Evaluation

Evaluation

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge the forms and conventions of real media products?
A typical thriller movie has suspense, tension, twisting storylines and cliff-hangars, all of which are usually portrayed through music, camera shots, costumes, make-up, dialogue, editing and just basic mise-en-scene. Our movie Stanley Depreto: SERVED RAW uses and develops these conventions in a number of ways. Well firstly the movie storyline is very horror/thriller based, it’s about a secret cannibal who kidnaps young people and eats them, although this sounds more like a horror film to add a thriller element we made it so that in the movie he gets caught and arrested by the police and in questioning he is forced to reveal everything about his victims also causing him to reveal his childhood with an abusive mother, all through very graphic flashbacks.
We used a lot of close-up’s throughout the film which added to the thriller feeling, because it shows the expressions that are going on with both characters.
Our music we tried to build as much tension that we could i.e. when there was a reverse shot of Shannen the music matched what the shot was doing and building up tension. Also as the film developed towards the end after the news caster could not be heard and Stanley was yelling towards Shannen the music was made sinister to match what was going on, on the screen. The music was a mixture of slow, drowny brass instruments, with sharp yet soft piano accompanied by tension building strings, which are all the main components of thriller music according to our research.

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
In the introduction scene to the movie there are two characters, a male and a female. Stanley who is a mentally disturbed, middle-aged, working-class man. He was abused as a child which was when he was launched into the cannibalistic diet. You can tell initially from the size of the home that he is quite well-off and has some money showing that he is working-class but his rugged facial hair and long grayish-black hair (showing he’s middle-aged) may give off a scary, sinister look. His dialogue and actions illustrates he’s mentally disturbed, when he comes down the stair and licks the girl and then says “you’re not ripe yet.”
The girl is a teenager, who’s just looking to have fun and live life, but also doesn’t look out for danger, which is how she gets herself into the predicament. She was taken when she met Stanley after her birthday party , which is why she is wearing a red cocktail dress. Although the girl is not seen in the movie other than the beginning she’s the one who helps the police capture Stanley.

Shannen

Stanley and Shannen


3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product, and why?
I looked into several different media institutions many of them being from Hollywood or bought by a Hollywood and I could see the film being distributed by either Universal or Working title. However I mostly see it going with Universal for a multitude of reasons. American can reach to wider range, and also are very daring in what styles of movies they distribute and how they distribute them. However being a British-based film (in that it’s a British setting, actors, location etc) the film is less likely to be taken on. Which brings me to choosing a British company like working title, being a home-grown piece of work it would be easier to get distributed by Working title though they do not have the publicity Americans have. Working title are more known for doing RomCom’s such as Four weddings and a funeral, Billy Elliot, Love Actually. Whereas Universal is known for more of a range of movies, they’ve done films such as Dracula, Frankenstein, Scarface, Jaws and many, many more.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoiVEyCosEE
(Video of Billy Elliot opening sequence)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQXfBbWgncw
(Video of Jaws opening sequence)

4. Who would be the audience for your media product?
When I first started the project I wouldn’t of minded the film going out to 15+ however researching into BBFC Guidelines I realised that the film would probably be rated 18 because of the blood, violence and gore. I don’t feel the film is gender, sexuality or ethnicity biased however I think that males are more likely to watch the film.

5. How did you attract/ address your particular audience?
Our audience was aimed at 18+ aged people, no particular sexuality or gender. I did this by using various research methods such as questionnaires, interviews, text analysis of famous thriller/horror movies like Stigmata and found out many things about thriller/horror films that would help me attract the target audience. I found that viewers think that to make a thriller film successful it would have to have suspense, good characters; I also found that 55% of our poll said they preferred thrillers that were based on true events. So we researched into cannibalism and tried to make the movie as close to the situations we came across in our research as possible. Then finally took everything into consideration and adapted our idea to attract the people who we would want to watch it.

6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing the product?
To get the movie we made we had to a variety of technology in order to create it. Firstly we had to use equipment from the college, for the lighting we wanted to enhance it so we used the 3-point lighting technique, using 2 small lights and 1 large, brighter light. We had the camera and tripod which enabled us to do multiple camera shots. Like panning, tracking, medium shots, mid shots and handheld shot. However doing handheld shots is not as easy as we thought it would be, because it was hard to stop the camera from shaking.
The editing was all done on an Apple Mac computer in a programme called Final Cut Pro. We had to take the tape and log all the shots onto the system separately, then start dropping all the shots in the order we wanted them to go in the final project.

