AS Evaluation-Question Two

Question Two-Evaluation

2)      How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The main character in my group’s thriller film is the victim. The victim represents a clear stereotypical thriller victim including the feature of being blonde as we aimed to highlight the convention of her being vulnerable throughout my group’s thriller sequence by making the female figure being perceived as paranoid as she continuously looks behind her to see who is there and we aim to highlight her being vulnerable as she is one her own walking through a backstreet which has conventions of the young female gender of being naive. The other main character is the killer a masked tall terrifying figure in an attempt to shock the audience by this and we have included these two characters in the thriller sequence as we wanted it to be as conventional as possible to the thriller genre and we thought as a group having a vulnerable Blonde victim and a tall masked killer would succeed as a thriller sequence.  

The gender of the two characters involved in the film are represented in a stereotypical way through the victim being female this is include in various other thriller films such as Scream and we thought it would only make sense to have a female victim in the sequence. The characters would appeal to the target audience that we have due to the fact that the characters involved are the same age as the audience furthermore the  target audience that my group has of the 15 rated category can relate to the female character as she portrays innocence to the female audience that are watching the sequence.

 My group decided that we should have the characters in the sequence the same age as our target audience as they'd be more inclined to watch the sequence if they can relate to the characters and I feel having the characters the same age is the best way of the sequence succeeding if the target audience of teenagers can relate to the way the characters act and the conventions that each character has in particular the female character as she has conventions of the stereotypical female teenager. 

AS Evaluation-Question One

Question One-Evaluation

Brief & Members involved

The thriller sequence that my group created starts when the victim is walking down the street and she cuts on to the alley way to fasten her journey. As she is walking through the isolated alleyway she continues to think that someone is behind her at this point she feels vulnerable and is too worried to look behind her to see who’s there. As the sequence progresses the audience see point of view shots from both the characters to see what is happening from their perspective in addition the sequence continues as the victim has entered the forest just to hear a loud noise from behind her from who which is the killer with a hammer. The victim, then starts to panic as there is no way out from this point. The victim starts to run through the bushes of the forest in an attempt to lose the killer as he is following her close by but the victim falls over and tries her best to hide behind a tree so the killer cannot find her but this attempt fails and the killer pulls the victim away from behind her to finish of the sequence you hear a ringtone of the victims phone on the surface of the forest.

The group members that were involved in this media thriller sequence project consists of four people and they are myself who was the director of photography with two of the actors who are Tom Tovey the killer and Sophie Ledwith who is the victim and our final member was Devon Thomas who was the director of the sequence. My role of the sequence was to film the actual sequence and I was responsible for the camera and tripod when finishing each day of filming. From this role I learnt how to set up a camera and tripod in a film situation as well as the different shots that are involved in the sequence. I believe our group did work well together as we were determined to get the job done as we completed five days of filming together and the team ethic was certainly there within the group. I also think that my group’s thriller sequence was made to a reasonable standard as it followed some key conventions for example a chase scene and the suspense/shock which is involved in the thriller also I believe the twist at the end of the sequence is a great way to end a film. The sequence is also conventional to the thriller genre as it contains a blonde female victim as well as a tall masked unknown killer.

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

       The generic conventions of a thriller film is for it to contain wide uses of suspense/surprise and shock. Throughout the film also it should contain different elements of sound through diegetic and non-diegetic sound to make the film more interesting to the viewer. 

       Another generic convention that a thriller film should have is an antagonist and a protagonist with a fluent story line. I believe my groups thriller sequence has followed most of the key generic conventions which are involved in the thriller films. For example my groups thriller film did include the conventions of having an antagonist and a protagonist as we took inspiration from the films Halloween In addition having a antagonist and protagionist is conventional to the thriller genre as the majority of these type of films have them. 

