Evaluation Questions

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

Our Thriller opening used a lot of forms and conventions that could be used in a thriller genre film. Our film uses a lot of suspense to keep the audience asking questions in their head.

Our thriller opening uses the convention of sound to make it thrilling. The sound we uses give a mysterious feel, so you know that something is quite not right. The use of sound will keep the audience right on the edge of their seat. This is because they can tell by the music that something is going to happen, but they are not sure what. As the Thriller goes on, the music changes to a more upbeat Chase music. This helps because it gets the audiences hearts pumping, as something is happening on screen.

Editing is also important to add tension to the film opening. Using close ups you can see the emotions on the face of the protagonist, this lets us feel what he is feeling and shows us that he too is scared. The editing is also important in the Scene where the Shadow spots the Protagonist and the camera moves down the path towards him. This shot lets us know what the antagonist can see, and that he has spotted him and is moving in to get him. By letting us see from his point of view, this adds tension as the audience are left asking and thinking what is going to happen next.

Our Thriller story line follows the convention of having a crime at the heart of the thriller. Our crime is a Murder, The protagonist at the start of the opening is killed by the antagonist, setting up the rest of the storyline as a murdering psychopath on the loose. Having our thriller based around a  crime is good because it gave us a lot of options as to how we could add suspense and tension and keep people on the edge of their set wondering what is going to happen next. Our thriller also follows the general convention of the Protagonist being watched by somebody, or the main antagonist. There were a lot of good camera shots showing the views, or over the shoulder of our antagonist. Adding to the tension as wee, as the audience know that he is being watched.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our thriller focussed on the social group of a Teenage Boy. He is walking somewhere to meet his friends when something bad happens. Our thriller Represented your typical, popular boy, as he was wearing smart clothes. By showing him as a wealthy boy, this could mean that he ha been targeted for his wealth. 'The Shadow' is wearing dark clothes, which includes black trainers and a black tracksuit. This is a typical clothes set of a teenager. Many of these teenagers who wear this are considered to be involves with crime, so 'The Shadow' could possible fit into that category.


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


Our Thriller would be better distributed from a smaller institute rather then a big one. The film would have a much smaller budget, so would not have as many good actors, or high cost action scenes. Due to this it is unlikely that any larger company such as Universal or Paramount would want to distribute our film worldwide.

 A smaller film distributor such as Working Title or New Line Cinema. Although not as big as Universal or Paramount, these Distributors still are quite big, and have a very good reputation. so our film could be seen by lots of people still. These two companies would be a lot cheaper than going to a mega-company, ad would still be good in getting our film out there in cinemas for people to see. If this is unsuccessful, and the film distributors would not back our film. Then a 'Art House' style cinema could be an option for our film to be shown. This would be very cheap. However our film would not be seen on the same scale as if it was to be distributed from Working Title or New Line Cinema, but this way would be a lot cheaper, and many people would see our film.


Who would be the audience for your media product?

After going through the BBFC ratings. It would most probably fall into the 15+ category. Which means that people under 15 would not be able to see it. Our film was specifically targeted at an audience of 15+ due to the fact that we thought it would get a rating of 15. However, if the BBFC were to decide that is was actually a 12 rating. Then this would increase our audience greatly, meaning many more people could see it and a bigger profit. It is highly unlikely, but if our film was to be given an 18 rating, this would significantly reduce our target audience. all of the 15/16/17 year olds who enjoy the thriller genre would not longer be able to go to the cinema to see our film. This would have a dramatic effect on our audience and there would be many empty cinemas if it were to be an 18.


How did you attract/address your audience?


