In What way does your media project use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of media products?
The main Idea for our film was a revenge story line, which is thriller in genre and comes with many generic conventions involved in the plot. These include tense music, a very clear idea of who the protagonist is and other things such as certain types of locations during the films as well as perhaps stereotypical characters. This is where our idea for the film challenged generic media expectations. The protagonist for a film is more often than not shown as a strong male character who has to overcome certain objectives to gain control of the situation, this obviously differs for different genres especially thriller. Yet we chose to challenge this by choosing to have a female protagonist for the audience to like and sympathise with. Not only did we choose to challenge it by having a female lead we also chose to have a blonde female as the protagonist which goes against many stereotypes in certain films where the blonde females are killed off first and if a female does survive to the end she is normally brunette.
Our 2 minute introduction also followed specific conventions of typical media products such as the way we chose to reveal the genre of the film. As well as the fact that the female protagonist murders someone within the first two minutes, the locations we chose to film in were very stereotypically dark this gives the idea that it will either be a horror or a thriller, it actually being the latter. For example the two main locations we used where there is actually character involvement is first, a graveyard and second, a cellar. Also to reveal the genre we chose to arrange the audio in a certain way with having the scene where she murders someone with no diegetic audio but to have a completely non-diegetic voice over as well as a piano playing softly to build the tension as the scene goes on.
We also tried to set up a lot of enigma codes during the first two minutes for example, ‘who is this girl?’ and ‘what does she have against this man?’
A main influence for our film was the film, ‘Lucky number Slevin’ this is also a revenge-thriller and we took a lot of influence from the way it was shot to the actual plot line. Especially for the opening scenes where we see in both films that people are murdered but it is not yet revealed to why they are. As I mentioned before the way the film was shot was a big influence to us as it is very unique and odd at the same time with quite a lot of canted angles which we tried to incorporate into our film especially with the close up on the clock that we have. Also they is a lot of focus on the actual focusing points onscreen to show importance and relevance of certain objects which we also tried to show, again in the clock scene.
How does your media project represent particular social groups?
To state the obvious, our film has a female protagonist who is able to be powerful enough that she strikes fear into the other characters and has control over them. The plot is her story and by doing this we have subverted the stereotype of males being the main lead. We have represented females as the stronger group than males by showing how easily this young blonde girl can capture and kill a man in the first sequence of the film. We have shown the young female is dominant over the older male completely subverting the passive woman stereotype.
There is a certain type of audience that would appreciate this; there are the stereotypical audiences who enjoy straight forward action films, ones who enjoy ‘chick flicks’ and many more but our target audience are those who enjoy thrillers with a twist which require a bit of thinking or more. And quite a big twist in our plot is that the female character is the lead.
We also tried to set up a lot of enigma codes during the first two minutes for example, ‘who is this girl?’ and ‘what does she have against this man?’
A main influence for our film was the film, ‘Lucky number Slevin’ this is also a revenge-thriller and we took a lot of influence from the way it was shot to the actual plot line. Especially for the opening scenes where we see in both films that people are murdered but it is not yet revealed to why they are. As I mentioned before the way the film was shot was a big influence to us as it is very unique and odd at the same time with quite a lot of canted angles which we tried to incorporate into our film especially with the close up on the clock that we have. Also they is a lot of focus on the actual focusing points onscreen to show importance and relevance of certain objects which we also tried to show, again in the clock scene.
How does your media project represent particular social groups?
To state the obvious, our film has a female protagonist who is able to be powerful enough that she strikes fear into the other characters and has control over them. The plot is her story and by doing this we have subverted the stereotype of males being the main lead. We have represented females as the stronger group than males by showing how easily this young blonde girl can capture and kill a man in the first sequence of the film. We have shown the young female is dominant over the older male completely subverting the passive woman stereotype.
