1. Media as - Evaluation
BEFORE I DIE
CHARLOTTE BERRY

2. BEFORE I DIE
I chose to focus on the film from the entire brief given as this
is what I want to learn about and I thought I could produce
and achieve a professional looking opening to a film. From
the preliminary task brief I chose to focus my 30 second clip
in an interview as I thought I could use the angles such as
medium shot to show the relationship between the two
characters and also over the shoulder shots to makes the
audience feel involved with in the film. Additionally I used the
editing techniques of match on action, and I believe this
shows the realism with in the clips as well as linking the clips
together to look more professional. Furthermore from the
main task brief and with the research I carried out, I decided
to create the opening of a film with the genre of ‘drama’ as I
thought with certain contemporary media technologies and
experimenting with different ideas I could create an
emotional and passionate film focusing on a teenager
suffering with a terminal illness. To make the opening more
technical and professional I used the camera shots such as
close ups to show the emotion of my characters, over the
shoulder to make the audience feel and relate to how the
character feels, establishment shots to add to the feeling of
my film, and medium shots which also add to the effect of
mise en scene to show her movement and the costumes of

3. In what ways does you media product develop orUSE
challenge forms and conventions for real media product?
When researching in to the media of films, I used the forms and conventions that are used in real
production films, that I thought were effective and important. I used non diegetic sounds such as music at
the opening of my film because this is what is usually used to create a certain emotion as I found out
when researching films such as ‘twilight’. I created a slow instrumental track on the program garage
band, to put over the opening of my clip and I thought this worked well with the drama, of my film as it
creates the emotional side in my target audience. Furthermore, I also tried to use the same types of
camera angles use in the films that I researched as this would make my film look more professional and
modern. I thought it was important to start off with an establishment shot, like my other four films as this
shows the setting that the film is in and gives the audience an idea of what the films about, so I think this
was an effective and good idea to use. I did this by creating a wide shot of the beach, half being the sea
and sand and the other half being the sky, I then focused and zoomed in on the a bird in the sky as this
connoted the characters feeling of lonely as the bird was alone.

4. In what ways does you media product develop orUSE
challenge forms and conventions for real media product?
Additionally I used other camera angles such as close up shots, medium shots and over the shoulder
shots, which I have seen in films such as The Hangover and Love Actually. I decided to use these shots
as its shows the emotion of my film more clearly as the audience will feel the emotions my characters is
feeling through the angles I have used. For example, I used an extreme close up shot of the top half of her
face, as this clearly show the emotion in her eyes as they fill with tears, because I put this in slow motion
as it creates the audience to focus on her eyes more. I have added a video in, to show the extremely
close up that I used with in my film.
When researching in to the media of films with the
genre ‘drama’ I found out that they are based around
a big problem, so I then used this with my film as my
films’ genre is drama. I believe that from the films I
have researched, it was always more interesting and
an engaging opening when it was based in a setting
that suited what the film was about. For example in
the film ‘twilight’ which I researched, its set in a small
town in the south of the USA and starts in a forest
which I think is engaging and interesting. This was
why I decided to film mine on the beach on a cold
day as this is an engaging setting which also reflects
how my character will be feeling.

5. In what ways does you media product use, develop
or challenge forms and conventions for real media product?
Furthermore, I decided to develop the forms and conventions for a real media product by using a
voice over at the start of my opening, I did this because I thought it would create my film to be more
effective than using normal diegetic dialog with in the opening. When I watch film that have a voice
over in them, I always find this worked well and engaged me more as a part of the audience. This is
why when watching my film, I believe I connected more with my actress and how she was feeling
because I used a voice over, this is why I kept this as a main part in my film as I think this is an
effective technique to use. In the first two minutes of a film I researched, it shows the exposition of
a character and instead of showing this using flashback or other technique, I decided to do this with
the voice over and I believed this worked well as its extremely intimate. I need it to be in time
because otherwise I don’t think it would have the emotion that it has. Also if it was not on time, I
don’t think it would attract the audience as much as they would be focusing on one thing and not
another, whereas because it’s in time, they can easily focus on everything. Although I did find this
difficult when editing my film together, to cause my film and the voice over to relate and be in time
with each other, if I could do this again, I would spend more time on getting it accurately on time.

