(NOTE: TO SEE THE A2 WORK, PLEASE SEE A2 MEDIA STUDIES G323 - MUSIC VIDEO)
We were asked to produce the opening sequence of a new thriller including titles, aimed at 15 or 18 certificate audience (approximately 2 minutes in duration). The members in my group were Fartisya Khairuddin, Elizabeth Wood and James Lock.
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
When the opening sequences of our thriller is compared to the thrillers we have analysed (See SECTION 2), it compares fairly well, as the thriller utilized most of the various codes and conventions of those thrillers.
We chose to make the thriller the way we did because of inspiration gathered from the thrillers we analysed, and the psychological genre was considered the most interesting on opinion. Other factors that influenced how we made it were also based off questionnaires (See SECTION 4) that we carried out.
The results and analysis from the questionnaires influenced our decision on what to include and exclude, based off our target audience's opinions.
We followed various codes and conventions of the thriller genre, such as partial vision, question and answer model and concealment and protraction (See SECTION 1). We also had elements of “The Transformed City” as a home and a local area is generally considered a safe place to be, however in our thriller it is portrayed as dangerous and threatening. This transforms what we think about what we would usually think about a home to something completely opposite. This also relates to the audience, as they all have homes and using the Transformed City to this effect would have an impact on them. We chose to follow these because of our questionnaire results (See SECTION 4) and the brainstorms of ideas that used such devices (See SECTION 3).
We had compared our thriller opening sequences to others by other groups so that we could see how other thrillers vary from our own, and to determine any positive or negative feedback so that we could improve should we do it again. Compared to the thrillers we had studied as a group, we decided to do something different, which was slow motion when the spoon drops at the end of our thriller's opening sequences (See SECTION 8). We decided to do this because it seemed to suit the thriller genre, although this effect had not been used in any other thriller we had analysed. It also brought a fresh addition to our opening sequences, and would hopefully grab the audience's attention to our film, making it stand out compared to the others.
The narrative of our thriller opening sequences is clear and linear. We chose to do this based off comparison with the analysis of existing thrillers (See SECTION 2). The thrillers analysed all seemed to have a linear narrative, and most are clear.
We had planned to use as many interesting and creative camera angles as possible (See SECTION 8), such as a variety of low angle, close up and extreme close up, panning, tracking and first person perspective shots. We chose to use these shots in an attempt to make the thriller look interesting and creative to the audience, as a low budget thriller would need to use creativity to appeal to the modern audience. Certain shots also emphasised certain objects which proved useful in the opening sequence plot, such as extreme close ups on the tap and the knife (See SECTION 8).
I think in my opinion that the opening sequences proved successful. The plot itself is interesting and hooks the audience, and I personally would watch the whole thriller if I was able to. I used audience feedback (See SECTION 11) to prove my opinions, as there were more positive comments than negative, and a varied view on what they thought was best in the thriller, which could indicate that each part (such as acting, shots, editing, music and graphics) was equally good, and the positive comments help to conclude that if compared to the varied view, the thriller itself was good in the majority of aspects. The acting however may be lacking, as most negative comments pointed to the acting. The feedback also indicated we fitted most of the codes and conventions we intended, and that the majority said that they would pay to see it at the cinema.
We did not decide to follow the conventions and have a male killer due to the fact that it is the standard of most thrillers, and it is not anything new. In our attempt to be different we betrayed this convention and had a female killer. However, while being different, we also needed to please our target audience, and based off the questionnaire results (See SECTION 4) the villain is actually a male, but the killer female to attempt to sway the audience into thinking that the woman is the villain, when actually the villain behind it is actually male. (See SECTION 5)
The completed production is a good example of an opening sequence of a thriller in my opinion, as the production uses most codes and conventions of the thriller genre such as such as partial vision, question and answer model (Did she kill her? Who is with her in the kitchen? Who is she?) and concealment and protraction (See SECTION 1). Our sub-genre was psychological, and includes the important aspects of the film such as concealing the male villain and leaving the audience asking questions about the flashbacks. Other important aspects of the film that I think contribute to a good example would be the editing (such as the blood in the sink and slow motion spoon dropping) and good match on action such as the scene where the main character (Shelly) opens the door into the bathroom and the camera switches from outside to inside as the door opens. The analysis of the audience feedback (See SECTION 11) also supports the opinion that these opening sequences are good.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
In our thriller opening sequences we decided to represent females as the victims, as most thrillers often use females as the victims, showing their vulnerability. We also showed this by having Shelly unaware that she killed the girl at the start of the film, as the male villain is influencing her with hypnotism (See SECTION 5). The male in the thriller is represented as dominant and in control, as he is the one manipulating Shelly to murder for him. The man himself is not revealed during the opening sequences, however the shock from Shelly as she sees him and drops the spoon enhances the image of a scary, powerful character. Our thriller represents females as innocent and males as powerful and sinister, similar to many thrillers.
We chose the actor we did to star in our film by seeing which would be a closest match to the character we had intended. Shelly is a middle aged female, so we used the mother of one of our group members as she fitted that category and the look we described for Shelly.
She has blonde hair, which can be represented as naïve, innocent or easily manipulated. Her vulnerability was also expressed by her clothes, as she is only wearing pyjamas and a gown, which are only used in comfortable situations. Having Shelly wear these clothes in danger shows that she is poorly prepared and vulnerable to the situation.
Someone dies in our opening sequence, and it is displayed as a flashback representing the girl had died some time before the actual film starts. (See SECTION 8) The girl is represented as innocent and vulnerable, due to the overhead shot used and the fact that the dead girl is young.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
I think that our thriller would be displayed and viewed on internet websites should it be made publicly available. (Such as YouTube or a media website). If it was distributed, I think it would be possible as a digital download because it fits in well with other films available in that way, and is able to compete.
