Evaluation Question Seven

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

This shot from my preliminary task shows the basic effects that we used throughout. The black and white effect was something that I was keen to include in our final Thriller project. At first when I used black and white in my preliminary task I was unsure on how to change the balance of black to white. When I came to editing my Thriller film however, I was more confident in using premiere pro and was able to adjust the contrast to create a darker, shadier atmosphere.

Whilst filming and editing our preliminary task I had to ask for much more help and guidance when using the cameras and Macs. I felt that my knowledge has progressed substantially since working on the preliminary task as I am now confident in using premiere pro, the video cameras and also the Macs themselves. I felt that I didn’t need to ask for as much advice and I resorted to trial and error when trying to figure out how to accomplish something.

In our preliminary task the transitions were far smoother and cleaner. At first I was hoping to achieve this in our Thriller, however after Charlotte and I had established the jolty, grainy effects by using dust and scratches and noise and grain and also chosen a jerky song, we felt that clear cuts and fades to black were more appropriate and made the film look more fitting for our target audience and the overall end product. I learnt in the short time between filming our preliminary task and our Thriller, that to create a good quality product we needed to make sure the editing process fitted all the aspects together, instead of making them vague and confusing.

I feel that the biggest learning curve in the progression from our preliminary task to our final Thriller film was learning to take ideas and develop them from existing Thrillers. The research that Charlotte and I carried out helped us to understand particular conventions and incorporate them into our work. We learnt how to use the technology provided to try and develop some of the aspects of successful Thriller films such as ‘Seven’ and ‘Sin City’.

Amy Reeve

Evaluation Question Six

Technology

A Mac was a main component in creating our Thriller. We learnt how to use its programmes and also figure out the major differences between the Macs and a PC. We were completely unfamiliar with them before we began this project and we found that there were several benefits of using it for our film.

- Higher quality sound and graphics: Cosmetically appealing.

- Less Viruses: A Mac is far less susceptible to attacks from computer viruses.

- Versatile: Mac supports many of the same popular programmes available for windows.

- Reliable: A Mac has fewer freezes and crashes

- Excellent support: Technical support is ranked highly in the industry.

I learnt how to use these benefits of a Mac to acomplish our media project to the best of our ability.

Premiere Pro

Premiere Pro was the main programme that we used to upload and edit our footage. I learnt how to:

- Connect the video camera to the mac and capture the footage onto the programme.

- Drag and drop the footage onto the timeline.

- Cut the sequence and delete the footage we don't need using the razor tool.

- Add effects such as colour alterations, transitions, lighting, sfx and more.

- Import a soundtrack and edit it.

Premiere Pro allows editing of videos easily. It has lots of features like sound reduction, lighting and many more. Videos shot in dark places can be made visible using Premiere Pro. Many effects i.e Visual effects included in Premiere Pro can give your movie a polished looked. Charlotte and I watched tutorials on youtube in order to learn more about Premiere pro, which helpd us to learn to use more challenging ways to edit our film.

JVC DV Camcorder

Learning to use a video camera enabled charlotte and I to experiment with our shots. We also used a fisheye lens which created a surreal environment in our opening with Charlotte crying and also allowed us to get a much closer view of her tears. We also learnt how to:

- Insert and eject Dv tapes.

- Record, play, rewind and forward the footage.

- Change lenses.

- Use zoom in and zoom out.

- Connect to the computers and capture on Premiere Pro.

- Changing camera settings.

We also learnt how to use the camera effectively to create the best shots. I felt that Charlotte and I got on well with the technology that was involved during the process of making our film. We managed to learn how to use each piece of equipment effectively and it helped us to create the Thriller that we had imagined.

Amy Reeve

Evaluation Question Five

How did you attract/address your audience?

We aimed to attract both adults and teenagers in our film. As you can see from the screen shot below we have captured the part where we include young love into our film. Being a teenager myself I understand the appeal of including a love interest into the film as many teenagers find the prospect interesting and something that they can relate to. The picture above shows two stereotypical teenagers who are obviously in love. As you can see there are similarities in both of these images, which suggests the link between teenagers and the subject matter in our film.

Although the characters in our film are teenagers themselves we are also trying to attract young adults as well, because we believe that the darker aspects of it will be more fitting for an older audience. The part where Ross is shown hanging may confuse a younger audience and may also prevent them from wanting to watch the rest of the film, as it prevents them from watching the romance develop and also shows that it is less likely to have a happy ending.

