Media Course Work Evaluation

Evaluation Aya El-fouani

Group 2

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

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.

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. ‘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 access 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 and will be easily accessible by them.

-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.

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 dialogue used which is not queens English and overly grand , or overly colloquial such as slang. Other films that have the same target audience include.

-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 and be able to identify. 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 one 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 a young teenage audience.

Terminator Salvation trailer

-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).

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’.

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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 includes elements of upbeat music which young people are usually associated with. Mise en scene of the locations used is cluttered. The main for this is to contribute to the uneasy tense atmosphere, common amongst Thrillers however, it can also attract the target audience as young people in particular young people are commonly know for not being particularly neat and tidy.

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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.

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 the angles.

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In the final filming meeting for example, 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.

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.

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This coursework has also led me to undergo extensive research in Thrillers therefore, making me feel much more confident in working within 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.

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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