IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS

OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?

Evaluation question #1

The genre of my film is suspense/thriller and my film industry is Hollywood because it has produced some of the best known suspense films of all time, such as Gravity (2013), Now you see me (2013), Inception (2010) and The prestige (2006). My film is basically about how the main character is made a fool on April fools day, by herself. This would immediately makes people suspicious as to how and why one would do something like that. It is considered a joyful day where people tend to play pranks or trick one another just for fun but I have used the concept for a suspense film, not something many people would expect from a movie with that concept. My film also portrays a social problem faced by many teens today and that is the lack of privacy on the internet.

        

Suspense movies tend to be high-budgeted because of the originality of the story, props used, editing effects, film crew i.e. directors, actors, so it is normally big institutes such as Warner Bros., that end up producing some of the best suspense movies. I chose WB as my institute because of its global recognition through award-winning, blockbuster films like Inception, Gravity, Argo. They mostly make movies of the action, suspense/thriller, sci-fi genre.

The films that helped me throughout my movie-making process were Gravity, Prisoners, Inception and Trust. Gravity inspired me to keep the main character of my film a female. Suspense films don't usually have female main characters and I wanted to change that. I also liked the fact that a lot of close-up shots were used to communicate with the audience through expressions and that is what I've done in my film too.

The movie Prisoners had a very tense and serious mood, there was no background music in majority of the scenes which is what I’ve adapted in the beginning scenes in order to portray seriousness and intensity. The movie took place in a suburban area and so will my movie. The daughter of the main character gets kidnapped in the film but in my film the main character gets kidnapped.

Inception makes use of modern technology and portrays to the audience that with its advancements, not only does it benefit people but that people can benefit from it and that is a problem I have shown in my film. The movie started with a scene from the climax which is exactly what I did to create a sense of curiousness in the audience.

Trust revolves around a teen girl who is also tricked by a man online, who claims he is a teen just like her but in fact he is in his late 20s. When she meets him is when she finds out that he lied to her. The story of my film shares a few similarities with this film.

The mise-en-scenes I used were according to the genre suspense. I have kept low lighting and simple characters. Sophia is shown wearing simple clothes. She is shown in her room, with all her things, particularly her laptop and phone as she is described as a socially active person. The park was chosen as the place where Sophia believed she would meet Ben but the main reason why I chose a small, suburban park was because it did not have many visitors and it was the perfect place for the stranger to kidnap Sophia when no one was present.

The main props of the film were Sophia's cell phone and her laptop. These props define her character and it was through them that the stranger communicated with her. Normally suspense films by Warner Bros. tend to have big props such as weapons, documents, cars, machines, but I have shown how small things like having an account on a public chat room can cause big problems.

Sophia is dressed like a typical American teenage girl. She is shown wearing very simple western clothes in the film. Since the genre is suspense, so I want the audience to focus more on what's going on rather than what each and everyone or thing looks like. I do not want to divert their attention which is why Sophia is wearing a plain green t-shirt with jeans in her room and when she steps out to the park, all she's done is tied her hair and worn a jacket. The stranger is shown wearing a shirt that connotes he is a much older man than Sophia.

My character is an example of kids who are deprived of parental attention. It is because of this problem that she expressed her thoughts and problems online, and once your content is online, it is unprotected, the whole world can see it. This carelessness can get to you and so Sophia got into trouble because of carelessly believing it was Ben who was pranking her online because of a minor coincidence of her telling him to come online. Annie from the film Trust is a lot like Sophia.

The strangers character can be described as intelligent, dangerous and a stalker. He somehow acquired Sophia's cell phone number and also tricked her into believing he was her friend Ben. He was also desperate, as he went to good lengths to do whatever it takes to get in contact with her, like waiting in the park till Sophia got up to leave and then kidnapping her. He is similar to the man from the movie Trust, notice how the clothes are also the same.

In the beginning and ending of the film, I have used dip to black transitions. Also the beginning scenes are at a slow pace because I want the audience to grasp onto the character, her surroundings, what she's doing. Everything needs to look normal, like nothing out of the blue is happening and because it is a suspense film, I have not used any background music. Even when Sophia gets the text and online messages from the stranger, I have not made any changes because the character tends to be calm so I want the audience to also remain calm yet focused, not distracted. In the park I have shown Sophia listening to random pop music but once she realizes she has forgotten her phone and that the park is emptying as its getting late, the pace of the film increases, this was done to show urgency and to prepare the audience for something coming up. The music used towards the end of the film was also creepy and daunting.

The title of the film is "April the 1st", which is basically April fools day. I have written it in a font that is similar to the one used in computers and cell phones, since it is through these electronics that she lands into trouble. The color of 'April the' is white because I noticed how WB suspense movies such as Prisoners or Gravity, use the color white in their fonts. It is a neutral color. The '1st' is in red color because red connotes danger and it was on the "1st" of April that Sophia got into deep danger. Red fonts have also been used in film titles by WB, example Argo, Inception. It is through these concepts that I gained inspiration for my title.

Challenges

One thing I have done is shown the scenes from my movie climax as my film opening. This is similar to what Christopher Nolan did in his movie Inception because in that too, the beginning scene is from the climax, the same scenes are therefore seen twice in the film, just a little differently though.

My film product has been able to portray suspense using real-life, modern day issues faced by teenagers today. Normally films of this genre are fiction and involve a lot of action as well. Its is difficult to accomplish a film that is relatable to, keeping the concept (April fools day) in mind, but I think I have accomplished that because an average school-going teenager of today will most certainly understand and relate to my film.

One issue I had was with the credits of my film. WB films do not show credits or the title in the beginning or anywhere in between the film especially in action, suspense and sci-fi films. Their credits are only shown at the end of the entire film and so, since I had to make an opening sequence, I was required to put the credits during the beginning.