      We have included various sound effects that are conventional to the thriller genre as well as having a fluent storyline. My groups opening sequence adds meaning to the thriller genre as through the POV shots and the low key lighting which we have taken inspirations from the film series Scream in addition

       I took inspirations from the film Scream as that film has many different key conventions that are included within the thriller genre. I would have compared my groups thriller sequence to the thriller film opening sequence of Halloween and this is due to the fact they had the same sort of idea and storyline with a masked killer and a female victim also we aimed to take inspiration from their use of suspenseful sound effect when involved as the killer is hunting down the victim. The title of our thriller film is Aphotic which has connotations of isolation which is conventional to the thriller genre and my group chose the title of Aphotic as it has a generic meaning of mystery and enigma that is essential to the making of a film and my group were under the impression that the title of the film would make our target audience already interested in the sequence before it had started.

Rough Cut-Miss Miller

Rough Cut-Miss Miller

 

The purpose of a rough cut is to gain visual feedback of how the sequence has done so far. The rough cut is the best way of getting feedback because it gains a lot of different opinions that can help the group as a way of making it better through peoples opinions on the rough cut.  The rough cut also only can be changed through the editing stage of the sequence.

From the rough cut presentation we got both positive and negative feedback and the use of feedback gives the group a chance to improve on problems that are in the rough cut for example from the feedback that we got we needed to improve a problem within a scene where a group member shouts 'go' that shouldn't be there we can assess this problem by having this feedback and from the feedback we received constructive criticism as we still need to improve the final sequence through the use of sound effects and an eerie sound track that can be used also the credits in the sequence need to be spaced out more so the audience can clearly identify who has done what in the sequence.

We also had some positive feedback through the use of our point of view shots that the audience thought had a unique impact on the thriller sequence and as a group we were impressed by the feedback that we got due to the fact that it can make our thriller sequence to a better standard through stamping out the problems that are in the sequence.

To summerise all feedback both positive and negative is useful to my group for example negative feedback helps us on areas that we need to improve on and positive feedback let's us know where we are doing well on the assignment. Feedback to the group is crucial because it helps on areas that need to be improved and that other areas that we may have not noticed can get improved as well.

 

Opening Scene Narration-Miss Miller

Opening Scene Narration-Miss Miller

The start of our groups thriller sequence starts off with the victim walking down the street and she cuts into a backstreet to speed up her journey. As she is walking through the back street she feels something or someone is behind her she begins to feel paranoid and she looks behind to see who or what is there at this moment of time. The use of a tense sound track will be used with a suspenseful sound effect because it is oftern conventional to the thriller genre when someone is isolated. The victim then leaves the back street but and again she behind to see the killer with a hammer in his hand this will have a dramatic or emotioinal effect on the audience as they will be shocked when they see someone with a hammer in thier hand. In addition it then goes to a POV shot in the victims point of view from this analysis you can tell the victim is extremely worried at this point. As the sequence continues  the victim tries to lose the killer and eventually turns into a forest/field as she enters the field you can hear the heavy breathing and the sound of the victims heart she notices the killer she then attempts to lose the killer by trying to run through the forest but then she falls over a wooden log she then begins to crawl over to the nearest tree and the sound of the soundtrack speeds up as they audience feels the anticipation that the killer is going to get caught. In addition the sequence continues and the killer is looking for the victim but is unable to find her but the victims phone starts to ring and the killer notices this providing the shock of the thriller sequence and showing the high angle at the point to show the victim. The ending of the sequence shows the killer grabbing the victim and the last you see of the sequence is the killers mobile phone ringing on the floor with the victim and the killer no where to be seen.

Overall the sequence will contain numerous codes and conventions that will make the thriller sequence better for example the iconography of the hammer will provide a shock for the audience as they do not expect a weapon like that also another element that will make the thriller sequence better is the uses of point of view shots especially from the victim view as this will give the audience a feeling of what it is like to be in her situation and what it is like to be to get chased. The sequence will be made more conventional by the use of a chase scene and the location of the thriller sequence that we've created.

Production Roles-MissMiller

Production Roles-MissMiller

Group-

Devon Thomas

Tom Tovey

Scott Arbuckle
Sophie Ledwith

The idea of production roles is to give people specific allocated roles to help ensure that the thriller sequence will run in the right manor. The main roles that are necessary for creating a film are producers,directors,actors,director of photography and the editor and these are essential within any film or scene that someone is creating. For example the producer will oversee everything that is going on in the sequence. Having specific roles within any film will make the filming and editing stage easier because everyone that is involved will have a clear overview of what they are doing.

