Question 3 - Tom

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

When distributing our film we need to consider cost and impact. I personally feel like taking it upon ourselves to upload it to YouTube, becoming a partner or having a publisher feature it on their channel and being able to gain money from ad revenue. This would be a valid option as there is very little cost in doing this other than if we decided to pay to have Google place our video higher and advertise across YouTube. 

Another way we can distribute it is by allowing companies such as Netflix and Amazon Prime to add it to their services, not only because we can reach a wide audience and have a big impact without spending a lot of money, but we are also directly hitting our target audience, as this is what they would mainly use to watch TV or for entertainment in general so they are far more likely to see it. 

The main distributors are -


20th Century Fox

Lionsgate

Paramount

Pinewood Pictures

Sony

Studio Canal

Universal 

Warner Bros


However I wouldn't choose any of them to publish our film as they are too big, so instead I'd go with a distributor like Soda Pictures as they have released many independent films. 

Another alternative to distributing our film would be to show it in independent cinemas such as the Burgess Hill Orion and Picturehouse in Brighton.

Ideally I think the route of streaming our film and making it as available for anyone to watch on Netflix or any other service would be ideal as it reduces costs and we can reach a wider audience, which wouldn't be the same with the likes of producing hard copies as our target audience is more likely to want to stream their content.

Question 7 - Tom

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

                                               The Prelim                                                  

I think that I have progressed a lot in various ways from using the camera, editing & sound to just generally composition and creating a story.  

How have I progressed from the prelim to the main task

I think I have developed in many ways since the prelim task. Probably the biggest improvement I’ve noticed is using the camera to get different angles and also improvement on my continuity editing.

This is noticeable as you can see the transition in quality from the prelim to the main task. It can be down to many things like spending more time developing a storyboard and making sure we know what we are doing when it comes to filming so we get better quality shots and nothing is rushed.

With the continuity editing I think the way we planned on spending the time by doing the filming in blocks so that we had more time to spend doing editing also helped improve our final task compared to the prelim one.

Development of technical skills – Camera, Sound editing, editing, continuity editing and construction of story and character.

In the prelim it is quite obvious that I didn't quite know how to use the white balance on the camera we used as well as lighting so therefore some of our shots were a bit underexposed or exposed. In the final I experimented using the manual focus which you can see in our final cut.

To make sure we emphasized certain sounds we wanted we used the external mic, like we did in our prelim so we could sample the sound from that instead of using the camera’s; This we also did in our prelim but I feel it was more successful in the final as we had already gained experience before on how to try and cut it into the video easily.

We also used it for the parts where the camera audio wasn't very good, which meant I had to sync up the audio to certain points on the video (syncing when someone was speaking).

For our final I wanted it to flow well and look smooth when changing angles and cutting from transitions. To try and do this I made sure that each clip when put together made sure that whoever was in the frame was in the same area from the other angle, which I did attempt in the prelim but it didn't go as well as it did in the final, where it looks far better.

The final task I feel that by using all the techniques mentioned above it helped create character and really made you focus on the story easily without being distracted so much by the things that went wrong or you weren’t meant to see.

How else we could have improved

We could have improved by acting more professional during filming (i.e. using phones which therefore left an audible mark on the recordings). This meant that we had to search through all our recordings to try and cover up the parts where it started buzzing.

There are a few shots we left in the final cut which I’m not totally happy about/don’t like as much, but they do work well with what we have even if my favourite bit of a scene we filmed didn’t make the final cut due to time restrictions or it affected the overall flow of the whole thing.

Question 5 - Tom

Q.5 - How did you attract/address your audience?

Explain why your audience would enjoy your film. Select details from it that support your answer.

I think our thriller appeals to our target audience as it includes –

- Violence

- Blood

- Interesting story

- A lot of tension.

We uploaded our thriller to YouTube and got some feedback from our target audience which from their comments shows that they did enjoy it. It meant that it also did come with some critique on what we could have done better.

We wanted our thriller to use a lot of different and unique camera angles, which we felt would add to the suspense and create more mystery.

We chose to not use a soundtrack throughout other than with the foreshadowing, time lapses and ending.

