Question 3:• What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

The media product I have created, is very low budget it was filmed in my own home, filmed on borrowed cameras and edited within my Sixth form; therefore no expenses were made. However it is an independent film, which appeals to the smaller distributors. An example of one of these distributors would be Working Title which was co- founded by Tim Bevan and Sarah Radclyffe in 1983. Working Title is known to not have many staff in their offices that are mainly based in London yet there are more offices in Ireland and Los Angeles. In addition three co-owners were added Eric Fellner, Bevan and Rowan Atkinson, who is a comic actor and has starred in their productions. The company produced feature films and has several television productions. These could distribute my film as they are a smaller distribution company which is perfect as my media product is aiming at a small part of the film market. An example of their work is Wild Child a comedy film in 2008, which was produced alongside with Universal Pictures, Studio Canal and Relativity media. Another example of their work is Hot Fuzz an action comedy which was produced with Studio Canal and Universal pictures.

 Another distributor would be Momentum Pictures, owned by Paramount Pictures. They are leading independent motion picture distributors within the UK and Ireland. They release around 20 theatrical films per year along with several stv releases. As they are independent I believe they could distribute my media product; as my media product will only appeal to a smaller part of the market it would have a good opportunity to do so with them being the best in UK and Ireland. An example of their work is Chalet Girl a rom-com, produced with UK Film Council, Aegis Film Fund and Prescience.

Question 4 Who would be the audience for your media product?

Who would be the audience for your media product? The audience for my media product would be young adults, as when I carried out a questionnaire my findings resulted in teenagers and young adults were those who watched thrillers. I believe this age range enjoy thrilling media because of the excitement which is more appealing to younger audiences as it keeps them sitting on the edge of the seat. With the audience being younger, there attention span may be lower, so by keeping it exciting they shall then be intrigued with the happenings and what to continue viewing. The character within the media product is a young teenager, so they also may be able to relate to the character as they are of similar age. In addition it could also appeal to students of media, as it is very low budget. Therefore it could be a product for them to analyze and learn from. Another reason it may be more appealing to teenagers is that many thrillers are aged 15 certificate, therefore there is a barrier set for an appropriate age for the film to watched. An example of a thriller that is simular to my own is When A Stranger Calls directed by Simon West in 2006. The plot of the film is a prank caller that becomes a threat to a babysitter. This storyline is simular to my own in a sense that a babysitter is being threatened; therefore it suggests my age certificate could be a 15 which would then be the audience.  However, it can be enjoyable for those of any age who enjoy thrillers as there are no barriers setting it apart from an older audience.

Q. 5 How did you attract/address your audience?

audience on Prezi

Q7.Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Q.2 How does your media product represent particular social groups?

How does your media product represent particular social groups? In my media product it represents different social groups from adolescent to vulnerable young girls. As my actor is a young teenage girl, the first obvious social group is teenagers. Teenagers are at the stage in life where they are finding out who they are as a person and can be somewhat more daring, which leads to the stereotype of teenagers being trouble causers. With teenagers getting into trouble, lessons in life are learnt; the girl in my media product is not a trouble causer but the question is, is trouble now going to occur as of her being there or trouble is ahead. As young adults there are still growing up and learning things, so in a sense they are more nosey and they want to know what is around them, and like toddlers they want to touch everything and find out more. This is exactly what happens in my product the young girl is just checking the surroundings out, yet when something suspicious is found she has to dig deeper to find out more!

Another social group would be girls, who are the more vulnerable sex. This because are seen weaker than boys and more emotional. This also leads to more of a mothering social group, as the character is a babysitter, which is more of girl’s role. With the character rummaging through the luggage it suggests she wants to know the happenings of the child in almost a protective manor. In addition the costume is of a typical teenager consisting of jeans, vest top and hooded jacket. I choose these typical items as they are casual and what an ordinary dressed person of her age would wear. The reasoning of this was because by keeping it ordinary any happenings out of the ordinary would seem worse; as they would not be exspected. However the choice of top colour was skin tone, giving a sense of being naked which leads to the impression of more vunerability. It also could suggests that she has nothing to hide, personally but by wearing a hooded jacket she could be trying a protect herself externally.

Question 6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Media q.6

Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Q1. on Prezi

Final Edit.

My Final Edit of my thriller title sequence.

Story board

Establishing shot is used is to set the scene of the girl sat on the sofa casually on the phone to her friend.

This then moves into a long shot as the actress will stand and walk across to the fire place, this will show more of the location and a better sight of the actress.

 After a mid shot is used as the actress will stop at the fireplace and look at herself in the mirror, this gives a closer view yet you can still see the surroundings.

Mid shots are used to show the actress taking the luggage to the floor

 A close up will be used the show the suitcase being opened and the actress will remove items from within.

This goes back into a long shot showing the actress sat with the suitcase taking items out, leading to a shot reverse shot of being over the shoulder to view items closely to a long shot of her holding items.

