Evaluation Question 7 - Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Looking back from when we first filmed our preliminary task to our final product now, I can definitely see a vast improvement in most aspects of filming. We have learnt a lot with regards to the camera work (height and angles of the camera), the directing (where to put the camera and how the film should be played out) and the editing (how to use different techniques whilst editing and the use of special effects).

180-degree rule
When we first filmed our preliminary task we had to film it three times, and two of these times were because we had broken the 180-degree rule. We kept switching from different sides to film; this obviously broke the 180-degree rule and confused the audience. When we finally got it right, we took this experience and put it into play when filming the final production. We never had had to re-film because of the 180-degree rule so I feel that we had learnt how to use and apply this very important rule.



Shot/ Reverse Shot
With regards to the use of shot/reverse shot, looking back at the preliminary and how we applied the shot/reverse shot I feel that we gave too much head room and did not focus enough on the characters expressions, so this is what we had to work on:









But after looking in much detail at this error, when filming the final production, we made sure that the characters expression was fully in frame and did not allow too much head room which would show the audience ‘wasted space’ of the surroundings, this gave the production a much more professional look and added to the overall quality of the film.










Match on action
We fully used the extent of match on action when filming the final product but not so much when we was filming the preliminary task. When filming the preliminary task, we kind of rushed the footage, where looking back i think we should have filmed a little bit of quality footage and then came back to do it the next day. Learning from this, when filming the full product we made sure we had quality footage and if we did not finish filming we would use match on action and pick up from where we left off the next time we filmed. This technique was very useful and contributed to the quality of the full product.


Day 1 shooting
This is showing a shot that we took on day 1

Final shooting date
This is showing a shot taken on the final day of filming















Eye-line match
When we was filming the preliminary task we did not have any experience with regards to editing techniques such as an eye-line match, therefore we did not use this in the preliminary. But as we learnt more and more about editing techniques we found out how to use an eye-line match within our full product. We did this by shooting one shot of our character looking at something and then the camera switches to see what the character was looking at without panning. We used this to great effect in our full product and therefore i believe that this shows a great improvement in our skills with both the camera and using the editing software final cut pro from shooting our preliminary to shooting our full product.

Character looking at something:













Showing the audience what the character was looking at:












Extreme close-ups
When first shooting our preliminary we were not aware of how to use an extreme close up to mass effect, we would only use medium close ups:

Which did not show the intensity of the characters expressions, but through the research of different shots we realized how and when to use an extreme close-up. Within our final product we used an extreme close-up of our protagonist when she was waiting for Melinda:

This showed the audience that the intensity of the film was building and the character had an expression to prove this. I therefore think that by using this shot we had moved one step further from our preliminary because it shows us using a wider range of shots and it puts a professional edge to the final product as opposed to the preliminary task.


Colouring/Lighting
In our preliminary task we did not take much notice of the lighting we used because we did not see how big of an impact it could have on a product. When we was editing our full product we noticed that the lighting definitely needed to be darkened to give it that thriller essence that was needed. We learnt how to apply this and gave it a thriller feel which was perfect for both the conventions of a thriller and the look we wanted to connote to the audience. Therefore I can see how far we have come from the preliminary regarding the editing special effects, we learnt how to apply a thriller essence and the special effects that can be used when editing.

Overall, i can see a major improvement from shooting the preliminary task to shooting the full product, we have learnt via research, different uses of shots and editing techniques which gives a product a professional edge. The quality of the full product is much higher in comparison to the preliminary task and our experience of working with both cameras and editing software has vastly improved.

Evaluation Question 6 - What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Throughout the process of filming and editing i have encountered new technology and adapted to their styles. I began with the tripod and camera equipment (in the above picture), whilst shooting the preliminary I had learnt how to set up both pieces of equipment, this seemed difficult at first but after much practice i finally got the grasp of it and put this new skill into much use when shooting the final product.


Whilst creating the blog I used many different forms of software that were new to me but i found that they were pretty easy to use. The first piece of software was 'Blogger'. This software allowed me to create the blog, after much practice with blogger i new how to add backgrounds, change colour schemes, edit text and add new and edit posts. This software was obviously very important because without it I would not of been able to complete the coursework.


