Evaluation

Aya El-fouani Group 2

 1.In what ways does your media product use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
-Despite the fact that Rubin describes Thrillers as a metagenre, this still means theirs elements that should always be seen in
Thrillers. Some of which are included in Gary Braver’s book about Thrillers, and include suspense and narrative enigmas. ‘Silence of
the lambs’ creates suspense through it’s use of music. This is particularly evident in the escape scene where the scene starts with
calm classical music evoking feelings of suspense in the audience. The use of music in creating tension is also evident in our film
showing that we have developed conventions of real media products; the basement scene begins with eerie, bleak music which
becomes more fast paced and slower later on in the thriller introduction.

The silence of the lambs: Escape scene

-Martin Rubin, in his book ‘Thriller’, explains that it’s a lot harder to define a thriller genre than
it is defining a western or horror film, and so the conventions for a thriller film are a lot more
broad. He indicates that it acts as a metagenre which holds many genres under it. In this
sense our media product which comes under the sub-genre of crime and psychological
thriller, uses typical ‘Thriller’ conventions; It contains conventions of many other genres such
as horror and adventure which creates narrative enigma’s through evoking feelings of tension
in the viewer. The basement scene is proof of this, as blood is shown on Serhan’s face; blood
is a common convention of horror films. And is shown in the opening of ‘Memento’, when the
character shakes in his hand a Polaroid picture.

- We have created a dark, negative and mysterious atmosphere, particularly in the basement
scenes not only to raise narrative enigma's, which according to Gary Braver are essential in
making a thriller successful but also to ensure the desired effect on the audience is achieved.
The mysterious atmosphere is intended to make the audience feel at the edge of their seat
and to ‘expect the unexpected’ as well as to raise narrative enigma's, which according to Gary
Braver are essential in making a thriller successful.

-’Memento’ an example of a fairly modern film which features film noire through it’s black and white lighting, was used as our
inspiration. Through watching it we became more aware of how to make our thriller film a successful one whilst at the same time
incorporating elements of film noire. These elements include creating a dark and shadowy outlook, use of Interesting camera
angles, shadowy lighting as well as extreme close-up's. In this sense our gangster, psychological thriller developed film noire
conventions.
-’Memento’ an example of a fairly modern film which features film noire through
it’s black and white lighting, was used as our inspiration. Through watching it we
became more aware of how to make our thriller film a successful one whilst at
the same time incorporating elements of film noire. These elements include
creating a dark and shadowy outlook, use of Interesting camera angles,
shadowy lighting as well as extreme close-up's. In this sense our gangster,
psychological thriller developed film noire conventions.

-Our Thriller challenges media products as it features a women

protagonist taking on the role of the heroin in the film because
the majority of heroic characters in Thrillers are male, as
shown in ‘Memento’ and ‘The Bourne Identity’. And even
when they are female as in ‘The silence of the lambs’, they
are at a disadvantage or given orders from above. Clarice for
example in ‘the silence of the lambs’, is a trainee and
allocated her mission by a male FBI agent.

-As my target audience was a relatively young working class audience of teenagers and young adults i replicated some
of the techniques used in ‘Romeo Brass’, these include the effective use of social realism as well as kitchen sink realism.
We achieved these through the characters dialogue, clothing and the familiar locations used which make the audience
able to associate themselves with the characters.' Romeo Brass’, showed social realism through the characters regional
dialogue, working class professions and through including topical issues such as bullying and problems concerning child
custody. Our film does this too however, it does this slightly differently and does not present the working class as run
down as it is portrayed in ‘Romeo Brass’; the characters speak in colloquial as opposed to queens English. It can also be
said that our film too includes topical issues, such as murder and kidnapping.
http://A Room For Romeo Brass clip
 2.How does your media product represent particular social
groups?
-Our media product does not particularly represent a variety of social groups however, in saying that it does
represent the working class. It does this through the locations used, the kitchen for example features
appliances which are typical amongst the working class and not very grand, such as those associated with
the upper class. Other films representative of the working class include ‘Where's the money Ronnie?’, a
gritty Nottingham comedy by Shane Meadows. Character clothing and dialogue enforces the idea that the
film is not representative of the upper class. both the characters dialogue and clothing helps them associate
with the target audience which in turn attracts the film to it’s target audience.

-My target audience of young working class teenagers and young adults will be attracted to my film because it is
representative of young people and a mix of both females and males. In other words the film is
representative of people of young age and can be either male or female. The film will communicate realism
through it’s topical issues, characters dialogue and actions as well as the landscapes used and the miser-en-
scene. Mise-en-scene in our film has been made in most parts not only cluttered to give a sense that there’s
a lot going on and to give an easy atmosphere but also contains props associated with the working class.