The producer of our groups sequence is Devon. The producer is the person that overlooks everything in the sequence and this entails arranging the location that we are going to film in also they change certain parts of the sequence if they do not like different scenes in the film. We decided that Devon was going to be the producer as we thought she would be the best person at leading a group for example she decided the location of the thriller sequence and she got the other actor from outside our group to take part in the sequence and organizing the time that everyone will meet at.

The director in the sequence was also Devon. The director is the person that controls the making of the sequence and they have a guidance on how the actors act in the sequence. We as a group chose Devon to be the director as we thought  she would be best as checking the each individual clip to check if they were good enough or if we had to redo certain clips to make them better. 

The actors in our group was Tom who was the killer and Sophie who was the victim. Sophie was the victim as we feel it was best to have a stereotypical blonde victim which is conventional to the thriller genre also Tom was better suited to be the role of the killer because he is the tallest member of the group and the most confident and comfortable to be the killer from our group members.

Tom also had the vital role of the editor within the sequence and the role of an editor is to cut down clips and to put each and every clip into a specific order so the thriller sequence would make perfect sense and another responsibility of an editor is to add all the different sound effects that we are going to use for example heavy breathing will be added in at the editing stage as well as a heartbeat sound as the victim is running away from the killer and Tom was given the role of the editor as he knew how to edit from editing the preliminary task so he already had an idea of what was needed to be done.

I was given the role of the camera man and this was to film each and every scene in the sequence also the responsibility of the director of photography is to put the camera in the different positions that were appropriate to make the overall film to a better standard. I was also appointed the music producer with the influence of my other group members to establish what would make a good soundtrack that could be included within our the thriller sequence that was created.

We all as a group took the roles of MES coordinators and screenplay writers as we all had different ideas that can be included within our thriller sequence for example Devon had the idea of the victim getting followed into the forest and Tom had the idea of the dark clothing for the killer as well as myself had the idea for the hammer used as the item for the killer to chase the victim with. Also every group member had different ideas that were implemented into the sequence as a whole to make the film more efficient and to a higher quality.  

Risk Assessment-Miss Georgiou

Risk Assessment-Miss Georgiou

Why is it important to consider risks before filming?

It is crucial to consider risks before filming because it keeps people aware of what safety procedures to follow when filming. In addition it's important to keep the health of everyone in the group and most importantly the actors potential hazards could include the actors tripping over in the location of the forest so making sure the path is clear is inevitable to prevent this hazard from happening. 

How did the risk assessment assist the group?

The risk assessment helped the group through the process of filming as we made sure we cleared the path from all the leafs and twigs that were on the surface of the forest also it assisted us with trying to stop the hazards from happening. The risk assesment also helped the group in taking care of the camera for example whe filming we made a plan carefully film when the camera is on the tripod and to not walk around with the tripod when the camera is on it.

 

Filming Schedule-Miss Georgiou

Filming Schedule-Miss Georgiou

Why is it important to have a filming schedule?

I believe it is massively important to include a filming schedule as it helps to get everyone who is in the group organised to arrive on the specific meeting point on time also it's important to have one as everyone has a clear idea of when to film as a result the group members will not plan anything else to do on them specific days and ultimately the filming process should if followed correctly speed up the process of filming and having a schedule as it also makes filming easier as well as it makes sure group members will get to the meeting point on time resulting in a much more efficient film when following a schedule. 

Following Schedule/Changes that were made. 

Unfortunately we did not quite manage to follow the specific schedule that was made due to some difficulties upon filming. When first thought out as a group we only put two days aside to complete the task of filming but instead we needed five days. We followed the schedule for the first two days of filming but due to the incomplete film we then had to set another further three days to film this was because we decided to film in a better location to the location that we first filmed in. The first day of filming was successful in the new location but the second day when we were due to film in the forest it was unfortunately too dark to film so we done this scene on the fifth day of filming when the light was okay to film in.