Evaluation of ‘the spectator’

evaluation of ‘the spectator’
In what ways does your media product use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions of real media
products?
Shannon Edwards & Emily Radcliffe

1) Did you aim to conform or challenge conventions in your
product?
 When doing the plot we decided to start with having the typical
actors playing the typical roles. This is that we should have that
antagonist being male, this is because they are typically known as
the ones who cause the trouble/problem. As we decided to have the
female victim as this then gives that tension between the two
different sexes. We identified this as it is the most typical use in
thrillers and that even thought it is common it does work really well.
For example, in the film ‘the hunger games: catching fire’, we see
Katniss Everdeen the main female character who is the typical
female victim, and we also have President Snow as the male
antagonist. Although, some films rarely have the male victim, for
example, ‘the dark knight’ has Batman as the male victim and The
Joker is the male antagonist..

1) Did you aim to conform or challenge
conventions in your product?
continued…
 When plotting our opening sequence we decided to try and use eerie
sounds that would help to create tension as this is what a thriller is
meant to do. We also used heart beats in the start of it this was to
try and give the idea of panic and to help create an atmosphere for
the audience.

1) Did you aim to conform or challenge
conventions in your product?
continued…
 With our opening sequence we went to challenge the conventions, but
decided not to with what we wanted to do. But other than those
conventions with the typically female victim and the male antagonist,
we do have other typical conventions for the ‘thriller’ theme, such as
a lot of black, sudden loud noise at the beginning, its calm at the
beginning, and we see where the it is set, what the surroundings are, of
the typical forest scene. The images we use, are dark, they seem quite
and abandoned, like there wouldn’t be anything wrong and the silence
and peace distract it from seeming dangerous. A certain camera
angle we use when the camera is on alex’s face and it follows her as
she shots up, it is a creative shot, it makes it as though she is coming
out and it makes you jump as she jumps. The camera movement of when
we see the point of view shot of the victim running in the field, shows
danger and creates tension as it is blurry and you cant really see
anything. The sound effects we used typically the heart beat slow
and then faster as she is running and gets shocked. We have no music,
just at the background sounds, either natural like at the beginning
we have the wind chime at the beginning is the sound from the clip and
is a natural sound. Our main theme is a thriller, but we have also
maybe used the horror theme in some ways as we have tried my it

2) What forms of conventions did you identify
through your research? When looking at different thrillers we took note of the typical
conventions that should be found in a Thriller. This consisted of
the plot having a mind twist in the middle of the film, for example
thinking someone killed someone and finding out that it was
someone else. The reason for this is to keep the audience
interested. When looking at Thrillers the normal sounds that are
used is a eerie backing sound to the actions that is taking place on
the screen. Other sounds such as heart beats, screaming and
enhanced sounds such as the wind or a creek is often used. The use
of settings often consists of sun down houses such as cabins of
little flats that are found in rural areas. The settings also
consisted of woods/forests and very dark places. This is because
it fits into the miss en scene of dark areas that look uninhabited
or are out of the usual. In the opening sequence the titles often
tend to be white or red on a black background and the fonts tend
to be jumpy and bold. Our opening sequence is aimed at the male
gender at any age. The reason for this is because when we did an
interview on our family members we all found out that it was
mainly the male gender that were interested and that it did go
form the age of 18-60. So when doing our opening sequence we tried
to aim what we did at these pacific age groups and genders.

2) What forms of conventions did you
identify through your research?
continued… We tried to represent them through the many different ways such as
the plot of our opening sequence, titles, sounds, editing ETC. In the plot
we decided to have a male antagonist and a female victim this is
because it is what they expected as they liked having a female as the
victim as they seem vulnerable and make a good easy victim. By doing
this also went into the typical idea of what is in a Thriller of what
helps to then interest the older ages as well as the younger ages.
Throughout the whole of the opening sequence we also kept the
lighting dark and we also had most of the sequence in the forest of
what is 'typical’. it also helps to create the sort of scary atmosphere
that they are looking to find in the thriller. To try and help the
scary/tense atmosphere when in the running scene at the start we
used a point of view shot and used a very loud heart beat. the reason
for doing this is because we where trying to bring the character
closer to the audience and make them feel as she was. When coming to
sound this type of audience are going to want loud and intense and
enhanced sounds. The reason for this is because they are going to
want to feel as if they are experiencing it them sleeves as they want
to feel the adrenaline rush from the loud sounds such as the heart
beat and the eerie music.

