kelsey kane-coursework evaluation

1/ In what ways does you media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
My product meets the conventions of a thriller opening sequence. I feel that the product keeps the audience engaged and ends with an intense climax, which is the intention of how a thriller is to make an audience feel. Thrillers are mainly to do with tension and suspense, which has been represented in my thriller opening sequence. This is shown in the sequence because of the technical aspects used throughout. The way that we have edited the opening sequence, plays a major part in how effective our thriller opening sequence has develop into. It consists of a range of cuts and transitions to effect the pace and rhythm of the opening sequence. The quick-cut shots, close-ups and kinetic camera movements are just some techniques used throughout the thriller opening sequence, which helped to build fear and tension for the audience.
To increase the pace of some scenes, we have increased the number of cuts per minute, which builds tension and anxiety for the audience. We decided for the character to be a young innocent school girl. To get this across, we chose a young, blonde girl, to signify innocence; and began our opening sequence set in a school. The audience is lead to believe that the girl is being watched, adding tension and fear.
We researched conventions of thriller opening sequences, and analysed ‘Psycho’ by Alfred Hitchcock, and identified conventions of older thrillers, looking at ‘the shower scene.’ The victim is killed in a very violent way. I found out that Hitchcock mainly used blonde females as victims in his films. This is because they portray quite an innocent character. This is why we wanted a young blonde female character, to play the main part in the opening sequence, which helped us to develop essences of an old thriller convention.
Mirrors and stairs are also elements of a thriller, which we used in our project. And our project also leaves the audience with many unanswered questions, which could show it to have a sub genre of a psychological thriller.
2/ How does your media product represent particular social groups?
There is a representation of age and gender in our project. However, we didn’t need to show anything about sexuality, class or disability, because it is irrelevant to our particular storyline and themes. We had messages such as bullying and loneliness. She is alone in her house, showing a message of being alone, and is being bullied in school, again representing loneliness, but also showing a message about bullying, which is also very relevant to our target audience. We chose to represent her as a young blonde girl, to try and amplify the fact that she is innocent, and the fact that she was being bullied added to this. She didn’t have many friends, as we saw, and the one person we see her associate with is a boy. We chose to use a male this time because it is unlikely that a girl would have no girl friends.
We used stereotypes slightly when the bullies are on, because of their language, and they was they are positioned. However, the girl doesn’t look like a stereotypical victim of bullying, which is a representation that challenges the stereotype. In the bullying scene, we chose to have a range of different people with different races. This shows it is in a London school because it is very multi cultural in London. Young people are generally presented as being quite rebellious.
The students in the college could be seen as a working class status, because they are aggressive and use improper English, which stereotypes working class people.
3/ What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
Our product is independent. It could fit well being viewed over internet sites, on video sharing sites such as you tube etc. This is because these kinds of sites are viewed by teenagers a lot, and our target audience is 15.
My product would be unsuitable for distribution in mainstream cinemas, because it is a low-budget production. Independent cinemas are a lot more appropriate for our product. Independent cinema is a lot less popular than mainstream cinemas. We did not have the time, money or facilities to produce a product which would be suitable for mainstream cinema.
Independent films usually include characters that are played by unknown actors and actresses. It is also a low budget film. Furthermore, the storyline of an independent film is much more easy and simple, and therefore makes the film less popular, because it is likely to be less interesting. However, our product will appeal to smaller groups, especially our target audience.
4/ Who would be the audience for your media product?
The way that we started the opening scene, set in a school shows that it is accurately aimed towards our target audience, which was teenagers of about 15. It grabs their attention, because the whole opening sequence includes people of about that age range. They can see and maybe even relate to the situation that the girl is in. Also, because of the girl we decided to use in the sequence, it showed that not every victim of bullying is the stereotypical “geek”, anyone can be bullied regardless of what they look like, which also gives our target audience a greater understanding of different peoples experiences of school life. We had concerns of how young teenagers may react towards the last scene when we see the young girl dead, with pills and alcohol. This is because it may be quite disturbing for young teenagers; however I decided to class it as suitable for aged 15 and above because it raises awareness to children at this age. We looked at BBFC guidelines to help with our age certificate decisions.
We also have a shot of the main character receiving an offensive text message. We thought this is quite affective and relevant to our target audience because it raises awareness to young people these days that cyber-bullying is just as common and in some cases just as harmful as any other forms of bullying.
5/ How did you attract/address your audience?
The first sound we used was a school bell, signifying the end of a school day and attracting the audience to the opening sequence. All the characters are school children and they are in uniform which the target audience would be interested in because the majority of them would relate to this. We have used themes of loneliness and bullying to raise awareness of the situations towards our target audience.
We used a young blonde female to play the victim because it insinuated that she was innocent and weak, stereotypically. We agreed that by using a counter-stereotype of a victim of bulling, it shows our target audience that anyone can be affected by bullying, regardless of what they look like.
The theme of bullying addresses the audience because it is an issue that happens in most probably every school. I believe that this would attract the viewers because of their own personal view on bullying, and also a lot of them to have personal experiences of bullying, at this age, whether they have experienced being a bully, or a victim of bullying.
6/ What have you learned about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
I have learnt how to use i-movie to edit my opening sequence. By using i-movie to edit our product, it was very useful. This is because it is non-linear editing software. This has many advantages, including the way that we were able to freely edit in any order we desired. This made it easier because we were able to film in any order, because it could be changed at the end, which also saved a lot of time.
We used digital video cameras. This gives our product a much more realistic look to it, which helps the audience to relate to the situations shown in the sequence. Celluloid film is a lot brighter and more artificial, which is used in programmes such as ‘Hollyoaks.’ We needed our sequence to look more realistic, so it was much more convenient to use the digital video cameras.
I have also learnt how to use the blog, where we were able to post our research, and I was able to navigate the blog. I also searched for copyright free music, and discovered how to download these and free sound effects. Internet also was used for research.
7/ Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
I feel that I have learnt about the timing, because I have realised that you are able to film what you like, and even more than you need if required, because you can edit everything that you don’t need. Also I have learnt that you do not need to film your product, in the order you want it to fit in at the end, because there are software’s you use to change that.
During the preliminary task, I also realised that sticking to the 180 degree rule is important. This is because, when you go against this, it confuses the audience, and the clip does not flow correctly. I also learnt about the way lighting can really affect a scene. For example, the position that a character should stand in if there is no artificial light, to get the best effect.
I can also avoid making mistakes by reshooting the same scenes so that I have more material to edit. I can make the final product flow much more and make the scene seem more realistic by doing this.