EVALUATION

Q1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

In the planning of our title sequence we looked at and researched the thriller genre and the codes and conventions. We found that some of these conventions are present within the horror genre as they help to build suspense and a tense atmosphere indicative of the thriller genre.

For example the use of artificial lighting helps to create shadows and also distorts the image, which creates a sense of mystery and also enigma codes such as the audience are asking questions like ‘who are they?’ and ‘what are they doing?’ and so we decided to use this for the shots with the killer in our title sequence as we thought that this was quite effective because it builds suspense and maintains the mystery because of lack of the character's identity.

We wanted to include lots of enigma codes within our title sequence, this was influenced by the title sequence for ‘Seven’. By using enigma codes, this make the audience ask questions and so this keeps them is suspense and they are wondering what is going to happen next. However, we didn’t stick to the narrative conventions as we only incorporated the villain from Vladamir’s theory. In our title sequence the villain takes the form of a killer, murdering the vulnerable young girl. Instead of adhering to the convention of Todorov’s theory we decided to begin the narrative with the disruption of equilibrium rather than showing the beginning state where there is equilibrium. We incorporated the conventions of sound by using a heartbeat sound clip. This is often used within the thriller and horror genre because it is a convention that effectively builds tension and suspense.

We also focused on the significance of signifiers and the use of semiotics, this is important within thrillers as it creates enigma codes for the audience as well as giving the suggestions about the narrative. The inspiration for the use of semiotics and connotations appeared more prominent as we looked at the image for ‘Schindlers list’ as it subtly gave suggestions into the narrative. Also the by having the soldiers behind the little girl suggests that the she is surrounded by war and death and so this suggests that she is going to die within the narrative. The use of red also backs up this idea of the sense of danger and death and that she will die.

http://sophieg5259.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/schindlers-list.html

Q2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Within our title sequence we decided to adhere to the character and mise-en-scene conventions by having the killer in dark clothing, this makes his appear more sinister as black has the connotations of death and evil. However, the killer also subverts to the typical representation and conventions of a killer as he is wearing jeans. This suggests that the killer is of working class and not seen as a typical villain within a thriller. This is because the conventions of a thriller include a villain that is an intelligent ‘super villain’ that out thinks the police and so this creates the suspense within the thriller because the audience are left wondering whether the villain will be found out and caught in the end of the narrative.

He is also wearing shoes that would be typically seen as younger person’s shoes. This creates an enigma code as the audience are left wondering about the identity and age of the killer. In the shots where the killer is looking at the items in the box, the killer is wearing a chequered shirt. This reinforces the idea that the killer is of a working class status and so he is not see as a typical ‘super villain’. This appears quite sinister because he is seen to be like any other normal person and so he is not seen as the stereotypical type of killer. In these two different scenes the killer is wearing contrasting types of clothing; this has been done in order to create enigma codes as this could make the audience wonder whether there may be actually two killers.

By having two different styles of dress, this could also suggest that the killer has a split personality or maybe a psychological illness and so this could give the audience a psychological depth into the character. The fact that the little girl is wearing a pink coat is significant because most young girls are into pink and girly colours. This suggests her innocence and vulnerability because she is of a young age.

The idea of the little girl being so vulnerable and innocent highlights the fact that the killer is not typically a younger person because children do not normally behave in this way and kill other children and so the audience would may think that it is behaviour of an adult rather than a younger person. However, within thrillers such as ‘The Omen’ and ‘Orphan’ this is not the case. As within ‘The Omen’ the little boy is the devils son and so this subverts the idea of children representing innocence. Also within ‘Orphan’ it appears that the female character is a young girl and so this would appear to subvert this representation of children and then we discover that the character is an older woman.

This means that the film looks at both younger and older aged people and so this could be used to show that children could be as sadistic as adults. As we have used a young girl as the central protagonist within our title sequence, it is stereotypically thought that the killer would be a male character as the audience are aware that in the media there are stories of young girls being kidnapped or murdered by older males. In our title sequence there are a range of social groups that could be represented, especially though the use of mis-en-scene.