To attract and Address our audience we used advertising on The social Networking Sites Facebook and Twitter. This is so that we can specifically target an audience (ie. 15-25 year olds) with advertisements for our film. We also advertised our film with a banner advertisement on YouTube. Due to the many people that use Twitter Facebook and YouTube. It would mean that many people would see our trailers and could pass it on via word of mouth. The Trailer to our film was shown on Many Major TV channels so that a Huge Audience could watch our trailer and want to go and see our film. This Major marketing campaign would help our film to do well and take in a very large audience. Through Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and TV adverts it is estimated that it would Increase our sales by over 100%


Successful viral Marketing campaigns include the Old Spice Body wash campaign. Which had sales increase of 107%.  This is due to the Viral marketing campaigns that they put out. We hope to use a similar technique to advertise and market our film. This could significantly make our film a Hit and have major profits if many thousands of people go to the cinema to watch it.


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


Our Group Learnt lot about technologies by making our thriller opening. The main technology we used was the internet. This was vital to us, as it was where all of our research was done on thrillers. Helping us to make the best opening that we could. From the Internet we found out different conventions that our thriller could include. The internet was also important for marketing our thriller. Advertisements were put all over the internet to try and get as many people to see our film as possible. Facebook, YouTube and Twitter were the websites targeted for our viral marketing scheme. YouTube was also vital to producing our thriller. We uploaded everything we had filmed onto YouTube for two reasons. firstly to get Real audience feedback on our film. The technology and ability of YouTube meant that we could get real feedback from random people in the YouTube community who honestly told us what they thought. YouTube was also important because we used it to embed our Final thriller into our blog. The technology here helped by making it a lot easier to showcase our thriller on our blog. 

We Used a Kodak Playsport HD to film on. This Camera has a picture format of 1080p. Which meant that the quality was brilliant, and looked really professional. Having a High Quality camera helped our thriller as it meant we could show everything that we wanted to in very high quality, and capture things in high detail. This helped the audience because they could easily see what we wanted them to in high quality. Our Group member Dan, used IMovie09 to edit the final product, he also did this using a Mac Computer. The program meant that he could edit our thriller perfectly. The Software was important to our thriller because it helped us to edit our thriller by slowing down and speeding up clips. The software also helped the thriller to look very professional.

Using a Blog was an important technology that we learned about. I personally had never created a blog before in my life. I had to learn about the blog and how to do it. This lead to Research before i started my project. I had to research Blogger, so that I could find out how to present my work in the best way. Being able to use the blog helped us a lot. It meant that all of our work could be showcased in one place, and we could show people what we had done. Being able to embedded YouTube videos meant that we could show what we had done very easily by ust embedding them onto our blog.

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


Our Preliminary task was a short film to help us understand the basics of continuity. From this we learn a major amount about continuity in film and how they should run. We mainly learnt through errors that we made. But this was good as it meant that we would not make those same errors on the Final Piece. One Major error that we made was managing our time. We were terrible at this, and the continuity piece taught us that we have to manager our time effectively. I also learnt about different camera techniques. For example, where the camera needs to be placed in order to focus the audience's attention on something. This helped greatly when producing the film as it meant we could place the camera where we thought it needed to be. We also learned about the Camera, Tripod and Different camera features that we could employ into our Thriller opening. We also learnt a lot about the sounds, for example what sounds we could use in order to create the right amount of tension for the audience without giving too much away that was going to happen. We realise planning was the most important aspect, and that we had to draw and write out everything and cover every angle possible. This was so that we all knew what was going to happen and why.


Without the Preliminary Task i do not think that the Final product would be up to the standard that we currently have it at. We would have made too many mistakes and not planned enough or knew enough about what we were doing. The preliminary task helped us to produce our final piece which we are all proud of.

Directors Commentary

During Our planning stage. We decided that when we had finished our Film, we would make a Directors Commentary. Where we would all sit down as a group and discuss the techniques, camera angles and plot, over a run though of the film. We did this so that by talking through it you can understand what we were trying to create in our film, and what our thoughts were.

Feedback

We wanted to know what people thought of out film, so we uploaded it to YouTube so that we could get proper feedback from people who had watched our film. The Purpose of this was to see if our film had come out like it was supposed to, and whether people thought it was good or not. I am please with the feedback that we got from the people who watched it, as their comments were generally positive. The one negative thing mentioned the transition of music. But the rest of the comments were good.

