Beth's Evaluation

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

Admittedly, when the first stages of our planning began none of us could typically state what exactly a thriller film was, and like many other audiences, often confused certain aspects with those of horror. But after some internet research and comparison between thriller and horror films, it became clear that the main focus in a thriller film is to build the tension and suspense, while the purpose of a horror is to elicit fear and disgust from the audience.Typically, thriller films are based on potentially real life situations, for example robberies, plane crashed and car chases, while horror is a broad genre which can range from extreme gore to simply the unexplained. We had to make sure that there were clear distinctions between the two genre's that made it clear to our audience that our film opening is a thriller.

A main influence on our thriller opening was the hit TV series Sherlock. Being a fan myself I found the specific use of contrapuntal music often used throughout the series to be really effective and causing the audience discomfort and uneasiness. The one particular episode in which we got our inspiration from see's the antagonist and Sherlock's enemy carry out a series of break ins. The music used during this scene is the Thieving Magpie. One of the things this specific track does well is reflect the chaos and mayhem of this scene, and as a group we really liked the way it broke away from and almost challenged the typical string instruments increasing in pitch and volume stereotypically used to raise tension during robberies. The Thieving Magpie effectively masks the seriousness of the events happening and turns them into something quite lighthearted and therefore more disturbing, which is why contrapuntal music was something that we really wanted to include within our opening. 

The softness within our opening could be described as almost calming, which is one of the main reasons we felt it would work really well. Unlike the Thieving Magpie where the seriousness of the events is masked by the chaos of the music, what we really wanted to do and what we felt our music choice was very effective at is amplify the seriousness of the events happening. Murder on its own is extremely horrific and terrible, so by adding such a surreal soundtrack we were able to enhance the shock of the scene, and the use of flower imagery and a range of bright colours before the murder scene to work alongside the soundtrack causing the discomfort and uneasiness we were hoping for. 

Thrillers often present the world and society as dark and corrupt, and usually contain some form of villain and an innocent victim. In our case, Graham Harvey was our villain and his eleven year old daughter was our victim. Our main way of representing and distinguishing the two was through the use of mise-en-scene. Iona was dressed in a skirt, a collared shirt and jumper, a pair of ripped tights and a large coat, as we thought that dressing her in her school uniform was the best way to show her innocence, naivety and little experience of the world. Graham Harvey was dressed in a pair of black trousers, a black jumper and black cost, the dark colours, representing his violent and aggressive personality.

Thrillers often encourage the audience to challenge their own views through their approach towards specifically tender or sensitive subjects. Bearing this in mind we chose mental health, but this was not something we could show through mise-en-scene, and so had to opt for other techniques.

Some of Graham characteristics were inspired by those of Mr Harvey from the lovely bones who too was a murderer of a young girl. After watching the scene where he rapes and kills Susie Salmon, what we really thought was effective was his ability to control, and that was something we really wanted to incorporate into our Mr Harvey. During the interrogation scene in our thriller opening, Mr Harvey appears to show no remorse or regret his actions, shown through his calm and relaxed persona and the use of medium shots and close ups, and the almost menacing smile the the wears seen multiple times throughout the scene. We really wanted Graham to be a manipulative character, and the smile worked as a really effective way of causing Susie Salmon discomfort, so we really wanted to impose the same effect into Robinson during the interrogation, and show how much control Graham can have over a person or situation through the smallest of actions.

Where any other person would have been expected to behave in a more nervous way, maybe even appearing deeply sorry for their actions, Mr Harvey's lack of any of these characteristics portray him as almost inhuman, completely detaching and separating him from the rest of the characters in our thriller opening. However, to really show the instability of his mind, we also decided to use flashbacks. Throughout the interrogation scene multiple very quick flashbacks can be seen of the night that Iona was murdered, which were not only a really effective way of confusing yet enticing the audience, but were also very successful at representing Graham's inability to distinguish his imagination from reality, having been diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic.

2.How does your media product represent

particular social groups?

