Ways we USE forms and conventions
Cross cutting -
Through our research we learnt that Thriller films cross-cut between two different scenes of action. An example of this is in the Da Vinci Code. The scenes switch from a killer chasing a man in a museum to the main character giving a lecture. This implies that the two are linked and there is a connection in the story.
We have tried to replicate this in our film, we cross-cut between the boy in the bedroom and the two men walking down the road. This creates a sense of mystery and makes the audience guess whether or not the two are linked. We used this technique as it was quite simple and an effective one. It is a pretty typical convention and I think we pulled it off.
Shot Composition -
In our Media product we have made sure to specifically use a certain shot composition in order to not reveal the faces of the henchmen walking down the street. We thought that this was a very good technique to use as it creates mystery and tension. The audience wil be thinking; Who are they? What are they doing? Where are they going? We wanted this sort of interaction and therefore when we were thinking of what we were going to do in the beginning, this was our first idea we had. When researching different techniques and ideas we came across this technique in the film The Usual Suspects, the killer was intentionally shown without his face in order to set up the film.
We decided to also use this in our opening, here you see our 2 henchmen walking. We composed our shots carefully to not reveal the faces of the men.
Ways we DEVELOP forms and conventions
Reaction shot to fade
A typical convention used in Thrillers is that of a Reaction Shot where a character's face is shown close-up reacting to something off camera. The camera will then reveal what they were reacting to and this can create emotion in the audience. We decided to use this technique in our Thriller opening but we expanded on it by not showing what the character was looking it. Therefore it is more mysterious and quite creepy as we can see from the screenshot below. The audience have this urge to see what they are looking at but will not get to see it. This creates tension and it can even go far to annoy the audience. Thus engaging them more in the film.
Use of music to mimic scenes
A lot of Thriller films use a music soundtrack in their film to go over different scenes of action. Most will not fully link in with what is going on on the screen. Therefore we decided to develop this convention of using music and make it mimic with what is going on. The music we used links in with our film scenes quite a lot. The tapping makes you think of typing on a keyboard, we have a laptop in the opening scene and therefore the music links them together. Also the music also sounds like a clock ticking, this creates drama as the men are walking and it gives the impression that the boy is running out of time. The sudden booms in the music also link in with possible gunfire as we also have a gun in our opening scene. By linking the music with the footage it makes it more mysterious and it plays on the audience's minds.
Ways we CHALLENGE forms and conventions
Sound Bridge to credit
We noticed that in Thriller films, the technique of a Sound Bridge is often used with different scenes of action. We decided that rather than the audience hearing the sound and seeing a shot of something else happening, we would show a credit to create even more mystery and increase the intensity.
A male victim rather than a female
Through our research on Thriller conventions, we noticed that most victims in a Thriller plot generally tend to be Female. This creates an emotional attachment between the Protagonist and the female. We as a group thought that this could be achieved with a male and we also thought that it would also heighten the drama of the film. It is a twist in our film that will shock the audience and we feel it has made our film better.
2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
To answer this question I have used an online presentation service called Prezi:
3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
To answer this question we created a page on WikiSpaces to explain what media institution Zeus is. Click the picture to be taken to the page.
4. Who would be the audience for your media product?
Our typical audience member for our movie A State Of Mind would fit the profile of this:
- His name is Mike , short for Michael which only his mother calls him, and he is in his Mid- 20's. He has a girlfriend but they are not having a serious relationship. His job is at BT where he works as a tele communicator at a call centre. He went to the Open University in Milton Keynes and got average grades where he studied Computing and ICT.
- He particularly likes Thriller films and the Spy/ Psychological sub-genre. He is a fan of top mainstream Hollywood actors such as Daniel Craig or Angelina Jolie. He will watch the odd comedy film with his friends for a laugh and his favourite comedian is Ricky Gervais.
- He likes to go to the cinema with his 2 best mates and he only likes to go on Wednesday because he is an Orange Wednesday customer and he likes to save money. He has a lot of free time so he often goes, mainly in the evenings.
