Media Film Project Evaluation

MEDIA FILM PROJECT EVALUATION By Daniel Ntim-Addae

In what ways does your film challenge forms, use or develop conventions of real media products? The research I have undertaken has displayed that thrillers have are not really a genre, Martin Rubin who wrote that thrillers are a meta-genre where the other genres can attach themselves; Rubin called the meta-genre thriller as an umbrella for other genres to gather under. Despite this I think that all thrillers have a common thread even though there are so many different types, this common theme runs through all thrillers irrespective of the type. I believe that all thrillers leave an audience wanting more and gives off a sense of unease that leaves the audience in suspense. The Bourne Identity is a film that displays typical conventions of a thriller film as it incorporates confusion along with an intriguing sense of anticipation. The film I have produced does exactly the same thing as I think that our film utilizes the same conventions of your typical thriller by having a apprehensive build-up followed by fast paced action that the audience may or may not have seen coming. The film also took a leaf out of The Bourne Identity’s book and used darkness to further enhance the tension. The film I produced didn’t really challenge the typical conventions of a thriller but we did have some shots that you wouldn’t normally see in a thriller such as the one where the car speeds over the camera as that is more of an action film shot.

How does your media product represent particular social groups? The film we made was aimed at an older audience as there are elements to it that may seem inappropriate for people of a younger age but the question is asking me how our film represents particular social groups. My film represents an urban social group as the film takes place in area where people who live in the city go basically everyday, and the fact that she gets kidnapped in such a normal area only heightens the fear. As well as the setting the film in an urban place we also had characters that you would see on the street and this helped attract our social group as it gave them characters they could identify with instead of your typical Hollywood superstar, this means that the audience can get more into the film as they fully identify with the characters and can therefore engage more enthusiastically with the storyline. North London is a multi ethnic area and we represented this by having an Iranian lead actor, this multi-ethnic approach is typical of North London and London as a whole. The fact remains that London is a place where people especially those coming from other countries believe that they can make something of themselves so this Iranian girl who has just been kidnapped is a very realistic approach to the London of today and is representative of what is happening in the world, people trying to make their lives better. Combining all of these factors I have described above the audience will be interested in our film as it relates to their everyday lives; the link between our film and their lives is quite obvious as it is the pure urban setting integrated with our down to earth characters that will initially attract our audience to the film and the fact that it could hypothetically happen to anyone of them is the link between our film and our audience.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why? As the film we have made is not the size of your typical Hollywood or even Bollywood released film, I have therefore come the conclusion that we need a distributor that suits our needs as there is no point employing a big distribution company such as Fox Atomic to distribute our film. There are many small companies such as Metrodome which could distribute our film to our audience; I would be more inclined to use Metrodome in the first place as they are quite experienced when it comes to distributing small films. They are currently about to release the film Shifty but their more recent release was Mum and Dad which premiered at the Slamdance Film Festival, this film only had a budget of around £100,000 which I have to admit is significantly less than our film so if they did decide to produce our film then they should have a lot of money left over for promotion. The scale of distribution will be quite small and probably start at several film festivals such as the one mentioned above or Wimbledon Shorts 2009 etc. If however our film proves to be successful at these festivals then I think the time will be prudent to consider several independent cinemas such as Curzon or Phoenix as they will be an indicator of how well our film will do in the mainstream audience although it has to be said that the only people who go to visit independent cinemas are people who want to watch specific films. But nevertheless, a strong showing here will be the cue for us to maybe consider a larger distribution company such as Fox Atomic as they will have better expertise when it comes to releasing national films. Our target audience will be more likely to view our film when it reaches the national stage and is being shown in multiplexes as I can anticipate that very few of our target audience will have viewed the film at independent cinemas or at the film festivals.