The log machine

However some disagreements went on within the group and editing stopped for a while, but we managed to come to an understanding and carried on with the editing. We got all the shots into the correct places and began adding transitions on sound and slides. A few times we noticed that the sound was not matched together and had to cut out some sound. We then went to a technician and asked how to create our own animation for our logo, at first we came up with an idea for our ‘company’ called Bighead Productions, which was a bear which head keeps growing and expanding until it bursts and exposes our title. However an audience member felt that it was too childish for a thriller/horror movie, so we had to redesign. We ended up using a programme called After Effects to create a text saying ‘Dark Arts’ (which is our new production team name) and make it show up on the screen scrambled and eventually clear to show the phrase, we also recorded multiple people saying “Dark Arts” and then put them all together so that it’s said at the same time as the words showing up on the screen. We also used After Effects to design the credits that appeared. Lastly we picked out the music for the whole thriller piece and found one that matched perfectly.

Editing in final cut pro

7. Looking back to your preliminary task, what do you feel that you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
In the preliminary task I learnt a lot, like the 180 degree rule, where the camera has to be in front of the scene and never behind and not breaking the 180 degree line. If it weren’t for the preliminary task I would’ve not learnt about that. I also learnt how to open my creative side when it comes to thinking of ideas. I found out how to do a number of camera shots (over-the-shoulder, close-up, medium-long, tracking and panning etc.) and got to practice doing them. I also learnt how to think fast when it came to mistakes in the film because when we came to watch the film through we found mistakes within the dialogue, the actual shot, and we hadn’t put in a two-shot. So we had to re-shoot and came up with a completely new and improved idea. So I learnt a lot from doing the preliminary that I could’ve potentially messed up in when shooting our final product.

Media final thriller Stanley Depreto-SERVED RAW

Media Evaluation

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


It deviates because the narrative is about a cannibal, which is not what a conventional thriller would be about. The shot where the main character, opens the fridge shows this. Because he is doing an everyday thing but is not a normal person. The character of the girl, I think is typical. Because she is potrayed as the 'victim-like' character. The cannibal character is not typical because he appears normal, while most thriller characters would appear bad in some way. We did pull-focuses of a clock to a cross, at the start of the video, which I think was a symbolic thriller convention. The comparison of the clock (a normal object) and the cross (a religious object) was very symbolic. There were high-angle shots of the killer as he cut the heart. To make him appear powerful. And there were camera shots of the inside of the fridge so we could see what was in it. The sound and editing were very typical of a thriller because they sounded creepy, the sound sounded very threatening and the editing included black-outs and fast cuts. The titles were 'Stanley Depreto served raw' written in red lighting, like a Resturant sign and 'Dark Arts', which were macabre enough to suit a thriller. This language that Stanley Depreto used was very unsettling because it seemed so normal, like when he says 'Would you be quiet, I'm trying to watch the news'. The mise-en-scene was a house, the fridge, the T.V. which were totally different from a thriller's setting. I don't think other thrillers have influenced our work because our thriller is so different from other conventional thrillers. Other thrillers have influenced us in Music, like 'Blue Velvet'.The themes of 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' .

2)How does your media product represent particular social groups?:

Yes, gender is represented stereotypically, in our thriller the killer, who is a man, is represented as being dominant and the victim, who is a woman,is represented as being a young party-girl because she is 19 and the man is an old man, who lives alone.The main character,Stanley Depreto, is Italian. Stanley Depreto is middle-class because he owns his own house and was brought up by a middle-class family. Yet he still lives by himself. The red dress represents the girl as a sexy and dangerous character.

3)What kind of media institution might distribute your media product, and why?:

Maybe our film would be made only for internet release because I think it is quite an arty film that would appeal to young people, who use the Internet, to watch films sometimes.Our film could be funded by the U.K. Film Council because they financially support British films.Our film could be distributed by 'Working Title' because they make British films, like 'The Boat that rocked' and 'Ali G in da house'. Our film is similar to these movies because it is an original and creative British film. Our thriller's selling point is that it's a Horror/Thriller so I think our company would benefit from some merchandising, like a Doll, a doll of Stanley Depreto and the female victim character or sweets (that are gooey) like jelly filled boiled sweets.