Whilst creating new posts I also had to put a lot of my work onto a software called 'Scribd'. This software allowed me to upload documents onto a neat and professional format which I then uploaded to the blog and published. This helped me a lot because when i created documents such as the script, i could give the document a professional edge by uploading it to scribd, therefore this software was a big help throughout the duration of my coursework.


I also used a piece of software called 'bubbl.us', this software enabled me to create a mind map of the production process involved in the product. This software was a good and creative way of showing the information to the viewer and was quit easy to work with.


I also used a piece of software called 'Sound Cloud', this allowed me to upload all of the sound tracks that I used whilst editing the final product. Once i had uploaded the tracks onto sound cloud, i simply downloaded the tracks onto the blog and published the post. This was a great help because it allowed me to show the audience the tracks i used and why i used them. I have now learnt how to upload and download tracks onto pieces of software, which is very quick and easy.


I also used Youtube in the construction process of the opening sequence, this software enabled me to upload the film and publish it for the world to see. This gave a me a wide range of audience to aim for and gave the film publicity.


Another piece of software used was final cut pro (pictured at the top of this post). This was one of the more important pieces of software because this allowed me to edit the footage and therefore create the film. I have learnt a lot about this software and was a great help to the construction of the film.


Photoshop is another piece of software that i have learnt to use whilst carrying out the pre-production and production process. I used photoshop many different times especially in the process of creating the storyboard. Photoshop allowed me to crop, change contrast and colour to the pictures, this was obviously a big help during the storyboard because i changed the pictures to look like pencil drawings, without photoshop this would not of been done.

Evaluation Question 5 - How did you attract/address your audience?

Evaluation Question 4 - Who would be the audience for your media product?

The age certification for our final product is 15 according to BBFC, so this is the sort of age group we targeted our product at. Below are two pictures, one is of a 17 year old male who would be a possible person to buy our final product. The other picture is of a 16 year old female, again a possible audience member who would watch and buy our final product.

Both teenagers tend to shop at popular video and DVD stores such as HMV, this is a possible shop that our product would be sold in so these people would be interested in buying the product. In general both teenagers listen to a varied category of music, going from hip-hop and RnB to rock music.

Both watch a variety of TV programs but most favourably they watch channel 4, E4 and movie channels, these channels would be where our product would be shown so therefore these people would be a good audience for our product.

They both also seem to like thriller films more than any other film genre, because our final product is a thriller, these people would be ideal as an audience for final product.

Evaluation Question 3 - What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why? (Voice Over)

At the end of this voice over some speech is missing, to see the rest of the voice over just look below at the commentary that has been put on scribd.

Evaluation Question 3 - What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why? (Commentary)

Evaluation Question 3

Evaluation Question 2 - How does your media product represent particular social groups

Urban Legend Vs Unsuspected

Above are two pictures, 1 is of a scene from a film called Urban Legend (Left) which is showing a character in the back of a car about to grab and kill the victim driving. The other picture is showing a scene from our film unsuspected (Right) which is showing the antagonist watch his victim run away from him. These two characters both have very similar aspects in the film they appear in, and some different features as well.

Their appearance in the film are very similar. Both being 'mystery' characters you are never revealed who they actually are until perhaps the end of the film. Both characters only show a blind bit of their body e.g. the back which does not reveal their face and therefore their identity.

Another similarity is their costume. As you can see in the urban legend picture, the character is wearing all black and a hood which suggests they do not want to be identified and shown to the audience. This is exactly the same in our film unsuspected. Our antagonist David is wearing all black and a hood which also suggests that he does not want to be identified and leaves a mystery to audience in which they wonder who he is.

For both characters their role in both films are obvious, the urban legend character is clearly shown as the antagonist because of their costume and their body language which suggests the character is going to harm the victim. This is the same as in our film where David is given the antagonist role shown by the use of costume and his character positioning which is only showing the back of him.

The only difference that may come across from both characters are that you are never sure that David is a murderer whereas the urban legend character clearly is. The urban legend character is shown to be violent by surprising the victim and holding a weapon, but David is holding nothing to harm the victim. This is a clear difference that separates the two characters.