There is a certain type of audience that would appreciate this; there are the stereotypical audiences who enjoy straight forward action films, ones who enjoy ‘chick flicks’ and many more but our target audience are those who enjoy thrillers with a twist which require a bit of thinking or more. And quite a big twist in our plot is that the female character is the lead.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
I feel that although major Hollywood studios create some fantastic films that the story and message of our film would be ruined by graphic violence that often accompanies big budget movies and think that a studio such as ‘Warp Films’ that made ‘The scouting book for boys’ which was clever yet quite shocking would be able to pull it off very well. Also I don’t think that the different viewpoints on shots would be lost with ‘Warp’ as all their films are very unique in style and genre.
Our group talked and agreed that it would most likely be a TV movie, and that we would somehow incorporate a message into the plot so it could be shown as part of stylised week which channels such a Channel5 and Film Four do. Also the subject of the film is very suitable to the British independent film industry which both Film Four and Warp Films are suited to making with a raw edge that is not found in most of the Hollywood companies. The fact that the story is not based on jaw dropping special effects but to create a real sense of emotion and feeling with the audience that it would be more suited to a small British film company.
Who would be the audience for your media product?
Our main target audience for the film would be preferably both male and female 15 – 35 year olds who enjoy revenge-thriller genres. The film has some violent content and bad language but what I feel about the film is that the audience would really be able to make a connection with the characters. Most probably not with the exact same situation which is a tale of vengeance and betrayal but what people, especially of this age group, would be able to connect with is the feeling of loss and isolation felt by the main protagonist, as most feel something along these lines whether it be the death of a family member or just school or work within this specified age group. Although it’s not a very wide gap I think that the amount of relatable content in the film would bring in a very large amount of people between these ages. It would be a 15 along the guidelines of the BBFC but we had already assumed this because of the violent content and murders that happen to keep the action and pace of the film going.
http://www.bbfc.co.uk/classification/guidelines/15-2/
Who would be the audience for your media product?
Our main target audience for the film would be preferably both male and female 15 – 35 year olds who enjoy revenge-thriller genres. The film has some violent content and bad language but what I feel about the film is that the audience would really be able to make a connection with the characters. Most probably not with the exact same situation which is a tale of vengeance and betrayal but what people, especially of this age group, would be able to connect with is the feeling of loss and isolation felt by the main protagonist, as most feel something along these lines whether it be the death of a family member or just school or work within this specified age group. Although it’s not a very wide gap I think that the amount of relatable content in the film would bring in a very large amount of people between these ages. It would be a 15 along the guidelines of the BBFC but we had already assumed this because of the violent content and murders that happen to keep the action and pace of the film going.
http://www.bbfc.co.uk/classification/guidelines/15-2/
How did you attract / address your audience?
The idea of attracting our audience was to tease them and to attract their attention which is the main idea of any successful film yet we chose to approach it a little different to most. Instead of, like most films showing some of the best quotes, jokes or action in the teaser we decided to choose unrelated clips that would not show perhaps the best bits but to show bits that would cause interest and leave the audience asking questions which they would want to find out the answer to. We also chose to try and create emotion within the intended audience for example the shot of ‘Sophia’ in the graveyard would have created sympathy or even empathy depending on the viewers own life experiences.
The effectiveness of this would be shown by the different scenes making the audience show different emotion for example the first scene in the graveyard – sympathy and sadness,
the second with the clock and the glass would be confusion and a creation of inner questions
and then the last scene in the basement where she kills the man would be shock and also more questioning as to why this girl has so much power over others and why she is killing him.
The effectiveness of this would be shown by the different scenes making the audience show different emotion for example the first scene in the graveyard – sympathy and sadness,
the second with the clock and the glass would be confusion and a creation of inner questions
and then the last scene in the basement where she kills the man would be shock and also more questioning as to why this girl has so much power over others and why she is killing him.
By doing this and creating these emotions it creates a hook for the audience and to create suspense. This was another great way to attract the audience, by creating a tension by using certain effects and music to lure the audience into continuing watching. The voice over in the last part of the two minutes accompanied by the music creates a very good sense of suspense into why is she killing him and what is going to happen overall which we get a sense of thanks to the dialog which would once again leave the audience wanting more.
