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

I have progressed a lot from my preliminary task to my real film, in confidence, technique and understanding. Firstly when filming my preliminary task I wasn’t confident enough in how my shots would fit together and how I wanted the final product to look like, so I ended up doing loads of takes that I didn’t actually need or use. Where as in my main task I was a lot more confident in how I wanted my final piece to look and what shots I defiantly wanted to include, so I didn’t just shoot everything from different angles and focused mainly on getting specific shots to look really effective. Secondly my technique has improved as a result of practising through the preliminary. When filming my preliminary I was more restricted in my idea’s as I didn’t want to attempt anything too difficult as I didn’t know the technique of editing on Adobe premier pro

very well. I also didn’t know how things would link together and how certain shots could have particular representations e.g. high angled shows the subject of the shot to look vulnerable. Where as when I did my main task I already had in mind what editing I could use including transitions and sound and effects. In other words I let my film and ideas control what the editing programme did and not the other way round. Finally I progresses an overall understanding of everything that was involved in producing a film, which made it easier for me to set myself targets and deadlines, for filming and editing, as I had the knowledge of what to expect. I think importantly the understanding and practising of different shots helped me progress, as in the preliminary I didn’t use a wide variation of shots, particularly medium and long shots. I played it safe as I didn’t have a clear understanding of how it would look. Where as in my final task I understood what shots would be interesting, like an ant’s view shot, point of view shots and more variety. I wanted to intrigue my audience and create the all important suspense. Over all I would say the main develop meant is confidence for me in my final task to think more out the box and use inspiration from real great thriller films with my own idea’s and techniques.

These are some of my favourite shots from my final piece, that i think filming my preliminary gave ideas from practising.

I like this shot as i think it is really effective using the mirror in the bath room to get both angles of my actress. I like it as it shows the mise en scene and still has that mysterious element to a thriller.

For this shot i had to lie down under some glass in the bath under the tap. I think this shot is creative as it is getting a different perspective of an every day procudure for most people. The way that it makes the audience feel like they are under the water adds to the thriller element.

what have you learnt about technologies from the process of construting this product?

I have learnt a lot technology in the making of my media product. Firstly how to use the camera appropriately, I have learnt how to capture the film on tape and upload this onto the editing software Adobe Premier Pro, this is simple but obviously very important to the editing of my film. Beyond that I have learnt how to use the camera efficiently and effectively in different situations, for example when to use auto/ manual focus, when to use night mode and when to use a tripod. Also importantly where to position the camera in terms of the best lighting effects, meaning what’s important is clear to see and adding shadows in the background to create that mysterious feeling. I have made use of web 2.0, for

www.youtube.com

researching my ideas. Especially ‘YouTube’ which has helped me a lot about other Thriller texts as being able to watch them online as they are easy to access. Another technology I learnt a lot about from scratch was the editing software Adobe Premiere pro, including cutting my footage, editing it by using effects and different transitions. I also learnt how to import music and cut it to fit with the film, beyond this I learnt and applied how to import music and fade it in and out. To import this I used http://freeplaymusic.com/,

which had a wide range of free music for different film genres. Finally I would say I learnt more about using the computer in general, from creating a research power point , updating my progress blog and using the internet for in depth research, about real film products. I have learnt more skills in the editing process and using adobe premier pro to enhance my film and its effect. It has also it has taught me how to use and apply allot of complex technology in the production of a film and how real producers would have to really understand and be confident with technologies to create a good film. I think that from practising with technology my confidence has grown, allowing me to experiment with them more.

How did you attract/address the audience?

