Looking back at your Preliminary Task what do you feel that you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
In this post I am going to be talking about how I have improved from creating our preliminary task (click here to see our preliminary task) to creating our final product (click here to see our final product Never Look Back).
Hope you enjoyed my presentation about how we have improved from our preliminary task to our final product, and how we worked effectively as a team.
Friday 22 April 2016
Evaluation Question 6
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing the product?
Research and Planning
One piece of hardware we used was a MacBook. The MacBook was a very important part of creating our blogs. We needed the MacBook's in order to start our work on blogger. MacBook's are a useful piece of hardware to use when creating a blog because it has several pieces of software that a normal computer doesn't have which I will be explaining later on in the post. The advantages of MacBook's are that they are very light, slim and have a good battery life so if we needed them throughout the whole day they are very light and easy to store compared to an ordinary laptop. Especially as MacBook's are an apple product, you are guaranteed to get the best quality out of you work. I have encountered some difficulties when using a MacBook to do my work. I have been doing my work sometimes and the screen has just froze, then the wheel starts spinning which means I cannot click on anything I need. This results in me having to delay doing my work to wait until it is no longer frozen. Another problem with the MacBook is that if you take it somewhere where there is no Wi-Fi then the internet doesn't work. This is a problem because without the internet I cannot go onto YouTube to get videos for my blog or pictures for my blog etc.
One piece of software that we used in the research and planning was Microsoft Word. We used this for many things. We used it to write up our script for our thriller opening, we used it to write up our treatment for our thriller. We used it to create our Target Audience profile for our identified target audience that we would like for our thriller. We used it for many different things in the research and planning of our film. The advantages of Microsoft Word is that it is very easy and straight forward to use. There are many different elements in there that can make the presentation of your work better like different colours, fonts, word art, you can insert images into your work etc. We created our treatment and script on a different piece of software but them copied it onto Microsoft Word so we could then upload it onto scribd. However, Word can have a tendency to freeze and can sometimes be unresponsive. This can mean that I do my work slower.
Another piece of software that we used was Scribd. This is a piece of software in which you do work on Microsoft Word and then upload it onto Scribd. This then allows you to embed the document onto your blog and also takes up less room on your blog than if you wrote it all in one post. Scribd allows you to upload work for teachers to see and can ensure that all homework gets completed. However, if there is no internet connection where you are working them Scribd will not work and therefore resulting in you net being able to complete your work. Also if work gets deleted from Scribd then it is very difficult if not impossible to get it back which means you will have to try and find your work on the word document and re-upload it to Scribd which can be very time consuming.
We used google a lot in our research and planning because we had to research different things for each of our posts. For example, in our UK film distribution post we had to research different distributors for different films and look at their history, without google we wouldn't have been able to carry this out effectively. Also for our film classification post we had to go onto the BBFC website which again we couldn't have done effectively without google. We also had to use google to get images to embed onto our blog to give examples of real media products and to back up what we were saying in each of our posts. The disadvantages again of google is that if there is no internet connection then there is no images and research that we could have done or could have done effectively.
We also used YouTube a lot throughout the research and planning. We used YouTube to look for videos that backed up what we were saying in our posts a little bit like the google one but instead of images they are videos. For example, when I am talking about real media products that are similar to our thriller then it is a good idea to embed a video of a particular part of the film that remind me of our own or when embed the trailer of a film to get the idea.
A very important piece of software that we used was Blogger. It is very important because for our coursework we had to create a blog so without Blogger we wouldn't have been able to do so. The process of posting things on Blogger is very easy to do, its quick and straightforward. It can be easily customized with the theme of your choice. It is very simple and straightforward to post images and videos into Blogger. However, if you are someone that has never used Blogger ever before then it is can be quite difficult to use as it takes some getting used to especially if you are someone who has never created a blog before, it takes some time getting to know what everything is, where everything is and what everything does.
We used Celtx to create the script for our thriller opening. Celtx was very useful because it allowed us to create a script in the correct format. If we'd have just written it all up on word it would have all just looked like a piece of writing in a document whereas with Celtx it allowed us to use the correct format and layout of a scrip which made it look more professional. The disadvantages of Celtx is that if you went somewhere without Wi-Fi you would be able to use it as it needs internet connection to work so if you wanted to work outside you couldn't and if you did you wouldn't be able to complete your work.
Filming Stage
This is one piece of hardware that we used in the filming stage of our thriller. The camera is an important part of the filming stage because without it we wouldn't be able to film. The advantages of this technology is that it allowed us to capture the true image of what we would like to portray to the audience. If we were to use any other camera it would probably give a very low quality image of our scenes whereas this camera allows us to produce high quality scenes with high quality images. It is easy to move around as it can detach from the tripod that it sometimes sits on. This can allow the camera operator to capture scenes using hand-held camera movements to give the scene a more realistic feel. The camera can be used in many different ways to portray the scene in many different ways. The disadvantages of this camera is that it is quite heavy to move around especially when carrying it long distances. There is a lot of equipment needed when using a camera like the charger if it runs out wile filming, the tripod to allow still and cleaner scenes that is heavy to move around as well.
The tripod is another useful piece of software as it allows people to create still scenes or cleaner scenes. Instead of having it hand-held and all shaky. The tripod also allows for easy storage wile filming when the camera is not being used as it can just be placed on the top of the tripod. The tripod is very heavy and when carrying it long distances can be very difficult to move around.
We also used a smaller digital camera. This was used to take pictures of behind the scenes when we were filming. These photos will have then been put on our blog in click here to see this post and all of our photos from behind the scenes. This camera is very good to use as it can be stored very easily due o its size and also it can be took from location to location as it isn't heavy and is easy to carry. However, along with all of the other equipment it is still quite a lot to carry and seems less important than some of the other equipment that we would use.
Editing Stage
In the editing stage Final Cut Pro X was used a lot. Final Cut Pro X was used to edit our film. We imported our film from the camera onto Final Cut Pro X and then began editing our scenes together to create our film. Real life doesn't always offer the best conditions for shooting. Therefore Final Cut Pro X gives you the ability to easily adjust and correct problems with colour and lighting. You can use these features to give your film a more natural appearance or to give your film an entirely new look. For example, for us we had a couple of scenes that had to be at night time but because we couldn't physically film them at night time we used the colour editing in Final Cut Pro X to give it the effect that it was dark. Final cut pro has a more precise sounding which means that you can have as many soundtracks as you want or need. For example, in our film we wanted a soundtrack running through the whole thing but we also needed sound effects to go underneath the soundtrack and with Final Cut Pro X this was possible. The disadvantages is that sometimes the clips didn't transfer over from the camera to Final Cut Pro X because the software had crashed, therefore we weren't able to edit our film for a while which delayed us in completing our work.
We also used the camera again in the editing stage. We needed the camera in order to transfer the scenes from the camera onto Final Cut Pro X. Without the camera we wouldn't have been able to edit our film as there would have been no clips on there to edit. This is very easy to do because all that we needed to do was connect the camera up to the MacBook using a cable and then transfer the clips. However, sometimes transferring the clips wasn't that easy because sometimes they wouldn't transfer because Final Cut Pro X had crashed or there was something wrong with the camera which again meant we couldn't edit and then delayed us from doing our work.
Post-Production Stage
We used free SFX in the post production stage of filming. We did this because after we had finished filming and editing we went back over our film to add some sound effects into our thriller to make it more effective and maybe add sound effects and soundtracks in places that needed them. This software was very good as it had hundreds of sound effects and soundtracks on there that we could choose from. However, there were a lot of sound effects that weren't very good. For example, one particular problem we had was trying to find a sound effect of glass smashing. There were loads to choose from but none of them sounded right and all of them sounded more cartoon like. We therefore found it difficult to find a suitable sound effect which was therefore time consuming.
