Evaluation - Anastazja Stanowska

Evaluation

 

In my evaluation, I will be answering seven questions which are related to our thriller that I’ve created in my group. I will be answering each question in detail and with different media such as text, video and photo’s. Throughout the production work, all three of us have worked very carefully to make sure that we can make the thriller look as professional as we could. It was very important that we got the opening of the thriller right, because we had to ensure that the genre is easily identified if others were to watch it. We were only allowed to have a maximum of five minutes thriller, which meant that we couldn’t show the whole story that we wanted to, but we had to make sure that the first five minutes are really interesting and catch the audience attention. As we learned about how to identify different genres from the beginning of the unit, it made it easier to understand what we need to include in our production to make it look like thriller.

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
At the beginning, before we started to plan or create our thriller, we looked at different types of thriller from all types of years, some which were really old such as the movie ‘Birds’ and others which were more modern such as ‘The Dark Knight’, so it was easy for us to see how technology has influenced the way thrillers are created. The thriller that we mainly liked and got some of the ideas that we use on our thriller was ‘Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels’, because myself and the rest of my group really loved the opening sequence that was shown in this film; as the shots and effects were used amazingly and very effectively. We also looked at Alfred Hitchcock and the Coen Brothers, which really gave us different idea’s how to present our thriller well. We decided to create a teenage psychological thriller. When we completed our story board and all the planning we had to ensure that we plan everything carefully, because each scene had to be shown clear so the examiner would see clearly that we knew what we wanted to do from the beginning. The title of the production was also included in the planning work, we had to think about it carefully what to name our production so it wouldn’t be misleading but also so it suited the genre of the film which is psychological thriller. We decided to name our production ‘Oracle’ because it created mysteries and a hidden meaning, which we hoped would attract the audience, as it doesn’t give away what’s going to happen, but the word itself When we were completing our story board we tried to think of different types of shots that are used in different thrillers and other films that we watched in class and independently. For example we used a two shot in some parts of our thriller, and we got this idea from the ‘Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels’. I think that by using this type of shot it allowed us to show a conversations easily and from who’s point of view its said from, so like at the party scene when Rose is talking to Maddie, but as we added an effect which made all the scene blurry and like it was spinning it showed that it was filmed over Rose’s shoulder so it was her point of view and how she saw Maddie at the time.

My group really liked the idea of how Alfred Hitchcock made cameo appearances in his films, so we decided to do this too when we did our planning. We decided that Jordan would be Rose, which was one of the main characters, then Lauren was Maddie who was Rose’s best friend, and I was one of their friends who got ready with them two and went to the party. We are aware that Alfred Hitchcock made cameo appearance in 39 out of 52 films that he’s created, and in every single one he’s only been in the background, so it meant that he was never a main character, however we wanted to make ourselves as the main characters, because we knew what we exactly wanted to achieve in our production and as we all wrote the script, we found it easier to learn it and know how to act it out. I also feel that our thriller relates to Film Noir, because it showed many conventions which are similar to a detective thriller, for example in the party scene the blinds are down, which we done to show that the teenagers are trying to hide the party, because they are underage so they are not meant to be having house parties, drinking and smoking, so by having close blinds, it shows the idea that they are blocking themselves out from the world and enjoying themselves. Film Noir usually always have female characters who is blonde but a little bit dumb, and I think we’ve showed this in our thriller through the one of the characters; Maddie. She’s blond and always confused with what’s happening, she tries to help her friend to stop taking the drugs which shows that she cares and is strong minded, however her friend Rose becomes aggressive towards Maddie after taking the drugs. We also focused on ‘New Wave movement’ which we tried to show in our production. As the main focus on new wave was the long take shots, which we’ve included a few times in our thriller, first time when Rose and Maddie walked home from school, because at this point I filmed them two talking as a long shot for a long time to show their conversations. We also thought about the lighting carefully, because in new wave, the directors didn’t use as much light and it was mostly dark. We had these types of shots in our party scene, because it was shot in the dark with little light, which created a mysterious atmosphere, especially when the two girls are running and screaming in the street right at the end of our production, because it’s unclear who it is but the audience clearly know that something bad has happened or will happen.

At the beginning of the thriller it shows Rose washing her hands which are covered with blood, however then it changed to the previous day. We wanted to do this effect to show how the whole story happened, because we thought that it would grab our target audience attention from the start. When it flicks back to the previous day it says it on the thriller so it makes it easier for the audience to be aware of what’s happening. This shot has shown has established an equilibrium, which helped us set the scene of our thriller, it also made it easy to see who our target audience are as the two best friends are talking about teenage problems e.g. boy issues. Throughout the whole thriller we tried to establish the target audience, social group and the genre of our production so it was clear to understand all these points. We felt that many films have helped us to decide what shots would look the best to set the genre of our production. We used some similar shots which ‘La Haine’ movie has, for example when the boy is looking into the mirror and talking to himself. We’ve used this twice is our thriller; at the beginning of the thriller when Rose is looking into the mirror to show her facial expressions and the details, however in La Haine the camera was directly behind the man, but when we created our shot, we couldn’t do this because the camera would be seen in the background, so we had to film from the side, but it still have a similar effect it showed the action of what Rose was doing in the mirror. Another time when we used this type of shot was when rose is looking at the fake tan in the bathroom and Ivy pops up at the back of her, so it shows two characters through the mirror. We wanted to use this type of shot to show how Rose wasn’t paying attention and got scared, which also added an effect on the audience at they get shocked of Ivy appearing on the scene. Le Haine also helped us understand how to focus on rules of thirds, which we’ve tried to include in our thriller for example in the scene where Maddie is asking is Rose wants a drink in the kitchen, and also at the beginning of the production when Rose walks down the stairs before she meets her friend Rose. The screen shot below shows both of these shots where we’ve tried to keep to the rule of thirds.