-Realism is a very important aspect as young people tend to be more innocent and vulnerable in comparison to
an older audience and so it is much easier to make the film believable, and this is achieved through our use
of realism. Without creating realism and making the film believable the desired effect on the audience will
not be established; without realism the film will not evoke feelings of tension and mystery as well as create
negative enigmas and allow the audience to relate with the characters.

-The kitchen scenes in our thriller film include a medium shot with Aslihan and the laptop. This is an example of a
cluttered mise- en- scène in our thriller film, the magazine as well as the other kitchen equipment and
appliances included in the shot imply that this film is representative of a social group that is not systematic,
neat and tidy (characteristics which are commonly associated with the upper class). It does however,
represent a working class who are in need of a job and work extremely hard to survive. This is further
emphasized by the laptop being included in the shot (work life combined with domestic life); it cannotates
that the work is vital for the working classes survival and lifestyle. The dialogue of the character also
contributes to this, ‘you’ve been working too hard you have’.
 3.What kind of media institution might distribute your media
product and why?
-As my product is a thriller which is produced from a small budget, there could be a chance of it being identified by the
distribution company film London, as part of their ‘microwave films’ scheme. Our thriller film is shot in relatively cheap
locations such as the kitchen as well as this is does not contain expensive filming techniques or special effects. For
example we have created a blurred point of view shot in the basement by using Windows movie maker as oppose to a
expensive alternative, such as those favored by Hollywood. ‘Microwave films’ was launched in 2006, with the aim of
producing ten micro budget feature films over a period of three years. Microwave films distributes any type of moving
image: documentaries, animations and fiction therefore, meaning it’s work has a range of target audiences as well as
genres. This is proved by it distributing films such as ‘Shifty’ a Thriller by Metronome, and ‘Mum and Dad’, a horror. Not
only the schemes variation in genres increases the possibility of them distributing my product but also the fact that it has
produced thrillers and is still producing them; ‘Analogue’, a dark psychological thriller is still in the making.

-Distribution by this scheme will also prove beneficial for my film

as it will make my final product easier to be accessed by the
target audience. This is because films within the ‘microwave films
scheme’, take different forms of distribution, as it can be bought
on DVD, watched in the cinema as well as downloaded from the
internet. And as young people are known for favouring all these
different forms of media it is very likely that my film will appeal to
it’s target audience. The different form’s of distribution under the
microwave films scheme will make my thriller film more easier to
access than ‘The butterfly effect’ for example, a film which is only
released at the cinema.

-As my film is made from a small budget, effecting it’s characters, mise-en-scen and location choices it is unlikely it would
be distributed in multiplexes or attract international attention. However, if it did then it would have to attract a lot of media
attention and get impressive reviews in order to attract the attention of big media companies (the majority of which are
American), such as Warner Brothers or Fox Searchlight. It is more likely however, that my film will be distributed locally
and be a small scale film. However, in saying this ‘28 days’, a British film directed by Danny Boyle and made from a
cheap budget was a international success and picked up by DNA, a distribution company which was also British. In other
words if there was any hope of attracting big distribution company that could make my film universal it would probably be
British as Americans often look for postcard images of British people.
This is a shot included in our thriller film, and can be identified with ‘kitchen sink realism', included in the films of
Shane Meadows. This shot re-enforces the idea that my film is more likely to be distributed by a small distribution
company as apposed to an international one. Shane meadows films are all produced from a small budget and
includes many shots that the audience can identify with, such as that of a kitchen. The use of normal props or
elements in a shot such as a stainless steel sink and fabric cloth, make obvious that the film is made from a low
budget. The fact that the locations for our film are chosen upon our low budget, is also shown when the film is
compared with another made from a high budget (such as the one shown).
 4.Who would be the audience for your media product?
-My final product has a target audience of teenagers and young adults. The target audience can
identify with the characters because of the simplistic, colloquial dialogue used which is not
queens English and overly grand. This is shown in the kitchen scene, when Aslihan is having a
phone conversation, ’hey how are you? I’m aright’. Other films that have the same target
audience include films such as A ‘Room for Romeo brass’, ‘This is England’ and ‘mum and dad’.

-In order to gain greater understanding of how to attract my target audience I carried out a short
questionnaire and handed it to a mixture of young people and adults regardless to their gender.
This was because my film had no specific gender target audience. From the questionnaire it was
revealed that the majority would be attracted by a thriller which they could identify with relate to.
The minority however, favoured a gangster thriller to a comedy thriller.

