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

Transit:

   Our film, Transit, aims to fit in the genre of crime thriller. This is as it revolves around the activity between two characters that seems subsequently illegal, and once we bring a third character (the antagonist) in to the equation suspense is built via his interest in their exchange. Furthermore, we researched and used conventions from films/TV dramas of the same genre in order to form the film into a piece of media that well reflected the crime thriller genre.

Location:


An exterior shot of Anglia Square car park, showing it's
resemblance to the council estate on "Kidulthood" 

London council estate, "Kidulthood"

   Within a thriller opening, location plays a key part in setting the scene and allowing the action to flow naturally. Our group decided that in order to properly connote the action of Transit, we should set the opening in an area that was old, unglamorous and urban. This is as we wanted to give Transit a gritty and un-nerving feel similar to that of "Kidulthood" and TV drama "Top Boy", whereby, the action takes place primarily in council estates. Therefore, we decided to use Anglia Square car park as the location for our opening.This is as the car park has not been renovated since the early 1970's, ultimately leaving it as a derelict and degrading building. Additionally, the multi-storey car park was closed down, therefore leaving it completely empty. Both of these aspects are the reason that we chose this location; it portrays ideas of bleakness and isolation which are common within media texts such as "A Clockwork Orange" and "Essex Boys".

An interior shot of the stair well in Anglia Square car
park, showing the boarded up level connoting
the claustrophobic and corrupt aspects. 

   Furthermore, in using the location of an empty car park we were able to portray generic conventions of the thriller genre . For example, the fact that the car park was empty connotes John's isolation within the location, additionally, the derelict nature connotes the corruption that follows. This is similar to films such as Peter Weir's "Witness", whereby, the murder scene takes place in a train station toilet, of which portrays dirty and claustrophobic connotations, similar to that of Anglia Square car park.  



   Additionally, the main influence on our choice of location was the music video for "Angel" - Massive Attack. This is as it is set out as if it were a thriller film and executes the notion of being followed brilliantly, whilst also providing great examples of chiaroscuro lighting. 



Lighting:

A close-up of Hanna from our film, Transit,
showing our use of chiaroscuro lighting, the dark shadow
could connote Hanna's imitate fate.  

An example of chiaroscuro lighting from "13 Tzameti".

    Our thriller opening uses generic conventions of lighting in order to establish the thriller genre, this is as within the car park we utilised the availability of artificial/non-ambient lighting, which in turn acted as a great source of chiaroscuro lighting. Noir or chiaroscuro lighting is commonly utilised within the thriller genre, particularly in classic crime or neo-noir thrillers in order to increase drama and suspense by engulfing most of the mise-en-scene in darkness and lighting subject matter, connoting that the character is surrounded by threat. For example, in french neo-noir thriller "13 Tzameti", chiaroscuro lighting is used in a scene where there is a russian roulette game between 13 men. Through the use of this type of lighting within our thriller opening, we have referenced films that influenced our decisions when researching and planning.  


    Furthermore, we were able to make intertextual links through the use of lighting, which in turn, allowed us to stronger connote the consequent actions of our opening via the reference of "Essex Boys". For example, when Bill is driving up the car park ramps, a bar of light is reflected on his windscreen. This references the opening of "Essex Boys", whereby, Billy is driving Jason around and when going through a tunnel, light is reflected in the same way. The reason that we utilised lighting in order to create this link was to forebode the same meaning, whereby, in "Essex Boys" the light bars connote that Billy is most likely to end up in jail as a result of Jason's actions, and within our thriller opening Bill's actions would most likely result with him going to jail. 

An example of our intertextual link from Transit (left) to "Essex Boys"(right) 

Camera angles/ shot types:

 

The opening shot from our thriller, Transit.

Tracking shot of Josh, used near the beginning
of "Animal Kingdom".

   In order to best reflect the action, we used a wide variety of camera angles and shot types in our thriller opening. For example, when our film opens we used a a tracking mid close-up from behind Jon of him walking up some steps of the exterior car park. The tracking notion of this shot connotes the possibility that John is being followed thus increasing suspense. This specific shot was influenced by Australian crime thriller “Animal Kingdom”, where the camera tracks Josh (the main character) up a similar staircase. This intertextual reference adds further information about the character.  Like Josh, John seems to be walking into a dangerous, predatory world of thugs and gangsters. In terms of story, Josh walks up the stairs just after his mother has died beside him from a drugs overdose.  Like Josh in Animal Kingdom, John in our film Transit is isolated and possibly confused, and like Josh has some hard lessons to learn. We used tracking shots in our thriller film in order to position the audience with the character, and although not a generic convention of the genre, I feel it was effective in centring the action around the protagonist. 

Extreme close-up of Beatrix's eyes from "Kill Bill"



Extreme close-up of Bill's eyes from our thriller
opening, Transit.

   Furthermore, we used a range of close-ups in order to keep the mise-en-scene tight and therefore increase the pace of the action, additionally; we used them to connect the audience with the characters emotions. For example, we used an extreme close-up on Bill's eyes as an introduction of his character to the film. Using this type of shot we were attempting to make Bill appear more threatening, therefore establishing him as a more intimidating character. Although extreme close-ups are not restricted to the thriller genre, they are often utilised in order to engage to audience with the characters feelings. For example, "Kill Bill" is an action thriller that frequently uses this type of close-up in order to establish Beatrix's anger. 

Tilt, Birds-eye shot used in our thriller opening.

    

Tilt shot of Harry Lime's shadow, "The Third Man".

