Evaluation

Evaluation

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

Our media product mostly uses the typical genre conventions of a thriller film. In terms of score, our media product uses a suspenseful, slow score that reflects the dark tone of the film. For instance, when the stalker is shown, the score changes from the more calm score to a score that suggests tension and suspense. Furthermore, in editing, our thriller film contains common conventions such as prolonged cross cutting. This happens throughout the opening sequence to show there is a link between the Stalker and Anna. Also, the prolonging of the cross cutting creates extended tension and foreboding as to what is going to happen between the two. The opening sequence also contains some conventions of cinematography techniques in thrillers. We added a variation of shots that were edited to coincide with each other, for example long and medium shots of Anna and then close-ups to follow to show emotion.

There are other common conventions that are present in our opening sequence such as the use of lighting. We used low key, sinister lighting in our sequence when the stalker is portrayed. This is a common technique to reflect the dark and sinister tone of the events happening and of the character. This contrasts with the more realistic and higher key lighting shown in the scenes with Anna. The Lighting can also been seen as more low key when the stalking becomes more apparent in the diegesis to Anna, up to the point where she disappears. This creates a more eerie atmosphere and more immediate tension. Furthermore, our character selection is that typical of classic thriller films. We included ‘Anna’ a defenceless, female victim, typical of the film “Psycho” for its infamous shower scene. Also, we chose a dark, masculine figure for our antagonist stalker. Also, when choosing locations, our group opted for realism, we used everyday sets e.g. a school, a house. This resulted in an overall sense of realism and believability in our sequence.

In terms of narrative our film is an example of a classic thriller. Since the days of Hitchcock there have been psychological obsession-based thriller films such as ‘Fatal Attraction’. There are numerous enigmas within the opening sequence which causes the audience to query, who is the stalker? What is the significance of the bag? Why is the stalker fixated with Anna? Etc. In addition to common narrative techniques which are in our project are the themes portrayed, the themes of obsession and psychological crime. Furthermore, all violence within our opening sequence is inferred rather than being graphically shown which maintains it as a classically-styled thriller.

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our opening sequence represents two different groups of people. Firstly, Anna, a white, female teenager from West London. The use of Anna as the victim in this opening sequence is important as it conforms to the classic thriller conventions. The fact that Anna is a woman is important as women are more often than not the victims in thriller films than men. This can be comprehended as women being more vulnerable and helpless than men in society. However this is the case with most thriller films such as ‘Psycho’, whereas the opposite can be seen in films such as ‘Flightplan’. We chose to use a female as the victim in our opening as this match the trends of many great thrillers such as ‘Sleeping with the Enemy’. However, there is also a more social belief in places such as London that women are more vulnerable than men in positions such as this, this makes the sequence more realistic and allows the audience to relate to it more. Therefore, in choosing to use a woman in the role that we did, we have abided to social and classical thriller stereotypes.

In order to maintain the classical style of our opening sequence of a thriller we decided to cast a masculine, strongly built male to portray the stalker. This is key in keeping with our precept of creating a classical styled thriller. The use of this masculine antagonist is important as male antagonists in thriller films are often well built, such as Patrick Bergin in ‘Sleeping with the Enemy’. However this is not necessarily conforming to stereotypes of the role of the stalker, as in most societies, men obsessed with women to the stage where they stalk them, are often though of as frail, sleazy men. Therefore, our casting of the stalker can be seen to challenge social (but not thriller) stereotypes.

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

Our opening sequence to a thriller is an independent, British film. This connotes that it is a low budget, amateur film, which is correct as budget was scarce and apart from our preliminary task, no member of our group had any experience in film making. In comparison to mainstream and Hollywood films which have the big budgets to fund high profile casts and special effects in an attempt to make the productions more realistic, whereas they end up looking unrealistic. Whereas our independent opening sequence shot with low cost cameras on DV tape (oppose to celluloid), create a more gritty and realistic look.

Due to the independent nature of our opening sequence it is not a possibility that it will be distributed via mainstream cinema chains such as Vue, Odeon, Cineworld etc. This is due to the fact that lack of a high profile cast and production company, as a result of lack of funding would mean we would not receive sufficient advertising to draw in large groups of audiences, nor would we be able to pay the cinemas. Therefore, it is more probable that we could show our film in a local, independent cinema such as the Electric Cinema in Notting Hill or in the Everyman Cinema chain. An alternative is to have our film screened during film festivals, film festivals such as the London Independent Film Festival which started in 2004. Or, we could attempt for a more local film festival such as the Portobello Film Festival. An attempt at a film festival such as the Cannes Film Festival or even the Sundance Film Festival would be impractical due to the high profile nature of the events.

Another important option for distribution of our opening sequence would be the internet. Internet sites such as YouTube and MySpace gain millions of visitors a day; this makes them a vital medium for showing our sequence to other people as the social networking side to these sites mean that large numbers of viewers can be attracted quickly, almost like a domino effect. Furthermore, sites such as MySpace allow for profit to be made as people have the option to download the videos, which we can charge for.

