Hannah Vincent

AS Media Coursework Evaluation

1. IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?
In our final media product we used the forms and conventions of real media products as well as challenged and developed them. We used the forms and conventions of real media products a lot When it comes to the mise en scene of our final product. The low key lighting was a really effective Technique that we used which we also saw in real thriller films. Also, we felt like the red colour theme We had throughout our piece really fitted with the forms and conventions of a thriller. This was mostly Used with the female protagonist, her nails were red and also her lipstick. Also, the camera angles and distances we used fit the forms And conventions of real media products. We used a lot of Extreme Close ups to create tension. This was used effectively in the First scene when the male protagonist was shaving. Our fast paced editing was another way that we stuck to the forms and conventions. When watching other real media products we discovered that speeding up the pace really helped to create tension. Not only did we stick to the conventions of a thriller but we did also challenge and develop them. In most thriller films, the male is seen to be the murderer or the villain. In our media product we started off making the audience believe that the Male was the murderer when in actual fact it was the woman. This develops the conventional thriller because although in some ways we used the conventions, we did also shock the audience. I feel like the fact that we did slightly alter the normal conventions of a thriller really helped put across The fact that it is a psychological thriller because it has that unexpected aspect to it which most Psychological thrillers have. But also by sticking to some of the forms and conventions it has allowed us as a group, develop our understanding of how to create meaning through the use of mise en scene, Camera work and editing.

2. HOW DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT REPRESENT PARTICULAR SOCIAL GROUPS?

In our media product gender is presented in a very interesting way. We wanted to make sure that gender was a dominant aspect of our film. By this I mean that we wanted the audience to believe that the woman is the victim because this is what we are stereotypically used to, but then shock The audience when revealing the male is actually the victim. The reason we chose to be so obvious when showing the audience that the female is the murderer is because we again wanted To present an atypical representation of a women. This would then shock our audience which is The effect we wanted.

We also wanted both of the actors to be around the same age so that this doesnt have any effect on who is more Dominant. The reason we thought gender would be the most Effective way to show dominance is because the roles can Easily be swapped and that is exactly what we did.

3.WHAT TYPE OF MEDIA INSTITUTION MIGHT DISTRIBUTE YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT AND WHY?

In our research, we looked specifically at the film Seven. It was of the same genre of ours and we studied it in detail to try and get ideas from it. Although it is much darker then ours we still took some ideas from it. The film Was distributed by New Line Cinemas. New Line Cinemas merged with Warner Bros in 2008. It is an American film studio. Seven is a very dark thriller film produced in 1995 and is described by The IMDb as a crime, mystery thriller. In our survey people said that They could see our film being a crime or mystery thriller and this didnt Surprise us. The connotations of violence could make it a crime thriller. This film was give an 18 age rating which is something that we did differ from when making our film. When looking at the films that New Line Cinema released I can see our film being distributed by them. It has distributed many thriller films that are similar to our film. I feel like because it is a major Hollywood film studio our product would fit in with the other film is has distributed.

4.WHO WOULD THE AUDIENCE BE FOR OUR MEDIA PRODUCT?

When we gave an age rating for our media product we all as a group decided that we would rate It as a 15. From the survey that we did we discovered that even though more people said they would Also rate it as a 15, some people did say that they class it as a 12a. This was a shock for us because We did say that our target audience would be fifteen year olds and above. This was because even There was no actual violence, there were implications of violence (the knife) and if the narrative was Allowed to develop violence would most probably be a huge aspect of the film.

Our media product is aimed at both genders. This is one of the reasons we wanted to have both a Male and female involved in the media product, it allows both genders to connect to the characters. The fact that is wasnt too violent like thrillers can be, also allows all types of people to enjoy it. We wanted to keep our target audience as broad as possible because not only does it mean a More popular media product but it also allowed us to have a wider range of ideas when it came To actually making the film, compared to being restricted.

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HOW DID YOU ATTRACT OR ADDRESS YOUR AUDIENCE?

So as our target audience was both genders from the age of fifteen up, we really needed to focus on addressing both genders. Obviously, having a male and a female in our film allows the audience to connect with both of them. Yes, we did want people to connect with the female mostly. We tried to make the audience connect with her by giving her more prevalence than the male protagonist. We didnt use any point of view shots which do help attract and address the audience, however we used a lot of close ups and extreme close ups which definitely allow the audience to connect with that particular character. This is because they can see their facial expression. As our final piece is a psychological thriller we didnt want it to be too violent which can sometime put of certain people from connecting with the film. Although there was implications of violence, we did play it down a lot. We wanted the audience to have their own opinion on who they did connect to more. From our survey we found out that most people did connect with the female more which is what we wanted.

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We did choose actors from around the same age group as our target audience (the female being 18 and the male being 19). The reason we did this is because again, we wanted the audience to really connect with them. It also makes the narrative seen slightly more believable. From the survey we did, we discovered that the audience did follow the narrative. This to me says that we did attract and address the audience because they understood where the narrative was leading. Also, 100% of the people asked said they would be interested in seeing where the story leads.

