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Evaluation

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

Title cards:

One of the first conventions that our thriller
opening has challenged is the title cards. The
title card that we used was is the following
picture:

B.E.A.T – stands for Ben, Ed, Alex and Tom.
We are hoping that this will give our film a
personal feel, and conform to such film titles as
‘Warner Bros’. if this is achieved we believe that
we will have effectively engaged the audience.




For the visuals of the title card we decided to use
an organic moving visual theme, we are hoping
that this will help connotation the natural
conventions of our film, as well as show that over
the film the audience will hopefully become more
engrossed throughout, as connotated by the
ever-growing vines on the title card.

A filming production company that often
conforms to this idea is ‘LIONSGATE’, who produce films that are thrillers that are
similar to the one that we have made. By doing this we hope that our film has used
and developed a typical thriller convention.

Another convention of the title card that our one represents is through sound. The
sound that we have used in our title card is a ‘thunder clap’; this is a non-digetic
sound that we hope will engage the audience and create an element of suspense
early on in the film. Other production companies that use similar themes are Disney
Buena Vista Movie Intros; follow this link for an example:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64aM_1FROVI&feature=player_detailpage
Lighting:

Throughout the first part of the film – i.e. the
sequence when Alex is not inside the house, we
chose to reduce the saturation to 40%. We were
hoping that this would create a sense that the
action earlier in the day compared to the other
events. We have also used it in the scenes just
before Alex enters the house – this is because we
are hoping that the transition from not being in
the house (saturation reduced) and entering the
house (normal saturation) will have connotations
of leaving the environment of risk and entering a
safe place. This is an appearance of
Verfremdungseffect, as the audience believe that
‘Alex’ has entered a safe place, when in fact he has
entered an unbeknownst violent and hostile environment.




Another case of when we have used lighting to great effect
include when we, the audience, see the evil characters. The
evil characters start of by being seen in a fairly light
position, but as the sightings of the evil characters continue
throughout the film we see them in a more and more
darker light. This could have connotative conventions to
the audience in that they believe that as the opening goes
on a very violent act is going to happen.


We also used light to good effect when Alex answered his
phone in his bed. We kept the lighting very dark, so as the
audience would focus on the digetic sound, and the light
occurring from the phone. We hoped that this would create
an element of suspense, and we believe that we have
achieved this.

Throughout the lighting phase we mainly used most of the conventions for lighting in
thriller films, but we also challenged and developed our own ideas.
Characters:

The characters that we have used in our opening conform and use typical
conventions of thrillers. The ‘evil’ characters do this by acting secretively and for
large parts of the opening remaining hidden, they also act how you would expect a
bad character to move – this being hiding in the shadows in darkness. The nature of
the ‘evil’ characters also conform to conventions of thriller films, this being that they
are very aggressive, brutal, silent, and scheming.

The good character in our opening, ‘Alex’ also conforms to the conventions expected
of him as a victim in a thriller film. This is done by Alex appealing very vulnerable
throughout, and also seeming confused to the situation at which he is in. ‘Alex’ also
dresses fairly normally, this once again makes him seem vulnerable because of the
strange situation that he is in – he seems out of place, and so more vulnerable.




Clothes/props:

Once again we
conformed to
conventions of
thriller films with the
clothing that we used within our opening. The bad characters were all seen wearing
very dark clothing with their faces obscured. What we hope this has succeeded in
doing is presenting these characters as very mysterious and dark in nature beings
that are dangerous and violent. The props that they use also conform and use typical
conventions of thriller films; ‘tom’ is seen as holding an axe – which connotations are
extremely dangerous violent, as well as represent brutality and most importantly
death.

The clothing of ‘Alex’ is very important as well because the clothes that he is seen as
wearing are a fairly normal outfit for a good character to, and this complies with
forms of the genre. We have further developed this by selecting all of the clothes to
be worn to be in a green colour – as green is often seen as a very neutral colour, and
so this uses typical conventions of thriller films as the victims are often seen as fairly
neutral in nature.

