Zoë Atherton's Evaluation

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

Convention of thriller 1
Enigma
(A puzzle, or to cause mystery, confusion)

2
Protaganist
(Perhaps weak or defenseless and often stereotypically the character is female)

3
Antagonist
(Perhaps the character with most domineering authority, often a 'baddie')

4
Suspense
(Evokes many questions, keeping the viewers interest)

5
Binary opposites
(People who are starkly different and find themselves in a situation together)

  All the above conventions of a thriller were used in our opening sequence through:

 Sound 

• Non- diegetic sound: The added sounds of ravens and slow footsteps create an eerie, unstable atmosphere.

• Soundtrack: The crescendo of high pitched sounds and drum beats that follow the pan up the father creates suspense.

 Mise en scene

• Setting: The evening light in the woodland scene was low but clear, the dark was drawing in as if representing a foreboding atmosphere. The setting of a woodland is quite conventional in a thriller, so the audience immediately feel uneasy.
 • Props: Originally we thought of using a fake gun - but a baseball bat seemed a far more cruel, heartless weapon that would make a prolonged, painful attack aswell as being easier to do (no tacky animated gun shots or the possibility of the public calling the police!) which illustrated just how sinister the father was.
The vases of vibrant flowers, the gold statues in front of the gold mirror and the antique teacups suggests a theme of wealth that the family have an unhealthy obsession with.
The photo of the daughter shows the reversal in time, which gets the viewers asking questions like how the father got to the point of having to kill his daughter, therefore introducing an enigma in the story.
   • Costume/hair and makeup: Straight away it is obvious that the father is the antagonist and the daughter the protagonist as his costume is all black to hide his identity and he wore a leather jacket as it is a cold material and also wears gloves to 'cover his tracks'. For a stark contrast the daughter looked youthful and friendly by wearing a checked shirt, leggings and trainers. All characters have no dialogue so the audience are totally focused on the situation at hand and on the body language of the father (like when he opens the door), this creates an unknown, ominous atmosphere.

Editing

• Cross cutting: From the first scene in the woods between the father walking through the trees and the daughter lying on the floor show both are connected in some way and create suspense.

Lighting

• Low key lighting: The first scene in the woods was simply lit with a reflector and a key light just so you could see the daughter's features clearly, yet we still wanted a dimly lit scene to convey the time of day and fit the scary mood. The father is lit with a backlight which separates him from the background to keep his identity unknown and create more of a black silhouette.

• High key lighting: The second scene in the house is a complete contrast due to the vibrancy of colour. We set up two large key lights and a handheld light from different angles to the subjects to ensure there were no big shadows and to direct attention to the various props showing the wealth of the family.

Camerawork

• Shot angles: The first scene in the woods uses camerawork that is from the father's point of view. The canted angles and shaky movement of the camera makes it more realistic and provokes an enigma - who is walking through the woods? The high angle shot of the daughter highlights that she is weak and the worms eye view (and continuous low angle shots) of the father emphasises his power.

• Shot distances: Extreme close-ups of the daughter show her vulnerablilty and make the audience uncomfortable.

• Tracking/panning: The slow track along the daughter's body gives suspense as the audience don't know if she is dead.

 Personally inspired by:
 No Country for Old Men as it showed a thriller didn't have to be complete action. It was wonderfully reflective and had eerie shots of the landscape. We chose to incorporate some creepy woodland shots in our own thriller opening, which i thought worked well.  

 Is our media product different to others?
Our opening sequence is different as we went away from the classic 'beginning, middle and end' time frame and put the middle first. This is because we wanted the viewer to begin asking questions like 'who killed the girl?' and start scrutinising characters.

2.) How does your media product represent particular social groups?
 A social group (gender, sexual orientation, age, social class and ethnicity)




The social groups we used: sexuality, gender and age

The antagonist (the daughter)
Age and Gender

Young, female teenager gives connotations to - 

vulnerability, being unable to fend for herself and being reliant on parents. Stereotypically feminine: submissive, powerless (shown through body language of her on the ground) and a typical modern teen (casual style: checked shirt, pumps and leggings).