Who would be the audience for your media product? I decided that this film would be aimed at an over 18 audience as the themes for this film would be inappropriate for people of a younger age. On the imdb the top 250 films are listed and the top 5 are either drama or thriller associated with another movie type. So it is established that thrillers are a very popular genre type no matter what it is combined with, so the audience I am aiming for should have no qualms about the film I have made. But an even more encouraging sign is that The Dark Knight, a film that was released only last year is placed at number 6, and that too is a thriller film albeit one with a massive budget and basically a year of promotion. Therefore there is hope that my film although won’t be on that list of top 250 movies, will be successful as just the genre type alone is popular so my film should attract the audience I am aiming for. Right now in the US box office, there are 2 thriller movies in the top 10 and justify my claims that audiences are interested in the thriller genre and demonstrate that audiences still want to be confused and held in suspense. The UK box office is also displaying the same trends as the top film is State of Play another thriller film so it seems that the 18-35 audience I am aiming for is still interested in thrillers and that is good news for me.

How did you attract/address your audience? As my film is a small one I cannot employ the same ways of attracting audiences as Hollywood thrillers such as The Dark knight or State of Play but I think I will use the same strategy as Shifty which has got a few posters placed in strategic positions as well as it’s own official site where the film synopsis is as well as clips of the film. They also have this ingenious section where if you have a problem with a friend you can set them up in a position they don’t want to be in, this has a big relation to the film as Shifty I think gets set up in the film. I think that if I went with the same approach it would beneficial to my film as like Shifty I don’t have a massive budget but the problem with Shifty’s approach is that they need a way to get the film more heard about as I didn’t hear about the film until recently. So I need to develop a way to get my audience to hear about my film and then get start figuring out an innovative way to get my film out to the audience but in a cost effective fashion. What I am thinking is that maybe I can utilize the growing media types and maybe advertise my film on facebook or any other social networking groups as a lot of people are on these sites so it is the perfect way for me to get my film out to my audience in a way that is cost effective . Another point to consider is the fact that because the thriller genre is so popular there is a risk my film won’t reach my target audience so I have to find a unique way to attract my audience and I think the way to do this is to make a site where people sign up to be part of the film and then at any moment in their lives they could get kidnapped like in the opening of the film and then given a place where they could go and watch the film.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing the product? What have I learnt, good question. The main thing I learnt when filming this product has nothing to do with shots or the camera; what I learnt is that when the process of filming comes along, all those rules of how to film (framing, 180 degree rule etc) go out the window and creativity takes over as how can you be creative by listening to so many rules. That’s not say that I totally ignored the rules as you can’t film without abandon, for example the framing rules (leaving enough space for the head without missing too much of the head) is something that needs to be adhered to. I also learnt that sometimes the best shots are the most simple ones it is when you try to be overclever that is when problems occur as these complicated shots are those that may sound good in theory but look absolutely rubbish on camera. Keeping it simple may sound condescending but if you stick with it and then add in a few creative shots and nice angles then you have a stellar film on your hands. Another shot I learnt that was really useful was tracking shots, I never all the ways in which you could use tracking shots, they truly are a multi-purpose camera shot and you can use them in all sorts of ways that will look good on film; for example in my film there was a shot that consisted of me tracking our lead actor through the bushes and then going up close to her face.

Looking back to your preliminary task, what do you feel that you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product? The main thing that I learnt was all the planning factors that comes with filming an opening to a thriller is really important. I never realized the full scale of planning person has to go through in order to begin planning as at GSCE Media all we did was a storyboard and a script and then it was off to film. But in the preliminary task the only thing we did was a pitch, a short treatment and a storyboard, so I was shocked when it came to our final product and we had to produce a location recce, a risk assessment, a storyboard, a shooting schedule and a production schedule. I didn’t realize it then but the planning actually helps when preparing for a task like this as it gives a step by step guide to what you need to do; I now recognize the importance of planning when it comes to projects such as this and will follow in the same pattern in the future. Another thing that I have learnt from the preliminary task to the full product is that group communication is vital if you want to achieve the highest grade possible, this means listening to every members opinions and organizing group meetings to discuss how the film is going so far and to hear everyone’s disappointments and complaints. Sadly, in the task my group didn’t do all of these things and it is only in hindsight that I realized the importance of group communication as it just makes everything flow much smoother as well as making everyone in the group feel respected and needed. But overall I think that although my group and I had our problems we produced a good piece of work that I hope will get us a good grade, and I have enjoyed this project despite the stress that came with it!!