Evaluation
1. In what ways does your media product use,
develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Our film
‘Quit Whilst You’re Ahead’ initially leaned towards the thriller genre, as this
has a wide range of compatible sub-genres. Then with research into the genre as
a whole our linear plot developed fully into a thriller. In order to sustain
this we used a variety of common conventions associated with this genre, such
as ‘suspense’, ‘ransoms’, and ‘kidnappings’ in developing this we then added
the sub-genre of a psychological thriller allowing us to bring in the concept
of mind games, we carried this out by placing a heavy focus on the characters,
and a backstory, also the ransoms used help toy with our main character ‘Harry
Jenkins’ mind. Furthering our research we found that most thrillers use
lightening to specify the mood in which is being created, we applied this to
our film in certain shots particularly in the nightmare scenes where Abby who
plays Emily Jenkins is shot in a dimly lit room showing only half of her body.
In doing this we created a sense of unknowing, mystery and lack of identity.
During my individual research I establish that close-ups are often used a lot
during titles sequences for numerous thrillers, including the title sequence I
analysed ‘SE7EN’ therefore we used this convention in our film with the
close-up on the mobile phone, sunglasses and ransom note. Some conventions can
be found in all genres, for instance continuity editing, we used this in the
match on action where Harry reaches for his sunglasses, and also an eye line
match when Harry discovers the note on the grave stone. We hit problems with
continuity from leaving the house to the graveyard regarding the weather
change, as we struggled to land on another bright day. Since we were running
out of time we had to go on to film and as a result the weather change is
vaguely noticeable, despite this issue we made sure that the continuity was
kept with regards to the characters costumes. We also gradually changed the
location using a fade as most films use this technique to show a passage of
time or as in our case a location change, this helped keep the continuity.
Rather than editing it as a clean cut. Our film opens with a pan, placing Harry
and Olivia (Harry’s girlfriend) in the bedroom scene, the fact the we didn’t
use an establishing shot means that the audience is not given enough detail in
order to fully figure out the plot. However, the mise-en-scene alone gives
details about the characters such as the costumes worn present each character
as well dressed, also the filming locations show quite a high standard of
living.
2. How does your media product represent
particular social groups?
During the pan
at the beginning or our title sequence which I mentioned previously, we see
Harry restlessly tossing and turning in bed, this suggests he has things on his
mind and therefore represents him from the offset as troubled. This is brought
to light with the nightmare which is cut into the sequence from a CU of Harry
that then cuts to a MS of Harrys sister Emily, situated in a dark dimly lit
room. The cut of the nightmare also breaks the calm atmosphere with the height
of piercing elongated scream that penetrates this calm. This height is
gradually brought down but still sustains an alert sense with the phone call
off of officer Shades which Harry’s replies ‘I don’t care what you advise to be
honest’ show his anger and hostility, as the officer is the higher authority.
Harry’s lack of respect to the officer in authority conserves the ‘rebellious’,
‘disrespectful’ and ‘troubled’ young adult stereotype. As we are brought to the
end of the phone call we see Harry break down, struggling to hold back tears,
we are then introduced to our fourth character, Olivia Hopwood and the
relationship between her and Harry, as she sits up and comforts him. In doing
so this implies that Harry has good reason for his actions. These actions again
conserve the typical teen stereotype, however as the film progresses we
subverted the stereotype of the typical teen by portraying Harry as caring,
family orientated and stimulated to succeed. Contrasting the usual careless,
reckless and lazy adolescent image that is seen by many. This is shown through
both actions and mise-en-scene throughout. Evidence of this is clear in the
costume of both Harry and Olivia, as they both dress respectfully and keep a
good home. As for the emotionally side to the subverted stereotype this comes
through when both characters visit Emily Jenkins grave, Harry is seen to be
stricken with grief this tells the audience that he is compassionate. This
translates through to his relationship with Olivia also, as it is their strong
relationship and determination which guides them through to find the truth.
3. What kind of media institution might distribute
your media product and why?
