Evaluation - Question Seven

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

The preliminary task was done to test and use the camera and tripod equipment aswell as getting to grips with what makes a successful shot. We had to create a very short scene of two people having a conversation. One character had to enter and leave. It was done to display how to use very simple shots and to know how to use the editing software.

When looking back on my preliminary task I have learnt to adapt  myself rapidly to constricted space and delays we may have had. In our preliminary task our characters were posited incorrectly and overall as a group noting was organised. Using the tripod was a rather difficult task when first using it in the preliminary task. At first it was hard to position it correctly and I struggled to not create a shaky shot. Whereas in the final thriller opening I adapted to using the tripod in a successful way. The preliminary task taught me how to use specific techniques such as how to actually use the equipment. I learnt how to record, playback and how to put the footage on to the mac. With the tripod I learnt that the key with creating a steady shot was to keep the legs level  and this could make the difference between a median shot and high angled shot (by placing the legs at different lengths) and finally with the editing in the preliminary task I learnt how to upload, crop and publish a film sequence.

This overall prepared me for the making of the opening thriller film as I was able to use these skills and advance them to not only make a steady shot but a successful one that represented the convention of a thriller. I was also able to adapt my editing skills to add filters such as black and white instead of just uploading and cutting the footage.

Evaluation - Question Six

*needs adding to prezi because it wasn't working when made improvements...


The sound we used is the thriller sequence was mainly non-diagetic sounds that where added in the editing stage. The majority of sounds where provided by final cut pro which made it easier for me to access copyright free music. I wanted to also include the song tip-toe through the tulips but the original song would've been copyrighted so I struggled with using this particular song. I then continued to research online covers of the song and found a very similar sounding version that someone had put on youtube. I was then able to use this song and was happy with the way it eventually turned out. The credits that I used in the rough cut was very straight and didn't have any jagged effect, after thinking about the effect of the font. It was was decided to change to something more scribbled to show Camerons personality and the unstable atmosphere of the thriller. This specific type of technology helped me add to the typically suspenseful atmosphere of the thriller genre.

Evaluation - Question Five

How did you attract/address your audience?

I had to do alot of research to discover what was necessary to creating an accurate target audience. Primary research such as group discussions about our thriller favorites and what we personally liked where heavily researched. I looked further into my own favourite thrillers and dug our what I personally thought was successful. I noticed from films such as shutter island that my main influence for disturbia was the microelemts and characters involved. I had to also think about age certificates and what the outcome might be. By example would a 12 be too mild? and an 18 be too disturbing for the target audience. I wanted a narrative that was clearly put together and left the audience confused and wanting to discover more before executing this idea. I had to get an opinion of my audience first providing and creating personal questionnaires I was able to gather the necessary information to proceed with my ideas. These included iconography and setting preferences. As well as what sub-genres people preferred. Overall this research helped me to discover what my audience wanted. I was able to see that physiological thrillers were a favourite and that was ultimately what my aim to provide was. In addition to this the overall mind map to discuss accompanied by secondary research such as the questionnaire helped educate me on the things the audience preferred. I was able to learn from this particular secondary research that things such as low key lightening in thrillers and the physiological sub genre as well as isolated setting and even iconography used such as knives which they said was more personal and made them feel like they was more involved with the characters themselves.

Evaluation - Question Four

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Target audiences are important to new productions due to the intense need for popularity. Lots of aspects need to be considered such as, who would this appeal to? what age? what gender? what type of people and the things that would be needed to promote this film in the best way. For example such as children's films that are age certificate U on channels such as BBC or CBBC.

For my thriller opening disturbia the target audience is aimed at teenagers aged 15 and onwards. I believe this age group best suits my thriller as it involves relatable characters that are the same age which can result in escapism to some audience members that are dealing with the stress of exams. The narrative of my film remains to be very confusing, almost puzzling. In disturbia you have to really use your mind to figure out the characters and there intentions. This will work well with a teenage audience as it will keep them engaged when they are in fact stereotypically easier to distract then others. The main soundtrack which is a cover of the song tip-toe through the tulips by Tiny Tim can be recognised from the film insidious which is a very popular film known for being frightening. Teenagers will recognize this and be drawn to the film even further. Micro elements such as cinematography and mise-en-scene can also be manipulated to appeal to the target audience, this can be seen from the particular costume Harmoney wears. She is dressed in a sixth form uniform and smart clothing which shows her vulnerability for being a school student, she would also be able to relate to a specific type of audience. Possibly our target audience who would also normally be in school, they may be able to see how well she is acting and behaving in this type of enviroment of pressure. The fast paced editing filled with montages of different time periods in the opening sequence, remains to be intriguing to an audience that are displayed to be bored of school and other responsibilities. They are stereotypically longing for something to keep them entertained. This can also be seen from the cleverly adjusted shots that involves POV shots, specifically when Cameron murders his mother. This invites the audience further to making them feel frightfully responsible and engaged in the murder. This could be compared to as the same type of effect video games have on teenagers which remains very popular as stereotypically our audience want to fit in and feel in control. The target audience was something we all had to consider carefully. This was mainly due to the fact that the film had to be suitable for certain ages under the opinion and regulations of the BBFC. Our thriller film does remains very disturbing but doesnt contain any sexual references or bad language. It does however contains mild violence that could fighten younger audiences. This is why most of the ages for films of the thriller genre are presented as being age 15. Disturbia would also follow this trend as we feel the BBFC would approve due to the lack of gory and detailed death scenes.

