Joe's Evaluation

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

The main conventions are that it is characterised by fast pacing, frequent action sequences and often a resourceful protagonist. The thriller genre is wide that there isn’t a specific setting for it. Thriller films are known for creating immense excitement, suspense and an exceedingly high level of anticipation and anxiety.

The main them for our thriller is that abduction for the subgenre. The antagonist’s face is never seen which creates an enigma and anticipation to see who this figure is. The antagonist is always kept so that dark light is on his face. We used a lot of slow zooms to close ups to show obviously what was going and to create mild tension. All of it is filmed outside in bad weather so the scenery is grey and bleak and we used a score that is slow to start with and speeds up as the thriller moves faster. We only put a score at the end because we wanted it to be dead silent at the beginning and straight into a loud phone ringing to try and create excitement.



The characters are all dressed in black because neither of the characters are good people and in a way are both antagonists’. The characters are all young because we were aiming our film at a young target audience and we thought this would appeal to younger audience. Our film could loosely be an action film because of the fast paced score and one of the key props was a gun.

The main forms and conventions of an opening sequence are to set the scene and to set out the story line. Also looking at many opening sequences they are used to make the main characters of the film stand out straight away and to show what role the play.

The forms and conventions of an opening sequence can be differentiated between classic and contemporary because Hitchcock a pioneer of the thriller genre used mainly men who had problems with their mothers, defenceless women and psychological sequences as his main convention, where as is modern day films like ‘28 days later’ use zombie’s or my opening sequence which used drugs and kidnapping as the main convention.

I would say my opening sequence is contemporary because we use drugs as are main convention. Drug use is very common among youth’s and we used drugs because the opening sequence was aimed at 16-24 age group. As the environment we live in changes so does the kind of films made because the point of a thriller is to seem realistic.

The two main films that influenced the making of the opening sequence were ‘Batman: The Dark Knight’ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usIyEL7ut5A and ‘Harry Brown’ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVOSfHFNlcI.%20 We got the idea of kidnapping from the Batman film because it was a very tense moment waiting to see who Batman chose to save. Also Harry Brown used hurting the person who hurt you as the main idea and watching that take place was exciting because the audience felt a type of justice seeing people punished. The ’28 Days Later’ opening sequence influenced the opening sequence because it used mystery characters and you wanted to find out who they were. Alfred Hitchcock’s use of interesting transactions and canted angles influenced our film as we tried to make some of our transitions much more interesting or exciting then the obvious choices.

I would say that my film is very identifiably British because all the characters have British accents and we used mini DV camcorders that are quite gritty where as a big Hollywood blockbuster is filmed on celluloid which give them a much sharper and high contrast look.

The film does comply with usual conventions because we created enigmas by using lighting to create a dark shadow on one of the characters face and used the score to create suspense towards the end of the film. The score could also make the film seem a bit action based as well as the fast pace of the whole film.

I would say that our film has challenged thriller conventions slightly because we used an all male cast and dressed them all in the same colour clothing because they were all in a way antagonists and also because of the urban setting and also because of our contemporary them of abduction.

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

The cast in the film are all male and all aged 16-17. All of the cast where white except for two characters who were both Asian, although you could not tell this in the film. The accent’s of the two main characters were London accents and the drug dealer we made sure he had a cockney accent to play on the stereotype that east Londoners aren’t the most trust worthy of people. You would assume that all the characters were heterosexual because there is no obvious sign that any of the characters where homosexual. Our main characters were white and usually there is at least one character who is black or another skin colour and they are known for being the characters that die first, this stereotype is often used in parody’s of thriller’s or horrors. We also used an all male cast because it didn’t seem right using a female because they wouldn’t of been that imposing as the male characters.

We didn’t purposely communicate a message through although if we were going to about Londoners we might have possibly casted an ethnic minority as the drug dealer. Incorporating a stereotype would have been a bit typical and we purposely chose not to do this.