Although this may deter certain teenagers from watching our film, the fact that we have included a fair bit of action within the first two minutes and introduced two of the main characters may keep them interested even after Ross is shown dead. The fact that romance is one of the main components of the film, may make soppier members of the audience more inclined to watch it, but also the fact that there is a murder and a psychopathic ex- girlfriend involved it will also attract the thrill seekers.

Film lovers may also be interested in our Thriller as we have tried to incorporate aspects of other famous films. The opening titles may immediately remind the viewer of the opening titles in the film; 'Se7en' as the diary in the beginning of our film and the font used for the titles shows some similarities with the opening of the famous Thriller.

I think that although we used these methods to attract our specific target audience, we also used quirky music, editing and camera shots to create a mysterious, unconventional film which could appeal to a larger audience for many different reasons. People may be attracted to our Thriller purely for the soundtrack or because we have used a black and white effect. Others may want to watch our film because of the characters or because of the editing style we have used. Hopefully the methods that we have incorporated into the making of this film will appeal to not only the people that we have talked about here, but to a variety of different people with different tastes.

Amy Reeve

Liason

Evaluation Question Four

Who would be the audience for your media product & why?

We feel that younger people would be the particular audience for our Thriller as the main characters are young people themselves. Some young girls may also relate to Charlotte's character's jealousy and heartbreak, while others may relate to how oblivious Amy's character is as to what's happening. Amy's character has no knowledge of Charlotte's evil actions, which helps to develop the story as she explores the possibilites of what happened to Ross.

We asked 8 people with a variation of age and gender to watch our Thriller and feed back with their views on it and as to whether they would choose to watch it in the first place.

Maddi, 16, female: I found the storyline quite gripping and would definitely choose to watch it, however I found it difficult to understand the story line and felt that the plot was not as well thought out as the camera work.

Gavin, 22, male: I think it demonstrates the feelings of jealousy quite well, and shows the extremes that some people go to in these situations. I would watch it as it seems like it would hold a lot of tension and keep you guessing what's going to happen next.

Pippa, 17, female: It seems that there is a lot more to develop should you continue to create a full length film; there's plenty of story to work with. The events that have happened so far have opened up the rest of the story which I think could be built on really well. I would definitely watch this film, but I would suggest that if you are trying to appeal to a younger audience, then perhaps a less complicated plot would draw us in more.

Glenda, 64, female: I think that including the innocent character, the victim and a femme fatale really helped to create a good plot for the film. These stereotypes are not presented quite as stereotypically though, as Charlotte's character does not hold the appearance of a psychotic murderer at first glance, and Amy's character is not the typical unaware innocent person stuck in the middle. The characters have more to them which makes it more interesting. I would probably choose to watch the film as I enjoy thrillers.

Martin, 28, male: I'm not a fan of thriller movies but I have to admit this one does have a rather interesting storyline.

Dan, 27, male: I liked seeing the two girls with the main roles, that definitely interests me as a man. I think people will also be able to relate to the heartbreak as many people experience it and the emotions that come with it; Liason demonstrates and focuses on the anger and jealous feelings that people experience.

Sam, 36, female: It didn't really appeal to me, as I don't believe that teenage girls are that extreme when it comes to relationships, so it was a bit unbelievable. I suppose you could say that for a lot of films but to me it just isn't something I would enjoy watching. The editing is very good though, it definitely looks professional.

Audrey, 49, female: Liason appears to be a classy and well made film which I would definitely watch. The storyline is great, the acting is great and the camera work is brilliant. It's not too extreme or gory, yet it isn't too vague. I think it would do very well if it was released in the cinema.

These responses show that our film could appeal to many different people, which is not what we expected. We are very pleased with the positive responses that we received and Pips and Maddies comments made us realise that perhaps our film should be aimed at young adults rather than teenagers and children as the story line wasn't our main concern when we were filming . We tried to use our camera work and editing methods to draw in our viewers and although some teenagers would appreciate the quirky, jolty effects that we included and the shots that we used, I think that perhaps an older person would look further than the plot and actually appreciate the film as an interesting combination of dark, uncomfortable viewing.