    We also used a tilt shot in order to convey the location as nightmarish and dangerous. For example, when John is starting to walk up the interior steps of Anglia Square car park, we used a bird-eye tilt to show his hand on the rail. Using the tilt allowed us to portray the idea that John was now trapped (indicated by the array of out of line stair rails in the mise-en-scene) additionally, the birds-eye view connotes that John's vulnerability. Furthermore, through the tilt shot we have used generic conventions of the thriller genre, this is as the tilt shot is often used to disorientate and confuse audience in order to connote fear within the mise-en-scene. For example, noir thriller "The Third Man" consistently uses the tilt shot in order to emphasise Harry Lime's alienation in a foreign environment. However, I would argue that we have challenged the generic tilt shot by portraying it from a birds-eye view, which further connotes the nightmare of the character. 

Soundtrack:

   Our soundtrack was inspired by the crime thriller, "Drive", specifically from the opening getaway scene where music plays a key part in building tension ("Tick of the Clock" - Chromatics). The reason that we chose a soundtrack that resembled this was that we wanted to slowly build tension, and much like in "Drive" our opening soundtrack utilises this via the introduction of percussion instruments. Furthermore, within the soundtrack "Tick of the Clock" the music dies down near the middle to symbolize the tension reaching a climatic point and then becomes louder to symbolize the tension returning to is previously built form. This similar style is portrayed in the soundtrack that we picked "For Whom the Bell Tolls" - Oliver Ledbury, and therefore we picked this to convey the same meaning. For example, the first time John see's the white van some of the instruments cut out, making the mise-en-scene seem eerie and suspicious.

http://www.audionetwork.com/production-music/for-whom-the-bell-tolls-3_61166.aspx 
Our soundtrack, "For Whom the Bell Tolls" - Oliver Ledbury

"Tick of the Clock" - Chromatics ,the song that influenced our choice of soundtrack.

Enigma:

   Many thriller films and TV Dramas use enigmas within them in order to keep the audience guessing what's going to happen, they build suspense and evoke twists within the plot line. Utilising these enigmas can be particular effective within the opening of a thriller film, as it can fixate the audience and hold their interest for the entirety of the film. This is why our group decided to introduce a few enigmatic ideas.  

   Firstly, the antagonist, Bill, can be seen as an enigma as the only visible shots of him that are featured in the opening are the extreme close-up of his eyes, and his boot in the elevator. This leads the audience to only assume Bill's appearance as there is no clear interpretation of him; we created Bill as the enigmatic character in order to give the assumption that we don't know why he's provoking the other two characters. Furthermore, we were inspired to form this enigma based on the antagonist in "Kill Bill", this is as within the first film you don't see Bill but only potions of his body, such as hands and feet; therefore, we wanted to reference this through the use of the same name and idea.  

For example, Bill's boot in the opening of "Kill Bill" on the left.
Additionally, Bill's boot from our film, Transit, on the right.

Vince Vega looking in the briefcase, "Pulp Fiction"

    Secondly, we decided to use a bag in order to connote the idea that an item is being delivered between John and Hanna. However, we decided to not reveal what this was in attempt to create an enigma that would leave the audience puzzled and wanting to watch a feature length version. This idea came from "Pulp Fiction", whereby, a briefcase is carried around in the film and the contents are never actually reveled, in fact we only ever see a few of the characters looking in to the briefcase in surprise. Additionally, we can assume that Bill is after the bag and therefore another enigma is created as to why he would want it.   

John having a look at the note on Hanna's body.

   Thirdly, the most puzzling enigma that we have placed in our film was the card/ or note placed on Hanna's dead body near the end of the opening. We see John pick this up and look at it, however, the audience are never actually informed to what is written on it. The reason that we utilised this idea was in order to leave the audience wondering more about who's actually involved in the action, in an ambiguous sense, it may not only be Bill involved, or maybe John's in the wrong. All of these questions are what an enigma sparks and therefore become a talking point of thriller films, leaving the audience mesmerised and engaged in the action.  

Conventions of the opening to a thriller film:

   In order to best establish our production as the opening to a thriller film, we had to take into consideration the placing of the titles, soundtrack and cliffhanger in order to keep the audience watching.
   Firstly, we decided to begin the soundtrack during the opening production title. This technique is used in films such "Once Upon A Time In America", whereby, "God Bless America" - Irving Berlin plays during the opening credits. The reason for utilising this is in order to establish that the film has begun, connecting the audience with the mise-en-scene before the footage is actually on screen. Furthermore, this is effective in delving the audience straight in to the action, particularly with our thriller film, as the soundtrack pulsates once when the production credit shows and then a second time as the action begins. 

   Secondly, we used a bold, sans serif font in order to portray the names of the cast, crew and producers of our thriller opening. This is as we felt serif fonts would take away from the grit of the action, as the tailed letters looked quite traditional and sophisticated, additionally, we made the font bold in order to make it seem more threatening. Our choice of font style was influenced by the opening credits to thriller such as "A Clockwork Orange" and "Essex Boys", both of which use bold, sans serif fonts within their opening sequence. In addition, we placed the credits within the first few exterior shots of the location, this was in order to properly establish that our film was in fact a thriller opening as apposed to a trailer for a feature length film. Furthermore, thrillers such as "Se7en" and "Jackie Brown" place the credits within the opening scenes of the feature length film. 