We also tried to think about the 180 degree rule, which seemed to work very well in more of the shots that we filmed, however I think we’ve broken the 180 degree rule, which wasn’t intended, but at some points when we filmed we completely forgot about the fourth wall. But as our whole group has realised it is really hard to keep to the 180 degree rule. One of the times when we broke this rule was at the party scene, because the establishing shot showed only 3 walls, however later on in the scene the fourth wall was shown when people we’re talking. There were many other thrillers that we watched which gave us many ideas such as Barton Think and The Dark Knight, as both of these thrillers had amazing shots that we felt would work well if we used them on our production, for example the establishing shot in The Dark Knight, as it shows the whole scene of where the scene has been set, and we tried to do this in our production when we showed an establishing shot at the beginning of the film of the school to show that the first part is set in school, then we also added an establishing shot at the party scene to show what’s happening from a long shot. All of these films that we’ve watched and the different conventions that we’ve learned about have definitely helped us produce a good thriller. We tried very hard to use different types of shots and angles to show that we are capable of producing good thriller with interesting shots such as long shot, mid shot, over the shoulder, high and low angle, two shot, tracking shot and panning shot.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Our production represents a particular social group which is a middle class social group, because of the scene and characters that we’ve used.  When we planned our production, we felt that it would be appropriate for us to focus on audiences ages 16+ who are middle class, because myself and the other two members of our group our middle class, which meant we found it easy to show the social group in our thriller. We have created a stereotypical image which shows how teenagers can get out control and do stupid actions, for example murder. As both of the main characters Maddie and Rose are shown right from the beginning of the sequence, it make the audience aware that it’s set in a typical modern day, and the girls are shown as middle class because of their costumes and props that they are wearing and have with them. When the girls get changed into their party clothes, they are still shown as middle social class, because they are wearing party clothes; however no one is overly dresses, as it’s a teenagers house party. There are other characters in the party scene, however they are all shown as middle class too, because there are no characters, especially boys who are dressed down, for example a stereotypical ‘chav’ who wears baggy jeans or tracksuit bottoms , trainers and a baggy top. The location also really helps set the scene and what types of social group that this production would attract the most. As the house is very clean, big and has modern furniture, it’s clear to see that Rose is an upper/middle class character. If the scene was set in much more rough areas such as park or filed, it would be understandable that they are lower class, but because both of the houses that have been shown on the production are upper/middle class, I think it mostly attract the same type of audience, because they would be mostly interested in watching this type of thriller.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
Our production was very small as we didn’t complete the whole movie, because our production required us to produce the opening five minutes of a thriller, which is what we’ve done. We created our production with our own equipment and scene’s which mean that it wasn’t don’t professionally but we tried to make it look as professional as possible. We created this opening sequence for our A-Level, which meant that we didn’t have a chance to be able to distribute the thriller. If we were to distribute our thriller, there are a few media that we could use to make our thriller well known. This would have to be done for free to all the public, because we’re all not financially secure to be able to distribute our thriller in media institutions. However we would be able to distribute our thriller to social websites such as Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr to make the thriller well known to the public. Online websites like Youtube would also be very good to distribute our production on, because many people put videos on there every day and mostly young adults like us search and watch different video’s on there. Facebook and Twitter would be the best two online ways in which we could distribute our thriller, because as our target audience were similar ages to us, which means that people who use social networks would be interested in watching it. It would be easy for us to get many people to watch the thriller to make it well know, because each one of us have many friends on Facebook and Twitter which means that we could post the thriller online and get our friends to spread the word and share the thriller to their friends. If we were to make our whole thriller and wanted to distribute it properly then I think that Warner Brothers Entertainment would be a best company to promote our thriller on, as they are a very successful company and have produced many thrillers which all are very well known. As our thriller is aimed for teenagers, this company would be good to promote our thriller because they have made films which were aimed for teenagers and young adults.

Who would be the audience for your media product?
At the beginning on this production, our group has decided that our social group that we’re mainly going to target is a similar are to us, so 16-18 year olds, because we are the target audience, so we know what teenagers are interested in. We think that our thriller fits for both genders and mid class teenagers. I think that our thriller wouldn’t be appropriate for lower than 16 year olds because of the strong language content that is used in our thriller, also there are scene which would not be appropriate for young children to see, as the party scene and the characters smoking weed and drinking. The main storyline is that some teenagers drink and smoke week then bad accidents happen, people become violent and some fights get out of hand. Throughout the first five opening sequence of the thriller that we created, it show that teenagers are irresponsible and crazy when they are drink under age. The characters that were in our thriller worked really hard to get the right type of message across to the audience about the types of people they are and how they behave. There was different types of areas that we had to remember about to show clearly that the characters were teenagers, and I think we’ve done that very well, because at the beginning we have shown an establishing shot of their school, which means that the audience straight away knew that the scene is set in a school so teenagers and students will be involved in this production. We outline that these teenagers are crazy and like to party by the types of clothes and conversations that the girls had whilst walking home from school. In the first part both of the girls are wearing smart clothes as they were in school, the only part that gives away to the audience that they are outgoing girls is that they are having conversation about boys which shows that they clearly care about their looks and their relationships. When we shot the scene in the Maddie’s house, we wanted to carefully choose the right camera angles and shots to show the typical stereotype of how some teenagers act before getting to a party. At this scene the girls are getting ready and pre drinking for the party, whilst getting changed too. At this point teenagers can relate to this scene, because typical group of friends get ready together before they go out for a night out. I think that the party scene particularly relates to teenagers and shows strongly underlines that the production that we created is specifically aimed at teenagers, because of the low lighting that we used throughout the scene, and the type of clothes that all the characters are wearing. For example Rose is wearing a very short skirt and a small crop top, so she’s dressed up in a way which she knew would attract boys.

How did you attract/address your audience?
As our audience were our age it was easier for us to target the audience, because we knew what our age audience like as we are the same audience. So we mainly focused on teenagers, and all the characters that were in our production were teenagers. I think right from the beginning of the production the audience could see that this film involves teenagers, as the two best friends Maddie and Rose were walking together at the end of school, having a typical teenager conversation about their issues and boy problems. As we aimed to target our production for audience ages 16+ meant that we had to ensure that CLAMPS were important in this, as teenagers care about their looks and clothes that they wear, so we ensured that both of the characters have lots of make-up and appropriate school uniform. The settings that we’ve used attracted the audience, as in the scene where the girls are getting ready for the party; they are all talking about how they want to drink their sorrows, which some teenagers could relate to easily in their everyday lives. The different scene’s that we did use, were school, Maddie’s house, Rose’s house which was the party scene and the outside when the two girls were running and screaming right at the end. I think that costumes related to the audience well, because all their clothes were casual, but at the party scene the girls we’re hardly covered up, which is what stereotypical young girls go out like to parties, because they feel more attractive when they are wearing hardly anything. We felt that our production Oracle linked well to one of Alfred Hitchcock quote’s which is; ‘Ordinary people in extraordinary situations’. I feel that this quote links well to our thriller, because the story that we tried to make was about ordinary people, in extraordinary place, because not many parties end up in murder, however we wanted to show how some teenagers can get under control if they drink underage and especially if they take drugs. I felt that the party scene in particular related to our target audience, because some teenagers would be able to relate to the film. Both of the girls look really friendly and innocent, so the audience aren’t expecting anything bad to happen, however when Rose kills her best friend, it’s still unclear to the audience who kills who, in till the next scene when Rose is washing her hands in the bathroom which also links back to the first scene, as we tried to show the story about what happen the day before. The fact that Rose kills her best friend at the end of the five minutes makes the whole thriller mysteries, as the audience aren’t aware why she has done this, they only know that she took drugs and is drunk; which my whole group felt that it made the whole thriller more thrilling, because it covered the conventions of a psychological thriller. The murder part is also a big shock for the audience, as no one expect Rose to be an ‘evil’ character in Oracle, because she starts off being very friendly and acts like she’s interested in her best friends problems. I felt that our thriller Oracle, could be easily related to Barton Think and No country for old men, because in both of these opening sequences it’s unclear what the whole film will be about, which attracts the audience, and as we had a girl killed in the first five minutes of our production, it engages the young audience as they want to find out what’s going to happen next. Overall I think that we attracted our target audience well, because we included all the conventions that teenagers would be interested in, and the script and story line itself is quite interested which some teenagers could relate to, and there is a scene of tension on the audience as they are unaware of what’s going to happen next.

