2. 1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media
products?
In order to create the finished media product we made sure that we used, developed and challenged codes and conventions. To accomplish this we
needed to research the codes and conventions of existing thriller films. To begin our research we each looked at some thrillers and took notes on the
openings, specifically focusing on the codes and conventions. Once we had decided that we were to create a religious, horror, thriller we started to
research these films, so that we could see the codes and conventions.
When we started planning our opening, discussing the narrative and the script we decided that our film would follow the majority of the conventions to
make sure that our film was realistic and similar to other religious thrillers.
Our film opens with a scene of the
protagonist sitting in a living room with his
From our research on other religious thrillers such son watching television; we decided to
as ‘Se7en’ I discovered that the titles, especially focus on the protagonist’s family life to
the name of the film is often ‘shaky’ and moves begin with rather than focusing on the
around the screen in the time that it appears. This victims. This isn’t conventional for a
was something which we decided to have in our thriller as the audience would usually be
film as it draws attention to the name, in addition to asked to put themselves in the position of
this it adds to the horror element of the opening. the victim and sympathise with them,
This was the same for the font, we chose a grainy, however our film is ambiguous in the
blurred font; conventional for a horror, thriller as it’s beginning as the protagonist is presented
thick, bold and black which makes it stand out from as a stereotypical fatherly figure in the
the white background. very opening.
The juxtaposition between the dark,
dangerous torture room and the bright,
family living room was a factor
conventional for horror, thrillers as it
allows the audience to also see the
contrast between the two different sides
to the protagonist; the loving, family man
and the ruthless, murderer.
One scene in particular that we decided to In ‘Saw’ there’s an extreme close up on the
make sure we kept conventional was the victim when we wakes up, however we decided
scene where the victim wakes up, for us to to use a mid-shot to show the victims
ensure that this scene was successful I surroundings and her body pulling away from
researched some other films which had the car that she’s tied to.
scenes similar to the plan for ours. The
waking scene from ‘Saw’ was something
which I found interesting so we tried to
make our film similar.
3. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of
real media products ? (continued)
From our research I learned that thrillers need to I think it’s important that we have used point of
be exciting, with the tension building from the view shots as it helps the audience connect with
beginning of the opening to the end; many thrillers the character and put themselves in their position.
have action in the openings, often with a chase This is conventional for a thriller as there are often
scene or a fight, however we don’t include any point of view shots from the victim which allow the
action. It could be argued that we are breaking this audience to sympathise with the character.
convention; we decided not to have any action, I Furthermore after we decided that we would make
think that our storyline was already dramatic and a religious thriller, we realised that we would need
shocking enough therefore we decided not to to make it clear that this was the genre of our film.
include this element. We researched some religious terms and bible
quotes that we could include in our opening so that
I think it’s fair to say that our editing is conventional the audience would know that it was a religious
for a religious, horror thriller. From my research I thriller, after researching the conventions of a
learned that thrillers often have flash backs or religious thriller I believe that it’s very clear that our
transitions to another setting to create suspicion. final product is a religious thriller.
The black and white effect separates the
protagonist’s family life from his secret life, which
was an effect necessary for this contrast.
Although we didn’t break many conventions
in our film, I believe that this was the best
thing for ours as there were many things
that we needed to keep conventional in
order for the audience to actually
understand our film and for it to be realistic
and successful.
4. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why ?
WARNER BROS.PICTURES .
The suit, protagonist looks smart and
well presented. Stereotypical male.
Smart clothing, suit and tie represent
masculinity.
Religious paraphernalia, similar to our film
as we’ve included a Bible and Bible quotes.
Weapon suggests danger.
Dark and cloudy background, makes it clear
that the film is a horror/thriller. Black
symbolic of danger, depression. Also creates
a sense of mystery which is conventional for
a thriller.
Red font, symbolises danger and anger, red
cross brighter than text- stands out. Makes it
clear that the film is related to religion.
5. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why? (continued )
UNIVERSAL PICTURES
Woman in position of weakness, sense of
naivety. Passive, focus on her body, not face-
dressed provocatively. Woman in position of
danger- someone behind her.
Dull, dreary colours in the background allow
woman and title to stand out. Colour scheme kept
simple, conventional for thriller/horror.
Mirror/reflection could suggest spilt personality
or secrets, similar to our protagonist.
Woman dressed in white, mise-en-scene
suggesting she’s innocent, similar to the
woman in our film- innocent and in position
of weakness.