It has been hard to determine whether or not mental health is classed as a disability, but after much research I discovered that 'a mental health condition is considered a disability if it had a long term effect on a persons day to day life,' long term being defined as 'at least 12 months' and 'day to day' meaning regularly activities such as interacting and socialising. Therefore, the two big social groups our thriller focuses on is the 'able' and the 'disabled.'

Mr Harvey is a long term paranoid schizophrenic, something that was never fully revealed to our audience but was implied and represented through various techniques. A common symptom of those who suffer with schizophrenia is appearing emotionless, a behavior which can be seen of Graham during the interrogation scene. His lack of any sort of emotion can be seen not only through medium shots and close ups, but also in the two shots containing Robinson, where a comparison can be made between Mr Harvey's calm and unresponsive persona and Robinson's tensed up and stiff stance. When asked about the events that unfolded that night, Grahams lack of response makes him seem almost inhuman, and interrupting Robinson before then telling him to 'go on' makes it seem as though he is mocking the situation.

Another symptom is hallucinations and delusions. Mr Harvey can be seen staring directly at the camera, and evidently directly at the audience. This was a really effective technique to use as it incorporated Stanislavski's idea of 'breaking the fourth wall.' He created the fourth wall as a method of making the audience feel more involved with the performance but without destroying the naturalism entirely and directly addressing the audience themselves. The hallucinations that Graham would have seen as a schizophrenic wouldn't have been seen by any of the other characters. By having him stare directly into the camera it would be like the audience were one of his hallucinations, and that he can see them but Robinson cannot. Not only do the delusions separate him from the rest of the characters, but by referring to himself and the hallucinated audience as an 'us' it is as if he is grouping them together, evidently resulting in the audience feeling more involved in the thriller, but with the indirect address through the camera acting as the fourth wall, maintaining the naturalism.

There is a strong focus on age throughout our thriller opening. Iona's age is represented through her costume; the school uniform she is wearing tells the audience that she is still young, and portrays a level of innocence about her. Being a young girl, it would have been normal for her to have a close relationship with her dad, that she should trust him and feel comfortable around him. This would then make Graham's kidnapping and murder of his daughter even more horrifying not only to Iona, but to the audience too as this was a man that the young girl put her faith in. It is also kind of sickening that an older man would wish to hurt such a naive child, and even more shocking that this child was his own. This really amplifies how unstable Mr Harvey's mind is, and could result in the audience resenting his character.

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

 

Our thriller film will be an independent film. This is where a film is produced mainly outside of a studio (such as Paramount and Universal) and with a much smaller budget. An example that we might use would be StudioCanal UK, a film distribution company working in the UK and Ireland, and are arguably one of the main distributors of independent British films. They also branch out simultaneously across Europe, and do a lot of work in countries such as France and Germany. Although our budget may be smaller if we make an independent film, that doesn't mean that our options are limited.

The Tyneside Cinema in Newcastle specialises in the screening of independent films from across the globe. The cinema allows budding producers and digital artists to network and present their work, and gain themselves not only publicity but revenue. By screening our film in a cinema we will be able to directly reach out to our teenage and young adult target audience and increase the success of our thriller. Unfortunately, because we are only a small independent company, we wouldn't be able to afford to advertise our film on the television for our cinematic and DVD releases, and so we may need some help when it comes to spreading the word about our film. The British film council is a charitable organisation established to help develop the British film industry and to invest in films. It runs the annual London Film Festival along with the London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival and the youth-orientated Future Film Festival. Due to their support of small independent film this could provide some opportunity for screening our film to help get it out there. However, Working Title is a company that wouldn't be interested in my film, as they tend to focus on "mid-Atlantic" Rom-coms that appeal to wider audiences in America.

Websites such as YouTube also make it a lot easier for our film to be seen. YouTube has a very wide demographic, making it even easier for our target audience to access our film, resulting in more views and more publicity, hopefully making our film more successful and evidently bringing in more revenue. Getting our film on YouTube is as simple as making an account. It doesn't cost anything so if our film isn't as successful as we would like there is no loss, and there are opportunities to make money through advertising other companies either during our film or along the side of the web page. However, in order to gain more subscribers to our channel and more views of our film, we are going to need other ways to advertise our film.

