2. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression of it to the full project? The first thing I learnt, and the most important, is not to rush things. When we were producing our preliminary task, we wanted to get it done as quickly as possible in order to get onto the editing stage, so we ended up not trying as hard on the filming, making it look rough and jumpy, and unprofessional. Also, I learnt about several new pieces of technology that I needed to use for the task in hand. I learnt how to use Adobe Premiere Pro Cs3, Tumblr, SlideShare, and Script Buddy. Finally, I learnt that communication is the most fundamental part of working in a group. At the beginning of our project, we had some trouble with communication and as a group, we weren't all aware of what we were doing all the time. Making things hard for everyone. Fortunately though, towards the end of our task, we were all able to work together as a team to get the project done to the best of our abilities.
3. What kind of institution might want to distribute your media product? After doing some research, I found some names of distribution companies that may invest in a project such as ours. Firstly, Summit Entertainment have a history of making several thriller films, some reaching top grossing revenue, such as Momento and Source Code. Due to this promising background, they would be a good option for distributing our film if it were to be made. Secondly, Hammer film productions is best known for its gothic films, however they have also produced several thrillers and horrors, such as Paranoiac, Never Look Back, and Nightmare. Hammer dominated the horror film market during its most successful period, due to its partnership with Warner Bros distributions.
4. Who would be the audience for your media product? As our film is rated as 15, the audience will all be aged 15 and over. They will also all be people that enjoy watching thrillers.
5. How will you attract/address your audience? As our target audience ranges from teens to adults, we have to cater for all ages when making our film. Firstly, the protagonist used is a teenage girl, who is wearing clothes that relate to her and people her age. Also, the photos taken of Lilly show her with her friends, which is something teens can relate to. The other characters who would appear later on in our film would be older, middle-aged adults with jobs, which adults could relate to. The music used is also a song that is at the current moment, featured in the top 40 music chart, and is classed as a pop song. When people hear this song, they will hopefully recognise it, and therefore feel a connection to it , making them enjoy the opening just that little bit more. Finally, the photos used on the blackboard are of Lilly and her friends. They are mostly happy photos of good times she shared. People watching this film, especially the younger ones, will watch and feel a connection to these photos and the photos they have of themselves.
6. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? By not using any dialogue in our opening, we are sticking to the conventions of a typical thriller. From the research and analysis we did prior to filming, we found that the majority of the films we watched had no dialogue in their openings. The mise en-scene of our film also works for a thriller. Lilly's outfit is fairly dark, she is wearing no bright, happy colours, and her facial expression is constant and depressive. This all adds to the mood and sombreness of the movie, and all thrillers for that matter. Finally, all films follow the three stages of equilibrium-disequilibrium-equilibrium restored. However not always in this order. Our film, starts with the equilibrium, of Lilly going missing. Although our film mostly follows the conventions of a thriller. I think that the one thing that makes it not a thriller is the music. The song we chose is a love song, so using this in the opening made it seem, for me at least, more of a romantic movie, rather than a thriller, or even a music video. This was hard to come over as the music just fit so well to the picture, so we kept it, although given more time, we should have tried to find music more suitable that worked as a psychological thriller.
7. How does your media product represent different social groups? The protagonist used in our product is a young, stylish teen, and the other two characters that would feature later on in the film would be older, middle-aged adults. By using these two different age groups, we represent two different social groups. Also, the adults who would be used later in the film both have stable jobs with a pay check, showing they are working-middle-class people. Lilly, however, is a teen who enjoys going out with her friends and parties. This is shown in her photographs on the blackboard. By using these different lifestyles for characters, we show two different classes, therefore another two different social groups.
8. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this piece? When we were told about this task, we were told that we would have to use several different technologies that I had never been associated with beforehand. We used a computer program called Adobe Premiere Pro Cs3, which was a film editing program, a camera and tripod, and several websites that I had never even heard of. When doing our preliminary task, we had to use the Adobe program, however, I had missed the introduction to this program so I wasn't aware on how to use it. Which was the same for the camera and tripod too. Because of this, I had to learn on my own and pretty much teach myself, with the help of my group of course. I was able to learn pretty quickly how to use everything and soon it became like riding a bike. The camera and tripod were both pretty easy to use once we had got to grips with all the buttons so we only had a few glitches in that area. Finally, we had to use Tumblr, to construct our blog, SlideShare, to add powerpoint presentations to our blogs, and Script Buddy, which we used to construct our script. So all in all, I learnt quite a lot in this process, and I'm sure that all of which will be beneficial in the future.