To attract the audience I tried to give my product a real sense of realism, so that the audience can then start to imagine what it would be like in the character's position. I did this by using a realistic character to be the potential killer and giving a reason for the couple to be followed around, that there was a woman obsessed with the husband. I also think the narrative is also easy to believe firstly because I’ve tried to use to use the narrative to explain as much as what’s happening without losing suspense and also because my target audience and the character's are of a similar age, so the audience can relate to what’s happening. I have secondly attracted the audience by making the audience establish the main characters and take the apposed reading, of the couple, that are a typical family being victimised. Other than the oppositional view of the killer, that they are an evil couple, Henry broke her heart and deserves to pay. I used the oppositional view as the couple, as I thought this creates more of suspense as the audience don’t have as much information about why there is a person after the couple. Also so that when something happens to the couple it affects the audience more as they have established a relationship with the couple. I have attracted the audience by ending it on a cliff hanger, this is so the suspense builds up and the anxiety to know what’s happened, but just before too much information is given it leaves the audience with a cliff hanger, which would make the audience want to see it again to have again that unsolved building emotion. Finally my film applies to the uses and gratifications theory, firstly by entertaining. My film is entertaining because of its genre being a thriller; it is designed to entertain by thrill. Secondly it applies to the theory by social identity; my film has very realistic characters that audience could relate to.

who would be the audience for your media product?

The age would be 25-40, the reason the age is older than a normal thriller audience, is because my film applies more to this age target. It would be targeted at an older audience because they could relate more to the older characters and as it applies to the uses and gratification theory of social identity, for example the married happy couple. It would also attract this target age because the narrative is slightly more complex not the usual killing mission. Finally because the age group of 25-40 would have money to spend on watching films on DVD’s for a Friday night with their partners. It would apply to both sexes equally, females because of the romance and family element of the narrative, also as is doesn’t involve a lot of gore or fight scenes and is based on an interesting narrative. Also males as there is still thrill and action involved which is still considered masculine. Their class would be skilled manual and clerical, I wanted to aim for this class as they are 51.2% of the population, so they would spend money on entertainment such as DVD’s. There job would be quite ambitious by working for them or having a lot relies on them. As a person they would be adventurous, quite gutsy, not afraid to say how they feel, don’t take life to seriously but good at piecing things together. Most likely viewers would be couples who would watch for it for entertainment on a Sunday night after putting children to bed. The audience would also watch it for Integration and social Interaction, to discuss with similar friends the experience of R.I.P. The other films they would watch would be films at a high production value, which have complex narratives but still apply closely to real life, involving both male and female interactions, such as Mr. And Mrs. Smith and big series such as 24, Lost, Prison Break.

References:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72kQIIDBIUU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lxDREJ4vTo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRgGR3DliDg

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

Here is my slide on different industrys i have researched into.

After doing research into some big institutions that produce some of the most popular thriller films, I think Universal Studios would be most likely to distribute my film. Firstly because they don’t just produce thrillers they produce a range of genres, which means they have a huge range of audiences and I want my film to apply to more than just the typical thriller audience, not just have a niche audience (http://www.universalstudios.com/). Secondly because when universal produce thrillers they produce thrillers and not off the boarder line horrors, I want my film to have the conventions of a thriller and not use the conventions a horror to create thrill. Also as Universal studios have got a good reputation for blockbuster thrillers e.g. the Bourne Ultimatum, Ocean 13, King Kong. Which means the thrill relies on the narrative and use of camera shots to create suspense, which I think my film would apply to. When I did my research i found that Universal distribute a lot of films that apply to real life and could be realistic as apose to 20th Century fox, who produce more unrealistic thrillers e.g. StarWars, Night at the museum. Finally because of high production values, I think if I had the money to invest my film would be of quite high value, using good graphics and most films Universal Studios distribute are of very high production values.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My film represents young aged, skilled manual and clerical married couples. It does this firstly by the characters used. I filmed specific shots to show that the couple were just an average married couple in love, like close ups of their hands touching and tried to use slower paced editing when they were showing affection. I used a married couple as a lot of 25-40 year olds are married and could relate to them and feel like the narrative could realistically happen to them. However there was a problem with getting good actors/actresses at that age and I wanted to use drama students, so there is a problem with the verisimilitude, as the actors I choose were quite young. If I had money to invest I would have used older actors/actresses. Money would have helped by letting me represent what I wanted to e.g. using older actors, using a more scary setting. I secondly think I have represented quite a high class social group; I did to represent a higher intelligence, to make the chances of the thrill less expected. I did this by using the setting of a relatively big house and using a dress code for the characters, that would represent them as being quite wealthy e.g. Woman in dress and Man in suit. I also would do this to relate to the audiences with money that they would spend on interests such as, in the real world my film. I have also represented a middle aged social group; this is again so people in the ages of 25-40 could relate to my thriller. I choose this age group because they are young enough to really enjoy and understand the thrill but not too young to not be able to follow the plot and pay to come and watch it. I represented this social class by using the narrative, for example the couple returning from a social event, being quite loved up and being very able. I think all 3 of these social group fit quite well together as this audience would watch a thriller film and spend money on it. For example here is a picture of the female actress, who appears young and attractive and is married. So in this sense the film would apply to males as she is attractive and females as she is a loving wife.

