Thriller117Z1

Tuesday, 5 April 2011

Final Evaluation - Hannah Mitchell

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

Thriller movies and openings use ‘normal conventions’ of a thriller that you would expect to make the movie a Thriller genre. The normal conventions a movie has things such as ‘Antagonist or/and Protagonist’ like, for example, Batman and The Joker in the Thriller films about Batman. and when using these conventions creates an interesting story lines which keeps the audience engaged with the story throughout making it a successful film.

Thriller conventions that are used are things such as ‘Enigma’ which is mystery which Thrillers use to engage the audience and ‘Cross Cutting' which is when we cut between related action which occurs simultaneously and the pace of cuts increases until the 2 locations if shots will collide. Using these conventions shows that the movie will be the genre of a Thriller because it has used these conventions.

Also using these conventions of a Thriller makes the film do what a Thriller genre should do, create suspense, tension and excite the audience while also most Thriller use Psychological aspects to the Thriller to grip the audience more.

In our opening, we applied some of the conventions to make it appear to the audience as a Thriller genre but we tried to not make this to obvious in the opening. The reason we did this is because we didn’t want the opening going straight into the story line and main plot because we needed it look like an opening to a movie and also didn’t want it to come across straight away as a Thriller, as we wanted to challenge what the audience thought of it which would therefore, create suspense and an interesting story line because it wasn’t the genre they necessarily thought it was at the opening.

We used the conventions like ‘Flashbacks’ which immediately create enigma and mystery as the audience doesn’t know what has happened but also because we kept crossing between the flashbacks and ‘real world’ and we did this to create a mystery as the audience then might get confused between the two and then not know if one scene was an flashback or the real world.

Shot 1: In our first shot, it uses an establishing shot to show the setting/ location to the audience which is a usual shot in any film, movie or TV drama. The Thriller conventions we used in this shot were things such as the lighting. The lighting in this shot created lots of long angled shadows which Thrillers are know for as they play with shadows a lot to create suspense and to create imagery to the audience.

Shot 2: In our second shot, we use the shot size extreme long shot to show the setting and what is going on and also used this shot size so nothing was cut off from the framing as we wanted to be able to see everything in the frame and didn't want any of the swing cut off so the audience could see everything. We again used large shadows in this shot when she was on the swings to create some interesting long shadows and imagery as this is a Thriller convention.

Shot 3: In the 3rd shot, we used a transition effect to change from scenes. We used a fade transition which is a Thriller convention as it creates a look of a 'dream' which can add enigma to the story and the audience wonder if it's a dream, flashback or real life. We used the fade to change from the 'real world' to the flashback as the audience have an understanding that this effect can mean something that has happened and add suspense.

Shot 4: In shot 4, we changed back from the flashback to the 'real world'. This is a thriller convention as the scenes keep changing from one place to another so this creates a sense of mystery to the audience and therefore, helps add to the suspense of a Thriller because the audience can't anticipate what is going to happen.

Shot 5: Shot five is a big close up which means the human face doesn't fit in. We used this as it shows the emotion of the character and also this shot helps to create a connection to the audience because we can feel empathy for the character. This is a thriller convention because it helps create a connection between the audience and character which then helps with suspense later as we feel more for the character as we feel closer to them.

Shot 6: We then used another fade transition in our 6th shot. We used this fade to show we were once again changing scene into what it is a flashback. This is a thriller convention because of the continual changing of scenes and flashbacks which leaves the audience with a sense of mystery.

Shot 7: This shot is a Thriller convention as it uses dark lighting. The use of dark lightning in this shot portrays to the audience that something bad is going to happen which therefore, helps build suspense to the audience and is also a thriller convention uses in Thriller movies/TV programmes.

Shot 8: Shot 8 is another big close up similar to the one before to show the emotion of our characters face. This shot shows more emotion though as we see her crying which makes the audience feel sympathy for our character. This is a common technique used in any genre as the audience get a sense of realism and a connection with the character which helps make them feel more involved in the story.

Shot 9: Shot 9 is our title sequence. This is a Thriller convention and a convention in any movie or TV programme. What makes this a Thriller convention is that it includes 'music box' music which adds a creepy element to the sequence. Also with the use of a torn in half child's drawing it creates even more of this element and helps display our genre to the audience.

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

In our thriller opening we have 2 characters shown. We have a mother and daughter being represented and shown in our opening showing a difference in age but showing the same gender.

The mum is being shown as a loving and caring Mum in a traditional representation by pushing her daughter on the swing and helping her which displays the traditional caring domestic role. Another way she is being displayed as traditional femininity is Mise En Scene.