In addition we have the option of looking for a television station that would broadcast our opening sequence. Channels such as Channel 4 which is a Government owned public service broadcaster. It is their remit to create and broadcast shows and films for minority interest. This would allow us to put forward out independent film for use as minority viewing footage. There is also the option of finding a more localised, community channel on cable or satellite which broadcasts user created content for viewing. This would allow us to have our opening sequence on television, very cheaply, although there will likely be a small average audience.

4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

In our research into what audience we were targeting for our opening sequence we decided that we would aim for an audience of 16-25 year olds. This was because our sequence consists of a school girl, in a school; therefore it is unlikely that those older than the age of 25 would be interested in a film that revolves around teenagers. However we felt that aiming for a classification of 12/12A as we had no plans to include actions that would result in an older classification but that 12/12A allowed us to portray the themes we planned and make suggestive actions.

There weren’t any regulatory concerns as we had no plans to involve violence, but only to suggestive violence. Also, we had no plans to use strong language as there would not be very little dialect anyway, nor did we have intentions of including scenes that contain any sexual content. As we had no concerns to begin with when we decided to aim for a 12/12A classification, I feel we successfully achieved our target in creating an opening sequence that is appropriate for 16-25 year olds.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

We set out after performing our research into BBFC classification and general research on the thriller genre with a target of reaching an audience of ages 16-25. We decided an appropriate means of reaching this audience was to set the sequence in a familiar setting, a school. This allowed the audience to relate to the sequence and added realism. Furthermore, we settled on the idea of a psychological thriller based around obsession and stalking. This worked well in a school environment as with so many people, an obsessed person can go unnoticed.

In our opening sequence, we used shots that allowed for creativity in the active minds of a 16-25 audience, such as a point of view shot towards the ending which allows the viewer to imagine what happened to Anna. Furthermore, we used common conventions of teenage-based films. An example of one of these conventions is again, the setting of a school. Many big teenage films and television shows are based around schools and are very successful, even if they aren’t thrillers (American Pie, 90210, One Tree Hill etc). A school is a comfortable, realistic and a setting which teenagers and those in early 20s can relate to.

After an extensive audience feedback session with approximately 15 participants we gathered much information. The majority of the audience all believed the sequence was ‘very relevant’ to the thriller genre, this is very good as this is our overall goal. This was followed by some suggestions for alterations which we took note of and sought to improve our sequence with. We took the advice and added score to the beginning of the sequence and also shortened many clips. Moreover, the audience all believed the sequence was either ‘very relevant’ or, ‘quite relevant’ to them as an audience. This was very good as the audience were ages 16 – 18 which is within our target age group. In terms of editing, the audience believe we should make the cuts towards the ending faster, which we did do. Concerning the titles, we took on board all the comments, we added more at the beginning and other comments from the audience were appraisal of our use of titles before so. Sound was another area we received feedback on, and again we made changes in accordance with it. We began by turning down the volume of diegetic noises such as wind which the audience felt was over-powering. Furthermore, we added more score and refined it.

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

We used a whole range of technologies when completing the assignment, from researching to filming and then to editing. When researching for our blog I used many sources from the internet such as Wikipedia, The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) and YouTube. The use of the internet for research made the process a lot quicker than it would have been without it. Furthermore, it has allowed downloading and incorporating of copyright free music as well as sound effects from sites such as freeplaymusic. This has given us the opportunity to use fitting and suitable score to improve our opening sequence. Furthermore, social networking sites such as YouTube have allowed us to distribute our opening sequence easily for free to vast audiences.

Also, the use of non-linear video editing software, ‘iMovie HD’ allowed us to edit our opening sequence in modern fashion. As it is non-linear, we had the ability of being able to shoot and edit scenes when it was most convenient, whereas with linear editing, we would have to shoot and edit the scenes in order we wanted them to be presented in our opening sequence. This also allowed us to easily make changes to the original storyboard. This software saved lots of time and effort when it came to editing. ‘iMovie HD’ allowed us to be able to redraft, delete, input and change our sequence with simple actions. Furthermore, we used DV cameras, using DV tape. The DV tapes helped create a more realistic look and feel to our end product in comparison to Hollywood-style celluloid. Using DV tape resulted in more realistic lighting and action capture. However, the cameras we used did not have very powerful microphones, nor did we have external microphones to use in replacement. This meant that any audio such as dialect was no received well and so we tried to keep it to a minimum.

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

In comparison to our preliminary task, we have developed a lot with our opening sequence. The only planning we performed with our preliminary task was a story board. We did no research leading up to our preliminary task. This was very different to our opening sequence. We performed thorough research into the thriller genre, its conventions, subgenres and examples. We also planned, in detail our opening sequence using a synopsis, script, shooting schedule and story board. This helped us to create a more believable and less amateur final production. We carefully put together the mise en scene of scenes, such as the mural of Anna of which we carefully selected pictures to use and create a sinister atmosphere. We also had greater time and enthusiasm in selecting a cast and creating a story and diegesis for our opening sequence.