3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

I would say that are film is more of an independent film because it is low budget and this gives it a more realism style, we also used a cast of unknown actors because this also gave us another sense of realism.

Mainstream films tend to use more defined camera’s which give them a glossier style, they also have bigger budgets and well known a list stars.

Films can be distributed in many different areas such as the major cinema chains or in independent cinemas. Films festivals are also a good way to attract distributers. Video sharing websites and social networking is also another way to distribute. Putting up adverts on television is a popular way to advertise the film. Trailer websites such as apples is very popular among mainstream films.

Our film is more independent film style so film festivals and video sharing websites would be the best way to exhibit our film. This would benefit us because it would be cheap a way of people getting to knowing our film work.

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

Our film is a thriller and has a cast of teenagers and so is aimed at 16-24 year olds. Our film is a 15 by BBFC standards because it would most likely attract this sort of audience. It also isn’t too much of a wet horror, there is no blood or gore or swearing in our film. Thriller’s are usually more psychological and tend not to have so much violence where as horrors do. We didn’t have any problems with BBFC; our main concern was not to make it a horror. I think we did create a product suitable for our initial audience.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

The main way we attracted our target audience was by using a young cast. Thrillers are often rated a 15 by the BBFC so it’s the kind of film our target audience are used to seeing. We also used drugs as a way of attracting a young audience because it is a growing stereotype of teenagers to use drugs.

We used a gun to keep the film interesting because gun crime is a big problem in London and with it being a young cast we decided a gun would be appropriate.

We used YouTube to get audience feedback and it was all good also audience feedback among 10 sixteen year olds decided what our film should be called.

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

The technology helped us a lot with making finishing the film. We used I-movie as our editing software, mini DV camcorders, the internet for thing like BlogSpot were we posted our research for our film, and YouTube to look up clips of other media coursework and opening sequence.

The new media technology such as the internet influenced our production because we had to use copyright free music and sound effects, audience feedback from YouTube and distribution on YouTube.

Using non-linear software was a bit of a learning curve. It helped our film greatly because I-movie is very easy to use because it breaks up the clips and you can move them around. This is good because you don’t have to film in an order. It allowed us to develop our ideas because we could easily change around our different scenes.

We moved a few bits of the film around and the film took shape rather well in the editing process. The final edit is similar to the story board but quite different because we had to cut a character out because we were let down by our actors and we thought we could improve bits by changing dialogue and putting a score just at the end.

Our limitations were that we didn’t have external microphones so diegetic sound was very loud in some parts, so loud you couldn’t hear the dialogue. For this reason there wasn’t much dialogue in other films because a thriller convention is to use score and silence to create tension. We had a fair bit of dialogue so we used the microphone on the apple Mac’s to record voiceovers and diegetic sound so that you could hear the dialogue and it seemed realistic.

Lighting wasn’t too much of a problem and in fact helped us because we used the sun to cast a shadow on the main characters face so it created an enigma.



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

We used the preliminary task to help us get used to using the cameras and software, we also joked around a bit doing the preliminary task. The coursework we were serious about because we wanted to get it right, the first draft was poor but the final draft was a lot better. The preliminary task wasn’t that hard and it ran smoothly, the only problem we had was getting used to the 180 degree rule. We had more time with our coursework which allowed us to develop and re-shoot our idea where-as we had not as much time for the preliminary task. We also had to follow one certain idea for our preliminary where as we could choose our own for the coursework.

Michael's Evaluation

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

Thriller is a very well defined genre with many traits and conventions. There are many specific aspects for a film to be defined as a thriller film. Typically in a thriller film the cinematography consists of close-ups mixed with very fast editing. This increases the rhythm and pace of the film which is particularly important to Thriller films. It isn’t just what’s on-screen that matters for a thriller film, the sound of a thriller film adds to the tension and the drama. Misé en scene is also a big part of the thriller genre as it tries to convey the theme across to the audience, things such as low key lighting is used to add suspense and tension. Typically the characters in a thriller film consist of a vulnerable female and a criminal mastermind. These types of films however are usually thriller hybrids such as espionage thriller and crime.

