Media Evaluation

I also decided to put a copy of the transcript there for fun....

This is my evaluation of my thriller opening media project, for AS media studies.

Question 1

In what ways does your media project use, develop or challenge the forms and conventions of real media products?

My project uses the conventions of a real media product by having the beginning section in black and white. This is very film noir and is also true in ‘Momento’. I think ‘Momento’ is a very good comparison to mine, because it also uses a voice over and is not in chronological order, like ours. We also went for having a blond girl as the victim, which is quite stereotypical and used in many films to give the sense of innocence and naivety.

We challenged the conventions by having upbeat and modern music, rather than the traditional orchestral music. This is the only way I think we challenged the forms of real media products, however we had the idea of using the sound of handcuffs against metal, but decided that this was too cliché, therefore choosing against it.

We also shot in the day time in a busy public place which is unusual as the location in a thriller film is normally in a secluded deserted place.

Question 2

How does your media project represent a particular social group?

The criminal in this piece has an east London accent with a deep resonance in his voice making him sound like a man who you are immediately intimidated by. This is common in other thriller films as the criminals are often shown as to be rough looking and often have a much e than the other characters.

The victim in this piece is portrayed as being weak and vulnerable, which is a common stereotype for young blond women. She is also an ordinary girl making the audience relate and sympathise with her

Question 3

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

I think that Universal Studios would distribute our product, due to the fact that we share a target audience with the type of films they produce. They have made many different films with the same themes and I think they would be good at making the film, how we want it giving us freedom and advice where appropriate.

Question 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

I think that the audience best suited to my product would be male aged 1816-25. This is because; the film would be composed of quick moving action but would have intelligent twists. The main character is also young, giving the audience someone to relate to. The background music is quite modern keeping the young audience engaged and entertained.

Question 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

Our opening section was intriguing and encouraged audiences to want more by having good lighting effects and engaging action. We also used informal language to connect with the young target audience.

Question 6

What have you learnt about technology from the construction of this product?

I have learnt how to the use Final Cut Pro and soundtrack pro, which has given me a wider knowledge and understanding of how to creates a successful, engaging opening. This included cuts, fades, split screens, layering, voice over and contrasting effects. I also learnt how to dub non-diajetic sounds onto the timeline.

Question 7

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

I have learnt much more about editing and now feel confident in using black and white, audio dubbing, split screen, transitions and advanced camera movement. We had to think about the artistic style which were going for so using different angles and positioning lighting effectively. I also wanted to be more creative and so the freedom of doing whatever we wanted helped to inspire me a lot.

Overall I think that our media project was very successful and I learnt a lot from this experience.

Working with Soundtrack Pro

We both found working with this program quite hard. But after a lot of practice, we managed to create a successful soundtrack suitable for our Thriller opening.

Soundtrack Pro is a full-featured professional audio application that has been designed specifically for audio post-production work on video and film projects. As we started to use this program more frequently, we started to find more sounds that would fit into our Thriller appropriately.

We found a short piano piece,which is really appropriate but does come in with a beat which distracts the audience. We struggled to find the effects to make the sound get louder or softer but after asking loads of people and searching about, we found the fade in and found out controls. For a while, we also looked at trying to cut the drum beat out of the track but were unsuccessful.

In the final edit, we used a drone to give the piece atmosphere and then added in the piano piece to give it an inoccent feel, making the audience feel sorry for ther girl. In the second section, of the film, we left it silent with just the diajetic, cafeteria sounds.

Shot List and Props

Shot List
Date Shot Description
30/11/08 Close-Up Shot of Clock
fade
30/11/08 Close-Up Ask Tray with Half smoked cigarette
fade
30/11/08 Close-Up Smashed photo frame of picture
fade
30/11/08 Close-Up Papers mixed on desk
fade
30/11/08 Tracking Tracks up mans body
cut
30/11/08 P.O.V. Lift Doors open
cut
30/11/08 Tracking Follows girls feet as she walks
cut
30/11/08 Long Shot Girl walking in carpark


Note: We had to add on an ending bit because out piece wasn't long enough and so we came up with the idea that it shows the daughter who was on the phone, going to the cafe, the day before.
This seems to work but at the end of the lesson, we were told that it still wasn't long enough, so we will have to change it next lesson.

