1. EVALUATION Of Our Media Product Charly Luck

2. In what ways does our media product use , develop or challenge the forms and conventions of real media products?

3. Our final production includes many generic conventions commonly used in successful Thriller films, but also we’ve challenged some conventions to create a unique production. For example, our production incorporates typical thriller conventions such as using dark or shadowy shots to create mystery – we did this in shots 1 and 2. Shot 2 is a clever shot because the foreground (the kitchen) is extremely dark and the background (the hallway) is lit up. This means you can only see his silhouette, but then he turns the light on and simultaneously the titles come up. This shot is great for creating tension and suspense, because of the pause before he turns the lights on as he walks in, in the dark. Light in the background Dark in the foreground The boy is not easy to see because the picture is dark – this creates tension and mystery Because the foreground is very dark, the audience don’t know where he is walking into, even if it is just a kitchen. This causes suspense for the audience.

4. Light in the foreground Very dark in the background – creates mystery and suspense because the whole picture isn’t clear Figure is very dark and looks mysterious because it is not clear who this person is – creates an enigma right from the start Artistic shot of the hallway creates perspective and gives the illusion that the corridor is very long, as well as creating a very interesting looking and intriguing shot The boy slowly walks towards the front of the shot, coming out of the darkness and therefore introducing him to the audience. Shot 1 was very shadowy and quite dark in the background as the boy walks up the hallway – this looks very mysterious and grabs the attention of the audience straight away. It wasn’t intentional, but the nude colours of the walls compliment the dark shadowy hallway, by illuminating the foreground even more, and giving an interesting shot.

6. Not only did we include conventions, but we also developed and challenged them. Usually thriller films have a lot of dark scenes and include silhouettes of people to create mystery and tension, for example in Alfred Hitchcock’s thriller films Vertigo and Psycho . But in our opening sequence, we adapted this idea by combining some dark scenes (shot 1 and 2) with lots of lights scenes, for example shots 3 and 5. We felt there was no need to make the scenes that dark, because it’s not a scary or eerie opening. The opening of the film is about a young boy writing, therefore we felt that natural indoor lighting would be much more suitable. The idea of the opening was not to be scary or eerie, it was to create enigmas right from the start, which we did successfully by choosing the correct balance of lighting. Also it creates more mystery, because at the start the shots are quite dark and shadowy, and then they get lighter as the character is introduced. Also, another convention of thriller films is to build up to the action , but because this was only the opening sequence – not the main plot of the film, we decided to make the enigmas more prominent, rather than any action. The enigmas we created at the start can build up to the action later on in the film’s plot, by creating tension and suspense for the audience. There’s hardly any action in our opening sequence, the enigma is the main focus to draw in the audience. Not only are suspense, tension, and mysteries examples of generic conventions of thrillers, but also emotions play a big part in thriller films, by making the audience feel a particular emotion because of what is being viewed on screen. Usually the emotion is exhilarating or exciting because of the dramatic action, but we challenged this in our film opening by making the audience feel a different emotion. In the surveys our target audience did, they said they felt sympathy for the boy and felt worried for him, because he looked so sad and vulnerable, and because he is so young and small. Also they said they wanted to know why he was upset, and who he was. We used this emotion to create an enigma for the audience, so they want to watch more and find answers to their questions. Young children are good at expressing their emotions, and because we are older, we have a natural instinct to be concerned or interested if they are upset. We challenged this convention of thriller films, because it is unusual to have a child creating the enigmas, and also it is strange that the main character of the opening scenes is a child when the target audience is a lot older, but as I’ve explained, this is so they sympathise with him.