We encountered many problems with our preliminary task including cinematography problems such as violating the 180 degree rule. We learnt from these mistakes and were sure to not make the same ones in our opening sequence. In addition to this, we have also become more technically able and have been able to refine our opening sequence using computer software better than our preliminary task. Furthermore, the addition of score and titles is a large improvement. Our group was also much stricter when it came to scheduling and sets/locations. We were sure to maintain close sets when necessary. In total, I believe we vastly improved between the two tasks, the improvements are shown in our final opening sequence.

Media Evaluation

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

To begin with, considering that we were attempting to portray a media product of the thriller genre, I feel the score we implemented was expertly done when compared to real media products. The score was mainly used at times of high tension, or when the audience had the feeling that something bad was bound to happen, evident when the protagonist is being pursued unknowingly by the antagonist, this scene here can be likened to a classic thriller, such as the works of Alfred Hitchcock, where the scores comes in expertly at certain moments in order to give the audience that a character is in great danger. What’s more, the editing in our media product is also of a more than adequate level, especially the cross cutting used to switch between the actions of the two main characters, whose daily routine slowly but surely intertwines, a striking example of the high level of cross cutting in this film is where the antagonist( Ivan Drovnin) is leaving the ‘derelict’ room at the same time of the protagonist(Cristina Vina), indicating that in a sense they are destined to meet, at the same time the cuts became more quick, which indicated action was soon to take place, again showing similar convention to what you would see in your typical thriller film, at the same time to be perfectly honest there are certain scene which are fast paced not purposely but mainly due to time constraints within our filming, meaning we had to make the best with the footage we had, however I still feel it turned out alright. In addition to this, we can see the use of many different shots within our media product; evidently it starts with an establishing shot of the building, where the product is primarily set. Furthermore, there are numerous shots ranging from close ups to long shots, as well as high angles and low angles, which we used to indicate the power of the character or the object which we focused on, for instance at the end of the scene the ‘red bag’, which is shown from a high angle. Equally, the film is predominantly shot in our school, however we also used a house, which indicates a suburban lifestyle, in turn showing the audience how ‘ordinary’ the situation seems to be, showing great use of conventions to hide what was really going on. Lighting is also key in our product, as its fair to say that the audience could use it to indicate what type of characters are present in the product, a great example is seen in the scene where the antagonist is in the dark room, here we see the use of low key lighting, inferring that this man is dangerous, also this feature can be likened to more classic thriller films, as today we see the frequent use of high key lighting. Moreover, if we look at the cast we chose, we can see the main protagonist being Christina Vina, who can be likened to the ‘innocent girl’ as seen in other thriller films, in addition to this, our antagonist is Ivan Drovnin, who we do not really get a clear picture of throughout the film, here we are immediately given the idea of a foreigner through his Eastern European name, immediately denoting that this man is danger as seen in many films of this genre, consequently it is fair to say our casting can be likened to that of conventions in thrillers, however in all honesty, if our narrative had been different or even longer, we could have potentially included police in our media product. What’s more, you can see that our product is about an unidentified man stalking a school girl, with the main focal point being the ‘red bag’ she is carrying, with the product ending with just the red bag, raising the question, ‘what happened to the girl?, this clearly showing the traditional thriller conventions being the cliff-hanger (seen at the end), as well as the psychological factor through the stalking, and also espionage in a sense. Finally, if we look at our film, mainly due to the fact that the ideas it expresses are modern I would say that our film is contemporary as the issue of abduction would be scorned upon in the times of Hitchcock. Equally, I feel that only the surroundings in the film indicate that this is British; there are no real landmarks or actions which suggest that this is British, possibly the dialogue.

2. How does your film represent different social groups?

Personally, I feel that considering that this was a multi-gender production as well as having a multi- gender cast, I feel that our film adequately represents the majority of people. Moreover, if we look at the genre of this film, its likely that a certain audience will be attracted, which if we look at in terms of ethnicity, you’ll find that its unlikely that there will be a certain ethnic group that will clearly favour this product, due to the cast. Moreover, we can see that certain characters have been used to create certain effects, firstly if we look at our antagonist being Ivan Drovnin, who himself has a distinct eastern European look tying in with the stereotypical view that a foreigner denotes danger, consequently allowing this media product to represent those who help shape that view, here we can say that we done this purposely in order to evoke such emotions from the audience. Equally, the cameo role of Bashiru Shardow, a young black man also incorporates another ethnic group into the product, regardless of how minimal it is; therefore we can say that Black British people are represented, on the other hand we must consider that the Black character stereotypically could’ve played a criminal, which shows how we went against the stereotypical view, as these days you are more likely to find a Black 17 year old in a college or at worst, a Young Offenders Institute rather than a 6^th form. The main social group are students, through the fact that bar one cast member, it is solely students as well as the production, in a sense indicating that other students can relate to such a product as although this thriller the trailer includes several aspects of the daily routine of students. Its fair to say that this film is exclusively heterosexual, and I personally feel that there is nothing in the film which suggests any tendency towards homosexuality, the fact that the antagonist a male is ‘obsessed’ with the main character being a female, allowing us to denote that there is some sort of sexual attraction. Again, I would not say there is much ways to distinguish religion throughout this film, the fact that this was a production by students in Gunnersbury Catholic School, this indicates this is a Catholic production, however the audience would not know this. Lastly, we can see that this is clearly would be favoured by the youth as it is made by the youth, showing it to be something that they can relate to.

