Evaluation thriller films

1. AS media evaluation thriller film
Georgie May Lancashire and Callum Cole

2. 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
One of the ways we challenged the typical conventions of thriller films is that we had a female killer instead of a male killer. We did this because we wanted to be an auteur and make our thriller film completely different to other thriller films as they usually have male killers.
Another way that we challenged the typical conventions was that we had the setting for the film in a house. We did this because your home is where you are supposed to feel safe yet this is not the case in our film. Typical thriller film settings are usually in the forest or an outside setting.
We challenged the typical conventions of thriller films as we had the end of the film at the beginningso the audience would watch the film backwards. We did this as we wanted to become auteur. This would be our unique selling point as this is not common in most thriller films.
We broke the conventions of thriller films as we had the woman as being more powerful over the man whereas, it is normally the other way round. Men normally control their wives in thriller films whereas, in our film the man has loose control over his wife.
We used a police interview in our film as this is another way that we stuck to the typical conventions of thriller films. We used the police interview during our title sequence as it told the audience straight away that the woman had been caught and that what they are about to see is set in the past.
We also challenged the typical conventions as we had a woman blackmailer who is trying to steal her husbands money. We did this as we felt that it would attract the audience because it is different to what they have seen before as normally blackmailers are males.
We also stuck to the typical conventions of a thriller film as most thriller films have a blackmailer after money and we showed this through the character of Sasha. We also used a blackmail board which is typical in thriller films and was used in Kiss the Girls.
Another way that we stuck to the typical conventions of a thriller film is that we used a male who was cheating on his wife which is used a lot in thriller films. We decided to use this as it gave the woman a motive to killing her husband.
We also used scary music during the thriller film. This stuck to the conventions of thriller films as they also use scary music because they keep the audience engaged in their film and scare them. We also used sound effects, such as screaming and laughing, as this would scared the audience and make them carry on watching.
If you click on the speaker symbol you can listen to the scream effect that we used in our film. We felt that the scream sounded very realistic and would work perfectly in certain sections of our film. We used the first couple of seconds.
We used many quick cuts, especially when the woman is coming down the stairs as this creates suspense for the audience as they want to know what is going to happen. Quick cuts are conventional in thriller films and we wanted to use them as they would make the audience feel suspense.
Another convention that we stuck to was fades and in our thriller film we used three fades as they cut the film into three different sections. We did this as fades are used in thrillers as they tell the audience that time has passed and also that something bad will happen/has happened.
Another way that we stuck to the conventions of thriller films is that we showed a section of the film during the title sequence. This has been used in Kiss The Girls. We did this because we wanted to tell the audience a back story to what they were about to watch.
The red circles around the women's faces shows that they are targets of Sashas
We also stuck to the conventions of thriller films as we used a blackmail board. We used a blackmail board because we wanted to tell the audience what the killers mental state was like and if she had killed other people.
We used gothic fonts for our title sequence in our thriller film. We did this as its what you see in successful thriller films. The font looks harsh towards the audience so they automatically know that this is not going to be a pleasant film.
The dark lighting made Sashasface looking quite scary as you can only see the outline of her face causing the audience to feel uncomfortable
Most thriller films use dark lighting as this creates suspense for the audience as they are nervous about what is going to happen. This is why we used dark lighting during the interview scene as we wanted to make the audience wonder what will happen next.
10. 2: How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Our film follows the conventions of representing particular social groups as it represents men in their mid 20s as being successful as Alex is an accountant. This also represents men as being successful because Alex has a better job than Sasha and is well spoken compared to her.
We represented women in their 20s as being unsuccessful and violent. Sasha works as a waitress and shows she is unsuccessful, unlike her husband. This has stuck to conventions as some thriller films represent women the same.
Our film also represents women as powerful over men and this breaks the conventions of thriller films as this is not what happens in most thrillers. In society women are seen as weak compared to men but in our film it is a role reversal.
You can see by Alexs facial expressions that he is less powerful than Sasha.
Our film also represents men as being weak compared to women and again breaks conventions. Usually in society men are seen as the more dominant gender but this is not the case in our film.
Our film also represents men as being people who cheat on their wives and not being very faithful. This is sticking to conventions as it is common in other thriller films and can be seen common in society.
Our film also represents the social group of married couples as being a failure and not being able to cope. This is seen in other thriller films so we have stuck to the conventions. We had made the married couple a failure because it causes the woman to kill her husband so it is the motive for the killings.
13. 3: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
We would get 20th Century Fox to distribute our film because they have distributed many other thriller films that fit the same description as ours. For example 20th Century Fox has distributed Taken, Unstoppable and Memento. Memento is especially important because that is what we based our film on as our film starts at the end like Memento does.
We would let shops such as HMV and Blockbuster distribute our film as they are very successful in the retail market and they are very popular with our target audience. To reach our target audience further we would use synergy to distribute our film on Blu Ray DVD and normal DVDs because they are on different formats.
14. 3: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
To reach our target audience further we would use web 2.0 and distribute our film online as many people now use the internet to buy their films and is popular with our target audience. We would use websites such as Amazon and Play.com and have again used synergy.
15. 4: Who would be the audience for your media product?
Our target audience for our film is 15+ year olds as you see a knife throughout the film and you also see a dead body so it could be scary for anyone under the age of 15. However, because it is for 15 year olds we are losing out on profit as 12-14 year olds will not be able to see the film and this is a potential loss for us as film makers. However, if we did lower the age we would get complaints off of concerned parents so it could be worth the loss.
16. 4: Who would be the audience for your media product?
The characters in our film are easy to relate to with the older audience. The older audience could feel sympathy for Sasha as they understand what emotions she is going through. However, a younger audience would be scared by the way Sasha acts.
As you can see Sasha looks very evil here and would scare anyone under the age of 15.
The themes that are included in our film are aimed at a more mature audience. The themes that are included are adultery, blackmail, murder and psychological issues. This not only would have been too graphic with the murder but it would be hard for the younger audience to understand such complex issues.
17. 5: How did you attract/address your audience?
We made sure that with every draft of the film we made, we got feedback on what we had done. This proved helpful as it meant we could create a film that best suited ourtarget audience. For example in our first audience feedback it was mentioned that our match on action sequence was a bit messy, this meant that we could fix it to make the film a better quality and suit our audiences needs.
We received a lot of feedback some good and some not so good. We made sure that we asked the audience on what they thought about the plot, first reactions, strong and weak points of the film and what else they would add to make it better. You can see the replies and how they helped us improve the film here: http://georgiecallumamyasmedia.blogspot.com/2011/03/audience-research-and-feedback.html
When given the task to create a thriller film we knew that we would have to work on certain conventions that all thriller films use such as quick cuts, cliff-hangers, suspense etc. By focusing on these conventions we were able to attract our audience because it would appeal to them. You can see other conventions that we considered on our blog if you click here: http://georgiecallumamyasmedia.blogspot.com/2010/10/definition-of-thriller.html
To also attract our audience we posted our first draft of our film onto YouTube. We did this so that we could get feedback from our peers and from the public. They could then tell us what we have done good/bad and what they would like to see in the next draft. Then we could change our film to suit our audience.
We took our time looking into what other thriller films use to draw in their audiences. We did this by watching numerous films and analysing them to see what camera shots, sound, locations etc they use. This helped us come up with a storyline and idea on how we were going to create tension using the previously mentioned factors. It also helped us see what the audience expect to see in thriller films such as twists in the plot, tensions etc.
The reason that Hollywood thrillers are so popular is because they follow typical conventions and make sure the audience get what they want. But when they break some of these conventions they become even popular. Films such as Memento and Kill Bill do this. We have broke conventions in our plot by making the killer a woman showing that she is the stronger gender. We also show this through the plot starting at the end and flashing back to previous events. This attracts our audience as this is something new to them and unconventional.
21. 6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
To create our final film we used Final Cut Express which proved stressful. This is because we have never used a programme like this before. It was a lot to learn in a small time period. Most of the time the programme was temperamental creating problems such as freezing when trying to save, not rendering etc The main things we learned was how to cut clips and add non diegetic sounds. Cutting clips was very important as we used a lot of quick cutting in our thriller film which is conventional.
