3) How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Voldemort (Antagonist) is a male and also wearing black 

Our media product does represent particular social groups in the form of stereotypes in males and females especially, similar to that of TV show, ‘Skins’.  Stereotypically men are foreseen as more aggressive, more capable of sinister activity, therefore more likely to be the criminal, Antagonist, hence our decision for Charlie to be the Antagonist. Throughout TV, and film men are often stereotyped as being the Antagonist due to their stereotyped aggression, physically stronger and more intimidating. An example is Voldermort (although not a thriller); a male is still depicted as the most evil, aggressive, wicked, bloodthirsty character than any other. By Charlie being used as our Antagonist, it will match the classic convention of a male Antagonist as well as stereotypical view of men. Charlie is 17 also, therefore a teenager, a social group which falls under great scrutiny and stereotypical views. In costume, Charlie is depicted often wearing black; this carries negative connotations of death, and evil, as often in film we see the ‘dark side vs the good side’, with the evil as black and good as a heaven-like white. An example would be the evil force in 'Harry Potter', that is Voldemort. The stereotypical teenager is moody, aggressive, and rebellious, therefore this creates an effective Antagonist as a male teenager creates a conventional violent, Antagonist.

 On the other hand, Laura is our Protagonist. Protagonists stereotypically are females who are often seen as weaker, vulnerable, and dependent on others which makes the perfect base for an Protagonist who are of course are put into frightening situations due to their 

'Chrissie' (Protagonist) has blonde hair and is depicted as vulnerable and in danger

vulnerability. Thus, Laura fits the mould perfectly as soon as the audience see an isolated female (acting as an enigma code) they can see what could possibly happen, as the stereotypical view of women being vulnerable and being a victim implies this. Consequently, Laura represents the stereotype of the social group of women. Furthermore, Laura being 17 she also represents how teenagers (especially women) are thought to be easily caught in trouble, which Laura is, thus indicating how teenage girls are possibly unaware and also vulnerable to dangers of the world which is heard in the news. Laura also has blonde hair, which also carries a stereotype. ‘Blonde girls’ are stereotyped to be stupid, and foolish, therefore Laura’s jeopardy could be representative of the stereotypical blonde girl foolish behaviour. Examples of this would be ‘Chrissie’ in the first scene of ‘Jaws’ who is famously attacked and killed by the shark.  Laura dresses in a very innocent manner of  a light coloured, wool clothing, conveying the idea of her innocence and naivety for something that could happen to her. The light colour is also part of the ‘dark side vs the good side’, reflecting the good side as white indicates a heaven-like quality, showing the nature of Laura. Thus, this portrays females as vulnerable by their clothing. 

'Skins' (right) is a fantastic representation of teenagers: 

The video depicts them as aggressive due to the constant swearing of each character, but also disrespectful.

2) How did you attract your audience?

Johnny Depp as the eccentric, 'Madhatter', in the contemporary Alice in Wonderland

Thriller lovers often like to know what they are going to see before watching the thriller product. Therefore prior to the making of our film we knew we would have to adopt certain thriller conventions which would then draw in those dedicated fans to watch and then enjoy our product. Often film fans enjoy to watch specific films with similar actors which has a repetition of genre codes, as they know if their favourite actor was in the film, the genre would be what they also enjoy. An example of a repetition in genre and actors would be Johnny Depp who is often depicted as a mad-character in films.

