Foundation Production Evaluation
In what ways does your media product use, develop or change forms and conventions of real media products?
The conventions of a thriller are the stereotypical elements that make that specific film fall within the thriller genre. The typical elements of mise en scene within a thriller are typically dim and sinister lighting along with settings where people would feel safe such as their home or with relatives also the sound/music is mostly non-diagetic to build the tension with the audience but there is some diagetic sound such as the noise of the surrounding areas e.g. in a woodland setting there would be the rustling sound of leaves and possibly the sound of twigs breaking underfoot this helps to build tension as well due to the type of sound it is edgy and unexpected. We decided on using mainly diagetic sound to further enforce the sense of gritty realism, which was a vital part in the overall look, and has aided in the crescendo of tension and suspense. We used few props within our piece but these were effective in the way we used them e.g. these props were mainly shown in fast paced shots this sparks questions in the audience, what are they for? Why do they have them? This helped to increase the build up of suspense and tension as they went as the audience only got a quick glance at them. The setting of our piece is within enclosed, dark woods this helps to create the thriller genre. The wood was large but seemed enclose and looked never ending, it had a small open space where we filmed but this still seemed small and was surrounded with tall and limp trees with no leaves on them.
In our opening sequence there is iconography show through a few objects such as the lighter. The lighter symbolises fire, danger and ignition e.g. the sparks ignite fires and the fire causes dangerous conditions when not controlled. The petrol canister can create different iconographic qualities such as it can symbolise something starting e.g. petrol/diesel is often associated with motor vehicle starting it can also symbolise danger and fire as the usual contents of a petrol canister is extremely flammable.
When filming we shot each shot from a number of different angles so that we could sit down and look at them properly before editing and also so we could get the best possible effect for our thriller piece. The camera was always handheld within our piece this gave the desired effect during specific sections of the piece although during the running sequences it gave the desire effect I think maybe it would have given an even greater effect if the camera was not as shaky and also followed the same pattern of Joe’s footsteps when following him.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
In our piece the social groups that I think are represented are 18-21 year old males that have managed to get into a bad crowd from a young age. This is because of the reasons behind the victim getting into the trouble before being kidnapped. This is also a common problem in the modern world so most people can relate to the fact that he has been kidnapped and that his position is fatal because of the bad crowd he had become part of earlier on in life. Dan represents the many young people that fall into the wrong crowd at a young age and start getting into trouble and getting pressured into misled youth culture. Jonty represents the gang leaders of today that take advantage of the weak and needy people that require some form of social stability, but happen to fall into the wrong crowd. These situations create a partial feeling of empathy within the audience although they could not help feeling it is the persons own fault.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
For our piece I would use ‘Pathe Distribution’ this is because they have a wide range of films that they have distributed and a large quantity of these are thrillers some of which create the same effect and meaning we have created/hoping to achieve with the audience. Some of the thrillers the have distributed include Memento (Christopher Nolan: Oct 2000), ‘Black Christmas’ (Glen Morgan: 2006) and many more. Pathe Distributions have had a large number of very successful thriller releases and this is why I have decided that I would like Pathe Distributors to distribute our film. It is also the UK’s leading independent film distributors.
Who would be the audience for your media product?
The audience for this piece would be males aged 18-21 and possibly some females who like the thriller genre but the main target audience would be males aged 18-21. This is because there are a number of different thrillers that are slightly similar to ours and they have indulged in the viewing of these films. Other thrillers such as Memento and The Others have had very high admission levels. Memento gaining 330,468 admissions since 2000 and The Others has gained 2,646,656 admissions since 2001 (http://lumiere.obs.coe.int/web/search/index.php), these statistics are from Great Britain alone. These statistics show that the thriller genre is very popular within Great Britain.
How did you attract/address your audience?
The target audience would be attracted to our film due to the fact that the storyline is close to the reality of today’s social society issues within the youth culture, also many people can relate to our piece as many people have experience bullying on a personal level and have been pressured into things they are unsure of or have not wanted to do. For example, in our piece Dan (the victim) is taken unwillingly and subjected to violence being made to feel small and insignificant. The camera angles throughout our piece are mainly high angle shots of the victim this adds to the feeling of domination over the victim (strength and power to the antagonist). The victim’s body language is very withdrawn and enclosed this shows his internal monologue of feeling alone and ostracized. The antagonist’s body language is very open and strong, this shows he is in control, confident and knows what he wants. The non-diagetic sound within the piece is very dark, sinister and mysterious, this creates suspense and tension within the audience as sound is very important for creating atmosphere within a film piece. The diagetic sound within the piece is natural sound from the surrounding wood area such as rustling leaves and breaking twigs, this helps to add to the suspense and tension from the non-diagetic sound as it is unexpected.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
The technologies that we used to create this product were:
The Camera
Light Reflector
Garage Band
After Effects
Final Cut Pro
We did not use much technology to create our piece but I think that our simplicity has created the desired effect that we were hoping for. I found that the software we used was easy to pick up once you set your mind to the task. For example, I found garage band particularly easy to pick up as the layout and commands were simple and it easy to create new project if you were not happy with the outcome of different experimentations of music.
With this piece I thought it was a success but still there are improvements that could be made. For example, I thought that the lighting towards the end of the piece was slightly to dull and grey, it looked de-saturated and I do not feel this looked the best it could. I also feel that a few shots were not the right choice of our selection as they did not look in place to me they seemed like they needed maybe a slight angle or shot size change, for example, there is a shot of Junior timidly putting petrol on Dan and I feel the shot would look better at a higher angle as it would give a more powerful effect on the piece.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
From the preliminary task I feel I have progressed slightly as I have managed to learn some more skills to aid in my work and the whole groups. At the start of the full product I felt it was not going to be as successful as the preliminary task, this is due to the planning being delayed and re-done during filming but as time progressed so did I and the group and I started to see the product form into the planned final piece. My skills in deciding correct shots and composition have improved since the preliminary task this is due to the previous peer evaluations. However my skills in continuity editing have not improved this, is because I still do not fully understand all the aspects of editing. My construction of character and story has improved with this task as I have really tried my best with this final product, me and the group put a lot of thought into the storyline and the characters for this piece because we wanted the best possible outcome from our work.
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