AS Media Evaluation

1. Overall Evaluation

2. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real media products?
When creating our media product ‘In The Frame’ we used, developed and challenged forms and
conventions of real media products. Our piece was under the crime thriller genre which met the
conventions and key concepts. By doing this the audience understood our piece by seeing familiarity
but also variation as we challenged these conventions through our development.
I watched numerous thrillers to make sure I fully understood
the conventions. I ensured that I analysed; camera, sound,
mise-en-scene and editing. After doing so, I achieved
inspiration. When wanting to try and achieve success in
making a crime thriller, we all had to understand the typical
codes and conventions that the thriller genre has. I explored
into thriller texts and analysed the use of camera, editing,
sound and mise-en-scene. I watched the opening of ‘Silence
of the Lambs’ and noticed the use plain dark titles. This
inspired me to use this in our final piece as it represents the
thriller genre in being dark and mysterious. As you can see
here is what our title for the film looks like. The use of a plain
background is used so the audience focuses on the text. This
grabs their attention.

3. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real media products?
Mise-en-scene
We used darker colours on the protagonists
to challenge the idea of the stereotypical
protagonists of the female gender, as they
would normally use lighter colours to
connote venerability to a dark antagonist.
This then challenges the conventions and
presents to the audience that anyone of any
type can be victimised by crime which adds
an ambiguous feel to our film. We also
challenged the convention of areas of
venerability such as dark alleyways and
empty streets and placed our main setting
in an open area that everyone can access.
This made us challenge the convention as
this area is considered a safe place that
people go to frequently which was opposite
from the standard setting.

4. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real media products?
Sound
When choosing the soundtrack we wanted
to use for our product, we went through a
whole load of different choices. We had to
find one that had a mysterious tone and
that was ambiguous. This is so that is
matches with the crime thriller genre and
so it suits our product. We eventually found
a track that suited well along with the clips
and we added it in.
In our final product we have clips of a pin
board. The music we all agreed on worked
very well with the pin board scene as it
build up a lot of tension in the shots. This is
good as from an audiences point of view,
you feel like something is about to happen,
which was good news for us as that was
our objective. To make the audience feel
edgy which they did.
Camera and lighting
Cinematography had a big
impact on our media product as
we wanted the product to be
presented as ambiguous content
to add confusion to the
audience. We did this by not
showing our antagonist’s face
throughout the whole two
minutes. This made the product
uneasy for the audience to watch
as they were uncomfortable not
knowing who the person was. By
the audience feeling this way we
accomplished our target by
having the film feel disturbing to
watch, like most thriller films.

5. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real media products?
Editing
When editing, we centralised our protagonist
throughout the sequence so that our
audience is introduced to the main character.
We do this by showing shots of the female
character from real life shots of her walking, to
shots of her face on the pin board.
Traditionally, I found out that within thriller films
the pace starts slow and builds up which
created tension. We tried to accomplish this as
a group as we started slow by showing filler
shots, and then as our product progressed the
time slowly built up because of our narrative
which does create tension. However, the pace
then slows back down which is unconventional
for the opening of a thriller film. Our reasoning
for this, is that we wanted to create a
mysterious tone, resulting in a tense
atmosphere within our sequence which I think
we have achieved.

6. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Throughout our product we constantly focused on how particular social groups could be
portrayed in order to develop understanding for the audience. In the second half of our
product, female gender is represented in a stereotypical way as you see a teenage girl
walking on her own. She is wearing a big coat and has her phone on her which lead to
her later on putting in her ear-phones. This is a particular link towards her age group as
many people associate music with teenagers. The use of the setting and props also
reinforces the idea of a thriller genre as she is alone walking home which is very
venerable.
The other main character we had in our product was the male stalker. At the very
beginning you see his outline walk in a dark and mysterious room. This sets the scene as
it is dark and the suspense rises as you don’t know what's about to happen. This is good
for a thriller film as it is hidden the audience aren't aware off what is happening. The male
is dressed all black which connotes sinister and controlling ways.
Social groups have been presented in the beginning as male dominance and in the
second half females as passive.

7. What kind of media institution might distribute your media
product and why?
When thinking of what media institution might
distribute my media product, I gathered
information of pervious thriller films. This was
so I had an idea of which institution might
distribute our project.
I believe that 20th Century Fox would distribute
our media film as they have had success with
thriller films in the past. The film ‘Taken’ was a
massive hit back in 2008 as it made $226.8
million from the box office alone. From this
information, I can take that 20th Century Fox
have experience and have an impact on how
well a film can do. If we did get our product
distributed by them then it could be a good
choose and may receive a lot of feedback.
Another route we
could take would be to
publish our film by
film4. We would do
this as it would be
cheaper than other
bigger publishers and
they mainly do
independent films like
ours.

