Here you can find my final media evaluation of the two minute opening to a thriller movie I have created.

1. Media Evaluation
Jamie Lousvet & Ben Whalley

2. How does your media product use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions of real media
products?
● The Title
● The Location
● The Costumes & Props
● Cinematography
● Editing

3. The Title
Our film follows the conventions of a typical film as at the start the logo for
our company overlays the video. As you can see, comparing our logo to that of
the ‘Sandham films’ one they follow a very similar colour scheme and simplicity
is common in both. The fonts are simple and from our title our intro does not
challenge the conventions of a typical thriller film.
The Location
The location is crucial when looking into the effectiveness of a thriller movie. Having
thought about the location carefully and the plot of our story it was unanimous decision
to do it at a station and dark alley adjacent to it and from there worked around further
scenarios to add into the different scenes. The conclusion we came to, to have this
location fitted perfectly to the sequence of events we came up with complementing the
setting.

4. Costume and Props
We were very predictable when it came to the choice of clothing the gang
members wear, using big coats and primarily darker colours (Apart from Sam).
We also used a bb gun as a prop for a real gun, which once again is quite
common in a thriller media product as it is commonly associated with crime
and criminal gangs.
Cinematography
Multiple shots have been used in our opening 2 minutes, ranging from match
on action, long shots and montage. We used long shots as our primary shot as
we found this the most effective in making sure we included everything we
needed in the camera. This is not as common as other thriller films which
usually use wide ranges of shots to emphasize a character or plot.
(Example of long shot)
Sam Armando

5. Editing
We used shots very exclusive to thriller films including the montage and
match on action. For Example;
Narrative
Our film follows a very usual storyline for thriller films however we have
adapted the idea of Final Destinations premonitions. Sam is asleep dreaming
when he envisions himself being killed by an unknown assailant, he then
awakes to realise he was dreaming. However the start is unusual for a thriller
film as the opening is very casual and has a calm atmosphere.

6. Characters
Armando’s character was inspired by the
film ‘In Bruges’ a film based around a man
called Ray who is a hit man. Amando’s
character only appears once in the
opening, however, creates a big impact
and kills the protagonist Vincent with a
hand gun and mask on. He is a tall
character, he wears all black to show his
stealth almost, on the other hand, he is a
man of killing and will get the job done
immediately, he does not enjoy waiting
around to kill someone.
Jamie's character was inspired by the game
‘Watch Dogs’, the idea of hacking and clever
manipulation of other people. The main
character in Watch Dogs uses his phone to
hack into almost anything he wants to, and
that’s where the genius comes in with Jamie's
character Mason. Jamie (Mason) uses
technology to pin and track Sam (Vincent)’s
every move on his phone.
Ben’s character Curtis was inspired by the movie ‘End
Of Watch’ where he is almost equivalent to the ring
leader of the gang ‘Big Evil’ who can disappear
however perform crimes like no other without being
found out. In the opening 2 minutes you do not see
much of Ben’s character, however, that’s more to the
point about his character, he is a ghost, he is
unknown but appears once when Mason tags
Vincent with the tracking device after bumping into
him. This is the character Ben needs to fulfill as he
only appears once, yet you know he is there once he
disappears just before the murder.
Mason Field (Jamie) Curtis Ghost (Ben)Armando Calvaro

7. Vincent Lee (Sam) -
Sam's character within the opening 2 minute movie is inspired by
the movie; ‘Final Destination’. The sequence of events of cheating
death and a ‘false reality’ links into the plot and storyline of our
opening 2 minute movie. The character sam plays has traces of
similarity to the character of Devon Sawa in the first movie where
he imagines situations that haven’t happened, however, they are
real once he has re awaken or has stopped day dreaming and that's
where the main complementary effect is with our movie. Sam’s
character re-awakes once he is killed and is evidently agitated by
the ‘dream’ he is having as he has no clue it is to happen.

