Evaluation - Question One

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

In our as level work, were we given the task of creating, filming and editing a thriller opening scene. When we began this task, we had to ask our self’s what is a thriller? What are the conventions and forms for this genre?  

A thriller is a genre of movie. This certain genre of film has many elements. The main elements are suspense, tension and excitement – yet there are many sub genres and types of thriller, yet they still keep the same forms of content. A thriller movie challenges the conventions and forms of a normal movie. The main aim of a thriller is to keep the viewer in suspense – ‘on the edge of there seat’, through out the picture. The plot, through the movie, builds up towards a climax. These films are usually based in towns/cities that seem normal. The typical hero’s of a thriller are usually your normal average people that are unknowing of the situation they will be involved in. Unlike a normal mystery styled crime movies, the killer is most likely to be known through out the whole movie. The thriller killings/events are usually on a much larger scale than most movies, involving in larger amounts of people dying, or lots of the ‘events’ happening e.g. mass murder ect.  In more recent years, thrillers have become easily mistakable for different genres and styles of movies. But, the main way to distinguish a thriller is not by the subject, but the way they approach it.

Thrillers have certain conventions they must portray to meet the genres expectations. The way thrillers are shot are very specific in places. They use a variety of shots that seem normal. The shots miss things out in certain shots to get the viewer wondering adding a mystery element to it. The editing of the movie often builds up for the climax, for example, slow cuts to faster. The sound track usually adds mystery and suspense. The thriller genre itself likes to make you slightly nervous when watching, music helps this element. These sound tracks are also non diagetic, which means the actors can not hear this sound track, adding more to the feel of the film as the majority of the time, the main characters/hero’s totally oblivious to what is going on. All these elements add to the thrillers mis-en-scene, and meet the expected criteria made by the viewers of typical thriller movies. In the first two minuets of a thriller, there should be mystery, suspense and confusion.

In our thriller, we tried meet the expectations of our viewers. We did this by using the genres conventions and forms. I think in most ways we have achieved to capture the mis-en-scene. Yet we did break a few conventions of the genre thriller, as most directors and writers do. Apart from a few minor things, we used many of the same forms. We used signifiers in the shots, e.g. a figure in the background. We used a dark mis-en-scene, to give the ‘thriller’ effect. The victim in the scene is an innocent kid, and in thrillers, the victims are always innocent people. The twist on that convention is that it is not young blonde girl, as this is what thrillers like to use. Our music has a slight twist as it uses synthesizers and modern drums, yet it still gives the same feel as a normal non-diagetic track in a thriller film.

I think we captured the essence of a thriller very well, using elements of a thriller and elements of other genres; we produced a good opening scene. 

Evaluation - Question Two

How does your media product represent particular social group?

As we studied the genre ‘thriller’, it enabled us to understand the conventions and specifics of the genre and what is expected of it. We watched a number of openings of thrillers (The happening, momento, Donnie Darko), we saw that many had certain elements that were continues through out each opening scenes. The first scenes never make complete scene, this is used to draw the viewer in and making them want to watch the rest of the movie. The lighting and sound were also all similar. The lighting was never to bright, all dark gloomy shades used. There was also always a non diagetic sound through out, whether was music or just a certain thing to represent and signify the movie, e.g. the happening – wind was used.



Our music being created



Our Location in iMovie

In our thriller, we represented the three guys as ‘youths’ that were getting themselves in trouble, and just exploring. They were dressed in ‘hoodies’ and ‘joggers’, a significant stereotypical element so the viewers would be able to relate and infer that these kids are as the stereotype tells us. The three boys also have portrayed a certain attitude with there parts. The way they talk is a good way of telling. They use ‘slang’ words to also match the stereotype we tried to present. By inferring, the way these guys present themselves and portray there characters, we can infer that these boys are ‘youths’ looking for trouble. The music also adds to the effect. As I composed the music, I wanted to use the typical features and conventions of a normal thrillers non diagetic sound. But as we were shooting ‘youths’, I believed that a more modern element was needs, so then I added synthesizers and more modern drums and effects. The location we used was a typical ‘thriller’ location. Just by the site of the outside of the building, it has mystery and questions begin springing to mind, for example, what’s inside? Who used to live there? Why is it now abandoned? And this is a typical convention to a thriller – mystery. When we enter the building, it continues to represent a thrillers mis-en-scene. The lighting is dark, and casts a shadow over one part of the main actors face. This is for a mysterious effect, like the actor is ‘doomed’ and other things of that nature. But also to show that the actor has less authority than the camera. The ruins of the building and what used to be there are scattered around the building, this is to add again the confused element back to the scene.

Evaluation - Question Three

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

There are many institutions to distribute films, for example, ‘20^th Century Fox’, ‘Warner Bros’ and ’Sony pictures’. But after research and looking into other movies, we decided that the best intuition to distribute out thriller would be ‘Film4'. We chose film four because of there sucess distributing large and small budget films. They produced films like 'This Is England', a 1.5 million film. They also distruibuted '127 hours', 18 millon film. 'This Is England' wond the best british film in 2007, and this was a small budget movie. This would make a perfect institution for our movie, as it works with large and small budget movies.

'Film4' Logo

Evaluation - Question Four

What would be the audience for your media product?

Before we began this product, we had people fill in a questionnaire. This gave us ideas of what would interest people and what would be suitable to include in our product itself. We made sure to include these elements within our final product. Our conclusion was that most people were 16 or over, and were of both genders. As we took inspiration of the film ‘strangers’. We deconstructed the film to see how the audience reacted to certain bits. We also saw the age restriction on the cover was ‘15’. We then had to look into the BBFC ratings. This was to see what classification our thriller needed to be under. This would give us guidance and guidelines on what we could and could not involve in the thriller. After researching into the topic, we found that the classification that we needed was a ‘15’. This is so we can have a wide variety of thing involved in our thriller, yet restricts us to give us more guidance.

