2. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media
products?
When making our media product ‘Vengeance’ we used, developed and challenge forms and conventions of real
media products. We met the conventions of a typical political thriller yet challenged them through our
development in order to for our audience to receive area’s they are familiar with but give them some variation
as well.
During the research process each of us looked at previous media products to help us achieve our political
thriller. With this in mind I analysed the use of camera, mise en scene, sound and editing, this helped me
understand the typical codes and conventions . One of the openings I analysed was ‘The Bourne Ultimatum’
and found that the titles used were on a black screen with white writing and placed in the centre of the screen.
When looking at other thrillers I found that a lot have used their titles in the same way which is why we
decided to use this generic convention in our own product.
I also found that strong characters appear to be
dressed smartly and presented well for example
James Bond in ‘Casino Royale’ He is always has
a suite on and is cleanly shaven. This compares to our actress who like James Bond is always wearing a suite
and looks presentable and smart therefore he shows a similar mise en scene. Not only this but we placed him
in the centre of the screen to show his importance in the film. This develops the generic conventions as our
male protagonist is presented stereotypically.
See 0.35
See 0.21
3. • We have not just developed forms, but subverted the forms and conventions of real media products. We
included flashbacks into our opening to add to the intensity of the thriller. To make sure the flashbacks
were clear to the audience we decided they should go in black and white. The openings we looked at did
not have flashbacks, therefore it subverts expectations of an opening . Even though we decided to
challenge the conventions it creates suspense and keeps the audience intrigued.
See 1.39
The choices we made during the editing and film process
always comes back to our genre (Political Thriller). In many
aspects we have developed forms to give the audience
awareness and familiarity that’s why we looked at other
opening to give us idea’s and concepts . This shows through
the camera, editing, sound and mise en scene. For example
one of the political conventions was different locations
therefore we thought The Houses of Parliament would be
perfect because it is relevant to politics and it is such an iconic
building.
See 1.48
I believe by subverting some conventions it
adds to the intensity of the genre.
Audience responded positively towards
this because there are still elements they
are familiar with for example presenting
gender stereotypically. Personally I think
from researching real media products we
have been able to achieve this. We could
have chosen to do terrorism as main
theme to make it more political, but
overall I think we have successfully
developed and challenged forms and
conventions.
4. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Throughout our opening we considered the representation of characters in terms of age, class, gender and race. Our first
scene shows that we have presented gender in a very stereotypical way [ see 0.11] with the male in the centre of our
screens and the wife on the left, who is slouching a little which connotes that males are deemed to be more important in
our opening.
This is reinforced by through the mise en scene as he is wearing a dark blue suite
and a white shirt which connotes masculinity and power. The use of setting and
also Influences this idea which makes him more important within the scene, through
the use of the desk and apple mac computer. Compare to his wife who is just
standing in the foreground, off centre highlights her lack of importance within the
opening.
We considered race when creating our opening. The protagonist is white British
which would be atypical because stereotypically it is normally men from different
cultures who are against the Prime Minister. From doing this we were hoping to
engage a different range of audience as they wouldn’t expect to see a British male
from upper class to be against the Prime Minister of his country. This idea is
reinforced by the close up again connoting his importance. By subverting social
ideology it makes the plot more believable as the would be able to relate to our
male protagonist.
We have presented the audience with a stereotypical representation of a house wife. This
is reinforced through mise en scene once again as she is dressed in a baggy red jumper
which connotes love and also danger , if the film continued this is what we would see. The
audience can not connect with her as she is always side on this highlights her lack of
importance in the opening yet juxtaposes with the on going of the opening.
5. We used an establishing shot of the Westminster Station sign [see 1.30] in
London because it is so well known to the world. Not only this but it fits in
well with our genre (Political Thriller), giving the opening a sense of realism.
The audience can relate to this as they are being presented with such an
iconic part of London which continues into the next shot.
