Evaluation

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge the forms and conventions of real media products?
Our film includes a number of forms and conventions typical of the thriller genre. Most thrillers rely heavily on music, hoping it will create the perfect dramatic soundtrack and reinforce what they are trying to convey (for example, a crescendo may be used at a pivotal moment.) I think we used music to a good effect, especially to create tension and a suspenseful atmosphere during the chase and discovery sequences. We also conformed to the conventions of the thriller by choosing not to reveal the indentity of the killer. In most thrillers, this is usually one of the last mysteries to be revealed, having led the audience through a number of twists and turns and eventually shocking them at the end by revealing a villian completely different to the person they suspected. By concealing the murderer, we created a feeling of suspense and left scope for it to be maintained throughout the rest of the film. However, where our film challenges the conventions of real thriller films is the contrast between the comparitively relaxed opening and the following chase scene. The shots of scenery and the voice-over talking about the small-town do not throw the audience directly into the action as with most thrillers, they settle them.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?
In terms of character, I feel our film represents two particular groups. The opening voiceover implies a young woman, who happens to be old before her time. She talks about a town which is classed as 'dead' and seems wise to everything that is going on. The town in question is said to have an aging population where the residents are 'hard-working, honest and religious'. This social group of people is very easy to conjure an image of in your mind, and the audience will feel that they are good people who don't deserve to live in a town so plagued by disapperences. Our film also represents teenagers. Although the media nowadays tends to portray the younger generation as living crazy lifestyles, spending time drinking and partying, our film shows how vulnerable teenage girls especially can be.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
A film institution such as film4 would be best to distribute our product. They are a British company, famous for creating films using British money, directors and actors, which our film has done too. They responsible for gritty down-to-earth films such as 'This is England' and 'Slumdog Millionaire'. They don't rely on explosions and special effects as Hollywood produced films tend to do and work more on creating an air of realism - something we have tried to achieve in our media product. Film4 is assured as the best choice as most of its films are aimed at the younger generation - like ours is. Its films are shown both on its tv channel and in the cinema, making them very accessable for teenagers and young adults.

How did you attract/address your audience?
We aimed to attract our audience by contrasting the initial and fairly relaxed voiceover and scenery shots with the cut to a chase sequence. Just when the audience are settled we aimed to throw them into the action and hook them so they will want to continue to watching the rest of the film. Our film approaches a mature subject matter, hence attracting older teenagers and young adults.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of contructing this product?
I have learnt a lot about the technologies used in physically contructing a media product, in this case a film. Whilst filming I have learnt how to use a camera to its best effect and how to frame shots to portray what I wanted. I have also learnt how to take advantage of equipment such as the tripod for steady filming. Before I entered into the process of making this film, I was not aware of how much work went into the editing. This occupied my group and I for the bulk of the time we had to construct our film, and left us with knowledge of the program iMovie and some of the effects it can provide you with - slow motion, fade in, fade out and the 'dream' effect we used on the scenery shots at the beginning. I now have a good knowledge of how to edit a film, how to import music from iTunes, how to add text, how to record a voiceover and import it into the film, how to burn the film onto a disk and export the finished piece to Youtube.
I have also learnt how important new technologies such as the internet are to film-makers. Youtube especially is a brilliant platform to get your film seen by a wide audience, it is extremely simple to upload a clip onto it, and it is effectively free publicity. Many feature films have their trailers uploaded onto Youtube to generate a word-of-mouth campaign and make sure that as many people as possible hear about the film. Facebook was also a website that helped us in the process of making our product, we posted our thriller on the social networking site to gain feedback and it made our film even more accessable - there are always large numbers of people on Facebook at any one time. This did make me aware of the damages piracy causes, especially to independent film companies, as it is so easy to put films onto sites such as Youtube.

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you think you have learnt in the progression from it to you full product?
One of the key things I have learnt since filming our preliminary task is not to make any amateur mistakes. In one scene during our continuity piece, there is what is clearly a thumb in the corner of the screen. Our awareness of ourselves around the camera has improved greatly. My understanding of technology has hugely improved since the first task, I feel much more confident using iMovie and editing a film to convey different atmospheres. I also have a greater knowledge of camera shots and different cuts and how to use them to to their full effect. In our first task we attempted using quick cuts to create a building sense of tension - something we carried into the full product. In the final film I feel the cuts worked better as they seemed a lot smoother, the shots were all framed better and a lot more thought was put into the planning and filming of them.

Our finished piece!

Here is our finished thriller opening entitled 'The Forgotton'.




We posted our video on to Youtube for two reasons, one, so we could easily post it onto the blog and two, in the hope of generating feedback. However, none was received, possibly due to the sheer amount of films on the site. We then posted it to Facebook as it would be more accessable this way (it would appear on everyone's 'news feed' so at the click of one button they would be watching our piece.) We requested any type of feedback, praise, suggestions and criticisms. Here are some quotes of feedback that we recieved...

"Really good use of different shots/camera angles. Creates a good effect."