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
I think our group learned a lot from the preliminary task, because we had some problems with filming it and when we did, we got told that it didn’t look like a preliminary, which meant that we had to shoot again. The first time when we did it, we tried to include many different shots to make sure that we understand how to create different shots and camera angles. We used high angles, low angles, two shot, over the shoulder, which we felt that worked well in other films such as La Haine and Barton Think, so we thought we could try these out and see how it would work in our production.
The first preliminary task that we completed was a girl walking into a room, and meeting her friend Lauren in the class. They have a conversation, Lauren is having a house party, but her friend calls her house ‘skanky’ so she gets upset. Then on the next scene Lauren walks over to her other friend which has already been waiting but Lauren is angry and she starts telling her friend what has been said about her. So her friend walks off to sort the problem out. However we didn’t have the chance to film the last bit. However we have used so many different shots in this preliminary, such as close ups, high angles, long angle, two shot, over the shoulder and extreme close up to show when Lauren is running. When we started editing the preliminary together, our teacher told us that the preliminary had to relate to the genre that we are going to produce for our production which was thriller, but we didn’t know about this, so this meant that we had to re shoot our preliminary. So we decided to re-shoot it again, and as we had to relate it and base it on a thriller, we decided that the main story line that we made was that a girl runs into a room and creeps around secretly to find someone, when they find that person they don’t fight but the girl tries to find out the information that she needs, however the other person is foreign so they can’t answer their question. Their partner who has been looking for the dealer then runs into the room and says that they’ve found what they’re looking for. When we finally got to edit this preliminary, we didn’t have any problems. But as we were all completely new to the Mac’s, we had to experiment with the different effects that Final Express Cut has. When we finished the preliminary task, we were really happy with the final outcome, as we tried to use different effects such as echo’s on the sound to create the genre of the production. So from creating a preliminary task, we found it much easier to film our production, because we had more ideas of what storyline to do for our thriller and we were had more experience on the Mac’s, even though all of us we’re still very unsure how to use them and didn’t experiment with enough effects to know which ones will work best on our production. As we had experience with the camera that we used for preliminary, we just went with using the same camera, which was my camera Nikon D3100. We use my tripod to help us film some of the shots, so there wasn’t any movement or looked like hand help shot which was good because it make the scenes look professional. Overall I think that after so much research, re shooting and planning we’ve done a very good job of creating the preliminary and our final product, because we’ve put so much effort and time into this to make it work properly, even though there might be some errors which looks unprofessional I am very proud of what we’ve produced. I feel that we’ve used many different types of conventions, camera angles, and planned out the CLAMPS very carefully. The only area’s that I’d say are negative about our production and the whole process of making it, was the amount of time that it’s taken us to shoot every scene and the editing as it was hard to get use to and understand the software. However it was still fun and interesting to open our media and film institution knowledge, as I’ve looked as so many different producers, directors and films overall. If our group was to make this production again, I think the main areas which we’d have to take in consideration is the CLAMPS, because in some scene the lighting is not very light, which makes it difficult for the audience to see the characters. Also we’d have to ensure that all our props are correct, for example it’s important that when the characters have different props such as phone and folders, it’s important that it’s in the same place every time we, re-shot.  

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
The Video below answered this question.

By Anastazja Stanowska



Evaluation- Jordan Gale

Evaluation


In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?-While producing our media we have been influenced by many other factors. At the beginning of our studies we looked at many thrillers that established the codes and conventions we would need to include. Watching Alfred Hitchcock famous thriller of Psycho, we analysed the use of black and white and how he choose purposely to pursue his film in this way. He did this to create the glumness and dullness of the film. Setting it in black and white gives it a thriller aspect that’s already chilling as the screen is lifeless from colour.  Within our thriller I think we have applied is technique similarly as we added a blue/black filter onto the majority of our clips up to the party scene. We did this to create a sense of eeriness and to foreshadow that fact something bad is going to happen. By having a darker screen instantly everything becomes scarier, sinister and gloomy a setting has been created by simply changing the light. This was a positive factor to final cut express as the lighting was also increased during the outside party scene because our bodies could not be originally seen. The lighting and colour corrector was found most useful. Watching Barton Fink I gained an insight of the motifs used within a thriller. The picture on the wall of the lady on the beach was emphasised an awful lot, at the end of the movie it became clear to why she was. The film had been using it to foreshadow events to follow. Using this technique we wanted Maddie to walk across the road nearly getting run over, to show she’s far from safe, and a picture that falls from Roses bag, but has Maddie’s face cut out, this foreshadows that later on in movie  Maddie will not be around. So by having clues and motifs the audience can build up an understanding of might happen. We obviously did not want to give everything away and so when Rose washes her hands in the sink, at the end of the movie you also see a bloody hand hit the tree,  the audience might be in slight confusion as they are unaware of Maddie’s death and may think that both hands are Roses (hand on tree and in the sink) I think this is positive as later on in the film it will become clear to the audience which hand it was but by them not knowing a twist could be created towards the end so nothing too much is given away. Also by watching Barton Fink the Coen brother used a lot of metaphors to explain various things. For example Charlie otherwise known as Munt was a very heated and angry character at one particular stage of the movie, to represent this Coen brother produced a scene from where the hotel was on fire to show Charlie’s heat. The fire did not look real and I think this was intentional as only a metaphor should be taken from it. We have not used this style within our thriller because I didn’t want the movie to become unclear as our target audience is teenagers and my teacher had to explain to me that that Baton Fink was full of metaphors I had not grasped that throughout the film, as I am a teenager and within the age bracket we are aiming our thriller at, I don’t think it would have been a good idea to include metaphors, as a clear narrative would not have been created. Watching Lock Stock And Two Smoking Barrels, gave us the idea of having long shots of the two best friends Rose and Maddie walking and having a conversation. In lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels long tracking shots of the characters walking though the shop have been accomplished the camera travels forward in front of them and uses one long shot only to capture the conversation they have. I think by putting this within our thriller establishes the closeness between the two characters Rose and Maddie. Somehow we need to show the audience that these two girls are best friends and inseparable, because then the events that later follow become a shocking. If we were not to resemble their closeness then when the party goes wrong, the audience won’t be as shocked because they will have no realisation that the two characters were close, this is why we were inspired by the shots created in Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. We also liked the slow motion sequence at the beginning and I hoped on using a similar effect within our thriller, to show the realness of the scene. If we had slowed down Maddie walking out in front of a car, we see the action for longer and this creates more suspension, unfortunately we had to cut the car clip out as the continuity did not look professional or flow and we could not re shoot as the weather was very changeable. When watching the birds by Alfred Hitchcock I was not impressed. I understood he had put ordinary people in an extraordinary situation but I did not find the film enjoyable, saying this we did use the technique of foreshadowing used in the birds as she walks into a bird shop, ironically birds in cases suggests something bad is going to happen later on. We used his idea with our motifs of the picture and car, but as we had to cut the car clip out the picture is our main motif. Watching The Dark Knight, I noticed the establishing shot was very important. In all the thrillers we watched the scene was established, we input this into our thriller but not at the very beginning as we start with a prologue which gives us a preview of a later scene to grab  the audience and create mystery from the very beginning. we established the school of sixth form when Rose and Maddie leave school, I think it shows the audience that it’s a teenage thriller as its based around a scene in which that age group go. It shows the characters are students and this already sets up a possible turns of events as teenagers are known to be unpredictable and rebellious.