Our chosen
distributer was Warp Films, a well-known UK based film distributer of
independent films. Warp has worked with many high profile directors such as
Shane Meadows, director of the huge television and DVD hit series This Is
England, which focuses on issues such as racism, rape, and unemployment. Warp
Films like to focus on real life issues, (as in This Is England) that can
happen to anyone. Making every single one of their films relatable. Our focus
on the injustice of the legal system I feel is an aspect that a distributer
like Warp would like to bring to light and express. The low budget aspect also
adds to the realism of the film. Also, our film does not require the need of
any elaborate stunts or pyrotechnics, therefore a high budget isn’t necessary. Taking
into account the low budget also, the marketing for our film would be rather
low key, including the release of posters and interviews, on local
radio/television stations. Also a website that would include trailers,
downloads and a gallery.
Distributes such as 20th Century Fox and Summit Entertainment would not have been suitable for our film as they are very large-scale companies that have specialist areas such as Hollywood Blockbusters. Whereas our film was intended to be a small scale independent film which targets local, niche audiences that therefore, requires a smaller, more focused distributer to represent our film. Large companies such as those mentioned above would also struggle to successfully distribute our film as it doesn’t star any well-known actors nor a well-known director. A smaller distributer means that the budget is limited leaving more focus to be left on the characters and locations to create a realistic storyline. If we had chosen a Hollywood Blockbuster, aimed at a mainstream audience, we would have put a greater focus on the events, twists and plots in the story. These may well have had to have been adapted also in order to meet the interests of a mainstream audience. Thus causing the main idea to become less original, and the realism and relatable side to the film would have been lost to the high budget of production.
4. Who would be the audience for your media product?
The target audience for our project is very
adaptable, meaning it may suit many different audiences as we have integrated
lots of different elements in which will fit numerous audience types. We
decided to do this as after carrying out some research we found that both male
and female students enjoy a wide range of genres, from comedy to horror,
thriller, romance, action and crime. The audience we received feedback from was
made up of students and adults ranging from age 16 – 40 with their media
consumption involving watching films at the cinema, at one on DVD, online
viewings and downloading, or via games consoles. Keeping our intentions for the
entire film priority, without having to make changes to meet the given
certificates regulations found on the bbfc website, we chose the certificate of
15. In doing so this eliminates children as some content is unsuitable, this
was an insignificant issue. Giving our film the certificate of 15 gave may
portray our film as a more serious film, with thought powering elements within.
With the goal of attracting an audience we all felt as a group that the
thriller genre was one in which we could use to our advantage, as with
thrillers you can incorporate many subgenres including crime, mystery, and
psychological. In our group we made an effort to combine the these three
subgenres, again to appeal to a wider audience. This decision was proven to be
a good one when looking through the feedback we received, as when the audience
was asked ‘Is Quit Whilst You’re Ahead the type of film you would normally
watch’, many answered with either reference to the fact the it is a thriller,
or mentioning one of the films subgenres.
Setting
the film in the present again helps with the relatable concept of the film,
along with having the two main lead characters of which are the opposite sex.
Thus creating a sex appeal, which will entreaty to every member of our audience
be them male or female. Then linking back to the time period, in setting the
film in the present both the technology and costumes are recent and
fashionable, therefore well know sparking yet another selling point.
As a more technical film based approach, we then, after doing research into the genre we found out that many thriller use the same techniques in order to put across certain atmospheres/situations such as dim lighting when the effect of a nightmare/flashback or something sinister occurs. We used this concept in our film, lighting only half of Emily Jenkins face.
As a more technical film based approach, we then, after doing research into the genre we found out that many thriller use the same techniques in order to put across certain atmospheres/situations such as dim lighting when the effect of a nightmare/flashback or something sinister occurs. We used this concept in our film, lighting only half of Emily Jenkins face.
After
gaining the relevant amount of information needed, analysing and understanding
the feedback, we created a treatment for our film. This played on the strong
points which we had received as a result of the questionnaire, whilst also
drawing onto the common interests of our target audience. Heightening our
chances of making a film that would grip our target audience.
