1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
When constructing our thriller opening we took into account he various forms and conventions of other successful thriller openings and attempted to apply them to our own product. A major convention used in most effective and successful thrillers is plot. In order to create an effective plot we had to effectively build suspense and tension as this is what a good plot aims to do. Therefore we had to create an effective script and convey our plot through the various shots used and the character portrayal. I believe that the effectiveness of our plot was highlighted by the plot twist at the end of the opening in which the audience see the protagonist rise against his captors - giving the audience hope. The use of mystery in thrillers is also a key form therefore we also applied this to our thriller and plot as we use the uncertainty of the antagonists intentions and the confidential file of "captus" to create intrigue and drag the audience in, this sense of mystery is a key convention in thrillers.
We also focused on the use of sound as I believe that sound is an importing aspect to take into account when creating a successful thriller and being bale to emotionally connect with the audience. There are various different subsections to sound, such as mood music, dialogue and sound effects.
The use of sound is also effective in creating tension and suspense - an aspect that we wanted to convey in our thriller however due to the fact that we are an AS level media group the availability of creating and composing our own mood music (to contribute to the aspect of sound) was limited therefore we had to research sound used in extremely effective Thrillers over the recent years. Through viewing some of the most iconic and impacting Thrillers we found that orchestral music was highly effective in grabbing the audiences attention and building up suspense to create that mysterious, tense, thriller atmosphere. However through our research we found an effective soundtrack to overlay our Thriller - we eventually decided to use the music used in "The Hills Have Eyes" although this is a horror film we felt that the music effectively created the tension and suspense needed for our thriller - this was underlined by the positive feedback received in relation to the music used.
The convention of mise-en-scene was a key feature during our Thriller as costume, make-up, lighting, acting and setting all played key roles in our media product, similar to that of other real media products. We developed the form of costume to distinguish both antagonist(s) and protagonist. We also used costume to create an image and idea of our protagonist and to portray him as an ordinary character. Portraying him as an ordinary character is something heavily featured in many Thrillers - an ordinary character performing extraordinary tasks. Something conveyed heavily in our film as the use of costume: plain white shirt with black trousers creates an impression of ordinary working class however the perception of the protagonist being ordinary is then turned on its head as he proceeds to fight back against his violent captors. The antagonists were all dressed similarly, white shirt and black trousers - ironically similar to that of the protagonist, however they were masked to create a secrecy about their identity We developed the convention of costume so the audience could distinguish who the key antagonist is through his different features shown on his mask to portray him to be even more intimidating. We used make up, such as blood on the face of the protagonist to convey a sense of violence and also show the audience the sheer pain and suffering he experienced during his interrogation. Similar use of make-up is seen in most thrillers to convey a violent and suspenseful atmosphere.
In most Thrillers that portray scenes of interrogation such as Casino Royale, setting and lighting is extremely effective in creating an interrogative atmosphere. Therefore we used a similar convention in our Thriller as we set the scene in a dark empty room, with a sole chair in the middle and spotlights focusing on the chair. This immediately portrays an interrogative atmosphere to the audience. For lighting we used fresnel lighting to create a spotlight effect focusing on the protagonist. Therefore i feel we effectively used the convention of lighting in setting in creating suspense and tension - shown in the interrogation scene.
Through character portrayal we challenged the convention of the protagonist being strong and providing a strong competition for the antagonist as we portray the protagonist to be considerably weaker and more susceptible to being intimidated by the antagonist however we developed this convention as its clear the protagonist is initially weak and violently assaulted yet through the climax and plot twist we see the protagonist gain strength and confidence - similar to other protagonists of most modern thrillers.
2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
The represntation particular social groups is not clearly defined in our film as the only real representation is solely of the character of Alex Harrington. Therefore it is more, or less open to interpretation. For example we used costume and props to convey the sense of weralthy, white middle class in the character of Alex to also suggest he'd be an ideal target for theft due to his supposed profession which was conveyed through his costume as it could suggest he is quite possibly a wealthy businessman, not only does this porttray his character to be an ideal target, the character and his profession can relate to the aduience and again imply a fear of "it could be anyone of us" - making his situation more believable. As through my research i have discovered that in most thrillers, the protagonist seems to be an ordinary character - in extraordinary circumstances, making him more relatable to the audience.
3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
Taking into consideration; the lackof funding, lack of big names and relatively small production process and team then it is unlikely that our film would be distributed by major American distributors such as Warner Brothers, Sony Pictures, Paramount Pictures, 20th Century fox etc. even though these distributors are renowned for distributing big blockbuster Thrillers that are critically acclaimed, I feel that due to our film being indepedantly funded and produced it is unlikely these big distributors would release our film to the masses.However, as a production company we would still need a relatively large revenue to be able to produce more films of a higher quality therefore I believe that some indepndant British media institutions such as film4, Warp Films, Working Title, Heyday Films or Neal Street would distribute our media product. This would greatly benefit us as these companies are nationally renowned and critically acclaimed when it comes to the distribution of Indepedant films, therefore they're ideal for our film. These media institutions hold a good reputation - which draws in audiences on a smaller scale in comparison to major distributors yet they are still able to garner a relatively large revenue from the films the distribute. However we do understand that our media product is low budget, low level production and would not necessarily be distributed on this scale, therefore smaller 'art house' cinemas may be more realistic as a place where our media product would be displayed.