Our protagonist targets a wide range of audience’s because of the way we presented him. A business man in his late
20’s , we were targeting mostly middle to upper class as our opening as linked to politics and traditionally it is those
who are upper/middle class who are interested in that. He dominates most scenes in our opening being placed in the
centre reinforcing his importance. Therefore the audience are able to connect with him and engage in what he is
doing within it.
6. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
Before deciding which media institution would be best for distributing our media product I look at existing films with
the same genre as ours and then researched them in more detail finding what media institution distributed theirs.
Firstly I looked at ‘Enemy Of The State’ and found that they had been distributed by ‘Touchstone Pictures’.
The title has been placed in the centre with bold, capitalised white
writing so it is clear for people to see.
Will Smith has been centralised and made bigger than the
other character on the poster suggesting he has more
importance.
Mise en scene, he is wearing a suite symbolising business ,
professional . Linking it to the title , it could infer that he is a lawyer
or something with high pay.
The picture looks like it has been taken through a surveillance
Camera which could infer that someone is after them and
following them.
Touchstone Pictures is an American film
studio, owned by The Walt Disney
Company. However it releases film that
have more mature themes and darker
tones.
7. Another film we looked at was ‘Spy Game’ which was distributed by ‘Universal Studio’s Inc’
Universal Studios Inc (Also known
as Universal Pictures is an
American motion picture studio
owned by Comast. It is one of the
longest lived motion pictures
located outside of Hollywood.
Again the title has been centralised with Bold, white capitalised writing so
It is clear and easy to read. Behind is a red banner symbolising danger or
blood.
Much like ‘Enemy Of The State’ Robert Redford has been centralised and
has been positioned at the top of the poster which could infer he has higher
Importance within the film.
Brad Pitt is presented to the
audience in a much darker
light. This could infer he is in
some sort of danger.
Mise En Scene, although it is not clear on what the characters are
wearing they both look well presented and Brad Pitt is wearing sun
glasses, making it hard for the audience to connect with him.
8. Although both films have similar features to our film ‘Vengeance’ I feel that our product would be best suited to
‘Touchstone Pictures’ as they distribute their products through the cinema’s, this way we gain a bigger range of
audiences. Therefore ‘Vengeance’ would have the potential to make more money.
By challenging and developing generic factors of a typical ‘Political Thriller’ it may attract different audiences who
may not normally watch thrillers. By creating a ‘Political Thriller’ it will hopefully attract businessmen/ women
because of the iconic location that are presented to them throughout the opening making them relate to it.
From look at ‘The Enemy Of The State’ our mise en scene is quite similar to theirs and work well within the Political
Thriller genre. This is because we have used typical conventions such as the locations and costume choices, but
have also challenged them to make sure it is not cliché.
After doing the research on different media institutions I have come to the conclusion that ‘Vengeance’ our film will
be best suited to be distributed by ‘Touchstone Pictures’ rather that ‘Universal Studios’., as they target more
mature themes with darker tones which I believe would benefit our opening more.
9. Who would be the audience for you media product?
The audience we were aiming towards is 15+ but before we decided on this the group and I decided to research the
‘BBFC’ in order to help us understand what we could and couldn’t include if we were going to make our film a 15.
We also included questions in our survey to determine which aged audiences we’re going to want to watch it the
most. LOOK AT QUESTIONNAIRE AND TALK ABOUT MORE! Many other films with the same genre as ours such as
‘Enemy Of The State’ have been rated 15 by the BBFC.
From our Preliminary Task survey we found that our opening would attract mainly males and as has links to the
business world such as the locations (Westminster, London) this is understandable. As we have challenged and
developed generic factors of a typical Political Thriller it has broadened our audience range and makes it more
intriguing for our audience.
The audience is being put in the male protagonists position as he is the most central character and you get and
insight into his thoughts and feelings, this adds to the suspense of the opening as you don’t find out what the
protagonist is planning for the Prime Minister.
