Wednesday 6 May 2009
Evaluation
1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
In our thriller we use some of the conventions that we read about in our media products. The crime is the main theme of our thriller, as well as the murder of Karishma and Tobi. We have a villain in our film and innocent people, as real life media products have. Although in our thriller we don’t really have a "whodunit" theme as most films do, as we make it clear from the beginning exactly who the murderer is, our aim is to see what lengths the killer will go to, to get what he wants. This will therefore mean that we would not have clues as to who it was, and the audience would not have to try and work out the suspect. The ending of our film is left as a cliff-hanger. As this will creat more tension in the audience as they will be willing to find out what happens next. The audience may have already discovered what the killer is going to do, but we leave it as a "will he or won’t he" cliff-hanger. In the ending scene the killer is preparing to go out and commit another murder, however the audience does not see this; they only see him preparing himself.
2. How does your media product represent particular media groups?
In Our media film product we represent teenagers in our thriller. All of our characters that are used in our film are teenagers. Some viewers in the audience may suggest that the actors/actresses in our film are being stereotyped, as they may feel that a lot of teenagers nowadays are involved in gangs and knife/gun crime. We have three typical teenage girls, who are all friends, and two teenage boys where one wants to get rid of the other one, so he can get with his girlfriend. We focus a lot on teenage life, and how their life is portrayed in the media as well as the public eye.
3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
Warner Brothers may want to distribute our film as it is a thriller, and they distributed Alfred Hitchcock’s films, which was well known for making thrillers. Another institution that may like to distribute our film is channel 4. As a lot of young adults (teenagers) watch their station and may find that they are able to relate to our film.
4. Who will be the audience for your media product?
We have decided that the target audience for our thriller are teenagers who are 15 and above. This is because the actors/actresses that are acting in the film are teenagers, so it may make it much easier for teenagers to relate to the story and the social realism that we have attempted to create in our thriller.
5. How did you attract / address your audience?
To attract our audience we used tense music (i.e. like a drum of a heart beat) that created a lot of tension and made the audience want to know what was going to happen. We also see the victims, with the murderer following them; this requires the audience to use their imagination as to what could happen. By them seeing this they may be in great tension as they may think that at any moment disaster is going to strike.
6. What have you leant about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
By doing this project I have learned how to use a camera properly and how to film using a camera. I also learned how to use enhance technology to edit footage that we filmed. As well as editing I have learned how to cut out scenes, add transitions, effects and music. Collectively I have learned a lot about the technology of filming and editing in media and how and what it takes in order to make a good film.
7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learned in the progression from it to the product?
I think that I and my group have improved so much since our first exercise (preliminary exercise) that we done. The footage we produced is more complex than our preliminary exercise was. Our camera techniques have also enhanced dramatically, as when we film now the camera is steadier than it was in the preliminary exercise. I have also learned a lot about editing, and including transitions and music to make our thriller look more professional and how by adding these elements can contribute to an outstanding piece of work . I know more about different camera techniques, such as jump-cuts and panning shots, and now understand how to use these in my thriller and why they are useful and, how they change a mood. Although in the beginning (when we first filmed our preliminary exercise) I had no idea that these are all the elements that go in to making a successful film.
In our thriller we use some of the conventions that we read about in our media products. The crime is the main theme of our thriller, as well as the murder of Karishma and Tobi. We have a villain in our film and innocent people, as real life media products have. Although in our thriller we don’t really have a "whodunit" theme as most films do, as we make it clear from the beginning exactly who the murderer is, our aim is to see what lengths the killer will go to, to get what he wants. This will therefore mean that we would not have clues as to who it was, and the audience would not have to try and work out the suspect. The ending of our film is left as a cliff-hanger. As this will creat more tension in the audience as they will be willing to find out what happens next. The audience may have already discovered what the killer is going to do, but we leave it as a "will he or won’t he" cliff-hanger. In the ending scene the killer is preparing to go out and commit another murder, however the audience does not see this; they only see him preparing himself.
2. How does your media product represent particular media groups?
In Our media film product we represent teenagers in our thriller. All of our characters that are used in our film are teenagers. Some viewers in the audience may suggest that the actors/actresses in our film are being stereotyped, as they may feel that a lot of teenagers nowadays are involved in gangs and knife/gun crime. We have three typical teenage girls, who are all friends, and two teenage boys where one wants to get rid of the other one, so he can get with his girlfriend. We focus a lot on teenage life, and how their life is portrayed in the media as well as the public eye.
3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
Warner Brothers may want to distribute our film as it is a thriller, and they distributed Alfred Hitchcock’s films, which was well known for making thrillers. Another institution that may like to distribute our film is channel 4. As a lot of young adults (teenagers) watch their station and may find that they are able to relate to our film.
4. Who will be the audience for your media product?
We have decided that the target audience for our thriller are teenagers who are 15 and above. This is because the actors/actresses that are acting in the film are teenagers, so it may make it much easier for teenagers to relate to the story and the social realism that we have attempted to create in our thriller.
5. How did you attract / address your audience?
To attract our audience we used tense music (i.e. like a drum of a heart beat) that created a lot of tension and made the audience want to know what was going to happen. We also see the victims, with the murderer following them; this requires the audience to use their imagination as to what could happen. By them seeing this they may be in great tension as they may think that at any moment disaster is going to strike.
6. What have you leant about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
By doing this project I have learned how to use a camera properly and how to film using a camera. I also learned how to use enhance technology to edit footage that we filmed. As well as editing I have learned how to cut out scenes, add transitions, effects and music. Collectively I have learned a lot about the technology of filming and editing in media and how and what it takes in order to make a good film.