We decided to attract the proportion of thriller lovers to our film by providing the classic conventions of a thriller films: male Antagonist (Charlie), vulnerable, female Protagonist (Laura), props (voodoo doll), lighting on only one side of Charlie’s face showed is evil nature.  We felt that all this in total would reflect our bid to create a crime-thriller, similar to ‘Se7en’. ‘Se7en’ uses quite ‘real’ footage, as there is a more realistic approach (less effects). From research, there is a quite large market of crime-thriller hybrids, thus we needed to use something for our product to stand out. Thus we wanted to enhance the sinister element of our product by using colour correction. The colour correction enhanced/altered the original colours, creating Laura’s face (when dead) seem more grey and cold as if she was really dead, whilst it further emphasised the colour red on the voodoo doll to depict and convey the image of danger.  We decided to combine both an urban atmosphere of a messy bedroom, showing signs of madness, but also natural settings to show this evil activity could happen anywhere. The messy bedroom was constructed in a fake bedroom at college whilst the footage of Laura walking was filmed at the ‘Belstead Brook’, Suffolk, which looked very isolated in footage. This was effective as it implied something pessimistic was in the offing. Our audience may like this as it offers something different to the modern crime-thrillers, but also creates the tension of ‘this could happen anywhere!’. Our use of characters was also carefully selected to mirror classic conventions of a thriller. Charlie (male) was the Antagonist, often depicted as men in film, and Laura (female), a young, slightly vulnerable and naive 17 year old as the Protagonist. Laura’s blonde hair made her seem fair and innocent; an easy target for a mad-man played by Charlie who has strong facial features, and dark hair. Charlie’s movement during the sequence is peculiar and his movement conveys thoughts of someone who looked up to no good.  Charlie throughout the product is depicted wearing black, which has connotation of death and evil. Whilst Laura’s fair hair, and light cotton jumpers show innocence and vulnerability.

'Belstead Brook' on Google Maps

Initially, there is a stage of equilibrium as Laura’s seen as walking her dog in the peaceful setting of ‘The Brook’ (Belstead Brook), the music is fairly natural and medium paced, implying everything is fine. However, close-ups of Charlie begin to emerge, alongside a change in pace, tone and type of music thus suggesting Charlie is a potential Antagonist. Next time we see Laura, she is depicte d as dead, with a cold, grey face, done by using the effective colour correction on Final Cut Pro.  Here, the equilibrium is broken, and tension is created. After, Charlie is seen stroking a voodoo doll, the equilibrium to a certain extent, is restored. Yet, there is still a very spooky soundtrack which implies something evil could happen, as screams and cries (from the soundtrack) offer a aural flashback to the murder of Laura.  Subsequently, it can be argued the equilibrium is not restored. This was purposely done as it acts as a cliff hanger, so the audience want to carry on watching our product.

Results of our question regarding equilibrium 

In the creation of our product, we used the questionnaire filled out by our fellow media studies class mates as inspiration to improve our film. We asked 10 students in our class a few questions on our initial rough cut product. From the results, it becomes apparent that equilibrium was restored, however not too convincingly as only 50% said it was restored, the main theme of the thriller was also guessed at 50%. The location of local (England) was identified very well with 80% acknowledging it would be assumed the footage was in England, and most importantly 80% believed we had followed classic thriller conventions - a key target before we set out. Therefore we knew that to make our product into one of excellence we knew we had to focus on the restoration of equilibrium and making it  very clear the genre of our thriller film.  It was also apparent that our titles were excellent as 90% believed it was effective.  Whilst it was very clear our filters and effects were not at the top level which we aspired to reach, thus that’s why as a group we employed the use of colour correction and overlay to create confusion and emphasise danger.

The results of the questionnaire and research meant we were able to attract the exact audience we wanted to get.

1) In what way does your media product use, develop and challenge forms and conventions of real media products, e.g. existing films, hybrid?

The media product we have created is in the ‘thriller’ genre which is ’Thriller Film is a genre that revolves around anticipation and suspense. The aim for Thrillers is to keep the audience alert and on the edge of their seats. The protagonist in these films is set against a problem – an escape, a mission, or a mystery.’ (source: http://thescriptlab.com/screenplay/genre/thriller) .Our media product revolves around classic conventions inspired by real media products such as ‘Se7en’, a thriller starring Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman. We were inspired by Se7en due to its very original opening sequence with a long line of close-ups of the anonymous Antagonist, and detailed close-ups of props including books, papers etc. Before filming, we composed a list of conventions and props in which we would like to include as the centrepiece to our product. This included:

Colleague of Se7en- shows some key props

-          Cameras – makes audience think ‘what is on the camera?’ and ‘why is he taking photos?’

-          Laptop – raises the question of ‘what is on the laptop?’

