Media EvaluationJamie Lousvet & Ben Whalley

How does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?●The Title

●The Location

●The Costumes & Props

●Cinematography

●Editing

●Narrative

●Characters

The TitleOur film follows the conventions of a typical film as at the start the logo for our company overlays the video. As you can see, comparing our logo to that of the ‘Sandham films’ one they follow a very similar colour scheme and simplicity is common in both. The fonts are simple and from our title our intro does not challenge the conventions of a typical thriller film.The LocationThe location is crucial when looking into the effectiveness of a thriller movie. Having thought about the location carefully and the plot of our story it was unanimous decision to do it at a station and dark alley adjacent to it and from there worked around further scenarios to add into the different scenes. The conclusion we came to, to have this location fitted perfectly to the sequence of events we came up with complementing the setting.

Costume and PropsWe were very predictable when it came to the choice of clothing the gang members wear, using big coats and primarily darker colours (Apart from Sam). We also used a bb gun as a prop for a real gun, which once again is quite common in a thriller media product as it is commonly associated with crime and criminal gangs.

Cinematography Multiple shots have been used in our opening 2 minutes, ranging from match on action, long shots and montage. We used long shots as our primary shot as we found this the most effective in making sure we included everything we needed in the camera. This is not as common as other thriller films which usually use wide ranges of shots to emphasize a character or plot.

(Example of long shot)

Sam Armando

EditingWe used shots very exclusive to thriller films including the montage and match on action. For Example;

NarrativeOur film follows a very usual storyline for thriller films however we have adapted the idea of Final Destinations premonitions. Sam is asleep dreaming when he envisions himself being killed by an unknown assailant, he then awakes to realise he was dreaming. However the start is unusual for a thriller film as the opening is very casual and has a calm atmosphere.

Characters

Armando’s character was inspired by the film ‘In Bruges’ a film based around a man called Ray who is a hit man. Amando’s character only appears once in the opening, however, creates a big impact and kills the protagonist Vincent with a hand gun and mask on. He is a tall character, he wears all black to show his stealth almost, on the other hand, he is a man of killing and will get the job done immediately, he does not enjoy waiting around to kill someone.

Jamie's character was inspired by the game ‘Watch Dogs’, the idea of hacking and clever manipulation of other people. The main character in Watch Dogs uses his phone to hack into almost anything he wants to, and that’s where the genius comes in with Jamie's character Mason. Jamie (Mason) uses technology to pin and track Sam (Vincent)’s every move on his phone.

Ben’s character Curtis was inspired by the movie ‘End Of Watch’ where he is almost equivalent to the ring leader of the gang ‘Big Evil’ who can disappear however perform crimes like no other without being found out. In the opening 2 minutes you do not see much of Ben’s character, however, that’s more to the point about his character, he is a ghost, he is unknown but appears once when Mason tags Vincent with the tracking device after bumping into him. This is the character Ben needs to fulfill as he only appears once, yet you know he is there once he disappears just before the murder.

Mason Field (Jamie)

Curtis Ghost (Ben)Armando Calvaro

Vincent Lee (Sam) - Sam's character within the opening 2 minute movie is inspired by the movie; ‘Final Destination’. The sequence of events of cheating death and a ‘false reality’ links into the plot and storyline of our opening 2 minute movie. The character sam plays has traces of similarity to the character of Devon Sawa in the first movie where he imagines situations that haven’t happened, however, they are real once he has re awaken or has stopped day dreaming and that's where the main complementary effect is with our movie. Sam’s character re-awakes once he is killed and is evidently agitated by the ‘dream’ he is having as he has no clue it is to happen.

How does your media product represent a particular social group?Our media product represents a particular social group through the idea of drugs, violence and continuous thriller through suspense situations and a sense of mystery throughout. Our main social groups that we have aimed this thriller movie at is potential C1’s, C2’s and possible D1’s due to, the violence and language issued towards other people. It may be certificated at a 15 and working class people will be more likely to watch this movie due to the age restriction and the way in which the movie is performed and the setting of the movie.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?Looking and taking into consideration the genre of movie we have created, a typical institution that may distribute our product is Hammer Studio’s. This institution is famous for many films like; The woman in black, Dracula and let me in, these films being popular movies that have been bought and distributed through Hammer Studio’s and all have the thriller/horror essence to them which is essential when looking for a distributer for our product. Potentially, this is a good institution as well due to the fact it is a british film industry and the opening 2 movie we have created is a 100% British movie.

Who would be the audience for your media product?Our Film would appeal to anyone older than 15 (due to the age rating presented on the film). People who are especially interested in mystery thrillers will find this film more appealing through the use of tension and uncertainty at the start.

As the film is based around a gang social classes from D upwards to around B-C1 will be the main target audience for the film as they will be the people which can relate mostly to the plot and the characters portrayed within the film.

How did you attract/address your audience?Advertisement - By creating posters and a trailer for our media product we were able to reach out to a wider audience. Posters and trailers help create a brand for the film and get people talking about it (Social Interaction, Uses and Gratifications Theory).

Storyline - Our storyline would attract many people who enjoy the thriller genre, or storylines relating to gangs and drugs. A similar TV series which has been very successful in the last few years is a show called ‘Peaky Blinders’ which is based around a birmingham gang

(Example of our film poster)

What have you learnt about technologies?Throughout the filming of a media product we used and improved many of our techniques and skills, these included: Camera shots, editing and creativity.

Camera shots: Looking at the types of shots we have manipulated into our opening 2 minutes have varied massively due to, the theme of our movie. The most common of the shots were long/mid shots, this is because the idea of the high cameras are to look down on the subject and act as security cameras to give off the ‘you’re being followed’ impression towards the protagonist. We also used other camera shots like; match on action, tracking shot, over the shoulder shot, low angle tilt and mid, long and close ups. This variety of shots have proven effective towards the outcome, representations and following of the characters to create the added effect to the story.

Moving on, looking at Todorovs Narrative theory, we can see how our opening 2 minutes represents this, the idea that it starts off with equilibrium, then turns into disequilibrium, then back to equilibrium to end the movie, this theory applies well to the opening through the essence of calm, casual scenery in the beginning of the protagonist walking, however, it then turns into disequilibrium when the protagonist is shot by the hit man. Afterwards, this is when the plot twist applies to the story and he then wakes up, and everything goes back to equilibrium. This idea of Todorovs Narrative theory is a clever insight into the way our story is being performed and acted out, the way the camera shots are then created to tell the story and apply the theory in the storyline.

Vegas Pro 12, we used this editing software as it is a professional video editing suite capable of creating film worthy edits. The editing software contains many ‘layers’ which allow multiple videos and audio tracks to be placed over each other. From using this software our knowledge in the program has definitely increased and compared to before we are now more comfortable in editing and rendering our own film clips.

What have you learnt from your preliminary task?One main aspect we have adapted on and learnt from within our preliminary is the idea of camera shots, more fitting non-diegetic music and a series of editing which creates a much greater effect fitting the story. Furthermore, the aspect of essential editing, cutting between two scenes and sound bridges has proven effective when creating the opening 2 minutes as opposed to the preliminary where basic shots were created rather than split screen editing and clever editing when jumping between shots, cuts and scenes.