How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The main social group shown through my media is the divide between males and females. The main character is being stalked and her reaction to this is to be scared (which we see through close ups of her face) and my her performance, which is to run away when she thinks she is being followed. In regards to her costume, she is wearing a pink dress and pink heels, the typical outfit that one would stereotypically associate with a 'girly girl'; what with it being very feminine. However, it is not the kind of outfit a person would associate with fighting off a murderous stalker. All of this come together to make the main character seem weak and vulnrable.

This is contrasted by the character of the stalker. Although it is not always the case, when someone thinks of a women being stalked, most people would automatically assume that the stalker is male. Although the stalker's gender is not revealed in the opening sequence, it would be normal for people to think that it could be male, one reason being that they are seen to be the most powerful, strong and in control character throughout the sequence.

Another reason the stalker could be percieved as male is by their costume; which consists off all black, with a black hoodie that is pulled up at all times. In society at the moment, the typical stereotype of a young male is that they go around with their hoods pulled up and creating trouble and harrassing people. The social group of these young people are also closly linked with the growing problem of knife crime, which is shown through the use of the knife as a prop. This stereotype is showing this social group in a negative night, not only by the knife and their costume, but by the fact that the only colours they wear are black, which connotes darkness, death and danger. This negative impression, with the use of editing where the shots of the stalker are all in black and white only add to the dislike and distrust of the stalker by the audience, even though they dont know who they are yet.

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

The first technology that i learnt about was how to use the camera, tri-pod and firewire which is how we uploaded our footage on the the Macs. As simplistic as most people would thing it is to work the cameras, with the help of a media technician at our school, we recieved detailed and helpful tutorials on how to properly use the cameras and tri-pods to achieve certain shots, for example, how to get a high angle shot without having to hold the camera and getting a shaky and ineffective shot.

Within the editing process using iMovie, i started with a brief knowledge on how it worked, but was further developed by my continued use of it and more helpful tutorials. I was then successfully able to create titles that slowly appeared and faded onto the screen, change the font and colour so that they matched the typical convensions of a thriller opening (cold blue lettering) and was able to place them on both a black screen and on a normal frame. I also learnt that by using the arrow keys i could move the player head to the exact point in which i wanted to cut, making my cuts more precise and flowing smoother between shot to shot. I also expanded my knowledge on different effects that i could add to my media, and found which effects worked well together, and which ones changed the atmosphere and attracted my target audience. 

This shot it my favourite shot, and one i am particularly proud of. The effect on the audience that just the added effects of blurryness and the change in colur and the temerature of colour had worked very well and made the audience feel the panic and alarm of the main character. Also, the effect of the hand help camera conveys her feeling on instability and panic.

My main problem that i encountered was, when editing shots, and effects on shots, it tended to move my music and sounds effects around and out of place. However, i was then tought how to lock the sound effects to the player head, meaning that it would stay with its clip and would not move. I also found that, when overlapping sound tracks and effects, i could fade in/out the music so that it would flow together much more smoothly, and the change in music wouldnt be so obvious and sharp.

Lastly, i learnt how to upload my video onto You Tube, and then embed this as a gadget onto my blog. Although i could have just uploaded onto a new post, by making my video a 'Gadget' it meant that my video would always appear at the top of my blog, no matter how many new entries i made after that.

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

Firstly, i believe that some of the Sky Movie channels, especially Sky Movies Action and Thriller channel would be likely to show and advertise my film as this channel would show simular films and would also be watched by the intended target audience, of teenagers/young adults, between the ages of 15-25.

Also, channels such as ITV usually advertise films (something the BBC cant do) and i believe they would advertise my film too, bearing in mind that it was advertised after the watershed. This is because ITV, especially ITV 2, mostly show TV drama shows and people into these kinds of shows are more likely to also find a thriller film appealing.

Lastly, another institution that would advertise my film would be in the cinema. This would be successful as it could be shown as a trailer before films, specifically other thriller films, therefore directly appealing to the intended target audience of a thriller film.

Lastly, magazines and radio stations are likely to advertise my thriller as they are both medias that are popular with the teenage/young adult demographic that i am appealing to. An example would be a radio station such as Kiss, as this is primarily listened to by a younger audience.

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

Firstly, our media uses the typical convensions of a thriller by making the audience ask lots of questions. This is achieved by the use of mise-en-scene, where the costumes of the main character are bright and cheerful, which contrasts the costume of the stalker, which is all in black and wearing a hoodie, a way of hiding their true identity and making the audience ask; who are they? This is also achieved by lighting, most of the lighting is dark and low key, creating shadows and the sense of forboding for the audience. We also used cinimatography, as long shots/establishing shots were used so the audience could take in the setting, which was especially effective when the main character was walking/running down an alleyway, as alleyways usually connote danger and I wanted this to be clear to the audience.

Also, long shots of the main character allowed us to see all of her costume, of which was in bright pink colours, and showing that nothing about her was being hidden from the audience, making her automatically trusting from the beginning. This then contrasted the stalker who was only shown in close ups, so that their identity was hidden and obscurred and making them untrustworthy to the audience and also made them ask questions about their identity.

I also developed convensions of a thriller, particularly that of Memento. In this film, information was slowly revealed to the audience through the use of flash backs and i thought this was a really effective way of enticing the audience. I developed this idea by showing information slowly to the audience by the use of dreams of the main character, which is shown right at the end of my opening.

