Question 7

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

Since shooting our prelim task I have developed many new skills in terms of; camera skills, editing abilities, team work, researching and using/recognising generic conventions. These have lead to me becoming much more confident in terms of planning, shooting and editing a film. If the skills wouldn't have been developed so far the quality of our thriller may not that much better than our original prelim task. This means I have evidence to show the progression between the two productions.

Team Work: 

The original group for my preliminary task involved Tobias, Stan and myself. So, at the beginning of our thriller Liam joined our group which gave as a group of 4. Throughout the majority of the planning everyone stayed in our group. Between us we all incorporated ideas into our thriller to try and come up with the best possible production. At the beginning we were being slightly ambitious as a group which meant our production probably wouldn't have turned out as well as it did. We soon re-planned some of our thriller so that it was more realistic for us to complete. As a group we wanted to still be a little ambitious so that we could produce a final product that we would really proud of. This lead to a discussion of if we were all going to be dedicated as a group and work as a team to pull it off and we all agreed. Towards the end of planning and at the beginning of our shooting Stan left the school which meant we were one man down. This caused a few problems in terms of casting for our thriller, but we soon fixed these. This section of the course helped me to learn the importance of working in a real team. It showed me that to pull something off to the quality of our thriller you need to work well with others and be able to rely on them to do everything on time. This has helped me to develop my skills in maybe organising group which could come into use in many other of by subjects and life experiences.

Research: 
This is an area which was very new to me in terms of how the research would effect my work. In the preliminary task we didn't have to do any research because we were not trying to create any intertextual references or we weren't sticking to the generic conventions of a particular genre. Of course I have done research in other subjects before, but this research had a much larger impact on my work. We were taught to produce case studies on thriller texts or other productions which contain similar generic conventions, then take elements from them to help create the opening to our thriller. I researched old thriller productions such as 'The Third Man' and several modern ones such as 'Essex Boys' and 'Pulp Fiction'. These thrillers have given our group a large amount of inspiration and helped  to add intertextual references into our opening. These included things like; costumes, names and locations. I personally gained a large amount of influence from productions such as 'Sherlock' and 'Breaking Bad'. These are television series that I actually like,so I picked up on a larger amount of specific detail in them which helped to give me ideas of our thriller,Eve.This part of the course has helped me progress in the sense that I have realised the importance of research and its power at providing ideas when creating a professional production. This means I will use research more to my advantage in other subjects that I take and hopefully in the next year of Media Studies.

Generic Conventions:
Before media studies I knew of certain elements that are used in particular genres of films over and over again, but I didn't realise that there were so many, especially in the thriller genre. Since shooting our preliminary task, I have learnt a large amount about thriller films. I can say I have watched some thrillers in the past, but doing this course has helped me develop my knowledge and amount of films I watch. Some of the generic conventions of thrillers that I have learnt are; stair cases which are used to show characters going into a new world (metaphorically), small locations which help to create a sense of claustrophobia and entrapment, a fast edit which helps to build up a fast pace which achieves a increased amount of suspense and the fashion used for noir thrillers.     

Camera Skills:
Before starting my media studies course I had only ever used my camera for photography. I started using a DSLR properly in year 10 at the start of my photography GCSE and carried this on into A-level. This gave me a good knowledge of using a variety of camera angles and how to work my own camera and tripod very well. Obviously filming allowed be to expand on these skills with a much larger variety of camera angles. This include ones such as tilt, tracking shots and over the shoulder. Most of these were learnt during the filming of our preliminary task, but I didn't understand the real impact of them until we had planning and shooting our thriller. I developed a larger understanding of how individual camera angles can portray different feelings to the audience. The one shot that I may transport into my photography work is the over the shoulder perspective. Personally I really liked this shot because it helps to almost put you in the same place physically as the character. We kind of used this shot during our thriller. The section in which the camera cuts to behind Hazel and Cha cha sees them running after Eve. This puts you in the perspective of the characters which give it the same feel as an over the shoulder shot. However, this is also tracking shot because the camera is following the characters action/movement along the path.