The clothing choices that we have used all conform to the convention of White hats/
black hats.
Camera shots:

For the camera shots we have used the typical conventions of thriller films – these
being that most of the shots were tracking or panning ones, but when ‘Alex’ was in
danger or near to it, there were shot angles that looked down onto him, creating a
sense of vulnerability. However, for one of the shots we see one of the bad
characters from a high angle, and so in this shot we have challenged the typical
conventions of camera angles.

We also have included a shot that is a hand-held close-up moving shot of ‘Alex’, that
allows the audience to engage with him through his view point. For this shot we
have also used a typical form of thriller camera angles.




Location:

The phone box scene conforms to the forms of locations because it is a very isolated
location that creates a sense of vulnerability for the victim.

We decided that we would try and develop our own ideas and even challenge some
ideas for the house scene. We did this by allow ‘Alex’ to enter a well lit house that
looked fully secure, and so it is presumed that he will be safe there. But, we
challenged this as the ability of the bad characters to get in, also by ‘Alex’ closing the
door on himself with the character waiting outside, makes the at first presumed safe
house, feel as if it is now a dangerous, violent environment where ‘Alex’ is now
trapped.

Synopsis:

Our synopsis has used some of the forms of thriller films, one of these being that we
end the synopsis with a cliff hanger. What we hope to achieve with this is that the
audience are left on the edge of their seat, and throughout the synopsis we have
created suspense.



Soundtrack:
In many ways the soundtrack that we used throughout our opening uses typical
forms and conventions of thriller film soundtracks. One of the main types of music
that we use that uses these forms is the wind howl used in the scenes outside of the
house, it portrays that something is hidden from ‘Alex’ and that when it falls silent,
the thing that has previously been hidden from him will arise.

Another main form that we use and develop is the use of eerie music inside the
house to create a sense of suspense and danger, as well as mask the impending
violence.



Script:

We decided to not use any dialogue for the bad characters, so as to use the
connotations of suspense and mystery in the phone calls – which are typical
conventions in thriller films. But, we chose for ‘Alex’ to use words repetitively to
represent his confused and inquisitive state – both of these being conventions from
thriller films.




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


A social group that is represented in our thriller film is male adults. The male adults
in our film (evil characters) are represented as being smarter and more cunning than
the younger teenagers in our film (Alex). So the social groups that are being
represented here are adults and teenagers, with the adults being depicted as
smarter as and cleverer than teenagers.

The males are another social group that is represented in our thriller film, with the
opening being male dominated. Both of the evil characters are males, and this could
present them as being the more brutal/violent gender, as well as the ones that are
more capable of committing violence.

The final social group in our film is presented through our victim, 'Alex'. He is
depicted as being a vulnerable, confused person that is oblivious to danger. Which
could have connotations towards himself being obnoxious and naïve, which is a form
that teenagers are often associated with.



   3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media
      product and why?
I believe that to start off with getting our media product distributed we would use
such internet sites as Facebook, You Tube and Blogger. We would do this because it
would give us a great number of audience responses, on our limited budget, and it
also conforms to the target audience – with a high proportion of internet users being
males in their late teens and 20’s.

After this I think that if I media product was successful it would be screened staright
onto television. I think that if it were to be screened onto television then it would
must probably be on Film 4, with a late night screening, between the hours of
midnight and 4 in the morning – this being to suit the target audience, but also
because it would not be as well received during the prime time film viewing
audiences.




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

I believe that the audience that we are targeting for out media product are males
between the ages of 15-30, who enjoy watching horror thriller films. I think this
because our film is a horror thriller and so the audience we are targeting must like
these types of film to be a success.

We believe that the ages that are most likely to want to watch these thriller films are
15-30 because in the questionnaires that we handed out the general age that we
received were between these ages.