This then leads to a close up of the newspaper placed on the floor

ending with a mid shot of the actress at the window.

After filming my draft, I realised it had not turned out how I had hoped. I filmed on two days outdoors, in very different conditions of sun and rain which was noticable in my film, unfortunately there was nothing I could do to change the weather its a factor I could not change. Also the camera was blurry as it was not of high definition, and when filming long shots they was a little unclear. The plot also had not gone to plan, as in my story board I wanted to drag the girl through the hedge, however this was un-possible and made the actions very un-realistic. Therefore I have decided to change my story and re-film. I began brainstorming and it was obvious that I wanted to film indoors so I had control, unlike being outside you cannot predict the weather. I decided on just having one girl actor who was in the previous film and she would act as a role of a baby sitter home alone, who comes across some perculiar items.

Draft edit

Location:
I have chosen Stapleford cemetery for my location. However the cemetery will not appear til the end of my film to add the suspense required for a thriller. Therefore before the film shall be shot in the open field with a public footpath that leads onto the cemetery. Even though the field has a public footpath; the area is very quiet, which is perfect as i want the surroundings to be accessible yet deserted.

Costume:
My actors are young girls so I will be wanting their costume to show there youthfulness and innocence. The girls shall have natural looking make up, making the most of their youthful complexion and showing they are ordinary girls. I feel that if the girls were to wear heavy make up it may reflect confidence and make them look older; which is the opposite look of what i want to achieve as i want them to almost look naive compared to confident. I want the actors wearing femine clothing, with pretty floral patterns that will make them appear more femine, yet i want them to look current and not like little girls.

Storyboard and Camera Angles:

 At the beginning an establishing shot will be used showing the open field with the public footpath for the scene to be set. A long shot is then used for the girls to walk onto the field through the gate and then be walking along the public footpath. The reason for the long shot is to show the whole body of the actors so the audience can get a judgement on the charactors. Moving on to a shot reverse shot showing the girls conversation; and with shot reverse shot it shall show a closer view of the characters as the conversation becomes more personal.

 As the characters carry on walking a long shot shall be used which will show the surroundings as a hedge then appears on the right hand side. As one character slowly walks behind and the other stops in order for her to catch up a midshot is used to show the character looking back at her friend who will be getting pulled through the hedge. This then revolves into a long shot as the as the girl runs back to check for her friend round the hedge!

 Next a mid shot is used of the girl checking around the hedge for her friend, which then revolves into another long shot as the girl runs up to the end of the field; the choice of the long shot is to show her whole body reaction as she runs in fear. As she stops at the end of the field a midshot is used as its a closer angle yet you can still see the scene behind.

 Moving on to an eyeline match that will pan side to side so the audience can see the whereabouts of the character; which is a graveyard. This then goes into a close up of the girls reaction and then a hand shall cover her screaming mouth within the close up.

Brainstorm:
To begin thinking about what I shall be filming for my thriller I made a brainstorm thinking about the plot, location and actors. After doing my audience research, I gathered that males are a more threatening antagonist therefore for I shall use the opposite sex to be the protagonists and to add to there innocence I shall use young girls. For location I knew I wanted an open space with a rural area and jotted two locations I would like to use; Bramcote woods and Cemetery. Lastly for the plot I want to keep the story very normal everyday life to begin with as I think it will add more suspense, so I would like the actors to be friends who are meeting up for maybe or walk or going out somewhere together. But for the plot I like the idea of the girls being potientially kidnapped, snatched or stalked.

Audience Reseach

 Questionairre

Conclusion:

After asking a variety of aged people both female and male I found that most people enjoyed watching thrillers. Most people watched one to three thrillers per month, yet still a significant amount watched four to six thrillers per month. I also found that the story was what makes a good thriller as it trumped actors and directors. Similarly story was also the most important convention of a thriller, with the leading atmosphere of a cemetery. Furthermore I grouped the ages in sex as a threatening antagonist; which surveyed as a young woman as being the most threatening. I also asked when titles would be shown as when researching they were placed in different places, but the start was voted the most appropriate.

Thriller Research: A thriller movie will fill the audience with a sudden rush of emotions, excitement, suspense, apprehension, exhilaration with a constant breakneck pace. Normally the plot consists of a problem arising with the protagonist which could be an escape, mystery or a mission. Within the plot of the story there should be plenty of twists adding suspense; having the audience on the edge of their seat. There are many sub-genres within Thrillers such as 'crime' with the focus on the success or failure of the commited crime,the crimanl acts of often cases of chases, murders, robbery etc. There are also 'physchological' thrillers which is when characters are emotionally or mentally conflicting with other characters whilst being in a dangerous situation. In addition there are 'conspiracy' thrillers, containing enemies formed as a group and are tackled by the hero or heroine of the film. Furthermore there are 'spy' thrillers which are simular to 'political' ones, involving action being taken either upon or from within the goverment leading to violence as the spys carry out investigations. Lastly there are 'erotic' thrillers which were popular in the 80's with the plot being about sexual releationships.

