In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
When thinking about creating a successful thriller opening we had to immediately interpret to the audience that this was a thriller, as it was only 2 minutes of which we had to do so. In doing this we had to include distinctive thriller conventions in which the audience instantly recognise this, such as mise en scene, camera work and editing, characters, narrative structure, iconography, music/sound and ideologies.
In order to accomplish this we had to research into this genre, we did this by watching a range of thriller films and openings, such as The Usual Suspects, Seven and Memento to name but a few. Our group all particularly liked Seven and so in out of school research we watched the whole film. Seven has an extremely fast pace the whole way through and instead of starting at the beginning it starts at the end and throughout the film there are ellipsis’ in time. This therefore gives the audience restricted narration and for the duration of the film a lot of tension is built. This was the main inspiration for our own thriller as we really wanted to keep this fast pace with lots of quick cuts and ellipsis’ in time.
For the Mise en Scene we used a range of typical thriller conventions. We chose our setting to be mainly in the house, but for our nightmare sequence we just used one undecorated wall and added some warped pictures and words which you instantaneously identify as the antagonists “lair.” 
This took a reasonable amount of planning before hand and so I and Alex researched for pictures we could use and also words or newspaper articles. The “bloodstained hands” on the wall we later added for a more distressing effect and also the victim’s names. The lighting was also quite low key although we had to make sure we could still see quite clearly what was on the wall. We filmed just with the key light on and then put a diffuser in front of it to try it with that. The colours we used were mainly dark and grungy colours such as greys and blacks but then the red which we added on later connotes the blood and anger and helps to give an overall more dramatic effect. Props used in the nightmare scene were all the pictures and words on the wall but we also had a baby doll and weapons shown in the sequence. The use of the doll in the sequence was used to show that our antagonist is particularly twisted, and so to demonstrate this we burnt parts of the doll and scratched one of its eyes out.
Dolls are also quite a common fear that people have and so this tapped into people’s insecurities. The weapons we laid out on the table in a constructed way, this was not only to show them off clearly but also we wanted to portray an organised side to our dark antagonist, showing that he plans his killings and that they are not just accidental. In the house shots there were a various amount of props used. In the bedroom, we had small personal things such as a picture of the protagonist and her dad when she was small, and an alarm clock. 
In the bathroom she then had to use a toothbrush and a hairbrush, and in the scene downstairs in the living room we used her mobile as the main prop. When thinking about costumes we wanted to show that this girl was not particularly rich and so in bed she just had normal pyjamas on and then downstairs quite casual type clothes. If we had made the whole film you would later find out that she is living with family and not in her own house and so that shows why she hasn’t got the nicest clothes and only has a few personal belongings. The antagonists clothing was made so he looked quite smart in a suit but makeup gave off a more “dirty” look. With body language we tried to show that our protagonist was generally quite hesitant and afraid, although you wouldn’t find out until a bit later in the film that her nightmare had already happened and that she had already been through a lot which has made her like that. The body language was more confident and structured for the antagonist showing that he is in control of the situation and clearly more dominant. Again these characteristics were reflected in facial expression as well.
Camerawork and editing are extremely important when filming a thriller. However we did challenge it in someway by not using a typical crosscutting sequence which is usually used to help build suspense. Instead we used fast quick cuts in the dream to create this fast pace, which keeps the audience on edge the whole time. None of our shots lasted longer than about 6 seconds and so this enabled us to do this. We also edited the colour and the brightness in some of the shots, using inverts of them to give a flashing eerie effect. Combined with the quick cuts this gives the exact outcome we wanted. Editing also allowed us to switch around the shots, putting the ones that we filmed after into the middle of the nightmare sequence, showing two periods in time. The titles were also important in our thriller opening as they needed to convey that this was a thriller. The titles we chose to use were decided by the entire group, and were a dirty graphic style type font which slide in from left to right. We also used the jilt effect to portray the jumpy feel to the film and also show that this is a thriller and not any other genre.
The camerawork took the most amount of time but is one of the most important parts when filming a thriller. We wanted to include as many types of shots as possible and with the most interesting angles.
The nightmare sequence was mainly all at eye level as we wanted to make it look as if the audience was looking at it, however we did try out shooting it from a low angle and high angle as well. We used many different sizes in these shots ranging from ECU’s on certain parts to long shots of the whole wall. When filming the weapons we tried panning across the screen from a very high angle MS and found that this looked the most effective as it made you feel as if you were there yourself looking down on the weapons from left to right. As it was quite a slow pan it helps to build a little bit of tension. Another interesting shot type we used was a very low angle shot of our antagonist one he has captured the protagonist, tilting up quite slowly again whilst cutting to other shots. We eventually get to see our antagonists face and this shows him from the very low angle and so makes him seem very dominant in the frame. As it is a mid shot you can see his facial expression quite clearly with a very confident and menacing look. All these things help to show that he is instantly recognisable as the antagonist which is what we had to achieve in such a short space of time. A further interesting shot which I like is the one where we have used subjective camera work of a POV shot of the antagonist watching the protagonist on the outside of the house. This is classically used in thrillers when a murderer approaches their victim and so was a good shot to use in our opening sequence. 