Facebook and Twitter are very effective ways of spreading the word about our film. We could not only set up a page where members of the public could follow the making of the film and track its progress, but also as an opportunity to raise the popularity of the film and evidently our independent film company. Also, like YouTube, there are opportunities to advertise around the social networking site, but because these do cost a lot of money and as we are only a small company, it may not be something within budget. However, I did set up a Twitter account for our page towards the end of the editing progress, and am still now posting to encourage people to watch our film.

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

Due to the large amount of violence and explicit language that our thriller will include, we decided that it would be best to aim our film at both male and female 15 to 34 year olds. This would mean that when previewed at our chosen cinema, more likely Tyneside, it will need an age 15 rating on it, and that no one under that age may watch the film without being accompanied by an adult over the age of 18. We thought that this would be the most appropriate age to aim our film at because it is a demographic that not only we personally can relate to, and so will have a more accurate idea of what the audience will desire, but that will be able to relate, sympathise and empathise with the characters more. Also, due to it being a thriller, we felt that choosing a demographic any younger may result in trauma for those who watch, and if we were to aim for anyone any older they might not find it as thrilling.

Audiences who enjoyed films like Silence of the Lambs may also like our film. Although the target audience for this film was slightly higher then ours (starting at eighteen,) the similar plot lines of solving a murder and seeking out possible suspects means that both films will appeal to both audiences.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

To attract our target audience, we chose to focus on a subject that is not always talked about but growing more and more common - mental health - in the hope that it might educate our audience. With more more younger teenagers developing conditions such as depression, bipolar and even schizophrenia, the subject is often avoided because of its sensitivity. But by making it one if the main focuses of our film it meant that the subject was almost impossible to avoid, in the hope that people will start to understand the seriousness of the condition, and that it can sometimes have negative side effects, it can be controlled.

We made sure that the age if our characters within the film were within our target audience, in order to make them as relatable as possible. Although we weren't able to use actors of the character exact ages, we used costume to make them appear older than they are, and different camera angles to impose power and status.

The low angle shots used to show Robinson make him appear bigger in the screen, delegating the power to him. They portray him as almost a heroic character, someone that the audience may aspire to be like. We use these multiple times throughout the opening to inform the audience that he is supposed to be the dominating character within the scene. However, although the high angled shots make Graham seem weaker, his body language and facial expression, seen through extreme close ups, appear to have some sort of effect on Robinson. Also, his control over the speed and direction of the conversion mean that regardless of the shot types used and regardless of Robinson's official position, it is Mr Harvey that has the control.

Iona's character is slightly younger than our demographic. We thought this would be effective as it would result in the audience sympathising with and pitying her. We portrayed her as younger and the weaker told through her costume and camera angle. In almost every shot of Iona she is being stood over and overpowered by Graham in some way, which shows the audience which is the more dominating character out of the two. However, it is not a power that the audience respect, more resent, meaning that despite his very serous condition the audience feel no sympathy towards him at all.

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

Before studying media studies and doing these projects I had never really had the chance to work with camera equipment, so it was all very knew to me, but wasn't hard to get the hang of. There are many things that need to be carried out before filming can start (risk assessments, shot framing and white balance) so at first it was all very daunting, but the more we started to film the more it became more of a routine.

Final Cut Pro played a huge part in our film as that was where all of the editing was done. After having some practice with our preliminary task, I was really keen to do some more editing as it was something that I really enjoyed. Although there are so many tools available on Final Cut Pro it can get very daunting at times, but with practice it is very easy to get the hand of, and having Sophie and Oli around all of the time to answer any question that we might have was very reassuring.

I focused a lot more on framing our shots and depth of field when it came to filming, and the few shots I am particularly proud of are those within the title sequence. I used a shallow depth of field on trees and plants so that they were in focus, but the people in the background were not. This gave the impression of being watched, and creating a sense of voyeurism for the audience. The preliminary task was in essence a practice, and so our framing of shots wasn't as good as it could have been, therefore we knew that it was something we really had to work on this time round. Particularly during the interrogation scene, it was very important for us to make sure we captured the facial expressions of the characters as clearly as possible. Shots like the extreme close up of Graham's face side on and the medium low angle of Robinson worked really well as the facial expression were easy for the audience to read Mr Harvey's calm persona and Robinson's discomfort.

