How does your media product represent particular social groups?
In my thriller we are introduced too three characters, two female and one male. We have the iconic female victim and the strong evil man but we also have an equilibrium to the characters with the second female character who is shown in a slightly more modern fashion.
Gender
In my thriller gender is represented very traditionally as the female character who gets killed is over powered by the male character and defenseless to help herself. The second female character who is getting ready for the day ahead is represented slightly less traditionally, although this character doesn't take an active role in the opening so its hard to analysis this character in terms of gender.
The iconic female victim is first shown being thrown into the back of a car, defenselessly unconscious, which in modern times is a negative representation as a positive one would have the woman putting up a good fight. The antagonistic male character is shown throughout taking control and having power over this woman, we showed this using camera work, such as POV shots like the one shown above. This is a POV of the male character looking DOWN at the female character which shows he has dominance over this female character, this being a negative representation of women.
Social class
From the costume of the male antagonist its clear to see he must be a business man of some kind, his car is not old and it is clean. The second female character who is getting ready in the morning is in a middle class house, with nice furniture and processions. The main female character, who gets killed, doesn't really represent social class as she is not a main character.
I choose the male to be the antagonist as it is more mainstream and follows traditional conventions of thriller. Having the male as the antagonist was more of an obvious choice as men are usually represented as the stronger gender and as the "Bad guy".
Using the red tie on the antagonist may send a very subliminal message to the audience of it resembling blood, which matches his character role as he murders the women.
Representing the male as a antagonist is widely used but is a negative representation, because of this using a male to play the antagonist was an obvious choice.
Age
The male antagonist is middle aged and the audience knows this from the clothes he is wearing, casual business clothes. The main female character, getting ready in the morning was supposed to be middle ages too as she was getting ready to go for a job interview, although this didn't show on screen. Because of the main characters being middle aged the thriller represents middle aged people only. The male antagonist is represented as a middle aged murderer which follows more modern thriller conventions such the antagonist The Joker from The Dark Knight.
[Antagonist, The Joker]
I tried to represent the female character, who gets killed, in a very traditional way of being defenseless and fragile to help herself against the dominating male antagonist. I did this because it is easier for the audience to follow, and without an elaborate story, plot and character depth, its hard to break traditional thriller conventions and make it work.
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Most thrillers aim to create an enigma or mystery to keep the audience guessing throughout the film, although this is not true for all thrillers. One way thrillers keep the audience engaged and guessing is to reveal the ending of the story first, starting with the/a climax of the film e.g. character dying. Which is what my thriller does, it makes the audience ask questions like who died? why did they die? what lead up to this character dying? This narrative technique is common among thrillers as it begins with the Disruption/Disequilibrium of the story, captivating the audience and "Thrilling them" as the story progresses to reveal the enigma of the climax.
[Made using paint]
Other then narrative techniques, Editing, Sound, Camera and Mise en scene come together to make a thriller what it is. Cross-cutting editing is used in thrillers to create suspense, in my thriller i tried to create this effect by starting with longer shots and slowly cutting done to shorter and shorter shots leading to the climax, of the female character being murdered, although the two location never actually meet the technique of cross cutting is still used. In this example my thriller follows conventional thriller technique as cross cutting is used throughout real thrillers to build unto a climax, and this technique is used in many other genres such as action/ adventure. An example of cross cutting is in the beginning of the The Dark Knight the bank robbery scene. The scene is edited so it cuts between the two groups of robbers, as the cuts get more frequent, creating suspense it builds to the climax of the Joker revealing his face to the banker. Effectively creating the suspense needed to thrill the audience and create an enigma of this creepy character.
Another way my thriller follows traditional conventions of thrillers is the use of hard and low key lighting. Low key lighting is nearly always used in real thriller films as it creates a enigmatic atmosphere by hiding some of the scene, and quite possibly restricting the narrative, creating tension as some of the plot is hidden from the audience
Starting from the top left frame in the 9 frame sequence i will analysis each frame taken from my thriller. The Antagonist is the male character in a casual work uniform, from the clothes he is wearing it is easy to assume this character is up to no as he has a body and spade in his car. This immediately creates an enigma around this character to why and what he is doing, which follows normal conventions of thriller as it creates tension and a knowing that something is not right.
The next frame uses camera and lighting techniques well. As the camera pans right and tilts up as the male character walks by it reveals the church making it clear where he is going and creates a thrilling mood as churches normally represent peace, healing, tranquility not first degree murder. The lighting is natural and the church is lit up by a fog light changing the churches iconography and giving it an eerie presence on screen , which i used to my advantage in the next frame. In the far most right frame on the top row a silhouetted shadow is cast onto the church and the shadow is distorted which reflects the horror and disruption in this male character.
