Evaluation: Media Coursework

Evaluation Aya El-fouani

Group 2

1.In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? -Despite the fact that Rubin describes Thrillers as a metagenre, this still means theirs elements that should always be seen in Thrillers. Some of which are included in Gary Braver’s book about Thrillers, and include suspense and narrative enigmas. ‘Silence of the lambs’ creates suspense through it’s use of music. This is particularly evident in the escape scene where the scene starts with calm classical music evoking feelings of suspense in the audience. The use of music in creating tension is also evident in our film showing that we have developed conventions of real media products; the basement scene begins with eerie, bleak music which becomes more fast paced and slower later on in the thriller introduction.

The silence of the lambs: Escape scene -Martin Rubin, in his book ‘Thriller’, explains that it’s a lot harder to define a thriller genre than it is defining a western or horror film, and so the conventions for a thriller film are a lot more broad. He indicates that it acts as a metagenre which holds many genres under it. In this sense our media product which comes under the sub-genre of crime and psychological thriller, uses typical ‘Thriller’ conventions; It contains conventions of many other genres such as horror and adventure which creates narrative enigma’s through evoking feelings of tension in the viewer. The basement scene is proof of this, as blood is shown on Serhan’s face; blood is a common convention of horror films. And is shown in the opening of ‘Memento’, when the character shakes in his hand a Polaroid picture. - We have created a dark, negative and mysterious atmosphere, particularly in the basement scenes not only to raise narrative enigma's, which according to Gary Braver are essential in making a thriller successful but also to ensure the desired effect on the audience is achieved. The mysterious atmosphere is intended to make the audience feel at the edge of their seat and to ‘expect the unexpected’ as well as to raise narrative enigma's, which according to Gary Braver are essential in making a thriller successful.

-’Memento’ an example of a fairly modern film which features film noire through it’s black and white lighting, was used as our inspiration. Through watching it we became more aware of how to make our thriller film a successful one whilst at the same time incorporating elements of film noire. These elements include creating a dark and shadowy outlook, use of Interesting camera angles, shadowy lighting as well as extreme close-up's. In this sense our gangster, psychological thriller developed film noire conventions.

-’Memento’ an example of a fairly modern film which features film noire through it’s black and white lighting, was used as our inspiration. Through watching it we became more aware of how to make our thriller film a successful one whilst at the same time incorporating elements of film noire. These elements include creating a dark and shadowy outlook, use of Interesting camera angles, shadowy lighting as well as extreme close-up's. In this sense our gangster, psychological thriller developed film noire conventions.

-Our Thriller challenges media products as it features a women protagonist taking on the role of the heroin in the film because the majority of heroic characters in Thrillers are male, as shown in ‘Memento’ and ‘The Bourne Identity’. And even when they are female as in ‘The silence of the lambs’, they are at a disadvantage or given orders from above. Clarice for example in ‘the silence of the lambs’, is a trainee and allocated her mission by a male FBI agent.

-As my target audience was a relatively young working class audience of teenagers and young adults i replicated some of the techniques used in ‘Romeo Brass’, these include the effective use of social realism as well as kitchen sink realism. We achieved these through the characters dialogue, clothing and the familiar locations used which make the audience able to associate themselves with the characters.' Romeo Brass’, showed social realism through the characters regional dialogue, working class professions and through including topical issues such as bullying and problems concerning child custody. Our film does this too however, it does this slightly differently and does not present the working class as run down as it is portrayed in ‘Romeo Brass’; the characters speak in colloquial as opposed to queens English. It can also be said that our film too includes topical issues, such as murder and kidnapping. http://A Room For Romeo Brass clip

2.How does your media product represent particular social groups? -Our media product does not particularly represent a variety of social groups however, in saying that it does represent the working class. It does this through the locations used, the kitchen for example features appliances which are typical amongst the working class and not very grand, such as those associated with the upper class. Other films representative of the working class include ‘Where's the money Ronnie?’, a gritty Nottingham comedy by Shane Meadows. Character clothing and dialogue enforces the idea that the film is not representative of the upper class. both the characters dialogue and clothing helps them associate with the target audience which in turn attracts the film to it’s target audience. -My target audience of young working class teenagers and young adults will be attracted to my film because it is representative of young people and a mix of both females and males. In other words the film is representative of people of young age and can be either male or female. The film will communicate realism through it’s topical issues, characters dialogue and actions as well as the landscapes used and the miser-enscene. Mise-en-scene in our film has been made in most parts not only cluttered to give a sense that there’s a lot going on and to give an easy atmosphere but also contains props associated with the working class. -Realism is a very important aspect as young people tend to be more innocent and vulnerable in comparison to an older audience and so it is much easier to make the film believable, and this is achieved through our use of realism. Without creating realism and making the film believable the desired effect on the audience will not be established; without realism the film will not evoke feelings of tension and mystery as well as create negative enigmas and allow the audience to relate with the characters. -The kitchen scenes in our thriller film include a medium shot with Aslihan and the laptop. This is an example of a cluttered mise- en- scène in our thriller film, the magazine as well as the other kitchen equipment and appliances included in the shot imply that this film is representative of a social group that is not systematic, neat and tidy (characteristics which are commonly associated with the upper class). It does however, represent a working class who are in need of a job and work extremely hard to survive. This is further emphasized by the laptop being included in the shot (work life combined with domestic life); it cannotates that the work is vital for the working classes survival and lifestyle. The dialogue of the character also contributes to this, ‘you’ve been working too hard you have’.