Blogger was something that I has never used before, and after using it for both our projects I now find it really easy and simple to use. One of the features I found most useful is the option to create a draft and add to it instead of just publishing the post straight away, which gave us the chance to work on it for longer and add as much as we could before uploading the finished piece. Being able to add labels to each post also helped with organisation so that we could see exactly who had posted what and when. What's also really good about Blogger is that there is an app for it in the Apple store, which meant that when I was unable to get to a computer I could still post and keep the blog updated through my iPhone or iPad.

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

In the progression from the preliminary task to the full project, I feel as a group we definitely learned the importance of research, and just how much we were going to need to do. Overall we had three failed locations; we carried out multiple phone calls for each one in the hope that we may get permission, only to have it refused. Some taking weeks to get back to us, some not replying at all. In the end we did get permission to film at Haywards Heath Police Station, but the location wasn't quite what we were expecting and didn't really work for our film, so in the end we made the decision to film the interrogation scene in the black out pod as we were running out of time. For our prelimiary task we didn't make any sort of story, script or character profiles for our thriller, so were really keen to do those things this time around so that we were as prepared as possible.

My editing skills have definitely improved over the course of the two projects, and I feel my continuity was a lot smoother throughout shots.

 
As a first attempt I feel that my continuity editing was quite good, and feel that my transitions between shots were smooth and barely noticeable. We took great care during filming to make sure that each hand movement was the same, and that we filmed each shot at least three times so that we could then choose the most accurate to be part of our film, which made it much easier when it came to the editing. However, some of our earlier match on actions were not as smooth, and so we knew that that was something we would have to take more care on  in the final task.

Getting the continuity right on a shot is very time consuming, but we knew that that was what it was going to take to make our shots as smooth as possible. I am pleased with how the shots flow, and am glad that we had the opportunity of a preliminary task to practice.

Final Film

Megan's evaluation

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

To begin with, as a group, we needed to look up the definition of a 'thriller film' to understand how we could make our film match the key ideas of how other thriller films are made. 'A thriller is a film which is designed to keep the reader or viewer on edge with suspenseful and sensational action. Many people find thrillers very enjoyable, and they appreciate the fast pacing and complex plots associated with this genre.' However thriller films can come under many different sub-genres that define thriller for example mystery thriller, supernatural thriller or disaster thriller.' We decided to go for a crime thriller aspect to our story like Sherlock the TV programme. Crime Thrillers often focus more on the Antagonists actions in their lead up to their crime towards a Protagonist or in retrospect the ending of a film leading back to how is all started. Narrative is the way that stories are told and how meaning is constructed to the audience. This links in to Todorov's  approach to narrative. He explains that if a story is in chronological order it will start with a equilibrium followed by some form of disruption which is later resolved and a resolution at the end. Because our film is in non-chronological order, we have the resolution of our film at the beginning where Graham Harvey has been taken in for questioning about the death of his daughter. However, afterwards we have a flashback to how the death occurred to Iona so the audience can find out and this links in to one of the many climax's show if it was a full length movie. 

Pulp Fiction is an example of a film which is well known for its non linear story line. In the first two minutes of the opening of this thriller genre film the two main characters that we have met hold a robbery in the cafe they are in which then the film uses non-chronological order to show how this event occurred

In our thriller opening we use the same idea of using the action part of the movie first to grasp the audience more rather than loosing their interest with a slow starting opening. Once we've grasped their attention of the interview happening in the opening scenes, enigma will lure them into continuing to watch the film as it is a mystery to them about how this guy committed his crime and his reasoning behind it. 


'Crime thrillers usually emphasis action over psychological aspects although there is a psychological aspect to this genre as well.' To create the concept of a psychology aspect we used a variety of techniques including camera work and mis en scene. Graham Harvey looks into the camera and grins to himself when asked about the murder of his daughter. This is the first recognition the audience may have to some physiological disorder that caused him to commit this crime and be smug about killing his own blood which isn't considered a normal thing in our society. The way he stares into the camera is as if he is connecting with the audience on a more intimate level and is staring right at us as he smiles as if he is showing everyone how 'proud' he is of himself. 