When filming we had to make sure we did not break the 180 degree rule. The more we filmed the more we got used to applying this rule as we would choose a fourth wall and always film from there. In our thriller we have broken the rule on occasions, these were mainly the shots filmed first when we had little experience. The option was there to re shot but I think intentionally using the shots where the 180 degree rule was broken was to our advantage because it distorts and confuses the audience. We have already included a clue about Maddie’s death and we don’t want to give too much away so by breaking the rule it shows the distortion. The house party is where the rule has been broken the most; I think this is suitable because it shows the audience that the characters are drunk and disorientated. We decided not to use Film Noire where venetian blinds are used to establish a mysterious character or place; we wanted a more modern approach as our audience is based upon teenagers.
By casting ourselves as actors we were inspired by Alfred Hitchcock. When directing many of his films he makes an appearance as an extra or small character. Making an appearance in 39 out of 52 of his films we can see the importance and consistency he used meaning that it was something of great importance to him, it gave him a style and the audience could establish and relate that it was a Alfred Hitchcock’s film as an appearance from him would most commonly been seen. So by casting ourselves we are developing a style as directors, it was also convenience that cast me as Rose, Lauren as Maddie and Anastazja as Ivy as employing a cast may have been unreliable as they may not have been available to film on certain dates but by casting ourselves and friends we were sure that we were available for filming. This way we all got a turn on the camera directing as each of us had to make an appearance, obviously mine and Laurens characters appear more, but there were still scenes we could film.
I am extremely pleased with the success of our framing. When watching La Haine, the framing in the film was exquisite, for when they walk through the petrol station the rule of thirds is established and the two characters are on the lines of the beams that are holding the station up and when they walk further out the buildings are all aligned on the horizon. They are not all the same size but the director has created a shot in which he found a place where they all aligned to make the storyline and narrative clear, by having clear shots the narrative becomes more rich and alive. Applying this to our thriller we aligned the door frame of the opening shot of me washing my hands in sink, further to this the staircase outside of school and in Maddie’s home have been lined up to clearly show the setting. When Maddie is getting Rose a drink, the door frame is again nicely shot, we have many framing shots and I am pleased with this success. I did think that throughout our thriller we experimented well with the various types of shots used as we had reverse shot, high angles, framing, long tracking shots and over the shoulder shots so I am pleased with variety we have used, it makes the movie quick paced witch keeps up with the teenage audience we are aiming our thriller at as today in the film industry invisible editing and short quick shots allows escapism and enjoyment of watching films and TV.
The French new wave movement explains a liner storyline from where you have a beginning middle and end, we have followed this but cannot film the whole movie as our task was to film a five minute clip, but we did think of the rest of the movie and this helped us in filming as we knew what to foreshadow and how to fade out because we knew the scenes that would follow. Having a prologue at the beginning sets the audience up as they have some background knowledge of the events to follow, I think it’s mysterious and grips the audience from the start as its present day rewinding backwards through to the previous day, and this has been shown in a short amount of time of 5 minutes. It then continues to resent day again where the real mystery of investigation takes place. Our production company clips also show a clear beginning to our thriller as we have both direction and funding companies. The opening credits begin and it starts with the two production companies followed by directors and then the main actors in ranking of fame and participation within the film, as for example my name is last and has ‘Starring’ implying as I am the main character I am of a more famous status than the rest of the actors and actresses in the film. We knew how to order our opening credits from watching Silence of the Lambs and the Departed. Silence Of The Lambs showed a clear understanding of the rolling credits as for in the Departed they weren’t included until later on within the film.
By setting equilibrium and using ordinary people we have created an extraordinary situation. I am pleased with the strength and success of the script because I think it gives a clear narrative, we have produce a product in which is chilling as I think its original having the equilibrium and normality defiantly gives it the codes and conventions of a thriller as when studying existing thrillers the first 5 minutes was about normality, we have reflected this within our production.
The music in which we have used suits our target audience of teenagers as its modern music technology ‘Dub Step’ at the beginning. We used chilled dub step which is mysterious and chilling and this contrast with the scary scene (loud up beat dub step) showing the difference between the equilibrium (normal situation)and the turn of events that give the movie its thriller status. As our target audience are ‘Digital Native’s’ according to Rupert Murdoch the use of modern technology should appeal to them in many ways.
Overall I am extremely happy with how we have established and got across to the audience that our movie product is a thriller, I think it becomes clear that we have included as many codes and conventions possible to reflect the genre ‘Thriller'.


How does your media product represent particular social groups?-We have represented different social groups by making our product a teen thriller. Starring within our production are all working class teenagers. We have based the storyline and narrative on a teen drama that takes a thriller twist, by creating the equilibrium where it’s an ordinary situation, a narrative about two best friends having boy troubles came to light; this is stereotypically a teen movie. Having teenagers star in the film instantly shows its target audience and teenagers will watch this for their own gratification, because they may be able to relate to the situation the two best friends are in. Two guys are giving them a hard time, leading them on and then not texting back, it’s the beginning of realisation that relationships are harder than they first appear. Having a party scene with underage drinking and dub step music also establishes the teenage rebellious stage, and older person wouldn’t be able to relate to this and would not find any enjoyment from watching it, this is why it would appeal to the teenage audience. By developing a friendship so close we used shots where the camera was in front of Rose and Maddie on their walk home this is showing the audience the importance of their closeness, because when you’re a teenager you have your best friends and then your class mate, whereas when your older you’re more likely to just have group of friends and not label each one in how close thy are to you. Setting the scene around a school resembles the age and social group we are betraying as young students aged between 16 -18 will be in sixth form, the school does look moderately posh, this establishes that these teenagers come from good backgrounds. We have quite a lot of high angle shots and this can be analysed as the camera being above them meaning they still have a lot to learn and growing up to do, it’s almost looking down on them and intimidating them. I am very happy with the success of how we represented our social group.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?-As our thriller is based upon teenagers, platforms such as Facebook, YouTube and MySpace would be an appropriate place to distribute our media product as the age group on these networking sites will be around the same age and the actors starring in the film, meaning it may appeal to them more that the older generation. Videos once uploaded on these social networking sites can be shared and liked and this increases their popularity, this is why I think these platforms would be successful in promoting and distributing our thriller.

Who would be the audience and why?-The audience would be teenagers aged between 15-19 because I think they would watch the movie for their own gratification. It’s a typical teenage situation where two girls are having guy troubles, we set the equilibrium but then something goes wrong and the thriller aspects appear. In cinemas it would be rated a 15 because of content, gore and language, so the age can’t be lower than 15 years of age. The older generation would not enjoy this I do not think because they won’t be able to relate to it. In the party scene we have used a modern form of music ‘dub step’ this appeals mainly to teenagers today as it’s a recent development in music. Also wild house parties are stereotypically pinned on teenagers and this is why we have included that type of environment amongst scenes of the school because they create normal situations teenagers are always in. The hot tub outside empathises the teen audience as flashing lights and loud music (playing in the background as there is dialogue) is shown. It’s a rebellious scene within our thriller and I think our audience can relate to this as they are experiencing all sorts of emotions with their hormone levels. Teenagers enjoy the thrill of watching a scary chilling film, also a large group of friends may go to view the movie if it were out at cinemas because teenagers are sociable and meet up. They get the image they want by watching this rated film as teenagers do depend on what others think I feel.