Exhibition/Sharing Stages
We used Vimeo in the exhibition and sharing of our thriller opening. After we had finished the filming and the editing of our film and made sure everything was there, we then had to upload the finished product to Vimeo. From Final Cut Pro X we had to click share and then click onto Vimeo where our finished film would upload. We then had to embed our finished film from Vimeo and then put it onto our blog. It was very easy to upload to Vimeo from Final Cut Pro X all we had to do was click share, Vimeo and then wait for it to get to 100%, where it would then be on Vimeo. However, sometimes we found it very difficult to get onto Vimeo and then once we were on there we found it quite difficult to locate our film. For someone who has never used Vimeo before it is very confusing.
Communicating with Other Members of the Group
When communicating with each other we used Facebook. Facebook is very quick and easy to use it is also free to use. It allowed us to talk to each other at anytime we needed to whenever we had any questions for each other or if we had any ideas for our thriller opening Never Look Back.
We also communicated over text messaging. We found it very easy, like Facebook, to communicate with each other. It is again very quick and easy to use and also free. It allowed us to talk to each other at any time when we had any questions or ideas for our thriller opening.
Presentation of Work
Emaze is a very useful piece of software that we used to present our work. Emaze allows you to create 3D presentations as oppose to boring 2D ones. You can include videos and cool effects to make the presentations look more appealing, it is very easy to insert objects like images and videos. There are many designs to choose from so you can choose the one that is right for your presentation and the topic that you are doing. Emaze, however, does not come up with a search bar at the top of the page to help you with anything you don't understand so if you are someone that has never used Emaze before then you might find it difficult to get started. Again it is online so if you are ever anywhere that does not have Wi-Fi then Emaze will not work which means you cannot get any work done.
Prezi is a very useful piece of software that we used to present our work. Prezi allows you to create presentations of any research that we have gathered. Prezi allows you to create customized presentations. You can include videos, images, effects to make the presentation look more appealing. Ii is very easy to add images and videos onto a Prezi. There are many different designs to choose from. Prezi, however, for someone who hasn't used it before can be quite difficult and confusing to use as it doesn't have a help bar at the top of the page to show you what to do. Also if there is no Wi-Fi then it won't work as it needs internet connection to work, therefore if you are somewhere that has no internet connection then you will not be able to use it.
My next post will be Evaluation Question 7.
Research and Planning
One piece of hardware we used was a MacBook. The MacBook was a very important part of creating our blogs. We needed the MacBook's in order to start our work on blogger. MacBook's are a useful piece of hardware to use when creating a blog because it has several pieces of software that a normal computer doesn't have which I will be explaining later on in the post. The advantages of MacBook's are that they are very light, slim and have a good battery life so if we needed them throughout the whole day they are very light and easy to store compared to an ordinary laptop. Especially as MacBook's are an apple product, you are guaranteed to get the best quality out of you work. I have encountered some difficulties when using a MacBook to do my work. I have been doing my work sometimes and the screen has just froze, then the wheel starts spinning which means I cannot click on anything I need. This results in me having to delay doing my work to wait until it is no longer frozen. Another problem with the MacBook is that if you take it somewhere where there is no Wi-Fi then the internet doesn't work. This is a problem because without the internet I cannot go onto YouTube to get videos for my blog or pictures for my blog etc.
One piece of software that we used in the research and planning was Microsoft Word. We used this for many things. We used it to write up our script for our thriller opening, we used it to write up our treatment for our thriller. We used it to create our Target Audience profile for our identified target audience that we would like for our thriller. We used it for many different things in the research and planning of our film. The advantages of Microsoft Word is that it is very easy and straight forward to use. There are many different elements in there that can make the presentation of your work better like different colours, fonts, word art, you can insert images into your work etc. We created our treatment and script on a different piece of software but them copied it onto Microsoft Word so we could then upload it onto scribd. However, Word can have a tendency to freeze and can sometimes be unresponsive. This can mean that I do my work slower.
Another piece of software that we used was Scribd. This is a piece of software in which you do work on Microsoft Word and then upload it onto Scribd. This then allows you to embed the document onto your blog and also takes up less room on your blog than if you wrote it all in one post. Scribd allows you to upload work for teachers to see and can ensure that all homework gets completed. However, if there is no internet connection where you are working them Scribd will not work and therefore resulting in you net being able to complete your work. Also if work gets deleted from Scribd then it is very difficult if not impossible to get it back which means you will have to try and find your work on the word document and re-upload it to Scribd which can be very time consuming.
We used google a lot in our research and planning because we had to research different things for each of our posts. For example, in our UK film distribution post we had to research different distributors for different films and look at their history, without google we wouldn't have been able to carry this out effectively. Also for our film classification post we had to go onto the BBFC website which again we couldn't have done effectively without google. We also had to use google to get images to embed onto our blog to give examples of real media products and to back up what we were saying in each of our posts. The disadvantages again of google is that if there is no internet connection then there is no images and research that we could have done or could have done effectively.
We also used YouTube a lot throughout the research and planning. We used YouTube to look for videos that backed up what we were saying in our posts a little bit like the google one but instead of images they are videos. For example, when I am talking about real media products that are similar to our thriller then it is a good idea to embed a video of a particular part of the film that remind me of our own or when embed the trailer of a film to get the idea.
A very important piece of software that we used was Blogger. It is very important because for our coursework we had to create a blog so without Blogger we wouldn't have been able to do so. The process of posting things on Blogger is very easy to do, its quick and straightforward. It can be easily customized with the theme of your choice. It is very simple and straightforward to post images and videos into Blogger. However, if you are someone that has never used Blogger ever before then it is can be quite difficult to use as it takes some getting used to especially if you are someone who has never created a blog before, it takes some time getting to know what everything is, where everything is and what everything does.
We used Celtx to create the script for our thriller opening. Celtx was very useful because it allowed us to create a script in the correct format. If we'd have just written it all up on word it would have all just looked like a piece of writing in a document whereas with Celtx it allowed us to use the correct format and layout of a scrip which made it look more professional. The disadvantages of Celtx is that if you went somewhere without Wi-Fi you would be able to use it as it needs internet connection to work so if you wanted to work outside you couldn't and if you did you wouldn't be able to complete your work.
Filming Stage
This is one piece of hardware that we used in the filming stage of our thriller. The camera is an important part of the filming stage because without it we wouldn't be able to film. The advantages of this technology is that it allowed us to capture the true image of what we would like to portray to the audience. If we were to use any other camera it would probably give a very low quality image of our scenes whereas this camera allows us to produce high quality scenes with high quality images. It is easy to move around as it can detach from the tripod that it sometimes sits on. This can allow the camera operator to capture scenes using hand-held camera movements to give the scene a more realistic feel. The camera can be used in many different ways to portray the scene in many different ways. The disadvantages of this camera is that it is quite heavy to move around especially when carrying it long distances. There is a lot of equipment needed when using a camera like the charger if it runs out wile filming, the tripod to allow still and cleaner scenes that is heavy to move around as well.
The tripod is another useful piece of software as it allows people to create still scenes or cleaner scenes. Instead of having it hand-held and all shaky. The tripod also allows for easy storage wile filming when the camera is not being used as it can just be placed on the top of the tripod. The tripod is very heavy and when carrying it long distances can be very difficult to move around.
We also used a smaller digital camera. This was used to take pictures of behind the scenes when we were filming. These photos will have then been put on our blog in click here to see this post and all of our photos from behind the scenes. This camera is very good to use as it can be stored very easily due o its size and also it can be took from location to location as it isn't heavy and is easy to carry. However, along with all of the other equipment it is still quite a lot to carry and seems less important than some of the other equipment that we would use.
