Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to a full product?
Here is a video of us explaining how we have developed and improved from our preliminary task:
Saturday, May 5, 2012
Evaluation 6
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
Throughout the making of our thriller, we have learnt that many types of technology are needed to make it. We also learnt of the importance of the internet when marketing and how new technologies such as smart phones can help you in many different ways. Here is a video explaining the technologies we used:
Evaluation 4
Who would be the audience for your media product?
Name: Claire Martins
Age: 18
Studying English Literature and Philosophy at Cambridge University.
Has a part time job as a sales assistant at Debenhams. Enjoys going out with her friends for meals and movie nights. Her favourite foods are spaghetti, fruit and donuts and enjoys going to Nando’s at the weekend.
Her favourite film is Mean Girls but also enjoys thrillers such as The Perfect Getaway. Her favourite TV Shows are 90210 and Friends and she enjoys listening to her favourite artists, Jessie J and The Script. She enjoys dancing and performs in ballet recitals on a regular basis.
Name: Lewis Harley
Age: 19
Works full time at HMV
Lives at home with his mum and younger brother, Greg. Enjoys watching films and listening to loud music. His favourite bands are Metallica, Nirvana and Arctic Monkeys. His favourite TV show is Family Guy and his favourite films are the Final Destination series.
Enters skateboarding competitions often, has come 2nd place in the Southend Over 18’s Skateboarding competition.
Enjoys eating junk food such as pepperoni pizza, hotdogs and is always seen hanging out at Burger King.
These are the type of people we are aiming our thriller at because they're middle class, sociable people but also people who enjoy films. We are aiming at groups of friends and film lovers to come and view our thriller at the cinema as these are the type of people who we think will enjoy it the most.
Evaluation 2
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
When coming up with the ideas for our thriller and the characters that are in it, we decided as a group very quickly that we would like to focus on a child and have the thriller from the child's perspective. We decided this as the young character represents purity and innocence that we wanted to enhance this in any way we could. We research different films that had the child as the main character and realised that the one to focus on would be 'Orphan'.
When coming up with the ideas for our thriller and the characters that are in it, we decided as a group very quickly that we would like to focus on a child and have the thriller from the child's perspective. We decided this as the young character represents purity and innocence that we wanted to enhance this in any way we could. We research different films that had the child as the main character and realised that the one to focus on would be 'Orphan'.
The similar ideas that influenced our character's appearance was the hair in side bunches. We used this to show the young age of the character and showing that would increase the effectiveness of the thriller. Other similarities include the dark make up around the eyes- on the 'Orphan' image the eyes are dark and the eyes darkened but not as heavily as ours. In our image the eyes were darkened and bruised to show the physical effect of the car crash.
A difference that we wanted to show was the eyes, at first in our thriller, the eyes are normal, however the eyes in the picture of 'Orphan' are very dark- almost black. The black could represent the evil, mystery or even death being a very negative colour. We first considered using black contacts on the character, but then decided that the red would stand out more if at the end of the 2 minutes, and would therefore raise more questions that could be answered if the thriller carried on.
The pale skin on the 'Orphan' character is similar to ours, giving them a purer look and increasing their innocence and child- like image.
By using white clothes (as explained in the costume post) we went against the 'Orphan' image of using the dark red/black colours. We done this as we thought it took away from the pure look creating a harsher and darker character. We didn't do this as we wanted to keep the light look to out character so that when she changed evil there would be more shock from the audience.
Evaluation 1
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media prodcuts? (i.e. of film openings)
The title of our film is first shown when Jody spells it out using the building blocks we made. However, it is not fully clear that is the title until it is displayed at the end. This way of introducing the title into the actual footage is unusual and would go against typical conventions of a thriller as they would usually just edit the title in during the opening on a black background.
However, in the case of the font style of the thriller, our title does follow traditional codes and conventions in terms of font style. It is quite simple but also quite a quirky, spooky font which suits the genre. For example; in the film Black Swan, the title shot is plain black words on a white background, which is very similar to what we have done, however we decided to switch the colours around as it seemed darker and more fitting for our thriller.
In terms of settings and locations we had main locations while filming. We had a red room, which was Megan's Dad's study. This was our main location as this is where we witness the change that Jody goes through, turning from inncocent to evil. We would say that this goes with codes and conventions of a thriller because alot of films use colours to symbolise danger and/or isolation. This screenshot also introduces the character Jody. It shows her happily playing with her teddy and some building bricks. She is introduced straight away while the opening credits are being shown.
We also used Megan's Dad's car to film to flashback car crash scene. This goes partly with and party against conventions of a thriller because although flashbacks are used often in films, car scenes at the camera angles we used are not common.
This screenshot shows the majority of props we used as well as the costume. Here you can see a teddy, the building bricks, a photo frame, her white dress, and her hair and brusing make-up. We would say that this goes with conventions of a thriller as films often use props to symbolise things and make-up for effect. In our case, the teddy, white dress and hair in bunches shows her innocence, contrasting against the red background which represents danger.
In terms of the story, the main shot that sets what the film is about comes right at the end of the opening. It goes with traditional conventions of a thriller because extreme close ups are often used to show the expression of the characters. Red contact lenses or make-up/props are often used there abouts.
