Evaluation: Question 1-Interactive presentation.

Evaluation Questions 1-7

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

The way in which we approached our final piece was in the style of a horror thriller, so this meant trying to make our final product contain subtle elements from a horror film (such a dark undertone and a tense atmosphere) however we had to make sure that we did not compromise the brief and that the final piece was still in the genre of a Thriller. The most obvious risk with making our opening sequence in the style of a horror thriller is falling too far down the route of a horror film, and aspects of this can be seen throughout our piece, the main example of this is our entire scenario of an unknown character being stalked in the woods by another unknown entity. Fortunately our composition does fit common conventions of a thriller, for example the use of suspenseful music composition to create effect is one of the most iconic features of any thriller.

The use of the costume helps emphasises vulnerability, a key convention in most modern day thrillers. This can be seen in the characters parker coat, that is zipped up all the way to the neck and sleeves that are too long, covering his hands. This is a good example due to the fact the character is showing very little skin, suggesting the idea that the covering up is this character's way of protecting themselves and could metaphorically suggest that this character is covering up and protecting their insecurities. I felt it was important to agree with this convention as one of the main aspects of our piece is the idea of isolation, therefore vulnerability played a large part of making that isolation feel real to both the actor and the audience of our piece.

The use of a young male protagonist in the opening sequence also fits the usual stereotype and convention of most thrillers,   this is because usually a male will take the main role and the female may play the secondary protagonist/ love interest. This is usually due to the fact that most thrillers have a largely young, male fan base, and by therefore using a young male protagonist, the piece is more likely to agree, appeal and relate directly to the intended target audience. Again I felt like agreeing with this convention was the way forward, it was a necessity in order to make the sequence as believable and relatable to the audience as possible.

Another convention that we decided to incorporate into our final edit, is Barthes’ theory of scattering ‘Narrative Enigmas’ throughout or opening sequence, to both engage and intrigue the audience. Barthes suggests that by scattering these Narrative Enigmas throughout the opening scene of any media project, they act almost as puzzles that the audience can work on, a prime example can be seen in the scenario we used. The idea of a young male protagonist gasping to life in the middle of a wood, to then cut to a mysterious figure stalking him in that wood raises a few questions in the audiences mind. We decided to agree on this convention as we almost felt that this theory was essential to making our piece as appealing to the audience as possible, and a way to draw them in to the piece within the first two minutes.        

    - How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The costume in our sequence reflects a slightly alternative emo/indie audience. This can be seen with the dark parker, the fitted jeans and the Doc Martins worn by our actor Jordan Tully, all clothes stereotypically associated with people from that particular social groups. This is also reflected in the tone of our piece, as it has a very dark, gothic vibe, something again commonly associated with this particular social group.

A stereotype we played on during the opening sequence of our piece was the idea that the everyday stereotypically young person thrive better when in groups, as opposed to when they are alone, therefore portraying them as vulnerable. Examples of venerability can be seen in our actor’s costume, which shows very big, baggy clothing, and parker done up to the top showing very little skin. The idea of vulnerability is emphasised by the high camera angles which we used to make the actor appear timid and scared.

                                     

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

- Who would be the audience for your media product?

- How did you attract/address your audience?

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

A major part of this production was camera work. As I am new to media (not taking it at GCSE) this meant coming to grips with how to use the camera, as I had the creativity and the ideas of what I wanted to film but I didn’t have the know-how. The camera I chose to use was the Nikon D3100, one of the media faculties own cameras, to shoot the footage for our sequence. As I was new to this camera I had to find ways to learn how to use it. The basics were covered by Mr Turner (teacher) and this enabled me to begin to play around with some other basic features such as different lenses, shutter speed and adjusting the FPS the footage was shot at, such as 24 FPS as this is the standard FPS most cinema is shot in. These were the basic skills needed to begin shooting my opening sequence to our Thriller/Horror style piece. In my opinion I feel like our original shots were nice clean shots which needed very little after effects added during post production. They incorporated different angles, and some shots incorporate some handheld to add a grainy gritty feel, typical of most thrillers, however I feel some of the shots taken for the titles are very poor quality as they were last minute inserts shot without a tripod, therefore making them very shaky and in my opinion, very poor.

