3. My media product uses and develops recognizable psychological thriller
conventions by employing plot twists, suspense and character mind games.
Furthermore, our main characterWoody embodies the key features of a
thriller protagonist. By being an innocent, lonely, vulnerable and shy victim,
he evokes the audience’s sympathy. Our opening also has shots inspired by
the film ParanormalActivity, particularly the time lapse where our ghostly
character appears. Even though ParanormalActivity is more of a horror film,
the way it created an eerie style and creepiness, is what we wanted to have
in our opening.
The music we have chosen for our media product is very similar to the music
in real thrillers.The sort of music that builds suspense and keeps the viewers
glued to the screen is often music that uses a number of classical
instruments, for example the harp, bass, cello, violin and oboe.We went for
a similar soundscape using a number of musical loops on Final Cut Pro, as
well as Kevin McCloud’s Incomputech royalty free music site.The piece we
chose, Dragon andToast, is dark, eerie, intense and unnerving.
4.
5. Our media product represents a particular social group of unpopular
vulnerable teenage boys. I felt this was a perfect social group for a
character in a thriller to be in because it allowed me to write a film
where the character is easy to mess with and play mind games with.
Rather than having a popular and together teenage boy, fit to sort
out it his problems or deal with certain things. I also thought that if I
had the parents slightly irresponsible by leaving their son for a whole
week on his own when he had barely anyone to talk to, this would
automatically put the character in a vulnerable position, which is
what we needed.This representation of a middle class, middle aged
couple is not seen that often in feature films, as writers tend to favour
a more dramatic story line with unstable or perhaps drug-infused
parents.The other stereotype would be to have very kind loving
parents. However, these neglectful parents do allow us feel sympathy
for the character and they also create a void for the drama to happen.
6.
7. Our media product would fit well with an independent film
production company with a limited budget, we would have to seek
out a distributor that would be willing to make a deal with us.This
film would fit nicely at a film festival for new film makers. Also the
film production company would be well known for their niche thriller
films. A film production company much like ShoeBox Films who have
produced a few recent films including the critically acclaimed film
‘Locke’ starringTom Hardy is the kind of company we would be.
8.
9. The audience to my media product would most
likely be big thriller fans looking for something
new in the media realm.The target audience
would range from about 15 to 45, I know it
seems like a wide spectrum but a lot of people
like watching thriller films.
10.
11. I attracted my audience by including a vulnerable
teenager in the film that other people in that age
group would be able to relate to. I also included the
characters of irresponsible parents to deliver a
wider message on how parents should/shouldn’t act
when they have the responsibility of a child.
12.
13. - How to use the camera and knowing what angles to use in specific scenes
- How to edit on final cut pro (using the blade tool, inserting or taking out audio,
stabilization, cropping and getting lost in all the options and settings)
- I am able now to watch a film and see it from a perspective from behind the camera, I
think about how the movie was filmed and the processes used (i.e staging, costumes, lighting,
and special effects).
- The most important thing I’ve learnt that I feel like before this course I didn’t think the
editing was as important than the actual filming but now I feel like the editing creates the film
entirely and you could have quite bad footage but still make it look good by editing it well.
14.
15. -The internet when looking for music, sound effects, fonts, and
research
- Final cut pro for editing all the audio and footage together
I have realised how important the editing software is when creating
a film because its quality will be needed very much so when creating
a good film. Also I think that the way a media product is filmed and
edited takes a huge role on the style and originality of the film.
