Evaluation question 7) Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the product?

When comparing our preliminary task video to our actual thriller film, there are vast improvements.

Lighting

During our preliminary video our use of lighting was very poor. In the shot to the left we aimed to create a strong silhouette effect to give the person a edgy, mysterious effect, but we were very inexperienced so it did not produce the image we intended.

When it came to making a similar shot in our actual thriller we were much more successful. We got our character at the correct angle in correlation to the position of the camera and light source. Thus creating a more defined, and better silhouette effect.






Sound Effects & Music

With our preliminary exercise we didn't include any sound effects. This made the project appear unprofessional and gave it a amateurish image. With out music and sound effects the audio between the two had to be perfect otherwise it would decrease the quality of the film. Whereas with the use of music and sound effects any pieces of audio that you do not need or want in the film for any reason, it can be replaced with the music and sound effects. We also found that the use of sound is very useful for creating tension and suspense. It gave the actions on screen some pace and took the ease of the editor as the sound helped to speed up sequences.


Camera Shots

With the preliminary, the majority of the shots were close ups. The lack of variety of shots made the close up loose their significance as this was seen as the normal shot. In comparison to our thriller, we incorpreated a variety of shots involving including

Mid low angle shots -

Close ups-

Mid high angle shots -

Evaluation question 6) What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Before creating this film, i was a completely oblivious to how much work goes into a film. Before i was a bystander, and all the time i was just interested in the story line of the film. As a result of the film, i feel like a reborn movie critic. I pay more attention to angles and shots used in the film, and i think about why they are used?, what are the shots trying to portray? This is mainly as a result of learning about mise on scene, trying to think about the settings of the film, the costumes of the character, the body language of the characters, the positioning of the characters and also lighting and colour of the shots. Along with the different types of shots such as long shots, mid shots, close ups etc, it has taught me that each and every shot is constructed to portray certain impressions, deliberate impressions.
This made me realise the importance of light in the shots and how also editing is a major part of making a successful movie. I realised that good editing can make any sequence more exiting , pacey, and dramatic with the correct use of music, and titles. The editing of the film was the hardest part. we had to get the sequences in order, and when they were we had to create suspense and make the audience want to watch. After correctly choosing music tracks to accompany the film it made a dramatic difference to the hole film and it transformed its hole interpretation. We found that during a film, some sequences cannot be connected. To fix this problem we put titles in between these sequences. This allowed the film to flow and also gave the film a bit of pace and excitement.

Throughout the project i used new pieces of technology.

Programs used during the creation of my Thriller

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Evaluation question 5) How did you attract/address your audience?

We reached out to our target audience through the use of the Internet. I created a online survey on surveymonkey.com
This is the link for the survey , http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/FNRMCMX

I sent this link to my friends via text but to widen the responses i posted the survey on my facebook account. This allowed me to get a lot more responses and a vast amount of different people to take the survey. I spoke about my thriller project and how feedback from this survey would help me greatly so i requested some responses and to my relief I got a lot.

This is the link on my facebook account that i have asked colleague's to complete

The thriller holds the audiences attention as the feelings of the hit man can be related to almost everyone, where you are asked to do something that you strongly disagree with, from the extremes to the minor. When this happens we all undoubtedly feel a sense of hostility and anger towards the person asking us to do the thing we don't want to, reflected in the hit man's aggressive behavior and tone of voice. What will keep the audience's attention will be who he is talking to as we do not see the victims face until the end, and what he will do to the victim. Along with the countdown theme of the titles, it will give them a felling that some explosion or detonation will occur , which keeps the audience engaged and on the edge.

Why will the audience what to carry on watching after the two minutes...

simply because the first two minutes are filled with mystery, suspense and tension. The audience will be left wanting to know the answers to several questions, like ..why didn't the hitman want to kill the target?..why is he so angry with the women,... what is the sudden flash of White light.. is it a bomb ??
With all the mystery around the hitman's relationship with the target, the boss and also why he is so angry will leave the audience wanting answers. The mystery behind the targets past will baffled the audience, leaving them needing, demanding a explanation.
The use of the cliffhanger right at the end contributes to a lot of the questions. With the sudden appearance of white light seconds after we see the victims face and realise who it is, if it makes me wonder what happens next, I'm sure the audience will also feel the same. The connection between the audience and the hitman will instantly make the audience want to find out how he handles the situation.