The setting that she is seen in is the kitchen which constructs and sees her as traditional because women were thought of as domestic and should do all the cooking and cleaning etc. We also see the Mum looking after the child during the day which shows to the audience that if there is a male role in the family, then he is the breadwinner of the family and the Mum stays at home and is being classed as 'domestic'.

A female child character in the movie Hide and Seek

Her facial expression and body language shows she's loving and caring as she's smiling and when she pushes the swing, puts a lot of effort into it while also the use of non-diegtic sound of her talking to her daughter also shows she caring.

The costume of the mother shows to the audience that the family are probably either middle or higher class as it's quite formal for just going to the park. The scene can also show the representation of a single mother to the audience as in our movie there is no father figure around so can also show her as a strong independent woman which contrasts from the traditional mother she was shown as before.

Another female child in the film 'Orphan'

We have constructed our main female character as a typical girl in our opening. We used a female child because they are used a lot in Thriller movies and make it have more suspense because it is a child so the audience fear more for them and feel more for them.

The daughter is represented as a traditional feminine character through our use of Mise En Scene. We show her wearing a pink dress which immediately reflects to the audience that she is very feminine as the color pink is associated with females and portrays femininity to the audience. What this also does is maybe show her as innocent because she is wearing this feminine color which is associated with innocent young females.

We show her wearing a dress which many typical girls do. However, this could also challenge the traditional representation we showed her as. This can show our character as more mature than her age because dresses are stereotypically worn by women and when children wear them, they are trying to act more adult and perhaps take the style of their mother as influence.

. Her femininity is also shown well she is painting as it shows how creative she is and it show sher as if she was very attentive to detail which stereotypically females are.

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

There are 3 stages involved in the process of a film. The 1st is the film production and then after is the distribution. To distribute our film, we would use a film distribution company as our media institution to distribute our film. A film distributor is responsible for releasing the film and also has to get the licensing from the producer to exploit the film and then release it. They can release the films to the public 2 ways ; Theatrically or for home viewing.

Theatrically: Theatrically is when the film is released in the cinema and theaters.
Home Viewing: Home viewing is when it is released on things such as DVD, video on demand or is screened on television.

The producer of the film then gets an up front payment from the distributor and also gets any percentage of sales, showings or tickets. The distributor also markets the film to the audience so that it attracts attention and therefore, earns money and a profit.

When marketing the film, they have to decide when the film comes out as there can be other competition at the same time at release in the cinema. As Thriller movies don't come out every week and aren't as popular as say family movies, then we wouldn't have much competition from other Thriller movies. However, if our movie did clash with the release of a big family movie like Harry Potter for instance, then we could lose viewers as Harry Potter is a very big chain of movies and is very popular.

To advertise our movie, the distributor must promote it.

With our movie, we would use things such as Internet campaigns on websites such as Youtube which have all types of audiences.It has an adult audience to the site which we would like to aim it at so this would be good for our advertising.

We could also promote it on TV chat shows with the stars of the movies as these shows are very popular and have a lot of viewers. This then meant that this would create a 'buzz' around it and make it more popular.

We would also advertise on transport as this way a whole range of people see it and are interested.

One really important way though is a trailer. This is important because it shows clips of the film which is vital to the audience as it gives them some hint on what they can expect.

The final place is the exhibition. This is where the film is viewed at the cinema and on DVDs and downloads. This is a vital part of the 3 stages because it is where the producer and distributor earn money back from the making of the film and the advertising campaign.

To do all this, we must choose a distributer we like. From this list: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_motion_picture_distributors

I first of all decided we wanted a distributer in the UK. We would want them to have worked with other films in the UK and perhaps local from where our set was. We could have used a big named distributor like Warner Bros. but wanted a more specific one which was in the UK. We also needed it to fit with the genre of the film so a distributor like The Walt Disney company would not have been suitable.

Optimum releasing is a distributor and is based in the UK and also it's image is modern which is what we would like as we would like a modern audience and younger audience to our film so this distributor is perfect for our film.

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

With our thriller opening, we would aim it at a specific audience. Our audience we would ideally aim it at is 15 and over because of the age rating and it wouldn't be classed as a 12 as it’s not appropriate for young children and also an 18 is probably too high as it has young female child.

It would be targeted at both genders but more women may watch this thriller because it focuses around the relationship between a mother and daughter and women may understand this better.