Props
Clock
Ask Tray and Cigarette
Photo and Frame
Folders
Phone

Original Idea Synopsis

Throughout the whole scene, there is orchesteral music and an answer phone message plays, showing a youngish girl speaking and during the message she says something like 'Hi dad, haven't seen you for ages, just wondering why you didnt come to the cafe yesterday.... i waited for ages but you didn't show. Just making sure your ok?' etc.

The shot fades up on a clock which is hanging on a wall in a semi-dark room. There is a lamp on but the main source of light is coming from the window which is half covered by a striped blind, making the room have stripes of shadow. It then fades to a panning shot moving up a body from the legs. Another fade takes us to a cigarette burning out in an ash tray and then to some messed up papers on a desk. This is showing us evidence of a struggle. The next shot is the phone hanging off the hook. We here a grunt and it cuts to a mans hand, tied up on the arm of the chair. There is a masked man interrogating the tied up man and after a bit we here a gun shot.

This was our original idea but Ms Knott thought that having a gun shot would make it harder to be realistic so we took it out. We also thought that having an interrogater at all was hard because it was difficult to have dialogue and keep it looking proffesional. The last thing we changed at this stage was having the panning shot of the man at the beginning, so instead we moved it to the end.

Reviewing 'Hysteria'

In our lesson, we watched some of the last years thriller openings and i have chosen to give analytical feedback on 'Hysteria'.

The titles were presented in a standard font, in white, on a black background. this is done to make it look ordinary because the focus isn't really on the names. On the black background, there is out of focus lights moving across as though it is a torch searching for something, or someone! This is a good mood setter as it immediatly implies a dark, scary theme in the first few seconds.

I thought that the variety of shots used in this opening was very good and there are a few specific ones i'd like to analyse. They chose to use a high angled shot where the camera was in the top corner of the room, giving the impression that they are being watched or are on CCTV. The idea of never being alone or being watched is common in thriller films and this idea was used well. I think that this group may have over complicated things a bit when they used a watermarked extreme close up of the characters eyes on top of another shot. When she takes out the rubbish, there is a really nice low angle shot from in the bushes, used, again to give the idea of being watched or stalked.

As a whole piece, I wasn't certain that it was a thriller film, just because there seemed to be a lot of action happening and this is more a characteristic of a slasher or horror film. They did, however, use classic thriller techniques, as in there were a lot of still shots and this wasn't too complicated, but the storyline gave off the feeling of other genres. Something that added to the feeling of a thriller film, was the music. There was a lot of non-diajetic, orchestral music playing which set the atmosphere and made me feel tense. There was also diajetic bangs and crashes which made me jump and kept me engaged.

The last thing i noticed, was the mise-en-scene. I liked the use of lighting, especially when she went outside because the lights were from the house, making her sillhouted. The torch beam was also effective, but it seemed that she found it on a washing line which confused me! The fact that it was dark added to the atmosphere and made it feel 'thrillery' contrasting to the red costume, used to represent danger.

Overall, i enjoyed this opening, but thought that it could have been more thrillery and that if they were organised then they could have foun a way to pick up the torch before leaving the house, rather that finding it on a washing line!!

Thriller Actors

I have researched the most well known thriller actors in the business and have found alot of information about them.

First on the list is Tom Cruise. He has apperead in many thiller films, incuding 'Collateral', 'Minority Report', 'War of the Worlds' and the 'Mission Impossible' trilogy. He was born on the 3rd of July, 1962, in New York and is a scientoligist.
His most recent thriller film is the third 'Mission Impossible' film, which stars him. Here is the trailor for it...