Another piece of technology I had to come to grips with was the editing software called Adobe Premier Pro. This was a challenge for me as I have never even heard of this software and therefore had no experience and no idea how to use it. The help was there if I needed it but due to the task being focused around individual development, I decided to initially try and ‘self-teach’ myself using YouTube videos, this helped give me an initial understanding of how to start importing and trimming the clips.  I was fortunate however to work with someone who had previously used the programme and therefore he edited after effects and titles on to the sequence. However looking back, I feel like there were way too many after effects added and therefore some of the grit and the grain was lost out of our thriller as it began to start to look amateurish. I also felt the font used for the titles was too childlike and therefore took away from some of the seriousness of the piece itself. The titles also in my opinion were to linear and there was no diversity or individualism as they were all the same. If I was to do this piece again I would aim to get more smoother, subtle and more creative titles as I feel like the ones used in our opening sequence are too basic.     

        

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

Since beginning the prelim task, to now, I feel as if I have made significant progress in my ability to not only use a camera, but also my ability to use the editing software, Adobe Premier Pro. Firstly

Thriller | Final Piece | Extinct

 Extinct.

This is the final piece, of our project that we have been working towards since before Christmas, it was a challenging piece and in my opinion, we were inhibited in fully showing off our ability, as we weren't able to post a draft edit due to corruption of the SD card we were using. Never the less here is the final edit of our thriller, worked on by myself and 2015ASDan, here's a link to his blog to check out some of the things he's been working on; http://2015asdaniel.blogspot.co.uk/

Reaseraching Thrillers | Cape Fear | Analysis of opening sequence

Cape Fear is one the most iconic thrillers of early 1990's, the opening sequence of which, is one of the most memeorable opening seqences of any thriller...ever.  One of the features most memeorable and that can analysed for effect is the infamous music used to create an uncomfortable atmosphere. This enhances the experience by what it accompanies, such as the actor (Robert De Niro), the location (a prison) and the costume (a man topless, covered in tattoos.) The music, which contains a long drawn out notes from a wind instrument (presumable a trumbone) in a low key. This sets the central character up in a superior light and makes its obvious to the audience, without reletively little to no background story, that this character is very important and dangerous, which can be reinforced by the visual aid of the tattoos, the defined muscles and the prinson setting. This could be useful when planning our thriller opening sequence as it is a way of developing characters and establishing story in a relitively short space of time, which would be useful as we are only creating the first two minuets of a thriller so a suitable soundtrack could be a feature I include in the thriller sequence to establish some kind of story in the opening two minuets.


Another thing to pick out is the use of a graphic match which can be seen seen between the two prison gates, one in trhe inside of the prison and one on the exterior as Robert De Niro's charter, Max Cady is released from prison.

This is a nice feature of this opening sequence as it helps not only give transition from and inside location, to an outside, but is also helps with the ellipsis of time as it shows a clear clear indication that some time has passed since we saw Cady on the inside. This can be reinforced by the costume from which Cady has changed from his very plain and basic prison uniform (a way of removing his indentity) into a very stylish, and slik look. This could be a way of suggesting some kind of regained identity which Cady now has as he is free from prison, this could also be argued as the use of dialouge goes hand in hand with this idea. When cady is in his cell he doesn't say a word, he exits his cell making no contact with any of the other prisoners (who are very subdued, clearly a sign that they fear him.) However, upon exiting the prison he adopts a more assertive, confident posture, with a rigid one line dalouge, which he presents to the prison gaurd while walking away from the prison, an ultimate display of confidence.

Finally as Cady is walking way from the prison we can see in the background, a storm start to brew above the prison, this is an example of extended metaphor is an effective techniques as it not only establishes background of the character, but it also foreshadows the idea of vengence, a key tthem and motiff that runs thick throughout the film.

