Media Evaluuation By Daniel Gargan

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

In my media film, many technical aspects have been used, such as camera shots, camera movements and camera angles. I have used conventional camera shots that suit my thriller genre; these were close up shots, over the shoulder shots and point of view shots. Also our film challenges conventions; we used a female protagonist because we felt a woman in this situation would be more vulnerable and effective. We purposely didn’t challenge this convention because we felt a female suited the role better, creating a more realistic effect. Our media product is set in isolated railway bridge in West Ealing, this setting creates tension because of it’s dark surroundings and isolated areas. A thriller climaxes when the hero stops the villain or dangerous situation, often saving his/her own life and the lives of others. Thrillers are often genre hybrids; the main characters are usually placed in menacing situations from which escape seems impossible. The protagonist is often unsuspectingly placed in a dangerous situation. The menace is often abstract, uncertain or shadowy. All traditional features of thriller films are found in our film. We created a very standard thriller film using, quick cut montage and all unnatural shots, and angles that you cannot make with the natural eye. The film ‘Psycho’ influenced my group, having a man commit a crime, but leaving the audience to think who the man was that committed the crime. Having viewed many media texts, we gained a deeper understanding of thriller film genres. We viewed “when a stranger calls”, bringing tension that the film creates. There are many different types of shot types, such as close ups, point of view shots, and over the shoulder shots, we have used these shots in our films. In our film we use extreme close up shots of the kidnappers, this unnatural shot makes them look evil and mysterious, because we never see the whole face, just eyes and mouth. In our film, we used a range of static shots, and hand held camera shots, adding realism. These shots continue to prove the gritty setting we wanted. The non diegetic score we used was typical to this sort of genre, again helping us prove this gritty setting. The location we used is a typical convention of a thriller genre, showing the modern and urban setting. At a class viewing, we received feedback such as, “the film is verging on more of a horror film than a thriller film.” This was mainly because of the score we used, it was very scary, not really matching the footage on screen, and the scene where she is being kidnapped was also more horror than thriller. To overcome this, as a group we decided that we would reshoot some scenes and change the score. We were very successful in doing this as we thought we improved the overall film. However there was a clear divide between our thriller film and a horror film, our film had no gory scenes.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our media product represents forms and conventions of thriller films, as a group we looked at the best possible styles that suited our film. One representation in our film is gender, by having both female and male roles in the film; it also represents age, as all of the actors are of the same age group, 16 – 17 year olds, as a group we discussed that this wasn’t the normal age for kidnappers but we thought we planned it well, and it pulled off. Class is also brought up in the film, stereotyping a young vulnerable female lead role being kidnapped and also by the setting and costume design of characters. However all the actors in the film are of the same ethnic background, no stereotyping was used here. From TV dramas and British soaps, we have seen representations of age, race, sexuality, gender, class, regional identity, and disability. Usually in programmes like EastEnders, young people age 15, walk around in hoods and tracksuits, so we used the typical stereotype in our own thriller film, the effect on us using this stereotype is that it is very popular, realistic and relatable. We met stereotypes in our film, such as having a venerable teenage girl being kidnapped and stalked. We noticed the differences between men and woman, as the stereotype for females are week and venerable, the stereotypes for men are controlling and strong. We chose to meet this stereotype because we wanted to use dramatic irony, the audience know what’s going to happen, and this engages audience and keeps them interested. It also makes the audience feel sympathy for the young teenage girl. Another representation in our media film was class and status, all characters fit into middle class category, by what they were wearing and the doggy setting in west London. Race can also be seen and questioned in our film by having an all white cast; by having an all white cast we questioned the stereotype of young boys in hoodless and tracksuits, usually they would be presented in dramas as young Black men. If we were to use a black character we would meet expectations for the typical ‘young thug’ stereotype.