Our film features many of the stereotypical traits that are associated with the thriller genre, featuring a mixture of classic and contemporary. Firstly, our film has a very classic ‘revenge’ based storyline however it has some modern twists. Our film consists of many techniques used within the thriller genre such as fast editing. The Location of a Thriller film is usually in an exotic area to add a bit of an enigma, this is because foreign locations make the audience suspicious as it is out of their comfort zone and puts them into the unknown. However when picking locations we didn’t have a wide variety of areas however we knew that we wanted realistic areas that are associated with everyday life, such as a park or school. Enigmas are very common in thriller films and our film also shows this as there are enigma’s presented to the audience, firstly the death, who is he? How?

However we didn’t completely stick to what we would normally associate with the thriller genre, for example a thriller film is usually set at night or in very dark areas with low key lighting, yet ours is filmed in broad daylight. Unlike conventional thrillers we didn’t have a score for a majority of our film and only had a bit near the end where the tension and suspense is needed to grab the audience. For our cast we again went against the conventions for a Thriller film, we had to use what was available, therefore we had a all male cast, however it wouldn’t make much of a difference as the typical thriller has a female victim, such as Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘psycho’. Yet in our film we do not see the victims face therefore a different cast wouldn’t have made a lot of difference. Our film would definitely be considered as a quintessentially a British film, simply because it has a gritty film generally considered to be part of British cinema. Our film is also a contemporary twist on a classic ‘revenge’ based storyline.

The film that we have made has been influenced by many films, particularly ‘the Dark Knight’. This film has heavily influenced our film as the hostage scene from ‘The Dark Knight’ is very similar to our hostage scene. Also the whole issue of direct consequences due to the decisions we make, this is a very prevalent theme within ‘The Dark Knight’ as well as our film. This is represented by the choices both our characters make and in ‘The Dark knight’ the choices can be shown by the flip of a coin deciding a person’s fate.

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

The way social groups are represented in films are very important, this is what leads to stereotypes that are often associated with the particular social group. Firstly, the main type of social group, men and women. Women are represented as very beautiful, weak and vulnerable characters within films that are very dependent on the male counter-parts. Men on the other hand are represented as very aggressive, handsome and strong.

There is also a representation of different age groups. The younger generation such as teenagers which are present in our film are meant to be seen as dangerous and volatile. Meanwhile elderly generations are represented as very weak, vulnerable and full of wisdom. Following on from teenagers we reach the representation of different ethnic groups. In many films we see Black people being represented as dangerous, Asians are generally seen as very dodgy and that Caucasians are rich middle-class. In our film we have played into the ethnic stereotypes as we have teenagers acting very unusually, one is a drug dealer, another has a gun. This adheres to the generally known stereotypes that have been associated with teenagers.

In our film an all male cast has been used with and our victim is quite a scrawny male, which isn’t very common within films. We could easily adhere to the thriller stereotype with a female victim however we are unable to see the victim as their head is covered and therefore it wouldn’t have added or taken anything away from the film. In order to maintain the classic thriller element of our opening sequence a masculine cast is useful as many of the male characters within thriller films are often well built and we have tried to adhere to this. Therefore in some ways we have abided by the classic thriller stereotypes with our drug dealer ‘Chris’ and have also challenged the way particular social groups are represented with a male victim as opposed to the typical vulnerable female.

3. What Kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Our Opening sequence to a Thriller film would be called an Independent, British film. This generally means that it is a low budget, amateur film. Which in our case is definitely true, there was little to no budget and none of our group had any experience whatsoever in film making or editing, other than the preliminary task we attempted just before. Our film was an attempt to make a realistic production as opposed to the typical Hollywood film that consists of a very big budget, this helps to fund a high profile cast and special effects, these are attempts to make the film seem realistic, however it often goes overboard and the films begin to look very unrealistic. Another thing that helped the realism of our film is that we used cameras with mini DV tape, this allowed a gritty realism to our film, rather than celluloid used in Hollywood films giving an enhanced and unrealistic looking film.