Editing Stage
In the editing stage Final Cut Pro X was used a lot. Final Cut Pro X was used to edit our film. We imported our film from the camera onto Final Cut Pro X and then began editing our scenes together to create our film. Real life doesn't always offer the best conditions for shooting. Therefore Final Cut Pro X gives you the ability to easily adjust and correct problems with colour and lighting. You can use these features to give your film a more natural appearance or to give your film an entirely new look. For example, for us we had a couple of scenes that had to be at night time but because we couldn't physically film them at night time we used the colour editing in Final Cut Pro X to give it the effect that it was dark. Final cut pro has a more precise sounding which means that you can have as many soundtracks as you want or need. For example, in our film we wanted a soundtrack running through the whole thing but we also needed sound effects to go underneath the soundtrack and with Final Cut Pro X this was possible. The disadvantages is that sometimes the clips didn't transfer over from the camera to Final Cut Pro X because the software had crashed, therefore we weren't able to edit our film for a while which delayed us in completing our work.
We also used the camera again in the editing stage. We needed the camera in order to transfer the scenes from the camera onto Final Cut Pro X. Without the camera we wouldn't have been able to edit our film as there would have been no clips on there to edit. This is very easy to do because all that we needed to do was connect the camera up to the MacBook using a cable and then transfer the clips. However, sometimes transferring the clips wasn't that easy because sometimes they wouldn't transfer because Final Cut Pro X had crashed or there was something wrong with the camera which again meant we couldn't edit and then delayed us from doing our work.
Post-Production Stage
We used free SFX in the post production stage of filming. We did this because after we had finished filming and editing we went back over our film to add some sound effects into our thriller to make it more effective and maybe add sound effects and soundtracks in places that needed them. This software was very good as it had hundreds of sound effects and soundtracks on there that we could choose from. However, there were a lot of sound effects that weren't very good. For example, one particular problem we had was trying to find a sound effect of glass smashing. There were loads to choose from but none of them sounded right and all of them sounded more cartoon like. We therefore found it difficult to find a suitable sound effect which was therefore time consuming.
Exhibition/Sharing Stages
We used Vimeo in the exhibition and sharing of our thriller opening. After we had finished the filming and the editing of our film and made sure everything was there, we then had to upload the finished product to Vimeo. From Final Cut Pro X we had to click share and then click onto Vimeo where our finished film would upload. We then had to embed our finished film from Vimeo and then put it onto our blog. It was very easy to upload to Vimeo from Final Cut Pro X all we had to do was click share, Vimeo and then wait for it to get to 100%, where it would then be on Vimeo. However, sometimes we found it very difficult to get onto Vimeo and then once we were on there we found it quite difficult to locate our film. For someone who has never used Vimeo before it is very confusing.
Communicating with Other Members of the Group
When communicating with each other we used Facebook. Facebook is very quick and easy to use it is also free to use. It allowed us to talk to each other at anytime we needed to whenever we had any questions for each other or if we had any ideas for our thriller opening Never Look Back.
We also communicated over text messaging. We found it very easy, like Facebook, to communicate with each other. It is again very quick and easy to use and also free. It allowed us to talk to each other at any time when we had any questions or ideas for our thriller opening.
Presentation of Work
Emaze is a very useful piece of software that we used to present our work. Emaze allows you to create 3D presentations as oppose to boring 2D ones. You can include videos and cool effects to make the presentations look more appealing, it is very easy to insert objects like images and videos. There are many designs to choose from so you can choose the one that is right for your presentation and the topic that you are doing. Emaze, however, does not come up with a search bar at the top of the page to help you with anything you don't understand so if you are someone that has never used Emaze before then you might find it difficult to get started. Again it is online so if you are ever anywhere that does not have Wi-Fi then Emaze will not work which means you cannot get any work done.
Prezi is a very useful piece of software that we used to present our work. Prezi allows you to create presentations of any research that we have gathered. Prezi allows you to create customized presentations. You can include videos, images, effects to make the presentation look more appealing. Ii is very easy to add images and videos onto a Prezi. There are many different designs to choose from. Prezi, however, for someone who hasn't used it before can be quite difficult and confusing to use as it doesn't have a help bar at the top of the page to show you what to do. Also if there is no Wi-Fi then it won't work as it needs internet connection to work, therefore if you are somewhere that has no internet connection then you will not be able to use it.
My next post will be Evaluation Question 7.
Thursday 21 April 2016
Evaluation Question 5
How did you attract/address your audience?
We used many elements in our film of a typical thriller, here they are;
Jump Scares
At the end of our thriller opening we used jump scares. At the end we see Stacey in a mask, the lights then go off and it is completely pitch black, the lights then come back on where Stacey is gradually getting closer to Alex. Each time the lights come back on we have a stinger using the soundtrack. This creates a jump scare for the audience as they do not expect it to happen and then along with the soundtrack it makes it much more dramatic.
Our Thriller Never Look Back
Real Media Product - Dead Silence
Soundtrack
We have used several soundtracks throughout our thriller opening. We first used quite a dramatic soundtrack at the start of our thriller opening when we see Alex following Stacey. We build up the tension with the soundtrack, in this part, to make the audience think that Alex has got it in for Stacey and he is the one stalking her. However, we see later on that this isn't the case and that it is actually Stacey stalking Alex. Later on in our thriller opening we use a very dramatic and tense soundtrack when we see Stacey in the mask with Alex on the chair tied up. This is to build up the tension and make the situation seem dangerous to the audience and it gets them thinking what Stacey is going to do next which then leaves the audience on a cliffhanger. In the scene below from the conjuring the use of soundtrack is really good. When the woman is walking up to the wardrobe the music gets quieter and then stops this makes people think that something is going to happen and then jul out of the wardrobe, when something does finally appear there is a stinger and the soundtrack is tense signifying that it is a scary and dangerous situation.
Real Media Product - The Conjuring
Pace of Editing
The pace of editing at the start of our thriller opening is quite slow when we see Alex and Stacey in the school together because at the start it looks like a normal day with students at school. We then cut to the scene where Alex is threatening Stacey which again is still quite slow paced because there isn't a lot of action because Alex is holding Stacey so she cannot go anywhere. We then see Stacey run off and then Alex starts to follow her. This is when the pace of editing starts to get quicker, this shows that Stacey is rushing to get away from Alex and it also builds up tension as we do not know what is going to happen, then when stacey goes into her house the pace of editing slows down as Stacey has got away from Alex. The pace of editing starts to pick up again at the end of the opening when we see Stacey wearing the mask this is because the audience think that Alex is in danger which is shown through the fast pace of editing.
Real Media Product - Psycho
Another important part of addressing any audience is knowing the genre that your film is going to be based on. Genre is a way of categorising a particular media text according to its content and style. Genre is French word that means 'type' or 'kind' and plays a major role in the way films are planned, produced and packaged by the studios and the way they are consumed and understood by the audiences. This could be either n the form of sub genre or hybrid genre as well as single genres.
Example of a Hybrid Genre - Taken
Example of Sub Genre - Scream
Audience pleasures and conventions are also very important when addressing any audience to the type of film you are making here is a little bit about the two;
Audience pleasures which are provided through genres are;
Visceral pleasures create a visual effect on the audience e.g. a rollercoaster ride feeling. This cam be seen in thrillers, action and horrors. Below is a image taken from final destination whereby a character is on a rollercoaster however the language used makes us as the audience feel as if we are also on that rollercoaster with the characters.
A visceral pleasure in our thriller is the part where we see Stacey hit Alex over the head with a bottle. As it is from Stacey's point of view it makes the audience feel as if they are involved in the scene.
To see this part of our thriller click here and skip to 1 minute and 24 seconds.
Intellectual puzzles, unravelling a mystery or puzzle. This method is used in mainly horrors and thrillers, the whole idea is to create suspense, it challenges the audiences minds and actually makes them think in more detail about every aspect of the film. The film below represents intellectual puzzles brilliantly. The Da Vinci Code.