These are the feedback comments that we got from YouTube. They give both negatives and positives about our film that could help us next time.

Propp and Todorov

Todorov's theory

Todorov came up with a Narrative structure for films.

Propps Theory

Propp came up with 8 Main Character Types that appear in 100 films that he analysed.

1. The villain — struggles against the hero.
2. The dispatcher —character who makes the quest known and sends the hero off.
3. The helper — helps the hero in the quest.
4. The princess or prize — the hero deserves her throughout the story but is unable to marry her because of an unfair evil, usually because of the villain. the hero's journey is often ended when he marries the princess, thereby beating the villain.
5. Her father — gives the task to the hero, identifies the false hero, marries the hero, often sought for during the narrative. Propp noted that functionally, the princess and the father can not be clearly distinguished.
6. The donor —prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object.
7. The hero or victim/seeker hero — reacts to the donor, weds the princess.
8. False hero — takes credit for the hero’s actions or tries to marry the princess

Advertising and Marketing

Advertising

Trailers

Thriller adverts/Trailers usually have dark images, to draw the audience to the film and the information in the thriller. They would have mysterious images, and eye catching titles to engage the reader. The Trailer would have images of some tense parts of the film, so to show what the film could be without giving away too much of the plot. The trailer may be also set to some non-digetic music, and sort of in the style of a montage, this is more common in action film, but could be incorporated into a thriller if the shots are scary enough and the music is just right. Some thriller trailers include a scary voice over (Often children) played to the shot of the film to create a tense atmosphere.

The opening to the woman in black features a child voice-over, saying a rhyme. This adds to the tension of the film, as well as the child's toys and music in the background. This is a really good trailer, and worked really well and made me want to go and see the film. 

If a trailer was made for our film, it would be along a similar style. It would have some scary music played to some shots of the actual film, and possibly a voice-over to go with it and add to the tension. The trailer would be put on YouTube adverts and shown on TV. As well as being shown at the start of other films in the cinema, this would mean that as many people as possible could see the trailer, and word of mouth could pass it on and hopefully a large audience would come to see our film.

Marketing

A trailer is not the only way to market a film. Viral marketing can also be done to achieve a big audience. Banners at the top of websites can be used to advertise our film, meaning that whoever goes on that website will see a banner of our film. If they like the look of it then they would click on it and be taken to a link of the trailer so that they could watch it.

An example of an advertising banner on YouTube

Advertising could be done on Social Networking sites Facebook and Twitter.

On Facebook a Group or page could be set up to advertise our Thriller to the Millions who use Facebook. If not this then a advert down the side of the page could be set up to advertise our film. The film could be selectively targeted at a certain age range so that our target audience is hit and advertised to as many of them as possible.

An example of a Facebook advert

Twitter could be used by paying a "Promoted Trend" so that everybody can see it. This would mean that every single Twitter user would be able to see the name of our film. and the Majority would click on it to see what it is.

How our Promoted Trend could appear

Final Piece

This is our Final Thriller, I am very pleased with the outcome of it, and all of the techniques that we tried to do came across in our film.

Research on Sound

Thriller Sound Research on Prezi

Continuity Piece

This was produced to show that we understood the elements of continuity, and was shot in one afternoon.

After looking at this film again, i noticed a small continuity error. At the end of the films when the door handle goes down and the door is opened. The next shot has to door opening again. Error however helped us make less errors in our final piece.


The idea, was to have a cliffhanger ending, so that we could keep the audience on the edge of their seat wondering what happened next. However with this we tried too hard. We did not give the audience enough information, so it was unclear what had happened, and some hots had to be filmed again. This gave more information to the audience so that the film made sense.


i think the continuity piece was very successful, and with the error that we made helped us in our real film. It also helped us with time management in our real film as we were running out of time so we knew that we needed to plan our time better.

