Melissa's Evaluation

Evaluation Questions

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

A key element of thriller is creating enigma for the spectator. After watching several openings, we were inspired by the different ways each one tried to do this. We saw creative uses of camera shots to create restricted narrative, weapons and blood, non-diegetic music and dialogue. We also saw the effect of using a chronological narrative (along with Todorov’s theory of standard narrative) as well as using non-chronological order.

For example, at the opening of Kill Bill, there is a long duration shot of a big close up of the protagonist’s face which means that the spectator doesn’t see any of the surroundings. We tried to do something similar, keeping the camera close to the protagonist’s body so as not to reveal a lot of information to the spectator.

BCU Kill Bill

CU Casual Affair (our opening)

The protagonist is also covered in blood which is an iconography of thriller. In our Thriller Opening, we had our protagonist covered in bruises. This raised questions and mystery for the spectator, leaving them wondering what happened previously to end up like that.

 Another thing about using restricted views meant that it hid the antagonist.

Hand and voice of antagonist in Kill Bill

Camera stops before face in Usual Suspects

Only hand and voice over in Gone Girl

Stops before face in Casual Affair

 In Kill Bill (again) only the voice and hand of the antagonist was heard/seen. In The Usual Suspects, the camera always stops before revealing the man’s face. In Gone Girl, only the wife was in shot, not the man talking about wanting to kill her in voice over. In our opening, we only revealed the full face of our antagonist at the end of the sequence, in a conversation just before she is killed.
      

 In The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, there is a tilt which reveals a painting after being blocked by a man. In our Thriller Opening, there is tilt down to reveal photographs of the wife cheating on the husband once the husband walks out of frame.

Tilt to the painting in Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Tilt to photographs in Casual Affair

      




 In The Usual Suspects, as the flame runs along the track, dead bodies are revealed. In our thriller, it is only when the character notices the body that it is revealed to the viewer.

Dead body reveal in Usual Suspects

Dead body reveal in Casual Affair

       






This creates tension and mystery for the viewer and suspense and shock when the subject is finally revealed.

Using point of view shots also helped keep the viewer in the dark because it means that the spectator can only know and see as much as the character does, which makes it fairly popular in thrillers. We mostly used these in the flashback sequences to hide the identity of the antagonist and to keep the mystery of what was happening.

Point of view shot and blocking in Bourne Ultimatum

Point of view shot and blocking in Casual Affair

We were inspired by Bourne Ultimatum for the use of the flashbacks mixed in with the action as they struggled to remember because it disoriented the viewer as well as conveying the disorientation of the character, only raising more questions.

Bright effects and colouring to signify flashbacks in Bourne Ultimatum

Bright effects and colouring to signify flashbacks in Casual Affair

We were also inspired by Inception for the bright effect as our character woke up as the bright colours in Inception created this disorientating, dream-like effect. This is why we kept the bright daylight lighting instead of the low-key lighting commonly found in thrillers (such as The Usual Suspects).

Opening shot of Casual Affair. Effects added post
production to make bright

Opening shot Inception. Bright colours make it
disorientating 

Example of low key lighting in Usual Suspects

The use of dialogue such as in Kill Bill, Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and even Gone Girl, raise questions and tension for the spectator, creating enigmas. We wanted to do this too, which we executed by having our main character run in to the man in the flashbacks stating that she loved “him” (whoever he was) and why that led to the man stabbing her in the back.

Therefore, we decided to challenge Todorov’s theory of standard narratives by starting our opening in non-chronological order to be able to create an enigma for the spectator (like Bourne Ultimatum, Kill Bill, and The Usual Suspects, which all threw the spectator straight into the action), instead of building up tension by starting at an equilibrium (like The Lovey Bones).

An example of equilibrium from chronological order in Lovely Bones. A contrast to the previous examples seen thus far

We also frequently used handheld cameras to signify panic and build tension during the running scenes, just like the foreshadowing running scene in the opening of Silence of the Lambs. It also gives an idea of being chased, putting the spectator at unease.

Handheld cameras in running scene in Casual Affair

Handheld cameras in running scene in Silence
of the Lambs

Handheld cameras in chase scene in Bourne Ultimum
builds suspense and tension

We also used a woods setting and rainy/grey weather which is common in thriller movies (Silence of the Lambs and Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, for example) because it creates a very melancholy mood, foreboding bad events about to happen (i.e. pathetic fallacy).

