Question 1 – In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Our opening sequence compiles many generic conventions of thrillers. Our titles are in white font over a black background. This is common to most thrillers as it grabs the audience’s attention visually also it allows the audience to engage using other senses especially sound. This is present in such thriller openings as ‘The Village’ (M. Night. Shyamalan. 2005)
This creates a much more gradual engagement than to such genres as action which are hard hitting. The thriller genre is much more gradual and suspenseful creating an eerie feel as the titles don’t engage the audience visually but instead use sound. Our choice of the gradual increase of running water (over initial titles) builds suspense and captures the audience’s engagement, which is a major convention of the thriller genre (see from 00:00 to 00:31). Our editing is slow paced and increases at a gradual pace which helps build on the suspense. This helps to engage our target audience. Longer screen time was given to our main actor as he is most important and needs to be represented as dominant in the opening. Juxtaposing this are shorter takes of the female character. (See shots, 00:30 to 01:15) Fade transitions between the titles allows the piece to flow and keeps the audience engaged. This feel is kept when the piece moves from titles to footage. (See 00:30 to 00:34)
We added a faint red tint to our flashbacks as it has connotations of danger and blood. Red is common to the thriller genre in particular the psychological and horror sub genres this is due to its contemporary symbolic association to danger and blood. Also we incorporated the red theme when the male character pulls the glass of red juice from the fridge. (See 01:50 to 02:02 ) We decided to dress our male character in a dark costume. This is due to the fact that dark colours reflect a 'bad' personality. The same applied for our female character who was dressed in light colours thus reflecting a 'good' character.
In addition the use of POV and OTS shots (see shots 5,9 and 10) are also common to the thriller genre. These where influenced by ‘The Blair Witch Project (Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sanchez, 1999)
These shots where very effect at allowing the audience to engage with the character and allows the audience to be put in the place of the character. In addition the mise-en-scene, in particular the setting, was influenced by ‘The Blair Witch Project’, the eerie woods setting has connotations of entrapment and constriction
Question 2 – How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Our thriller represents white middle class male to be superior to women of a similar class. We showed this byplaying on the stereotypes of having a white male antagonist as the murderer and brunet woman as the victim. This would appeal to the middle class white male target audience as they have similar ideologies about our representations.
Editing is used to portray the dominance of the male character over the female character. Longer takes of the male highlight his dominance whereas shorter takes of the female show her inferiority. Slow paced editing, gradually increasing in pace, helps to emphasise his dominance in addition it easier for the audience to engage with the character.
The diegetic panting and screaming combines with the non-diegetic heartbeat to show the white females fear the white man. (See 00:50 to 01:22) The flashback sound effect emphasises the male dominance as it combines with the editing to make sharp straight cuts between scenes.
The use of tilts, low angle camera shots and close ups help the audience engage with the male character and display him to be a dominant figure. (See 00:50 to 01:44) this is common to most thrillers. The wealthy interior of the male’s house shows his social standing in modern society. However his dark clothes show to the audience that he may be of a lower class. Stereotypically crime and violence is associated with the working class thus representing the working class as uncivilized and uncouth. However when he takes off his jumper he seen to be wearing a shirt. this brings the audiences perspective back to seeing him as a middle class male.
Question 3 – What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
A major Hollywood studio could produce our media product. This is due to the fact it is similar to existing products.
An example Hollywood studio could be Universal Pictures who have produced similar media products to mine and have been very successful. Such films of a similar genre include: 'Hannibal' (Riddley Scot, 2001) and 'State of Play' (Kevin Macdonald, 2009). Conventions which arise in both films and my thriller opening include: having a white male lead character, all contain fast paced editing to build suspense and the use of low angles and titles to display supremacy.
As a result they are experienced in that field and our renowned at producing films of an excellent quality and of similar style to mine. My media product could be released as it could produce then distributed world wide and consumed by a large audience resulting in a large profit. Due to the style of my media product there would not be many opportunities for merchandising or franchise.
After it had been released at cinemas, typical to other media products of similar style, it could be released on DVD for purchase by the consumer. However there would be very little synergy associated with the product of which would appeal to the majority of viewers. However there could be specialised collectors merchandise available to the niche collectors market.
The restriction in merchandising and franchise is due to the mise-en-scene of my product. There is a dark and sinister mood style created in my product, which makes the merchandising of the product difficult as it limits which aspects of the product, can be merchandised.
Question 4 – Who would be the audience for your media product?
Having a dominant white male antagonist makes my media product appeal to the male gender. In addition the narrative of having a male killer who stalks female victims would also appeal more to males than females. I believe the BBFC certificate rating for my film would be a 15. As a result my product would appeal the teenage male audience as well as adult audiences. However due to the fact the male role is played by a teenage actor this may appeal more to the teenage audience as he is of a similar age. Results from our audience survey show that film appeals more to the teenage male audience than the teenage female audience. We questioned people from ages 14-50 to see what they would expect in a thriller film. Common responses where that a thriller opening should be gripping and suspenseful, should be of either a psychological or horror sub genre, it should establish a character and finally should set the feel/mood of the piece.