Question 4 - Tom

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

Our target audience is an audience aged around 12-16 of both females and males. The reason behind this is that we decided it wasn't distressing or gory in a way it would be inappropriate for our target audience. Another reason we chose this target audience is that we feel they are more likely to watch thrillers than other age groups. The reason why I feel that females might also be interested in watching it is that the protagonist is a girl, and in most thrillers it is usually a guy.

I think that our chosen audience really would have enjoyed our thriller as it keeps them guessing with the foreshadowing opening. And the fact it is shot from two perspectives as in the protagonist’s and the antagonist’s.

Transporter 3

Transporter 3 directed by Oliver Megaton is a fast paced action fuelled thriller which has an age rating of 15. Although our thriller doesn’t have any action as such, it definitely builds tension which the transporter does also.

http://www.pearlanddean.com/film/filmpage/transporter-3

Zero Dark Thirty

Zero Dark Thirty is a suspense thriller with a lot of action and tension that is directed by Kathryn Bigelow. It has a age rating of 15. Zero Dark Thirty also features a lot of handy-cam camera movement and some unusual angles which we also tried to create in our thriller to build suspense and make it more interesting to watch.

http://www.pearlanddean.com/film/filmpage/zero-dark-thirty

Argo

Argo is a drama filled thriller that builds it’s tension using fast paced shots and sweeping angles during tense scenes. It is directed by Ben Affleck and has an age rating of 15.

http://www.pearlanddean.com/film/filmpage/argo

Question 2 - Tom

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

Who is being represented in our product?

- our product represents gender,  as it shows a young girl who is seen as vulnerable in the video.

How are our characters represented?

- Our male character we chose to use a lot of point of view camera angles and a lot of angles that showed he was listening in on conversations.  We also decided to use the editing between his point of view to a shot of our main female character to show his intentions and to show how much she is at risk. Most of our footage is taken from a eye level height to give a sense of immersion and also some of it from pov to emphasize this. By using these various techniques, in the scene for example where the antagonist is following the protagonist this gives the representation that she is vulnerable as it is directly put there to show you that he is following. By using a lot of subtle cutaways to various angles from long shots to medium ones gives the sense that she is alone and also keeps you on edge if something is about to happen.

Any positive or negative representations of this social group?

- There is certainly negative connotations with our male character as we decided to portray him in such a way by making him look quite normal but at the same time not actually saying anything throughout does make him look more dangerous. Whereas our female character she is represented in a negative way of being vulnerable with the camera angles and editing we used to make it look like she was a target in a way.

*Stereotyping that it's a guy - reference Taken*

Discuss who has the power or higher status in your film opening. 

- the opening of our thriller it is clear that the female character doesn't have much power as it opens on her showing her all beaten and with blood on her face. As it moves on and we discover that she started to become suspicious of our male character it is clear that she is in a vulnerable position,  so we show the male character of being one step ahead in the sense he is watching her. 

Why have we chosen to represent our character in this way

- Opening the thriller in the way we have with the foreshadowing not only shows that she is the main character and the one that you need to pay attention to but also the fact that you know something bad will happen. 

Question 1 - Tom

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

Conventions of thriller –

First the definitions of ‘thriller’ and to ‘thrill’,

‘Thriller – A novel, play, or film with an exciting plot, typically involving crime or espionage.’

‘Thrill – A sudden feeling of excitement..’

With these definitions in mind a Thriller film must contain these certain features that make it identifiable as a thriller. First it must be exciting and have an interesting plot. It can range a number of themes, where it can be either noire, action or crime or any other type.

However it cannot contain anything supernatural as this then is not classed as a thriller but a horror.

So therefore a Thriller needs to be tense and contain enigma, something that grabs your attention. It needs to have an exciting/interesting plot that will also create mood and atmosphere to add to the tension, this makes the consumers more immersed.

When researching other thrillers I found that they all contained various elements above that I mentioned.

Limitless –

Limitless is a good example of a thriller as even the opening has become one of the most famously recognized and creative intro's. The first shot is off a male character standing on the edge of a high rise building. This brings many questions up about who he is and what he is doing. This is a similar opening to our own thriller which we have the protagonists’ face covered in blood which starts raising similar questions just like Limitless.