3.What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why? -As my product is a thriller which is produced from a small budget, there could be a chance of it being identified by the distribution company film London, as part of their ‘microwave films’ scheme. Our thriller film is shot in relatively cheap locations such as the kitchen as well as this is does not contain expensive filming techniques or special effects. For example we have created a blurred point of view shot in the basement by using Windows movie maker as oppose to a expensive alternative, such as those favored by Hollywood. ‘Microwave films’ was launched in 2006, with the aim of producing ten micro budget feature films over a period of three years. Microwave films distributes any type of moving image: documentaries, animations and fiction therefore, meaning it’s work has a range of target audiences as well as genres. This is proved by it distributing films such as ‘Shifty’ a Thriller by Metronome, and ‘Mum and Dad’, a horror. Not only the schemes variation in genres increases the possibility of them distributing my product but also the fact that it has produced thrillers and is still producing them; ‘Analogue’, a dark psychological thriller is still in the making. -Distribution by this scheme will also prove beneficial for my film as it will make my final product easier to be accessed by the target audience. This is because films within the ‘microwave films scheme’, take different forms of distribution, as it can be bought on DVD, watched in the cinema as well as downloaded from the internet. And as young people are known for favouring all these different forms of media it is very likely that my film will appeal to it’s target audience. The different form’s of distribution under the microwave films scheme will make my thriller film more easier to access than ‘The butterfly effect’ for example, a film which is only released at the cinema. -As my film is made from a small budget, effecting it’s characters, mise-en-scen and location choices it is unlikely it would be distributed in multiplexes or attract international attention. However, if it did then it would have to attract a lot of media attention and get impressive reviews in order to attract the attention of big media companies (the majority of which are American), such as Warner Brothers or Fox Searchlight. It is more likely however, that my film will be distributed locally and be a small scale film. However, in saying this ‘28 days’, a British film directed by Danny Boyle and made from a cheap budget was a international success and picked up by DNA, a distribution company which was also British. In other words if there was any hope of attracting big distribution company that could make my film universal it would probably be British as Americans often look for postcard images of British people.

This is a shot included in our thriller film, and can be identified with ‘kitchen sink realism', included in the films of Shane Meadows. This shot re-enforces the idea that my film is more likely to be distributed by a small distribution company as apposed to an international one. Shane meadows films are all produced from a small budget and includes many shots that the audience can identify with, such as that of a kitchen. The use of normal props or elements in a shot such as a stainless steel sink and fabric cloth, make obvious that the film is made from a low budget. The fact that the locations for our film are chosen upon our low budget, is also shown when the film is compared with another made from a high budget (such as the one shown).

4.Who would be the audience for your media product? -My final product has a target audience of teenagers and young adults. The target audience can

identify with the characters because of the simplistic, colloquial dialogue used which is not queens English and overly grand. This is shown in the kitchen scene, when Aslihan is having a phone conversation, ’hey how are you? I’m aright’. Other films that have the same target audience include films such as A ‘Room for Romeo brass’, ‘This is England’ and ‘mum and dad’.

-In order to gain greater understanding of how to attract my target audience I carried out a short questionnaire and handed it to a mixture of young people and adults regardless to their gender. This was because my film had no specific gender target audience. From the questionnaire it was revealed that the majority would be attracted by a thriller which they could identify with relate to. The minority however, favoured a gangster thriller to a comedy thriller. -Currently, most Thrillers are targeted towards young people This is particularly because they are now targeted by the media as a source of income as many children receive money, either from their parents or undergo employment. Young audiences also have less responsibilities such as paying the bills and rent thus they are more likely to be spending their money on films then an older audience. An example of a film which has still not been released and shares the same target audience as mine is ‘Awesome terminator salvation'. It's viewer certificate being a 13, is indication of it having an older teenage audience. It is from here that I got the inspiration to make my film a certificate 13 too. This is because it includes scenes with moderate violence as well as blood (the basement scenes includes shots of serhan’s face with blood).

