Question One

Question One  – In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of a real media product?

 

A thriller is a type of film that typically involves crime, espionage and an exciting plot. Some of the most common sub genres of a thriller are crime, super natural, film noir, medical, action, Sci-fi, disaster, romance. Because the opening to my thriller is set in a church, it may appear that the sub-genre is religious. But, because of the plot of my thriller, the sub-genre is crime. I have chosen the crime sub-genre because my research into my target audience portrayed that this would be the best sub-genre to use. There are certain elements of this sub-genre that I feel I have portrayed in my thriller opening. One of these elements is that I have casted a male to play the role of the protagonist. By using a male protagonist my thriller uses the common convention of the male taking the lead role. I chose to use a male because of the feedback that I got from the questionnaire I gave out. But, one other element of my thriller has been developed into something that in not common to see in this genre, young love. The characters for this genre of film are most commonly played by male or females between the ages of 30 to 45 years old, sometimes even 50. This is why that the age of my characters (17 years old) is unusual to see in this sub-genre.

There are also conventions for the shot types, editing, and mise-en-scene. After watching and making notes on popular opening to thrillers I learnt that the most important things to do in the first three minutes are to set the scene e.g. As show where the film is set, build tension by using close ups or sound and also to establish the main characters.

I chose to watch the openings to No Country for Old Men, Drive and Sky fall. All of these within the first five minutes showed where the film is set, built tension with action and established the main characters. This inspired me to concentrate on these three aspects when coming up with an idea for my thriller.

Some of the conventions that stood out to me in two of the opening that I watched, drive and sky fall, are that the protagonists face is often covered with shadows, this could be to show that he has a hidden past or it could be used to build tension and make the audience wonder who is the character they haven't seen yet.  This is something I took in to consideration and felt that one of the characters should either be masked or have his/hers identity hidden with shadows or close ups on curtain parts of their face. I also liked the voice over in No Country for Old Men. I liked the way that it built the tension slowly and also gave you information on who the police were dealing with. After watching the No Country for Old Men opening  I was considering  about having a voice over for my thriller but then it dawned on me that it would have to be worded perfectly and that if it wasn’t the tension wouldn’t be built enough to have an impact on the audience. Another problem would be that the voice of the voice over would have to fit in with the genre, for example the voice over for the opening in No Country for Old Men has a western accent which fits the location of the movie.

My Thriller                                                             Drive

 

 

 

When I watched the opening to Drive, I thought that the dark city was effective for creating an atmosphere and tension. I did think about shooting but because of the low quality of the camera, the city wouldn’t be clear and the opening wouldn’t be effective. I did shoot part of my opening at night and I feel that there is a likeness between the two images below.

 

 

 

 

My thriller                                                                    No Country for Old Men

 

 

 

 

Another convention that I feel I have used is setting the scene. I have compared this screen shot of my thriller to the opening of No Country for Old Men and although my shot is not an extreme long shot, there are still significant aspects that are similar, for example the position of the stone wall in my opening and the position of the fence in No Country for Old Men.

 

My Thriller                                                                    Drive

 

 

 

 

This screen shot of my thriller and a screen shot from the opening to Drive and almost identical in the way they are laid out and what is on show on the screen.  This tells me that I have used the common convention of using a close up of what a certain part of the body is doing. Like Drive I have also included a watch as a prop. By using a watch I am foreshadowing that the protagonist doesn’t have much time left.

My thriller                                                                     Sky Fall

 

 

 

 

Although the camera is at a different side in each of these screen shots, there is a rebalance between the two because of the dark silhouette of the protagonist. The main difference between them is that in my thriller the protagonist is sitting alone with no one around him but in the screen shot from Sky Fall James Bond is about to step in to a buzzing market place.

Question Two

Question two – How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My media product represents the current generation of teenager and the necessity for revenge of a thriller criminal or mastermind. I feel I have represented the protagonist as an emotional young man who is clearly angry about the recent murder of his long term girlfriend. I am comparing him to the main character in the film Drive played by Ryan Gosling. I am comparing them both because when you look at the emotions portrayed on both faces during each opening they have a certain likeness between them. Both characters are victims because the protagonist in my thriller, played by Fabian Gray has just lost his long term girlfriend and Ryan Gosling has been drawn into crime. I wanted my protagonist to be portrayed as a victim because I wanted an emotional connection between the audience and him which I feel I have succeeded in doing. I used this age range because my target audience wanted to watch something new and there are not many films out there about a teenager looking for the killer of his long term girlfriend. I dressed the character in black because this colour is most commonly worn at funerals or when someone is showing remorse. In comparison to the items of clothing that Ryan is wearing in the opening scene to Drive I feel that although he is dressed in a silver jacket, his face is half covered with shadows which connote remorse. When filming I chose to show him mainly in close ups or extreme close ups. This is because I felt that the audience would find it easier having an emotional connection that I hoped to achieve. I also found that in the opening to drive is similar in the way that the emotions of Gosling are shown using close ups and mid shots.  