Limitless also features normal looking objects in a normal setting which is known as iconography as then it then shows dead bodies scattered around the building. In our thriller we also used iconography to try and create more suspense as we wanted it to look more natural.

Limitless also uses restricted & unrestricted narration to further the story which we also used in our thriller to try and create more tension. One example of restricted narration is when the antagonist discovers that the protagonist is becoming suspicious of him and this is when the story starts to unfold.

Most thriller films tend to have a lot of cuts to keep the pace fast and build more tension, these also are usually joined with fast close ups of the protagonists face which can then also highlight the urgency of the situation they are in and therefore makes the audience interested in what is going on/going to happen.

To start creating questions and building suspense straight away we decided to use the ending at the beginning also known as foreshadowing. This makes the audience start asking questions and trying to figure out how it happened. 
For this we used our protagonist's scene once she had been beaten up. 

Question 6 - Tom

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

Evaluation Question 7-Frances

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

Personally I think I have made a lot of progression from the preliminary task to the final product. When editing our thriller opening I made a lot of suggestions when it came to editing. For example I came up with the idea to use some sort of music at the beginning to give it a more dramatic feel, which when it came to the finished product made I look a lot more exciting and more like a thriller film. Throughout the whole of the preliminary task there is a rustling sound which ruins the full effect of the video however, in the final product there is no type of sound like this to ruin the video effect and mystery.

We weren't very adventurous with our camera techniques on the preliminary task as we had only just been introduced to these techniques and weren't that sure on how to do all of them very clearly. Most of the camera shots were long shots at eye level as we only had a small room to work in and there wasn't enough room to do many extravagant camera shots or angles. We didn't use any aided lighting in our preliminary as we hadn't been introduced to them at this point so we could only use the lights in the classroom therefore, the colour of preliminary wasn't as effective as it could have been if we used lights. I feel that the shots cut too quickly in the preliminary which gave the film a fast pace which didn't really fit in with the context of it.

We used a microphone in the preliminary task as well as the final product however we used a foley in the final product which shows how our use of creating different sounds has developed. In the preliminary we didn't use any make-up to create effect even though we had the chance. For our final product we used red lipstick and fake blood which fit into the context of our film and made what was being filmed at that point look more believable and effective.

Evalution Question 6-Frances

 

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

 

Evaluation Question 5-Frances

5.How did you attract/address your audience?

We put our thriller opening Facebook and Youtube which are perfect for getting feedback from our target audience as they both have the same target age range a our thriller.

Ways in which we tried to appeal to the target audience:

• An attractive female protagonist
• A dominant male antagonist
• Violence
• blood
• Also a lot of the scenes are filmed from inside a car which could help attract a male target audience of 12-16 years.

I feel that many of our target audience could in some way relate to any part of the story of our thriller opening. We used a lot of point of view shots for the antagonist which allowesthe audience to have a feel of what he saw and did throughout the thriller. I feel that these camera shots made the opening more interesting and gripping for the target audience and also allowed them to understand the antagonist a lot better.

The character of the protagonist was stereotypically wearing a short skirt, blonde hair and heavily made up which could easily catch the attention of the target audience. This is another reason as to why someone from this age range might like our thriller opening and make them want to carry on watching until the end. Throughout the thriller opening there are a lot of extreme close ups of the protagonist which lets the audience get a real feel of how she might be feeling, it also shows how attractive she is so grabs their attention.

The stick used by the antagonist to attack the young girl is a prop that could hugely catch the target audience's attention as most 12-16 year old males are interested by weapons and violence.

Evaluatuation Question 4-Frances

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

The target audience for our thriller opening is 12-15 year old males, the reason for this is:

• The age of the young girl character is of a similar age as the target audience, therefore we feel like the audience could in some way relate to the character.
• Although we used fake blood to make it look like the protagonist had been attacked by the antagonist, that's as gory as it got so it was still suitable for this target audience.
• There was no nudity or inappropriateness filmed in our thriller however, the scene where the young girl is attacked it does leave the audience suggesting whether something more than just an attack occured. As our thriller is aimed at such a young age range, we felt that they might not understand what is suggested therefore is still appropriate.