Editing Abilities:
Before producing the video for the preliminary task I had never really edited any videos using any software like Adobe Premier Pro. During the preliminary task I learnt the basics of this software, but when editing my own version of our thriller I developed my knowledge of the software to the point where I can now say I am a lot more confident with it. I now know how to change the brightness and contrast of the clip, make the clip black & white, use a larger variety of transitions and edit sections of the soundtrack so that it will in and out. One of the biggest things I had learnt when doing the preliminary task was flipping a clip which I also had to use during this edit. This was to ensure that the 'match on action' from each clip showed  Eve or the hitmen running/travelling from the left hand side of the screen to the right. The reason why we did this is included in the paragraph below. The other big thing I had to do in my edit was crop two similar shots. These were the long shots in which the character(s) ran from left to right on the screen. In the original edit (bottom) the camera was zoomed out too far from the action that was happening, so by cropping the clip I managed to bring the camera closer in on Eve and the hitmen running across the screen. The reason I did this was because in the rough cut it was hard to see who was actually running across the screen, so by cropping it it was more obvious to the audience who was sprinting across the countryside.

180 Degree Rule:
This rule seemed to apply more to our preliminary task than our thriller. This is because there wasn't any conversations or a large amount of dialogue in the entire opening of the thriller. This means the camera didn't have to cut between two different characters whilst they converse. The only time this really applied was when we had to make sure Eve and the hitmen were shown running in the correct direction the screen. So, any movement in the edit shows the characters travelling from the left hand side of the frame to the right. When we shot the clip of Eve running into the barn she ran from right to left which was the wrong direction. So, when performing the edit on the thriller I flipped the clip so that she was then running from left to right. This helped to ensure everything stayed on the same side of the camera throughout the whole of our opening.

Soundtrack:
When editing the preliminary task we didn't use a soundtrack for our edit because it would have resulted in the audience not being able to understand the conversation which was happening. So, the soundtrack was very important to our thriller because there was no dialogue present until the very end of the opening. I looked into soundtracks from several other thrillers which had a fast pace to them. These included thrillers like James Bond. The original soundtrack that I choose didn't really work with the action of the edit because it almost gave it a kind of comical element which was something I didn't really want to achieve. This meant I had to find a new soundtrack that worked better with my edit. I eventually found and soundtrack called "Man Hunt" which fitted perfectly with the edit. The soundtrack helps to build the opening up to a climax through the increase of suspense and drama.

Evaluation and feedback:
Throughout the editing of my thriller I received feedback from both of my media studies teachers and other members of the class. This feedback allowed for to compare peoples opinions and then apply what I believed was the best option to my edit. I think this really allowed for me ensure that my thriller would appeal to the age demographic that Eve is aimed at. The feedback also helped me to realise what did and didn't work in the edit. This kind of feedback wasn't really necessary in the shooting of the preliminary task because that was a very experimental piece of work in which the same elements of a thriller weren't needed.
         So, evaluating the progress since my preliminary task, it is safe to say my skills in terms of research, camera skills and editing have developed vastly. I now feel a lot more confident in a larger range of specific media areas. This should hopefully help me to improve in some of other subjects and in any future media work I produce. I feel as if I can also now say that I can produce something which is more of a professional quality.

Question 6

Question 5

Question 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

AGE: For our production we used only young actors which means our thriller should attract that kind of

audience. As a group we came to the conclusion that our film would attract mostly an audience in the age range of 15 to 21 demographic. We would attract this kind of audience because they may find particular aspects of the film which they can relate to in terms of themselves or others they know. The storyline of our thriller may also be seen as being interesting to them due to what it is about (using the stereotype of teenagers getting into trouble). This type of appeal comes into play with a lot of other films which use young actors. An example of one of these films is 'Fish Tank' (2009) which is of a drama genre. This is probably more relatedable to a teenager because the primary purpose of drama productions is to give the audience something to relate to. The film 'Fish Tank' concentrates on the troubles of a 15 year old girl named Mia who lives in Essex. This is evidently going to be more accurate to the real world of a teenager than being chased by two hitman who may want to kill you.