Question Four

Question three – what kind of media institution might distribute your product and why?

When thinking about who might distribute my media product I wanted a company that was well known and had released thrillers in the same genre/sub-genre as mine. This is why I have chosen MGM (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer). I have chosen this company because of how well known they are around the world and because of the thrillers they have released similar to mine. They have distributed over 100 thrillers since they were founded on the 17^th April, 1924 by Marcus Loew and I feel that mine would fit in well amongst films like The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Out of Time and Billion Dollar Brain.   

 

 

When coming up with ideas for my company name and logo I thought it would be useful to look at others and gather ideas from them. I knew I wanted simple but with a detailed design in some of the letters so this helped me narrow down some ideas that I had and pick the best one. I was struggling to find a name for my production company so I thought to myself that I could have an English word that meant something to me in a different language to make it unique. This is when I thought that I could call my production company BLEU which is blue in French. I chose to call it blue because it is my favourite colour. I played around with the text sizes, colours and fonts on Photoshop and came up with a few experiments. I then narrowed it down to my final design which is below.

 

 

Question Four

Question four – Who would be the audience for your media product?

When deciding who my target audience would be I thought that instead of choosing an age range that I was not familiar with, I would chose an age range and target audience that I knew personally. This is why I chose the age range of 15 to 20 years old and that I will target the group’s mainstreamers and aspirers in the psychographics table. I have chosen this age range because I am 16 which gives me an advantage because I know my generation better than if I were to pick OAPs or 40 to 50 year olds. It will also help me because if I need to know or find out what my target audience feel about a change in my ideas, for example location for my thriller or character details, I could easily find out what my target audience feel and adapt on that information.

The reasons behind choosing the groups explorers and aspires because I felt that the type of person I wanted to target my film towards would be best suited in both of these categories. I chose aspires because I feel that most 15 to 20 year olds fit into this group because of the way that they care about their appearance and the brands that they are seen to poses. I also thought that my target audience fall into the explorers group in the psychographics table. I feel they fit in well because of the passion to express individualism. Wanting to be an individual is something that the protagonist in my thriller wants to portray, by doing so I feel that an emotion connection with the protagonist will spring with the audience because they know how he feels. This is what I aimed for when making my thriller opening.

I began to research my audience by writing and giving out a questionnaire to people between the age of 15 and 20 years old. This then gave me a good idea of what they wanted in a thriller and also what they didn't want. To continue on my research I felt that I needed a better understanding of the trends and interests of my generation. This information, as well as the questionnaire helped me to get to know my target audience and develop some of my ideas into ones that would appeal more to my target audience. During this research found that my audience wanted something that was new and not seen before. Although my target audience wanted something new, 12 out of 15 people felt that the protagonist would be best played by a male. This is something that fits in with the common conventions of a thriller and is not new. I then thought that my target audience would want something new but with hints of old or common which I feel I have portrayed in my thriller opening.

I have decided that the BBFC age rating for my movie will be a 15. The reasons for my decision are that one, if my film was an 18, half of my target audience wouldn't be legally allowed to view it. I also feel that if my film had an age rating of 12 then it wouldn't appeal people between the age of 18 and 20 because they might feel the film is too mundane for them. I also feel that my film would have this rating because of the violent content that will run through out. For example there is a female being stabbed in the opening but although the image is not graphic enough for it to have an age rating of 18, it is still violent and I feel suits at an age range of 15.

 

Target audience profile

This would be the typical person to go and watch my film. He is 16 years old, male and currently in full time education. He would spend up to six hours online per day which includes online gaming and internet browsing. When gaming online he would mostly play games that have an army nature or quests, for example, Call of Duty or Skyrim. He would listen to mainly chart artists/ songs but have a few that have only recently been signed. If he were to read magazines he would spend a maximum of £5 on either a sports or male magazine. Their preferred programs to watch on TV would be along the lines of The Simpsons, How I met your mother, Friends, Breaking bad and Homeland. If they went to watch a film their preferred genre would be either action adventure or thriller.

Question Five

Question five – how did you attract/ address your audience?

After taking my research into consideration I feel that these five screenshots of my thriller opening best show what my target audience want in a thriller and what attracts them into wanting to see the film.

 

During this clip there is a non-diegetic sound clip of my second actor, Charley Evans, screaming. This I feel intrigues the audience because their immediate reaction is to question who is screaming and why they are.