According to our audience feedback (See SECTION 11), they said that they would pay to see this at the cinema. However, the reliability of questionnaires is not entirely accurate due to human behaviour. Therefore, I think while it may be possible for the film to be on at the cinema, it would probably be an Art house rather than mainstream, as mainstream films use professional actors and specialist equipment to give their films the cutting edge.
On comparison with these mainstream professional films, our thriller lacks certain aspects (trained actors, specialist equipment, CGI etc.) that would make the professional films look of higher quality or more impressive than our own. However, our thriller does retain certain qualities that a professional film has, such as creative camera angles, clever editing and fitting with most of the codes and conventions of a thriller.
Who would be the audience for your media product?
The target audience of our thriller was 15+ and was mostly targeted at late teens and young adults. We made this decision because none of our group was 18, therefore the certificate of the film was 15 (See SECTION 3). We also chose this because it would be easier to understand what our target audience like and dislike, as we are also part of that age group. However, I think that the film would appeal to people outside the target audience also, due to the plot involving characters that are not all in their teens.
How did you attract/address the audience?
Audience research (See SECTION 4) was used to decide on what elements would appeal to our target audience. We handed out questionnaires to our target audience to fill in, and recorded the results on a series of graphs and analysed them. The questions that were chosen were important to helping us tailor our thriller to what the audience wanted. We chose our college as the area to hand out the questionnaires, as most of the college matched the target audience.
The completed production is appropriate for our target audience. One of the favourite objects the audience would like to be shown in our thriller was a tea spoon (See SECTION 4) which was displayed at the end of the opening sequences. Our thriller's sub genre was psychological, which matched our target audience's favourite sub genre. We had a teenage girl dead in the opening sequences, which relatively appealed to two top results that stated the target audience wanted a child or a woman to die. All our results matched the finished thriller apart from the fact that our audience wanted a city, and we filmed the beginning in a house. However, the audience feedback seemed to indicate they liked and would pay to see the film even though it wasn't filmed in a city. (See SECTION 11) The fact that the opening sequences were filmed in a home relates to the audience, which means they could imagine themselves in the same situation and heightens the realism of the thriller, improving the audience's enjoyment.
We had planned to make the audience feel uneasy and on edge, by hiding various things and leaving the audience ask questions, unsure about what is going to happen next. This ties in with what our audience thought of a film. The audience feedback (See SECTION 11) stated that the audience did feel on edge, and they liked the flashback effects and radio sounds, which were important aspects of our opening sequences.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
We handled the equipment and software well. Everyone could easily use the filming equipment such as the camera and tripod, however some found it difficult to use Adobe Premiere for editing, but soon learnt it quickly. We had filmed some additional shots to replace other shots, due to those shots looking more interesting and allowing the film to flow better. One example of when I used the camera was a tricky shot in the bathroom, where I had to adjust the height of the tripod, the angle and the zoom of the camera so that Shelly was clearly shown entering, as the room itself was small. I had to edit these shots in the editing software, showing Shelly turn the handle from one room and then cutting to inside the room as she opens the door. I dragged the two clips onto the timeline, and snipped the clips to match the turning of the door handle from one room to the other perfectly.
We had a few problems with filming, but were quickly resolved. The fact that we were filming in winter meant that daylight was shorter, and we ran out of time during filming one day as it got too dark to continue. The film itself was filmed in the morning, so for the outside to get darker and darker each scene would not make sense. We combated this by filming earlier on other days the scenes we didn't have time to do the first time.
There were only a few minor problems with sound, but that was more due to human error, such as coughing and whistling by accident, and the creaking of the tripod. We simply took another take of those shots and oiled a new tripod to prevent the creaks.
There was a minor problem with the actor trying to express shock, which turned into laughter. This scene with Shelly's shocked expression and the dropping of the spoon was problematic, as it took many shots to get the expression right, and the spoon to land perfectly in front of the camera. Eventually with enough takes we got those scenes to work.
There were no problems with mise-en-scene, and our final film does not differ from what we had originally planned, apart from a few changed scenes to add a few more interesting camera angles. There was however some minor technical problems such as Adobe Premier crashing, however saving frequently removed this problem being an issue.
We edited our production using special effects for the flashbacks, and adding sounds for thunder to make them stand out. We decided to use music in the background of the opening sequences that built suspense and made the audience uneasy. Searching the internet we used copyright free music for use in our opening sequences, adding credit to the creator. The titles were white and black as requested by our target audience (See SECTION 4). We also used selective colour for the sink scene where blood comes out of tap, to make the rest of the scene desaturated only leaving colour on the blood to make it stand out. I found it very easy to use Adobe Premiere, as I have used similar Adobe products in the past, and I tend to get used to technology quickly.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
My skills have improved since the preliminary task, as the “walking through the door” task allowed the experimentation of various camera angles, the use of storyboards, camera equipment and editing software. The difficulties experienced at first were getting used to the equipment, however with practice I caught on quickly.
I believe our group has fulfilled the terms of the brief, as the production itself covers all aspects we needed to do. I am pleased with the way the opening sequences look, such as the creative shots where the camera was positioned inside the cupboard as Shelly picks up a mug, editing such as the door handle opening from one room to the other, the flashback effects, the blood from the tap, and sounds used such as the flashback noises and the soundtrack. However, if I had the time to go back I would spend more time on the blog, to make sure I did everything the best I could such as writing exactly what I did at each media lesson, as some were missed out. I would also change one scene where Shelly has dry hair, and then all of a sudden she does, due to a different day of filming and little time to film.