The use of sound in this shot also adds to the shock factor of the scene where the hand slams against the glass and you get to see a reaction shot of the protagonist turning around. 
We also managed to use a 2 shot and combined it with a match on action in the mirror scene where she bends down and her cousin comes up behind her (however you do not know who it is at the time).When thinking of characters we knew we had to include an antagonist and a protagonist. Our antagonist had to portray the usual characteristics that a “villain” would have in a thriller and we also knew we had to avoid the supernatural villains such as “monsters” which are commonly found in horrors so as not to confuse the genres. Our antagonist was in the criminal role of a murderer who has a fan base following him and wanting to replicate what he has done. Overall we had two antagonists although one was just a follower and one was the main one, occurring in the dream. Our protagonist was just a normal teenage girl, and is the victim throughout the film. We chose to use a girl as being a girl there is already the stereotype of being the weaker sex and the “damsel in distress” so we wanted to use this to our advantage. There is also another protagonist in the sequence although she is just the main protagonists cousin and so doesn’t play a huge part although we knew in casting that she couldn’t look threatening or scary at all and so that is why I was chose to play this small part.
In the narrative structure we tried to conform to the standard type, the equilibrium, disruption and the resolution however this is the second time that our protagonist has encountered danger with the antagonist seeking revenge. However we also went against this because we have switched the order round with the use of the flashback nightmare. We have also used the usual oppositional characters, good vs. bad, which in the end is solved by the resolution of her escaping from the antagonist.
Memento is an example of the exception of narrative order, using flash backs where we are shown the end of the story first.Sound was also very important when developing our thriller. We used both non-diegetic and diegetic sound. The non-diegetic sound used was made to be parallel to what was happening on screen and so using garage band we chose sounds which relate to what is going on and are not contrapuntal. The use of diegetic sounds used were there to emphasise and help create shock, such as the hand going against the window and overall sound helped a lot to create suspense. However from peer evaluation we did get some slightly negative comments on sound commenting that some did not sound clean cut and you could tell the difference between the foley diegetic sounds which we added in in post production from the sound which we could have got from the camera.
The main ideology we used which is the main convention of the thriller genre was the source of threat to an individual and the common fear of that individual, which most people usually find scary and or threatening.
Overall we used many typical conventions of thriller whilst challenging some as well.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
There are three main characters in our thriller which we particularly needed to think about on the terms of how we represented them, however the main protagonist you do not see in the first 2 minute sequence. We decided to keep up with what is going on in the world now with Obama coming into power and so chose to have our main protagonist as a black male. The whole situation he has with his daughter not living at home as he works away a lot is a common one today, with extended family often living with you. Also he is quite a young lone parent, which is generally more and more frequent in today’s society, however we challenged this by choosing a man rather than a woman as this family type is rarely represented. As he is not represented in the beginning you just get to see his daughter Claire. We needed to make her come across as quite alone and vulnerable, although she is living with family not really feeling as if she has a place.
The camera shots we chose to represent her were either from a high angle looking down on her, or at eye level. This is because from shooting at a high angle she appears to look small and so therefore this really emphasises her vulnerability. This helped us to create empathy with the audience and they want to help her and so when she is captured there is an emotional attachment between this character and the audience. The antagonist character is always meant to look controlling and dominant within the frame. We usually shot from a slightly low angle or an extreme low angle to portray this. Also when shooting quite close up he seems more dominant in the frame as takes up more of it, compared to the protagonist who is usually in long shots, making her look small in the frame. As our target audience is quite a young one (the film would be rated as a 15) we chose our victim to be of that age and this way they can relate even more to this character. Our antagonist does fit in with the standard stereo type however our protagonists do not and we did this as we wanted to create something different to make ours more up to date as there are many different family types and ethnicities in the world today. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
To create a film there are three main stages. These are production, distribution and exhibition. The film productions job includes actually making the film; the film distribution company’s job is to secure the placement of the film on an exhibitors screen and for home viewing via DVDs and videos. Lastly the film Exhibition is the place the audience watch the film such as the cinema. The most recognisable film distributor’s names are 20th century fox, Paramount and Pathe. As ours is a low budget film we would not be able to get one of these major distributors and so would have to look for a distributor that distributes independent films as well as mainstream or just independent. Icon film distribution is one of these types of distributor and so this is a possibility for a place where our film could be released. http://www.iconmovies.co.uk/
The Independent Cinema Office are also distributors worth considering as they focus mainly on distributing independent films such as our thriller would be. http://www.independentcinemaoffice.org.uk/
Who would be the audience for your media product?
