Notes for my Evaluation video

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

• The red lights used in the darkroom could suggest the connotation of a warning or danger mainly due to the colour red. By placing the murderer in this scene it gives the audience the idea of him being a danger to them and his next victim. By using a darkroom to film this scene it creates shadows and silhouettes and falls under typical thriller iconography. 
• The murderer is a black silhouette the connotations of black can be seen as an evil which would suit the characteristics of the villain. By hiding his face and his figure dramatic irony is used and by withholding information from the viewer it helps to keep the audience engaged within our thriller opening. 
• Unconventional thriller – normal clothes, typical cast, typical house. By doing this it makes it seem that this could happen to anyone and therefore creates more tension in the thriller.
• The music is eerie and due to the lack of speech engages with the audience more within our opening.

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

·        Villain – murderer. Is male as they tend to have a more intimidating appearance on set than a female character. We choose to cast and more muscled and bigger male character so the character was not seen as vulnerable and had an intimidating appearance on set.
·        Victim – is female we choose to use a female character as they are seen as more vulnerable. By making her a younger character I think it allows the audience to emphasizes more with the character. Younger character creates more emotion as seen in ‘the lovely bones’ a thriller personally inspired me with my ideas within the group.

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

·        I looked at the two films which influenced my ideas most to see what company I believe would best suit my thriller when disturbing it. One hour photo – Fox Searchlight Pictures – was established in 1994 is specialises in British films particularly in horror and comedy dramas. . Lovely bones – Paramount Pictures – are an American film company established in 1912 and has its headquarters in Hollywood.

·        In looking at the background of both I have decided that Fox Searchlight Pictures would be my ideal institution to distribute my media product. The reasons are it specialises in British films and therefore I believe would support our thriller. They also launched and supported one hour photo which is of a similar genre and idea to ours and therefore I believe our thriller would appeal to them.

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

• Through looking through my audience research I believe that young adults our film would most appeal to. Age rage 15 – 25. This is through looking at my questionnaire results I can come to a conclusion of this age range.
• Looking through the comments it seems that most people like mystery in there thrillers this is a factor which I believe is in my film and therefore will allow my thriller to appeal to a wider age group.

5) How did you attract/address your audience?

• We posted our opening of our rough thriller onto your tube and gain feedback from that. This allowed us to take criticism to therefore make it more appeal to the audience of young adults. The main comments consisted of the sound some people did not like the sound and others said it was too quite. To improve on this we re edited the two pieces of sound in garage band to improve the music. We then timed them better with the clips in the film. By making these changes I believe that we have overcome these errors within the clip.
• We also did a screening in college. The audience consisted of young adults between 15- 25 which is who we believe will be our main audience in watching our thriller opening. The feedback we got from this was all positive. The main comments which were said were about the flashback scene. People did not understand the clip so we decided to make the clip simpler; we also choose to make it black and white so it separated from the clip more and highlighted that she was remembering an event. We believe as a group people did not realise it was a flashback and therefore with the changes we made us think that it would make it clearer that it was a flashback.
• Another comment made in the screening was that a scream should be added in to create more suspense. Before showing our rough edit our group had discuss doing this as we believed it would have created a more eerie atmosphere in the opening. For our final piece we choose to put the scream in the ending where the murderer is hanging up the photo. This gives the idea that he is remembering the scream she made when he killed her.
• We also try to make our storyline interesting so would engage with the audience and therefore make an entertaining film. By doing this it would make it more appeal to the audience. We made it an unconventional thriller because as a group we believe this would appeal to our audience. By making it an unconventional thriller it makes it seem that it could happen to anyone and makes it more thrillering and creates more tension for the viewer. The feedback from launching it on you tube and our screening shows people understood our plot and enjoyed the opening so I think our decision was good.
• Overall I believe that by doing these factors we have made our thriller appeal to our audience.

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

• Media studies is completely new to me so i have learnt much in a short period of time. To begin the course we used digital camera's to look at different camera shots. Even though using a digital camera was an area I was familiar in using identifying and producing certain camera shots I was not. We looked at shots such as high angle shots, low angle shots, over the shoulder shots and point of view shots and produced a leaflet showing these. In doing this it has helped me to think about where to place the camera and the effect it has on the audience in choosing that shot. Therefore, when beginning my preliminary task I took angle shots highly into consideration as well as looking at them in analysing films.
• Another major area I was unfamiliar with was editing. In producing my preliminary task I was able to learn some basics of editing. This included features such as translations, slide effect for example making it black and white, how to change the speed of a piece of film and adding sound. By doing these editing skills it has made me realise the importance of editing when producing a film. Even though I have only learnt basic skill I realise you have to be priciest and accurate and you constantly have to think what affect does this have on the audience when producing and editing a successful film.
• When doing my final edit I used a more complex program this constituted of a more accurate piece in the end. To start with I found it really hard to understand how you imported music move clips ect. However everyone has to start somewhere and by the editing program I can say that I believe that I understand the basics of final cut. I believe that I can alter the length of clips, use certain translation change colour of clips and insert titles on the video. These are the main things I believe I can do with ease.

7) Looking back on your preliminary task; what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

• Confidence - when using editing program final cut. For my pre-lim task we used ‘I movie’ which is a basic editing program however for my final thriller I used ‘final cut’ which is more complex. To start with I struggled with the concept of this program but by the end of editing period I feel as if I have grasped the basic of ‘final cut’ therefore in using this program I feel more confident.
• Planning –in the planning for the pre- lim task we did only to a basic standard we did produce a story board however it did not look at camera angles and contained no script so was extremely basic. After we had completed it we began filming straight away. We had no influences and the film we produce was of a basic level. For our thriller we produce case studies and looked at our thrillers to be inspired in ideas for our thriller. We then produced a storyboard which consisted of camera shots which we intended to use so it was more detailed than the premlimary task. We also looked into costumes, location and cast for these we wanted to achieve a unconventional thriller and therefore when choosing and looking into these try to make them as realistic and normal as possible. By being more organised and planning in more detailed I think it allowed us to produce a higher quality film and the success of it I devote to our detailed planning we did.