Evaluation question seven

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

Our preliminary task; director's commentary overview

Main task: From creating our preliminary task film, to creating our final product, I feel that my skills have truly progressed and I have quickly learnt various different skills and techniques throughout the process.

The location in our first film was extremely bland and uninteresting; we didn't take enough consideration into our location and didn't realise how much the location could contribute to the effect and atmosphere of a film. Through our research of the thriller genre and the development of our skills throughout our main task, we were aware of the importance of the location by the time it came to creating our final product, helping to improve our product's quality and appeal. We were also aware of how important characters are to a film when it came to creating our final product, we knew that we needed to make our protagonist appear innocent and vulnerable in order to build deep emotion and tension and cause our audience to feel empathy towards the character; this method had been found throughout our research in various thriller films such as flightplan, the fugitive and mission impossible.

Our script for our final product was planned in order to help construct a devised film that linked and flowed correctly. The planned script helped our film to flow better and meant that our group didn't struggle trying to think of dialogue from scratch without enough consideration. This level of planning made a significant difference to the creation of our product and the final result that we managed to achieve; in contrast to our preliminary task, which was poorly organised in regards to any kind of script.

We also decided to use a soundtrack throughout our entire final product; including an ambient soundtrack throughout our first location (a kitchen scene) in order to reflect a relaxed, comfortable atmosphere. In contrast to this, we used a fast-paced, dramatic soundtrack throughout the forest scenes in order to create a tense, uneasy atmosphere. The technique of using soundtracks throughout media products in order to create a certain mood significantly added to the quality and the standard of our final product. We learnt that soundtracks could easily be imported onto our editing programme "final cut pro" and then embedded into our product. We sourced both of our soundtracks by finding royalty free music on YouTube and selecting which ones were most appropriate for the scenes throughout our film.

Throughout the process of creating our final product, we also learnt how to use certain light effects/adjustments by exploring the features on our chosen editing programme; final cut pro. We took advantage of the many adjustments that could be made; using effects such as "vignette" and "bokeh" flashing lights. Our skills soon developed in the area of editing and soon we were easily making adjustments that would contribute to the quality and appearance of our film.

Finally, we were able to create professional looking idents through our new grasp of editing software by the time it came to editing our final product. I feel that these idents really added to the professionalism of our final product and allowed our film to reflect many of the thriller films that we had previously looked at by conforming to the method of using atmospheric idents in order to introduce both our film and the content within our film.

All of these methods stated above contributed to the mood, atmosphere, quality, content and appeal of our final product, I feel that my skills have significantly developed through research, experience and technology from the point of my preliminary task and the skills that I have learnt have led to the creation of a final product that I am utterly pleased with.  

Evaluation question seven: plan

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

In order to answer this question, I am going record a director's commentary discussing our preliminary task and then comparing it to our final product and discussing the differences between the two and what I have learnt. I have never used this method before but feel that it will provide an effective and creative response to the question and describe in detail the many techniques that I have learnt since creating my preliminary task.

Evaluation question six

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

1. Apple iMac

A crucial step in completing our media product was the use of an Apple iMac. The iMac included a range of software that I was not at first accustomed to, including the programme which we used in order to edit our product: final cut pro. I had never before used an iMac, previously I had grown accustomed to using operating systems such as windows. However, after just one or two sessions, I quickly found the iMac to be just as straightforward, I could quickly and happily navigate my way around this brand new technology.

Our school had selected the iMac's for our use due to the range of software that was available which would contribute to the creation of our media product. The quality of the iMac's is evident as professional media institutions also use a similar setup throughout professional film making.

2. iPhone six

To film our product, we decided to use an iPhone six instead of a regular camera. We ensured to consult our teacher before going ahead with this method, as we were concerned about the quality being inferior due to it being recorded on a phone camera. However, we soon learnt that the camera quality on advanced iPhones such as the iPhone six is extremely good and would be effective to use throughout the production of our film. The "camera" app on this phone also comes with a "flash" feature, which enabled us to still obtain clear shots whilst filming in the dark; this was extremely helpful whilst filming our product as our main location was a dark forest.

I myself own an iPhone but had never before used it for filming purposes, I was extremely impressed and surprised with the quality of the camera and would definitely consider using an advanced iPhone in the future for filming purposes. Having used an iPhone before too, I was comfortable with the technology and therefore this made the process of using one extremely simple and straightforward.

Evaluation question six: plan

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

In order to respond to this question, I am going to include an image of each technological product that I have used throughout the process of creating my product. I will also add an explanation of what I have learnt whilst using these items. I feel that this will be an effective and apropriate response as it will provide plenty of detail regarding what I have learnt about technologies.

