The document summarizes the learning and progress of a student who created a thriller film opening as a class project. In the preliminary task of remaking Napoleon Dynamite, the student gained experience using camera equipment but lacked organization. For the thriller opening, the student planned ahead, used more advanced cameras and lighting, and learned audio/editing skills. The process taught the importance of preparation and allowed the student to produce a higher quality final product compared to the preliminary task.

1. THRILLER
EVALUATION
WINI CHARITY / AS MEDIA

2. 1. In what ways does your media product use, develop
or challenge forms and conventions of real media
products?
The media product we produced was a short opening to a thriller
movie, in which we created the storyline. We really wanted our media
product to contain suspense and enigma, and to excite the audience
whilst watching. Editing techniques, sound, audio and mise en scene all
contribute to the final outcome of the opening. For example, when we
were filming scene one, we knew we wanted to make the mise en
scene look very unsettled and messy. We wanted to present the
character of Ash through his environment, due to him having only a
small bit of dialogue. This was also a challenge we faced when trying to
portray our female character, Iris. She has no dialogue in the opening;
therefore we had to present her through her body language and facial
expressions. This was challenging at first but we soon got into a flow of
how our actress, Lauren, should act when being filmed. Scene one was
also shot in a very dark room, which resulted in the footage being very
grainy. This however, turned out as a positive, as we thought it added to
the mise en scene of the opening and made it seem more intense.

3. 1. In what ways does your media product use, develop
or challenge forms and conventions of real media
products?
Whist coming up with the story line for our thriller,
and the editing process, I was constantly looking
for inspiration from other thrillers, such as The
Night Manager, BBC THREE’S Thirteen and The
Lovely Bones. All these series/films consist of a
very similar story line to our thriller. However, I
think that our thriller is shot in a way, which
presents the characters in a more realistic way. It
almost humanises the issue due to how normal
the characters look. This is done intentionally
because we wanted the audience to be able to
relate to our media product and see that the issue
addressed is extremely common in today’s youth
culture. The new drama Thirteen, also uses this
technique in the way that the main character Ivy
Moxam, who gets kidnapped, was just a normal
young girl, with a normal family life. Personally, I
think this is the best way to relate to your
audience, and I think the audience appreciate it
more because they feel as though they can
connect with the characters. The film, The Lovely
Bones, addresses a much more tough issue,
therefore is aimed at an older audience between
the ages of 17-30.

4. 1. In what ways does your media product use, develop
or challenge forms and conventions of real media
products?
A more recent example of a
movie, which has a similar
story line, is ‘Room’, where a
woman and her son are held
captive in a small room, and it
is their story of trying to
escape once the young child
realises the outside world. My
group and I took a lot of
inspiration from this movie;
from its editing skills to the
way they used sound to create
emotion within the audience.

5. 1. In what ways does your media product use, develop
or challenge forms and conventions of real media
products?
Another television series, which
was recently aired, is ‘Catfish’.
It’s a documentary series;
therefore we found a lot more
factual based stories from it. It
definitely helped us because we
saw people’s real life reactions
and were able to take them into
our own thriller opening.

6. 2. How does your media product represent particular
social groups?
In our film, we represent two different types of stereotypical social groups,
such as an urban teenage girl/young woman and men/gang members, who
would commit crimes such as rape, sexual assault etc. Our media product was
very much based on the different stereotypes of people in our society.
Personally, I think our choice of characters were based on the most common
personalities that are involved in the issue that the film is addressing, which is
criminal and sexual offence taking place within the public access of social
media, and relationships. Firstly, we represent the group of young
girls/woman, who suffer from abusive relationships and issues brought about
via social media.

7. 2. How does your media product represent particular
social groups?
The film also represents teenagers and young woman globally. This is because
the majority of young girls are very much in danger of being sexually
assaulted, or ‘catfished’ on social media. This issue is very relevant in all
cultures and areas of society, which is why I think our film gives an important
message across to young females and parents, of the difficult obstacles
people go through on the internet, when trying to seek relationships. Online
dating sites have become increasingly popular in this day and age, which
increases the rate of sexual assault via the Internet in relationships. I
personally think that our film creates a sense of realism because the actors
we casted fitted the perfect ‘normal’ look of an everyday teenager. The male
character in our film wasn’t very noticeable however, he had the same
amount of importance as the female, Iris.

8. 2. How does your media product represent particular
social groups?
The characters we chose, for
example the young girl, Iris,
was very stereotypical, due to
her fashion sense,
appearance, and personality.
When we were initially
deciding on what the girl
should look/dress like, we
wanted to allow the audience
to understand the storyline
clearly, therefore, we made
sure the character of Iris was
well explained through her
clothes and appearance.

