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

                           

9 Frames

Frame Analyses 

Frame 1

- The first scene is an establishing shot of the shower head. The shower head is unfocused and blurry, then it slowly focuses into a clearer shot.
- This shot also names the production company responsible for the production of the film. The production company for our thriller is called Baseline Productions.
- The sound of the shower is enhanced to give a realistic feel of the shower.

Frame 2

- The next scene opens up with our main character who is played by Ben Conway.
- The camera angle is a low angle shot and this has the effect of empowering our character and it makes him seem dominant.
- The title shows that the film is a 'Ben George Film,' it is something we created to use in our opening.
- The sound of the shower is continually enhanced to give a realistic shot of our character going through a normal morning routine.

Frame 3

                           

- This scene shows the main character shaving and this will have the effect of making the audience uncomfortable.
- The title of the film shows it was produced by Pio George, this will interest the audience as they will want to know who produced the thriller.
- The close up shot of the character will further increase the audiences unease as they would feel like they are violating his personal space.
- The sounds are increased through out this scene to give a realistic feel of the main character shaving e.g. the sound of his breathing and the sound of the shaving are increased.

Frame 4

- This scene shows the title of our thriller opening, 'More Than Meets The eye.' The tile of our film allows us the attract the audience as they will want to know the meaning behind the title.
- Also this scene shows that the character is getting ready as he is shown to be putting on his watch.

   Frame 5

- This shot is another close up of the main character and it has the effect of making the audience at unease as the audience would believe they are still violating the characters person space.

- The scene also shows the name of the person who created the music. This will grab the attention of the audience as they would want to know who created the music.
- The sound is enhanced through this scene but on this shot the sound of the last step is louder. As when the character steps of the stairs, he steps on the floor harder, increasing the sound of his steps.

Frames 6

- This is a key scene as it shows, an abnormal behavior of the character as it shows him picking up a sharp knife and is examining it and quickly drops it.
- Also, it shows the name of the cinematographer. This will interest the audience as they would want to know the names of the crew.

Frame 7

- This scene is close up of the character.
- This is a key scene as, the character shows more abnormal behavior as he is eating the toast with a serious look and is eating it in a violent way

Frame 8

- This is another key scene. As the main character is shown to be showing emotion for the first time.
- A low-angle shot was taken the scene to empower the character to make him more powerful and menacing.

Frame 9

- This scene focuses into the eye of the dead body.
- It gives the audience a sense of unease as they would want to know why this man had been killed.



Conventions

- In the following image below, it gives an example of the conventions we used in the thriller opening. We used the convention of black and white shots to give the thriller sense of mystery. Also another convention we used was adding in tension music, this has the effect of creating creepy feeling. The tension music also keeps the audience in suspense.

 Black and white

Mise-en-Scene

There are many aspects of ‘Mise-en-Scene’ incorporated in this thriller opening. For camera angle, shots and movement, we used a wide variety of shots such as over the shoulder shots, low angle shots, close up shots and mid shots. For movement, we had slowly zoomed out of the door revealing the dead body on the floor. These shots are designed to make the audience feel as if they were there right next to the man and directly looking at him. Also for editing, we incorporated the use of black and white in the opening to give the clip a sense of mystery and a small sense of unease. The character does not show any emotion during the beginning of the opening and shows it near to the end of the opening. Two examples of these shots are shown in the following images:

Close up

                                                                  Low-Angle Shot

Close up shot

Plot

The plot of this opening is that there is a young man aged around 20-25, who seen to be doing a normal routine and is getting ready. Towards the end the character is revealed to be a psychotic killer, as a dead body is shown lying on the ground and this reveals that the man is a killer. Also, the character smiles at the body when he nearly trips over it beforehand and this strengthens the audiences knowledge that he is a 'psycho killer,'

How does your Thriller develop or challenge these different conventions?

Our thriller develops these conventions as the different conventions are highlighted in this opening. The black and white convention is developed as it gives a great sense of mystery and a slight sense of unease as the audience watches it. Also the convention of tension music is developed as it gives the audience an eerie feeling and will be intimidated by the music. This also has the effect of keeping the audience on edge as they feel as if something is about to happen very soon.

Does the use of conventions indicate what sub-genre or hybrid your thriller is? 

The thriller opening is a ‘psychological thriller.’ As the thriller shows that the young man is an average normal person, however towards the end of the opening, it is discovered that the person is in fact a psychotic killer. This turns the opening into a psychological thriller as it shows a normal person, however there is a twist that the person is a ‘psycho killer.’ There were other sign’s that shows this, the character first picks up a cooking knife instead of the butter knife. Also, the character shows no signs of emotion when eating the toast, suggesting that the young man may not care for its taste. These are the small clues that lead up to the end revealing that the young man is a ‘psycho killer.’ 

Evaluation Task 3

Evaluation Task 1 (In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? i.e. of film openings)

Evaluation Task 1
In the 9 frames I have selected a number of different conventions are clearly used. From very first scene of the male showering the audience would probably assume that the opening will be set in a domestic environment. This is then further enforced in the scene of the male shaving where domestic items like towels are displayed in the background.

Camerawork and editing is also prevalent in the 9 frames. There is a wide variety of shots such as close ups, over the shoulder shots, low angle, mid shots and establishing shots. These combined make the opening a lot more aesthetically pleasing and interesting to watch for the audience. This is typical of an opening sequence as they usually have a variety of different shots and camera angles. The fact that the frames are black and white is clear evidence of editing also.

