cover, which was like a family unit, linking to Hartley’s theory of an audience’s family subjective. I wanted to try and replicate the family/friend theme on the Indiana Jones cover because I feel it’s important to visually see characters and to make connections with their role in the narrative before viewing it. This highlighted the importance of including enigma and action codes to hint what the film is to deliver. Using Blumler and Katz’s theory of personal identity in order to attract my audience I made specific narrative choices about the types of troubles and dilemmas that my character Amber is facing in her teenage life and make sure they occur in real teenager’s lives. This specific decision was reached due to prior research I carried out on plot lines in current media texts such as soap operas. I discovered that they often use far fetched and exaggerated plot lines to try and glamorize daily events, however this made them completely irrelevant to the reality of 21st century living. So by simplifying mine, many of my young target audience can personally identify with Amber, which may help them deal, overcome and acknowledge their own personal problems. Within my film script I tried my best to make the text compelling, realistic and believable. I considered the Wright Mills’ theory that media consumption gives audiences goals, aspirations, to develop my script.

The ambition that Amber has in the film is very identifiable with many teenagers who crave a fulfilling career. I feel this will draw in my specific younger audience and make the narrative more relevant in today’s appearance driven society. Linked to the Wright Mills theory is that of the Maslow related socio economic values. One of which - social climbers is closely linked to the goals and aspirations of Mills’ theory. In the opening sequence Amber is living a mundane life and dealing with merciless bullying. Her aim is to better herself and excel in her interest for fashion. To emphasize her current daily struggle, I used methods such as pathetic fallacy to show how Amber’s resolve is pushed to breaking point. In conclusion I am pleased with how my pre production has turned out, and feel it stands me in good stead to build upon and to start my next piece of production coursework. The lessons it has taught me about film script writing and the technicalities involved, will inevitably save me time in the production process. My production coursework is an oral broadcast section from my film run a way. I created it because I think my youthful listener may be interested in something more entertaining than incessant music, and as an alternative to trivial radio talk. The main way of broadcasting it will be on the radio, with my ideal choice of channel being Radio One. This is because during the development of my production I researched Radio One and discovered that it already offers a diverse, cosmopolitan and inevitably fashionable mix of music. This will therefore mean the radio station already targets the type of young demographic I am aiming to attract. In addition to this is the status of respected Radio One DJs, such as Sarah Cox and Chris Moyles, whom will appeal to the celebrity culture my audience have become accustomed to. Prior to completing my production I compared my mock recording against a similar one. This highlighted certain strengths and weaknesses of my piece. The main radio broadcast competition after skimming the rivals seemed to be The Archers. After analysing it I discovered that as well as sharing a similar format our intentions were comparable. The Archers like run a way was offering the audience a form of escapism (Blumler and Katz) from everyday life. The soap opera style plot lines made parts very identifiable for the audience, which was something I had hoped to have achieved. Despite this I acknowledged during the analysis that The Archers is aiming its shows towards a more mature audience whereas my film is catered towards a younger, more leisure focused, and up-to-date listener. A negative consequence of establishing what seems to be a new niche in the market for the younger audience means I may run of risk of isolating them and creating something that

disinterests many. However because I realised this early on I was able to call upon fellow media students whom fit into my target audience for their opinions on the flow and relevance of my piece. They responded by saying the “plot lines create interest” and the characters “are easily relatable” which supports Blumler and Katz’s theory of personal identity. Both aspects were factors I highlighted to be important if the listeners were to be impressed. As a result of the research above, I feel I have created a quality recording. I believe I have produced a plot with a strong narrative, and I think it is able to captivate the audience with what I feel is a dynamic script that includes relevant topics such as appearance. Referencing this to Hartley’s 1982 consumer subjectives allows me to link it to self image. The actual storyline in my recording I feel is appropriate for the context, as personal relationships are being portrayed linking to the Uses of Gratification 1975. The section I have recorded is a section where Amber (the central character in run a way) is being bullied by a fellow classmate Natasha. Natasha torments Amber and makes a fool of her in front of the class. After relentless insults Amber’s resistance finally gives in and she lashes out at Natasha. I believe there is an adequate amount of character development in this section due to the listener being able to understand how Amber’s feelings and emotions have escalated into her physical reaction. I understand that the oral broadcast was a challenging yet unique way of presenting my coursework and by doing it I have had to appreciate the restrictions this method has caused. The technical skills the recording process requires meant editing took a considerable amount of time as did the sound affects and voiceovers. Trying to perfect the piece enabled me to understand the specific skills needed to improve the recording, and made me value the final product even more. I do feel though that despite this, producing an oral broadcast was a distinctive and interesting piece of coursework. In conclusion I do believe that my coursework has been a success and I am equally pleased with how my pre production and production have turned out. If I were to complete the coursework again I would make alterations in hindsight, for example I would probably try to anticipate the skills needed to create my oral broadcast. I did at times find it frustrating how complex I found the equipment and how incompetent I seemed. In spite of this I still don’t regret being adventurous by pushing the boundaries of production coursework by doing it. Another aspect I may change if I did it again would be my researching techniques. If I did it again I may try to think outside of the box and find some less obvious ways of aiding my production.