I feel that the target audience would thoroughly enjoy our thriller because the story line is easy to follow and the foreshadowing at the beginning and when it cuts to black it leaves the audience in suspense and asking questions. Who is this character? What happened to her?

The Pearl and Dean website is very useful for finding out what target audiences films have aimed for.


Unknown

Unknown, directed by Jaume Collete-Sera is a suspense thriller with a target audience of 12A. This film targets only some of our thriller opening and the protagonist is a male therefore males would be drawn to watching this type of film. It has a lot of suspense and mystery as well as some violence which 12 year old males would enjoy watching.

http://pearlanddean.com/film/filmpage/unknown

Die hard

Die hard is an action suspense thriller, directed by Len Wiseman. The target audience for Die hard is aged 15 which would attract the same audience as our thriller opening, as there is a lot of action to keep you excited and lots of suspense to keep you guessing.

http://pearlanddean.com/film/filmpage/die-hard-40

Evaluation Question 3-Frances

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

There are thousands of film distributors across the globe but here is a list of some British film distributors:

• 20th century fox
• Ace films ltd
• Blue dolphin films
• Chelsea films
• Columbia warner distributions
• Fox film company ltd
• Grayson pictures
• Paramount pictures ltd
• Universal pictures uk

The types of media I would aim for my thriller to be distributed on would be:

• Television
• Film
• Cinema

My thriller opening is a low budget British movie which is more likely to be shown in a small independent cinema rather than a big chain of cinema's as it is only low budget. It could also be made available on youtube and Netflix which are very popular ways of distributing films in our generation. The Orion cinema in Burgess Hill is an example of an independent cinema that might show my thriller.

Evaluation Question 2-Frances

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

There are many social groups represented in thrillers, example of these are:

• Ethnicity
• Sexuality
• Age
• Gender
• Ability/disability
• Social class

The social group we tried to represent in our thriller is white British, working class and all the characters in our opening were physically able. There is a strong contrast between the antagonist and the protagonist in my thriller opening. The protagonist is white British, straight and working class. The antagonist's mum is also white British, straight, around the age of forty and is of working class along with her daughter, the antagonist which is the character who attacks the young girl in our thriller is also white British, around the age of forty, straight and also of a working class background.

There is nothing unusual about the characters as you would see and meet people which fit into these social categories on a day to day basis which creates a sense of realism. The fact that the mother and daughter have a close bond and care deeply about each other is represented in the part where the daughter is warning her mother about her new boyfriend telling her that there's something not quite right about him, this clearly shows that she cares a lot for the safety and happiness of her mother.

The character of the paedophile is represented as a sneaky, untrustworthy type of person by the way he acts ands the things he does. These characteristics are usually what we would stereotype to be associated with the way paedophiles behave. The character of the mums boyfriend comes across as very smug as he hasn't been caught listening in on the daughter and her mums conversation, also at the end of my thriller opening there is a medium close-up of the antagonists face. In this close-up he appears to be slightly smiling to himself which suggests that he is feeling pleased with himself about what he has just done.

 The scene where the mother and her daughter are having a conversation about the mums new boyfriend you see him walking past them talking, then the next shot is of him eavesdropping into the conversation which backs up my idea of him being sneaky as the mother and daughter fail to notice he is listening to them. The scene where he is sitting in his car, following her, then attacking her are all done with the camera set so we see all of this from his point of view. In each scene of him doing these things he is not noticed by the daughter which shows that he is good at hiding and staying quiet so he is not seen or heard. This suggests how he could be used to doing these kinds of attacks on many an occasion. Throughout the thriller opening it is obvious that the antagonist has the bigger power role by the camera shots and the scene where he hits the young girl over the head with the stick shows how he has dominance over her as one he has attacked her he could make her do anything he wants with her or to her.


I stereotyped what most people would associate to a sixteen year old girl of this generation; blonde, attractive, heavily made up and wanting to go out for social events with her friends. When we see the protagonist doing her makeup and getting ready to go out its obvious that she cares a lot about how she looks and dresses which again links to the way teenage girls in this generation feel about themselves. The outfit that the protagonist wears gives off a sense of realism as a short skirt and fur coat could be something a teenage girl might wear if she goes out for the night with friends.

