Question 6 - What we have learnt about different technologies while constructing the product

During the course of researching and creating this media product, we have learnt a lot about different technologies and how they can be used to produce media products such as our film opening.


Firstly, the use of blogs has been crucial in all areas of planning, research and evaluation as it has helped my group to organize schedules around our timetables and keep track of when each individual activity is happening - an incredibly important point as we found during filming, as sometimes we were unable to film on a scheduled day. It also served as a place to show what we had found during our research, which was helpful as we constantly referred back to our findings so our final product was kept as close to the conventions of a typical thriller as possible.
Equally helpfully, the blogs are interactive and can be used by anyone, so audiences outside of our project can look at our research and comment on it, telling us how we can improve or what they enjoyed about it - which is a two-way community, enabling us to get answers and feedback and reply to these comments quickly and easily. In addition to this, lots of information can be hosted in many different forms - for example, in files embedded from Youtube; audio podcasts; etc - which makes the blog look more professional and interactive.


The user of different recording devices has also helped us immensely. We used digital cameras to take and compare pictures of actors and possible locations that we could film our product in; we also used them to see how different angles would look and affect out film, which saved us time as we didn't have to experiment while filming. We used miniature 'DV' cameras to record our video footage of the prelim task, a rough copy of our film and the final product, which was used in conjuncture with a fresh DV tape that our films were recorded on. We could rewind and watch footage directly after filming it to make sure it looked okay, and if not we could film those sections again instantly. Both cameras used USB cables to connect and exchange information with computers, that was then uploaded to our blogs, and both devices taught us about framing skills and how we should position the camera to achieve the perfect shot or angle, which we also used a tripod for.

As well as this, we used microphones that were installed in the computer monitors to record some sound bytes that we couldn't record through the camera. This was extremely helpful as it meant that we were able to get the sense of a phone conversation actually happening, so the audience could tell what was going on and it seemed realistic at the same time. If we had used the camera to film it we would have had to shoot images as well, which wouldn't have worked for the storyboard that we had set out.


One of the most important technologies used in this entire project was the editing software iMovie. Because of it, we were able to edit all out clips into one singular, coherent media product, take out any scenes we didn't want or need and give the film and overall professional look. We were able to use it to directly cut video clips so we only used footage that we wanted instead of having lots of rough cuts and clips, and we were able to use lots of different clips that we had shot, instead of one continual shot that had been filmed in one sitting.
iMovie also allowed us to import clips and videos that had been downloaded from other websites and then edit them to our own needs - for example, the MyTherapy clip was edited from a much longer presentation, and using the editing software we cut it down to something that we could use.
Additionally, we could insert titles and transitions so our film wasn't constantly and awkwardly changing scene without a smooth transition. We used fade-ins, which we thought were the smoothest and most professional-looking, and created titles that were typical of the thriller genre to make it look like an actual film had been produced.
Finally, we were able to export our finished product and compress it into a single file that could then be uploaded or sent to another website so that we could attempt to reach our target audience; we used this to gain criticisms and comments on our finished product which we can use to later improve on our film.

Overall, each technology has been indispensible to this project, and without them we would have been unable to research, plan and make our media product as thoroughly as we have been able to.

Question 3 - Which media institution would distribute our product

As noted before, we feel that the company most likely to distribute our film would be Warner Bros. Pictures, a very well-known company that deals with many different media products and distributes a wide variety of successful films each year. They produce many different genres of films from comedies to action/adventures, and included in this list are several thrillers that have had lots of publicity and been successfully marketed.
These include The Dark Knight (2008) and V for Vendetta (2006), films which show the main character as someone that disobeys or rebels against the generally accepted view of the world, which is significant as our film deals with a similar storyline. Major Hollywood production companies often do not produce 'dark' storylines and prefer to show the main character as adhering to the rules at all times, so we would have to choose a distributor that produces films that shows an unappealing side of life.


Although Warner Bros. is an American distributor, we feel that it would be a better choice for producing our film than a British company - this is because it is well-known for producing successful films (including thrillers), and would enable a much wider audience than just British viewers. V for Vendetta, a thriller similar to ours due to the storyline and female main character, is also set in Britain and yet was produced by Warner Bros., receiving many positive reviews.

Question 4 - Who our audience is

We found that our audience would be most likely to be young adults by asking 10 people from 3 different age groups what they enjoyed most in a film. Younger teens (13-16) mainly responded that they enjoyed comedies or romantic comedies due to the light-hearted humour and lack of complete realism; older teens and young adults (17-21) generally told us that they liked thrillers or horrors as they enjoyed the uncertainty and often complexity of the storylines; and adults over the age of 21 tended to enjoy a wide variety of films (mainly thrillers or comedies) which suited their moods at the time.