In this trailor, the opening section is Tom Cruise's character, Ethan Hunt, being interrogated. This also opens the film and is very effective as the interogator is asking him questions that we don't understand about a 'Rabbitfoot'. This scene is repeated later on in the film and so, as an audience, we already know what is going to happen, the bit that we need to work out, is why it happened!


The next actor i am going to look at, is Matt Damon. Thriller films that he has appeared in, include 'The Departed', 'The Bourne Identity' series and 'The Oceans Eleven' series. He was born on the 8th of October, 1970, in Boston and now has 2 children.
One of his most recen films is 'Ocean's Thirteen'. This is the trailor for it...

The last time we saw Danny Ocean's crew, they were paying back ruthless casino mogul Terry Benedict after stealing millions from him. However, it's been a while since they've come back together, which is all about to change. When one of their own, Reuben Tishkoff builds a hotel with known casino owner Willy Banks, the last thing he ever wanted was to get cut out of the deal personally by the loathsome Banks. Banks' attitude even goes so far as to finding the amusement in Tishkoff's misfortune when the double crossing lands Reuben in the hospital because of a heart attack. However, Danny and his crew won't stand for Banks and what he's done to a friend. Uniting with their old enemy Benedict, who himself has a vendetta against Banks, the crew is out to pull off a major plan. One that will unfold on the night Banks' newest hot spot opens up, when the crew is out to bankrupt one of the city's most despised businessmen. But they're not in this for the money, but for the revenge.


The final actor I am going to look at is Nicole Kidman. She is an australian actress and has appeared in such thriller films as 'To Die For', 'The Others', 'Eyes Wide Shut' and 'Dogville'. She was born on the 20th of June, 1967, in Honolulu and was once married to Tom Cruise.

A recent film that she has been in is 'The Others'. This is the trailor for it...
A woman named Grace retires with her two children to a mansion on Jersey, towards the end of the Second World War, where she's waiting for her husband to come back from battle. The children have a disease which means they cannot be touched by direct sunlight without being hurt in some way. They will live alone there with oppressive, strange and almost religious rules, until she needs to hire a group of servants for them. Their arrival will accidentally begin to break the rules with unexpected consequences.


These are all modern actors and have been rated in the top ten thriller actors, at present.

In this blog, I have used information from: http://movies.toptenreviews.com/
http://www.imdb.com/
http://www.youtube.com/
http://www.google.co.uk/

Thanks...

Survey

I have been asking people a series of questions about what they think thrillers are and most people aren't clear on this.

What is a Thriller film?

People thought that thriller films would be scary and contain alot of jumps. They would be contain alot of adreneline and car chases and would thrill you. It would include alot of danger and somebody trying to solve the mystery. They are constantly thinking 'Will they, Won't they...?' and keep your pulse beating.

This is the general public's view on what a thriller film is and it I think it is pretty closet. Wikipedia's definition of a thriller film is:

'Thrillers are characterized by fast pacing, frequent action, and resourceful heroes who must thwart the plans of more-powerful and better-equipped villains. Literary devices such as suspense, red herringsand cliffhangers are used extensively.'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thriller_films#Film 4th November 2008

Which of the Following films would you describe as a thriller?
A) The Bourne Identity
B) House of Wax
C) Saw
D)Lord Of The Rings

Most people thought that Saw was a thriller film, however this film is from the horror genre. Other people thought that House of Wax is a thriller, this is also a horror film as certain characteristics make it so, e.g. it is more gorey and less action packed. The right answer is The Bourne Identity, this includes chases and is much more thoughtful and clever. Horror films are normally just pointless killings and make the audience scared, rather than making them think.

Who do you think is the target audience of a thriller film?

Most people think that the target audience for a thriller film ia aimed at teenage boys, who are interested in high speed car chases, big explosions and action packed scenes, but this is not true. I think that the typical target audience for a thriller is between the ages of 16 and 35, and someone who likes the challenge of working out the answer or the secret killer. They will like an adreniline rush but are just as into thinking about the story line.

