Evaluation Presentation

Film Production: Evaluation questions

Media Evaluation Task

1.       In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

In order to establish some conventions and forms are used in the opening titles of thriller films, I deconstructed some real thriller films in order to help me create my thriller film.

Here is my thriller film: Play film

Here is a similar thriller film: The last house on the left (2009) (play film)

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Through looking at thriller films I found out that the main location was very important as tension and suspense could easily be built if the location was especially eerie and scary such as a forest. Used both in Dangerous Intentions and The last house on the Left.

The story line to our film also is similar to other thriller films that I deconstructed as I found that a consistent convention of thriller films is that there is usually a vulnerable young character who is trying to escape from someone/ something that draws the audience in as they sympathize with the main character.

Our character is introduced immediately through a dangerous situation as she is running away for something that is unknown to the audience. The use of this character introduction sets the scene and starts off the storyline whilst creating a thrilling atmosphere as the audience are un-nerved by the fact that it is not clear what is going on. The fact that our main character is running increases the tempo of our opening sequence that is the same as many other thriller films. I found out these conventions from my target audience focus group.

The use of our costume and props also set the scene and follow conventions of real media products as I used the costume choice for our main character to help introduce the story as the choice of costume gives the audience some more information about our character and her current thrilling situation. My use of the bright eye makeup, formal dress and shoes made it clear what time period my film was set in as well as helping with the characterisation of Jennifer my main character.

My choice in camerawork also complied with the forms of real media productions as I chose to chop and change between lots of contrasting shots in order to add a thriller feel as shown in my video clip of The Last house on the Left. Both media footage also used extreme close ups to make the audience sympathise with the main characters and grasp the attention of my target audience. The use of these extreme close ups grip the audience as they develop a relationship between Jennifer my main character.

I also believe that my finish media sound track and sound effects follow the conventions of thriller sound tracks as my soundtrack is made up of lots of overlapping clips that all create tension and a thriller feel by climaxing and anti-climaxing in order to create a thrilling feel.

I know that I followed many of the conventions that are used within real media products to create a professional look about my product from the comments made by my target audience. (Fi clip)

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2.       How does your media product represent particular social groups?
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Before I started my film production I looked at other thriller films such as The hunger games, (Click) The house at the end of the street (Click) and The last house on the left (Click) to see how different social groups are represented in thriller films.

It was clear from this research that the main character/ characters (the victim) of thriller films are always attractive, young white females.

In the British and American film industry stereotypes are used frequently as the victims in thriller films always have white British females as their victims and foreign males as their attackers. This is because England is mainly made up of white British people and as I found out from my target audience that they said that they would find it easier to relate to someone who is from the same/ similar ethnic minority as them. I decided to follow the stereotypes of main actresses in thriller films to make my opening sequence look similar to professional real products.

The roles of women within thriller films also interested me by the fact that within thriller films it is expected that the most vulnerable innocent person would be a female who is victimised by a male. This is not the case however in the Hunger games where the main actress is a strong female, however the story line is not a conventional kidnapping/ intrusion like other thriller films.

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3.       What kind of media institute would distribute your product and why? (Click)

Lionsgate are one of the most successful independent distribution companies in the world however they have a reputation for releasing controversial horror films such as (Click)‘American psycho’ and ‘Saw’.

Because my film is a low budget horror film that (Click) won’t attract a big crowds, Lionsgate would not be the right institution for my product.

(Click)Artificial Eye is a mainly British based film distributor who has released the films:(Click) ‘We need to talk about kevin (2011)’ and ‘Fish tank (2009)’. (Click) The fact that this company releases low budget British films makes my product suitable to be released by this company however Artificial eye doesn’t really distribute many thriller films and also due to the small niche nature of the business, our film would not be fully distributed to its full potential. This is why Artificial Eye would not be suitable for my film.

(Click)Momentum pictures (also known as Momentus) is one of the leading independent motion picture distributors in the Uk and Ireland who release around 20 theatrical films a year. Some films that Momentum have produced that are similar to my thriller films such as(Click) House at the end of the street (2012), Head hunters (2011), The girl with the dragon tattoo (2011). (Click)

I believe that momentum pictures would be the best institute to distribute my product as they have released similar films as to mine and due to the size of the company, my media product will be distributed across the UK and Ireland.

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4.       Who would be the audience for your audience?
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Watch voki

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5.       How did you attract/address your audience?
I attracted my target audience through the use of mise – en – scene as I found from my deconstructions that the main characters in British/Hollywood thriller films always use stereotypically innocent and vulnerable young white females. The use of a stereotypical character attracts our audience as I felt that by having a character that was the same as one half of our target audience (female half) as I was told by my target audience that my main character should be a young white female that they could relate to. 
I also attracted my target audience by using extensive dramatic effects and sudden movement camera shots. The action and mystery always kept to the original theme/genre therefore the audience would be attracted to that. I also used dramatic music to enhance the tension and the thrill which made sure the audience’s attention was kept and maintained throughout the piece.

