Evaluation

In what ways does our media product use, develop or challenge forms
and conventions of real media products?
My film challenges typical conventions of a thriller as I have a strong female
character that dominates in a fight with the lead male character, this flips the
typical convention of women being weaker than men. My film features a female
protagonist over a male which is unconventional especially in the film industry
which is dominated by male leads and female side characters; there are a limited
number of films with a strong female protagonist yet a vast number of films with
a male protagonist. There are other elements in my opening sequence that
conform to the conventions of real thriller films narrative wise, it is in a non-linear
sequence that raises enigmas (typical convention) which delivers a story with
sustained tension, surprise, and a constant sense of impending doom which are
typical narrative conventions in a thriller. This will keep the audience cliff-
hanging at the "edge of their seats" as the plot builds towards a climax. There is
a build-up of suspense and tension with a climactic cliff hanger after only the first
2 minutes of the opening, where the audience are teased as whats to come.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
My film targets mainly teenagers as the target audience, therefore they are the
most represented social group in my film. The film will
What kind of media institution would distribute your media product and
why?
The institution that would distribute my media product would be one that has a
reputation for distributing and producing psychological/horror thrillers. From my
research I found two potential institutions to distribute my film, Hammer Films
and Blumhouse Productions. I decided to choose Blumhouse as it is more
reputable for producing and distributing successful thrillers in recent years with
such films as: The Gift, The Visit, Paranormal Activity, and The Purge. To reach a
much larger global audience most films require the assistance of a large
distribution company, typically one of the big 6: Sony, Universal, Disney, 20 th
Century Fox, etc. I chose not to use Disney as they are reputable for having a
family band and arent known for releasing or distributing thrillers, I chose
Universal as it has a greater reputation for releasing and distributing successful
thrillers such as the classic thriller every one associates with the genre: 1960s
Psycho by Alfred Hitchcock and more recent thrillers like 2017s Split by M Night
Shyamalan, both of which directed by renowned thriller directors.
Who would be the audience for your media product?
The target audience I have chosen is teenagers and young adults as the themes I
have presented in my opening relate to those which teenagers can most relate
to. Furthermore from my research I found that the majority of audiences who
view thriller films are typically young people and teenagers. I found that the
conventional rating given by the BBFC for thrillers, specifically independent
thrillers, was 15, this is because of the realistic themes presented in the film.
However mainstream thrillers usually have a rating of 12 as it allows the film to
reach a wider, younger audience and therefore make more profit from being
accessible to families.
Given the fact the majority of my cast consists of teenagers, I confidently expect
my target audience, who are also teenagers, to relate to the characters on
screen as they will likely be going through the same core experiences the
characters are going through without the dramatization and sci-fi aspects of a
film.
It is easier to generate a larger profit by targeting teenagers as they have the
most access to technology and so will be more susceptible to online marketing
which can be exploited to make them more aware of the film than adults and the
elderly, additionally teenagers are typically very sociable and thus tend to view
films in large groups with friends which will make more money through sales
from cinema tickets than an elderly couple or small family.
How did you attract/address your audience?
The most powerful way to attract audiences, even more so today, is through
word of mouth, therefore using social media and talking to my peers I made as
many people as possible aware of my film so that I could have a large audience
viewing my opening sequence.
My films address my target audiences and issues surrounding them by including
characters that have experienced common teenage problems so as to make
people aware of issues young people face as well as making them more relatable
and grounded as real three dimensional characters.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of
constructing this product?
I have learnt that the technical aspect of constructing a film is the most time
consuming and difficult as it is a continual learning process. Along the production
of my opening sequence I have learnt how to operate and adjust a DSLR camera
which, before this course, I had little experience hence my struggles with basic
adjustments such as ISO and focus. Thankfully after getting accustomed to the
equipment after trial and error I have become comfortable with the various
functions and have come to appreciate more how the camera woks and the
process in which films are filmed which has been beneficial in helping me
construct my final product. In addition to this I learnt about the multiple editing
softwares available during post production. I intended to use a green screen for
part of my opening sequence however due to continuity reasons and restrictions
on set it wouldve been difficult to make the scene look realistic and wouldnt fit
the narrative of the opening. Furthermore I used the editing softwares: Serif
Movie Plus to edit my preliminary and Adobe Premiere to edit my final piece.
These experiences were by far the longest and most difficult as there was an
abundance of footage captured on the shooting days, some of which was
unusable and some with audio and lighting issues which couldnt be used in my
final piece. This made it difficult to edit as integral parts were missing, affecting
the continuity and pace of the film.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt
in the progression from it to the full product?
I feel my final product is a lot more rushed due to problems with time
management and poor planning, I faced similar issues with my preliminary task
however with the assistance of reshoots and more time to film I was able to
construct a coherent and what I personally believe to be a good preliminary task.
I have taken on board the feedback I received from my preliminary to construct a
final product that has continuity, cleaner editing that moves the plot along
without being obvious to the audience that what theyre watching is a film. Some
of the angles and shots I used in my preliminary detached audiences from what
they were watching and lost their interest. I tried to avoid doing this same thing
in my final product so as to make it more professional and up to the standard of
a real film.