10.
11.
12. How did you attract/address you audience?
Stereotypically, by having a male
protagonist, it allows us to attract
particular social group for
example males. Meaning they are
able to connect with him and his
emotions.
The close up, it allows the
audience to identify the
protagonists emotions and
feelings. Not only this but we
are able to see clearly his facial
expressions which has been
influenced by the typical
generic conventions of a
thriller.
By calling our thriller ‘Vengeance’ we
have created suspense as the
audience does not know why or what
the vengeance is about.
We decided to include flashbacks in
our opening and by editing them to
be black and white it is clear and
intriguing to the audience we are
targeting.
By choosing to dress the male
protagonist smartly in suite and tie,
it will once again attract the male sex
as the colour blue connotes
masculinity and power.
The locations we decided to
use in our opening are very
iconic to the business world
therefore would attract
business men/women
because they are able to
relate to our opening.
13. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
Throughout the process of filming and editing our political thriller, I have learnt a variety of skills and
techniques when it comes to use of equipment and using Adobe Premiere Pro. This shows massively when
you look back at our continuity task and animatic. For one more time and effort was put into our film opening
and we took into consideration each and every shot.
At the beginning of the course, I knew absolutely nothing except how turn on a camera so this process has
been a huge learning curve for me. I now know how to use a camera effectively and produce shots that create
meaning. I found the movement of the camera quite difficult at first but through practising and re shooting
shots I now feel comfortable shooting moving shots [see 1.44]. Furthermore I learnt how important framing
was as it was important not to cut off any body parts when shooting an extreme close up unless it was your
intent to not include a part of the body. For example in our close up of the protagonist it took a couple of
shots to get his whole head in the shot otherwise it would have looked silly. [see 0.10] where an effective
close up was used.
I really enjoyed the editing side, I learnt how to use Adobe Premiere Pro with the help of my teachers, peers
and by looking it up on the internet. When editing one day Melissa and I came across a problem we realised
after the London shoot that ticket we zoomed in on said ‘child’ rather than adult which would have broken the
realism of the final product. We tried to edit it so the ‘child’ is blurred out, we really struggled doing it but
with the help of the teachers and looking it up we managed to do it. However in the end we didn’t use the
shot in the final cut but that didn’t matter because we now know how to do it for future purposes. Using this
software it enabled me to learn how to use effects to make our media product better for example [ see 0.32]
fades for the title.
14. Looking back at your Preliminary Task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full project?
Looking back to the preliminary task I have learnt that the research and planning is just as important if not
more than the filming and editing process . In our continuity task we did not have a specific genre in mind,
therefore when the time came to start making decisions about the final project we sat down as a group
and discussed the possible genres we could use for our thriller. From there we research various genres and
the codes and conventions within them. When we first started filming we had a completely different genre
in mind, it started off a psychological thriller but we felt it was to cliché. So we went back and researched
‘political thrillers’.
Not only this but organisation was key to the process and progression.
During the continuity task we had previously filmed some shots in one of
the drama rooms and when we went back the next day to film a bit more
the room was occupied, therefore we weren’t able to use it. When it came
to filming the opening we made sure we much more organised.
Furthermore I didn’t realise how important the storyboard, seeing it
visually in the animatic helped us see what was good and what needed
changing and what worked effectively. It helped us to work out the lengths
of the shots and the transitions, although our final product has changed a
great deal from our animatic it really helped us to produce a better quality
film opening.
I think that, my filming has improved throughout and that there is so many
different shots and angles that you have to think about when making a film.
I feel that within our opening there is a variety of different shots compared
to our continuity task. That is a result of feeling a lot more confident on how
different shots can create different meanings.
I feel that our product is a reflection on how much we have learnt individually and as a group and that we can
take what we have learnt into next year. We have met the codes and conventions of a political thriller and also
challenge them to make our opening as engaging and exciting as possible.