Throughout the opening different credits pop up at different times. For example the name of the producer, director and who stars in the opening. These credits are essential in that they inform the audience as to exactly who created what is happening in front of them and also gives those people credit. A notable point about these credits is the way they appear on the screen. Rather than suddenly appearing they slowly appear from blurry to clear and then dissolve out, giving them a ghostly, mysterious quality (especially relevant to the thriller genre.) This also applies to the title of the film which is displayed at the very end of the opening. Again the way it transitions onto the screen but also the style of the font create a sense of enigma around the opening.

By the end of the opening certain key aspects of the story are revealed, for example the main character is  shown to be the male who is being depicted throughout the opening, it's hard to imagine a film in which someone receives that much screen time yet doesn't feature as one of the main characters. In this sense it is typical of an opening sequence as the main character is given a lot of screen time and a lot of the focus is on him. The shot of the dead body at the end also reveals that this man is probably a serial killer and this then makes the audience question a number of things i.e why has he done this? Is this his house or the victim's house? Was there a motive? Therefore the story is perfectly set up as it can go in a number of directions from the end point of the opening.

EVALUATION ACTIVITY - 7 (Giordano)

Looking back at your preliminary task (the continuity task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?


                           

EVALUATION ACTIVITY - 6 (Giordano)

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

EVALUATION ACTIVITY - 5 (Giordano)

How did you attract/address your audience?

Real movie's will attract their audience via public advertisement, for example, trailers, merchandise and posters. Films with larger budgets usually spend a high amount of money on the distribution of their product. In my opinion I believe posters are the most effective as they positioned in places that are seen by almost anyone: buildings, train stations and the side of buses. Taking this into consideration, below are two movie poster's I have created for my marketing campaign.

Shown above are my two thriller posters that I have made. I decided to do some research into real movie posters and took ideas from the ones which interested me the most, and included them in my designs. I believe that both posters look professional, and if it were to be released as a full feature film the advertisement posters would look similar to the two I have created. 

Poster 2

• The entirety of the poster is dark/black. The dark colours had connotations with death and mystery typical of the thriller genre. 
• The close up of the knife also adds mystery and tension to the poster, as we as the viewers do not know what this person is capable of doing with that knife. 
• The only light part of the shot is on the knife itself. This put a lot of attention on the knife and prioritises it.
• The caption 'expect the unexpected' captures attention of the viewers. 
• The font in which the title is written in provides a sinister feel. It looks as though it has been written in blood and has a smeared affect, i have seen many other thriller posters use a similar font. 
• The character is not shown in the poster only his hand holding a knife. This adds further tension. 

When movies are distributed, they tend to have a number of different posters but the best one is usually the one the public see the most. Therefore I have decided to choose between the two posters. I think that my first poster would work best for the advertisement of our thriller. I say this because it follows more of the thriller conventions and i think it is more realistic and visually appealing. 

I believe that the advertising process (distribution) is essential in helping the word spread about films. This is because: It sykes them up to see the movie, catches public attention, helps to spread word of mouth and can result in people looking further into the film for example watching the trailer.   

Real movie posters that inspired my designs

They typical conventions of a thriller:

• Low key lighting 
• Quick cuts
• Shadows 
• Tense music
• Changes in angle of shots 
• Diegetic sound 
• Protagonist and antagonist

The thriller genre has many conventions (shown above) and it would have been extremely difficult to include all of the above in the 2 minute time slot in which we were given to produce our thriller opening sequence. However our time slot was useful as it allowed us not to give to much away and
leave our thriller on a cliffhanger. 

                             

EVALUATION ACTIVITY - 4 (Giordano)

Who would be the audience for your media product?

I believe that out thriller opening sequence would appeal more to the younger demographic (15-25), than the older. Due to my previous research on film ratings, it is shown that a majority of thriller movies tend to be 15 rated, and young adults still tend to enjoy viewing them.

Looking at the table above, it is clear that the ratio of male to female is equal, 7 being male and 8 being female. Due to this I believe that our opening would appeal to both the male and female's younger demographic. 

Looking at my research,  I found out in my questionnaire that the thriller genre was popular and the majority of people were around the age of 15-20.  Furthermore to make the  thriller more realistic for example the use of the dead body and props are used to  convey the  thriller conventions, therefore we knew that we could not target the younger demographic. 

Questionnaire (audience research):

My group and I also thought that we should target this opening primarily towards males, as we have an all male cast. My focus group and interviews also pointed us in this direction. Looking at my questionnaire more males than females watch thriller movies, however there were more females then we originally anticipated. 

Interview with target audience (male)

                                                                         

yellow = male   blue =female

However, although I believe our opening will be appealing to older teenagers/Younger adults, I do not think it will be suitable for very young viewers (small children). This is because thriller movies tend to contain:

• Violent and disturbing scenes
• Tense scenes 
• Loud build up of music
• Shock scenes that make the audience jump
• The story line may be too advanced to understand
• Low key lighting can be scary to younger children 
• Protagonist may scare a younger viewer (especially in our case)

Similarly, I do not think that our thriller opening would suit the older demographic. This is seen in my table above, only 2 people were over the age of 25. I believe the following conventions may not be appealing to them:

• Violent and disturbing scenes  
• Loud build up of music 
• Some thrillers do tend to be very fast paced 
• Shock scenes that make the audience jump

Taking all of this research into consideration I believe  (along with my group) that our thriller movie should be rated a 15, this is also made visible from my table above. A majority of people were 15/16 years old. Finally, our thriller movie also fits into the category of a 15 rated film (Shown below). My certificate research also helped me and my group to make this decision. 

Examples of our target audience 

Below are examples of what my target audience would typically be like, and the different characteristics of males and females.