What have you learnt about technology from the process of constructing the product?
As I already knew how to use the camera that we used to film with I had a real chance to develop my editing skills on this project. I also had a good chance to improve the set up of equipment when filming and to look at the lighting for the locations we filmed at.
In terms of editing we had the basics that we used for our preliminary task yet for this project we had to use much more advanced editing in terms of colour and timing as well as layering for different sounds and film segments. To edit we used a programme called Final Cut, this is a piece of editing software used on Macs which is one step down from what film companies such as Warp Films use to edit their films this gave us a very good foundation to making the film look professionally edited. It also meant that the jump cuts would look smooth and we had total control over other transitions such as cross dissolves and how long they lasted to make them just how we wanted. Possibly the most interesting development I made during this project was colour control. For the scene in the basement the natural lighting that we used was very orange and there was nothing that could be done about it this meant that the whole sequence was very overbearing to watch and the detail was not as noticeable because of the colour. I learnt how to change the colour and change the balance so it was a much colder colour scheme which gave the whole scene a different feeling and made it look a lot more eerie and fitted to the genre that we intended the film to be in.
Looking back into your preliminary task, do you feel that you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
I feel that since the preliminary task I have learnt a lot more about media and how the media industry works. I feel that I have improved on my editing and filming skills quite significantly and have improved them to a much higher level making my work much more together and clean. I have learned a lot more about the real industry of film such as editing filming and distribution. I feel that is we had planned a lot better and much more to schedule then we would have had more time to think about more interesting shot ideas such as more canted angles and a wider range of levels but compared to the preliminary task I feel that the variety we have used has improved much more and that they are more interesting than the one used during the first task. I also feel that I have improved on how to use the camera angles to get a certain feel out of shots such as the POV shots.
I feel that my confidence in terminology is much more advanced now and that I am also more confident in using the equipment such as tripods and the cameras themselves and how to use them efficiently. I do feel that more time could have been spent on the blog and making sure we were up-to-date this could have been done with a better more thought out plan than we had.
In terms of editing we had the basics that we used for our preliminary task yet for this project we had to use much more advanced editing in terms of colour and timing as well as layering for different sounds and film segments. To edit we used a programme called Final Cut, this is a piece of editing software used on Macs which is one step down from what film companies such as Warp Films use to edit their films this gave us a very good foundation to making the film look professionally edited. It also meant that the jump cuts would look smooth and we had total control over other transitions such as cross dissolves and how long they lasted to make them just how we wanted. Possibly the most interesting development I made during this project was colour control. For the scene in the basement the natural lighting that we used was very orange and there was nothing that could be done about it this meant that the whole sequence was very overbearing to watch and the detail was not as noticeable because of the colour. I learnt how to change the colour and change the balance so it was a much colder colour scheme which gave the whole scene a different feeling and made it look a lot more eerie and fitted to the genre that we intended the film to be in.
Looking back into your preliminary task, do you feel that you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
I feel that since the preliminary task I have learnt a lot more about media and how the media industry works. I feel that I have improved on my editing and filming skills quite significantly and have improved them to a much higher level making my work much more together and clean. I have learned a lot more about the real industry of film such as editing filming and distribution. I feel that is we had planned a lot better and much more to schedule then we would have had more time to think about more interesting shot ideas such as more canted angles and a wider range of levels but compared to the preliminary task I feel that the variety we have used has improved much more and that they are more interesting than the one used during the first task. I also feel that I have improved on how to use the camera angles to get a certain feel out of shots such as the POV shots.
I feel that my confidence in terminology is much more advanced now and that I am also more confident in using the equipment such as tripods and the cameras themselves and how to use them efficiently. I do feel that more time could have been spent on the blog and making sure we were up-to-date this could have been done with a better more thought out plan than we had.