This is a screen shot from my thriller. It intrigues my target audience because of the unique style of the editing and non-diegetic sound in the background.

This is an extreme close up of the protagonist crying. I feel that this intrigues the audience in the same way that the first screen shot because of the emotional connection that the audience have with the protagonist.




I feel that this screen shot with appeal to my target audience because of the love interest between the protagonist and his girlfriend. The love interest will appeal to the audience because some people may be in the same situation and want to watch a film about it.

 

This screen shot shows the location of my thriller, a church yard in a local town. This would entice the audience because churches have an aura of uncertainty and death, things I have hoped to portray in my opening.

 

Question Six

Question six – what have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

During the process of constructing my product I feel I have made drastic improvements on my knowledge of how to shoot a film effectively, how to then turn to footage into a movie using IMovie and also using sound in an effective way.

Before I set out to film I felt that I needed to investigate where I was filming and find out if there was enough lighting because I knew that the digital cameras that I was going to be using were not of the best quality and the shots I would be taking wouldn’t be clear. After taking the photos and looking back at them, I felt that I wouldn’t need to bring any lights with me to the locating I was filming out. I also learnt that I needed to film more than I needed because otherwise I would struggle to finish my product with very little or minimum footage. When either taking long shots or extreme long shots I had to make sure that the subject that I wanted the audience to focus on was still in the frame and could be clearly seen if looked for. This is something I learnt from watching other films and looking to see if I could see a building or person from an extreme long shot, in most cases I could and this was something that I planned to show.

After I had filmed, I learnt how to put my footage on to IMovie and then begin to edit. Putting the footage I had on IMovie was straight forward but editing was tricky in places. When editing I found that it is easier to place the relevant footage in the relevant place in order for the thriller opening to make sense and then after all the footage was where it needed to be I could then refine it further making any corrections that needed to be done. As I was refining the footage that I had placed in chronological order, I learnt how to place a variety of audio clips in order to either create tension, for example I added the sound of a crow, or give a clue to the audience to whereabouts the character/characters on screen are. 

Question Seven

Question seven – looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the process from it to the full production?

Before the preliminary task I knew the basics for example shot types and that when the tension builds, so does the editing speed and tempo of the music (If there is any). But as I progressed through the first half of this course I feel my knowledge has grown a great deal as well as my understanding of what it takes to create a two minute thriller opening.

When looking back at the preliminary task, I can see that there were weaknesses to it but on the other hand it was effective in parts. A good example of one of its strengths would be the creativity of the shot when Andy Cartwright, the male character is going up in the lift. We knew as a group that we would have to show Andy going up in the lift so the audience knew where he is in comparison to the other character played by Charley Evans. So we came up with the idea of placing the camera in the left hand corner of the lift. As we were editing we put an effect on the clip using IMovie and the date and time in the corner of the screen to make it as realistic as possible. But there were complications with this shot. The main complication being that the tripod was not long enough so we couldn’t get the right angle or height that we needed. This meant that I needed to stand in the lift with Andy and hold up the camera and tripod. This seemed effective at the time but when we watched the footage back on IMovie, we felt that the image was too shaky and didn’t seem realistic. But we then overcame this problem by using the stabilisation tool on IMovie which sorted our complication out and overall make the preliminary task that little bit better. When we were planning the prelim, we all felt that there were two important things we needed to achieve. One of these things was not breaking the 180⁰ rule. We were asked to include a conversation in our preliminary task so we felt that not breaking the 180⁰ rule was important because if we did break it, we would end up confusing the audience.

 After editing we found that we didn’t break the 180⁰ rule which we were pleased about because it was something we set out to do. The second important thing that we felt we needed to include was a various amount of shot type, for example long shots, pan shots, match on action and shot reverse shot. We felt that we needed a variety of shot types in order to intrigue the audience and keep them suspended/ interested and also feel that we have achieved this and done it well. An example of when we used an interesting shot was when Andy was walking into the lift. We used match on action for when he walked in to the lift and had to press a button in order to get the lift to set off. Although a simple task, there were complications with it. One of these being matching the floor number with the number on the screen that we later filmed. The filming team couldn’t do anything about it except remind Andy what button to press. After the first time filming him pressing the wrong button, the second attempt went well and we were then able to film it successfully.

My thriller opening on the other hand I feel when well overall but there were still aspects that I would change if I had the chance to do it again. My thriller opening went well because I feel that I have created tension and also established the characters roles in the first two minutes.

This is something that I intend to do when planning and therefore have done well to achieve.  But, there were faults with my opening. One of these being that I feel I didn’t plan enough and that although I had my storyboard and shot list on me when I was filming, I needed a lot more to achieve a better product overall.