Evaluation

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

We conformed to the typical aspects of the thriller genre in several ways. We have begun the process of the many twists and turns that you find in a thriller by throwing a murder in straight away which will shock the audience, and encourage them to watch on to find out why it happened and who it was done by. We also chose music that matched the feel of the genre; dark and mysterious music is typically found in many media products of this form. In my opinion, the music is what made it and really did add to the tension we wanted to portray. Another way in which we followed the expected conventions is by keeping the murderer anonymous. There are many films that do this simply because it is an ideal way of ensuring there is continuous mystery throughout the film which keeps an audience gripped. Although our thriller does develop many of the forms and conventions expected, it does challenge them also. We have done this by creating a contrast between the unsuspecting opening and the chase scene and murder that follows. The music and the whole mood changes in a short space of time, keeping the audience attentive.



How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The voiceover at the beginning represents the type of person who lives in the town of our thriller. You assume that she is fairly old and wise as she clearly knows a lot about the area and says "I've lived in this town my whole life." The context of what is said in the voiceover implies that the people who live there are good innocent, and happy with a simple life. This is a social group that many can relate to. Our film also represents teenagers through the characters of the victim and the hikers. It shows the vunerability teenage girls have now and how they can be more susceptible to murder. Through the hikers, we're representing responsibility and initiative as they act quickly when they see the body. Also a genuine interest for the outdoors, which it could be argued is rare to see in modern teenagers.



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

Our film may possible be shown on channels such as Film4 or Skymovies. Both of these are companies known for creating and playing home-grown British films with British directors and actors. Although they play many mainstream films, they also show some that often weren't shown in cinemas often because of tight budgets compared to those of the popular hollywood films. This would fit our product well as ours relies more on realism and strength of story rather than impressive special effects and complex action scenes. These channels are also consumed by that of a younger audience which is who our film mainly targets.



How did you attract/address your audience?

We attracted our audience by creating a contrasting and exciting opening to what would be an engaging film. We created role models in our characters (the hikers), representing them to be mature and responsible. Our film also portrays a mature subject matter, this attracts both teenagers and young adults.



What have you learnt about technologies from the process of contructing this product?

Before taking this course I had no idea about the amount of work that goes in to create a media product and never truly noticed how much actually goes on on-screen. I now know how many technologies are taken advantage of by the media industry to make their work the best it can be. I understand and experienced the lengthly process that is editing with all its cuts, trying to match the camera shots so there is perfect continuity. I have learnt how to set up and use a camera and tripod. I have more knowledge about how to use Imovie and all the effects it can deliver such as the dream effect we used on our scenic shots at the beginning. I know how to embed a video and upload one onto Youtube and how to get a video from a camcorder to the computer. Also how to add text to a video, import music from Itunes and create a voiceover with a microphone.



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

I think myself and the group have come along way since the first task we created in terms of knowledge about camera shots, continuity, editing and more. In the first task, there was a limited amount of editing needed and there was no where near as much planning and work needed as there was in the thriller opening. I have learnt to plan my time as well as my work and also to make the most out of filming time available.

Audience Feedback

As we only posted our finished thriller opening onto Youtube a few days ago, it hasn't yet received any comments. To get audience feedback we instead posted it onto a news feed on Facebook so that more people could access it and post their views. Overall, we received many compliments and praise for the work we had done.


"Really good use of different shots/camera angles. Creates a good effect." - Matt Marlow

"The music in your piece is brilliant, and i think you've done a good job of creating a continuous feeling of suspense." - Hannah Fyfe

"I really enjoyed your film. I thought your title sequence (splitting up the action) is very effective and makes it look professional." - Ruby Scott

"Really well done! I think you've edited it very well, especially the murder. I would actually buy this film!" - Harry Buckley

"This had everything which makes me not want to watch a thriller...spooky backdrop, clues to sinister events, a struggle for survival (futile) and a gruesome discovery. It's the suspense and shocks which I can't cope with and this introduction would have me seriously worried about the horrid events to follow...it's back to Disney for me, I'm afraid !" - Caroline Gilbert

"I know how much hard work they put in whilst filming and planning for this and i think it has paid off. I especially like how the costume is realistic. Well done!" - Emma Gilbert

Our finished piece : Thriller Opening

This is our final piece; an opening to a thriller. I think all our planning and hard work paid off as we created a substantial sequence of shots that showed good continuity and a variety of angles and techniques that match the thriller genre.

Music Choice

We knew that the music in films can either make or break the whole feel of a scene. Typically, the genre of music creates an assumption for what to expect on screen, for example if you hear, upbeat, fast-paced music you assume it is a cheerful happy scene. We wanted our music to match the emotions of what was taking place on screen, and we searched for many hours to find the perfect piece of instrumental music to accompany our shots.

For the voiceover, we decided on Everything is broken - Bob Dylan. We had to edit it however to make it purely instrumental so as not to interfere with the delivery of the voiceover.

For the chase sequence, we were after some epic, fast music to create tension and excitement. In the end however, we came across Cthlu Thlu - Caravan which was more mysterious and slow and found that this created the right tone also. We edited this to match the movements on screen also and the timing worked out in our favour, for example, the guitar starts just as the victim looks over her shoulder.

When the hikers were discovering the body, we wanted some form of subtle background music which wouldn't distract from what was happening and would allow for the dialogue to still be heard clearly. Maroon 5 - Secret has a long introduction where the first 48 seconds are high-pitched notes and delivered the haunting tone we were after.

Revised Storyboards

Due to the change in location, we had to draw out our storyboards again to fit in with the new setting. The basic concept of a chase scene remained the same but here, we also decided that the body would be found by two hikers and that the victim would fall allowing the murderer to catch up and attack her.

This is a written adjusted version of our scenes:

Further Planning

This is some further planning we did touching on aspects such as costume and dialogue. We were influenced by the voiceover on "No Country For Old Men" and started to consider using the same technique. We decided it could either be from a central character or a police detective investigating the murder. We also looked at possible props we could use to create more realism in our scenes. These included:

• Specific make up (white powder, red lipliner and blusher) to make the victim look dead from being strangled.


• Hiking poles


• Crime Scene tape*


• White sheet*


• Camera and Tripod


• My camera


• Voice Recording device*
  

* - Not needed. We were planning on having a third scene where a police investigator was at the crime scene with a voice recorder and there was a white sheet over the body. However, we felt this was not neccessary and we created an effective opening with just the two scenes.

Voiceover Script

Following on from our research and inspiration from "No Country For Old Men" we wrote out a voiveover script that introduces the small town that experiences unusual, frequent disappearences. We decided it should be from an omniscient narrator as it was the most accessible option for us since we were no longer doing a third scene with a detective.


Narrator: "I've lived in this town my whole life, which is surprising because people dont usually last that long. No-one stays. This town makes a nice stop for travellers who, true to their name, travel on. This town is dead. Nothing seems to go on here except...people disappear. You get used to it after a while. Most of them are never found. Beyond the town is Morse Woods and I figure that if you were going to be found, you'd be found in there. The few people who do stay here are hard-working, honest and religious. Even so, they've seen their fair share of murder. "
*First scene of the victim running plays, ends with her lying dead on the ground*
"Like I said...their fair share of murder."