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6. What have you learned about the technologies from the process of constructing this product?
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I used a digital HD video camera. This allowed me to record the desired shots in a high quality allowing the editing process to be vastly faster and this also increased the viewing pleasure. 
I also used a tripod to make my shots steady and fixed. This also made my overall film look more professional that i would look without a tripod.
Next I used a scanner, this allowed me to get all of my written story board onto my blog for the examiner to see and mark. This proved extremely easy to use and saved a lot of time as it meant that my ideas for my storyboard could easily be put onto my blog.
I also experimented with using a dolly to get panning shots. These shots i wanted to include to vary the shots that i used in my production as well as increasing my filming skills.
I used a program called timetoast.com to show on my blog when i had completed a task. This site helped me plan when i was expecting to complete a task and helped me plan what i still needed to do when i was making my opening sequence.
The use of YouTube meant that i could watch opening sequences to thriller films that were similar to mine in order to find out the conventions and techniques that are commonly found in thriller films. The use of you tube also helped me as i researched into stage make up that helped me prepare for Jennifer's make up. I also used YouTube to upload films onto my blog.

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 For my sound editing and  when i was rough cutting the shots to our film i used Adobe Premier Pro. A program that i had never used before but managed to pick up quickly. With this program i was able to download tracks that i then rearanged to make my soundtrack. Adobe Premiere pro also enabled me to cut sound clips down and layer lots of tracks together with the help of a smoothing tool that made the track flow. i used the tempo tool to speed up the breathing and the pitch tool to make the breathing feel more harsh and thrilling. 
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I used blogger to create a blog where all my work could be uploaded to. I have not used blogger before but found that it was easy to use and meant that i could create a blog that was clear and smart.
I have also used a site called fraps that i have used in this presentation. This site allowed me to film the video of Last house on the Left that was playing on my computer. 
I have also Voki within this presentation that has allowed me to increase my IT skills and present my target audience in a different way.
Lastly i have used power point to make this presentation because it is simple and easy to use.
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7.       Looking back at your preliminary task (the continuity editing task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full? 
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From doing both my preliminary task and this task, i have learnt lots of skills and conventions of real media products. i have leant how important elements like costume and location are in making my media production look professional as well as how certain camera angles are used within films to create status and personality differences between characters. For example: Low angle shots are used to make a character look as if they have high status and make the audience feel intimidated while high angle shots are used to make a character look powerless and vunerable. Camera techniques such as these meant that i thought about what camera angles i wanted to include in my film to give a certain effect on the audience. The progress between my preliminary task and my opening sequence task had taught me to use camera angles, costume and location to create and add to the films genre atmosphere.
I also have learnt that music is used to enhance atmosphere and that this technique is also another way of attracting my target audience.

Film Production: Final Film

Film Production: Sound effect ideas feedback

In order to find the best sound effect i asked a group of 10 people who are in my target audience group (mixed gender) to listen to these gun shot sound effects and asked them pick their favorite one. The gun shot effect I was looking for was something not too powerful but also powerful enough to be aggressive, the sort an abusive boyfriend may have.

Feed back from my target audience:
1 - " This gun noise was good but sounded too distant, just as if its a background noise."
2 - "I really liked this one as it would fit in with the film perfectly."
3- " We liked this gun shot noise but it ended too quickly. It was cut off."
4 - "Way too extreme and powerful for this purpose!"

My results have shown me that the favored gun shot effect was number two.

Film Production: Final Sound

Here is my final sound track:

Film Production: Final Sound Creation

Following on from the last sound related post - here is my post about my final sound creation.

I started off by combining all the clips together on my editing program: Adobe Premiere Pro.



 Then by playing my audio clip and the film footage at the same time I was then able to move all the audio clips around to fit with the film footage.
I knew that I wanted the music to build up in layers and that in some places I wanted there to be a climax to go with conventions that I have found in other thriller films.

I also wanted to build climax by changing the tempo of Jennifer's heartbeats and breathing.
By having Jennifer's heartbeats and breathing being a main part of the soundtrack will provoke sympathy from the audience and will create a thrilling atmosphere.

 

 Here I have increased the speed of these clips to change the tempo. I have used a fading tool to fade between these clips so that the transition between each clip is smooth.
Jennifer's breathing and heartbeat will increase as she gets more scared and petrified which conveys a thrilling atmosphere.

 At the beginning of my opening titles i wanted to set the scene as i have found is one of the forms of other thriller films. I have set the scene by using a clip of singing birds.

I have used sound to enforce sympathy for Jennifer as i have combined the slow motioned camera shots with  a slow motion sound track.

At the point of gun shot, the audio changes to a contrasting track that is slow and sad. Jennifer's breathing and heartbeats slows down which gives the effect that this scene is and will significant in the film. This slowed down effect keeps the audience gripped and on edge as the music portrays and provokes a sense of sadness and mystery.