Draft Evaluation - Samuel Nicholson

Draft Evaluation

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

The opening of our thriller, which has been named Quarantine, uses a number of conventions which are commonly related to many other Thrillers. The first of which being the sound. Throughout the opening, the sound is consistently suspenseful, and this is something that can be seen in other Thrillers also such as The Dark Knight Rises. The effect of this is that like i mentioned before it raises suspense throughout the scene and in a Thriller this is an important factor to keep in mind. (In the image below, at that part of the opening is a good example of what I have spoken about.)

 Another convention of which we have included in our opening is the use of props, and in particular the briefcase. In our opening the briefcase is the main focus of nearly every shot, and this is done in order to raise the question as to what is inside the briefcase, and of course that is not answered in the opening. This technique is known as an Enigma code, as the viewer will now be thinking about what is inside the briefcase.Again this can also be seen to be used in the Dark Knight Rises, as Bane the main Antagonist wears a mask throughout the entirety of the film, and at the beginning the question is asked as to why he wears it, and this is never answered fully in the film.

In the opening we have also used a restricted narrative in the sense that the viewer knows no more than any of the characters during the sequence. The reason for this is that due to the fact that it is a thriller, it is important to not give away too much information of the story at the beginning. as otherwise it will not be as gripping and suspenseful as other thrillers in the industry. If we had used an unrestricted narrative and given away too much information about the plot at the beginning of the opening then it would have essentially failed as a thriller,as the plot would not be suspenseful etc..

More towards the end of the opening, we have incorporated a wipe effect and the decision to do this was made during the editing process. The use of this as a transition is that it is a very quick when compare to a dissolve or a fade etc...  This transition also has the effect of potentially shocking the viewer due to its speed, and it is a very useful technique to use when attempting to possible shock the viewer or reveal a certain piece of information.

In terms of our characters we have used, the Antagonist and Protagonist are clearly defined in their ambitions. For example the Antagonist (Dan's character) Antoine Draynor is wearing a suit throughout the opening, now there are no facts that state suits make people evil, but it is a theme that has been used often in the history of film, for example in the Doctor Who scene studied in class as The Master is wearing a suit, but it must also be noted that the Doctor also wears one. This would fall under the costume category of Mise En Scene. Also, Toby's character is wearing clothes that do not give off the impression that he is an evil character.

Our use of props, under the eleven areas of Mise En Scene, has also been taken into consideration about how we want each character to be portrayed in their intentions to the audience. For example, Dan's character can be seen wearing a suit, feet up on a desk in a barely lit room sparking a cigarette. Again, this is something that the Protagonist can rarely be seen doing in any piece of film, and due to this we decided to incorporate it into our opening.

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

• The social groups being represented in our product are young males between the ages of 16-25.
• My character, Zinoviev Pernot-Vichevsky is seen wearing a leather jacket and gloves and a helmet, all of which are common for someone riding a motorcycle/moped.

• Also, the vast majority of people that ride 50cc mopeds, like myself are of the age 16-17, this helps reach out to that specific audience.
• In the screen grab above, the low angle has been used in order to make my entire costume visible, and as a result allows each part of it to be able to be seen by the viewer.
• Also the use of the leather jacket may add some sense of danger, as previously mentioned before the use of the suit adds a sense of evil to Dans character just like the jacket does to mine.

• Toby's character is seen wearing clothes that many young malea around the age of 16-25 could be seen wearing.
• The decision for this was made because if anything will appeal to that generation in costume sense it is this.
• The reason we believed it a good idea for Toby to wear these items is so that the viewers would feel a connection with him, and as he is the Protagonist it will also make him a more likeable character.

• In terms of ethnicity, it is obvious that our product represents white people more, and the only reason for this being so is due to the members of our group and friends that decided they would like to get involved.
• The same goes for age, as it is difficult for us to find any actors who are not the same age group as us, and as a result we eventually decided to just be the actors ourselves not only due to difficulty of finding some but also for simplicity, as it makes it a lot easier to organise a shooting date etc...
• In terms of gender, the same issue arose, as the members of our group were only males.
• Due to this it was difficult to find other female actors who would be interested to take part.