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

As a group we decided that our film is more of an Independent British production, rather than a Mainstream (Hollywood style) film. Mainstream films are big budget, smooth and unrealistic, compared to Independent films that are low budget and gritty. Getting distribution for our film is possible; the best and fastest way of making money would be cinema, because there are thousands of cinemas in England alone. This is a fast way of getting people to view your film. Having our film in the cinema would also raise awareness and teach people what’s going on in the world today to many young people. To create a film for mainstream cinemas we would need to attend a film festival to gain distribution and gain funding to back our movie. These major film festivals are Cannes and Venice film festival, where low budget, gritty styles are shown, such as our film. A realistic distribution for a film of my budget would be video sharing site like ‘YouTube’, where we can upload videos for free. Another way to distribute our film is on community channels on digital television. It would be unlikely for a low budget British film to reach certain channels like BBC1 or ITV1 because they are public sector channels where only certain things can be broadcasted.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Again as a group we decided that the average audience for our film was from between the ages 15- 25. This was a sensible realistic age group as some content may not have been appropriate for anyone younger. I personally think our film is a realistic view on today’s society, caused by people from that age group. As today’s films portray young people as being involved heavily in crime. There are many young people today being arrested for carrying knifes and committing murders. By viewing the British Board of Film Classification website, we decided that the suitable outcome for our thriller film should be a 15, this was because our viewing audiences where 15 – 25, therefore the film is not suitable for anyone under that age. I think that a 15 was a suitable target for our audience group because of the content it contains. I think that most 15 years olds would want to go and see this film; the themes tackle touching things but are also a realistic view on today’s society. Also the audience can relate to the characters as they are in our target audience. Our thriller makes the audience think about what’s happening and provides entertainment at the same time.

How did you attract/address your audience?

After doing research on the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) website, our group decided to rate our film a certificate of 15. We also asked friends and classmates what they thought our film certificate should be, we told them what the film was going to be about and how we would capture our idea on film, using camera angles and camera movements. Also at the feedback lesson, everyone agreed that it was a suitable target. This film, I think is a success at rating it a 15, because 15 year olds and upwards would want to go and see it, its fun, interesting and makes you think, but not to complicated, exactly what a thriller should be like. This thriller is very effective because it fits in with historic thriller techniques, such as building suspense and pint of view shots, all demonstrated by Alfred Hitchcock. Alfred Hitchcock was a British filmmaker who pioneered many techniques in the suspence and psychological thriller genres. Hitchcock plays with the hierarchy of knowledge, increasing the dramatic irony of the audience to create unbearable suspense as it waits for the audience. We also attracted our audience by using an urban gritty setting. In the early 1930’s, thriller films had no kinetic camera movements, nowadays there is a lot of kinetic movements to create a realistic setting and also to keep viewers attracted.

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

Firstly, we learnt through research in the thriller genre, and the techniques used to film thrillers. We filmed on regular D.V (Digital Video) cameras. Films Hollywood produce, would have a brighter un-naturalistic picture. Cameras in Hollywood use celluloid tape, which creates a neat, clean and perfect picture. Therefore the realistic picture quality is an advantage for our film. The digital video cameras are gritty, dull and realistic colours. DV Cameras are used in British dramas and soaps, such as Coronation Street and EastEnders, letting the audience see the world as it is ment to be viewed. However the D.V cameras were not so good at picking up sounds on the microphone. After gaining audience feedback, that the dialogue wasn’t very clear, we decided to use as little diegetic sound as possible. However we could overcome this, we could use actual filming microphones, but we didn’t have the time budget to get this. Therefore in our film, not much dialogue was used, but the dialogue that was used was picked up in the best way possible we could. We used the editing software, I-Movie HD to edit our film; this is non-linear editing software. This software was useful and particle as we could edit our footage easily and quickly. We also used copyright free music as a score for out film, this was from www.freeplaymusic.com, and here new media is being influenced. When we completed the film, we uploaded it to the video sharing website of ‘YouTube’ we wanted to do this to continue to get audience feedback.