This graph shows the overall amount of people who enjoyed which films the most, with blue being "young teenagers", red being "older teenagers" and yellow being "adults".
From this we understand that our primary target audience by age will be older teens, who we feel will enjoy the film as they like to be kept at the edge of their seat wanting to know what happens next in thrillers. One recurring theme in many thriller movies is political conspiracy, which our film also contains, and we hope that this will attract a wider audience.

We also feel that a large proportion of our audience will be female, as the main character in our film is also female. Often in most films, women are shown to be weak characters who constantly need saving from themselves or the villain; by having a female as the lead in our movie we hope to portray her as being strong, capable, and able to fend for herself - by doing this we hope that our audience will be able to either relate to her or understand that there is more than one very stereotypical role for females to play in any kind of media product.
Although our film is not necessarily realistic, many people look up to characters played in films because of their actions or how they make the audience feel, and we hope that our main character will inspire the audience in this way.
However, many men will also be the audience for our film as we feel that men watch thrillers more than women due to their natures (women tend to watch comedies or romantic films while men prefer action or suspense films). Although our main character is female, we think that

In conclusion, our overall target audience are young women as we feel they will be able to relate to the main character and will enjoy the conflict and mystery that our film hopes to portray. Even though the scenario our film explores is not particularly realistic, we think that it will appeal to the younger generation's sense of adventure and rebelliousness, and in doing so will inspire them to achieve their personal goals:
Our secondary audience are adults of most ages, who we feel also enjoy thrillers due to the tension that they can induce, and who we think will be able to relate to other characters in the film as well. Still we hope that the women will watch our product in particular as they will still be able to relate to the main character, but we think adults will watch our product more for the storyline and its ties with the political world rather than to relate with the characters.

Question 5 - How did we attract and address our audience?

We hosted our final product on the popular video sharing site Youtube, where thousands of videos are uploaded every day for the rest of the world to watch and comment on. Because of its popularity and use by all generations - especially our target audience - we felt that we would be able to get a variety of good feedback if we hosted our final media product on this site and invited people to comment on it, as well as linking it to other videos by using 'tags', which show similar search results together.

The comment we received on our video was helpful as it contains both constructive criticism on points that we could improve - for example reducing background noise - and also tells us which part they liked, which tells us that we were able to interest our audience.

We received other comments on our final product through the social networking site Facebook, by privately and publicly messaging to people of our target audience that we knew the link to the video on Youtube. After watching the video, we received a lot of feedback which we were able to use to get a clear idea of what our target audience thought of it.

-

-

The overall opinion of our film is positive; all the feedback we received told us that the audience enjoyed it and wanted to learn more about the characters and storyline. We also gained some criticism along similar points - we were told that at some points of the product, the background noise (wind in particular) was too strong and so the actors couldn't be heard properly, making the storyline a little confusing, and that the cutting rate was slightly too quick, so the audience didn't have enough time to concentrate on the credits and the story.

We also invited a small group of people from our target audience to watch a screening of our video and filmed them watching it and answering questions about what they thought the genre of the video was, what any points of improvement could be, etc:

The general consensus was that the film was good, but could be improved by speaking clearly so the actors could be heard over the background noise. However, all the people watching felt that it was typical of a thriller movie and wanted to know what the rest of the story was and how it would unfold.

To ensure that the future quality of our product is better, we will need to change different parts such as the sound to achieve a high level of professionalism. We will have to film in a more secluded area and on a calmer day so that the wind does not interfere with filming and appear louder than the actor's lines, and also change the sound of the background music while editing so that the audience can concentrate on the dialogue properly.

Overall, we are happy with the product but feel that it could benefit greatly from several changes such as the sound quality (as noted above); the location of the film to make it look more urban and 'dark'; and the time of day filmed at to change the level of suspense.

Question 1 - How our product uses, develops and/or challenges conventions of real media products

List of key points from the six movie openings previously analysed

View more documents from Cissnei.

The following points are the same pieces of information but answered using our product:
Titles
Our product used white font on a black background, with the titles fading in and out. The titles cut into the film, interceding the video.
The majority of film openings that were previously analysed had a similar title sequence, with white/light font on a black background. As the genre of a film can sometimes be guessed from the titling used (i.e. red font on black for a horror), we made ours similar to those of other thriller films.

Camera movement
In all of the films analysed, there was some form of camera movement, even if it was only used once. These camera movements allow the audience to focus on points of interest that are shown on screen. In our film, we used a panning shot to show the environment (first image), therefore setting the location of the film, which is important in a thriller as they usually show a desolate or abandoned urban are, so we used a similar environment to achieve the same effect.
We also used a zoom to allow the audience to focus on a specific character, which tells them that she is important. Zooms were used in four of the six analysed films and all focus on a specific character or object which sets the location or allows us to know that the person is a main or important character. As we start very close in on the character's face, we concentrate fully on her and not the environment that is slowly revealed.