 The protagonist (the father)

Age and Gender 

middle aged, male father gives connotations to-

A lack of moral compass, powerful and dangerous. Stereotypically male: a dominant character, in control of the situation and strong. His black leather costume and baseball bat portray him as a heartless, secretive and treacherous villain. 

We reverted to highlighting the gender stereotypes because, truth be told, the audience would then find it easier to understand and find it more realistic. 

  

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

You Tube 
One of the most popular ways of distributing your product is via YouTube- as it's quick and user-friendly -and also the slightly younger broadcasting channel Netflix.

Being aspiring film producers, we wouldn't have the luxury of expensive distributors and sales agents.
We would use a small independent British distributor company like 'Coffee Films'. 

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

 Gender and Age 
Possibly aimed at a male audience (as a generalisation because of the violence) and as the main character is male.
This film would be of interest to those in their teens and older because anyone any younger would find the concept of the father murdering his daughter too shocking. The characters are also relatable for this older audience as the girl is a teen and the parents older.

 Age Certificate 
15

Containing violence and strong language 
 - British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) -

 The opening has our main character, the father-turned-ganster, beating his daughter to death is violent. The fact he is a member of a fearsome, money-mad gang means there will be swearing, so i believe it fits the 15 rating!
After considering our audience, I think films they would enjoy are:

The Godfather Trilogy 

5.) How did you attract/address your audience?

 - We attracted them into the film by making it not chronologically ordered, making it more interesting and resulting in questions being asked like, "why is the girl being killed?".

-  We kept the viewers attention with the p.o.v filming, where the father was walking - where is he going? This gives suspense. Then we hid his identity by making him silhouetted, making the story more mysterious and complex.

- We addressed our audience by casting a young, weak teenage girl whom many can relate to and feel emotionally attached to.
  

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

Final cut pro: once uploading a clip you place it on the timeline and pick where the cut will be. Drag the line to the desired cut and cut it using the cutting tool, which will then leave unwanted footage which you will need to delete. Then to close the gap you drag the two shots together. Then we had to render each clip.
colour saturation: created a sinister atmosphere for the opening in the woods and played a nice contrast with the bright, grand scene in the house.
Enlarging and cropping shots: To get closer in on facial expressions/body language (like the father's concerned face getting up to answer the door). 
Blogging: Never used before but found it easy and user friendly. I had a couple of times where i accidentily used safari to upload work which caused mayhem as it jumbled up pictures and text, which wasted alot of time. But when remembering to use the correct internet browser, i found it quick and simple. The multi-media option where you can upload images and videos can illustrate what you are trying to say.
Camera: I learnt to always use the white balance on the camera each time you are in a different position (which is sometimes easy to forget, so meant we had to really double check and sometimes redo shots), for this is part of the continuity of the filming. It enhances the colour instead of a fake yellowy- orange glow. To do this you hold a white sheet of paper in front of the camera lense and press on the white balance symbol.
Tripod: We had some moments in our film where alot of time was spent keeping the camera straight and not canted. For instance, the tripod had to be placed on a flat surface and the camera placed on the platform of the tripod correctly all to ensure the correct angle was shot.

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

what was different with our thriller opening:
Framing: shots were framed better. For instance, after alot of practice shots we finally perfected the shot of the father getting up from the sofa to answer the door. In our prelim when i sat down in the chair (a similar moving shot) there was alot of negative space above my head.
The lighting: our prelim had massively strong lights. In our thriller opening we used makeup to ensure that no reflections of the skin or shine was seen, and the lighting was slightly dimmed down.

 I feel i have improved in using final cut pro- especially from knowing nothing at the start. I now know how to cut and edit, to add foley sounds by recording them, to add sounds using garage band.