 Another reason our thriller would attract an younger audiences is the slightly modern/urban locations that are used. The barn in which we filmed had a empty alcohol bottles and burnt items which is considered to be associated with stereotypical behaviour for teenagers. This results in the location being more modern and appealing to teenagers. This type of location appeal to adults to an extent because thrillers in countries like Scandinavia see the location of an old barn as a 'timeless' location that is used in a lot of thriller productions. Certain other aspects of our thriller may appeal to a slightly older audience like the use of the record player as the first shot and the slightly sophisticated costumes of Hazel and Cha cha. However, the use of locations and mise-en-scene create a look and feel that would attract more of a younger audience. An example of this being used in another production is in Sherlock. There is a scene near the beginning of episode 3 in series 3 in which Sherlock is found by John in an old abandoned house that is full of drug users. The location itself is quite old, but the interior is built to look more urban with it damaged walls and furniture. This location is designed to attract younger audiences, which isn't always the case in each episode. Occasionally very old locations are used which opens up a more diverse audience for the viewing of the show.

GENDER: Our thriller is designed to attract both a male and female demographic. Action thrillers such as 'The Dark Knight' are built to attract mostly men with the violence and overall fast pace of them, but our thriller combines this with a femme fatale. This results in it also appealing to a female audience. Due to Eve being the main character of our film, females be able to connect with her more and possibly understand the attractiveness of the diamond necklace that she is stealing. This would cause them to find aspects of our opening fractionally relateable. At the same time men will also be the target audience for our thriller because there is the sense of action and fast pace. The audience of our film would probably be primarily male due to Eve not being as strong of femme fatale as say The Bride in Kill Bill. Eve is shown running away from the hitmen instead of confronting them which still shows she has a sense of vulnerability to her. This would possibly be seen as a thing that would attract men more because it sticks to the conventional stereotype of how women are usually portrayed in both thriller and other productions. Women tend to be victims in many thrillers and other genre films. An example of a TV series which does this is Twin Peaks in which Laura Palmer's body is found wrapped up on a beach.


SOCIAL CLASS: (spoken about in question two) This was probably one the easiest things to come to a conclusion on for this question of my evaluation. Due to the fact all three actors in our thriller were of a middle class our production should attract an audience which is of a middle class. This is because to them they see that they will be able to relate more to the actors and the characters which they are playing. They will see similarities in their clothing and attitudes which should be alike to them in some senses. Our thriller could also maybe gain access to a lower class due to some storyline and locations that are portrayed in our opening. Using a stereotype for lower classes they have to steal sometimes to get through (obviously this is for very a low class) and they may be use to slightly rougher locations. Sometimes other texts both thriller and not have the same access to these two classes due to the locations, storyline and actors they use. An example of a TV show that does this is Misfits. The first series of this show was aired in 2009 and the last was aired in 2013. This show involves a group of fairly young adults doing community service and getting super powers through a freak lightning storm. The storyline of the characters show some of them go from middle class to lower class which is where a larger audience opens up for the show. The locations they also allow them to attract a larger audience because they use urban locations (e.g. dark underpasses) and what would consider to be a everyday location (e.g. a modern business setting).

NATIONALITY AND ETHNICITY: This was also a very easy thing to come to a conclusion on. We used all white British actors in all British locations so this kind of limits us to a purely British audience. The actors we used are obviously unknown so the sense of  'Britishness' which some other films (e.g. Submarine) have accomplished, wasn't achieved in our thriller. The fact that all of our actors are also all from the same white ethnic group means we would struggle to gain access to other ethnic groups because they may not find the situation as relatable. We also used all British locations which are very rural so they would be very unknown to anyone who lived out of the area. This also means our audience becomes more limited. This makes our film a niche film (this is explained more in the previous question). This means it would harder to sell outside of the UK. An example of a production like this is Skins. This shows looks at three different groups of teenagers going through sixth form and all the troubles that life brings a long with it. The first series of this show was aired in 2007 and the last in 2013. This show consisted of a mostly British cast acting in mostly British locations so it struggled to sell outside of the UK, due to other nations not being able to relate to the stories and characters as much. This show is the perfect example of how a show set in one country with actors from the same county limits the majority of the audience to the nationality of the country in which the film is set.