In what ways does your media product use develop or challenge forms of conventions of real media products?

When I first decided I was going to produce a thriller film, I thought my main source of useful information was previous highly rated films of a thriller genre, which taught me a lot about typical thriller narratives.

(Above are some images of my research and planning powerpoint into the thriller genre to help me gain a broader understanding)

When I then narrowed down the main conventions of the thriller genre, I conducted a survey to find out what the public most expected from the thriller genre and the most common answer by far was suspense . So this was then my main convention I wanted my narrative to apply to. It however then was difficult to acknowledge what actually caused the feeling of suspense, so I conducted more research on the director Alfred Hitchcock, known as the master of suspense. Watching his films, such as Psycho (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VP5jEAP3K4) and 39 Steps, made me understand that suspense is an emotion caused by the audience knowing something that a character doesn’t. I did this by letting the audience know there is a person in the house without the apposed characters knowing.
Overall the main conventions I used and learnt from real thriller texts, is suspense to create the typical thriller conventions of a sense of danger and having twists and turns in the narrative.I would also think that my media product develops the narrative, of the typical conventions used in real thriller products. I think this because when I did research into the typical thriller audiences, I found that it was mostly males between the ages of 18-25, where as in m film I want to challenge the typical target audience. Then after watching popular thriller films such as Bourne Ultimatum and Vantage point, I realized that this typical restricted audience might be based on the fact that a lot of thrillers do use male characters that are advanced solving the action, which doesn’t relate to most audiences only younger males aspiring to be like the character, hence the thriller target audience. This gave me the idea to have my narrative applying more to woman and the older generation; this meant using characters and situations the audience could relate to. Also I watched a thriller series called 24, which I believe was as popular as it had a wider target audience as more of the audience could relate to the characters. For example in my film using a married couple, gone out for a work do come back home. So overall I think I have developed the typical narrative conventions, so that my thriller film has a wider target audience and I also think having a narrative that the audience can relate too, adds to the conventions of a thriller like character growth. It is also challenged by making the male appear more vulnerable than the female as he is the first to die. In the shot below it shows a point of view shot from the killer looking through the door at Henry. This challenges the stereotype and genre as normally it’s the male who is less vulnerable and is the stronger sex.

Finally I think my thriller challenges the genre in the way that it uses some horror conventions. After doing research into the differences between the two genres, I found that the emotions caused from watching a thriller is based on the narrative and how it builds suspense and the emotions caused from horror are based on what you see visually such as death and gore and abnormal characters. Knowing this I wanted my thriller film to be a thriller as that’s what I’d used for all my research. I deliberately ended my thriller opening before the audience saw any scary visual shots as I wanted my opening to mainly convey suspense. However if my thriller continued beyond the opening I do think my film would challenge the conventions of a thriller to horror, as there would be a lot of emotions caused by visual shots.