We believe that males would particularly enjoy this style of film because at this age,
males are very interested in violence and suspense, and fully become engrossed in
their films, so by us creating a horror thriller film that conforms to these typical
conventions our target audience would enjoy our media product.




   5. How did you attract/address your audience?
We attracted and addressed the audience by a fairly simple method. We made a
questionnaire for the audience to complete during our first/draft screening of our
thriller, with a variety of questions ranging from ‘Did you enjoy the thriller film you
have just watched?’ to ‘Do you think the sound track creates suspense?’

We hoped that by doing this we could tweak our thriller opening to appeal to the
audience. For instance, comments about whether sound track created suspense
were fairly low rated, so we decided to add the track ‘demented dreams’ to create
an element of suspense in the house scene, when we showed the modified version
to a new audience, they found that the sound track does create suspense.

Mise-en-scene:


                               2                        3



                           1
                                         4

   1. We have attracted the audience with a high angle shot looking down on
      ‘Alex’, to make him appear vulnerable and so the audience is attracted
      because they feel suspense.

   2. The light is shining directly down onto ‘Alex’s’ head, this is a technical aspect
      and typical thriller convention, that addresses the audience that ‘Alex’ is the
      centre of attention and shows that at this point he is very vulnerable.

   3. When ‘Alex’ closes the door, this attracts the audience because they get a
      sense that ‘Alex’ is now trapped, creating a sense of death and violence, as
      well as huge suspense.

   4. ‘Alex’ attracts the audience by appealing to the audiences target range and
      conforming to their dress sense. (see question 4)




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


Camera angles – what we found out is that when constructing a shoot, we needed to
make sure that there was enough light to get the desired shot. This could make
certain angles tricky, and so we tried to stay away from angles that would not
produce enough light, or visually be good. So we did not use any bird’s eye shots or
ground shots.

Movement – when shooting, we kept most of the camera shots at a fixed position
and did not zoom in or out, so as to minimise the blur and any shots that were not
visually good. For instance, in a few of the walking scenes, the camera pans to follow
the character from a distance so as the shot was not compromised in any way.

Camera – we leant that the camera could be a very simple to use tool. We quickly
learnt most of its functions, and were able to use a few of them in shots. We also
learnt that the camera was not a very good piece of equipment to use in dark areas,
as the vision became blurred, and so we tried not to use any of these shots.

Overall we learnt that from the technology from which we were using had many
good points in the ability of function that they could perform. However, they were
not so good when the movement was moderate to quick, and there wasn’t a lot of
light, because the shots would become blurred and lose their focus.

Editing:
I have learnt a lot during the process of editing, such as how to use the technology.
When I started of I was not too sure as to how to edit the thriller opening; such as
clipping scenes; adding effects; music; and transitions.

Clipping scenes was one of the first things that I undertook, and after putting things
in the order that they needed to be – which was difficult as the ‘story board’




   7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have
      learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
I feel that I have learnt a huge amount from the preliminary task. To start with, in the
planning phase we learnt that we should try to keep more of the shots and locations
easier to film, and that we should allow the ability to change the shots and language
just before and during shooting. However, we noted that during planning we needed
to make sure that we were thorough in which scenes required what, in terms of
actors and equipment, and so we needed to make sure that we were organised. We
also noted that we needed to create shots that would help link two different scenes
seamlessly, enabling better transitions.

When working in our group we learnt that we needed to communicate well and
often with one another to make sure that every member of the group understood
what was happening, and it also enabled people to express their ideas more often.

When planning what soundtrack to use we realised from the preliminary task that
the soundtrack had to be in keeping with the genre of the film, and it also needed to
help create an extra dimension when filming. The title for our film had to represent
this, our preliminary task title expressed a lot about what would be happening in the
film, whereas we tried to stick to the conventions of thriller films and create an aura
of suspense and mystery with the title ‘Final Call’.

