Evaluation

Evaluation

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

In order for our to create a two minute opening sequence of a thriller, which is both effective and professional, we began by researching and comparing professional thriller openings; The use of mise-en-scene in thrillers to create suspense and enigma is approached in many different ways. In Fargo (1996) the first minute is the camera panning and following a car through the snow. The white back ground contrasted with the dark colour of the car, forcing the audience to focus on the car. The long take draws in the audience, by creating a sense of enigma, making them question who is in the car. What are they doing? Why are they there? Our idea was to copy the sense of enigma and to get the audience thinking the same questions about our product. We did this by using long shots of our main female character walking along an open field in the early morning, which mimics the environment of the setting in Fargo. We added the flashbacks to break up the walk home, and to introduce her present situation. It also creates more character enigma as the audience never sees the rapist’s face. We used a convention format for our titles as we didn’t want to take anything away from the main action on screen, we used white as it’s easy to see, which is quite uncommon of thrillers as normally they have everything in dark colours to create a more sinister atmosphere. We used different angles of the female walking through the field to make it more interesting for the audience. We used different fade speeds to show the passing of time to shorten down the length of some of the clips. We went with the convention female victim as it was easier to show a female victim in this case, that in would have been to have shot a male in the same situation, as stereotypically, a man being raped is a slight taboo subject which usually upsets audiences. We did several close up shots and tried to create graphic matches, for example it fades from the victims shoes, joined by the rapists feet, we tried to match this by having a close up of her shoes in the puddle. We added a piece of music that Robert produced himself, to avoid any copyright discrepancies, we added this over the flashbacks, as it is set at a house party, stereotypically house parties have loud drum and bass music, we wanted the track to sound slightly muffled so it gave the audience the effect that it was coming from downstairs.
We used the name of the film in the opening sequence, near the end, like in The Matrix (1999) which I studied earlier; the title appears in the middle of the opening sequence. However, to make the title seem more important, as it is telling you primarily what the film is about, we used it at the end in a fade to black which makes it stand out and seem more dramatic, which is what we aimed for.
Conventionally the title sequence has some sort of reflection on the protagonist’s psychological state; in this sequence it shows our protagonist, as the victim and her mind state reflects in the title sequence as her mind is confused and keeps jumping back in time, thinking about the series of events that lead her to “The Morning After”. There is no dialogue in the opening scene, we used this technique to extenuate the music as there no need for dialogue. The scene becomes more shocking as it is the actresses reaction and the surroundings that she goes through walking home that explains the physical and emotional turmoil she is experiencing.
Straw Dogs (1971), caused controversy when released, because of the rape scene that was at the centre of the film. The controversial scene shows the female lead enjoying being sexually assaulted. “Feminist cinema critics accused director Peckinpah of glamorizing rape and of engaging in misogynistic sadism” (Extract from Wikipedia) Our film shows the horrifying experience to have a mental effect on the victim, who does not enjoy the experience and instead is haunted by the traumatic incident. It doe not glorify the act of rape, and is an exploration that challenges societies view the taboo subject.


How does your media product represent particular social groups?

It represents teenagers as party goers which to a certain extent is a mediated reflection on that sort of social group’s age. Our piece shows a college student who’s drunk too much, which is stereotypical of college students and teenagers of that age. The use of stereotypes means that it is easier to get the message across to the audience, as most people in the modern society has heard through different mediums about the drunken teenaged stereotype.
As most mediums create stereotypes it was easier to pursue stereotypes that had already been created by society.
The series of events leading up to her heavy drinking is unknown to the audience from the opening scenes. She suffers the consequences of her actions as an unknown male takes advantage of her drunken state, which is a sad reality for many college house parties. Which therefore represents and also reflects on the dangerous life style this social group leads.