4) Who would be the audience for your media products?:

Our target audience profile's age would be 15-24 year olds.We decided this because they like action-led film, which is what we consider our thriller to be. We also knew that they were the most frequent cinema-goers. We decided they would be male because men prefer action films, like 'The Dark Knight' and fantasy like 'Hell Boy 2' which are quite dark movies.The target audience said (when we gave out the questionnaires) the sub-genres they would most like to watch was Horror (45%), they thought suspense makes a thriller (35%) and didn't think setting did (10%).70% of respondents liked re-makes of classic thriller films. 55% liked films based on true stories. They thought strings made the best musical instrument for a thriller (75%) compared to 5% for Brass. The rating would be a 15 because our film is quite gory e.g. the cutting of the heart, and has dark themes. The film 'Blue Velvet' is similar to ours because it is a surrealist film and shows a seedy underworld to a place.Audiences for this professional film would be interested in our film.

5)How did you attract/address your particular audience?:

The victim is presented as an independent young woman, which I think would appeal to a Young Target Audience. The 'audience positioning' would be the girl, who they would sympathise with. They would witness Stanley Depreto dragging a knife along her arm and her being hand-cuffed to the stairs.It would gain her a lot of sympathy with the audience. The sound-track created suspense because it sounds foreboding and has a scary, unsettling feeling. The black-outs in the editing give a few minutes of suspense, so you're unsure as to what will happen next. Audience feeback was very positive, people found it genuinely scary and liked the editing.

6)What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing the product?:

The college equipment enhanced our film with the lighting, which helped create an eeire effect which made our film look more unsettling, to the viewer. The on-camera mic picked up the sound of our main character Stanley Depreto. The camera used allowed us to do close-ups, wide shots, master shots, and high-angle and low-angle shots. We used a hand-held camera for the shot when Stanley looks in the fridge. It inhibited our ideas when we didn't know how to use the editing software, i.e. Final Cut Pro. We had to learn to do such things, on Final Cut Pro, as put in special effects on our video. We also had to use masking tape to stick on our mic so it would stay in place. Our group managed fine with the automatic and manual focus.We were able to switch between the two focuses.We didn't use exposure. The on-camera mic picked up all the sound clearly. We learnt how to use lenses (zoom in and zoom out) fine. Aswell as the hand-held technique. We quickly set up the tripod and dolly equipment , easily. There was one problem on the shoot, when we were trying to get the radio in focus and the cross out of focus. We found this difficult to do. The editing software enhanced our film by building up tension with the music, and transition. It didn't really inhibit our ideas. We mastered the editing software techniques well, we knew how to use fast-forward and rewind, pause and capture. The picture and sound transitions we found useful were black-outs after a close-up on the character's faces and dissolves on the start credits. Yes we were able to use music and sound effects to connote particular moods, like the loud knock on the door at the end of our film.

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

We first planned out what our idea would be, then decided our Project Schedule. We gave out Questionnaires and Interviews. The quality of our results we obtained were very high with everyone giving explanations for what they said. We learnt more about what people want in a Thriller from this. Then we did our logo and came up with a name for the Thriller. Then we drew our Storyboard. And the next step was to Film.We went to an Uncle's House to start filming. This took us three days.Then we edited our film. By producing a more detailed Project Schedule we needed to create a Project Schedule for the whole of our project, because we needed to know what needed to be done, when from the start of our project and how, by deciding what exactly needed to be done and when. For the Research Document (Group and Personal) we needed to know what we needed to do: find out what the Public wants in a Thriller Why because we needed to make our Thriller the best it could be. When we needed to do it was before we filmed our Thriller and how was by Typing up Questions and Choices. For the Script Development what we needed do was create a Script for our Film. Why because we needed to know what we would be filming. When, our film gets filmed. How, everyone needs to combine their ideas to create a Script. Yes I feel more confident using the production and post-production equipment, especially Final Cut Pro. I didn't do the Blogging for my Group so I didn't develop this new skill, but I have done Blogging before. I think our organisation and team working was very good. We all worked together well. Our work rate was good as far as everyone is concerned, Kamau was a little slow to start with but he started to work faster. I think our work was very professional. I think our end product was successful in meeting our particular brief. It was scary and had tension like a Thriller should be. I think it compares well to professional products. It has a professional feel.

