7) What have you kearned about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

6) Audience feedback and comment

 

The image above is full of words that were associated with the feedback we received from our class mates who got to see our film. To understand the image is by basically knowing that the bigger words are those that repeatedly came up, and the smaller ones are those that appeared the least. This session actually gave our group some confidence as we never thought our film would be such an hit!

*smiley face*

 Based on the feedback from our audience we received a range of thoughts on the premiere of our thriller. I'll first start with the positive of where the lighting was thought to be very suited to the films context and genre. The mise en scene was also a prospect that was appreciated as it complimented the thrillers moral and the characters portrayal, For example we established a street setting that added to the realism we wanted. We created a distorted view of the victim in which gave off the concept of her being 'out of it', this was all down to the different techniques of filming we used. For example there was a point of view shot in the alley way of where the victim was secretly holding the camera before her as she was stumbling through, this further created the allusion of her state being messy and uncontrollable.

A re-occurring negative that appeared numerously was the scream sound at the end being too fake. We initially as a group did think this but we thought it'll add an effect in which in all due respect it did, causing controversy.

4&5) What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why? How will you attract/address your audience?

Here is an screen grab of a students film that was created on a low budget just like our own. This student published his material on a film site called 'First Light', which allowed him to see peoples comments on what they feel towards his work and the rating of it out of 5.

As a group we've decided to not publish our film in he cinemas, but on various socialising networks such as facebook, bebo, twitter, vimeo, youtube etc. Our reasons for this is basically because the audience we are planning to attract are very much into these kind of networks and the rate at which everyone owns their own page on the net is phenomenal. Uploading the thriller on these sites would not only attract the target audience but others to would have access to viewing it and also sharing their opinion beneath where they'd be an comment section.  Another reason is that because our film was low budget it would not attract big distribution companies. Effectively i mean that because our film was low budgeted, it would only attract smaller companies and cinemas.  Also as this is a student film it would also make a lot of sense as students are also a big fan of these networking sites.

For example:

When on this site people will be able to watch it and also leave comments and then post it around.

 Allows your Facebook contacts to access the film and also send it around.

3) Who would be the audience for your media product?

NAME: Kezia Strong
AGE: 19

Kezia Strong is an aspiring radio presenter who currently works part time at M&S. She takes part in a lot of work experience within the media industry. She loves shopping anywhere and everywhere. She has just previously finished her second year of college, and is now engaged to her long term boyfriend of three years. In Kez's spare time he loves watching movies especially female thrillers, where the main protagonists are female.

*Simely face*
Heyy! that's a lot like my thriller 'First Glance'.

She'd be a perfect specific target for my thriller as it'll suite her interests and her form of character. 'First Glance' is not any ordinary thriller, but is one that will empower the female; it gives off subliminal messages on gender topics.

 

 In her rucksack would be:

2) How does your product represent particular social groups?

The character 'Becky' from 'Sin City' was an inspiration for my  portrayal of the victim in  'First Glance'. Becky is a prostitute that had been caught amid some trouble, this is in many ways similar to Marissa who had previously been under the influence of some substance as she had been previously been out clubbing. The two females both have the stereotype and portrayal of appearing 'rough' and 'slutty'.

Similarities: 
* Both females appear to be alone and vulnerable, instigating the horror that is awaiting them ahead
*Both characters attire is very much similar as they both give off the 'slag' impression
* The scenes locations are also very much the same as they both set off the impression of danger that is lurking.

Differences:
* Marissa is sen as under the influence of some =thing and as a result is in no form of control of herself, however this is different to Becky who seems to be confident and aware of her actions, although she to along with Marissa is vulnerable.
* Marissa seems to come across as a stereotypical character, with her costume. Where as Becky breaks this chain and comports herself in a mannerable style, though shes dressed just like Marissa
* The lighting in both films are very different. The lighting incorporated in 'First Glance' is natural and because of this it is easy for the audience to identify with who's who. In 'Sin City' though there is only the use of black and white lighting which may confuse the audience on who is rightfully the character that should be related to, due to their current situation. 

Both characters portray the same concept of 'vulnerability', however, the way in which it is done is different. The codes of conventions are seen to be broken and used to assist the audiences emotional link with the characters, enabling them to make a decision on whether they like or dislike them.

This further establishes just how stereotypes and social groups effect the portrayal of people in the media. This later allows the audience to connect with them in a way that allows them to decide whether they favour or disike the characters on screen.

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

The thriller 'Arlington road' is very much similar to my thriller 'First Glance'. It opens with the main characters continuing from an ordeal that had previously occurred, which instantly engages the audience first hand, although some may find it confusing. There is also the inclusion of low angle shots of the two very different victims who have in some way experienced some mishap. The image from "Arlington road" is of the main character running away from the police. The second bottom image is from my thriller 'First Glance' and it is of the main protagonist uneasily stumbling as she tries to find her way home in her drunken state.

 

The music choice used to open the thriller 'Ginger snaps' is very much in many ways similar to that of 'First Glance' as the two contrasting thrillers use instrumentals that accordingly essentuate the thrillers correct portrayal. Not only do the music choices do this but they are also accompanied with sound effects such as screams('Ginger snaps') and footsteps(First Glance')

The opening of our thriller is very much within the convention of tradition, as we start off by  establishing the location, genre and character.  With this establishment, we made our stalker stand against the stereotype of being a female instead of a typical male as to attract more audiences.This in many ways broke the convention for our film opening, because in films like ' The Fan', its seen that the 'scary stalker' is a man.