Overall the target audience will acknowledge all the things mentioned and be drawn to the very unique side of Disturbia through the manipulation of the micro elements and narrative.

Evaluation - Question Three

Evaluation - Question Two

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My thriller opening represents an average teenage social group with a twist. The characters and situations in the thriller can demonstrate how family trouble can lead to disasters. I have 3 characters in my thriller production. Cameron, Grace and Harmony.

Cameron is the main antagonist in the product but remains to struggle with right and wrong. In my thriller opening 'Disturbia' Cameron is represented as a teenage boy struggling to deal with his emotions and mental illness. The majority of teenagers at Cameron's age go through several physiological illnesses such as depression and anxiety. The use of mise-en-scene specifically, Cameron's costume remains to be all in white when he appears innocent. When his other side is present he wears all darker colours such as grey and back. This was included to show a clear representation of how teenagers can typical switch quickly, due to hormones and stress. One moment they may be happy and in a pleasant mood. The next very dark and frustrated. Cameron remains to have the same stereotypical features of a teenager due to his very closed attitude. His body language is actually very isolated and he always appears very stiff, with no interaction with other people such as family. This is often how teenagers are stereotypically received. Which is convenient as our target audience may relate to his struggles and see our thriller film as some disturbed type of escapism. 

In addition to this Harmony (The main female character in our thriller) is displayed as a stereotypical teenage girl. She is seen wearing a school uniform which shows how she is someone that may be going through the normal school issues as someone the audiences age. The audience witness her struggling to get through to Cameron. This is a common stereotypical feeling as to how teenagers are displayed they long to be wanted and listened to but often feel like they are being neglected. The audience may also relate to Harmony as they may feel that they also want the best for Cameron and she may be the one to help him. Harmony was included into the thriller opening not only to show that Cameron had people how cared about him but to also play apart in the film that connected the audience in a way that didn't cause them to escape, but result in them wanted her to get through the the main antagonist Cameron.


Gender is stereotypically represented in our thriller opening due to the typical convention of the male being the antagonist and the female, older mother appearing as the victim. This is displayed when Cameron murders his own Mother (Grace). The fact that Grace is displayed as very weak and frail, whereas Cameron is more dominant in attacking her shows a clear display as how gender can be represented stereotypically. Grace is someone who has struggled with her son at a young age. As a widowed parent she has found it hard to keep up with her son and although she appears as a very loving woman she finds to hard to connect with Cameron and often ends up frustrating him. Most audience members may feel empathetic towards Grace's situation although they may struggle to relate to her because her situation is very unique and rare to be in. People may struggle to feel her pain as it is such an intense storyline and is very confusing to most people on how she can put up with such an intense mother and son relationship.


 Like in most films that are steretypical such as in genres such as fairy tales its usually the prince saving the princess and the female always being the damsel in distress which juxtaposes the position of the male, who typically plays the strong, protagonist/antagonist. Either way stereotypicall woman are normal either attacked by men or saved by men and in my thriller opening it follows the narrative of women being attacked by the stereotypically dominated male antagonist. This was incorporated into my thriller opening not only because it is a convention of a thriller, but also it gives the audience a more realistic view of how the film industry can manipulate certain stereotypes to there advantage.

Evaluation - Question One

Introduction

Our overall brief was to plan for and create an opening thriller sequence. Myself, Claire Golightly and Jake Butler. All made up a small group to contribute to the process of completing this brief. In our group we each had different production roles.There are many different roles in production that need to be given to different members of the group. These roles involve director, director of photography and other numerous roles. I took on the role as director, actor and editor. When filming, I had responsibility of making sure everything was in its place as director. As sharing this role with Claire we were both responsible for making sure that everything was in its correct place and everything that was needed on set was there to continue to maintain the narrative we wanted and the atmosphere of the thriller opening. I also took on the role as editor. I loved being able to put the finished thriller together and see it become more than just a series of clips. I enjoyed adding the music and filters that really contributed well in creating the type of eerie psychological thriller we wanted.Our group was able to work well together, although different jobs had different responsibilities everyone worked well with the specific role they was aligned with. I think that in the end through maintaining a very chilling and suspenseful atmosphere. We had studied the micro-elements of thrillers and tried to adapt them as much as possible in our own thriller opening scene.

