Evaluation Draft

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

My media product develops the conventions of real media products as they are likely to involve perhaps a villain or a horrible plot/scheme, a sense of mystery, suspense and tension as well as excitement. To be able to accomplish all of these we used a fast colour selector on adobe premiere pro in order to create mystery by darkening everything, making it seem more at night, which is when typically most crimes are committed, and everything is less clear , when being made all that darker.

We also used sound in an effective way in my main thriller to help follow these conventions, this was done by adding a haunted style music in the background which gradually gets louder and quitter, and also stops when there is a discussion about a haunted experience so that the point is able to be got across.

 

For excitement we used a number of quick cuts and a lot of short fast shots.

 


An example of anothoer opening sequence that uses numerous, fast and short shots is 'se7en';





However we also challenged them in the way that we did not use a villain, however this suited nicely with the plot as it was a haunted idea of people being on a ‘ghost hunt’ it seemed unrealistic for us to involve a villain, and therefore there were limited characters a part from the ghost hunters themselves, but this meant that for our theme things were able to be better as the more that went on without anything making it do so, the more realistically scary it became.
This idea was also put into place with films such as 'Paranormal Activity 2';

• How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Because my media product is of a thriller genre, it is also a haunted thriller, this means it would represent those who are interested in the paranormal world and those who enjoy to go on ghost hunt. An example of this is that we began with a location wit was provided by my mum, as with her company she does Ghost hunts, and the location given is one that she uses in order to do such an event.

http://www.hauntedhappenings.co.uk/

above you will see a link to my Mum's company in which you will be able to explore the website.
This is the location that we previously used to begin with, and is also used as a location for one of 'Haunted Happenings' events;
http://www.tutburycastle.com/

Haunted Happenings have worked with many film producers in the promotion of newly released DVDs and horror films such as Paranormal Activity 2. The promotions have included prizes of a ghost hunting experience and merchandise associated with the horror industry.

This helps to show the link between Why it would be the social group of people that are interested in the paranormal world and who enjoy going on ghost hunts that a media product such as mine would represent as it involves someone telling their story and showing their story, whilst on a ghost hunt as she describe it as “the most haunting night”.

From the questionnaire results we managed to gather the idea that the age goup most likely to be watching our thriller would be older teens and youn adolescence, we helped represent this within our thriller through mise en scene, for example with clothing and also using actors that are likely to fit into this social group as well, in order to make it more suited to them.
For example, Kristina wore UGG boots, a blue and white jumper, jeans and a coat and Lizzie wore boots, black leggings, a blouse and a thick cardigen. All considered quite casual for this age group and warm.

We used normal teenagers, in clothing that you expect to see on a teenager.
However it is hard to link the paranormal theme with this social group, therefore the idea of them being on a 'ghost hunt' helps to do this, and makes it all that more exciting.

Also The title of our thriller is simple and catchy, something that younger people are known to prefer but at the same time it gets to the point and staright away suggests to the audience that the triller is going to be one of a paranormal genre.

Part of our thriller is also set in a college, this is something that many older teenagers will be able to relate with as they may go to college themselves. This also helps to make our thriller more realistic, which is what would make a paranormal thriller more scary.

• What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Living TV is a good example of the type of media institution that are likely to use my product, this is because they are well known to show programs such as ‘most haunted’ which is also based around a paranormal investigation and ghost hunts, and involves a historian name Lesley Smith who is the owner of the location that we at first used in order to do our filming, helping the show the link within the business world. It also has many paranormal discussions and other ghost hunting programs which links well with the style of my media product

If i were to chose a distributor for our thriller it would have to be 'Paramount Pictures'.

Paramount Pictures Corporation is a global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment, with robust and multi-faceted divisions across all areas including digital, home entertainment, network and cable television distribution, studio operations, and consumer products and recreation.  A unit of the leading global entertainment content company, Viacom, Paramount is part of a family of prominent and respected brands including MTV Networks and BET Networks. 

Paramount consists of several film labels including, the legendary Paramount Pictures; leading youth brand, MTV Films; the preeminent family entertainment label, Nickelodeon Movies; and specialty film labels, Paramount Vantage and Paramount Classics. In addition, the Studio will continue to release a number of films under the DW label. Paramount also has established distribution deals with iconic comic book creator, Marvel Entertainment and renowned animated film producer, DreamWorks Animation.

The Company’s global business operations include Paramount Digital Entertainment, Paramount Famous Productions, Paramount Home Entertainment, Paramount Pictures International, Paramount Licensing Inc., Paramount Studio Group and Worldwide Television Distribution.

They are an American based film company who are very successful and create high grossing films.
These include films such as 'paranormal activity'; which is about a young, middle class couple who moves into a suburban 'starter' tract house, they become increasingly disturbed by a presence that may or may not be somehow demonic but is certainly most active in the middle of the night. Especially when they sleep. Or try to.
It had a budget estimated at $15,000 and you are able to find details of its gross and opening at this link; http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1179904/business

 Paramount Pictures are also known for distributing films in which i have also enjoyed and took the time to watch in order to help for thriller research, such as; 'Shutter Island' and 'Transformers'

• Who would be the audience for your media product?