Traditional, simple font- conventional for thrillers,
capital letters and white font allow the words to
stand out in front of the background drawing
attention to ‘UNBORN’- connotes danger, death,
horror.
6. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why? (continued )
If our opening was to be extended into a whole film then I believe that it would have the potential to be a
Hollywood studio film, the narrative of the film is very similar to many other Hollywood studio thrillers that I
had researched. It shares many of the conventions of religious thrillers; the sub and hybrid genre (religious
horror) are both clear throughout the opening and I believe that this is something which could be
developed if the film were to continue. Some of the ideas created in the film are similar to existing films,
however ‘Revelations’ has the potential to be a Hollywood studio film as the narrative is fresh and not
something similar to other thriller.
If our title sequence had been created into
a film in full, I don’t think that it would be
considered an art-house film or an internet
only release. Our title sequence is highly
engaging and interesting- factors
traditional for a Hollywood thriller film.
From researching production companies and some of the thrillers similar to ours, I believe that
the best choice would be Warner Brothers Pictures. Upon analysing some of their films similar to
ours such as ‘Constantine’ and ‘The Exorcist’ I believe that Warner Brothers would be the best
choice for our film as it’s very similar to these films, however each thriller is very different at the
same time. Warner Brothers Pictures has produced and distributed many thriller films and
religious horror thrillers, therefore as our thriller includes similar ideas and themes as films such
as ‘The Exorcist’ and ‘Constantine’ I believe that Warner Brothers would be the production
company to distribute ‘Revelations’.
7. 2. How does your media product present different social groups ?
One particular social group which our film focuses on are those with Most of the characters in our film are around the age of our target
religious beliefs. Featuring in our opening there are two different audience which is 18-30. I think that this will be effective as the
characters that are religious, we decided to contrast these characters audience will be able to relate to the characters, for example; girls in
however. Although they are both from the Christian church, they both have their teens will be able to relate to the female victim, this also allows
very different ideas of religion. One religious character is the Priest, who is viewers to sympathise for these characters. We chose for the
giving a speech broadcasted in the very opening of our thriller. He is protagonist to be a man around the age of 40, we chose for him to be
presented as a stereotypical religious man, caring, selfless and his this age because it’s the average age of a father; additionally I think
character is a conventional Priest. Our other religious character is the the fact that he is a fully grown man adds to the shock and horror of
protagonist; we decided to present him as an atypical religious man; we our opening as it’s not what would be expected from a man of his age
wanted to break the stereotype that all religious people are good and or life experience. In addition the fact that the protagonist has a young
loving in order to present a very sinister side to religion and that if religion son around the age of 8 presents him to be very naïve, he doesn’t
is taken too seriously than it can be very dangerous. I think it’s important know about his father’s secret life and wants the father’s attention and
that we included the priest as we didn’t want to give an idea to the love; therefore presenting children to be naïve and innocent.
audience that all religious individuals behave and think in the way in which
our protagonist does; I think we needed another religious personality in
our thriller to convey the different sides to religion. In addition to this, the Due to the fact that our film is a religious thriller, based on
juxtaposition between the protagonist and the priest allows audiences to Christianity; all of our characters are white-British. We wanted to have
see the sheer ruthlessness of the protagonist as we’ve created a bold a stereotypical representation of our protagonist, which meant having
contrast between good and evil. a white, British man; this was the same case for the priest and the
son. One of the reasons that we decided for the female to be white
In addition to this, we’ve represented gender in a traditional was because we didn’t want to confuse viewers about why the man
way; men are most dominant throughout our opening, there had kidnapped the woman. For example if the woman was Asian,
are four men who feature in the opening and only one people may have made the assumption that this was the reason that
woman. We decided to have a stereotypical representation the protagonist had murdered and kidnapped these people, therefore
of gender in our to make it more realistic, the fact that the we chose for the woman to be white and British. Another reason for
protagonist is male fits with this stereotype as it’s a male this was because we wanted to present her in a stereotypical way,
who has kidnapped a female. The stereotypical role of a young, slim, white, attractive; this is conventional for thrillers and is a
helpless woman who’s trapped, in danger; kidnapped by a stereotypical representation of women.
strong, large man is conventional for thrillers and horror
films so we wanted to keep this stereotype. Women are
Stereotypical
presented in a stereotypical way, a young, beautiful woman
representation of
has been kidnapped- this is a very traditional
men and women,
representation of women in thriller films and how the public
man has more
generally perceives woman; she is passive throughout the
power, filmed at a
opening, staying in the same place, unable to move;
low angle. Woman
reinforcing the presentation that she’s weak and vulnerable.
weak and vulnerable;
This appeals to viewers, making our opening seem more
filmed at a high
realistic as it’s conventional; furthermore female viewers
angle, presented to
may be able to relate to the woman who has been
be weak and
kidnapped, feeling sympathy towards her.
powerless.
