2. 1. In what ways does your media product use, develop
or challenge forms and conventions of real media
products? that my group and I have produced, incorporates generic conventions of a thriller genre film, in our
The thriller opening sequence
film there is a terrorist plot to kill the Prime Minister of the England. What our political thriller „Vengeance‟ does is flip this on its
head and use the protagonist who is a middle aged Caucasian upper class business man to be the terrorist. Where as it is
stereotypically seen that terrorist come from different cultures or backgrounds. This is much to do with the terrorist violence that
has been taking place over the last twelve years. We have been incorporating generic conventions, such as the non- diegetic
music that is in the background throughout the whole of the sequence, the music creates a tense atmosphere, this is typical to
most films in the thriller genre. The black screen when the titles appear are simple yet effective, they help create a sense of
suspense; which is common to a lot of thriller genre based films yet it is not considered cliché. In our thriller we incorporated iconic
buildings and landmarks, such as the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Station.
The reason in which we chose to focus on the Houses of Parliament and the location of Westminster in London, is to foreshadow
the events and reinforce what the motive of the protagonist is; which is to assassinate the Prime Minister. Also The Houses of
Parliament are an iconic landmark known throughout the world. Another thriller genre film that is similar to our own production is
„Enemy of the State‟. Throughout the opening title sequence of „Enemy of the State‟ iconic landmarks are shown, and also they
used a black background with some of the opening credits; this shows that we have stuck to some of the generic conventions of
the thriller genre.
This is a comparison showing the similarities between the title sequence of „Enemy of the State‟ (Left) and my groups own
opening sequence to a thriller film „Vengeance‟ (Right).
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3. 2. How does your media product represent
particular social groups?
The protagonist in our thriller opening sequence is represented to be a male in his late
twenties to early thirties, he is presented as a businessman, as he says he is going to a
“meeting in Oxford”, the fact that he says he is going to a meeting to use as a decoy to his
wife highlights the fact that he is a businessman. It also shows that he is superior to the
wife as she has no real understanding of what he is actually doing. He is meant to be
wealthy and upper class as he is dressed in formal attire (smart blazer and tie) and has a
large house, with large grounds, it is clear that he lives in a wealthy area in a detached
house as there are gates and a large front door. The protagonist in our film is a Caucasian,
English man. This is show by his appearance and his dialect – he has an English accent
which signifies where he is from. The gates connote that the
protagonist is a wealthy man.
The protagonist is presented to be very aggressive, which is shown when he smashes is
fist down on the desk, when he is listening to the radio. The action of the fist smashing
against the desk connotes danger and gives the audience the insight that the protagonist
has a grudge against the Prime Minister.
I feel that our groups thriller opening sequence portrays gender in a very stereotypical way,
for instance the protagonist in our film is male; which would be seen to be normal in the
thriller genre. The protagonist in our thriller opening is dominant over his wife, this is shown
when he leaves her and lies to about where he is going and what he is doing.
Stereotypically, and in our film opening the male has more screen time than the female
which shows him to be a more dominant character as he is male. The wife in this thriller
opening is rather passive, she has very little screen time and says only but a few words.
The clothes that she wears (jeans and a hooded jumper) suggest that she is a housewife,
which reinforces the idea that the protagonist is a wealthy business man as the wife does
not have to provide income (supported by the male. The idea that the female is a house Large front door suggests that the
wife is stereotypical). protagonist lives in a large home.
The rating of our thriller would be fifteen and older, however the target audience would be
older around the age of twenty years and up. The reason for the target audience being
older is because a younger audience perhaps would not grasp the political side to the plot.
The social groups represented in this opining links to the target audience because they are
of a similar age. 3
4. 3. What kind of media institution might distribute
your media product and why? Protagonist is well dressed
show his intelligence and
wealth/ importance
In the beginning I initially thought that our film is quite unique in
the plot, and that combined with the fact that we had a small The caption “A
budget, and we used the equipment that the school had provided dynamite thriller!” will
for us, I believed that the thriller opening we produced was more make viewers want to
Quotes on the front cover
of an art house film. However, the more I thought about, it watch it.
draw the audiences
became apparent that our film is not so individual as we thought.
attention.
There are two other films that are quite similar to the film we had
produced, „Spy Game‟ and „Enemy of the State‟ „Enemy of the State‟ is
„Spy Game‟ is distributed by Buena
distributed by Universal Vista Pictures.
