Evaluation by Alex Stirling

In what ways does  your thriller use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of a thriller?

In our thriller opening there are only 2 characters. Like in all thrillers there is a protagonist and an antagonist. 

The audience is introduced to the female protagonist played by Holly and the male antagonist played by myself. We have aimed to use camerawork, mise en scene and sound to make it obvious to the audience that this is the case.
I feel that our thriller develops conventions of thrillers such as enigma. however it has some unexpected characteristics of characters, especially the male antagonist. 


However i feel that it mainly follows traditional thrillers in the scene that there is always a protagonist and a antagonist. Also it follows traditionally stereotypes. Such as the fragile young girl is the protagonist while the stronger, overpowering male is the antagonist. This makes it very easy for the audience to understand the characters as there is may film where stereotypes are in the same situation such as 'The Disappearance of Alice Creed' and 'Se7an'. 

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

In our thriller opening there are only 2 characters. Like in all thrillers there is a protagonist and an antagonist. 

The audience is introduced to the female protagonist played by Holly and the make antagonist played by myself. We have aimed to use camerawork, mise en scene and sound to make it obvious to the audience that this is the case.

To create a contrast between the two character we use different camera shots to provoke different feelings and views by the audience.

Throughout, we have a number of close ups and extreme close ups of the fragile female protagonist. This is so the audience  can sympathies with her and feel her emotions of sadness. This makes the protagonist seem fragile, week, helpless and inferior to the antagonist male. This enables the audience to instinctively chose a side between the protagonist and the antagonist and will make the audience get hooked to the storyline. Ultimately enjoying the film.

Age

• The male antagonist played by myself is middle aged. The audience knows this from his cloths, house and possessions. We aim to make the audience feel negatively towards this character as he is the antagonist and his unusual and creepy obsession with girls less than half his age. There view may also reflect modern views on child abusers and pedophiles and we assume this man falls into both those category. I feel that this fits in with his age as many child abusers and pedophiles are in that age bracket. I feel that we feel even stronger about this due to the non- diegetic news report in the background which brings our thoughts back to remember real life event which follow similar actions in our thriller opening.

• The female protagonist acted by Holly is a a much younger character who is in her late teens. She is fragile, scared and insecure which is represented to the audience was she is crying and rocking back and forth. Her age may represent her immaturity as an adult and that she has at that age not experienced the real dangers of the world. 

Social class

• The male antagonist is reasonably well off and has a nice house. He also has expensive objects which may represent that he has specific tats and is sophisticated which is in absolute contrast with his actions kidnapping young girls. We assume from his wealth that he is not kidnapping the girl for money as ransom but sexual pleasure which is disturbing and unnatural. He dresses smart casual around the house which may show that he has some pride which again is in contrast to his gruesome actions. Wealth is often associated with good, honest people who work hard to earn their fortunes, however from the actions of this male we may consider that he did not get it by these means.

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• The female protagonist is assumed to be a lower social class than the male. This is possible because of her week position as money is often related to power. ‘money talks’. This may be reinforced by the trend of camera angles which demote her power and control over the situation. However we don't know this for sure but it seams un-relevant as money is unlikely to get her out of this situation. Also due to her age she is likely to have a low social class as she is a minor and may not work.

Gender

• Our 2 character follow stereotypical characteristics gender wise. Having the male in a strong, commanding position while the female is week, physically inferior, trapped and in an uncomanding position. 

• The characters gender is assumed but is reinforced by mies en scene.  The males clothes are classic with a white shirt and jeans. Nothing outlandish or offensive which suggests very little about his identify and past which creates enigma. He female has also got a while top and dark jeans. Her makeup strongly represents her female gender and along with her cosmetic hair makes her seem out of place in an old attic. This also emphasizes her fear and naivety about the situation.

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

• For our media product, a thriller I was considering using a game distributor instead of a movie distributor like ‘Fox’ and ‘Universal studios’. I thought that this would give us the same result as they are both distributing on screen products using the same marketing and promotional techniques. Therefore I think a company like ubisoft could distribute our product. This may also be the first movie to use a predominantly game distributor which may make headlines, further promoting our product. However I think that they wont be interested as it will be a small film on a tiny budget and may not be financially viable for them.

