Media Evaluation
"Give them pleasure - the same pleasure they have when they wake up from a nightmare." - Alfred Hitchcock
1) In what way does you media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Research was very important in the development of our thriller production. A lot of time was spent watching and analysing thriller films to explore generic signifiers and to inspire us into using similar ideas in our own product. A lot of time was spent watching films such as Quentin Tarantino’s “Jackie Brown” and “Inglorious Bastards” to show us how certain shot types, lighting, costume and narrative structure could be used to produce a film that stood out and succeeded in generating thriller appeal. Particular interest was generated by the group after watching “Jackie Brown”. In “Jackie Brown” it was very clear of Tarantino’s intentional use of female empowerment through the behaviour and costume worn by Jackie. We decided upon further analysis to create a similar character to Jackie, one who would upset gender stereotyping and who would control the environment she was involved in. We decided to name her Grace Jones and later would name our film “A Fall from Grace”. We used this piece of word play in our title to send the message to the audience that Grace Jones was once an elegant and graceful woman but through her own ambition had developed into someone far more devious and mysterious. As well as taking inspiration from Jackie Brown in the development of one of our key characters, we also took inspiration from a particular shot found during the film itself. During an argument between “Ordell” and “Beaumont” Tarantino turns the camera into the depths of the car boot leaving us the audience with a mid shot of both characters. The shot (shown below), not only suggested Beaumont’s inevitable decent into darkness but also showed how a mid shot could be used in similar circumstances to generate mystery and suspense. Taking inspiration we developed the shot (also shown below) and created a shot that featured a mysterious handbag being lifted from the boot of the car by an equally mysterious figure – hopefully generating audience suspicion and wanting them to question who the mysterious figure is and what is in the bag.
We decided however whereas the shot in Jackie Brown had the backdrop of a nights sky. We would fill the background of our shot with powerful natural light. We did this to enforce the idea that the natural light is acting very much like a halo over the mysterious figure suggesting she believes she is invincible while also giving the effect that the bag she is collecting has been masked in darkness and mystery
2) How does your media product represent particular social groups?
As mentioned in the above paragraph, we took a lot of inspiration from "Jackie Brown" and "Inglorious Bastards" which both contrast to gender stereotyping and put woman very much in control of the situation. With our character Grace Jones, we wanted to ensure she was masked in mystery and felt dominant over those she approached but we also wanted her to be just a small part of a far greater hierarchy. Using dark black clothing we presented Grace as someone who wanted to slip into the background, unnoticed but also someone who was very much in control of the way they acted. We used pink high heel shoes to suggest she still had a seductive, youthful essence about her - contrasting to her otherwise all black outfit. Furthermore we ensured that her face was never shown during the production, this was used to reinforce the idea that she wanted to remain anonymous and isolated from the rest of the world. It could be argued that for the above reasons Grace Jones is not a generic Femmefatale. She is indeed ill - fated due to her nasty run in with the dominant male figure at the end of the product, but we did not want to present her as a sexual figure. We wanted to tell the audience she could easily dominate those who stood in her way but also intended to lurk in the background and out of sight. Constrating to Grace we presented the second key character of the film to be far less dominant and far more innocent. The shop assistant played by Samuel Cameron was used as a way of suggesting the blissful unawareness of those around Grace. We wanted to present the male figure - who would often be seen as the dominant one - as being off guard and somewhat clueless of the events around him. We took inspiration from characters such as "Derek" in "London To Brighton" who were part of much bigger plans and who lacked much knowledge about what they were in for. Our final important character was based strongly on accepted (accepted meaning more in tune with mainstream generic presentation) stereotyping of modern society. The suited male featured very late on in our production, who lays in wait for Grace to commit her murderous act, was a way for us to suggest that even in the world of Grace Jones men could still overpower and outwit the most deviant of woman. For this character we took inspiration from famous Gangster type roles such as "The Godfather's" Don Corleone.
3) What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
3) What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
Upon researching media institutions we discovered how sites such as Youtube make sharing independent projects far easier and cheaper than in the past. Youtube offers a way for millions of people to view and share videos all over the world. We realised how uploading our thriller film to Youtube would potentially allow it to be viewed by an infinite amount of people. We also discovered how uploading a video to youtube allowed friends and family to share the film on social networking sites such as Facebook while also being able to download the file onto personal memory sticks and upload it to anywhere they wanted. For funding we researched into how certain sites such as Filmproposals.com offer special ways of acquiring funds for independent film makers. Furthermore we also looked into how companies such as "Working Title" could potentially allow films such as our own to be developed into full length feature films. The internet as mentioned earlier however is most probably the best choice for a film like ours. With Twitter, Facebook, Blogs and various other social networking capabilities the internet allows for short films to generate vast amount of public knowledge and interest through word of mouth and file sharing. The internet means people from all over the world can view and discuss certain media products and contact the developers with ideas or even contracts into turning short films into full length feature movies. Finally we looked at how once a film has been projected into the public domain, how DVD's can be created and sold to generate profit and further awareness of such projects.
4) would be the audience for your media product?
