Kieran's evaluation

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


There are many conventions that are use within thrillers the main of these are

•  Narrative - This is how the film is shown the narrative can be very simple or can be complex. The narrative will usually be set around the protagonist and the antagonist.
• Protagonist and Antagonist - This is the protagonist as the hero and the antagonist as the villain
• Enigma - This is a puzzling occurrence that will make you ask questions    
• Victim - This can be a character that has been killed or followed 
• Threat - This would be predominately from the antagonist against the victim and/or protagonist   

Our film would be under the thriller genre as it follows the main conventions of a thriller. Within our opening the victim, threat, protagonist and enigma are shown through various means

• Victim - The victim is shown as the dead body this shows who the victim is immediately to the audience. by doing this it also helps to build suspense and raises many questions 
• Threat - This is shown through the use of a dead body. there is also threat to the protagonist as the antagonist could still be there.
• Protagonist - The protagonist is shown early in the opening as a P.O.V shot is used when he is walking to the dead body.
• Enigma - There is also of enigma that is shown within the opening that raises many questions such as: who is the dead body? why did they kill them? who killed them? and so on  

 

The first shot is an establishing shot that is done in point of view that is done on the driveway leading to the barn this creates enigma that raises a lot of questions such as who is it? where are they going? why? why are they there? this is set in the countryside this gives the impression of being alone and having no where to go. this is done in long takes with few cuts that give suspense and tension. the soundtrack that is over the top is parallel as it fits with what is happening on screen this with the use of Foley gives it more realistic.

This shot is a slow panning shot of a wall of tools that is used with the first shot to add to the enigma and suspense. This makes the audience ask more questions such as  why is this shown? what is the significance? the titles have been added over these shots they appear from nowhere and disappears into smoke this was done  to add to the enigma of the film. 

This shot is of the interior of a barn this continues the enigma and suspense as the audience still do not know what is happening or where they are. This shows that the setting is somewhere that is abandoned this also gives the audience some idea of where they are. This adds to the mood and feel of the film as this helps to show that there is no where to go. The use of low key lighting was used to help show that it is abandoned and no one has been there.

This shot is only seen on screen for a second this was used to break some of the tension give the audience some idea of what is happening. The shot has very low lighting as it is to show that they are dead. This is  eye level shot of the victim this also helps to break the pace up as it has been very slow paced until this appears on screen.  

This shot is the first time that the audience can see who has been walking towards the barn although this shot is the first shot of the detective the audience still doesn't know if he is the protagonist, antagonist or just some one who is walking round this means there is still enigma to what is happening and who the character is. the inside of the barn has a very low level of lighting compared to the outside that has a lot of light this shows the contrast between what is happen outside and inside of the barn.     

This shot is the first real shot of the victim which is a pan over the floor of the barn slowly revealing the victim who is covered in blood and is also shown to have been in a struggle as there clothes are torn. this is a high angle shot with low level lighting apart from a small amount of light that is coming through a hole near the floor. 

This shot is a eye level close up of the character that walked through the door who is shown to be lighting a cigarette. The audience still don't know who this character is at this point as it has not been revealed as he could ether be the protagonist who has found the body or the antagonist who has come back to the body the use of body language helps to add to this as he is shown not to be fazed by what he is seeing and to have no emotion as to what has happened.

This shot is a eye level medium shot of the character where the first dialogue is heard this shows the audience that he is a detective and is the protagonist in the film this give the audience some answers to what is happening and what is going on. This also makes the audience ask more questions as who is the antagonist? who is the villain? what happen?

This shot is a high angle medium close up of what could the the antagonist who is already in prison for being a serial killer. he is shown to be in prison making the audience ask did he do it? how? why? he is shown to be in prison through the dialogue and costume as he is wearing a plain shirt. The body language that is used is to show that he does not care and could find it amusing that they are asking him about the murder. this also creates enigma and making the audience ask how could he have done it? is it someone else? a sidelight has been used to show that he is being interrogated.      

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

social groups means how the characters in the film are shown and represented e.g. gender, age, social class, ethnicity and sexual orientation. for this I will analyse the main characters that are shown within the film and how there social group is shown through camera work, mise en scene, editing and sound to show how they were represented.

