Sofia's Evaluation

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

In order to create a tension and suspense building thriller opening, conventions are challenged and developed.  A typical thriller opening includes "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo." This opening follows the conventions and expectations of a thriller opening. 

 The scene begins with a package being opened with a knife. Straight away we see conventions of the thriller genre which include a knife and a mysterious package. The man is wearing gloves which connotes danger and crimes being committed.

 The male character is surrounded by darkness so that the audience can focus on his facial expressions. His face is lit up with bright lights to attract attention. In thriller openings darkness and shadows create enigma which creates mystery and fear. In addition a variety of shots such as close ups and long shots are used throughout to entertain the audience and keep them interested. In thriller openings close ups are used to emphasise an object of importance which may foreshadow future events.  As seen in the screen grab below, typical costumes for thrillers include dark clothing which hides a character's identity and causes the audience to focus on them. 

My media project develops a variety of conventions of media projects but also challenges them.


In the first scene we immediately show conventions of thriller openings. This is because the film is set at night time which therefore creates a dark and brooding atmosphere. As the car approaches the audience feels a sense of fear and vulnerability which is also portrayed in the female character. The quick pace of shots as the male character approaches the door is a technique that many use within thriller openings because it increases the viewer's heart rate and makes us feel anxious. The soundtrack begins when the male character enters the house. The slow non - diegetic music shows a sense of pain and distress. Thriller openings want to make the audience feel fearful as they are watching because this intrigues them and gets them hooked.  The music changes as the female character drops the plate on the floor. We hear a loud smash which shows the audience. The following shot is of the male character clenching his fist connoting anger and frustration. The non diegetic music puts the audience on edge because of its eerie and apprehensive sound. In addition, we used high angle shots to convey the importance and strength of the male character. He is conflicting the pain and violence onto the female. She looks insignificant and dominated by her partner.

However, our thriller opening also challenges thriller expectations. The female character finally escapes from the male and she runs up the stairs, shown in the screen grab on the left. In many thriller openings the female character is the victim throughout but in our opening we see the characters shift. But we are soon disappointed when the male character follows her upstairs and abruptly closes the door behind them because we know that something will happen.
In addition, we have used a close up of wine being poured into a glass. Wine usually symbolises socialising and relaxation which calms people down. On the other hand, it portrays escapism from reality. We decided to use wine in our sequence to juxtapose the positive connotations which frightens the audience.

We decided not to use dialogue throughout the opening. The effect of this allows the non-diegetic music to establish the mood and atmosphere without using dialogue. It also makes it more thrilling because it makes it seem as though the female knows that something is going to occur, suggesting that it's been going on for a long time. The only sound we hear from the female is a scream, which causes the scream to seem more distressing.







2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My media product represents social groups in many ways. Firstly, a gender hierarchy is represented in the thriller opening immediately. This is because the victim of the domestic violence is a female showing that she is weak and insignificant to the unidentified male character. The man wears a smart suit which shows that he hold a high status within a business so he has a strong personality that can be very dominating. This causes the female character to fear him and his power. We show this my using many high angle shots of the male looking over the female character. The audience feel intimidated and tense. This is a negative representation of women because she is portrayed as being fragile and insignificant. This makes it more appealing to our target audience (young females) because they create a personal connection with the charter and feel empathy towards her. On the other hand, towards the end of the opening, the female escapes and inverts the power so that the man is seen as powerless as he can not control her anymore. In addition, the female character is serving the male dinner which creates a dark imagery because she is seen as his maid. The female character wears a turquoise, elegant dress which is a typical representation of a women. The colour turquoise connotes femininity, joy and friendship. However, she is wearing no makeup and does not have a hairstyle which shows that she is ashamed of herself and the bruising she has on her face and body. The audience see that the couple are of middle class because they live in a semi - detached house in a quiet area. Also, the car from the first scene is professional looking showing that the male character makes the majority of the money.

The film "Safe Haven" is based on domestic violence and how the female character escapes eventually. The screen grab on the left shows that the male character has much more power over the female and is higher up in the hierarchy.  The man is wearing a suit which is common within a thriller because it connotes his authority.      
However, similar to my thriller opening, the female character gains strength and stabs the villain so that he cannot inflict anymore pain onto her. The target audience (young females) feel a sense of pride and relief when the female finally retaliates.