   Thirdly, we placed the title of our film on the cliffhanger of our thriller opening. Although, in doing this there was a risk that our production may look like a trailer for a feature film as apposed to an opening, however, I feel that the title is a lot stronger at the end of the sequence in comparison to the middle as it throws the audience right into the film. Furthermore, other thrillers such as "Pulp Fiction" have utilised this technique and therefore we took influence of this in considering our title placement. 

   Finally, we felt that a vital part of our opening sequence would be the use of a cliffhanger. This is as cliffhangers keep the audience on edge, wondering round the next corner, which leads to a further fixation with the film. After discussing with each other, our group decided that just a shot of Bill's work boot in the elevator door would be most effective as it could leave the audience with a further interest in Bill's identity and a wonder of what's going to happen to John. This convention is commonly used in the opening to thriller films and TV dramas, therefore we believed the utilisation of it would be key. For example, TV drama, "Utopia" opens each episode with a thrilling cliffhanger as a point that is going to be developed in the episode.

 Unfortunately, the clip cuts out before the title appears. However, the cliffhanger 
from this episode of "Utopia" is whether or not the emotionally detached hit man,
kills the young school boy. 

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

The stereotypical view represented in the media is
summed up by this image from the
London riots, depicting Afro Caribbean teenagers
as hidden, destructive and menacing.

   The opening to our thriller film represents young males who would be considered as ethnic minorities in a rather stereotypical and negative manor. For example, the protagonist in our thriller, John, is from an Afro Caribbean background, his costume is all black and he is wearing his hood up. We presented Jon like this in order to reinforce the stereotype portrayed in the media that young adolescents from an ethnic background are, perhaps up to something shifty when sporting clothing that attempts to hide their identity. The reason we did this was to set up the idea that John was perhaps the character who was out to cause trouble, but in the end he was ultimately the victim. Furthermore, we have represented young adolescent males, from a Afro Caribbean background as intimidating and dodgy within their actions, which is a rather prejudice, stereotypical view to portray. However, as our film progresses we go to turn this stereotypical view on its side by representing John as the victim, due to the fact that he is threatened by the older white male. Therefore, if the film were to be developed our intention was that John is seen as a victim of racism, portraying the stereotype represented by the media as the opposite.

Example of the traditional femme fatale, Eva from
"Once Upon A Time In America".

Hanna, from our thriller opening, Transit

    Secondly, we have represented our female character, Hanna, as a more contemporary portrayal of the femme fatale therefore defying the typical stereotype. For example, Hanna has short brown hair and her costume is not at all provocative or revealing. We portrayed Hanna like this to get away from the typical femme fatale character, with long blonde hair and provocative clothing in order to represent a more progressive attitude to women, in the way that women can fight back and are not commanded by the male character. For example, in more traditional representations of the femme fatale, such as Eva in "Once Upon A Time In America" the femme fatale is a passive victim. 

Lisabeth Salander, "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo"

   We based our female character on the protagonist from the action thriller "Hannah", whereby, the young female character fends for herself against those out to kill her. Additionally, we based the look of Hanna on the character of Lisbeth Salander in "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" . However, as events progress in the film, Hanna is found to be dead in the elevator and therefore the stereotype of the traditional femme fatale is partially represented here. We could have perhaps avoided steering back to this representation by portraying Hanna as the killer.

   Furthermore, the older white male character, Bill, is represented as stereotypical in some ways, yet in reflection of his actions towards Jon, he defies stereotypes in others. For example, Bill is an electrician in his early 40's and is presented in typical heavy duty work wear, additionally, he is the antagonist within our thriller opening. We gave Bill this background and costume in order to portray Bill's career as labour intensive, the reason that we did this was to introduce the stereotype formulated that suggests men who are employed in labour intensive jobs such as construction, engineering, electrics, etc aren't afraid to get their hands-on and deal with problems themselves. For example, if someone spoke about them in a bad manner, they would go out and take things in to their own hands. Furthermore, the re-enforcement of this idea allows Bill to become a more intimidating and realistic character as threat is associated through the stereotype.

http://www.expressandstar.com/news/2010/12/17/electrician-is-guilty-of-dudley-butchers-murder/
A link to a news article that supports the stereotype.

   On the other hand, we have challenged the stereotype of the media's representation of ethnic minorities as apposed to middle-aged white males. This is as films like "Adulthood" represent young adolescent ethnic minorities as intimidating, troublesome and violent towards older white males, where as, in our film we present the exact opposite. An example of another film that challenges the stereotypical view is "Harry Brown", this is as it revolves around an elderly white male acting as a threat to adolescent youth. The reason we did this was to represent ethnic minorities as the victim, showing that the media puts so much scrutiny on this specific social group that it doesn't take in to account the fact that anyone can be a threat and we should show everyone with the same equal view. 

The stereotypical view of young adolescent ethnic minorities. 

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

   If our thriller opening, Transit, was produced into a feature length film a company such as Revolver Entertainment would be most likely to distribute it. This is a Revolver Entertainment is one of the UK's leading independent film distribution companies, distributing films such as "Kidulthood" and "Ill Manors". Both of these films and a wide variety of other Revolver films are set in bleak English council estates, exploring themes such as drugs and violence via stereo typical characters aged between 16-21 years ("Hoodies"). Additionally, the audience demographic who most enjoy films distributed by Revolver Entertainment were similar to our targeted audience. For example, males under 18 rated "Kidulthood" most highly on IMDB. This shows that Revolver Entertainment distributes films that aim to identify with teenage and adolescent adults. Therefore, as our film lies with a character who would be considered as an ethnic minority, is set within a densely populated urban location and explores the theme of violence, it's safe to say that Transit would be a likely candidate for distribution by Revolver Entertainment. Additionally, our film uses similar artistic camera and editing techniques as some of the film's distributed by Revolver Entertainment. By this I mean the shots using shallow depths of field and the overall de-saturated, gritty look of the film achieved in editing. This further promotes the reason why Revolver Entertainment would be the most suitable choice of distributor. 