3) What kind of media institution might distribute your
media product and why?
 A Hollywood company such as Warner Brothers for example wouldn’t
distribute our media product, this is because our product does not fit
the typical conventions that are found in a Hollywood film. The
reason for this is because we had a very low budget and do not have
the resources that a big Hollywood film would have to be able to
higher big actors/directors, have a big fan base already existing,
nor were we able to have amazing CGI as we did not have the things we
needed to do this available. However if we were to have these
different things such as big actors and a high budget to allow good
CGI etc then they would have been more interested in distributing our
media product as they would have gotten our product more
interesting and would have made it more profitable. However our
media product would be more likely distributed by a British institution
than a Hollywood one. This is because of numerous reasons such as
having a low budget, Niche Audience because of our specific theme and
because of our British typical conventional thriller.

3) What kind of media institution might
distribute your media product and why?
continued…What British institution would be interesting in producing our media
product?
 A British company such as Hammer would be interested in our Media
Product because they are an institution that are based in the United
kingdom and are known for a series of gothic ‘hammer horror’. even
though our product isn’t a horror it is a thriller and des contain some
same conventions such as having the jumps and the mystery. They may
also be interested in our media product because we have stuck to the
old traditional conventions of a thriller that may appeal to their
audience. this is also typically british as we haven’t gone against the
conventions or tried to change it and it is why it wouldn’t fit a typical
Hollywood film as they try to go against the conventions. As we
haven’t gone against the conventions and have stuck to the typical
film it makes our film had a niche audience and this is what Ealing
attract. They also would want to produce our media product because
it is one a low budget meaning they would be able to easily produce
our product meaning they would be more likely to earn back money
and make a profit.

continued…
Who would want to distribute and how?
 Artificial Eye & Entertainment One are both companies that might
distribute this film. This is because they both have headquarters in
the UK and both hugely distribute within the UK. They both have an
interest in distributing film of entertainment and Entertainment One
seem to have a pattern of distributing a few horrors and thrillers.
 They could distribute our film though many different ways such as:
 There are a number of different ways in which our media product could
be distributed this could be done through the internet by online
adverts and trailer or through bill boards/ posters.

continued…
 The different channels that would distribute our opening sequence:
on sky channels such as film4 other channels such as Sky premier or
crime and thriller, sci fi and horror, horror channel

This is just
one example
of how we’d
distribute our
film. The
poster we’d
use to
attract an
audience.

4) What would be the audience
for your media project?
When doing the audience research we said that it would be mainly the
male gender compared to boys that would watch it and that it would
also mainly young and maybe the old. our opening sequence is to
typically entertain the people watching it. Our opening sequence is
niche this is because we want a specific audience to watch it and we
want our opening sequence to appeal to the male gender as we know
that they are most likely to find it more entertaining . Our audience
wouldn't be main stream because it isn't a suitable film for younger
ages and it isn't the type of film that a family would watch either.

