2. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real media products?
The media product I have created is a crime thriller that uses generic and
existing conventions associated with the thriller genre and twists on these
conventions to add slight originality in this style of film. This has then
helped to create an interesting take on the genre.
Once our plan of an idea was finalised and the product started to develop as
meet up sessions and prep work continued, the ideas and elements of our
final piece was manipulated as research points challenged our own ideas.
We investigated the crime thriller genre in discovering the conventions of
the use of : Protagonists and antagonists, sense of enigma, investigation,
low key lighting, quick cuts in editing, tense music which all participate in
the creation of a crime thriller film. We then used these conventions in our
final product, to achieve the wanted feel the audience of our product would
expect, but then developed some of these conventions to challenge these
forms.
Mise En Scene
We used darker colours on the protagonists to challenge the idea of
stereotypical protagonist of the female gender, as they would use light
colours to connote venerability to a dark antagonist. This then challenges
the convention 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 ally ways
and dark back streets and placed our protagonist in an open social area for
the everyday person which is the ‘Common of Chalfont St Peter’. This then
challenges the convention as this area of frequent usage would be
considered a safe place which then shows the seriousness of the kidnapping
suggested within our opening which would add tension to parts following
up in the film which would not have necessarily been scary.
Blond Hair and
white clothing
connotes innocents
and venerability as they
are pale, light colours.
Lily has darker hair and
clothing of dark shades
which challenges the
stereotype a stalker would
be able to get.
Instead of a cliché setting we
replaced the setting with an
environment of common usage
which add an edgy feel to the
product due to crimes being
possible anywhere.
Dark ally, contrasted with
an open public area.
3. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real media products?
Sound
When contemplating the wanted sound for our product we went through
a process of choosing a sound track which would suit our piece in
creating a tone of mystery and ambiguousness which also would fit in
with the style of filming and acting that we had produced. Considering
the thriller convention of tense music, we experimented with a few, in
trying to achieve something with a suitable pace which matched the
editing of the product. We found some which suited well, so I assisted
Matt B in experimenting with them against the edited clips and the track
which suited most became obvious to our group. This process of
elimination worked well for us however took some time in testing out
against our editing.
We also considered using music which completely contrasted the usual
tense tone, like when thrillers and horrors use children's music to create
a creepy tone to the audience. We decided this wouldn’t work with our
product, as the display in the pin board section needed to be over
exaggerated to achieve the tone we wanted, so using the convention
helped us achieve the feel we and the audience desire from a thriller
film.
In some areas we needed some added sound effects, like the quick
stutter zoom in within the pin board sequence to add a dramatic tone in
this highlighted section. Finding sound to suit was simple for Matt B, as
he looked into action film sound tracks for parts of high tension which he
then cut out and sped up for this section within our opening. We
followed the thriller convention for sound and I’m glad we did, as it adds
thriller elements to our film for audience recognition of a thriller film and
adds tone and darkness to sections which sound be emphasised.
Camera and Lighting
Cinematography was a big part of our media product, as I wanted the product
to present ambiguous content to add slight confusion and multi sided storyline
elements within the introduction to add to the feel of the thriller convention of
investigation and discovery. To do so, we show a door opening and closing, keys
being thrown onto a desk and then a sequence of investigation on a storyboard
presenting a pathway of information of the protagonist to the film, like a plan
which the audience can infer as a stalker and his plot of kidnapping which
would become evident as the film progresses. However, I wanted to achieve
ambiguous factors to introduction, in not showing who the person entering this
room is or what his plan is as he exits the room and the end of the sequence.
This was shown as this person could be many things, the stalker himself, a
police officer, somebody following the mystery ect, so this independent
interpretation the audience would have to think from the start of the film adds
to the tense feel of our product, and follows the tense convention of the thriller
genre. I showed this using low key lighting in many sections, using a bright
white lighted torch for natural light tones to create a vignette shadow around
the subject that was focused on. This added a dramatic feel to the subject of
the shots which followed the dramatic convention of a thriller product. Using
close up shots, helped create this tone as well, as it emphasised action within
screen time to present the motion of the antagonist in a disguised way.