7. How does our media product represent particular social groups ?

8. So how does this link to the target audience? As I’ve said earlier, the audience are older, so they can associate with the young boy’s feelings – everyone’s been a child once. They see him sad and vulnerable and they have a natural response to wonder what’s wrong with him because he’s so young and looks so alone in the house on his own. Even though he isn’t the same age as the target audience, they can understand how he is feeling more than if he were older, because he possibly wouldn’t show it as much as a child would. Therefore an enigma is created because the audience want to find out why he’s sad, so they want to watch more. I wouldn’t really say any particular social groups are represented in our film opening, because the opening of the film is when he was younger in the past, and the main plot of the film is when he is older and there late teenagers to people in their 20s are represented. But in the start of the film the boy is the only character, and because the target audience are a lot older than the young boy, I wouldn’t really say that the young boy represents any particular social group, (for example even though he’s Asian he isn’t representing the Asian community, and even though he’s a boy he isn’t representing males, he’s just a representing a child). Gender isn’t stereotypically represented, but the character of the child is quite stereotypical. The boy is portrayed as very vulnerable, innocent and cute, because he is so small and young. The close ups of his big sad eyes make the audience feel sorry for him and sympathise with him. At a young age, children are very good at expressing their feelings, and so the audience feel a certain sad, sympathetic emotion as they watch him. He’s represented as a typical young boy – wearing school uniform to show he’s young, doing homework when he gets in from school and he has childish handwriting – all of these things build up his character and make it more believable that he is young, so the audience feel emotions towards him.

9. We showed our film opening to an audience of 50 people that were within our target audience, and asked them to fill in surveys to get feedback on our production. Here is one of the questions about the main character in the film, and some of the feedback we received:

10. What kind of media institution might distribute our media product and why ?

12. Who would be the target audience for our media product, and how did we attract and address our audience?

13. As I’ve said previously, the target audience for our film is teenagers to late 20s, and also adults, that are both male and female. Also the audience could be any class or race, and could especially capture the interest of the Asian community because the main character is an Asian boy. For example Slumdog Millionaire was hugely successful, and the film opening was about a young Asian boy, and then throughout the film you see him grow up – this is very similar to our film. In terms of relating to the character of the main plot, obviously the teenage audience can relate to him very well, because they know what he is going through, and many of their lives maybe quite similar, therefore they make a connection with the character. But also, the rest of the audience can relate to the main character, because they saw him when he was upset and vulnerable when he was young, and felt concerned for him. And in the main plot he’s grown up into a teenager and they learn why he was so upset, and understand his revengeful actions – many of the adults probably have teenagers who behave in similar ways, so they can relate to the character and the storyline. A film that is quite similar to the plot in our production is the drama/thriller Adulthood . The main character Sam has just come out of prison because he murdered a boy when he was a teenager, and now that he’s out, everyone wants revenge on him for his actions. This film is similar to ours for the fact that the plot revolves around vengeance and vendettas, and also that there is a lot of crime, drug abuse and the characters are teenagers. This film was hugely successful and popular for teenagers to people in their late 20s. Another film similar to our production is the thriller The Edge Of Darkness , which is about a man who’s daughter gets shot right in front of him, and he has a vendetta to get justice and revenge for his daughter, by finding the men who did it and killing them one by one. It is similar to the main plot of our thriller film, because of the gun fights and the car chases, and because it is about getting revenge. Within the plot there’s scenes of violence, gangsters, drug abuse and it has a very complex and intricate storyline, which would not be suitable for children to watch, so we have decided to rate our film at 15. The film will appeal to our target audience because there are so many exciting twists and enigmas that keep the audience watching intently. As I’ve said previously, the audience feel concerned for the young boy, because there is a close up of his sad looking eyes. This shot shows how the child is feeling, and they feel sorry for him because he is so young and vulnerable. Also the point of view shot of him writing his homework, puts the audience in his position, because they see how childish and cute his handwriting is, and that tells them that he is very young, and that creates an enigma and suspense, because they want to know what he is writing about that is making him so upset.

14. What have I learned about technologies from the process of constructing the product?

16. Looking back to my preliminary task, what have I learnt during the progression from the preliminary to the final product ?

18. The main task was: “To create the titles and opening of a thriller which lasts a maximum of 2 minutes – we are assessed on our ability to plan, research and construct a media product.” I think our final production was very successful because it fulfilled all of the parts of the specification of the main task. Our production is approximately 2 minutes long, includes credits/titles, and is the opening of a thriller film. On my blog , it shows the vast amount of research and planning that went into creating and constructing our final media product. You can also see all the developments, changes and decisions that we made throughout the whole process from start to finish. We showed our film opening to an audience of 50 people that were within our target audience, and asked them to fill in surveys to get feedback on our production. Here is one of the questions, and some of the feedback we received: