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

Our media project uses a number of forms and conventions commonly seen in a majority of films.  It was planned in a way what would keep the audience on the edge with suspense.  First most important aspect of a thriller i believe is the plot and narrative.  Most if not all thrillers have a plot which twists and makes sharp turns which was not expected by the audience.  We tried to convey this by creating a plot that has one major twist within it; this twist was that the antagonist was presumably away from the man on the computer as the killer can be seen on video.  However we set the plot in such a way that made it possible for the killer to be in both places as the video sent in the email was a pre recording.  This is not expected by the audience as at first it would seem unlikely for the killer to be close to his next victim in such a short period of time.  Along with the plot we also used a number of smaller conventions that are typically associated with thrillers, the first being out choice of music.  The music we chose was purposely slow and had a deep beat to it in some way.  This music was introduced at crucial moments within the film, the first as the man put on his headphones, to signify that the music is coming from them.  This also lets the audience know that the man is not aware of his surroundings in an audio sense as the music will drown out any background noise making it easier for him to get sneaked up on.  The second vital time we introduced another track is when the video from the email starts, this signifies a point of importance to the audience and is also an attempt to boost their attention.  The shots we used was carefully planned out also, we first used a high angle shot which was edited to convey CCTV camera footage.  This shot initialises the possibility that the man is being watched.  We then cut to a number of close up and extreme close up of the man’s face as he watches the video; this is to show his concern towards the content of the video and helps to add tension to the film.

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

Our media product has represented the young student social group in a way that they are seen to be participating in some kind of study or college work.  The use of a small room with only one person occupying connotes the average students need of independence and being away from others.  The typical killer/hostage representations was used so that the hostage was sitting down and tied up whilst the killer towers above them, with freedom to do as they wish.  The film also uses racial representation by reflecting on the typical 1970’s cliché of the back male normally being one of the first to die.

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

The type of media institution that would be interested in our film would be the British film industry.  I think this because the plot requires little special effects that would consume a high budget typically seen in Hollywood movies but has a good storyline to catch the attention of the British audience.  Similar movies created by a member of the British film industry is V for Vendetta, in both creations, the audience doesn’t know who the killer is and both killers believe they are doing what they do in the name of justice.  Another industry that would be interested is the British Film Drama industry.  The BBC and Film Four are increasingly creating low budget tv dramas which I feel that Bitter Revenge could match

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

The audience of our product would be 18 – 25, this is because it revolves around a student life and our audience must be able to relate back to when they was in a similar time in their lives.  The product would more be aimed towards the male gender as it involves violence and suspense, although we cannot rule out that the female gender will not be interested in this type of film either. As there is clear violence in our film this puts the rating of a 15, it would not be a 18 as there as there is no extreme torture or gore.

5 – How did you attract / address your audience?

We attracted our audience by making people aware of its creation.  We created a blog to post our progress in the making of the film, the allowed people to follow our progress.  This included posting the videos to YouTube as well as posting shot lists, storyboards, location notes etc on the blog, we also created a questionnaire for potential viewers to answer, and this helped us to better understanding of our audience.

Our cast was also of a young age this allowed our audience who are of a similar age to hve a connection with the characters.

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

What I learnt during the production of this film was mostly the camera equipment from setting up the tri-pod to manually adjusting the focus, i also learnt how to spot bad shots where a camera bag was in shot or excessive background noise was captured.  I also learnt how to blog our work in stages as well as upload YouTube videos.  The cameras i used where very high quality and provided me with a number of settings to fully maximise our production.

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

From the preliminary task i learnt how to put record shots at certain times to make it easier for editing rather than trying to just record the shot you need it is much easier to record as much as you can so to give the editor as much to work with.  I also learnt from the preliminary task how to correctly use the camera and its zoom and focus settings.  A mistake that was made when filming the preliminary task was having the camera bag in shot; this helped me to more closely look out for props that should not be in the shot at that time.  This helps as we can record it again rather than not have footage to use as the only footage we would have has a camera bag in shot.  I also learnt about the importance of continuity, where time must flow through each shot, and the 180-degree rule where the camera is not allowed to pass the imaginary line between two people normally facing each other.