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

I would hope that a small group like EM Media or some other same UK company to take my media product on for distribution. EM Media uses actor and actresses that are from the East Midlands area, who have not had an opportunity to star in film roles. The company concentrates more on artistic opportunity than making profit. They take on projects with messages behind them, instead of generic storylines that most Hollywood blockbusters’ production companies mindlessly churn out solely for profit. EM Media was the media institution behind ‘This is England’ (2007) this film reflected on the 1980’s in the eyes of a child who used the local teenagers as role models. This was a ground breaking film which shown the 1980’s as a gritty violent time. My film would be a boundary pushing thriller which it would be realistic enough to get the message of the harsh realities of drinking. The point at the end would be is to get the audience thinking about situations they could find themselves in when drinking too much.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience would have to be older than 16, for them to be able to sympathise with the horror that our female victim has gone through and to understand the situation. However the age people watch thrillers are 18 – 36, so this would be the main audience. It is a product that is accessible by both genders. However, they must be mature teenagers or older, as most people will have to have experienced or have an idea of the madness of house parties for them to understand. It would be for people who enjoy the thriller genre as the end product should end up being quite spine chilling and memorable. There is a message there for parents of teenagers, slightly dramatized but still a clear message which parents should be aware of by watching this film.

How did you attract/address your audience?

We attracted the audience by opening with a girl, in a field. It gives nothing of the plotline away to the audience, until the first flashback. In which, shows feet, that engrosses the audience even more by keeping the mystery up. The only piece of dialogue in the piece is 1.30 minutes in, leaving the audience hanging as the film title fades in. The flashbacks attract them by encouraging the characters enigma. The lack of dialogue is effective as the opening sequence is presented with a kick, the lack of words are a mediated reflection on her mental state, as she would be completely blank. Therefore it gives the audience a chance to dip into her psyche and sympathise with her. Engrossing them into wanting to watch the rest of her story. At the end of the opening sequence there is a fade to black as the heavy breathing changes from diegetic to non-diegetic, we did this to attract the audiences attention creating more of a situation enigma.

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

I have learnt about how to use a camera and tripod to great effect. I learnt how to use natural lighting in my work instead of using the harsh light which the artificial lighting gives off. I used how to use the tripod to get steady shots and pans, and how to adjust the tripod for the perfect shot. We used Adobe Premiere for the editing, I use editing software myself. However Robert had better skills and talent than myself, therefore he took the editing role. However he taught us all how to use fades to black and into other clips. I now know the basics of the technology we used to construct this product. I got the chance to edit some of the music into the background of the sequence this was a new experience for me and I learnt that it isn’t always easy to balance to music tracks out so that there are no silent gaps where the audience only hears ambient sound.

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

My organisation skills have improved from the preliminary tasks as I planned the storyboard and shots for the project. The planning and research was organised by me therefore all aspects got completed. I carried the creative flare through from my preliminary task through to this project as the story line was based on multiple ideas of my own. I have learnt that if I was to do this again I would go in a smaller group as it would be easier to organise and have full group co-operation all of the time. The ‘180 degree rule’ was well executed in my preliminary task, however I believe we kept to it with this project.
We used more tracking and panning shots in the final piece compared to the preliminary task which was more effective. We used different angles for example the feet in the puddle – which makes the piece more exciting for the audience.
We used more fades to black, which creates a sense of mystery and suspense. Which, made the final piece seem more suspenseful than the preliminary task.
We used colour in the final piece with a mix of black and white, I used black and white in the preliminary task to make the piece seem more dramatic, however in my final piece there was no need for the sinister look as the film itself did that in the field shots. However in the flashbacks, the black and white effect helped create the dark effect which the rape flashbacks needed.
In our preliminary task we never made sure of the camera being set to widescreen. Therefore when we came to upload it was very small, so with this project we made sure we had it set every time. Like my preliminary task, we didn’t set the white balance for every shot we did as it distracted us from the ‘zone’ which the group were in while filming.
We used music in this piece to add to the drama of the film. I decided to do this because in the preliminary task, the background noise of the setting was off-putting to the audience, who would have been distracted by the odd noises being made on set rather than what was happening on set.
Previously in the preliminary task we had to have 4 lines of dialogue, we decided against a mass of dialogue in the final piece as the camera microphones didn’t pick up the actors/actresses voices very well, obscuring the message to the audience and causing confusion as the audience wouldn’t be able to hear the dialogue very well, which we learnt in the preliminary task.