In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Overall, the techniques used to successfully hold an audience and to entertain viewers are collectively and selectively used at opportune periods for maximum effectivity, by utilising the techniques of experienced directors by studying multiple cinematic works, we began to create an overview of exactly what we wanted our thriller to be.
Throughout the planning process, me and my group deliberated throughly on the many aspects that we wished to incorporate within the film, there are many different forms and conventions of a modern thriller primarily, being the heavy build up of tension and suspense, this factor, we decided was detrimental to the overall audience perception of our thriller opening. An example of how we created tension and suspense, is by fast, inter cutting between both the antagonist and protagonist, the eerie nature of the killers image is enough to manipulate the audience’s mood and emotions, making viewers uneasy and relatively ‘on edge’, as they realise the antagonists intentions. However all climactic filming must eventually have a point, where the audience can relax somewhat, to release the built up tension and suspense, this point comes when the extras discover the body of ‘lonely boy’.
Connecting with the build up of tension, intelligent editing also becomes an important convention, seeing as the whole films appeal could be won or in fact lost in some cases, due to successful, or even dire editing. By placing the editing in to the hands of our most experienced editor, Jake, I had no worries that our film would not be up to scratch. By manipulating fast cuts, and speeding up the footage, our opening began to form itself in to a more macabre and maybe even supernatural film. Interesting the audience, and holding their attentions as the piece continues.
The thriller genre is seen to be a more mature adaptation of cinematic production, so is hereby, aimed at an older audience. We took this in to account and adapted our plans to coincide with features associated with that of the certificate 15. Meaning that individuals younger than this age might find themselves becoming disturbed or discomforted as they view the thriller. We devised different scenarios that would attribute to increasing the age limit of our opening. one of which being, when we instructed our extras to shout and literally abuse Jake (the protagonist) this immediately increased the threat level of the film, bestowing implications of murder and violence, I believe, this and a couple of other scenes during the film, increase the certificate that is more suited to the thriller genre.
Sounds, were another huge part of planning. We realised that sounds that are not within the diagesis, are perhaps more important, than those that can be heard by actors, my reasoning for this, is that non-diagetic sounds can be added to a fast cut, shocking an audience, even in some cases scaring an audience. Being scared whilst watching a thriller is crucially the objective of the director, because when you are most scared, you are also incredibly prone to feelings of helplessness which in hindsight, makes the audience love the film, because the feeling of excited restlessness is incredibly similar to the feeling of terror. By selectively employing sounds at opportune moments in the editing process, proves for maximum effectivity and rememberability. We wanted to take advantage of the effect of sounds and I believe we produced well edited and thought out sounds.
Mise en scene within our piece was not taken lightly, although, I wasn’t entirely happy, I believed it was almost the best we could do with little to no budget. The fact that the murder occurs at a halloween party, where many involved cover their face, this can create a feeling of anxiousness by unnerving the audience, with a feeling that anything could happen. I believe we created and replicated a party well, what with many beer cans and general litter placed around the set. This is a scene that almost everyone is able to relate to, and are shocked when this supposedly happy scene ends with a ruthless murder.
Finally, an intellectual plot line is most associated with the thriller genre, it is indeed a convention that we all wanted to root deeply in to our performance. By having a killer, with immediately obvious mental deficiencies, suggests an interesting back story, that no doubt could have been developed, should the cameras of continued to roll. Coinciding with the idea of a back story, it is not made obvious the trials and tribulations of ‘lonely boy’, as we are unsure of why he is so reclusive, suggesting that further development could continue later in the film, perhaps by someone trying to piece together his merciless murder.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Our thriller, interestingly portrays the ‘teenage boy’ social group, and deals with issues such as drinking and smoking. But also the capabilities of the inner mind, furthermore, social segregation, by ‘lonely boy’ detaching himself from his surroundings we see that he is in fact not interested about anyone else, depicted well when he takes one of the actors drinks with little remorse.
Additionally, we again explore the idea of prejudice and separation even between boys of a similar class and age, as ‘the killer’ is forced to take the life of one of his piers. Interestingly, we also consider mental health issues, and raise awareness, due to our antagonist suffering through what is presented to be a serious mental deficiency.
The clothes worn are typical of working/middle class, which, unsurprisingly is the majority of the actors backgrounds.
I believe that our film presents teenagers as cold and corrupted characters, all with malicious intent. However, there is definately the representation of thoughtful deliberation with in both main characters, shedding a relatively positive light.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
With our thriller lying in the typically british, independant category, media institutions would be cautious of producing and distributing our film. Seeing as the independant film industry is relatively un-predictable and some titles may flourish, whereas others may simply evaporate, being stricken from all memory. However when independant films are done well and advertising campaigns are successfully endorsed, films can reach global acclaim, take for example Danny Boyle’s ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ winner of the academy award for best picture in 2008.
Ideally, the film companies that I would want to distribute our films, would be Film Four, or perhaps even Fox Searchlight. Both of these companies have seen global success with independant films and have vast experience of distributing on a world wide scale. Fox Searchlight thriller titles include, ‘Black Swan’ which is possibly my favourite film of 2011 so far, and ‘127 hours’ which is also critically acclaimed. Film Four, has produced ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ which remains to be one of the highest grossing cinematic works of all time.