Final Thriller Opening 2

This is the final opening of our thriller as we had a few problems after uploading it to youtube which we changed and uploaded the video again.

Final Work Evaluation

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

Our work does follow some of the industry conventions however there are some that have not been followed as a method of differentiating ourselves from other works within the thriller genre. A example of this is the usage of credits within the title sequence. thought the industry often the title sequence is cluttered with text. this is usually because in most title sequences not much is happening. for example the thriller panic room the title sequence does not feature any events crucial to the storyline unlike our own work. within our title sequence we have the main protagonist Stanley taunting his victim. As this is important to the story we have decided not to include most of the titles common in films. This I feel is very effective in keeping audience focus on the main action.

With the narrative style by choosing to do it in a non-chronological style built up the suspense. thus helping to build the tension as viewers would want to know how the girl ended up hostage. I believe that this idea was executed in a stylised and tasteful manner. With the audience wanting to not only know how she became a hostage but what happened after he was caught.

Characterisation was one of the big focuses during the development stages of our project. One of the main ideas was to portray the main protagonist as normal. In my opinion I believe this was done well as the audience is bemused as to why the girl is tied up in the hallway before he taunts her. it was deemed that Stanley should be a cannibal following conventions used in most thrillers in which a crime is at the heart of the narrative.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our media product is designed to represent different social groups in a varied way. When developing Stanleys characterisation we crafted him to represent middle aged men as slightly mysterious. By him being a cannibal it ties in with the convention in most horror films, in which most middle aged men have a deep secret that they keep from society.

The Character of Shannon represents young females as helpless. This is shown through her character being held captive. Shannon is a young girl which is shown through the excessive make up usage (which has been ruined by her crying.) age plays a important part as younger people are represented as people who would prefer to make the mistake themselves rather than listening to somebody else previous experience. This is how Shannon ended up in her current position.

The usage of a northern accent suggests that this is in a northern town this gives the work a regional identity. Shannons physical ability is limited due to her being held capture.

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

I believe that due to the topic covered by my thriller that it is a very niche market product appealing to people who prefer extremely gruesome films however there are elements of the thriller that would have mass market appeal.

Due to this the best way to distribute it would be via a limited theatrical release similar to that of 'paranormal activity.' With the film going to DVD release and television première earlier than typical films that had a widespread release. This will enable the people from the nice market to access the film if it was not screened in there particular area.

Therefore the film would be partly by private investors as well as independent organisations that are specifically formed for the funding of films. A example film would be kidulthood which was partly funded by the UK film council. I believe the best organisation to approach for partnership with private investors would be film4.

Independent cinema chains may be more interested in distributing the film based upon its unique angle on a taboo topic. it is similar to other films distributed in this way as it appeals to a narrower audience.

The thrillers unique selling point is that it tackles a subject not widely talked about. It brings the subject into the surroundings of the audience in a modern 21st Century home in England. Placing the subject on the doorstep of the reader making them feel more involved in what is happening due to the familiar surroundings.

Who would be the audience for your media project?

The target audience for the film would be primarily male aged between 16 to 40. I decided upon this because of the face that cannibalism is not a topic women would wish to view. The reason for the lowest end being 16 Is due to the fact that Shannon is at that age meaning it would be more realistic thus more appealing to them rather than people older than the characters age. Also target audience research revealed that this thrillers did not appeal to women as much as rom-com or drama. That is why I went with the male market.

The BBFC classification I am hoping to achieve is a 15. I believe that it should be rates ad such due to the fact that it is only the topic that may be found offensive. In which case the person would not watch the film. Within the opening sequence there is no swearing, no nudity, nothing of a sexual context and any violence is not sustained for long periods of time. Thus there is no reason as to why it should receive a higher rating of 18.

'Cannibal holocaust' is a covers this topic however is professional. This appealed to the same audience as our work and as such I believe that people who watched this would also be interested in our work.

How did you attract you particular audience?

The representation of the young girl would appeal to people at the lower end of the target market as they would be able to sympathise with her in the same way as if one of their friends were taken captive by a cannibal. Whilst older members of the target audience would sympathise with Stanley during his normal dull day to day routine. Thus when they find out he is a cannibal their sympathetic position will change.

