The genre we based our media product upon was a thriller film, and the codes and conventions for this are something that brings about tension and suspense and creates an expectation that something is going to happen but you're not sure what and when. The plot usually reflects real life situations and tends to use everyday characters. Also whilst watching the film, you are expected to have a feeling of anxiety which is due to the tension built in the film. Again, in film openings you are expected to be left at suspense, something that makes you want to continue watching. One film that does this is 28 Days Later http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=GB&v=sBZnuUZIbBQwhich is a horror thriller; it uses a single character and has a lot of stillness and silence. It also uses diminuendo which builds suspense and theme tunes but only uses a few diagetic sounds to create a normality of the film. In our film we used different elements to create meaning in our thriller. We used an Extreme Close-up of the door as it being locked. This shows the importance of the locked door and allows the audience to wonder and think about what will happen later with the door. We also used a Point Of View shot of the bathroom door open. This was to show the audience what the character sees and to allow fear or anxiety for the character. Also we used a Low angle shot when the female character was washing her face in the bathroom, to make her look dominant and to show that at that moment she is in control. We also used an Over the Shoulder Shot when the character was in her bedroom to see what she was trying to see but also to give the impression that somebody might be behind her. For our Tracking movement we used a around the house, to create an impression that someone was walking around the house. Also for sound we used a lot more non-diagetic sounds to create tension but used diagetic sounds like the creaking of the stairs to show naturalism of the house. As mise-en-scene creates meaning in the scene we used the location of a house, as we felt that it would create a comfort zone for the audience because everyone can identify with this; so this also allows us to mess up the audience comfort zone and bring fear easily.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
I feel that from the match-cut exercise to doing the final product I have learnt alot. In our preliminary film we didn’t really take that much time planning and really evaluating our plot, shots and edits. With our final product we had a detailed storyboard, which really helped us stay focus knowing our objective. Whereas, in our match-cut exercise we had an idea of what we wanted, but only jotted a few points down. Also in our final product, we planned where each scene would take place in but, in our match-cut film we didn’t note specific rooms to use; which meant we ended looking for spare empty rooms. After watching both films over, I’ve realised that our filming has improved, especially the panning shots. But the editing is by far of a greater standard in our final film than the preliminary film, our match cuts make more sense, and we’ve learnt how to shorten time in the film by using cross dissolves. So I do feel Iike I have learnt how to plan in detail much better and how to edit better too. To arrange our time we also delegated the work between us, so some worked on the sound whilst others did the actual editing of the film. Also at one point whilst i was filming Kameir and Ashton were logging and capturing in class.
Who would be the audience for your media product and why?
We would be reaching a mainstream audience from ages 16-35 for our product. As we feel that they could understand and get the concept of our film. A typical person who would fit our target audience would be:
Eddie, 21 works in an IT department in an accountant company. Doesn’t have a very big social life, but attends the pub with his girlfriend and rents out movies to watch at home in his sitting room with the lights off. He shops at Primark but occasionally splashes out on gap. He generally has a film interest for things like Star Wars and E.T and loves getting the collectable items. He eats a lot of junk food and has a liking for sushi. Eddie would want to watch our film because it’s all about mystery, and being alone with something or someone around you. He would like the fact that it’s set in the same environment he is in and it could be him in the film.
How will you attract your audience?
We haven’t used big star names at all, because then people are curious to see what the film will be like, and are more interested in the plot rather than the star. For example, films like Slumdog Millionaire Bend it like Beckham, Hot Fuzz and even Kidulthood are British films that were very popular films that either had only one well known star or none at all.
This goes to show that the public do look at the plot as well as the stars. Our plot is simply a woman living in her house and strange things seem to happen around her, with shadows appearing. So we hope that the lack of big star names will still attract our audience. We would advertise through many different forms of media, one being the internet. Whilst your on msn messenger there is normally flash clips or even pop ups that play a clip from the film if you roll over the box even by accident, so this would be a very good way to advertise as many people are logged on to msn messenger. Also through Billboards on busses and telephones boxes where people are most likely to walk by and see it. Again as TV is something that everybody uses we will have trailers during breaks that will attract people to watch the film.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
It reaches out to young people, as the character in the film is of a young age, roughly an older teen. Also I think that it represents middle-class people, as the setting in the film was in a semi-detached house. Also the mise-en-scene in the film showed the household to be not poor but not an exaggerated or a fantasy British home. In the film, Kameir wears some slippers that have a hotel name on them; this can be interpretated as a young mother working in a hotel. It’s good to appeal to the different social groups as this draws more people to watch the film and brings in more money with a bigger audience.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
Throughout the film process I’ve learned that technology has vastly improved which has helped me a great deal. During the making of the film, we used a hand held digital camera and tri-pod, which allowed us to vary our shot types and angles. Also having a digital camera also benefited us as the picture quality is a lot better than what it would have been like without a digital camera. Also technology in the editing aspect has also been very useful. For example using Final Cut Pro, without this software would have been very hard to edit the clips, manipulate them, making the clips faster or slower even transferring the footage from the video camera to the computer using capturing and logging. Using the new software has allowed my group to add sound effects and create our own music to create suspense and tension through Sound Cut Pro, and it has been very easy and simple to use. Also it was really interesting having to blog as our coursework, this made it more interesting and helpful as our teachers could easily give us feedback; but the only down side was for those who had internet problems it was a bit inconvenient otherwise great.
How successful do you feel you’ve been in creating an opening to a thriller genre film that attracts a specific target audience?
I feel that we have been very successful in creating an opening to a thriller genre, as we had a lot of positive feedback. The majority of the positive feedback was the use of different camera angles and shots also the sound effects. On the other hand some said the pace was a bit slow and also it was a bit noisy from time to time. In my opinion I think this went much better than the match-cut exercise as we has a better plot and it was more planned out; in terms of the storyboard, the location and also the props. Also the camera angles were more creative than the match cuts, for example the shot with the camera in the fridge. Although we thought we might have to change the storyboard, we actually didn’t apart from adding a few shots so the sequence of the film made sense. I feel that we have been successful in our opening, because if I compare our film to another thriller film like 28days later there are quite a lot of similarities. For example they used shots like; long shots, tracking and POV shots which we used. The music they used was a lot of non- diagetic sounds from soundtracks and diminuendo which we also used in our film. In addition there setting and location was somewhere the audience can identify with a hospital and London city, we used a house. Finally the way they created suspense was by using few characters in the opening and there was a lot of silence which is what we did too. So knowing all this I feel we have made a very good attempt at making a thriller genre for our target audience.
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