Overall, I feel that there are many useful, technical aspects we could use in our piece inspired by Cape Fear that would could incorporate to focus our piece on the genre of a Thriller.  
   

     

Researching Thrillers | Snatch | Short analysis of opening sequence

Although technically not your conventional thriller, Snatch is a very well edited and a very good opening sequence to analysise features that I could use in my piece of work. Firtsly it has the graphic match used in the diamond which I like as it allows not only the elipsis of time but it also alows for another intoduction to another main character. This is a nice camera angle/effect/piece of editing that I feel if I were to use it would work quite nicely. Another feature that I like is the introduction to each character, i dont feel it would b appropriate for my piece but it does build a storyand an atmosphere for the rest of the film, giving you feel for what it might entail, a feature that I am keen to try and include in my thriller piece.

Questionaires

Results from the quesrtionaire conducted by me and Dan;

Target audience

As this is a thriller/horror, the target audience would presumably be for 15+ here is some reasearch conducted by me and Dan into target audience

The Bourne Supremacy (Action)

The Usual Suspect (Psychological)

28 Days Later (Horror)

Filming schedule

Filming schedule and time management: Schedule created by 215ASDaniel as part of our thriller planning

Day	Objective
Wednesday	Brainstorm and develop Plots
Thursday	Plan costume and props
Friday	Plan Location and Cast
Saturday	Collect questionnaire results and plan titles
Sunday	-
Monday	Begin shooting after college
Tuesday	Finish after college

Storyboards

Storyboard: A basic story board illustrating what will take place in our thriller opening sequence.

Costume and Props

Costume: As the main character has been taken out of their natural environment, and placed into a disorientating,unsual atmosphere, it is important that they look like they would in everyday life, for example not shirt and tie but something casual and comfy, like jeans, t-shirt and a jumper or coat. It could even be suggested that the main character could be in pyjamas or even comfy joggers ect. I feel that would be effective as it would show true vunerability. Examples of what I am talking about can be seen below;

Props: Props arent really an issue in this piece of work however a smart phone would be preferable to add realism.
 

Thriller Task | Basic Plot Idea

Plot: The sequence opens with the main character waking up at 8 am as per usual, starting there morning routine of brushing their teeth ect.
The chracter procceds downstairs but is confused when their family are not anywhere to be seen. They search the house but no one is in and when they try to get their phone out to ring a their mum but there is no signal. The character becomes increasingly paniced and heads outside to see if theres anyone outside, the cars are still in the driveway. They go out into the street and no one is around, the camera cuts to another shot, this time futher out looking at the main camera as a silouett quickly passes the camera. The character is completely alone apart from the other presence that appears to be stalking them. 

Brainstorming Thrillers

Brainstorm: Ideas for and features of a Thriller

Researching Thrillers | Se7en | opening credit analysis

As my main task is to create the first two minutes of a Thriller, I have deceided to take a closer look at the opening credits of the movie "Se7en", directed by David Fincher. Instantly I think the first thing that stands out to the audience is the intense, uncomfotable close ups accompanied by music with a heavy beat and a slow tempo, which feeds off and amplifies the already tense atmosphere it has already created.
The atmosphere in my opion is at its most uncomfortable when the credits appear uncompanied by the high pitchted, white noise like sound followed by a cut to a very intense, up close and grotesque image such as the, who we now know to be the main antagonist, John Doe, peeling off his fingerprints with what appears to be a pencil sharpener blade. As this is such a memorable and out of the ordinary expeirnce for the audience, it remains in the mind but also almost makes them 'squirm' when they see this as its so intense and 'in your face' it almost feels like theres no escape. For my piece that I am creating, I would like to include something similar to the way the credits appear in this sequence for example, I like the way the they look, they have a look that create and uncomfortable vibe surrounding them. Also the accompanied music is a nice touch and works hand in hand with the credits and intense close ups to create an atmosphere.
 