Researching other Thrillers: Fargo (Coen Brothers, 1996)


The title contained a small font of middle upper case letters, and were placed in the middle of the screen on a misty blank background. Sound was used to add suspense as the car dissolves into the bar which the characters are then introduced in. From this point onwards the opening sequence went straight into story with a narrative enigma of violence; with use of shot reverse shot to show conversations.

  Lost Highway (David Lynch, 1997)


The titles contained upper case letters using a font which styled the writing as broken and was placed diagonally on the screen that tranistioned in. On screen the lighting was dark, as only the road was lit up from the headlights on the car which is driving central of the road. This gave the impression of a remote area as there was no street lights and disorientation with the car driving position. As this scene finished the dark lighting then revolved into natural lighting and many close up shots.

SE7EN (David Fincher, 1995)


The titles were in a scribble type of font giving the impression that they was hand written in a white font; making it stand out from the dark black and white backgrounds. Behind the title there are short clips flickering showing somebody writing, looking at photographs and reading a book. However these are all close up and short scenes that keep changing; which gives an insight to what the plot ahead may be.

Disturbia (D.J. Caruso, 2007)


Begins with a blank screen with a voice over which leads to the narrative with soft music playing giving a peaceful vibe with natural lighting. As the suspense builds a sound effect of the car crashing with incidental music adding suspense the narrative enigma of drama sets in. After the revealtion of the characters death the screen turns black with the title then fades in central of the screen gently flickering in white upper case letters; which then screen revolves into white making the tittle disappear.

Sherlock Homes (Guy Ritchie, 2009)


Begings with a voice over whilst the incidental music creates the amostpohere within the narrative engima of violence. Many sound effects are used during the fighting scenes adding emphasis on the violence. A tranistion of dissolve then changes to a newspaper which leads to the title fading in, creating the effect of the newspaper page turned. The title is in block capital letters in the appearance of a newspaper headline.

Preliminary Task final version

Today we learned the conventions of thrillers in order to help create our own thriller piece; although the genre of a Thriller is hard to define! The conventions of a thriller: The unknown Narrative enigma Crime/ violence Complicated narrative Normal settings Themes - mirroring, identity and voyeurism We then discussed trailers, and how students confuse a trailer with an opening sequence with students often taking influences from Saw, and Scream! AFter viewing previous students films, the common problem was that there is poor lighting and insuffient titles. Conventions of a trailer: Montarge Corporate branding Voice over Key lines Good narrative To gain some ideas we then looked at opening sequences of films. Fargo (Coin brothers, 1996) Blank misty background which revolved into background tense music Spaced simple writing in upper case Introduced characters Narrative enigma of violence Lost Highway (David Lynch, 1997) Fast pace music Upper case diagonal writing Transitions of writing Dark lighting Close ups SE7EN (David Fincher, 1995) Scribble writing (hand written) Sound Effects Fades Close ups

Today, we got all our film off the camera and began editing it to create our film. With each other's input we began editing with, Paige began sorting our shots and put together the sequence, which i then added the transitions and Ebony edited the shot reverse shots plus created the credits. Once this was completed we reviewed our film with the other group and discussed the good points of our film which was w e stuck to the 180 degree rule however we could of used a wider variety of shots. We also discussed the issue with our lighting and we could of benefited from more lighting; although we did want dark lighting to create atmosphere but the natural lighting made our film blurry. We then reviewed the other group's film who used a great variety of shots and had a good spatial releationship. On the other hand they had broke the 180 degree rule and as an audience the setting was confusing.

Today we started and finished filming but beforehand we discussed how we would use the camera, such as to always use a tripod and if the lense is dirty; to clean with a tissue.. In addition we discussed caerma settings, which was to set the wide screen of 16:9 and to always set the white balance when necessary. We then spoke about when shooting to make sure you do plenty of shots such as when doing a pan movement; to get large pan movement which shall make editing easier. We filmed our sequence which involved Ebony and Paige acting whilst i captured it all on camera. We began shooting a mid shot, which then led to a long shot and ending in shot reverse shot.

Preliminary Task Planning

For my preliminary task I have formed a group consisting of myself, Ebony Anderson and Paige Cantrell. We began by brainstorming ideas and came to a decision that we would film a conversation between two female characters; discussing a money situation which then ends in a a tragic action! The characters will by played out by my team members and there costume will be smart/casual. The scene will be acted out in SF4 a room within the school, and we will be using lighting and weapons as our props.


Lines:

Clarrissa:  Sit down Maria.

Maria: I sorry I don’t have your money, I need more time.

Clarrissa: Sorry ain’t gonna cut it anymore. (Pulls out weapon)

Maria: I will get it to you I promise

Clarrissa: This is one promise you’re not gonna get to keep.