.

6) Continuation with video's

Here is a video of our Thriller Title Sequence on the big screen in the cinema, and the reaction from the audience:

'FIRST GLANCE' FINAL EDIT

WOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! WE'VE FINISHED OUR FINAL EDIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rough cut evaluation

Based on the rough cut i realised there was aspects that needed to be improved upon.  like to start with i liked the ranges of shots we took and the style in which we used to divide the screen shots. Also the street lights were very accurate to the outlook of what the opening was illustrating.  The jump cuts were also very good, for example were the stalker was following the young lady we saw this from her perspective. I also really liked the scenes setting as this had an effect on the tension and atmosphere created. From the rough cut as well i saw that we desperately needed to add in some sound that complicated our film.  After following our own criticism we further seeked out to ask a group of people for advise and we saw that there was an collating answer of us needing to improve our lighting, So we planned to on the next meeting to make some edits to the lighting.

Room for improvement

After filming some clips for the final opening. there was a range of areas that required tweeking. These areas were not necessarily bad however, in order for us as a group to produce a successful opening we had to ensure there was at least the effort for perfection. For example whilst filming we did several takes on one specific scene, so that when it came to the editing process we had a selection to choose from. This was the case for the beginning of the opening as we saw it as, because it is the start of what the audience see (firstly) it had to set the atmosphere and mood for a good audience engagement.

'First Glance': Adding Sound

Here is our process of 'adding sound' to our final cut of 'First Glance':

Adjusting the volume of different sounds

Cutting down sound

Checking to see that the music flows with the film

Testing sounds and picking the most appropriate

Mixing sounds

Role of actors in the opening

As much as possible the group came to an unanimous decision of the actors reflecting so much on the characters they were playing to the extent that they almost suite the stereotype they reside from. For example :


* The actress - was to come across as societies "slag", which in a way would have caused the reaction amongst the audience of sympathy towards her or even making us question oursleves on the part we play in such situations as humans. Even by the way she stumbles in the camera, seeming so confused and distorted maybe which was down to the previous activity she had been indulging in.

 * The stalker - was to mirror all that we as people see so wrong and confusing about why exactly people choose to stalk others. However, in doing this we ensured that we made the stalkers movement and acting as minimal and sharp as possible so that the audience are left after the opening questioning who and what has driven the stalker to act in this manner. In the short clip the stalker is the most important person as she sort of in a way brings the thriller together and is a key aspect of the suspense created. But as a collective both characters conjoined create an moving atmosphere of the audience gagging to see more.

With the roles of the characters mastered as convincing as possible we also made sure that as a group that an idea concept of the characters attire was as suitable as possible. For example the stalker was dressed in dark clothing that involved the wearing of a hood, which gave off this form of an spooky impression of her being dodgy.

However, though there is an polemical twist of were the stalker instead of being the same old man, we are prone to always see on our movie screens but in ours is a woman. This idea was imitated from the BBC1 drama 'Primeval' were the gender roles were reversed.

Image of the Director Giulietta Grassi giving the 'stalker' some constructive criticism.

Talking about the film

This is me talking about the film whilst in character.

Talking about the negatives of filming

This is me talking about the negative parts of when we was filming.

Soundtrack Inspiration

For our soundtrack we wanted to find a beat that was dark and mysterious, and in a way reflected upon the concept we had for the thriller, making the audience aware of the danger in the film. As a group we decided that our soundtrack should begin quick and then get louder as the opening continues building up suspense and tension, making the audience aware of something bad that is to take an turn for the worst. We looked at many different artists and instrumentals when trying to get some ideas of what beats we liked, here are some examples that were crucial to our soundtrack experimenting:

We found all of the examples above good and fitting for our thriller opening, which meant we had many great ideas for how our soundtrack should sound and what the pace of the music should be making sure it fits with our thriller. 

However, due to copywrite we were unable to use these and so we just used them as inspiration instead for the instrumental we were to create.

Roughcut: BLOOPERS

Roughcut

Here is our roughcut:

Roughcut: Editing

Here is our editing process of the roughcut:

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Changing the size of the shot, to make us see 4 different perspectives of the victim

Adding in fade-ins so that all shots link into eachother

Cutting down clips

FILMING

On The Friday night we all met up at Liverpool Station at 7pm, however our actress couldn't make the shoot so we had to re-schedule and go all the way back home in the freezing cold. So we re-arranged to meet at the much earlier time of 5pm, so that we could take some pictures and get filming early. We arrived at the station and began taking pictures and planning out all our shots, making sure that we knew exactly what we were doing, when and where. At first it was a struggle, as it was freezing cold and the streets were too crowded to film without people waving at the camera and walking into shots, so we waited it out and eventually it calmed down and we got into some good filming. After a good hour, ideas began flowing in and gradually our shots and film began improving drastically, and the more motivated we got the more ideas came. After 4 long hours, we called it a wrap, we looked over our shops in a cafe and filmed a few cut-aways before making our separate ways back home. Here are some pictures of our group in action:

Rosetta and Tyler

Mika, Rosetta and Tyler reviewing the last shots 

Talking Over 

Trying out possible cut-aways

Tyler, Giulie and Rosetta 

Introducing 'the stalker' shot

Mastering the low angle shot

Filming long shots

Deciding how to film in the alley

Choosing the opening shot

Rosetta entering alleyway

'The stalker' point of view shot

Our Group: Giulie, Mika, Rosetta and Tyler