Terminator Salvation trailer

5.How did you attract or address your audience? •

I attracted my audience by making sure they can identify with the characters; through using simplistic language and setting that they would be familiar with. For example a teenager or young adult, would be much more familiar with a busy road crammed with buses and cars, than they would with the house of parliament or a secret investigations office. The title of a film is very important as it either attracts or detracts the audience from the film, particularly a young audience. This is what inspired us to give our film an easy to understand title, ‘A Monday’. The kitchen scene when Aslihan is conducting a telephone call as well as the basement scene when Aslihan and Serhan are having a conversation, uses colloquial language; a casual style of language that our target audience can identify with.

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My thriller will work by attracting it’s target audience in different ways; through the lighting, Mise-en-scen and editing as well as the choice of soundtrack used during the credits. The soundtrack runs from the credits at the start till the basement scene conversation begines,it includes elements of upbeat music which young people are usually associated with. The Mise en scene of the locations used is cluttered. The main reason for this is to contribute to the uneasy tense atmosphere, common amongst Thrillers. It also attracts the target audience as young people are commonly known for not being particularly neat and tidy.

•The last scene is significant and was decided with the target audience in mind. Initially the storyboard involved the murder article to be in the form of a newspaper article newspaper article however, we talked about this and decided that due to the fact that we have a young target audience, an article taking the form of an internet article would be better as they can identify with it; Young people regularly use the internet to find out the latest news. And so we made an article using Serhan and Aslihan’s picture with the words murder in bold, to immediately catch the viewers attention. To ensure it was realistic we made the article similar to that on the BBC website however we had to ensure the BBC logo was not included in the shot as this may rise copyright concerns. And so whilst filming post stick notes were placed on the logo.

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Current trends in attracting a young target audience of teenagers includes the use of virals, an element used by ‘The dark night’. virals for this film could include phone wallpapers as well as ring tones featuring the films soundtrack. Or even a simple, entertaining game in which the female protagonist is chasing the killer.’28 days later’, is an example of a film which includes a game on their website. The aim of a viral is to attract the film target audience before the film has even been released, which in turn increases the films profits as more more people will watch it.

•I showed my finished film to a group of people that are from the target audience and they were attracted mostly to the basement scenes and use of film noir. From this I learnt that I had used ‘Memento’, effectively in using film noire in a more modern style. Most people wanted to watch more and started to ask questions. This shows that the film I created with my group raised narrative enigmas as well as attracted the audience (if they were not interested then they would not have been gripped and asked for more).

6.What have you learnt about technologies from the process of conducting the product? •

Before filming and producing a thriller introduction as part of my media coursework I was not very confident in filming using a camera. However, I was familiar with the different camera angles and the impact they achieve, I could just about turn a camera on and off . Undergoing this coursework has made me not only feel more confident when referring to certain camera angles and the impact they achieve but it has also taught me how to take different camera angles angles. For example, In the final filming meeting for example, I learnt how to correctly master taking a low and high angle shot. I learnt this through filming a scene of Vedat hiding behind a wall whilst spying on Aslihan. I wanted to create a mysterious atmosphere that according to Rubin is under the Thrillers met genre, It also allows the viewer to question, an element which according to Gary Braver should be included in every successful Thriller. Although we cut these shot’s out, and did not use them due to the fact that we had taken a lot of shots outside and including them did not establish fluidity, I still learnt something valuable.

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I had originally thought that this coursework wouldn’t be difficult and perhaps the easiest part would be the editing and transferring the edited film onto a CD however, I discovered otherwise. At first we wanted to use a Mac for the editing of our film however, we found this complicated to master and so we opted to using windows media maker instead; we found that windows media maker was mush easier and the credits, music and cutting were easily to do on the program. We had also previously used this program to edit our preliminary task and were therefore, familiar with it. When our film finished and was put onto a CD, we faced another problem; the film was freezing and stopping through out. We attempted to burn our film on various other CD’s and after a long effort and many tries it finally worked. From this we learnt that it would have been better to finish editing earlier in the process as this will leave more time to solve any technical difficulties which are likely to occur.

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While conducting the product I became familiar with a fire-wire; A cable which I was not familiar with at all. A fire wire enables the film to be loaded on to the Computer or pc from the camera. Using this cable is particularly helpful as it is fast and crucial during the editing process.

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Whilst editing we learnt how to use technology to cover up, or make less visible any errors that we made. After editing was complete and we were watching the end product we realized that there was jump shots in between and as jump shots stopped fluidity and make it look unrealistic and unprofessional we came up with the idea of putting credits in-between the jump shots. As this technique was used in ‘A room for Romeo Brass’, it seemed like a good one, and it was.

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During the production process, I found that the planning was the easiest part. The paperwork (production schedule, shooting script etc) was easy to bring together and so was the making of the storyboard. It is the actual undergoing of acting and filming that was harder. This is because many factors could hinder or change the initial storyboard, which is what we found happened with our group. For example we initially planned on having an establishing shot of a swinging light bulb at the start but opted for a shot of Aslihan walking down the basement stairs instead. We also included in the storyboard that the telephone conversation should be conducted in the living rom rather than the kitchen. In saying this however, the changes that were being made were not bad, they greatly improved our film and increased the realism which in turn increased the thriller atmosphere we wanted to create. For example, Filming in the Basement is much more believable than filming in a living room and attempting to make it look like a basement.

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

The preliminary task was not as easy as the coursework in the sense that due to undergoing the preliminary task I became much more familiar with using the camera and confident in creating a film which leans towards a certain metagenre; Thriller. I underwent the role of producer ,in both tasks and this possibly made it easier. We also used in our film many aspects or techniques that were used in our preliminary task. These include things such as the close up shot of the phone and the shot of Anna's legs that panes up. In our final product, we replicated these as shown in the close-up of the article of the murder taking place, at the end of our Thriller introduction. The pan up on Annas legs was also used as inspiration for our final product and so we used this technique to pan up on Aslihan’s legs as she walked down the stairs.

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As part of the coursework I also had to undergo extensive research on Thrillers therefore, making me feel much more confident in working within a specific metagenre. The preliminary task did not involve research and so in this sense it did not prove beneficial in progressing me to making the full, final product. Research gave us many ideas which we used to construct the storyboard. For example, through researching contemporary thriller films we used the establishing shot of the moving Polaroid picture in Memento, as our inspiration. We decided to include a moving light bulb at the start however, due to lack of time and changes which were made to the storyboard later on we ended up not including this. We also watched the silence of the lambs for ideas on how to use music. Our preliminary task did not involve research and so did not really widen our understanding but it did however, teach us the importance of understanding and being familiar with the met genre or genre that you are filming.

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Storyboarding was a vital stage in our product as it gave us a lead and made the whole group aware of what was going to happen as well as when and where it was going to happen. We spent much more time preparing for our final product and constructing the storyboard than we did constructing the storyboard for the preliminary task. In other words the preliminary task gave us an idea or a head start in constructing storyboards however, when it came to doing the final products storyboard it was much more detailed and precise in comparison to tht of the preliminary task.

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I am happy with the final product and in particular with the shots taken in the basement. This is because I think they communicate the tense, mysterious atmosphere that we hoped to create particularly well. I also like the shots of the kitchen however, I think that if the lighting was darker rather than being bright, it would have been better. This is because brightness and sunshine have positive connotations and as this is a psychological thriller cloudy and rainy whether would have been better suited, as this would create an eerie, dark atmosphere. If I was to do this coursework again however, then my main focus would be on the time. I would allow sufficient time to do everything and especially to undergo the editing process. Above all though, I think my film was a success because when I showed my finished film to a group of people that are from the target audience, they were attracted mostly to the basement scenes and use of film noir. From this I learnt that I had used ‘Memento’ as inspiration effectively; using film noire in a modern style. Most people wanted to watch more and started to ask questions. This shows that the film I created with my group raised narrative enigmas as well as attracted the audience (if they were not interested then they would not have been gripped and asked for more).

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I think mainly from doing the preliminary task I have also learnt that organisation of actors, locations, costumes and props are extremely important. All of these contribute to making the film realistic and therefore more believable. As this is a thriller it is very important that the audience believe the narrative otherwise the desired effect on the audience will not be achieved; the audience will not be on the edge of their seat and begin to raise narrative enigma’s. For example our preliminary task was carried out in an English classroom this was very realistic in comparison with our final product, which was filmed in various locations one of which included a basement. I have also learnt through progressing through to the final product that make-up is a very important part of film making and contributes immensely to the films realism. I found that this was particularly important for our film because the male protagonist had to appear vulnerable in comparison to the femme fatale. And this look we achieved by applying make-up to Serhans face, making it as if he was punched and tortured.

Film showing make-up application