3. What kind of media institutions might distribute your media product and why?

First of all, it is necessary that we define what type of media product, which in our case would be an independent film, considering that this film has virtually no budget, this is evident in many British thriller films like 28 days later. Equally, we could see this as a hybrid between independent and the ‘arthouse’ type, due to times were we experimented as seen in certain films. Considering that our product is only a trailer, but if we look at the components of the film, we can see that there was a low budget, with the style being more gritty focusing on the realism when compared to mainstream films, as well as there being limited use of high key lighting; these are all characteristics which make our film independent. Through this, we would see our media product shown in independent cinemas if it was a film, this would be in places like the Electric Cinema in Nottinghill as well as the Prince Charles cinema in Leicester Square. Equally, there are also film festivals for independent films, the largest being the Sundance Film Festival, which is the independent film makers dream, however local student film festivals are more relevant as it is only the ‘best of the best’. Most importantly, the internet is likely to be the best institute to distribute our media product, largely because it takes minimal work and it’s free, with the potential to make profit, websites like dailymotion and youtube make this possible. In addition to this, further use of the internet would further distribute our products, evident in social networking sites like Facebook, Myspace and Twitter, which all allow videos to be posted and to be viewed by my friends and equally, the friends of my friends and so on and so forth, indicating that with relative ease our product can be spread over the world via the net. Equally, a potential alternative distributor could be Television itself through, this includes channel 4 on a terrestrial level, as channel 4 is a public service broadcaster, meaning they are obliged to broadcast the works of British people, however what is more likely is channels on Cable or Digital television, through channels like Current TV, which is user created content, meaning that it is people like me who have made the content. However the internet seems to be our best bet in a media institution distributing our work, as unlike film festivals and cinemas, reputation of the director is not important and it is the easiest to promote and a sure way of getting the product viewed, by greatly diverse social groups.

4. Who would be the audience for your product?

Our projected target audience was male and females aged 15-25, suggesting that our audience is primarily young. This also means according to BBFC film ratings that this would be rated a 15, meaning there is mild violence and uncomfortable issues displayed in the film. Equally this in turn limited were we could distribute our product, especially on the internet on website like youtube, were it could potentially be flagged for abuse. Personally, I feel that a parent would have no qualms with their 12 year old child watching our media product, as it is easy to infer what is going on from the trailer, however one must consider how we could shape a film from the trailer, which gives the impression that things are going to get ‘gritty’, which for me does indicate that the rating of 15 is perfect for this film, but at the same time I feel a 12A would also be good for this film.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

Evidently our film can be put under the subgenre being that of the psychological thriller, as in this film we are presented with the kidnapping of an ‘innocent’ girl, by a mysterious man, immediately raising many questions like ‘why is she being kidnapped by this man? ‘What does the red bag represent? This in my eyes would have kept the audience on their toes meaning that the audience would be attracted. Equally we must look at other elements which we hoped would attract the audience to our product, with one key characteristic being sound, here we used score to express the situation, for instance when we can see her being actively pursued by the unknown antagonist, the score rises in sound, suggesting to the audience that this is nearing the peak of the tension, which I feel would attract the audience. What’s more, the music is quite eerie, which heightens the mood of the scene giving the sense of inevitability that something bad will happen. In addition to this, our media product shows certain conventions which are exclusive to this genre, principally the cliff-hanger at the end, as well as the emphasis on a certain object (red bag) and its importance.