Another character that does this is the child Ester from the thriller film, Orphan. Ester stares at the camera as a way of communicating with the audience through facial expressions which may be a use of dramatic irony. This is that through the characters facial expression we can tell they aren't good people and will be the antagonist of the plot however these facial expressions aren't directed towards the characters in the film and therefore they may not know what the character is capable off.

Another way that Ester and George Harvey is the way their voices come across to the audience. The way they use their tone of voice makes them seem scarier and more intimidating as it sounds cold.


 Ester's voice in Orphan




'Central topics of Crime Thrillers include robberies, chases, serial killers and murders or double crosses' In our film we use the idea of a murder to create the theme of a Crime Theme genre. In the film 'The Silence of the Lambs' they use the crime thriller genre to show their plot line. 'A young F.B.I. cadet must confide in an incarcerated and manipulative killer to receive his help on catching another serial killer who skins his victims.' Silence of the Lambs use the idea of a murderer to create their Crime Thriller movie. 

We can usually tell who the Antagonist is by their choice of outfit which comes under mis en scene. A stereotypical view of a murderer would be that they are not happy with the way they are living and kill people to gain something in their life whether it be for money or because the adrenalin rush brings them a sense of enjoyment. In the silence of the lambs, the antagonist wears plain clothing to show he is nothing special and he seems to be a normal person that blends into the crowd rather than standing out.

In our film our antagonist also wears plain clothing however we used plain but dark clothing to insinuate something bad about him and is a stereotypical view of how audiences distinguish the good guy from the bad guy. This idea is used in many films and the use of dark clothing introduces the idea of iconography into our film as we associate black to be scary and creates the idea of darkness and something bad happening. In many films, antagonists wear black as a form of cover up and a way to mask themselves from others so people cannot identify who they are.

Scene from Shutter Island

In films lighting is important because it helps to define the genre of the movie as well as make it  a successful viewing experience for the audience. Certain lighting techniques are used as conventions for some films, for example using low key lighting in thriller films to produce dark shadows on screen, creating a sinister tone. Low key lighting is created be using the key and back lights which creates a sharp contrast between light and dark areas on the screen which creates sinister and dark tones. An example of this is in shutter island where they use dark and light tones to contrast each other in the shot to create a menacing tone. In the picture above showing Shutter Island, lighting is used to outline the face but it darkens out the background to create the sense of mystery and the darkness brings a more thriller sense to the scene, which is also another use of enigma. We use the idea of low key lighting to give the thriller effect and the darkness creates the sense of mystery which is what crime thrillers are based on. The low key lighting means we can control how the characters are revealed and creates a dangerous association with enigma through the shadows and dull shades.

A common technique used in Crime Thrillers is the use of flashbacks and fast pace editing. The flashback is used to help show the past, this gives an important insight into their past and shows an important message into why the character is how they are. We use flashbacks in our film opening to show how the lead up to Iona's death occurred. Another thriller film that uses flashbacks is The Butterfly Effect. This film uses flashbacks to show what happened in the guys past which led to the life which he leaves now to explain how different events can lead to different outcomes. Just like the butterfly effect, the flashbacks are done by using cuts and fades. We used fades to make it seem as if it the characters thoughts were going into a dream like state. The cuts were used for quick half a second shots that doesn't give the audience enough time to see what is happening. The flashbacks in our film are used together to piece the story together for the audience so that in the end the story will all come together but in a non-chronological way.












One way in which our thriller opening challenges the real conventions of media products is through our use of contrapuntal non-diegetic music. Rarely do thriller films use the sound of happy kind of music while showing the film but rather use non-diegetic music that is parallel to the events occurring on screen. We thought that by choosing the music we did for the opening titles it give the opening a more of an eerie feeling and also the music is sad as if one at a funeral which insinuates death. Most conventional films however use the idea of having the non-diegetic music to fit in with the genre of the film for iconography purposes and the audience can pick out the genre of the film straight away. The Butterfly effect uses the idea of nature in the opening titles however they use parallel music in the background that is used as an opposition to the butterflies in the background.