Framing of shot
The shots used in our film are also used in the films analysed, and used for a very specific purpose that was similar across the board. Long shots were used to establish the scene and where it was set, as can be seen below - we can tell that the character is based outside near a building. The location of a thriller in the opening two minutes can be either inside or outside and not much of the surrounding area is shown, so we made sure that the audience wouldn't be able to see too much of the environment.
Medium close-ups were used when the female character was speaking so the audience would focus on her, and what she was saying. The dialogue is important in these scenes as it introduces the audience to the story; in the openings of the films analysed any dialogue used generally introduced the scene and story well, without confusing or skipping any important details.

Close-ups were used while the male character spoke so that we focused on him. Like the previous shots, the dialogue was the most important part of these scenes in the actual movies, and with the camera focusing clearly on one specific character we understand that he is important and concentrate on him.


Camera angles
Although some of the openings of films that were analysed both had high and low angles to establish the power of certain characters, we only used on instance of a low angle with one character to show his superiority and higher position. At all other times, the camera was kept at eye-level to allow the audience to empathise with the female character. By seeing this character through this angle we understand that we are not as empowered as he is, and feel that he is more important than the other character.


Mise-en-scene
The mise-en-scene used in our final product is extremely similar to that of the majority of the films previously analysed. As we showed two different scenes in our product, the lighting changed drastically to reflect this and other elements of the characters. When the scenes are inside, the environment is mainly hidden from the audience and the lighting is dark to show that not much is known about the character or where he is, which builds suspense. However, scenes outside are fairly brightly lit and the environment can be seen, although it is not focused on as the colours do not seem particularly bold and are almost washed out - a recurring theme in the films analysed.

Both characters are wearing suits, which show them as important or professionals - we focus on their clothing which identifies them, mainly because it stands out from the environment and naturally draws our attentions. Props are used but aren't focused on by the camera - we can see that they are both using phones but don't feel that they are particularly important.


Editing
In direct contrast to all of the films analysed, our product doesn't use any matched cuts - our scenes are in chronological order and make sense, but after each set of titles, a jump cut is used to show the different scene. We see the characters from different angles, but never because of a matched cut, which was used in all of the films that were analysed.

Because there is no action, the overall cutting rate of the scenes in slow and allows the audience to focus on the dialogue, which is the most important part of all the scenes shown in our product and a common quality of the opening of thrillers - in the films that were analysed, the cutting rate is also slow so the audience can concentrate on understand what the story is and how it unfolds.

Sound techniques
Five of the six films analysed contain background music, and the majority of this is played during the title sequences. As many thrillers show the titles once the film starts, background music is a common quality of this genre, which we recreated in our product. The music continues to play throughout the scenes to increase suspense - the tempo is quick and many different instruments are used to create a mood of tension. The music in typical thrillers changes from loud, fast-paced music to slow music that builds in suspense, and by using this particular track we have kept to the typical convention of a thriller.

The dialogue between characters in a thriller is always significant as it informs the audience what is going on, introducing them to the storyline. It is always clear so that it can be focused on; in our product the actors speak clearly so we can understand them.

Some thrillers use sound effects to show that certain actions are being performed, such as the sound of a match striking. In our product there are no sound effects asides from erroneous ones such as the wind, which couldn't be reduced and affected the quality of the rest of the movie.

Actor's positioning and movement
Another similarity between our product and the films that we analysed before is how the actors were kept in the centre of the screen at all times. Although some actors in other films are slightly off-centre or at a specific side of the screen, we kept our actors in the middle of the screen all the time to show how important they are and significant to the storyline. Even when the actor at the end walks towards the camera, she keeps in the middle of the screen to show that she is going to continually be important.

The amount that actors move in actual thriller films varies, but overall there is not a lot of movement - actors tend to keep their body language compact to give an air of being in control or injured/in a state of helplessness. We kept to this convention as there is no action in our product, and neither of the characters needs help - by moving little, the air of suspense is heightened.

Question 2 - How our product represents social groups

In our media product, we wanted to draw comparisons to our characters and those in actual media products; we found it interesting to adhere to and challenge the stereotypical roles that men and women are given in the media to show how they act and are spoken/referred to by others. Only representatives from two social groups appear in the opening of our film, so we had to make their personalities and actions very clear from the moment they appeared onscreen.