 

Q3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

As we decided to use the film company ‘Film 4’ for the production of our title sequence, this meant that our film would be a low budget British production and would probably mainly be distributed within the UK. Cinemas are widely popular among the younger audience viewers, but also older viewers can enjoy viewing the film as it is not just available to one social class. However, releasing films onto DVD format has proved to be popular especially amongst our potential target audience this is because the audience are able to watch films in the comfort of their own homes. Media technology has evolved over the years and especially the method of distribution. Selling films online have also proved popular and so the media institution ‘iTunes’ could also distribute our film as it would have been shown in British cinemas and released onto DVD.

Film 4’ is a digital television channel within the UK and the Republic of Ireland. It is owned and operated by Channel 4 and so this means that viewers are provided with a TV channel that distributes British Films, which would meant that we could use this to our advantage to distribute our film. ‘Film 4’ was a subscription only service. However, this was dropped in 2006 and so our target audience would be able to watch our thriller without having to subscribe to the channel and so different social classes may not be excluded. An online film distribution method (‘World Cinema Online’) was set up in order to allow audiences to purchase or rent films that are both award winning independent titles as well as quality titles that haven't had the exposure that they deserve as well as covering a large range of genres, but mainly specialising in lower budget films. This means that ‘Film 4’ would be able to distribute films all over the world, which would mean that we would have a larger target audience.

Q4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

The target audience for our thriller is to a wide audience, as it is a certificate 15, this means that our film appeals to teenagers as well as the older audience because it involves scenes of action as our potential target audience questionnaire showed that these was the top choice. Our thriller is not targeted towards any particular nationality. However, the main nationality of the audience may be British as the production company ‘Film 4’ focuses on British films. This means that the film may be distributed mainly within the UK rather than being a worldwide release and so their films would mainly be for a niche audience. This film would also appeal to an audience that enjoy action, psychological and crime thrillers as there is a build up of suspense and tension. It would also mean that the audience may have a higher education level because thrillers involve the audience thinking about what is going to happen next and how the narrative will unfold.

Q5. How did you attract or address your audience?

During the planning of our title sequence we thought that including conventions of a thriller was the best way to attract and address the audience as this would help to build suspense and to create a tense mood indicative of the thriller genre. The use of tense music such as the heartbeat builds tension because the audience’s heart beat matches that of the non-diegetic sound of the heartbeat.

Within thrillers binary opposition is used as a basis for a narrative as it shows the two oppositions (good vs. evil). Within our thriller we have used a victim and a killer to show this binary opposition. This means that the victim is could suffer an inevitable downfall and so this gives the audience an insight into the narrative. The fact that the audience do not know why the killer is murdering young girls is particularly sinister as you do not fully understand his psychological state and also his motive, of if there is one. This creates and increases the suspense as the audience are kept guessing. We tried to maintain the sense of mystery by concealing the killer’s identity; this creates enigma codes as the audience want to know the killer’s identity and what their motive is. This also relates to the audience as they may have a higher education and so they would need to be quite intellectual in order to keep up with the different twists and turns within the narrative.

It fits the thriller genre as this is a convention of the genre because the narrative is not supposed to be given away at the beginning and so this is basis of creating suspense and tension. We edited our title sequence so that it appeared to more of the thriller genre. For example, we used a three way colour corrector tool to decrease the saturation so that the shadows appeared more prominent and so this distorts areas of the frame and this adds to the sense of mystery. By using close up shots this suggests that the character is scared and suggests the sense of fear. This builds tension and suspense as the audience can see the fear in their eyes as well as their facial expression. By using this convention it makes it indicative to the thriller genre and this is what the audience want to see as they want to tension and suspense to be built up and maintained.

Q6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Through the construction of this product I have learnt a lot about how technology is used not only within our own projects but also within the real media world as there are lots of similarities. I have developed my computer skills as we have been using different software on the ‘Macs’ that I had not used before for our project. I have especially become familiar with the programme ‘Final Cut Pro’ and how to edit clips and join them together effectively. Using ‘Final Cut Pro’ and ‘Soundtrack Pro’ allowed us to come up with more creative ideas that improved our title sequence. For example, we really liked the effects used for the text within the ‘Seven’ title sequence and so we experimented with a range of fonts and effects that allowed us to create a font that looked typical of the thriller genre.

http://sophieg5259.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/font.html

We found a font called ‘Old Typewriter’ on a font website that gave the sinister effect that we were looking for. During the planning of our title sequence we decided that we would have a white and black effect with a red ribbon in the shot. However, after experimenting with some of the other effects such as changing the saturation we thought that this would look better and more thriller like as there is still colour in the shot as well as there being the dark shadows being sat by the trees. We also learnt how to arrange and organise our clips using the timeline.