8. Who would be the audience for your media product?
As a whole group we decided that our media product would be targeted at the 15+ market. Teenagers
would find this product twisted as well as entertaining. We wouldn't target it to people below the age of
15 as it would be inappropriate as they will find the thriller to disturbing and dark for there liking. They
also may not understand the stalking aspect of the product. We concluded that our target audience
would exceed the ages between 15-25.
I think our media product is aimed at mostly females. This is because our title sequence is dominated
by females and has only one male character in it. This means our target audience can relate to the
females within our product. However, it could appeal to a number of males because we have used a
large amount of thriller conventions such as: colours, sound and narrative. Additionally, the actual body
gestures of our protagonist appear more masculine as they are very physical which also might attract
the male audience. Overall out product would target both genders as it can appeal to them both in
different ways.
By asking people what they think of our product we can understand what parts has been the most
successful and meaningful. From judging their statements, I can see what they believe is good and
what can be worked on. Additionally, I can see how meaningful the flashbacks were and how they
created meaning in my product. Overall, I think the audience feedback has been very helpful due to
what I can see was the most successful part of our product.

9. How did you attract/address your audience?
I believe that our media product will in fact
lure the attention of our target audience
due to how the thriller genre is shown in
detail. The age rating will cater to their
expectations. As ‘In The Frame’ is a
product about a stalker, audiences expects
to conventions such as a creepy antagonist
that follows, dark settings and alone
situations. This is what we portray in our
product.
We created the opening of our product with
our target audience in mind. The people
that would watch our thriller film would be
mainly school students. This is because the
actors that are portrayed in the opening are
indeed students.
The setting of the our
product is in a social place
that lots of school children
and students go to have a
good time. They will be
interested as they know the
area and would want to see
what happens in our
opening.

10. How did you attract/address your audience?
We also used a close up shot of the pin board in our media product. I believe this will attract our
older audience as people will understand that this is what is used for the ‘stalker’ to find the
protagonist. The close up shots are used to clearly show what is on the board and to see the
progression of the females life. The audience will understand that the antagonist has been
watching her for a long time as he has a number of pictures of her and her friends throughout a
long period of time. Also, this shot offers the audience time to take in what has happened so far
in the opening. The shots are held for a longer period of time then other shits in the opening
which allows them to recognise the pictures and match them with the female in the next shot.
Overall I think that it is evident that I have attracted and addressed my audience well. I did this by
considering how the mise-en-scene, camera, editing and sound created different meanings
within our product which ensured the audience understood and stayed engaged in the opening.

11. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of
constructing this product?
Throughout the process of making our product, I feel that
I have learned and gained a wide knowledge on
technologies from the process of creating and
constructing our product. I also think I have progressed
an extreme amount from making our continuity as I could
learn from the mistakes I made. We were extremely lucky
that Matt Hersey had a very good camera that we used to
film. This also picked up great quality shots which made
our product a higher definition. Before filming we ensured
we had planned out every individual shot so we knew
what we were going to film exactly, which would help us
out a lot as we would save time on reshooting.
I have mainly learnt about editing. Before the product I
new little about premier pro and editing as a whole but
making the product has widened my knowledge and
helped me in my editing skills. Matt Hersey taught me a
lot about the software to use and told me the overall
basics. From this I was able to do the work in class and
on my own during my free periods. This helped the group
progress as I was editing the product when not everyone
was free.

12. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of
constructing this product?
I have also learnt about how to use a camera. Before the making of the
product I had never really been filming on my own before so I didn’t know
not much about how they worked and what to do with it. Once again, Matt
Hersey had his own camera so he taught me the basics and let me use it.
When he couldn’t be there for one lesson, I had to take over and film our
remaining clips. I feel that over this time period that I have learnt various
skills with camera work. The theory work helped a lot to understand about
the camera but also, getting to practice with the camera in the continuity
task, helped my understanding. I think it was important before we started
filming that we were aware of the different type of camera angles and
what prime affect they had on our audience. This affected our decision
making on the camera, as each shot conveyed a different meaning.
Overall, I have learnt the basic understanding of how to use a camera
which has a large impact on my product. I had to ensure each shot was
advanced so it looked professional. I faced some challenging shots whilst
filming which I had to overcome, but by facing these shots it made me get
them right and perfect. The camera shot which I mainly struggled with
was the zooming out shot. I found the camera hard to control even though
the tripod was supporting me. To overcome this problem I practiced the
shots over five times so that I could achieve the best shot possible when
filming.

13. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of
constructing this product?
A tripod was another tool that I had to use. I had never really used one before which put
me at a less advantage of achieving a successful shot. However, because I got to
practice on the continuity task before the real product, when coming to filming I knew how
to use it in the correct way. We made sure we used the tripod at all times to ensure all of
our shots were steady and at a good standard level. We also got to adjust and change
levels which helped us as we did not have to physically move around. Moreover, it is
evident the tripod has helped making our media product a success as every shot is stable
and sturdy which is very significant when making a film.

14. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have
learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Looking back at the preliminary task, I now have a better knowledge and have
seen my improvements from the start. During the early stages, I felt that I would
not get far as I didn’t know much about editing and camera work. Then as the
weeks went on I gradually pick up the pace and learnt quickly as my group help
me progress. This enhanced my skills and help out the group as we was
getting the work done quickly.
The research took a long time to gather as there was a lot to get. It defiantly
helped us when coming up with our idea for our product as we decided which
subgenre to do and how we would accomplish this. When creating the product
we stumbled over mistakes. Continuity mistakes were made a lot as it was hard
to get this right when reshooting particular scenes. They didn’t flow properly
and we had to reshoot to get them right. It made editing harder is well as we
had to make the shots flow after one another. We eventually did this and is
work really well.