One of the major things that we have learnt throughout this process is the use of
audience research. We learnt that although some of the comments could be harsh,
we should try and see their point to improve our product. We believed that this is a
major point of improvement from our preliminary task, because it enables us to
engage more with the audience.

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Evaluation

  • 1. Evaluation 1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? Title cards: One of the first conventions that our thriller opening has challenged is the title cards. The title card that we used was is the following picture: B.E.A.T – stands for Ben, Ed, Alex and Tom. We are hoping that this will give our film a personal feel, and conform to such film titles as ‘Warner Bros’. if this is achieved we believe that we will have effectively engaged the audience. For the visuals of the title card we decided to use an organic moving visual theme, we are hoping that this will help connotation the natural conventions of our film, as well as show that over the film the audience will hopefully become more engrossed throughout, as connotated by the ever-growing vines on the title card. A filming production company that often conforms to this idea is ‘LIONSGATE’, who produce films that are thrillers that are similar to the one that we have made. By doing this we hope that our film has used and developed a typical thriller convention. Another convention of the title card that our one represents is through sound. The sound that we have used in our title card is a ‘thunder clap’; this is a non-digetic sound that we hope will engage the audience and create an element of suspense early on in the film. Other production companies that use similar themes are Disney Buena Vista Movie Intros; follow this link for an example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64aM_1FROVI&feature=player_detailpage
  • 2. Lighting: Throughout the first part of the film – i.e. the sequence when Alex is not inside the house, we chose to reduce the saturation to 40%. We were hoping that this would create a sense that the action earlier in the day compared to the other events. We have also used it in the scenes just before Alex enters the house – this is because we are hoping that the transition from not being in the house (saturation reduced) and entering the house (normal saturation) will have connotations of leaving the environment of risk and entering a safe place. This is an appearance of Verfremdungseffect, as the audience believe that ‘Alex’ has entered a safe place, when in fact he has entered an unbeknownst violent and hostile environment. Another case of when we have used lighting to great effect include when we, the audience, see the evil characters. The evil characters start of by being seen in a fairly light position, but as the sightings of the evil characters continue throughout the film we see them in a more and more darker light. This could have connotative conventions to the audience in that they believe that as the opening goes on a very violent act is going to happen. We also used light to good effect when Alex answered his phone in his bed. We kept the lighting very dark, so as the audience would focus on the digetic sound, and the light occurring from the phone. We hoped that this would create an element of suspense, and we believe that we have achieved this. Throughout the lighting phase we mainly used most of the conventions for lighting in thriller films, but we also challenged and developed our own ideas.
  • 3. Characters: The characters that we have used in our opening conform and use typical conventions of thrillers. The ‘evil’ characters do this by acting secretively and for large parts of the opening remaining hidden, they also act how you would expect a bad character to move – this being hiding in the shadows in darkness. The nature of the ‘evil’ characters also conform to conventions of thriller films, this being that they are very aggressive, brutal, silent, and scheming. The good character in our opening, ‘Alex’ also conforms to the conventions expected of him as a victim in a thriller film. This is done by Alex appealing very vulnerable throughout, and also seeming confused to the situation at which he is in. ‘Alex’ also dresses fairly normally, this once again makes him seem vulnerable because of the strange situation that he is in – he seems out of place, and so more vulnerable. Clothes/props: Once again we conformed to conventions of thriller films with the clothing that we used within our opening. The bad characters were all seen wearing very dark clothing with their faces obscured. What we hope this has succeeded in doing is presenting these characters as very mysterious and dark in nature beings that are dangerous and violent. The props that they use also conform and use typical conventions of thriller films; ‘tom’ is seen as holding an axe – which connotations are extremely dangerous violent, as well as represent brutality and most importantly death. The clothing of ‘Alex’ is very important as well because the clothes that he is seen as wearing are a fairly normal outfit for a good character to, and this complies with forms of the genre. We have further developed this by selecting all of the clothes to be worn to be in a green colour – as green is often seen as a very neutral colour, and so this uses typical conventions of thriller films as the victims are often seen as fairly neutral in nature. The clothing choices that we have used all conform to the convention of White hats/ black hats.
