Maaz Tabrez created a suspense film for a class project. They followed conventions of the genre like using low key lighting and non-diegetic sound to create suspense. The film addresses the social issue of kidnapping and violence. If distributed commercially, Maaz would partner with Warner Bros due to their success in the suspense genre. Through the project, Maaz developed skills like camera angles, lighting techniques, editing, and integrating technologies like movie making software, online sound effects, and creating a blog to share their work.

1. CREATIVE CRITICAL REFLECTION
By: Maaz Tabrez

2. Q1. HOW DOES YOUR PRODUCT USE OR CHALLENGE
CONVENTIONS AND HOW DO THEY REPRESENT SOCIAL
GROUPS OR ISSUES?
• The genre of my movie is suspense. Keeping the conventions of a suspense movie in
mind I have tried to make a typical suspense movie. Conventions are typical things
audience expect to see in a media product. The typical usage of low key lights that
we come across in every suspense, scary thriller can be seen in my movie opening as
well. Moreover I also used narration in the end of my movie to create more
suspense. The non-diegetic sound in the opening scene of my movie keeps the
viewers spellbound and creates suspense and some fear in their hearts. Before
making the project I did a lot of research on conventions so that by following it I can
make the audience interested in my project

3. Suspense movies

4. Q2. HOW DOES YOUR PRODUCT ENGAGE WITH
AUDIENCES AND HOW WOULD IT BE DISTRIBUTED AS A
REAL MEDIA TEXT?
• My product would engage the age group of above 18 year olds. Minimum 18
because my project contains a kidnapping scene and I represented my subject
as a very tensed person. My product “kidnapped” contains elements that
promises entertainment for the audience. Suspense is one of those genre
which do not have a separate type of audience as it is something that
everyone can relate to. Furthermore the score music I have used is horrifying
to some extent. I would personally recommend my audience to plug in
earphones while watching my movie. It would be more fun!

5. The social issue my movie represents is kidnapping. Kidnapping is abducting and
holding anybody captive, typically to obtain ransom. Sometimes kidnappers hold their
captives longer in order to demand more from the relatives of the victim. The main
issue my product is highlighting is violence. Social issues like kidnapping causes
violence and due to violence the country is facing many problems,

6. DISTRIBUTION
• For distribution, I would like to join hands with Warner Bros. As the genre of my
movie is suspense so I would like my movie to be distributed by a production house
which promotes movies which contains suspense. Another reason of my choice is
that Warner Bros is one of the big six production houses of the world and is very
famous for its work. Moreover, personally I like Warner Bros and mostly the movies
they distribute are super hit. For these reasons I would prefer Warner Bros over
other production houses.

7. Q3. HOW DID YOUR PRODUCTION SKILLS
DEVELOP THROUGHOUT THIS PROJECT?
• Media Studies is so much more than just a subject that tells you about different
movie cultures. I chose media because of the interest I had in movies. I always
wanted to direct, edit and present my own film. However, media studies turned out
to be a lot different. It doesn’t only tells you about movie cultures but also tells us
the things you have to keep in mind while shooting a film. Nonetheless media
studies has made me what I am today, able to actually shoot, direct, edit and
present my film to the audience. Following are the things I learned in media studies.

8. CAMERA ANGLES
MID SHOT
OVER THE SHOULDER
SHOT
EXTREME CLOSE UP

9. HEADROOM
• The first and a very important media term that was taught to us in the first class is
headroom. The term headroom means the space between the subjects top of the
head and the frame. It should be kept in mind that there should be the correct
amount of headroom included in your shot.
• The picture below is the perfect example of how headroom should be applied in
your shot.

10. RULE OF THIRD
•The term rule of third means that your
subject should be in the one third of the
frame left or right. The subject should not
be in the middle of the frame. The picture
behind is a perfect example of the rule of
third.

11. KEY LIGHT
The term key light is the source of two commonly used adjectives:
Low key and High key.
High key lighting: This type of lighting is commonly used in action, adventure and
comedy movies. Cinematographers use this light to enhance a sense of liveliness or
dramatic scenes in dramas to emphasize the intensity of the situation.
Low key lighting: This type of light is used in scary, suspense and sometimes in
romantic movies. They use this type of light to mainly create fear and suspense in the
hearts of the audience.

12. SOUND
• Diegetic sound: Refers to the sound which both the audience and the characters of the film
can hear. Such as ringing of a bell.
• Non-diegetic sound: Refers to the sound which only the audience can hear. Typically this
would be soundtrack music played for effect to build tension in the audience.
• Types of sound in TV & film
• Dialogue
• Ambient or Natural sound
• Additional dialogue recording
• Narration
• Sound effects
• Score
• Soundtrack

13. EDITING
• Cut
• Dissolve: A gradual transition between two scenes.
• Fade out/in: A blurred image to a clearer image is fade in and opposite is fade out.
• Cutting rate: The rate of editing shows the tempo or pace of a movie or a drama.
• Jump cut: Abrupt switch from one scene to another with no connection in between
the two scenes.

14. Q4. HOW DID YOU INTEGRATE TECHNOLOGIES IN THIS
PROJECT?
• While doing this project apart from shooting problems I had to go through many
software's and online websites. I was really confused about which editing software
should I use. Every media student dreams of editing a movie like professional’s do,
that’s what I thought but professional editing software’s were very hard to use.
Finally I started to edit my movie on Windows Movie Maker, and I found this editing
software very user friendly. The first thing we were all told in our first class was to
make a blog. At first it really scared me as I have never done it before. I did a lot of
research and went through many blog sites such as WordPress, Weebly and Tumblr.
Another task we have to do is uploading our video on social video site like
Dailymotion, YouTube or Vimeo.

15. HARDWARE
• While shooting a film you don’t only need a camera and a person behind it but
many more necessary things. Amongst them the most important is a tripod. Tripod
makes sure that your camera stays still. Without a doubt holding the camera in a
certain position is a very hard task.

16. CAMERA
• The camera is used to shoot my movie is canon 60D. Mostly I used my camera just
to click pictures. Since canon is very user friendly I wasn’t that hard to shoot a film.
Moreover I used sigma 28-80 lens.

17. SOFTWARE
• To edit my movie I used windows movie maker.

18. ONLINE
I downloaded the sound effects from an online website named soundbible.com.
Furthermore I used the intro music of Michael Jackson’s Billie jean. Also I used a
horror tune from a Bollywood film 3g.

19. • Furthermore we were also told to make an online blog. So I created my own blog on
Tumblr and uploaded my work over there.