Detective Jet (Protagonist) Early 20's, Middle class, White male
Prisoner. Mid 20's, Working class, White male
Dead body. Teenager, white female

• Detective Jet - For the detective the way there social class is shown is through the use of costume this is of a typical detective this is a brown over coat, shirt, trousers and glasses. This was done to show the audience that he is a detective, this was also used to show his social class giving the impression that he is middle class. another way his class is shown is his role as the detective as this requires training and is a high paying job. His body language and facial expressions also help to show him as a higher class and help to represent him as a experienced detective by being seen to be used to what he is doing as when he is examining the body he acts casual and does not have a emotional response to what he is seeing this is also shown by him smoking while doing this. I believe that this shows him in a positive and negative  light as he is shown is a positive light because he is shown to be young for the job he is doing but negative because he is shown as a stereotypical detective.      

• Prisoner -  The prisoner is shown to be working class through his body language. This is shown by being arrogant and cocky while being interviewed showing that he does not care about what he has done. He is shown to have no regret and have no sympathy this is also shown by his language as he swears and shows no respect for the police that are interviewing him. He is male because it makes the character more beleveible as a serial killer this will also make the audience show no sympathy towards him.  I believe that he is shown in a negative light as he is the stereotypical criminal in thrillers as he is working class males.

• Victim - It is hard to distinguish the class of the victim as you only see them as a body and are not shown anything about them. The victim is female to make the audience have no sympathy towards the killer. This is a negative stereotype as in many thrillers females are shown to have less power than males  and a easy target for the killer.     

3. What kinds of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

I think that our film would be best suited for a small distributor as it is a low budget independent film it would not be suited to large institutions such as Sony as they would not think that it will make a lot of money and would not get behind it. I think this would best be suited to a company such as Soda Pictures as they are a UK based distributor to art houses and independent cinema. http://www.sodapictures.com

Another way of distribution would be through the internet and gaming console through company such as Netflix and Love film this would be a good way to distribute our film as it would not cost a lot as it would all be digital and this would reach our target audience well as there is a cross over between the target audience of  our film and the audience of gaming. Another way would be through the use of social media as this holds a large part of our target audience this could be promotions through Facebook and twitter.

4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

The target audience of our film would be males aged 16-35 as this is the audience as this is the demographic that films in the thriller genre appeal the most to and be the most likely to view the film.

This is the main target audience of thrillers and sub genres other films that our target audience are shown to enjoy are

• silence of the lambs- This is similar as it is a detective trying to find a killer with the help on a convicted cereal killer   

5. How do you attract/address your audience?

we attracted our audience through the portrayal of the main roles and how people can relate to them seeing as our target audience is 16-35 year old males the main roles that are played are of the same being young to mid twenty's males.

The character shown to be the hero is the detective as he is a twenty year old male the audience can relate to him this was done n order to be able to talk to our target audience and be able to Imagen that they are the hero trying to save people. the use of a young female victim has been done to help give sympathy for the victim and engage the audience.  

looking at similar films that have the same genre and target audience as our film on of the main things they have in conmen are that they all use enigma and build suspense. In our film we have addressed this by having a slow build up with long cuts and slow panning shot this builds tension and helps to give the film enigma this also keeps the audience guessing what is happening and what is gong to happen in the end.

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












7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have leaned in the progression from it to the full product?

Between now and the preliminary i believe that all of my technical skills have come along mainly how to use the camera properly how to show the characters properly along with my editing skills and continuity editing.

• Editing - I believe that my editing skills have come along way since the prelim through the use of final cut pro, garage band and after effects. I can now use final cut pro confidently and without help this has come along way since the prelim as I could not use final cut before without a lot of help from other people i can now use the software and feel confident about what I am doing. for garage band I do not thing that my skills have come on a lot as I could use it confidently before through previous use with sound editing with different programs. In after effects my skills have come a long way as I could not use it before this task and i can now use it without any help and know what I am doing and how to use the software in conjunction with other programs.

• Construing a scene - I can now construct a scene that has the correct atmosphere for what is intended and show what is supposed to be communicated to the audience much better than I could in the prelim through the use of mise en sene, camera work, editing and sound. I believe that now I can construct a scene that will convey the correct atmosphere through these means.  

• Continuity editing - This was used in  both the prelim and in Jet and is a major part of film making. In the prelim i knew the basics of this through shot revese shot and match on actions but had think about what i was doing a lot more wheras in Jet I knew alot more as it became more important in what we were doing and i could do it almost without having to think about it.

