y the objects are there and who they belong to, which they then go on to find out. The use of these conventions establishes that it is not a horror or action thriller, but a typical one with a twist. Our use of the diary at the beginning to establish the scene, for the credits and the film title indicates that we were influenced by the film Se7en. This is a screen print from Final Cut Express of editing the shots of the credits on the diary.We were influenced by the turning of the pages, and shaky camera shots, both of which add tension to the scene, and create an air of mystery. The following clip is the opening to “Se7en” which inspired us to recreate the effect used.
How does your media product represent particular social groups? Our media product represents a limited amount of social groups, as our actors were all young and white, with male characters outnumbering female ones. If our film was to be made by a Hollywood Studio, for example Universal Studios there would be a larger range of people available to star in it, so more social groups could be represented, which would increase the appeal to the target audience. Gender is represented in a fairly typical way, as the female character appears to be vulnerable, as she is unaware that she is being watched and then gets kidnapped. This is similar to the film Taken where a young girl is kidnapped from what comes across as an innocent setting. This links to the target audience, as it is made up of mostly young people and the film is more relevant to them, as they can relate to the characters and their situations.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
I think our thriller would be produced by a major Hollywood Studio because it is similar to films produced previously on a larger scale, like “Taken”. However, to make it appeal to more people, the setting could be changed, for example it could be filmed in a more recognisable place, like New York or London. I think as it is a typical thriller, there would be no need to make it for an Art house or the internet only as it could go straight to cinema release for example with UK cinema chains such as Cineworld or Odeon . It also offers opportunities for sequels, as the storyline could extend or lead into other films, either with a similar storyline, or with the development of characters. It could also lead to merchandising deals, for example the diary could be recreated as a special "Occupation" deal with a company such as Filofax.
Who would be the audience for your media product? Our target audience is made up of mainly young people, probably under the age of 20, they are mainly male, as Thriller films are generally aimed at a male audience, however there is a minority of females that would also watch our type of film. Because the style of our film is a typical thriller containing a kidnap scene of a young girl, the appeal would be mainly to the male audience, however this can also appeal to the female part of our target audience as they could be looking for a film with a thrilling element. The films similar to ours which have already been released are “Taken” and “Se7en”, both of which we were inspired by. These films appeal to the same target audience as ours, young people who are mainly male and enjoy films with an element of mystery and tension.
How did you attract/address your audience? We decided by looking at the Film Certification Guidelines that our film would be a 12 certification, as it fitted the criteria for this, as there was not enough horror, violence or nudity to make it a 15 certification, therefore our main target audience would be young people, mainly older teenagers. The watching and kidnap scenes in our opening in particular, would terrify the female members of the audience as they would put themselves into the shoes
of the protagonist and imagine if what was happening onscreen happened to them or someone they knew. The camera work in these scenes is mainly handheld, point of view shots, which make it seem more realistic, making the audience feel as if it is actually happening as they watch it. The female members of the audience are asked to put themselves in the shoes of the protagonist, which also puts them in a privileged position as they are aware of the fact she is being watched. This is a screen print from Final Cut Express of editing the clips of the protagonist being watched, the first screen through the window, and the second when she is about to be kidnapped outside. However, the male members of the audience are more likely to associate with the person watching the protagonist as they see her in a vulnerable situation. The impact of this is that the audience becomes involved in the story and get a better viewing experience from the film as there is a strong sense of tension and the creation of suspense evokes emotion from the audience.What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product? The camera equipment that we used was good enough to enable us to capture a fairly good quality length of footage, this could have improved by using a high definition camera, but I think we did well and made the best of what was available to us. During the filming process, the only real problem that we faced was with batteries for the camera as they kept dying, but once we had charged them properly, as they hadn’t been before, we were able to get on with filming which after that, went quite smoothly. We were able to improve the quality of our footage by using studio lights for our indoor filming, and light reflectors and diffusers for our outdoor filming, all of which I previously owned. I am very pleased with the improvements I have made personally with the editing software we used, Final Cut Express. Throughout this process I gained knowledge of how to use lots of various effects, particularly Superimposing which we used in our opening and this meant I could do a lot of the editing myself.
This is a screen print of the diary credits, and on the second screen, the superimposing I learnt to do which we used in our film. We also used Garagebandto create our soundtrack, mixing pieces together from a Royalty Free Music website together, to make it right for us. I had not used this program before, so it took me a while to get used to using it, but after experimenting with it for a while, I am now able to create, record and mix tracks.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel that you have learnt in the progression from it to the final product? I learned a lot from the preliminary task but I feel I have personally improved in various areas. My use of specific shot types has improved greatly, especially the tilts and point of view shots. I think this has been mainly because of gaining experience with the equipment which I now feel more confident with. I am very pleased with the progress I have made throughout the Preliminary task and the main project as I am now much more confident with the equipment and the effects I can create by using certain shots.
Overall, I think our final media product is successful at fulfilling the task set as it is a suspenseful opening to a thriller film that would entice the viewer enough so that they would watch the rest of the film. I am very happy with our final project, and the improvements I have made personally with using the equipment and creating an effective final outcome.