Other attractions include the usage of thriller conventions to build tension such as music. The usage of music was highlighted in feedback with one viewer stating that the music helped to build tension keeping them on the edge of their seat.

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

The college equipment used I believe inhibited our ideas. Of the set of lights we were loaned one of the bulbs blew. This meant that we had to redo all the lighting to ensure consistency. However it did not inhibit our ideas as we were still able to carry out our needed shots. I mastered the camera control controls as I often help when others were unsure of what to do. My hand-held technique was however not the best and as a result we resorted to using a tripod.

I believe that the editing software limited what we were capable of. I mastered the editing software however with the effects it would have been better is text effects were more profesional. Rather than the 'power-point' type text transitions available. I believe that we were able to use sound effects appropriately to connote the desired mood.

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

We specifically planned the preliminary task using three areas camera work, sound and in shot action. From the preliminary exercise feedback showed that in sound the usage of music helped to build tension. Due to the fact that we planned out every shot the quality of camera work was better as everybody knew what was happening. The in shot action was simple allowing the view to clearly follow the plot.

When we moved on to our final production all the planning was placed into more detail. With a scrip giving information on timings, camera movement and not just dialogue. During our final task we used a project schedule which was helpful in helping us to keep track of due dates and how much longer we may have had. By meticulously planing what we needed to do and when as well as how we were able to operate more professionally thus producing a great thriller.

I feel more confident with all equipment now that we are complete as I have the appropriate experience. I have developed a variety of new skills including blogging and editing. We worked well as a team with everybody working together rather than individually. With the professional working ethic we created a product that meets the brief and is of the same standard as professional products.

Evaluation

Evaluation Aline Dovlatyarian

Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge the forms and conventions of real media products?

Our thriller (Stanley Depreto’s sewed raw) is a thriller/horror which appeals to our target audience which we created using many different shots such as close ups, extreme close ups, high angles, low angles, reverse zooms (when Shannen wakes upon the stairs) combined with the music add more tension, creating typical thriller conventions. The different shots help to slow down the pace and create a mixed atmosphere of thriller and horror. The different shots created levels between the characters showing the man as a powerful and dominant character in the situation where as the female is shown as the victim, this leads back to the text analysis as in both Hannibal and the life before her eyes the males are dominant. For example later in the film in the life before her eyes Diana and Maureen are held hostage in the toilets by Michael who is the one in power you see this in many elements of the scene by the use of props (a gun), tone of voice (dominant, almost anger but also evilly satisfied), and the dialogue (upfront, demanding, creating a sense of choice). Stanley is stereotypically seen as dangerous, the villan, a lone man.
Shannen waking up





The music that was used in the thriller was a mix of strings and brass which created a lot of tension and had drops and lifts in the music creating tension in the right places, this tied into the editing as I wanted the music to go with the clip/s as it made a big difference with the drops and lifts, creating a slow and interesting build up of calmness before the action starts, Which adds to the conventions of typical thriller.


For example for the editing in the life before her eyes shows a number of interesting techniques as the background would change/blend into the next while the credits start off by fade scrambling on and off the frame. The credits would change with every background change. This was the inspiration for me with the credits in my own thriller as I liked the way the credits appeared I used after effects to create each credit adding transitions and outlines on the credits. I found it difficult when having too much to write as the credit creating a bit of a mix up and I had to figure out different ways of getting it to look good I then found a way to have the roles title (exclusive producers and a couple others) stays up and then have just the names fade on and then ripple dissolve off on different shots in the opening sequence.


The setting of my thriller was in a house and just the outside of the house. The props that were used were chain with padlock, knife, heart, lungs, kidneys, fake blood, and tape. All the props added to the thriller in their own way to help develop the characters and the storyline, letting the audience know who’s in charge and help create a sense of danger alongside other moods throughout the opening sequence. Some of the props (kidneys, fake blood, hearts, lungs) also added to the gross out factor which added the conventions of a thriller/horror. As in hannibal rising lecter uses rope to kill one of his victims were as we use chains to hold the victim.



