Evaluation Q7

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

This is our preliminary task. I feel we have improved a lot since then as cinematographers.

One main improvement is the setting of our film. In our preliminary it is in a classroom which looks very poor and unprofessional, and in our main film it is in a scary warehouse which is a massive improvement

Another improvement is the standard of acting. As we had less time in filming our preliminary task we could only do a couple of takes for each scene, but in our main project we could have around 5/6 takes on a single scene, which means there is a higher chance of a good take.

We also improved our credits a lot compared to our preliminary task. The credits in our main film have an interesting and scary font and flicker in the way a light switch would. Whereas the the credits in our preliminary task are just a plain font and are still. 

I feel the general standard of the shots and camera angles improved from our preliminary task to the final thriller. We used normal mid-shots mostly in our preliminary task which look quite boring. But in the final task a variety of close ups, mid-shots and long shots were used. We also used pan and tilt shots in the final project which improved the cinematography. Also we used interesting point of view shots. By this I mean we used shots from the point of view of a door, which is not done often and makes our thriller different from the run of the mill thriller. 

The use of colour in our final project was also much improved. We used a black and white filter when the main character was having a flashback which made the viewer aware of what was happening. Compared to the preliminary task which had normal and dull colours and was unpleasing to the eye. 

The sound in our preliminary task also had a lot of room for improvement. There was no background music and only one sound effect to make the characters seem shocked. In our final thriller we had a variety of upbeat dance music and scary music to set the scene for each different part of the film. We also had the sound effect of a heartbeat to make it seem like the main character was scared and the kidnapper was excited for what he was going to do. 

Evaluation Q6

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

The types of technologies i used are presented in this presentation.

Charlie land presentation

View more presentations from charlieland.

Evaluation Q5

How did you attract/address the audience?

Here we asked 4 of our friends who have seen the thriller to comment about their likes and dislikes about our project.

The fact there was a lot of partying and drinking involved in our film would attract a teen audience. This is because it would mirror the stereotypical lifestyle of the teenagers in this day of age.

Also the fact there is a heartthrob leading actor may attract the female audience. We done this on purpose to attract the female teenage audience as they like to see someone they fancy at the cinema.

The conclusions i drew from each of these questions are as follows:

Q1) As a teenager how did our thriller attract you?

From this question we found out that the fact we had an all teenage class and a party atmosphere with up to date music and story lines interested the teenage audience as they could relate to the characters and the environment that they are in. The positives to this is that we keep the young audience interested and excited about the film. The down side to this is that adults may not relate to the characters and the environment that they are in. To improve my film i would add characters from different age groups so all people can relate to the characters.

Q2) How does our thriller hold the audiences attention?

We found out that the editing of our film is the main thing that keeps the viewer interested. This is a good thing as it shows that the editing of our film was successful in the way it kept the viewer interested in our film. This is bad in the way that we need other things like sound and mise en scene to keep the viewer interested as well. I would improve the music of our film if I had a choice to a more upbeat tune to keep the viewer interested.

Q3) Why would you watch our film?

This question showed us that the cast and storyline were the main reasons that people would watch this film. This is good because it shows that our storyline and casting was successful. There is no bad point to this response and i would not change anything if i had the choice.

Q4) Would you watch the rest of our thriller?

This question showed that 3/4 people would watch the rest of our film. This is good because the majority of the people interviewed were interested enough to watch the rest. This is a bad thing because not every person would want to watch the rest of the film. If i could improve the film I would ask the person who did not want to watch the film why they made that decision and act on their response.

Evaluation Q4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience for our media product would be 15-21 year olds. We set this target audience as we feel this relates to them in many ways and they would be more intrigued by the film. For example people aged 15-21 are stereotyped to go to a lot of parties and getting into trouble, and in the opening of our thriller a teenager is at a party and gets his drink spiked.

If we made the whole of our film we would make sure that there is not too much violence, swearing or scenes of a sexual nature. This is because we want our film to be rated 15. We want this due to the fact that a lot of our target audience would be cut out if the film was rated an 18, which would bring profits of the film down by a large amount.

I conducted a survey to see what our target audience was, how people would describe our film and to get general feedback on the standard of our thriller, here were my results.

This question showed what our target audience was, with mostly 16-20 year olds taking my survey

This question gave me feedback on the standard of our thriller, and 2/3 of the people that took it described it as excellent

This question asks for 3 words to describe 'The Betrayal' and below is a Wordle showing all of the answers that people gave

This question was to see if our thriller is interesting enough for people to watch on, and gladly 100% of the people that took the survey said they would

In this question i wanted to determine the best part of our film to see what the public and our target audience enjoy so I can carry on doing this sort of work in future productions

Evaluation Q3

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

I feel a company like Universal may take our film as they were the company that produced all of the Bourne films. We feel the Bourne films mirrors our film in some ways as they are action packed paranoid thrillers. This mirrors our film because the plot of 'The Betrayal' is about a teenager who gets kidnapped by one of his friends and is trying to piece together the happenings of the night before. This makes it a paranoid thriller and the fact someone gets kidnapped straight away in the film suggests it is action packed.

Our film could be made on the 'Microwave Scheme'. This is where films are given an 18 day time limit to be made and funds of £100,000. We could do this because we are young people living in London that are passionate about making films. An example of a film made in the 'Microwave Scheme' was 'Shifty'. This film was one of the most sucessful films to come out of the 'microwave scheme' as it got nominated for the BAFTA film award.



