Sunday 18 April 2010

Evalutaion-Cristina

There are lots of different conventions to a thriller genre here are some:

Mise En Scene:
  • Dark atmosphere- this can be created by using harsh lighting to give the impression of shadows, this gives off a negative and eerie feel to the audience, making them feel uneasy. Also low key lighting gives off a similiar effect but concentrates on a certain person or object.
  • Props depend on the atmosphere you are trying to create and for the audience you are trying to communicate too. Although traditional props include knives, blood, guns and others.
Camera Work & Editing:
Sound:
  • Sound effects play a big part in thrillers such as screams, screeches, bangs, foot- steps etc... which are all used to build up the suspence and also to throw the audience off as the sound could be contrapuntal.
  • An Example of Contrapuntal sound from Apocalyse now http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHjWDCX1Bdw
  • Another way sound is used to build up suspence is through the Non-Diegetic sound which often is used, for example when the antagonist is going to approch the protagonist. Again this builds up the suspence leaving the audience frightened to what is going to happen.
  • An example of Non-diegetic sound http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VP5jEAP3K4&feature=related
Traditional story characteristcs:

There is a three act structure- the 'set up' sometimes called the 'Equilibrium',this is the main situation in the narrative of the film revealing the protaganist (hero/heroine). Secondly comes the 'Confrontation' sometimes called 'disruption' or 'complication'this is the coming of a problem which usually involves an antagonist and finally the 'resolution' which is when everything comes to an end/ seeks a full resolution.
  • The narrative helps reveal the storyline usually in a thriller this is unraveled in twists and turns. Some Thrillers use flashbacks which helps the audience understand more of what has happend to a particular character. Although sometimes Flashbacks are used to confuse the audience by getting them to think a certain event happend but  that may not be the case and it might have happend differently. An example of this being 'Memento' which shows the beginning at the end.
  •  Traditionally there is a protagonist and an antagonist in which the narrative revolves around both characters. Usually ending in an oppsition between the protagonist and the antagonist this is called the 'binary opposition'. An example being 'The Zodiac'
  • Enigma codes are very often used in Thriller openings, it makes the audeince raise questions in their minds to why a certain character's identity as not been revealed until later. It keeps the audience interested in the narrative. An example of this is 'Donnie Darko' although we see the character the audience doesn't understand the meaning behind it until the very end of the film.
  • Narrative can be used in a way which controls how much information is given to the audience. In a Thriller genre it is typical for the narrative to 'hold back' infromation this is called 'Restricted narrative'. Although other genres use 'Unrestricted narrative', which is when the audience is omniscient to the character, an example could be seen in the short film 'Joyride'
In what ways does my Media product 'Deception' use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? 

Our product, I believe, followed the majority of the typical forms and conventions of a Thriller. For example the Enigma code. One of our decisions was to not have any dialogue in the opening sequence, as we wanted the audience to concentrate on the small details which were going on, such as when the diegetic sound of the cooker and car alarm.

 
Another way Enigma was created was by the use of lighting. (click and watch a tutorial on Lighting). We wanted to create a shadow of someone entering the house, this character was not revealed until the last couple of seconds leaving the audience thinking why and who this character could be.



Another option we chose to use which is a typical convention to a Thriller was to have a Restricted narrrative for similar purposes as before. Which leaves the audience wanting to carry on watching to find out what is going to happen next. As both the Protaganist and the audeince were unaware of who was entering the house and why.

For our opening of 'Deception' we used two out of the three stages, as it was an opening to a Thriller we were asked to produce there was little point showing a 'resolution' as it would not have made sense. Although the idea would of been that both the Antagonist & Protagonist would end up talking over the 'certain' event which happend which is why the antagonist wanted  to find the protagonist. The antaganist starts to try and hurt the protagonist, ending with the protagonist killing the antagonist through self defence.

The Set up in the opening is up until the point of when the car alarm is set off, as before then the Protagonist is just leading her everyday ordinary lifestyle such as driving home and watching television. We decided to use a traditional isolated house which is lively during the day but solitary at night. For example the idea of the house being secluded at night was taken from the film 'All the boys love Mandy Lane', which the house is very eerie at night.


Until little things start to go wrong which would be where the 'disruption' comes in. Firstly it starts with the car alarm going off, making the protagonist run outside to switch it off. Then the cooker starts to beep and lastly the Television breaks. These are all of the events leading up to when the Protagonist finally meets the Antagonist. Through Mise en scene we tried to create the opening similarly to the Classic opening in 'Scream'  with the props, costume and setting. Also through the use of sound again for example the ringing of the phone and the cooker's beeper going off. To make our opening relate to our audience we decided to make a modern twist with the car alarm going off. Through camera work we decided to use a variation of shots alot being point of view, over the shoulder and they are mainly eye level. The reason we decided on these shots is because of the films we researched these are the traditional shots used.  

With the 'Confrontation' we decided to show the Antagonist and the Protagonist right at the end of the opening sequence so that the audience is left again to wonder why the character is important and what relevance they have with each other.



We had Key conventional props to a Thriller such as a knife, phone, setting e.g. Kitchen, tv. The knife is used in 'deception' as part of everyday life but through the camera work and sound it emphasises the importance and how relevant the knife is.