As our media product has a range of characters and ethnicities it has quite a wide range of audience. However as we have agreed that it would be for a 15 I personally think our product is aimed at a reasonably young age group, such as 15 year olds to early 30’s. We have tried to aim at both sexes as I don’t think our thriller would be particularly gory but more psychologically frightening as women usually tend to avoid gory films. As our target audience is around our own age it wasn’t too hard to decide what they would find frightening or interesting. However we did ask a couple of slightly older people in their 20’s but found their film taste was reasonably similar to our own. Everyone in our group prefers the more psychological thrillers, and personally I found that the more gory ones made them more similar to a horror. We also found that many of our target audience prefer thrillers with quite a large amount of enigma and so we resulted that our thriller too, would have to contain enigma too.
As the main protagonist in our thriller would also be quite young and good looking, and fits into the “hero” category this would help to attract more females from our target audience as many people go to see films for who they have in them, rather than wanting to see that particular film. However although our target audience is aimed at young people as they can relate to the characters, I also think that as the film uses enigma and the storyline is quite clever, that older people could come and enjoy watching it too.
How did you attract/address your audience?
Throughout the 2 minute sequence of the opening of “Behind the Lens” we tried to include all things that would make it as interesting for our audience as possible. Not only in the character’s but it the shot types as well. As the first few minutes of a film usually set up the audience’s impression for the rest of the film we knew that we really had to reel our audience in. As I have already mentioned the characters have a huge part to play in attracting the audience to the film, but also in our thriller opening we chose to use interesting angles and shot types to not only convey it as a thriller but also to keep it fast pace. This is also created by the editing, with quick cuts and short shots the pace is kept fast and the suspense is built. We also decided that to initially attract our audience the plot itself had to be appealing and diverse from any other thriller.
Firstly we started with the set. This needed to be as eye catching as possible and also recognisable as something which is related to the antagonist. As there is initially quite a lot to look at and the audience doesn’t have enough time to do this they are instantly engaged, asking questions about what is going to happen and what is the relevance of it. The low key lighting also attracts the audience as they can’t see everything in the shot and so wonder what else is in that room all helping to create enigma. As we have created this within the first 2 minutes this will have an automatic “pull” on the audience and so therefore they would want to continue watching the rest of the film. Our thriller is also relevant to recent social evolutions such as lone parent families becoming much more popular and also political happenings such as Obama. Connecting our thriller with these things it becomes more modern but also has it has never really been done before people want to see something new. The sound used can also attract the audience as not only is it instantly recognisable as eerie music but it emphasises the events happening within the sequence. Often it sudden sounds can make you jump more than what is happening on the screen and so trying to make audience scared within the first few minutes gets them excited for what is going to happen next.
All these things have helped us to attract our audience but I think that the main thing is the general plot of the story, as if you do not have a good initial idea that captures the audiences attention, they are not going to want to go and watch the rest of the film.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
Throughout this project I personally developed my technological skills quite a lot from the preliminary task. We used a range of equipment when filming “Behind the Lens” These included using the XM2 camera, tripod, dolly and a complete lighting kit including diffusers and gels. I got to have several chances at filming, but mainly liked to find interesting angles to film the shots from, or different shot ideas such as filming in the mirror. When using the camera I learnt how to set the white balance, and general things such as zooming and setting the camera up on the tripod. However there was a small problem which occurred with the zoom, as when trying to zoom in slowly, it was set automatically to a higher zoom speed. Once we got into the editing suite there were many programs that we had the choice of using. These included iMovie, Final Cut Pro and Garage Band. We chose to use iMovie over Final Cut as we had had previous experience of this before and so knew relatively how to use it. When using iMovie I learnt how to split clips into the parts that we wanted and delete the other sections and then switch them round into the bit where we wanted to put them. I also learnt how to add in some titles and then add effects to these. I did enjoy using this program however I still find editing quite hard to do. When using Garage Band I learnt how to add the foley sounds we picked onto our production. I enjoyed picking which foley to add onto our production and which one suited it best and overall learnt quite a lot about both programs. I would feel confident with using these programs again.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Looking back at the preliminary task I think I have learnt a lot. I have learnt that using continuity editing is one of the most important things and also improved on a lot. I have learnt that from putting the camera at different angles and positions you can portray a character in a completely different way. I also learnt that the setting and mise en scene is extremely important and I think that I had a big input in designing the sets and deciding which props should be included and are relevant to what we want to portray. I believe that even though our preliminary received some very good feedback, our final product received even better. I have also learnt that managing a group of four people and getting them together at the same time can be quite difficult, so my organisational skills have also improved.
Overall I am very confident with our final product and believed that all of us did our part and had an input, whilst learning a lot about the thriller genre.
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