In conclusion, i don't think that the general public really know what a thriller film. Because thriller uses ideas from horror, mystery and other genres, sometimes films might no have a clear, definate genre.

Evaluation of preliminary

This is the final project of our preliminary exercise.


We really enjoyed the work we did in the edit suite and particularly like the cut where it switches between Jordan reaching for the door and the door handle, into the room. It is good because the cut looks smooth and when th e door opens you can see Lizzy in the room. However, it does look slightly out of focus.

Something that didn't, orignally work, is that there was drilling going on outside the classroom, where we were filming. We didn't notice this until we came to the editing suite, made the cut and noticed the inconsistency in the sound. We corrected this by fading the sound out on one of the clips. If we were to film again, we would have liked to put in the actual music for the intro of 'Man I Feel Like A Woman', instead of just Alex's voice, to make it sound more complete and professional.

We did have some difficulties during the filming process for example, we went through and filmed the whole prelim excersise got to the editing suite and realised we had no sound, this was fustrating as it was all because we didnt flick the correct switch. however we learnt a valuable lesson and in future we will always remember to check the sound.

It has given us a taster for filming and editing and it will be exciting to do it for real when creating our thriller openings, now we have had a chance to practice techniques such at the 180 degrees technique, the over the shoulder technique, also keeping continuity throughout. Next time around we will have already made the initial technical errors and will be ready to get more creative. Think about costumes, settings, lights, music and make it as exciting, tense and atmospheric as possible.

Editing the Preliminary Exercise

We first filmed the preliminary task in the T.V. studio, and when it came to editing it, we found out that the switches on the microphone had been changed and so no sound was recorded. This meant that we would have to re-record the whole task, again.

In a way I think that making this mistake at the beginning of the course has benefitted our group for two reasons:

• We now know to check, everytime we use a camera, that the sound is turned on and is recorded.

• I think it's better that this has happened to us now, at a point when we are still learning how to use the cameras and can easily re-film it, as opposed to when we are filming an important task which we can't film again.

I think that we have all learnt form our mistake and can improve on our filming by checking it everytime.

After filming a second time, we edited our preliminary task. We began this by looking through the video files, which we had uploaded the previous lesson, and finding where we want the first clip to start. We then pressed 'Set in' on the keyboard and it cuts the clip into that specific point. We then continue to watch it and when it gets to the point where we wanted to change angle, we paused it and pressed 'Set out' on the keyboard.

Once we had chosen how we want the clip, we dragged the clip and put it onto the time line. We repeated this on every shot that we wanted incuding a shot reverse shot and an establishing shot.

When we had applied this technique to the whole short film, we had to put credits on the end as well.

At first I didn't know how to do this, until Jack showed me. Under the preview screen, there is a small 'A' meaning you can input text onto the video file. When I clicked on it, a list of options came down. We pressed 'Rolling Credits' and then onto 'Controls' where we wrote in our names. When we previewed it, the credits had been set to be in the centre and to roll form top to bottom, so this is what happened.

We then dragged the credits onto the end of the time line and this was the end of the editing process.

Spy Thrillers

I have done some research on a sub-genre in thrillers called spy thrillers. when researching this, a film cropped up several times. The film is called Dr. No and was the first of the famous 'James Bond' films, which are still being made today. In the film James Bond is a secret agent for the British Government and has to save the world in an action packed adventure.

A rough outline of the target audience of the James Bond films, and other thrillers, is 16-30 and appeals to both sex's.

'They appeal because they are action-packed, have fantastic special effects and gadgetry, secrecy, danger and have a variety of exotic locations.'

wayland publishers (1991). Adventure Films. london: wayland publishers limited. p18-19.

This is saying that people will want to see a spy thriller because it will have a lot of adreneline and can make your heart race.

A general story line for a spy thriller is the hero has to try and kill and unseen enemy before they kill him.

Alex Evans