Unfortunately because our film is an independent opening sequence it is unlikely that our film would be picked up by mainstream media and therefore it will not be distributed via the mainstream cinema chains such as Vue, Odeon or Cineworld etc. This is due to a lack of funding, firstly this means that we are unable to get a high profile cast or Production Company, this leads to a lack of advertising that means we will be unable to attract a large audience to our film or have money to pay the cinema. Therefore it is more likely that our film would be shown in a local, independent cinema such as Waterman’s in Brentford or the Electric cinema in Notting hill. Another way that we would be able to distribute our film is through film festivals such as the London Independent Film Festival which started in 2004, or on a smaller scale a local film festival such as Portobello Film Festival. Unfortunately again due to the independent nature of our film and the high profile of the event, an attempt at the Cannes Film Festival or to a lesser extent the Sundance Film Festival would just be impractical.

Another way we would be able to distribute our opening sequence is through television. Some channels such as Channel 4 are a government owned public service broadcaster that are to create and to broadcast shows and films for a minority interest. This would then allow us to put forward our opening sequence in the hope that it might be shown for the viewers with the minority interest. Furthermore there is a chance of a local, community-based channel on cable or satellite which broadcasts user created content. This would allow us to have our opening sequence on television; however it will be broadcast to a very small audience.

Fortunately though there is a very good way to distribute our opening sequence, and that is through the internet. Video hosting sites such as YouTube and MySpace gain million of visitors per day. A very good thing about these sites is the social networking aspect to them; this allows a large number of viewers to be attracted to our opening sequence quickly, seemingly like a domino effect. On top of that some sites such as MySpace allows for profit to be made due to the option of downloading the product, which we are then able to charge for.

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

The research that we had done for the audience of our clip we had decided that our opening sequence was going to be targeted at 16-25 year olds. This is because our cast is teenagers and therefore it isn‘t very likely to appeal to anyone over the age of 25. We would have liked to be able to aim for a 12/12A rating due to an increased possible audience, however the storyline involves many themes that are not suitable for those under the age of 15 and therefore the certificate our opening sequence would be given is 15.

There were a few concerns as we have violence in our film as well as ‘drug taking’ so it is off limits to young children which may affect the times it can be shown on a TV channel such as channel 4 as it would have to be shown after the watershed, to avoid a young audience. Even though we have no use of strong language or any sexual content what we have got warrants a 15 certificate and therefore we have tried to target an audience between the ages of 16-25.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

We first looked at the British Board Of Film Classification regulations and after looking at what is required for a Thriller film and so we had an audience generally between the age of 16-25. To captivate the audience we decided to pick a relevant topic for our audience and the story line is based around drugs. That is when we settled on the idea that something goes wrong and a revenge story plays out.

For our audience to easily associate with the film we used a teenage cast, we also used a school as the setting which many people in their teenage years or early 20’s can easily relate to. On top of this the school as a location or as part of a storyline has lead to some very successful films and TV shows, a prime example of this is the American pie films.

After the 1^st draft of our film was viewed to say the audience feedback was negative would be an understatement. Our audience feedback consisted of about 15 members who told us what was good about our opening sequence, what was wrong with the film and how it can be improved. Our 1^st draft of the film wasn’t very good as there was a very out of place voice over, and the film wasn’t completely understandable. This extensive audience feedback was very negative, however in one respect it was very helpful as many of the flaws were pointed out and we were able to re-film, re-edit and improve our film as a whole. Another benefit from our audience feedback is that they were the age that our film was targeted at and they said that it was ‘very relevant’ or quite relevant’ as an audience. Our audience also picked up on a lack of diegetic noise in the background for some parts of our opening sequence; this was due to a voiceover meaning we had to cut all noise from our first clip. To solve this we went back to the location of filming and recorded diegetic noise of the area and edited them into our clip. We also had an issue with the score; our film lacks a score for the most part due to dialogue being used to get across the story of our opening sequence.