However, with the film being of an incredibly low budget, with no successful actors involved in the project, gaining the support of a world renown company would prove an incredibly arduous and difficult task.
Who would be the audience for your media product?
Crucially, the audience would need to be at the ages of 15 and above, this is to coincide with most other thrillers, to enable us to compete for the young-adult/adult market. By referencing the official BBFC website, we are able to deduce that our thriller corresponds with that of certificate 15 regulations and guidelines, which we are more than happy about.
Realistically, the themes and conventions portreyed in our thriller are mostly aimed at the 15-25 age bracket due to the party atmosphere which most people of that age are familiar with. However, including themes of mental disability and macabre visuals attribute to expanding the age bracket to older more experienced cinema goers.
People who enjoy an intelligent, well thought out plot, i believe would enjoy our film. My initial thought was that the viewer might have to go for further viewings, to perhaps discover something new each time they watch, which for me is a wonderful experience.
Although there is no physical violence within the film, there is a definate presence of threat within the piece, meaning that it would not be prudent to show the film to anyone under the age of 15, for safety precautions, as to not disturb or upset any younger viewers.
As the film were to progress, I would have some violence but contrastingly, I would allow the audience to deliberate on some scenes and create their own view of the film, by disguising or obscuring the violence.
How did you attract/address your audience?
One crucial difference between our film and our piers is that ours is presented in high definition, this directly appeals to the overall attraction of an audience, because often a viewer will tire of poor visuals and it can distract the audience from what is happening on screen, ruining the authenticity of a piece, seeing as the focus is being drawn to a video quality that is some what lacking. Accordingly, when a HD film is recorded, the audience becomes less aware of a camera being there, and can begin to attach and relate to the plot, increasing excitement and interest hugely.
Another way in which we attracted audience, was by offering an intriguing, well thought out and exciting story line. By tackling some of life’s key issues such as; Mental health, teen violence and so on (that has been described above) which acts as an insight in to these problems and a way of portraying characters suffering with these burdens.
Addressing the audience is crucial. Inviting the viewer to become a part of the film is a wonderful technique to ensure the interest of an individual that is watching. By planting questions in to the viewers head, that they can ask themselves and make estimates as to ‘what is going on where’, and ‘what is wrong with who’. This method of rhetorical questioning is a key convention of a thriller, as having little knowledge of what is occurring can make a person un-easy and determined to search for the answers. We believe we do this multiple times with in the film. I have been asked questions from others who have viewed it, as they are unsure of the subtle messages we have created, and I go on to inform them that they must decide for themselves what they believe the answer is. Furthermore, the fact I have been asked such questions, is an encouraging sign, that we have created an interesting piece.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
Perseverance is a pivotal technique to acquire whilst working with technology, as it can often seem temperamental and decidedly aggravating for the user.
Frankly, we as a group thought that our idea was to important, to be filmed with a sub-standard quality camera and end up regretful when the final edit was not going to adhere to our high expectations and standards. So we began searching for an alternative, and were eventually given the option of filming with a HD quality small hand held camera, which vastly improves the picture, satisfying the groups need for a better definition. I am ecstatic that we discovered this, and believe this small camera was the key to our successful piece.
Our editing software is ‘Adobe Premiere’ this is professional software that Jake owns. It is however very complex and we were all taken back by its quality and detailed attributes. The editing process took a reasonable amount of time to begin, however, once Jake had come to terms with the software the process quickened and we were soon able to declare the project finished and upload it to ‘YouTube’.
Communication is of the upmost importance when working with a relatively large group trying to produce a film. To keep in contact with each other, the group commonly utilised the social networking site ‘Facebook’ and also using mobile phones.
Finally, we uploaded our final piece to ‘YouTube’ and since then we have monitored all of the responses and views of our video and so far all is relatively positive.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Our continuity piece was, in my opinion, a very experimental project. We wanted to utilise all of our knowledge in the field and produce a piece that incorporated many different factors of cinematography. However, we did not plan our continuity piece as detailed as what we probably should have, meaning that when it came to filming, we were still re-writing the script and indeed changing the role of each character.
Whilst filming it, we learnt the importance of scrutinising each shot, and searching for possible errors, we noted a few within our continuity piece, such as characters position changing, however, it is not immediately obvious upon viewing. Learnedly, we revised these aspects and made sure not to make similar mistakes whilst filming our final thriller opening.
By producing a preliminary piece we were able to explore new and different camera techniques, which eventually we were able to enforce within our thriller. This concept of learning from mistakes also became apparent in the editing process. Seeing as the continuity piece was a first for all of the group, i believe we each learned valuable techniques and were all able to example our ingenuity.
With the continuity piece being of sub-standard quality, we made it our goal to plan the thriller in greater detail, from everything from camera shots, to the non-diagetic sounds. To further our planning I created a short storyboard, which would be the basis of the idea, ensuring that we did not stray from the pre-determined plan.
In conclusion, without the preliminary exercise and gaining the crucial experience to piece together a film, our final piece would not have turned out as well as we all would have hoped.