8. How does your media product represent a
particular social group?
Our media product represents a particular social group through the idea of
drugs, violence and continuous thriller through suspense situations and a
sense of mystery throughout. Our main social groups that we have aimed this
thriller movie at is potential C1’s, C2’s and possible D1’s due to, the violence
and language issued towards other people. It may be certificated at a 15 and
working class people will be more likely to watch this movie due to the age
restriction and the way in which the movie is performed and the setting of the
movie.

9. What kind of media institution might distribute
your media product and why?
Looking and taking into consideration the genre of movie we have created, a
typical institution that may distribute our product is Hammer Studio’s. This
institution is famous for many films like; The woman in black, Dracula and let
me in, these films being popular movies that have been bought and
distributed through Hammer Studio’s and all have the thriller/horror essence
to them which is essential when looking for a distributer for our product.
Potentially, this is a good institution as well due to the fact it is a british film
industry and the opening 2 movie we have created is a 100% British movie.

10. Who would be the audience for your media product?
Our Film would appeal to anyone older than 15 (due to the age rating
presented on the film). People who are especially interested in mystery
thrillers will find this film more appealing through the use of tension and
uncertainty at the start.
As the film is based around a gang social classes from D upwards to around B-
C1 will be the main target audience for the film as they will be the people
which can relate mostly to the plot and the characters portrayed within the
film.

11. How did you attract/address your audience?
Advertisement - By creating posters and a trailer for our media product we
were able to reach out to a wider audience. Posters and trailers help create a
brand for the film and get people talking about it (Social Interaction, Uses and
Gratifications Theory).
Storyline - Our storyline would attract many people who enjoy the thriller
genre, or storylines relating to gangs and drugs. A similar TV series which has
been very successful in the last few years is a show called ‘Peaky Blinders’
which is based around a birmingham gang
(Example of our film poster)

12. What have you learnt about technologies?
Throughout the filming of a media product we used and improved many of our techniques and skills, these included: Camera shots, editing and creativity.
Camera shots: Looking at the types of shots we have manipulated into our opening 2 minutes have varied massively due to, the theme of our movie. The
most common of the shots were long/mid shots, this is because the idea of the high cameras are to look down on the subject and act as security cameras to
give off the ‘you’re being followed’ impression towards the protagonist. We also used other camera shots like; match on action, tracking shot, over the
shoulder shot, low angle tilt and mid, long and close ups. This variety of shots have proven effective towards the outcome, representations and following of
the characters to create the added effect to the story.
Moving on, looking at Todorovs Narrative theory, we can see how our opening 2 minutes represents this, the idea that it starts off with equilibrium, then
turns into disequilibrium, then back to equilibrium to end the movie, this theory applies well to the opening through the essence of calm, casual scenery in
the beginning of the protagonist walking, however, it then turns into disequilibrium when the protagonist is shot by the hit man. Afterwards, this is when the
plot twist applies to the story and he then wakes up, and everything goes back to equilibrium. This idea of Todorovs Narrative theory is a clever insight into
the way our story is being performed and acted out, the way the camera shots are then created to tell the story and apply the theory in the storyline.
Vegas Pro 12, we used this editing software as it is a professional video editing suite capable of creating film worthy edits. The editing software contains
many ‘layers’ which allow multiple videos and audio tracks to be placed over each other. From using this software our knowledge in the program has
definitely increased and compared to before we are now more comfortable in editing and rendering our own film clips.

13. What have you learnt from your preliminary task?
One main aspect we have adapted on and learnt from within our preliminary
is the idea of camera shots, more fitting non-diegetic music and a series of
editing which creates a much greater effect fitting the story. Furthermore, the
aspect of essential editing, cutting between two scenes and sound bridges has
proven effective when creating the opening 2 minutes as opposed to the
preliminary where basic shots were created rather than split screen editing
and clever editing when jumping between shots, cuts and scenes.