This meant that we were able to layer the different clips of music that we used within our title sequence and I think that this made our title sequence more effective as there was the sound of the violins, heartbeat, the build up and the music box lullaby. While we were editing I leant how to add cross fades to the clips so that there was a smooth transition from frame to frame, it also helped to slow down the pace of the title sequence, which added suspense and tension indicative of the thriller genre. We used torches to add quite subtle artificial lighting, we also had light coming in through a window and we wanted light on the killers hands so that this makes the audience focuses on what the killer is doing, creating enigma codes, such as whose items are they? And why does he have them? We worked as a group to edit our title sequence and so we all knew how to use the different programmes. Although we did work as a group I think that I would now be more confident of editing if I had to do it independently.

Knowing how the tripod worked was also important as we wanted to shoot a scene using a pan and so it took us a little while to get it just right for filming the shot. One we had it sorted we liked our panning shot as it shows the little girl running through the wood. This clip may not have been as effective because it may have been too shaky without the tripod. We also learnt how to use ‘Motion’, this allowed us to make the ribbon stand out as we could select the colour of the ribbon and change the brightness so that it appeared more dominant within the frame and so that the audience are more aware of the ribbon and so this creates enigma codes such as ‘why is the ribbon so important within the narrative?’

Q7. Looking back at you preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Since doing our preliminary task we have learnt a lot as well as being able to develop on skills that we had gained from doing the preliminary task. When we did our preliminary task we found that we had made quite a few mistakes, such as the 180 degree rule and we also made a few continuity errors along the way. I found that the preliminary task was more simple compared to the main task as it was more structured, whereas the main task had to last 2 minutes and we didn't have to include certain shots or techniques. I think that by creating a target audience questionnaire this helped us get different ideas as we knew what our potential target audience liked and wanted from a thriller and so we could base some of our ideas using the feedback from the questionnaire.

As we made quite a few mistakes in the preliminary task it taught us to plan and be a bit more organised rather than just making a storyboard and then filming and so we discussed our ideas and thoughts so that the whole group understood the narrative and shots that we were going to us. This also meant that the group had time to come up with other ideas on how to improve our title sequence so the communication within the group worked really well. The main lesson that the preliminary task taught us was that we needed film more than what we needed. When we tried to edit our clips together we found that they didn't fit together properly the first time and so when we filmed for the main task we filmed each clip for a few seconds longer than what was needed and so we were able to cut it ‘Final Cut Pro’ when we came to editing.

Also filming things multiple times proved helpful as not everything worked best first time and so we recorded things from different angles so that we could see what worked best when we came to edit. The lighting and shadows in location for our preliminary task taught us that we should take chances and be creative by experimenting with different shots and so we did this while filming as we re-filmed sections of the title sequence to make sure we had enough footage to work with. Doing the preliminary task mean that we had the basic of how to use ‘Final Cut Pro’, the camera and tripod. It really helped because we knew how to load our clips and put them on the time line to create a rough basis on what our title sequence was going to look like as we had the right order of where they were going to go.

Even though we had the continuity error of the lighting and audio in our preliminary task it made us think more about continuity and how important it was to keep things the same. We also thought about the different types of lighting and camera angles that we as camera shots such as close ups and artificial lighting are conventions and are indicative of the thriller genre. In the preliminary task we didn't have to do any research and I think that if we didn't do this then we wouldn’t have come up with the different ideas that we did. For example, we may not have had the box scene with the killer if we hadn’t of watched and analysed the title sequence for ‘Seven’ or the effects of the titles. The research that we conducted, allowed us to look at the different conventions that are indicative of the thriller genre and that help to build tension and suspense.