Woods setting and pathetic fallacy in our thriller opening (A Casual Affair)

Woods setting and pathetic fallacy foreshadowing
in Silence of the Lambs

Pathetic fallacy in Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

In thrillers, there is an iconography of weapons. Ours was no exception. We used dramatic irony to shock the viewers and put them at unease as a bloody knife was revealed before the face of the main character at the beginning. This was inspired by The Usual Suspects when a gun is revealed whilst the face of the character is never revealed, creating an enigma.

An example of the iconography of weapons in thriller in Bourne Ultimatum

Weapon revealed before the face of character in
Usual Suspects

Weapon revealed before the face of character in
our thriller opening

We also used tense, fast paced, non-diegetic music in minor key to enhance the tension created in the scene (this was inspired by Silence of the Lambs). In our case, we used this while our protagonist was running through the woods away from the dead body, experiencing several flashbacks of the previous events. We also used contrapuntal non diegetic music to shock the spectator (like in Kill Bill) when the soft piano music plays over the shot of the dead body.

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

Here’s a list of the social groups:

• ·         Ability/disability
• ·         Age
• ·         Ethnicity
• ·         Gender
• ·         Sexuality
• ·         Social Class
• ·         Regional Identity

Out of these, the social group we represented the most was gender.

Here we have our two lead characters. Our protagonist is female. Our antagonist is male.

Female protagonist

Male antagonist

In our thriller, the woman is independent and does as she pleases. This could be seen as a positive representation of women because, even though she is married to a man, she is not entirely helpless or dependent on him. Our male antagonist is able to convey emotions (so much so that they overwhelm his), going against gender stereotypes. Both of our characters are not good people but there are parts when we are meant to sympathize with the two of them.

Using camerawork, we were able to see the female protagonist centre frame, not being blocked or behind a male. The shots we used were not intended to sexualise the character at all. There are very low angles looking up at the male antagonist which suggest his dominance over her.

Neither dominant in frame

Using mise en scene, we dressed our character in walking boots which was appropriate for the location that we were filming in and the rest of her costume was to represent her character’s feelings rather than to sexualise her. The sad facial expression and tears of the protagonist when she runs back to the husband are meant to create sympathy for her (even though the spectator knows she’s been having an affair). Our protagonist doesn’t doubt that she can’t wield the prop of the knife (this is shown when she looks between it and the dead body), which goes against gender stereotypes of women being gentle and delicate.

Looking from body to knife

Using the dialogue “but I loved him” whilst the husband is gently hugging her and reassuring her is meant to create sympathy for the male character as she has just told him that she loved somebody else… even if he did kill him (and later her).

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

To distribute our film we could use an independent film distribution company such as Momentum (which distributed The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo which influenced our own thriller film). We would have to give the company the legal rights to our film in exchange for money.

They may be able to get the film a viewer in a cinema such as the Duke of York’s in Brighton. They also might be able to make copies of the DVDs (however, these are expensive and budgets are low, so only a few may be made). They could also get the film onto things such as Netflix and iTunes, as well as On Demand.

Being distributed by an independent film company means that we won’t be able to have the same marketing opportunities as big blockbuster films such as:

• Trailers
• Interviews

• Synergy

• Billboards (both analogue and digital)

• Merchandise

• TV and Radio
• Newspapers and Magazines
• On the side of buses

However, we can have the opportunity to use marketing techniques such as:

• Social media
• Independent film festivals (such as Sundance)
• Posters

OR

We could distribute the film ourselves, meaning that we get to keep the rights to our product and could, potentially, cost less.

We can do this by uploading it to YouTube which can reach a global audience and can make money through monetisation by ad revenue.

An advantage is that it can be viewed at any time at any place with an internet connection.

We would have to create the hype ourselves. We could do this by going to screenings, posting on social media, mailing cast and crew DVD copies of the film, press releases and handing out cards to the public.

We could also give the film away on Vimeo for free to create hype as we had a minimal budget. We could make money back by later making merchandise once the film has got enough buzz surrounding it.

In my opinion, using an independent film company is probably the best way to go for this particular product because there are many thriller films so we can’t guarantee that it would make enough hype by itself without the extra push that Independent film companies can provide.

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

Our target audience is 17-25 year old males and females and we believe our film would be rated a 15.

We made this blog post explaining why we thought a 15 certificate might be most suitable for our Thriller.

Using the Pearl and Dean website, you can compare the audiences and target audiences of different films with each other. Here are some examples of these from some of the openings we took inspiration from:

• Inception

15 – 24 year olds: 27%
Males: 36%
Females: 43%

• Kill Bill

15 – 24 years olds: 43%
Males: 65%
Females: 35%

• Bourne Ultimatum

15 – 24 year olds: 31%
Males: 62%
Females: 38%

• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

15 – 24 years old: 51%
Males: 69%
Females: 31%

In conclusion, males seemed to favour The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo as they made up 69% of the audience. However, females seemed to prefer Inception out of the four examples, making up half the audience. The film with the highest percentage of 15-24 year olds was The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

From these we can see what our target audience preferences are from how many of them went to see each film. We can then use this information to learn and apply it to our own thriller film.

