After creating the opening scene to our Thriller movie, there were still a number of aspects that could be improved and changed to enhance the overall product. Some suggestions for these improvements were made through peer assessment or our own group looking at factors we could improve.
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Firstly, we wanted to know whether our opening scene was like that of real thriller movies. In most thriller movies there is a main protagonist and a main antagonist. This was followed in our movie and could clearly be seen in the opening scene. From our research we found out that in most horror thrillers like ours the main protagonist is generally a female. We went against this tradition and selected a male, mainly to correspond with the storyline. I feel as though the music that was used in the opening scene is what you would expect to hear in horror thrillers as this type of music evokes emotions. We had to main pieces of music. One evoking sorrow and another evoking suspense and horror. I think we developed the idea of horror movies by creating the opening scene to be a dream, something that is seen as generic and boring but I feel as though our opening scene utilises this to create shock in the audience.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
We also wanted to present social groups through character representation. In our movie we presented teenagers the most. We portrayed the drug use there is in modern day society in our film which is a key element in the story point. We also showed violence among teenagers as it is something that happens among teenagers in every day to day life. We decided to portray teenagers as they are our target audience and they will be more inclined to watch something about their own social group. From our opening scene we didn’t really touch at other social groups as we wanted to enforce the idea that the movie was mainly about teenagers so it will appear to the target audience more.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
Another evaluation point to make is the media institute that will distribute our media product. Our movie is too amateur to be released in cinema because of the low budget and lack of production team, therefore the internet will be a better option. If the movie is placed on the internet it will be seen by our target audience as teenagers are known to use the internet a lot. If the movie then gets enough hits, there could be a remake as a production company may want to develop the movie and put it in an independent theatre. This will let us know if the movie has the potential to be released in many cinemas.
Who would be the audience for your media product?
The audience for our media product are teenagers as the movie deals with issues that teenagers face in today’s society, such as drugs and violence. This will then make the target audience feel connected to the movie because it is something they can relate to and eventually more teenagers would want to watch it. Also the film could be aimed at adults as they have children and to watch a movie about teenagers informs them of the problems they face. We also decided to aim our product at teenagers as research showed that teenagers make up a big percentage of the social group that watched thriller movies the most. Teenagers like to go to the cinema and use the internet so the movie will have direct access to the target audience.
How did you attract your audience?
We attracted our target audience by creating a concept art for our movie. This can then be advertised in areas where teenagers populate so they know about the movie and get a general feel of what it is about. We also attracted audiences by putting our opening scene on youtube. Youtube attracts millions of teenagers so they are able to come across our movie and hopefully watch it.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
I have learnt a lot from constructing our projects. Technologies I have learnt about include the use of editing software. I am now able to edit simple scenes so they fit together and flow nicely. I have also learnt how to use a video camera and different functions it has such as night vision. Night vision came in handy when filming scenes in the dark. We also made use of the zoom tool on the camera so objects that were far away could clearly be seen. On the editing software I used a range of tools to make the opening scene more interesting to watch. First I made use of the black & white tool, this can in handy when editing the flash backs used in our film. I also made use of the “reverse speed” tool so filming appeared to be reversed. This was popular among peers in my class. I also made use and learnt about different audio and video transitions that can be used in editing such as “exponential fade” and “dip to white” this help ease the change in shots and different pieces of music.
Looking back at my preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Looking back at my preliminary coursework I feel that I am a much better film make now as in our movie I was able to use a lot more editing techniques. The preliminary also helped to film the actual opening scene so with that knowledge we were able to expand and try new techniques. I feel that I have learnt how to put different shots together to make one long scene as at the beginning of the course I was not particularly sure of this. The preliminary also gave as a view on the different camera shots and angles that are available in film making. We used a range of camera shots and angles in our preliminary, including a full shot, close up, and medium close up. In our real product we were able to use a lot more camera shots and angles as these helped to tell the story of the opening scene.
Overall I feel that our product has a lot of potential but due to our resources we were limited when making our film. Our film is no where near perfect but I feel that we have met all the requirements of a horror thriller and that we addressed our target audience well.