Saturday, 31 March 2012

Evaluation of my Thriller (Part 5)

How do you attract/address your audience?

Word cloud made with WordItOut

By using all of these techniques, the audience wants to carry on watching past 2 minutes. Our audience feedback further confirmed this...

Monday, 26 March 2012

Evaluation of my Thriller (Part 4)

Who would be the audience for your media product?

According to our audience research, our target audience for our triller is between the ages of 16 and 24. This is the average age of most cinema-goers and so if our film had been made into a feature length film it is possible that people in this age bracket would go to the cinema to see our film.

Our film appeals to young people as all of the protagonists are young and relateable. It is set in a working class area which is the background that most cinema goers at this age come from. The thriller genre is also growing in popularity with young people. According to IMDB, the most popular thriller at the moment is 'The Hunger Games' which was realeased this year. The Hunger Games is aimed at the 16-24 year old range and so it is unsurprising that this age group were also the people who gave the most positive feedback on our thriller.



Thursday, 15 March 2012

Evaluation of my Thriller (Part 2)

How does your media product represent particular social groups?


Gender:
In my thriller, it was intended that men and women were to be shown in an equal light. However, the casting of the film fits into some stereotypes about men and women. The two young protagonists are shown as bing equal in the sense that both are blissfully unaware of the murderer waiting to pounce on them. However, the killer is a man. This fits in with the stereotype that men are stronger than women as he appears to overpower them both. Even though we do not see the leading lady being killed, it can be assumed that she did die as the killer was seen in her house and the film ends with a loud scream indicating that she has been caught by the killer.


Ethnic Minorities:
The only three characters in the thriller are white. Therefore, no negative or positive assumptions about ethnic minorities are made in this film and there isno racism.


Sexuality:
There is no reference to sexuality in my thriller and so neither gay people nor straight people are depicted in any way.


Age:
The cast of the thriller consists of young people. The young boy and girl on their way home from a party appear to have been drinking and so this reflects negatively on young people as underage drinking is a large problem in the UK today. The killer is also a young person, again reflecting negatively on the young population of the country.


Class:
Judging from the area and the way that the characters are all dressed, we can assume that the characters are either middle or working class. The fact that a serious crime is being committed in this area by someone of this class towards people of this class reflect badly on the lower classes.


In the thriller, two stereotypes are used which are common in thrillers: the 'young, weak blonde' and 'the hoodie'. The leading lady is small and blonde who is completely unbeknown to the predator in her house. Alfred Hitchcock always used blonde leading ladies in his thrillers, for example Janet Leigh in 'Psycho' and Tippi Hendron in 'The Birds'.
The hooded character is seen as threatening and carrying a knife: two things that people associate with hoodies. Considering that young people wear hoodies more commonly than the older generations, this reflects badly on younger generations. Also, the fact that the killer is very tall (he is 6 foot 8") shows him as being powerful and dominating over the other two characters.

Saturday, 10 March 2012

Evaluation of my Thriller (Part 1)

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


My media project closely follows conventions of a thriller to make it effective. The use of shadows and silhouettes is a common sight in thrillers. Thisadds tension and suspense to the scene as the audience is left wondering what is lurking in the darkness. It adds an element of mystery to the scene which is effective as the human imagination becomes over-active in the unknown. Colours used were dark to fit the mood of the thriller.




Eerie music is definitely another aspect of the thriller genre the I used in my project. The music was attained from MobyGratis.com and was selected very carefully to fit in with the mood of the film. The music is in a minor key which adds to the darkness of the film and sets the mood. The screeching violins add to suspense. The use of violins in this piece was a stark reminder of Alfred Hitchcock's 'Psycho' in which violins are used in the shower scene. We also adjusted the music to make the violins entrance to coincide with a pivitol scene in our thriller: the unveiling of the knife.




However, there are some aspects of the thriller that were not used in our film. Parallel sound was used throughout the film, meaning that thew sound we were hearing matched what was going on on screen. Contropuntal sound is usually used in thrillers as it throws the audience off balance and creates a strange atmosphere that is almost unrealistic.


Friday, 9 March 2012

Our Finished Thriller!

This is our finished thriller. We had so much fun planning, filming, starring in and editing our film and the end product was a real success. Here it is and we hope you enjoy!


Friday, 2 March 2012

Editing Our Thriller



This is a still from FInal Cut Express showing the editing process for our thriller.