6. What have you learned about technologies from the process of constructing this project?

Whilst making our product we used a variety of technology, which I will talk about. Mainly we used, DV cameras for filming, which gave the ‘gritty’ effect we sought, equally when it came to editing access to the media departments Apple Mac Desktops we were able to use the program ‘iMovie’, which allowed use to edit with relative ease, and also add effects made available by the program, for instance we added the ‘fade in’ effect as well as being able to add music in, which we could manipulate. In addition to this, the tripod which we were given with our DV cameras brought another dimension to our product as it looked more professional showing our work to be a step up from what I’d call ‘amateur’. In our objectives given to us at the start of the project we were given a research task, which meant that we had to research a variety of topics, mainly under the topic of thriller films, ranging from questions on the opening sequences to subgenres of thriller films, this meant that we had to use the internet as our source for this research. Personally I used websites such as www.wikepdia.com, www.imdb.com and of course, www.youtube.com, for information on thriller genres and also for links as a visual aid. The guidelines given over our media product were quite strict especially on the topic of scores, indicating that if we were to use a score it would have to be copyright free, which again would involve greater research, which we found through a website which gave us the eerie and tension- filling sound we required. As mentioned previously, we knew that the most likely place were we would distribute our media product would be via the internet through site like youtube, myspace and facebook. Moreover, one must look at the importance of the editing software we used (iMovie), which is non- linear editing software, which means that unlike other editing programs it is not necessary to film in chronological sequence, as scenes can be moved about, however with prior editing technology editing had to be linear. This in a sense, allowed us to experiment more, as we knew if any part of our product went wrong we would be able to dispose of it with no problems. The DV cameras used had both their benefits and their disadvantages. One of the benefits is that it gives a gritty realistic look, evident on the streets of London, which I feel is a key component of our psychological thriller, consequently attracting the audience. Furthermore, we can see the drawbacks of dv tapes as they are limited, as depending on what one is looking for determines its usefulness, something which is meant to be clean cut, would prefer the use of celluloid tapes as seen in Hollywood and the British soap Hollyoaks, giving it a ‘glossy’ compared to Eastenders and the News, which use DV tapes. This also may have an influence on the target audience as Hollyoaks has a primarily young cast and is targeted at young people, whereas Eastenders is more variable. Considering that the matter that we have portrayed in our media product is quite rough and very real, therefore I feel the dv tape gives it the effect that matches the subject of our product.

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

To be perfectly honest I feel that I took a lackadaisical approach to my preliminary task, mainly due to my lack of knowledge on how to properly use the technology, which is evident through our extensive editing which my group and I undertook in order to match the requirements set out for us by the examining board. There were quite a few problems with our preliminary task. Firstly, we failed to fully exemplify the 180 degree rule, which is where most of our extensive editing came in; equally in this task we had trouble perfecting the match on the action, due to us cutting too much out of the scene, which meant that the transition had to be quickly. Palpably, we can see that we had quite a torrid time with our preliminary task but it also showed us that there were vast amounts of improvements we could make, allowing me to view this as a learning curve, but to be honest our editing was top notch. What we mainly learnt was that we had to be more careful with the way we tampered with our scenes, which meant that in some cases we had to re-film our scenes in order to gain the desired look, for instance if you look at when the protagonist Cristina Vina is answering her phone, we have cleverly hidden the fact that she is in different positions from when her phone is ringing and then when she answers her phone, consequently indicating how far we have come in terms of our editing as we were able to rectify this mistake.

Evaluation

 

1.    In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Our media product uses some of the conventions of real media products as these includes conventions such as tense score, characters and editing etc. In our media product we use a score that is builds up tension throughout the sequence which builds up suspense. This is commonly used in real media products for the same purposes to create a ‘thrilling’ feeling. In common media products, women are usually displayed as the innocent victims and so are usually the antagonist, who is traditionally played by a male actor. This is because women tend to be seen as non-threatening and have soft and gentle characteristic with physically weaker appearance and so are commonly used in real media products. We have used this is traditional convention, by having our victim a teenage school girl; she would therefore easily fit this profile. Similarly, the antagonists in real media products tend to be played by males as they are seen to be more dominant and dangerous to physically overpower the victim. So again, in our media product we have used a tall male to play the traditional role of the antagonist.

It is also typical to use cross-cutting editing as technique to increase pace and use a mixture of long shots into quick shots in common, thriller media products. Therefore we have used this technique in our media product as well by having cross-cutting between the school girl’s day and the ‘suspicious man’s’ also getting ready. 

Our media product also includes close-ups and point-of-view shots throughout the sequence which is commonly used cinematography in traditional media products as well. It used to show the facial expressions plus shows the point of view of this antagonist to make it feel like he is more of a ‘stalker’.

Lighting is a key part of mise en scene and the lighting in common psychological thriller sequences usually express low key lighting to create lots of silhouettes that create more tension. In our media product we have assured to use low key lighting especially for the cross-cut editing of the ‘stalker’ so that the audience can clearly identify who the antagonist is and be weary of his character. 

Locations, another part of mise en scene, is important as it shows that the surroundings of each of the character. Therefore in our media product, we have used a normal home and school for the location of the school girls plus these locations produces a natural high key lighting which is ideal to show the contrast between characters.  The antagonist therefore is in a low key lit room where you can only see him leaving the room, so there is much mystery left where he is concerned.

Overall, it clearly indicates that out media product follows the main conventions (as stated above) for the psychological subgenre of the thriller genre. It fits in with other classical psychological thrillers, as a sense of stalking and obsession can be identified in our sequence and so therefore fits in with other similar thrillers of that subgenre.