Prelim Task:Final Piece

The prelim task was more of a challenge than expected, it was fun to film but the organisation was not there meaning the group was set back when filming (because of illness, absence ect.)

What went well:

In my opinion I think our main advantage as a group was our creativity. This meant that not only were we able think outside the box for a different approach to out prelim but also use more simple but creative shots, and piece them together accordingly during the editing stage.

What could have gone better:

A number of things could have gone smoother, for example, firstly our lack of organisation when filming led to us need more time to film which had to be done outside of our allotted class time, which in turn led to more complications due to myself not being able to attend the session we had planned due to illness. I also feel that our lack of knowledge surrounding the editing software was a a key issue which unfortunately could not have been avoided due too a lack of experience.

The Final Edit:

Here is the finished prelim task, which despite taking a while to upload I feel is a good first attempt at making something of the Thriller genre. However i would just like to apologise as this is the only version we could recover and so therefore there is only the raw sound from the shoot, as in this version there has been no sound editing.

Evaluation:

In conclusion to this post I feel that tho prelim task has allowed me to iron out any problems that I might of faced in my main task, I also feel that I can take something from the negatives as I now realise that to finish on time and to the best of my ability I need to be more organised, and use the time I have more  efficiently.

Planning for prelim task:Intro/Brief

Brief:To produce a short sequence, in which to characters share 4 lines of dialogue.

Aim: The aim is simple, to produced a quality piece of work, in which two characters (or in this case a character with a split personality) can have a realistic conversation. This will be achieved by a number of different shots such as the Shot reverse shot, over the shoulder shot, medium shot ect. These shots will help establish realism and will make the sequence the professional look we are after. 

Researching Thrillers: Se7en (What's in the box?)

Se7en is a crime thriller, directed by David Fincher which was released in 1995. Fincher was responsible for other films such as Fight Club and more recently, The Social Network starring the big JT himself, Justin TImberlake.

Anyway, back too Se7en.

New York City. Behind the bright lights and bustling streets, the film Se7en focuses in on everything sinister, dark and immorally wrong with the big apple. We open with a scene where Detective Somerset (Morgan Freeman) and Co. are called to investagate a graphic homicide, Somerset is entering his final week of working life and is set to retire, que a fresh faced plucky young Brad Pitt. Pitt's character, Detective Mills, is the new sheriff in town who is set to take over from Somerset once he leaves for good, however Somerset's retirement party is put on hold when himself and Mills are called to a series a graphically linked homocides which seem to follow the theme of the seven deadly sins, where the victims are susposidly being punished for there seemingly "sinful" qualities. The film progresses in a roller coaster like fashion with it's steep climaxes and sudden drops to the tense atmosphere and as the story progresses so to does the motive and the logic behind the increasingly violent murders. After 5 of the 7 murders have been discovered the film steps up a gear and without going into to much detail or Infact spoiling the final twist in the tail, I'll just say that the shocking revelation at the climax of this film is enough to make you lose your head.

All in all, Se7en was a fantastic film and a good place to start in broadening my knowledge of thrillers as a whole and to also give me a better insight into some features I can include in my final piece.

If this is not enough, here's a link to the the trailer to give you a feel for the film:

Researching Thrillers:What is a thriller?

Thriller: noun

1) A novel, play, or film with an exciting plot, typically involving crime or espionage

2) A very exciting contest or experience

So what makes a Thriller

Well a thriller, much like the definition suggests is a story containing elements of suspense and an exciting plot, that usually involves crime, for example a film about a bank robber or a film that follows a detective investigating a string of murders, could be considered a thriller. 

Conventions of a Thriller

.The storyline is usually a complex mystery/crime/series of events that the protagonist(s) must unravel or reach the end of to reach a conclusion

.The antagonist is usually  more powerful than the protagonist, the power dynamics must be unequal

.Suspenseful most of the way through

.Low key lighting, subtle 

.Music to accompany the suspenseful atmosphere