Evaluation
In what ways does your media product use,
develop or change forms and conventions of real media products?
Our group realised that specific aspects
of our video would have to be similar or the same of those of established films
of the thriller genre, to be able to connect to the target audience we are
planning to aim at. To do this we had to
study other directors of the same genre, for example David Flincher’s Se7en. We
wanted to follow these due to the fact that Se7en was the main inspiration for
our film. These conventions made our film seem professional and recognisable,
and made the film easier to understand; therefore we did not change or develop
the forms and conventions. In most thriller films close ups are used normally
used to build suspense (commonly used in se7en and kill bill) and long shots to
set the scene and show the audience when the action will take place we had the
use of these shots in our film to support these conventions
How does your media product present particular
social groups?
The representation of social groups we planned to
communicate through our thrillers, were stereotypical ones such as men as the
heroes and being portrayed as strong, which plays a traditional role in male
stereotypes in society. A male is also used as our villain, also portraying
strength, but he is also a methodical character, like John Doe in David Finches
Se7en. We have two heroes and a villain
in our film as we are following props character theory to an extent. We are using
binary composition therefore subverting to the typical social stereotypes of a
thriller. One of our two heroes is aged in between 25-30, a newly appointed
detective, with a rash nature, which is typical of a young detective in a new
job. Our second detective is a lot
older, in his mid-50’s portraying maturity and wisdom, again typical of a
detective of that age. Our villain is
also in his mid-50’s, this shows his methodical side which matches his age and
character (due to years and life experiences).in our film we subverted to the
general conventions of a thriller as we had our protagonists in dark clothing portraying darkness and
evil, not what you would expect from a hero.
What kind of media institution might distribute
your media product and why?
There are many ways our media
product could be distributed. One of the forms could be in cinemas as our media
product is a film, it would be dispersed in cinemas nationally/ internationally
and once its life cycle had ended in cinema it would then be converted into DVD
to be sold in shops. Another way our film could be dispersed is through the
internet on sites such as YouTube, the reason being is that we would have no
financial issues as this is a free, quick and easy way to publish media
products, not to mention that YouTube and other video sites are excellent ways
to release a media product as people all around the world would be able to
access it, without the use of an account or a payment. As film distribution
companies go, there are many but for our specific film we’d chose new line
cinema, as they are well known and have produced films of the thriller genre
such as se7en, which was the main inspiration of our film and shares the same
genre.
Who would be the audience of your media product?
Our target audience will be 15+
because this age group tends to like psychological thrillers, as they
have disposable income, like to socialize with friends, and because it contains
a character with psychological problems, it could disturb people of a
younger age. The reason why we have made the decision to make out film a 15+
rather than an 18, is that it does not contain a lot of violence/death or
sexual scenes and gives us a wider target audience allowing couples/males and
females etc to watch and enjoy the film.
How did you attract/ address our audience?
Our target audience was people
aged between 16-25 years old. To attract them our main protagonist was in his
twenties, we had hoped that this would attract teenaged girls due to physical
attraction, as he’s a strong male figure.
We also thought that this could attract teenaged boys as he could be
seen as someone to look up to. Our second protagonist is a male figure in his
late fifties resulting in increasing the maturity of the film, and giving us a
second audience of 25+ as they would be able to relate to this character because of the things that he’s
been through. There are also key moments in the film that would attract the
audience, such as the interview scene which we hoped would draw in all types of
audience. We used a ticking clock during the interview scene to create suspense
and to keep the audience engaged. Our credits at the beginning and end of the
film are in white font and bold, but behind a flashing background, to create a
feeling of disorientation.
What have you learnt about technologies from
the process of constructing this product?
During the process of making this
media product I’ve learnt how to capture clips from the video itself and drop
them in to the final piece. I learnt how to arrange clips on the timeline and
add effects/transitions. I also learnt about the editing process, using
different camera angles and movements to convey meaning and narrative i.e.
using establishing shots to represent the setting and genre not to mention the
importance of costumes and props, to portray hidden meanings i.e. our
antagonist wears a long coat to portray mystery, to make it seem like he has something
to hide, and how to use sound to enhance meaning i.e. the clock ticking to
drive narrative and to draw in the audience.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do
you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Since the preliminary task I’ve
learnt a lot, because I have learnt a range of new camera angles and movements
which I didn’t know during the preliminary task. Thanks to this, I was able to keep the
audience engaged and I have also learnt that by using a tripod, it makes a major
difference when it comes to making the film look professional. By not using one during the preliminary task,
was a sloppy mistake and a valuable learning experience. Another thing that I
have learnt in the process is the importance of non-diegetic sound; it is a
good way to engage an audience, as for instance you are able to match music to
mood which helps to make scenes more realistic.
