Final Thriller

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y480a2HQEOg

Question 6 - Prezi presentation What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constucting the product?

Question 3 -What kind of media institution might distribute your media and why?

Question 1 - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and coventions of a real media product?

The generic conventions of a thriller film are, the use of a blonde female victim, which is used in many films like Scream, Halloween and others, where the young female is portrayed as weak and is targeted by the antagonist in each film. Another convention in thriller films is the use of a character with a hidden identity, like Scream, Halloween and The Strangers. Other conventions of the thriller genre that are used in almost every thriller film are, low key lighting, suspenseful music, fast paced editing, a use of weapon and an urban setting or woodland setting. In my thriller opening sequence I followed some conventions of the thriller genre, for example I used the conventional urban setting, so the audience can relate to the situation that the characters are in. Another convention I used in our opening sequence was, a young blonde female, which is portrayed as weak and lonely at first. I decided to use a young female as it engages the audience and helps build relations with the audience and the characters. Another convention my group followed was the use of low level lighting, which I felt would add to the suspenseful atmosphere, as the characters feel in danger the use of high key lighting would take away the atmosphere of the situation, but the use of low lighting and shadows could be scary and add to the suspense. I used a conventional weapon in my opening sequence as we felt that the character needed to appear to be more dangerous as she is small and would be unrealistic for her to attack a larger male.

I feel that my thriller opening sequence defines the thriller genre as it uses conventions that are used in other popular thriller films for example the use of low level lighting to add to the suspenseful atmosphere, the use of a female character and a male character that is portrayed as dangerous, and the young female as vulnerable and also the use of a knife in our opening sequence is typical of the thriller genre. My thriller opening sequence also challenges forms and conventions, but also codes and conventions that other popular thriller films use. We did this by introducing the two characters to the audience, and the audience form their own opinion of each character and build an onscreen relationship with the character. Conventional roles of each character are used at first, so the male is seen as dominant and the young girl is seen as weak for the audience, but soon after this is changed as the female disappears and there is a scream heard, now the male is alone and no longer in control of his own situation. However I feel my thriller is conventional & successful.

The female is the character who is seen as the antagonist and the male is now vulnerable, after this the editing and music along with the low level lighting builds suspense so the murder of the male character at the end is the result of the anticipation form the audience about what’s going to happen in the scene. This is how I followed codes and conventions of the thriller genre but also made the opening sequence unique, and so it challenges typical conventions.

I would compare our thriller film with another thriller film that is ‘The Orphan’ as it also uses a young female as the antagonist in the film, which also engages that audience and helps build a suspenseful atmosphere amongst the audience. I took this film as inspiration for my own thriller opening scene as I felt I could consider using some of the conventions that was used in it such as the young girl antagonist, the weapon, the low level lighting and also the style of editing, as they were all very effective at making a suspenseful atmosphere.

Question 7 - Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NvH2dM9q_A

The preliminary task was to help the group to get used to working together, and get used to using the equipment that I would be using on the opening scene, such as the camera equipment and the editing software, and also how to use different shots and what they do for the scene.
 I learnt how to use the editing software at a basic level and it helped me get used to handling a camera and tripod, even though this wasn’t a role I would have in the production of the opening sequence it was still useful to have those basic skills, I also learned more about my group and that helped in the filming of the opening scene as we worked better in a group as we had previous skills all in most roles. 

The skills I learnt from the preliminary task was mainly how to use the camera and tripod, and how to use the editing software, which was an important skill to learn as was using the skill in the production of the opening scene, because as producer and music co-ordinator I need to have skills in the editing software to carry out my roles. For example without the preliminary task I wouldn't have understood how to use a tripod to create different angles for shots and to keep a shot steady so this has benefited my final thriller film because it makes it a better final product.

This was a shot used during the filming of the preliminary task.

Question 5- how did you attract/address your audience?