How did you attract/address your audience?-We attracted our audience by making the film appeal to teenagers who are the voyeur audience. We have done this by setting the equilibrium; this is an ordinary situation where two teenagers are having boy drama a typical subject for teen movies. We included a party scene with modern music known as dub step. This is very new and on ‘trend’ meaning it appeals to the teen age bracket. I think even the costumes attract the audience because all clothes worn are fashionable and in modern societies style, these are the sort of clothes the audience either desires to own or currently owns. This is established in CLAMPS, The costumes are fashionable and of a teenage style, the lightning reflects a thriller as its sinister and mysterious, the actors are the age of the audience, so they will be able to relate to that characters, maybe watching it for their own gratification, a voyeur audience. Makeup and props- a lot of alcohol and drugs are used this stereotypically means teenagers and they are mostly associated with these objects. Also we made sure bags and school folders were used to show that the characters are students. The settings are places in which only teenagers are found, at a sixth form centre and a house party, retained to teenagers. Our shots are quick and fast paced as we have got a lot them, some longer than others, but in modern TV everything nowadays is fast and invisible to watch, teenagers are used to this TV so we have reciprocated that within our production.  Being the digital narratives according to Rupert Murdoch we used modern forms of technology like the music dub step. We set the equilibrium so the situation is normal and then extraordinary events take place I think this will attract our audience as they are in situations where one minute everything is fine and then the next a turn of events has taken place. The title oracle means something hidden or mystery, this will draw the audience in as teenagers are always looking from excitement and thrills. I think we have addressed the audience with the high angle shots we use, it represents looking down on them, they have a lot of growing up to do and they are inexperienced in life, I think the camera shows there place in society. As Barton Fink uses a cast of adults, the film is more likely to appeal to that age bracket; the actors within our production come into the age bracket we are addressing. Overall I think we have addressed and attracted our audience appropriately.


What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?-Using final cut express was extremely difficult and at first I did not enjoy working with it, it was extremely temperamental and hard to use. I thought it was inconvenient and not user friendly. We found that we didn’t know how to use the programme when we first started working with it and when we tried to do produce something it either wouldn’t work or we could find what we were looking for. But as time when on we learnt many features of final cut express and even if I wasn’t the one editing and just imputing my ideas we would all watch the person editing so we would learn different functions. What we found difficult was finding the right effect. We looked through all the effects but you can’t preview them you have to drag them onto the clip you want and then render that whole section. If that’s not effect you were looking you would have to undo this and complete the process again with another effect. I thought this was very inconvenient and not very advanced and couldn’t understand why the producers of the programme hadn’t made it easier to use. In the end we found the echo effect we were looking for as this is added from where I take the week so the audience gains an insight that Rose is high and not in her right state of mind. Adding text was extremely difficult, firstly trying to add it to our preliminary was not successful, so that doesn’t have any text included upon that sequence as we could not work out have to impose the text onto a moving image, not even with the teachers help. When editing our final thriller we really needed to find out how text could be imposed onto a moving clip, in one of my frees I asked a teacher and she showed me that you have to drag the text to the V3 line which we had never tried before as we were either imputing it within the same line of our sequence or the line below. Now I could add this effect producing the opening credits became easier but still was very time consuming. At first we had the opening credits crawling across the screen but the teacher commented that it looked to student film like so we managed to fade the opening credits in, coming up in different places during the beginning of our thriller. We could play around with the text setting making it crawling, stand still or typewrite. The typewriter effect was used for the title oracle and then we proceeded to use the transition fade in to a standing text effect. Transitions was another factor in which we found hard to complete. We could not fade out to black and then fade back in from black everything we tried simply didn’t work. We even watched YouTube tutorial and asked for the teachers help and nothing worked. When asking friends there’s had simply worked by dragging it on the clip where it was wanted but for some reason on our timeline it would allow us the extend the transition so it stood at a milli second and this is why the transition was not visible to see. Finally after playing around with the sequence and transitions for hours we moved our timeline down to V1 and selected the whole of the sequence to the right of the clip that we wanted the fade out on and moved them apart. I then inserted the transition and it allowed us to change the timing, it was successful in working. The only thing we could not do was fade in from back. We tried many more things to try and fade back in but it just wouldn’t work, but we were satisfied with the transition we had managed to achieve as we think it looked effective and maybe a fade in wasn’t needed after all as the professional look we wanted was there. But positively the colour corrector worked to our advantage as the scenes outside in the dark were at risk of having to re shot as you as the audience couldn’t see our faces or bodies but we managed to increase the fill light and it made us visible. Also when I am passed the week two clips were used and cut together but the hot tub lights change colour, we managed to resolve this by putting a pinkie purple filter over one of the clips but this did decrease the quality of filming and the screen looked a little graining, this would be an improvement for next time. We should have kept the hot lights on one colour to avoid this mistake. Our teacher says the quality doesn’t matter as it was a very short clip anyway so we are pleased with the colours input within our timeline. Adding the music was also a positive factor about final cut express as we could easily produce sub clips and insert the music on the lines below. The transitions were also easy to layer on and the timing could be changed simply by dragging the transition from the sides. I feel that whilst producing our thriller I have edited a significant amount in final cut express, my partners are always there to aid me and input their ideas and we did take it in turns to use but I was pleased with the input I made as I felt I wasn’t just sitting back but actually getting hands on and producing our thriller. I think final cut express is a excellent programme as now I know my basic way around the software, I wouldn’t use it at home or recommend it because we did have a lot of trouble using it and our experience was not enjoyable, but it does have many positive factors that I can now see.


Looking back at your preliminary task, what did you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product? - We have leant many things since filming our preliminary. When we first opened final cut express we knew nothing about the software, now we have created a 5 minute thriller using all aspects, like music, effects and transition. From studying different existing thrillers we gained a concept of how to apply different techniques to show our production as a thriller, these were such things as an establishing shot, making sure there was equilibrium, liner storyline and there are many more aspects. I think we organised ourselves well and having studied thrillers we knew how to apply the techniques used in those to our own idea. As we structured and came up with our concept, we had lots of ideas which we sat down, disused and then picked the best options according on whether it fit into the codes and conventions of a thriller. Planning was quite simple as our idea formed quite easily and quickly as we had lots of influence and inspiration. The script and storyboard were devised and produced quickly so we could commence filming. When filming, our script altered slightly according to the objects available to us at the time for example we did not have vodka and coke so changed it to Malibu and pineapple. Some shots could not be filled so we didn’t entirely keep to the storyboard as sometimes we experimented with what looked best and tried framing as much as possible. I now know how to create a thriller and the codes and conventions acquired to fulfil this, Using final cut express I know what effects are where and what does look appealing. If I were to use the programme again it would be a quicker process as the majority of things I would need to do I know how. This coursework has taught me many things and I think I have made a massive progression from filming the preliminary. We went through the process of having to re shot many times but we got the shots we needed in the end to create a successful thriller. At  the begging we had no idea about how hard the continuity would be to shoot and once we gained an understanding of this we re-shot something many times to ensure we had the right shot to minimise having to re shoot as we learnt weather is an issue as you have to match what’s already been filmed. We had to take a clip of our thriller out when the car nearly hits Maddie as we couldn’t re shoot and it didn’t look continual, the weather was not good enough to re shoot so we cut this from our production. Working with friends went really well as we all input our ideas and did an equal amount of work, we got on as a group and I think this has helped make our thriller a success. Working with a large cast the party scene was difficult because there was a lot of people to control and as the directors we have a visual image for what we want the thriller to look like and we need to input that within the extras heads, so we briefed them and told about our thriller, the coursework outline, our script and storyboard so they gained an insight and proper understanding of what they needed to do. Being the directors we had control over everything, CLAMPS was important. The costumes were easy to produce as we are all teenagers of the working class, we can afford nice fashionable clothing which was used within the thriller. The lighting throughout our production was fine apart from the outside scene where our bodies could not be seen, this is where final cut express was useful as colour corrector allowed us to resolve lighting issues in the dark and also set the scene outside to make it look eerie and mysterious. Actors and actress we employed as ourselves and friends as this was more convenient, we were always available to film as were our friends and it also showed codes and conventions as Alfred Hitchcock takes part in many of his films. Makeup and props we used well I think making sure all props stayed in the same place if in a room so the continuity of the shots look effective otherwise objects would have been jumping around. We actually had made physical props such as our motif picture and if we didn’t have a prop mentioned in the script we would add the necessary speech to the props we had available so everything flowed correctly. The setting and scenes were established, meeting the codes and conventions of a thriller. Establishing sixth form and a party scene showed that it was a teenage audience as not only did the actors reflect this with their age but the settings are of those where you would find a teenager. I have learnt many things from filming this thriller like the software final cut express as I know my way around that programme now, I know how to construct a thriller using all the codes and conventions and I am pleased with the organised we had to complete this coursework because I feel it has been a success. 