2.    How does your media product represent particular social groups?

There are six main areas of representation these being; gender, age, ethnicity, regional identity, sexuality and class status. It is most dominant that the antagonist is a heterosexual, middle class male. Therefore in our media product we have used this profile so as it is the most dominant and thus the audience can easily identify the antagonist. In our media product we have used a white young female to cast the school girl and play the role of the innocent victim. We chose to play this role as women are seen as the weaker sex and so would fit the role of victim which is what we wanted to portrait, this view may be stereotypical however it can quickly communicate this message across the audience. Again, with the antagonist, we have also used a male, however due to the content of the sequence we have not revealed the face of the ‘stalker’. But from what the audience can identify, is that this character is a white male, no age can be shown as the audience do not have enough information to recall any further details. It is usually stereotypical for the antagonist to dressed in black which is why mise en scene is very important is for his characters to wear black for the audience to identify who this character is. As it would be clear identifiable that he is the antagonist. Plus the dark colours/clothing and silhouette would infer more of an enigma and mysterious feel.

It would have been different if the protagonist was a man as the audience would most likely expect for him to retaliate and fight back and that would be expected of a male gender to do. Males in particular are stereotypically known for defending themselves and ‘not going down easy’ and so would be seen as more of threat than an innocent bystander, and so males do not usually play the victim but (in this case) the stalker. Plus it is also unexpected for the antagonist to be a woman as that is not common; they could be playing a ‘femme fatal’ feature however that would not be relevant in our media product.  Therefore the characters played are important in the sequence as it would clearly show to the audience the roles that they play. We have also tried to settle an urban environment as the street that we have used empty, and thus exploiting more of a ‘crime’ environment. Plus the score used at this particular point would also add the suspension of an ‘urban’ feel which would infer that the street is dangerous and that something may happen to her. This would not have worked if the street used was jolly, sunny, well built and full of people. By having this environment, represents a particular social group as the sequences shows that the street is in the school, so the audience can associate this street with the urban music to make references to the antagonist identity. Thus leading to more enigmas surrounding the antagonist as the audience may suspect that it may perhaps be another student stalker, or much worse.

We have also made the girl to look back and so this would also inform the audience and that something ‘dodgy’ is going on, and to make it appear that she is being followed at that particular moment.

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

Our media product is an independent film as it low budget, compared to mainstream films such as the common, well known Hollywood movies with large budgets. Mainstream movies have well known actors and actresses to cast in their films, a large budget to make the movie look very glamorous. However in independent films such like my own, would include an unknown cast, not as glamorous as Hollywood films. The theme and style also vary between these as independent films would have a more challenging, gritty and realistic theme unlike mainstream. Therefore the style would include kinetic camera work, used to emphasise realism, realistic high key lighting would also be used for this purpose. In terms of distribution, cinemas such as vue, Odeon and cineworld often show mainstream Hollywood films as they are most common. Independent films such as my own would be shown in non-common cinemas or electric cinemas such as the Prince Charles cinema, for instance. My film could also be distributed on independent film festivals such as the Sundance in America, which is the most common where films that are not mainstream are usually shown. Of course, local film festivals and student film festivals can also be used to distribute and let out film be shown to an audience. It would most popular to use video-sharing sites such as YouTube, which I have used (), or social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace to gain easy access to a mass audience, especially for my target audience. Plus using sights like these are free to promote the film and there could even be a possibility of profit by using MySpace. TV is another option to distribute films, terrestrial channels such BBC 1 and 2 are public are used to educate and inform audience, ITV and Five are commercial mainstream channels whereas Channel 4 is a public server broadcaster where the remit is to provide for the minority interest for the community. Therefore short films could possibly be more commonly shown on this channel. Cable TV shows more community channels and use created content and so also possible to show films here to.

4.    Who would be the audience for your media product?

Our target audience for our media product is teenagers and young adults between the ages of around 15-25 and anybody that has an interest in psychological thrillers. I think that our media sequence can attract our target audience as it is a school girl and therefore would attract the younger generation and has the capability to do so. I think that what have created does fit a product of our target audience. The cast is relatively young as would appeal to them, which is what we aimed for, a young audience. Young people can relate to this film as younger people would still remember their own experience of school and so can relate to the characters. Also the mystery behind the stalker can appeal to the older audience as they may feel more interested in the reason why they ‘stalker’ is stalking the innocent girl. This therefore shows that our media product can appeal to all of our target audience and is it has relevant content for them all to enjoy.

5.    How did you attract/address your audience?

We aimed to target audience of teens and young adult with our film and therefore used characters of a similar age limit, a school girl, to appeal to them. We chose to do a psychological subgenre of a school girl, and this would attract the younger audience as they would of a younger age and so would remember or know how school was like and all the pressures etc. Therefore I would believe that it would appeal to them in this way. And attract them to watch it. Plus we have tried to use enigmas to try and keep the suspense and tension going, therefore at the end we have the a kind of ‘cliff-hanger’ effect which would hopefully lead the audience to ask ‘ what happened to the girl?’ I think that these lead them wanting the audience to want to know more, thus appealing to them though the narrative. When we showed our sequence to some people of our target audience they suggest that more sound was used. Therefore, taking this further, we included and score throughout the whole of the sequence and not just for when the ‘stalker’ character appeared. This then made our media product more effect overall and able to appeal better to our target audience. We have used techniques and common conventions such as enigmas, tension, suspense; realism and anticipation to appeal to my target audience as they these are common in thriller genres.

