Evaluation: Question 1

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


In order to answer this question, I have compared scenes from our film directly to those of existing products and talked about whether we agree with the convention of that particular genre, or whether we oppose it.

Thriller Conventions


Conventions that we share with Thrillers:

1 The male character is not the man the audience thinks he is, he has a hidden side to his personality

2 The ending contains an unpredictable twist

3 Flashbacks reveal events that have previously happened that change the audience's perception about a character

4 Tension and suspicion is built up throughout the film to a climax at the end where all is revealed




Conventions we share with Romantic films:

1 The editing in scenes containing the couple together are edited slowly, representing their care and happiness together.

2 The slow editing in the introduction to the main character allows the audience time to judge his character and 'get to know him'

3 The couple spend time apart and the man is shown wanting to be with her again - This is true, however she died as opposed to them splitting up

4 There is often soft music playing as a soundtrack to some scenes

5 The weather often represents the mood of the scene, for example sunshine equals love/happiness and rain represents sadness or bad times

6 The audience is led to side with one character

7 Flashbacks show how the couple used to be when they were together




Conventions that our film challenges:

Conventions that challenge that of the Romantic genre include:

1 The man is quite deranged, however this is not apparent to the viewer at the beginning

2 There is an unexpected twist to plot at the end, not usually present in Romance films

3 There is a few scenes of quite heavy violence and deep emotions, making the film unsuitable for some ages. This is not usually the case in Romantic films


Conventions in our film that challenge the conventions of a Psychological Thriller include:

1 The plot contains a big focus on genuine romance, whereas most 'villain' characters in the Psychological Thriller are known for their repetition of the same crime

2 The main character is made out to be very innocent and relatable, when really he is the one who has committed the murder

3 The audience is never quite certain whether the protagonist is guilty of any crimes or whether he is imagining it all


Overall, I believe our film both develops and challenges conventions of both genres, creating a successful product that allows its originality to interest a wide audience. 

Evaluation: Question 2

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?


Here is a director's commentary, including our film and accompanied by a short deconstruction of our ancillary texts and then a comparison of the effectiveness of the entire combination of products.



0:34 = Film Deconstruction
6:34 = Poster Deconstruction
7:51 = Review Deconstruction
9:27 = Combination Evaluation

Overall, I believe we successfully achieved the creation of a film product, movie poster and magazine review that combine realistically to create a brand identity surrounding the post-production stages of the film, 'til Death Us Do Part.

Evaluation: Question 3

What have you learned from audience feedback?

Below is a short, documentary-style evaluation of the success and importance of our audience feedback to our main project.



Main points we were able to draw from this include how audience feedback has allowed us to:

• Solve major technical issues
• Alter scenes to present a clearer narrative
• Discover which elements were most effective and which were least 

In addition to this, we also utilised audience feedback in the ancillary tasks. We were able to host our products in their draft stages on social networking site, Facebook. This allowed for comments to be made by any of the group member's friends. 

Firstly, the Movie Poster:

This is our first draft of the poster:

We hosted a feedback session amongst media students and recorded the session using WireTap. We received many comments, both positive and negative, from this we drew the following conclusions:

• Unclear title, 'til Death' doesn't look like part of the title, matter of importance between the two parts. Change font
• Authenticity of the costume does not match the film (wear a shirt!)
• Great tagline, including detailing
• Photography is good
• Add noise/grain to the image SLIGHTLY
• 9 out of 10

Next, we used Facebook to host a version and gain feedback from friends:

Using this feedback, we were able to produce our Final Film Poster:

Secondly, here is the draft of the Magazine Film Review:

Merajio Review Edit 1


This was also presented at the feedback session to our peers, they gave many comments and we planned to make alterations to our review:

• Some bad/awkward aligns
• Film title should be bigger font
• Black 'border' line should be aligned with text
• Align page number with website at the bottom of page
• Colour-code the whole thing with just 3 colours (white, black and red?)
• Change caption to something more realistic/positive and smaller font
• Centre the magazine page title at the top of the page
• Smaller indents in text columns
• Good photograph

After making final alterations after the feedback sessions, we were able to present our final magazine film review:

Here is the audio file from the session and you can also visit the existing post regarding this session on the link below:

Ancillary Task Feedback Session



Overall, I believe we took advantage of any feedback we could gain and I believe it has been vital in creating the final outcome that we have achieved. 

Evaluation: Question 4

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


Throughout each stage of the whole process, I have encountered many contemporary media technologies, both new and old to me, that have proved invaluable in producing our final products. I will now introduce each technology and evaluate each ones benefits and drawbacks in relation to their old-style counterpart.




Apple iMac

This is an example of the Apple iMac that we used. This equipment was able to run all the suitable soundtrack, titles and editing software that enabled us to create our film and make all precise and necessary changes. Such programs included Final Cut Express/Pro, Soundtrack Pro and LiveType. Also, the iMac allowed us to create a digital storyboard and script. This allowed us to make quick changes and 'undo' alterations, whereas this would have been a much lengthier process if it were paper-based.


Hosting Sites

We used these websites to host files that were essential to our project. These included YouTube for all video files, such as rough and final cuts but also many R&P stage research videos, the animatic and even the evaluation videos.

