Final Thriller Sequence

As Media Evaluation- Question 7

Question 7-

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

The prelimniary task was a real learning curve for myself as I learnt skills and valuable information that I would use later on in the filming of my thriller. For example; the camera was very new to myself, and having experienced and getting to grips with it within the premlimary task allowed me to be able to be comfortable and efficent at using the camera when it came to the filming of the thriller. Had we not had the opportuinty for a preliminary task, valuable information would not have been learnt and would have wasted time in our thriller filming process. As well as adding experience, it also allowed us to work and get to know each other's strengths and weaknesses as a group overall, making it easier to set roles for when we were planning our thriller.

When comparing our preliminary task and our thriller, we can clearly see the differences in what we have learnt. The preliminary task now appears as rather basic in comparrison to our thriller, and it is a notable showing of just how much I had learnt in the profession from it to my full product (my thriller). There are clear indication of errors within our preliminary task that had I have known what I do now that I could have fixed. For example, the use of editing was very vivid and the shots do not run smoothly into each other. Now as an individual, I can edit and would have been able to have fixed that error had I have known at the time.

Looking back on my preliminary task we can see that the purpose of it was to prepare me for the task ahead. Reflecting back on the task now, as students we have came a very long way in regards of so many aspects that are regarded within the filming industry. From the preliminary task we learnt a series of things that we were able to carry and incorporate within my final task. Things such as compromising as a group was learnt from the preliminary task as well as, tasks such as setting up the equipment from one shot to the next. Overall the skills learnt within the preliminary task, allowed my  group to really excel within our work. Had we had not had the preliminary task, perhaps our thriller would have not been to our wishes and expectations as we would have not been able to undergo a learning process. As a group we refer to the preliminary task as a real eye opener for us all as to what our thriller process was going to be like.

As Media Evaluation- Question Six

Question 6-

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

Prezi Presentation 

http://www.prezi.com/5q3qsyqyqdjk/

By constructing our product we have learnt a lot about technology and the use of it within both media and the thriller genre as a whole. We used a series of technology within our thriller from, blogger where we posted our research weekly to the use of the camera and tripod in our filming, reaching right the way through to the use of the software programme Final Cut Pro X at the end of our task. Learning to use the camera and the tripod was tested during our preliminary task, as it gave us a chance to get to know our equipment. The task allowed us a chance to also see who handled the equipment best which, then resulted in helping contribute towards our planning of production roles. With anything new there were a few difficulties such as, figuring out how to set the tripod up efficiently and how to play back what we had pre recorded. This was all solved by enquiring and taking our time when handling the situations so, we could learn how to use it properly so, we would have no further errors in the future. Other difficulties we faced within the context of using the camera and tripod was executing different camera angles we had chosen. We found shots such as Close ups were quite easy to carry out where as, panning took some control and further planning. We overcomes this similar to how we did with our other problems which, was brainstorming as group and researching into how we could carry it out correctly. The editing software Final Pro X was use by both Sophie and I as we had a joint role of editors. In this process as learnt a great deal about editing such as, how to crop our shots down and how to rearrange our work. We found that we were strong at creating the credits as we found our research into it had really payed off. However, we found our weakness was fitting our work within the time slot given. This was overcome by a group meeting between us and looking at the piece together and deciding as and where we can take parts out. One area within our film that reflects our editing skills is the jump cut from the killer attacking the victim to the victim waking up. This shows that we can place a cut within our thriller and make it appear as if a scene has jumped from one to the next smoothly. 

As Media Evaluation- Question Five

Question 5-

How did you attract/address your audience? 

Primary research as we see above in my video ,was essential to our production. It was essential due to making our film appeal to our viewers as much as we could, as we were treating our thriller production as if it was to be presented to an audience and to be enjoyed by them. Had we have not taken any primary research out we would have not known what our audience was looking for within our production. This would have led to us not being able to incorporate there opinions within our thriller, which would thus be a less effective thriller.

 The type of primary research carried out was the survey which, we collected in both video format and written. It obtained a mix of both opened and closed questions, so we could collect a range of information. There were many stages within the research process from the analysis of thriller films to the creation of the questionnaire. By having taken our a series of secondary research before taking out our primary research, we had a knowledge and background of thrillers behind us which, shone through in our final research task. These type of researches assisted us in the planing of our thriller by letting us know and have an insite into our audiences requests. It allowed us to plan the film around them, making our audience feel very valued and involved in our creation, and satisfied with the end product. Overall without the taking out of both secondary and primary research our thriller may have lacked audience value, as they would have had no say in our thriller resulting in it not appealing to them as much as we would have liked. 

As Media Evaluation- Question Four

Question 4-

Who would be the audience for your media product?

As we can see from my video, in the film industry, recognising and appealing to your chosen target audience is extremely important as ultimately they will be the people watching and viewing your film. Recognising our target audience early on in the pre-production process was vital as it determined the content of our thriller film. For example: a film that is aimed at young children will contain different content than one that is aimed at adults in their mid twentys.  The aim is to get your target audience to be able to relate to what is going on in the film.

Taking this into account,  after conducting a survey my group concluded that the most generic target audience for a thriller is 15-25 year olds. As my brief was to produce a thriller film, we quickly decided that we would use this age group to keep in with the generic and conventional thriller audience- aiming our thriller at 15-25 but mainly focusing on the teenage audience.