6. In what ways does you media product use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions for real media
product?
The films that I watched and research all
had two or more main characters in them
so when choosing how to challenge my film
I tried to approach this differently for the
ones that I watched. I wanted there to be
just one central protagonist and for the
whole film to be focused around just her.
Furthermore the fact that solo female main
are extremely infrequent in films. I thought
this would be more effective for the genre
because I have gone against the usual style
model of the films and used a central sole
protagonist. I believed this worked well as
the audience could relate and get to know
the single girl character more.

7. How does your media product represent
particular social groups?
I think through the opening of my film, it represents at least two different types of social groups
just from my main character. I show the typical blonde, pretty and innocent character throughout
the first two minutes, I emphasise this social group more, with the costume of my actress, I
created her to wear lots of clothing which was quite dull to cover up her body and also a hat to
cover up her face so that she looks innocent, and because she needs a vulnerable need of
protection.
I think this works well with the other social group I represent of somebody suffering with a
terminal illness. I think the slow instrumental music in the background creates a more dramatic
effect of her feelings. I think I could have represented the social group better by using certain
props to create her to look more innocent and fragile, for example I could have used big objects
around her, which looks like there suffocating her in which can relate to her illness and
furthermore to her being innocent and fragile. I would think about this more if I had to reshoot the
opening of my film.

8. What kind of media institution might distribute you
media product and why?
I would use Universal Studio’s as the media institution to distribute my media product, this is
because I believe that my film would be a mainstream film targeting at a mainstream
audience, as I want to aim for the possible maximum audience, using multiplexes in both the
USA, as this is a huge cinema industry with a lot of culture, as well as the UK. I would
consider using Universal Studios' as they will create a wide spread distribution for my media
product as this would ensure it would have premiers and lots of promotion on the weekend of
its release. As well as this universal are a well known, reliable and trusted brand of both
cinema release and DVD release, which would cause my media product to have longer terms
with in the cinema, meaning it would have more screens and show for longer which would
make more in the box office and on DVD sales. Lastly, I would consider using Universal
Studio’s to distribute my media product as it would help to promote my film making and I
believe it’s a potential choice for a target audience of 16 -35 year olds.
I also created my own sign which was like universal studios
as I wanted my film to be produced by me and my company
‘berry productions’

9. Who would be the audience for your
media product?
Considering the genre for my film is based around a drama and an emotional storyline, I
would say that the audience for my film would more likely to be females than males as they
can reflect on the storyline and feel more attached to it. Additionally ‘couples’ is usually a
frequent cinema going group. Furthermore because I didn’t think many males would be
attracted to my storyline, I made the main star of the film an attractive blonde female as this
might create them to want to watch the film to. The ages of my target market would probably
be 16 – 35 as I would say my film is adult themed and has a more adult approach as its
dealing with a terminal illness which people under the age of 15 wouldn’t properly understand
and be able to relate to. Furthermore older teenager are who are becoming to exercise some
consumer power in their choice of film would consider watching before I die. Considering that
I want my film to be a mainstream British success, this would mean that my target audience
would be seeing it as couples or nights out of the same gender such as going in a group of
girls. I believe it would be targeted at a British nationality because it has a British location and
actress staring throughout it. Furthermore it shows the British icons and language which will
show the culture in Britain which I believe the British nation will want to watch. I think the
people would want to watch my film for the enjoyment and escapism of the storyline and
characters staring in it, as well I believe the audience will get emotionally attached to the story
line and the audience might like this with films.

