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 upThe 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.