Evaluation Question 1 Frances

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

 

There are many things that distinguish whether a movies falls into the category of a thriller, a few of these things are:

• An obvious plot, usually with a climax of something dramatic or scary happening which grabs the consumers attention.
• Suspense, enigma and tension are usually the main elements that thrillers consist of.
• They usually stimulate the moods of the consumers so that the consumers almost feel the same emotions as the antagonist in the film is feeling.
• Thriller films usually consist a lot of uncertainty and surprise so the consumers usually has no idea what's going to happen next.
• They usually have a lot of action and violence in them which helps the film stay exciting and makes the consumer want to continue to watch it.
• If a film consists of supernatural behaviour then it cannot be a thriller.
• The choice of music in a thriller normally helps create the intense atmosphere in a thriller, however in scenes with no music an intense atmosphere can still be upheld as if gives the consumer a sense of uncertainty.

After researching some thriller openings, I found many that back up my points:
Inception:
Inception is a very good example of a thriller opening because the opening scene is a distorted image of a middle aged man washed up on a beach, it gives no indication whether he is the protagonist or antagonist this early on in the film. Other things we see in the opening that back up my idea that is a thriller are:

• We are introduced to the character with an eye line match of some children playing in the sand which seem to be a figment of his imagination as the children are rather ghostly looking, this creates an atmosphere of uncertainty for the rest of the thriller opening as we don't know who this man is or why he washed up on the beach.
• As this is happening there is no music, just the diegetic sound of waves crashing against the shore. As there is no music  it creates an idea of suspense and uncertainty as we are not sure what the man is going to do or where he is going to go next.
• The next scene in this thriller opening is of a Chinese man looking at 21st century weapons but then quickly flashes back in time which also backs up my idea of Inception being a thriller.
• The characters talk about 'the dream state' which implies that the film could be about dreams, this creates a dark atmosphere.

Camera:

• The beginning of the thriller opening we are greeted with a close up of the protagonist or antagonists face, his face shows a confused maybe in pain facial expression however it doesn't make a very clear indication of what this character is feeling.
• There is also many extreme low angle long shots which lets the consumer see what kind of setting this character is in.
• There are many two shots in this thriller opening which gives us a feel of the relationships between the characters in the scenes and also gives us a better understanding of who these characters may be.
• There is a medium close up on the spinner which suggests that it is a significant prop in the film.

Sound:

• There is no music played throughout the whole opening which creates the sense that the producers wanted to go straight into the opening and make us guess who these characters are and why they are there straight away, without any distractions of music.
• The diegetic sound of the waves right at the beginning of the opening creates an eery feel for the consumer and gets us guessing how the man managed to end up washing up on the shore of an unknown island.
• The Chinese characters which escort the man washed up on the beach to the building we are introduced to up in the hills, speak what appears to be Chinese which suggests that this island that he has been washed up on is a foreign country from where he originates from.
• As the characters in the room are having a conversation there is suddenly the hyperbolic sound of the building rumbling which suggests that an earthquake could be happening.
• There is then the non-diegetic sound of a clock ticking which suggests that this scene isn't reality.

Editing:

• Usually thriller openings are fast pacing however the start of this thriller opening appears to be slow paced which goes against the usual factors of a thriller. However when the man who was washed up on the beach is taken to the building on the hills by the men, after a few minutes of being there we are introduced to what appears to be a flashback. As the characters in the room are having a conversation there is suddenly the diegetic sound of the building rumbling which suggests that an earthquake could be happening. There is then the non-diegetic sound of a clock ticking which suggests that this scene isn't reality.
• As the man washed up on the beach and the old Chinese man have a conversation in a room it suddenly jumps back in time to what appears to be the same room as they were sitting in before. This suggests that the idea of time travel could play an important part in the movie.
• After the earthquake there is the sound of an explosion then the scene cuts to another scene which looks like a grotty, rundown apartment.