One the main things that I learnt was the importance of planning in our preliminary task we did not have script of story bored to follow this meant we improvised, but this affected the standard of the work so form this we learnt that for the main task a script and story board would help us.

March 24, 2009

                                                            Media Evaluation

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

Our two opening sequence (Bitter Revenge) which is a thriller uses generic conventions of a thriller. From the beginning it is clear who the Antagonist is and who the Protagonist is, this was done through the use of Mise-en-scene, the antagonist is clearly shown through the costume he is wearing, he is dressed in a navy boiler suit and wears balaclava (figure 1). The protagonist is wearing a white boiler suit (figure 2). This also gives the convention of good vs bad.

Fig 1                                                                                  Fig 2

The use of props also add to conventions of a thriller the killer is shown to have a gun this instantly gives the sense of danger to the hostage. The hostage is tied down and has his mouth taped this connotes the hostage as week.

Suspense a major convention of a thriller is created through the use of sound and cinematography. The sound through the sequence gives the sense of thrill and changes to give more thrill when the hostage is shown. The music the young male in the room is listening to sets the opening mood. Suspense is also created through the cinematography in the opening scene of the sequence the young male is being viewed through a CCTV camera this gives the sense of him being watched (figure 3).  When the hostage is being viewed, he is viewed from a camera that the killer uses to record the killing on and publish it to the young male in the room this gives a sense of a danger to the young male. Close ups of the young males reaction and face are shown when he is watching the film this gives his point if view and add to the suspense. At the end of the video the young male is watching the words “Your next” appear on the screen then the young male is grabbed this adds to the suspense but also brings in the thrill as the audience knew he was going to be taken at some time but had no idea when.

Fig 3

Another generic convention of a thriller is enigma, this is created through the audience not seeing who the killer is, this leads them to as who is the killer? Another enigma is why is the killer killing the people, this is similar to kissing the girls, the film no one knows who the killer is.

The computer plays a large part of the film and gives a major convention of someone finding or seeing something in the case of our film this is the young male receiving the email and seeing the film of the hostage being killed.  This allows the audience to see the killing but also raises the questions what is going on, why has he been sent it, who is the killer and why does he kill the hostage.

Although the audience see a part of the room where the killer is holding the hostages the exact location this is convention of a thriller and adds another enigma of where is the location?

Our film shares some its conventions with Kissing the girls in the film the killer is unknown like in our film Bitter Revenge. Another connection is the killer, in our film and in Kissing the girls the killer is taking the hostages for a purpose.

These conventions define the film as a thriller but make it a crime thriller.

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

Our thriller shows a clear racial representation, this is shown through the killing. The first hostage that the audience sees is of a mixed race and the killer is known to be white, the first hostage being of a mixed race gender gives the representation of racism from the killer “black man dies first” compared to the second hostage being white. Racial separation is also shown through the use of cinematography, the killer who is white is shown to be more powerful than the hostage who is mixed race, this is shown through the way the killer stands and the hostage is sitting making the killer taller. This is also represented through the use mise-en-scene, the hostage is tied up and shown to be weak compared to the killer who has a gun giving him power over the hostage.

The film goes against stereotypical gender representations, in many films such as Kissing the girls the hostage is usually a woman, but in our thriller the hostage is a male, this is shown in the video the young male watches on his computer. Instead our film pushes conventions to show males in two ways firstly as weak through the use of the hostage who is a male, males are also shown to be powerful through the use of the killer.

The characters are young males this age group allows the audience to relate to the characters this si because the age range of the audience of our film is 15-25.

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

There are several kinds of media institutions that might want to distribute our media product. The first is a Hollywood production company such as Paramount who made Kissing the girls a film that shares similar conventions to our film. The company have a long running history in films dating back to 1912.

Another company that may make and distribute the film are Warner Bros they have a large history in making films some of which are major cost blockbusters but also ones that are less major but that are award winning such as V for Vendeta which shares many connotations with Bitter Revenge.

The film could be distributed as a British film drama. The BBC and Film Four are making many low cost film dramas that go straight to DVD or onto the TV, such as This Is England.

It could also be released as a TV series although this would be a one, this would be achievable because of the script, allowing it to be split into episodes.