- Mike is a big fan of new technology and likes to buy his films on Blu ray but he still buys a lot of films on DVD if they are cheap. He is not a big fan of 3D as he thinks it is a gimmick. Mike likes to buy his technology from specialist shops such as Richer Sounds. He wants the best service and best quailty products. He has a Full HD Flatscreen TV in his apartment with surround sound.
- Mike is not actively involved in politics, however he does sometimes watch the news to see about what is happening around the world. He normally watches Sky news.
- Mike does not read a great deal, he likes to read technology magazines occasionally. He sees no point in newspapers as he can get all the information he needs on the internet.
- Mike likes to travel, he is interested in different cultures and different technologies. He went to Hong Kong when he was 12 and would like to work there one day.
- Mike is a big James Bond fan, he has the entire collection of the films and he considers himself to be just like 007. Mike also likes watching 24 and wishes he was tough like Jack Bauer. He is a big fan of Crime/Thriller TV shows and always records them on Sky. Mike does like Psychological films as well and he has seen Inception many times. He also likes to write on internet forums such as IMDB to discuss the story in his free time.
- Mike is not too bothered about music. He generally tends to listen to Indie music though but he does not really have any preference. He does have an iTunes account and will buy the odd song every now and then.
- Mike's main hobby is going to the cinema at his local Cineworld but he also likes sports and paintballing. He goes to the bar to watch football matches but he mainly likes to do it to meet girls. Mike has a hobby with military collectibles since his grandfather served in WW2. He generally likes to go paintballing with his friends and finds it very stress-relieving.
Overall, I think that Mike is the perfect audience member of our film, we have many aspects in our film that will appeal to him and there are many characteristics of the film that suit Mike perfectly. Our film is very technological which Mike would like, we don't have any mainstream music in our film which I think he would like and we also have a military aspect in our film which links to Mike's hobby and likes.
5. How did you attract/address your audience?
To answer this question we have annotated our Thriller Opening on YouTube. We have pointed out the main features that attract our audience and why they do. Our target audience is Males aged 18-30. The main features fell under these categories:
- Camera Work (movement and angle)
- Editing
- Mise En Scene
- Establishment of character
6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
Throughout the year in Media Studies I have learnt a great deal more about using different technologies to do our project. We have used a variety of technologies both online and offline to make our film and conduct our research.
Online :
Blogger
Prezi
YouTube
Survey Monkey
SurveyMonkey is a free website that allows you to create a survey and share it on various websites. We used this to get feedback on certain aspects for our product, for example the Font for out Titles. This was a pretty easy service to use and I have never used a survey before. But I think that they are extremely helpful especially when our group cannot decide.
Offline :
Photoshop
Final Cut Express
Apple Mac Computers
HD Cameras
We used Canyon HD cameras to film our product. I have some experience with using video cameras and I found it pretty easy to use them.
Tripod
The Tripod turned out to be one of our most useful tools as it really allowed us to explore different angles and shots when filming our product. I have never used one before when filming anything and I think that it was extremely useful.
7. Looking back at your Preliminary Task what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
The Preliminary Task was extremely helpful to us as it gave us a chance to make a practice video before we made our Main Task. Through this we learned how to :
- use the cameras , tripods and other equipment
- choose locations, props and costumes
- film with appropriate lighting
- edit our video on Final Cut Express
To answer the question fully with examples we have annotated our Preliminary Task video on YouTube.
In conclusion to this question, I feel that we have been very successful in progressing from the preliminary stage to the main task. I feel that we as a group took on what we learnt and made sure to try new things as well. We experimented more with lighting and different camera angles in our main video and I feel that it has worked brilliantly. We organized our shots and props very well I thought as this was a problem in our preliminary. Our editing went extremely smooth as we had experience with our preliminary which allowed us to crack on and edit our video accordingly. We also tried out some new editing techniques which we felt made our video 10 times better. Overall I think we have learnt a great deal.
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