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.