It would also be aimed at people who enjoy Thriller films and like watching films with suspense and mystery and also with twists they didn’t expect to happen. Other Thrillers our audience would enjoy would be Marchlands, a programme which aired on TV and revolved around a storyline about a young child.

Marchlands, an ITV programme, which also revolved around a young child

5.How did you attract/address your audience?

We attracted our audience firstly with our storyline in the opening. We made our story line at the beginning quite calm and not full of action or anything out of someone’s ordinary life because they can relate to the Mother and Daughter that way in that it just comes across as an ordinary day in the life of. This can also create suspense in the storyline though, because with the genre, the audience expect something to happen and when it’s calm at the beginning it then creates suspense and tension as the audience know something is going to happen soon which is a good example of how normality is suddenly interrupted by disruption of some kind.

Also the use of the music box diegtic soundtrack may make the audience enjoy the film as it gives a sense of a Thriller and would appreciate this as they would understand and how it corresponds with our theme and genre. Our audience may also enjoy our film from the strong bond we show on screen between the mother and daughter and make create empathy as well as the audience understanding and feeling part of the connection because we see the closeness of them.

An example of Music box music which is similar to ours http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCtgTpxgwjc

When I ask for audience feedback, they things they said they liked were the Mother and Daughter relationship as some people could connect with it and therefore, gave them a sense of realism to the opening. They also said they liked how the picture was connected to the opening credits and made them think it may have some importance later on in the film.

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

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

I feel that from the prelim task to this project I improved a lot and learnt a lot more. I feel that as a group, we improved mostly on our use of lighting.

In our prelim, we used no lighting as we didn't think about it and didn't think it was necessary but when we watched it back, we realized what an important factor lighting plays in filming. We realized how dark it was and also how grainy it made our filming appear so we thought very carefully about lighting in our Thriller opening.

Another thing I feel we have improved on is our editing. Our Thriller Opening is a lot better when it comes to editing than our prelim as it uses more effects such as credits and titling which makes it appear a lot more 'movie like'. I also feel that we have improved on our representation and construction of character in our opening because we discussed this a lot more this time knowing the importance of this.

Shot 1: In shot 1, our camera work was quite shaky and wasn't used on a tripod. From this, we have learnt we must always use camera work equipment to keep a steady image as it looked unprofessional as it was shaky.

Shot 2: In shot 2, we didn't use white balance and the image looks quite grainy as well because the HD (High definition) was enabled on our camera and we didn't check so we have now learnt to check if it's on or not.

Shot 3: We change shots here to get a closer look at our character but as we filmed quite late, the sun went down quickly and it can be seen between cuts here which doesn't give continuity because it is so noticeable and the audience will notice.

One of our shots from our Preliminary without white balance and what it should be

Shot 4: In shot 4, the problem we had was that we used no lighting which was a very big mistake. As it can be seen in the shot, it's not even easy to see what is in the shot so it was a very big mistake we used and when we watched it back we immediately learnt from that mistake.

Shot 5: The problem we had in shot 5 is our framing. We didn't pay enough attention to the framing and it resulted in it being slightly wonky which made it look unprofessional.

Shot 6: In shot 6, even though we did use the lighting kit, it still looked dark and the light was glaring off in reflections so it look obvious we used lighting when we wanted it to look natural.

Shot 7: In this shot, the problem we had was that in the office we used, the workers still had to be there to supervise us and to do work. This meant they were working in the office and were in the background which immediately stopped the continuity flow in our opening.

Shot 8: In this shot, it is obvious that the white balance wasn't set. It is very blue and dark in the room so it is very hard to detect what is going on so we learnt that white balance and lighting is key in making shots look good quality.

Shot 9: Shot 9 was a good shot we used a flashing light and the character appeared very well in the background so we learnt that this was a good technique for a thriller if we ever made another one as it looked very effective.

Monday, 4 April 2011

Draft Evaluation - Amy

Draft Evaluation

By Amy Beckwith

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

Thrillers are films that use suspense, enigma and tension as their main elements of the film. Thrillers create these elements by using camera work, editing, mise en scene and sound. An example of this is thrillers use not allot of dialogue which creates tension, sound effects that create all elements of thrillers and change the mood and parallel and cross cutting to create suspense. In our film we used many conventions of thrillers.