• As our target audience is 16+ I think a modern method of distribution as well as cinema will suit our audience and our film. I think that our thriller needs to be in a cinema so the audience have the option of getting the best experience. The sound, visual, darkness and atmosphere in a cinema will be perfect for our product as it will create a realistic experience without distraction ( such on portable devices) which will further get the audience gripped and on the edge of there seats. Also the cinema will be a good source of revenue as tickets cost from £5-£10.  The type of cinema is key. I think that a small independent art-houses will create a better atmosphere and are likely to charge high prices than multiplexes such as Odien and ciniworld. 

• I also think that we should distribute our product online. The thriller would be sold to purchase or rent on stores such as the ‘iTunes” store and nokia multimedia center. I feel that this would really be attractive to our audience who may want ow watch it on the move. Also the beauty of selling the product online is that anyone can purchase it as long as they have a computer or smart phone. This opens the market up globally and makes it much more convent for people as they don't have to go to a shop a buy it was a DVD. It will also keep the costs down as we don't have to produce 1000’s do DVD’s. Instead people can get the same product online ( download) which costs us no extra cost per unit. The one disadvantage of this is that some people may illegally download our movie therefore getting it for free and not making us money.

• To promote our product we will be using Tv adverts on sky movie channels and sports channels along with on more mainstream channels after 9.00PM. This will be expensive but will reach our nationwide and it will be easy for us to target our audience according to the relevant channels. We will also be using billboards at bus stations and on the side of double-decker busses. This will used in cities and will target an older market as they are more likely to be walking to work in particular areas of the city. Online we will advertise on youtube, google and netflicks ( huge USA multimedia center)and iTunes . There we will have trailers of our movie. This will also be used to monitor how many views our trailer has got and where people are viewing it from. Having a youtube account I use this feature often to see how many vies my videos have along with a world map showing precise locations of the viewers. This will act as efficient, cheep market research for us and may show us new markets to brake into in other countries after its initial launch in the UK. Along with the above the Internet will be great for targeting our audience and I feel that it is the best and cheapest advertising technique.

• Our release will be nation wide with a certificate of 16+. This fits win perfectly with our target audience as I believe that this will be the audience of this age will be able to understand the storyline better as they are more mature. I also think our product should be released on a nationwide scale. This is because we will then hopefully get more sales and nationwide recognition further enhancing the brand.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

• Our product being a realistic thriller with real story lines is designed to be a mature, thought provoking movie. Therefore I feel that it would be aimed at the young adult and adult market. I believe that this movie would not be suitable for minors who would find the realism of the storyline frightening and would be unsuitable for somebody aged 15 or bellow. Therefore I feel that the target market for this product would be between 16+ and for both females and males. By this age, the audience would be old enough to understand the storyline but en be to frightened by it and would have the maturity to fully appreciate the film. I think both me and women will enjoy this film and are likely to view it together as a coupe in cinema's or on DVD. However I think that 60+ will not view the movie as it is not something at appeals to them. The storyline may be to depressing and would be something that an elderly couple would go and watch. 

• I think on a global scale that is product would best suit the modern world ( UK, USA, Europe). This is because the audience can more easily relate to the real life storyline and the characters but the movie would expand to Asia where there are big opportunities to make money. 

• Our products main storyline is similar too ones in “The Disappearance of Alice Creed” which also follows similar kidnapping trends in there storyline. This movie was promoted before and after the premier at the London Film Festival in 2009 on Facebook. “reports that 80% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 84 reviews and it has received a number of four star ratings in the UK press.”

• Financially this age group is independent, wealthy and has a knowledge about new films.   I feel that this is also a benefit to the profitability of the production as they are more likely to go out and see the film. Many people in this age group will have jobs or carries and so some money to spend on a trip to the cinema or to purchase the DVD or download els ware. This may be opposed to an over generation who maybe don’t understand DVD’s and downloading films as easily as a younger audience.