From looking at the results, we can see that thriller film closest to the target audience we want to appeal to is The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Therefore, we can take lessons from it and see how it appealed to the audience to apply to our own thriller.

Here are some examples of this from films with a similar target audience of 15-24 males and females which are due to be released during April 2016 (except The Conjuring which is to be released in June 2016) to show what other kind of films our target audience enjoy:

• Criminal (2016)

Male: 70%

Female: 30%
Genre: Action, crime

• Friend Request

15 – 24 years old: 68%
Males: 37%
Females: 63%
Genre: Thriller

• June Got a Gun

15 – 24 years old: 37%
Males: 60%
Females: 40%
Genre: Action, Drama

• The Conjuring

15 – 24 years old: 59%
Males: 44%
Females: 56%
Genre: Horror, Suspense

In conclusion, the film with the highest percentage of male audience out of these examples was Criminal (2016) with 70%. The film with the highest female audience out of these four examples was Friend Request with 68%. Out of these four, the film closest to an equal amount of both male and female viewers was The Conjuring 2 with male: 44% and female: 56%. The film out of these for with the highest percentage of 15-24 year old viewers was Friend Request.

This means that Friend Request had the highest amount of viewers in our target age range but The Conjuring 2 is the closest to appealing to both male and female viewers. This means that our target audience seems to prefer to see Thriller and Horror genres in films. 

From this information we can see what other genres aim for a similar target audience and which ones they prefer. We can see what our target audience likes to see it in a film (for example, so they prefer to see comedy or horror?) which can take inspiration from and incorporate into our own thriller film to appeal to them more. 

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

Throughout the process we had been asking people within our target demographic to give feedback and we had been taking all their ideas into account. Using social media, I was able to get feedback on the finished piece from four peers; two male, two female. (Joshua’s feedback can be seen here. He was asked different questions).

Prompted with some questions, I was able to understand what they liked and didn’t like about the opening. They even suggested what they would have done to appeal to them even more.

1)      Our opening actually starts with the end scene. We did this because thrillers are all about creating mystery. Was it clear what ACTUALLY happened? That she was woke up in the woods with the knife and dead body, that she was having flashbacks, that he was washing the blood off his arm, that he killed her? Did you get that from the film or was it more confusing that mysterious?

Elizabeth - age 17- female

Will - age 17 - male

Cat - age 17 - female

2)      For the flashbacks, did the effects we used make it clear that they were separate from the action happening in the woods? Could you see what was happening or were they too bright? Was it clear that she had been drugged by the man and was disorientated?

Will - age 17 - male

Elizabeth - age 17 - female

Cat - age 17 - female

3)      What did you think about the blood and the cuts and bruises? Could you see them? Were they realistic enough? Also the costumes. With the ripped leggings of the girl and the smartness of the boy… did you get that a rough sense of their character (her being distressed, him being calm and collected). Also, could you actually see the photographs on the table? Did you see that they had the crosses through them? Or did the light reflect too much from them? If you couldn’t was that shot just confusing or did you get the idea anyway?

 Catherine - age 17 - female

 Elizabeth -age 17 - female

 Will - age 17- male

4)      For the running sequence, we added music to enhance the action and try to make people feel the panic that the girl is feeling. We actually had a bit of trouble finding sound that we thought fit. Do you think it matched the action? Was it too dramatic? Also, we tried to use contrapuntal music when the camera panned over her body at the end to add irony. Did that come across okay or did it take the effect of seeing her body away? And, last question on sound, we obviously couldn’t record the girl falling to the floor (for safety reasons) but when we were editing we found it rather comedic, did you think that? Was it too out of place?

 Elizabeth - age 17- female

 Cat- age 17- female

Will - age 17- male

5)     At the beginning, we showed the knife before the girl’s face to try and create a sense of shock and mystery, did that work? In the flashbacks, there are mainly low angles looking up at the man to show his control and dominance over the situation, did that come across? We also made sure to stop the camera before you could clearly see the man’s face, so was it clear that he was the same man as she ran to in the kitchen? We used handheld camera during the running to convey her panic, did that come across or was it too shaky? Previous feedback mentioned that the last shot looked a little off with the camera movement and the zooming down her arm, do you agree with this? Lastly, when the dead body comes into shot, previous feedback said that it would have been more effective to have a shot from the knife then to a close up of her reaction then back to the dead body etc, instead of having just a static shot of her look to and from the knife to the body, do you agree?