Thriller Essay on Conventions

A thriller is a Genre of Movie that follows lots of different set Conventions in order to have a certain effect on the audience. Many Thrillers these days can be split up into different subsections such as ; Action thriller, Conspiracy thrillers, Crime thrillers, Legal thrillers, Political thrillers and Psychological thrillers. Thrillers can be great films if they are done correctly, and can make a lot of profit for the producers. Thrillers use psychological mind games to put mind games and thoughts into the audiences head so that they are interested, pumped with adrenaline and kept on the edge of their seat throughout the film. Due to these thrillers being so successful, many have been produced, which means that conventions and ideas will be re-used. Conventions can be found by analyzing multiple films and finding similarities between them. 

Thrillers often tend to have a Protagonist who is normally unaware of the Antagonists true identity, who they are, and what their morals are. An example of this would be in Taking lives, Where Angelina Jolie's character is unaware that the man she slept with is actually a serial killer that has taken the identities of many different men in order to lead a different life and escape the Punishment of his crimes. He uses very clever mind games to try and make himself seem innocent. This can also be related to Psycho the viewers are made to believe that Norman, and his mother are too different characters. Due to the camera angles we never actually get to see the face of his 'mother', as not to give away that it is really him. Having this lack of knowledge from the main Protagonist adds Tension to the film as it is unknown to the audience and the character who is the antagonist, and what are their motives. However This is not evident in the film "Memento," as the main Protagonist knows who the Killer of his wife is, But cannot access his memory due to an accident, this is How the technique is not portrayed in a film as the protagonist had knowledge of who killed his wife, but is unable to remember it, thus has to have the information of his killer tattooed on his body. Although the Protagonist knows who the antagonist is, He still is unknown to it, creating an effect where the viewer knows a lot more than the character knows, but this effect still works and adds tension to the film.

An Example of the Tattoos In Memento

The main plot of a Thriller usually revolves around there being a crime of some sorts, this is because we as a audience are not used to seeing major crime from the point of view of the victim and the criminal. The crime generally depends to be a murder. Many of the 'Big' Thriller titles usually involve a Serial killer going around, while the Protagonists tries to stop them. Taking lives is a really good example of this, as the whole film is based upon a Serial Killer killing people and stealing their identities, and the protagonist is trying to crack the psychological game and catch the killer. The whole plot is based around Murder, and this adds a thrilling tension and keeps up on the edge of the seat, as murder is not something we are used to in everyday life. The film takes us through the thoughts of the people we are not, and lets the audience see something from the perspective of a special agent who would deal with murder a lot. Another Example of this is in No country for old men. The when the money is found, it is at the scene of a major drug deal. The Core of the plot is also based upon crime as there is a psychopathic killer who is after the protagonist. This use of Crime keeps the audience on the edge of their seat, as it a unknown area for them, and they do not naturally know the thoughts of the people involved, what is going to happen next.

Thrillers also generally have a feeling of voyeurism, this is when somebody is being spied on and doesn't know. This is done because it adds tension, and questions in the audiences head that go unanswered, like why are they spying on them, what will happen next. An example of this is in Psycho when Norman is watching through the hole in the wall. Marion does not know she is being watched, but we as the audience can see that she is. This adds tension because we wonder why he is watching her.

Another Convention of the thriller is that the title normally reflects the psychological state of the Antagonist or Protagonist. "Psycho" Is called so because literally the antagonist is a Psycho. Also this is the case with Taking lives. The Antagonist is killing people thus taking their life. Not only this, but he also physically "Takes their life" by becoming them. The titles reflecting the psychological state of somebody is a good convention because it leaves the Audience guessing as to why the film has been titled what it is. What aspects of the film make the title have that name, and how are they related.


Sound is also important in the thriller genre as this can be mainly responsible for all of the Tension that is built up. We can feel the emotions and feelings of the characters through the use of Digetic sound. We can hear what they can hear so emphasise with them as we too can hear. Useing Non Digetic music can add a lot of tension, this is also the case with silence. silence and Music give the film a lot more tension, and a lot more thrilling to watch. The Use of sound in the shower scene in psycho is possibly the most well known piece of music from a thriller film ever. This in itself is an obvious example of how well music ads to the tension of a thriller. However, before this scene, there is no music. This leads up and slowly increases the tension.