  • 4. Camera shots: For the camera shots we have used the typical conventions of thriller films – these being that most of the shots were tracking or panning ones, but when ‘Alex’ was in danger or near to it, there were shot angles that looked down onto him, creating a sense of vulnerability. However, for one of the shots we see one of the bad characters from a high angle, and so in this shot we have challenged the typical conventions of camera angles. We also have included a shot that is a hand-held close-up moving shot of ‘Alex’, that allows the audience to engage with him through his view point. For this shot we have also used a typical form of thriller camera angles. Location: The phone box scene conforms to the forms of locations because it is a very isolated location that creates a sense of vulnerability for the victim. We decided that we would try and develop our own ideas and even challenge some ideas for the house scene. We did this by allow ‘Alex’ to enter a well lit house that looked fully secure, and so it is presumed that he will be safe there. But, we challenged this as the ability of the bad characters to get in, also by ‘Alex’ closing the door on himself with the character waiting outside, makes the at first presumed safe house, feel as if it is now a dangerous, violent environment where ‘Alex’ is now trapped. Synopsis: Our synopsis has used some of the forms of thriller films, one of these being that we end the synopsis with a cliff hanger. What we hope to achieve with this is that the audience are left on the edge of their seat, and throughout the synopsis we have created suspense. Soundtrack:
  • 5. In many ways the soundtrack that we used throughout our opening uses typical forms and conventions of thriller film soundtracks. One of the main types of music that we use that uses these forms is the wind howl used in the scenes outside of the house, it portrays that something is hidden from ‘Alex’ and that when it falls silent, the thing that has previously been hidden from him will arise. Another main form that we use and develop is the use of eerie music inside the house to create a sense of suspense and danger, as well as mask the impending violence. Script: We decided to not use any dialogue for the bad characters, so as to use the connotations of suspense and mystery in the phone calls – which are typical conventions in thriller films. But, we chose for ‘Alex’ to use words repetitively to represent his confused and inquisitive state – both of these being conventions from thriller films. 2. How does your media product represent particular social groups? A social group that is represented in our thriller film is male adults. The male adults in our film (evil characters) are represented as being smarter and more cunning than the younger teenagers in our film (Alex). So the social groups that are being represented here are adults and teenagers, with the adults being depicted as smarter as and cleverer than teenagers. The males are another social group that is represented in our thriller film, with the opening being male dominated. Both of the evil characters are males, and this could present them as being the more brutal/violent gender, as well as the ones that are more capable of committing violence. The final social group in our film is presented through our victim, 'Alex'. He is depicted as being a vulnerable, confused person that is oblivious to danger. Which could have connotations towards himself being obnoxious and naïve, which is a form that teenagers are often associated with. 3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
  • 6. I believe that to start off with getting our media product distributed we would use such internet sites as Facebook, You Tube and Blogger. We would do this because it would give us a great number of audience responses, on our limited budget, and it also conforms to the target audience – with a high proportion of internet users being males in their late teens and 20’s. After this I think that if I media product was successful it would be screened staright onto television. I think that if it were to be screened onto television then it would must probably be on Film 4, with a late night screening, between the hours of midnight and 4 in the morning – this being to suit the target audience, but also because it would not be as well received during the prime time film viewing audiences. 4. Who would be the audience for your media product? I believe that the audience that we are targeting for out media product are males between the ages of 15-30, who enjoy watching horror thriller films. I think this because our film is a horror thriller and so the audience we are targeting must like these types of film to be a success. We believe that the ages that are most likely to want to watch these thriller films are 15-30 because in the questionnaires that we handed out the general age that we received were between these ages. We believe that males would particularly enjoy this style of film because at this age, males are very interested in violence and suspense, and fully become engrossed in their films, so by us creating a horror thriller film that conforms to these typical conventions our target audience would enjoy our media product. 5. How did you attract/address your audience?
