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

I think that since the preliminary task we have come a long way and we have learnt a lot. We’ve learnt about conventions of a thriller, and what separates an average film from an effective one that is full of tension and suspense and keeps the audience guessing. We learnt about the importance of lighting, of the camera angles and movements, and all of the other aspects of mise en scene like costume, make up, props etc. We learnt about representation, and how to target a particular audience through their age, class, gender, race etc (all part of audience psychographics). Because of this we managed to link all aspects of our thriller (such as the low-key lighting, tense soundtrack, low and high angles etc) to the representations we were trying to create, and also made sure that they were appealing to the audience. We learnt about the importance of the soundtrack, and how it can make or break a film and all of these things helped us to make a more effective opening sequence. I think one of the biggest things that we learnt was to make changes to our original idea to improve the product. Our initial idea was to make a fast paced sequence, based around the title ‘Rush’. However it became clear that this idea really wasn’t working. The camera couldn’t take some of the quick movements in the scenes, and so the shots were looking really messy and unprofessional. We were also trying to cram too much plot into such a short amount of time, so our product became very confusing and difficult to follow. During editing we removed these fast paced scenes, and took out a lot of the plot (which added in vital enigmas), which improved our thriller greatly, but meant that the title ‘Rush’ and our soundtrack no longer fitted. As much as we still liked our original idea, we knew we had to progress from it, and so we changed the title to ‘Persistent Paranoid’ which seemed to fit the slower, creepier feel of our new opening sequence.

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

I feel that as a group we have learnt a lot about different technologies from the process of constructing our thriller opening sequence. When we started, only one group member had any experience with Mac editing software, and only one other had any experience using a video camera, so there has been a lot that we have had to pick up along the way. Our filming went well, and we all learnt how to use the camera, and as our confidence with it grew we were able to get more creative with it. We were able to go from very basic straight on shots, to experimenting with high and low angles, sometimes taken to the extreme (e.g. filming over the edge of a staircase). We tried to do some fast-paced shots by running with the camera, but soon realised that the camera could not cope with that level of movement, and so instead we worked on varying our shot types rather than the speed. We got a range of shots; from extreme close ups to point of views to establishing shots. We learnt about lighting and how it affected our filming, and so we played around a lot with shadows and silhouettes to create darkness to the scenes. We also learnt about camera angles, and how they were key to show representations, but also how we could use them to create some interesting and unique shots (such as filming directly above the flight of stairs to create a disorientating view, whilst making our protagonist look vulnerable). However, the member of the group with experience on the Mac left the group before we could do any of the editing, so we had to try and figure this out for ourselves. We struggled with it at first, but after being shown how to do certain things (like adding vignettes and transitions, and rendering the film) we became better at it, and managed to work out some of it for ourselves.  We edited the saturation or all of our shots, to remove some of the colour and make them look bleak and eerie. We darkened the exposure on some, where it had been difficult to achieve low-key lighting during the filming, and added vignettes to darken the shots further, adding to the mystery. Towards the end of our editing we had all become comfortable with using Final Cut and we had successfully edited our product. Next, we had to use SoundTrack, again a programme none of us had used. At first it didn’t go too well, and our original soundtrack was not very effective. Our feedback from the first screening told us that it was too repetitive, and did not build any tension. We had focused too much on trying to create a beat that match a heartbeat, and then gradually got faster. We thought this would build suspense, however it was very ineffective and after a short time it became irritating to listen to. We didn’t want to put the audience off watching the thriller with this sound, so we scrapped this soundtrack and started again. I feel that our final soundtrack was much more tense and a lot more effective. The beat is irregular, and so makes it feel uncomfortable to listen to, as you cannot find a sense of rhythm to it. This is one of the effects we wanted to create overall with our thriller, so we were pleased that the new soundtrack managed to achieve this. Finally we had to learn to use Motion to create our titles, which again, took a lot of getting used to. At first the font we used seemed too obvious a choice (because it was disjointed and scratched). The movement of it was too fast and jittery, making it difficult to read. I feel that our new titles are much more effective. We went for a simple font called ‘American Typewriter’ and a quick fade in and out for the movements. This seems to fit the style and pace of Persistent Paranoid a lot better. Overall, I think we learnt a lot and considering how little we knew when we started, we created a good product.

 An example of a shot from our thriller which has been edited to reduce the brightness, lower the saturation and a vignette has been added.

 Some examples of titles that feature in our sequence.

Evaluation - How did you attract/address your audience?

