Evaluation - Mathew Garrett

Mise En Scene:

• Urban settings, City landscapes, and sometimes areas that are often worn and decrepit.The use of Hard, Low Key lighting to create dark areas and places. This lighting has sometimes been associated to classic Film Noir's, but mainly Horror and Thriller genre films
• With these two affects it creates a dark and eerie atmosphere often associated with the Thriller genre as well as the Horror genre. Because of this it creates tense moments with audiences as we know these dark areas are places not to be ventured to but it happens anyway
• In my product it is dark in the outdoor shots. This is conventional to the thriller genre.

Sound:

• Diegetic sound - Diegetic sound is sound whose source is visible on screen or present from an action in the film. It is also sound that the characters can hear, e.g they are listening to a CD or have dropped something and it makes a noise
• Non-Diegetic sound - This is sound that is not heard by any characters in the film and that has been added in post production (Editing)

Camera work and Editing:

• Cross cutting creates tense, and suspenseful sequences by quickly cutting between two areas in time that eventually collide with one and other
• This cutting is usually used to create fast paced, tense moments usually leading towards action sequences, especially the main event of a thriller film
• Point of view shots (POV) are often used to insinuate and suggest that we are looking from the view of the murderer
• The point of view shots are usually used as the murderer approaches their victim(s)

Characters:

• The Criminals and/or the Villains are known as the Antagonists. The Antagonist is always human in a Thriller film where as a Horror film has a "Monster" antagonist that in some way have supernatural properties.
• The victim is usually a female. This is the same for the Horror genre But in Horror this is called the Final Girl.
• Heroes are usually the friendly people throughout the film who are close to the victim(s) and can often be the police or just an ordinary(nothing special about them) person.
• The Protagonist is usually the main Hero that stands out more than the others. This is often a Police Detective or even one of the victims.

Narrative Structure and Typical Story features:

• This consists of the standard narrative structure, the three act structure. The Equilibrium is the balance of forces in the film. For example: it can be normality in which each character is living their "normal" life until the Disruption.
• The Disruption is when the forces collide and result in a "disruption" of normal life. This is usually when the Antagonist is presented to the victim(s). This follows with the Resolution.
• The resolution stage is when life returns to normal for the survivors and the Protagonist. The resulting fact being the death or imprisonment of the Antagonist.
• This includes the usual oppositions such as good versus evil in which the story is based around.
• Binary opposition - This is a typical feature found in a thriller film. This is the way in which the protagonist naturally opposes the antagonist
• Enigma code - This is also a typical feature of a thriller film. This is the way the narrative creates the viewers to ask questions such as the typical: why, and who? This is usually presented as the killer isn't shown until far into the film during the confrontation of the film. An example of this would be the film Seven, where the opening alone creates questions
• Restricted narration - This is when we no as much as the characters in the film do. we are placed in the film as one of the characters as they don't know whats going to happen next
• Un-restricted narration is when we know more than the characters in the film. for example in the film "28 days later" the main character Jim is in his parents house and the shot cuts to a POV of an infected person running towards the house. We know the infected is going to attack Jim but he is unaware of what is going to happen

Iconography:

• Weapons - Guns and Knives(Most commonly knives). The film Zodiac is a prime example of this in its second murder scene
• Police and their uniforms are typical in any thriller film as they usually play a vital part in the story
• CSI - Crime Scene Investigation
• Dark unpleasant areas/places
• Blood

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

In our product, we used many of the features/conventions of real thriller products. Such as The Enigma code. As mentioned above the enigma code is the way in which the narrative creates questions. In our media product we have managed to use enigma code at the very beginning of our film. We chose to have no dialogue in our film which in itself raises questions. We also chose not to show Fred, the antagonists, face to create more questions such as who he is and why he is there. However we did choose to show a torn photograph of Fred and a girl, later revealed as his ex-girlfriend, Katie. You cannot see Fred's face clearly in the photograph which still gives a sense of mystery towards the viewer and keeps those questions in the audiences head. Also, because of this picture it may answer some questions or hint towards how the two characters know each other.

In our film we chose to use un-restricted narration which is typical to many thriller films. We chose to use un-restricted narration as it creates a more tense atmosphere. it does this by letting us know what is going to happen whereas the other character does not. the audience want to tell the other character, in this case Katie but they cant and although they know that something is going to happen and this creates suspense as the viewers don't know exactly what is going to happen.

Just like any other film, thriller or sci-fi, we incorporated the 11 elements of mise en scene into our final film. The costume in our film was different for each character as Katie is the victim whereas Fred is the antagonist, the psycho ex-boyfriend come to take revenge. Katie is getting ready to go out so her costume is modern and trendy. Fred's costume, on the other hand, had to be dark to create a sense of unease around him. We chose to have Fred wear a dark hooded jumper, with the hood up, and also dark trousers. The costume splits the two apart and puts them at opposite ends of the scale of Good versus Evil.