-          Messy room – suggests the Antagonist is losing the plot

-          Antagonist close ups- reveals the identity of the mad-man, makes the audience now when this face appears, danger is in the offing

-          Prop close-ups – to highlight the importance of the props to the product

-          Voodoo doll- shows the ambition and want of the antagonist (bloodlust), as well as creating suspense and a sense of intimidation.

However, since the progression of our media product from the rough cut to the final piece, there has been a slow change in the choice of conventions. Originally, we had used the Protagonist (Laura) scarf as a main enigma code by placing it upon a barbed wire- which has a connotation of imprisonment and danger, due to the sharp aesthetics of the wire. Nevertheless, after reanalysing the rough cut and getting feedback from our class and other media students we felt that there was a great deal of work needed to develop and improve our product. First of all, prior to the making of our product we as a group concluded that our conventions needed developing, and decided to also implement more props and enigma codes, whilst footage of Laura walking was slowly eliminated as it seemed irrelevant and didn’t suit the purpose of our product: to thrill. Consequently, we decided to compile a new list of conventions. We decided to keep the camera as a prop as it made the audience query what the Antagonist may be using it for/have on it, the messy room was to be used more as it created an element of madness, however we decided that the main convention of our product should be close-ups of the Antagonist and Protagonist. We believed that the convention of the close-ups (similar to Se7en), possibly overlaying for the audience to establish the link of danger, would be very effective.

We feel that our development of props, enigma codes in the form of conventions has made our production far more effective and successful, as we feel it has achieved its main purposes: to thrill and produce clear, precise titles. Each and every convention employed has a purpose behind it from props to the titles used, which reflect the type of product our film is…a crime/thriller.  A crime/thriller is a thriller hybrid which combines an element of crime such as murder, theft as a centrepiece of it but an element of thrill is added in to create suspense and make the film seem much more dramatic. Our product revolves around the criminal activity of the Antagonist and death of the Protagonist Laura (with more to follow in the rest of the film), therefore our film easily fits into the category of the crime thriller hybrid.  With the murder of Laura depicted within the opening sequence it is clear that our product is a crime thriller hybrid. Furthermore, the merge of two genres into one means that we can broaden our audience as some people may prefer crime to thriller (vice versa), but our product enables to compliment both genres. Each prop, title and camera shot reflects the crime thriller hybrid of our product. The conventions we have assembled have reflected the crime element in our thriller.

Broken Developments - Final Cut

 

 

This is the Final Cut of our thriller product: 'Broken Developments' 

Change in Name and Change of Product

It became apparent to us as a group that the name of our thriller, 'Mr Grevor', wasn't very suitable to our thriller product.

 Originally, we thought 'Mr Grevor' would be a good name for our product as the name is somewhat, very unfamiliar, unusual, that would mirror the Antagonist character's  (Charlie) behavior. Subsequently, enhancing Charlie's character as very peculiar, odd and strange to imply the work he is going to do is odd and sinister, indicating his work is something not right. However, after discussion we felt this was a bit too far fetched as the audience may not have understood the meaning and infer what we had. 

Consequently, we decided to rename the product 'Broken Developments'. Firstly, we felt the name had more of a ring to it and sounds more professional as the name sounds more custom made . Secondly, a regular theme and prop in our product is the footage of cameras,  throughout the opening sequence we see numerous close-ups of the camera. Of course, cameras produce negatives which are then developed into photographs, thus the link can be made between the title and the 'developments' from the pictures taken by the camera. Furthermore, in one of the pan shots you can see the many negatives needing to be developed. Whilst 'broken' indicates something is not right with the photos being developed, maybe the developments are broken or the photos are evil and twisted.

The plan of our product has changed on plenty of occasions. Previously, we decided to introduce two new characters: Sarah as another Protagonist and myself as a confused detective. However, we felt that this was going to end up resulting in the previous results of our previous attempts, and that was the telling of a story...which an opening sequence should not do. The definition of an opening sequence is: 

"A title sequence is the method by which cinematic films or television programs present their title, key production and cast members, or both, utilizing conceptual visuals and sound"

It was felt by us, as a group, and a class as a whole that our product did match the criteria of announcing cast members, and excelled in visuals and sound. However, this definition clearly shows how an opening sequence should not tell a story, but simply introduce the film and give the audience an idea of the genre, actors etc. Consequently, the introduction of the 2 new characters went against this outline of an opening sequence. Therefore, we went back to the drawing board. 

