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 

Evaluation Q6 - Annie Mudd

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

Question 5 - Adam

How did you attract/address your audience?

I think that our audience would like our film because of  the foreshadowing used at the start which gives a sense of mystery as to why she is bleeding and alone in the dark.

The POV shots would also attract our audience because of how they follow the female character which shows impending danger.

Our Thriller would appeal to males and females because:

• The protagonist is a Female
• The antagonist is male
• The suggestive violence and blood.
• The female character is relatable to the female audience

Other ways our Thriller would appeal to our audience:

• The music is mysterious
• The POV shots
• The characters as they are a similar age
• The dark wood scenes
• The foreshadowing at the beginning creates mystery as well
•  Scenes often end abruptly with cuts to black

Both characters in our Thriller can be relatable because:

• The male characters car is similar to most teenagers cars
• Female teens might dress in a similar way to our female character 

The characters in ur Thriller are very realistic which is how people can relate to them. The characters are also recognisable because of the way they dress and act. Also because they might be similar to the audience because they might remind them of someone they know either because they dress similar or look similar.

Question 4 - Adam

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Our Thriller audience is mostly Males ages 12-15 (certificate 12A for cinema, 12 for DVD). This is because:

• There wasn't any on-screen violence (although we suggested there had been and the only attack scene was cut before the female character was hit)
• There wasn't any graphic/gore scenes, only blood.
• The characters in the film are of a similar age.

Our Thriller would appeal to males because of the suggestion of violence and because of the female character as she is of a similar age. Our Thriller would also appeal to a male audience because of the foreshadowing at the start and the suspenseful moments which usually end in a cut to black to leave the audience asking questions.

The female character in out Thriller might also appeal to a female audience because of the similar age so it relates to them.

This website was very useful for getting an idea as to which age groups preferred what film, specifically Thriller films:
Pearl and Dean Audience Research

For example, The Purge: Anarchy is a Horror-Thriller film, the main audience for it was 15-24 males which is the same gender audience as our Thriller but the age range is slightly over. This is because the film is a Horror film. Skyline is another Thriller-Sci-Fi film which has a 15 certificate so our age range wouldn't be able to watch it. Our audience age range is more likely to watch a Thriller film is if is also an action film such as Need for Speed or Godzilla.

The Bourne Ultimatum is a Thriller film which attracted a small number of our audience (12-15) but also a very small number of 7-11 year olds. The majority of the audience were male.

Evaluation Q5 - Annie Mudd

How did you attract/address your audience?

We decided to put our media product on social media's such as YouTube and Facebook to get audience feedback from the right target audience, because we have a male and female target audience between the age of 12-16 we had to find a way to appeal to both genders.
Youtube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pe3vKcLisCQ

We used different techniques to try and appeal to the female audience:

• The leading character being a female
• Allowing the female audience to relate
• Emphasis on the protagonist

We used other techniques to appeal to the male audience:

Asking for audience feedback - Facebook

Asking for audience feeback - Youtube

• An attractive young protagonist
• A powerful male antagonist
• Violence
• Blood

I think that the characters we have in our story are a very big part in attracting our audience as many young children have to deal with the issues on excepting a new male or female into their house for their parents sake, it makes the audience almost relate to the female character as it is a subject that many people feel insecure about, it is a main theme in our plot. However we could suggest that the character is so filled with jealousy that she could be making the accusations towards the antagonist. This theme can attract both our audiences.

The female character of the film may also attract the male audience beca


use of her costume. It is very stereotypical of the damsel in distress to be wearing short clothes and lots of make up, this is because it appeals to the male characters. Costumes help reflect a lot to the audience, the majority of our characters also wear very modernised clothing to appeal to the audiences both male and female.

The camera shots that I feel are quite effective in our Thriller film

Medium shot to show costume and make up

• Extreme Close Up, this helps us see the detail of the characters or certain parts of the scene, in our Thriller film there is lots of ECU of our female character with make-up on (blood) I felt like this worked really well targeting the male audience as stereotypically males are more likely to enjoy blood and gore rather than a female

• Over The Shoulder Shot, the OSS in our film is one of our antagonist in his car, here this gives the male audience a chance to appreciate the main prop as stereotypically males prefer cars and action more than females.

• Group Shot , this gives the audience a chance to see all the characters all together and understand their relationship together which creates a sense of realism.

Group shot - shows realism and relationship

• Close Ups of Female Protagonist these again are effective of seeing a characters hair make up and costume.