Key genre conventions include;
After looking at some audience reviews for the action-thriller film Taken I would say it is the case. "I was not disappointed, the start of the film even before it came onto the screen built up so much tension and excitement, before you know it 93 minutes are gone in a blur of fighting, fear, chasing and excitement at serious pace. It gives you the feeling that you are the one attacking and that horrible feeling of those girls being used and exposed."
I am now going to embed a video of an audience reacting to our thriller opening Never Look Back.
My next post will be Evaluation Question 6.
We used many elements in our film of a typical thriller, here they are;
Jump Scares
At the end of our thriller opening we used jump scares. At the end we see Stacey in a mask, the lights then go off and it is completely pitch black, the lights then come back on where Stacey is gradually getting closer to Alex. Each time the lights come back on we have a stinger using the soundtrack. This creates a jump scare for the audience as they do not expect it to happen and then along with the soundtrack it makes it much more dramatic.
Our Thriller Never Look Back
Real Media Product - Dead Silence
Soundtrack
We have used several soundtracks throughout our thriller opening. We first used quite a dramatic soundtrack at the start of our thriller opening when we see Alex following Stacey. We build up the tension with the soundtrack, in this part, to make the audience think that Alex has got it in for Stacey and he is the one stalking her. However, we see later on that this isn't the case and that it is actually Stacey stalking Alex. Later on in our thriller opening we use a very dramatic and tense soundtrack when we see Stacey in the mask with Alex on the chair tied up. This is to build up the tension and make the situation seem dangerous to the audience and it gets them thinking what Stacey is going to do next which then leaves the audience on a cliffhanger. In the scene below from the conjuring the use of soundtrack is really good. When the woman is walking up to the wardrobe the music gets quieter and then stops this makes people think that something is going to happen and then jul out of the wardrobe, when something does finally appear there is a stinger and the soundtrack is tense signifying that it is a scary and dangerous situation.
Real Media Product - The Conjuring
Pace of Editing
The pace of editing at the start of our thriller opening is quite slow when we see Alex and Stacey in the school together because at the start it looks like a normal day with students at school. We then cut to the scene where Alex is threatening Stacey which again is still quite slow paced because there isn't a lot of action because Alex is holding Stacey so she cannot go anywhere. We then see Stacey run off and then Alex starts to follow her. This is when the pace of editing starts to get quicker, this shows that Stacey is rushing to get away from Alex and it also builds up tension as we do not know what is going to happen, then when stacey goes into her house the pace of editing slows down as Stacey has got away from Alex. The pace of editing starts to pick up again at the end of the opening when we see Stacey wearing the mask this is because the audience think that Alex is in danger which is shown through the fast pace of editing.
Real Media Product - Psycho
Another important part of addressing any audience is knowing the genre that your film is going to be based on. Genre is a way of categorising a particular media text according to its content and style. Genre is French word that means 'type' or 'kind' and plays a major role in the way films are planned, produced and packaged by the studios and the way they are consumed and understood by the audiences. This could be either n the form of sub genre or hybrid genre as well as single genres.
Example of a Hybrid Genre - Taken
Example of Sub Genre - Scream
Audience pleasures and conventions are also very important when addressing any audience to the type of film you are making here is a little bit about the two;
Audience pleasures which are provided through genres are;
- Emotional pleasures - romantic films/horror - creates anxiety
- Visceral pleasures - Horror/thriller/action e.g. SALT
- Intellectual puzzles - unravelling a mystery or a puzzle e.g. adventure
- Counter-culture attraction - society's moral and legal regulations being broken e.g. crime drama
Visceral pleasures create a visual effect on the audience e.g. a rollercoaster ride feeling. This cam be seen in thrillers, action and horrors. Below is a image taken from final destination whereby a character is on a rollercoaster however the language used makes us as the audience feel as if we are also on that rollercoaster with the characters.
A visceral pleasure in our thriller is the part where we see Stacey hit Alex over the head with a bottle. As it is from Stacey's point of view it makes the audience feel as if they are involved in the scene.
To see this part of our thriller click here and skip to 1 minute and 24 seconds.
Intellectual puzzles, unravelling a mystery or puzzle. This method is used in mainly horrors and thrillers, the whole idea is to create suspense, it challenges the audiences minds and actually makes them think in more detail about every aspect of the film. The film below represents intellectual puzzles brilliantly. The Da Vinci Code.
Key genre conventions include;
- Characters - their role in the film and representations
- Mise-en-scene - costume, props and setting
- Verbal signifiers - dialogue
- Visual signifiers - props
- Musical signifiers - diegetic and non-diegetic sounds
After looking at some audience reviews for the action-thriller film Taken I would say it is the case. "I was not disappointed, the start of the film even before it came onto the screen built up so much tension and excitement, before you know it 93 minutes are gone in a blur of fighting, fear, chasing and excitement at serious pace. It gives you the feeling that you are the one attacking and that horrible feeling of those girls being used and exposed."
I am now going to embed a video of an audience reacting to our thriller opening Never Look Back.
My next post will be Evaluation Question 6.
Evaluation Question 4
Who would be the audience for your media product?
The BBFC classification for our film is 15. The target audience for our thriller is around 17 year old students. We decided on the 15 classification because if we had 12 classification it probably wouldn't be suitable for people who are 12 years old. However, if we decided on the 18 classification then 17 year olds wouldn't be able to watch our film which is our target audience so that wouldn't be appropriate either so we decided on the 15 classification.
No one under the age of 15 is allowed to see the film at the cinema or buy/rent a classified 15 film. The things that may appear in a rated 15 film are things like; strong violence, frequent strong language, portrayals of sexual activity, strong verbal references to sex, sexual nudity, brief scenes of sexual violence or verbal references of sexual violence, discriminatory language or behavior and drug taking. There could potentially be a great deal, at 15 there is no upper limit on the number of uses of strong language. Occasionally there may be uses of the strongest term, depending on the manner in which they are used, who is using the language, its frequency and any special contextual justification. There may be racist, homophobic or other discriminatory language, however, at 15 the work as a whole must not endorse discriminatory language or behavior. At 15 sexual activity can be portrayed, but usually without strong detail. At 15 violence may be strong. It should not dwell in the infliction of pain or injury and the strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable. At 15 there can be strong threat and horror as long as there is no sustained focus on sadistic or sexualised threat.
An example of a rated 15 film is final destination 3.
Final destination is a Thriller so it is the same genre as out thriller Never Look Back. The films are similar in the sense that they both have violence involved and also psychological mind games. This is why I think Final Destination is a good representation of our thriller.
To find out why this is the most appropriate classification and for information on all other classifications click here.
Below is a Target Audience Profile for our target audience. Our typical audience member is called Chloe, she is 17 years old, she has a part time job as a photographer, she is also a student, she loves going shopping with her friends and going camping with her family, she loves films such as Pirates of the Caribbean, Harry Potter and Saw. For more information on our target audience member i have embedded a document below that tells you all about her.
TAP
Here are 2 films similar to ours;
Film Title - No escape
Age Range - 15 - 24
Genre - Thriller
No escape is the same age range and genre as the film that we created. Therefore it is a good representation of our target audience. Also helps us understand what our target audience likes. No escape is similar to our thriller because they are the same genre. Not only that but there is also violence involved in the film which is the same as ours. There are psychological mind games and also the family in the film are trying to escape from killers. In our film Stacey is trying to escape from Alex when she thinks he is following her.
Film Title - Jurassic World
Age Range - 15 - 24
Genre - Thriller
Jurassic World is the same age range and genre as our film that we created. Therefore it is a good representation of our target audience. Also helps us understand what our target audience likes. The film Jurassic World is similar to our film as there is violence in both. In the film people try to escape from the dinosaurs. It is that escape that makes it similar to our film because we see Stacey trying to escape from Alex at the start of our thriller.