We used DivShare to host all audio-only files, these were useful when recording feedback sessions in particular, as it provided an archived file to refer to. It provided evidence when referring back to these sessions and is also easily navigated.

Presentation Tools & Sites

We used these sites in particular whilst presenting all information from the course. This included Blogger firstly. This site allows us to post every necessary element of the course chronologically, on a webpage that can be accessed from anywhere, as well as embedding and HTML data we have. It is also compatible with all of the other tools and sites mentioned that allow us to present our work in creative and effective methods. Blogger also allows us to attach gadgets, such as a blog archive feature, a convert to PDF feature and a communicate feature - allowing us to communicate between group members. 

Prezi is an online presentation software. This allowed us to present research documents in a creative and effective manner which kept interest among viewers high.

Scribd was particularly useful with the treatment documents, as it allowed viewers to read the pages as a book, as part of a feature embedded on the blog.

Recording Devices

In order to achieve all of our posts, we had to make use of many new technologies. These included Wiretap and Quicktime Player in order to record audio recordings of feedback sessions and also then record screen-casts. These were utilised most of all in the research and planning stages (location research and feedback sessions) and also in the evaluation stage.

We were able to use HD cameras with tapes which was advantageous as it allowed us to rewind and watch the footage instantly but also keep a hard-copy of the footage so that the editing we did was non-destructive. 

Soundtrack Pro allowed us to record overdubbing tracks of the actor's voices and then place them over the footage.

Editing Software

This is a collection of all of the software that was used, including many screenshots of our products in the making. We used digital software that, combined with our mini DV tapes, allowed for non-destructive editing. Firstly, here is an extract from a previous post, explaining how we used new technologies whilst editing the film.


After completing the filming process, we needed to edit the footage to turn approximately 100 video clips into our five-minute short film. Firstly, we created a workflow for the steps of editing to avoid wasting any time by having to go back and forth through the process.

• Capture all of the footage from the Mini DV tapes onto Final Cut Express.

• Name the clips, arrange them and then move any outtakes or irrelevant clips into a 'trash' folder.

• Using in-out markers, insert the appropriate parts of footage into the timeline in chronological order. Ensure all Match-On-Action shots are fluent and all of the shots follow on correctly.

• Use transitions to link scenes or particular shots together and add any relevant video effects to the footage.

• Add titles and credits - Titles to be created in LiveType.

• Export the whole project as a Quicktime Movie.

• Import the Quicktime Movie into Soundtrack Pro.

• Add foley sounds and overdub any voices if necessary.

• Export the soundtrack file as an AIFF file.

• In Final Cut Express, drag the AIFF file into the timeline, mute the original sound and then export the whole project as a Quicktime Movie.

• Upload the final Quicktime Movie to YouTube.

Here is all of the software that was used during the construction of the main task and also the research and planning and evaluation stages:

Secondly, these are examples of the editing software we used whilst creating the ancillary tasks:

For examples of these programs in use during our ancillary task production, please visit the following posts:
Photoshop Training for Movie Poster
QuarkXpress Training for Magazine Film Review



These helped us produce the following products:

Finally, we made use of social networking sites to gain further audience feedback during the construction stages:

Overall, these new media technologies have enabled me to complete this course and these products to a high standard that would not have been possible 10 years ago. They have enabled me to produce work, gain feedback, edit and reconstruct, record, evaluate and present all elements of my work in creative and effective ways.

Ancillary Tasks: Final Film Poster

Created using Photoshop

Ancillary Tasks: Final Magazine Film Review

Created using QuarkXpress

Ancillary Tasks: Film Poster & Magazine Review Feedback and Evaluation

Firstly, we present both our film poster and our magazine review to a collection of our peers, both media students and non-media students.

I recorded the audio from this feedback session below and will pick out the main points for each of the products.





Film Poster:

• Unclear title, 'til Death' doesn't look like part of the title, matter of importance between the two parts. Change font
• Authenticity of the costume does not match the film (wear a shirt!)
• Great tagline, including detailing
• Photography is good
• Add noise/grain to the image SLIGHTLY
• 9 out of 10

Magazine Review:

• Some bad/awkward aligns
• Film title should be bigger font
• Black 'border' line should be aligned with text
• Align page number with website at the bottom of page
• Colour-code the whole thing with just 3 colours (white, black and red?)
• Change caption to something more realistic/positive and smaller font
• Centre the magazine page title at the top of the page
• Smaller indents in text columns
• Good photograph

For the next stage of our feedback process, we decided to upload the film poster to Facebook. Initially, we used this as a way of our group communicating comments, whilst work was being done over weekends. This way, one of us could upload the current poster to Facebook, tag the group members in the picture and then we could view it on our phones or laptops and give comments within minutes. 

Facebook also came in useful when sharing the original photographs that would eventually be used in the poster. 

Eventually, as the poster progressed we promoted the images in a folder, which we then encouraged comments from our contacts. This led to very positive and constructive feedback that we could put to good use and made the construction process very efficient.

Overall, we feel we have sourced enough feedback to make improvements necessary to making our products the best we can and will post the finished products very soon.

Ancillary Tasks: Draft Film Poster & Magazine Review

We have now created our first drafts of the two products which we can now present to a collection of our peers to gain feedback.

Film Poster

Magazine Review

Merajio Review Edit 1