Final Cut.

Rough Cut

This was my original draft for "A Working Student".
I decided to change the ending because the editing was very dodgy and I think it delivered too much of the narrative to the audience, my second draft (final piece) leaves the audience to figure out the ending for themselves.
I think the performance is much stronger on my final piece and editing is much better also, it also gave me the opportunity to use a tracking shot at the end.

4. How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

I also used social networking sites Twitter and Facebook to gain feedback for "A Working Student", I posted my film onto my wall and asked people to watch and feedback constructively.

Audience Research

Logos..

I decided to create my own label for my review and I have chosen the name "Hot Reviews", mainly because it is a different spin on the popular womens magazine "Heat", copyright restricts me from using their name to create a review, but I imagine that if "A Working Student" was a real production then it would be reviewed in a magazine like Heat.

3. What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Throughout the Research, Planning and Construction of "A Working Student" I have recieved a lot of feedback from peers and teachers, all of the feedback I have recieved from my audiences I have tried to encorporate into my ancillary tasks and film itself, to make it more appealing to different audiences. My Ancillary Tasks were reviewed first and foremost and the comments I recieved were in response to a short questionaire I conducted by asking 2 boys and 2 girls in my class What do you like? and What would you change? I did this for both my review and poster.

I learned that my audience thought that the image on my poster was very strong and represented my film well, along with the colour scheme.

I learned that my audience thought that the review was "a bit too pink" and that they thought I should have used a broader colour scheme.

Other than this my audience thought that my Ancillary tasks were very strong and represented "A Working Student" really well.

I have learned a lot from my audience feedback, I have recieved a lot of positive comments on the video itself on YouTube, I also posted a link to my film on social networking sites Twitter and Facebook and asked people to feedback, so I could gain more opinions on my "A Working Student":
During the Construction stages, when I did a rough cut of "A Working Student", I showed my teacher and we both agreed that the ending gave too much to the audience, which was why I decided to change the narrative so that the audience have to engage with the film and figure something out for themselves.

YouTube^

Most of my reviews are from Females aged 17-25, as this is my target audience, my audience feedback has shown me that my film also appeals to a Male audience as Steven Hubbard (17) "ihubbz", has referred to me as the female Christopher Nolan, which is a massive compliment.

"Maloopi" - Luke Harkness (17) has also made a positive comment, I am pleased that "A Working Student" applies to a wider audience than I initially thought, this is something I would not have learnt if I had not conducted audience feedback.

I have learned that the twist at the end was very effective, I was worried it would be obvious and not effective at all, and I have learned from my audience feedback that it was.  

Feedback from a semi professional:

 

2. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary task?

Review^                                                                              Poster^    
 I have circled the most effective parts on my ancillary task, these are the things that I personally feel are the most effective part of my poster and review as they provide a small insight into the story line of "A Working Student" and I also think these would be good for advertising my film as they raise questions such as "Why is she looking down?" this would tell us she is ashamed, and make us want to know why.
The pinky burgundy colour scheme which I have used for my the title "A Working Student" also tells us that it is a film that is for a female audience, these factors combined with the film work well together to provide a potential audience with the information that they would want to make them want to see the film.
I purposely designed my poster after I had made my film, just so I would know where to start, as the purpose of a film poster is to represent the film and be relevent to the themes within the film itself and I feel that my poster represents my film really well, as the main theme of "A Working Student" is how ashamed Amy is that she is a Litter picker, yet I wanted to lead my audience to believe she is a prostitute, and the clothing she is wearing in the poster was used on purpose to lead the audience into this belief before they watch "A Working Student", if I put her in a pair of overalls on the poster with a pair of litter pickers and called the film "A Sweeping Student" then it would automatically give up the punchline, therefore the image I have chosen to use supports the narrative of the film itself.
On my review I have given a brief outline of the storyline and used an image which is from my film itself, and have purposely related it back to the image I have used on my poster. The idea of a film poster is to sew the seed in your mind, and draw your attention to the film, then a review is to help someone decide if they actually want to see it, so the combination of the powerful image that I have used on my poster and the image I have used on my review really would raise the question of why is she so stressed or ashamed? making the audience curious and want to see it.
I think that my Poster and Review fulfil their objectives really well, they support my film and represent it in the way I want them to, they don't lead my audience to believe its an action or a thriller, they lead an audience to believe its an innocent chick flick, which is exactly what I want them to think, therefore I feel the combination of my Ancillary Tasks and "A Working Student" are very effective and successful.

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

“A Working Student” is 3.14 minutes long, this in itself challenges the conventions of a real short film, as is raises the immediate question of whether the narrative can be delivered and the story can be told in this time, and if this was a real media product I think that it would have had to have been longer for it to be taken seriously as a Short film; Although the definition of a short film is anything from 2- 45 minutes, if this were a real production it would have to be much longer so that the audience can connect with Amy, but for the purposes of this project I feel that “A Working Student” is an appropriate length, and that I have effectively delivered my narrative in this time frame.

Short films are becoming more and more popular with the advances of social networking sites and sites like youtube, the audience for short films is becoming larger and larger. People are looking for all sorts and people have become successful over night just by uploading their material online for other people to see and enjoy. Sites like youtube aren’t just for funny material anymore, alongside Vimeo, Blogger and many other means they are becoming the popular space for entrepreneurs to start their career and be noticed.

“A Working Student” addresses many current issues, such as student tuition fees, the debt, the cost of living, the lack of jobs, and the real life issue that people are turning to means of work such as prostitution, I have tried to incorporate humour into this, but there is also the silver lining effect where we say, at least she isn’t a prostitute! The fact is a lot of students will do anything for work, and even though Amy isn’t in this position it makes us spare a thought for the people who are, and reinforces the point that it isn’t an easy ride!

A lot of media material that is based on prostitution fit the stereotypes like for drugs or to pay the rent, like in films such as “Pretty Woman” we see one of the supporting roles, Kit, who has had to turn to prostitution just to make some money. Series such as “The Secret Diaries of a Call Girl” try to portray the glamorous side of prostitution or escorting, but in “A Working Student” we see the shame, and how she doesn’t want to do what she is doing, I have filmed it this way, as I want the audience to engage with the young girl on the screen and consider the difficulties a student goes through from day to day just trying to get by. This in itself challenges the usual conventions of a piece, as I have explained it raises issues of rising tuition fees, grant policies and the system itself.

Breaking the fourth wall is another tool I have used to help the audience attach to Amy, I have such a short space of time for the audience to get an insight into her life, I thought it would be effective for Amy to speak straight to her audience, almost like she is appealing to them, this is something that we see in many professional media products such as secret diaries of a call girl and sex and the city, these both have the same target audience that I am trying to attract which is why I have done this in this way.

I have tried to use shock tactics in my work to put a different spin on the audience’s opinion once they have sat and thought about it, to make them think, “Oh! She’s a litter picker; I thought she was a prostitute!” This is the main element of humour in “A Working Student”, The way I have filmed it is so that the audience have to figure it out for themselves, many short films portray this same sort of dark humour, such as “The Spider” and “Get Off My Land” as it is a good way of entertaining your audience in a short space of time.

I think the story of “A Working Student” itself doesn’t challenge the conventions of a regular media production, but the way I have chosen to deliver it definitely does raise issues that I have designed to make the audience think after they have received the punch line, I did this through the way I filmed and scripted my piece, and I think it effectively portrays the image and delivers the message that I intended.