As my target audience are the 15-25 age group, we felt it was important to incorporate a main character who was of this age range. I decided to use Sophie as our main character and victim, as she is 17 and would be considered apart of my target audience. By the audience feeling that Sophie falls into the same category as them, they form a relationship with Sophie. This character and audience relationship allows the audience to feel sorry for Sophie and the events that take place to her as they care about her well being in the thriller. Had Sophie had not been the same age as my target audience of my thriller sequence then the relationship between the audience and my main character may have not been as notable as it was. Watching someone who is their own age enables a sense of worry and fear and with the help of the relatable setting; makes them put themselves in the characters shoes.

I created my narrative in order to link in with my target audience. The storyline of being at a train station with your friends and then being left to travel partially by yourself is something my audience can relate too as they may or would have been in this situation themselves. I also believe my mise en scene helps to attract and appeal my target audience towards my thriller as, we dressed the female and her friend in stereotypical teenager clothes that the audience would wear. This means they can feel as if they have something in common with the main characters and picture the experience in a more realistic light.  Furthermore, using slang like dialogue at the beginning of the clip with my characters makes the audience feel as if they are apart of the conversation as they understand what is being said. These all meant that my thriller appealed to the correct target audience in a positive manner.

As Media Evaluation- Question Three

Question 3-

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

http://www.prezi.com/mv7m3chcag73/

The generic conventions of a thriller are, dark lighting, suspense filled soundtrack, unexpected sounds and a series of camera angles, to name a few. These are all presented in successful thriller films which, support us as a group using them as we know that they have made a positive impact prior. As a group we researched past thriller films in order to collect a wide knowledge of conventions, their impact and their success rate. For example: a conventional storyline to a thriller is the use of an unknown caller which, we as a group first indenitifited in scream. As a group we used the use of an unknown caller in our thriller to make sure we were being generic and were displaying to our audience a sense of foreboding. Having we had not taken this research, other aspects we used such as low key lighting which is seen in Prom night, and a suspense filled soundtrack which is seen in The Conjuring, we wouldn't have known how to use them to their full effect. These were used in our thriller at different points. Low key lighting was used throughout, but, we used a relatable setting which too is a convention. We used a train station as our target audience were ranged between 15-18 and would currently be using public transport to get home perhaps late at night. By using this, the audience were relating the events that took place to the characters to themselves. Our opening sequence defines the thriller genre as it obtains many micro elements of the genre throughout the duration of it, if we was to compare our thriller to another film it would be final destination in regards of this. Our story line is slightly simular and the use of transport being used is also evident in ours, other micro elements that are simular are the use of high pitched music which, is used in our thriller. Both our thriller and Final Destination use the use of high pitched music when the main part of the thriller is about to take place, this means we can define to our audience when certain parts are going to happen. 

Over the years many media distributors have created a reputation for themselves that ensure people wanting to have their film distributed by their company. Having created my film, it allowed me to place it within the thriller genre firmly and think and consider what company may have distributed my film to the public. One media distributor I considered was LimeScape. LimeScape distributed the Saw films to the public and although Saw is a hybrid between horror and the thriller genre, I saw similarities within the Saw films and The Continuity (My thriller). Simulaities I found and discovered were the continuous storyline and the use of the suspense filled soundtrack. Having seen similar conventions used with a film that was distrubted by a company, allows me as the maker of my film, to consider my film perhaps being distributed by them too due to the similar nature.

As Media Evaluation- Question Two

Question 2-

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My media product represents certain social groups through it's use of character. Within my thriller I  obtain three characters. The main character is a blonde female, which links in with the stereotypical blonde perception. I made the actor portray this by wearing girly clothes, that were coloured pink as the connotation of the colour is stereotypical to niaivety. This character was included in order to portray a vulnerable character to the audience so they knew who they were to draw towards and gain a relationship with. The use of gender was also used to create a further more conventional thriller leading role. By making her a female, I was able to play on the stereotype of a 'dumb blonde' more and would be able to draw more emotion from the audience due to the sympathy they will have for her/ towards her. Overall the use of our main character was to appeal to the audience, and I did this through using stereotypical thriller aspects such as, gender and hair colour.

By creating a main character who can pull on the audiences heart strings, we will have events that are thus more impactable as the audience have a sense of care towards her. This was our aim from the beginning and a lot of thought and indepth planning was taken out in order to create this realtionship between audience and character. This means that the audience wil having emotions towards the character and her events that are taking place. For example; When the character is attacked, the audience will feel worried and scared for the character as they can sense her vunerability and niavety. Equally, at the opening of our thriller when the young girl is laughing and giggling with her boyfriend, the audience may feel a sense of happiness and join in on the laughter with the young girl. This means that as the characters emotions change, so does the audience and they mirror eachother in that sense. This is all due to the relatonship I have created in order for the thriller to impact the target audience emotionally.

By placing my main character in light and girl clothes, a clear contrast was created between them and the villain in the film. The girl within my thriller is wearing a pink top, and has her hair groomed to show she is a clear carer of her physical apparence where as, my villain is dressed from head to toe in black and has his face covered with a mask. By my villain being dressed in dark clothing, it allows the audience to infer connotations of this colour to his personality and persona. For example, the colour black is associated with death and darkness, both of which happen within the sequence of my thriller film. Therefore, by using the mise-en-scene element of costume I could speak to my audience through the character, and allow them to underline the characters characteristics.

Examples from the film "Prom Night"