How do you attract/ address your audience?

• The audience is key for any movie product; financially and socially and I feel that our audience of 16+ will throughly enjoy our film due to its themes, camera work and believability.  This enables the audience to engage and ‘get ion’ the product. Our aim is to have the audience at the edge of there seats and out of breath from the first few scenes. However this is hard to achieve.

• In our 2 minuet opening we have aimed to make the two characters very stereotypical. One being a venerable, young girl and the other being an older, middle ages man. These are two very stereotypical characters. This is partly due the lack of time we were allocated and we wanted the audience to instantly recognize the position of each character and there role in the film. Also we wanted to focus the emphasis on other aspects of the film, not on deciding on the characters positions within the film. This gives the audience instant knowledge of the characters. The lighting, along with facial expressions helps to reinforce the stereotypes. For example the girl in the loft were the lighting is dark to represent sadness and pain and her facial expressions ( crying) reinforce there sadness venerability.

• Obviously we were on a very limited budget with only a month to, from the ground up produce the product. Therefore we were unable to use special effects and expensive locations but I feel that our locations were ample for our needs and I think that our audience will find the settings fitting for the storyline adding to the realism of the film. I think that the key to this films success is the realism and believability of the film as these events happen all over the world in real life. I think the audience will enjoy and be gripped by the film most if they make the link between reality and what they see on the news and the film and will play on their sense of fear. Along with the location props and everyday items and actions such as cutting up a bagel and getting a drink of water add to the realism. The decor in those shots is in a normal kitchen which in a normal home which further ads to the realism which is key to the success of the product.The kidnapping theme is quite a modern theme for films and is one which I think our target audience will enjoy.

• We will also try and attract our audience by marketing and promoting the product using TV adverts, cinema adverts, Internet adverts and billboards around stations and bus stops. This will ensure that our target audience will know about the film and go and see it. We hope to carry our dark theme onto our promotion’s in our font, backgrounds and audio. I feel that this is as important as the product itself as the power of marketing and promotion is enough to get people watching the film. 

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

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

Shot 1 and 2

Here we see an overhead shot of the male antagonist on our thriller opening on the left and on the right is a medium shot of Freya in our preliminary. We can clearly see that the shot on the right (preliminary) has not had the white balance set correctly unlike the shot on the left ( thriller opening) where the white balance is set correctly and we see true white instead of white with a yellow tinge which makes the shot look unnatural. Therefore we have learnt how to use white balance and set it correctly. 

Shot 3 and 4

In shot 3 and 4 we see both the titles of our thriller opening called the Forgotten and our preliminary project which we did at Christmas time. We can straight away see the difference in quality as the shot on the left ( thriller opening) has themed text and font to match our themes in our thriller. It is also in contrast with the black background and is bright so is easy to see with no distraction. 

The shot on the right is unclear, pale and doesn’t offer the audience and ideas of whats about to come.

Overall it shows our level of understanding about titles, the font, text positing and audio and I think it shows in our titles.

Shot 5 and 6

Shot 5 and 6 show the lighting that we used in both our thriller opening on the left and our preliminary on the right. In our preliminary we used one light to enhance the look of natural light on Freya’s face.In our thriller opening we used a the same lighting to give the same effect. This was when the male antagonist is walking up the saris. Between projects we learnt more about lighting and the different types of lighting equipment, different effects they give off such as high key and ambient lighting and how and when to use them. In the end we decided to use the same lighting as in the preliminary.

Shot 7, 8 and 9

Shot 7, 8 and 9 show the differences in location that we used. In shot 7 ( preliminary)we see a bland, boring set, but one that suits the theme. However in shot 8 and 9 ( thriller opening we see a much more complexed set with a meaning to help the audience get an idea about characters in our openings. We took the extra time in our thriller opening to position props and decor to reflect the male antagonists personality and traits such as an OCD in tidiness and cleanliness which is in contrast to his actions.

BY Alex Stirling