9. 2. How does your media product represent particular
social groups?
The kidnapper/ex boyfriend only had a small part in the
play, however, his styling was the most vital part/clue of
the film, and therefore he shares the role of the main
character with the Iris. The gold ring he was wearing
represented a vital clue throughout the whole film
opening. His actions in the film are of a violent nature,
which is a classic stereotype of a ‘kidnapper’. The
opening scene of our film is a close up of his face and his
hand movements. His facial expressions show he has an
unusual personality and instantly implies to the audience
that he is the villain in the film. His surroundings also
give an insight to the audience of his unhealthy lifestyle,
showing alcohol bottles/cans and cigarettes inside a
small, dark lit room. This shows that he doesn’t live a
bright, positive life, and he is very much a reclucant
character, who doesn’t know how to act in normal
society. His movements in the opening scene also portray
his emotion; he comes across as jittery and unsettled.
We filmed him this way intentionally because we wanted
to exaggerate his distressed and ‘un-normal’ personality.
The camera angles we used (close-up/head shots) helped
intensify his dodgy personality, and created a larger
build-up and sense of enigma for the audience.

10. 3. What kind of media institution might distribute your
media product and why?
The type of film institution that would distribute our media
product would be a small independent film company, and
most likely a British company, due to the classic British
culture, setting, cast and crew. Due to our film being done
with a small production, it may be difficult to draw in other
companies attention which would be willing to sponsor
us/help distribute our film. This is because our film probably
won’t make a large box office income, due to it being a
small independent film, this means that companies wont
want to support it as much because they wont get a lot of
recognition/money as they would if it was a larger scale
production. A way, in which we could overcome this issue, is
to increase the amount of below the line advertising, or do
a multi-platform release plan, in which the film gets
released on different platforms at the same time, such as
YouTube, Netflix, T.V and cinemas. This was done with the
film ‘A Field In England’. This solution would only work if you
had enough initial advertising on social media and the
Internet. Personally, I think that if we were going to do a
multi-platform release, we would have to ensure that we
already had a large following ready for the film to come out
onto screens and on the Internet. We would also want to
choose a distributer that has connections with larger scale
media distributers, which are either national or global. This
way we would gain more popularity from larger companies.

11. 3. What kind of media institution might distribute your
media product and why?
With the film, ‘A Field In England’, the multi-platform release wasn’t very
successful, resulting in them hardly making any profit or income; however,
they did gain large amounts of recognition. Personally, I feel that if a film gets
released on the Internet as well as in cinemas, the majority of people would
rather watch it at home, where they don’t have to spend money to see it.
Film festivals such as Sundance and the BFI film festival, would be good places
to screen our film, due to it being short, and for a more individual style.

12. 4/5. Who would be the audience for your media
product? How did you attract/address your audience?
The media product is aimed at teenagers and young adults, from the ages of
15-25. We chose this age range because the issue addressed in our media
product is very relevant to woman and teenage girls, who deal with social
media issues on a regular basis. The crime rate related to social media and
domestic violence is constantly increasing, and becoming an extremely
common occurrence in society and in the media, especially in urban cities,
e.g. London (where the film is set). Personally, I thought it would be effective
to make the film as realistic as possible, this way the audience will be more
affected and ‘touched’ by the story line. This film is could also be steered
towards parents with teenage children. Again, it would help educate them on
how young people operate on social media in today’s society.

13. 4/5. Who would be the audience for your media
product? How did you attract/address your audience?
The characters we chose to portray this sense of realism to the audience were
of the same age range as the target audience. This way, the audience is able
to connect with the film and relate to characters on a more personal level.
Another way we attempted to make the characters more relatable to was by
choosing actors that portray a staple image of a ‘normal’ teenager. This shows
that abusive relationships can happen to anybody. When deciding the dress
code for the two characters, we wanted to make the fashion look up-to-date,
and match the appearance and style of teenagers now.

14. 4/5. Who would be the audience for your media
product? How did you attract/address your audience?
There is a lot of fear, which surrounds social media and abusive relationships.
Personally, I think that by making a film, which draws upon issues surrounding
social media and domestic violence, helps to educate the audience, by
demonstrating how relationships via the Internet can be dangerous and
untrustworthy. The film is very strongly linked to the T.V. show called ‘Catfish’,
which is shown on Netflix and terrestrial television. They are bringing major
awareness to the topic and helping woman and men become informed of the
dangers of Internet relationships. Dating sites have a very dominant part to
play within this issue, and increase the percentage of potential ‘catfishes’ on
the Internet. In other words, fake people, who hide behind their screen
pretending to be someone else and talk to strangers, usually young girls they
find on sites such as Facebook, Instagram, and dating sites such as Tinder,
which has become extremely popular amongst young teenagers and adults in
the past year. This is leading the issue even more into the deep end, and
causing more and more crimes that are related to social media, and that
progress into abusive relationships.