Pictures. However, now I feel that our film „Vengeance‟ could be produced
by a world famous production company, much like „Spy Game‟
and „Enemy of the State‟ are. If it were to be released by a big
production company it would bring a much larger and wider
target audience. I strongly feel that it would be a box office
success as it is a relatively unique film as there are few thrillers
like it. The fact that both of these thriller films that are very similar
to our thriller opening sequence, shows that there is a market for
this type of film. Another thing is that both „Enemy of the State‟
and „Spy Game‟ are proof that this type of film can be very
successful, and there could be a possible franchise business that
could come out of it.
If „Vengeance‟ were to be an internet release, I think it would not
be a great success as there is not enough advertising for people
to feel intrigued and want to watch the film, as there are no
famous actors in the production. It would not get given the
chance that it deserves. A film like this needs a push from a
powerful production company.
Sunglasses Black and white
suggest mystery title pops out and
and hide his facial 4 grabs the
expressions. viewers attention.
5. 4. Who would be the target audience for your media
product?
The film the our group has produced „Vengeance‟ has defiantly been mainly aimed at a male target audience. The whole
theme of the protagonist wanting to kill the Prime Minister would appeal more to males as it contains violence. Whereas
women stereotypically prefer to watch films that are more emotional such as romantic films and comedies (which are for
the more light hearted). As thriller films tend to have some action in them this will draw the males towards the film, the age
group that the film is aimed towards is around twenty to forty years of age. Although it is aimed towards a slightly older age
group, it is only rated age fifteen and older meaning that it would be open and available to people who are below the age of
the target audience. Seeing as it is teenagers that have the most amount spare time, I feel that there would be a great
percentage of people younger than the target audience who would be intrigued, and interested in watching it. Another
reason why it could attract a younger audience is because it is a thriller film so there are action scenes (if it was a full
length film) like most films in this genre. As it is aimed at a higher aged audience there could be some parts of the film that
a teenager would possibly not understand.
In terms of the social classes that the film is aimed at, I would say it is aimed at the middle and the upper classes as it is
politically based and would intrigue people who come from a political background, or who are generally interested in
politics.
On the other hand there are also a lot of women who prefer to watch a thriller film as they are more serious, and keeps the
audience on the edges of there seats. There could be some women who can relate to the role of the wife and how she is a
housewife and seen to be inferior to the male in this situation.
Both „Spy Game‟ and „Enemy of the State‟ are films that are aimed towards mainly men and are targeted to the same age
group, as they contain some violence and are similar to our opening title sequence „Vengeance‟ so we thought that it would
be best if they had a similar rating as they are targeted at the same people. As our film does not have any rude language in
it, it would not be rated 18, however it does contain references to terrorism and violence, which means we feel it would
classify as a fifteen years and older.
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6. 5. How did you attract or address your audience?
We set out to attract an audience that the majority of is male, and aged form twenty years old to around the age of forty
years; as this is the typical target age of a political thriller film. There are various things that we had done to ensure that the
audience do not lose interest, for example we had decided not to specify what the protagonist is placing in his briefcase,
this leaves the viewers wanting to find out what it is, and what is going to happen. When the black and white flash backs
are happening, you have a point of view shot of the computer and it gives the audience a quick glimpse to see what the
protagonist is searching for, the whole intention of making sure that they see the internet is to give them a taste for what is
to come later and it will encourage them to stay and watch the rest of the film.
At one point early on in the title sequence the protagonist slams his fist down on the desk, after listening to the radio
broadcast. We thought that because the target audience is mainly male, a little bit of aggression/ violent behavior would
keeps there attention, as stereotypically men tend to enjoy violence in films and television shows. The slamming of the fist
also creates a tense atmosphere between the viewer and the movie.. We also used non diegetic sound (tense music,
creating an eerie tone) throughout the title sequence so that the audience get suspicious of the protagonists actions which
keeps them hooked.
In our title sequence we decided to have only a few point of view shots this keeps the audience distant from the
protagonist; so they are not fully aware of what exactly he is doing and the idea of this is to leave them wanting more.
The audience cannot see what has been placed inside
the brief case, which heightens their suspicions of the The slamming of the fist shows the
protagonist. protagonists aggression.
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7. 5. How did you attract or address your audience?