Question 2: how does your media product represent particular social groups?
We used two actors in the making of the opening sequence one of which was a female and one a male. The male was represented as an unstable, middle aged, working class man who was pushed to cannibalism from a young age, by this self-abusive and depressed mother who would make him cut pieces of her flesh and eat them. You can tell that he is working class by his accommodation as it is large and home but not too large to create a sense of wealth. The female is represented as a stable, outgoing, young, working class woman, victim who ends up being held prisoner by a cannibal who is played by the male. The male is a Scottish middle aged man and the women a young Londoner.
In the opening sequence of the film the characters are represented as stereotypical charcters as the male is the dominant one and has power over the female who is his victim. We decided to represent the female as an outgoing party girl by the way that she is dressed, short red dress, sliver dangly earrings, which was her outfit that she had gone out with the night before with her make-up which was now smudged as she sits on the stairs tied to banisher of the cannibals house. We made the difference between the male and female clear by using a number of different shots such as high angle shots to show a small and timid female (when shannen is on the stairs and Stanley come and taunts her about being on the news after she was making too much noise) we created different levels at this point to show that the male/Stanley has the power and is dominant compared to the women/Shannen in the movie as we showed the women/shannen tied down to the banister creating a greater level of control but also physical strength from Stanley.

The photo above shows Shannen as the victim who is chained up to the bansiter with Stanley the domiant charater is tauting her about the news report he just heard.

Question 3: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product, and why?
Although I researched films that were created by Hollywood companies, I thought in the end that our film was more of a independent film and would work out better with a British film company like the Fox Searchlight Pictures or Working title. They have produced films such as four weddings and a funeral, Billy Elliot, Shaun of the Dead and many others. Whereas the Fox Searchlight Pictures have produced films such as The Full Monty , 28 Days Later, Millions, and Thirteen(co produced by working title), and many others.


Shaun of the dead trailer directed by Danny Boyle who also directed films such as millions which is another film produced by working title, Trainspotting which was made by polygram who was working with working title before being sold to seagram, working title work very close with film four who distribute mostly all British independent films made by working title, and many others.

In conclusion I have decided that for my thriller Fox Searchlight Pictures will be best for my film as they have a number of different categories that they have produced in, as my thriller is so far a low budget film I think that working on it with Fox Searchlight Pictures will give me more of a wider audience around the UK and Europe. Also I think that my thriller would appeal more to the British audience as they could relate more as it is set in London (harrow) and can also relate with the actors as the male actor is Scottish and the female is a Londoner, creating an instant link between the characters and the British audience whereas an American would find it harder to link themselves with the characters.

Question 4: who would be the audience for your media product?

I started off by being introduced to what my target audience like and what I needed to do to attract them to my thriller film. My target audience started off being 15 years old and over, both males and females, but later was changed to an 18 and over due to the storyline and what the audience wanted. The film is not gender specific as both genders can relate to the characters in different ways. We represented both old and young people as we had a young female role in contrast to an older/middle aged male role, this attracted a wider audience. Our movie is aimed at all ethnicities and all sexualities as there are no scenes within the film that are offensive.

The target audience research I gathered that the audience like a mix of different elements some more than others. I asked a number of different question revolving thrillers I asked their age first to see if they were in my target audience, and asked an equal amount of males and females as the thriller is not gender specific. This helped to create more interesting and developed ideas with the sub genre of horror.

Researched two different thriller/horror films which were Hannibal and the life before her eyes, which are both thrilling in their own ways, however Hannibal is a lot more gory as it has the horror based thriller concept, this was a film that would appeal to our target audience. Whereas the life before her eyes is more of a thriller and leaves the audience wanting to know what happens they choose their character/s showing sympathy and other emotions toward them. My thriller has similar concepts with Hannibal as they are both horror/thriller films which revolve around a cannibal whose childhood made him that way.


Question 5: How did you attract/address your particular audience?

I used the results from the questionnaires to tie in some of the elements that the audience would like but also as a group wanted to add in elements that would blend well or would make the thriller more interesting. As we decided that as we have a young audience that it would be appropriate to have young to middle aged actors in our thriller so that they could relate to the characters.
The main parts in our thriller were the characters and the suspense that would build up as this was what our target audience liked for a thriller/horror. They were interested in strong storylines with twists and good characters that they could relate to in anyway. Music that created tension flowing well with the thriller, they prefer to have strings to add to the tension creating a build up and then letting it drop in places which added to the suspense. But they also like the fact of having a thriller with more of a horror/ shocking factor for example the gross out factor which adds in little shocks to the storyline (Stanley licking his victim Shannen) this will attract a number of different people who like the effect of being grossed out and shocked.

