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Our evaluation for our thriller film Desperation. Callum Cole and Georgie-May Lancashire
Citation preview
2. 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
One of the ways we challenged the typical conventions of thriller
films is that we had a female killer instead of a male killer. We
did this because we wanted to be an auteur and make our thriller
film completely different to other thriller films as they usually
have male killers.
Another way that we challenged the typical conventions was that we
had the setting for the film in a house. We did this because your
home is where you are supposed to feel safe yet this is not the
case in our film. Typical thriller film settings are usually in the
forest or an outside setting.
3. 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
We challenged the typical conventions of thriller films as we had
the end of the film at the beginningso the audience would watch the
film backwards. We did this as we wanted to become auteur. This
would be our unique selling point as this is not common in most
thriller films.
We broke the conventions of thriller films as we had the woman as
being more powerful over the man whereas, it is normally the other
way round. Men normally control their wives in thriller films
whereas, in our film the man has loose control over his wife.
4. 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
We used a police interview in our film as this is another way that
we stuck to the typical conventions of thriller films. We used the
police interview during our title sequence as it told the audience
straight away that the woman had been caught and that what they are
about to see is set in the past.
We also challenged the typical conventions as we had a woman
blackmailer who is trying to steal her husbands money. We did this
as we felt that it would attract the audience because it is
different to what they have seen before as normally blackmailers
are males.
5. 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
We also stuck to the typical conventions of a thriller film as most
thriller films have a blackmailer after money and we showed this
through the character of Sasha. We also used a blackmail board
which is typical in thriller films and was used in Kiss the
Girls.
Another way that we stuck to the typical conventions of a thriller
film is that we used a male who was cheating on his wife which is
used a lot in thriller films. We decided to use this as it gave the
woman a motive to killing her husband.
6. 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
We also used scary music during the thriller film. This stuck to
the conventions of thriller films as they also use scary music
because they keep the audience engaged in their film and scare
them. We also used sound effects, such as screaming and laughing,
as this would scared the audience and make them carry on
watching.
If you click on the speaker symbol you can listen to the scream
effect that we used in our film. We felt that the scream sounded
very realistic and would work perfectly in certain sections of our
film. We used the first couple of seconds.
7. 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
We used many quick cuts, especially when the woman is coming down
the stairs as this creates suspense for the audience as they want
to know what is going to happen. Quick cuts are conventional in
thriller films and we wanted to use them as they would make the
audience feel suspense.
Another convention that we stuck to was fades and in our thriller
film we used three fades as they cut the film into three different
sections. We did this as fades are used in thrillers as they tell
the audience that time has passed and also that something bad will
happen/has happened.
8. 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Another way that we stuck to the conventions of thriller films is
that we showed a section of the film during the title sequence.
This has been used in Kiss The Girls. We did this because we wanted
to tell the audience a back story to what they were about to
watch.
The red circles around the women's faces shows that they are
targets of Sashas
We also stuck to the conventions of thriller films as we used a
blackmail board. We used a blackmail board because we wanted to
tell the audience what the killers mental state was like and if she
had killed other people.
9. 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
We used gothic fonts for our title sequence in our thriller film.
We did this as its what you see in successful thriller films. The
font looks harsh towards the audience so they automatically know
that this is not going to be a pleasant film.
The dark lighting made Sashasface looking quite scary as you can
only see the outline of her face causing the audience to feel
uncomfortable
Most thriller films use dark lighting as this creates suspense for
the audience as they are nervous about what is going to happen.
This is why we used dark lighting during the interview scene as we
wanted to make the audience wonder what will happen next.
10. 2: How does your media product represent particular social
groups?
Our film follows the conventions of representing particular social
groups as it represents men in their mid 20s as being successful as
Alex is an accountant. This also represents men as being successful
because Alex has a better job than Sasha and is well spoken
compared to her.
We represented women in their 20s as being unsuccessful and
violent. Sasha works as a waitress and shows she is unsuccessful,
unlike her husband. This has stuck to conventions as some thriller
films represent women the same.
11. 2: How does your media product represent particular social
groups?
Our film also represents women as powerful over men and this breaks
the conventions of thriller films as this is not what happens in
most thrillers. In society women are seen as weak compared to men
but in our film it is a role reversal.
You can see by Alexs facial expressions that he is less powerful
than Sasha.
Our film also represents men as being weak compared to women and
again breaks conventions. Usually in society men are seen as the
more dominant gender but this is not the case in our film.
12. 2: How does your media product represent particular social
groups?
Our film also represents men as being people who cheat on their
wives and not being very faithful. This is sticking to conventions
as it is common in other thriller films and can be seen common in
society.
