Because our media product is a thriller, we explored different aspects of real media thriller products. When doing this we established that we needed particular forms of lighting, mise en scene, editing, camerawork and sound. Additionally, we decided we needed both a protagonist (The main character, in this scenario a victim) and an antagonist (The 'bady', evil character).
In order to highlight to the audience that our film is a thriller, in the first shot, we thought thoroughly as to where we wanted to film. We all agreed on filming in Blunt's Wood in Haywards Heath, following our female character, Gemma, on an everyday walk. Instead of choosing somewhere quite busy and loud we thought we would really be able to catch a thrilling sense by using this location. By filming under trees created a really cold, dark natural lighting which was another thriller media product we agreed to focus on. We wanted to create flashbacks of some of the violent attacks Gemma had gone through and by doing this we used a dissolving edit.
Mise En Scene:
For our film, the mise en scene was a very important media product. We created bruised all over Gemma's face and back which looked very realistic. Facial expressions and body language was also a very important aspect to think about. When the audience see the first flashback, it is understandable already as to who is dominant in the relationship. Tom follows Gemma in a very aggressive way with Gemma looking down to the floor. With the close up of Tom's face it is clear to the anger in Tom's face.
2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
In some respect, our film is very stereotypical. In the sense that the female is the typical passive and week
character who is a victim of violent behavior. In contrast, the male character also portrays a stereotypical man as he is shown to be aggressive and strong.
When looking at what social group our film represents, we wanted our product to particularly represent the middle class. Stereo-typically, people often believe that domestic violence occurs mainly withing the working/under class. However, our film creates awareness that abuse withing relationships can happen whatever social class you belong in.
3. What kind of media institutions might distribute your media product and why?
Preferably we would want a low budget media institution to distribute our media product. For instance, Pathe would be particularly ideal for our film. This media institution is pretty well known and I think would be a good way of distributing our media product.
4. Who would be the audience for your media product?
We all agreed that our film would be targeted towards female mainly between ages of 16-20.
We agreed to rate the film at the certificate of a 15+, simply because it may be an uncomfortable film to watch for particular viewers. The way in which we produced some particular scenes, for example, when the male character is abusing the female character is very violent and I don't feel would be suitable for a younger audience. As our main character is female, we agreed for our target audience to be towards females. We decided this because females are seen to be more week and passive, especially in films. Men may feel as if we were victimizing them and being too stereotypical or a male's intentions.
Provoked: Our film relates to this movie Provoked, as the target audience is aged 15+ and for females. This film is also how domestic abuse with the main character being the female who has experiences domestic violence for 12 years.
5. How did you attract/address your audience?
Because our film is targeted towards 16-20 year old females. We used a female as our main character. This way our target audience may feel more relate able with a film like this. Additionally, as this is a thriller, people who enjoy these particular films maybe interested. Additionally, as the title of our film is in strong bold colours equipped with loud, harsh music it doesn't make our product biased towards either gender, therefore may attract other audiences.
6. What have you learnt about techniques from the process of constructing this product?
Before starting this product, I was extremely unaware of any of the editing software in which we were able to use. I didn't know how to use the camera in so many different ways. I now feel very confident when using a camera, I am equipped with skills on different types of angles and shots in which would make particular clips look better.
7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learned in the progression from it to the full product?
I believe that we have learnt a lot when looking back to our preliminary task.
For example, when we were shooting our prelim, we had absolutely no sense of structure when organising which shots to do in order, which became extremely difficult when we had to edit the whole film. Therefore, in our full product we shot each of our scenes in order which made it a lot easier to edit.
Additionally, we were unsuccessful when testing the white balance in our prelim. We used that as a learning curb and made sure our lighting and white balance was just how we wanted it for the final product. We thought very carefully as to what lighting we wanted for our final piece. We had already experimented with many lights, such as the umbrella, standing light and LED. However, for our final piece we decided that these types of lighting looked too bold for our thriller. We wanted to keep quite a cold, dark feel as we agreed that that was a type of a feel a thriller needed. Instead, we used a torch from our iPhones. As this light is very direct and doesn't have such a strong effect, we used it as a spotlight to highlight the main points of our shots.
When it came to editing, our prelim task was very minimal. We used the same types of cuts and transitions which didn't make the film flow that smoothly. However, in our final product, because are now equipped with more skills and better knowledge of technicalities we were able to distinguish what types on transitions and editing techniques would look better. The use of the dissolving made the flashbacks, in our final piece, look more realistic and gave our piece more of a 'thriller' feel.
Our camerawork had improved hugely in comparison to our prelim task. We became much more aware of what shots and angles would make each scene look better. Just like our prelim, we continued to use a handheld camera, which worked well ,especially when creating Point Of View shots. We also used the camera on a tripod, just like our prelim, but we took our angles into much more consideration. I particularly like the shot when the female character is on the floor when the antagonist is abusing her. Gemma held the camera herself and moved it to the left in time of the punches, which made the shot look really effective and realistic, also giving it a POV shot.
In comparison to our prelim, I am extremely happy with the final outcome of our product. I think our skills and media awareness had improved hugely and it really works with the whole plot of the film.
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