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

In this main task a lot more thought and process was put into it, we had to decide the best possible filming locations, what the characters could wear and also what natural light was best to film in. we learnt from filming outside that natural light is unpredictable and sometimes the light made the quality to bright, so know footage could actually be seen. Also filming outside we could hear a lot of unwanted sounds such as planes, busses, cars and screams. When filming with the D.V cameras the microphone wasn’t that good, it was hard to use a lot of dialogue because none it could be heard, so less dialogue was better. As a group we made sure we used the best possible filming location to match our opening sequence, we used a rail way bridge in the dark, this was planned to create the best possible atmosphere. When we were uploading the footage to the computers, we noticed that the footage wasn’t that clear, and it was to dark to see the action happening. So, as group we decided to re shoot this scene, the second time was much better as you could actually see the footage on the film. This problem was also helped by the software iMovie as it allowed us to brighten some clips artificially. The preliminary task was of great help to us; because it gave us clear insight in to what camera angles and shots we should use when shooting our thriller, this is where we found out the microphone wasn’t good. Form the task we also learnt what the 180 degree rule was, this was vital to keep in mind while filming, otherwise the scene would look unrealistic and unprofessional. Overall the preliminary task was of great importance as it taught us the main techniques to make an excellent thriller opening sequence.

Media Evaluation: Shelley Delaney

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

Our media film was part of the thriller genre meaning it needed to create tension and leave the audience on edge. A thriller should create question for the audience and also a sense of enigma; our media product develops the conventions of a thriller genre in the sense that it leaves the audience questioning who kidnapped the young girl. The characters in our product reflect those in a real thriller. For example our thriller consists of characters such as stalkers and ordinary people who find themselves in situations impossible to get out of. These types of characters are common in the thriller genre and so I think our use of characters developed the forms and conventions of a thriller in that sense. We were also successful in making our film part of the thriller genre because we focused on several of the themes found in the thriller genre such as; stalking, obsession and a mystery to be solved. Camera angles and shots are very important in the thriller genre because they create tension. For example quick cutting would be more effective for a thriller film then slow paced filming because it builds up more tension and leaves the audience on edge.

The technical aspects of a thriller are important for example, Camera shots, movement, angles editing and sound all affect the rhythm and pace of the film. We used extreme close ups to show the emotions of the kidnappers face, this type of shot is often used in thrillers The extreme zoom shots get right in and shows the extreme detail. Can be used to show detail in which the human eye cannot usually see. Or even to emphasize a key prop for dramatic effect. We also use quick cutting in our film which causes tension as the pace and rhythm increases this is normal in a thriller. Our film also has some graphic match where we move between different characters, this allows us to change characters more smoothly and I think we use it successfully. We also used a point of view shot which makes the audience feel more involved like they are there themselves, and our use of over the shoulder shots creates the feeling of someone being watched or followed which is what we were aiming for in our film.
Our film can be classed as both; a historical or contemporary thriller. Our film is both historical and modern; by historical we are talking about conventions, i.e. if it shares conventions with past time thrillers. Therefore we can say that it is a historical thriller as we explored the convention of voyeurism but we approached it in a contemporary style. Our film is set by an old railway bridge, behind an estate this is a typical convention of a thriller and we used this setting to develop it. However in our feedback we found that the audience felt that our settings along with our chosen music made the film seem more like a horror rather then a thriller. This is one of our downfalls and so to improve this we changed our music to something more suitable. It can also be seen as a historical thriller because we used a female protagonist in our film which is a very typical thriller convention. There are many sub genres in a thriller however I think ours falls under the criminal or psychological thriller.

How does you media product represent particular social groups?

Our media product uses stereotypes in the way that the characters are portrayed through gender, sexuality, race, age and class. Our product is focused on a young female who is kidnapped by 3 possible men. We made the Victim female because women are stereotypically more vunerable which is typical in a thriller genre in contrast to the 3 young men who are seen as intimidating wearing hoodies, this reflects the stereotypical view of youths who wear hoodies in today’s society. However we have attempted to challenge thriller conventions with the age of the men because in a typical thriller the bad people are not usually young adults but are more middle aged men. Each of our characters are represented as important characters and all appear to have equal roles however the young men come across as more dominant which is also a stereotype. Although we do not portray race or sexuality in our film making it less contemporary; gender, class and age are portrayed very clearly. The gender and age are portrayed through our characters and the class is portrayed through the settings and the way in which the characters dress. I think we were successful in using stereotypes to portray our characters and different social groups.