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

Overall media has taught me how thriller conventions are presented within films. I now know what to expect and how to identify conventions of a thriller. 'Shutter Island' was a main focus of inspiration for me. I was personally able to gain perspective into what I wanted to achieve in my brief. Shutter Island is a physiological thriller. It's narrative remains to be about a detective that turn out to question his own insanity. I incorporated this type of protagonist/antagonist into my own thriller opening through the character Cameron. Cameron is a character with the mental illness - multiple personality disorder. This helped contribute to theme of having a unstable character to make the opening thriller less clique and more shocking.  This particular convention of a thriller is there to make the audience feel unsettled themselves. It results in them feeling very disconnected to the character and in turn creates more of a thriller atmosphere through the shocking unexpected things the unstable character does. 

Low key lighting was also used in my own thriller opening. This is a particular element that is present when the character Cameron commits

suicide. This was also influenced form Shutter Island when the character Teddy is in a prison and only has a match as a light source. This ultimately is a successful use of mise-en-scene that contributes in creating a very mysterious atmosphere as the audience are unaware as to whats hiding in the dark. This is popular within thrillers as there main film is to create a film with enigma and mystery. With endless amount of dark corners and backgrounds people are able to experience what its like to be in the unknown and be scared to witness what is going to happen when a character or camera moves into that darkness. With the help of an erie setting low-key light is one of the most popular thriller conventions in the thriller genre.

In addition to this after watching Chernobyl Diaries -A film about the isolated town and tourists visiting it and being stranded there when there car is tampered with- Uses alot of different micro elements that contribute in causing the audience to think deeply about what is going on in those particular surroundings. Mise-en-scene and the location is one of them. The erie abandoned scenery of the isolated town made me think how scary loneliness is, this aim of hostility is what makes people feel threatened while watching a film. People are unable to feel like help is coming there way or that there is any escape for the character which is a very frightening element within thrillers. This can be seen from my own thriller film when harmony is walking alone and looks around. The audience are able to see a POV shot of her in a isolated street in the dark with no help surrounding her. This is a stereotypical code and convention of a thriller and helps to build a more suspenseful atmosphere by having her alone.

We used cinematography to manipulate the audience at the start of our thriller opening. We was determined to add a numerous amount of low angled shots to not make our character seem superior but to interpret the common convention of a thriller which is hidden identity. I was convinced that this would have much more of an impact on the audience as they finally realise that the character Cameron is just a sad looking boy with empty emotions willing to take his own life. The zooming out technique from Cameron's face really exaggerates the intense atmosphere and sad truth of suicide which is something I have learnt thriller really like to display. A very truthful, disturbing atmosphere that leaved the audience completely shocked. 

Sound is also a major micro element that can support this lexical set of fear and anticipation. In our own thriller film at the part were Cameron is positioned over his mother, attacking her. The audience are able to witness a very erie effect through the sound of heavy breathing. I added this into my thriller opening as it suggested that not only was Cameron the antagonist but he displayed human qualities. He is panicking and his own actions which remains a very scary quality for murderers as they are able to feel emotions but not initially stop the killing. This contrasts to someone that is purely evil and feels nothing, as a regular close family member would never be suspected as a murderer and that's what make my thriller a whole lot more chilling.

Through watching the film scream I learnt that very simple action scenes of stabbing sequences can add to the atmosphere of a conventional thriller. Nothing is particularly scary or frightening about the film scream although it does have the element of shock when the killer jumps out with such a personal object, that needs close physical contact to be effective. I used this is my own thriller opening when Cameron kills his mother. We decided a knife would be the best weapon to use and it concludes how well we are able to manipulate and control the death scene. This is a very popular element in a thriller film as it builds a more erie suspenseful atmosphere by having a weapon such as a knife instead of a gun which acts as a more personal barrier between antagonist and victim. In my thriller film I used the weapon of the knife at the dinner scene. This made the death of the mother much more frightening and unexpected as the knife used to eat with is then used to murder with. This sort of transition is common within thrillers as they continue to have unexpected twists and plots that throw the audience off track and shock them further. Which is what my aim was in my own thriller opening.