In what
ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of
real media products?
Our media
product incorporates many of the key conventions of real media productions
ranging from the genre specific story lines to the use of fast paced yet
chilling music. From the very begin very beginning
of our film, the elements such as tension and suspense were being mold together. Using quite stark establishing
shots in terms of cinematography, the goal was to incorporate the quite drab
and grey coloring of the location to add to the sense of realism that we were
trying to convey in the film. In this instance some similarities can be seen
with existing thriller films such as The Last Seduction (1994), which uses an
establishing shot of the New York skyline. The opening to our film has been influenced by
some of the films and TV series that I have seen and analysed during the
preparation for my own thriller. One of the main influences was the opening of
one of the Arrow TV series episode, I was influenced by the way this film uses
edit in the opening scene. The uses of a TV commentator builds up the tension
and help to get across the genre of thriller and in addition creates enigma for
what is to follow.
We felt that our choice of score from early on in the
film creates the feeling of tension and suspense. The quite chilling atmosphere
created by the subtle echoes of humming foreshadows the danger that is due
later on in the narrative. Also the use of an urban location brings out this
sharp visual representation of the urbanity of the setting, which adds further
to the realism
In the film we
used quite a lot of close up to medium shots, many of which are from a low
angle perspective. Our reason behind the use of such intense shots is to
emphasize the position and status of some of our male characters.
Conventionally the identity of the perpetrators are usually concealed but not
in this instance as we wanted to allow the audience to visually see who the
antagonists are, which allows us to integrate them more into the further
developments of the plot. We focused mainly on using the low angle shot which
is notably used in the planning of the abduction to connote their power and
status within the ranks of the abduction ring. The prominence of the low angle
shot identifies with the codes and conventions of films such as Casino Royale
(2006) where low angles are used in the blackjack scene to create jeopardy and
tension.
In our
opening we’ve used many different story line based conventions of a thriller
film, such as at the end of my opening, the main character is kidnapped. Choosing Joyce Guray in our lead role as Lucy Stephens gave us an edge
to the characterization of her. We casted her as she looks quite innocent and
vulnerable and her facial features really stood out in the eeriness of the dark
alleyway. We created this quite dark tension through the use of buildup. She is
seen wearing quite innocent looking clothes and we aimed for her costume to
connote fragility. The build up to the abduction incorporates a slow motion edit
and a close up shot to emphasize the importance of her remaining moments before
she is abducted. The actual abduction employs the conventions of the thriller
genre as the lighting in films such as Case 39 (2006) low-key lighting is
prominent.
Although
the abduction isn’t a murder which is the most common crime that happens in
thriller, it still makes the viewer nervous and question what is happening.
Another typical thriller convention used are the themes portrayed by our
opening, that being the themes of identity etc... The theme of identity has
been explored in the way that the person is dead with no way of identifying the
killer. Films in the thriller genre often involve some sort of twist in the
plot of the story. This convention is one of the main in making a film a
thriller. Our film conforms to this convention. Moreover we structured the
codes of suspense and tension through the planning of the abduction.
Using images is quite a generic form of prop that is
commonly used in conventional thriller films. Often used in spy/espionage films
pictures, maps, images of locations are all very much core elements embedded
into many of these films. In the case of our film we created a
portfolio/collage of images so that the audience has a pre-determined image of
what the victim looks like and the context behind the execution of the
abduction. This something, which we felt, was integral for how the film
progresses as it introduces not only the victim Lucy but also 3 other
perpetrators. Other props that are used also is a laptop. Using the laptop we
thought was appropriate for contemporary cinema and its something which
audience’s especially our young demographic can identify with using. Social
media like Facebook to track the location of Lucy. Such technological advancements
in our modern age has influenced us to use it in our film. In scenes such as
that of myself in the car the medium close up shot denotes myself speaking into
the phone. The location and the setting of a car is something, which is very
generic and is used as to signify a getaway as exhibited in films such as
inside man by Spike Lee (2006).
For the opening
titles we created our own animated indents. Representing independent production
companies such as “Gunnersbury films group” suggests that a lot of guerrilla
stylized production was involved and that everything was shot on a low budget,
which connotes that, our film inter-grate’s more realism than the
artificialness of a typical Hollywood film. In terms of the sub-genre of our film,
we would classify it as a crime thriller. This particular genre is a
hybrid type of both crime films and thrillers that offers a suspenseful account
of a successful or failed crime or crimes. These films often focus on the
criminal(s) as oppose to a policeman. Crime thrillers usually emphasize action
over psychological aspects. Central topics of these films include serial
killers/murders, robberies, chases, shootouts, heists and double-crosses. Some
examples of crime thrillers involving kidnapping and murders include, Seven, A
Perfect Murder, No Country For Old Men, Firewall, Hostage, Silence Of The
Lambs, Kiss The Girl and Copycat. Overall
we believe that our film conforms to the forms and conventions of a normal
thriller, this is because our piece is structured around many of the genre
specific conventions that one would relate to a thriller movie. These include
the storyline with a few twists along the way to keep up the suspense and a few
other conventions. The one way we see our film challenging the convention of a
real media product is by the main character. As our film is a Crime-Thriller
these sorts of thrillers normally centre around a policeman or an investigator.
