Jessica learned several lessons through constructing her media studies final piece. She learned about the importance of lighting, location scouting, managing time, and researching genre conventions. Some specific lessons included double checking camera settings between shots, practicing editing software, and allowing more time for all elements like finding music. Overall the process helped her gain skills for future media productions.

1. Jessica Champion AS Media Studies Candidate number: 4029 Centre number: 66504

2. Looking back at the preliminary task, what did you learn? Image of Clare and Dan: framing the shots By using a variety of shots, we were able to direct the audience into feeling a certain way about a character. At the top of the screen, you can see images from our preliminary task. Close up on Dan We used a close up on this character keeping to the conventions, adding more meaning and depth to the scene. Completing the preliminary task helped me to receive a better understanding of framing shots. Actively testing camera angles helps you to see that different angles can change the interpretation of a piece. Cool shot The preliminary task helped us in our framework for our final piece. Here is an example of one of the shots we used.

3. How did you attract/address your target audience? Before I started planning and coming up with ideas for the piece, I did some research into similar films. I watched the film Memento by Christopher Nolan, which is where some of my ideas surfaced from. In Memento, the main character suffers from amnesia. The film is in non-linear narrative. It is edited in a way where he almost has flash backs, that only the audience can see. This is where my inspiration came from for the dream sequence in our piece. Memento (age rating 15) also has a five star rating and the gross revenue for the film was $25,544,867 in the US. Here’s an image of A level students, who fit the age range of our intended target audience. Vlog from some of the teens. “I like the way it flashes backwards and forwards between the girl dreaming and the actual dream…the contrast between dark and light is really effective…I also like the pace as it’s like a rush…”

4. Who could be your audience for your media product? When planning our opening sequence to a thriller, we planned to have our target audience as late teens to young adults. As you can see from the diagrams on the right, the statistics state that 15-24 year olds are the highest consumers of film, which means we are more likely to benefit financially by targeting this age range, allowing us, as a production company, to produce more films and become known to the media industry This image was taken from ukfilmcouncil.co.uk The diagram above shows that, in 2007, 33% of people aged 15-24 were consuming newly released films; in 2008 it fell to 28%, but this is still significantly higher than other age groups. This image was taken from ukfilmcouncil.co.uk This diagram also shows that, between 1997 and 2008, 15-24 year olds were the main consumers of film in cinemas.

5. 20th Century Fox have distributed over 2000 films between 1924 and 2010 and have films lined up for release up to 2014. The reason I have chosen 20th Century Fox to distribute my thriller, is because they have distributed films in the thriller genre themselves; one of them being The Crimson Key (1947). More thriller films are to be released later this year and in the following years; the majority of them being thrillers. Below are a few more examples of thriller films to be released in the future: What kind of company would distribute your product? Why? Logo of distribution company. The Darkest Hour (2012) Battle Angel (2011) Flicker (2011) Unstoppable (2010/11) Selling Time (2011) Another reason for my choice of distributor, is that they are a well established company, with years of experience in the media industry – especially where distribution is concerned. Although these films are American, I like to think that if our production were to be made into a full feature length film, it would be successful in reaching, not only the UK, but America and other countries, too.

6. It can also be a form of escapism or relativism for teens (as well as other age ranges) which is why we decided to use actors/characters of the same age range as our intended audience. How did you attract or address your audience? Supporting my reasons for the choice of mise on scene and choice of character’s , is Erin Weaver, a student I asked to comment on how I attracted the target audience… Many teens enjoy going to the cinema to watch films and hang out with friends. Image of Clare and Tim Click here

7. In what ways does it use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? Here is the music we used in our final piece to add atmosphere and a new dimension. It fits with the conventions of thriller filmsas it is very similar to the kind of music used in other thrillers. In our first ‘rough cut’, the pace was fast. This was challenging the normal conventions of a thriller. The effect we were trying to give through having a fast paced beginning, was to make it disorientating and confusing. As soon as the 2 minute opening finished, the aim was to slow the pace and go into the film. We were advised against this and told that we were giving too much away in the beginning, so we made everything slower, making it eerier and more atmospheric. The lonely mise en scene we used conforms to thriller conventions. An example of this could be Panic Room by David Fincher, where the mise en scene is lonely and isolated. The lighting also conformed to thriller conventions and forms, as, usually, dark lighting is used, like in Seven also by David Fincher.