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

Throughout this project we have used many different technologies. Starting with the basics such as researching, through to filming and editing. Firstly research, for research we used the internet, sites such as Wikipedia and YouTube were vital to our assignment, we were able to get research for our blog, this made a very big difference as it was a quick process as opposed to doing it all without the use of the internet. On top of all of this it allowed us to download copyright free music and sound effects that we were able to add to our film to make it more engrossing and entertaining for our audience. Furthermore YouTube has allowed us to distribute our film to a vast number of people free of charge and allows us to get more audience feedback.

Also for our project in particular non-linear editing software was needed, for this we used ‘iMovie HD’. Due to being non-linear editing software we were able to film our opening sequence in any order rather than inconveniently film it in a chronological order. ‘iMovie HD’ therefore saved us a significant amount of time as we were able to easily align our sequence in order even though it was filmed in a completely different order. Furthermore iMovie HD also allowed us to redraft, delete and change parts of our film very easily.

To film our opening sequence we used DV cameras and DV tape. The DV tape allowed for more realistic lighting and look. This allowed our film to look a lot more realistic and have a gritty feel to it. As opposed to the Hollywood counterpart celluloid, enhancing colours and in general giving a less realistic look to the product. Unfortunately there were some downsides to the recording technology, our cameras had internal microphones that weren’t very powerful, we didn’t have access to and external microphone and therefore voice recording was very hard, this resulted in voiceover, which takes away from the realism of our film. This was very unfortunate as our opening sequence needs dialogue so the audience can fully understand what is going on even though we tried to keep the speech minimal, which detracts from our film.

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

We have progressed very far from our preliminary task in developing our final product. Firstly for our preliminary task we didn’t have much preparation, only a storyboard to work from. However for our full product we had researched what we were aiming to do, had a better understanding of what we wanted our final product to be. On top of this we had produced a more detailed storyboard, produced a script, a synopsis and a timescale for when we can get it done.

During our preliminary task we had encountered many issues. Firstly, the 180 degree rule, it is a very basic concept when you get to grips with it but we had little understanding at the time. Therefore we were unsure as to whether we were breaking it or not until editing. Another issues we had was overlapping and how specific it needs to be, how the smallest detail can detract from the realism. This meant that we were extremely careful when we were filming an overlapping scene for our final product. Every mistake we made in our preliminary task we were careful to try and avoid making the same mistake.

During our preliminary task everything seemed very new, we weren’t as technically able with the equipment. Since the preliminary task we have become more accustom to the hardware and software that we have been using and therefore we have been able to use them to the best of our ability. This allowed us to make the extra tweaks needed to make our final product a better product. Therefore I believe that we have vastly improved since making our preliminary task and that the improvements should be shown in the difference between the two tasks.

Filming dates

On Friday 22nd we started filming the first part of our film, this involved Michael Hodieub and Dean Mcphail. They assumed roles in our film and after an hour or so of filming in the rain for the right atmosphere we decided that we had enough footage and took it back to editing. this was the first time we had seen our film coming together and after and hour or so of filming we had started editing to find that we then had about 40seconds worth of footage for our final piece,
We continued filming on Friday 29nd, this involved Me and Joe, we were able to get a friend to help out, Sean Plumber. He said that he would be in our film so we used him as our main actor, this was very helpful as he had done drama at GCSE. Secondly another friend volunteered to be in the film, after filming we realised that he wasn't right for the role and unfortunately we had to cut his part from the film. Fortunately Joe decided to step in and when we were at the location we filmed it and got what we needed. When reviewing in editing it all looked fine, so it was included in film.
Then our final piece of filming was done on Tuesday 2nd, this included the final scene of our film, this was quite hard as we had to use props and the props we had looked very realistic and therefore we had to be careful who was around to avoid getting into a disaster and ruining our film.

Script for our film

Start with a black screen , interupted by a ringing phone.

