1. AICE Media Studies Critical Reflection Questions Chance Sturrup

2. How does our product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues? In the opening sequence two conventional interpretations of society were presented. The first was society’s image of spies being dressed in black suits with dark glasses and determined expressions. This image of an “evil” spy is generally played by male actors in cinema, and the film adheres to this conventional image by casting the hostile agents as men. The second conventional interpretation is one which the film challenges. In the past, the media often portrayed women as being “damsels in distress” who were reliant on a male character to save them. Characters such as Mary Jane from Spiderman and Sleeping Beauty from Sleeping Beauty all portray this image of women not being able to fend for themselves. We challenged this conventional image by casting a women as the main character in the film. We made sure to portray her as being independent and capable in her profession as a spy. At the same time we were careful to avoid making her seem to powerful, instead opting to make her enemy combatants formidable enemies which she manages to overcome. In this way she resembles the new and coming image of women as being powerful and equal to their male counterparts. It represents some aspects of the feministic movement but is far from being centered on it.

3. How does our product engage with audiences and how would it be distributed as a real media text? The opening sequence has enough action and mystery to initially engage the audience, allowing for the suspenseful plot to maintain their interest throughout the duration of the film. By making the film a spy thriller about betrayal the audience will always be on the edge of their seats as anyone or anything could turn out to be a trap for the main character. The inclusion of a major plot twist towards the end of the film will give the audience their “wow” factor and keep them talking about the film for days, even weeks, after words.

4. How does our product engage with audiences and how would it be distributed as a real media text? With regard to the distribution of the film as a real media text, the first step would be to have it produced by a professional production company. The company my group and I made, Bang Bang Potato Gang Productions, was in charge of overseeing the production of the film from start to finish. Due to the film being independent and not part of an established series it would be unable to rely on association with other films as a means to attract audience members. Instead it would be advertised by two or three short trailers which would entice viewers without giving away the plot in cooperation with a multimedia campaign. This campaign would include billboards, social media, and magazine ads all focused around the film with sayings such as “Who can you really trust?” written on them. Distribution would be handled by having a limited initial release into select theaters only, followed by a wide scale release the next week. That way the film would gain decent exposure and attract more viewers over a longer period of time.

5. How did your production skills develop throughout this project? At the beginning of this project, I was a rudimentary filmmaker at best. I had done assorted short productions but they were all very unprofessional and poorly made. Throughout the months that my group and I have worked together on this film I believe that my production skills have seen a significant improvement. The area that I think saw the most improvement was in directing and calling the shots off camera. I’m a relatively shy person so I’m not used to “bossing” other people around which is what I initially thought directors did. However, over the course of the project I learned what it really meant to call the shots, and that you don’t have to be this intimidating force to be a decent director. I learned about predicting how shots and angles will turn out, along with how to manipulate lighting to get the most favorable shot. I didn’t develop much in terms of editing skills since I had pretty decent ones prior to the start of the project, but that’s the only area where I can’t seem to find some form of improvement. This whole process has been immensely beneficial to me and has opened my eyes to possible pursuing a career in either directing or post production editing.

6. How did you integrate technologies-software, hardware, and online-in this project? The film was edited in the software application Pinnacle Studio. This application allowed my group and I to edit the positioning and length of scenes to our liking, as well as add in the non-diegetic sound needed to create mood and develop the plot of the film. One of the most important pieces of hardware used was a USB flash drive. This device allowed us to transfer video files to and from multiple computers when it became necessary (such as when we discovered that iMovie wouldn’t work for the project). The SD cards inside of the cameras we used were also essential in ensuring that the scenes we shot were able to be transferred into the editing software. We didn’t use any microphones when filming since a majority of the sound within the film is non-diegetic, though we did use Pinnacle's voice recording ability to add in a sound bit. After the editing of the film was finished, it was published to the online video website YouTube. Once there it could be seen by the whole world and also be imbedded into the blogging website WordPress. These two online websites allowed for the film to be viewed outside of the class room.