-Currently, most Thrillers are targeted towards young people This is particularly because they are now
targeted by the media as a source of income as many children receive money, either from their
parents or undergo employment. Young audiences also have less responsibilities such as paying
the bills and rent thus they are more likely to be spending their money on films then an older
audience. An example of a film which has still not been released and shares the same target
audience as mine is ‘Awesome terminator salvation'. It's viewer certificate being a 13, is
indication of it having an older teenage audience. It is from here that I got the inspiration to make
my film a certificate 13 too. This is because it includes scenes with moderate violence as well as
blood (the basement scenes includes shots of serhan’s face with blood).
Terminator Salvation trailer
 5.How did you attract or address your audience?
• I attracted my audience by making sure they can identify with the characters; through using simplistic language and
setting that they would be familiar with. For example a teenager or young adult, would be much more familiar with a busy
road crammed with buses and cars, than they would with the house of parliament or a secret investigations office. The
title of a film is very important as it either attracts or detracts the audience from the film, particularly a young audience.
This is what inspired us to give our film an easy to understand title, ‘A Monday’. The kitchen scene when Aslihan is
conducting a telephone call as well as the basement scene when Aslihan and Serhan are having a conversation, uses
colloquial language; a casual style of language that our target audience can identify with.

• My thriller will work by attracting it’s target audience in different ways; through the lighting, Mise-en-scen and editing as
well as the choice of soundtrack used during the credits. The soundtrack runs from the credits at the start till the
basement scene conversation begines,it includes elements of upbeat music which young people are usually associated
with. The Mise en scene of the locations used is cluttered. The main reason for this is to contribute to the uneasy tense
atmosphere, common amongst Thrillers. It also attracts the target audience as young people are commonly known for not
being particularly neat and tidy.

•The last scene is significant and was decided with the target
audience in mind. Initially the storyboard involved the murder
article to be in the form of a newspaper article newspaper article
however, we talked about this and decided that due to the fact
that we have a young target audience, an article taking the form
of an internet article would be better as they can identify with it;
Young people regularly use the internet to find out the latest
news. And so we made an article using Serhan and Aslihan’s
picture with the words murder in bold, to immediately catch the
viewers attention. To ensure it was realistic we made the article
similar to that on the BBC website however we had to ensure the
BBC logo was not included in the shot as this may rise copyright
concerns. And so whilst filming post stick notes were placed on
the logo.
 • Current trends in attracting a young
target audience of teenagers includes
the use of virals, an element used by
‘The dark night’. virals for this film
could include phone wallpapers as well
as ring tones featuring the films
soundtrack. Or even a simple,
entertaining game in which the female
protagonist is chasing the killer.’28
days later’, is an example of a film
which includes a game on their website.
The aim of a viral is to attract the film
target audience before the film has
even been released, which in turn
increases the films profits as more
more people will watch it.

•I showed my finished film to a group of people that are from the target audience and they were
attracted mostly to the basement scenes and use of film noir. From this I learnt that I had used
‘Memento’, effectively in using film noire in a more modern style. Most people wanted to watch
more and started to ask questions. This shows that the film I created with my group raised
narrative enigmas as well as attracted the audience (if they were not interested then they would
not have been gripped and asked for more).
 6.What have you learnt about technologies from the process of
conducting the product?
• Before filming and producing a thriller introduction as part of my media coursework I was not very confident
in filming using a camera. However, I was familiar with the different camera angles and the impact they
achieve, I could just about turn a camera on and off . Undergoing this coursework has made me not only feel
more confident when referring to certain camera angles and the impact they achieve but it has also taught
me how to take different camera angles angles. For example, In the final filming meeting for example, I learnt
how to correctly master taking a low and high angle shot. I learnt this through filming a scene of Vedat hiding
behind a wall whilst spying on Aslihan. I wanted to create a mysterious atmosphere that according to Rubin
is under the Thrillers met genre, It also allows the viewer to question, an element which according to Gary
Braver should be included in every successful Thriller. Although we cut these shot’s out, and did not use
them due to the fact that we had taken a lot of shots outside and including them did not establish fluidity, I
still learnt something valuable.

• I had originally thought that this coursework wouldn’t be difficult and perhaps the easiest part would be the
editing and transferring the edited film onto a CD however, I discovered otherwise. At first we wanted to use
a Mac for the editing of our film however, we found this complicated to master and so we opted to using
windows media maker instead; we found that windows media maker was mush easier and the credits, music
and cutting were easily to do on the program. We had also previously used this program to edit our
preliminary task and were therefore, familiar with it. When our film finished and was put onto a CD, we faced
another problem; the film was freezing and stopping through out. We attempted to burn our film on various
other CD’s and after a long effort and many tries it finally worked. From this we learnt that it would have been
better to finish editing earlier in the process as this will leave more time to solve any technical difficulties
which are likely to occur.
• While conducting the product I became familiar with a fire-wire; A cable which I was
not familiar with at all. A fire wire enables the film to be loaded on to the Computer or
pc from the camera. Using this cable is particularly helpful as it is fast and crucial
during the editing process.