All Thrillers have Set conventions that they use in order to make them thrilling. Using all of the techniques in some way will add tension to a film. Thrillers are there not to scare the Audience, but to build up the tension, constantly leaving questions unanswered, so the audience do not know what is going to happen next. Tension is the most important part of a thriller, it is what most people find interesting in a thriller and go to watch them for. Without using these forms and conventions, thrillers would not be thrilling.

Genre And Audience

Genre and Audience

Obviously When making a film you have to decide on a audience which you are going to target your film too.  This could include their Age, Gender, Location and also the types of films certain people enjoy.A typical Age range for a thriller Film would be 15-35, Depending on the Age rating of your film. If your film is rated a 18, then you are shortening your audience, but you can include more thriller aspects. Sometimes Film makers will cut certain scenes out so that the rating can be moved from a 18 -> 15, so that there is a bigger audience for the film to make a profit from.

A Typical Thriller Audience would be, "Somebody who is intrigued into mystery, and likes a twist. Somebody who likes to try and work things out for themselves and who likes to be on the edge of their seat They also would love the elements of shock surprise and suspense."

After Looking at the BBFC guidelines for our Thriller Opening. We decided that our thriller would be a 15. This would enable us to have a Audience of 15+, which would include a lot of teenagers who are looking for a thrilling film to go and see with their friends. If it were to be a 12, then we would be able to include a much bigger audience enabling the film to make a lot more money. However after watching the start of the film against the BBFC guidelines, we decided that a 15 is more appropriate for our film given the rest of the story line.


There would be no Specific gender for our Thriller, it is not targeted at a specific gender. so anybody who enjoys watching thrillers could go and see it. No matter if they are Male of female. 

Conventions of Thrillers

A thriller will have Many Conventions about it which will make it thrilling. Generally Many thrillers all have elements of some of the following as they give tension to the audience and make them on the edge of their seat

• There is usually a crime in the narrative or storyline of a thriller. -This is often a Murder and it keeps the viewer hooked.
• A complex narrative structure, with false paths, clues and resolutions. - Thrillers are usually made up of these. Mainly to keep the audience questioning, and to make them work out what’s going on, leaving strong enigma’s
• Themes of voyeurism - When someone is being e.g. spied upon and doesn't know. Usually shown through point of view shot of the person doing the spying.
• Protagonist with ‘flaw’ which is exploited by the antagonist - The antagonist takes advantage of the protagonists flaws. The flaws are usually obvious to the audience but not to the antagonist until they are revealed to him. When the flaws are visible to the antagonist, it put him/her in the dominant position.
• Titles often reflect an aspect of the pro/antagonist’s psychological state - The titles usually mirror the type of film, and give the audience a chance to see what might be coming up in the film.
• There is often a scene near the end of the film in which the protagonist is in peril. - This is used so that there is action building up to a certain point to keep the audience hooked, and the peril is usually solved by the end of the film which leaves the audience in good spirit.

Making of and Planning

This is taken from the Day when we were filming our Thriller. In this clip you can her our Planning and Ideas that we had on the day and tried to incorporate into our thriller. There is also some clips of when we were filming showing how we were filming things and the angles we filmed from.

British board of film Classification

"U" Suitable for all ages

A "U" fim should be suitable for any viewer of the age 4+. "U" films should have a generally positive film throughout, and all negatives or violence should be counter balanced by lots of good things. "U" films should have the following: 

• No discriminating language or behaviour 
• no references or use of illegal drugs, 
• any horror scenes should be mild brief and should not cause any anxiety to children, the outcome of these should also be positive and reassuring, 
• no dangerous behaviour which young children are likely to copy, 
• very infrequent use of very mild bad language, 
• mild sexual behaviour (Kissing) 
• only mild violence that is resolved or has a reassuring ending.