By Jordan Gale

26th and 27th update

26^th and 27^th update

We went about finalizing everything our teacher told us to add or change and we sorted out the opening credits so instead of crawling in, they fade in and out popping up at different places on the screen. We simply did this by making the text standing and adding a fade out transition on each one separately then dragged them closer together. We then held the frame of text on the movie and moved it to a different position. We burned our thriller to a disc and choose a theme that suited our thriller. The opening theme is set on a carpet with things scattered on the floor, there is a party scene within our thriller and at party’s things go all over the floor also there is a note book on the floor that opens up and one of our production companies is called notebook productions. When trying to burn our thriller to the disc first tie it didn’t work nor did the music we input but the second time we inserted an image and the burning was successful.

By Jordan Gale 

Evaluation, Vlog, Lauren Taylor.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My vlog which answers this question for part of my evaluation. 1 of 2.

Lauren Taylor.

Evaluation, Vlog- Lauren Taylor.

Who would be the audience for your media product?
My Vlog which answers this question as part of my evaluation. Video 2 of 2.

Lauren Taylor.

Evaluation, Lauren Taylor.

Evaluation.

In what ways does your media product use, develop, or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

          Our final product (the first 5 minutes of Teenage psychological thriller ) relates too many of the thrillers we have studied previously, for example ‘Psycho’ by Alfred Hitchcock, plus it challenges and develops the conventions of a thriller successfully. Oracle: Mystery, Something is hidden, Uncertainty.
Relating this to Film Noir (often a detective thriller), it features many conventions such as; suits, venetian blinds (cutting out the outside world), smoking, femme fetale, reluctant hero, establishing shots of city settings, monochrome lighting effects, cut- away shots to hide information and voice over’s our thriller develops and challenges features of this. Firstly we have not directly used venetian blinds, however for the party scene; in the conservatory setting the blinds have been drawn, cutting off the outside setting of the hot tub where Rose later partakes in drug-taking, later leading to kill her best friend. This, to me, symbolises how this ‘dangerous’ outside setting has been blocked out from the ‘ordinary situation’, because outside these blinds lies a thrilling conclusion of a murder, that has been excluded form the internal setting. The typical smoking convention of Film Noir has been challenged and changed into drug taking- relating to our teenage audience and keeping it up to date and contemporary. The femme fetale typically seen in Film Noir would have been a blonde, who was strong minded, yet vulnerable and often needs help – this relates to the character of Maddie who is blonde and tries to take the lead role by attempting to calm Rose down after she becomes slightly aggressive after taking the drugs and drinking alcohol, becoming the strong minded character, however she is a weak character and in need of help, due to the fact she is murdered by her best friend Rose. We do not have a specific reluctant hero, challenging the conventions of Film Noir; however I feel that the femme fetale, Maddie, also takes on this role slightly by trying to control the situation with no real intention of wanting to become the hero; however this is dismissed because she is murdered.
In contrast to the establishing shot of city setting often used in Film Noir, we have used a school establishing shot which relates to our teen audience, and this provides anew and fresh setting for the ordinary situation to take place. Also as the houses are in rural areas- it makes the murder even more chilling and thrilling as it is not expected in such a setting. Film Noir often uses Monochrome lighting, yet as this is to appeal to teenagers- and their role as ‘digital natives’, colour is essential in keeping them actively engaged in what is unravelling during the film, and as black and white can been seen as too ‘old fashioned’, we chose not to use this in our thriller. Another lighting effect I find particularly successful is the shot of Maddie in her Kitchen setting, the lighting from the window adds a perfect amount of shadow, plus the cream costume of Maddie blends with the similar colour scheme of the kitchen, suggesting how she belongs in this setting and is the ‘innocent victim’, due to the fact as soon as she is placed in a dark setting outside, she is murdered. In addition, we have developed the idea of the ‘cut-away’ shot that is often used in Film Noir, as the ‘fade to black transition’ used at the end where Rose looks into the mirror. This cuts away from her face quickly a she lifts her hands to the mirror, the blood obviously signifying a bad act that has taken place, suggesting she is hiding something- the audience then become intrigued to know what this is and keep engaged with the thriller.

Todorov's Narrative theory is a thriller convention that has been used in our media product. We begin with dis-equilibrium of Rose washing blood from her hands in a bathroom sink. We then flick back to the previous day where an Equilibrium is established- the normality of two best friends walking home, discussing boy troubles and typical teenager problems, the Disequilibrium then appears when Rose has taken the drugs- normality has been tarnished, the ‘Echo’ filter helps to justify this mindset of Rose and the lack of normality. The next structural law in this theory would be Realisation of disequilibrium, however Rose is unaware of her actions, on the other hand Maddie realises something is wrong and tries to calm Rose down- which would be the ‘attempt to resolve’ point in his theory. The resolution involves the death of Maddie, yet the re-equilibrium does not follow. In addition to this, it is needed to be kept in mind that we have only created the first 5 minutes of a thriller, yet this theory would run throughout the entire film, fitting the conventions of a thriller. Another point is Propp's Narrative Theory, which gives us character types such the Transient characters- which appear in and out of the film, such as Ezra, Doug, Ivy and Alexa.
Relating this to the action thriller ‘The Dark Knight’, the equilibrium is immediately disrupted with the smash of a window, which relates to our equilibrium becoming disrupted straight away with Rose washing her blood-covered hands in the sink. This is a convention often used in thrillers to draw the audience into the storyline of the film. The binary oppositions of Good vs. Evil in this thriller and many others has been adapted to fit ours, however we have developed this with the idea that even the best of friends can have their troubles, and certain situations can bring out the worst in people, playing on the convention of dramatic irony to keep the audience in suspense.

Alfred Hitchcock has been a large influence in our thriller- as we used  Hitchcock’s quote to describe Thrillers as; ‘Ordinary People in Extraordinary Situations’ as the main basis for our idea. We follow a normal day of ordinary teenagers getting prepared for a party, yet this leads to an extraordinary situation of the death of Maddie, making this media product even more ‘Thrilling ’ and fitting in with the genre of our film. As an Auteur director, Hitchcock would often add features too many of his films, that would act as his own ‘personal stamp’, for example guest starring in all of his films. As we directed this film as a group, we were all included in the filming process to act as our ‘guest appearance’, however we develop this convention as we take the lead roles in the thriller, where Hitchcock would often take on the role of a spectator. In ‘Psycho’ Hitchcock adds the idea of Marion’s ‘Double Identity as he uses the mirror to relate to how she gives Norman a false identity at the hotel. In our thriller, we have included the use of a mirror- where Rose is studying the fake tan bottle, this relates to Roses’ double identity as she adopts an alternative identity after she takes the drugs which results in her killing her best friend, Maddie. The very high angle shot used by Hitchcock (where Norman carries his mother across the landing in Psycho) has been slightly adapted in our thriller as we chose to use this for the establishing shots of the party, giving the audience a clear image of where the setting is- we were originally going to use a birds-eye view shot, which was essentially what Hitchcock used, however it was impossible to film any higher than we had already and, as a group we were significantly pleased with this shot.
In A Bout de Soufflé, a bold visual style is adapted where a hand held camera is used; capturing jump cuts which reminds the audience that the film is not real life and also adds a quirky, modern style which we felt would look beneficial on our thriller. This convention has been developed in our thriller-the, hand-held camera relates to the tracking shot of Maddie walking through the party looking for rose, plus the shot of Rose and Maddie running and screaming through the woods/street.  This is allowing the audience to see through the eyes of Rose, the distorted ‘Echo’ video filter develops this convention further, adding our own personal stamp to our media product as a group.

