The Henley College AS Media Studies production unit evaluation presentation for 'Accused' by:- Ryan Crawford Paul Websell Jade Williams

1. Websell and Crawford
Productions
By Paul Websell, Jade Williams and Ryan
Crawford

2. INTRO
Task was set to produce a two minute film.
Our group included Paul, Jade and Ryan .
Each person was required to produce a short story of
approximately 1500 words. Between the group we had to
decide which persons short story to use. In the end the
chosen short story was Ryan’s. This story was based on a
teenager who is wrongly accused of murder and as a group
we found this the most exciting storyline. For this reason the film is
called ACCUSED. We called it this becuase
We thought this was a manageable task to do in the time limit given.
We clearly decided who would do each job, Paul and Ryan acting, with
Jade filming and editing.

3. Overview of jobs
• Paul Websell- Actor, evaluation writer, came up with
some shots.
• Jade Williams- Director, camera woman, editor
• Ryan Crawford- Actor, storywriter, got the tape.
• ‘ The’ Sarah Thomas- cameo appearance. Actress.

4. Jade Williams
• Jade in our film was the camera woman, editor and
director.
• Although she had no real experience of this before she
did a very good job, especially with the editing in a short
period of time.
• Jade’s story was not chosen as the location of the filming
would be hard to get to, as well as needing a lot of acting
to films.

5. Paul Websell
• Paul was actor as well as the majority writer of the
evaluation. His script was not chosen despite its very
good storyline and amazing idea, because it had to
many characters for our group size.
• He acted as he had some experience in acting already at
GCSE and enjoys acting as a whole. He also came up
with some of the shot ideas, such as the low angle shots.

6. Ryan Crawford
• Ryan took up the role of acting as well as being the story
writer. We choose Ryan’s story as it was easiest to film
with the time available. Also the plot was good, as was
the general story.
• He also acted as he was interested in the field of acting,
and enjoys acting.

7. Shooting the film
• Our film we shot in a documentary type style. We did this
because its different and made our sequence feel more
real.
• Our film started well, despite Ryan’s absence from some
lessons, but later we had problems which have affected
continuity which makes the story sometimes confusing.
We also couldn’t add music to our story due to timing
issues, which if we could start again, may have tried to
manage better.
• We filmed our locations in our media room, which made
it easier as it was on site. It also reminded us of an
interview room and reminded other people of it to, which
was the effect we were trying to achieve.

8. In what way does our media product use, develop or challenge forms
and conventions of real media products??
• Our media product uses different elements of real media
products such as opening and ending credits.
• Our product uses a range of shots and camera
angle, which some real media products use in theirs, e.g.
the low angle shot to show power.
• We did try also and keep some of the conventions of
mise en scene, e.g. a typical police cell and interview
room.

9. How does the media product represent particular
social groups?
• We challenge the convention of the rebel teenager and
the law abiding policeman, as ours insinuates that the
policeman is corrupt, whereas the teenager appears to
be telling the truth.
• We achieved this generally through the plot, writing that
idea into our story. We also achieved a representation
through the mise en scene, with Ryan wearing particular
clothes for his character. If we had more time Paul’s
policeman character may have had more of a formal
outfit, but we had to get on with the filming.

10. What kind of media institution would
distribute our media product??
• We would say our media product may not really be
shown in cinema, we see it more as a television show or
possibly shown at picture houses, as the story suits the
time frame, as does the story in general.
• The reason why we say it isn't suitable for the cinema as
it is too short even as a full story, and we think it would
make a good one hour TV drama, so this is the media
institution we think would distribute it.
• I think the company that would show it is ITV, on the ITV
drama section.

11. Audience for our media product?
• I think people who like typical police dramas e.g. life on
mars, The Bill, Ashes to ashes etc. Because it is similar
to them with a similar story so I think this would appeal to
them.
• I think our age range would be between 16- 40 possibly
a little bit older, but I don’t think its serious content would
suit younger children.
• I think our piece would be targeted for a mass audience.

12. How did we attract our audience?
• We tried to follow the conventions typical police drama audiences
like, e.g. with the story, shots, and ideals.
• We achieved this by having a good, solid story to start from, and
then working the typical shots in e.g. low angle shots to make the
policeman seem in a stronger position. We also kept the similar
ideals and the whole mystery behind who did it in ours, which would
attract the audience we were going for.
• We also started straight into it which is another reason why an
audience may be attracted quickly.
• In all I think we achieved what we wanted to do.
• When we showed it too people of our age range, they generally liked
it, saying they would watch it if it came on to the TV. They also said
they were impressed with what we had done in the time limit given.
• The questionairre

13. What have we learnt about technologies from the process
of constructing this?
• We learned how to use the camera properly for
the desired affect, such as manual focus.
• Also we learnt a lot about editing, what's
needed, how to make credits, but most
importantly how to improve your piece through
editing.

14. Looking back at preliminary task, what do you feel you
have learnt in the progression to full product?
• As well as using cameras properly and
editing, we learnt how to attract an
audience using just two minutes, and
definitely developed our skills to try and
use a range of shots.
• We definitely learnt a lot about editing, as
we had no experience before this task.

15. Summary
• I think in all, our group did very well, especially
due to the small amount of time given, as well as
some delays in filming and editing. We got most
of what we wanted to do done, and although we
missed some things out which doesn't help the
continuity, as well as not being able to go
through some shots, we still did more than I
thought we would be able to manage. Things
like more rushes, and CCTV shots may have
been added, but in all, with what we achieved,
we were very happy.

16. •ANY QUESTIONS??