Evaluation question five

How did you attract/address your audience?


1 & 4. Location

Our first location (shot 1) attracts our age group as it is filmed in a mundane, ordinary atmosphere before quickly switching to a chaotic and frightening situation. This will appeal to teenagers as it reflects their mercurial way of living; suddenly going from a regular, customary situation to a questionable, unexpected circumstance (shot 4). This technique of quickly switching from a specific location to one that is completely unexpected will also create significant levels of suspense for the audience; ensuring that their viewing experience is gripping and exciting.

2. Character

Our main character throughout our product is a teenager, this will attract our target audience of teenagers as they will feel that they can relate to the protagonist and the situations in which she is in, they may be able to empathise more with the character due to them sharing the same age group. This will hopefully lead to a new level of enjoyment for our audience.

3. Suspense and mystery

Included in our product was a threatening, eerey text message that our protagonist received. This message read "I haven't forgotten what you did" against a cracked phone screen, and was received via an unknown number. This unknown text message creates a huge sense of suspense and mystery, and is the first point within our product that an element of terror is introduced. The suspense included here will attract our target audience who will be expecting many elements of suspense and mystery whilst viewing our product; due to these two elements being two of the key conventions of the thriller genre. We became aware that these two elements were crucial whilst carrying out an audience survey a few months ago; we included a question that asked "what do you enjoy most while watching thriller films?"... in response to this question, 60% of participants answered mystery and the other 40% answered suspense, therefore we became quickly aware what our audience really wanted to see.

5. Shot type

This close up shot provides suspense and tension. This shot type is popularly used throughout the thriller genre in order to focus on a particular person or object, and therefore build suspense through detail. Suspenseful music often accompanies a close up shot to build the tension even further. We conformed to this convention and added dramatic music in order to build the atmosphere. We have built further tension and suspense through this shot type and this therefore attracts our target audience.

6. Colour correction/lighting

In shot six, we have used editing tools made available to us on final cut pro in order to enhance the effectiveness of this shot. The colour scheme that runs throughout our product attracts a very niche audience. Our product is based around a dark and bleak colour scheme to create an atmosphere of suspense and terror, the colours that we have used effectively relate to the thriller genre. However, whilst editing one of our final shots, we used a different approach. We decided to increase the saturation of this shot in order to make the eyes appear more blue and the cloth appear more yellow, this was in order for these features to truly stand out - enhancing the shot and it's appearance. We decided to make this alteration to one of the last shots in order to make a lasting impression on the audience. This attracts our audience by building an effective atmosphere that appeals to potential viewers.

Evaluation question five: plan

How did you attract/address your audience?

In order to respond to this question, I will create a collage of 6 screen shots from our film, and add descriptions underneath explaining how each technique effecticvely attracts/appeals to our audience. I feel that this method will allow me to respond to the question effectively as it will demonstrate how the techniques used within our film have been taylored to attract our audience.

Evaluation question four

Who would be the audience for  your media product?

Initially, I planed to respond to this question in the form of a slideshow. However, I came across multiple technical difficulties whilst trying to create one on the site "slide-share", therefore I decided to revert to another method and created a prezi instead.

Evaluation question four: plan

Who would be the audience for your media product?

I have decided to respond to this question by creating a slideshow presentation. I will include different sections throughout the presentation in order to help me to answer the question, such as: previous research, comparing film certificates of different kinds of films and explaining why each is suitable for the film/genre, and finally explaining what my target audience would be and why.

Evaluation question three

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

Evaluation question three: plan

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

In order to respond to this question, I will create a prezi explaining distribution and featuring pros and cons of different distribution methods and which I plan on using and why. I feel that this method will be an effective way to respond as it will show that I have looked into distribution in detail and considered the advantages and disadvantages of different methods of distribution.

Evaluation: question two

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

One of the social group that our media product explored was criminals. Above I have created a collage, comparing the criminal in our media product to criminals from popular thriller films such as Silence of the lambs and batman.

Within our media product, our criminal is shown by just a hand, concealed beneath a black glove. We decided to represent our criminal in this light as it adds a significant sense of mystery and tension; hidden identity is a key convention throughout the thriller genre as it portrays the concealed character as being impure, with negative motives. We used a black glove because this colour is known for connoting death, mystery and evil. By using hidden identity to portray the criminal, we have represented this social group in a bleak and negative light; confirming the general stereotype of criminals; that they are menacing and dangerous.

This social group is represented very similarly in both of the films displayed above and is done using the same technique. Hannibal lecter - the criminal within the film " silence of the lambs" is also portrayed through hidden identity. Hannibal is concealed beneath a metal mask, the mask only shows his eyes; concealing his true identity and adding mystery to both the character and the film.