The first and second picture we used the thriller convention of flash backs which help with mystery and enigma. As it lets the character go back in time and see what happened in the past either to answer a question within the plot or make the audience ask questions about what they just saw. We wanted to use this as it meant we could explain the story through memory's so the film would not have to be filmed over a large length of time. Thriller films that use this are marchlands.
The third and fourth picture show the thriller convention of empathy for characters as we used a little girl for our main character which came across as a innocent, sweet and happy child we found inspiration for this character in films such as marchlands, hide and seek and dark water. We also implied that the young girl is a protagonist as a convention of thrillers are that their are protagonists and antagonists, we also restricted narrative on the viewers information about the opening as people don't know who the characters are and what happened to the mother. We used a extreme close up shot on the child's face when she was crying to make the audience focus on her emotion and help create empathy.
In the fifth, sixth and seventh picture we used the thriller convention of point of view shots which show the viewers what the character is seeing but also builds a larger connection with that character and the people around them as you are seeing the characters through the actors eyes and you see first hand their experiences. We wanted this because we wanted the audience to build a relationship with the character and share emotions and feel sympathy for them.
The eighth and ninth picture we also used the theme of a mother and daughter which is a quite commonly used theme in thrillers this is a good theme as an innocent child characters are easily empathised and sympathised with in films and also the bond between a mother and daughter is so strong and everyone can connect with that theme for example if they lost their mum of left their child. films with a mother and child theme are flight plan, dark water and pans labyrinth.

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

Our thriller opening represents many social groups for example we have a strong representation between a mother and daughter relationship. As you can see from our opening there is a strong bond between mother and daughter as they like going out and having fun together in the park and enjoy each others company and also share a strong and caring relationship as you can see from the painting scene as the girl drew a nice picture of her and her mum and her mum is interested and praises her for what she has drawn.

Our young girl character is the stereotypical traditional innocent girl, we chose her to wear a pink dress as it represented her prettiness, femininity and innocence. Her hair we added a pink rose hair band because it was very girlie and the flower is a symbol of fragileness and pink roses a symbol of happiness which we wanted to get across in our film. Her actions are done with allot of care especially when painting and she walks very sweetly and daintily like a ballerina. girls like this are in such movies as flight plan and dark water.
In addition our mother is constructed as a typical mother who is very caring for her child. For example when pushing her on the swing she constantly asks her if shes having fun and is pushing her from the front showing a strong connection between them as they always have eye contact. her clothes are very plain but quite formal showing that she has working side and probably a good job another indication to this is her grey hair and how she may have stressful parts in her life. But is still very caring and kind towards her daughter as shown in the scene where her daughter is painting and she praises her for her good work.

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

Now we have finished producing our film it is time to start looking for a company to distribute our film. Distributors get the legal rights off film producers to exploit a film. They pay the distributor money for the licence and then distribute the film out to the exhibitors for example, printing film and transporting it to cinemas where it would be played, creating downloads for mobile devises, printing DVDs and selling them to company's to sell and selling them to TV companies to be broadcast. The production company and the distributors earn a percentage of the takings made from all this exhibiting. Not only this but they also deal with marketing the film. Well know distributing companies are Pathe, Warner Bros and Paramount.

For our film i would choose Optimum Releasing as our distributor. i have chosen this distributor as they are a English film distributor that distributes alternative and new films that would not normally do well but advertises them brilliantly and gets them slots in good mainstream cinemas and they become quite popular. Another reason why I would use this distributor is because they have distributed such films as Pans Labyrinthine that gave us some inspiration for our film and Brighton Rock which is filmed in Sussex the same place where our movie was filmed. Personally think our film is one that could work well in both alternative and mainstream theatres. I think i would distribute it in one or two cinemas in every region one being in a independent cinema and one being in a mainstream I want to do this as I think mainstream theatres are shutting down independent cinemas all over the country and if I can attract more people to come to independent cinemas then I can help out the industry.I would also make sure my film does not release at the same time as a popular release like harry potter as people will be less likely to see our film. I would advertise the film to audiences by showing adverts in cinemas in showings of films that have a connection to our film and have the same target audience, bus and cinema posters are also a great way to advertise a latest release but posters have to be eye catching and automatically attract the viewer this is best done by odd or different imagery that make the people want to look at it longer and not giving too much of the story away. I would do one TV advertisement every couple of days on a prime time slot when our target audience would be watching, i would not do lots of banner and pop up adverts all over the internet as people find these more of a irritant and a nuisance other than something to attract you to the film and in addition i would either create a viral video about how or film could be a true story and lots of fake evidence for it to attract attention to the film and its story or I would create a simple internet game based on the story that includes cut scenes of the film and that you can place your score on a world wide high score list to attract people to play and beat there friends it would be placed virally over the internet for people to play and send to their friends to play and would attract them to watch the film. this is one of the most cheapest and fastest way to advertise your product and the fans do it all for you. When it comes to DVD release I would release my Film on DVD with a well designed eye catching cover to attract people looking at it and On-line for a small price due to the fact some people don't want to pay large prices for there films if they don't know if they like it or not and also its more convenient for them but it is vital that I make on-line viewing cheap otherwise people will just watch it illegally on-line. In addition distributing films on-line is allot cheaper for the company .

