Evaluation

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



Through the use of things such as characters, common stereotypes and location our two minute opening was able to develop typical codes and conventions which other media products, specifically thriller movies have been able to do.

Through research into thriller movies the idea of a remote location arose, our production of the opening sequence was filmed in a car mechanics workshop. The idea of using a car garage came from the 1978 movie 'Blackout’, a little known B-movie thriller with similar themes to our own production. It features a sequence in a garage, which is a significant part of the narrative. This location also addressed the common mythology of the association of the auto-industry and the criminal underworld. Through researching thrillers, and coming across this clip and similar ones it has enabled the group to make a good location choice.

Click here to veiw 'Blackout' garage scene

Vulnerable female characters have been known to play victims in previous thriller movies. We also found this out through audience research that female characters, especially vulnerable females are liked/expected to play the victim. Having this knowledge helped us to decide that our victim would be a young 'vulnerable girl'. As a group, we decided to portray the main female character 'Rose' to be vulnerable at the beginning of the film, but not throughout the whole film. This enables us to develop on the idea of female characters being vulnerable as she over runs the antagonists within the opening. We decided to introduce the main female character 'Rose' at the very beginning on the opening sequence. Within the first 10 seconds on the film, 'Rose' is seen rising from a boot of a car, her hands and feet are tied up by rope, this reinstates that she must be a vulnerable female as it is obvious she has been kidnapped. Our main antagonist in our opening sequence is first introduced by a worms view shot of his feet being shown, this sets an enigma to the audience of who this person is and if he is the villain.

An example of a thriller film which had the main victim a vulnerable female is the 2000 production 'The Ring'. There were two main female victims, which followed similar character conventions to ours. Naomi Watts who played the haunted boy's relative was a victim, at times she was seen as vulnerable, but at other times she is seen as strong and courageous.

The costume decisions were made as a team. Colin the main villain who abducts Rose is an elderly man obsessed with her, as a character he looks very dark and angry. For this reason, we chose to have the actor Ben Kitto to dress up in dark colors; a long dark leather jacket was used. The costume of Colin created suspicion and curiosity.

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

These are two screen of shots of central villains within thriller movies. The above pictures are of 'Ben Kitto' who plays the villain in out media production, the bellow picture is of  'Clive Owen' from the 2005 Action thriller 'Sin City'.

The social group which these characters are relating to is 'male adults'.  These two characters have various similarities including role in the film and costume.  Both the roles of the characters are villains which intimidate people, also they both have intensions of killing people

The costume of the characters are very similar, they both have long dark hair which creates suspicion for the audience, giving the impression that they are trying to hide something. The long leather jacket which was an essential part of our costume list also helps to give this impression. The leather jacket makes the audience think that the characters are criminals. This is a general stereotype for clothing trends within men’s fashion, as trying to look like a 'gangster'. This is shown to be a good costume choice as it is used in several films.

The body positioning reinstates the stereotype of men as being dangerous. Both the men are hunching their shoulders forward; this represents the males as being aggressive. Both men are big on the upper body which represents forcefulness.

These aspects of the characters represent the social group of 'male adults' as being vicious; this is shown through different media aspects.

Question 3 What kind of media institutions might distribute your product and why?

This is our production logo which the will be the face of all out distributed films.

A film producer works behind the scenes of a production to get the film produced. The producer overlooks almost every stage of the film from pre-production to distribution.  As part of their role, they are responsible for financial and organizational aspects. 

Companies outside the Hollywood studies (unaffiliated with Hollywood) may be companies which could distribute our film. As they mainly deal with films in their own country, not having our film produced in Hollywood will not affect us from competing for films with available rights in such media categories as theatrical, television and satellite.

As these film producers work within specific countries, this will also give us a chance to use a 'completely British' production as one of our unique selling points.

Other institutions such as The film distribution Association (FDIA) may be helpful in the process of distributing our film as they represent UK theatrical film makers.

http://www.launchingfilms.com/



Afterlife, a 2009 horror with similar conventions to our film. The premier for this was held at a film festival in LA. It was distributed by a division of Overtune Films. Although this film had some negative reviews, with our film having differences in genre and storyline, we hope to receive better. A reason for wanting this institution for distributing our film is because it distributes films similar to ours, and by developing the previous ideas, we will succeed.

WHY SHOULD THEY WANT TO TAKE ON OUR PRODUCTION?

Because we as a team have strong knowledge of the film industry, a good storyline to expand on and a film which can connect with a variety of audiences. From male to female, young to old.

Question 4 Who would be the audience for your media production?

The target audience for our film is 15-26 year olds; the younger and older members of this group would both be able to relate to some of the characters in our film. We decided to rate it as a 15, as it contains some violent scenes, which would not be suitable for audiences under that age.  Our film is aimed at males and females, the males would want to see our film, as there is a lot of action and some violence.  Thriller/horror movies are generally classed as a 'date movie' so the audience is likely come as a couple.   Females would also like to watch our film as they could empathize with the main female character. The socio-economic groups we are aiming to attract are C1-E.

.

This is Pricilla King from Bexley Heath, she is 18 and in studying at college. She is a typical example of our target interest. Her interests include shopping, socializing with friends and going to the cinema.

Question 5 How did you attract/address your audience?

Question 6 What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

 

Question 7 Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

For my preliminary task I had to come up with a short sequence of a girl walking, sitting down having a short conversation with another girl and then walking off again. This was to help us grasp the concepts of using the camera and camera equipment, editing and editing techniques and adding sound if needed.

My preliminary task allowed me to explore with technology available to our media group. I learnt how to set a tripod, which helps to hold the camera straight and allows the shot to be level. You can also position the height of the tripod for different camera shots. The cameras that we used had different buttons which standard cameras do not have. Some of them were being able to watch back the footage, as well as rewinding and fast forwarding footage. Learning these techniques helped me in my production.

When filming my task, I also learnt that when filming a conversation, or a short-reverse-shot, you have to film the same sequence from three or four different angles.

The process of editing were one of the main techniques I learnt through my preliminary task, this knowledge really helped me in my production. The first thing i learnt was how to log and capture footage, this process gets all the footage onto the system and saves it, this takes sometime even when the footage is a small amount. Next I learnt how to cut footage, get rid of the footage I did not wont in my preliminary task and then put the good footage into an order that is playable. I also learnt how to use transitions and different effects, this knowledge was useful in the editing stage of my production. My previous knowledge of effects helped me to make the right transition choices.

All the information I learnt in the process of my preliminary task has helped Catherine and I get through the editing process without needing major help from anyone and make precise decisions.