I think our film would generate most of its profit from DVD and Blu-Ray sale. The film would go to cinemas first to have the label of a cinema film but because the film is more about the suspicious actions of the characters and not about the action-packed special effects I feel the film would be most effective within a environment that the viewer finds comfortable. I think this because it is the sort of the film where people can maybe hide under the covers of their bed, I feel if the film was shared with another 100 people in a cinema screen it would lose its effect.

Evaluation Q2

How does the thriller represent praticular social groups?


Our thriller highlights stereotypical thoughts in many ways. We perceive people in hooded tops as being as being scary and the antagonist of the film, and young people to be at crazy parties and getting into trouble. The film also goes against stereotypes in many ways.  People of ethnic minorities are not committing crimes and a male is in a position of weakness, where usually it may be a woman.

The photo above shows a still of the party scene of our thriller. The party looks manic and it looks as if alcohol or drugs are being taken. We make the character seem intoxicated with the quick shots between him drinking and dancing. These quick shots make it seem like the character is drinking a lot, this is stereotypical to todays youth as it makes the character look like a binge drinker, also as the shots speed up this builds tension. The fact that a drink gets spiked at this party also is stereotypical to teenagers. It follows the stereotype that todays youth are troublesome because someone at the party is committing a crime by spiking someones drink and also by being in the possession of banned substances.


The still on the left portrays people in hooded tops to be scary and dangerous. This stereotype is followed by the hooded man spiking the main characters drink and kidnapping him. The fact that we shot the hooded man from a low angle and slowly tilted up but didn't show his face gives us an insight into the character. The hooded man is in a position of power and as his face was not shown the character has a mysterious way about him. Also the fact we put a red filter onto the character shows he is dangerous, which fits the stereotype that people in hooded tops are dangerous and maintains hegemony.


Our film also goes against stereotypes in some ways. For example in the still on the right the character in the position of weakness is a male. This goes against the stereotype that men are powerful and women are weak and in films are 'damsels in distress'. The way we done this is by using a high angles shot when filming the character when he is in a position of weakness, in this scene when the character had been drugged and has passed out. This camera angle makes the character seem very weak.



Finally the fact that the crimes are committed by one person who is not of an ethnic minority goes against stereotypes and challenges hegemony. This is important because many people think most crimes are committed by people in ethnic minorities and in a gang. Even though the character is still committing a crime this is important because it may show the viewer that not all crimes are committed by gangs of ethnic minority groups.

Evaluation Q1

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


There are many aspects that are expected in a normal thriller. Justice vs injustice is usually included, although there is usually a blurred line between good and bad. Atmosphere of menace, violence, crime, murder and mystery. Characters may have to escape from a dangerous mission from which escapes seems impossible. Enigmas are usually included in classic Hollywood thrillers, which is a mystery surrounding the plot. Society may be seen as dark and corrupt. Literary devices such as plot twists, red herrings or cliff hangers. Morally complex characters deadlines, chases and pursuits are also expected in the thriller genre. The thriller genre also includes sub genres including: Mystery, crime, paranoid and political.


We built suspense well in the final parts of our film when the camera tilts upwards towards the face of the kidnapper. We tilted slowly and showed up to the neck, so the viewer is captivated and wants to find out who it is. We also built tension when suspicious occurrences happened at the party and were not explained.  The story line was also interesting in the way the main character was betrayed by a friend who spiked his drink. There was a blurred line between good and bad, as the viewer did not know which one of the main characters friends betrayed him. The main character is also presented with a task that seems impossible, which is to escape from the warehouse he is being held hostage in by one of his friends. 


Thrillers are also filled with the following aspects:


Lighting:
- Low level lighting
- Shadows/limited view of the character
- Often at night time/dark/eerie
- Dim colours

Setting:
- Isolated/ deserted/ exotic - desert, ranch, old warehouse
- Confined locations - Lift, phone booth, cellar, train
- Generic feature of a thriller is entrapment, thus claustrophobic spaces are a key

Editing:
- Quick cuts/fast pace
- Jump cuts
- Match cuts

Cinematography:
- Camera angles high/low
- Point of view shots
- Establishing shot
- Close ups
- Frantic camera movement

Non-diegetic sound:
- High pitched music
- Ambience music
- Fast paced music

Diegetic sound:
- Creaking doors/wind/tap running/footsteps
- Silence (builds tension and is thought provoking)
- Heavy breathing
- Whispering

Characters:
- Criminals, stalkers, assassins, innocent victims
- Morally complex characters
- Characters often have ambiguous roles


Our Thriller, 'The Betrayal', included many of these aspects. We used very low level lighting in the warehouse and it was night time when the gathering of people entered the party. Our setting was an abandoned warehouse, which is a classic thriller setting. My editing included a lot of quick cuts which is used a lot in Hollywood thrillers. Our cinematography included free camera movement (not fixed to a tripod) and a lot of close up shots which is a important thriller convention. Our diegetic sound included a lot of moaning and screaming from the kidnapped person, and our non-diegetic sound contained a mix of slow ambience music and fast paced music. Finally our characters include an innocent victim and a stalking kidnapper, which is classic for the thriller genre. 

Our film mirrors severance in the torture scene and we tried to use the style that was used in our project.