Parental Guidance

General viewing,similar to "U" however some areas of the film may be unsuitable for young children to watch unaccompanied by a adult.

Unaccompanied children of any age may watch. A ‘PG’ film should not disturb a child aged around eight or older. However, parents are advised to consider whether the content may upset younger or more sensitive children. 

• Discrimination - discriminable language is likely to be classed as a "PG" unless is clearly disproved or used in historical context. 
• Drugs - References to illegal drugs must carry a anti-drugs message 
• Horror - frightening Horror aspects  should not be prolonged 
• Imtimatable behaviour - no dangerous behaviour that children could intimidate, no glamorisation of easily accessible weapons. 
• Language - Mild bad language 
• Nudity - Natural nudity with no sexual content
• Sex - Sexual activity may be implied, but should be discreet and infrequent. 
• Violence  - Moderate violence, 

 

Suitable for 12 years and over

The same criteria is used between 12, and 12A films. Films with this rating are generally suitable for children over aged 12. Some of the Themes in the Film may upset children under 12

The ‘12A’ category exists only for cinema films. No one younger than 12 may see a ‘12A’ film in a cinema unless accompanied by an adult, and films classified ‘12A’ are not recommended for a child below 12. An adult may take a younger child if, in their judgement, the film is suitable for that particular child. In such circumstances, responsibility for allowing a child under 12 to view lies with the accompanying adult.

• Discriminatory language or behaviour must not be endorsed by the work as a whole. Aggressive discriminatory language or behaviour is unlikely to be acceptable unless clearly condemned.
• Any misuse of drugs must be infrequent and should not be glamorised or give instructional detail.
• Moderate physical and psychological threat may be permitted, provided disturbing sequences are not frequent or sustained.
• Dangerous behaviour (for example, hanging, suicide and self-harming) should not dwell on detail which could be copied, or appear pain or harm free.  Easily accessible weapons should not be glamorised.
• Moderate language is allowed. The use of strong language (for example, ‘fuck’) must be infrequent.
• Nudity is allowed, but in a sexual context must be brief and discreet.
• Sexual activity may be briefly and discreetly portrayed. Sex references should not go beyond what is suitable for young teenagers. Frequent crude references are unlikely to be acceptable.
• Moderate violence is allowed but should not dwell on detail. There should be no emphasis on injuries or blood, but occasional gory moments may be permitted if justified by the context. Sexual violence may only be implied or briefly and discreetly indicated, and must have a strong contextual justification.

Suitable only for 15 years or over

No-one younger than 15 may see a ‘15’ film in a cinema. No-one younger than 15 may rent or buy a ‘15’ rated video work.

• The work as a whole must not endorse discriminatory language or behaviour.
• Drug taking may be shown but the film as a whole must not promote or encourage drug misuse. The misuse of easily accessible and highly dangerous substances (for example, aerosols or solvents) is unlikely to be acceptable.
• Strong threat and menace are permitted unless sadistic or sexualised.
• Dangerous behaviour (for example, hanging, suicide and self-harming) should not dwell on detail which could be copied. Easily accessible weapons should not be glamorised.
• There may be frequent use of strong language (for example, ‘fuck’). The strongest  terms (for example, ‘cunt’) may be acceptable if justified by the context. Aggressive or repeated use of the strongest language is unlikely to be acceptable.
• Nudity may be allowed in a sexual context but without strong detail. There are no constraints on nudity in a non-sexual or educational context.
• Sexual activity may be portrayed without strong detail. There may be strong verbal references to sexual behaviour, but the strongest references are unlikely to be acceptable unless justified by context. Works whose primary purpose is sexual arousal or stimulation are unlikely to be acceptable.
• Violence may be strong but should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury. The strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable. Strong sadistic or sexualised violence is also unlikely to be acceptable. There may be detailed verbal references to sexual violence but any portrayal of sexual violence must be discreet and have a strong contextual justification.

Suitable only for adults

No-one younger than 18 may see an ‘18’ film in a cinema. No-one younger than 18 may rent or buy an ‘18’ rated video work.