• Camera work -In Jet we used the camera a lot more creatively as we did not have to think about how and what to do with the camera we knew how to use the camera correctly and did not have to fiddle around with it. In Jet we were able to know what we wanted the camera to convey and how to do it by the use of moment and different shot types and angles without having to see what they looked like through moving the camera around to find the right shot.

Dani's Evaluation

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

Conventions of a Thriller:

• Suspense
• A threat
• Enigma
• Victim
• Protagonist (hero)
• Antagonist (villain)

Our media production is identifiable in the genre of a thriller as it follows these main codes and conventions often used in thrillers. Although we only had two minutes in which to portray these different aspects of thrillers, we managed to identify some of them within our opening.

The victim in our opening is obvious, as she is shown as the dead body. By showing the dead body in the opening we created enigma as the audience see her body onscreen and don't yet know how she died, which creates suspense even in the opening minutes. The protagonist is introduced in the character of the detective, we do not yet know if he will become the hero but it is intended for the audience to believe that he will. The antagonist is not yet clear however there is a possible suspect however this restricted narration of the antagonist creates suspense and enigma, causing the audience to want to find out.

We created these thriller conventions by carefully planning how we would use: camera work, mise en scene, editing.

 This is an establishing point of view shot as it gives the audience context as to what kind of location we're in; in this case we're in the countryside. Right from the start this creates a sense of enigma as the audience don't yet know the significance of why we are here in the county, in such a deserted area. They are yet to find out that it is the scene of a murder. The fact that it is a point of view shot is reinforced with the use of a hand held camera and enhanced FOLEY effects to show that we are now in the position of somebody walking, however the use of restricted narration as we don't know who it is that is walking and where they are going, further reinforcing this sense of enigma.

This next shot is a pan view of the tools on a wall in one of the barns, which we decided to use to incorporate her opening title sequence into. We chose this shot as it creates a huge sense of enigma, as the audience still don't know where we are and what we're doing here, however they are now presented with a multiple pan views broken down and separated which clearly shows that these tools are of some importance to what is happening/ has happened. Each of these tools are shown as possible murder weapons as the titles appear and disappear quickly as they fade off screen, which is perhaps seen to be mysterious only further adds to the suspense and sense of mystery of what is happening on screen.




This is the first time we see inside the barn, the murder scene however the audience don't know this yet. This pan view of the inside of the barn is an establishing shot of what is about to come. The abandoned looking barn reinforced by the dusty cobwebs covering the window, creates suspense and enigma as the audience questions as to why anyone would be here, what has happened here? 



The audience is still yet to know where they are and the cobwebs and dust creates suspense as this barn has clearly been abandoned for a long time. Perhaps this is a key point in why we are here, because nobody would come here which greatly adds suspense and mystery in the opening. The use of low key lighting here only enhances the abandoned characteristics of the barn such as the cobwebs. The audience still doesn't know why we are here, who the walking character was and who else is here?

This shot combined with two more shots of the door, as the camera gets closer and closer to the door lock, with quick shots shows that there is some significance to what is behind the door. This adds to the ever building enigma which is being created. The door is clearly old, which is evident due to the bad condition of it and as we get closer to it we begin to see that the lock of the door is also rusty. The door is unlocked which creates questions for the audience, perhaps someone has recently been here?

This shot is a pan view from an area in the barn however as the camera slowly moves the audience are shown this dead body. Her costume consists of a ripped shirt which suggests a struggle for her life, make up also shows that she has a black eye, also reinforcing the same thing. The audience are faced with the victim properly for the first time and so an enigma is created as they ask who is she and how did she die, who killed her? We used a very high angle with this shot to reinforce her vulnerability in the situation. The low key lighting used only reinforces the severity and suspense of the situation presented to the audience. 

This next shot of the victim uses the surroundings of the abandoned barn as it is shot through the wire fence of a chicken coop. The depth of field and the position of the camera perhaps look like a surveillance shot, as if someone else is there in the barn adding a sense of mystery to the shot. It is clear in this shot that the Detective is the protagonist as he crouches beside her body in a concerned way, he is trying to help and solve this.

The detective is seen here in a medium close up so that the audience can clearly see his concerned facial expression, making it clear that he is the protagonist. This gives us hope for the rest of the film as he appears to be able to solve this crime, capturing the antagonist. 

This is the first time we see the possible antagonist in the film as he is being interrogated. The use of lighting casts a strong shadow on the setting, representing the evil in his personality and what he has or hasn't done. He is shown in a medium shot so that we can clearly see his plain costume, reinforcing that he is a prisoner at the police station. The medium shot also allows us to see his non facial expression. 





2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?




The term 'social groups' refers to the different types of characters in a film and how they are represented, such as; their gender, age, social class, ethnicity and sexual orientation. I am going to analyse the main characters for the different social groups present in my own film and explain which aspects of mise en scene and camera work we used to achieve this representation.

The victim:
The gender of the victim is a negative representation as it is a stereotypical concept to see a woman as the victim. Stereotypically men are seen to be as more powerful than women, leaving the woman as the vulnerable victim but we decided to follow this idea in our thriller opening for dramatic effect. The stereotypical costume for a woman would be a dress to perhaps enhance her vulnerability, however the costume for the victim in our thriller is jeans and a plain white shirt, which slightly branches away from this negative representation.

The detective:
The costume worn by the detective clearly shows the generic style of detective with a long black coat and trousers. By following this stereotype, we made his character as a detective clear to the audience. His costume and body language show his social class, as he appears to be of a higher authority to the young girl. He shows little emotion for her death which is evident due to the props used, as he casually smokes a cigarette upon discovering the body. The use of props, costume and body language combined reinforce that he is only interested in catching the culprit, perhaps for his own personal gain. The age of the detective reinforces that he has been in this business for a while and knows what he's talking about, the audience respects him and has faith in him to find the murderer. All of these aspects along with the gender of the detective are negative, however we mediated him as a stereotypical detective, so that his role in the film would be clear to the audience.

The convict:
The gender of the convict is male which we thought best as it is a stereotypical representation, therefore making his role clear to the audience. His body language and facial expression, resemble a criminal as he doesn't show remorse for what he has done, he has an 'I don't care' attitude towards the situation. His anger and frustration at the police is shown through his language choice as he swears in almost every line spoken. This clearly puts across the fact that he is a criminal, as he is so rude to the police. This is a negative representation of him, however it works well for our film.

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

As our film is an independent low budget film, we would not use a large film distributer such as paramount to distribute our product, instead I think it would work better with an independent release perhaps to a smaller cinema. The Duke of Yorks cinema in Brighton shows films low budget films that many people wouldn't have heard of before. This would work better for our own film, as if we were competing with Hollywood blockbusters then we wouldn't stand a chance.

When it comes to marketing the film, the release date would be a Wednesday as reviews may spread by word of mouth giving us a bigger viewing audience by the weekend when people may decide to come and watch it.

When it comes to advertise our film, I would advertise it mostly online as it would reach our target demographic through social networking sites such as Facebook.


Through democratisation of the media new methods of film distribution are more widely available such as digital distribution. This new way of distributing our final product is followed and supported by companies such as Itunes, Netflix and Lovefilm which allows you to stream movies onto games consoles such as Sony's PS3 and Microsoft's Xbox. For this reason Sony or Microsoft would be a good media institution to distribute our film as our demographic suits that of the Xbox and the PS3; Young males ages between 16 and 24. In doing this and making our film more digitally distributed would save us money as we wouldn't have to pay a distributing company to do it for us, we would be able to do it independently.

Monitoring is a huge part of distribution as it makes sure that our film would be played at the right time and therefore marketted to the correct audience. The rating of the film is important in deciding this. The rating of our film would be a 15, because it contains some strong language, when the criminal repeats the work 'fuck,' however there is no nudity, sexual references or enough gore and pain seen by the audience for it to be rated as an 18.




 
4. Who would be the target audience for your media product?


The target audience for our media product would be males in the age group of 16-24, as the murder mystery thriller genre would be enjoyed by this demographic.

I have researched another Thriller which the demographic for our film may also be interested in:

- Se7en This film follows the detectives as they try to solve murders and find the serial killer, this is along the same lines as our own Thriller as it is based around the detective and finding the killer, before they strike again.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

We attracted our key demographic through the use of representation of our main characters.

The antagonist in our film is a male, so to involve the male audience as they are able to relate to him as a character. As the detective, is hinted at being the hero in our film, many males may like this idea of being the hero and saving the victim which in this case is a female, only reinforcing these ideas.