Close up of female protagonist 

We received some comments back from our YouTube video and Facebook link and the majority of our comments included:

• More  speaking to create more communication between the characters
• More action to make it more thrilling
• To improve we got a target the create more dialogue in the form of the antagonists thoughts.

Over the shoulder shot to see the characters car.

Evaluation Q4 - Annie Mudd

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Our Thriller product targets 12-15 year old male and females, the way we addressed this is:

• We didn't film any graphic scenes
• We filmed no nude or violent scenes, but left suggestion
• Although we left a suggestion of what happened.
  The majority of 12-16 year old probably wouldn't understand it, so it would be appropriate for this age gap.

It targets the female audience of this age because we modernised the film by using a girl of a similar age, this creates a sense of realism and reality. 

It targets the male audience because it has a sense of violence and action however there isn't too much graphic violence and action for it to be inappropriate for this particular age certificate. 

Suggestion shot of violence

• Gone http://www.pearlanddean.com/film/filmpage/gone

Gone directed by Ringan Ledwidge is a Thriller, it is a PG 13 so it targets only some of our target audience, however it attracts the same gender as our product. The protagonist is a female, which appeals to the  female gender, and this particular film appeals to males as it has a great deal of action and violence to it.

Gone Pearl and Dean website

• Final destination 3 http://www.pearlanddean.com/film/filmpage/final-destination-3

Final destination 3 Pearl and Dean website

Final Destination completely matches our target audience, it is rated 15 and the characters in the film are within the age of the target audience which attracts both the male and female gender. 

Question 3 - Adam

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

There are many film distributors with the main ones being:

• Lions Gate
• MGM (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer)
• Columbia
• Paramount
• Warner Bros
• Universal
• 20th Century Fox
• StudioCanal

Out of these main distributors StudioCanal would probably be the best one to distribute our Thriller as they have distributed a number of British films, some of which are Thrillers or Horrors and most of them were a success at the box office and also had a low budget. These films include:

• Shaun of the Dead (Horror Comedy)
• The Awakening (Thriller Horror)
• Long Time Dead (Thriller Horror)
• The Imitation Game (Historical Thriller)

Our Thriller would be distributed via:

• Cinema: through independent cinemas as larger multiplexes such as Cineworld don't screen low-budget independent films. Places such as Brightons Duke of York's PictureHouse would be one place to screen our film. Also our film would be screened digitally as this is cheaper than having it on a film reel which costs a lot to duplicate (about £2000).
  
  
• DVDs: this would be for distributing the film globally and around the UK which is how most low-budget films distribute their film globally.
• Online: mostly through YouTube as a lot of people spend time on YouTube so it would get plenty of views. E.G. The controversial comedy film The Interview was first released online due to threats before being released in cinemas and then on DVD.

For the film to have any DVD sales or YouTube screenings it needs to have had positive reviews and have many people going to watch it.

Duke of York's PictureHouse

Question 2 - Adam

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Different social groups have been represented in many different films:

• Gender
• Age
• Ability/Disability
• Social Class
• Ethnicity
• Sexual Orientation

The social group portrayed in our Thriller was White British.

With the main male character in our Thriller he was represented as being unstable and unpredictable, this is shown through the different technical areas as:

•  The camera during most of his scenes were either moving looking at him or were filming his Point-of-View
• Almost all of the male characters scenes ended abruptly using cuts to black
• There was no music during his scenes to show how he is silent when following the female character and it shows that he is fully focused on following her
• His facial expressions showed an almost happy but psychotic mood, coupled with the darkness at the end really enforces this idea. The happy expression and the assault contradict each other which can only mean that he is psychotic

The character who has control/power in the opening is the male character because he attacked the female character which she had no idea was going to happen and because he is alone with her in the dark woods which suggests that he took her there as he has a plan or an idea as to what to do with her.

We wanted to represent the male character in this way in terms of costume to make it less obvious that he was the antagonist which would create mystery as to who is the antagonist? is it him or someone else?

We also represented the female character in this way because we wanted her to seem desirable in the eyes of the male character which would make more sense for the attack. She is dressed like that to enforce this but to also seem more realistic, although this could be portrayed as stereotyping her suggesting that all teenage girls dress that way.

The male character represents the teenage male audience and the female character represents teenage girls. They are represented by the way they dress and act.

What isn't clear in our Thriller is that the two female characters at the start of the Thriller are mother and daughter. This is because they look a similar age which to some people was confusing and unrealistic.

(Mother Left, Daughter Right)