However, the use of editing that i used in my media challenged the convensions of a thriller, firstly, because some of my scenes (usually the scenes of the stalker) were in black and white, or with a blurred effect, where as the scenes of the main character (Lucy) were normal. Most thrillers would usually never use both kinds of effects or, if the did, they would only use it spiratically. However, i decided that i wanted to use this as it created a clear divide between the protagonist and the antagonist. This was important to achieve because the story it shown through the main character and, if she is shown to fear this mysterious stalker, then so will the audience, creating the sense of tension that i was aiming for.

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

Since making my preliminary task I feel I have learnt a lot in all areas. Firstly, I know the importance of thoroughly planning my sequence. For our preliminary task we had to re-shoot three times and i feel that this was greatly down to not enough planning, therefore when it came to my thriller opening I realised how important it was too plan all angles, which didnt just mean storyboards, but scrips, locations research, costume, props, etc.

Also, in the progression from my priliminary task to my thriller opening I feel I have made progress as a person too. As mentioned above, we had to re-shoot our preliminary task numerous times and this was not only time consuming but fraustrating too. However, when it came to shooting our thriller openings I realisedthe importance of shooting more footage, as much as it took to show that I had worked to the best of my ability.

However, drawing skills that I had learnt whilst making my preliminary task, I feel that the focus of continuity editing was also shown in my work, making it look smoother and more effective. For example, we used a lot of match on action, as can be seen from the images below:

Location Research

These are three locations that i have researched that i thought could either be useful in my thriller opening or created an eerie atmosphere, something that needs to be achieved in a thriller film.

This is a picture of a tube station. My main colours in this picture are cold colours, such as grey. There are a lot of wires around the tracks and this creates the sense of danger. This is reinforced when we see the bright red and yellow danger signs around the tracks.

This picture is taken in a park. As we can see the park looks deserted. This gives the impression that anything could happen and no one would be around to help. The tree's around the area give the idea that anyone could be hiding in them and you wouldnt know.

This is a picture of an alleyway. Even though it is daytime, this location would be more effective to a thriller if it was set at night, as the low key lighting and the shadows would portray an eeire feeling to the audience, as though someone was hiding there.

How did you attract/address your audience?

To attract our audience, which was primarily the female demographic, the first image that appeared on the screen was of our main character (played by Lucy) and she was shown in a long shot, which meant the audience got a clear look at her and none of her identity was hidden. High key lighting was also used in shots of the main character to portray her as the protagonist, thus making her more relatable to a female audience.

Also, because the film is a psychological thriller the type of people who would want to watch this film would be people that enjoy this type of genre, and having to ask questions and try and work out the answers. This can be seen in our opening sequence when the audience only see parts of the stalker and their identity is kept a secret. This attracts our audience because they immediatly want to know who this stalker is and are inticed to keep watching to find the answers to their questions. Editing was also used to make the stalker more mysterious as most of the images of them are blurred or in black and white, making them more mysterious, and more difficult to guess their identity, making the audience ask even more questions.

Alos, in attracting our audience it is important to look at previous successful thrilers and look what worked well for them. For example, in Sixth Sense, the first thing the audience see is the cold, blue writing of the titles, and the audiences first impression is a sense of eerieness. This was an idea i particuarly liked and, as it worked well for Sixth Sense, used simular titles in my opening. This can be seen below:

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience for a thriller is dependent on the genre of the thriller itself. Thrillers such as Sixth Sense (one of the openings we analysed) is a borderline horror film and will be targerted at a different demographic to something like Memento, which is a crime thriller and aimed at more of a mature audience. However, i think the general demographic targeted for thriller films is of young adults, between the ages of 15-25.

However, for the thriller we made, it fell more in the sub-genre of a psychological thriller, meaning that it it uses a narrative that makes the character exposed to a danger on a mental level rather than a physical one. This is apparent in our thriller as the plot follows the main character who is trying to uncover the identity of her stalker, and whether the stalker is even real or not. Because of this, it means that the film makes the audience ask a lot of questions, more so in a typical thriller as more of the story is hiden and slowly revealed. This kind of film requires a lot of concentration on the behalf of the audience and will require them to be slightly older, therefore our thriller is probably aimed at people between the age group of 18-25.

Also, i believe that our thriller is aimed primarily at women, as the main character is a women and therefore more relatable to a female audience, however, there are many aspects of the film that would appeal to men too. Also, the audience would have to be people that were into the thriller genre, as it requires a lot of thinking and question asking, and not just someone casually watching the film.

However, because our peice of work is only showing the opening of a thriller, not all of this is made apparent straight away. However, we do make it clear that the main character (who is primarily the focus of the camera) is the main character, and that it contains a psychological element with the shots of the stalker, although his identity is obscured. The audience immediatly ask questions on who the stalker is, why she is being stalked and, due to the fact that she is seen waking up at the end, is the stalker even real?

A shot of the stalker - costume is used so that the stalker is wearing a hood, making him unrecognisable to the audience, and they ask questions about who he is.

A shot of the alarm clock going off and the main character waking up - this makes the audience question whether it was all just a dream, or if it was something more. This not only makes the audience ask questions but hooks them in and entices them to watch the rest of the film.