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.