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

There are three stages involved in the process of a film getting from an idea to you as a spectator watching it. These stages include Film Production, Film Distribution and Film Exhibition. I believe that our film does not need a low budget distributor because I think there are many ways to release the film to the public such as social networking and independent cinemas. Firstly, we would need to contact as many independent cinemas around the area as we can. There is one called the "Orion" in Burgess Hill and a few I know in Brighton such as Picturehouse. Independent cinemas show low budget films like ours. We do not need a distributor as we would have to pay them large amounts of money which we do not have. The last few years, the accessibility of films has become easier to watch because of the increase in devices such as smartphones, tablets and games consoles. Internet streaming has also become popular which includes Netflix which has taken the world by storm. You can view films and TV programmes at any time of the day. 

The best time to show our film would be on Wednesday's, this is because there is not much competition from the high budget films and it is also cheaper. I believe that Youtube is also a great way of uploading the film to the public. Social networking has become so massive these last few years and its a great way of advertising the film to its target audience. The first step would be to create our own Youtube Channel so we can upload other videos related to the main film. In addition, a Facebook page and Twitter account will also need to be produced to keep in contact with the audience, advertise the film and to receive feedback. Facebook and Twitter are important because our target audience is 17-24 who will all have an account with one of these pages, so we can grab their attention. Also, film posters are vital because they have various purposes which make them a vital tool for the success of our film. The main purpose is to advertise and inform the audience  through important information such as release date, actors and suitability with reference to age (BBFC certification.) Film posters use illustrations, lettering, colouring and a layout to

entice an audience into seeing the film. They focus on visual elements such as, powerful photographs and graphics to make posters attention grabbing and something the audience would want to see. These visual elements can also give the audience an insight into the themes and genre that will be portrayed throughout the film. In conclusion, I believe that we do not need a distributor to successfully release our film to the public. Youtube, Facebook and Twitter are great ways to advertise out thriller film and to grab the demographics attention. Connecting with independent cinemas will give us a chance for the audience to view the film in a cinema environment not just at home even though it is a low budget film. 

4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVwvZa9D1n4

5.How did you attract/address your audience? 

Audience feedback is very important when wanting to attract the target demographic. In order to get feedback I posted on Facebook asking the public, specifically young females, what they thought of our idea and the name of the film. We received some great, useful feedback that helped us to create a successful thriller opening which you can see in the screenshots. The protagonist of out thriller film is a young female which instantly appeals to the target audience because they can relate to her and already have a connection with the character. The story is based on domestic violence which sadly many females can relate to. It is a very touching storyline which causes the female viewer to respect the protagonist and to build an emotional attachment to her. We believed that using domestic violence could be a risk but it worked out well because it has a deep meaning to it. The way in which we used fast paced shots created tension and suspense which makes the audience want to watch more. Making the male the villain (we used Props' theory) is a stereotypical representation of domestic violence because the main stories are about men causing the violence because of their strength. The female viewers may feel fear and hatred towards the character so interest is created making them want to watch the whole film, which is what we want. Also, the female character is wearing a pretty, green dress that is very feminine. The female character has a very bare face, with dark eyes and bruises. This makes her look damaged and hurt. It also enhances the man's power and creates a stereotypical woman victim. Her hair looks scruffy and neglected, which will establish how she doesn't take care of herself causing the target audience to feel sorry for her. Her hair is up, so that the bruising around her neck and shoulders are on display to represent the pain and lack of confidence she has which many females can relate to.

6.What have you learnt about technologies from the process of contracting this product?
Here is a link to a video where I talk about the answer to this question, including photos and evidence from the blog.

http://youtu.be/U4N2XMSAqCI


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

During this experience I have learnt many useful techniques that I can carry through to A2 media. However, I did come across a few difficulties in research, planning, filming and editing which I had to overcome with my group. 

Firstly, we studied the rules that are followed within thriller films. The screen grab on the right shows that we posted examples of shot/reverse shot, match on action and the 180 degree rule on our blog. I learnt how to ensure that our final opening looked professional which meant that we had to follow these rules to gain the most marks we could. In order to show that we understood these techniques we had to complete the preliminary task. 

