Evaluation - Jack

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

On comparison of our finished thriller opening sequence and conventional media thrillers, I feel our finished product can  easily show relation to many successful Hollywood thrillers through the skills and techniques we have demonstrated in the production .
As a group, we studied different types of opening sequences in thrillers and discussed our onions on what worked well to engage the audience as well as what didn't contribute to a successful opening sequence to a thriller film. The opening titles to Malcolm Venville's ''44inch Chest'' immediately grabbed our attention to the story line and plot and how it anticipated its audience within the first frames of the sequence.
Lying on the floor, motionless, a character is seen by the audience and presumed dead. Slowly the environment is revealed and automatically enforces questions upon the viewer. - Who is he? Where is he? Why is he on the floor? Is he dead?
This was an element of surprise we thought worked well and wanted to develop and respond to in our finished product. This is shown when 'Tom' our main character is seen beaten and lifeless on a backstreet alleys tarmac surface. Slow zooms and steady camera movement helped portray the shot as a response to the opening of 44inch Chest. - This is shown in images 3 and 9.

Reference : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgk16prXZsE

I also feel that the titling and credits with in our finished sequence work well to anticipate its audience with non-diegetic sound effects, syncing with the animation and movement with in the scene's. The titles take conventional route of white/highlighted text dropped over a black background. This i feel is a great way to add mystery and obscurity to the scene by fading the previous and consecutive shots in to the black screen. The black drop suggests to the audience that it fills the scenes with darker intentions and the idea of little light to hide the injustice and wrong doing in the context of the scene.
The movement and animation of the fonts and text slide consecutively from opposite sides of  the screen to each other showing friction on the two different levels, this could be interpreted to the two characters with in the sequence and the friction and tension between them and how it reflects what is happening. This i feel works well to also add more movement to the sequence where little is shown between characters and shots of the tense gamble at stakes.
Syncing with the animation of the titling is simplified echoes of tensioned rattles and heartbeats again contributing to the tension and context of the scene.




Question 2)
How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The two characters featured in our production suggest they are from an upper class background and involving themselves in dishonest and illegal gambling away from public sight.
The costume describes the characters background heavily, automaticaly giving the audience an insight to what the characters are like and what lifestyles they may lead with in a film. The two gamblers are dressed smartly in white shirts and dark ties, which suggest an ellament of seriousness and formality about the scene. I feel this works well to place both characters in the context and plot of the opening sequence of a high stake private poker game.
Involving themselves in criminal acts and violence I feel the characters personalities contrast to the viewers original perception and ideas of the gamblers. When thought to be upper class and formal the violence in the scene and threatening behavior within both the motion pictures as well as the sound recording at the beginning of the sequence. This contributes to the viewers idea of the character as they may now be seen to have sense of arrogance and informality about themselves.
This also raises the controversy of stereotyping males, with in an old and dated traditional view of the men gambling in the sequence.The two formally dressed characters portray personalities of violence and arrogance as well showing the dominance and presence of masculinity with in the scene.



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

Through research and discussion, as group we decided the distribution of the film should be UK based allowing us to build a solid fan base as well as lowering costs of distribution. As a group we decided on 'Soda Pictures' to be the main product distributor. We chose this particular independent company based on their strong and reliable background of film distribution and marketing in the UK.

  

http://www.sodapictures.com/

Question 4)
Who would be the target audience for your media product?

Because of a strong threatening and dishonest nature of the characters and how the storyline runs through out our production, we feel the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) should classify the film as a 12+. This means any person wishing to view or buy the film must be certified that they are over the age of 12 years old.



As well as specifying an age group for our target audience, we feel the film is very male targeted. This is because it documents many tradition stereotyped views of males gambling, fighting or using threatening behavior. We feel that because of this it would disinterest a more traditional viewed female audience.
Concluding us to target a young male adult audience. Aged 15-35.





http://www.bbfc.co.uk/

Question 5)
How did you attract/address your audience?

From constructing our final opening sequence, as a group we had to create target a specific audience and market for the film. Our initial idea was to target males aged 15-35, and produce an opening title for a thriller which would engage their intrest in to watching what comes next.We each demonstrated specific skills which we would feel contribute to this. These were:

Camera-work:
Many of the seqenced shots were close ups and establishing shots allowing our audience to really get feel for the enviroments as well as the positions and characters where in. By focusing on facial expressions and characters actions we feel an audience would focus and get to know the situations and dilemas our main character was found in. We used little dialougue ad script when planning this so it would enforce the audiences tension and anxiety further more. We also demonstrated movements with the camera. Most of which were slow and distinctive revealing ew enviroments and new characters gradually, deliberatly building tension and suspense.

Lighting:
Lighting was a key skill we had to master in each scene to achieve the right view and frame we wanted the audience to see. It allowed us to block out any of the location and setting we felt wernt appropriate or relavent to the sequence. In the two different enviroments the characters are found in, the lighting is low key allowing only little of the frame to be seen. This was an effect we thought worked really well to suspend the audience and create tension with in the scene. Only lighting part of a characters face and deliberatly revealing minimal amounts of the settings allowed the viewers attention to be focused on the characters movements and actions.

Mise en Scene:
Due to little dialougue within the sequence, we felt we had to enforce the viewers idea of the characters through costume, body language and positioning with in the frame. this allowed us to experiment with ways we were able to portray the characters image and personality. In the gambling scene both characters are dressed smartly in shirts to show an element of formailty aswell making them stand out from the drakened setting. Body language seen on the maine character is seen as slouched and hopeless, as declares his last chance to win the gamble.
Positioned like this, he sits in the frame isolated and still, showing his discomfort and lonliness within the storyline. It communicates the position he is in to the audience, as they gain  a senese of empithy for him. This also contributes to the tension, allways attracting our targeted audience.


Question 6)
What have you learned about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
(Sound Recording)

                                                                          

Question 7)
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learned in the progression from it to the full product.

In conclusion I feel the process from our preliminary task to our end product of an opening title sequence to a thriller has shown great development in our understanding and knoledge of what makes a conventional opening sequence to a thriller themed film. On comparrison of both products i feel, given the different factors of having more time to work on the film, more variety of locations to film and the oppertunities of more equipment and costume, i feel our end thriller opening proved to be a great success.

New skills i have learned from the production of this have been learning about how to edit raw footage and achieve different views and ways we enterpret film through this process. Simple editing techniques in the preliminary task made the film slow and lack in continuity, but with the ability to manipulate footage it allowed us to portray the film just how we had planned.
Editing in more dynamic and proffesional titles transformed the film entirely, on comparison to the preliminary task where our knoledge of how to transform titles and credits was basic.

Lighting also played a key role in making each shot exactly how we had planned and wanted the audience to see. In our preliminary task we used no extra lighting other than what was all ready in the locations we diecided to film. This didnt contribute to the authenticity or reality of the context of the film.
Once started filming our final product we knew we had to develop the setting we chose and portray it the way we had planned. Allowing us to do this we booked light equipment to use when starting filming.

I also feel that given more time to plan our final product, as a group we discussed different ideas and what factors contributed to a thriller themed film.I feel this was an area we lacked in when undertaking our preliminary task. With more time, each inidviual member of the group could focus on specific tasks allowing a more detailed plan of how we wanted the final product to look. Planning process's such as storyboarding and recording an animtic sequence helped us workout specific timings and transitions of clips and titles, leading to the group being more prepared for filming.

In conlcusion i feel we all worked well to contribute ideas to what we thought would make a successful thriller opening. With more practice of skills and filming techiques i feel we could have been more clear on our filming and editing and directly follow the planning process with decisive actions.