Enigmas have been used in the character of the ‘stalker’ as the identity has not been revealed and so the audience should be anticipating who the antagonist may be, and what he wants with her etc. Mise en scene was important as the antagonist dark clothing portrait an even more suspicious persona. Plus the use of the ‘black gloves’ was also essential as the connotations from black gloves suggest something criminal.

Black gloves are commonly used to protect fingerprints and to not been seen, therefore when the audience see the close-up shot of the gloves, it would appear very suspicious.  The tension and suspense has also been created through the score which is key in certain parts of the sequence. In particular, near the end of the clip, where the score has reached its intensity and used well with a point of view shot.

 This portrays that the stalker can see the girl but she cannot see him and so creating more tension this way by intriguing the audience through dramatic irony.

The use of editing in our media sequence has also been effective; we have followed the thriller conventions by using cross-cutting editing between the school girl and the stalker. We have used this at would identify to the audience that there is a link between these characters, thus again creating more enigmas and suspension. Other conventions that we have followed is that of using a montage of shots using kinetic camera work which adds to the feel of the stalker and creates a certain thrilling feel for the audience, luring them.

Sound has also played a major role in our Media sequence; again we have followed the common conventions of the thriller genre by creating a ‘spooky’ score towards the end of the sequence. This attracts the audience as it is vitally different from the first score that we hear, this is because the audience assumed this is the first time the antagonist becomes in contact with the school girl. Therefore the score that was once up-beat at the start becomes a deeper lower tempo sound for the entrance of the stalker. The score is very important as it changes the mood of the sequence; our media product therefore creates a dark mood creating a ‘scary’ feel that attracts the audience.

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

The internet would most clearly have been the main part of the technology used, as we have used the blogs to post up the research, planning and production of our movie sequence. The internet has also been used to do research on general such as for the BBFC and other research into the thriller genre and subgenres etc.

New Media has also influenced the creation of our product particularly in for sound. For instance we have been able to use the copy right free music that has helped us create our score; also it has been helpful to be using sound effect, which we have used throughout our sequence.

Technologies have also helped in the fact that we were able to use a non-linear form of editing by using the software i-movie compared to a linear-distractive, where this would have to be done in order of the shots. Therefore using i-movie have it much better to re-arrange the shots and able to cut shots and edit them and in any way that we wish. This is because it means that I could not necessarily meet the order of the shots that are in the storyboard. I have been able to develop my Media product and then improve during editing Also by using the DV Cameras we use the DV tapes, and by using this it produces a high key and realistic look. This could have then made a more realistic feel which can fit in well with our story and particular film and genre that we have chosen. In Hollywood films they use celluloid instead that gives it a more glamorous effect.

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

Looking back at the preliminary task, I feel that I have overcome many challenges and differences during my full media product. For instance more attention has been focused on assuring that I have used the right lighting in each of the scenes and each shot and making sure that each shot has the same kind of information and dress, to maintain continuity. Therefore the mise en scene has been much more effectively look at when making my full product than when making the preliminary task. I have made sure that the cast are wearing the same clothes in each scene, have the same hair, are using the props etc.  The mise en scene has been chosen carefully to communicate certain messages and information to the audience. For instance school uniform has been purposely used to identify the girl as a school girl giving the audience the connotations about her being innocent, and physically weaker. The antagonist on the other hand is wearing black, again showing the conventions a mysterious character and somewhat dangerous. Whereas for the preliminary task, this was not taken into consideration as we did not adjust the dress and just stayed with what the cast was already wearing.

Also locations are needed to suitability; I have made sure that each of the location used are in content with our story and can suitable for what we want to use them for. Therefore we went to house and other rooms etc so that we could get exactly the places that we wanted to produce the right feel need for the sequence. Also in our locations we made sure that we had closed sets to assure that we just had all the people we needed in certain shots. However, in the preliminary task, we did not take this into much account and stayed on the location that we were in; we also had open sets in our preliminary task as this was not properly thought about.  

A major difference also, is the use of sound. Our preliminary task lacked greatly in the use of sound and so no mood was given to the audience. However we assured that in our Media product sound was used effectively to produce the mood needed to attract that audience a produce the mood and enigma wanted for the sequence. Sound effects were also used throughout out sequence and again this was not created in the preliminary task.

We had many other problems during occurring during the preliminary task as well, such as the camera work, as we did not really consider all the shot that were open and able for us to use, and we did not consider how the show may affect the overall movie. Whereas for our Media product we took into consideration all the shots that were available, so that we could get exactly what we wanted from these shots.

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

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

We progressed in our mindset towards these different tasks. For instance in the preliminary task we just wanted to get it over with as quickly as possible so we did a quick storyboard of a couple of 2 people breaking up and her walking off with someone else. Whereas the main task we planned over and over again because we had to get the days we were shooting right so that if it rains in one shot it must rain in the shot after that shot. It must also be dark outside as in grey dark so that people do not think that it was a different day.

