Questions For The Evaluation-Jack Partridge

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forums and conventions of real media products?


The normal camera movements to an intro to a thriller film is usually panning and tracking, this usually shows the particular group of people the audience should be interested in, probably the best example of this is The Dark Knight intro ( the band heist scene ), we used panning and tracking in our opening to show the events that took place in the past, where Mr Collins leaves his work place and goes home. This enables the audience to understand the sequence of events. In thrillers, it is a rarity that you should zoom in and out, this is only used once in The Dark Knight, during an action scene. The main type of framing shot is the close up, this is used to build suspense, it is used to create the effect of mystery at the beginning of a film, we used close up shots throught the film, to emphasise location and establish action.


 




 A common shot is also the long shot, this is used to let the audience see where the action is taking place later on in the film. The most common angle that is used in thrillers are low angles and high angles; high angles are used to show the power of a certain character, the opposite for a low angle. We challenged this not using high angles in the conventional way but we used it to create effect, we did use low angle shots during the interrogation scene to show power for both characters. The mise en scene of a thriller consist of key lighting, location and the objects; the lighting is usually used to set up a particular overriding tone or atmosphere. We developed this idea of atmosphere by using a computer efftect when editing to create a evening/dusk effect. This adds mystery and susspence to the film. The film was shot at different times of the day, for example, the scene at the beggining in the house was shot in the evening and we used the lighting available in the house to create a warm homly atmopshere, no additional light was needed at the point in the film.


 Editing is one of the most important things in a thriller film, the most common edit is the straight cut, this makes it seem like everything is at a fast pace and more is happening. We used straight cuts but tried to be unique by not making it fast paced and skipping the murder scene to the body on the floor. This created mytery and susspence. 


When editing sound, diegetic and non-diegtic sound are both very important. The diegetic sound is the sound that we can see is being made when the non-diegetic can be a soundtrack or something we cannot see on the screen. Silence is a very common thing in a thriller, when everything goes quiet, it creates a certain effect which makes you scared. After the silence, there is normally a sudden burst in sound which is used to make you jump and be scared. In our film we used a soundtrck throughout to add suspision. This soundtrack we produced oursleves by recording us playing a piano piece we wrote to fit with the film. We wrote it ourselves so that it suggests to the audience mystery and it is inkeeping with the tone and pace of the drama that is unfolding.
One of the conventions is that something horrific could actually happen to you in a real life situation for example, like an innocent girl walking up an alleyway and getting beaten up by a group of unknown guys dressed in hoodies. This is what makes this a thriller.

This is a 2 shot/ medium close up we used during an interrogation scene, this is similar to the one in harry brown:

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

A social group is a group of people who share the same goals and beliefs. In our media product, we have a group of gangsters, starting from 2 and ending up with 4 of them coming out to stop the girl running away. This particular social group is a nasty one who team up together to do bad things, mainly hurt innocent people and make everyones lives hell. This social group consists of 4 males around 16-19 years old, from working class backgrounds, living in rundown block of flats in a poor area where there is high unemployment. This group hangs out looking for trouble and is generally feared within the community.

The following example shows how teen gangs can increase to persue a victim. The interesting thing with our film is that it was a group of males attacking a female which is often not portrayed in mordern day films as much as male attacking males as in the example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0P3fWR50hmw&NR=1

From our film it is representing the growing increase of unemployed youth. The hoodie trend has come about in the last 15 years which has developed a stereotypical image of youths and trouble. Our film illustrates this in the social group of males that attack the female.

Harry Brown is an example of the hoodie culture

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


The main ones that would help distribute our film would be: Pathe  vertigo  optimum releasingor tartan films,this is because they help make low budget films get shown to an audience, when they wouldn't usually be shown. An example of this is tartan films prduction of "The Victim" http://www.palisadestartan.com/Film.asp?ProjectID=%7B23D8942F-249C-48EC-B153-9A25312AFA86%7D&action=Select


4. Who would be the audience for your media product?


The audience for our media thriller would be a 15+ because there is more than one scene of abusive swearing and the start of beating up a girl. The guidelines for a 15 rating film are:
Discrimination, the work as a whole must not endorse discriminatory language or behaviour.

http://www.bbfc.co.uk/classification/guidelines/15-2/

Our thriller does not endorse discriminatory language as a whole however, there are parts where discrimanatory language is used e.g. "dirty slag". This is the opening scene, if the film carried on, it would not endorse this language and behaviour. An example of this is when the interrogator tries to deal with the suspect.

Drugs, Drug taking may be shown but the film as a whole must not promote or encourage drug misuse. The misuse of easily accessible and highly dangerous substances (for example, aerosols or solvents) is unlikely to be acceptable. This does not apply to our thriller because it is not used.

Horror, strong threat and menace are permitted unless sadistic or sexualised.

Imitable behaviour, dangerous behaviour (for example, hanging, suicide and self-harming) should not dwell on detail which could be copied. Easily accessible weapons should not be glamorised.

Language, there may be frequent use of strong language ("F" word). The strongest terms(the "C" word) may be acceptable if justified by the context. Aggressive or repeated use of the strongest language is unlikely to be acceptable. We have used the "F" word occasionally throughout the opening scene. This is allowed for a 15.

Nudity, nudity may be allowed in a sexual context but without strong detail. There are no constraints on nudity in a non-sexual or educational context.

Sex, sexual activity may be portrayed without strong detail. There may be strong verbal references to sexual behaviour, but the strongest references are unlikely to be acceptable unless justified by context. Works whose primary purpose is sexual arousal or stimulation are unlikely to be acceptable.

Theme, no theme is prohibited, provided the treatment is appropriate for 15 year olds.

http://www.bbfc.co.uk/classification/guidelines/15-2/
The opening scene would only be accepatble if this discrimantory behaviour is not continued throughout the film and the message we would have portrayed is that the suspects would have got caught and punished for the crime they have committed.

Violence, violence may be strong but should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury. The strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable. Strong sadistic or sexualised violence is also unlikely to be acceptable.

There may be detailed verbal references to sexual violence but any portrayal of sexual violence must be discreet and have a strong contextual justification.

http://www.bbfc.co.uk/classification/guidelines/15-2/

There is violence in the scene but it does not focus on injury and the attack. It switchs from a gang crowding round a girl to the injured girl on the floor.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?


The audience would enjoy our film because it creates tension and you get a feeling which will make you scared. The audiences knows the secret when the other characters don't know. This makes you feel like you should be able to tell the other characters on the screen what to do, but you can't so you get the feeling of not being able to tell them, which caused tension but you feel involved.

The opening scene will attract the audience as it is an action scene which immediatly gets you interested in the investigation.


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






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


In our preliminary, we used good use of shots and angles, in the time that we had, now we have had more time to do this task, we have made our framing tight and have used more variety of angles and camera shots, for example: The concentration on the suspects eyes.

We also used lighting in a different way to our preliminary task. We used film lighting in the opening scene which taught us how to create atmosphere and tension. This was illustrated particually in the interrogation scene.