Thriller Final Cut - Silent

Final Cut - Silent

AS Evaluation - Question 7

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

I learnt that editing has a massive impact on your film. My strengths in editing I knew how to link shots, I grasped how to edit quickly, I could import and connect shots exactly how I envisioned to. The weaknesses I had were mainly at the beginning; this was finding out the effects/edits and trying to use them. The effects/editing we ended up using were fade, rewind, fast forward and we used these transitions and movements because they made the film have more impact and more dramatic. The fade was good as it produced a quick way to end the scene suddenly and reverse was good as it gave a sense of mystery and unsteadiness.

Doing credits/titles it was quite tricky as the font type, size and timing of credits had to be perfect. These weaknesses slowed down the whole editing process.

The purpose of the preliminary task was to learn how to use the equipment and get a feel of the cameras and editing software before I made the actual product, allowing us to acknowledge any changes that need to be made. It has also allowed us as a group to realize the amount of time, planning and actual work that has to go into creating our title sequence. From the preliminary task I learnt about the possible problems you can encounter in production for example, lack of consistency. The skills I learnt from the preliminary task that assisted me in my thriller was teamwork skills, acting skills and feedback skills – (voicing opinions, making an impact on the task).

Over the shoulder shot (Preliminary task)

Panning shots (Preliminary task)

 Panning shots from my 'silent' thriller film

AS Evaluation - Question 6

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

AS Evaluation - Question 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

Primary research is research used to collect data for a specific task. Types of primary data collection methods include surveys, questionnaires any data collected and produced by yourself. Which is up to date and relates directly to your project. The aim of primary research is to observe consumer responses and behavior to the product market your going into to make sure you produce something your target audience/consumers want.

  

Primary research helped us to understand what our target audiences hobbies and interests were. So we then knew what to include in my thriller, to satisfy and entertain the audience. The primary research carried out was voxpops a video survey which allowed my group to gain information to help us produce our opening scene and to find out what the audience like. Questionnaires allowed us to gain quantitative data to condense, to help us plan our thriller. From this data we gained an insight of our target audiences hobbies and interests related to the thriller genre – sub genres. It also allowed us to produce what our audience want to see.

 I also analysed thriller films to gain inspiration and understand generic elements of thrillers. I researched into age certificates to find out our target audience age and work out what age certificate fits the contents I have in my film. I had to research different  thriller films depending on each micro element. I analysed mise-en-scene, cinematography, editing and sound all to find out what our target audience want.

Carrying out this research not only allowed us to find out what we techniques in each elements we like ans want to include in our thrillers but it also allowed us to find out the purpose of each micro element and the reaction and effect you can get from your audience. Doing the micro-element research blogs also allowed us to unknowingly gain inspiration.

I researched film certificates on BBFC this research was done to find out the purpose and meaning of each age certificate and to also find out what age certificate is suitable for us by looking at the characteristics of each age certificate.
I also researched the history of thriller films and how they have developed and evolved over the years. This again allowed me to gain inspiration.

Secondary research is research that hasn't been created by yourself but has been taken from another source.
I carried out secondary research on narrative theories; this helped us have an idea of what type of theory was 
compatible with our narrative. There are three different theories from Aristotle, Vldamir Propps and
 Todorov. As a group we ended up deciding on Todorov's theory as it had the five stages that we thought were similar to our own. Here is Todorov's theory.

To conclude, the primary research helped us to find out what we needed to include in our thriller and also helped us to know whether our narrative idea is suitable for our target audience and to find out the age certificate for our target audience. All of this research linked together and supported one another to produce a film. This research really assisted us with planning and knowing what we were going to do when we had to start filming.

AS Evaluation - Question 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

A target audience is important as it will allow you to market a product properly. As certain age groups share the same hobbies and interests. So forming your film on the basis of a specific target age range (audience) will allow you to find out what your audience like and then include that in your film. Which will mean that the age group will most likely enjoy your film. Choosing a target audience makes it easier to find out the methods of how you can market the product. Finding out your target audience will help you make sure your film is aimed at them and that they enjoy it. As you wouldn't want a target audience of 16-25 year olds for a Victorian history film as stereo typically that is not what teenagers/young people enjoy. So tailoring your narrative/film genre to age is critical. As it can increase or decrease your sales depending on if there is a link between your film and target audience.

My target audience are young teens and young adults. This is because generally young people are the target audience for thrillers, and enjoy the element of thrill from films that include suspense. The narrative is focusing on young people and the sounds used are exciting and anticipating. Young people like this, and the mise en scene and camera shots create pace and suspense. Which a lot of young people like to see.