         In the crime thriller Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, we have taken the single tracking shot that is used to follow the men through the shop, and developed this to side-on tracking shot of Rose and Maddie walking out from school, allowing us to start our thriller by using a diverse selection of shot types and camera angles. The Typewriter font that is used has been adapted as we have added typewriter font on top of the clip, instead of onto a black clip like in this film. Originally we were all very keen to use the shot where the ‘collision’ on the stairs took place and the speed of the clip decreased and normalized to represent this, however we have adapted this onto our ‘Notebook productions’ at the start where we have increased the speed in which the writing appears- persuading the audience to watch the thriller, and it adds our groups personal stamp onto the media product.

In La Haine the rule of thirds is positioned and planned extremely carefully- for example the shot, where the camera has been placed so that the buildings are in perfect alignment with each other (this has been posted on our blog previously). Therefore as we were filming we wanted to experiment with a large, diverse range of camera shots and movements, where we focused a lot on framing with doors, stairs, bars etc that gave the shots a little more ‘edge’ and contemporary style that developed this ordinary convention of films. Another point would be the mirror shot that is used in La Haine (insert image), influenced us to use this in our own thriller, yet we chose to shoot from a slight side on angle so the camera did not appear in the footage- however if we had more time I feel that we would have been able to achieve the shot they use where the camera takes the role of being ‘inside’ the mirror, therefore placing the audience in direct eye-line relation to the character and helping them to see through the eyes of the character, making the thriller more realistic and enticing to watch.

         Relating our thriller to the Coen brothers films that we watched in the beginning of our research into thriller films, the ‘Willing Suspension of Disbelief’ is a convention where tension is built and the audience are kept in suspense about what will happen, however it is fate that saves the innocent victim- for example the flip of the coin in ‘No Country for Old Men’. Yet in Oracle we have challenged this idea as fate has not saved the innocent victim, yet the audience are kept in suspense with relation to the Motifs used throughout the start to our thriller. Motifs are used throughout many of the Coen Brothers films as they are objects, pictures ect that appear throughout which the audience then must uncover the secret meaning behind. For example in Barton Fink, the typewriter is a main motif that seems to have significant meaning throughout, I feel that it reminds the audience how this is a fictional film and we are being taken on a metaphorical journey of the mind. Although it does not appear throughout, as our clip is only the start of the thriller, we have inserted the Foreshadowing of danger (for Maddies' character), as the crinkled and ripped photo falls form Roses bag. If we were to create the entire sequence of Oracle, this photo would proberly become a motif throughout- appearing quite frequently and allowing the audience to attach their own meaning to it. The music we have used at the start is then played when the photo appears, allowing the audience to make a connection and attach meanings and possible ideas to this photo. This gives the audience access to information that the characters are completely unaware of- dramatic irony, another typical media convention we have developed in our thriller.
Shot reverse shot is a typical media convention used in many films- not necessarily specific to a thriller genre. In the bathroom scene (scene 2), we have incorporated this into the conversation of Ezra and Rose talking. We felt that this added to the diverse selection of shots we have already used and placed the audience in the position of the characters, keeping them more involved and wanting to continue watching. The over the shoulder shot has been used in scene 3, where Rose and Maddie are talking by the hot tub. The echo video filter which we added after Rose has taken the drugs has allowed us to develop this typical convention as we can see Maddie from Roses point of view, yet we have angled the shot so you can slightly see the side of Roses face- which moves distortedly with the Filter, explaining to the audience Roses unstable state of mind, making this clear for the audience to see and relate to.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

         I feel that Warner Bros Entertainment would be a successful company to promote, distribute market and license our Thriller. After research into the company, I discovered important aspects which helped me to make this choice, these include; as A Time Warner Company , Warner Bros Entertainment  is at the front of every aspect of the Entertainment industry, making it well-known to many people across the globe. Warner Bros Entertainment has a library consisting of 6,650 feature films, along with other media products such as 14, 00 animated titles. To follow form this point, Warner Bros Pictures International is a global leader in the distribution and marketing in films, which operates in over 30 countries worldwide, allowing international releases in over 120 overseas companies. Relating to our teenage audience of 14- 29 year olds- this company is well know and produced films such as; ‘The Dark Knight’, ‘Harry Potter’, ‘Happy Feet’ and ‘The Lucky One’, which shows how they are able to attract a vast and diverse audience, and have had experience marketing and distributing thrillers (e.g. The Dark Knight), plus they have promoted and distributed films which relate to our target audience, such as ‘The Lucky One’, therefore I feel that this company would be able to help aid us with guidance and their knowledge of how to successfully promote, market, brand, distribute and license our Thriller ‘Oracle’ to the best of its ability.

In addition, as the target audience for our thriller are noted in the category of ‘Digital Natives’ (Rupert Murdoch), I feel a successful media to promote our thriller would be Facebook. The online social networking site is used by people of ALL ages across the globe- especially teenagers, it will be able to catch the audience’s attention without them having to directly go out of their way to find the film. Plus as many teenagers are involved with groups on face book and watch/view other advertisements, they could be more trusting with what the film is as adverts are often posted relating to previous history- this allows the person to know if the film will be suited to what they like to watch. Another institution to distribute our thriller could be iTunes. This multi-platform, horizontal and vertical integration media can access the audience’s attention on numerous platforms- such as the Iphone, IPod, IPod, and they don’t even necessarily even have to move an inch! They also often give out a single of the week, yet this could be used to promote and distribute our thriller by firstly selling it for a lower price as Film of the week.

How did you attract/address your audience?

As we are the part of the teenage audience, we decided to use a typical teenager situation which is flipped upside down and turned into a Thriller. Here I am going to explain how our audience will be attracted to our thriller- also how they can relate to it, explaining how we have addressed our target audience for our Thriller.
In Oracle we have focused on a typical teenager situation, as our audience is for roughly the ages of 14- late 20’s. This allows the audience to again, be able to relate to what is happening- to a certain level- as they discuss boy troubles, get together to get ready for a party and have a good time with one another. However this ordinary situation with ordinary people is then flipped upside down as the taking of drugs causes an extraordinary situation to take place- the death of Roses best friend, Maddie, where she is the murderer. Although the audience would not necessarily be able to relate to this situation- it makes the film more thrilling, filling the conventions of a film that is in the thriller subgenre of a psychological thriller.  This can play with the audiences mind making them ask questions such as; what if that was me taking the drugs? It is possible that I would act in the same way?
The teenage audience is familiar with antagonist ad protagonists used in action thrillers such as ‘The Dark Knight’, where the Joker acts as the antagonist, and obviously Batman acts as the protagonist. The binary oppositions of Good vs. Evil also come into play here, along with the relation to our thriller where the innocent protagonist loses her life. The antagonist in the start of our thriller would be Rose as she turns into the; evil’ character, this stereotypical character would allows the audience to relate to what was happening, making it more interesting for them to watch and keep them on their toes throughout. The protagonist- stereotypical ‘good’ character is a role that is filled by Maddie in Oracle, before she is murdered.