4) What would be the audience for your
media project?
continued…
the jumps and thrills that come along within the film such as
adrenaline. The older generation is not typically attracted to this
type of genre as they don’t enjoy the typical convention of a thriller.
The may also not understand or be able to link with the new types of
thrillers as they may prefer the older films as they may understand
them more. However middle ages people may enjoy out genre of film
because firstly it is a diversion also with the mystery they may enjoy
trying to solve the mystery that underlies the storyline of the film.
younger ages under the age of 16 wouldn’t watch thrillers as they
tend to have mystery with them of what tends to play on the mind in a
scary way. Meaning they my no understand hat they are watching
also would find it too scary. our thriller film also wouldn’t typically
be aimed at the female gender, but at the male gender. This is because
females aren’t typically into mind playing jumpy films, but into the
stereotypical chick flick films. However males are typically into the
conventions of a thriller such as the dark mystery, the jumps and
scares and the mind twisting plots that are in the film. Another type
of target audience that needs to be in consideration would be what
class this type of genre would appeal to. Typically this genre would
no appeal to the upper class because they may find it too easy to
understand and may find out the mystery before the ending of film
therefor ruining it for them and may prefer more sophisticated pass
time; they also may not find this genre of film interesting or
appealing. However this type of film would appeal to the middle and
working class this is because it is an easy diversion also when figuring

Other peoples thoughts on thrillers ( they back up
what we said above so we can use it and say how it
does back up out perspective and how it fits in with
the theories of the typical audience for this type of
film)
 Person 1
 Person 2
 Person 3

5. How did you attract/address your audience?
above of whom would tend to watch this as a diversion. This is because
most teenagers enjoy thrillers because of the typical conventions of
the jumps and thrills that come along within the film such as
adrenaline. The older generation is not typically attracted to this
type of genre as they don’t enjoy the typical convention of a thriller.
The may also not understand or be able to link with the new types of
thrillers as they may prefer the older films as they may understand
them more.
However middle ages people may enjoy out genre of film because
firstly it is a diversion also with the mystery they may enjoy trying to
solve the mystery that underlies the storyline of the film. Younger
ages under the age of 16 wouldn’t watch thrillers as they tend to
have mystery with them of what tends to play on the mind in a scary
way. Meaning they my no understand hat they are watching also
would find it too scary.
Our thriller film also wouldn’t typically be aimed at the female
gender, but at the male gender. this is because females aren’t
typically into mind playing jumpy films, but into the stereotypical
chick flick films. However males are typically into the conventions of
a thriller such as the dark mystery, the jumps and scares and the
mind twisting plots that are in the film. Another type of target
audience that needs to be in consideration would be what class this
type of genre would appeal to. Typically this genre would no appeal
to the upper class because they may find it too easy to understand
and may find out the mystery before the ending of film therefor

6) What have you learnt about technologies from the
process of constructing this product?
 The technologies we used were helpful in our media as it was the high
quality camera of Toms that we used, which he knew how to use well
and was familiar with which meant no faffing with a camera that none
of us know how to use. With the planning, we used story board sheets
which we had to scan into the computer to add onto our blogs. The
sounds we used, some were natural but also some we had found on the
internet, and had to make sure that they were not copy rights. With
the editing we used the Apple Macs, which on them we used the
programme ‘imovie’, which we originally didn’t know how to use except
for Tom, but we all observed and helped with the editing, and with
what we observed Emily did some editing herself and helped a lot with
that. With blogging what we had done and how we did it, who did it and
why or when we were doing things, we used Blogger.com. Which was
really helpful and it gets us to put down everything we did and who
did it and when, why, how. It also helped with planning when to film and
organisation of it all.

6) What have you learnt about
technologies from the process of
constructing this product?
continued…
 personally i’ve never used imovie before or blogger, but now after
using it for a while, I have and I'm sure others also now have a good
understanding of it all and how it works . The technologies we used at
each stage were helpful especially with blogs as then, as i’ve
mentioned, we knew what we’d done, what we had to do and having the
filming dates on there was helpful so then we could easily remind
ourselves of when and the location of the filming. With the
technologies we’ve used, we’ve learned that there is a lot to do and
has to be done in stages and has to have time, preparation and
planning, as it cannot be done all so quickly and all at once.