Gratification theory is an approach to understanding why and how people actively seek out specific media to satisfy specific needs. For example, if people want an adrenaline rush or excitement then they go and see action-thriller movies.
My next post will be Evaluation Question 5.
The BBFC classification for our film is 15. The target audience for our thriller is around 17 year old students. We decided on the 15 classification because if we had 12 classification it probably wouldn't be suitable for people who are 12 years old. However, if we decided on the 18 classification then 17 year olds wouldn't be able to watch our film which is our target audience so that wouldn't be appropriate either so we decided on the 15 classification.
No one under the age of 15 is allowed to see the film at the cinema or buy/rent a classified 15 film. The things that may appear in a rated 15 film are things like; strong violence, frequent strong language, portrayals of sexual activity, strong verbal references to sex, sexual nudity, brief scenes of sexual violence or verbal references of sexual violence, discriminatory language or behavior and drug taking. There could potentially be a great deal, at 15 there is no upper limit on the number of uses of strong language. Occasionally there may be uses of the strongest term, depending on the manner in which they are used, who is using the language, its frequency and any special contextual justification. There may be racist, homophobic or other discriminatory language, however, at 15 the work as a whole must not endorse discriminatory language or behavior. At 15 sexual activity can be portrayed, but usually without strong detail. At 15 violence may be strong. It should not dwell in the infliction of pain or injury and the strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable. At 15 there can be strong threat and horror as long as there is no sustained focus on sadistic or sexualised threat.
An example of a rated 15 film is final destination 3.
Final destination is a Thriller so it is the same genre as out thriller Never Look Back. The films are similar in the sense that they both have violence involved and also psychological mind games. This is why I think Final Destination is a good representation of our thriller.
To find out why this is the most appropriate classification and for information on all other classifications click here.
Below is a Target Audience Profile for our target audience. Our typical audience member is called Chloe, she is 17 years old, she has a part time job as a photographer, she is also a student, she loves going shopping with her friends and going camping with her family, she loves films such as Pirates of the Caribbean, Harry Potter and Saw. For more information on our target audience member i have embedded a document below that tells you all about her.
TAP
Here are 2 films similar to ours;
Film Title - No escape
Age Range - 15 - 24
Genre - Thriller
No escape is the same age range and genre as the film that we created. Therefore it is a good representation of our target audience. Also helps us understand what our target audience likes. No escape is similar to our thriller because they are the same genre. Not only that but there is also violence involved in the film which is the same as ours. There are psychological mind games and also the family in the film are trying to escape from killers. In our film Stacey is trying to escape from Alex when she thinks he is following her.
Film Title - Jurassic World
Age Range - 15 - 24
Genre - Thriller
Jurassic World is the same age range and genre as our film that we created. Therefore it is a good representation of our target audience. Also helps us understand what our target audience likes. The film Jurassic World is similar to our film as there is violence in both. In the film people try to escape from the dinosaurs. It is that escape that makes it similar to our film because we see Stacey trying to escape from Alex at the start of our thriller.
Gratification theory is an approach to understanding why and how people actively seek out specific media to satisfy specific needs. For example, if people want an adrenaline rush or excitement then they go and see action-thriller movies.
My next post will be Evaluation Question 5.
Evaluation Question 3
What kind of Media Institution might distribute your media product and why?
Film Distributors set the release date of a film and the method by which the film is to be made available for viewing. For example, directly to the public (DVD, video on demand, download, television programs through broadcasting). It is the process of making a movie available for viewing by an audience, normally the task of the film distributor, who would determine the marketing strategy for a film, the media by which a film is to be exhibited or made available for viewing and who also may set the release date. The film may be exhibited directly to the public either through the cinema or television or through home viewing. Below i am going to attach a video telling you all about UK Film Distributions if you didn't understand my worded description above.
There are many media platform in which films can be exhibited. For example, there is DVD, TV, Cinema, Internet etc.
Pre-studio Era
The states rights system. Films were sold on a local territorial basis. Film copyright holders would sell rights of a movie directly to the theatre or franchise. This system was generally the best way to ensure national release of a film, particularly for shorter films. However, in terms of profitability, the state rights system wasn't the most effective way to screen feature length films since the films producers only made money on the initial sale of each film copy.
With the road show system, the producer would enter into an agreement with each theatre. Money would be made via each ticket sale. Although this method helped increase films earnings for the producer, a movie's release would only be regional.
Standard Release
Also known as the release window. The release window system was released as a strategy to keep different instances of a movie from competing with each other, allowing the movie to take advantage of the different markets like cinema, home video, TV etc. at different times.
In the standard process a movie is first released through cinema (theatrical window) and then approximately 16 and a half weeks it is released onto blu-ray and DVD. After several more months is is usually released to pay TV and approximately 2 years after its theatrical release date it is made available for free to air TV.
Simultaneous Release
A simultaneous release takes place when a movie is made available by means of many media (cinema, TV, DVD etc.) at the same time or with very little time difference.
This is an advantages as audiences who want to watch the film can choose the means in which they watch the film that suits them. However, it could be said that it could spoil the magic of moviegoing.
Straight to Video Release
A straight to video release occurs when a film is released on home video formats like DVD without being released in cinemas first, therefore not taking into consideration the theatrical window.
Internet Release
Internet release is when people can access films from their devices such as laptops, computers, mobile phones etc. They can download films on things like Netflix. This is a very effective way of distributing films as more and more people are using the internet therefore getting a wider and broader market watching the film.
DVD
A film that is released on DVD is Harry potter and the prisoner of Azkaban. This film was released May 31st, 2004 in the UK. and on June 4th 2004 in North America, as the first Harry Potter film to be released into IMAX theatres and to be using IMAX technology. It is also the last Harry Potter film to be released on VHS as well as the last film until Harry Potter and the half blood prince to be rated PG in North America. The film was nominated for two academy awards Best Original Music Score and Best Visual Effects at the 77th academy awards 2005.
TV
A film released on TV was Descendants. This film made its debut on family channel in Canada on July 31st 2015, at the same time as the United States. It was also the last Disney Channel Original Movie to air in Canada on Family after moving all Disney content to Disney Channel. The film premiered on August 1st 2015 on Disney channel in Australia and New Zealand and on September 25th 2015 on Disney channel in the UK and Ireland. Descendants was released on DVD on July 31st 2015.
Theatre Release
A film that is released in the Theatre that never made it to DVD release is dream demon. A british horror roughly contemporary with the likes of hell raiser and paper house. On VHS this sat in the palace horror series alongside the hills have eyes, basket case and the evil dead. Likely due to the bankruptcy of Palace Pictures. Palace only had distribution rights to a lot of their hit titles which is why they are still available with no problem, having been picked up again by others. But Dream Demon was actually produced by palace and three other companies that no longer exist either. This is why it was in cinema but was never released on DVD.
VOD Services
War Machine is a new film that is a Netflix original movie so therefore is not available on DVD. In June Netflix acquired one of the most high profile feature film projects yet in this satirical war comedy. The movie will get a qualifying theatrical run, and then a big Netflix world-wide bow sometime in 2016.
The most appropriate media platform for our thriller would be theatrical release. A platform release is a type of limited release strategy whereby a film opens in fewer theatres (typically 1,000 or less) than a wide release. If the film revives positive feedback, then it will be gradually expanded to more theatres as the marketing gains momentum. If the film is successful it will even have the possibility of expanding into a wide release. The advantage of this strategy is that a wider audience will see the film as moviegoing is a very popular activity with thousands of people visiting cinemas around the UK each month. More people will see our film if it bought out in the cinemas first rather than just bringing it straight out on DVD. If people bought it straight away on DVD and they didn't like it then they will not watch it again whereas if they see it on the cinemas they will definitely stay and watch it as they have paid to watch it.