The Preliminary Task.

The specification states that this must be:

‘ A continuity task involving filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character with whom she/he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue.’ The sequence must last no longer than one minute.

This task should demonstrate:

• Match on Action
• Shot/Reverse Shot
• The 180 degree Rule

You will also have to incorporate Music, lighting, dialogue (recorded separately on a lapel mic and voice recorder)  and sound effects into your film

All filming and editing must take place on campus, using College equipment. 

Each group will set up a blog onto which you will record  the entire process 

I found this task really helpful and extremely interesting. I learnt many techniques that I used for our final film opening. It was quite difficult at first because this was our first proper task in Media and we really wanted to pass this so we could go on to our thriller opening. Leading up to editing our preliminary task, we had to go through many different stages of research and planning. Firstly, we had to research different thriller openings which I explain in more detail below. Also, had to research different locations, storyboards, risk assessment, and allocating roles.The camera work was relatively simple because we had been taught about how to use the cameras, different shots and angles so we had a good understanding of filming. However, when we got to editing it was challenging because I have never used Final Cut Pro before so we had to start from scratch. Ultimately, it was not that difficult to use but we did receive help. After the task we gained important techniques for editing moving image and sound which gave us an advantage when editing our final piece.

planning which helped us to create a successful thriller opening. Our research and planning techniques really improved and we knew what we had to do for our main task. We ensured that we had an organized and up to date blog that we could work from. Everything we did in the lesson, I took photos of and uploaded them to the blog as evidence so we could get as many marks as possible.     

In addition, we had to study different thriller openings to broaden our knowledge and to help us to understand the conventions and expectations of the genre. I look at the usual suspects, the girl with the dragon tattoo, drive, the sixth sense, the dark knight rises and prisoners. Before completing this task I didn't  not have a very good understanding of thriller films because I tend to watch romantic comedies, there is a big difference between the two genres. However, when watching these openings I took detailed notes and wrote a good analysis for each which was useful because I learnt a lot about the different conventions and expectatitions.

  

Once the preliminary task was completed, we had to think about our main task which was to create a thriller opening. We already had a few ideas which we wrote down on a spider diagram and decided which idea would best suite our target audience and which would be most effective. Every member of the group liked the idea of using domestic violence as the main theme. It is quite an emotional subject which we thought we could use to really speak to the audience and connect them to the opening. From this I learnt how to go from ten ideas to one idea and to decide which idea would be most powerful and successful. I was in charge of audience feedback so I posted a few questions onto Facebook which targeted our audience (young females) and we received some really useful feedback that we used in our opening. During the planning, I learnt how to create two different anamatics which would display our storyboard clearly. I had to use many skills such as editing, scripting and camera work. When filming our main task we took many photos and uploaded them to the blog so that we had as much evidence as possible. Also, during filming we had to film a few match on action shots which was quite a challenge so we had to record them a few times. From this, I learned that when filming the more shots you record the better because when it comes to editing you can choose the best one to use in the actual opening.

When it came to editing we felt confident because we had practiced editing in our preliminary task so we knew how to use the software. Firstly, we had to upload all the footage onto Final Cut Pro and save it into our folder. This helped us to stay organized and to not to loose anything, we knew where it all was. During editing we came across a few problems. The main one was that we filmed during the day so it was light outside. However, the film is set during the night time so the lighting had to be quite dull. In one of the shots the window is visible but it looks to light outside. Some other shots were filmed at night such as the car scene so we could have lost marks on continuity. Sophie showed us a skill which we used in a few other shots. This technique was to change the colour of the background which took quite a while. From this I learnt that continuity is very important in order for the opening to be realistic and believable.

In conclusion, I learnt many things during the two tasks. The preliminary helped me to build my confidence in creating an effective thriller opening. So when it came to the main task I had a good understanding on what we had to do (research and planning) and how we show evidence on the blog. I believe that we created a tension building opening that really targets young females and victims of domestic violence. Everyone that has watched it has said that they were touched by the storyline and they felt very anxious throughout watching the opening, they would watch to the end of the film.