10. How did you attract/address you audience
When thinking about how to involve and attract my target audience, I firstly decided to use non- dietetic sound by putting a voice
over, in the opening of my film which lasted two minutes. Using a voice over will involve the audience as they will listen to what the
characters saying more clearly as though my actress is talking to them personally. I think this works well with my film because, the
genre of my film is drama and the opening is very emotional. Using the voice over, it exaggerates the emotion in my actress making
the audience share the same emotion as she does. As well as this, I used the camera shot, over the shoulder as this will cause the
audience to feel as though they are with the actress as they can see what she is seeing and because of the voice over, they can also
feel how she is feeling. I think this shot works well at start of my film because from the very start of the film we feel what she feels
which starts to create sympathy for the character. Furthermore when my actress is showing her emotion of crying, I used close up
shots and extreme close up shots of her eyes, I think this will cause the audience to pity her and the emotion as they can really see
how she is feeling while she is talking about it. Additionally in the shot of her crying, I have use the editing technique to slow down
this specific scene, as I think it captures the moment of sadness which the audience will sense. Lastly, I believe I used pathetic
fallacy with in the first two minutes of the opening scene, as the weather is very grey, cold and windy which relates to how she is
feeling. This will cause the audience to feel a dull and serious emotion as soon as they see the first clip of the beach and sea. Overall
I believe that the composition of my film attracts the audience as it shows the connotation of isolation and vulnerability. The video’s
below show the two shots, I used to attract the audience.
Close up shot Over the shoulder shot

11. What have you learnt about technologies from the
process of constructing this product?
I have learnt to use lots of different technologies from
carrying out this project and the process of
constructing this product. The main thing I learnt to
use was the filming and editing of the movie and how
aware you have to be of the process. I learnt how to
use the camera correctly and professionally which I
found easy when filming both my preliminary task and
my main task. I had continuity issues with this, so if I
reshot my film, I would concentrate more on the
planning of my film and making sure I had shot every
little bit that I needed.

12. What have you learnt about technologies from the
process of constructing this product?
I realised after filming my preliminary that you have to
be completely aware that everything is the same
throughout filming. I had a problem when editing my
preliminary task, as when I shot the match on action
shot, after she walked through the door, my actress
closes it, when later on in the scene it’s open, so this
was a problem I came across because it didn’t look
professional and I believe the audience would notice
this large mistake I had made, but I made sure I didn’t
do when shooting my main task. Furthermore I learnt
how to edit my film on the program iMovie, which I also
found easy and a much organised way to put my film
together to look as professional as possible. The only
problem I had with iMovie was when I had to place my
voice over in the exact place on my movie
images, because it took me a while to make it fit. If I
didn’t fit in place then it wouldn’t have look
professional, that’s why it was essential I got this right.
When I edited in the music to go in the background I
found the voice over worked extremely well. One of the
things I enjoyed the most was creating the music for
my film on the program garage band because I’m not a
musical person, I found this hard but I think my overall
instrumental song went well and influenced the
emotional felling throughout the opening of my film. I
chose instrumental as I thought this would work well
with a voice over, because it wouldn’t drown out my
voice when talking. Furthermore, it created a lot of
sympathy towards the character. Overall I believe I
learnt about many different techniques, which show
that engaged with the contemporary media
technologies as well as showing my development
though out the preliminary task to the main task with
experimenting with different ideas.

13. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do
you feel you have learnt in the progression from it
to the full project?
When looking back at my preliminary task, before planning and filming my main task I noticed that I made
mistakes and I could have planned out my film more, so this is what I decided to make right when filming my
main task. I learnt that you need to have full focus and everything has to be exactly the same when filming, as I
made the mistake in my preliminary task, of closing the door but later on its open and my audience would
notice this and not think it was professional. Furthermore the lighting has to be completely natural unless using
professional lighting, as I believe when comparing my main task with complete natural lighting to my
preliminary task which was shot indoors, the lighting looks more professional and clear on my main task.
Additionally I believe the costume adds a lot of information to the audience in a film, for example I did not plan
the costumes in my preliminary task where as I did in my main task and I believe this looks more effective and
professional because this adds to the character because I am giving signs to the audience about the character
and about her illness. I learnt that from practicing filming with the camera, that using a tripod looks completely
different to using hand held, this is why I used a tripod when filming my main task because it gives a better and
proficient look to my film. Overall I believe the editing, camera shots and my planning was developed a lot from
my preliminary task.