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

As mentioned when we decided our story line, our antagonist Graham Harvey is a paranoid schizophrenic which comes under the representation of ability/disability even though it is through mental disability rather than a physical disability. Using a mental disability in one of our characters can connect with our target age group of teenagers to the middle ages (15-45) Nowadays many teenagers are diagnosed with a mental disability, mostly being depression, which can effect their social lives and the way they act towards others around them.


Graham Harvey is showed to have some sort of mental difficulty through the use of medium shots and close ups to show his facial expression to be non responsive towards his daughters death which most others would be. His body language is lose rather than tensed up because he has no fear inside him for what he has done but is actually happy to tell the gruesome events that happened. This shows Graham Harvey to have no emotions inside of him which may be to do with his disorder or the medication that he has to take to it which can cause side-effects such as a 'split personality' . This is shown when he grins to himself and to the audience that he is more pleased with himself then he should be. We have also indicated that something may be wrong with Graham Harvey from our choice of non-diegetic music using contrapuntal sound which then because it doesn't match the events occurring on screen, it suggests something is wrong or has gone wrong which is symbolization of Mr Harvey doing wrong through mental disability because everything is not all okay (some things don't match up.) A stereotype of people with mental impairments is that they are crazy and to be kept away from. We've kept to this stereotype of someone like this because it's the traditional way of looking at mental disorders. However, nowadays people have become much more acceptable of mental disorders since medication for it has been put into place.

Masculinity VS Femininity

In our film we have used the stereotypical thoughts of masculinity vs femininity and whether female are now equals in acts of crimes in our favor. A traditional view of male against woman was that men are the stronger and more dominant sex compared to woman who are thought to be 'fragile and weak'  As well as this, the stereotype between masculine and feminine jobs was that is was the woman's job to look after the children and men weren't to be trusted as much around children because of violence towards them. But now the rate of abuse of children by men and woman are around the same. Because of the traditional views of men being the dominant ones against woman we stuck to this stereotype by making the antagonist the male and the protagonist the female. A female is usually stereotyped as to being the opposite of the antagonist by being the victim. We used complete opposites in characters by using an older, much bulkier and stronger male against a young and small female to show dominance in the male character. The male character is in control of the struggle because he is the strongest. We are shown his dominance through camera work which a POV shot from a high angle so that Graham Harvey looking down on Iona because he is the dominant figure and has the most power. 

Scream

A thriller movie that matches this stereotype is 'scream' because the female is the stereotypical victim because she is home alone without 'a man to protect her.' And then a male is used as the protagonist that breaks into her house because this is more of a stereotypical thing that a male would do in traditional views.


However, by linking these two representative social groups together from our film we see that between masculinity and femininity we used the traditional views of the more dominant sex and we also used traditional views in the thought of ability is much more powerful than disability.  Using these both together the audience may notice that Mr Robinson (the case investigator) is shown from a low angle at all time to make him seem bigger and more in power over Graham Harvey who is sitting down the whole time. This shows a type of food chain link where females are at the bottom and thought to be weaker, however ability males have much more control over disability males. i.e Mr Robinson has the most control followed by Graham Harvey and Iona has no dominance at all due to the traditional views.

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

We would have produced our thriller film opening as an independent film company such as Vertigo Films which is a UK Film and Distribution company founded in 2002 , which means our budget is very small. Therefore the choices for where we can distribute our films are limited. A big film company like Warner Bros would firstly distribute their film into the cinemas which is a vital step for massive films because the first week of showing the film will make the highest box office and is very important if the film is going to keep being watched throughout the next couple of weeks in cinema. After the film has been in cinema for a couple of weeks it will be released on DVD to make secondary revenue but is also a major time for synergy to occur between film producers and video game producers/fast food outlets etc that is an advantage for both the companies as it brings them both income. 
However, because we are an independent film company we wouldn't have the money to advertise the film in cinema and on TV for cinematic/DVD releases and this therefore means we will have to start of by broadcasting our movie on TV's which is free for everyone to watch. 

