Evaluation P5: Constructing the real

How does the media product represent particular social groups?

1. The media product represents villains.  It does so as it includes two villains, one of each gender, contemplating on beating a victim up to get the information they need. This may reflect real life situations, where the villain is in control of an innocent person.

2. It also represents couples.  The man who is kept hostage at the beginning of the sequence is worried about his girlfriends' [Ellie] safety.  He takes on numerous punches and still does not say a word on her whereabouts.  This could reflect the value of their relationship as a couple.

Who is included and excluded by the text you created?

In the written script, we have agreed on keeping most of the names secret, as it is only in the first two minutes of the film, it is unlikely that you would hear the characters' names at the start.  However, one name is mentioned, 'Ellie', said by Vinnie, the male psychotic killer; when he replies to Jamie, the male victim. 

To clear things up the characters' names are:

Vinnie [male psychotic killer/ Rose's step-brother]- played by Thomas Rivet

Rose [female psychotic killer / Vinnie's step-sister]- played by Abbey Ingram

Ellie [female victim / Jamie's girlfriend]- played by Agnes Rivet

Jamie [male victim / Ellie's boyfriend]- played by Oliver Rossetti

What form of realism have you constructed, and why?

In the second scene, when Jamie wakes up, we see his work clothes on the back of the door, this tells the audience that it is the morning and that he is leaving his bedroom to get some breakfast downstairs, to then return to his room afterwards to get changed and go to work.  Moreover, the radio playing over his journey through the house makes it more realistic, as most people listen to the radio in the morning. The interrogation scene is less likely, therefore there is no realism in that part of the sequence.

Evaluation P4: Making Meaning

In filming and editing, how did you ensure that the meaning would be apparent to the audience?

1. In the filming stage, we were making sure the mise-en-scene was ideal for the situation.  For example, in the interrogation scene, we filmed in my room, a rather enclosed area [the lamp on the desk was the only light being used on the set] that was appropriate for this scene.  Moreover, in the editing stage, Oliver and I decided to desaturate the colours in the scene as it was set in the future. It also gave the scene a much more dramatic. We also added a home-made soundtrack, generated using the GarageBand program on the MACs which would correctly set the pace of the story.  With all these edited aspects put together, we suspect that it would stimulate an audience expecting a thriller film.

Is there a variety of possible interpretations of your opening sequence that will depend on the cultural situations of the viewer?

I am attempting to think of a possible other interpretation of our opening sequence, but I cannot think of any. I believe this sequence will be understood by everyone, no matter what your cultural situation is.  However, I shall continue to think about this possible variety of interprations.

Evaluation P3: Creative Tools

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

1. The usage of the video camera, for the filming: I personally wasnt in charge of the cinematography in my group, but Harry Read, my colleague in charge explained to me the different features it has, from zoom to SFX.  However, the editing is best done on a software that was purposely made for these video cameras.  

2. The MACs are ideal for this task. With a program called iMovieHD, we can cut out the outtakes, add in some new tracks to set the mood and transitions to ease the continuity of the story.  My colleague, Oliver Rossetti was in charge of the editing, so I asked him a few questions on the different features it has, including audio, titles, transitions and clips. I learnt that, by combining all these together, a realistic sequence can be created for a specific audience [in our case, the genre was thriller - and target audience was 13-4x years old]. 

How did digital technology enable you to develop creatively? 

And are there examples of the technology obstructing or preventing your creative flow?

Using the software iMovieHD, as previously mentioned, we could creatively make a scene more dramatic and suspensful.  For example, in the interrogation scene, we added a soundtrack that was made using the GarageBand program, which enabled us to generate a sound that would drain out the dialogue and intensify the actions of the villains.  We managed to create a sound with an incredible amount of drama that accurately align with the actors body language. And I do not recall being held back creatively by any kind of technnology, we put our ideas together and there was no problems in the pre-production and production whatsoever.