Films Similar to our Thriller
The Boy
One film similar to our own thriller is the boy. A young American named Greta takes a job as a nanny for an 8 year old boy in a remote English village. To her surprise Greta learns that the child of her new employers is a life sized doll. They care for the doll as if it was human, which helps the couple to cope with the death of their own son 20 years earlier. When Greta violates a list of strict rules, a series of disturbing and inexplicable bring her worst fears to life, leading her to believe that the doll is alive. The genre of this film is thriller/horror which is similar to our film which is a thriller. There are the same characteristics of a thriller like our film. There are psychotic characters playing psychotic mind games, there is tense music, dark colours etc.
The distributor of this film is STX Entertainment.
The Hoarder
Another film similar to our thriller is the Hoarder. A woman enters an underground storage facility, where she soon finds herself trapped and stalked by a killer. The genre of this film is again thriller/horror. This is similar to our film as ours is a thriller. This film is a lot more similar to our film than many other thrillers out there as this film is about a woman who is being stalked by a killer. Our film is about a boy who is being stalked, which is challenging the convention of this thriller and also many other thrillers. Both films are to do with stalking.
The distributor of this film is Ascot Elite Entertainment Group and RLJ Entertainment.
Single White Female
Having recently split from fiancé Sam Rawson, Allison Jones welcomes new room mate Hedra Carlson. The young woman quickly forms a bond, but as Allison starts to rethink her engagement, Hendra grows jealous and hostile. As Allison learns new details about her room mates life, Hendra gets violent in her efforts to get Sam out of the picture. With Hendra turning more menacing by the minute, Allison finally understands what she's up against. This is similar to our film as it is a stalker film where one woman stalks the other because she starts to like her and get jelous of her relationship with her fiancé. Our thriller is also a stalker film using tense music and low key lighting.
The distributor of this film is Columbia Pictures.
Here is a brief history of one of the distributors of these films. Warner Bros.
Film promotion is the practice of promotion specifically in the film industry, and usually occurs in coordination with the process of film distribution. Sometimes called the press junket or film junket, film promotion generally includes press releases, advertising campaigns, merchandising, franchising and media, and interviews with the key people involved with the making of the film, like actors and directors.
In Theatres
Our film will be released before christmas. This is because after christmas is when the most film come out and are released. This means that if we were to release our film after christmas we would have too much competition which could reduce the number of people wanting to watch our film. By releasing it before christmas there are is less competition which means there are more likely be more people wanting to watch our film. I would release it on DVD 12 months after it has been in cinemas so it gives people a chance to watch the film in the cinemas and then they can buy it on DVD.
The next post will be Evaluation Question 4.
Film Distributors set the release date of a film and the method by which the film is to be made available for viewing. For example, directly to the public (DVD, video on demand, download, television programs through broadcasting). It is the process of making a movie available for viewing by an audience, normally the task of the film distributor, who would determine the marketing strategy for a film, the media by which a film is to be exhibited or made available for viewing and who also may set the release date. The film may be exhibited directly to the public either through the cinema or television or through home viewing. Below i am going to attach a video telling you all about UK Film Distributions if you didn't understand my worded description above.
There are many media platform in which films can be exhibited. For example, there is DVD, TV, Cinema, Internet etc.
Pre-studio Era
The states rights system. Films were sold on a local territorial basis. Film copyright holders would sell rights of a movie directly to the theatre or franchise. This system was generally the best way to ensure national release of a film, particularly for shorter films. However, in terms of profitability, the state rights system wasn't the most effective way to screen feature length films since the films producers only made money on the initial sale of each film copy.
With the road show system, the producer would enter into an agreement with each theatre. Money would be made via each ticket sale. Although this method helped increase films earnings for the producer, a movie's release would only be regional.
Standard Release
Also known as the release window. The release window system was released as a strategy to keep different instances of a movie from competing with each other, allowing the movie to take advantage of the different markets like cinema, home video, TV etc. at different times.
In the standard process a movie is first released through cinema (theatrical window) and then approximately 16 and a half weeks it is released onto blu-ray and DVD. After several more months is is usually released to pay TV and approximately 2 years after its theatrical release date it is made available for free to air TV.
Simultaneous Release
A simultaneous release takes place when a movie is made available by means of many media (cinema, TV, DVD etc.) at the same time or with very little time difference.
This is an advantages as audiences who want to watch the film can choose the means in which they watch the film that suits them. However, it could be said that it could spoil the magic of moviegoing.
Straight to Video Release
A straight to video release occurs when a film is released on home video formats like DVD without being released in cinemas first, therefore not taking into consideration the theatrical window.
Internet Release
Internet release is when people can access films from their devices such as laptops, computers, mobile phones etc. They can download films on things like Netflix. This is a very effective way of distributing films as more and more people are using the internet therefore getting a wider and broader market watching the film.
DVD
A film that is released on DVD is Harry potter and the prisoner of Azkaban. This film was released May 31st, 2004 in the UK. and on June 4th 2004 in North America, as the first Harry Potter film to be released into IMAX theatres and to be using IMAX technology. It is also the last Harry Potter film to be released on VHS as well as the last film until Harry Potter and the half blood prince to be rated PG in North America. The film was nominated for two academy awards Best Original Music Score and Best Visual Effects at the 77th academy awards 2005.
TV
A film released on TV was Descendants. This film made its debut on family channel in Canada on July 31st 2015, at the same time as the United States. It was also the last Disney Channel Original Movie to air in Canada on Family after moving all Disney content to Disney Channel. The film premiered on August 1st 2015 on Disney channel in Australia and New Zealand and on September 25th 2015 on Disney channel in the UK and Ireland. Descendants was released on DVD on July 31st 2015.
Theatre Release
A film that is released in the Theatre that never made it to DVD release is dream demon. A british horror roughly contemporary with the likes of hell raiser and paper house. On VHS this sat in the palace horror series alongside the hills have eyes, basket case and the evil dead. Likely due to the bankruptcy of Palace Pictures. Palace only had distribution rights to a lot of their hit titles which is why they are still available with no problem, having been picked up again by others. But Dream Demon was actually produced by palace and three other companies that no longer exist either. This is why it was in cinema but was never released on DVD.
VOD Services
War Machine is a new film that is a Netflix original movie so therefore is not available on DVD. In June Netflix acquired one of the most high profile feature film projects yet in this satirical war comedy. The movie will get a qualifying theatrical run, and then a big Netflix world-wide bow sometime in 2016.
The most appropriate media platform for our thriller would be theatrical release. A platform release is a type of limited release strategy whereby a film opens in fewer theatres (typically 1,000 or less) than a wide release. If the film revives positive feedback, then it will be gradually expanded to more theatres as the marketing gains momentum. If the film is successful it will even have the possibility of expanding into a wide release. The advantage of this strategy is that a wider audience will see the film as moviegoing is a very popular activity with thousands of people visiting cinemas around the UK each month. More people will see our film if it bought out in the cinemas first rather than just bringing it straight out on DVD. If people bought it straight away on DVD and they didn't like it then they will not watch it again whereas if they see it on the cinemas they will definitely stay and watch it as they have paid to watch it.
Films Similar to our Thriller
The Boy
One film similar to our own thriller is the boy. A young American named Greta takes a job as a nanny for an 8 year old boy in a remote English village. To her surprise Greta learns that the child of her new employers is a life sized doll. They care for the doll as if it was human, which helps the couple to cope with the death of their own son 20 years earlier. When Greta violates a list of strict rules, a series of disturbing and inexplicable bring her worst fears to life, leading her to believe that the doll is alive. The genre of this film is thriller/horror which is similar to our film which is a thriller. There are the same characteristics of a thriller like our film. There are psychotic characters playing psychotic mind games, there is tense music, dark colours etc.
The distributor of this film is STX Entertainment.