8. 4. Who would be the audience for your media product?
Before we began creating our product we decided that the film should be an 18+, from the research I looked at on age
ratings and which factors determine an age rating, we concluded that due to the violence involved, our film would be an 18+.
Our target audience is aimed at those aged 18-30; the main reason being that most of the characters in our film rage
between these ages, therefore audiences can connect and relate to the characters. In addition, from my research I
discovered that generally, the target audience for thrillers is usually 15-40, which is a very wide age range, this obviously
varies depending on the sub genre or the hybrid. However the fact that ours is a religious, horror, thriller, we also had to
research into these genres. From this research we concluded that our target audience would be 18-30.
Although Thriller’s are often targeted towards men and women, I think that our film would mainly appeal towards men.
This may be because we have included the stereotype that women are weaker than men, this is conveyed through the
fact that the only woman alive in the film is tied up, presenting her as weak. Whereas all other characters are men, the
protagonist is a stereotypical male; powerful, dominant and intelligent. However I think that if the film was to continue
then it would be aimed more towards both men and women as the female character could be considered important as
she has a lot of prevalence throughout the opening.
Films which are similar to
ours, for example, ‘Se7en’,
‘The Reaping’, ‘The Da Vinci
Code’, ‘The Calling’ and
‘Lost Souls’ main target
audiences range between
15+- 40 and 18+-50. The fact
that these films are very
similar to ours and include
some of the same events
and similar characters
helped us determine our
target audience.
9. How did you attract or address your audience ?
Before we created our finished product we decided that our film In addition we decided that the two main characters would be of
would be aimed at both genders, however mainly men aged both genders, the protagonist is first presented as a stereotypical
between 18-30. Previous research allowed us to come up with male, a family man who seems like a traditional father. Therefore
this target audience based on similar thrillers which we had most audience members are able to connect to his character,
looked at and then found out what the target audience was for however when it’s revealed that he is actually leading a double lie
these. The age gap for our audience is very wide which meant this is when viewers are shocked and sympathise with the
we needed to make our film appeal to people in between the woman. We decided to make the female victim a stereotypical
age of 18-30; we took this into consideration and decided to woman, passive, attractive, fairly weak to begin with and we also
base the majority of our characters around this age. The decided that she would be a young character. This allows the
protagonist being in his early 30’s and the female victim being audience to feel sympathy for her and connect with the character
in her late teens/early 20’s. This allows audiences to connect as she is put in a position of weakness by a dominant male which
and relate to both of these characters as most viewers would is conventional for a thriller or horror.
be of a similar age.
I think that the scene which most people would relate to would
be when the protagonist enters the room where he is holding
the torture victims. Most of the audience, especially women,
would be able to relate to the female victim in this scene as we
are made to feel sympathy for her as she’s been kidnapped.
Many people will be able to connect with her character as she’s
been put into a position of weakness, dominated by a man. I
think this scene would particularly appeal to young women as
the victim is in her early 20’s and she’s a traditional woman. The
point-of-view shots focusing on both the protagonist and the
woman put the audience in their shoes so they can see things
from their perspective- the low angle shot of the protagonist
causes the audience to empathise with the victim, allowing
them to connect with her.
10. How did you attract or address your audience? (continued )
Furthermore we decided to have a close-up of
Close up of protagonist
the protagonists hand reaching for the knife
creating a sense of danger and horror as the aggressively pulling girl’s
audience know what’s about to happen. This hair Girl’s facial
also allows the audience to see the blood on expression depicts
the knife and can therefore see that he has anger and
previously hurt or killed people in this torture frustration, power
room.
We’ve also used a close up of the victim whilst the
protagonist is holding her hair. Although at first the
Knife covered in blood victim seems work, her facial expression denotes
anger and struggle which therefore presents her as
strong willed and brave. The close up lets the
Protagonists hand audience see her protagonist holding her hair and
reaching for knife pulling tight, which makes us feel anger and hatred
towards him and sympathy towards the victim.