4. Who would be the audience for your media product?
Taking into Considering BBFC's film classification, then I'd suggest that the age of 15+ would be appropriate, aiming for a young adult audience as its clear through research provided be experian marketing as its proved that the majority of cinema goers are young adults ranging from 18-24. Also due to the violent nature of the thriller opening we produced its clear that this age of audience would be appropriate. However we eliminated miost violent scenes from the thriller as we felt that they were uneeded therefore we would be able to aim our a film at a larger range of audiences. The language and characterisation portrayed in our film relates to this age group.
 
Only adults are admitted. Nobody younger than 18 can rent or buy an 18-rated VHS, DVD, Blu-ray Disc, UMD or game, or watch a film in the cinema with this rating. Films under this category do not have limitation on the bad language that is used. Hard drugs are generally allowed, and explicit sex references along with detailed sexual activity are also allowed. Scenes of strong real sex may be permitted if justified by the context. Very strong, gory, and/or sadistic violence is usually permitted. Strong sexual violence is permitted unless it is eroticised or excessively graphic
As you can see, the BBFC rating for a rating of 15 often correlates with the contents of our film. Our thriller opening clearly contains strong elements of violence, limited strong language and blood is also portrayed throughout therefore i feel a rating of 15 would be appropriate however there is a distinct lack of strong sex references, sexual violence and although there is one significant element of strong language, our thriller does not frequently portray strong language. Yet a 15 would be appropriate due to the intimidation portrayed throughout as this could affect the audience due to their empathy with the protagonist.
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5. How did you attract/address your audience?
We studied the conventions and forms of thrillers and how they can combine to create successful Thrillers such as "se7en" or "Pyscho". Its clear that sound and performance are key features when it comes to constructing successful thrillers that appeal to audiences. However we had to challenge some of these conventions and forms and use them in our own way to appeal and attract the audience we targeted which was teenagers/young adults. Therefore through the use of performance we allowed the audience to create a sympathetic relationship with the protagonist - allowing the audience to understand the protagonists feelings and suffering. Therefore its clear that we used the character portrayal of Alex to address the audience. Through research its clear that audience's are attracted by effective methods of raising suspense and tension therefore we used effective music that would be able to create this suspense for the audience, allowing the audience to get hooked into our Thriller. Similar to this, the use of creating mystery is effective in Thrillers and attracting audiences, therefore the mysteriousness about the contents in the safe allows the audience to really engage and question the antagonists intentions hooking them in deeper into the story as they want to know more about the mysterious contents.
The use of advertisement played a key part in attracting our audience. For example the use of film posters allows us to give the audience an insight to the film as well as creating interest and intrigue therefore attracting audiences to view our media product. Similar to this we used social networks such as Twitter and Facebook to publicise and advertise our public, to not only gain feedback but to address the audience as through research i found that our intended target audience of teenagers/young adults are common users of such social networking sites therefore I felt that i would be able to address the audience through promoting our film on social networks as i would then be able to reach a wider range of my intended target audience.
6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
I have learnt that different technologies have different qualities for example - the type of camera or editing software. In this case we used the Canon 60d to shoot our film as well as the 550d and we used various different lenses such as the 500mm with a 1.8 f-stop, the 18-135mm lens, 16mm fish eye lens and the 10-17mm lens. As well as that i have learnt a lot about the editing softwares used to construct similar products and it seems to be that a lot of the bigger companies use really developed softwares unlike iMovie therefore we edited our film on the current version of Final Cut, allowing a much more enhanced and advanced way of editing.
I have also learnt that the technology can be extremely complicated and difficult at times however with research I have managed to overcome the difficulties.
I've learnt that they play a major part in the construction of the product and its quality as I feel that due to the fact we used enhanced, developed good quality technology we gained a good quality result. However its clear that our film in comparison with real successful feature length Thrillers show a significant difference in quality. However this is down to resources and finance. Due to our lack of resources and finance our final product was restricted whereas feature length films often have a large variety of resources at their dispense and large finances to construct their product Therefore i have learnt that finance can play a big part in technology used in constructing a successful media product. As increased funds often allows better quality products due to improved technology.
I have also found that lighting and sound can greatly contribute to constructing a successful media product. For example the fresnel lighting used in our product really contributes to the Thriller element of the film as it creates an interrogative atmosphere. Therefore its clear that lighting technology can really affect the quality of the final product. Similarly we found that sound was key in our product as it can help create suspense and tension easily. However i have found that creating your own score for a film is a long and complicated process therefore its easier to research other scores that would be similarly effective.
Other technologies such as photoshop contributed to the marketing and promotion aspect of the product as we used photoshop to generate a film poster. Therefore i have learnt that programs like this can greatly improve the final product as it builds intrigue and attracts audience. Technology is often used in the process of constructing the product to attract audiences.
7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
I feel i have gained a lot of experience as a filmmaker through the process and progression, as a group we really developed our ideas of the film and really challenged ourselves to think outside the box when it came to filming. For example we tried new, different shots, had better equipped and were just generally really prepared. Whereas i feel that throughout the planning and shooting of the preliminary task we weren't fully prepared and didn't plan to a full extent. We kept our preliminary very basic whereas when it came to our full product we went all out, did a lot of market research on thrillers, studied how they were shot, looked and different shooting techniques and put it into practice. I feel that i have learnt a lot in the progression and that our full product quality is a lot better than the previous preliminary task film. We managed to use much more elaborated equipment when it came to filming such as dolly's, tripods, various different lenses and external sound systems. As well as this, I feel that I have developed my editing skills as we moved onto editing our film on Final Cut Pro X instead of the basic iMovie.
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