We chose to have Katie's hair modern to give that sense of here and now so that the audience can relate to the time of this. Luckily we didn't have to change our actors hair in any way which saved time. Fred's hair was simple. We chose to have his hair to look slightly messy and show that he doesn't really care how he looks. With make-up, the character Katie is getting ready to go out so naturally we had make-up on her and this way any female can relate to Katie as this is what most girls do before going out. In the film itself you see Katie putting lip gloss on which contributes to showing that Katie is getting ready to go somewhere.
The decor is modern for the time it was made and this allows the audience to relate to the the house and it shows it is set in the here and now, and not in the 60's where wallpaper was extremely different.

The Body language of Fred is very relaxed and at no point do you see him tense or stiff. He looks as if he is ready to do whatever he needs to and he is not bothered by what that may be. Katie's body language is also relaxed up until the point where her psycho puts chloroform over her mouth to make her unconscious and paralysed for a short amount of time. After that she becomes tense and is unable to move fully. The facial expression is very similar to the body language in the way that, again, Fred looks very calm even at the point where he attacks Katie. Katie, on the other hand, again, goes from being relaxed and looking happy, to being stressed and scared.

The setting is a small street with not many houses on it. This is shown at the point where Fred is walking towards Katie's house. The houses are modern but they are architecturally British, whereas if this was American the house would be bigger with a massive front porch and more space around it.

The props we used were typical iconographic items such as the knife, used in nearly all thriller films, a gag which was the old cloth with chloroform on it used often to keep the victim quiet and submissive. Also we used a chair to have Katie sat on and tied to it to make it easier for Fred to do kill her.

The lighting in our film was Low key and also high key, opposite ends of the scale just like the Good and Evil in the story. The lighting is low key whilst the character Fred is outside. The light is dark and creates a grey cloud over the image which makes you feel eerie and un-nerving. The lighting inside the house is high key, which is bright. the light is brightest in the bathroom where Katie is getting ready. This is because this is the location of one of the main characters and we wanted the viewers to be able to see her clearly.

In our film, Fred is the Antagonist. The antagonist in a film is the "bad guy". In most films there will always be an antagonist or many antagonists. In the film "The Strangers", there are three antagonists all of them masked. the antagonist opposes the main character, usually known as the Protagonist. The protagonist is the main character, the central, primary figure in the film which the story generally revolves around.

Our shots at the beginning of our film follow the character Fred. This is so that we see what he is doing at all times, apart from just before he enters the bathroom. When Katie is in the bathroom, we set up the camera so that it looked like she was looking into a mirror, i.e the camera. Until the point where Katie is introduced we purposely chose not to show Fred's face. This was to raise questions and audience response. When Fred appears in the bathroom behind Katie, we wanted it to surprise the audience and we made it seem that he had appeared from no-where. We decided to have a point of view shot of Katie when she wakes up to make it more interesting for the audience. We also chose to have a "shadow stab". This was so that we could still clearly show what had happened but with out the close up, gory additions. The shadow was difficult when first trying to position the light correctly so that Katie was shown clearly and you couldn't see the camera that was actually on Katie's side between her and the wall it projected onto.

The sound at the beginning of our film was supposed to be sad and emotional. At the point where Fred throws the photograph on the floor and there is a close up of the photograph, the piano becomes louder and more obvious. This was because we wanted this scene to be emotional and also to hint to the audience that something sad had happened to the two characters in the photograph, their break up that Fred took to seriously and now wants revenge. For the bathroom scene we chose to have a modern piece of music that most teenagers would be likely to listen to. When seeing our final product we had realised that the music was a lot louder than when we were editing it. this had something to do with how the audio was transferred once our film was completed. At the end of the bathroom scene we added a heartbeat to create the illusion that Katie was fading away in consciousness. We also showed this by using a dissolve in post production to simulate Katie going into a temporary sleep.

Three act structure - The Equilibrium in our film would be when the street is shown at the beginning and until just before Katie bends down to pick up her hairspray.The disruption is when Katie and Fred are in the bathroom together and also when Katie is stabbed. Because this is only the opening to a full length feature film there will be many disruption sequences in it, mainly around the middle of the film.The resolution in our film does not exist yet as it is only an opening of a film. If we had made a full length feature film the the resolution would be at the end of it when the the bad guy, Fred, has been stopped. Either killed or put in prison.