The audience is being asked to sympathy with Shannen who is the female victim and is being held prisoner by a cannibal who thinks it’s normal to eat humans due to his childhood, which also might create some sympathy towards the cannibal (male/Stanley). Stanley might however also be seen as unstable and mentally challenged or disturbed, but then there is also that sense of danger. This will in turn attract wide range of males and female as if one of them would watch to see if Shannen survives the other might watch it to see how she could or would die within the film. A lot of women can relate to Shannen as the victim as Shannen is an outgoing girl who was put in this position this could link to many different aspects of real life to name a few would be domestic violence, kidnapping, and many others. But they could also relate to Stanley in the same way that the male audience can such as abusive childhoods, incidents that could relate from the childhood or adulthood, dangerous, alongside many others.

Question 6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of contracting the product?
The college equipment was very useful. For the lighting we needed to enhance the colours or to portray a certain look for example when Stanley wakes up in the morning the lighting was difficult but was made easier as the lights helped to create a dim morning light.
When it came to the hand held shot I managed to get the shots but it would take a lot more effort than it would with a tripod as I had to try really hard to keep the camera from shaking and rested after each shot to make sure that the shot would be usable but it helped that the camera was not to heavy and was easy to carry.
When it came to editing I was able to have a wide range of different shots to play with and changed the shots a number of times before finalizing everything to create the credits in after effect which took longer then what I thought it would as at first it was tricky to get all the credits to look the same and appear on the screen in the same way, and to make them all fit. I had some trouble with the transitions on the shots as some of the shots did not have enough footage on them and this created a bit of a problem as it would not allow me to dissolve them together. Only a few transitions that I decided to use looked thriller like. I used fade in/offs /and scrambled them on to the frame and ripple dissolved them out. I then used cross dissolves on all the shots apart from the last shot which I used a ripple dissolve again on the clip which is the title name. I then used after effect to use it for our animation which we changed from a drawing of a bear like cartoon creature to simple coloured text with a white outline and a maroon filling. which I then used the voice recorder to record different people whispering dark arts and then create one track with all of the best ones that we recorded and then changed the volume on some of the creating a good timed crowd of people instead of individuals which were out of time/line. I done this by cutting the parts that we didn’t need. By the end of the editing I learn how to use three different types of editing programmes which were final cut pro, after effect and soundtrack pro.

Q7: Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel that you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
The preliminary exercise showed me that I have to be careful with the shots and to make sure that I keep the continuity throughout the whole clip. The first preliminary that I did was not successful as I didn't get the shot reverse shot that was need in the preliminary and decided to shoot the whole preliminary again as the characters had changed clothes and this would have interrupted the continuity. This time when I re-shot the task I added a number of new shots as I was learning more about how to use the cameras and the tripods making it easier to shoot the shots. Adding shots like shot reverse shots, extreme close ups, alongside the old shots that were re-shot added to the storyline. When editing the preliminary there was a problems with transitions as we did not have enough footage but managed to work through it. I then realised that two of the shots which were similar in the setting and movements were not framed the same so I decided to add in the clock shot that I had got during filming that day. The shot was of the clock restarting itself and it was a hand held shot which made it a bit shaky so it was cut down to the least shaky part and slipped in-between the two shots creating an easier transition for the viewer.
I did a lot of different research on what my audience liked and disliked using questionnaires, interviews and textual analysis which helped me to understand what my audience wanted and for the ideas to expand.think that compared to the preliminary the camera work has expanded making the thriller look more professional and planned. Adding a wide range of different shots to the thriller such as mid shots, long shots, close ups, extreme close ups, wide shots, over the shoulder shots, point of view shots, establishing shots.

Example: An extreme close up of Shannen showing her smudged make up on her arm part of her costume and hair.Close up of jars in the fridge


The framing of the thriller improved compared to the preliminary as I done test shots before filming the real shot, helping me to create better framing as I could see if anything needed changing such as the angle, lighting, positions, and many other elements. I managed to use both the tripod and the hand held method of filming which helped me to get to different levels and capture the action. With a bit of practise I think that the pull focuses would be able to be improved as I was able to get the pull focus to work one way but not the other.