   Furthermore, as Transit is only a few minutes long and is most likely not going to be developed into a feature length film, sites such as YouTube and Vimeo would be ideal for easy distribution. This is as they are completely free and allow short films to be viewed by vast worldwide audiences, which, offers the chance of recognition and promotion by other YouTube viewers, consequently, spreading the film by "word of mouth" if enjoyed. Additionally, Vimeo is a much smaller viral community than YouTube. However, it is host to many professional and budding short film makers, of whom, hold a high status among the website and therefore being recognised by one of them could gain more awareness of the film. Furthermore, YouTube and Vimeo are available on a wide range of technological devices. For example, YouTube can be accessed on smart phones, tablets, games consoles and MP4 players. This allows for the opportunity of videos being viewed almost anywhere with an internet connection and therefore if our film was uploaded to YouTube or Vimeo, it could be accessed with incredible ease.
   On the other hand, social network sites such as Facebook and Twitter could be used to upload the video to, allowing friends and "followers" to share it around to the wider community. This, much like YouTube and Vimeo, would be very cost efficient and easy to achieve. However, I feel that uploading a video directly to Facebook or Twitter may take away a bit from our short film. This is as social network sites such as the stated are usually utilised in order to promote specific products through viral advertising as apposed to showcasing short films (although, YouTube portrays both). Therefore, making it seem like more of a advertisement for the short film and less of an actual finished product itself.  


Team Superluminal2012 - 'EIGHT ITEMS' TOP 3 FINALIST FOR 2012 SCI-FI LONDON 48HR CHALLENGE from Jake Wynne on Vimeo.
For example, a rather successful short film that was uploaded on to Vimeo. 

For example, "Broken" and "The Spirit of '45" are two
independent British films currently showing at
Cinema city.

   As our film Transit is independently shot and has a rather art house feel to it, I believe that Cinema City would be more willing to exhibit it than a multiplex, such as Vue. This is as Cinema City strive to screen "a wide range of features spanning, art-house, independent, documentary and world cinema films as well as Hollywood blockbusters". For example, Cinema City screened a film recently called "The Imposter" which is a low-budget, independent, psychological thriller . "The Imposter" has a similar art-house feel to our film and is of the same genre. Therefore, showing how Cinema City may be the most suited cinema to distribute our film, additionally, Cinema City often screen films that have been in or are set in Norwich, as it is portrayal of the local community or landmarks of the city. For example, "In Love With Alma Cogan", an independent film shot and set around Cromer Pier in North Norwich was screened at cinema city as part of a "Filmed in Norfolk event".
   Therefore, as our short thriller opening was shot at a now closed down, local multi-story car park it may be of interest to Cinema City to exhibit it.  



Trailer for film, "The Imposter".

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

Anglia Square, Car Park

Stereotypical London council
estate

 Our thriller opening, Transit, aims to target a predominantly male audience aged between 16-21 years old. Firstly, the location used in our thriller film is aimed to be identifiable with our particular demographic. For example, it features very rundown, dirty, densely populated urban housing estates buildings. This is therefore identifiable amongst the target audience as buildings in such a state as the ones in Transit are common amongst council estates, of which, approximately 30% of the UK's population live within, therefore making it likely that a large amount of the demographic also live in similar housing. In addition, the action is connoted by the particular location as council estates have a reputation for being riddled with anti-social or dodgy behaviour. This further poses another recognisable aspect of our thriller to our demographic as the audience should identify with this fact and associate the location and action to similar situations, of which, they may have heard about or experienced themselves (However, probably not to the same magnitude). Furthermore, making Transit seem more appealing.

Character from the TV drama, "Top Boy".

John, wearing very similar clothing to those
in "Top Boy"

   Secondly, the characters of John and Hanna are in the same age range as the demographic we are aiming for which gives a first basis of identification with characters. Furthermore, John is a 17 year old boy, who would be considered in our society to be an ethnic minority, his clothes are pretty much all black apart from his white t-shirt. He wears his hood up and aims to look intimidating. The fact that John is from an ethnic background widens our audience from a primarily caucasian background to a further array of different races. Jon could be interpreted as a few different characters which are both likely to relate to the demographic. Firstly, Jon could be seen as the victim as his antagonist is most likely to be Bill, the older white man. This idea flips the stereotype, whereby, usually the ethnic minority portrayed as "hoodie" usually evokes the most destruction, violence and menace. For example, the London Riots, "Kidulthood", "Top Boy". However, instead it's the older white man that is seen as the threatening and violent character. This assumption may allow the demographic to relate to our film as the media has put ethnic minorities/"hoodies" under a lot of scrutiny, exclaiming that they are threatening and destructive individuals. Whereby, one interpretation of our film would be that this type of individual is the victim and therefore it allows the demographic to identify with the feeling that everyone is fearful/discriminative of them when in actual fact they are the victims, thus making the making the film more captivating. 
   On the other hand, John's slightly unresponsive and hardened reaction to finding the dead body of Hanna could be a portrayal of the typical stereotype taken to a new level. For example, at London court recently a man was stabbed by a bunch of youths with their hoods up. The link between this news story and John is a suggestion that these individuals have no empathetic traits, in the way that they can commit or witness a horrible act and not feel any sorrow or remorse. This is supported by research into psychopathy and it's relation to deviant crimes, e.g."Lack of empathy and lack of remorse, are often seen in offenders of deviant crimes.  Lacking empathy, offenders are able to view their victims as objects, to use and throw away as they please, not unlike a piece of garbage.  By viewing the victim in this manner, offenders also seem to lack remorse for their actions, which protects them from feeling guilt", this extract is sourced from http://www.deviantcrimes.com/psychopathy.htm .
   This idea may be identifiable with the demographic as they may feel threatened by this particular antagonist in reality and therefore it could create more of a realistic character profile for John.