7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you
have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
 before we did the preliminary task we didn’t really realise the
process of the film industry. The Production (Pre-production,
production and Post-production), Distribution, Exhibition and all the
steps that have to be taken in each one.
PRE-PRODUCTION: The planning of the filming including writing, casting,
sorting out locations and clearing any legal problems.
PRODUCTION: The actual filming process.
POST-PRODUCTION: The editing process, including any adding of special
effects or CGI.

7. Looking back at your preliminary
task, what do you feel you have learnt
in the progression from it to the full
product?
continued…
DISTRIBUTION
 Deciding on release date
 Deciding how many prints to produce and in which cinemas to screen them
 Advertising campaigns
 Designing art work for adverts, posters, flyers and billboards
 Organising premieres
 Booking talent (i.e. stars or director) for press interviews and personal
appearances
 negotiating deals regarding film’s dvd release and tv showings

product?
continued…
EXHIBITION
 This is the process of showing a film to an audience, mainly referring to the
cinema environment, but also including other types of screening i.e. the
internet, on aeroplanes etc.
 The ways in which it is possible to view a film are sometimes referred to as
‘windows of exhibition’.

continued…
took, especially with the credits as they didn’t look professional
when we did them the first couple of times, so we had to keep editing a
lot, and having to make sure that everything fitted well and worked
together fitting and that it looked good when the shots changed, that
it all fitted well and that the lighting of it could be changed to fit
the genre and the area it was filmed it, such as if it was bright and it’s
a dark film, we’d need to edit the lighting on the programme, and it is
important to keep everything look professional for the opening
sequence as it is the start of the film where you’d first get everyone
gripped onto the film and interested, you don’t want them to get bored
within the first few minutes. So making sure that everything was good
enough to make sure it didn’t have the bored factor. With the
technologies we used were helpful in our media as it was the high
quality camera of Toms that we used, which he knew how to use well
and was familiar with which meant no faffing with a camera that none
of us know how to use. With the planning, we used story board sheets
which we had to scan into the computer to add onto our blogs. The
sounds we used, some were natural but also some we had found on the
internet, and had to make sure that they were not copy rights. With
the editing we used the Apple Macs, which on them we used the
programme ‘imovie’, which we originally didn’t know how to use except
for Tom, but we all observed and helped with the editing, and with
what we observed Emily did some editing herself and helped a lot with
that. With blogging what we had done and how we did it, who did it and
why or when we were doing things, we used Blogger.com. Which was

product?
continued…
 The technologies we used at each stage were helpful especially with
blogs as then, as i’ve mentioned, we knew what we’d done, what we had
to do and having the filming dates on there was helpful so then we
could easily remind ourselves of when and the location of the filming.
with the technologies we’ve used, we’ve learned that there is a lot to
do and has to be done in stages and has to have time, preparation and
planning, as it cannot be done all so quickly and all at once.
personally, i’ve never been good with group work, because i like to
work more independently, but with doing this, it has made the work
better as there is more input to what is being done, said and created.
Working in a group is good but can also be a bad thing as there is
always one person in the group who doesn’t do the work as much as
everyone else, which with most of the work if this happens it effects
every bodies final grades on what has been done and makes the
others upset and fall out. Which is bad because the group work
doesn’t work well and it could fall apart if it doesn’t get sorted. the
time management has to be used well as other wise things will not get
done. The filming has to be planned really well, other wise things will
get rushed and all done last minute, which can make things stressful
and stress everyone out in the group. The timing or the project has to
be managed well so that it can all be done in good enough time. The
roles taken in this process of the film making was a struggle as three
of us and never used the technologies that we had to use before so
there was only one of use n the group who could do it, and do it well.
We each had a different role in the filming, by sorting out the setting,
the actor(s), the timing of where to get it done to make sure the
weather would fit our filming needs and whether the setting would be