How does your media product represent particular social group?

  • The term social groups refers to particular groups which characters belong to within the narrative. E.g. Gender, Age, Ethinicity, Class and Sexual orientation.

  • With 'Deception' we decided to have the stereotypical Protaganist  which is a female victim as our film is a low budget British movie.

  • We have portrayed her character like this so that she fits in with the stereotype of women and looks femminin although strong to fit in with the times we are living in.

  • Ghislaine the Protagonist is in her Mid 30's, her ethnicity is White British & she is female. We wanted her to be portrayed as a strong, individual housewife through these aspects...
Camerawork:

We shot Ghislaine from a variety of different shots, for example over the shoulder shot as it gives the impression someone is standing behind her which makes her look inferior. Also in the kitchen scene we used shallow depth of field when she closes the fridge to suggest she is not alone in the house.
Mise En Scene:

Through Ghislaine's costume we can tell she is being represented as a Female and a housewife although not a traditional housewife as she is wearing minimal make-up and her hair is average conoting she is not the traditional 'well kept' housewife. We also wanted her to be portrayed as a strong women who unfourtunatly as a bad past which is where the Antagonist comes into the narrative. Although she is strong we still see through her body langauge and facial expressions that she is scared of the things that are happening. The audience can assume through setting she is British although there are minimal props etc suggesting this idea. Unlike some films which Ethnicity and culture are very important for example in 'My Big fat Greek wedding' which is clearly stated Culture is significant throughout the film. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vS1aFVVOJmg.
(This picture is not very clear but the house has a Greek Flag & the greek gods as statues in the front garden) 
  •  I believe the audience can relate to the character she is very much an average person and if our audience can't associate with her  personally, they know someone like her.
  • we also decided to stick to the idea of traditional representation of a women but with a modern twist, the Protoganist 'Ghislaine' is when the sterotype comes in as she is the victim for example 'Psycho'. We also decided on the antagonist being a woman which is where the modern adaption comes in for example 'Hard Candy' & and 'Basic Instinct'.
What kind of media institution might destribute your media product and why?


  • Our film would be Distributed by 'Focus Features' as they have distributed many low budget films which appealed to us e.g. 'Milk' and British film 'In Bruges'.
  • We also decided as a group our film would be Distributed by art house cinemas such as 'Duke Of York' around the UK. We decided Duke of York as they show many low budget films.
  • An example of a film which has been shown at the Duke of York is 'A serious Man'

Who Would be the Audience for your media product?

Our target audience would be prodominatly Teenage females from 12-18 years of age. The certificate would be 12a. Our film is about two ex friends who grew apart due an event which caused them to break up. One of them moved on with her life and moved away losing all contact with everyone. The other one couldn't move on as easily and still holds a grudge.
Other films that our target audience might have watched could be 'Premonition' & 'Donnie Darko' as there are strong female Protagonists represented in these films.


 
How did you attract/ address your audience?
The films narrative is about an event causing two friends to break up, this would appeal to our target audience as they can relate to a friendship which has maybe been forgotten about because of fallings out. Although our film, like most films, show the 'extreme' reality, I believe the target audience can relate to it. Also through the use of costume they can relate to the character as they dressed as average female. Another reason the audience can be attracted to the product is through the idea of the narrative not being complex & the use of subjective Camera work.

 Audience feedback said:-
  • Good variety of shots, mainly the Fridge shot
  • The contrasts in sound worked well to build of the Enigma
  • The Titles & Credits with the Car
 What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

  • A Camera- this allowed us to do a variation of shots, movements and angles. 
  • Tripod
  • Artificial lighting (red heads)
  • a sound recorder
Imovie (click to watch tutorial) was used to edit the footage together but then we needed to do more precise editing and titles so we swaped over to Final cut pro which was much more difficult to use but once you got the hang of it, it was fine.

Garage band was were we produced the soundtrack to our film and also got some of the sound effects, although some would not match perfectly so we decided do our own with a sound recorder. We also were lucky and were able to use a plug-in keyboard to do one of the layers of the soundtrack.

Livetype was used to create the titles at first but we then encounterd problems as it wasn't allowing us to do what we had in mind which is when we swapped onto Final cut pro. This enabled us to figure out exactly what we wanted to as firstly we were unsuccesful as when we decided to use different Titles & credit's it didn't work as well as it blended in with the background which defeated the point.

Blogging has been eventful, I found it familiar as I have previously used similiar programmes and also use the internet a lot for programmes such as Facebook. I have had some trouble with blogging as it kept deleting some of my work which I did at home, so I re-did them and now just save constantly. I believe the reason why it is so useful was the fact it is so interactive which allows me to refer to other websites at the click of a button.  Also I enjoy this as it is different and they are interesting to look at.

What do you feel you have learned in the progression from the Preliminary to the full product?

I believe that both individually and as a group we have all progressed a lot, and it is reflected in our final piece  'Deception'. I think I am now confident in using the camera, tripod, red heads and a Mac for editing compared to the beginning of the year where I had some but little knowledge.  One thing we have learnt as a group is to Film alot of footage from different angles as it is a benefit when you get to editing, as in our Preliminary 'The Detention' we had enough footage but if we filmed more we could of created a better piece.

Please click bellow to view...
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