The Hoarder
Another film similar to our thriller is the Hoarder. A woman enters an underground storage facility, where she soon finds herself trapped and stalked by a killer. The genre of this film is again thriller/horror. This is similar to our film as ours is a thriller. This film is a lot more similar to our film than many other thrillers out there as this film is about a woman who is being stalked by a killer. Our film is about a boy who is being stalked, which is challenging the convention of this thriller and also many other thrillers. Both films are to do with stalking.
The distributor of this film is Ascot Elite Entertainment Group and RLJ Entertainment.
Single White Female
Having recently split from fiancé Sam Rawson, Allison Jones welcomes new room mate Hedra Carlson. The young woman quickly forms a bond, but as Allison starts to rethink her engagement, Hendra grows jealous and hostile. As Allison learns new details about her room mates life, Hendra gets violent in her efforts to get Sam out of the picture. With Hendra turning more menacing by the minute, Allison finally understands what she's up against. This is similar to our film as it is a stalker film where one woman stalks the other because she starts to like her and get jelous of her relationship with her fiancé. Our thriller is also a stalker film using tense music and low key lighting.
The distributor of this film is Columbia Pictures.
Here is a brief history of one of the distributors of these films. Warner Bros.
Film promotion is the practice of promotion specifically in the film industry, and usually occurs in coordination with the process of film distribution. Sometimes called the press junket or film junket, film promotion generally includes press releases, advertising campaigns, merchandising, franchising and media, and interviews with the key people involved with the making of the film, like actors and directors.
In Theatres
- Trailers are a mainstay of film promotion because they are delivered straight to moviegoers. They screen in theatres before movie showings. Generally they tell the story of the movie in a highly condensed fashion compressing maximum appeal into two and a half minutes.
- Film Posters.
- Slideshows - stills, trivia and trivia games from the film, shown between movie times.
- Hollywood movie distributors spend about $4 billion a year to buy paid advertising (30 second TV adverts, newspapers etc.) and over half that total is placed on broadcast and cable TV, which are the main vehicles for advertising movies to audiences. TV is effective because it is an audio visual medium - like film - and can deliver a vast audience quickly, which is crucial because films typically don't linger in cinemas for more than 4-6 weeks.
- For more information on Television and Radio click here.
- Creation of stand alone studio sponsored per-film websites such as "example-the-movie.com"
- Online digital film screeners - These digital film screeners have the benefit of letting you send individual copies of your film or a promo to the press, sales agents, distributors etc. Using them it's simple and send individually controlled copies of your film to various recipients with different expiry dates. Along with the security of individual expiry dates, you can see reports of who viewed your film and track their viewing of the film.
- For more information click here.
- Paid advertisements in newspapers, magazines and inserts in books.
- Cross promotion of original book or novelisation including special printings or new cover jackets.
- Comic special editions or special episodes.
Our film will be released before christmas. This is because after christmas is when the most film come out and are released. This means that if we were to release our film after christmas we would have too much competition which could reduce the number of people wanting to watch our film. By releasing it before christmas there are is less competition which means there are more likely be more people wanting to watch our film. I would release it on DVD 12 months after it has been in cinemas so it gives people a chance to watch the film in the cinemas and then they can buy it on DVD.
The next post will be Evaluation Question 4.
Tuesday 19 April 2016
Evaluation Question 2
In this post I am going to be talking about the different social groups that we have represented throughout our thriller opening. I have created a presentation to show you.
My next post will be my Evaluation Question 3
My next post will be my Evaluation Question 3
Evaluation Question 1
After all of the research, planning and filming I now have to evaluate what we have done. We will be answering 7 evaluation questions
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
At the start of our thriller we have an ident and a production company. These are used at the start of a film to put our stamp on our thriller opening to show that this is our product that we have made. The ident is a few seconds long that represents our distribution company that exhibited the film and then we have the logo after that, that represents our production company that produced or made the film. Real media product have idents and production company logos at the start of their films. For example, Harry potter and the prisoner of Azkaban's ident (distribution company) is Warner Bros. and their production companies are Heyday films and 1492 pictures.
Our Thriller Never Look Back
Real Media Product - Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
At the start of our thriller opening we see Alex following Stacey this is a convention of a real thriller because in a lot of thriller films there is a stalker. We see stalkers mainly in thriller films. For example, in single white female, having split from her fiancee Allison Jones welcomes new room mate Hendra Carlson. The young women quickly form a bond, but as Allison starts to rethink her engagement Hendra grows jealous and hostile. As Allison learns new details about her new room mates life, Hendra gets violent in her efforts to get sam out of the picture. With Hendra turning more menacing by the minute, Allison finally realises what she is up against. Even though the stalkers in our thriller and single white female have different motives they are still both stalking somebody which uses the conventions of thrillers. Stalking is a convention of a thriller as it creates tension for the viewers watching, viewers don't know what's going to happen and when it is going to happen, therefore the tension makes it a thriller.
Here is a very good opening sequence for a real media product that I have found called the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
David Fincher films tend to have excellent opening credit sequences (click here to see the Panic room). In the case of the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, they are gritty, futuristic and visually spectacular. Director David Fincher intended the opening sequence to be the "personal nightmare" of the character Lisbeth Salander.
Our Thriller Never Look Back
Real Media Product - Single White Female
At the end of our thriller opening Stacey, one of the main characters, turns out to be quite psychotic as we see her kidnap Alex because he threatens to tell everyone what her dad has done to her. Stacey then turns psychotic and kidnaps Alex to stop him from telling anyone and to give him a very harsh warning. A real life product that is similar to this is psycho by Alfred Hitchcock. In this film we see the main character turn psychotic and kill a woman. Again even thought the motives are different from Psycho and our thriller both of the main characters turn psychotic. This is a thriller convention as characters are put in a dangerous situation which creates tension for the audience watching.
Our Thriller Never Look Back
Real Media Product - Psycho
A theme throughout the film is that the character's are playing psychological mind games. For example, at the start of our thriller opening we see Alex threatening to tell everyone about what Stacey's dad did to her, this is him playing psychological mind games to get Stacey to tell everyone before he does. Also at the end of the tim again we see Stacey wearing a mask with Alex tied up where we see Stacey taunting Alex which makes the audience unaware of what is going to happen next. This is a convention of a thriller as it creates suspense because we do not know what Stacey is going to do to Alex and what is going to happen next. A real life media product that is similar to ours is the game. This is a film about a wealthy San Francisco franchiser who gets a strange birthday present from his wayward brother. A live-action game that consumes his life. This is similar to our thriller as his brother is playing psychological mind games with his brother. This is a convention of a thriller as again it creates suspense and tension for the audience as to what is going to happen to him and his brother and also the character is in a dangerous situation which also creates tension for the audience.
Our Thriller Never Look Back
Real Media Product - The Game
The iconography used in our thriller uses the convention of a thriller as there are weapons used. In our thriller we see Stacey follow Alex after he has been waiting for her outside and then hit him over the head with a glass bottle. This iconography that is used accepts the conventions of a thriller as it creates tension and suspense for the audience and and gets the audience thinking what is going to happen to him. A real life media product that is similar to our is the departed in this scene from the departed we see a man get hit over the head with a glass where a fight then break out. This is a convention of a thriller as it creates tension for the audience because no one knows who is going to get hurt or what is going to happen to the characters. No one knew it was going to happen so it was unexpected which also build suspense which also makes it a convention of a thriller.
Our Thriller Never Look Back
Real Media Product - The Departed
A genuine thriller is a film that relentlessly pursues a single minded goal to provide thrills and keep the audience hanging on the edge of their seats as the plot builds towards a climax. Tension usually arises when the main character is placed in a threatening situation, mystery or a dangerous mission from which escape seems impossible. Life itself is threatened usually because the principle character is unsuspecting or unknowingly involved is a dangerous or potentially deadly situation. Plots of thrillers involve characters which come into conflict with each other.