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

Throughout the film we have used many different forms and conventions which fit into a thriller, but we have also challenged these forms and convemtions.

Title font and style
The title of the film clearly represents both codes and conventions of a thriller. This is shown through the use of colour and special effects. The colour that we selected to use was red, when an audience sees red they connote the meaning of death and blood, this is what typical thrillers use to connote a thriller theme and conventions. The special effects also play a key role, we made the title 'UNSUSPECTED' have a cut effect, what i mean by this is most of the letters are cut, this connotes to the audience that within the film there may be death and thrills that which again goes with the codes and conventions of a thriller.

Setting/Location

The setting and location of our thriller does go against the codes and convetions of a 'typical' thriller, we used a 'family feel' setting in which is a family home, this makes the audience feel as if the protagonist is safe and no harm will come to her, this has a big impact on the twist of our opening sequence because the audience is suspecting nothing bad will happen, when something does there is a big 'shock' factor that has a big effect on the audience. The location shows a lot of houses when Jessica is running, this again goes against the conventions of a thriller, a typical thriller location would connote an abandonned feel where the protagonist can not get away, by using a crowded location the audience are not suspecting harm to come to the protagonist but when it does, the audience are surprised.

Costumes and Props

The costumes and props that we used when filming did show true conventions of a thriller, for example we used light jeans and light brown shoes for the character of Jessica, this showed her as a nice young woman because of the light colours she was wearing. We also used a black coat and hood for the antagonist, this showed that he was a mysterious character and did not want to be identified. This is what you would find in a typical thriller, by this i mean you would expect the protagonist to be wearing light and fearless colours whereas the antagonist would be wearing dark clothes with a sense of history.

The props we used were put into full effect, we used a telephone as a sort of catalyst to the upcoming thrill, we took the batteries out of the phone which connotes a feeling to the audience that the person who did this does not want to the protagonist to contact anyone, this convention supports a thriller because most thrillers do not want the protagonist to contact anyone, they want them to find a way out themselves.

Title of the film

We chose the title of the film to be 'Unsuspected', we chose this because this title says to the audience before they are even watching the film that something unsuspected is going to happen within the film, this immediately intrigues the audience and makes them want to watch the film. This goes with the conventions of a thriller because it entices the audience immediately from the beginning which most thrillers use.

Story and how the opening sets it up

As the film starts we immediately see a girl running away from a mysterious person, this sets up the film because it says to the audience that there is a reason for this girl running away, she must be in danger and therefore is trying to get away. This is a typical convention of a thriller, some thrillers use this 'girl running away' scene at the beginning to highlight the kind of thriller this is going to be such as Urban legend.

Genre and how the opening suggests it

The genre of thriller, in many movies is introduced by a 'chase scene', they use this because a chase scene is a typical convention of a thriller, this is what we did when opening the film. We showed someone running away from another person, this supports the conventions of a thriller and therefore is why we used this opening.

How characters are introduced

The way in which we introduced the protagonist was by her running away from a person, this connotes to the audience that the protagonist is vulnerable and in a dangerous situation, which is a very common convention used in a lot of thrillers.

The next character we introduced was Melinda, we introduced her by showing her cleaning the windows of her house, this connotes a maternal feel to her and shows that she is caring, this says to the audience that she may not harm anyone, a typical convention for a char

acter of her profile.

Special effects

We used a fast forward special effect on the 'grab' scene. We decided to use this special effect to surprise the audience and shock them, if the shot was slow then no real surprise element would have been installed, but by using this it does create an unsuspected feel to the audience. This convention is used in many thrillers to surprise the audience, so we took this into consideration and then applied it to our film.

Camerawork and editing

The camerawork that we used was to show excitement and intensity to the film, we used a number of shots in which connoted this element of thrillers. A key shot that we used was the Point of View shot of when Jessica was running out of the house but then got snatched, this shot was put in good use because it showed to the audience that she was desperate to get out and in a hurry. This shot creates the convention of intensity and a scared look to the audience, this is why we used this shot and is well used in many other films.

