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.