We addressed our audience by using main characters that were similar to them, so they could feel a connection to the film and feel like they were being represented on screen. To achieve this similarity, we chose to dress our characters in casual modern clothes. This helps to set the date of the thriller, whilst making the characters more like the audience. Originally we had planned to follow conventions of other thrillers (and films in general) by representing character roles through the clothes. For example, we initially planned on dressing our antagonist all in black, to symbolise that he was an evil, dark character who could not be trusted, whilst we had planned to dress one protagonist in a white dress (to make her appear innocent, fragile and vulnerable) and the other in a red dress (symbolising and fore-shadowing violence and danger). However we decided against this in the end, and chose the casual clothes as we felt this would appeal more to our young target audience, and we felt that it would also add to the creepiness of our film if everything was happening to “normal” people in an “everyday” setting.  We also attracted our audience by using conventions we had seen in other thrillers. For example, we used close ups and extreme close ups which can be seen in the opening sequence of Se7en, and we used low key lighting which is seen in many thrillers like The Dark Knight Rises and Paranormal Activity, to make shots dark and mysterious. This means that if audience members are big thriller fans, or have seen these films, then they may notice the similarities to our product and the use of conventions, and think it would be something they would enjoy, allowing us to borrow their audience. Adhering to conventions will also appeal to Mainstreamers (a large portion of our target audience) as they like things that can be expected and they know they will enjoy. CUs and ECUs also help us to maintain the audience’s interest by creating enigmas, allowing the audience to see objects or characters of relevance but not revealing why they were important. Our shots introduced key characters, and suggested their roles (through the use of low or high key lighting, low, high or POV angles, casual clothing and other aspects of mise en scene such as props) but they did not give too much away, which means that the audience would want to continue watching the rest of the film to understand and figure out the enigma codes. This is what we felt was the main function of an opening sequence.

 

An example of low key lighting used in our thriller

 



 

A prop that feature in our opening sequence

 

 

An example of an extreme close-up from our sequence

Evaluation - Who would be the audience for your media product?

The intended audience for our product is both sexes, and likely between the ages of 12 and 30. To appeal to both sexes, we used both male and female characters, and tried to keep the soundtrack and font styles ‘gender neutral’ so that they did not seem to appeal to one gender more than the other. In terms of the characters themselves, they were constructed to look relatable to both sexes, through costumes and make up (which was all ‘typical’ and ‘normal’ for British teenagers). However, there may be some members of the audience (in particular females) who may dislike the idea of a female character falling victim to a male. We considered subverting the conventions here, but eventually we decided that using conventional representations would make the genre of the film clear and would appeal to a wide general audience (in particular Mainstreamers). Originally we intended our film to be certificate 15, because our early shots showed/suggested violence. After looking on the BBFC’s website, we found that 12 and 12A rated films were allowed “moderate violence” and “no weapon that is easily accessible should be used”. For a 15 certified film “violence may be strong”. We felt from our idea that a 15 rating would be more appropriate for the planned content of our opening sequence. However, as we filmed more, and edited the sequence, many of these shots were cut out, because they did not fit in with the developing idea. When we showed our film for the first time, the feedback we received from our target audience suggested that the 15 certificate was no longer appropriate, and a 12 would be more suitable, because of the reduction in violent content. This is also beneficial for our film, because it means we can access a much larger target audience, and if we really were to make it and run it in cinemas we would be able to make a larger profit from it. In terms of psychographics, our thriller would be aimed a Mainstreamers (who chose what to consume based on its popularity and mass appeal, and also happen to be the largest group, giving us a bigger audience), Aspirers (who tend to be younger, and are very image/fashion conscious. We feel that some aspirers may want to view our thriller because it is independent, giving them a sense of individuality), and finally Explorers (who are often students, and are thrill seekers who are willing to try new things and seek excitement).  

Evaluation - What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

We decided that Film Four was the company who would most likely to distribute our film. This is because Film Four is a British institution that is known for investing in and distributing independent British films such as Dead Man’s Shoes and Kill List. As ours would be an independent British film, if we were making it in full we would probably look to them. Dead Man’s Shoes and Kill List are just some of the British thriller/horror films that Film Four have helped to create, and we feel that our film would fit in well alongside their previous thrillers. Film Four also has an appeal to younger people, as they often make films aimed at them, like the comedy Submarine or Attack The Block. The characters in these films seem like “regular” teenagers who the audience can relate to, because they dress, talk and look like the audience, which is something we tried to achieve with our film. Because of these similarities, we feel that Film Four would greatly help to promote our film to our target audience. Our thriller being distributed by Film Four would be an example of synergy, and this would help us expose our film to a larger number of people by “borrowing” Film Four’s audience. Our thriller also has similarities to Kill List’s trailer, such as the sound track and certain shots (see below). This means that fans of Kill List may also be interested in Persistent Paranoid, again borrowing an audience.