• We again decided it would be easier and simpler if we ourselves took hold of the acting.
• We decided that we wanted to make it clear what each of our characters intentions were and their general personalities and such straight from the beginning.
• One of the ways this was achieved is at the beginning of the opening, the first shot is that of Artnal walking down the pathway with the briefcase in hand.
• The briefcase is a recurring prop with much importance in the storyline of our thriller, and we wanted this to be the main subject for the majority of our opening.

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

I believe that our finished product in it's entirety would be distributed more likely by a British In independent Indie Film Distributor. The reason for this being that first off our film is quite noticeably low - budget and as a result if it were to be screened at any cinemas it would only be the small time independent local cinemas compare to the large multiplex cinemas. I however believe that a film of this nature would most likely skip the cinema stage, as due to the low budget it would be difficult to advertise it, and as a result would not make much at the box office. It would also hopefully become available for streaming or download via ne of the popular streaming services love film or Netflix.

4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

• The main audience for our product would be males aged 15-18.
• This is due to the fact that in our opening the only characters that are involved all of which fall under the category of males aged 15-18.

• The reason that this is the case is due to a number of reasons, the most important of which being that all members of our group were in this category, and another being that it was difficult to find any female actors who were willing to or be able to film on the given dates.
• I personally do not believe that our product would attract many other social groups to view it.
• There are other Thriller films similar to our in some ways that also attract the young male audiences, Ill Manors is one of them, as in this film it is about the story of a number of third party characters and how all their lives intertwine due to a number of reasons.

Above is the trailer, below is a still.

• This is similar to our product in the sense that the lives of each individual character all intertwine in one way or another due to the briefcase and its unknown importance.

• Also, in the our opening there is a number of fight scenes, all of which is needless to say will attract the young male audience, in particular the fight scene in the screen grab above which I believe was well executed.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

• There are a number of ways that make our product one that young males can relate to in a series of different ways.
• One of which, and in particular the one I feel is the key reason, is the costume, and all other appearance aspects that are in the sections of Mise En Scene.
• The costume that Toby and Niall wear both are similar to what many young males around the age of 17-18 and a few years around would wear, and because of this it gives that audience something to relate to.
• Also, another reason why they would most likely enjoy our film is that every actor within the opening is also a young male.

• This is the case for two reasons, one being for the purpose of attracting that audience and the second being that it was for production purposes which in turn made things a little bit easier this way.
• Another key reason that is often overlooked when thinking on this subject is the sound we have used.
• During the opening, there is a chase scene at one point that takes place through a country public pathway, and the music that we have chosen to put over it was put there for a couple of reasons.

• The main reason being that it is fast paced and as Niall was the person who created the track, there was no issues in terms of copyright/royalties.
• The track would fall under the category of Jump Up Drum & Bass, and this is a genre of music that a few young males listen to, particularly around this area.

https://soundcloud.com/tdubdnb

6.What have you learnt about technologies from the processes constructing this product?

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

• Since the preliminary task, I believe I have progressed in a number of areas and so have the other members of my group.
• For example we have since improved on our framing a fair amount.
• Due to the fact that we filmed the preliminary inside, it made it difficult for us to frame the actors well whilst also keeping the objects in the background well framed.
• However, this time around the vast majority was filmed outside, and this made it a lot easier to frame everything.

• Another skill I believe i have improved in is editing.
• This is something that I had never even touched before the start of the year and now I believe i am fairly good at it for the time I have spent with it.
• Video Production has also helped me in this as there is a fair amount of editing involved with that course.
• An example of some of things I have learnt since the preliminary task is titling.
• I had never attempted titling up until this task, and I have come out of it knowing a fair amount on the topic.

• Also, I learned a number of camera techniques along the way.
• A good example being the vertigo shot.
• Although this was not executed perfectly, it is something we had never attempted before and so it was quite an experiment.