Evaluation P2: Professional Practice

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

A small media institution might be interested in our media product. These are various reasons why:

1. The amateur filming, acting, directing and editing might appeal to other media and maybe drama students of our age (16-17 years old) - therefore only a small cinema is needed for a showing.

2.  The storyline might be too simplistic for larger media institutions.

How did you manage your human ressources [the people involved in the production]?

My colleagues and I first thought of the number of characters needed for our production.  Afterwards we tried to find willing and appropriate actors for the filming.  I decided to ask my girlfriend, Abbey Ingram if she wanted to act as the female villain in the story. She gladly accepted the role, I, myself played the role of the male villain, acting as her step-brother and partner in psychotic crime.  

And as my sister, Agnes Rivet wants to become an actress in the future, she gladly acted as the virtual girlfriend of Oliver Rossetti [co-director and chief editor], the male victim in the story.  Finally, Harry Read [cinematographer] decided that his area of expertise was situated behind the camera.  

How did storyboarding and creating a shooting script work in practice?

The storyboard effectively helped us organise the mise-en-scene for the kitchen/interrogation scene.  We could figure out where we were suppose to stand and converse using these sheets. Furthermore, the shooting script made it easier for us to understand what scene would come after the next, making our filming less time consuming, leaving lots of time to edit it afterwards on the MACs at school.

Evaluation P1: Reworking the Familiar

In what ways does your media products use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

1. We had decided beforehand to analyse other real media products, like films, with a dramatic interrogation scene. My group and I discussed about the interrogation scene in the film Mission Impossible III with Award Winning Actor, Tom Cruise, as we believe it has regarded the several thriller conventions through the use of music [copyrighted/signed - non-diegetic], SFX [artificial sounds to increase the drama and realism of the scene - non-diegetic] and dialogue [diegetic/non-diegetic - helps the audience understand the storyline with the different characters/personalities/accents].  And with this specific scene in mind, we could imitate these conventions [dark, shadowed and derelict location].

2. Secondly, our group wanted the scene to be as realistic as possible, and even though we did not have any real weapons as such, we tried to use the second most lethal and doable weapon at our disposition, our fists.  At first we were improvising to acquire the feeling and the correct relationship with the victim [co-director and chief editor, Oliver Rossetti]. Therefore, this scene was repeated several times before a script was written.  I believe we challenge the usual production stages in a high budget film, where a script is written and given to the actors before the filming stage.  The fist fighting was thought of during the idea-making stages of the sequence, as well as, during the time on the set.  We developed this thriller convention by shooting it from different shot angles [low/high/tilt] and we stuck to the one we thought suited the situation and location best [mise-en-scene and cinematograpy analysis].

3. Finally, as a group we agreed on inserting the most dramatic scene in front of the relaxed one in the morning. This was done for two reasons: Reversed continuity and audience attention; we wanted to attract the audience, by pulling them into the storyline with a brief, yet startling start of sequence.  In the editing process, we turned the interrogation scene to black and white [B&W] as it demonstrates that it has happened in the future [therefore making the audience want to know how this man got to this stage] and it also creates a thrilling, suspensful and effective start to a film in the thriller genre.

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product? 

1. I have learnt several things since the beginning of my AS media studies course, but since my first attempt with a video camera; filming our preliminary task, the element I have used the most, was the numerous camera shots and angles; the use of these can affect the way the audience's thoughts' on the story.  For example, a close-up of a person's face can indicate what they are about to do; we know this through their facial expressions [or body language, if the frame has focused on another part of their body].

2. Secondly, the continuity. The lack of continuity can affect the film greatly, if edited inaccurately the storyline would not match with the rest of the film, therefore not making much sense for the audience.

 Are there any 'intertextual' moments where you hint a reference to another film? 

Although trying to make our sequence look professional and amateur-like, we did try to create a script with a dramatic edge, with this in mind, I had analysed several scenes in Award Winning thrillers with a similar storyline; but we thought that if we wrote our script from scratch, the originality factor would have made our two minute sequence preferable to our target audience.