Vignette shadowing around
antagonist for an emphasised
focus.
4. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real media products?
Editing
When editing we wanted the audience to visually work out foreshadowing
characters, things that may occur/ be shown later in the film so screen
time played a large part in the exposure of our intensions.
In the first section of the introduction the antagonist is shown, however
there are more shots of the pin board section with images of the
protagonist growing up to present time, so a realisation of who this person
may be can be thought by our audience.
Fades in and out of these clips of our protagonist are further used to add
discovery and foreshadowing, as the close ups of the faces are still focused
on by the audience as the clips fade out to darkness which suggests the
unknown to these characters shown; events of a dark nature further on in
the film which follows the thriller convention however develops it to a
level beyond obviousness.
When editing I wanted to go away from the usual coloured environment, a
typical dark/ night time sky, street light lit, and replaced this with a dull
coloured grey-blue tone to suggest a dreary day. This doesn’t challenge
the convention of darkness, however has developed this convention to a
form which suggests dark undertones but uses a time in the day which
many people would be out and about still so the development would
present a further creepy tone as the protagonist is followed.
5. How does your media product represent different social groups?
Who would view your media product?
When planning out the characters and situations which should be
included in our production, socials groups played a big part in the
decisions we should make in choosing these elements.
Teenage stereotypes and teenage conventions in thrillers was
the main thing we had to consider when creating our
protagonist, as portraying a role too true to the stereotype
would create a predicable tone in our product which would spoil
the way the audience would view our piece. We wanted our
protagonist to be a female, as venerable and a naïve nature is a
convention of the female gender in thriller films, however we
wanted to develop this slightly in making this protagonist
relatable to our target audience of people aged 15+ to represent
the teenage social group more accurately. To do so our
protagonist had darker hair and clothing, while maintaining a
stylish look within teenage fashion so that our audience can
relate to the styling of our character which then allows us to
present the teenage social group in a modern way.
The other social group we had to consider was this minority of the unknown,
the antagonist in our piece. Strangers are considered a threat to most people,
many of which are harmless however we had to create a threat with minimal
appearances of the antagonist in the product to create our ambiguous tone. We
had to follow the stereotype in this circumstance, wearing black clothing with a
hood to hide the identity of the stalker to follow the idea of the unknown.
However he didn’t wear a mask or a big trench coat, instead it was simple
clothing: black jeans and coat, which represents this unknown person tin a
more realistic way to our audience in connoting the antagonist as being
anybody, not just a weird odd person with a messed up background.
The audience that would view our product would be our teenage target audience
of people aged 15, young adults up to the age of 25 and teenage parents. I could
tell this would be our target due to us planning our protagonist in her teens and
being relatable to teenagers of her age. We also considered the max age group
which would view our product, being people up to the age of 25. We thought this
through, and from our initial survey of thriller films the results presented people
up to the age being the max age of interest in this style of film, and considering
the protagonists age, people aged 20+ would find it hard to want to watch due to
the character being younger than themselves. Parents might watch our product as
well, as they could be interested in the plot of our product and how this could
relate to real life situations of our modern world.
The protagonist
6. What kind of media institution might distribute your media
product and why?
When contemplating the media institution that might distribute our product, we had to look at other institutions of a similar style to make
the decision.
Lily investigated into ‘Independent film’ in what and why it would suit our production. An independent film is a film production which results
in a feature film that is mostly produced outside of major production and distribution companies. These independent films usually have a
lower project budget and produce and distribute the films by themselves without major company input.
This would suits our work, as the style of our work can be related to this styling of production, in a lower costing, amateur created piece of
work, which we could distribute on a lower level to more private screenings like the school we study at to be shown. Also we cannot achieve
major company input with the quality of our final piece so independent distribution works well.
Our Production and distribution
Company
Another example of an Independent film
company
7. How did you attract/address your audience?
There were many ways I planned the final product to
attract and address my audience to be able to create an
interest in the content and the purpose of the production.
