Evaluation

Evaluation

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

Our initial research into thrillers involved looking at the codes and conventions so that we knew what to include in our own thriller once we began producing it. We decided that we would develop on the original conventions of thrillers instead of challenging them. This was because we were only producing the introduction of a thriller, so if we challenged the conventions the audience might not realise that they were watching a thriller. Although we developed most of the conventions of thrillers we still wanted to challenge at least one convention for our media product. I carefully researched the different codes and conventions for thrillers so that I knew what to include in my thriller to achieve maximum marks.

The codes and conventions are what makes a thriller and this is the main reason why we wanted to develop them rather than challenge them. Usually thrillers have an enigma which is a sense of mystery and we wanted to use this in our thriller because we believed that it would be extremely effective, because it will keep the audience on the edge of their seats as they will not know what to expect. This is what we wanted to achieve with our thriller. This is used in our thriller where it slowly builds up to the death, which I believe is mysterious because the audience were not expecting it.

Another convention of thrillers is that the editing is usually fast paced, so we decided to use this in our thriller where it cross cuts between the to two characters, this is fast paced to buiild tension and to create suspense. However particular parts in our thriller are slow paced which shows that we also wanted to challenge the conventions of thrillers, for example: the first shots used in our thriller show the opening of the gate and a close up of the kettle. The start of our thriller has slow paced editing because we the editing to start of slow and gradually increase. Slow editing is also used again when the two characters in our thriller first see each other which happens when the victim has entered the garden and knocks on the door and the villain appears as he answers the door which then cuts to a plain black screen for a few seconds. The final few shots also have slow paced editing , because we decided to use a long shot showing the villain drinking which is follwed by a point of view shot of the villain walking towards the lounge. The editing in our thriller gradually speeds up as the villain is making a cup of coffee and the victim is walking closer towards the house this is also where fast paced editing is used. Then the editing slows down when he reaches the second gate and enters the garden. Fast paced editing is also used to show the three white screens which are seperated by fast paced close ups of the gun.

In most thrillers there is at least one death which occurs so we decided to develop on this convention and base our opening sequence on a death. This is because we believe that it will excite the audience as they will begin to ask questions as to why the death happened and therefire they will be eager to continue watching to find out what happens next. In thrillers, deaths usually occur at night because it gives the thriller a more frightening atmosphere; however for our thriller we decided to challenge this and film it during the day instead and because the death occured during the day, it was unexpected and mysterious. The colour black is also conventional of thrillers because of the connotations of the colour as it has negative representations such as death. We decided to build on this and show a black screen moments before the dead body is revealed, as this foreshadows the death.

In thrillers the villain is usually male and we decided to develop this and use a male villain for our thriller. A male villain is more effective because of the stereotypes which are associated with men such as being more powerful and dominant. However we challenged the conventions of thrillers because they usually cast a female as the victim as the stereotypes associated with women are weak and vulnerable but we decided to cast a male victim. This was also easier as it meant we could act in our thriller instead of spending time finding actors and actresses which could be very time consuming. Another convention which our thriller develops is that it takes place in an ordinary every day location where nothing unusual is happensing, this is done so that it looks like the events that occur could happen to anyone in life.

• How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The thriller that we have created represents the youth. Our thrilelr represents the youth because the characters in the film are in in their late teens and early twenties which made it easier for us to cast for our thriller as we are also members of the youth. The dialogue used in our thriller "Hi, come on in man", shows this because it shows the type of language which is used by the youth because it is informal and short. Our thriller portrays a member of this social group in a negative way because the protagonist is shown as a murderer, although this is how the youth are represented in our thriller, we do not believe that this represents all of the youth, but only a small minority who suffer from problems. These are the teenagers who disagree with society’s norms and values and the villain shows this by being rebellious and going against the law. However the other character in our thriller is also a member of the youth but he is not portrayed in a negative way or a positive way because he is a minor character in our thriller which is shown by the fact that he has no dialogue. The victim is shown as innocent and vulnerable which is also a stereotype of teenagers who are walking alone and can suffer from bullying issues etc. Another stereotype of members of the youth is violence which is again another negative stereotype which is shown in our thriller because of the murder which occurs. We decided that it would be a good idea to represent the youth in our thriller because both of the actors are from that age range which means they will be more believable when playing the role instead of an adult. We also decided on a negative representation rather than a positive one because this fits in more with the thriller genre. The costumes which are used in our thriller are also generally clothes which would be seen on teenagers as they are casual.

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

I believe that Optimum Releasing could be a possible company which might distribute our thriller because they focus on releasing British films especially over the recent years which is good because everybody involved in our production is from Britain and also the setting of our product is in Britain, so I believe that they would be interested in our thriller. I also believe that Optimum Releasing would be the most likely institution to distribute our film because they would have the money to market and to distribute our thriller properly on a large scale and this would increase its popularity. I also believe that Optimum Releasing would distribute our thriller because over the years they have distributed many different thrillers such as ‘Donkey Punch’ (Oliver Blackburn, 2008) and ‘Eden Lake’ (James Watkins, 2008), and they are also distributing thrillers in the future years such as ‘Psycho Killer’ (Richard Franklin, 2012). This link http://www.imdb.com/company/co0106149/ shows the different films which Optimum Releasing have released and interesting information about each film. This link http://www.optimumreleasing.com/ is the official website for Optimum Releasing which prodives information about the company, their DVD releases and theartrical releases. The final link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optimum_Releasing shows a brief summary and description of the company Optimum Releasing. Another distribution company which might distribute our thriller would be Lions Gate. This is because they have distributed other thrillers such as Saw (James Wan, 2004) which is why I think they would be interested in distributing another thriller. They are a very well known distributing company which means they must have a good reputation. Another thriler which Lions Gate has distributed is Final Cut (Omar Naim, 2004) where the protagonist is confused which is slightly similar to our thriller. Lions Gate are also known for distributing films with first time directors which is good because we would need somebody to take a risk with us as we are also first time directors. This is a link http://www.lionsgate.com/to Lion Gates official website.