8. For the protagonist, we had her wearing a hoodie but in a lighter colour to show her as the victim. How does it represent different social groups? Stereotypically, we used dark coloured clothing for the antagonist, which uses the typical forms and conventions of real media products. Click on ‘My comments’ below to hear my reasons for the target audience and the choice of character representation below… By having both of the main characters wearing hoodys, it creates a balance between the stereotypes. Our media piece shows that this kind of thing can happen to anyone. She’s a strong minded girl (which you would see if the piece were to be produced into a full length film) and even she cannot escape danger. It raises awareness of the dangers that are out there, but uses a supernatural element for the sole purpose of entertainment.

10. The title sounds/is: “creepy”, “interesting”, “suitable” (words taken from questionnaire).

11. Suitable choice of clothing.

12. Believable characters.

13. Suitable actors for the target audience as they can relate to it.

15. There was no music. Music would have made it look a lot better and add more tension.

16. The dream [sequence] lighting could have been better. Beginning scene is hard to see.

17. Rapid editing made the story line hard to follow and looked like more of a short film or a trailer.Because this was just our ‘rough cut’ no music had been added, but when we did start looking for music, we made sure that it was eerie and atmospheric. After reviewing our work, we decided that we could create a slower pace, which in turn, would add more tension and suspense.

18. I have learnt that lighting can make a huge difference to the outcome of a product, and also that it looks completely different on camera than to the naked eye – which is why carrying out recee’s is vital in the planning process. What have you learnt through the process of constructing your final piece? Through the process of researching, planning and constructing my media piece, I have learnt many skills and lessons that I can apply to other media projects in the future. When going location scouting, I took a camera with me as I knew that the mise en scene would look completely different on camera. I also learnt that mise en scene is crucial when producing media. It can make or break a film. The first location, in the picture below where we were going to have the girl run to when she was running away, would not have given the same outcome and atmosphere as the location we used in our final piece as the space was too open. Location scouting is key.

19. When filming Silhouette, we made the mistake of using night vision mode on the camera in only a couple of the shots. For this reason, we had go back to the location and re-shoot some shots as the continuity was disrupted through this one simple and easy mistake. From this error, I have learnt that checking the camera between each individual shot will save time and help with continuity. What have you learnt through the process of constructing your final piece? Premier Pro 2.0 (the editing software we used) was of a professional standard. This was both a positive and negative. The positive being that the quality of editing was brilliant, but more practice and getting used to the software would have been a great benefit. When we did get stuck on how to create an effect we wanted, we searched on youtube for tutorials on how to create that specific effect. For example, we used youtube to guide us on how to create the flash between a couple of the scenes. Once you eventually find your way around the software things become easier, which is why practice is essential and would have made things easier if we had had more experience before hand. A lot of getting around it, is trial and error. Some of our mistakes were sometimes perfect!

20. What have you learnt through the process of constructing your final piece? Through completing this media task, I have learnt and gained many skills that I could apply to future media productions I carry out. If I were to do this differently, I would have done a recee shoot at the final choice of location, instead of just taking still images. This would improve my imagination of what the final result of the piece would be. I would also make sure that I manage my time more wisely, and create a strict schedule to stick to, making sure that the time frames for each section were realistic. This is because, after completing filming and editing, we ran a little short of time for finding music. Even though the end result worked well, we should have made sure that we had enough time to find the music, instead of rushing and having no contingency time to correct any errors. I think I would also carry out more research into films with similar genres. This would help me to understand more, the conventions and forms of that particular genre and give me a wider perspective and idea range for my own work. Watching and analysing more films and how they were constructed would have made me more aware of the ways in which I could have constructed my media piece. There have been mistakes that I have made throughout this course, that I think are necessary for completing a similar task in the future. I feel that I can take a lot away from this course and piece of work, and feel that I am able to reflect on the mistakes I have made, keeping them in mind for future productions and, hopefully, a successful career.