  • 7. We attracted and addressed the audience by a fairly simple method. We made a questionnaire for the audience to complete during our first/draft screening of our thriller, with a variety of questions ranging from ‘Did you enjoy the thriller film you have just watched?’ to ‘Do you think the sound track creates suspense?’ We hoped that by doing this we could tweak our thriller opening to appeal to the audience. For instance, comments about whether sound track created suspense were fairly low rated, so we decided to add the track ‘demented dreams’ to create an element of suspense in the house scene, when we showed the modified version to a new audience, they found that the sound track does create suspense. Mise-en-scene: 2 3 1 4 1. We have attracted the audience with a high angle shot looking down on ‘Alex’, to make him appear vulnerable and so the audience is attracted because they feel suspense. 2. The light is shining directly down onto ‘Alex’s’ head, this is a technical aspect and typical thriller convention, that addresses the audience that ‘Alex’ is the centre of attention and shows that at this point he is very vulnerable. 3. When ‘Alex’ closes the door, this attracts the audience because they get a sense that ‘Alex’ is now trapped, creating a sense of death and violence, as well as huge suspense. 4. ‘Alex’ attracts the audience by appealing to the audiences target range and conforming to their dress sense. (see question 4) 6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
  • 8. We have learnt a lot about technologies from the process of constructing this product. Camera angles – what we found out is that when constructing a shoot, we needed to make sure that there was enough light to get the desired shot. This could make certain angles tricky, and so we tried to stay away from angles that would not produce enough light, or visually be good. So we did not use any bird’s eye shots or ground shots. Movement – when shooting, we kept most of the camera shots at a fixed position and did not zoom in or out, so as to minimise the blur and any shots that were not visually good. For instance, in a few of the walking scenes, the camera pans to follow the character from a distance so as the shot was not compromised in any way. Camera – we leant that the camera could be a very simple to use tool. We quickly learnt most of its functions, and were able to use a few of them in shots. We also learnt that the camera was not a very good piece of equipment to use in dark areas, as the vision became blurred, and so we tried not to use any of these shots. Overall we learnt that from the technology from which we were using had many good points in the ability of function that they could perform. However, they were not so good when the movement was moderate to quick, and there wasn’t a lot of light, because the shots would become blurred and lose their focus. Editing: I have learnt a lot during the process of editing, such as how to use the technology. When I started of I was not too sure as to how to edit the thriller opening; such as clipping scenes; adding effects; music; and transitions. Clipping scenes was one of the first things that I undertook, and after putting things in the order that they needed to be – which was difficult as the ‘story board’ 7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
  • 9. I feel that I have learnt a huge amount from the preliminary task. To start with, in the planning phase we learnt that we should try to keep more of the shots and locations easier to film, and that we should allow the ability to change the shots and language just before and during shooting. However, we noted that during planning we needed to make sure that we were thorough in which scenes required what, in terms of actors and equipment, and so we needed to make sure that we were organised. We also noted that we needed to create shots that would help link two different scenes seamlessly, enabling better transitions. When working in our group we learnt that we needed to communicate well and often with one another to make sure that every member of the group understood what was happening, and it also enabled people to express their ideas more often. When planning what soundtrack to use we realised from the preliminary task that the soundtrack had to be in keeping with the genre of the film, and it also needed to help create an extra dimension when filming. The title for our film had to represent this, our preliminary task title expressed a lot about what would be happening in the film, whereas we tried to stick to the conventions of thriller films and create an aura of suspense and mystery with the title ‘Final Call’. One of the major things that we have learnt throughout this process is the use of audience research. We learnt that although some of the comments could be harsh, we should try and see their point to improve our product. We believed that this is a major point of improvement from our preliminary task, because it enables us to engage more with the audience.