1. By Sarah Sarfo-Adu

2.  The media product represents two sorts of women one old and one young.  The old lady in the opening sequence isn’t represented as an ordinary old lady as she is dressed in all black and seems like she possesses a type of negative power towards the young girl as she is able to give the girl strange gifts. Since the old lady is not stereotyped as a typical old lady we present her as mysterious and possibly a bit evil.  The young girl sitting on the bench is portrayed as confused and vulnerable during most of the opening sequence and therefore doesn’t represent the particular social group. She also cannot be represented in a particular social group as she is wearing pyjamas in a park which is not a stereotypical characteristic of a teenage girl.  Our media product can portray age. The fact that the Young girl is in pyjamas which are bright and colourful can show how young she is and show the femininity of her also. The Old lady is also represented in this media product as she is old and in Albanian culture when you loose your husband you wear all black, therefore the old lady can represent age as she is old and is wearing all black. Also because she walks slowly she can represent age as old people tend to walk slowly.

3.  Since our media product is targeted to people aged 21-50 who are highly educated we attract our audience by having an opening scene that doesn’t contain dialogue and by having characters who would vary around this age group.  The editing also attracts our audience as it has sharp cuts and storyline that may only appeal to educated people who like to have a different storyline.

4.  I have learnt how to use final cut for editing and deleting scenes that were not needed. I have also learnt how to put scenes together, and vary angles so that I can film effectively so that the audience can fully enjoy what we have filmed. Also by doing this, I have learnt how to use programmes on the computers that are related to constructing my media product such as scanner programmes like image editor.

5.  Even though the opening sequence looks like a challenged form of media product in many ways it can be seen as a conventional media product as the opening sequences is based on an Arthouse genre.  Compared to other genres that have a conventional establishing shot or a long shot. My opening sequence has a graphic match which turns into a close up. This therefore challenges conventional media products however when comparing to other Arthouse films a close up instead of an establishing shot or a long shot can be seen as conventional.  The editing could also be seen as conventional. Since Arthouse movies can be unpredictable having different shots and editing can be seen as conventional instead of being challenging. My movie has quick and sharp cuts which makes it seem like we have missed a shot. This could confuse the audience but because the Arthouse genre doesn’t particular features this could be seen as normal and therefore make quick and sharp cuts conventional.  Not having sound could be seen as challenging the forms and conventions of media products also. Since my movie doesn’t have sound, my media product begins to challenge conventions of media products, however having no sound could also be seen as being a convention of the Arthouse genre because even though many movies may have sound Arthouse genre can be different and independent and have different features.  The narrative doesn’t challenge any forms or conventions of any arthouse media product but it could be seen that it does challenge conventions of media products as its not the same as a normal genre of film but because the arthouse genre has independent aspects, having a narrative that doesn’t seem or look normal is seen as conventional and not out of the ordinary.  One theme that my movie has is that it puts young and old together. It doesn’t show how a normal teenager is and how a normal old lady is so the characters in the opening sequence cannot really resemble how a normal teenager and how an old lady character should be like,

6.  Looking back on my preliminary task, I feel that I have learnt how to edit and produce a well made media product.  Using Final Cut when editing my media product has also helped me to produce a well made media product.  Also from the preliminary task I also learnt how to pitch my ideas and also how to plan and make a storyboard for the making of the film.  From my preliminary task I have also learnt how to develop my skills in using the camera equipment such as using the video camera and the tripod and such.

7.  Overall, the media product produced was good and I think I have managed to pull off what a Arthouse movie should be like because arthouse movies don't have particular features that make it an arthouse movie and because my movie challenges other mainstream genres it should be seen as a conventional arthouse media product  The media product was filmed as expected when planning and the editing of the media product also went well to make the end product.  Working in a team also allowed me to experience all parts of making the media product and allowed me to learn and progress from my preliminary task.