Films such as ‘I know what you did last summer’ (Jim Gillespie, 1997) and ‘The St Franciisville Experiment” (Ted Nicolaou, 2000) are films of a similar style and genre however these have more of a teen-horror influence although they still have a similar target audience to my product
Question 5 – How did you attract/address your audience?
A suspenseful opening appeals to a male audience, in addition the attractive female actor also appeals to the male gender. The jumpy flashbacks would also appeal to the male gender. However these jump cut flash backs would scare younger aged children, this is due to the
camera work and the fact the audience put in the position of the character therefore would scare younger children (See 00:35 to 01:10) in addition the shots of the male character washing the blood from his hands may also be unsuitable for younger children as the shots are very unsettling, (See 00:54 to 01:05). During my media product the audience are put in the position of two characters in a duel narrative. They are allowed to see the antagonist in his natural environment after he has killed his female victim. Simultaneously we see the female victim fleeing from the murderer. As a result we see the dominance of the male character and the audience gain an impression of the characters personality. This is a common convention of the thriller genre as many openings are used to establish a character in the film and is often used to create suspense as well.
Question 6 – What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing the product?
During the filming process the tripod was very effective at holding a shot steady and level however it had some problems. Some times the tripod would stick when tilting or panning resulting in jumpy shot. The camera wasn’t very effective at capturing sound. To over come the problem of sound we decided to use a separate sound recorder during filming and drop the sound in on top of the footage afterwards. During our long zoom shot of the door (see shot 1) the camera would zoom to quickly. To overcome this we decided to use a different kind of camera with a much slower zoom. When filming the tilt shot instead of using the tripod we did the shot by hand and held the camera very steady, it took many takes to get a good steady shots. During the evenings the sun would go down to quickly, changing the lighting in each shot so instead we decided to film during the middle of the day and use Adobe After Effects to darken the footage (see blog post ‘Darkening Footage’, 9 March 2009). I believe my knowledge of editing and the Premier Pro software involved has significantly increased. Fade transitions and fine editing resulted in creating the overall feel of the product.
During the process of making the animatic we found it difficult at the start to use Premiere Pro effectively however after getting used to the software I found it much easier to use and much more effective than previous basic video editing software I had experience with. We also found it difficult when collecting sounds for our animatic as most of the sounds we wanted to use had copyright however after extensive searching we found a decent website with a large library of copyright free sound.
During the filming of our continuity task our knowledge of the camera and tripod was limited therefore our footage was unsteady. In addition we where pressed for time and as a result our editing was rushed and ineffective at fulfilling the task set. This also wasn’t helped by the fact we had little knowledge of the editing software.
Question 7 – Looking back at your preliminary task what do you feel that you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
My group found it difficult to come up with an initial idea. However after watching some openings to thriller films we had some ideas (see blog post ‘Initial ideas’ 9 December 2008) . In addition this provided us with some ideas of the conventional shot choices used in thrillers for example OTS and POV. Overall I feel my confidence with the filming and editing equipment has risen from the start of the project. Drawing a storyboards and creating an animatic allowed my group and I to visualise our shot choices and as result remove those that didn’t work. Producing an animatic also allowed us to she how long a shot should be held for and how to edit to fit the music. Further research after we had started filming (see blog post ‘Analysis of M.Night.Shyamalan’ 26 March 2009) improved our shot choice. We held our shots for longer to allow audience engagement.
I believe my product to be very successful at fulfilling the task set. Our product is engaging, of a good quality and meets the codes and conventions of a similar real media product of the same genre. Comparing our continuity task to our final product it is obvious our camerawork has significantly improved. All of our shots where steady in our final product. We also experimented more with different shot choices like POV’s and OTS. Our editing also improved greatly. Having more time to edit our final product it was easier to fine edit and make the overall feel of the piece much more effective than our continuity task. Sound was a big issue in our continuity task. Our choice of music and our ability to capture dialogue was also improved as we where given more time to experiment.
Improvements from our continuity task to our final product include our choice of music. Greater consideration was taken when selecting the music for our opening, we ensured it fitted the genre, pace and feel of the piece. However the music chosen for our continuity task was unnecessary and thus unfitting (See 00:00 to 00:39). In addition our framing of shots has improved. Framing is well thought through out of final product focusing on what we wish to present to the audience however during the continuity task there is a lot of empty space and at one point our character walked out of shot. (See 00:18 to 00:25).
- Demonstrates excellence across all technical aspects - Dual narrative structure is very effective with controlled choice of shots. - Match on action is particularly effective with well exectued soundtrack that adds polish to the piece.
- Costume could have been better considered - not entirly convincing for this style of thriller -Some shots could of been re-shot/held for longer
Predicted grade A
Feedback from the class
- Running water v.effective at the start - Music builds up well, mystery and intriguing - You can clearly see where title came from - reflections used - Having no dialogue worked well with the psychological thriller - Jonny's costume could connote his characters role more - Camera work is good and steady where required - Music is good - Good variety of shots/ music matches action well e.g. looking in mirror - Ecellent titles. Effective without drawing focus away from narrative - Jonny's costume, in particular wearing white at the end connotes purity/ innocence. - Great camera angles - Confusing narrative - going to the fridge - Great juxtaposition of shots.