How does
your media product represent particular social groups?
In my piece, the plot revolves around a young teenage
girl called Lucy Stephens who is the daughter of a wealthy businessman
operating in the Middle East. One evening Lucy decided to meet her boyfriend
who has been absent from her for 2 months due to the fact that she is
prohibited from having boyfriends, which is the reason for why she meets him so
far and in such a secluded location as an alleyway, but little does she know
that her boyfriend is involved in a deadly plot to kidnap and hold her for
ransom due to her father’s dodgy exploits in the Middle East. She is taken from
an alleyway after being set up by her boyfriend and is taken to an unknown
location. To all the kidnappers meticulous planning they forgot the handbag
that Lucy had dropped trying to scrabble out of kidnapping thus giving
detectives a very important piece of evidence.
Our media product in a way
stereotypes black youth. The cast of the film is made up of people from
different ethnic backgrounds; however black youth is prominent in the film. The
film presents black people in the light that they are meticulous and smart in
planning the kidnapping. However in a different view aspects of youth culture
present the stereotypical image of black youth to be ‘hoodlums’ and this can be
seen through the use of mise en scene, costume in particular and through the
casting of Jerome as one of the kidnappers who looks quite menacing. Due to
the themes explored and the way the characters are shown to behave in this
movie I would say that this makes the film appeal to a young audience, I also
feel that the hybrid-genre of the film makes it very appealing to a wide
variety of people.
What kind
of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
I feel
that with a large Hollywood budget that my film would suit the mainstream
cinema. This is because the storyline and aura my film creates is very similar
to that of many movies. The storyline, I feel is one that would not only grip
the smaller indie film appreciators who would often go to a smaller independent
cinema such as Picturehouses but also those who go to a more mainstream sort of
cinema like ODEON.
As far as my film being a TV movie goes, I feel would be the least appealing route to go down. This is because straight to TV films have to often have a lot of backing from the broadcaster that is showing them. Investing a lot in to advertising the film and other things. I feel that this would be the least viable route for my film to take along with my film being an internet only release. The latter is a bad option because it extremely limits the amount of exposure the film will receive as many less people would probably see it than if it were released on another type of media. However releasing it on the internet would be an option to consider as our target audience spend a lot of time on the internet, on mediums such as Facebook and YouTube. Therefore by releasing it on the internet we will be directly targeting our audience and there is a possibility that our film could go viral.
Given the budget my film would have if I were to make it, I would defiantly look down the independent film route. There are many reasons for this decision. The style in which the film is shot would most defiantly appeal to the indie film market and the level of acting would be unsuitable for a major Hollywood blockbuster were the level of acting is more important to some that the storyline, I feel this is the opposite in the indie film world. I would get my film played in Picturehouses; the reason for this is the size and location. Although it is an indie cinema it is generally a large one and are normally placed in the middle of busy area with bars that locals go to and attractions for tourists so it would draw a high audience. I researched local independent cinemas in the South East of England with the locations and reviews to see if our film could be released for a percentage of our profit. Rio Cinema, Burnham-on-Crouch Small independent cinema first built in the 1930s. Tickets are priced at £2. Prices for sweets rival big brand supermarkets such as Tesco. Soho Curzon Cinemas are art houses spread across London that show big releases and independents. Curzon would be great to release our film as it would be released across London and would also be available to watch online with ‘Curzon Demand’, a feature that allows viewers to pay and watch films online.
Our
possible distributor Vertigo Films would distribute our film because of our
high level of originality. The company is known for producing and distributing
original and unique films, such as the low budget but hugely successful
‘Monsters’. If we present to them our original ideas and experimentation with
shot types such as the live action stalking scene, they may be interested to
digitally release our film and possibly present it at film festivals for
feedback. I personally believe Vertigo Films would be the best and most
enthusiastic distributor for our film due to the films they have worked on in
the past. Vertigo Films would market our film effectively with the large
internet campaigns it has for films it distributes such as ‘Monsters’ and
‘Horrid Henry’ with updates on social-networking websites and videos uploaded
on YouTube. Vertigo Films would also help us create a professional flash
website and will present our film amongst their flash film list on their
website.