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

The audience for our film are people over the age of 15 and people who enjoy thrillers that focus on enigma more than action. Our film is not for people under the age of 15 as it would include a heavy complicated storyline that people under the age of 15 may not be able to understand and follow and would also include scenes of murders. Our film would be specifically targeted at people that enjoy films about a strong mother and daughter relationship and also people that like twists and to think about plots and who the antagonists in films are as our film is about how the mother character died and the young girls struggle. Our film would also include a twist that reveals that the young girl isn't as innocent as she looks.

5.How did you attract/address your audience?

We attract and address our audience by giving a taster of our film from the opening. Our opening opens the story line to the film and starts to make you think what's going to happen next. Our opening comes across as a mystery thriller about a girl and her mother and how her mother died. The addition of flashbacks helps the audience understand that the events have already happened and

that the film is mostly played through the memory's in peoples minds and events that have happened in the past. We attract audiences by leaving the opening on a cliff hanger making the audience want to see more and what happens. Not only this but straight away you build a connection with the characters and you feel for their emotions as we use shots like extreme close up on the young girls crying face and point of view shots between the mother and daughter. Because you have built this connection with the 2 characters you want to carry on watching and find out what happens to them.

***********************************insert feedback from viewers***************************************

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

There has been many aspects to our filming of our thriller opening that has made us use new technologies and taught us many different skills. We used technologies mostly in sound and image editing and our actual filming. In our actual filming we used film cameras for our preliminary which we learnt how to set up the tape and the camera and how to make sure you don't write over your filming by accident. In our actual film we used HD cameras that used a memory card to save our film on for these cameras we had to use things such as white balance, white balance is vital as without it the colour of your film does not match what you would see naturally and people can look the wrong colour. we also learnt how important framing is and how different shots create different moods and atmospheres such as cantered shots and extreme close ups. Another thing we had to learn when using the cameras is the 180 degree rule, the 180 degree rule is used when you are filming a conversation between people you have to imagine theres a line going through the two people and keep all cameras when filming on one side of that line otherwise it can be confusing for the viewers and it looks like the people have switched sides. We have learnt terms such as depth of field which is when images in front or behind are out of focus and also continuity.

Editing has also introduced us to new technologies such as using software like garage band and imovie. When editing we had to remember to used continuity which is vital other wise your film can look unprofessional and jumpy and can create the illusion of going from one room to another even if they are 1000 miles away from eachother, i also learnt that the slightest second counts when it comes to continuity editing. Pace of the film also is important as pase is what creates the calm or suspense filled atmosphere within the film.

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

Looking back i think that i have learned lots in progression from my preliminary task and my first film. For example i think one of the main things has been composition and framing. our framing has improved greatly through the course of our filming and i think it makes a real difference to our film. In addition our editing skills and story line has also got allot better. I have also learnt new skills like how to set the quality on cameras, how lighting can create a real difference to scenes and not only makes the picture better but changes the whole mood of the scene and how planning and timing is vital for creating a good film. I have also learnt that when filming what you see in the small screen in the camera is allot different to how it looks on the big screen. I have also learnt that it is vital to get all filming in the same place done at that time and made perfect because if you need to re film there can be problems like in our first film opening idea when we needed to re film our office scene but wasn't allowed to re film there.

There are a few things I would change about or film firstly i would like to change the lighting more between the flash backs and the present time shots as i think they are hard to distinguish between, i would like to change the title screen text so that it does not fade away again but because we used imovie instead of final cut this was not possible, in addition i would like to have changed the editing software we used to final cut instead of imovie as it would have made our film look more professional and would have made our titles better. Also i was disappointed that i couldn't use the toilet scene shot from our first trial "Scarlett" as i thought the shot was really effective. Finally one last thing i would change is the final scene of her in the bathroom as i would have liked to have added the little girl shouting "mummy whats wrong!" as she left and then letting it echo through onto the next shot.

Overall i think our film was a great success and really enjoyed filming and i think it showed some aspects of a thriller and showed many of the skills we learnt in our study such as continuity, match on action, transitions and sound bridges.

films with similarities/ gave us inspiration