Cat - age 17- female

Will- age 17 - male

Elizabeth- age 17 - female: 5) The beginning shot with the knife established instantly that something was wrong. It pinpointed the knife as the source, immediately raising the questions about who, what, where and why someone had used the knife. The low angle looking up established the man's dominance but it also, for me, created a strong sense of helplessness for the woman, placing her below things and showing them as out of her control. I think it was fairly clear that it was the same man. Obviously the build is different and I believe you told me you had to use a different actor in that bit due to availability but if it's not instantly clear, it is definitely clear by the point the husband reaches for the knife in the kitchen. The running had a good amount of shake that showed her state and panic. (I would like to point out here that there are a few continuity errors (which I'm sure you know about) where the woman is sometimes running with the knife but it returns to her in other shots and in the final section). I would have to agree with your other feedback as that shot, I feel, would have been better if it had drifted directly to her hand rather than tracing her arm, creating a sideways then up motion rather than a smooth glide. I agree again with PF. Cutting between shots as suggested would have added to the disorientated vibe that the woman expresses rather than making it a little too calm.

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

Marking the floor for framing:

Creating the tilt shot: 

How to make A dolly shot without a dolly | BEST CAMERA TRICK

Editing in Garageband

Using the boom mic:

Our lighting session:

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

During the progression to the full product we have learnt many things since doing the preliminary task allowing us to improve in the final piece.

· Improving camerawork

In our preliminary task we only had a single tracking shot static from a tripod. In our final piece, we including more handheld tracking shots and even attempted tilts. This meant that we used a variety of handheld and tripod work.

Single tracking shot in preliminary task

Handheld tracking - final

Tilt - final 

We also used a wider variety of camera shot distances and angles. In our final piece, we used POV shots with very low angles and a mixture of extreme long shots and close ups to appeal to the spectator and convey the characters emotional state, which we didn’t do much in our preliminary task.

Close up - final - conveys sadness

ELS - final - suggests panic, confusion, lost. Establishes woods setting too

·         

•       Improving sound

In our preliminary task we recorded our dialogue separately at a different time to the original recording. This meant that our diegetic on screen sound was out of sync with the action. In our final piece, we were able to use a boom mic which meant that we were able to have dialogue which was synced. This is good because we added more dialogue than we had in the preliminary task.

We also recorded ambient sound in our final piece which we didn’t do in our preliminary task. It meant that we were able to create more atmosphere and create a more realistic scene.

Having non diegetic music only playing to enhance the action instead of playing all the way through the sequence as it did during our preliminary task meant that we the music didn’t take away effect from the action and it was less like a music video. We also experimented with parallel and contrapuntal non diegetic music which we didn’t in the preliminary task.

We used Garageband to create sound effects to make it clear to the audience what was happening and to make the final piece seem more realistic. In our preliminary piece we had none, which didn’t work as well because it sounded almost like a music video and couldn’t communicate what was happening on screen as well to the spectator.

Adding effects on Garageband

•         Improving Mise en Scene

We used makeup to create bruises and cuts which we didn’t explore with our preliminary task. We also used hair and costume to convey ideas about our characters.

Using makeup for cuts and bruises - final

We were more ambitious with our settings. We used two different locations outside of the college campus to make our piece more realistic (rather than using the college cafeteria to represent a cafe like we did in the preliminary task).

Preliminary task location

•            Improving editing

We used a wider variety of transitions in our final product. In our preliminary task, we had two fades at the beginning and the end and only cuts to transition between shots, whereas in our final piece we used more fades (especially surrounding our titles), different paced cuts with short (eg the running scene) and long (eg the pan up the protagonist at the start) durations and dissolve transitions.

Example of dissolve in final piece

We also improved by making use of the effects available to us on Final Cut Pro. We used a mixture Bad Film, Defocus, and Glow effects to create a dreamlike state for our flashbacks. In our preliminary task, we used no filters.

No filters - Preliminary

Filters in flashbacks - Final

Titling was a big improvement we made as our preliminary task didn’t have any at all. By using titles we were able to make our work look a lot more professional.

•          Characterisation

For starters, we asked A level performing arts students to act in our piece so that we could operate all of the equipment as a team. However, this meant that they could use their body language and facial expressions a lot better to convey our characters.

Body language suggests tenderness - final - creates sympathy

Our characters in our final piece were more complex than in the preliminary task. We began to show the relationships and feelings between and towards other characters whilst learning about why the do the things that they do.