Thriller films are usually targeted at older and more mature demographics. This is mainly due to such films containing graphic violence, complicated plot twists and harsher language. We believe that our film would also fit into this demographic. Our film in its short two minutes contained murder and robbery and therefore would not be aimed at a younger generation, instead we would attempt to attract an audience of around 17+. We would want people to understand the twists and turns of our plot while also being able to enjoy the film without fear of violence or gritty drama. Upon research, where we showed various thriller films including "Flightplan" and "Panic Room" to an audience of people aged 17+ we discovered how they found the films to be engaging and enjoyable. We would not expect this result from children aged below the age of 15 who would most probably not understand some of the complex storyline and who would most definitely not enjoy graphic violence and foul language. We would also hope our product would be enjoyed by adults aged above 30-40. We believe that through the empowerment of woman in our film and the use of sinister and mysterious appeal we would be able to both attract men and woman audiences. Finally due to our inspiration from films such as "London To Brighton" where we are presented with a gritty and disturbed city scape and TV Dramas such as "Spooks" where again we are shown gritty and isolated characters, hopefully means we would attract similar audiences who would watch these kind of programs.
5) How did you attract/address your audience?
After the completion of our film we decided to give the finished product to the year 13 students to critically review. We sent the film to around 10 students who each filled in an individual questionnaire. Upon receiving the questionnaires back we discovered how some elements of the film were repeatedly commented on. One such example was where nearly every student advised we remove our original murder scene. Many of the students argued that the scene was not up to the standard of the rest of the film using words such as "fake". After receiving the feedback we decided it would be best to remove this scene and consequently added a few changes which should indeed make the scene feel more real and keep it in line with the rest of the production. Furthermore we were told about how the lighting in the scene involving Grave Jones's decent into the basement was not up to scratch and made it very hard for the viewer to understand what was going on. Again we decided it would be best to reshoot the scene to ensure the overall film was not damaged due to a key part of the production being hard to understand. Happily we also recieved a lot of positive feedback from those who reviewed our film. Many people really enjoyed the cliff hanger at the end commenting that they wanted to know "what happens next" this pleased us greatly due to this being exactly what we wanted to achieve with our production. Finally we were also pleased that the soundtrack was also a major attraction to our piece. Many people commented on how although maybe slightly light hearted it made the piece enjoyable and added to the sense of mystery. The soundtrack was a very important choice for us as we knew it could dramatically change the whole environment of the production. Were we to choose something like jazz, Grace Jones's whole appeal would have changed due to the audience believing she was far more seductive and sexy; this was something we did not want to happen.
"To me, movies and music go hand in hand. When I'm writing a script, one of the first things I do is find the music I'm going to play for the opening sequence." - Quentin Tarantino
6) What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
From admittedly being quite new to using media technology at the start of the year I believe I have learnt a great deal from creating our thriller product. Firstly through the use of digital cameras I have begun to develop my understanding for different shot types and angles. Learning about how tilt shots can represent feelings of unease and nauseousness allowed me to show a characters emotion through a simple shot rather than speech or action. Furthermore learning about how high angle and low angle shots represent superiority allowed me to again show the dominance of one character and the weakness of another. Through our narrative structure I was able to use a range of different shots including tracking and over the shoulder to show the movement of Grace Jones as she approached and entered the shop. I was also able to use close ups of her red painted nails to show generic signifiers when referring to the femmefatale. Finally I also used the camera to capture shadows that were projected on the wall - showing her high heels walking down the steps and her knife coming down on the unsuspecting shop assistant. As well as getting used to various camera shots and the camera itself I was also able to develop my understanding of how to edit and export the finished film. I was able to learn how to cut and paste various clips into position and how to add diegetic and non-diegetic sound onto the product. Furthermore I was able to use cross dissolves to merge clips together making them much more fluid than they would have been if they were to simply jump from one clip to another. Finally I was able to add titles and cast names to the finished product where appropriate so that they would not distract the audience or disrupt the ongoing film.
7) Looking back on you preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
It is now obvious how the preliminary task allowed me to develop my ideas and camera shots into a far more productive and engaging piece of film. Through learning about the 180 degree rule and getting used to various camera movements the preliminary task taught me much about how difficult filming can be. Through making mistakes in the prelim task, such as using a soundtrack that doesn't fit with the film and dodgy editing I was able to develop my understanding of both equipment and the thriller genre itself. A major problem discovered during the preliminary task was how one mistake could lead to a full reshoot being needed during the editing phase. This prepared us later on when we began our final production as we knew we would have to take multiple shots of each scene to ensure we did not make any dramatic errors. Furthermore we learnt how extremely important lighting is during a film and how lack of lighting can result in continuous reshoots being needed. The progression from preliminary task to final cut has been a huge leap. We spent a lot more time on the editing ensuring everything ran smoothly without a hitch, as well as ensuring the soundtrack was appropriate and that a range of camera shots were used to ensure a smooth and enjoyable film. Personally making the film has been very demanding. From the almost complete change of original idea during the first few weeks of filming to having to travel to and from various destinations during weekends and weekdays the filming has been tough but great fun. The weather has played a major role during some of our shoots making continuity a very big problem, but after weeks of editing we have created something that I believe everyone in our group is proud of. Some of the criticisms have been hard to take, due to spending several hours on certain scenes only to be told they need to be completely reshot. With the final feedback given however, I believe we have created a film that meets the target demographics' needs and that will entertain those who watch it.