What have you learnt about techniques from the process of constructing this product?

            Overall I have learnt a significant amount about the filming and editing process, one point being how it takes a very long time to film even the shortest of shots- to make sure that the angle/movement of the camera is correct and flows with the rest of the clips when they are put together. Another point is how it is extremely difficult to make sure that the shots have continuity when put together. For example when we filmed the section where Maddie nearly gets hits by the car, by Rose pulls her back; there was a green car in the background behind Rose. Then, when we started to film the start of the shot where the camera tracks Maddie and Rose leaving school, the car drove away- therefore when the two clips were put together, it lacked continuity and did not look successful at all. As a group, we then decided to take out this clip, as we felt it ruined the vast selection of camera angles we have included and reduced the professionalism of our thriller. We also discovered how it is very difficult to stick to the storyboard exactly, as when you begin to film, you start to experiment with camera angles- adding in and taking away what you feel is appropriate. When we were filming, we considered the rule of thirds by using framing frequently in our shots, and therefore we added in this and experimented with new angles- such as the high angle at the top of the stairs when Maddie walks down them as the doorbell rings- this gives the audience power over Maddie- foreshadowing the danger that lie ahead for her character. We all found Final Cut Express very difficult to use, having to render whenever you make a change, adding transitions took us hours to sort out plus the video filters and effects did not seem to be ‘professional’ looking, therefore we could not include many of them. However, after many hours of editing, I feel that our final thriller includes strong dialogue and a diverse selection of camera angles throughout- with the fade to black transitions completing the thriller perfectly- showing the passing of time in a professional manner.

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Firstly we did have to re-film our preliminary task due to the fact it was not related to a certain director- as we did not know this was necessary as it was not mentioned to us first of all.  However after filming the preliminary for a second time, we were all much happier with this preliminary as it included a more improved sense of continuity. Having to re-film was a setback for us, yet it was useful as it prepared us for when we created our actual thriller. This is because we constantly had to re-shoot sections to keep improving our final product; therefore in the long run it helped us significantly when dealing with having to re-shoot etc.

I am still very pleased with our 2^nd piece of preliminary work as we created a short spy story that focused on Guy Ritchie’s Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels opening scene where we gained the inspiration for this- such as the tracking shot use when the men walk through the shop- relating this to Jordan as the camera tracks her from an eye line level as she crouches long the floor, looking around as she does so. The shots that we used in our preliminary enables us to experiment with the camera angles, shot types etc, where we could then develop these for out final thriller product. For example the shot reverse shot used where the spy (antagonist) is talking to the protagonist, is one which we decided to include in the bathroom scene (scene 2) as it allows the audience to connect to the characters on a emotional level.  The panning shot that we used when the spy burst through the door was one we used for the establishing shot of the school (sign) in Oracle, testing out these camera angles beforehand in our preliminary, enabled us to have sufficient knowledge on what shots and angles work well together- and those that do not. An example of this would be that including a close up shot of feet walking from a straight on angle and then cutting to a mid shot of the person walking from the same angle seems to lack continuity and therefore we knew we couldn’t include this as it would not flow well together in the series of clips. The dialogue we used in our preliminary helped us to decide to develop a clear narrative in our final product. Another point we discovered throughout this entire process is that the weather and lighting has a dramatic effect on whether you can film or not- and therefore slows down the process- this happened many times where we were unable to film as it would ruin the continuity of the clips. However we learnt to over-come this and fill the time by editing clips we already had ect. A new idea which we developed in our final product is the Reversing of a clip- this has been used on the clip at the start where Rose is washing her hands in the sink as it then leads into the ‘previous day’ sequence, taking the audience ‘back through time’ of what has happened. This shot is then repeated at the end in normal format to bring the audience back to the beginning, and it would then flow into the rest of the movie.

To conclude the process of researching, planning, filming, re-filming, editing and finalising our final media product of a psychological teen thriller has been challenging, yet a task which has been exciting to complete as a group, as we were able to develop a wide range of knowledge of directors and camera angles that would benefit this genre of film. I am pleased with the final product as I feel the camera angles, dialogue, music fits together to create an intriguing thriller for the target audience. If we were to complete this product again, things to take into consideration would be; the mise en scene of the shots- is everything the same in each clip, have new objects appeared that were not there before?, the lighting so that characters can be seem more clearly in night time shots etc.. Yet on the other hand this has been our first attempt with planning and creating a thriller- and editing using Final Cut Express, therefore I feel proud of what we have managed to produce as a group.

*Aspects I like and Dislike about our Final Media Product, plus future improvements that could be made*

            As I am in the target audience age range, I have picked out a few aspects I particularly like about Oracle. For example, the sound bridge from the laptop in the bedroom where Alexa presses the button, to the high angle shot in the living room setting of the party scene. The fade in where the music increases volume mirrors the increase in height of the position of the camera. The opening shot where the camera frames the door, then uses a tracking shot to focus in on the blood in the sink is slightly blurred, which complements the ‘morning after the night before’ style, and allows the audience to adapt a point-of-view shot and become involved in the thriller immediately. The rule of thirds has been considered carefully when we filmed Rose’s feet running down the stairs the opening to the previous day sequence, as the bars of the stairs have been positioned central to the camera, also Rose is walking central between the stairs, giving a smooth, professional and flowing feel to the shot. The low angle shot of the bag on the floor in the bedroom gives the audience access to the photo shot that the characters are unaware of, clearly inserting dramatic irony. Another shot I have pleased with is where Maddie runs down the stairs in the from her bedroom, the alignment of the bars and shadows create an interesting, stimulating shot that keeps the audience involved as they follow the spiral movement of Maddie running down the stairs, keeping them intrigued with the thriller.
In contrast, there are also shots where I feel we would have improved or are not as good as they could be, for example; the shot where Rose and Maddie walk through the door into Maddie’s house, Rose actually opens the doors- this could be misleading to the audience and we would therefore change this if we were to re-shoot this again. Also, in this same shot, Maddie leaves the door wide open- you wouldn’t leave the door to your house wide open! So therefore if we were to re-film, shutting the door would be required. Another shot we decided as a group that we were not happy with was in the hot tub scene where Doug takes the drugs from a character in the hot tub- the speech and cut jumps slightly, not giving the effect of complete continuity, however we were about to change the filter on the lighting so it contrast between the purple and blue was not so stark, although if we were to re-shoot, we would change the setting on the lights on the hot tub so they did not change colour and improved the continuity. Finally the blinds in the conservatory in the over the shoulder shot of Rose by the hot tub are not drawn- yet they were at the start of the party. We had to open the blinds to add more lighting into the clip, yet if we were prepared with correct lighting equipment- such as a lamp behind the camera, this would have improved the continuity of the sequence. In addition, we did feel that as a group the dark lighting of this outside  clip added to the sense of mystery to the ‘teenage drug taking setting’, and fit in with the theme of our psychological thriller, building up the tension to the hand shot at the end.

Lauren Taylor.