7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learned in the progression from it to the product?
I think that I and my group have improved so much since our first exercise (preliminary exercise) that we done. The footage we produced is more complex than our preliminary exercise was. Our camera techniques have also enhanced dramatically, as when we film now the camera is steadier than it was in the preliminary exercise. I have also learned a lot about editing, and including transitions and music to make our thriller look more professional and how by adding these elements can contribute to an outstanding piece of work . I know more about different camera techniques, such as jump-cuts and panning shots, and now understand how to use these in my thriller and why they are useful and, how they change a mood. Although in the beginning (when we first filmed our preliminary exercise) I had no idea that these are all the elements that go in to making a successful film.
Questionaire and Results
In our group we decided to do a questionaire and distribute it out to students in our school, the following questions were asked;
How old are you?
Responses; ten people are aged 16-20
Are you male/female?
Responeses: five male and five females
How often do you go to the cinemas?
Responses; three people: once a month/two people: not that much/one person: 3/4 months/four people: occasionally
What genre do you prfere?
Responses; three people=comedy/ two people=action/ five people=other
How many times do you go to the cinema a month?
Responses; eight people siad 1-3 a month and two people said 4-6 a month
What was the last movie of thriller you watched?
Responses; three people watched white chicks/two people watched i am legend/ two people watched the heartbreak kid/ three people watched Quantum of solace
How old are you?
Responses; ten people are aged 16-20
Are you male/female?
Responeses: five male and five females
How often do you go to the cinemas?
Responses; three people: once a month/two people: not that much/one person: 3/4 months/four people: occasionally
What genre do you prfere?
Responses; three people=comedy/ two people=action/ five people=other
How many times do you go to the cinema a month?
Responses; eight people siad 1-3 a month and two people said 4-6 a month
What was the last movie of thriller you watched?
Responses; three people watched white chicks/two people watched i am legend/ two people watched the heartbreak kid/ three people watched Quantum of solace
Facial Expression/Body Language/Settings and Props/Positioning of the Characters
Facial expression/body language- the facial expression and the body language that was use in our film came mostly from Cameron Thomas (Edwin). As he showed and portrayed a lot of his hate, love, anger and jealousy through his body language.
In our thriller film we had many different settings and props that were used in the scenes. Each prop that was used in the scene matched what was going on as, if it didn’t it wouldn’t make sense.
The positioning of the characters changed from time to time. We used different technical devices to capture each character.
In our thriller film we had many different settings and props that were used in the scenes. Each prop that was used in the scene matched what was going on as, if it didn’t it wouldn’t make sense.
The positioning of the characters changed from time to time. We used different technical devices to capture each character.
Mise-en-scene
In our thriller film we used a lot of mise-en-scene in our scenes. Lighting – in one of our scenes in our thriller, (the funfair scene) there was a lot of lighting that we used. During this scene we used a lot of red and green (mainly red) lighting to symbolise the love, anger, anger and jealousy that goes on in this film. Sound – in our thriller film that we shot we erased all the sound that was in the film (at the time we were filming) all the sound that was in our film and placed a song (non-diagetic sound) “Love Lockdown” throughout the showing of each scene. The music that was playing on top of our film was off screen as the audience would be able to hear it but not see it. The music playing is also a parallel sound as it matched the scene that is going on in the film.
Make-up/hair/costume – in our film we all decided that for each character that is represented in our thriller should have a costume that best describes them through the costume (connotation).
Edwin- in our film the clothes that he wore was always really dark colours. This reflects his personality. With this colour it represents darkness, which is what message we were trying to give off.
Jordan – her costume was bright and dark at times. The brightness represented how lively she is and how sweet and kind she is. Whereas, the dark colour represents her pain and agony that she is going through.
Ian- his costume that who wore was really calm colours such as white which showed that he was a cool free person and was clean of sin/guilt.
Tobi- her costume was really dull as she wore a lot of grey and silver which represented that she’s moral ambiguity. However there was a band of gold which could represent that she may have been trying to bring out a different side.
Karishma- her colours that she wore were also really bright as she wore white and dark blue. This showed that she was a nice person however was a bit two-face as her personality was very twisted.
Make-up/hair/costume – in our film we all decided that for each character that is represented in our thriller should have a costume that best describes them through the costume (connotation).
Edwin- in our film the clothes that he wore was always really dark colours. This reflects his personality. With this colour it represents darkness, which is what message we were trying to give off.
Jordan – her costume was bright and dark at times. The brightness represented how lively she is and how sweet and kind she is. Whereas, the dark colour represents her pain and agony that she is going through.
Ian- his costume that who wore was really calm colours such as white which showed that he was a cool free person and was clean of sin/guilt.
Tobi- her costume was really dull as she wore a lot of grey and silver which represented that she’s moral ambiguity. However there was a band of gold which could represent that she may have been trying to bring out a different side.
Karishma- her colours that she wore were also really bright as she wore white and dark blue. This showed that she was a nice person however was a bit two-face as her personality was very twisted.
Editing
In our thriller film we edited each scene after we finished it as we believed that it would make it easier for us when it comes to compiling the scenes together. When we finished editing our scenes and placed them together, we noticed that it had so many cuts in between. This therefore gave us the idea to place different types of transitions in place, which gives it more of an affect and makes the thriller flow more.
Appropriate Material For Our Thriller
In our thriller film we had to make sure that the scenes in which we filmed were of appropriate material towards our thriller. This therefore meant that our props that we used would need to connect with our thriller film. Some of the props that we used in our film were; a knife, umbrella, headbands, etc... . The costumes that were wore in the film also symbolised the way the characters are shown.
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