Primary research was essential for my  production as it meant that I knew what my target audience would be and what to make my thriller film like. I conducted primary research by analysing other thriller films, researching the guidelines on BBFC certificates, the different narrative theories of the thriller genre and one of the most helpful forms of primary research was Vox Pox and questionnaires, which our whole group helped to carry out. From the primary research it helped us as a group to really understand what the audience would want from a thriller film, this meant that when we would think of a narrative for our own we could incorporate ideas that we got from the research to make our film better than it would be without the research.

Analysis of thriller films – during the research stage of the production of my own thriller film, I researched many different popular thriller films such as, Scream, Orphan, The Woman in Black and Halloween. I analysed many of the opening sequences, characters, settings, iconography and other contributing factors successful thriller opening scenes include, and this was also helpful when making our own thriller opening sequence as we had a good understanding of what good thriller films do, so we could take inspiration from them.

BBFC Research – I researched the BBFC and the different age certificates that are given to films, I looked at films in the thriller genre as I know I was making a thriller film, so it was relevant to my group. As I was looking at the age certificates for thriller films I noticed that most thriller films had been given a 15 certificate, which shows that they are not as violent and don’t contain strong adult themes that are often awarded to films in the Thriller genre. The 15 age certificate shows that thriller films build anticipation and suspense amongst the audience to give them the thriller film experience without relying on gory scenes to scare that audience. I felt that the 15 age certificate would be best for my own film, as it would be more enjoyable for audiences that don’t like gore, and it would be more suspenseful.

Narrative Theory’s –during the research stage of the production of our thriller film I researched the different narrative theories for thriller films. I found three theories that were popular but decided that the Todorov theory was the best for, as it was conventional to the thriller genre and worked well with the ideas for our narrative that I had already. After researching the narrative theories I feel that I had a better idea of what thriller narratives should be like.

Questionnaires – I carried out a questionnaire as a form of research, which was very helpful in understanding my target audience’s preferences when watching thriller films. The questions my group & I asked them were about the audiences age, gender, certificate, conventions they had seen, setting preferences, sub-genre. All these questions led to a conclusion for each person about the types of thriller films they like, and the majority of the same answers would be the style of thriller that we would make. All of group worked well together to get the results and we all asked the same questions.

Vox Pops – Vox Pox were helpful in researching the audience’s preferences of thriller films and I could meet the people and film them answering our questions. These answers were taken as inspiration for our own opening sequence to a thriller film. We asked questions about the thriller genre for example, ‘what is your favourite thriller film’ and ‘what part of the thriller film do you like most’.

The primary and secondary research that were carried out was very helpful in making a thriller film that attracts audiences and makes sure that people will like the thriller film I made as we made it with audiences preferences in mind, so without this research I wouldn’t know what audiences like in thriller films which would be bad because the film wouldn’t attract audiences and the film could get bad feedback. 

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

A target audience is very important when making a film as it is who the film is made for and who will be buying the film after it is made, so for example if the target audience was young children then the film would have to be suitable for them, so it couldn’t contain any blood or gore, as it wouldn’t be accepted as a PG film.

The target audience for my thriller film is late teenagers and adults, my group and I decided that this would be a suitable target audience for a thriller film as the film might contain some blood or swearing, which would be acceptable in a 15 rated film.

My thriller film appeals to an audience & people who like thriller films and the thriller genre, as our film has some conventions of a thriller film such as an engaging narrative, suspenseful soundtrack, low level lighting and characters that portray the narrative well to the audience. This would all appeal to anyone that likes thriller films. For example people that like thriller films would be attracted to our thriller film as it has relatable characters and some moderate violence and tense scenes that some might find a bit scary. However people that don’t necessarily like thriller films would enjoy our film too as it has characters that they can relate to, and it isn’t gory which can put people off thriller films. We have included these elements after looking at our research and including elements of thriller films that people enjoy, and not including parts that people don't enjoy in the thriller films they have watched.