An element of relatability was needed to achieve this, so
that my audience of teenagers aged 15 plus can view the
content and understand the plot and purpose.
With the protagonist, I had to style the character to suit
the modern society of teenagers today, through fashion
and styling of her clothing and attitudes towards the things
that happen. To start off with, using dark yet fashionable
clothing was key to the relatability between the
protagonist and the target audience, as her clothing fit
modern fashion so immediately our protagonist becomes
relatable in the fact that she represents a large social
group of modern day teenage girls. The dark clothing is
fashionable, yet contrasts the stereotype of venerable
teenager girls, in the fact that conventions of bright
minimal clothed women are targets in thriller films and her
clothing of dark shades suggests elements of tom boy
attitudes which would suggest she might be better aware
to threatening situations in which she is still exposed to.
This then presents how anybody can be targeted in crime
which adds an factor of fright to the product to the
audience and how she is relatable to our modern day
audience further shows that’s crimes can happen
anywhere to anyone.
There were other subtle ways the audience was addressed which further adds
fear to our production. The use of modern day technologies were brought into
the equation to present this.
For our pin board section, a range of images are shown to present the growth of
the protagonist/victim and how the stalker has followed the character up to
present time. I researched popular social medias including Facebook, Twitter,
Instagram, Snapchat and how modern society's use these technologies and have
modelled their everyday life's around the presentation of themselves to other
people around the world.
Using this information, subtle messages were put into the product to portray
this. There are three images of the protagonist on the social media platform
Facebook included in the growth of her life, present herself posing with her
close friend Katy who is tagged in the image as well for everybody to view who
they are and links to personal profiles. The use of this is effective, as the target
audience can relate to the use of social medias and the usage/ purpose of which
the protagonist is using it. This is then put onto the threatening plan of the
stalker which then presents and addresses the audience in stating the message
of how anyone anywhere can access personal information about anybody and
how in extreme situation how it has effected/ will effect our protagonist which
then makes a personal link to the audience.
Relatable
social media
8. What have you learnt about the technologies in constructing this
product?
Before starting this project I had some experience using a camera and
editing software, from interests of extreme sports editing and filming
which is a hobby of my own. Coming into this project, I learnt more in-
depth about each skill in other ways which has improved my overall
knowledge and skills in both.
At the beginning of the project when we had to state our skills to form
groups, I opted for the tech side of the spectrum which put me in the
group I am in now, knowing I would have to learn more in both skills
and teach others within my group basics of both to be able to get the
work finished in time of deadline. The continuity task was the first time
we got into the tech side of the project, having to film and edit a piece
of work using the 180 degree rule and show technical competence in
the way it was structured. Using my knowledge of camera angles and
planning skills, I was able to storyboard the entire task in 3d sketches to
form a visually recognisable plan of each specific shot, and then film
the piece using a range of these angles which although didn’t have the
most interesting content, had a range of camera angles which flowed
well together and was easy to watch. This is where I learnt more in
depth about the camera, having to use and learn the 180 degree rule. I
was not aware of this technique and its effect on the view as I had
never seen it in use in the style of film I personally watch. It took about
three re shoots to get the 180 degree rule into our continuity task, as I
initially thought changing scenes but continuing in the same angle still
followed the rules however the technique is most noticeable when
there might be a convocation in shot, and multiple angles are shot in
one side of the room along and 180 degree pivot which took multiple
reshoots to achieve. This is an initial example of a further learning of
my skills in the technology side of the project.
By the final task my camera work and editing skills had up to date
practice, being able to construct my continuity task in an effective way
using the 180 degree rule and other techniques like match on action to
produce an effective piece of work. By the real task I had upgraded my
camera to a higher quality DSLR which will produce high quality
professional footage for the piece we are making in comparison to a poor
quality cam corder which made shots in our continuity task poor . From
the continuity task to the final task, I had learnt that multiple reshoots of
each section over a course of many filming sessions was going to occur,
due to discovering flaws and problems with clips in the continuity task and
having to reshoot them multiple times, and other problems such as
availability of rooms and equipment which delay progress. We started our
final task outside and managed to film a third of the shots in one filming
session. We then discovered problems once starting to edit due to props
missing between shots, weather/sky changing between shots and wind
effecting audio this meant further sessions needed to get the wanted clips
at the quality that we want them at. This was a constant throughout our
project , including the first section of our project which was lit in the dark
which took many attempts (over 100 shots in this section) to get right and
meant a lot of my time and efforts were put into the production having
being the technical person in the group/ the filmer and part editor.