"The music in your piece is brilliant, and I think you've done a good job of creating a continuous feeling of suspense."

"I really enjoyed your film. I thought your title sequence (splitting up the action) is very effective and makes it look professional."

"Really well done! I think you've edited it very well, especially the murder. I would actually buy this film!"

"This had everything which makes me not want to watch a thriller...spooky backdrop, clues to sinister events, a struggle for survival (futile) and a gruesome discovery. It's the suspense and shocks which I can't cope with and this introduction would have me seriously worried about the horrid events to follow...it's back to Disney for me, I'm afraid !"

"I know how much hard work they put in whilst filming and planning for this and i think it has paid off. I especially like how the costume is realistic. Well done!"

We were very grateful for the praise we received, especially regarding how we chose to edit our piece.

Music

As music is crucial in creating an atmosphere to any film, we spent many an hour trying to find the perfect soundtrack. Ideally, we wanted instrumental, copyright free tracks, but this meant that our search was severely limited.

To accompany the voiceover and shots of scenery at the beginning we decided on Everything is Broken - Bob Dylan. It involved us cutting up the song so it was purely instrumental; words in the song probably would have become confusing given that it was to be played in the background of a voiceover.

For the chase sequence, we wanted something that sounded dark and dramatic. We found that Cthlu Thlu - Caravan fitted perfectly. It has an ominous tone to it and the timing seemed to work out even better then we anticipated. For example after the quiet and eerie start of the song, the guitar kicks in just as the victim reaches a tree to pause and look over her shoulder. This makes for, what we felt, was a striking moment within our piece. Also, during the murder sequence, the victim's foot conveniently twitches in time to the words 'no, no, no' in the song.

We wanted something subtle to act as background music for when the two hikers discover the body, as thrillers are rarely absent a soundtrack especially during pivotal moments such as bodies being found. Maroon 5 -Secret has an introduction that lasts 1minute and 40 seconds, the first 48 seconds of which is purely high-pitched, haunting notes that are held for a long time and overlap each other. It created exactly the atmosphere we wanted.

Stills from filming

Here are some stills we took on location on the day of filming...

New storyboard

As our location change resulted in a plot change, another storyboard was necessary.

The general plot of the film is one centered around a chase sequence. We will begin by showing four or five establishing shots of the woods. These will be accompanied by a voiceover telling of the narrator's town, the woods and suggesting all is not what it seems in the supposedly sleepy town. The action begins with the victim running down a hill in an area of harsh woodland. Eventually she falls, and whilst on the ground she is strangled by the murderer - the identity of whom will remain anonymous. The victim struggles but after a while her legs stop moving and her hand falls to the floor, showing the audience that she is clearly dead. Next, two hikers appear over the hill, talking casually. One drops a hiking pole and during the process of retrieving it, sees the body lying at the bottom of the hill. The hikers both rush to the body suggesting calling an ambulance and attempting to find a pulse. Their attempt is unsuccessful.

We have planned to include a variety of camera shots and angles, such as establishing, tracking, tilt, long, and medium shots, as well as close ups. We have also planned to utilise the slow motion effect in two places throughout the film.

Voiceover planning

Our inspiration for the voice-over came primarily from 'No Country for Old Men'. This film captures the rustic, neutral setting that we wanted to convey in our piece, and the voice-over combined with shots of the barren wasteland reinforce this. Whilst watching this opening it became clear that we all admired the way in which such a simple opening captured the audience's attention so well. No gimmicks are used, not even music, just a sombre tone and a powerful monologue. As our location, Cannock Chase, is not as aesthetically striking as the vast American plains shows in 'No Country' we decided that music in the background would benefit us. It could also aid us in helping set the unthreatening tone we required in the first few moments of our film, to create a greater contrast with the chase scene and the dark music used in it.



In our voiceover, we wanted to give an introduction to the town and set the scene a little bit. We knew that we wanted to give an impression of a small, rural town, unremarkable except for frequent disappearances.

Narrator: I've lived in this town my whole life, which is surprising because people don’t usually last that long. No-one stays. This town makes a nice stop for travellers who, true to their name, travel on. This town is dead. Nothing seems to go on here except...people disappear. You get used to it after a while. Most of them are never found. Beyond the town is Morse Woods and I figure that if you were going to be found, you'd be found in there. The few people who do stay here are hard-working, honest and religious. Even so, they've seen their fair share of murder.
*first scene of our thriller opening plays, ends with the victim lying dead on the ground*
Like I said...their fair share of murder.

Costume Sketches

These are sketches of the costumes that will be worn by the characters. The main girl will be dressed in jeans, a black vest top, a grey hoodie and a black leather jacket. These are very casual, non-descript clothes that are quite implacable and don't suggset too much about the character or setting. This allows the audience to completely focus on the murder, and also implies that any ordinary person could be the victim, creating an uneasy and unsettling feeling amongst the audience.

The hikers will be wearing typical hiking attire, waterproofs, fleeces, combat trousers, hiking socks and hiking boots to make them look as authentic as possible.