Our film also represents the social group of married couples as
being a failure and not being able to cope. This is seen in other
thriller films so we have stuck to the conventions. We had made the
married couple a failure because it causes the woman to kill her
husband so it is the motive for the killings.
13. 3: What kind of media institution might distribute your media
product and why?
We would get 20th Century Fox to distribute our film because they
have distributed many other thriller films that fit the same
description as ours. For example 20th Century Fox has distributed
Taken, Unstoppable and Memento. Memento is especially important
because that is what we based our film on as our film starts at the
end like Memento does.
We would let shops such as HMV and Blockbuster distribute our film
as they are very successful in the retail market and they are very
popular with our target audience. To reach our target audience
further we would use synergy to distribute our film on Blu Ray DVD
and normal DVDs because they are on different formats.
14. 3: What kind of media institution might distribute your media
product and why?
To reach our target audience further we would use web 2.0 and
distribute our film online as many people now use the internet to
buy their films and is popular with our target audience. We would
use websites such as Amazon and Play.com and have again used
synergy.
15. 4: Who would be the audience for your media product?
Our target audience for our film is 15+ year olds as you see a
knife throughout the film and you also see a dead body so it could
be scary for anyone under the age of 15. However, because it is for
15 year olds we are losing out on profit as 12-14 year olds will
not be able to see the film and this is a potential loss for us as
film makers. However, if we did lower the age we would get
complaints off of concerned parents so it could be worth the
loss.
16. 4: Who would be the audience for your media product?
The characters in our film are easy to relate to with the older
audience. The older audience could feel sympathy for Sasha as they
understand what emotions she is going through. However, a younger
audience would be scared by the way Sasha acts.
As you can see Sasha looks very evil here and would scare anyone
under the age of 15.
The themes that are included in our film are aimed at a more mature
audience. The themes that are included are adultery, blackmail,
murder and psychological issues. This not only would have been too
graphic with the murder but it would be hard for the younger
audience to understand such complex issues.
17. 5: How did you attract/address your audience?
We made sure that with every draft of the film we made, we got
feedback on what we had done. This proved helpful as it meant we
could create a film that best suited ourtarget audience. For
example in our first audience feedback it was mentioned that our
match on action sequence was a bit messy, this meant that we could
fix it to make the film a better quality and suit our audiences
needs.
18. 5: How did you attract/address your audience?
We received a lot of feedback some good and some not so good. We
made sure that we asked the audience on what they thought about the
plot, first reactions, strong and weak points of the film and what
else they would add to make it better. You can see the replies and
how they helped us improve the film here:
http://georgiecallumamyasmedia.blogspot.com/2011/03/audience-research-and-feedback.html
When given the task to create a thriller film we knew that we would
have to work on certain conventions that all thriller films use
such as quick cuts, cliff-hangers, suspense etc. By focusing on
these conventions we were able to attract our audience because it
would appeal to them. You can see other conventions that we
considered on our blog if you click here:
http://georgiecallumamyasmedia.blogspot.com/2010/10/definition-of-thriller.html
19. 5: How did you attract/address your audience?
To also attract our audience we posted our first draft of our film
onto YouTube. We did this so that we could get feedback from our
peers and from the public. They could then tell us what we have
done good/bad and what they would like to see in the next draft.
Then we could change our film to suit our audience.
We took our time looking into what other thriller films use to draw
in their audiences. We did this by watching numerous films and
analysing them to see what camera shots, sound, locations etc they
use. This helped us come up with a storyline and idea on how we
were going to create tension using the previously mentioned
factors. It also helped us see what the audience expect to see in
thriller films such as twists in the plot, tensions etc.
20. 5: How did you attract/address your audience?
The reason that Hollywood thrillers are so popular is because they
follow typical conventions and make sure the audience get what they
want. But when they break some of these conventions they become
even popular. Films such as Memento and Kill Bill do this. We have
broke conventions in our plot by making the killer a woman showing
that she is the stronger gender. We also show this through the plot
starting at the end and flashing back to previous events. This
attracts our audience as this is something new to them and
unconventional.
21. 6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of
constructing this product?
To create our final film we used Final Cut Express which proved
stressful. This is because we have never used a programme like this
before. It was a lot to learn in a small time period. Most of the
time the programme was temperamental creating problems such as
freezing when trying to save, not rendering etc The main things we
learned was how to cut clips and add non diegetic sounds. Cutting
clips was very important as we used a lot of quick cutting in our
thriller film which is conventional.
22. 6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of
constructing this product?
We used Web 2.0 many times during the process. This was a learning
curve for us as we had previously only viewed blogs and clips on
YouTube. While creating our blog we learnt how to embed clips,
embed images, upload videos and add hyperlinks to other websites.