Another key shot that we used was a high angle on Jessica (Protagonist) when she is sitting down and waiting for Melinda to call the police. A convention of a thriller is to make the protagonist look scared, weak and vulnerable and a good way to do this is by using a high angle. This is why we used this shot to follow this convention, it makes Jessica look scared, weak and vulnerable which is what we wanted to connote.

The editing that we used was to show continuity throughout the piece and create a thriller atmosphere. This was evident in the final 'grab' scene . There were 12 different shots that we used all at fast speed, this entices the audience and prepares them for an enigma to take place.

Thriller Analysis - Taken

Our group split up the analysis so each of us analysed 40 minutes of the film each:
Rebecca Ogunmola: 1st 30 minutes
Abigail Odum: 2nd 30 Minutes
Billy Camden: Last 30 Minutes

Taken is a 2008 French/American action thriller film. This film is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence, disturbing thematic material, sexual content, some drug references and language. Neeson plays a former Central Intelligence Agency paramilitary operative who sets about tracking down his teenage daughter after she is kidnapped by slave traders while traveling in France.
(Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taken_(film)

Themes:
The themes within the thriller of 'Taken' show how the protagonist (Bryan Mills) has to over come obstacles and tasks to rescue his daughter and in doing so he kills people.

The first theme within the thriller is when Bryan (protagonist) is on the phone to his daughter and she is telling him that men are taking her friend and are coming for her, in order for Bryan to try and help and save his daughter he tells her to keep calm and shout everything out to him about the appearance of the kidknappers, after this actiob has taken place, Bryan speaks on the phone to one of thwe kidknappers and declares that he will find and kill them men. This is the point in the film when Bryan sets off on his mission to find and save his daughter.

Another them used within the thriller is in a car chase when Bryan arrives in Paris to find his daughter. Bryan steels a car but is being followed by a french police officer, he soon figures out that he is being followed and if he is captured then he will be sent back to America and will never see his daughter again. As score music is added the tension rises and Bryan is trying to escape from the police officer. He goes off road and leads the officer to a construction site and forces him into a crane which kills him. Bryan is now away from the officer and can carry on to find his daughter.

Another key theme of the thriller is when Bryan arrives at a house in Paris where he has been told that his daughter is being held captive there. As he arrives he is met with a series of obstacles, firstly he has to try and convince two men that he is with the police and he is there to discuss business, after that he further discusses his 'police enquiries' but within that interrogation, he finds out a lot of information, he tries to find our who their leader is (which would help him find his daughter), he also finds out who the man was who he spoke to on the phone by asking him to say 'good luck' (a sentence spoken by the man who captured Byan's daughter on the phone'), after discovering these men were involved with the kidknapping of his daughter, he kills them all and searches the building for his daughter.

In one scene, Bryan is tied up to a pipe and there are a number of antagonists who attempt to kill him, in order to save his daughter, Bryan has to over come this capture and escape from the villains. The tension rises as score music is added into the equation and then Bryan pulls down the pipe and kills all of the antagonisys who were attempting to kill him. After over coming these obstacles he then goes on to persue and find his daughter.

Another theme tied within the thriller is at the very end when Bryan comes face-to-face with his daughter but she is being held by a man with a knife to her throat, this is bryan's last obstacle to overcome before he can be reunited with his daughter so he knows he can not afford to make any mistakes, he points the gun at the kidknappers head and when he begins to talk bryan quickly takes a shot and kills him when he is not fully focused. This act finally reunites the father and daughter and all obstacles put in the way of the protagonist have been over come.