Near the start of out thriller there is a flashback. In this scene we see Stacey having a flashback of her dad hitting her where she is cowering up the corner. Flashbacks are a tool where the screenwriter provides the audience with visual information that they cannot incorporate into the screenplay any other way. The purpose of the flashback is that it is a technique that bridges time, place and action to reveal information about the character or move the story forward. A real life media product similar to our thriller is usual suspects. There is a very effective use of a flashback in this film. The usual suspects flashback introduce us to the story told by captured con man Verbal Kint about his criminal associates and a mysterious hit man known as Keyser Soze. While the tale is full of violence, it's not the images in the flashbacks themselves that provoke us. The flashback uses a confused and jumpy style. We are still disorientated by the flashbacks as a criminal is using them to tell the story which makes the audience question their sincerity. Also the flashbacks become part of the puzzle that folds in on itself when the truth is revealed. This is a good convention of a thriller as it allows the audience to unfold the story behind the characters and their lives.
Our Thriller Never Look Back
Real Media Product - The Usual Suspects
In our thriller we challenge the convention of a thriller because instead of having the man stalk the woman, which is what stereo typically happens, we have the woman stalking the man. In our thriller at the start we think it is Alex that is stalking Stacey but in the end we actually realise that it is Stacey that end up stalking Alex. This shocks the audience as women are stereo typically seen to be the more vulnerable sex and men the more powerful sex. However, in our thriller we challenging this by changing it around. A real media product that is similar to our film is Chuck and Buck. In this film we see a man stalking a man who is also his best friend this challenges the conventions of a thriller as stereo typically it is normally a man stalking a woman who he doesn't really know but here we see a man stalking a man who is also his best friend.
Our Thriller Never Look Back
Real Media Product - Chuck and Buck
My next post will be evaluation question 2.
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
At the start of our thriller we have an ident and a production company. These are used at the start of a film to put our stamp on our thriller opening to show that this is our product that we have made. The ident is a few seconds long that represents our distribution company that exhibited the film and then we have the logo after that, that represents our production company that produced or made the film. Real media product have idents and production company logos at the start of their films. For example, Harry potter and the prisoner of Azkaban's ident (distribution company) is Warner Bros. and their production companies are Heyday films and 1492 pictures.
Our Thriller Never Look Back
Real Media Product - Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
At the start of our thriller opening we see Alex following Stacey this is a convention of a real thriller because in a lot of thriller films there is a stalker. We see stalkers mainly in thriller films. For example, in single white female, having split from her fiancee Allison Jones welcomes new room mate Hendra Carlson. The young women quickly form a bond, but as Allison starts to rethink her engagement Hendra grows jealous and hostile. As Allison learns new details about her new room mates life, Hendra gets violent in her efforts to get sam out of the picture. With Hendra turning more menacing by the minute, Allison finally realises what she is up against. Even though the stalkers in our thriller and single white female have different motives they are still both stalking somebody which uses the conventions of thrillers. Stalking is a convention of a thriller as it creates tension for the viewers watching, viewers don't know what's going to happen and when it is going to happen, therefore the tension makes it a thriller.
Here is a very good opening sequence for a real media product that I have found called the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
David Fincher films tend to have excellent opening credit sequences (click here to see the Panic room). In the case of the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, they are gritty, futuristic and visually spectacular. Director David Fincher intended the opening sequence to be the "personal nightmare" of the character Lisbeth Salander.
Our Thriller Never Look Back
Real Media Product - Single White Female
At the end of our thriller opening Stacey, one of the main characters, turns out to be quite psychotic as we see her kidnap Alex because he threatens to tell everyone what her dad has done to her. Stacey then turns psychotic and kidnaps Alex to stop him from telling anyone and to give him a very harsh warning. A real life product that is similar to this is psycho by Alfred Hitchcock. In this film we see the main character turn psychotic and kill a woman. Again even thought the motives are different from Psycho and our thriller both of the main characters turn psychotic. This is a thriller convention as characters are put in a dangerous situation which creates tension for the audience watching.
Our Thriller Never Look Back
Real Media Product - Psycho
A theme throughout the film is that the character's are playing psychological mind games. For example, at the start of our thriller opening we see Alex threatening to tell everyone about what Stacey's dad did to her, this is him playing psychological mind games to get Stacey to tell everyone before he does. Also at the end of the tim again we see Stacey wearing a mask with Alex tied up where we see Stacey taunting Alex which makes the audience unaware of what is going to happen next. This is a convention of a thriller as it creates suspense because we do not know what Stacey is going to do to Alex and what is going to happen next. A real life media product that is similar to ours is the game. This is a film about a wealthy San Francisco franchiser who gets a strange birthday present from his wayward brother. A live-action game that consumes his life. This is similar to our thriller as his brother is playing psychological mind games with his brother. This is a convention of a thriller as again it creates suspense and tension for the audience as to what is going to happen to him and his brother and also the character is in a dangerous situation which also creates tension for the audience.
Our Thriller Never Look Back
Real Media Product - The Game
The iconography used in our thriller uses the convention of a thriller as there are weapons used. In our thriller we see Stacey follow Alex after he has been waiting for her outside and then hit him over the head with a glass bottle. This iconography that is used accepts the conventions of a thriller as it creates tension and suspense for the audience and and gets the audience thinking what is going to happen to him. A real life media product that is similar to our is the departed in this scene from the departed we see a man get hit over the head with a glass where a fight then break out. This is a convention of a thriller as it creates tension for the audience because no one knows who is going to get hurt or what is going to happen to the characters. No one knew it was going to happen so it was unexpected which also build suspense which also makes it a convention of a thriller.
Our Thriller Never Look Back
Real Media Product - The Departed
A genuine thriller is a film that relentlessly pursues a single minded goal to provide thrills and keep the audience hanging on the edge of their seats as the plot builds towards a climax. Tension usually arises when the main character is placed in a threatening situation, mystery or a dangerous mission from which escape seems impossible. Life itself is threatened usually because the principle character is unsuspecting or unknowingly involved is a dangerous or potentially deadly situation. Plots of thrillers involve characters which come into conflict with each other.
Near the start of out thriller there is a flashback. In this scene we see Stacey having a flashback of her dad hitting her where she is cowering up the corner. Flashbacks are a tool where the screenwriter provides the audience with visual information that they cannot incorporate into the screenplay any other way. The purpose of the flashback is that it is a technique that bridges time, place and action to reveal information about the character or move the story forward. A real life media product similar to our thriller is usual suspects. There is a very effective use of a flashback in this film. The usual suspects flashback introduce us to the story told by captured con man Verbal Kint about his criminal associates and a mysterious hit man known as Keyser Soze. While the tale is full of violence, it's not the images in the flashbacks themselves that provoke us. The flashback uses a confused and jumpy style. We are still disorientated by the flashbacks as a criminal is using them to tell the story which makes the audience question their sincerity. Also the flashbacks become part of the puzzle that folds in on itself when the truth is revealed. This is a good convention of a thriller as it allows the audience to unfold the story behind the characters and their lives.
Our Thriller Never Look Back
Real Media Product - The Usual Suspects
In our thriller we challenge the convention of a thriller because instead of having the man stalk the woman, which is what stereo typically happens, we have the woman stalking the man. In our thriller at the start we think it is Alex that is stalking Stacey but in the end we actually realise that it is Stacey that end up stalking Alex. This shocks the audience as women are stereo typically seen to be the more vulnerable sex and men the more powerful sex. However, in our thriller we challenging this by changing it around. A real media product that is similar to our film is Chuck and Buck. In this film we see a man stalking a man who is also his best friend this challenges the conventions of a thriller as stereo typically it is normally a man stalking a woman who he doesn't really know but here we see a man stalking a man who is also his best friend.
Our Thriller Never Look Back
Real Media Product - Chuck and Buck
My next post will be evaluation question 2.
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