As a group we designed a survey to see to see how people
reacted towards our opening title sequence of a thriller film. This
survey will help us to see if we have successfully managed to
make a thriller film that people would actually consider watching. I
have selected the most important questions we asked on the
survey to show you some of our results:
Here is some of the written feedback that we received from our
survey:
“The storyline isn‟t to complex it‟s good and keeps you guessing”
“Very keen to find out what happens next”
“The story is well executed, not too complex and flows well”
We only received one negative response, and it
was written by a sixteen year old male. This would
probably due to the fact that they are not in the
target audience so it was not addressed his age
group. Never the less, his criticism was taken on 7
board.
8. 6. What have you learnt about technologies from the
process of constructing the product?
Throughout the filming process, we have had encountered challenges and have
successfully over come them. Some of the difficulties included things like camera angles,
and what ever scene we were filming we had to make sure that we did not break the one
hundred and eighty degree rule. This is where our teamwork was important that we all had
to agree on what angle and distance shot we were going to film. Making sure that the
camera angle was correct took time however it was rewarding to watch back something that
was realistic; which is the goal.
Another challenge that we faced was with the tripod and filming on unsteady surfaces, it was
vital that we made sure that when we were recording the camera was not shaking, otherwise
that piece of footage would have been unusable. An example of an unsteady surface that
we had used was the scene where the protagonist is sitting on the train on his way to
London. We overcame this by making sure that the tripod was firmly held down to minimize
the vibrations. I feel that this was a success, and the pieces of footage that we had
managed to record were what we had hoped.
The equipment that we had been given by the school to use was good, however it was
restricting in some ways, for example we did not have a dolly, meaning that we were unable
to move the camera around whilst filming. So in order to do this we had to use shots that
allowed us to get the whole scene in it, i.e. we had to film some footage from a long shot in
order to see protagonist walking away (in the underground).
The editing software that we used was Adobe Premier Pro. Through out this whole process
of filming and uploading the footage to the editing software I have learnt how to put effects
on such as making the clip black and white, this adds suspense to the thriller and creates a
tense vibe. Other things that I am now capable of doing with the software are things like
adding titles to the opening sequence. I now feel fully confident using Adobe Premier Pro,
this will be very help full when I begin my second year of media A-level.
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9. 6. (Continued)
In terms of the sound problem that we had encountered, when we were
filming in public places we had to set up our equipment and film around the
people. This is where the editing software came in useful as the camera
we had been given had picked up diegetic sounds from the surrounding
environment and the people around us. In the begging we thought that his
was going to be a major problem, however this was overcome by removing
the diegetic sound of people around us talking and in its place add in some
non diegetic music. One example in the thriller opening sequence was
thirty nine seconds into the film, where the protagonist is purchasing his
train ticket (shown on the right). We also decided to do the same when the
train approaches the station at forty four seconds into the clip (shown
below).
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10. 7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do
you feel that you have learnt in the progression
from I to the full product?
At the beginning of the year before we began the planning stages of our media product we were set a task to do, sort of
like a little trial run. This was: Continuity task involving filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and
sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom he/she then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. This
task should demonstrate match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180 degree rule.
I strongly feel that since we began my preliminary task that I‟ve come such a long way in terms of my knowledge and
understanding of filming and editing, the rules involved and how to use the editing software correctly. Since the preliminary
task I have learnt the importance of planning, storyboarding and creating an animatic. It all started when we set off and
began our research into the thriller genre and what all the codes and conventions of filming a thriller are. Then it turned to
the storyboarding which took quite a while to perfect but after we all worked together we got it done. From there we had to
create our animatic which is basically when you take your storyboard and make it essentially into a sketch version of thriller
title sequence, add title to it and some non-diegetic score. The animatic that we produced was a big success, the music fit
perfectly and it was a good pace.
The whole planning process took a huge weight off of our shoulders because we now had a guide to follow, and along the
way we had to make a few changes here and there but I feel we overcame every obstacle that was thrown at us. This
enabled the group to work together as a team, and strengthened our friendships. I one hundred percent know that I‟ve
improved a great deal with my camera work, as I can now do a lot of the shots much better than before and I have
confidence in doing so.
Now when I use the editing software (Adobe Premier Pro) I feel confident that I can do it where as before I used to struggle
to do things on my own, but with the help my fellow group mates I know have a much better understanding of what I am
doing. When we began the preliminary task I felt unfamiliar with setting up all of the camera equipment, and now it seems
second nature me.
When looking back at the task I feel that the media product that we have developed, is a success. Not only did we all learn
a lot from the process but we had a lot of fun doing it as well. I feel that we have met the specifications asked of us and that
we‟ve created a believable exciting piece of media.
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