Evaluation
1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Codes and conventions are what you expect to see in a media production in other words the ingredients of a genre. The conventions of a thriller movie are
· Intense excitement
· Suspense
· High level of anticipation
· Ultra heightened expectation
· Uncertainty
· Anxiety
· Nerve wracking
· Tension
In our thriller we used suspense, high level of anticipation, uncertainty, nerve wracking and tension. We used suspense at throughout the whole of the opening sequence. I think this because there are a lot of moments that made the film become more intense through the use of silence, shaky camera shots and muffled sounds. This helps to keep the audience in waiting and helps to draw them in to the film. We used high levels of anticipation at the end of the opening sequence when the main character was about to kill another person. We ended the scene on a cliff hanger so the audience want to see more and try to make conclusions of their own. We used uncertainty near the last scene when the two boys believe they are being watched and go down an ally to see if they can find the culprit. This makes the audience unsure of what to expect as they have not seen anything and would not know that something was going to can but would get a sense of insecurity. We used nerve wracking throughout the whole production. I say this because at a number of times there are point of view shots in hidden locations that make it look as if the characters in the opening sequence are being watched. This makes the audience sceptical unsure of what is happening giving new dimensions to the opening sequence and helping to establish the fact that other characters in the film. We used tension during the end scene when the character thought that there was something wrong and they were being watched. This is because they were unsure of what would happen giving the film an eerie feel.
Our thriller opening sequence used different themes to convey these conventions. Such as killing, stalking, psychological events etc. killing is very helpful as deaths bring structure and tension to films which help to draw audiences in. When looking at what thrillers for insight for death and killing 16 blocks was very helpful as it has in some ways the same conventions as our thriller. Stalking is commonly used in thrillers and is a good theme to have to make suspense and anticipation. It helps to give the film a sense of discomfort which audiences pick up on. We used this in our opening sequence to give the film some mystery and keep audiences interested in the plot. By looking at films like Fear and zodiac helped to give us ideas about how to go about using the stalking theme we managed to come up with different things to put in to allure audience attention. Psychological events such as out bursts of schizophrenia help to give the film a more realistic sense which can also relate to the audience. Our opening sequence also helped to develop the interpretation of a thriller because of the normality that took place in the film. Things like relationships and friendships were shown to help relate to the audience and make them feel as if they could understand the situation.
2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Social groups are a number of entities that have the same views as each other on social and ethical situations. Our opening sequence appeals to many different markets but does not relate to all of them because it is a physiological thriller. But even though it does not apply to the target market it still appeals to them. The social group that it represents is ethnic youths in London. The way that it represents them is kind of stereotypical and also non stereo typical. It represents them as violent this is because the main character of the film goes around killing people. This backs up the representation that ethnic youths in London are violent and have no problem killing people. It also subverts the stereo type as most youths are seen as bad not mentally ill this makes it more difficult for our production to relate to a wide market. Our product would appeal to different media groups because of the stereo types and the representations of youths in the 21st century. Youths can find common ground in the characters and relate to their situations which will in turn help them to come to terms with the character and understand them better. The characters are of different racial groups which means that they are more relatable.
3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
The word institution refers to the companies and organisation that provide media content whether for profit, public service or another motive. Media institutions are
· Sony
· BBC
· BBFC
· Apple
· Warner brothers
· Newline cinema
I think that newline cinema would be a media institution that would invest in our film. This is because they have released a number of films some of them are the biggest films of our generation e.g. lord of the rings. Also they have distributed some good thrillers that are well known. New line cinema has got a good reputation for making box office films and are very prestigious. This means that our film will have good investor and a reliable source of income so that we could set a proper budget. Even though our film is a small project it still has the potential to be big smash hit. Sony would not invest our film because they normally support action and adventure films. Also they tend to invest in the bigger names and well known stories. BBC would not be a good institution because they tend to only focus on dramas that involve house hold names from the UK and are prestigious for making the careers of some of the most well known actors. An example of one of the BBC’s films is millions. This was an award winning box office film that was not expected to be as big as it was. Apple would not be an institution to support my film because they tend to invest in action films that are much Americanised. Warner brothers could be a possible institution that would invest in us but they tend to focus more on films for people younger than the age of 15. Most of their films are action, adventure or drama and they tend to have big names in their films. They use big budgets and fly to various different locations to film. The target market for our production would be 15- 25 year olds from an ethnic background this is because they would be interested in the characters because they relate to them. The unique selling point of our media production are the actors and the music. New line cinema would be a good institution for this because they are always looking to invest in new and unusual ideas that appeal to small markets. The actors would be well known and have a wide fan base that appeals to our target market. This will help to gain more customers and fans of the film. The music will be done by well known artist and they will be making a whole album for the film. The type of music in the film would be grime as it appeals to my target market.
1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Codes and conventions are what you expect to see in a media production in other words the ingredients of a genre. The conventions of a thriller movie are
· Intense excitement
· Suspense
· High level of anticipation
· Ultra heightened expectation
· Uncertainty
· Anxiety
· Nerve wracking
· Tension
In our thriller we used suspense, high level of anticipation, uncertainty, nerve wracking and tension. We used suspense at throughout the whole of the opening sequence. I think this because there are a lot of moments that made the film become more intense through the use of silence, shaky camera shots and muffled sounds. This helps to keep the audience in waiting and helps to draw them in to the film. We used high levels of anticipation at the end of the opening sequence when the main character was about to kill another person. We ended the scene on a cliff hanger so the audience want to see more and try to make conclusions of their own. We used uncertainty near the last scene when the two boys believe they are being watched and go down an ally to see if they can find the culprit. This makes the audience unsure of what to expect as they have not seen anything and would not know that something was going to can but would get a sense of insecurity. We used nerve wracking throughout the whole production. I say this because at a number of times there are point of view shots in hidden locations that make it look as if the characters in the opening sequence are being watched. This makes the audience sceptical unsure of what is happening giving new dimensions to the opening sequence and helping to establish the fact that other characters in the film. We used tension during the end scene when the character thought that there was something wrong and they were being watched. This is because they were unsure of what would happen giving the film an eerie feel.
Our thriller opening sequence used different themes to convey these conventions. Such as killing, stalking, psychological events etc. killing is very helpful as deaths bring structure and tension to films which help to draw audiences in. When looking at what thrillers for insight for death and killing 16 blocks was very helpful as it has in some ways the same conventions as our thriller. Stalking is commonly used in thrillers and is a good theme to have to make suspense and anticipation. It helps to give the film a sense of discomfort which audiences pick up on. We used this in our opening sequence to give the film some mystery and keep audiences interested in the plot. By looking at films like Fear and zodiac helped to give us ideas about how to go about using the stalking theme we managed to come up with different things to put in to allure audience attention. Psychological events such as out bursts of schizophrenia help to give the film a more realistic sense which can also relate to the audience. Our opening sequence also helped to develop the interpretation of a thriller because of the normality that took place in the film. Things like relationships and friendships were shown to help relate to the audience and make them feel as if they could understand the situation.
2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Social groups are a number of entities that have the same views as each other on social and ethical situations. Our opening sequence appeals to many different markets but does not relate to all of them because it is a physiological thriller. But even though it does not apply to the target market it still appeals to them. The social group that it represents is ethnic youths in London. The way that it represents them is kind of stereotypical and also non stereo typical. It represents them as violent this is because the main character of the film goes around killing people. This backs up the representation that ethnic youths in London are violent and have no problem killing people. It also subverts the stereo type as most youths are seen as bad not mentally ill this makes it more difficult for our production to relate to a wide market. Our product would appeal to different media groups because of the stereo types and the representations of youths in the 21st century. Youths can find common ground in the characters and relate to their situations which will in turn help them to come to terms with the character and understand them better. The characters are of different racial groups which means that they are more relatable.
3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
The word institution refers to the companies and organisation that provide media content whether for profit, public service or another motive. Media institutions are
· Sony
· BBC
· BBFC
· Apple
· Warner brothers
· Newline cinema
I think that newline cinema would be a media institution that would invest in our film. This is because they have released a number of films some of them are the biggest films of our generation e.g. lord of the rings. Also they have distributed some good thrillers that are well known. New line cinema has got a good reputation for making box office films and are very prestigious. This means that our film will have good investor and a reliable source of income so that we could set a proper budget. Even though our film is a small project it still has the potential to be big smash hit. Sony would not invest our film because they normally support action and adventure films. Also they tend to invest in the bigger names and well known stories. BBC would not be a good institution because they tend to only focus on dramas that involve house hold names from the UK and are prestigious for making the careers of some of the most well known actors. An example of one of the BBC’s films is millions. This was an award winning box office film that was not expected to be as big as it was. Apple would not be an institution to support my film because they tend to invest in action films that are much Americanised. Warner brothers could be a possible institution that would invest in us but they tend to focus more on films for people younger than the age of 15. Most of their films are action, adventure or drama and they tend to have big names in their films. They use big budgets and fly to various different locations to film. The target market for our production would be 15- 25 year olds from an ethnic background this is because they would be interested in the characters because they relate to them. The unique selling point of our media production are the actors and the music. New line cinema would be a good institution for this because they are always looking to invest in new and unusual ideas that appeal to small markets. The actors would be well known and have a wide fan base that appeals to our target market. This will help to gain more customers and fans of the film. The music will be done by well known artist and they will be making a whole album for the film. The type of music in the film would be grime as it appeals to my target market.
Adrian
The Other Side Evaluation
4. Who would be the audience for your media product and why?
I think that males and females aged 15-25 would be interested in my film trailer, this is because of the content of the film trailer it is an action thriller and the actors are all young between 15-25 so I think that people of this age would be able to relate to the characters and find it more interesting than a 30 year old would.
It is important for me to know my target audience because I will need to base my product at my target audience in order to have the best effect on the audience. If I don’t know my target audience and I make a video then it may not be successful at all because I have no specific group that I want to view it.
We carried out audience research during and after the making of our film trailer by asking our class a series of questions through a questionnaire which gave use feedback that we could use in the making of our trailer. The questionnaire that I gave to students in my class gave me advice on what I should change and what works and what doesn’t work.
In our filming and editing we made sure that first of all our characters were young so that young people could relate and find interest in them. Also the type of thriller we created had allot of action because we were aiming it at young people who like to see action.
5. How did you attract/address your audience?
Most of the people in my class who filled out the questionnaire found that my film trailer was interesting and kept their attention mainly through the music which created suspense. Also from the questionnaire I realized that people think that the characters also make the film trailer more interesting because they are believable.
From the questionnaires that I gave out the results I got back were mostly positive and the changes that people think I should make to my opening sequence were mostly the same which was to increase the volume of the dialogue between Adrian and Issy. The class thought that my opening sequence was a psychotic/action thriller this is good because this is the genre that we were aiming for when making out film. They also thought that the music went well with the film it matched the tempo of the actions and created suspense. Every single person who filled out the questionnaire understood the basic plot of the film trailer; I think this is good because it means that we have put our ideas across to the public through our camera shots and actions from characters. But I also think that we needed to add some more suspense by giving the audience more questions to think about, because as this is an opening sequence people are not meant to think they know what will happen throughout the film or they will lose interest.
To help us with the planning of our thriller we watched many different types of thrillers and analyzed them. The thriller we looked at was an action thriller called 16 blocks which stars Bruce Willis and Mos Def. It was directed by Richard Donner and distributed by Warner Bros. this film was very successful and made $65.5 million dollars worldwide. I think that by analyzing this film it has helped me to make my film trailer by adding suspense and tension.
I think that over all the answers we got back from the questionnaire matched the intentions of our opening sequence, although I think we could have changed a few things such as adding more suspense.
1. What age do you think this thriller should be aimed at?
o 15 - 5
o 16 - 7
o 17 - 4
o 18 - 2
2. What type of thriller do you think this film is E.g. action or sci-fi?
10 people thought it was a psychotic thriller.
5 people thought it was an action thriller.
3. Do you think that the music goes well with the film?
Everybody thought the music went well.
4. Do you understand the plot of the film from the trailer?
Everybody understood the plot of the film apart from one person who didn’t understand Adrian’s role in the film.
5. Do you think the characters are believable?
Most people thought the characters were believable apart from one.
6. Does the trailer look believable?
Everybody said that the trailer looked believable.
7. What improvement do you think we can make?
The majority of people thought that the trailer needed to have more continuity and the dialogue needed to be clearer and louder.
Our final product is about a strange twisted young male who has many issues with himself mentally and physically. So to express himself he murders his friends and kills people close to him and keeps items of their clothing to remind him what he did.
6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
During the making of our opening sequence I learned how to use a video camera properly and how to achieve good shots using a tri pod. I learned how to use I movie very well because I used it in the overall making of my video. I think that making my video has allowed me to learn how to do many new things such as to add music to a video and to change to volume level of the music so that the dialogue in the scene can be heard. I also learnt how to add special effects such as transitions that allow the sequence to flow and add effect to it.
I movie allowed us to edit out thriller to the best quality as possible; we added many transitions, cuts and music. We were able to make basic shots look very good with the editing and they made our production look professional.
4. Who would be the audience for your media product and why?
I think that males and females aged 15-25 would be interested in my film trailer, this is because of the content of the film trailer it is an action thriller and the actors are all young between 15-25 so I think that people of this age would be able to relate to the characters and find it more interesting than a 30 year old would.
It is important for me to know my target audience because I will need to base my product at my target audience in order to have the best effect on the audience. If I don’t know my target audience and I make a video then it may not be successful at all because I have no specific group that I want to view it.
We carried out audience research during and after the making of our film trailer by asking our class a series of questions through a questionnaire which gave use feedback that we could use in the making of our trailer. The questionnaire that I gave to students in my class gave me advice on what I should change and what works and what doesn’t work.
In our filming and editing we made sure that first of all our characters were young so that young people could relate and find interest in them. Also the type of thriller we created had allot of action because we were aiming it at young people who like to see action.
5. How did you attract/address your audience?
Most of the people in my class who filled out the questionnaire found that my film trailer was interesting and kept their attention mainly through the music which created suspense. Also from the questionnaire I realized that people think that the characters also make the film trailer more interesting because they are believable.
