Question 1: “How does your product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues?
For this question I made a YouTube commentary and breakdown video, styled like film analysis channels. I go through Final File scene by scene, pausing on key moments to explain how we used thriller and horror conventions. These include low-key lighting, fog, an enigma-driven narrative and an unsettling diegetic soundscape. I also explain where we challenged expectations, such as casting a young female detective as the active investigator rather than the victim. This format let me show my analytical skills, my understanding of media language and my confidence presenting on camera. I also used the editing techniques of real YouTube creators, such as freeze-frames, zoom-ins, on-screen text and clips cut against my commentary.
Question 2: “How does your product engage with audiences and how would it be distributed as a real media text? “
How it is made: The orignal show has the host asks questions to the guest who is participating eating chicken wings that get progressively hotter/ spicier. The same concept applied however with our own twist by replacing the food with korean most popular noodle brand: Buldak (known for how spicy it is)I based this answer on Hot Ones, the YouTube interview show where guests answer questions while eating increasingly spicy chicken wings. In my version, Buldak noodles replace the wings. As the heat rises, the questions go deeper into how Final File would reach a real audience. They cover entering Show Me Shorts, streaming on NZ On Screen and Shudder, applying for NZ Film Commission funding, copyright, and a marketing campaign of missing-person posters with QR codes plus a TikTok teaser. I chose this format because it is itself a successful example of audience engagement. It shows my research into the New Zealand film industry, my understanding of how media texts reach their audience, and my ability to recreate a recognisable online format.
INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT
“FinTHE SPICE CHECK — EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
(timestamps match the finished episode, including the intro)
— INTRO (0:00) —
[0:00] GUEST: Cheers!
[0:01] GUEST: Oh, this is much more spicier.
[0:03] GUEST: It’s so sweaty.
[0:04] (Title: THE SPICE CHECK — 4 levels of spicy, 4 questions)
— OPENING —
[0:10] INTERVIEWER: Hey, how are you?
[0:12] GUEST: I’m doing great. How are you?
[0:13] INTERVIEWER: I’m doing great. Welcome to our channel! So on our plate, we have four levels of spicy. Do you want to try the first one?
[0:20] GUEST: Okay, I’m excited. Let’s try the first one.
[0:23] INTERVIEWER: Ready?
— LEVEL 1 — MILD —
[0:27] GUEST: Okay, this is my first bite. Three, two, one.
[0:42] GUEST: Zero spicy.
[0:47] GUEST: It’s so good.
— QUESTION 1 —
[0:49] INTERVIEWER: So here is our first question: how does [the film] actually engage with an audience?
[0:55] GUEST: It starts on a film opening on a missing person case file, which puts the audience in the position of the investigator rather than a passive viewer. Having fragments, and letting them piece together what happens — that’s deliberate. And withholding context means curiosity, not just fear. It’s what pulls people through the runtime and extends beyond the film itself.
[1:19] GUEST: Horror audiences are usually active online, with fan theories, frame-by-frame analysis, YouTube reaction videos such as this one. So a film built around an unsolved mystery is suited to generating that kind of discussion after the fact.
[1:34] GUEST: Sound plays into this too, because our sound design is entirely original rather than licensed music. We could build it to unsettle at very precise moments instead of relying on stock cues, reinforcing dread without leaning on jump-scare clichés.
[1:53] INTERVIEWER: That sounds really interesting. Let’s go on to the second bite.
[1:56] GUEST: Okay, sure, that sounds fun.
— LEVEL 2 — MEDIUM —
[2:01] INTERVIEWER: What level is this?
[2:02] GUEST: Level 2.
[2:03] INTERVIEWER: So is it really spicy?
[2:05] GUEST: Okay — I can definitely taste the spice in this one.
[2:10] GUEST: Okay, this is definitely spicier than the first one.
— QUESTION 2 —
[2:13] INTERVIEWER: Okay, so here is the next question: if this were a real release, not a school project, how would it actually get in front of an audience?
[2:22] GUEST: That’s really interesting, because the most realistic route is a festival circuit. Show Me Shorts is New Zealand’s major short film festival. It screens nationwide in cinemas and on a geo-blocked New Zealand platform, and winners even qualify for Oscar and BAFTA consideration. It’s the obvious target for something like this.
[2:46] GUEST: That said, entrants have to be 18, and submissions need to run two to 20 minutes long. Our opening sits right on that boundary, so realistically we’d need to extend it into a full short before it could actually be entered.
[3:05] GUEST: Outside festivals, NZ On Screen is a government-funded archive of New Zealand film and TV — a solid home for showcasing local work, even without festival selection. Genre-wise, Shudder is a horror-specific streaming platform that suits the tone well, since it’s built for exactly this kind of audience.
[3:23] GUEST: But the zero-cost, immediate option is putting it up on YouTube or Vimeo under the [production company] channel. That’s how we’d actually start building an audience, while festivals stay our long-term goal.
[3:37] INTERVIEWER: Oh, that sounds so interesting, what you said about the audience. So, do you want to try level 3 of spicy?
[3:44] GUEST: Okay!
— LEVEL 3 — HOT —
[3:49] GUEST: Oh, this is much more spicier than the other one. Yeah.
[3:54] GUEST: My spice tolerance is so low. Okay, I can feel it now.
[4:01] INTERVIEWER: Are you finding it spicy?
[4:02] GUEST: Yeah — not that much. (laughs)
[4:06] GUEST: Yummy. It’s so spicy.