When doing my planning we also asked a questionnaire, this was in order to see what type of thriller would be best and who we would be aiming it at, when asked the question ‘What age are you?’ it came accross more or less that all people watch thrillers, not so much young children, however the most popular answer we got was 15-25, I understand that the people selected to fill them out will have an effect on this answer however it was done in a random way.

Through carrying out our questionnaire it also helped to show that both male and female enjoy watching thrillers, although the majority seemed to be male. I understand that who we actually asked may have an effect on this result however we chose people at random, they were not particularly selected.

All in all i feel as though the age group would be 15-25 year olds becdause of the fact that most thriller have age restrictions of either 15 or 18.

Because of the idea that our opening sequence is a thriller this suggests that it should be aimed at an older target audience, due to age restrictions and other aspects.
However when taking all of that into accound and putting it with the results from the questionnaire it seemed as though it was best for us to have a target audience as late teens/ early twentys. and this was all took into consideration when  addressing and attracting the audience in which we have chosen.

A similar film to what i have done is 'paranormal activity', this film tends to attract all ages, excluding those under 15 and it has the age restriction of 15, this helps us to realise that we have set our audience correctly as it is similar to those that have previously been released.

 

• How did you attract/address your audience?
When doing my planning we also asked a questionnaire, this was in order to see what type of thriller would be best and who we would be aiming it at, when asked the question ‘What age are you?’ the most popular answer we got was 15-25, I understand that the people selected to fill them out will have an effect on this answer however it was done in a random way. We also understood that with a thriller genre film, it is watched by all ages, however not particularly young. And we discovered that the best way to address any audience would to be to add the correct conventions of a media thriller in order to do so. This involved perhaps a villain or a horrible plot/scheme, a sense of mystery, suspense and tension as well as excitement. To be able to accomplish all of these we used a fast colour selector on adobe premiere pro in order to create mystery by darkening everything, making it seem more at night, which is when typically most crimes are commited, and everything is less clear , when being made all that darker. We also used sound in an effective way in my main thriller to help follow these conventions, this was done by adding a haunted style music in the background which gradually gets louder and quitter, and also stops when there is a discussion about a haunted experience so that the point is able to be got across, and for excitement we used a number of quick cuts and a lot of short fast shots.

We also adressed our audience by ensuring that it was something that they could relate with, like explained in the previous question we ensured that the costumes and actors (all of which you will be able to look at in more detail in question 2) were both their age and made to look relaistic, this is because, with it being a paranormal thriller the more realistic it is the scarier it is.
One of the locations used is in a college common room, this is when the story is being told again giving off a realistic effect but at the same time ensuring that they can relate to it.
The common room used was at George Spencer sixth form.

• What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
From the process of constructing this product I have learnt a lot about technologies. This includes a lot of negative as well as positive.
Th positive being that I have learnt how to use a camera and its equipment in an effective way, meaning that I was able to look back on anything I had filmed after doing it and also after making the mistake of not using the tripod throughout the first time of filming I learnt how important it was to use such equipment as It means that the shots can be a lot better quality and less shaky. Also after having the problem of the camera not being charged once getting to the location the first time, and not wanting to waste time, we used a mobile phone (of a good quality camera) in order to get some footage. However this did not go to plan when coming to edit as we could not rotate this footage with it still filling the screen correctly after it being filmed the wrong way round, meaning that it did not fit in with the footage that we got from the camera. Also proving that it is better to use just one camera for all the filming.
When it came to editing, this also had a positive effect as I was not at all familiar with this software but learnt how to use it successfully. Such as; how to import my footage, move it around into the correct places, cut clips, add sound, change the colouring of a clip, how to delete the background sound, how to change the level of the sound and all the simple ways of using the software.
Although this process had a positive effect when it came to what I learnt about technologies, it also had a negative effect. This is because, not everything seemed to go to plan, for example during out first part of filming, the equipment was not used, meaning the camera was not used effectively, this  then had to be re shot.
Also with adobe premiere pro, it did not always load as fast as we would have like, crashed on a number of occasions, especially before finishing our first draft, meaning we would lose a lot of work. This helped me to realise that I shouldn’t always rely on such software and ensure that I give myself a few days beforehand, just incase anything does go wrong, which it did seem to a lot.