There is very little room for merchandising within the film except for film posters and books, compared to other films such as the dark knight which has the fan club of batman behind it allowing for sales of toys, figurines, mugs, posters and collectables.

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

The audience for Bitter Revenge would be both male and female who are around the age of 15 to 25 we gained this information from a questionnaire that we got people to answer befire we made the film and after the film was completed, this can be seen in the graph below which shows the results of a questionnaire answered by viewers of Bitter Revenge.

The audience was also determined by the rating our film would achieve. The BBFC states for a 15 certificate I film may show violence but must not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury Our film would most properly achieve a rating of 15 this is because our film shows violence, although the violence is not graphic it dies show death and torture but is also not string enough to be rated a 18

Many thrillers such as the Dark Knight and Sin City have a audience of male and female who are aged around 15-25 and have a certificate of 15 or 18 which meets the age of their intended audience.

5.      How did you attract/address your audience?

We aimed our sequence at both males and females aged between 15 and 25 this was done through several ways. Firstly we used main generic conventions of a thriller such as a clear protagonist and antagonist who the audience could interact with, this was achieved through the use of cinematography the audience can interact with the protagonist by seeing what he views and his reaction to what he views they can also interact with the antagonist through the camera he uses to record the killing of the first hostage. This puts the audience in a position to choose a opinion of what is gong on.

Another way in which we aimed our film at our intended audience was through the way the audience shared social group relations with the characters as discussed in question 4.

We attracted our audience through the use of a blog, the blog allowed the audience to follow the progress of film. On the blog we regularly updated people of the progress we was making, through the blog the audience could view the brainstorm of ideas and our first piece of work. On the blog there were questionnaires that allowed the audience to give their opinion of the plot, script and allow the audience to get involved in giving us ideas.

We also posted the film onto You Tube this allowed them to view the film and also allowed us to aim the film to a wider audience.

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

I learnt many new skills from the technology I used. I started with basic knowledge of how editing plays a role in film but this was developed when I edited our sequence. When I edited the raw footage I used final cut pro, I soon developed a understanding that it was more than just joining the footage together.

I learnt how to use the effects and how they allowed me to create the atmosphere for example the CCTV view finder allowed me to create the effect of watching the young male through CCTV and give the effect that he is being watched.

 It also that allowed me to create the black and white effect which added to effect of the killer actually recording the killing.

I also learnt that final cut studio allowed me to add the sound to fit with the image, when adding the sound the program allowed me to overlap the sound to achieve continuity of the sound.

When editing I encountered a major problem of imagining how the final film would look so I could join the clips but I used the story board and script to aid me through this, as well as the adivice of the Director (Kyron Goode) and the Camera man (Kevin Orriss).

We made some basic mistakes one of these was a change in light level. When we was filing the scene of the young male in the room we accidently changed the light level but this was resolved through the use of editing, final cut pro allowed me to adjust the brightness and colour levels of the cuts of film so they matched.

We published our blog on word press, but this was not a good choice as blog spot would have allowed easier to use interface and prove a more suitable layout.

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

I learnt many new skills and developed my knowledge from the preliminary task. I firstly learnt how to use the camera equipment. I learnt how to set up a tripod and mount the camera and level it. From this I learnt how to frame a image and select a wide range of camera angles and shots.

I developed my understanding and knowledge of film skills, I developed my understanding of the 180° rule and how this played a major role in film. I next developed my knowledge of continuity, for me this was one of the main rules that developing my knowledge in would help the most, as editor understanding continuity helped me when editing without the knowledge the film would have not flowed and would not have made sense.

I also learnt how important planning was, I learnt that I plan would give aims and obkectives to follow, a timeline to follow and guide is more easily through the use of a script, story bored and shot lists as well as cats and location notes.