This video indicates how "hoodies" are seen as the victim in some cases.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/feb/01/man-stabbed-london-court
Where as, this particular new article reinforces the extreme stereotype.

   Additionally, Hanna is an 18 year old girl of a caucasian ethnicity who's dress code challenges the stereotypical convention of the femme fatale. This is as she doesn't wear revealing clothing, has her hair short and doesn't look scared given the rather isolated situation. The name of the character was taken from the thriller "Hanna", this is as the main character in "Hanna" is a 16 year old girl raised to be an assassin in order to take care of herself. Therefore, being a rather hardened individual. Our character of Hanna poses as a strong female, which creates a role model for women as it seems as if Hanna is in charge and dictating what John needs to do, one interpretation could be that Hanna isn't actually dead at the end and she was only luring John to the hands of Bill. This therefore, could widen our demographic to appeal and identify with a female audience as well as male. Furthermore, Hanna's good physical stature and looks may also act as a sex appeal for male audiences.

User ratings for "Drive".

   Thirdly, our demographic should identify with the soundtrack we have chosen for our film as it uses low pulsations as well as fast ticking noises in order to create tension leading up to a climatic moment in the opening. The soundtrack resembles music from films such as "Drive" or "Snatch" in terms of tempo and specific beat patterns, this may pose as a relatable aspect to the male demographic as it is alike in the majority of films that they are likely to be interested in. For example, a scene in the thriller "Drive" features a getaway scene to a similar soundtrack and once investigating who rated the film most highly on IMDB I found that it was males under 18,  which is closely followed by males 18-29 years old.

   

User ratings for "Kidulthood"

    I believe that our demographic of 16-21year old males would likely enjoy other TV and Film such as "Kidulthood", "Top Boy", "Misfits", "This is England 86'", "Drive" and "Snatch". Purely because the all contain similar locations, action, character, themes and soundtrack to our thriller production. For example, the males under 18 demographic rated the film "Kidulthood" most highly. 

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

   Once I had finished the edit for my film, I was required to hand out questionnaires to other students in order to gain feedback for our thriller opening. Furthermore, I decided that the best way to get specific feedback that was relevant to our production, was to ask our target audience; therefore, I asked mainly males, aged 16-21. However, I additionally decided to ask two females aged 16-21, as I wanted to see how the results may differ based on gender. Therefore, my sample consisted of 3 male participants and 2 female. 

Audience Feedback - Thriller Film

   From the results of the questionnaire, there were both positive and negative parts of feedback that I received in the response to our group's thriller opening. In terms of positives, most participants found the narrative very easy to understand giving it either 4 or 5 out of 5, with only one person giving as low as a 3. This is most likely because of our use of a linear narrative, whereby, events take place from the beginning, going through the middle, and ultimately reaching the end in a sufficient order. Therefore, the audience may become more fixated within the action of the film as they are constantly anticipating what is going to happen. An example of a thriller film with a linear narrative would be "Essex Boys", as we are placed at the beginning of Billy's story and follow it right through to the end.

      Furthermore, when it came to a question of how participants would rate the camera work and editing, all included in the survey rated this aspect of the highest ability, giving it either a 4 or 5 out of 5. This is most likely because of our group's decision to use DSLR's in manual focus, as shooting with these types of cameras gives the film contrasting depths of field, which in turn allows a cinematic look which may have appealed to the audience in terms of the more professional feel, perhaps reflecting a film they have seen made with a higher budget. Additionally, we decided to colour grade the film by decreasing saturation and adding a green tint, this may have captivated the audience as it gave the mise-en-scene a more gritty and dirty feel, which in turn, could add to the menacing action.

   Thirdly, all participants agreed that the soundtrack was an effective reflection and enhancer of the mood/action in our thriller opening, with some participants going on to describe the soundtracks relation with mise-en-scene as "very grim" and "excellent". The soundtrack may have been great appeal to the audience as the particular track we used introduced faster playing instruments as it went on. Therefore, in collaboration with the action occurring within the mise-en-scene, created a strong build up of tension which kept the audience gripped, edging to see what was going to happen next. Additionally, audiences may have enjoyed the soundtrack as it reflected crime thriller such as "Drive". 

The scene in our thriller opening, that lacks
clear meaning through not considering lighting. 

   However, there were a few criticisms and suggested areas for improvement. Firstly, although the overall majority rated the standard of mise-en-scene (i.e. colour, figure, lighting,objects) to be of a high standard, a few participants rated this aspect as 3 out of 5, which seems a pretty average mark. One of the participants went on to say that "lighting" was an aspect that could be improved, and in a further conversation they brought up that they couldn't see  John properly when he went down to pick up the watch. This particular scene is an example of how if the mise-en-scene is dark and unclear unintentionally, it can throw off audiences interest within the action. Therefore, to hold audiences' fixation with the film, we should  have considered using additional lighting during the shoot.  