LIFE STYLE: The kind of person who would watch her film will probably be very up-to-date with their social media sites. These could include websites like Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr. The audience would probably use websites like this due to the age range they are in (15-21). People who are our age use this kinds of websites all the time so you can only assume they would use them to fit in with friendship groups. These could be seen as a way of providing free advertisement for our film. Also due to their age range you could guess what types of music our audience would listen to. My guess is that the young audience would have a very diverse taste in music due to people being more open to many different genres in the modern day. This mean they may listen to things such as rock, punk, indie, pop, heavy rock, pop-punk and alternative.
          In terms of the films which our audience would watch, they would most probably view films with a fast pace and a slight mystery. This means they may watch films in the thriller, action, drama and sci-fi genre. An example of some films they may watch are Fast and Furious, The Avengers, The Matrix, and Man of Steel. One scene from The Avengers which carries a large amount of similarities to the chase scene from our thriller is the section where Hulk chases Black Widow after their ship gets attacked. The clip below shows this scene: So, in terms of mainstream and niche films, our audience would probably watch a good mixture of the two. They would probably mainly watch mainstream films because the age of our audience it fairly young. They would be attracted by the known actors and better visual effects, but at the same time they may see the attraction in niche films. They may like the artistic camera work or obscure storylines.
              

  

Soundtrack:

For the rough cut of my thriller I used a track called 'Forest Walk'. The songs fits what is going on in the action, but doesn't quite build up enough suspense. The music could be seen as comical due to its slightly high pitch tone that is similar to the Harry Lime theme.

So, for the actual final cut I used a track called 'Man Hunt' which is a very appropriate title due to the subject of our production. This soundtrack worked a lot better because it slowly builds up over the time of the production and helps to build suspense which finishes with the climax of the opening. This soundtrack also works very well with the timing in our production because it changes in the correct moments which help to create transitions between the sequences of cuts that are edited together. 

Question 3

Similarities between Pulp Fiction and Breaking Bad:

Recently whilst watching 'Breaking Bad' I have noticed a large amount of intertextual references to the film 'Pulp Fiction'. Breaking Bad is classed as a TV drama series, but it as aspects from both the crime and thriller genre. There have been a total of 5 series for this American TV shows with the first being shown in 2008 and that last in 2013. The shows follows the storyline of an American chemistry teacher named Walter White who finds out he has lung cancer and starts to produce methamphetamine to pay for his treatment. To do this he asks one of his ex students, Jesse Pinkman, who is already producing drugs. The plan to produce methamphetamine pays for Walters treatments but leads himself and Jesse into a large amount of trouble which continues to escalate from series to series. The storyline of this show is very alike to Pulp Fiction in certain aspects. Both Breaking Bad and Pulp Fiction use very similar props, costumes, characters, mise-en-scene and camera angles.

The images to the left show examples of all these things:

-Props: I both productions there is drug use which means the substances used to represent drugs are the most common props used. The two screenshots of the spoons containing heroin and the ones with blood being pulled into a syringe. These two shots use the exact same camera angle with the same props to achieve a very clever intertextual reference.

- Costumes: The best two screen shots for this are the bottom ones. They show Walter wearing a tshirt which is far too big for him and they show Jules and Vincent also wearing tshirts which are far to big for them. Throughout the rest of the productions the costumes are very different due to the time period in which they're both set.