Genre wise, we have followed conventions of a thriller by having a scene with fake blood. This shows that it is a thriller. Lots of thrillers include fake blood and we used it in the car crash scene along with make-up to show that Jody had died.
Lastly, our best piece of editing was the photoframe shot. We used an aerial shot to look down on the photoframe as though we were seeing it through Jody's eyes. We used green card to make a green screen and edited in a Mum (Ms Thompson), a Dad (Mr Shearing) and Jody to make a family portrait type picture. We then made Jody fade from the picture as she died, like she never even existed. This, although is rare to see depending on the story of the thriller, has been done before in thrillers and therefore would follow typical conventions of a thriller. However, we were pleased with how it looked and thought the idea was clever. It shows a key moment in the opening as it makes the audience realise that she has died and makes the audience feel sorry for her and wonder what she will do next.
The title of our film is first shown when Jody spells it out using the building blocks we made. However, it is not fully clear that is the title until it is displayed at the end. This way of introducing the title into the actual footage is unusual and would go against typical conventions of a thriller as they would usually just edit the title in during the opening on a black background. 
However, in the case of the font style of the thriller, our title does follow traditional codes and conventions in terms of font style. It is quite simple but also quite a quirky, spooky font which suits the genre. For example; in the film Black Swan, the title shot is plain black words on a white background, which is very similar to what we have done, however we decided to switch the colours around as it seemed darker and more fitting for our thriller.
In terms of settings and locations we had main locations while filming. We had a red room, which was Megan's Dad's study. This was our main location as this is where we witness the change that Jody goes through, turning from inncocent to evil. We would say that this goes with codes and conventions of a thriller because alot of films use colours to symbolise danger and/or isolation. This screenshot also introduces the character Jody. It shows her happily playing with her teddy and some building bricks. She is introduced straight away while the opening credits are being shown.
We also used Megan's Dad's car to film to flashback car crash scene. This goes partly with and party against conventions of a thriller because although flashbacks are used often in films, car scenes at the camera angles we used are not common.
This screenshot shows the majority of props we used as well as the costume. Here you can see a teddy, the building bricks, a photo frame, her white dress, and her hair and brusing make-up. We would say that this goes with conventions of a thriller as films often use props to symbolise things and make-up for effect. In our case, the teddy, white dress and hair in bunches shows her innocence, contrasting against the red background which represents danger.
In terms of the story, the main shot that sets what the film is about comes right at the end of the opening. It goes with traditional conventions of a thriller because extreme close ups are often used to show the expression of the characters. Red contact lenses or make-up/props are often used there abouts.
Genre wise, we have followed conventions of a thriller by having a scene with fake blood. This shows that it is a thriller. Lots of thrillers include fake blood and we used it in the car crash scene along with make-up to show that Jody had died.
Lastly, our best piece of editing was the photoframe shot. We used an aerial shot to look down on the photoframe as though we were seeing it through Jody's eyes. We used green card to make a green screen and edited in a Mum (Ms Thompson), a Dad (Mr Shearing) and Jody to make a family portrait type picture. We then made Jody fade from the picture as she died, like she never even existed. This, although is rare to see depending on the story of the thriller, has been done before in thrillers and therefore would follow typical conventions of a thriller. However, we were pleased with how it looked and thought the idea was clever. It shows a key moment in the opening as it makes the audience realise that she has died and makes the audience feel sorry for her and wonder what she will do next.Friday, May 4, 2012
Audience Feedback
Once we were finished filming and the final touches were made to the thriller we put it straight on our YouTube account. We could then access it easily to show people and ask what they thought. As the public are the people who will go and see the film it is their opinion that will matter the most to us.
Reviews:
We recorded some responses, but as a few of these were feedback from links that we sent out or asked people to watch we were unable to record everyone, so the main quotes are used in the presentation, with recorded responses of some people on our YouTube account.
Peers/Friends:
As the age certificate is a 15 we wanted to ask people aged between 16-18 about what was good and what could be improved in our thriller. Here are the main quotes from what people said along with their age.
“ The eyes at the end are scary after the slow singing built up the moment, but the car crash scene could be more realistic.” (16)
“I enjoyed the bit when the teddy rolls off face down, like she left the child life behind, but there could be more voices at the beginning” (17)
Family:
Although they are not our main target audience, we wanted to show our parents/family the thriller and get their feedback on it.
“The music with the sudden sounds makes it very jumpy and builds the suspense, but there could have been more blood in the car crash scene” (40)
“I liked how the songs were in slow motion and the voices over-lapping, but the car crash could have been slower” (51)
Teachers/Staff:
As we were around school a lot we asked our teachers to watch the thriller and give us some feedback, we made sure we asked different genders.
“I thought the plot was good and left me with questions” (26)
“I love the bit where she disappears from the photo, that’s really creepy, the technical bits are really good! What could be better is having more close shots of the girls face to show the make up” (34)
Feedback:
Overall, the feedback that we got was good and we completely agree with the points raised. If we were to do it again we would take these points in to consideration and adapt our thriller to make it better and scarier.
Here are some video responses to our thriller:
Here are some video responses to our thriller:
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