Evaluation - Question Five

How did you attracted/address your audience?

In our thriller we had to attract and address our audience. We had to think of ways this was possible. We did this by using the typical conventions of a thriller movie. This is because the audience will have expectations and we had to stick to some of the conventions to then be able to call it a thriller. We used the camera wisely. We did this by hiding or discreetly putting things in the shots, to add the scenes of mystery and keep the audience engaged. For example, when ‘Harvey’ is walking along the corridor, a figure moves behind him, yet you can only infer it is a person as the way the lighting is positioned, you cannot know for sure. The music I think also helped attract the audience, as the music builds up to add tension and suspense to the scene.



We used 'Youths' to involve/attract the audience



We also used ‘youths’, this is so the audience, going by our results of our questionnaire, can relate to the characters. This will appeal to our audience, as we aimed for the ‘15’+ mark, being based on BBFC’s guidelines. This is so we did not add things in that were not allowed to be in a ‘15’ rated movie, e.g. strong language, strong violence ect. To see if we met our audiences expectations, we asked people for there feed back on what they thought of our project. When people gave us feedback, we got mixed reviews. Most were positive reviews, for example, they ‘felt the suspense and tension’, and wanted to know what happens after the scene we shot. There feedback told us that they enjoyed the film and that everything was in the right place to make you nervous when watching the scene. Yet some people suggested other wise. People told us about our biggest fault in the whole scene - which it was to dark in some places, as figures/objects were hard to see. This was our biggest floor as the lighting where we shot was not great, and we did not have good enough lights to light the set as we wished. If we were to shoot this again on the same budget, I would either chose a different location or bring lights with me to avoid this problem.

Evaluation - Question Six

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Through out the whole of the task we were set we have used many filming, editing and other forms of technology to help form our final piece. We also learnt about the equipment e.g. camera, condenser microphones, whilst using the equipment.  We learn there were rules about the camera angles and where the camera could go. Using different shots to portray the image and feel we wanted for the scene, we used a variety of camera techniques. After shooting, we then took the footage into the ‘Mac rooms’ and uploaded it. We edited it in ‘iMovie’, a program used for editing video and motion pictures. This program lets you edit basically, e.g. simple cuts and transitions. If we were to edit this again I would prefer to use ‘final cut’ as it has more variety and more of a ‘creative wing span’ to develop and perfect our footage in. Finally, as I created the music, I used ‘Garageband’ to compose, play and record our sound track into. This program I found easy to use and simple too. Yet, if I was more familiar with ‘Logic 9’ I would of used this program as this program is far more advance. It also has better VST plug-ins that are a lot better quality and the overall mix would have been more professional sounding.

Evaluation - Question Seven



Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt In the progression from it to the full product?



Our camera that we used

Over the stretch of the course so far, I feel I have progress rather well in media. I have improved in my practical and analytical writing vastly. I understand the ways of how a camera works, and how to compose shots better. I have progressed as an editor, and I can use ‘iMovie’ comfortably now. I have struggled in the past using equipment and software, but I feel now I can work these with ease.






A screenshot of our project in 'iMovie' the program we used to edit our footage in.



I produced the soundtrack for our peice in 'Garageband' (the only program avalible at school), these are the tracks withing the program. Using Midi/Virtual, i created the melody.

 

When we shot the preliminary task, we found things of which we needed to be aware of before we shot our real thing. It gave us more of a reality of using a camera, as it is not as easy as it looks. This made us eager to learn the ways of a camera. We also found sticking to the rules like the ‘180 degree’ rule, was hard. This also gave us the opportunity to experiment with ‘iMovie’ and editing itself. This gave us the experience we needed to become fully familiar with the software we had to use for the final product. We found that the time to shoot something so short, took a lot longer than we expected. This made us make sure we had plenty of time to shoot our final product.



When we were in production of the task, we made sure we planned out of day of shooting. We planned the variety of different shots, and the most important ones we sketched them out. We planned out a basic script, yet we let our actors experiment with the script, as this gave us a more relaxed/real effect for the scene. Obviously if we were to shoot the whole thing, we would have used a full script, but for the first scene, this is just what we needed as there are no mass amounts of dialogue. We also took a trip to the location before the scheduled day of filming. This is so we were familiar with the location and layout of the building. I feel with a little bit more planning, we could have planned the lighting and how it was going to be, and find methods to avoid our biggest flaw. This was our biggest problem, the lighting. We also went through other problems with the music and getting the sound track to fit the actions on the screen, after a lot of work, we managed to work it.

As a group we had roles to make sure everything worked smoothly.

Harvey - he had to play the main character and edit the film. The acting had to be acted well, to give of the right effect, Harvey delivered this, yet the dialogue could be improved. He then edited most of the footage; this was because Harvey had the most experience. Harvey also had an experience with the camera, as when he was not in a shot, he had a go with the camera.

Declan – he was main camera man. This was because, due to his efforts and success in the prelim task we thought it would be best for him to shoot most of it. He shot most of the footage; he also edited the movie with Harvey.

George – he was like the director. He produced ideas on and off set for the shots/editing/music/acting. On set he made sure everyone was doing there jobs correct. George also filmed a lot of the footage.

Me – as for me, I was in charge of sound. I composed and produced our sound track to keep it original and so it is flowed nicely. I also used the camera to shoot the corridor and last room shots.

Overall we all had a role or job, yet experienced each others through out the production of it. I think we achieved what we set out to do, with a few minor issues which we have learnt from, I think we can call it a ‘job well done’.