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.