11. How did you attract or address your audience ? (continued)
AUDIENCE
FEEDBACK
65% of people who watched the I can infer that the majority of people who watched the film were in their late teens, this
opening were in between the age of suggests that they related to the characters or found the narrative engaging. I think that the
16-20. reason the majority of people who watched the film were in the lower half of our target
audience was maybe because there wasn’t an older character to connect or sympathise
with.
88% of people enjoyed our opening. This means that our thriller was successful, most people enjoyed it, only 12% of
people didn’t.
“The recurring flashback scenes created an abundance of tension and suspense. Deffo got the thriller genre
correct”
“I thought it was very realistic, I enjoyed the editing and effects and I was very drawn in to the story line.”
“Dramatic shift in setting towards the end. It was a satisfying resolution to tension built up throughout the intro”
“I was engaged specifically the very beginning, the news cast. Then I was
One of the main parts engaged once the main character entered the room with the victims, the
that people enjoyed was interaction between the main character and the woman.”
the contrast between the
two different sides of the
protagonist and the
revelation that he is
actually evil. The editing 76% of people said they
88% said they would watch the
of the flashbacks also found our opening engaging.
film in full.
had a lot of good 71% of people said they
feedback. found our titles engaging.
82% said our film was realistic
94% said that our music was
(similar to other existing films)
engaging.
12. 6. What have you learned about technologies from the process of constructing the
product? Towards the end of our film, after we had done all of the filming,
The technology we used: there was one part at the end when the child was calling the
Video Camera protagonist, where we decided to re-record the dialogue. This meant
Sound Recorder using a sound-recorder, which I hadn’t used before, I recorded this
Mac on my own which wasn’t easy as I wasn’t confident using the
Adobe Premiere Pro recorder. After I had recorded it, I went to upload it on the Mac and
it hadn’t actually recorded, this meant that we had to record it again.
I had used most of the technology which we needed prior
to filming and creating our film, this was mainly from the
continuity task. Creating our continuity task was the first During the continuity task I learned how to use Adobe Premiere Pro,
time that I had used the video cameras and Adobe however by the end of it I still wasn’t very confident with using this
Premiere Pro, which meant that I did have some editing software. When we had finished filming and began editing I
experience with the equipment. still wasn’t confident with editing, for the first few times we were
editing I tried to watch Oscar editing so that I could learn how to do
We all found using the cameras very easy, they were simple to some of it. Towards the end of making the film we all tried to do
use and I found them really useful. Although Oscar did most of some of the editing however I found it very hard and wasn’t really
the filming we all had turns at filming, I found the tripod really able to do it without any help or advice, this was a problem for us as
helpful as it allowed us to experiment with many different a group because we all relied on Oscar to help us and there were
camera angles, whilst still keeping the camera steady. The times when he wasn’t able to help us. However this was something
camera itself was also really useful, we used all of the features, which we overcame at the very end, adding in the titles and finishing
one specific thing which I found helpful was the zoom feature; some of the final aspects; I was very glad that we were all able to do
this allowed us to zoom in and out really easily. Considering we this however editing is still something that I need to work on, and
didn’t have a camera anything like one that would be used to definitely the hardest part of the whole process for me. The editing
film an actual film, I don’t think there were any other features software was very useful and made our film much more successful,
the effects which we used add to the mise-en-scene, for example
which we would have needed or used, therefore the camera
the fades into black and white create suspense and create
was very useful and we didn’t actually have any problems with juxtaposition between the family home and the dangerous garage,
the camera itself. However there were times when we were as well as between the two different sides to the protagonist.
filming that we didn’t get all of the filming done because the
camera had run out of battery and needed to charge. This made
it very hard to film, at times we were outside when this
happened which meant we had to stop filming all together, other
times we were indoors and had to put it on charge, which meant
we couldn’t get a variety of camera distances or angles because
it was connected to the charger; this sometimes meant we had
to re film all together.
