Thriller opening final edit

Thriller Evaluation

 

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our opening thriller sequence represents many social groups, although my piece particularly represents middle class teenagers of both genders between the ages of 15-19. Although it is targeted to both genders I believe females are more likely to watch this due to the fact the two main characters who are the victims are both female. We found this idea from watching Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho 1960. To convey some of our representations we used actors and actress around the age of 17 this allows our main target audience to connect with them. Both the female characters are shown in natural clothing such as jeans, tops, jumpers and coats which portray the girls class and status of “middle class” we did this to add to the mise-en-scene as we wanted to portray a normal/ typical day which would then produce impact when the true story line is revealed, this also connects to the typical thriller conventions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VP5jEAP3K4

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

The type of media institution that might distribute my media product would be a local independent low budget company such as ‘EM Media’ or ‘working title’ which mainly work and distribute British films. However EM Media is an independent, not for profit organisation. It only raises finance to invest in and support the digital content industries across the East Midlands region. Therefore it wouldn’t be able to distribute my product however could raise finance to the rest of my product which would give us great advantages.

Other larger scale distribution companies that specialize in the thriller genre distribution are Hammer Films, Universal Pictures UK and Fox Film Corporation. These are all large scale distributors and have produced successful films which are within the same genre. If we had more money and further resources these would be the types of distributors I would consider.

Not only this but I could also advertise, as though our thriller is aimed at teenagers using the Internet would be a great way to get audience attraction from the many social networking sites and video sites available, I would be able to put trailers and sneak previews on YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/

Other great independent film distributors are also advertised on this website.
Some example are: Gravitas Ventures, IFC (Independent Film Channel), Oscilloscope Laboratories and Createspace. http://www.brighthub.com/multimedia/video/articles/64306.aspx

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

An opening title sequence is extremely important to a film it should draw the audience in without giving away too much detail. Directors spend millions of pounds just on the title sequence, a lot of research and development has to be done on an opening sequence and scenes of a film. This includes opening credits, titles, and setting the narrative this is done because it is the first visual and audio aspect of the film a viewer sees. Films in which has done this brilliantly include; Black Swan directed by Darren Aronofsky 2010, Seven directed by David Fincher 1995 and inception directed by Christopher Nolan 2010.

My opening title sequence conforms to the codes and conventions of an existing title sequence by:

- Having opening credits

- Introducing the antagonist
We introduce our antagonist within the first couple of seconds of the sequence however do not reveal his true identity this is a common used convention in a thriller opening sequence as it puts the audience into a false sense of insecurity.

- Drawing the audience’s interest though the number of shots and the suspense of what may happen to the victims
The variety of shots used creates interest for an audience. The shots also link to the worry and panic of the two victims during the running scenes which illustrates they are being chased by someone. This certain convention is also used in thrillers to build tension it is also used to gain impact before reaching the climax of a thriller.

The opening credits are a very important part of a thriller it can really add to the creepy, intense, thriller genre of the film if done correctly.  I believe we have done this well though adding a “smart but sinister” font for all the credits.

- Using females as the victims

Using females as the victims are regular occurrence within thrillers, stereotypically females are seen as weak and vulnerable gender so we automatically created female victims. We portray the characters in “normal” natural clothing such as jeans, tops and jumpers to show there age of 17 which also attract our target audience.

My opening title sequence also challenges the codes and conventions of this genre by:

- Challenging the lighting with bright light rather than dull and dim.

Normally thrillers would have a more sinister lighting theme to create tensions and mystery however we have challenged this convention through using a much lighter and brighter light. This was done particularly to represent the time of day which would then create more impact when within the finale scenes. As this shows the days have passed.

- Having dialogue in the opening sequence.

Dialogue isn’t generally used within an opening sequence of a thriller however tensions filled music and sounds are used. We decided to challenge this convention as it would give a clearer indication of the plot line of our sequence.

- Thrillers tend to show everyday life and we have challenged this by instantly turning the characters life upside down.

Who would be the audience for your media product?
The audience for our thriller project would be working/middle class teenagers to young adults.  Due to the fact the characters within the film are of around the age of 17, this makes it easier for an audience of this age range to relate to the characters. I also believe the audience would be mainly of teenagers as according to http://www.valmorgan.co.nz/nz/audiences/profiles/thrillers/. I believe that our piece would be unsuitable for anyone under the age of 15 due to the fact the opening hints to elements of unsettling topics such as abduction, stalking, harm etc. 

 

“Thrillers are generally particularly popular with the under 25's”
http://www.valmorgan.co.nz/nz/audiences/profiles/thrillers/.

Another reason why my media product would be aimed at and audience age of around 17 would be due to the comments we got back in our questionnaire results we asked a majority of 10-20 year olds and the majority of them said yes to enjoying watching thrillers

http://2011gs17.blogspot.com/2011/02/questionnaire.html

How did you attract/address your audience?

My opening thriller sequence attracts my target audience through a number of ways such as the sound and mise-en-scene. Our thriller sound starts slow and sinister but then eventually builds up the tension with the quick running sequence this would attract my audience as it builds suspense and creates the atmosphere.

The mise-en-scene is set in a familiar setting which would be found during a thriller, the variety of shots makes the sequence interesting and exciting to watch. I have also addressed my audience through casting; the victims in my opening are the same age as my target audience.

We took great inspiration from last house on the left directed by Dennis Iliadis 2009 due to the great ways it uses slow and sinister lyrical music and then enters a heavy and atmospheric beat. We also liked the way the movie used mise-en-scene with its locations and we wanted to represent some of the skills into our sequence.

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

From the process of constructing my opening thriller title sequence I have learnt a lot about several technologies I have come across and used. Throughout the process of shooting I have developed my knowledge and understanding of the equipment that was available to me. I have used tripods, cameras and editing software. The first time that I learnt about the technology was during our camera safety and preliminary task lessons, as shown in one of my previous posts http://2011gs17.blogspot.com/2011/01/introduction-to-course-and-camera.html

“We were given instructions on camera safety for example learning about the certain buttons on the camera and also the specific ways to open a camera stand and connect the camera upon it.” When I started to create the preliminary task I used basic camera shots such as close ups, long shots, mid shots and high angle and low angle.

I also used editing software to edit the shots together “Adobe Premiere Pro”. The preliminary task was a short and simple task to help us familiarise ourselves with the camera equipment and the editing software. I believe that this task helped us a lot with our thriller task as it gave us the knowledge of certain techniques Adobe uses therefore we could pre-prepare certain elements.

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

From my preliminary task I believe I have learnt a lot during the whole experience. Its vital to if you’re in a group have members you can trust and cooperate with as it’s means you will be working with them for the entire project and if you can not work together it shows within the project. Another part of working in a group I have learnt and progressed with is the amount of ideas each person has, it is important to listen to each idea however it’s hard to work when people have a variety of different thoughts for a 2:00 piece. Time management is also a very important issue, it is crucial to stay on time with the deadlines set as it makes completing work a lot easier. I believe I could have done better within this area at the start of the task however I feel I have learnt and progressed from this. I have also learned and progressed a great deal with the editing process after filming my preliminary piece I had no knowledge on the editing equipment of adobe. During the prelim task and finale thriller opening I have become more experienced and confident with the software.