A still from our opening, showing Hanna dead in
the elevator. 

   Furthermore, although all males that participated within the questionnaire answered that the opening would inspire them to watch the rest of the film, both female participants answered that it wouldn't. Additionally, one of the female participants then went on to write in a question about the offensiveness of the film "why was the girl killed off first - stereotype". This result suggests that the female audience for the questionnaire lacked appeal whilst watching our thriller opening, and that the reason behind it could potentially be due to the fact that Hanna, the female within our production, was ultimately the only person murdered within the opening. Furthermore, if our group had another chance to shoot the thriller opening, we could alter the cliffhanger in order to make the film more attractive to a female audience. For example, instead of just having Hanna dead in the lift, we could have had her in a bad state, whereby, John attempts to resuscitate her.    
   In addition, the film that we produced is primarily dominated by male roles, this could be another contributor to why the female audience wouldn't consider watching a feature length version of our opening. However, the fact that all of the males that participated in the questionnaire agreed that they would like to watch the rest of the film, suggests that utilisation of specific characters and techniques reflects the target audiences interests well. For example, the use of a predominantly male cast and portrayal of the main role as an ethnic minority (aged 17) could have hooked the male audience as they are able to identify with the characters.

   A few other points were raised when particpants were asked to note anything they thought was confusing or hard to understand. Firstly, a participant wrote in response that it "was a bit confusing as to why the girl was killed", and another participant commented saying "who was the girl?". These comments identify that we may have not made it clear enough that the female role within our film (Hanna) is meeting up with John for an exchange; if we were to shoot again, we could have instead used a close-up on Hanna's mobile phone showing a text from John regarding the meeting time. However, although this may make the girl's presence less confusing, I would deem that the introduction of this aspect in a re-shoot would take away some of the enigmatic tones from our opening.

   Furthermore, another participant commented regarding "the association with the watch" as a confusing/hard to understand aspect of our thriller production. Moreover, the watch was intended to be an important part in evoking fear and building suspense within our thriller opening, and if the audience were unable to understand the association then some of that tension is taken away. Therefore, when our group were shooting or if we were given the chance to shoot again we could have introduced more relation between Hanna and the watch. For example, a flashback of John giving her the watch as he picks it up within the car park, this would have portrayed a stronger connotation as to what had happened and additionally shown a stronger bond between John and Hanna as characters.    


   In terms of addressing our audience, we have positioned their involvement with the film in a very detached way. This is as there is no specific character that the audience can immediately identify with as there's no real introduction to the character of John, this differs from how some other films address their audience. For example, in "Essex Boys" the film opens with a voiceover from Billy Reynolds, therefore audiences are positioned with this character and begin to identify with him. Furthermore, our thriller opening relies more upon the use of action in a combination with diegetic and non-diegetic sound in order to communicate the storyline. The reason that we decided to address the audience in this way was so that we could throw them straight into the action, allowing for tension and grittiness to be our main advocators. For example, our soundtrack begins whilst the production credit is present in order to immediately address the audience via the use of non-diegetic sound. This credit then quickly cuts out and the audience are introduced to a tracking shot of John, whereby, he is walking up a rather decrypted stair case. The combination of consistent camera movement, non-diegetic sound and aspects of location within the mise-en-scene all address to the audience that they are being told the story as an interpretation of visual and auditory composition, eliminating the need for dialogue via narrator.
        

   Furthermore, we used specific conventions of the thriller genre in order to attract our audience, the reason being that conventions are expected from an audience and therefore we had to utilise this idea. For example, creating tension is an imperative notion to inflict within the thriller genre, as it is what keeps audiences on the edge of their seats wanting to see what happens next within the film. Moreover, we applied this convention to our thriller opening via the use of a soundtrack that built tempo through the introduction of different instruments in a combination with close-ups cutting together quickly in a linear sequence. This allowed the pace of our opening to gain speed as it went along and further increase audience fixation as the motion is evidently connoting a climatic point. An example of where we have inflicted this idea is apparent between 0:50 - 0:58 seconds, whereby, a short a sequence of close-ups occur in rapid succesion in sync with the soundtrack.   

   Another convention that we utilised within our thriller opening was the use of enigmas. The purpose of enigmas are to create mystery and get audiences speculating as to what they can be perceived as, this in turn creates a more developed interest within the action of the production and therefore a more attractive appeal towards the overall film. We applied this convention via a few enigmas, one of them being the assumption of what Jon is carrying in his bag. The introduction of this enigma gets audiences asking questions such as, what is actually being delivered between Jon and Hanna? Why does Bill have such an interest? How does it relate to the wider story?. 

   Moving on, the cliffhanger is important in hooking and inspiring the audience to continue with watching the feature-length film; we have utilised this aspect within our thriller opening in order to create attraction of our film for audiences. For example, at the end of our film Bill's boot stops the elevator door from closing, leaving John trapped with him. As seen from the target audiences' response within the survey I conducted, the cliffhanger that we have created seems to be effective in inspiring the male audience to continue watching the film. This is as it leaves many unanswered questions at the end of the sequence, and as a part of an audience's nature, if they are captivated by the opening then the cliffhanger will evoke curiosity making them want to watch on.
   