Narratives
Enigmas are created within the film as the audience wonder what sort of occupation Bryan had that made him leave his family that even his own family didn’t know what he did we find out later on in the film that he used to be a spy that worked for the government which mean that he had to put his job before his family. Other enigmas raised that wasn’t answered later in the film was opening of the gates at the concert and who the man was that wanted to kill the singer. Also as peter was walking away from the house he called someone and gave them information about Kim and her friend, this created enigmas as to who peter was calling and what type of person he is. From the time of the kidnapping and when brain finds out information about the men the enigmas are solved and we able to find out that the people peter called are pimps that have come to use the girls for prostitution and that peter was the ‘spotter’. More difficult enigmas created were such as what kind of man jean Claude was as he claimed to be a friend of Bryan but there was no sign of loyalty or true friendship as the film proceeded we found out that he knew all about the kidnapping that has been happening to many travellers and that he didn’t care as long as he got money out of it even if it means his own friends child being abducted.
Suspense is created in individual scenes for example at the concert when the singer is trying to get away we see a mysterious figure holding a knife the audience automatically thinks someone is going to get hurt, but then we see a glimpse of the skills which Bryan states he has later on in the film. Suspense is also created when the police in France knock Bryan out and hang him to a poll it makes the audience wonder if Bryan is going to die and what would happen to his daughter, but once again the audience is proven wrong with Bryan beating up the men around him killing them and continuing to get his daughter. As he gets on the boat again he is noticed by the antagonist who alerts the rest of his people we feel that as he didn’t notice they will capture him and kill him, but he some how is able to kill them one by one without them finding him first.

Information is revealed to the audience through the characters experience as his on the phone to his daughter everything she is describing to him us as the audience our able to see it visually, with finding out clue of to where his daughter might be we also find out at the same time as him as he unravels them. For example Bryan finding Kim’s jacket in a camp place with a girl, he takes the girl and finds out how and who gave her the jacket. we as an audience was unable to see this before it happened.

Thriller analysis - Inglorious Basterds

In German-occupied France in 1941, SS Colonel Hans Landa, arrives at the home of Perrier LaPadite. The colonel persuades the Frenchman to identify the family of Jews he is hiding under the floor boards and kills them via his gunmen. The colonel sees one of the girls escaping called Shosanna and leaves her to run.
In Italy, 1944, American Lieutenant Aldo Raine recruits eight Jewish - American to kill as many Nazi soldiers as they can, at an ambush Raine holds captive at least one Nazi soldier to get information about upcoming forces and when he refuses ‘the bear Jew’ (nicknamed by the Nazi’s) comes out and savagely kills the Nazi. Interrogating one other Nazi officer Raine carves a swastika (Nazi sign) onto his head and allows him to leave telling his story of ‘The Basterds’ to Hitler and others.
Avenging her family’s death Shosanna holds a Nazi premiere in which she kills everyone there including the Nazi commanding officers and Hitler. The Basterds are also there but Raine and another ‘Basterd’ are held captive by Colonel Landa who surrenders to them. Raine then kills Landa’s other man and carves a swastika into Landa’s head.
Characters – Straight from the beginning you can see that SS Colonel Hans Landa is set out to be the antagonist of the action thriller. He comes across as not a very physical action man but more of a cunning psychological man who can twist the minds of his victim. There are two clear Protagonists during the film. Raine who connotes a strong and physical hero seems to be the saviour of the film and although he kills a lot of men he does it for ‘the good side’. The other protagonist is Shosanna, although this is not clear at the beginning of the thriller, she helps in the final end to the war and avenges her family.
Narratives – The first enigma of the thriller is the killing of the Jewish family and how Shosanna escapes, another follow on enigma from this is obviously the cinema blowing up by Shosanna. Another Enigma is when Colonel Hans Lander hands himself over to ‘The Basterds’, an act that was not anticipated by the audience.
Cinematic – In terms of the cinematography used, the director a lot of long shots in many scenes, this is so that the audience can see the whole of the scene in which connotes a lot of stuff going on in these scenes. There are also a lot of close ups used throughout the thriller. An example would be when Colonel Hans Landa is speaking to Perrier LaPadite and is telling him to show the Colonel where the Jews are hiding; there is a close up of the colonel’s face which shows intensity and that same thing is about to take place is that situation.
Themes – The themes of the thriller show that the hero (Protagonist – Shosanna) must overcome objects to defeat the villains of the Nazi army. An obstacle is shown when the Nazi soldier comes up to the screening room of the cinema and ends up shooting Shosanna, this obstacle puts the whole operation of killing the Nazi’s in danger but because she has an accomplice that obstacle is overcome and she defeats the villains.

Introduction

Hi, my name is Billy Camden and this my media studies blog. This Blog follows the documentation and ideas for my AS Media Studies Coursework. I will be taking the role of Editor for our groups forthcoming 2 minute opening sequence to a thriller, 'unsuspected'.