9. What have you learnt about the technologies in constructing this
product?
Overall I have learnt a lot about the technology element of the product, although having previous experience in this subject in the filming and
editing side of things. Problems occurred throughout both tasks, knowing they would happen in the final task through the experience of the
preliminary/continuity task which meant making time to resolve these problems was planned a head. I had also learnt how to film and edit in
this style of film, creating a suited title sequence to fit the genre and edit a film to create effects on the viewer which follow or challenge the
genres conventions, whereas the style I have previously filmed is most shot at similarly low angles for height effect and amazement on the
audience. Technology plays a large part in the creation of the final product, and learning this style has resulted in a quality product.
Me Filming
Using a camera and
tripod for a steady
shot
Filming in the dark was challenging due to
having to spot light wanted things to
emphasis
elements of
the product.
Surrounding vignette shadow
spot light
10. Looking back on your preliminary task, what do you feel you
have learnt in the progression from it to the final product?
Looking back at the preliminary task I feel there has been a
progression in the learning of the creation of the final product,
including the timings of sessions, filming, editing and production.
Completing the preliminary task has helped me get to the stage I am
at now, and a clear escalation in knowledge and experience can be
seen.
Overall, the preliminary task was a challenge. We found it difficult to
find the time to film, and once we did other problems became
evident such as not the correct equipment to use, problems with
props like different costumes, availability of places to film etc. which
delayed the process of the task. Once we had then gathered clips
people in the group had to learn about the editing process, in cutting
clips to wanted lengths, sound and sound bridge and effects.
Although this took time others in the group had a basic
understanding on the editing side of things which is a benefit as the
editing side of the project can be shared out late on in the final task
and also I feel from teaching these skills I had refreshed knowledge
to help me edit well later on in the project.
Between the preliminary task and the final task there has been
personal skills of mine that have progressed. The first thing would be
my camera work, from the preliminary task to the final task I started
with a hand held cam corder and further upgraded to a semi
professional DSLR camera with equiptment like tripods, the
difference being I was able to film in high quality and use a large
view finder which enabled me to see more of what I was doing. This
then helped me progress my skills as I was able to plan out shots
better and view clips once filmed so I was able to know if a shot
should be re filmed at the time. This then made the most of time and
the filming sessions as we didn’t have to wait for results of the clips.
I also progressed in my teamwork and leadership skills. As the
preliminary task dragged on I became more anxious of getting the
work finished in time of deadline which made my efforts further
increase, this then made me take on a leadership role in organising
meet ups and editing sessions to enable us to complete the task. Me
taking on this style of role I feel boosted the mind-set of the rest of
the group. I then took this skill through to the final task, not being
‘the leader’ but using leadership skills throughout the project to help
keep the pace of production which has meant I have gained a skill
through doing the preliminary task and final product.
I further progressed from the preliminary task to the final piece in
my editing skills, from using basic skills though to more complex
match on action techniques to produce a more professional final
product. For the preliminary task the 180 degree rule was needed
with some other basic techniques to show competence which I had
to revise and learn to get correct, which took multiple tries. Learning
from this when going into the final task, I used these learnt skills and
looked up other effective editing skills such as fades in and out,
effective title sequences to match genre and style of piece, adding
matching sound track and sound effects to emphasis visuals and
cross cutting two scenes which all helped create a well structured
piece. As I edited the project with Matt B it was important we both
understood and contemplated wanted sections so being a team
player in decision making and the actual input in producing helped
making this task successful in comparison to the preliminary task.