After my research into other similar Thrillers which target the same demographic as our own, I have come to the conclusion that this audience like a sense of enigma in a film. We addressed our key audience by building up suspense in the opening of our film, keeping the audience involved in what is going on and creating enigma and mystery.

Due to the fact that the characters are middle class, adds a sense of realism to the film, which is something that our audience will be able to relate to.


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

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




                                         Using Final Cut Pro:


At first, I struggled when using the editing software Final Cut Pro but through the duration of making our final product, I began to learn how to use it. Although I knew some of the basic things such as moving files around when completing my preliminary task, I have only further developed these skills through the use of experimentation, trial and error and the technicians. I am now able to use certain transitions for desired effects and how to speed up and slow down the pace of a clip. 








Continuity editing: 


Continuity editing can be important in the way in which a film flows, avoiding any continuity errors. There are a number of different things which must be kept in mind when filming such as;

• Shot reverse shot
• Match on action
• 180 degree rule
• Eye line match

                                           Garage Band:

I have learnt how to use Garage Band to add certain FOLEY effects to the final product, how to adjust the volume and how in doing this you can dramatically enhance the effect it has on the audience. 

Lighting:


The use of lighting in our preliminary task was key in adding humor to our Santa interrogation scene. My only very basic skills of how to set up and use lighting effectively to create character representation and atmosphere, have now improved as I also decided to use this low key lighting for my final product due to it being successful in the preliminary. 




                                           White Balance:


I have learnt since the preliminary task how important setting the white balance before each shot is as it can dramatically change the quality and therefore continuity if not done before every shot. 










Camera work and shooting excess footage:


When filming I have learnt the importance of rushes which is the extra footage you have from filming. This gives you a variety of shot distances and angles to chose from when editing it all together. Also it decreases the chances of you having to go and re film due to lack of footage, and gives you a wider choice of shots to use. 

Marlon's Evaluation

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

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

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

4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
(Video)

7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learned in the progression from it to the full product?

Match on Action in our Thriller - Aimee

We used Match on Action in our barn scene footage to add continuity to our Thriller film. We also used match on action because when Marlon (the Detective) opened the door the LED light was in shot, but luckily we filmed a shot of Marlon walking in the barn from the inside.

It works well because Marlon used the same hand opening the door and its more creative than him just walking into the barn. Match on Action is also a  popular type of continuity editing so we decided to use it in our two minute thriller.

Character, costume and props when filming the barn footage - Dani

Marlon who was playing the role of detective Simon Jet, wore a detective stylee coat, which reinforced his character. We also thought that it would be a good idea to show a certain character trait of this detective, give him a 'thing' if you like and we decided that he would smoke. Smoking would help him in the thought process of solving crimes.



Aimee who was playing the role of the dead body just wore jeans and an old shirt for practicality. As she had to have fake blood all over her, so using old clothes was the best idea so that it didn't matter if she ruined them. The fact that it was an old shirt that she no longer wanted allowed us to be able to rip the shirt as well as the fake blood, making it seem like there was a struggle before she was murdered. Aimee also used make up to give herself a black eye which also reinforces some kind of struggle and fight before she was killed. The positioning of the body was also important, as we needed it to look as if she was a murder victim but also something which wouldn't be too uncomfortable for the actor.

The main prop that we required to enhance the murder scene was fake blood. We found some ordinary costume fake blood from a party shop and watered it down so that it looked more realistic.

Last day of filming - Aimee

Unfortunately we are unable to film at Marlon's barn as it has become univaliable, but we are using our back-up barn in Horsted Keynes. We plan to finish the rest of our filming which should leave us with enough time to finish editing! The barn in Horsted Keynes is a lot more practical as it is closer and easier to get to. We are arriving at college for 13:00 where we will all meet to get the equipment that we have booked. The equipment we are using is:

- HD camera

- Tripod

- LED light

- Red Head light (important for poor lighting in barn)

After picking up the required equipment, we will drive to the barn and finish the last of our filming!!

Editing! - Aimee

We have begun editing our first lot of shots from the police station on the iMacs. About 40seconds of the 2minutes is completed. So far our thriller is coming along well and we are just waiting to finish our filming of the barn scene, this will hopefully be done Tuesday 13th March during our double lesson.
We have had a few trial and errors whilst editing especially with the police car. We decided to speed up the shot to show more action, we sped it up to 200 and 300 but it look like a Benny Hill shot so we slowed it down to 150, making it look more realistic.