Our male character is very clearly shown to be the person in charge, which the audience typically associates with a male character. He issues the orders to his subordinates, and is therefore in control of the professional relationship he has with the other character. These actions are typically masculine and as he relays information about the situation to his less-informed colleague we see him as the intelligent one with more power, another male characteristic.

As well as this, he is shown to have caring qualities, as he asks his subordinate whether she wants backup in her job, showing concern about her personal safety. This shows him as a typical male as he thinks that she is unable to do the task set, although he does challenge these conventions by showing concern. Because of this we see the other character as a typical women, who cannot carry out the orders that she has been set, making her the weaker sex before we have seen her character in action.

Our film further challenges how males are typically portrayed as he isn't the first character to appear on-screen. The main character is usually shown before others in media products, and through this we understand that although the character is more powerful and intelligent than the other character, he isn't who we should be focusing on. Males are typically the main character, and in taking this away from our character we lessen the power that he has.

However, there is an absence of typical stereotypes of our character's race in how he acts, which challenges his masculinity. Asian characters are typically portrayed in media as having important and professional jobs such as doctors, lawyers, etc, they are seen as being extremely successful and intelligent in those careers - because the position of this character is not immediately known we cannot apply these stereotypes to this character.

Our other character has typical female qualities shown from the moment she appears on-screen - she is unsure whether she can complete her job to the standards that her boss requires. This tells us that she doesn't consider herself as strong or intelligent as the male character, which is a trait usually held by female characters.

However she also challenges this view by rejecting the proposal of having other people work with her. This isn't a typical feminine quality as women tend to work with other people so they do not fail, and by rejecting this she appears more confident than women are usually portrayed.

Although our character challenges the view of being completely feminine, she has similar qualities to other female characters in her position (a professional business). Many women in thrillers or dramas that work in a professional business are shown to be cold or wanting to work alone, as well as having a strong will and being confident with themselves - an example of this would be Brenda Leigh from The Closer, who is a feminine-looking woman that can work with men successfully and on tough cases.

In doing this we kept her character close to how audiences expect to see a female working in a business that is important, even if the qualities she shows are not typical of a feminine character. In addition, we kept her looking feminine to show that she is not a 'butch' character - the actor playing her wore a wig that was long and good-quality to show that she cares about her appearance, another typical female quality. However, she is dressed in a masculine-looking suit with trousers and a tie, to show that she can act and dress like the men do and that she is not out-of-place in her business.

She challenges the idea of how young adults are shown in media as well - our female character is very obviously young, but is dressed in a formal suit - which contrasts the typical hoodie and tracksuit clothes that youths wear in media products - and acts calm and rational, once again different from young adults that act aggressively.

She retains the quality that younger people are less informed than adults as she asks her boss what she has to do, showing her ignorance, but overall challenges the idea that young people are aggressive and lazy.

We also challenge the idea of females being portrayed as the weaker sex - the camera angles and frames used keep the audience at eye-level with her and we never look up or down at her. By doing this we don't feel overpowered by her, which is how a male would be seen, and we don't feel like she can be manipulated easily, which is how females are usually shown.

Despite this, she is not shown as being more important than the male character, as she rarely takes up the entire frame and although we concentrate on her, we aren't forced to. This adheres to the idea that women are less important than men, even though her character is shown to be the main character.

Question 7 - How does the final product compare to our earlier work?

This highlights the key points of our film and how our group was able to work together to create it. Compared to our preliminary task, we were able to improve greatly, the differences of which can be seen below:

View more presentations from Cissnei.

-

There are obvious differences between the preliminary task and the finished product, which can be seen easily using screenshots from both products:

These two screenshots show the difference in quality due to the presence/absence of a tripod. The above image was taken with a tripod which was being used to carry out a panning shot, and the quality of the film was good as the images were not shaky. However, the bottom picture shows a still from the preliminary task, which was filmed without the use of a tripod - although it cannot be seen in the still, the image was very shaky.

These images show how the positioning and the movements of the actors were different in the preliminary task and the final product. The first two images are from the final product; both show the actors in different positions to how they were first seen on-screen, but because of the background we can tell that they are still in the same position and the scene hasn't changed. This contrasts the third image, which shows the actors sitting opposite each other in the preliminary task - during the reverse shots between the characters we get the sense that the camera position has changed drastically and we do not feel that they are in the same positions, making it feel as if the continuity has been tampered with.

These final two stills show the differences in each task, in specific how the actors were cut off and for what reason. The above image, from the final product, has our actor with only the lower half of his face being shown. This is intentional and we meant to create a feeling of suspense as we do not know this character's identity; this directly contrasts the lower still, where the actor was moving and was accidentally cut off by the camera. We meant to keep her in frame at all times, and by not using the right equipment the quality of our work suffered.