13. 7. Looking back to your
During the planning for our continuity task we made sure that we were learning and practising for
continuity task, what do when we made our actual product. Learning about story boarding in our lessons helped us a lot
you feel you have learned with making our story board for the continuity task. We tried to include a variety of shots and
in the progression from it to camera angles in the continuity task, as well as different locations, reflecting back on the
continuity task I can see that we have made many improvements; we’ve used more interesting
the full product? and effective camera angles, whereas in the continuity task I think that we used different angles
We began by each researching into the thriller without any meaning. I think that the fact that we had a lot longer to plan for our final product and
genre; we allocated each person specific that we had time to make alterations helped us a lot as we actually needed different angles,
parts of the research. I researched the target whereas in the continuity task some of the angles we used were only decided on the day of
audience for Thrillers and looked at the filming.
guidelines for films, we needed to know if our As we hadn’t made an anamatic for the
film would be a 15 or an 18 rated film so that continuity task I found it much more
we could aim the film at a certain audience. I difficult to make the anamatic for our final
found this research very helpful, once we product however we had been taught
started coming up with ideas for our film and how to make it. However when it actually
we decided what the main themes would be came to making the anamatic I found it
we all agreed that our film would be an 18+ much easier than I had expected
due to the violence. In addition to this because I knew the storyboard well and
research I also looked at the openings of a we had planned how long the shots
variety of Thrillers so that we could find out would be for so it was much easier than I
the codes and conventions as well as getting had expected. The anamatic was really
some ideas from some of the films that we useful for when we were filming and
looked at. I think that this research was the editing as we were able to see how long
most important as it helped me understand the shots were needed for, as well as
the codes and conventions of Thrillers, as this we were able to see the different
well as understanding some of the themes, camera angles and the movements as
and hybrid or sub-genres. Once we decided well, for example we included pans and
that our film would be a Religious Horror zooms in our anamatic when they were
Thriller I decided to look at some films of this needed. I think that our shots have
genre so that I could see the conventions of improved, in the continuity task we didn't
these. As well as this research the rest of my use a tripod for some of the shots which In the continuity task we decided to use a zoom
group also did research which we then read made it camera move, and therefore the (0:44), however I think that it was too fast, this has
and evaluated for each other. Overall the film wasn’t very realistic in these parts. definitely improved, this can be seen in our final
research stage helped me learn a lot more Moreover we used quite a few low angle product as we have included a zoom in the beginning
about Thrillers and what the codes and shots which weren’t actually needed and (0:13); this is something I believe has been improved
conventions were, I also learned about the gave the wrong impression that it was a since we made the continuity task, the zoom in our
target audience of Thrillers which helped us point-of-view shot when it actually final product is much smoother and slower which is
during the planning as we were able to wasn’t, in our final product we have more effective as it allows the audience to actually
include actors and ideas which were successfully used point-of-view shots. notice and understand what is happening.
specifically targeted at the target audience.
14. Looking back to your continuity task, what do you feel you have learned in
the progression from it to the full product? (continued)
I feel that my end product was successful in most aspects.
We have used a variety of different camera angles to add meaning, for example point of view shots and close ups, if we were
to change anything about the actual filming I would have added more camera movements as the final product lacks a variety
of movements and there aren’t any towards the end of the opening.
The editing is one of the main factors that makes our film successful in my opinion, the transitions to black and white when the
transition to the garage appears allows the audience to understand that it’s a dangerous place, as well as understanding that a
different room is being shown and it’s a different time. The editing also slows the pace of the whole opening, creating tension
and adding to the suspense created through the narrative.
We changed our music very last minute which was something that I was originally worried about, however I believe that our
music is successful as it’s parallel to the action in the film. For example when the protagonist holds a knife to the torture victim,
the music gets louder and faster which speeds up the pace of the opening. In addition to this, when the transition to the other
location comes in, the non diagetic sound similar to a loud bang can be heard which is parallel to what’s happening in the film,
this is conventional for a Thriller; creating a shocking and dramatic sound, which prepares the viewer for the flash of the dead
bodies which follows after the sound. I think that the dialogue was successful, as our film was a religious thriller it was crucial
that the audience understand this therefore we included the speech from the Bishop which referenced religion. Moreover the
diagetic sound of the protagonist’s conversation with the torture victim includes religious references, e.g. ‘Thou shall not sin’ a
bible quote, allowing the audience to understand his intentions and his thoughts.
Furthermore I think that the mise-en-scene was very successful, the setting looked realistic as we
used fake blood and religious paraphernalia, the costumes and make up added to the realism of
the product as we needed to make characters look dead, and the female victim look bruised and
bleeding. I think that our setting was effective as it was set in a family home, and the other setting
in the dark garage which looked old and run down, conventional for a torture chamber.
Overall I think that our final product was successful, if we were able to change anything there
wouldn’t be many things that I would change, only some very small parts such as adding in more
camera movements.