Mise en scene refers to everything that appears before the camera and its arrangement—composition, sets, props, actors, costumes, and lighting. - Wikipedia

    In my thriller film I tried to appeal to our target audience by using mise en scene that they are use to and can therefore relate to. Firstly the setting, the setting was in a home which is very important to young people as home signifies peace, love and comforting. A place to relax and feel safe. So for a home to be used in our thriller it put a twist on the codes and conventions around a home. This was a good idea as it will increase the anxiety of the audience as they will form a realistic view. Causing them to feel paranoid and change their perceptions of home. This will increase the scariness of the film and increase audience anticipation. 


For mise-en-scene we also created tension through lighting. I used generic low-key lighting. Low key lighting is a style of lighting for photography, film or television. It is a necessary element in creating a chiaroscuro effect. Traditional photographic lighting, three-point lighting uses a key light, a fill light, and a back light for illumination. - wikipedia.The lighting will connect with our audience as it will create mystery. And young people tend to like mystery and are entertained by shock and surprise. Low-key lighting also creates tension and shadows and gives the audience a sense of paranoia. That something is going to happen in the scene. It also distorts the audiences view on space, as you can't see everything in the frame. This is more terrifying for the audience as they do not know what to expect. Creating shock and surprise when something does happen. Which is great, as it creates exhilaration and anxiety.
Actors and costume also played apart in appealing our audience. As the characters were young and this would allow the audience to relate to their situation more. Also the costumes, the costumes were casual and normal. As the main character was wearing white, this gave the code of purity and innocence. Which impacted the view that she is in fact the victim. 
The soundtrack and sounds used were taken from freesound.com. The sound used was non diegetic sound (e.g. the scream) and the diegetic sound (e.g. the high pitched sound effect). This sound once paired with cinematography increased the impact of the film as it made the surroundings seem eerie, scary and dangerous. It also made the audience nervy and excited for what was to come. The sound would shock the audience as there would be between parts of the scene with minimum sound so when the scream came it created suspense. 
The cinematography used were close ups, mid shots and log shots. The shots that I feel appealed to our audience were the close ups as they made the audience wonder why it is focusing so much on that object. And also made the audience feel sympathy for characters. This was good for my target audience as it made them wonder and allowed them to form their own opinions on what was going on in the film.

  Editing such as fast cutting and slow cutting connect with pace and adrenaline as that keeps the target audience at the edge of their seats keeping them entertained. This is what our target audience (young people) want.

To conclude all these elements put together. Create a exhilarating and scary experience for our audience but also appeal to them through different aspects that we know that they can relate to as we carried out detailed research to make sure what the young people wanted was proved.

AS Evaluation - Question 3

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

AS Evaluation - Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

There is only one main character in the film. This character is a young female, which is a generic thriller convention. Female characters are used to display vulnerability and innocence to the audience, so the audience can form a relationship with the main character/victim. They form this relationship through sympathy for the situation that the female character is in. shows that 
The other character was also a female, this female also conveys the same things. I feel that we conveyed females/girls in a stereotypical way as females in media or society are stereotyped to be weak, more gentle and innocent. So I feel that we represented females in a very stereotypical way.

The characters could appeal to the audience as our target audience were between the ages of 15-25 this young character allowed the audience to sympathize with the young character. Also the character is a typical little girl which most of the audience will be able to relate to.

More on social groups....

A social group can be defined as any two or more people in social interaction who share expectations and responsibilities to the group and who share a unifying characteristic or sense of purpose. 

My media product represents two social groups. One of them is family, this narrative is based on a small knit family where the mysterious killer of a young girl (killer is the sister) seems to have gotten away with the act and moves on with her life after her sisters death. Family is an interesting social group as in a social ideal family is supposed to be loving, supportive, caring but this puts a twist on the idealistic view on families. It represents this social group as a secretive one, that things go on that you wouldn't know about. It also displays that families aren't as loving as they seem and that family doesn't mean hate doesn't exist. 

Another social group was a secondary one, the neighbourhood. As you can see in the opening scene of the opening thriller for 'Silent'. The atmosphere is very eerie, cold and has a lot of shadows. These are all conventional to the thriller genre creating mystery and suspense. However, it doesn't diverge from the fact that a neighbourhood is supposed to be 'safe' and 'sunny' well that's how media often portray neighbourhoods as a safe community street (social ideal again). However,  by our media product showing this it displays that neighbourhoods aren't as safe as they seem and that you don't even know whats going on in a house on your street. But we worry about a murder 30miles away when the murderer could be right next door and you wouldn't even know it.

Therefore, my media product mainly represents social groups as the opposite of what society wants us to be like. My media product puts a twist on the normal in everyday life and gives an insight to a murderers mind. And the 'real world' not the ideal but also keeping the thriller genre and conventional themes whilst doing so.