(Hand moves towards and picks up the phone)

Chris: Hello?

Kidnapper: Chris? (muffled voice)

Chris: New customer?

 Kidnapper: My brother was....

Chris:  What do you want?

Kidnapper: Revenge... you killed my brother

Chris: No refunds, not my fault

Kidnapper: Now you'll know what it feels like

Chris: What you on about?

(as this plays out the image will be of a flash back, this will all involve the brother buying the drugs, taking the drugs and dying as a result of the drugs, it will all fade in and out throughout, while the dialogue is in the background.

 

Kidnapper: Make a choice, Alex or Sean...

(Phone hangs up... flatline)

 

Thriller Genre

Thriller is a very broad genre, it is characterized by fast pacing, frequent action and a resourceful hero. However there is no specific setting for a thriller, it is such a wide genre that it includes different ends of the spectrum, from crime thrillers, spy thrillers all the way to techno thrillers, medical thrillers and even erotic thrillers. Thriller is full of these many subgenres, that help divide up the genre as a whole and easily allows us to classify each specific film easily.
Thriller are films that are known to provoke intense excitement, suspense, a high level of anticipation, ultra-heightened expectation, uncertainty, anxiety, and nerve-wracking tension. Strictly speaking the genre can be defined as a film that relentlessly pursues a single-minded goal. Thriller films are meant to continually have the audience on the edge of their seats as it leads up to a nail-biting climax.
Due to some of the feelings that evoke from the thriller genre it can often get confused with a very similar horror genre. this often leads to the hybrid genres in which both types of genre are intertwined together.
An example a of early thriller films are those by Hitchcock, who is regarded as the creator of the thriller genre. Alfred Hitchcock has helped to shape modern-day thrillers. His work meant that he was acknowledged as the master of the thriller genre. He would manipulate the audience's fears and desires. This has lead to him being the influence of many thriller films and arguably the thriller genre itself.

The thriller genre has many subgenres such as:



Action-Adventure Thriller
Treasure hunt, search for a lost archaeological site, the worlds lost meteorite, a mystery lost to time--action-adventure brings back our childhood fantasies of being the adventurer. This is also one of the hardest subgenres of thriller to write because of the amount of action required.

Disaster Thriller

Any kind of disaster that can affect lots of people--a dam bursting, a tornado sweeping through Los Angeles, a luxury cruise liner sinking.

Historical Thriller
Thrillers set in the past, usually combined with other subgenres. This particular subgenre is rather uncommon.

Medical Thriller
Robin Cook introduced us to the medical thriller, where modern medical technology that is supposed to help people is morphed into something deadly.

Religious Thriller
Popularized by the blockbuster The Da Vinci Code, this subgenre uses the rich and long history of religion to build stories with high stakes and deadly politics.

Serial Killer Thriller
This is an extremely popular subgenre of thriller. In this subgenre, a serial killer is terrorizing a group of people with horrific violence. The detective's goal is to stop the killer before he takes his next victim.

Techno Thriller
When people talk about thriller, the first thing they usually think of is a techno thriller like Tom Clancy's books. In techno-thrillers, the technology drives the plot, whether it's new military technology for a submarine or forensics.

Thriller Devices

Literary devices such as suspense, red herrings and cliffhangers are used extensively. A thriller is a villain driven plot, whereby he presents obstacles the hero must overcome. The genre is a flexible form that can undermine audience complacency through a dramatic rendering of psychological, social, and political tensions. Jump cuts, low and high key lighting are often used with the backing a slow dramatic score that picks up in pace are also common sights to see in thriller movies.

Films such as 28 Days Later are a very effective example of a Thriller. It is a zombie movie and these usualy are 'wet' horror's but 28 Days Later is more psychological and cleverly uses the score to create tension. It keeps the viewer on the edge because your always waiting for the next zombie attack and wondering how, if they do, get out of it. This is very effective as what the audience expects isn't neccesarily what happens and they are caught out at the most unexpecting moments in the film.