Addressing our audience was obviously a very important aspect of making our film. Gender was a huge way of addressing the audience which in my opinion we used very effectively.

6. WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNT ABOUT TECHNOLOGIES FROM THE PROCESS OF CONSTRUCTING THE PRODUCT?
I feel like the technology we used really helped us construct the best quality final product that we could. We did however face some problems during the filming process. One slightly smaller problem Was the fact that when filming the camera didnt pick up some of the sounds as clearly as we wished. One of the scenes that this problem occurred most in was the first scene when the male is shaving. As a group we decided that we wanted to be able to here the sound of shaving in the opening Scene (see 0:10-0:16) more vividly. To fix this problem, we simply recorded the sound of someone Shaving using a roland edirol.

Another slightly larger problem we faced in the process of constructing was the lighting. Obviously, We didnt have professional lighting boxes and we had to make the most of what we had. Which Was natural light from the windows and yellow light bulbs. We did use a huge amount of colour Correction during the editing process to make sure that there wasnt an obvious change in lighting Throughout the final product. As we filmed some scenes on different days, this means different lighting. In particular the Scene of the male protagonist (see 1:17) and the end scenes of the female antagonist (from 1:40-1:55 ) Needed most colour correction. This was due to the amount of brightness in the shot. They were both Very dark shots and even though we wanted low key lighting, it was a little too dark to be able to see What was happening in the scene. The reason we used so much colour correction is because it helps The flow of continuity throughout the film. We used premier pro and after effects to edit the lighting.
In my opinion the camera work was our strength during the process of constructing. We used HD camcorders for filming. An advantage for

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Us Because we could focus the camera in macro mode (see 0:10) in the first scene to get the extreme close up shots. Also, we used a lot of mirror work in our final product. The only disadvantage of the camera work was the shot of the Male protagonist going down the stairs . The camera Focused at the wrong time causing the shot to go in and Out of focus. This meant we had to delete the shot all Together. We could have re-filmed this scene but due to Timing issues this wasnt an option. The tripods that we used did work effectively, although we did have a few problems with the Pan (see 0:08). The tripod was too loose to get a smooth panning shot. The fact that the tripod Was way too loose resulted in the pan being too quick.

To conclude, I feel like as a group we learnt a lot about the technologies used. I wasnt very Confident with using premier pro to edit but after the constructing of our final product I am much More comfortable with this editing software. Also, I feel that as a group we used the technologies Available to make the best possible final film. We used what we had to come over any problems Faced during the construction of our final film.

7. LOOKING BACK TO YOUR PRELIMINARY TASK, WHAT DO YOU FEEL THAT YOU HAVE LEARNT IN THE PROGRESSION FROM IT TO THE FULL PRODUCT?
When looking back on our preliminary task, I realised the importance of having a detailed storyboard. The reason for this is because when making the preliminary task we didnt really have that much detail in our story board, we the struggled when setting up the camera angle and found ourselves making decisions on the spot. However for our full product task we really did use our storyboard effectively. The fact that we had detailed descriptions on the back of each shot really helped us in the filming process. Along with the storyboard, the animatic was also essential to help my group visualise how the final product will look. One thing that I wish we did consider when making our animatic was sound. We didnt choose our background music till the very end and I feel like if we had chose from the start it would have really benefitted us. The fact that for our preliminary task we didnt even have an animatic really makes me realise how important it was. Also looking at our preliminary task compared to our full product, the research we did for the full product really shines through. Our understanding of the thriller genre is apparent compared to the preliminary task. In my opinion the research is one of the most important parts of making the film because not only does it allow us to have a clear understanding of our final product (which is obviously important) but it also gives us the knowledge of what an audience expects from a film. We needed to know the codes and conventions of the subgenre we chose to do. We chose to make psychological thriller and even though this is the same as our preliminary task, our improvements really are apparent.

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I feel that are technical ability has also improved greatly. Not only have we understood how to create meaning through camera, editing, sound and mise en scene, but we have also just improved in the quality of our making. The camera work is of a much higher quality and also the people in our group that were less confident when it came to the technical side of making have had a chance to gain these skills. In our final product we have used camera angles and distances to show meaning. In our preliminary task we tried to do this but it is just not as effective as in our full product. Close up shots are a great way to create tension and as Ive said we used a lot of these in our final piece. Our research into psychological thrillers allowed us to understand what shots work and which dont. Editing is also something that I feel has improved from our preliminary task to our full product. Again, we have all learnt new skills and now all of our group understand how to use the editing software premier pro confidently. From our research we discovered that fast paced editing creates a huge amount of tension and we adopted this concept in our final product. The editing is much smoother in our final product compared to our preliminary task. The transitions between scenes are much better and as a whole I think our editing skills have improved greatly.

I think that our end product has fully completed the task that was set. We stuck to the codes and conventions of a thriller yet made ours original with slight developments. We stuck to the timing of two minutes set and we also used camera work, editing, sound and mise en scene to our advantage to create a psychological thriller. We addressed and attracted the audience while doing this,