We would mostly be distributing our film through social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube which would be much easier to reach our target audience of teenagers on online social networks. By sharing our product over Facebook and Twitter we can invite our friends to watch our film and if they enjoy it they can show their friends and so on. People will be commenting on our product frequently with what they like about our film and ways it can be improved if we were ever to make another film. By using Facebook we can also spread our product to a wider demographic group by meeting other companies and independent producers. By doing this we could broaden our contact list to use other independent film companies that may specialize in thriller films in the future. An example of this is ZOHAR films who are an independent film company which focuses on developing and distributing thriller films and TV series. 

The main way we will be distributing our film is through YouTube. This is one of the best ways for independent film companies to share their products as the placement is free, and will therefore be no loss if the film in unsuccessful.  YouTube is used by a huge demographic meaning that our film is able to be viewed by everyone, especially our target audience (teenagers-young adults) who use YouTube most frequently. filmindependent is a YouTube page based on posting films that are made from independent companies which has 6,000 subscribers. If we were able to post our thriller onto this page it would gain a lot more publicity than if we did it independently. 

YouTube is the third most popular website in the world, the film and TV arm of Google. YouTube is familiar, easy to use, and available on mobile devices, smart TVs, and even gaming consoles. YouTube offers the chance to reach a worldwide audience of thousands, even millions, while earning sums of money. YouTube’s algorithms are connecting us with a global audience channel surfing for movies. Most viewers aren't searching for a film by name but are just looking for a movie to watch which will come to our advantage if our film comes up. 

Another positive aspect of sharing our film through YouTube is that we could make  a small profit through advertising. When setting up an account we can choose whether we want to show the film with adverts. By adding advertisement to the film we can make money for each view we get even though it may be a small amount, it's more money than if we put it on free to watch channels. 

Another way we could make a small profit is by distributing our film straight onto the XBOX dashboard. The Xbox is used mostly by our demographic age group and therefore would be most appealing to them if they can watch the film from the comfort of their own home rather than going to the cinema. This means our film would have been distributed straight into our target audiences hands. Films cost around 10 pounds to be viewed from the Xbox however this is cheaper for audiences to view than if they bought a cinema ticket. 

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

Our target age for our film is 15-34. We decided to go for this age group due to this demographic being able to connect to our characters on a more intimate level. If we picked any younger age group they would be too scared to watch it and would be inappropriate for their viewing due to the levels of violence that would be displayed in our film. People from an older generation may not enjoy the film as much due to the story line even though it does match their traditional views and therefore we wouldn't rule them out completely for watching our film.  

We used the Peal and Dean website to find films that will be similar to ours in ways of a target audience. 

Prisoners is a crime thriller that was released in September 2013. If someone was to enjoy the film prisoners then they would most likely enjoy our film Iona. This is due to our films having the same genre of CRIME THRILLER. Also, the story line of Prisoners is that 'A Boston man kidnaps the person he suspects is behind the disappearance of his young daughter and her best friend.' Which is quite a similar story line in the way that a man has the most power over 2 small females who are too young to take care off themselves and are very vulnerable. The age to view this film was 15-24 with the second age category at 25-34 which matches our target audience in the age category perfectly. 


However, Prisoners is aimed more at the male gender rather than female with a 70%-30% ratio. And we would like our film to have more of a 50:50 split in gender.

The Purge: Anarchy

The Purge: Anarchy is a thriller film due to be released in July 2014. This film has a more even split of gender of 45%-55% which is more what we are targeting for our film. 
As well as this, The Purge also has a similar age percentage that we were aiming for however it is more focused on the age group 15-24 rather than 25-34 which we are aiming for. 

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

Graham Harvey: late 20's Mr Robinson: earlier 20's

We addressed our audience by age group by using characters that come under our target age group. We also used a mixture of male and female main characters to target our gender audience of 50:50. 

Iona: aged 11 years old.

The main representations that can be picked up in our film are ability/disability, age, and masculinity vs femininity.