   Overall, the surveys seem to reflect that we have been effective in addressing and attracting our audience. This is as none of the participants gave a mark lower than 8/10 when rating the overall production, and therefore it seems that we have appealed to the particular demographic. Additionally, although the female audience weren't to attracted to the idea of the female role being killed off first, they still rated the overall production highly, showing how although some ideas can be off putting and perhaps offensive to specific groups, other aspects of mise-en-scene can bring about a balanced opinion.  

Question 6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

   Our group decided that we wanted a different feel when we were planning to shoot our thriller films, the look we were going for was cinematic and sleek. We aimed to achieve this by using two DSLR camera's (Nikon D3100 & Canon 550D) that recorded in 1080p HD format. The use of these DSLR's allowed me to experiment and practice with the camera angles and shot types that I had learned during research which helped develop my visual eye for different scenes, and give me more of an insight in to the different perspectives a scene could be captured from. 


   In addition, the benefits of using the DSLR cameras were that as well as video, they also take stills. This allowed us to go and photograph the locations and different angles we were considering using before the shoot took place, therefore, giving us a better idea of what did and didn't work visually. One of the major benefits of using DSLR's was that we could watch the footage straight back and decide if we needed any more takes, angles, etc. Also, the footage that was recorded could easily be placed on to a computer/laptop and uploaded on to blogs to get teacher feedback. Furthermore, the specific advantage of using DSLR's was that the focus could be manually adjusted in order to create different focal points. This gave our footage contrasting depth's of field that helped give us the cinematic look we were aiming for.

Example of using manual focus in order to create a
shallow depth of field. 

   
   However, there were a few mistakes we made when filming which allowed us to further understand our cameras and take shooting in to more consideration. Firstly, when shooting on location in the dark car park we didn't take into consideration the right ISO settings, which determine how much light is let in to the camera. Therefore, one of our shots is quite dark and is hard to make out the action. Secondly, we shot with two DSLR's in the same 1080p setting. However, we forget to take in to account the shutter speed and therefore some footage was shot in 24 fps, and the other lot in 25 fps. Finally, the in built microphone on the Nikon D3100 was able to pick up diegetic sound brilliantly, but, when shooting outside wind dominated the sound and made it quite hard to hear some of the ambient sound within the mise-en-scene. Luckily, these were all jobs that could be saved or made less noticeable in the edit.
   In addition, for some of our shots we mounted our cameras to tripods. This type of equipment helped us explore a wide variety of angles whilst being able to keep the camera steady and therefore reduce shakiness within the shot. It also allowed us to create shots that would have been very difficult to capture if we were operating hand-held, for example, the panning shot of the van entering the car park. 

   Adobe Premiere was my initial choice of software to edit my thriller on as I had a small experience in using it before for a previous task. Unfortunately, I was unable to use this software as it didn't have it available to me on my laptop and therefore I used a program called iMovie, of which, I had no previous experience in. However, once I begun playing around with the software I began to quickly grasp the basic functions and effects. One function that I found very useful and managed to become more detailed in after practicing was the precise trimming. This is as it allowed me to cut and match clips up to the millisecond in order to create a consistently fluid motion between shots that don't include transitions, therefore, keeping the action intact and not "jumpy" in any way. 

For example, the matching up of these shots had to be done using
the precise editing tool. This is as Sol only had his hand on the
railing for a small fraction of time.

The settings for correction and grading
that I used for most shots.

   Furthermore, a setting that I had never been introduced to before on a video editing software was the ability to correct the actual colours and brightness of the footage itself. This came as a huge help when editing the thriller opening as it allowed me to enhance shots that weren't brilliant visually and also adjust colours and saturation in order to give the mise-en-scene a gritty feel. When I discovered this setting, I wasn't overly confident with it as I had no idea of what would look effective, therefore, I had to spend some time testing what kinds of looks I could go for and make my mind up depending on what best suited the planning, style and characters. Doing this allowed my skills to develop greatly, this is as I now have a good idea of what would work best not only for our particular thriller opening but other genres and styles of films, therefore, making the skill I have learnt applicable to other media projects that I may produce.

A screenshot of footage before and after colour correction.

For example, this
screenshot shows three
channels of sound.
(Soundtrack, sting & diegetic)
The waves indicate the loudness
in each part of the shot.

   Thirdly, iMovie allowed me to become more confident not only in video editing, but also sound editing. This is as in previous pieces of media that I have created I have either not worried about the sound, or only gone as advanced as to completely take the sound out and replace it with a soundtrack. However, within our thriller opening we needed to maintain a balance of non-diegetic (soundtrack, sting) and diegetic sound (footsteps, car engine, etc). Therefore, I was able to learn the skill of fading out wild diegetic sound (i.e. lift speaker system) when not needed and keeping in parts in order to maintain a balance that was able to sound more professional. The reason that this skill was necessary to develop was due to the point I was explaining earlier, whereby, wind was dominating the recorded sound. 

   Once I had finished editing the clips together I began to consider which transitions and titles to use, also considering where they would be appropriate within the opening. I decided that I wanted hard cuts throughout my film to keep the pace of the action flowing well and therefore instead of fading in and out from black I would just cut quickly. For example, the quick cut to black at the end allowed me to emphasise the pure power and force of the boot striking down in the lift. However, I used transitions for the sound in order to build in and out of suspense at climatic moments within the opening. For example, I faded in the sting just before the boot slams down in the elevator and then slowly faded out the soundtrack as I cut to black at the end. I learnt that this function could help me increase and decrease tension via sound but also keep action fluid within the shot transitions. 
   Furthermore, I considered which titles to use and how to animate them. This was the first time I had used the title function in iMovie and therefore I to do a various amount of exploring before I came to the correct conclusion of placement, animation and font. Although iMovie offered a wide range of different fonts, I decided that none of them conveyed the correct style of the film. Therefore, I used a website called Dafont in order to research and download a font that would best reflect the action and menace, this website holds a great database of different font types and it's easy to find fonts using specific categories and key words. After concluding which font I would use, I turned to the animation of the first title. iMovie had many presets of different animations and therefore it was easy to find the right one very quickly. 

For example, a teacher's comment on a research
post that I was able to take in and furthermore, strengthen
my work.

   When introduced to Blogger I had no previous experience of using a blog in order to portray my work or even for my own leisure and therefore, I found the idea of using one for the majority of my coursework quite daunting. However, once I had been educated by my teacher about how to use one I became a lot more comfortable with posting online and now find it to be a very efficient and easy way of portraying my work and getting feedback. This is as it takes out the need to file masses of notes and wait till I can see the teacher to give them a piece of work, as everything is organised online with labels and once I have created a post the teacher is notified and can review the work where ever they have internet access. Additionally, using a blog allows me to better enforce and back up the points I make with evidence as I can easily embed images, videos, Prezis, etc. This better illustrates to the teacher my thoughts and insights in to a certain piece of research or planning, which, in turn strengthens my work. 

   My primary source of obtaining and viewing videos was a website called YouTube. This website contains a huge database of videos and therefore allowed me to access a wide variety of clips from thrillers that all contained different styles of building tension or grasping audience. Therefore, allowing me grow my knowledge of techniques that could be used within our thriller opening. Furthermore, YouTube also allowed to me to embed clips to my blog, which was brilliant in demonstrating the points made in my research and supplying a sufficient visual aid when writing my posts.

  For example, I was able to embed this clip when researching "13 Tzameti" in order to better reinforce my points.

   When analysing shots for the Thriller research section, I occasionally used software such as Microsoft Powerpoint and Prezi as both programs allowed me to layout my shots and annotate them in a neat and well formed way. Although I was well aquatinted with Powerpoint due to use of it frequently in previous education, I lacked knowledge on how to use Prezi as it was a new software that I hadn't been introduced to before and therefore it took some time getting used to. However, after becoming more familiar with Prezi it seemed like a much efficient program to use as not only could I embed images, but also video clips in to my presentation. Though, Powerpoint is a much more simple program and therefore I primarily used it when only compiling and annotating still images as it could be done with ease. A website called Scribd became particularly useful when I needed to upload and embed the finished powerpoint to my blog, this is as I was able to quickly upload the powerpoint and find a link for embedding with simple controls, therefore, making the insertion of a presentation on my blog easy.
  

 For example, a Prezi that I made into research of the 'Femme Fatale', using embedded stills and videos.

As you can see, from the mobile I was using
it is simple and easy to call others. 

   When our group were out shooting our film, we needed to ensure that we were at location at the right time and, in the right part of the location. Therefore, we we kept in to contact using our mobile phones, this allowed us to ring or text each other if we were going to be late or didn't specifically know where we were going. The main benefit of communicating with our mobile phones was that it saved time when we were planned to be shooting, this is due to the easy function of contacting another group member when needed. For example, one of the actors in our thriller opening had to travel from a further distance and wasn't familiar with the area, therefore, we were able to send her directions via text and she was able to notify us when she had arrived.   

    Furthermore, when filming our thriller opening we needed to store our footage on an SD card, which took the videos straight away. The benefits of using this type of memory card was that it was small and therefore very portable, also, it was capable of holding large amounts of memory for it's size. For example, me and another group member had one 8gb and 16gb card between us, and we didn't end up using all the memory. Another major benefit of the SD card was its compatibility, this is as it could easily be plugged into our computers/laptops due to the available ports and therefore footage could be imported straight away.  

For example, using specific audience ratings I
was able to identify why the audience who
rated the film most highly enjoyed
"A Clockwork Orange".

    A website that was very useful when researching thriller films and audience was IMDB, standing for the Internet Movie Database. This is as the website contained in-depth data about a huge variety of films, data such as user reviews, viewer ratings (and their age group), genre, year of release, cast and crew helped me a great deal when researching as most, if not all the information that I needed was available to me. Additionally, the user reviews were brilliant for obtaining quotes that reflected my opinion of the film and also linking other films that were similar. A huge benefit of IMDB is that via viewer ratings it is easy to determine the demographic of the film, therefore, allowing me to further explore why this particular audience would have enjoyed the film, which in turn, strengthens the posts that I make. In addition, the ratings allowed me to find which particular films the target audience for our thriller may enjoy and therefore our group were able to ensure we were targeting correctly.   

   
   In terms of researching soundtracks, I used sites such as Freesound, Incompetech and Audio Network. These websites contained a wide variety of different audio files that were well suited to the thriller genre. However, our group primarily used Audio Network in order to find our thriller soundtrack. This is as we believed it contained the most professional sounding audio and in comparison to Freesound and Incompetech it had a wider array of soundtracks available. The benefits of using these websites were that soundtracks could be downloaded with ease and the fact that all the tracks were unlicensed meant that there was no charge for downloading. Additionally, there was an ability to download different mixes of soundtracks and therefore if for example, the piano in a track sounded too upbeat,  there was the option of downloading a mix without it.

http://www.audionetwork.com/production-music/for-whom-the-bell-tolls-3_61166.aspx

For example, the link to our soundtrack, of which, was a mix of the original.