From the questionnaires that I gave out the results I got back were mostly positive and the changes that people think I should make to my opening sequence were mostly the same which was to increase the volume of the dialogue between Adrian and Issy. The class thought that my opening sequence was a psychotic/action thriller this is good because this is the genre that we were aiming for when making out film. They also thought that the music went well with the film it matched the tempo of the actions and created suspense. Every single person who filled out the questionnaire understood the basic plot of the film trailer; I think this is good because it means that we have put our ideas across to the public through our camera shots and actions from characters. But I also think that we needed to add some more suspense by giving the audience more questions to think about, because as this is an opening sequence people are not meant to think they know what will happen throughout the film or they will lose interest.
To help us with the planning of our thriller we watched many different types of thrillers and analyzed them. The thriller we looked at was an action thriller called 16 blocks which stars Bruce Willis and Mos Def. It was directed by Richard Donner and distributed by Warner Bros. this film was very successful and made $65.5 million dollars worldwide. I think that by analyzing this film it has helped me to make my film trailer by adding suspense and tension.
I think that over all the answers we got back from the questionnaire matched the intentions of our opening sequence, although I think we could have changed a few things such as adding more suspense.
1. What age do you think this thriller should be aimed at?
o 15 - 5
o 16 - 7
o 17 - 4
o 18 - 2
2. What type of thriller do you think this film is E.g. action or sci-fi?
10 people thought it was a psychotic thriller.
5 people thought it was an action thriller.
3. Do you think that the music goes well with the film?
Everybody thought the music went well.
4. Do you understand the plot of the film from the trailer?
Everybody understood the plot of the film apart from one person who didn’t understand Adrian’s role in the film.
5. Do you think the characters are believable?
Most people thought the characters were believable apart from one.
6. Does the trailer look believable?
Everybody said that the trailer looked believable.
7. What improvement do you think we can make?
The majority of people thought that the trailer needed to have more continuity and the dialogue needed to be clearer and louder.
Our final product is about a strange twisted young male who has many issues with himself mentally and physically. So to express himself he murders his friends and kills people close to him and keeps items of their clothing to remind him what he did.
6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
During the making of our opening sequence I learned how to use a video camera properly and how to achieve good shots using a tri pod. I learned how to use I movie very well because I used it in the overall making of my video. I think that making my video has allowed me to learn how to do many new things such as to add music to a video and to change to volume level of the music so that the dialogue in the scene can be heard. I also learnt how to add special effects such as transitions that allow the sequence to flow and add effect to it.
I movie allowed us to edit out thriller to the best quality as possible; we added many transitions, cuts and music. We were able to make basic shots look very good with the editing and they made our production look professional.
Jerome
7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Our preliminary task was to create a film sequence of a character opening a door, walking across a room and sitting down. We had to use different shots that we had learnt in class such as shot reverse shot, and establishing shots we also had to carry out the 180 degree rule in our filming. We also used match on action shot which is a cut made on action or movement between two shots in which the action has been overlapped either by repetition of the action or by the use of more than one camera.
We had to use the 180 degree rule. This is when there is a conversation the camera stays on one side only moving around the characters at 180 degrees. The rule needs to be followed so that the scene flows naturally and is not disrupted. This allows the viewers to have a better experience.
We used shot reverse shot in our opening sequence. This is when two people are having a conversation and the camera switches to them every time that they speak. This is so that the audience can see both sides of the conversation and can gain a better understanding of what is actually happening in the sequence.
We used all of the three techniques to help give our film the best possible quality and also to give it structure. This will allow us to convey the meaning of the sequence to the audience allot easier.
I think that by using these shots and learning how to use them properly, this has helped us to understand the different techniques in a more in depth way and gave us some preparation for our actual opening sequence.
Our preliminary task was to create a film sequence of a character opening a door, walking across a room and sitting down. We had to use different shots that we had learnt in class such as shot reverse shot, and establishing shots we also had to carry out the 180 degree rule in our filming. We also used match on action shot which is a cut made on action or movement between two shots in which the action has been overlapped either by repetition of the action or by the use of more than one camera.
We had to use the 180 degree rule. This is when there is a conversation the camera stays on one side only moving around the characters at 180 degrees. The rule needs to be followed so that the scene flows naturally and is not disrupted. This allows the viewers to have a better experience.
We used shot reverse shot in our opening sequence. This is when two people are having a conversation and the camera switches to them every time that they speak. This is so that the audience can see both sides of the conversation and can gain a better understanding of what is actually happening in the sequence.
We used all of the three techniques to help give our film the best possible quality and also to give it structure. This will allow us to convey the meaning of the sequence to the audience allot easier.
I think that by using these shots and learning how to use them properly, this has helped us to understand the different techniques in a more in depth way and gave us some preparation for our actual opening sequence.
Jerome & Adrian
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