The joker within the batman films is also portrayed through hidden identity; the joker's face is concealed beneath a mask of makeup which hides his true identity, again creating further mystery for the viewer and causing the criminal to appear more sinister and menacing. The joker's hair is also dyed green - an unnatural colour for hair; this removes a sense of normality from the character.

I feel that our representation of criminals throughout our film is extremely clear and understandable; it is portrayed to the viewer by a common technique used throughout thriller films: concealing key features and hiding the criminal's identity in order to represent the criminal as impure and mysterious.

The main social group that our product focuses on is teenage girls. Above, I have created a collage comparing the main character within our film and two photos of the protagonist from the film "mean girls": a typical representation of  a teenage girl. The top two images capture the protagonist wearing pink high heels, a short pink skirt, a pink cardigan, and a top with a feminine slogan displayed upon it. All of these items suggest femininity and the colour pink is overused purposely as it is a known feminine colour which lets them conform to the typical representation of this social group that is often used throughout media.

 She also appears to be significantly made up; she is wearing a hot pink lip-gloss and a statement necklace, her hair is long and sleek suggesting that her appearance matters to her. Her hair is also blonde; implying innocence, purity and femininity. This stereotypical image of a teenage girl is used throughout many popular films such as wild child and confessions of a teenage drama queen.

Our product challenges these norms. Our female is portrayed as looking extremely casual; she is wearing dark blue ripped jeans and a white polo top: both of these colours are neutral and so neither of them suggest an overwhelming sense of femininity. None of the girl's body is exposed in the manner that is often seen throughout the representation of teenage girls, such as in the first image where the young girl is captured wearing a mini skirt that finishes just above the thigh; arguably implying promiscuity and profligacy.

Ripped jeans and a polo top are both unisex items of clothing, therefore our characters clothes challenge the norm of teenage girls wearing overly feminine clothing such dresses, skirts or skimpy denim shorts. Furthermore, our character isn't wearing any jewellery such as a necklace or earrings; again contradicting the typical image of this group depicted throughout the media. By dressing the teenage girl within our product in such neutral clothing, we are contradicting the idea that is reinforced so often throughout media products; that females must dress according to their gender.

Our character doesn't appear to be heavily made up, and her hair is hanging loose without a set style; suggesting that our character isn't overly concerned about her appearance. Many teenage girls within films are portrayed with blonde hair, because with this, comes a sense of beauty and femininity. We have again contradicted this within our product by selecting our protagonist with dark brown hair instead.

I feel that our representation of teenage girls within our product is extremely clear and understandable; our contradiction of the typical image of this social group translates well into our product and makes for a more interesting and diverse character.

Evaluation question two: plan

                         How does your media product represent particular social groups?

I have decided to respond to this question by comparing the way I have represented a character or a group to the way that mainstream media has done it. I will take a screenshot of the representation of a particular social group from a thriller film or various thriller films and compare this to a screenshot from my film. I feel that this will be an effective way to respond to this question as it will show if I have conformed to media stereotypes of particular social groups or if I have altered the way in which certain groups are perceived and why.

Evaluation question one

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

 1. 1. Idents: When researching conventional idents used within the thriller genre, I found that the idents used most often have the image displayed within a square or rectangle in the centre of the screen, and the title often sliding in from the side. We conformed to this convention whilst creating our first ident in order to ensure that our film is easily recognisable and can be easily identified as a thriller film ident. We found that the purpose of an ident was to effectively introduce both the genre and the film, therefore in order to mirror the thriller genre, our ident included a glowing silhouette running against a black screen. The running silhouette symbolises suspense and fear; two of the main conventions that run throughout the thriller genre.  The colour black has many connotations, so the black screen represents negativity and uncertainty


2. Our second ident is unlike any we found whilst researching idents. This ident pans across a sky full of bear, eerey trees. After a few seconds of the trees being shown, our title "CDM PRODUCTIONS" flashes onto the screen. The title font and style was specially selected as we wanted it to stand out and look dramatic; like in idents such as "touchstone pictures" where the text is large and bold and therefore really stands out. Special effects/editing: we used the "slow motion" feature within this ident to add a mysterious, suspenseful effect, we also lowered the brightness and increased the contrast in order to make the ident look extremely dark and unse