[comparing lighting to real headlights]
On the second row, farthermost left, i used hard lighting to almost recreate car headlights as they cast huge distorted shadows from the hard high key lighting making the scene more intense and important as the whole frame is visible. The next frame along to the right has the shot focused on the female characters arm and out of focus in the mirror which suggests she is blurred out of the scene and just oblivious to the murder. Lastly on the far right the male antagonist is in shadow as the hard light beats down on him. The bottom row are three frames from the end of the thriller which switch between a POV of the female protagonist and POV of the male antagonist, these shots bring out the character of the antagonist as he kills the female with only slight hesitation. The Hard light creates shadows across both characters faces hiding some expressions but creating tension.
In what ways does your media product use, development or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
V for Vendetta (opening scene)
Payday (my thriller opening)
I feel that my media project (opening to a thriller) uses a lot of conventions of a thriller film, such as 'V for Vendetta.' What I think makes my opening more effective, and follows the conventions of a thriller are:
The first shot of our opening is a close up of an alarm clock, but before this shot starts you have a blank screen and you can hear a diegetic sound which is the sound of the alarm. This creates an confusion for the viewer, and also makes the viewer question on what they will see next in the alarm shot.
The woman character opens up the curtains, which is a symbol of a new day. As she opens the curtains, we use a focus pull to create that sense of enigma, to go from everything being out of focus and not clear, (as someone would see and feel when they have just woken up) to being suddenly in focus and bright.
A cross-cutting technique has been used in our opening, as you can see the shot of a male character placing a body in a car, from before you see a woman opening curtains. We have used the cross-cut to suggest the similarity's of these two characters, as for example both characters are getting ready for something, this creates suspense, as the answer is built in time of the opening.
This shot creates an earyness, as the male character that is holing a body reflex from his Shadow that is created by standing in front of the lights placed in a graveyard.
These points are what makes the opening more effective on what genre is supposed to be. And I feel that these points have created tension which is normally used in thrillers.
Many thriller film have given us ideas on how to present out thriller, such as:
what these thriller openings have in common, is that both use a cross-cutting technique. However exam uses it in a different way, in stead of cross-cutting, they cut between characters that all have a different experience, personality and we see what each character is like, by using extreme close ups and close ups. We have used techniques from this film, by using extreme close ups of the woman doing her daily routine, such as boiling the kettle, buttering toast and getting dressed.
Where as V for Vendetta uses a cross-cut where you go from one action to another, where you get a male man getting ready for an event we have no idea about, and then cross cuts to a woman getting ready, but it doesn't look like the two characters will be attending the same event. We have taken a lot of ideas from this thriller opening, by cutting between two characters both getting ready, for different events, but yet connecting with each other. Our opening also contrast with each shot, as it goes from light to dark, which shows that one action is taking place in the morning and the other taking place at night.
We have also used a title at the end of our opening that jumps out at you, as you hear the diegetic sound of the spade coming down at the camera, then suddenly jumps to our end title. This creates a sudden tense, as you wernt expecting it.
In most thrillers/horrors, the male is the killer etc..and the female is the victim, and we have done the same in our opening, this could be classed as stereotype, seeing as the woman are not capable of handling a criminal crime. However, we have done this because the viewers can feel the venerability of the female character, easily. including the female body over the killers shoulders. This can relate to some of the female viewers, on how they would feel.
The equipment we used, also played a big part on how we were able to use a convention of a thriller. The lighting was used to create dark shadows across the face, to create a darkness to the character, and also hides part of the characters personality. Also the camera, which we used the 550D Canon, we found that focus pulls were a create effect to add to our opening, so we could focus on things one at a time, or even having the shot completely out of focus creates eeriness to the shot, as well as enigma.
Although the focus pulls did not turn out the way we wanted them to completely, I still reckon we still created an eeriness to the shots.
I think the best shots that I produced were the ones of the female character getting ready, for her job interview.
As she places her jewellery on, she does it very fragile, and I used close up to show the way she touches, and the softness of it. as these shots contrast with the shots of the male character, being rough, as he dumps a body on the ground and roles in the ditch.
Also the way she touches her necklace, shows that it means something to her, which you can see clearly.
However I would of like to use more shots of the female character getting ready, but the opening is only 2 minutes, so it gives us limited shots we are able to use.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Our opening of a thriller would represent a wide range of groups, from teenagers up to adults, male female and also people who like this type of genre film.
However our main target would be 18-30, and male and female, the way we have represented this is by:
The characters being seen as adults, as one is getting ready (in her home) for a job interview, and the other dressed in a suit. This can relate to the more mature age.
The setting is seen to take place in a house, but mainly in the bedroom, which looks mature where as we would not expect a teenager to be sleeping in. Also we see the male character place a body in a car, where he would have to drive to the next scene where he would be taking the body, so the character would have to been old enough to drive.
There was no narrative in our opening, but you still felt the sense of adult behaviour, by the characters body language and expressions.
Both genders can relate to these characters, as we have one female character and one male.
these screen grabs show the female getting ready for her interview, and the male getting ready for his crime.