• Whilst editing we learnt how to use technology to cover up, or make less visible any
errors that we made. After editing was complete and we were watching the end
product we realized that there was jump shots in between and as jump shots stopped
fluidity and make it look unrealistic and unprofessional we came up with the idea of
putting credits in-between the jump shots. As this technique was used in ‘A room for
Romeo Brass’, it seemed like a good one, and it was.

• During the production process, I found that the planning was the easiest part. The
paperwork (production schedule, shooting script etc) was easy to bring together and
so was the making of the storyboard. It is the actual undergoing of acting and filming
that was harder. This is because many factors could hinder or change the initial
storyboard, which is what we found happened with our group. For example we initially
planned on having an establishing shot of a swinging light bulb at the start but opted
for a shot of Aslihan walking down the basement stairs instead. We also included in
the storyboard that the telephone conversation should be conducted in the living rom
rather than the kitchen. In saying this however, the changes that were being made
were not bad, they greatly improved our film and increased the realism which in turn
increased the thriller atmosphere we wanted to create. For example, Filming in the
Basement is much more believable than filming in a living room and attempting to
make it look like a basement.
7.Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel that you have
learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
• The preliminary task was not as easy as the coursework in the sense that due to undergoing the
preliminary task I became much more familiar with using the camera and confident in creating a film
which leans towards a certain metagenre; Thriller. I underwent the role of producer ,in both tasks
and this possibly made it easier. We also used in our film many aspects or techniques that were
used in our preliminary task. These include things such as the close up shot of the phone and the
shot of Anna's legs that panes up. In our final product, we replicated these as shown in the close-up
of the article of the murder taking place, at the end of our Thriller introduction. The pan up on Annas
legs was also used as inspiration for our final product and so we used this technique to pan up on
Aslihan’s legs as she walked down the stairs.

• As part of the coursework I also had to undergo extensive research on Thrillers therefore, making
me feel much more confident in working within a specific metagenre. The preliminary task did not
involve research and so in this sense it did not prove beneficial in progressing me to making the full,
final product. Research gave us many ideas which we used to construct the storyboard. For
example, through researching contemporary thriller films we used the establishing shot of the
moving Polaroid picture in Memento, as our inspiration. We decided to include a moving light bulb at
the start however, due to lack of time and changes which were made to the storyboard later on we
ended up not including this. We also watched the silence of the lambs for ideas on how to use
music. Our preliminary task did not involve research and so did not really widen our understanding
but it did however, teach us the importance of understanding and being familiar with the met genre
or genre that you are filming.
• Storyboarding was a vital stage in our product as it gave us a lead and made the whole group
aware of what was going to happen as well as when and where it was going to happen. We spent
much more time preparing for our final product and constructing the storyboard than we did
constructing the storyboard for the preliminary task. In other words the preliminary task gave us
an idea or a head start in constructing storyboards however, when it came to doing the final
products storyboard it was much more detailed and precise in comparison to tht of the
preliminary task.

• I am happy with the final product and in particular with the shots taken in the basement. This is
because I think they communicate the tense, mysterious atmosphere that we hoped to create
particularly well. I also like the shots of the kitchen however, I think that if the lighting was darker
rather than being bright, it would have been better. This is because brightness and sunshine have
positive connotations and as this is a psychological thriller cloudy and rainy whether would have
been better suited, as this would create an eerie, dark atmosphere. If I was to do this coursework
again however, then my main focus would be on the time. I would allow sufficient time to do
everything and especially to undergo the editing process. Above all though, I think my film was a
success because when I showed my finished film to a group of people that are from the target
audience, they were attracted mostly to the basement scenes and use of film noir. From this I
learnt that I had used ‘Memento’ as inspiration effectively; using film noire in a modern style. Most
people wanted to watch more and started to ask questions. This shows that the film I created with
my group raised narrative enigmas as well as attracted the audience (if they were not interested
then they would not have been gripped and asked for more).
• I think mainly from doing the preliminary task I have also learnt that organisation of actors,
locations, costumes and props are extremely important. All of these contribute to making
the film realistic and therefore more believable. As this is a thriller it is very important that
the audience believe the narrative otherwise the desired effect on the audience will not be
achieved; the audience will not be on the edge of their seat and begin to raise narrative
enigma’s. For example our preliminary task was carried out in an English classroom this
was very realistic in comparison with our final product, which was filmed in various
locations one of which included a basement. I have also learnt through progressing through
to the final product that make-up is a very important part of film making and contributes
immensely to the films realism. I found that this was particularly important for our film
because the male protagonist had to appear vulnerable in comparison to the femme fatale.
And this look we achieved by applying make-up to Serhans face, making it as if he was
punched and tortured.

Film showing make-up application