3. Props We felt that it would be effective to include an eerey text message in our film, which would be received by a naïve, unsuspecting girl. The text reads "I haven't forgotten what you did", we included this early on in our opening scene in order to introduce the plot and create mystery and suspense for the viewer immediately - we decided to introduce these conventions immediately as we have seen this technique in use throughout thriller films such as limitless (in which both the plot and the suspense commence instantly). This technique works extremely effectively as the viewer is gripped from the outset and eager to find out more - a common expectation when people sit down to watch a thriller film. We thought that it would be effective to include the use of a phone within our film too - after studying props used throughout thriller films, phones were extremely common and were used as a means of communication in order to build the mystery and tension even further. For example, phones were used in popular thriller films such as taken and speed, in which both were used to communicate, we conformed to this technique as we believed it would help to develop conventions within our film whilst adding an interesting addition to the plot. Stereotype: by using a phone, we could also build on the female stereotype: the woman shown within our film appears confused and unsuspecting after opening the text message, portraying her as naïve and ditsy. We decided to conform to this stereotype and convention as we believed that it would suit the character and our storyline to portray the girl as being helpless as it would add further tension to our film and lead the viewer to empathise with her. The phone within this scene is cracked; suggesting impurity and foreshadowing something negative that is yet to come.

4. Location Shot 4 is used to introduce the main location within our film. We decided to introduce the location by having the camera looking down on a helpless girl, struggling to get up off a cold, dirty forest ground. By introducing the scene this way, we automatically portray the negativity and uncertainty within this scene, the distressed girl struggling on the floor conveys negative connotations, the viewer is immediately gripped and wonders why she is there and what could happen next. The camera angle instantly depicts the girl as weak and possibly inferior to something. Many thriller scenes introduce location with this method; by focusing on a single character within the chosen location. Films such as shutter island and flightplan both use this method to introduce a key location. We decided to conform to this method as we thought it was both an effective way to show the location and also helped to portray the character in our desired light too.

5. Shot 5 shows the girl running... running/chase scenes are popular throughout the thriller genre; characters are often shown running from something as it is an effective way to convey danger within the scene and to build tension for the viewer. Throughout a typical thriller running scene,  non-diegetic, dramatic music will often be added in order to dramatize the scene even further, we conformed to this and added suspenseful music throughout which really helped to build our desired atmosphere. Our chosen location was perfect for this running scene, we felt that showing a helpless girl running through a deserted, dark forest would immediately build tension and cause the viewer to ask questions such as "what is she running from?".

6. Identity: Shot 6 shows a mysterious pair of hands tied up with rope, we are unsure who these hands belong to - hidden identity is a key convention of the thriller genre, as seen in the title sequence of "seven", in which we see a mysterious pair of jaded hands, they appear foreboding but we are not aware who they belong to, and the face is never revealed. We used this convention however developed it slightly, the identity of the character is hidden at first within this shot of just the hands, however shortly after this shot we reveal her face, thus revealing the hidden identity. Hidden identity is such a key convention within the thriller genre due to its ability to build mystery and suspense; two essential features within the genre.

7. Within this shot, the girl's identity is revealed. However there is still a significant element of puzzle; a key convention that runs throughout the thriller genre. We chose to reveal the girl's identity whilst still holding on to an element of puzzle;  the girl's identity has been revealed however the viewer is still left partially in the dark and is left asking questions such as "why is the girl tied up?"
By revealing this girl's identity, this helps to reveal a small part of the plot and helps the viewer to link certain factors together; making the storyline more interesting.

8. Shot 8 shows a close up of a pair of distressed eyes. We thought that this would be an effective shot to convey the panic and chaos that we needed to portray in this part of the scene. Eyes are a part of the body that are known for conveying emotion, therefore we felt that these eyes would effectively represent the mood of both the girl and the atmosphere within the scene. Through my research of the genre, I have found that close up shots of a pair of eyes are popular throughout thriller films and are used to reflect the atmosphere and convey a certain mood. For example, a close up pair of eyes is used in the film "vertigo" during the opening sequence, the eyes are shown with tears falling from them in order to connote a negative, distressed mood. Whilst the eyes are shown, non-diegetic suspenseful music can be heard playing in the background - we used this convention and added a similar kind of suspenseful music to overlap our shot of the character's eyes also.

9. Shot type: we used a close up shot of the character's face partially buried beneath a dirty cloth as a way to finalise this scene. Close up shots are known for their ability to really focus on an object or a character in order to convey a certain mood or emotion. Close up shots are used throughout the thriller genre for this very reason; to convey something important. Whilst researching the thriller genre, I found that films such as taken and defiance used close up shots towards the end of the film in order to draw the plot to a close; we conformed to this technique as an effective way to commence the opening of our film.

Evaluation question one: plan

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


I have decided to use a nine frame analysis in order to answer this question; I feel that this method will be an effective response to the question as it will show specific examples of conventions of the thriller genre that I have used throughout my product with an explanation as to why I have used certain things displayed below. A nine frame analysis will allow me to provide a thorough and detailed response as I can screenshot segments of my product whist attaching text for further information.