Our age group may connect to Graham Harvey because of his mental disability which is a common thing nowadays for our age group of 15-34 to develop some sort of mental health problem throughout this time. However, because we used traditional views of mental disability we made Graham seem like he needed to be locked up because of his mental disability which isn't something that happens much nowadays except in extreme circumstances. From the narrative of the story, there is no reason for the audience to sympathize with Graham Harvey for what he did to his daughter. However, we used many camera angles that are from a high angle to make him seem smaller and weak then he really seems due to his mental disability bringing him down which many people can relate with. From this high angle camera angle it makes Graham seem really small as he only takes up a small proportion of the screen compared to Mr Robinson who seems much larger and therefore in control.

Iona is represented as a normal school girl in our opening. It is most likely that our target audience are or have attended school and needed to wear a uniform which can make a connection to our younger audience through her outfit choice. A school uniform can also make her seem much smaller and weaker and needs looking after which can make our audience sympathize for Iona. As well as this, females may connect with Iona more because they may feel like they have been a similar situation where by traditional views, males may get an advantage in society or are treated like they are more superior.

I was able to interview some people for an audience opinion on what in my film appealed to them and what could be improved. This is a film showing the opinions of one of my next door neighbors and she had two friends round. I got all 3 of them to watch the film and then write down something good about the film and something that could be improved in their own opinion.

I also showed the film to my friend who is in Florida for a range of audience and to get a wider population to watch our film as well. 'I've been waiting for you to send this to me for ages! I like the story line, I think it can relate to people in some situations and I also like how it has traditional views but has a modern twist too it by the way the interview is carried out. However I think the use of contrapuntal music in the background could be changed as I'm not sure it fits in.' 

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

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

Since posting our Prelim task in the middle of January we have learnt a lot more new techniques that has made our film to a higher quality standard. In our Prelim we used a lot of basic shots that were at a long shot or a medium shot that didn't add much variety too our film. Since then we have learnt a lot more about camera angles, tracking, panning etc that has made our film a much better and interesting film for the audience to watch. We have learnt that by using different shots can make a different effect on the audience and convey different meanings across for example using a low angle shot to show power.

In our preliminary task we didn't create a story around our plot shown which meant the characters had not much depth and didn't really relate to the audience in anyway except they are college students. However, with our film that we just completed we were able to create a background to the story that isn't shown in the plot line that gives the characters depth and a personality and describes from their past why they act the way they do in present time.





At the beginning of our prelim we white balanced everything to make the shots seem much clearer however once we change location we haven't white balanced the shot which makes the shot blurry and doesn't outline our faces very well. In our final film we concentrated more on outlining the faces so facial expressions are much clearer as they convey most of the feeling and emotion through the film and without these facial expressions we cannot see how the characters feel about the events occurring and therefore we can't emphasize with them.

In our preliminary task we were told to incorporate a match on action, 180 degree rule and shot reverse shot to make our film much more advanced in our camerawork. We have come on a long way from this stage by being able to incorporate these effects into our project to create some sort of effect to our film (i.e. suspense, conveying emotions) instead of just throwing these techniques in anywhere in our prelim.

Prelim match on actionPrelim shot reverse shot

This match on action used at the beginning of our film is used for 2 different reasons. The first one is that as the camera shot goes from a long shot to a medium shot it makes the footsteps sound louder as we have got closer to the character which can create more suspense as if the inspector is coming towards us. 

We also used these long shot to medium shot to show Grahams Harvey s face properly for the first time so we can see his emotions about this investigation and this is the first indicator that he is the one getting interviewed and we can tell by the way he is hunched over that he may have committed the crime- which we don't know about at this point in time.

It is the moved back to a long shot which shows good continuity and makes it a easier transition between this shot and the next shot.




We took a lot more insight to focusing on our sound in our final piece than what we did in our Prelim. What we have learnt between the time of our prelim and now is the use of parallel and contrapuntal non diegetic music. In our prelim we stuck to the conventional use of thriller sounding noises in the background to make a more suspenseful feel. However, we have learned much more about thriller films since then and were able to use the idea of contrapuntal sounds into our film without ruining the thriller effect. This was able to be done by making the music sound happy while surrounding death that it makes the audience feel a bit freaked out.



I've finished all questions but it won't let me save it at the moment onto the blog , it just keeps saying it is loading 

UPDATE -  now I've had access to a library computer i was able to save all my other questions onto the blog after emailing them too myself.