• Who would be the audience for your media product?

I believe that the main audience for our media product would be male teenagers; this is because the characters in our product are male teenagers which means it would be easier for the audience to relate to the characters. However I also believe that women and adults could possibly enjoy our product as well because it is an exciting thriller. I believe that it appeals to males more than females because there is a death in our thriller which would interest men more than women as men prefer scenes similar to that. I would say that the best audience for our product would therefore be males aged 18-30 because it has psychological thriller elements which would appeal to the this audience. From my research, such as my internet research and my questionnaire I found out that the majority of people who watched thrillers were teenagers and adolescents which is why it would be best for us to aim our product towards them. I also found out from my questionnaire that 40% of the audience prefers psychological thrillers, which is another reason why we decided to produce a psychological thriller so that we had a wider target audience. Our thriller also appeals more to the male audience because it is a male cast so therefore they are the dominant characters in our thriller. There are also other thrillers with a similar target audience to ours such as ‘Halloween’ (John Carpenter, 1978) so we believe that our thriller could reaech the same target audience. It is also much easier to advertise to the younger generation in a variety of different ways such as posters, billboards, magazines, internet, television and many more. It is also now possible to distribute films via the internet on websites such as http://www.youtube.com/ which gives your film a worldwide audience and the potential to make a lot of money and become well known.

• How did you attract/address your audience?

The first way we attracted our audience was by the location of our thriller. This is because it is an ordinary house which can easily be identified and related to as it is a common household. It also seems like a house that the character would live in because it is slightly old. We also tried to make our film look like everyday life and this was mainly done by the use of mise-en-scene. An example of how we made our thriller seem like everyday life is by having the villain making a cup of coffee because this is an everyday activity for most people. Another way we attracted our audience is by having the characters in the thriller similar to the audience of our thriller because this can create a scarier atmosphere and then the audience can imagine what it would be like from the protagonist’s perspective and the audience can also relate to the characters. Another way of attracting our audience was by having an important event at the start of our thriller so that it excites the audience and puts them on the edge of their seats, wondering what is going to happen next. I also knew that teenagers and adolescents enjoy watching thrillers especially psychological thrillers which are dark and mysterious; I knew this because I found it out when planning my thriller by producing an audience questionnaire. I also believe that it is important to have a mysterious opening because it creates a sense of fear and this is also used in ‘The Silence of the Lambs’ (Jonathan Demme, 1991). The costumes of the characters in our thriller are also typical of a teenager which makes it easier for the teenage audience to relate to the characters. Also the non-diegetic music builds up suspense and creates tension which is exciting for the audience and therefore they will want to continue watching.

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

By constructing our product I have learnt a variety of new skills and techniques. Firstly I had never used a blog before to present my coursework but I found this much more useful as I stopped the need for carrying folders and paper to every lesson and I could not lose any of my work. The blog also allowed me to use different multimedia in my coursework such as images, screenshots and videos which enabled me to fully evidence and demonstrate the points that I wanted to make.

I also learnt a lot about filming during the creation of our product. One of the first things I learnt about filming was that it is too difficult to shoot at night because it was too dark to see anything. Then I learnt how to shoot a steady shot by using a tripod and how vital it is to use a tripod when filming. I thought that this was going to be difficult but it was easier then I had thought.

I also learnt a lot about editing whilst constructing our product because I had never previously used Sony Vegas or Adobe Premier Pro. The first thing I learnt when editing was how to intercut different shots which we used between the two characters when the victim is approaching the house and the villain is making a cup of coffee, at first I thought this was quite difficult but it got easier. It was difficult though because it took time and concentration to make the timing just right and we also needed it to flow which I believe we managed to do. Then I succeed at turning some shots black & white and creating the credits for our thriller. This was not as difficult to do because I already knew how to create the credits and to change the shots to black & white and even if I didn’t know it is still fairly simple. To see part of my editing, view the ‘Editing’ post. The last thing I learnt was how to insert music over our thriller and have it dip when the dialogue begins and return to normal once the dialogue has ended which was fairly simple as you just insert the music and turn the volume of the music down and up when you want to.

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

From looking back at our preliminary task, I have learnt how important it is to work accordingly to a time schedule to ensure that you do not fall behind. I have realiseds this because our preliminary task was slightly rushed and did not come out as well as we would have hoped whereas our thriller did.

Another key point which I have learnt is that it is also very important to plan and prepare before filming. This means doing different research such as audience and internet research and also creating a storyboard. The preliminary task was miniscule compared to the thriller and did not take anywhere near as long as the thriller did to create. This showed that research into the different aspects which we could include in our thriller to help us produce it were extremely important and definitely worth it.

The preliminary task also helped me understand the 180 degree rule, so that I could use it properly when filming our thriller. I believe that we have improved in every aspect because our thriller looks much more professional than our preliminary task did. I think that this is because of all the different camera shots and editing techniques which we learnt. From our preliminary task I learnt that it is more effective to have an actor/actress who is the same age as the character because it looks more appropriate and believable. A key thing which I have learnt from our preliminary task is that communication and teamwork are vital when it comes to producing a product.

Finally I believe that my filming and editing skills have improved dramatically from the preliminary task and I can now use a wider range of camera shots and different editing techniques which making them more varied and less repetitive. Another reason why I believe my skills have improved so much is because I have never really filmed and editing much prior to this.