Gender does not appear to be an issue, as the female lead characters can appeal to both females and males. Similarly with age, we expected younger people to favour our film as younger people are featured in it, but because the story is not focused on stereotypical teenage things such as school/college, rebelling against adults and drug abuse, which are the subjects that tend to be focused on usually in films about teenagers. Instead the subject of love and heartbreak is played upon in our film, an emotion that everyone can relate to and experience.

We tried to make the two minutes as gripping as possible to make people want to watch the rest of the film and see what's going to happen. The responses helped us to determine who the audience may be for our Thriller and why.

Charlotte Bone

Evaluation Question Three

Charlotte Bone & Amy Reeve

Evaluation Question Two

How does your media product represent different social groups?

Teenagers

Our film represents teenagers as it is rebellious and goes against the conventions of what a normal teenage girl's life is supposed to be like. Charlotte's character shows an emotionally unstable person, which can often be the case in reality with teenage girls. The diary represents the hormonal feelings that are present during teenage years and also the darker sides to a teenagers mind. Although all the characters are young adults we aren't conventional and the way we act in the film demonstrates more mature mannerisms.

Adults

Our thriller may also appeal to adults as it represents the hardships of life and may also be difficult to understand for younger people. I think that adults would view our film in a different way, as they might appreciate the camera work and effects that we have used, rather than just focusing on the story line.

Working class, Middle class, Upper class?

I personally do not believe that something that can be interpreted differently by everyone can necessarily attract only one specific social group. I think however that our film would appeal mainly to middle class people on the whole as it is based around middle class characters. I think that the fact that there is no speech in our film would help it to appeal to a larger audience as they cannot judge the characters on the way they talk. Our characters are deliberately shown wearing standard clothing, so although the audience are able to connect with the characters on a personal level, they cannot judge or guess what they are like purely on appearance.

Amy Reeve

Evaluation Question One

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

The screen shot below is from the opening titles of the film 'Se7en'. This was our initial inspiration for the titles of our film. As you can see we have taken the black background and white writing effect from the titles of 'Se7en' and developed it further in our own opening.

We went on www.dafont.com and decided to use a similar font to the one used in these titles. We didn't want them to be too alike however as we wanted ours to be more simplistic and original.

We have also developed the idea of the book in the film 'se7en'. I had chosen to include this into our film as it adds a personal approach to Charlotte's heartache and also shows her obsession with her former boyfriend.

Instead of showing Charlotte actually writing in our diary, we just filmed the photographs, cuttings and memories that she had previously included. We took the idea of using cuttings and photo's from this clip.

We felt that many conventions of a typical thriller were that men were more often than not the villains and women were the victims. We challenged this convention of Thriller films by swapping these stereotypical characters around, with Charlotte being the villain and Ross being the victim.
We felt that this was an unexpected twist on the plot, and went against the average Thriller film. I did find however that there were existing films with female villains.

In the film 'Hard Candy' the female is the villain. We wanted to take this idea and develop it further by also including the idea of revenge from the plot. Charlotte finally gets revenge on her ex-boyfriend just like the female character does on the man in 'Hard Candy'.

Our media film challenges the usual plots, characters and effects of a typical Thriller film for teenage viewers. We have tried to create a darker concept, without much of the teenage drama and stereotypes that usually apply to a young adult. Although our film is based on love and revenge, we purposefully do not make the viewing soppy or overly emotional, when showing the lovers. We used the black and white effect to create a darker, shadowy mystery to the setting of our film and also to it's characters. We used this idea from the film Sin City, which is a recent film, with the black and white effect adding a more atmospheric touch rather than making it look old fashioned, which is what we wanted to convey in our own film.

Our film is purposefully jolty and grainy, and we felt that it went perfectly with the music. We challenged the typical high quality viewing of most modern Thrillers. We also decided against using speech in the opening as we felt that the soundtrack was enough to convey the atmosphere, and the story did not need to be explained within the first two minutes.

Amy Reeve

Our progress so far...

Ever since Charlotte and I finished producing and editing our film, we seem to have become a bit lax with posting on our blog. This week we are focusing on planning what we will be doing for our evaluation in time for the easter holidays. Hopefully after easter Charlotte and I will have either finished our evaluation or will have made good inroads into it.

We are hoping to return to where we filmed our thriller film and talk about what we were trying to achieve with the different ideas and effects that we put into it.

Am Reeve