This was information that we previously didnt know but now we can
do with ease. We also used YouTube to showcase our preliminary
tasks, first drafts, finding songs and movie clips etc This was a
huge help to us as when other technologies failed to work this was
always a backup for us. Itwas also a rich source of information for
us when having to research into thriller films.
Our blog that we created and our audience research film that we put
onto YouTube
23. 6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of
constructing this product?
Other technologies we used were scanners, cameras and microphones.
The scanner helped us when we uploaded our storyboards, audience
feedback and other pieces of work that needed to be on the blog.
The cameras were important to us to as its what wed used to create
our film with. The cameras were easy to use. Even though we didnt
use a microphone we tried it out and found it hard to use as youd
pick up small noises that would ruin a shot. Overall, these
technologies helped us learn a lot of information about how the
media industry uses different media platforms to create the
finished product.
24. 6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of
constructing this product?
Another new technology we tried was LiveType. It is used to create
professional film titles without spending thousands of pounds. This
proved hard as without someone who knows what theyre doing it is
very easy to get confused with the programme. We tried many times
as we watched tutorials online, step by step guides etc and still
proved difficult to create titles that looked good enough to put
into our film. So we used Final Cut express for our titles in the
end and were happy with the results.
The LiveType logo.
25. 7: Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you
have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
During my preliminary task (Georgie) I used a shooting schedule but
I did not follow it completely and ended up loosing time. However
when we started our final piece we used a shooting schedule and
stuck to it. I have learnt that a shooting schedule saves time and
keeps you on track of what you are going to film next.
In my preliminary task (Georgie) the choices that I made were quite
rushed whereas, in our final film we spent more time planning every
detail on what we were going to do. For example, we made two
storyboards as when we had filmed some of our footage, we wanted to
add more so we drew up another storyboard so that we wouldnt get
confused and could stick to it when filming.
26. 7: Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you
have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
We both feel that since our preliminary tasks we have learnt how to
use final cut express in a more effective way. For example, in our
preliminary tasks we didnt feel confident about how to use music in
our films and how to edit it. However, in our final film, we both
knew how to edit and cut the music in the appropriate places so it
sounded effective.
27. 7: Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you
have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
We both feel that looking back on our preliminary task we didnt use
a variety of camera angles, we only used the ones that were asked
of us and a few extra. However, in our final film we have used a
variety. We have used close ups (interview), long shots (dead
body), Tilted angle (dead body), cinema verite (party sequence) etc
We have learnt that by using a variety of camera angles it keeps
the audience engaged in what is happening.
Our use of cinema verite
A blurred border to represent the past
28. 7: Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you
have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Since our preliminary tasks we have both learnt how to effectively
use transitions and that certain transitions conveya different
meaning to the audience.
If you look closely you can still see the Sasha's face. We felt
that it made the audience feel uncomfortable as you can still see
her evil smile. Behind the womans face there is a ransom note and
this makes the audience wonder why she wants money.
29. 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 that from my preliminary task, to the final product,
(Callum), that for the film to look believable you need to have
good actors. In my preliminary task I didnt have this. So, in our
final film we changed the actors and I feel it looks more
effective.
My choice of setting in my preliminary task was not as good as what
I would have liked it to be. (Callum) So, in our final film I made
sure that the setting looked better and at the end I was happier
with how the setting looked.
30. 7: Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you
have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
We have both learnt that during our preliminary tasks we used messy
match on actions shots. So, when making our final thriller we made
sure that if we were going to add a match on action shot, we were
going to make sure it was not messy and looked excellent.
From our preliminary task to our final product, we learnt that to
include something in your film, it needed meaning. In our
preliminary task some things were used just because we could use
them, however, we didnt do this in our final task. For example, we
used the Rhianna song (non diegetic) as it had codes and
conventions behind it that linked to our storyline.
31. 7: Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you
have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
We both learnt from our preliminary tasks that when you saw
something through the camera, it was going to be darker when you
saw the same clip on the computer. So, when making our final film
we made sure that the lighting was brighter than what we needed it
to be so that it would be the right light for the final
product.
Extra lighting was added to ensure that we could see Sashas
face.
32. 7: Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you
have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
From our preliminary tasks to our final product we have learnt
about the mise en scene of our films and how important it is. We
have learnt that there is a lot that needs to be included in the
camera shots so that it portrays to the audience what you want them
to see.
The mise en scene for this shot is the bottle of whisky as it shows
that Sasha is drinking and is upset/happy. The curtains being
closed shows that it is night time. The notebook shows that Sasha
is writing something.
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