continued…
How have your skills in these areas developed since your preliminary
tasks?
in our preliminary task, we didn’t have much of an idea of what we were
doing as it was our first time filming and the programme that we used for
our editing was the first time we used that too. In our Preliminary Task
compared to our main task we had things that weren’t as good such as:
 There was no added sound or music
 Bad camera quality
 cuts from and to each shot weren’t as efficient and clean
 The setting is in school where as our new setting is outside of school so
we’ve explored our filming area options more in our main task
 The length of our Preliminary Task is only 30 seconds, where as our
Main Task is nearly 2 minutes
 We have better camera angles and shots in our Main Task one
compared to our Preliminary one, which shows that we have learned
more, as we have, in our Main Task, a creative shot, where as in our
Preliminary task, we just have basic shots and angles.
 The actors in our preliminary where people from inside our group
where as in our Main Task, we got people from outside our group, this
was a harder task as we did have to make sure we matched up with her
frees and times where she was free which was difficult, because non of
us had her number or are in contact with her, but we managed to do it
all in the end.

 Here is a PowerPoint that links to Question 7

Age- 20
Gender- Male
What would you want to see in a typical thriller?
Sexual content
Violence
Funny Black Man
Smart story line
Does our plan for our Thriller meet the ideas that you would want to see?
None of my ideas of a thriller are in your one however the dieas that have been presented are
the typical ideas of a thriller. Meaning it only fits my idea of a thriller to a certain extent.
(His verbal comment on this to me was that it fits the idea of the old fashioned typical
thriller of the forest scene and woman victim however to meet some of the new modern ideas
of a thriller that he sees today)
Would you do and see this in cinema?
Yes, as it seems to have a slight twist in the very start of the openeng sequence.
What would you change or add to make our plan better?
I would add in some back ground music as I have noticed that there isnt any in the plan. I would
also try and escape from the Typical Thriller idea however it does work.
back

Age- 38
Gender- Female
A Twist in it such as a mystery - something that is hard to be guessed. Don't often
watch Thrillers so I do not know what is to be found in them.
Yes from what I know as it has a typical forest opening and typical victim being a
woman. With using the phone it reminds me of the Scream showing the relationship
between the Thriller conventions.
No because this type of Film doesn't appeal to me as I don't like the jumps and gore.
I would add in some back ground music as I have noticed that there isnt any in the
plan to make some more suspense.
back

Age- 62
Gender- Male
Suspense
Typical female victim
Blood and gore
A chase
Yes, opening scene of the girl in a forest and not being able to see the man
through the whole opening sequence. Also gives the twist of was the forest a
dream or not, and mixing it in with normal life as if it didn't happen.
Yes, because it has so many traditional thriller ideas that I like.
Add back ground music to help create some suspense.
back

Katniss Everdeen –
Female Victim
President Snow –
Male Antagonist
Back

Batman/Bruce Wayne – Male
Victim
The Joker – Male
Antagonist
Back

Warner Brothers
 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., formerly known as Warner Bros.
Studios, commonly referred to as Warner Bros. (spelled Warner
Brothers during the company's early years), or simply WB—is an
American producer of film, television, and music entertainment.
 One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its
headquarters in Burbank, California and New York. Warner Bros. has
several subsidiary companies, including Warner Bros. Studios, Warner
Bros. Pictures, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, Warner Bros.
Television, Warner Bros. Animation, Warner Home Video, New Line
Cinema, TheWB.com, and DC Entertainment. Warner owns half of The CW
Television Network.
 In the late 1990s, Warner obtained rights to the Harry Potter novels,
and released feature film adaptations of the first in 2001, the second
in 2002, the third in June 2004, the fourth in November 2005, and the
fifth on July 11, 2007. The sixth was slated for November 2008, but
Warner moved it to July 2009 only three months before the movie was
supposed to come out, citing the lack of summer blockbusters in 2009
(due to the Writer's Strike) as the reason. The decision was purely
financial, and alan horn said, "there were no delays. i’ve seen the
movie. It is fabulous. We would have been perfectly able to have it out
in November.” This resulted in a massive fan backlash. The seventh and
final adaptation was released in two parts: Part 1 in November 2010
Back

Evaluation of ‘the spectator’

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