In terms
of funding, the UK Film Council was a certain possibility for grants to fund
our film and receive a digital release using their facilities. Unfortunately,
the UK Film Council was abolished in 2010. The National Lottery is the most
appealing funder for our film as it has funded many successful films and has a
large audience appeal. It would be perfect for us to have the National Lottery
to grab our target audience and use with the money for a digital release. First
Light funding help young people develop on their skills with workshops and also
focuses on funding and working with beginning filmmakers to help them into the
business. This funding would be good for us to receive help but it may not
distribute our film for a cinema release.
Post release I feel there are many chances for merchandise and other things related to the film. Nowadays most films also have a game that go with them. I feel that this film would be able to produce a game and also there could be a prequel to show what happened to ‘Lucy’.
Who would
be the target for your media product?
 |
Certificate Appropriate
|
My
film is going to be a 15. This would mean that the amount of people who could
see it would be limited but I don’t feel that the amount of people who we are
stopping from seeing it would make up a large part of our overall audience.
Also the main reason the film is being made a 15 is because of the use of
strong language, violence and implied threat that is maintained throughout the
production. I found that my film would mostly appeal to men over 15 (the age
seems to be pretty equal in this genre) and from social groups AB or C1.
Whilst doing research in to my target audience I used the ‘Pearl and Dean’ website to see what groups of people based on class, gender and age went to see films of a similar story and genre to my own film. In doing this a then made comparisons between the data a retrieved and found that with this group of films there are certain trends in the audience. The two films I used during my research are Exam and Spiderman 2.
How did
you attract/address your audience?
I have used many different techniques to attract and address my audience, when I was deciding what techniques to use I referred back to my audience profile and used certain things in my film to try and attract the type of people who would enjoy my film.
One point
in my film where I tried to shock my audience is Lucy started to run away from
the kidnappers, it leaves the audience shock,
and worried for Lucy’s life and wondering if she can escape or not. This links
back to the generic conventions of a thriller, the main of which is the build-up
of suspense and making the audience feel uneasy and nervous.
In
addition I attracted and address my audience my using casts similar to the
audience age groups which I was targeting, this I believe will allow my
audience to relate more to the casts.
What have
you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing the product?
The
camera equipment that I used for my filming was quite basic. I feel this was
one of the main drawbacks of it in the end but also the best factor about it.
The camera was a basic hand-held digital camera, and I used a basic tripod. The
digital camera was very easy to use and was lightweight which made filming very
easy. The Tripod I used had variable heights which was quiet useful while
filming to check out different angles and camera heights. The disadvantages of
the camera I used were that the quality of the video that the camera took. The
footage was quite bad quality and took away from the professionalism of the
piece.
During
filming there were no real issues to begin with. I filmed me whole piece and I
had then realized when uploading my piece to Adobe Premiere CC that some of the
dialogue were too low. We remedy this problem through the use of the
iPhone voice memo. The app is effective
in capturing speech with clarity and precision where the camera hasn’t. From
the microphone I exported the recordings of character dialogue into areas of
the product where speech seemed quite. It is through the use of the microphone
that allowed some of the actors to lip sync in some areas of the film.
To begin
with I had no experience of using adobe premiere, but after editing my piece I
feel I can now use the program efficiently. I can use all types of different
cuts between to two different scenes like cross-fade etc. Another function I’ve
learnt on adobe is the ability to change the music on the film from the
original audio to any other sound track. In addition to adobe I also used Adobe
after effect to create the typo text in the establishing shot of the Glaxo
smith Kline building. Moreover, I used windows live movie maker to add the
titles and the name of the people who took part in the production. I had pre
knowledge of windows live movie maker so it was rather easy to make the
necessary edits to my film using the programme.
Looking back to your preliminary task, what do you feel that you have learnt in the progression from it to the full
product?
Before my main task I had to produce my preliminary task this was a simpler version of my main task. In this task I got a lot of experience of what goes into making a film even if it just the opening.
I learnt
that the planning is the most important part of the process. I made my
storyboard and working script before I even thought of filming my piece. This
came in useful as when it came to filming my piece I knew what every part and
what would happen, the camera shot I would use and the setting. The storyboard
helped me know what order I had to edit and it and how it should run after it
is complete.
I have
learnt when certain shots are right to use and when. Such as the use of a high
angle to show dominance etc… The main thing I learnt from my preliminary task
was the ability to use the camera, tripod and macs. If I never done my preliminary,
I believe that my main task would have been 10 times harder to produce.
Overall I
feel that although my piece lacks professionalism, with the quality of the
camerawork and the quality of the camera itself, the actual piece and all the
work I have done to make it starting from my research and planning has not only
fulfilled the task but gone above what I expected to be able to do.
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