Evaluation question 3) What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Our media project may appeal and be distributed  for viewing by USA production company, Legendary Pictures.
This is because this particular production company are involved in a long, successful list of thriller films including The Dark Knight, Inception, The Town, and Watchmen. With such a successful line of films it would be common sense to by released with the production company as our film has typical thriller elements and has similar themes to previous films, one being the town which includes the use of hostages etc. The production company could release the film as a spin off to the film, Hitman.

very similar shot used in our film,


However film 4 would be more realistic as it is a British production company that distributes more small independent films, in comparison to Warner brothers etc and the other big American production companies. This is because this project could be finished on a small budget, which film 4 specialize in.

As for viewing the film, i believe it would be the most profitable and beneficial for the film to be released at the cinema using celluloid as the majority of cinemas project films using this method. However releasing the film in digital would still be shown on mainstream cinema's, but it would also bring other advantages. This includes being cheaper to produce, and also be able to release the film via the Internet on sites such as You Tube,as it would be on a digital, transferable format, which in turn could bring in more publicity and revenue for the film. This is because a successful cinema experience would be the best opportunity to increase future  DVD sales unlike first viewing on television then DVD as it would gain more publicity, and could lead to a larger amount of revenue. Is is evident in the case the film Avatar. This film through cinema release was the biggest selling DVD in 2010 selling 10,156,458 units, bringing in an incredible $183,231,512 worth of revenue just from DVDs. I would advise the film to not be released on main stream television first as i do not believe the project could be transformed into a television series.

Evaluation question 4) Who would be the audience for your project?

From the results of my survey using surveymonkey.com, after posting the survey on my facebook account

This is the link on my facebook account that i have asked colleague's to complete

our target audience are 16-19 year old, the majority being female, which is why we tried to incorporate the issue of gender into the film, through women becoming more powerful. Although the film will particularly appeal to men as its an action thriller which traditionally appeal to men. On reflection our film will appeal more to men then women although as the majority of people, according to our research, go with friends, which in theory will include women.

Although when we carried some audience feedback, the viewers thought that the film would appeal more to men rather than women which didn't agree with our previous results. This indicates to us that to appeal to women more changes will have to be made in the thriller, although the audience believed that the lack of women viewers would easily be countered by a surge of a male audience.

As the majority of people according to my research watch thrillers with their friends so we will not try and appeal to a 'family' audience. After realising this we knew we could use weapons in our film as we are not aiming for a family audience. We know that our audience will want to watch our thriller as we have included the main element of a thriller our audience want, suspense. The overwhelming response to what makes people want to watch thrillers and what they believe a thriller should be build on is SUSPENSE. We attempted to do this through the use of short quick sequences To create tension. We constantly flipped being the present time and the past to create a bit of suspense for the audience to make them want to know how one affects the other, and how the two are related. The title sequence we created also ads to the suspense as it follows a countdown theme, as if something dramatic was about to happen , but never really does.

Here is a image i created using wordle which includes the key words from the results of my research, which all in one way or another can be related to our film.

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

With our thriller film we tried to represent gender in a specific way. The films involves a male hit man taking orders from a women boss. The male hit man could not come to terms with several issues, one being the target, and two taking orders from a women. This is in mind as in today's world women are beginning to take on a more important role not just at home but in business too and this film in some ways attempts to reflect the some feelings some male workers may receive through taking orders form a women.

As for other social groups such as sexuality, ethnicity, and age, we didn't make any deliberate intentions to represent them in any way as it was totally irrelevant to the film and we didn't feel it would be appropriate to incorporate these social groups in our thriller. In our film young people are not portrayed in a negative nor positive light as we felt it has very little relevance to the theme. i was to try and deliberately target ethnicity then i would have produced a prejudice film where violence would occur specifically because of the background and race of the character.

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

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

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