MOVIE: HELP

BY AYLA ZAMAN TAREEN

CREATIVE CRITICAL REFLECTION

How does your product use or challenge conventions and how does it

represent social groups or issues? Throughout the making of this movie “help”, I

have used a number of different conventions in order to convey the thriller genre. The camera shots in the movie, I have created a reverse video effect in the beginning of the movie to show a glimpse of the situation in the past and build tension. I have used dim lights in the other half of the scene which further supports the thriller conventions. The name of the movie is Help, which further signifies the thriller genre, this is a common convention that thriller movies use as the title of the film usually gives a hint of the films type of story.

The one worded title is also used in a number of thriller movies for example in Taken and Trapped. Similarly I have also used a one worded title “help”.

Further more I have used the convention of using different soundtracks in the movie to create more suspense and further strengthen the thriller genre. A thriller usually consists of a story showing a chain of events building tension and suspense for the climax. I have also used the other conventions of a thriller i.e low key lighting, shadows, tension music, digetic breathing sounds etc.

I tried to recreate a scene similar to this scene in Taken, to create more suspense and make the audience more involved in the scene using low key lighting as well which further shows how I have used the conventions in the scene.

Like the ghost face in scream, I have also tried to create a similar look for the villain in my movie to create a scary look.

However in my thriller film, I have also challenged the conventions in the end, as my movie opening ends, it ends with the scary man putting his hand on the little girls shoulder and her reaction remains unrevealed. The soundtracks amplifies the action

As the reaction of the little girl is still a mystery the audiences will be curious to find out the relationship of the little girl and that man.

I have used the fast forward effect as also used in many horror and thriller movies like wicker park, paranormal activity, final destination etc to create a more dramatic effect. Again I have used a male as the villain which is again using the convention.

Unlike other thriller movies my movie shows a little girl alone and scared hiding from the antagonist. There is a lot of suspense in the movie as initially I have shown the little girl carrying her normal routine, playing and suddenly I have created a lot of drama with the sound of gun shots and digetic sounds of breathing, leaving the audience curious to watch the whole movie as the identity of the

antagonist remains unrevealed. As I have created a lot of suspense and drama the teenage and middle audience will be attracted. The main element of a thriller movie is suspense, giving the viewers uncertainty and adrenaline rush making them more curious to watch the movie. My movie scene is a combination of mystery, curiosity and surprise.

Moreover I think I have used more conventions and challenged less, as I wanted to attract audiences

with the traditional thriller conventions. I think my movie opening scene shows a little girl from a

normal middle class Asian family, who’s being scared by a man, this may show how a male is always shown as an antagonist in a movie. Further more as I have shown gun shots initially which scare the little girl, The muscular reflection of the man shows men are strong and tough, it can also be deduced that mostly male are engaged in criminal activities or activities such as kidnapping or robbery. As the little girl seems scared after hearing the gunshots, it is obvious that little children of her age do not engage in such activities and as she is extremely scared we can tell that it has a negative impact on little children

How does your product engage with audiences and how would you want it to be distributed as real media text? The story line is designed so that the audience will think

that it can happen to them, which will make them feel more scared like shown in other thrillers. I aim to attract mainly people aged 16-40 as it is a thriller and wont be suitable for younger or older age groups. I think people will want to watch my movie because it is a thriller and lacks action to start with, and it will further make them wonder what is going to happen next. This is basically the kind of content which attracts my target audience. Nowadays people expect a lot of action in the beginning of thrillers which is a convention challenged in my movie opening scene. It is something different a mix of suspense and drama in a thriller which the people would want to watch, and which will greatly entertain my target audience as well.

If I were to pick a distribution company to distribute my film I would choose Universal Studios as they would help me in distribution because they distribute both high budget and low budget films and it also is very famous and is counted in holly woods big six production companies. I would also like to distribute my product on DVD and Blu-Ray as it targets a wider audience and a wide age group. The name universal studios itself will help me to attract audiences. Since my movie is a low budget

movie the risk involved will be less since the distribution should be rather limited.

How did your production skills develop through out this project ? I think the biggest production skill I have developed

is the use of camera properly. I have learnt about different camera angles such as high angle camera shots, low angle camera shots, rule of one-third, close ups, midshots, long shots, establishing shots jerking the camera to show the little girl running, over the shoulder shots etc. if I was not a media studies student I would have never learnt how to use a tripod while making a film or using a digital camera properly. I have learned how to make the actors work, how to reshoot different scenes, how to edit movies and add interesting soundtracks to them in order to make them more appealing.

I have learned how to cast actors according to the story of the movie which leave a deeper impact on the audience, I have learnt how to use a tripod, how to give different effects and use different angles to portray a particular meaning in a scene so that it has greater significance. I think reshooting continuously was a very difficult task for me as I had to make the actors wear the same clothes everyday to shoot one scene properly. To shoot at the same location everytime was also a big task, I learned how to research for my target audience and thus create a scene whose content attracts that audience.

I had to organise my time well in order to meet the deadline, and had to find reliable actors who were ready to perform with dedication. Researching for the target audience was a great task as I had to make sure my movie and its genre provides what the target audience is attracted towards. Framing the camera, panning it up and down, making sure the frame is suitable for the shot are various things I have learned through out the production of this movie scene.

How did you integrate technologies in this project ?

I have learned a lot of things while making this movie opening scene, I learnt about making blogs, uploading and submitting projects on it, using websites such as blogspot.com and all of its features. Apart from this I learned about new editing techniques, adding different effects in the movie like I have used the fast forward effect, the slow motion effect to make the scene more dramatic, I have also used the reverse video effect. I learnt how to use windows movie maker as well to its full potential which I would have never been able to do if I was not a media studies student.

While researching for the movies of thriller genre, I used many different sites such as Youtube, Dailymotion. Google was also a helpful search engine. I used blogspot to keep track of my projects through out the year. I downloaded different apps in my phone as well in order to learn how to create the reverse video effect

I also used audio micro and sound bible to search for different sound effects which I have used in my movie opening scene. I have used a canon dslr to shoot this scene and I had to do a lot of research before starting my film, I had to do thorough research on the genre, the target audience the content of the

movie and the kind of things which will attract the audiences to watch my movie. I have used google for this kind of research. Lastly in order to upload my video I have learned using many sites such as vimeo, blogger, wordpress etc, these sites not only helped me upload and submit my projects but they also helped me keep track of my work.