1. Harley
1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real
media products?
The genre of my media product is thriller, the common conventions of thriller films include a battle
between the protagonist and the antagonist, low key lighting, quick cuts, tension upbeat music, the
idea of murder or a crime, scenery shots, the involving of an investigation, fast pace editing and the
storyline remaining unclear.
My real media product uses many of these common conventions including the sense of murder or a
crime, fast pace editing, leaving the storyline unclear, scenery shots and a soundtrack creating
tension. However we have challenged the convention of the battle between the protagonist and the
antagonist, as in my film the antagonist kills the protagonist rather than commonly the other way
around. Another convention I have challenged is the idea that the main character is stereotypically
male, whereas in our film, the male policeman is killed and a women takes over his job, leaving her
in charge.
Many real media products also use these conventions within this genre, for example, the girl with
the dragon tattoo. This film uses dark shots which are also used in my product, upbeat mysterious
music, a man as the main character and doesn't give away much of the storyline. These conventions
are all commonly used in thriller films, therefore we have also used them in our product. However
this real media product includes gory shots but are not suited with our chosen genre.
The film divergent used many scenery shots, and setting of the scene as its opening is narrative.
Also including a sad, slow soundtrack and making the audience unaware of the storyline. Similarly
in out media product we have used the sense of not giving away to much of the storyline and have
developed the convention of setting the scene to build suspense, and have set it in an urban area
which is also a common convention. I feel my media product and divergent are very similar in
many ways and use and develop the same conventions.
Silence of the lambs is another film within the same genre, using scenery shots, character and
narrative and dark, mysterious shots, slow creepy soundtrack and making the story unclear. It also
challenges the convention of having a male lead character, as it shows a women having a big part of
the opening. Which is similar to our product as the female takes over when the policeman dies,
showing power and authority from women.
2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
We have chosen to use white british adults, both male and female. We have presented them as being
strong, independent and with professional roles of police detectives. They are both shown in
uniform which shows their power and authority. White british people are stereotypically shown as
being professional and therefore wealthy, to have authority, to be clever and being well educated.
We have chosen to develop these typical positive stereotypes and represent the characters in this
way. However also counter-type the idea of power, authority and strength, as the white british
policeman is then murdered leaving the female police detective in charge. We have chosen to leave
other social groups and ethnicities absent, including working class people and only using white
british, middle class in order to use the common stereotypes such as being professional and wealthy.
2. 3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
A media institution that would distribute our media product would be universal. This would be to
give the film a wide release internationally. Being distributed by universal would allow 360 degree
marketing; to allow all aspects of the media to know about the film, would provide the money in
order to pay for all the above the line marketing campaigns, therefore making it well known, which
then creates positive below the line marketing. Much like mamma mia, johnny english reborn and
Les miserables which are all successful films distributed by universal.
Another reason for universal to distribute your film is so if the film wasn't a success then they
would be able to pick themselves back up from it as they are such a big company.
Being distributed in the cinema first would allow it to be great success, the followed by releasing it
on the internet and then on TV to allow everyone to watch it. This would meet the target audience
of teenagers and young adults as they spend most of their time on the internet or watching TV and
will therefore be noticed and watched by the chosen audience.
4. Who would be the audience for your media product?
The primary audience we are targeting is males aged 16-24, but also females too, therefore the
specific group we are targeting ate teenagers and young adults. This was decided and confirmed
after our first survey as to who would enjoy and engage with the film. The theme of thriller, crime
and violence are popular in these age categories and films including these elements are commonly
watched by these age groups. Audience feedback said to include a murder investigation and agreed
to the storyline being suited to the chosen target audience. The target audience is not younger
children as it includes the theme of murder and shows the policeman's body, it also uses strong
language throughout the rest of the film. Therefore my film would be rated a 15 at the cinema.
5. How did you attract/ address your audience?
We chose to have the main character (the male police detective) wearing all black uniform in order
to allow the young audience to be able to relate to him and show he is just like anyone else and
therefore is just a normal man. The female officer who takes over, is also dressed the same to show
the equality between both the man and the women characters. The money, keys, wallet and family
photos are all used to allow the audience to believe the policeman is just like one of us and is an
innocent character. It allows them to feel sympathy towards him and again relate to him and how
they would feel. The crime tape used to set the scene and draw attention to what has happened.
Audience feedback says that they can engage with the story now that we have changed our film a
few times, making 3 rough cuts, adding a press conference and showing more of the policeman off
duty. This is in order for the audience to be able to relate to him. The audience say relating to the
characters makes it more intriguing and makes them want to watch the rest of the film.
3. 6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing your product?
From constructing my product I have learnt many new skills and that planning and preparation is
key. I have learnt how to use the camera correctly, zooming in and focusing the lens properly, allow
the photos and videos to look clear and professional. I have also learnt how to use the mac
computers and all of its special features, including how to export photos and videos onto imovie. I
can now make a new video on imovie, editing it and altering it, in order to make our media film. I
have learnt many new skills on imovie such as how to alter the volume, brightness of the clips, how
to take away audio, how to split the clips and how to download soundtracks and place them into our
film. As well as these, I have learnt many more helpful skills when creating my product such as how
to use word press, when making my blog and also how to use slide-share in order to copy document
to put onto the blog. Another type of software I also used was final cut, this was used in order to
complete the film and add all the credits and effects before putting onto youtube. My skills in
production have improved massively since the start of the project, and have come a long way in
terms of learning various new skills, for example I am now aware of how to use all of the special
features. Something I need to improve upon would be how to use voiceovers and how to crop
certain shots and clips.
7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from
it to the full product?
I have learnt a lot since the preliminary task. Firstly planning and preparation is more effective and
in depth now as I have now learnt the importance of the planning and preparation. In my product I
took a great deal of time planning and doing research for the final product for example planning the
shots I am going to use when filming, preparing the locations and doing a risk assessment for each
of the locations in order to film there, all of which is required for a successful final product.
The quality of the shots are a lot better than they were in the preliminary task, as I now know how
to professionally use the camera to get clear, focused shots. Using a tripod is very important when
filming as it steady's your shots, as I learnt from the preliminary task as we used hand held camera
which resulted in poor quality shots and videos. Using a variety of different angles when filming is
key, this allows the audience to view the film from different perspectives, also filming the same take
from different positions also gives this effect. I have also improved the quality of the editing
compared to the preliminary task. My film includes various different effects from imovie that I
wasn’t aware of before. I have included several fade out effects, added a soundtrack, a police siren
and altered most of the clips in order for them to fit properly and therefore look professional
Overall I have learnt a lot in the progress of making my media product and have improved many of
my media skills throughout this project, and can now confidently make a professional looking film
on imovie.