Mise en scene:


Lighting and colour: The beginning of the opening where the man is washed up on the beach is very bright links to the idea that he is hallucinating and isn't really seeing the young children playing in the sand. There is suddenly a drastic change of lighting as we switch scenes. In the building with the many Chinese men the room is very dimly lit which creates a dark atmosphere, although there are lots of what looks like lamp shades, we cant see the faces of many of the characters which gives a sense of mystery. When we are introduced to the spinner by a medium close up there is a light shining on it from the right hand side which highlights the spinner and suggests that it is a significant prop.

Costume, hair and makeup: Usually in thriller's films if a character is wearing dark clothing, usually all black, then they are the antagonist. The man who prods the man on the beach with a gun, is wearing all black with a black which suggests that he is the antagonist in the movie. The old man sitting at the table is wearing a black or navy suit and he has light grey hair which suggests that he is fairly old. The character who gets washed up on the beach is wearing an off brown/green ragged top which suggests that he could have been wearing that outfit a long time as it looks fairly worn away and torn. All the Chinese characters in the room in this scene have black slick back hair and are wearing expensive looking suits which implies that they are all fairly well off and have important jobs as they are able to afford suits of this sort.




Setting, décor, props: From my research of other thriller openings I have found that most settings are dimly lit to create a dark and mysterious atmosphere for the film. In the opening for inception there is a five second medium close up focus on the spinner which the old man spins on the table. By the length of this camera focus it suggests that this spinner is highly significant and could give us a greater understand of the story line later on the film.

 Body language and facial expression: When the character is washed up on the shore he has a dazed expression on his face suggesting that he is confused of his whereabouts. The facial expressions of the Chinese characters are all emotionless throughout the thriller opening therefore it makes it hard for us to guess what they are thinking and feeling as they don't show it through their faces or body language.

Now you see me

• 
  This thriller opening introduces the what appears to be antagonist straight away/
• The protagonist seems to be a magician which creates a sense of uncertainty and enigma for the consumer.
• The building that the protagonist is standing in right at the beginning of the thriller is a dimly what seems like apartment lounge.

My thrillerMy thriller opening follows many conventions of a thriller for example:

• At the start of my opening we are introduced to which the consumer might guess is the protagonist as it appears she has been a victim to some type of assault or attack.
  
   

• In the next scene we are introduced to the antagonist which is obvious to the consumer who it is by the way he acts.

• The music throughout the opening sets a dark uncertain atmosphere which most thrillers also have.
• When the protagonist is hit over the head by the antagonist it cuts to black and there is just the diegetic sound of her getting hit over the head with the stick which backs up the idea that it is a thriller.

• The fake blood used in my thriller makes the attack look more realistic and believable and lets the consumer have a real feel of the pain the protagonist was feeling at this point.
• The scene where the antagonist is in the woods is dimly lit which creates an eerie feeling for the consumer, this shows how this is a thriller. 

Evaluation Q7 - Annie Mudd

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

I think that i have progressed a lot since the Preliminary task we did a few months back, I used to find very simple skills like putting up a tripod a difficult task. I feel like after working with several other people i gained more skills after speaking to them and exploring different things in the tasks. 

I have greatly improved on my camera skills, as I worked on the Thriller opening and did specific camera shots like the close up of the protagonists arm showing the blood, as I thought this would be an effective way of getting the genre across. What I've found is the camera work we used in the first task is much more basic that the camera shots we have used in our final task, it shows a great improvement.

The sound editing i thought was very complicated and didn't partake in as much as maybe the others did, although I did try and make an effort to learn, what i particular find difficult was cutting the sound clips and putting them to the shot at the right time, although I wasn't very successful at it I still tried to partake in it. However making the foley and sound effects I took part in and suggested creative ideas on how to achieve a good sound effect.

I found that I have become much more aware about Mise En Scene and how important it actually is in creating a film. Before i had never come across the term but now i understand that the way someone is dressed and the type of colours in a shot or where things are placed effect how a film comes across to people. In the first task we were not fully aware of the term so we did not apply it to the short sequence of shots, and I noticed it very quickly. 

A Slit frame shot from the prelim

OSS shot from the prelim

Me practising the lighting in coloured light

Me setting up the camera for a practice shot