- Characters: A large amount of the characters in both productions have very similar characteristics. The first characters who are very alike is Mia (Pulp Fiction) and Jane (Breaking Bad). Both have a very bad drug habit, which Jane managed to get over through rehab, but this didn't last when she started dating Jesse. Both actors play very strong and independent women in their productions which makes them even more alike. Some of their storyline is also very similar because they both overdose on drugs which causes them to become paralysed. However, Mia is saved by Vincent who injects a shot of adrenaline into her chest which stops her ODing. Jane on the other hand chokes on her own vomit in her sleep and dies because Jesse is asleep due to the drugs he has taken an cannot save her. The next characters that are very alike are Hank (Breaking Bad) and Butch (Pulp Fiction). Both seem to be very timid with there first impression but the audience will soon lean that both are very violent men who end up getting badly hurt. The last real similarity in characters is Leonel & Marco Salamanca (Breaking Bad) and Jules & Vincent (Pulp Fiction). Both of these pairings are a hitman duo which adds an intertextual to our thriller. There jobs roles in the productions are the exact same, but the duo from Breaking Bad play a much more violent role using a horror like axe to brutally murder several people.

-Mise-en-scene: This factor is shown best in the shots of the diner (3rd down) and one containing characters in cars. These shots have such a similar feel to him so it is obvious to the audience that their is an intertextual reference. The shots of the diner are were this reference is at it strongest. The storyline in which these two shots are used are also very similar because it sees both sets of characters having a quiet conversation which shouldn't be overheard due to the subject which they are conversing. 

-Camera angles: I have already spoken about this briefly with shots of the drug use, but the other shot which uses an almost identical camera angle is the very top photo with the characters looking into the boot of their car. The shot is a low angle shot taken from inside the boot which adds emphasis onto the power of the characters in this section of the storyline. There are other similar camera angles used like the passed out versions of the both girls. This is a high angle shot which is used to add to the vulnerability to the dying women.  

Sherlock (case study)

The TV series Sherlock isn't a thriller series, but each series contains elements of generic conventions that are used in thriller productions. There have been a total of three series, each containing three episodes which makes this sound like a very short collection of shows, but the fact that each episodes running time is 90 minutes basically makes each episode a film. The show takes the 56 short stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and gives them a modern twist to attract younger audiences. The original series of Sherlock Holmes books were set in 1880's which means in the modern day that kind of setting may not do as well with younger audiences. However, the Sherlock Holmes films starring Robert Downey Jr. provide a counter argument to this point. So, the new Sherlock Holmes is set in modern London with Benedict Cumberbatch playing Sherlock Holmes, and Martin Freeman playing his assistant Dr John Watson. The show has built up a large fan base since its first series being released in 2010 and the 4th series finishing this January (2014). As I said above the show isn't classed within the thriller genre, but it is a crime series which gives it a large amount of similarities to other thriller texts.

          One convention which is used in nearly every episode ever produced is a spiral or conventional staircase. Staircases are used in thriller films to show that a character is leave one world and entering another. It is also used to show how vulnerable a character can be in this setting. This vulnerable comes from the idea that you can easily be pushed down the stairs and someone can be standing above you which gives them the higher ground. Sherlock and Watson are seen travelling to a multiple different locations, so the loactions are constantly changing. In any building containing a staircase there is a shot added into the edit to show how something new and probably very significant is coming into the storyline. The staircase most commonly used throughout each series is the one leading up to 221B (Sherlock and Watsons apartment). Sherlock Holmes is a consulting detctive who is essentially like no other detective in the world. 221B is seen to be Sherlock's own little world, so as he goes up the stairs in his apartment block he is entering the place where he feels most comfortable, and the place that allows him to do his best work. The image to the left (top) shows Sherlock walking up a stair case with his shadow being projected largely onto the wall. Non-ambient lighting would have been used to create this shadow that towers over Sherlock on the wall as he walks up the stairs. An almost identical shot was used in The Third Man as Holly Martins walks up the stairs of Harry Limes apartment block. The same affect was also given in this seen of Holly entering a new world. The top image from Sherlock shows him walking up a conventional stair case, but the one Holly is standing at the top of is a spiral staircase. There have been spiral staircases featured in Sherlock, with the best one being in the very last episode of series three. Spiral staircases use the concept of being never ending. At the top they look as if they just carry on going forever and ever so it gives the audience the impression that the character is trapped in this never-ending enigma of a staircase. The video below shows a brief clip from the last episode where Sherlock is fighting for his life after being shot. The stair case shows how his condition is becoming worse as he gets closer and closer to what he thinks is his inevitable death. This clip also shows the generic convention of a vanishing point. The brightness and saturation are very strong at this point which gives the sequence a sense of surrealism, so this makes the vanishing point at the end of the corridor in Sherlock's mind palace a bright white colour. This makes the audience very disorientated because they're unable to make out any specific details of the wooden hall way. Most of this effect would have come from very strong non-ambient lighting when editing and increasing the brightness during the edit. The producers of the show obviously wanted to use the idea that when you die there's a "light at the end of the tunnel", so to Sherlock at the end of this vanishing point death awaits him, unless he can save him self from the gun shot.    