Some people may stereotype, seeing as we have the female as the victim. But I see this as a positive, seeing as having the female as the victim creates more empathy, so the viewers can relate more to the character.
The male character in the opening is shown to have the higher power, as he has a plan. Which we discover later on in the opening. The character also shows calmness, as if what he is doing is not wrong, hes not panicked on what he is doing.
Where as the female character has no clue about what going on, and carries on with her day to day life, but for that day it changes, because instead of doing what she would be doing everyday, she will be going to a job interview, which changes everything for her.
We created the female character, in a way where she can relate to people who live alone, also who are fed up with their day to day routine. Also with a innocence, that the character hold, that contrasts to the male character who has no more innocence. The necklace shows in one of the shots, that it means something to the character, it feels like her good luck charm, or her barrier to keep her safe, which can also relate to alot of people too. Also the female character doesn't know who she is yet, we have shown this by using a focus pull on one of the shots, that blurs the characters reflection, this makes the character seem very fragile, and not strong enough to cope with what will happen later in the film.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
A film distributor are responsible for releasing films to the public, by releasing the films on DVDs, downloading, TV programmes, or in Cinemas. But also being responsible for producing franchise, such as t-shirts, posters, or even games.
I have decided to have Hammer Film Productions to produce and distribut my film. The reason for this is because Hammer is well known for their Horror/Thriller films, I also like the films they have produced, like the resident and let the right one in and their most recent one the woman in black. Hammer Productions have been well known from the 1950's till this day. They earn a great amount of profit, which would mean we would get a good amount of profit to.
Our film would be a low budget British film, where as Hammer Film Productions have produced British film, such as "the woman in black" however not so much low budget. So if we have had a high budget film, we would have a higher chance of Hammer Productions distributor to our film.
We would hopefully like to succeed, having our film placed on DVD and Blue Ray, But also make clothing with the title labelled on t-shirts. This would help us promote the movie as well give us more of a profit. We would release these a couple of days before the film is released in cinemas, so can start making a profit before hand. We would also have to have posters made and trailers to show the audience what they will be missing if they don't see our film. also getting the movie to come out in cinema on the right day, like on a Friday or weekend, and a day where they wouldn't be able to get anywhere.
Who would be the audience for your media product?
The main audience for our film would be 18-30, however we do want a wider range of people, so we could lower it down to 15. Because social groups who like thrillers and horrors as their genre will also be the age of 15 and upwards. I find that we have attracted both female and male, as we have both male and female main characters. plus people with jobs may relate to this, seeing as our film is based on people who work, which also links to the title. I also have shown my opening to a wide range of people, from 16 to 35, and I was surprised to noticed that even the 30 to 35 became intrigued on what would happen next after the opening.
How did you attract/address your audience?
The first thing you hear in our opening is alarm, and this happens all of a sudden, so this grabs our audience attention.
Also how the non-diegetic soundtrack builds up trough out the opening, till the very end, where you hear a diegetic sound of the spade coming down. This creates suspense for the audience.
trough out our opening, it keeps building up, which creates empathy for the audience.
These simular techniques have been used in real thrillers, such as "The dark knight" as you hear as a non-diegetic in the back ground, that builds up as the opening goes on.
What have you learnt about technologies from process of constructing this product?
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have leaned in the progression from it to the full product?
Preliminary
Thriller opening
With our preliminary we manly focused on using the 180 degree rule, where as in our thriller opening we experimented by using different techniques such as panning and tracking, and we had no reason for using the 180 degree rule in our opening. Also we only had an limited time in out preliminary to get different angles, where as in out opening we had more time to get different angles and shots, such as using close ups, long shots, extreme long shots, and also using rule of thirds.
With our preliminary we used shot reverse shot editing techniques, but in our opening, we wanted to try something a little more complex by using cross-cutting. I think we have improved a lot by the editing standards compared to how we were when editing our prelim, as we didn't know how to add in Foley effects and to make the cuts smooth. Also titling wasn't used in our prelim, so experimenting with titling in our opening, gives us more knowledge about editing.
I also think we have learnt more about using the white balance, as you can see in the images below.
I think with our thriller opening we had more time to plan, and experiment and we had our own choice on what to do, where as our preliminary we got told what shots we had to film and we also had less time.
I also feel my editing skills have increased as well as my filming skills, I liked how we had the choice on what shots to do and experiment with, rather being limited on what we can do, like we were in the prelim.
We also had experience with lighting by the time we filmed out thriller opening, where as with our prelimary, we just started getting used to it. So this shows that with the lighting in our thriller was much better then out prelimary, seeing as with our thriller we experiemented with created big dark shadows, across a face of even on a tall building, for example, the shot with the church. Whereas with our prelimery, we manaily used natural lighting, but for some shots, we used lighting just to brighten up the room and the characters face, to notice their facial expressions easily.
Age