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

 When analysing my preliminary task, I feel as though I have picked up a lot of knowledge throughout working on it. This includes the idea of working as a team with people I am not too familiar with, how much planning goes into a task like such and how useful it is, the use of camera, the different conventions that are needed in order for a thriller genre to work well, how to successfully use adobe premiere pro in order to edit our short clip and what I would need to do in order to make my short clip as good as it could be.
When it comes to learning how to work in a team effectively with people I may not be familiar with. This came around by our teacher putting us in groups himself, mixing them in a way which he though meant group had the same variety of potential within it. Being in a group had its benefits, as it meant we all had the drive to do as well as we could and giving all effort, so that we did not let one another down. We also took everyone in our group, which consisted of James Thompstone, Dougie Musson, Stephanie Chawner and I into consideration when looking at the clear abilities of each member so that we could use all of us in the best way possible. We did this by more or less allocating the efficient roles to each member; however we still managed to work with one another well whilst doing so. This helped me to learn that the best way to work within a group is to make sure that each person is used at their full potential, in the best way possible, but at the same time ensuring that we are all able to work together in a group at the same time so everything comes together fluently and at a good standard. I also learnt that by working in a group means that when beginning to plan for the preliminary task more ideas were able to be introduced and more input is given in order to produce more ideas for us to work with, this helps it to make it all that more creative. However I learnt that when editing working as a group does not always come together that well, when editing as it all needs to be done on one computer at a time, and with us being in a group of four, it made things harder for us to all sit around the computer and have an equal amount of control, especially with their being just one mouse to work with, this creates a situation where the work is unable to be shared out in a way which makes things fair unless we were to take it in turns, but that can have the effect of complicating things and resulting in the editing process taking longer than it needs to be.

When it came to the beginning of the preliminary task, it became important for us to make sure that we had planned for our short clip effectively so that we know what idea we would be going with and how to get to the best possible result. However this helped me to realise how much we would need to do in order to get to the stage where we were confident with a final idea and direction, this included a mind map of every ones ideas, which was used to show the different ideas that we had and how we could work with them, also looking at what actors may be used, what props we may need, where we would film and any extra aspects that would come into the production of the preliminary task. By doing this as a group it meant that we were all able to give ideas resulting in more after being put together, it also meant that we could make sure we chose one that suited all us after showing all of our creative skills. The mind map I learnt also helped to allow us to see all of ideas clearer and was a good way of elaboration on what would go into our chosen idea. It also managed to bring us a lot closer as a group through the discussion of ideas. Not only did we do a mind map but we then went on to do a storyboard, I realised that this was an effective way of helping us to structure our final idea in more detail including, as a brief plan as to how were to film. By doing so it made the filming a whole lot easier as we knew what we were looking for, also making it quicker for us to do. Input was put in from all members of the group. We then realised that it was important for us to look at other aspects that we may need before filming, this included any props and the best way to use our chosen location, which resulted in anyone bringing in anything they had, such as James bringing in an extra camera, Stephanie bringing in some fake blood and myself ensuring that there was a bag and string for the hostage. This helped to add to the creativeness of out short clip. Planning proved to be very important and useful, helping to make things move a lot more fluently and organised, making us able to get the entire filming done fast, and at the same time ensuring that the piece was as creative as our group was able to put together. I then used this to go ahead and use the same aspects of planning such as a mind map and storyboard in my main thriller as well as looking into more detail on the locations and carrying out a questionnaire, and ensuring that transport in order to get there and back was planned.

As I had not previously had much experience when it came to the use of the camera, this task proved to be a learning curve for me, obviously knowing the basics of how to use it, I also learnt how important the equipment would turn out to be, for example the use of the tripod became very important as it meant that all our shots were a lot less shaky and moving shots such as a pan became smoother. This resulted in me helping to set up the equipment successfully and helping Stephanie to film the main angles. However because James bought in another camera to use, this meant that it could be used as a prop as well as to get good footage for us, this proved to be very useful, however it also had its faults when it came to importing and uploading the footage from his camera as the school system did not recognise it, I learn that if I were to do it again then it would be best to use the same camera but just different angles and shots.. I took all my skills and knowledge that I had learnt in this task and used them in my main thriller by doing most of the filming, whilst using the tripod and ensuring that we got different angles and shots.






For a thriller theme to work I discovered that there were certain conventions that must be followed, this involved perhaps a villain, a sense of mystery, suspense and tension as well as excitement. This was gradually picked up quite naturally straight from the beginning. Our ideas led to Dougie playing the villain of keeping someone hostage. We used a lot of darkness in order to create a sense of mystery; we used a heartbeat within our sound for the suspense, which also helped with excitement when linked with the footage such as James banging around or the action of him being kicked. This was linked with my main thriller as we also used a fast colour selector on adobe premiere pro in order to create mystery and make it all that darker, sound was also included in an effective way in my main thriller to help follow these conventions, and for excitement we used a number of quick cuts and a lot of short fast shots.

When it came to editing, this was also a very large learning curve as I had never previously had any experience with using the software.  I learnt many aspects which include how to import my footage, move it around into the correct places, cut clips, add sound, change the colouring of a clip, how to delete the background sound, how to change the level of the sound and all the simple ways of using the software. I used the preliminary task in order to learn it all successfully and took this information so that I could use it for my main thriller, where I did a range of different editing which included all of these.
Everything that I had learnt whilst doing the preliminary task, I ensured that I used effectively when creating my main thriller.