- Camera work is controlled and steady throughout most of the extract - Framing of shots is mostly well conceived with elements included / excluded as appropriate - Shot distances are varied throughout the extract - The material is appropriate to the task set, however it becomes quite repetitive. This results in the later half of the extract losing focus. - Mise-en-scene has been clearly thought out with effective use of location choice, colour and lighting throughout the extract. - Editing is competent - there is considerable scope for improvement here which will also improve pace and continuity. Particularly, in the development of the duel narrative. - Shot transitions are effective but need to be better timed towards the later stages of the extract. - Both diegetic and non-diegetic sound have been used effectively throughout the extract. However, as the editing falters towards the end of the extract, the match-on-action loses focus making the mood of the extract inconsistent. - Titles are well made and feel appropriate to the genre, however they could be more evenly paced across the extract.
Targets for improvement:
- You need to include Production Company etc. at the beginning and hold a single frame of black for longer. - I also recommend introducing the running water sound earlier and even more gradual - raising the volume very slowly - this will develop the mood of your opening more effectively. - Later you have lost your way - some poor choices of shots have been included. - Also, some shots need to be held for longer. - Your titles need to be more evenly spread across the piece. - Finally, you need to add more focus on to the antagonist as that is whom you are trying to establish.
Improvements we discussed as a group:
- Production Company with a very quiet sound of running water in the background - Move titles to the beginning - Remove music - maybe introduce it at the character - Increase the length of the shot of the eye or move the shot - Titles after Jonny washes his hands? - Replace music with an ambiguous music - Creshendo music at the end - More focus on Jonny and his environment. More shots - less of Abbie. - Music is overpowering - make it more subtle - Slower zoom to the door - Move the tilt of Jonny before he washes his hands - Hold the shot of Jonny looking in the mirror (1-2 seconds longer) - Running shots are ineffective - remove. - Use different angle of shots for Jonny - Jonny - show where he's going as he leaves the bathroom. Follow him into a room - Include a mirror in the room - reflection of Abbie seen - links in with the title - Shorter flash backs
Filming went well. All shots are now complete and are ready to edit. Personally i believe my practical camera work has improved. After editing the shots will reflect the codes and conventions of the thriller genre. Over the period of filming i believe my camera work and understanding has significantly improved.
Filming today wasn't very successful. We where organised with the equipment however due to the timing our shots where very dark and couldn't be used. We worked as a team and discussed ideas well however this also slowed us down and delayed time. From this we have learnt that timing is crucial when shooting. To compromise will shoot during the middle of the day when there is constant light and use Adobe After Effects to make the footage darker.
At the beginning of the AS Media coursework I felt I had insignificant knowledge about the theoretical side of media seeing as I only started studying Media in Sixth Form where as my fellow students had studied Media at GCSE level. On the other hand I felt I had competent knowledge and skill in the practical side. This assisted me greatly when it came to producing the opening title sequence. This progression from nervous to confidence was highly significant.
My theoretical and practical knowledge has further progressed steadily through practical experience, learning from teacher and fellow members of my group. My organisation and self confidence has progressed since the begging of the coursework. I feel I work well both individually and in a group, however I find it difficult to trust some people to pull their weight.
Improvments to be made to Rough cut after meeting with teacher:
-Include titles over footage - allows more footage -Editing needs to be adjusted on shoot number 2 -Change shot of female to over shoulder shot -Include more footage of Male character - Where does he end up? - different rooms - his enviroment -Classic shot of charcter falling over -Last 3 titles over black -Could clear up after himself
Saturday 24th - Filming went well. All shots requiring to be redone where completed in addition shots outside where completed. Team work worked well again with effective directing from Georgia. However poor lighting conditions made shots unusable. As a result group needs to rethink location and timing of the shoot. Relocation is due to the scarce woods at chosen location. Next filming is on 1st February.
Wednesday 21st - We managed to shoot all planed shots. Filming went well, all shots where steady and a variety of shots where taken. Our group communicated and worked efficiently together. However improvements could be made.
- Our slow zoom at the beginning need to be improved in terms of speed and smoothness. To accomplish this we plan to use a different camera with easier zooming control.
- Our directing of actor wasn't effective. Better acting is required when subject was washing hands. Needs to scrub harder.
- Positioning of camera during close up of hands.
- Redo tilt. Hold for longer at top more effective.
Our planned shoot on the 17th January was cancelled due to the fact a group member couldn't attend the filming session and the location wasn't available to us. This has put us behind on shooting. However to compensate we have rescheduled two shoots on Weds 20th and Thurs 21st after school.
Evaluation
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*Question 1 – In what ways does your media product use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions of real media products?*
Our opening thriller sequence...
Evaluation
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In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products?
Our thriller incorporates generic conventions...
