What ways does your Media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Our thriller incorporates generic conventions by the use of Music, Lighting, darkness, the antagonist, the forest and the use of victims.
Darkness is used throughout the opening sequence to build up an atmosphere; we made everything dark by putting sheets on windows, closing curtains and by using the features on Final Cut express which allows you to change how bright or dark you want the thriller to be
Lighting was used so you could clearly see what was happening; this was difficult because we didn’t want to make it too light as this would not make it atmospheric and creepy. We made the lighting how we wanted it to be by using and adjusting different factors. The first was by using a lamp which is in the scene where the antagonist is sat on the table, we used the light on the camera where we could not use natural light, an example of this is when she was walking into and out of the kitchen. And the final factor was by using natural light, an example of this was in the forest where we used the natural light and then adjusted how dark we wanted it to be on Final Cut express. For the establishing shot on the house, we start off with it daytime and then we make it darker, this is to show that it is night time.
Music was used according to what was happening, when she was running through the forest there was a fast beat based sound track and we put a base sound on when he was writing on the table because this builds up the suspense and we felt this means that this corresponds with the antagonist.
This is the Music we used
The antagonist was seen a few times throughout the opening sequence, it went from us seeing his hand and then his whole body. We only showed his hand at the beginning because we felt this would keep peoples attention and interested as they would want to see him, it would also keep the suspense growing. We put a gun on the table because we felt this will make the audience think what the antagonist is capable of. At the end we see his body but not his face; this keeps it a mystery of who the antagonist is.
I think the use of these conventions makes it an Action/Mystery Thriller. This is because it is a mystery of who the antagonist is and whereabouts Elliot is but there is also action, an example of this is when she is running through the forest.
The use of these conventions are similar to films like Silence of the lambs, this had an influence on our thriller because we took the idea of a girl running through a forest.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
The social group of which Kate comes from is a white English 19 year old middle class girl. We don’t see the antagonist in the opening sequence but from what we see they have a dark personality. Gender is not represented in a stereotypical way; this is because we see an everyday girl, who comes across unfortunate events.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?Our thriller would be able to be produced in a major Hollywood studio because when planning we watched films which were made in Hollywood studios and got idea from these films. (I.e. silence of the lambs). We used techniques from these films and one of these is the use of different camera shots to make the thriller tenser. Also we used the idea of someone running through a forest like we see in silence of the lambs.
Our thriller would be a TV movie release which would be shown late at night, it is a 15 certificate. This is because some of the scenes in the thriller would not be suitable for under 15 year olds.
It would be released to entertain the audience and to make money. It offers merchandising because t-shirts and posters could be made representing the thriller. There are opportunities for franchises like game companies to buy the rights to make games of the thriller.
Overall this thriller could be made in a Hollywood studio because the ‘mise en scene’ involves a dark, gloomy atmosphere, which is similar to other Hollywood studio thrillers.
Who would be the audience for your media product?
The target audience is males and females aged 15-35; this is because it is not targeted at a particular gender. It would be for people to watch with their friends and for people who like a tense atmosphere with some scary aspects along the way. There is a tense atmosphere in our thriller with some scary moments like when Kate gets captured at the end of the opening sequence.
A film which is similar to ours is silence of the lambs, as it has the familiar scene when she is running through a forest .
How did you attract/address your audience?
Our thriller attracts both males and females 15+. The part whereby Kate is captured and then screams could scare some people; it would mostly scare or make girls jump because as Kate is a girl this could appeal to them more than it would to boys. In the scene in the forest we used close-up so you could see the expressions on Kate’s face when she was captured, which were terrified. We did close-ups on Kate’s feet to show her running through the forest, we did this to build up suspense because the audience were unable to see where she was running to. When she was shouting Eliot in the forest we did a mid shot, this was so the audience can see the stalker in the background.
The audience has to put them in the position of Kate; they will see Kate looking for Eliot and then finally being captured. If the Audience puts themselves in her position, this will keep the audience attracted as they will want to no what happens to her, this also builds up suspense.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
The strengths of the camera equipment are that there was a light on the camera which we could use to balance out the light; an example is for when Kate walks into the kitchen. Another strength is that we got a tri-pod with the camera this was useful because it meant that we could pan easily like you see in the forest and it means that the camera will not be shaky. A weakness is that the camera was not the greatest of quality, this could have affected how the final product looked but because of this we had to make sure that the lighting was good so the camera would be able to pick up the movements.
We did not face any problems with the equipment but we had to use the camera plugged into the mains while we were recording in the house because we were charging the battery for when we moved to the forest to film.
While editing on Final Cut express we found allot of useful features which enhanced our thriller. One of these was adjusting the opacity on the clips; we thought it would be better to film in the day time in the forest so the camera would not lose the quality like it would have if we filmed when it was dark. But once we were editing we felt it was not dark enough to build up suspense how we wanted it to. By changing the opacity we could make the clips darker while keeping the quality, as we’ve done this we feel it is creepier and it builds up suspense how we wanted it to. Another effect we used on final cut was Slow motion; this enhances our thriller because it makes it looks like she is running for longer, this builds up suspense because the audience wants to no what happens next.
Looking back to your preliminary task, what do you feel that you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Researching the genre was useful in the planning stage because we found out what our thriller will have to include and it helped us to keep it a thriller and not a Horror. The main feature we found in thriller is building suspense we incorporated this into our opening sequence. Detailed planning and story boarding helped the filming process to be efficient and smooth because we knew what shots we had to do and approximately how long each scene had to be. It was useful when it came to editing because we already knew what transitions we needed to use and what order the video clips go in.
I feel more confident in using the equipment now than I first did while doing the preliminary task. I no how to set up the tri-pod quickly and I am now confident at using it for panning as we did when Kate was running through the forest without the camera wobbling. I am now also confident at using the camera and all of the features on it; I learnt how to use the zoom feature and when to use it. It is effective in our thriller when we zoomed in on Kate’s feet when she was running through the forest.
My use of specific shots has improved because I am more aware of when different shots should be used. An example is the over the shoulder shot which is used when the antagonist is sat at the table. This is used here because we can see everything on the table but you cannot see the antagonist apart from his hand which is writing on the piece of paper, this keeps it a mystery of who he is.
I feel our end product is very successful at fulfilling the task because we have kept it a thriller and not a horror, we have built up suspense which we found a lot of thrillers have and because we have used our conventions precisely to how a thriller is in our research.
This is the Scene in Silence of the Lambs where we go the idea of a girl running through a forest.
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