What kinds of audience pleasure are you tying to provide and how confident are you to have delivered on this promise? 

Our target audience are teenagers from the age of 13 to older adults [13-4x age bracket].  We believe that with the intriguing storyline, the target audience would enjoy the thrills created by amateur actors. In my own opinion, I think we have done well to deliver this feeling to them through previous experience.  

Poster Ideas - Based on previous film research

This is the poster I created using a software on my laptop, commonly known as GIMP 2.0. I chose red as the primary colour as it, in my opinion, reflects 'desires'.  I found it difficult to illustrate 'undisclosed' through an object, so I did not try and incorporate it in this design. I will also be placing it onto various types of media, like wall posters, books and even on a burnt piece of cardboard. Here they are:

Fonts Ideas to portray the thriller genre

In my opinion, this first font portrays the thriller genre very well because of the scribbles edges on the sans serif capital letters.  Moreover, the emptyness of each letter makes the overall title stand out, generating more attention to the title itself.  The large 'U' and 'D' highlights where each word starts, making it easier for the viewer to differentiate the start of each word.  However, this font does not really reflect the principal subject matter of this thriller: obsessional love and passion.

 On the other hand, this font does do so. As you can see the top of the 'U' and 'I' have a heart on the end.  As well as the 'o', which has been fully replaced by a heart.  I believe this font is representative to the subject matter of this thriller. In addition, the small flick, commonly known as 'serif' has been prolonged, this gives the illusion that a person has written it, perhaps the villains/victims wrote it? 

 Contrasting the two previous fonts, this one does not follow the approapriate guidelines for a suitable font for the chosen genre. Because it is rather big and 'bubbly' in slang terms, it does not reflect what we want to demonstrate.  I have decided to analyse this font to show you what a thriller genre font should not look like.

With these fonts, I shall ask my fellow colleagues to give me positive/negative feedback on which one we prefer and think is best for our film.  Personally, I would go for the second, as the first does not check all the boxes that would make an ideal thriller font style.

The Plot

"** There's a women (Rose - Abbey Ingram) stalking and obsessed with a happy, loving boyfriend (Jamie - Oliver Rossetti) of the one he calls "the one and only, best girlfriend he could ever wish for" (Ellie - Agnes Rivet) Things, however, start going missing and a warning note is left, consequently luring Jamie away from his happy way of life into the deepest and darkest realms of psychology and love which will tear Jamie and Ellie apart and bring them to the brink of survival; yet they yearn for each other every second of the day. (Basic plot)
Jamie follows the clues that are left and they lead him straight to Rose's flat. Her mind is slowly deteriorating and drugs Jamie to stop him running away. Then the twist is revealed, she has actually led Jamie to this house in the middle of no-where for this man (Vinnie - Thomas Rivet) who is her step-brother. He, in actual fact, wants Ellie and will stop at nothing to be with her.

In the mean time, Ellie calls the police after Jamie does not come back from work that day and then find the picture frame missing with the note, with a video of his capture following shortly after for the capture of Ellie in return for his life. The hunt is now on to find Jamie and his kidnappers before the once, happy and passionate couple, are split apart for much longer than 24 hours...the chase is on and what is to be revealed about the psychotic minds of the kidnappers may just keep you on the edge of your seat for a very long time! ( Extended Version of the plot) **

Overall ending : The police track down the location of the kidnappers through witnesses and reports. This ends with the capture of the male kidnapper while the female kidnapper takes an overdosing, dying later on in hospital. This news then gets told on national news. The couple, who are now happily reunited, see this on the news and ends with one of them making a coffee. (Stirring of the coffee, parallel to the start of the film, while fading out to introduce credits.)"

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This brief synopsis was written by my colleague, Oliver Rossetti, the editor and co-director of the group.  He highlights the main happenings in the story as well as an important scene that happens at the beginning and at the end of the film.  Of course, as we had to only produce the first two minutes of this thriller, we have not included the ending of the story, therefore you could say that we are trying to acquire the audience's attention in order to make them want to watch until the end.