 

Dead Man's Shoes Trailer

 

 

Submarine Trailer

 

 

Kill List Trailer

 

 

 

 

A shot from Kill List's Trailer

 

And a shot from our thriller 'Persistent Paranoid'

Evaluation - How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our media product represents the social group of teenagers, through the main characters shown in the opening sequence. All three characters are teenagers, and are shown in casual, conventional clothing for this group. As the target audience for our thriller would mainly be a similar age, we felt it was important that the characters were represented in a way that would allow the audience to relate to them. It will also make the thriller seem creepier if the audience can imagine themselves in the roles of the characters.
Our thriller features three white British teenage characters, but if we were to make the film in full we would use a diverse cast with representations of people of different ages, ethnicities and abilities (whilst making sure that none of the representations were offensive and were all suitable for the film). Our thriller also has a representation of women, which is conventional of thrillers, but may not appeal to everyone as it is fairly stereotypical, as we found when doing research that protagonists in thrillers are often women, and antagonists are often men. This can be seen in films such as Sleeping with the Enemy and Psycho. Some people may find this convention of a woman being a victim of a man to be sexist. Whilst using this convention makes the genre of our film clear, and will appear to fans of thrillers, there may be a small minority who find this offensive, and would prefer a stronger female character who was not being victimized by a man. However we decided that this was likely to be a small section of our audience, so we decided it would be okay to go with the conventions. In our thriller there is one male antagonist, but two female protagonists. Of the two protagonists, one is shot from high angles, whilst the other is filmed with the camera on an even eye-level. This creates an enigma, and the audience may struggle to decide whether they are both victims, or whether one of the protagonists is actually on the antagonists “side”. This adds to the suspense and tension of the thriller.

 High angle shot of one female protagonist.

Low angle shot of male antagonist.

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

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

 

 

For our media product (thriller opening sequence) we wanted to stay relatively close to the conventions that you would expect from a thriller. We chose to do this as we felt it was important for the beginning of a film to make the genre clear to the audience. To do this we looked at other thrillers, and noted the conventions that make the genre clear. Thrillers are defined as being “a genre of literature, film and television that uses suspense, tension and excitement as the main elements”, so we looked at opening sequences that were effective at building tension and creating a good atmosphere. The opening sequence of Se7en was a big inspiration for our own thriller. It made us realise that to build tension, we needed to use shots that would create mystery, and not make the whole storyline obvious. This draws the audience in and encourages them to keep watching. We used lot of close ups in our thriller like Se7en does. The effect of this is that we can show important characters, and create a sense of the type of character they are (either antagonist or protagonist) through the use of lighting and angles, but close ups do not reveal everything about the character, leaving some mystery for the audience. We also used shadows and silhouettes to create a similar effect, and they also make the shots darker, making the atmosphere tense. We also noticed when looking at thrillers like Se7en, The Dark Knight, Cloverfield and Paranormal Activity, that music was particularly important for creating suspense. Conventionally in thrillers the soundtrack may start off quiet and slow, and rhythm will match a human heartbeat. Then, as the sequence progresses, the music often builds up, getting louder and faster. The effect of this is that the increase in pace may increase the audiences heartbeat, and make them feel that something exciting is about to happen. This is what we aimed to do with our own soundtrack, to make it conventional. Initially we struggled to create a similar effect, and after our first showing the feedback we received made us realise that the music needed to be improved. We went for a tense, atmospheric sound, adding in more layers and effects at the sequence went on, and ended it with a brief silence and one final short, sharp sound which we hoped would make the audience jump and leave them on edge (the kind of feeling an effective thriller would give you). Our characters were also fairly conventional, as our protagonists were female (Becky and me), and our antagonist was male (Jack). These character roles can be seen in films such as Psycho, Se7en and Sleeping with the Enemy. We showed the difference between the two character types through lighting and shot types. Our antagonist was shot with low key lighting to create a lot of darkness and shadow, and our protagonist was shot with slightly brighter lighting to show her innocence. Similarly, we used more low angle shots when shooting the male antagonist to make him appear superior and intimidating, and more high angle shots when filming our protagonist to make her seem vulnerable. A good example of this can be seen in the trailer for Sleeping with the Enemy. The male antagonists is shot with low angles, whilst the female protagonist is filmed from above.
In our thriller, the relationship between the characters is made clearer through the use of framing and spatial relations. The characters are never on screen together, they are always shown as individuals, showing that there is no close relationship between them. However, mirroring each shot, for example seeing Becky walk down the stairs, and then seeing Jack do the same thing adds to the tension, because it seems creepy to see two people with no apparent relationship doing exactly the same things one after the other.