•          Shot No:

•           

•          Description of Shot

•                     

•          Shot type

  Low angle   2 Victim sitting down at computer High angle   3 Victim puts headphones on Medium shot   4 Victim doing ICT coursework Insert   5 Victim opens email Close up/ insert.   6 Victim watching video High angle   7 Victim confused at video Extreme close up   8 Hostage sitting on chair covered in black cloth. Killer points gun Medium shot   9 Victim looking shocked Close up   10 Killer takes cloth off hostage. Hostage tries to escape. Medium shot   11 Victim looking shocked. Medium   12 Hostage sitting down. Medium   13 Victim looking scared Extreme close up   14 Killer shoots hostage. Medium close up   15 Victim begins to take off headphones. High angle   16 Killer grabs Victim Medium shot  

By Kyron Goode

To open our scene, we felt we would need something that will set the mood for the audience straight away. Something to tell the audience this is already a dark movie. We chose ‘Lost’ from Sound Studio because of the effect we felt it would have. It begins with almost a slow chime which slowly begins to fade into an eerie wind. We felt it would be perfect as it fit the tone of the thriller perfectly.

The second song we used was ’306′ by Emilie Autumn. We wanted it as diagetic sound, so we felt we needed to find a song that would fit our protagonist’s social group. We had trouble finding the right song that would fit the character and also carry along the dark tone to the movie. This song was chosen because it could easily have been the intro into perhaps a dance track, but felt so much more sinister than your average song. It starts off with a bat that feels almost like a pulse, or a heartbeat, something we’d originally wished to feature. So it felt a great addition that we found a song that could achieve so much.

We then revert back to ‘Lost’ from Sound Studio when the email comes in, fading out ’306′ to give the feeling of almost impending doom. From this point we rely completely on non-diagetic sound to create atmosphere.

As the video begins to play we fade out ‘Lost’ and fade in ‘Majestic’, also from sound Studio, the rapid shift from the slow, droning sound of ‘Lost’ to the much higher pitched ‘Majestic’ represents the mood shift of the protagonist himself, who was relaxed before he began to watch the video.

‘Majestic’ continues on through the entire intro, apart from when we overlay ‘STAB’ when our antagonist reaches in to grab the protagonist, chosen to really put the audience on edge at the antagonist’s sudden appearance.

Costumes

We used props to help add to the conventions of the thriller genre.

Protagonist

We dressed the protagonist (Kyron)in a white boiler suit. It contrasted to the blue boiler suit the killer was wearing (Good Vs Bad).

Antagonist

We dressed the antagonist (Kevin) in blue boiler suit this gave the effect of a dark character. We also dress the antagonist in a balaclava this gives the audience the question who is the killer.

Young male

We dressed the young male (Matthew)  in normal cloths, as this went along with the story line of the young male working at college.

Props

Gun

We used a gun to go with the conventions of the thriller theme, this also added to the suspense when the killer shot the hostage.

 Tape

The antagonist was tied up to give the affect of a hostage situation and add the conventions.

Computer

The computer was used to show the young male working and for the email to be sent to and the video viewed through by the young male.

Camera

A camera was used by the killer to record the killing of the hostage. The camera was used as a prop but also as equipment.

Cast

Cast

For the cast we all played the rolls ourselves , this allowed us to spend less time finding people to play the rolls and people who could do it at the time we was going to film. We would all be there for filming so it made sense to play the parts. We also had a clear understanding of we wanted the parts to be played.

Kyron Goode

We choose Kyron Goode  (Director)to play the part of the hostage. The scene with the hostage was only going to be filmed from one angle and one one continuous shot, compaired to the scene where the young male (Matthew Brown) would be filmed from many angles and shots and would need Kyron’s input. This allowed Kyron to have a more active role where needed.

Matthew Brown

Matthew Brown (Editor) was chosen to okay the part of the young male who views the video Matthew was the age of the character and looked around the age to. This gave him key aspects to play the role of the character.

Kevin Orriss

We choose Kevin Orriss  (Camera man) to play the role of the killer the scene with the killing was only filmed from one angle and one shot so Kevin could set up the camera in place and play the role, still allowing him to do the camera work where many shots and angles where taken.

The film takes place in two locations, keeping the amount of locations down allows for easier editing when joining scenes together.  Both of the locations are at Havering College B block.

TELEVISION STUDIO

The television studio will be the place where the hostage is killed. The viewer will not see its a studio, the studio will be easily adapted through the use of a background. The studio is also quiet and this will help with the effect of a secluded room.

Telvision Studio

Sound room

The sound room is the room where the protagonist is watching the video while working. The room seems quiet and secluded and this adds to the effect of the silence and thrill.

sound room

sound room