We used Web 2.0 many times during the process. This was a learning curve for us as we had previously only viewed blogs and clips on YouTube. While creating our blog we learnt how to embed clips, embed images, upload videos and add hyperlinks to other websites. This was information that we previously didnt know but now we can do with ease. We also used YouTube to showcase our preliminary tasks, first drafts, finding songs and movie clips etc This was a huge help to us as when other technologies failed to work this was always a backup for us. Itwas also a rich source of information for us when having to research into thriller films.
Our blog that we created and our audience research film that we put onto YouTube
Other technologies we used were scanners, cameras and microphones. The scanner helped us when we uploaded our storyboards, audience feedback and other pieces of work that needed to be on the blog. The cameras were important to us to as its what wed used to create our film with. The cameras were easy to use. Even though we didnt use a microphone we tried it out and found it hard to use as youd pick up small noises that would ruin a shot. Overall, these technologies helped us learn a lot of information about how the media industry uses different media platforms to create the finished product.
Another new technology we tried was LiveType. It is used to create professional film titles without spending thousands of pounds. This proved hard as without someone who knows what theyre doing it is very easy to get confused with the programme. We tried many times as we watched tutorials online, step by step guides etc and still proved difficult to create titles that looked good enough to put into our film. So we used Final Cut express for our titles in the end and were happy with the results.
The LiveType logo.
25. 7: Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
During my preliminary task (Georgie) I used a shooting schedule but I did not follow it completely and ended up loosing time. However when we started our final piece we used a shooting schedule and stuck to it. I have learnt that a shooting schedule saves time and keeps you on track of what you are going to film next.
In my preliminary task (Georgie) the choices that I made were quite rushed whereas, in our final film we spent more time planning every detail on what we were going to do. For example, we made two storyboards as when we had filmed some of our footage, we wanted to add more so we drew up another storyboard so that we wouldnt get confused and could stick to it when filming.
We both feel that since our preliminary tasks we have learnt how to use final cut express in a more effective way. For example, in our preliminary tasks we didnt feel confident about how to use music in our films and how to edit it. However, in our final film, we both knew how to edit and cut the music in the appropriate places so it sounded effective.
We both feel that looking back on our preliminary task we didnt use a variety of camera angles, we only used the ones that were asked of us and a few extra. However, in our final film we have used a variety. We have used close ups (interview), long shots (dead body), Tilted angle (dead body), cinema verite (party sequence) etc We have learnt that by using a variety of camera angles it keeps the audience engaged in what is happening.
Our use of cinema verite
A blurred border to represent the past
Since our preliminary tasks we have both learnt how to effectively use transitions and that certain transitions conveya different meaning to the audience.
If you look closely you can still see the Sasha's face. We felt that it made the audience feel uncomfortable as you can still see her evil smile. Behind the womans face there is a ransom note and this makes the audience wonder why she wants money.
I have learnt that from my preliminary task, to the final product, (Callum), that for the film to look believable you need to have good actors. In my preliminary task I didnt have this. So, in our final film we changed the actors and I feel it looks more effective.
My choice of setting in my preliminary task was not as good as what I would have liked it to be. (Callum) So, in our final film I made sure that the setting looked better and at the end I was happier with how the setting looked.
We have both learnt that during our preliminary tasks we used messy match on actions shots. So, when making our final thriller we made sure that if we were going to add a match on action shot, we were going to make sure it was not messy and looked excellent.
From our preliminary task to our final product, we learnt that to include something in your film, it needed meaning. In our preliminary task some things were used just because we could use them, however, we didnt do this in our final task. For example, we used the Rhianna song (non diegetic) as it had codes and conventions behind it that linked to our storyline.
We both learnt from our preliminary tasks that when you saw something through the camera, it was going to be darker when you saw the same clip on the computer. So, when making our final film we made sure that the lighting was brighter than what we needed it to be so that it would be the right light for the final product.
Extra lighting was added to ensure that we could see Sashas face.
From our preliminary tasks to our final product we have learnt about the mise en scene of our films and how important it is. We have learnt that there is a lot that needs to be included in the camera shots so that it portrays to the audience what you want them to see.
The mise en scene for this shot is the bottle of whisky as it shows that Sasha is drinking and is upset/happy. The curtains being closed shows that it is night time. The notebook shows that Sasha is writing something.

Evaluation thriller films

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