Thriller Evaluation

Thriller Evaluation

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

When we looked at different thrillers, and concentrated on there openings we noted a few things that help the thriller become more dramatic, one of these things we saw was that letting the audience be one step ahead, knowing more than the character.

As a group we thought that we should include this in our production. We decided to use an POV shot so that the audience can tell that there is an acknowledgment between the two. There is also a over the shoulder shot looking back, so we can see that the character I am playing being followed, however I do not know.

We all so thought that cutting away from this to see Emre’s character smiling looking towards where we walked to would show that they did know each other (David and Emre) and that something bad has happened to me, not showing what happens also adds to the dramatic effect as it is left up to the audience to decide what happened to me.

When we came up with the idea of a business like bag swap we knew location would be important, like in “The Shining” the house’s isolation plays well with the idea of him going mad. So we knew where we filmed had to have an “executive” look to it, we had two places in mind, we thought that Liverpool street station outside near to where the buses stop. However when we looked at it we knew that it would be practically impossible to get working match cuts with the amount of different people walking through.

So we decided to film in the Barbican centre. There are less people and the architecture gives it the sense that it is a well kept, business area.

· How does your media production represent particular social groups?

Our group was all males, so we could not go for the “venerable” woman and the stalker man. So we thought that a bag swap with “Mob Gangster” like characters, so when it came to what to wear we knew that because they are supposed to be from different gangs, the clothing had to be different, so I am wearing a grey suit, and Emre is in full black with a cardigan. David being more of a “Foot solider” he is wearing more casual black (links to Emre wearing black same gang.) with a hood.

	Both wearing black

Only one wearing Grey

From our feedback we got told that the use of the location was excellent as it shows a business area however it is also remote and “different looking” to most places.

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

If the whole film was to be made I think the category of “British gangster” would fit it well. So it would either be a sink or float film when it comes to over seas. All though I think it would be a British success such as “The Italian Job”. As there would be no real “star appeal” there would probably be many small companies would contribute to the film, and be distubuted by a smaller production company maybe Film 4 as they mostly invest in small British Films that are “Underdogs” when it comes to a successful film.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The theme of the film being “British Gangsters” this genre would attract more of a male audience than female. Being a small film the audience would probably be people who enjoy watching independent films over the Hollywood mainstream films. I think it would attract the age range of 17 – 30, like such films as “lock stock”. I personally believe it would attract “aspirers” over “achievers”. People who want to go somewhere, be a director or writer ect. I think the film itself would be shown in smaller cinemas, and probably travel by word of mouth, friends recommending it to each other. I doubt it would attract the “older” family. I could see it being more attracted to single’s or people with out children.

We asked a few people (same age as us) what they though? And would they go see it?

The majority said that they would most likely see it, but they would doubt they would go to an independent cinema, they would most likely see it online or watch it on DVD.

How will you attract/address your audience?

There is no “star appeal” to our film. As it is more of a low budget production. We have a cast and crew of people starting there career. Being a “British Gangster” film it would attract people who are fans of that genre. It would be advertised at small independent cinemas in the cities and in magazines, there would not be much point for it to be mainstream advertising all over Britain. I would advertise it about 2 months before release date. This is because it would save money and because it is not on billboards and buses there is a smaller audience for it to be advertised to in magazines and independent cinemas.

It would also travel by word of mouth by things such as forums and chat sites about the genre.

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

Having a small experience in the filming and editing. We knew the basics and what we had to do, we needed to be refreshed in knowing how to do certain things, such as how to make a blank screen, and how to add text ( and edit it). Apart from this we all did our share in the making of the clip. We all put our own ideas in and if we didn’t know how to do something, we would ask how, and learn how to do it. The only problems we had where when it came to location and weather. Firstly we where unable to get our first choice of location, Liverpool street station

Here is the kind of are we wanted. However we would have had to wait 2 weeks for the permission. Not having a lot of time we had to scrap that idea. We then though of the barbican centre, however when we started filming there was snow, and when we went back it had melted, so we had to film over again, and once again because of the little time we had to do it in the rain ( this played to our advantage though because we where able to make it more dramatic using lightning)

Using the blog helped us a lot, as we where able to document what we where doing, and we knew where we were up to, what we had to do and what went wrong, so in the future we knew what to change. Being able to upload the clip onto Vimeo we where able to widen the audience to whom ever wants to see it on the internet. (if they know about it).

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

Looking back I have learnt that the easiest way to get something done is to give it a bit of flexibility, in that say after you have created your storyboard, however when u get to the location to film you need to make drastic changes to the storyboard. I think from the match cuts I have gotten quite good at match cutting in final cut pro. Out of everything we had to do, the mind-mapping of ideas where the hardest, because we struggled to find something that everyone was happy with. The filming and editing where all easy as my group where egger to learn new techniques in editing and filming. The only problem was weather when it came to filming. However I am happy with our choice of location when asked some people said “it gives it something extra…in that the place is different to the normal streets of London” over all I am happy with the work we all did in our group and our final outcome went well. My favourite part was creating the soundtrack and editing it to fit into the video.