The type of thriller was kept the same: crime-thriller hybrid. We decided to keep it to two characters: Charlie (Antagonist) and Laura (Protagonist), to stop telling a story and build up of confusion. We filtered through good footage, and  footage which was and wasn't needed was deleted, giving us the core of our sequence. From this, we focused on the footage of Charlie - predominately close-ups of his face, and bedroom, whilst close-ups of Laura dead and innocently walking the dog.

Effects also changed as we decided to place more emphasis on colour correction which highlighted specific colours e.g. red which has connotations of evil and blood. Whilst layover was also used some more as it created a clear link between Charlie and the deceased Laura.

Previously, our titles were effective and were in fantastic proximity of the frame, yet we wanted the effects to stand off the screen more, thus the software 'Motion' was employed. It enabled us to create some effective and professional looking titles, which is a vital part of the definition quoted above. 

Our Soundtrack was also changed to enhance the effect.  Previously we used a futuristic, quite alien-like drone noise, but we discovered that an Argentinean Piano noise was extremely effective.  We agreed that all of our soundtrack should be non-diegetic as we felt it would effect the impact of the titles. This Piano was used alongside fade to bring in a drone-like noise, to imply when Charlie is present, this tension building non-diegetic noise would imply something was going to occur. Whilst an 'impact' sound was used alongside impact to make the audience feel shocked and be on-the-edge of their seats. Non-diegetic screams further enhanced tension and element of worry within the audience. 

Institution Research

Film 4

Film 4 is a British film institution, owned by Channel Four Television Corporation. Film 4 began in 1982 and since has gone onto be a major part of the majority of films made in the UK, or smaller budget worldwide films. Film 4 had previously tried to break into Hollywood territory by widening their budget to improve the quality of films and propose potential 'blockbusters'. However, Channel 4 had to cut their budget from the £30m, which they wanted to use to break into Hollywood, had to be cut to £10m following a failure to do so. 

Film 4 tends to base itself on less expensive and more low key (often British) films which perhaps doesn't require such expensive effects and scenes to make the film effective. I believe that our film would be more likely to suit the criteria of Film 4 as our film too does not use many hi-tec effects and therefore would suit Film 4. Also our film is set in Britain, in generally public places, thus no money is needed to hire out expensive scenes and no travelling is needed. Overall, I believe our film tends to suit the criteria of a Film 4 film, therefore I feel that if we were to adopt Film 4 as our institute it would advertise our film well. 

UK film council 

UK film council was set up in 2000 by the Labour government in the hope of the development and promotion of the film industry in the UK. It is a private company limited by guarantee governed by a15 directors and was funded through the National Lottery. Since it's formation there has been than £160m of lottery to over 900 films.The Development Fund aimed to broaden the quality, range and ambition of film projects being developed in the UK. With £12 million of Lottery funding to invest over three years, the fund aimed to build a talent-driven home for writers, directors and producers. It helped filmmakers of all experience levels develop their ideas and screenplays into viable feature films, be they fiction, documentary or animation, up until the moment they were ready to get production finance.

Props and costume 2

In my previous post I mentioned that Sarah and I had now been assigned roles in our film. To ensure that both Sarah and I's characters look realistic and professional we have had to base our costume on specific examples. 

 My character is a detective. Detective's often wear casual clothing, yet fairly smart, so criminals cannot recognise them from the public. Consequently, I have based my code on DS Arnott, a detective from 'Line of Duty', as I believe he optimises the classic costume of a detective, for example: 

DS Arnott from 'Line of Duty' was an inspiration for my character

DS Arnott's smart coat and shirt is what my costume was based on, alongside smart black shoes (which cannot be seen in the above image).  However, I opted for black, smart jeans which would reflect my more youthful age. Here is an example of what I hope to wear: 

Sarah, on the other hand was a college student therefore she needed to wear a casual range of clothing alongside a bag which would carry her college work. This is vital as Sarah is to be pictured outside college, thus her costume must reflect a college student.  This is the costume for which Sarah is going to wear and be based upon: