Mind Over Matter coursework
11.) In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
The purpose of an opening sequence is to introduce the viewer to the film. A thriller opening sequence is one that should you be on the edge of your seat when viewing it and it should have many enigmas- unanswered questions, it should contain fast paced editing, also it doesn’t have to link into the rest of the film but does need to have a narrative link, it should build characters and it should start to create suspense for the rest of the film. Thriller sequences usually have a distinctive soundtrack which helps to create suspense for the audience. Our film ‘Mind over Matter’ leaves the audience thinking about what has happened and questioning it which is common in thriller sequences, it also has a lot of face paced editing which is vital in thriller opening sequence when trying to create suspense. Commonly in a thriller film there is a pretty vulnerable woman who is the target so in our film the main character is ‘Kelsey Kane,’ who is being bullied, she is viewed as very vulnerable because she is immediately filmed in school in her uniform which immediately makes her look young, our soundtrack also helps to create suspense and is quite distinctive to the opening sequence. The camera at times is looking down on Kelsey to show she is small and not seen as important, this is clear at the end of the sequence when you seen Kelsey dead on the floor and the camera is scanning her from above.
2.) 2.) How does your media product represent particular social groups?
When creating our film we thought about the ways in which to represent characters and groups and we immediately thought to use a girl as the victim as men are mainly viewed as strong, aggressive characters whereas the women are usually viewed as feminine, weak, passive and the follower. As men are typically viewed as aggressive we mainly used boys as the group of bullies and they were mainly the ones that were shouting at the victim. The stereotype for youths is that they are trouble and violent so therefore we used this to our advantage by making the bullies all youths and boys, so the audience had a quicker understanding of the characters. In the film we didn’t challenge any stereotypes as we wanted the audience to have a quick understanding of the characters. The first part of the film was set in school which adds to the vulnerability of the character and the second part is set in her house, where she should feel safe but actually feels frightened. In our film we used a range of races; however we used a white girl as the main character as black girls are usually seen as feistier and less scared. This fits with the stereotype in mainstream thrillers due to the victim usually begin blonde venerable characters.
3.) 3.) What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
Our film is a mainstream film; Mainstream films are basically commercial films that have a wide release and play in first run cinemas. The difference between mainstream films and an independent film is that mainstream is Hollywood filming with ‘A list’ actors whereas independent films that are produced outside of the Hollywood studio system with less famous people. Mainstream films tend to go straight to cinemas then general stores to be sold and are advertised on television and even internet whereas Independent films are usually seen and advertised at film festivals. Mainstream has a much bigger budget then Independent films, it also a lot easier for mainstream films to get advertised and go straight to cinema than it is for Independent films. So therefore we thought our film was a mainstream film mainly because it follows the conventions of a thriller and would appeal to a large mainstream audience and so would be distributed in mainstream cinema chains like Vue and Odeon. However it would not be distributed through certain cinemas like The Himalaya Palace as this shows hindi films and my product is not a hindi film as it does not follow the conventions of a hindi film so this would not be a suitable way to distribute it.
4.) 4.)Who would be the audience for your media product?
The audience we wanted to target was those who enjoy being thrilled throughout films and who find entertainment in the anxiety build up in thrillers, the age range we wanted to attract was 15-25 years old. We thought that a 15 certificate would be appropriate as the language that is used has to be suitable and only contains words can be used if they are suitable, also scenes can be violent but the pain should not be continuously recognized and drug taken may be shown but it should defiantly not promote drug misuse and we thought this was appropriate as during the film there will be swearing but not too much, also there is evidence of drug use but it is not shown and it defiantly does not promote drugs as the character dies as a result, there are also signs that violence will occur later on in the film. We thought that it would be a bit inappropriate from 12 years olds as it shows someone who has committed suicide and will show violence in the film.
5.) 5.)How did you attract/address your audience?
As we are in the age groups ourselves, we knew the things we like to see in films so therefore we all had an equal input in what we like to see, and constructed our films around this. We chose to construct it to appeal to the audience by the plot and we thought bulling could relate to many people. As it was a thriller we knew we had to create suspense and we thought to do it in a way which was quite disorientating, we done this by filming at school and the characters house as these are areas that you should feel safe in however in the opening sequences it was opposite. We also tried to make it scary by adding scores in places where we wanted suspense to rise, so the audience would be wondering what is happening. I believe the product we have created is correct for the target audience, this is because we showed it to a group of 16-18 year olds and they enjoyed it and although they gave us constructive criticism they gave us positive feedback too. The main criticism we got was the scores this is because they thought some of them were a bit inappropriate and they thought we could get better ones, so with the criticism they gave us, we responded to it and we tried to change the sequence to make it better.
6.) 6.)What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
I have learnt while creating my opening sequence that there are two main types of cameras we could have used these are D.V. or Digital Video or cameras. Digital video looks gritty which it more realistic. Whilst creating my product I learnt how to use i-movie to edit my film and play around with the footage to help create to film exactly how we wanted it and then convert it to quick time, and because I new how the programme worked it affected how we the film, I new I could edit the sequence how ever I wanted, it didn’t have to be directly how the storyboard was. So I could play around with the shots we have to see the way they fit best. In the past I have watched videos but I’ve never known about uploading videos and I learnt how to do this. Before creating the product I had heard of blogs but I had no idea how to use them or why to use them and I learnt to use them to my advantage for example, adding ideas, so my group could see them. I also got a much clearer idea of how to download music online which I used for my score from copy free websites.
7.) 7.)Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
I believe the way I approached the preliminary task different to the way in which I approached my main task, this was mainly due to me seeing the main task as a slight bit more important then the preliminary task. I enjoyed doing the preliminary task as it made the main task a bit easier as I was more confident with the camera and the program we used. When doing my preliminary task I didn’t really think of lightening whereas I was aware of this when doing my main task. Because I was more experienced using I-movie when doing my main task it was a lot easier and I could do it a lot quicker because I had already done my preliminary task. The main task was a lot more organised than the preliminary task as there was a lot more effort that went into the storyboard and we was a lot more organised when it came to the filming, as we knew what we had to do on each specific day.
By Mollie Hanley
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