Our lack of knowledge with the equipment was our most difficult problem as well as the short time we had between actually filming and being told that we had to film. This meant that we could not prepare the film the way we wanted to and we could not set up in a better environment other than a class room with class room tables instead of restaurant tables. The equipment gave us a lot of trouble as well when we were editing because there were certain aspects of the editing area that we did not know about.

We learnt by preparing in advance our whole main task. That was our biggest problem with the preliminary and because of the limited time we sort of panicked. We learnt through the advice of our peers how to use our time well and constructively and we also learnt how to use certain aspects of the editing equipment which meant that we could make a perfect main task. Through our preparation in advance we also learnt what locations are suitable for our film and we also knew when our locations were free so as to make sure we get a peaceful time filming.

We also improved on our preliminary by being allowed to have a score for the main task, without a score your film lacks a lot of interest because a score can carry the film through slow periods during the film.

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

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

We used many forms of technology and technology within the confinements of the internet. We used blogs to transfer our research to people about our film, more specifically we used www.blogger.com. To use the blog you have to type a post but you don’t have to publish it yet so if you feel that it is a pointless post then you can delete it or even edit. Once you’ve published your post you can still edit it but this time there will be comments underneath to help you with your mistakes or to even compliment your post these are left by followers.

We also used internet video sites such as www.youtube.com to get our clips and our research of thrillers. We downloaded significant clips onto our blog to help prove our point in the research but we also used certain clips to help us define the conventions of a thriller.

We finally used search engines such as www.google.com to find what we needed for our research. We just typed what we wanted in the search bar and then over 1000 results would come up, for instance when we researched the BBFC classification website we used google.

The latest technologies have influenced us a lot because we can now find all sorts of free downloadable music from websites and also free downloadable sound effects such as a door slamming or the sound of people chatting. We also downloaded our score from one of these websites which allowed us to finish our final edit for the film.

We used a new type of editing software this helped us because it was non linear editing which allows us to change our film and improve on the shots we have already taken. The non linear editing type helped because it doesn’t put our film in order of filming it allows us to put our film in the correct order, it also helped when we wanted to cut scenes to a minimum and it allowed us to do that. Our film wouldn’t have been what it is without non linear editing type. Linear editing type would have destroyed our film because it automatically puts our film in the order of filming which would have been disastrous because we definitely did not start with the opening scene. We had to make many changes including the order in which our film will be filmed in and we managed to cut all the glitches that were there and all the nasty ambient sounds that could have ruined our film. This also developed our film into a much better product than what it looked like on the storyboard.

The use of DV cameras instead of celluloid cameras meant that our film looked more realistic and gritty than that of the Hollywood films that use celluloid cameras.

how did you attract/address your audience?

5) How did you attract/address your audience?

The theme of our film is stalking. It appealed to our audience during a feedback session because most of them stated that it was a good piece of work but they also said that it was relevant to the thriller genre. The audience also liked our style however they did say that certain things needed improving especially sound because we hear to much wind which was affecting the microphone. They also wanted us to add a score at the beginning to carry the beginning of the sequence towards the end of the opening sequence. The audience were pleased with our editing but added that clip size needed to be shorter so our style of long timed shots is not an audience pleaser. They also stated that the editing needed finishing which is true because our film had to many cuts and glitches in it that needed to be improved. They also wanted us to add more titles at the beginning of our film but we already agreed on that before hand. Overall our audience was pleased and said that our film was relevant to the thriller genre with a lot of conventional pieces that they recognised as conventional to the thriller genre.

These included our cliff hanger at the end which proved to be quite popular because it was cut by a title and thus we did not know what happened to the girl. They also enjoyed our score towards the end of the sequence because it is a traditional suspense filled thriller score that keeps the audience on the edge of their seats. We tried to attract our target audience by setting the theme about abduction. This is a topic that regularly intrigues younger audiences and now they can relate to it through our film. The casting of a young female as the victim also helps them to relate to the film and feel included in a way because they know that this could be them in the same situation one day. The choice of location will also attract students because this is happening around school just after school finishes so for students it is interesting to know when you’re most likely to get hit.

who would be the audience for your media product?

4) Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience of our media product is mainly 15-25 year olds who enjoy an intense type of thriller. The film will be for over 15 only anyway because it challenges the horrors of rapists and abduction but we also don’t want young people getting any ideas. Our film is not at all violent but it will use some strong language and scenes that are of indecent nature thus we need to stop it from being viewed by people younger than 15. However I feel that in the circumstances we can allow under

15’s to watch our film because there is not any problems of violence, even though there seems to be violence inferred the bag being left behind shows that there must have been a struggle between the stalker and Anna during her abduction, the only concern for parents would be the children getting scared about stalkers and paedophiles when walking on the street by them selves or with there friends. I think it is suitable four target audience because it is a mild film about stalkers in society and having them around. I would also state that girls watch this movie because it concerns there well being when alone on the street and how to deal with it.