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.