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our media product represents 17 year old, middle class, male and females. This is because our character Katie is a typical female teenager who is in her first year of college and isn't particularly popular but still has plenty of friends all around the college. Her parents aren't rich or poor which is most common in the here an now.Fred is also a middle class, 17 year old college student.When we first discussed our ideas for a thriller we thought of using a female as the antagonist and a male as the protagonist in the story. If we did this it would mean we would be playing with the typical conventions of a thriller, which is always a male antagonist. We decided not to do this and to stick to the typical conventions so that it could be recognised even more as a thriller. With this in mind we portrayed Fred as a stereotypical dominant male. Because Fred is relaxed with what he is doing it creates the feeling that he is dominating the situation with what he thinks is best. When Katie is on the chair before being stabbed, we used a low angle POV shot to show Fred towering over her and it makes him seem more powerful and dominant whereas Katie is on a chair so she is lower doing having to look up.

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

To distribute our film we would be looking for an independent British distribution company. there a lot of independent distributing companies but as of yet i have not been able to find one that specialises in Thriller films. However there are some companies that would be suitable for our media product. Anchor Bay Films has done many Horror films including the original "The Crazies" (1973) film and also the more recent independent film "Ghost Machine" (2009). And also Guerrilla Films

4.Who would be the audience for your media product?

Our audience for our media product is 16-19 year old girls. This is because our film relates more to girls than it does to boys. Although both male and female characters are present in the film we believe that more girls can relate to Katie's character than anyone can to Fred's character. I think that all girls have had the boyfriend that turns a bit psycho but does not take it to the length that Fred does. Males, however, will enjoy this film but will not be able to relate and respond to it as much as teenage girls. Our film follows in the footsteps of the psycho ex-boyfriend films such as the film "Prom Night" (2008) and is also similar to the film "When a stranger calls" (2006)

5.How did you attract/address your audience?

To attract our audience would be to first focus on a specific audience. In our case this is teenage girls. To attract this audience we needed something that girls can relate and respond to, hance our female character Katie who has a psycho ex-boyfriend. Because there is no dialogue no one actually says that our two chracters were together. However we have insinuated that the two were together at some time but not anymore. We did this by showing the photograph on the floor. It shows Fred with his arm around Katie which suggests that they were close. the rip down the photgraph shows that something went wrong and that they are most likely not together anymore. Also, the music we made for the bathroom scene is exciting and modern, alot like some of the new smash hit bands teenage girls love such as You Me At Six.

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

For my main product i used a standard video camera which i acquired from my College.
Whilst using the camera i had to continuously check and set the white balance (tutorial) whenever the light changed such as when moving from one room into another. This procedure is important but can also be a pain whilst filming as it needs to be done but it is easily forgotten.
I used a piece of editing software called Final Cut Pro to put all my footage together on and create the final product. This was a fun task for me as i now know the program fairly well and i enjoy using it. However, during editing i found it tricky at times as i had to get match on action spot on otherwise it would look tacky and un-professional. I believe that i succeeded in matching the sequences very well and it is one part of my Product i am very proud of. We have a number of match on action shots in our film, the first one is when Fred walks into Katie's kitchen. I wanted to get this perfect so it would look good and proffesional. Match on action is when you use two shot of the same thing but from different angle or sides of your character. You have to match one action in the clip and the cut, and edit them together.

After editing i went onto using the music creation program garage band. This is a music editing and creation program that i am very familiar with so it was easy for me to navigate my way around the program and do want i wanted for my Product. With this program i was able to overlay our completed video and then add sound to it. This was very useful as it mean tthat i could match sounds correctly and create continuity. Creating contiuity with a sound bridge is useful when your characters are in the same place but it switches to a different shot. Using garageband i was able to add sound over one clip and onto the next clip which created my sound bridge. Diegetic sound, which comes from a visible action on screen, such as doors opening and closing was easy becasue of garage band. I could get my selected video and then match the sound perfectly to what was happening on screen.

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

Overlooking the preliminary task made me realise how in experienced i was at creating a piece of film from such an early stage in my Media AS year.
From looking at my final product and my Preliminary task i can see that my lack of knowledge and skill shows in the footage first created. The camera work is not well done and looks un-professional compared to what i have achieved in my final Product. Looking at the picture here, i can see that the lighting and composition is alot worse than my new work. the lighting is dull and there is not much colour in the shot. You cannot see the characters facial expressions clearly and therefore it is difficult to see. The composition is bad as we had left too much space on the left hand side which draws the eye away from the main action they should be focused on. I believe that my editing work has improved and the amount that i have edited into my Product whereas in the Preliminary task i wasn't really sure what had been done to standard and i only used basic shots, and the bare minimum amount of shots. In my final Product i have achieved more in shots and continuity which is a big factor when creating a film such as this.