5. How did you attract/address your audience?
I think as a
whole we have successfully reached our target audience, with the help of our
certificate choice by meeting the outlines of the bbfc guidelines this includes
sexual references when the characters wake up together, the topic of murder and
also the use of the nightmare scene. Looking at this from another aspect we
cast members of our own group, which fit with the age of the certificates
audience with whom they would be more likely to connect. With the knowledge
found through genre research we found that this age group also showed the most
interest in thrillers, we used this to our advantage and used the typical
conventions of a thriller by centralising the plot around a kidnapping
scenario, portraying the threatening/frightening atmosphere with the use of
lighting, and using props such as ransoms to ensure we captured the concepts of
the genre which appealed most to our target audience. Again as an attempt for
the audience to connect more with our film we made our storyline believable and
relatable, with no use of CGI. This concept paid off when we received our
questionnaire results with quotes such as “I like the realism, its believable
and honest”. For most of our feedback we gained positive comments on things
such as our lightening and storyline. However negative comments orientated on
our continuity issues, regarding the weather problems we had. This involved
rain being on the camera lens that interfered with the audience’s view of the
characters in the shot of the graveyard. This could’ve been resolved by using
one whole day to film, instead of two separate days, or ensuring we had enough
shots to choose from.
6. What have you learnt about technologies from
the process of constructing this product?
In editing our
film we used final cut express this enabled us to develop our editing
techniques by using a professional programme. Giving our film a realistic yet
quality finish, to the best of our abilities. We were easily able to add fade
in/out transitions in between shots to show either a time or location change,
we made precise cuts between shots, and when needed cut two different shots of
the same angle together in order to improve the edit and continuity. Final cut
was easy to use and allowed us to upload all the possible shots to the library,
so that we could compare the shots easily and choose the best one.
As we had previous experience of using a digital
camera we chose to use one again, and in doing this it also allowed us to
further develop our knowledge. This ensured our footage was at a high standard,
and easy to transfer the files onto computers for editing via USB. During the
production we were also able to use many resources found on the internet, for
example search engines such as Google which provided easy access to information
off websites such as IMDB and film companies websites.
I was familiar with the IMDB site as I have used
it in many previous research projects, however we were taught how to further
use the site to aid our production in terms of searching through the smaller
details of films. A site that I was not familiar with was Google Blogger, which
we had to upload all of our findings and work to. This site is easy to use with
a little help from common knowledge and some help from my tutors.
When researching similar films and title
sequences, we used YouTube to embed videos to our blog. These videos complement
our research, and widen the medium in which our research can be viewed. The use
of the videos help people to be able to physically view the scenes that
influenced our project, and compare.
For the composition of our script we used the
programme Celtx, this was a simple straight forward programme which produced
professional looking results. I had opted to be the producer of our film as the
producer initiates, coordinates, supervises and controls most of the filming,
along with the director. I felt that I had the most experience in this field
and therefore with this role I could help the members in my group to the best
of my abilities.
7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do
you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
In terms of
the preliminary task the tasks set were much simpler and included allocating
roles to the members of the group, brainstorming ideas and selecting a scenario
for the conversation, finding a location, filling in paperwork, drafting a
written script and creating a storyboard. Most of these tasks required no real
planning and most did not require the use of a computer or require any
research. However the production for our final project, whilst including the
same tasks as did the preliminary task for our final film there was a lot more researching,
analysing, and planning involved. We had to look in depth at similar genres, target
audience, certificates, distributers, music, title sequences and more. This
gave us the chance to fully understand how much time, effort and work goes into
production, this also meant that the end product we were left with was at a
higher, almost professional standard of work. The requirements for the
preliminary task were also a lot easier including, a 60 second film with
titles, obeying the 180 degree rule, match on action, and shot/reverse shot.
There had to be only two characters whom exchanges a short dialogue. The requirements
fro our final film were much greater, including, the 2 minute opening sequence
of a film, obeying 180 degree rule, match on action, shot/reverse shot and
titles. The final film involved much more independence, giving us the
opportunity the to let our creativity flow. As a whole I feel that we met all
the requirements for both tasks well.
I have improved many skills during the production, some of which include
camera work and knowledge, research, organising work on a blog and I have also
learnt new skills on new technologies such as Celtx and Final Cut. I feel that
I know have a greater all round knowledge of the production of a film and of
how different mediums work. I also learnt how to develop my ideas more
effectively through in depth research.
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