A large amount of the lighting used throughout each series can be considered as almost noir lighting. A lot of the lighting in noir thrillers are stronger to one side of the screen when compared to the other. This gif (left) shows Sherlock with a non-ambient light on one side of his face. This type of lighting brings a large amount of emphasis to a single part of the screen. This is called chiaroscuro lighting. This lighting gives the cut a higher amount of contrast. This type of thing is used in a lot of noir thrillers because it works very well in black & white. A more modern thriller which uses this kind of lighting is "Blade Runner". This is Sci-Fi thriller which means in most aspects it is very different to Sherlock or any noir thrillers, but some of the lighting used is almost identical. The screen shot I have included from Blade Runner shows how the lighting is stronger on the right hand side when compared to the left (identical to Sherlock). The background isn't as dark in this screenshot which means the same level of contrast isn't there, but the same effect is accomplished with bringing more focus to that side of the screen for the audience.

        The fashion used in Sherlock could also be consider to be quite noir and old. As I mentioned earlier these series are set in modern day London, however the clothing Sherlock wears stick very traditional and accurate to the old Sherlock Holmes stories. Sherlock tends to wear suit trousers, leather shows a long coat which goes past his knees and a scarf. This is very similar to fashion used in a lot of thrillers such as 'The Third Man'. The only things that is really missing from Sherlock's costume is a trilby hat. This screenshot from The Third Man shows the long coat, suit trousers and leather shows being used in an old noir thriller.

Eve: Final Cut

Question 2

Question 1

Question 1 media studies evaluation 

Props and objects:

For our thriller we won't be needing that many props because most of the storyline concentrates on the chase between the the hitmen and Eve. So, one of the main props we will be using is the diamond necklace that Eve will be stealing. We took some time to work out what item she would be stealing because it needed to be realistic to the storyline. Jewellery is a common prop that is used in a large amount of thriller texts due to their attractive look and representation of wealth. They also are used as a sentimental object which is usually passed down in a family. The diamond necklace was perfect for this because it not only showed wealth, it also would help to create contrast to the dark background behind it. Necklace's in films are almost always used to display something. For example Eve's pearl necklace in 'Once Upon a Time in America' is used to display her innocence and it foreshadows that something bad may happen to her. However, an example of a film which uses a necklace as a sign for wealth and meaning is 'Titanic'. This film was directed by James Cameron in 1997 and has been considered to be one of the best romantic story films of all time. This obviously doesn't make the film a thriller, but a necklace with a blue heart shaped Sapphire at then end of it is used as in important prop and part of costumes. The necklace is seen as having a large about of meaning and sentiment to it which relates to the necklace used in our thriller.

         The only other props to be used in out thriller is two 'weapons' that Hazel and Cha cha will be holding whilst chasing Eve. We tried to use baseball bats for their weapons because this is a generic weapon that is used in a large amount of films, but when filming we were unable to get access to two baseball bats. We would have liked to use baseball bats because they have been used in many thriller texts before which means they would have given our hitmen a more stereotypical look. Baseball bats are mostly used in zombie films and TV shows such as 'Zombieland', but thrillers like 'Fight Club' have also used them. Instead of using baseball bats we used a wooden stick and a short piece of copper pipe, which roughly gave us the same effect, but didn't quite achieve the archetype that is managed when using baseball bats. 

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