[4:12] GUEST: Oh my god. Okay. I’m ready for the next question.
— QUESTION 3 —
[4:17] INTERVIEWER: Yeah, sure. So the next question is: could something like this ever get funded properly?
[4:23] GUEST: For something like this to get funded properly, there is definitely a real pathway. The New Zealand Film Commission runs a fund called [fund name unclear in audio] — Catalyst short film funding, up to $90,000 for scripted narrative shorts from emerging New Zealand filmmakers. Applications for each round open in September 2026.
[4:47] GUEST: I want to be honest about this one, though. It’s aimed at filmmakers progressing their careers professionally, not really built for school coursework. So a group like ours would need a producer or a mentor attached before even sending in a realistic application. But it shows that there is an actual next step beyond just posting it online.
[5:10] INTERVIEWER: Oh, that definitely sounds like a great opportunity. So, do you want to try level 4? That’s the most spicy one.
[5:15] GUEST: That’s the most spicy one?
[5:17] INTERVIEWER: Are you ready for it?
[5:19] GUEST: Okay, I’m ready.
— LEVEL 4 — EXTREME —
[5:24] INTERVIEWER: Ready? Okay. Okay. Do I have your cheers?
[5:29] BOTH: Cheers! Cheers!
[5:34] GUEST: Okay, I’m so scared. I’ve never tried something this spicy before.
[5:37] INTERVIEWER: Oh my gosh, same. Okay, ready?
[5:39] GUEST: Yeah.
[5:41] GUEST: It’s so sweaty.
[5:46] INTERVIEWER: You know what we need…
[5:51] INTERVIEWER: Oh my god.
[5:53] INTERVIEWER: They’re so spicy.
— QUESTION 4 —
[5:55] INTERVIEWER: So this is the next question: how would you actually get people watching beyond just uploading it?
[6:03] GUEST: So, the whole film is set around a missing person and a case file. This is an obvious real-world marketing use: put up missing person posters around school and locally, to mimic the exact concept of our film — styled exactly like the one in our film, with a QR code leading to the trailer or the release.
[6:29] GUEST: It turns a prop from the film into the marketing itself, and creates that real type of curiosity horror marketing.
[6:36] GUEST: Alongside that, a 15-to-30-second teaser from the opening would work well on TikTok and Instagram Reels. Horror does really well in that short, discoverable clip format.
[6:51] BOTH: (laughing)
— END CARD — Thanks for watching • Like • Comment • Subscribe —
Question 3: “How did your production skills develop throughout this project?”
I presented this answer as an interactive digital flipbook, set out like a production journal you can page through. It follows my progress from the preliminary tasks to the final film opening. It covers learning CapCut through tutorials, picking up Premiere Pro in a South Seas Film School workshop, and building skills in scriptwriting, casting, location scouting and scheduling. It also covers the problems we solved on set, such as relocating from a bus to Wong’s Kitchen and using a lighting rig and fog machine to transform the space. The flipbook format shows my skills in layout, visual design and organising a large amount of material clearly.
Question 4: “How did you integrate technologies – software, hardware and online – in this project?”
I have always been passionate about music and composition, particularly finding ways to reinterpret music through different instruments. For this project, I transcribed and arranged my favourite opera, Bellini’s I Puritani, into a duet for oboe and harp, as I play the harp myself. I wanted to bring together my musical interests and my Media Studies project in a way that felt personal and original. To answer Question 4 creatively, I also studied Italian so I could write and perform an operatic piece reflecting on how I integrated technology throughout the production of Final File. Using MuseScore to notate and arrange the music, I matched the Italian lyrics to the melody, turning my reflection into a musical performance. This allowed me to explore technology beyond filmmaking, demonstrating how digital software can support creativity, composition and storytelling across different art forms.
Link to the transcribed music which includes the opera: https://musescore.com/user/51661001/scores/39068651/s/OvfQHW
Part I: Research, Planning and Editing
Qui YouTube mi guidava,
Mi mostrava… e poi capii!
Qui WordPress conservava,
Qui le idee,
Che nel blog raccogliei!
Ah, Discord ci univa,
Canva il piano disegnò!
Forms otto voci ascoltava,
E il mio film si trasformò!
Part II: Filming, Technology and Distribution
Vien, mia camera, cattura!
Nebbia e ombre intorno a noi;
Finché il buio ci rassicura,
Nasce il film che vedrai!
Deh, CapCut, cambia il colore,
Premiere il testo cancellerà!
Suoni, maschere e terrore,
Peak il logo animerà!
Su YouTube il film vivrà,
TikTok lo diffonderà!
MuseScore, note e parole,
Tecnologia, sei poesia!
Full English Translation
Part I: Research, Planning and Editing
Here YouTube guided me,
It showed me… and then I understood!
Here WordPress preserved everything,
Here, the ideas,
That I gathered in the blog!
Ah, Discord brought us together,
Canva drew the plan!
Forms listened to eight voices,
And my film was transformed!
Part II: Filming, Technology and Distribution
Come, my camera, capture!
Fog and shadows all around us;
Until the darkness reassures us,
The film you will see is born!
Oh, CapCut, change the colour,
Premiere will erase the text!
Sounds, masks and terror,
Peak will bring the logo to life!
On YouTube the film will live,
TikTok will spread it!
MuseScore, notes and words,
Technology, you are poetry!
Above is the audio (mp3) version.