What kind of institutes might distribute your media product and why?
Our product is an independent British production meaning it is low budget and gritty in comparison to mainstream production which are more Hollywood style i.e. better quality of film and more professional. There are different ways in which films can be distributed; in cinemas (major chain cinemas and independent cinemas) our film would more likely be shown in independent cinemas as it fits into the independent British production. Other ways of getting our film distributed would be through film festivals which would gain popularity for our film. The internet is also good for film distribution on video sharing sites such as you tube, this will also help gain popularity however it would be harder to ensure that the age restriction of our film is kept if broadcasting on a video sharing site because anyone with internet access can watch it. Cable TV channels are another successful way of gaining audiences, particularly community channels for independent films.

Who would the audience be for your media and product and why?
There are two types of audiences we must consider. The first is the target audience; who it is targeted at and who will watch it. Secondly there is the certificate audience; the certificate the BBFC has given it. They are two completely different audiences, for example, the film ‘the reader’ has a BBFC certificate of 15 however the target audience for the film is more middle aged people. After lots of research and planning we decided as a group that our film would be aimed at teenagers and young adults. The certificate audience from the BBFC would be a certificate of 15 which means the film is only suited for people who are 15 years or over. The BBFC says that a film certificated a 15 means No one younger than 15 is able to see a 15 film. There are no regulated themes within a 15 provided that the 15 is appropriate to a 15 year old. There may be a frequent use of strong language but the strongest of language will have to be justified within its context. Continued aggressive use of the language is not acceptable. Again the use of dangerous techniques must not dwell on the imitable detail. In the terms of horror, strong uses of it are permitted however the strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable. Drug taking may be shown in the film but must not promote drug misuse. This is appropriate for a thriller genre due to their being no regulated themes, this means that thriller can be a wide of themes such as bomb explosions however, they must stay within the control of the classification so not as strong violence or gore.


How did you address your audience how did you construct your film to make it appeal to your target audience? What conventions did you specifically include to achieve this?

The way in which our film appeals to the audience is through our use of characters. As our film is targeted at people of the ages 16-25, we have young people playing young characters so the audience we aim for feel they can relate to the characters more as they are near the same age. However if we were to use 30 year olds to play young adults it would not be as realistic and would not appeal as much to our target audience. We have used some of the same conventions of a typical ‘Teen’ thriller aswell as stalking is very popular amongst these. Through feedback we learnt that the audience felt our film was suitable for our target audience however we had to change the score we had chosen originally because it made the film sound more like a horror as opposed to a thriller, we made these changes to make it more appealing to our target audience.

What have you learnt about techniques?

During the making of our product making we have learnt about different technologies. For example we learnt that D.V (digital video) creates more gritty and realistic productions with dull colours. This is the type we used as a group which did not give the best quality of video and sound. The microphones were built into the camera which was the reason for the poor sound quality because it did not pick up that much sound. Therefore on our film we used minimal diegetic sounds to ensure that the audience were not missing out on something important. Another type of technologies often used are Hollywood cameras which use brighter colours and create the perfect environment which makes the film look slightly unrealistic. The editing software we used was I movie HD. This is non linear editing software which is easy to use and is useful in editing your product. We have also been able to use sites such as YouTube and blogger during the process of making our film and finalising it. This allows us to get a wider audience feedback in comparison to a small group of people. We have also been able to use sites that allow us to download scores for our film that are not copyrighted. This was helpful because other wise it would be hard to find a suitable score that would be possible to use without being copyrighted.


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

Looking back on our preliminary task I have learnt that it was a useful task that taught us a lot that we needed to know for our final product. For example without the preliminary task we would not have known about the 180 degree rule which we used in our film and without the 180 degree rule our film would not look professional and would confuse the audience. Our approach to the final product was a lot more professional compared to our prelimary task. During the prelimary task we were unorganised and too laid back about the work and this reflected when we watched it back. However for our final product we were organised and made a film schedule so we knew exactly when and where we were filming and used our time effectively. The only problem we had was that we were often filming late at night or when it was dark and because of the low quality on the DV cameras some scenes were too dark so from this we have learnt that while filming with DV cameras you need to film when it is not so dark so the camera can pick up the action. Our main task was a big improvement from the prelimary task but without the preliminary task we would not have known how to improve our final product.