15. 4/5. Who would be the audience for your media
product? How did you attract/address your audience?
Due to our film being a small independent film, it would have to be
distributed and screened in independent film institutions and cinemas. The
film would also be distributed by using below the line advertising, e.g. social
media campaigns on sites such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. We could
have short YouTube trailers showing small parts of the film. This way we
would prepare our audience for what they should expect from the final
product once released. If we were to do above the line advertising, there
would be national T.V. trailers and billboard posters. However, due to the
restricted budget and environment we were working with, we had to stick to
below the line distribution, which works in our advantage due to our target
audience being part of the ‘internet generation’. Therefore, our preferred
audience is guaranteed to be exposed to it, on more than one occasion.
Another way that we could help distribute our film is to get sponsors who can
help support the funding from the film.

16. 4/5. Who would be the audience for your media
product? How did you attract/address your audience?
Independent film institutions and cinemas such as ‘Film4 Productions’,
‘Pinewood Studios’ and ‘Picture House cinemas’ would be good distributers
for our film, as they already have their own audience of people who enjoy
small production films. This way, we can take popularity from an existing fan
base. A Multi-platform release is also a good way to distribute your film,
especially if it is a low budget or small production film, by releasing the film
on multiple platforms such as social media, film websites, small cinemas etc.
The only disadvantage related to this issue is if the film company is working
with a budget. The multi-platform release will take away box office income.
Therefore, the film won’t make as much money, but it will gain more
recognition and a wider fan base.

17. 6. What have you learnt about technologies from the
process of constructing this product?
When it came to filming, that is where we really started to understand the
use of technologies more because we were actually doing the work ourselves,
and using all the equipment we had previously learnt about. When I was
filming the remake of Napoleon Dynamite, we only used one camcorder, so
we didn’t get to experiment with as much equipment. On the other hand,
when we were filming our preliminary task, we were able to practise with
much more camera equipment such as shoulder mounts, a Cannon XF 100
camcorder, microphones and lighting systems. This more mature camera
equipment was perfect for us because we really wanted to broaden our use
of shots, e.g. close ups, wide angle and full length shots. We were able to do
this due to the camera having difference attachable lenses and focal points.
We also used a tripod this time, so our shots were much more stable and
clearer to the audience. I defiantly noticed the change in quality from my
remake of Napoleon Dynamite to the final thriller opening.

18. 6. What have you learnt about technologies from the
process of constructing this product?
In the editing process, we had to add sound and audio into our film to
enhance the tense atmosphere we wanted to relay to the audience. We did
this by adding in Follie from Final Cut Pro and enhancing the loudness of
background sound we picked up whilst shooting. When choosing our music
soundtrack, we had to look at many different websites to find the perfect
one. It was difficult to find one that was royalty free. In the end we managed
to download a suitable soundtrack from Kevin McClouds website, the
soundtrack is called ‘Anxiety’.

19. 6. What have you learnt about technologies from the
process of constructing this product?
We were one of the only groups who had to use a lighting system. We did this
because we wanted our lighting to be a specific way to help set the scene for
the audience and make the setting more chilling and sinister. The lighting
system we used was called DIDO Lighting, it worked really well and we were
able to set it up smoothly. As a group, we decided we wanted to add a blue
hue to the light. In order to do this, we added a sheet of blue acetate over the
bulb. This also worked successfully, however, we wanted the blue to be more
intense, so we edited it in Final Cut Pro.

20. 7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you
feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the
full product?
Personally, when filming the preliminary task, it was a highly valuable activity.
It helped us learn how to use different equipment and how to do shots which
include the 180 rule etc. I learnt how to plan ahead and be more organised
when it came to the preparation of filming the opening. When my group and I
were filming the opening to Napoleon Dynamite, it took much longer than
anticipated due to not getting the props organised etc. I think it was partly
down to our lack of organisation and pre planning, but also, we were just
learning how to use the equipment. Although, when filming our preliminary
shot, it was a very quick process done in an hour. Therefore we didn’t have to
make storyboards or organise any of our actresses. We did on the other hand,
have a script. This was a good thing because we learnt how to incorporate the
dialogue in a professional way, using the microphone and audio tools on Final
Cut Pro. However, it was a great learning experience overall and it defiantly
prepared us for filming our real thriller opening.