Alex Revell's Evaluation

Draft Evaluation- Alex


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


Chase

• We agreed straight away that we wanted a chase scene in our thriller. This is because the "chase" element is a simple way to create a thrill for the viewer. As movement, shot transitions, sound (both diegetic and non-diegetic) are increased in speed dramatically. Dozens of thrillers to this day include chases, example are:

Casino Royale, i,Robot and Narc all possess a foot-chase scenes. Ergo, we decided to use this method to create a thrilling scene. When the audience watch our chase scene, we feel an intense increase of speed and action. This is the feeling that these three films pass out to viewers, so we were looking for the same effect.

Setting

• We used two very different locations for both scenes in our film. The chase setting takes place in a forest pathway - which is in bright daylight and very open. Then the basement setting, takes place in dark, dusty, small and cut-off basement. We chose these two settings because they gave more variety to our film instead of using the same location.
• We used the forest path because it was very narrow, and a perfect length for our chase scene. It also held fantastic positions for us to place our camera. We chose a basement because it was perfect to create a dangerous and dark atmosphere. The basement looks cut-off from society so the tied-up victim has no chance of rescue. This also helps create a feeling of mystery, because the audience have no idea where this place is. 

Basements have been used many times before where victims have been held and/or tied up. An example of this method being used is found in:

In Pulp Fiction, this famous basement scene is used as a climax to round-up one of the film's endings.

Why our film is unique

• Our film is unique because our chase scene takes place in a quiet, pleasant forest pathway. However, what is going on is dangerous. Hardly any thrillers use this type of setting in chase scenes, most chase scenes mirror the setting which is usually a dangerous or busy place. Our chase scene in no way resembles the environment it is taking place in.
• Our film represents a middle-class area. Both characters are wearing a shirt and tie, and the area once again is very tidy, quiet and green, which also represents a middle-class. This is not entirely correct for the real world, but is what we intended. Rarely do chase scenes feature a middle-class setting or characters.

We also used a bright filter on top of the chase scene to add a feel of a flashback.

Nine Of Our Shots And How They Relate To The Conventions Of A Thriller

Shot 1

• Opening shot, questions raised. Where is he? He is okay?
• We see he is taped up, we know this isn't his basement.

Shot 2

• Shot of taped victim's feet, audience now know he is immobile.
• We see what he is sitting on.

Shot 3

• Point of view shot, we get to see what he sees.
• Darkness, where is the antagonist? Is he there?
• Stairs - The only way out.

Shot 4

• Tilted shot gives a feeling of panic.
• LA gives indication of a powerful confrontation.

Shot 5

• ELS establishes setting more.
• Raises questions - when will the path end?

Shot 6

• Surveillance shot, is someone watching?
• High angle shows how much longer of path is left.

Shot 7

• Twig that is tripped on shown clearly in shot.
• Character is running into twig's direction, what will happen?

Shot 8

• Shot through stairs gives indication of character being watched.
• Suspense, raises questions as to what is going to happen next.

Shot 9

• Antagonist's face is revealed - Mystery of identity has been solved.
• Shadow on the wall shows adds effect on antagonist.

Question 2: How does your media product represent a particular social groups?

Our product represents two middle-class caucasian men. This is a huge social group in the UK. However, these characters taking part in criminal activity which is not usually affiliated with the middle-class.

Our characters are affiliated as middle-class because:

Mise En Scene

• Peaceful setting for chase scene.
• A bricked basement isn't something you would find in a working-class environment these days, but something more likely to be in the middle-class countryside.

Costumes

• Shirt and Tie is heavily affiliated with middle-class.
• Normal hairstyles.
• Smart trousers.

Mise En Scene and Costumes contribute to make these characters look middle-class.

Question 3: What type of media distribution might distribute your media product and why?

I believe of product would be suited best if it was broadcasted on BBC or a channel similar to the BBC. As I believe it does not feel like a cinematic film that you would go to the cinema to watch, and it would be more successful if broadcasted on national television and brought out on DVD. If it was to be broadcasted, it would also be released for portable devices and available to download online. Therefore, our product would be best for home viewing.

How could we market our product?

We could market our film by the following:

• Advertisements on the TV channel our film is being viewed on.
• Release a trailer to YouTube and create our own channel.
• Create a Facebook page and release bulletins on our product.
• Billboards around the country.
• Create a website dedicated to our film.
• Pay for advertisements across the internet on popular websites.

Question 4: Who would be your audience for your media product?

Gender:

Our target gender would be males because:

• Both characters are male.
• Violence and action usually appeals to males.
• Thrillers have almost always been orientated around male entertainment.
• However, females are still targeted for our audience, just not as much as males.

Age:

Our target age range is around 15-25. As both characters are younger, this may appeal more to young people. However, because our film features violence and relevance to torture it would not be suitable for under 15s. So this film would be 15+ Age Restriction.

Therefore, our target audience are 15-25

males.



Question 5: How did you attract/address your audience?


We attracted our our audience through few features:


Mise En Scene- Dark, wet, dirty basement is the type of atmosphere that would appeal to a 15-25 year old male in a thriller.


Costumes- Both characters wearing trainers, jeans and casual overalls. Normal clothing for middle-class 17 year olds, therefore costume appeals to 15-25 middle-class males, but would appeal to any class.


Accents- When Liam talks, he sounds just what a middle-class 17 year old would sound like. Therefore, this also adds the attraction for a middle-class audience.


Synopsis- The general theme of the film would appeal to most 15-25 year old males, regardless of class, ethinicity etc.


Shots- Shots are all quite quick during the chase scene. This is make it feel quicker and action-packed,


Sounds- Soundtrack is electronic, which appeals to most male audiences 15-25 years old these days. At least in films.


I like to think our product is similar to Narc's chase scene, in the way that there is a flashback.


However, Narc includes diegetic sound only.

I know Narc appealed to me and many people I knew who watched it, and enjoyed the chase scene. I hope our product managed to pull off that effect to a certain level for our target audience.

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




I have learnt all sort of new things about the technology we used.


Editing


I learnt a lot about editing and how to edit in Final Cut Pro. I worked a lot on this software in our preliminary project, and a little bit on our final product, although Jordan was our main editor, I still picked up things from him when observing him edit.







Apple Mac


I have never used an Apple Mac before, so using one for the first time was a whole new experience for me. It is very different to Windows, and I enjoyed working on a completely different type of computing hardware.




Garageband


I used Garageband a lot in the preliminary, and
I had a chance to use it a bit with Jordan and Matt when we were finishing off our project. So
I have learnt how to use this software as well.
I found it great how many sound there were, and it was very useful for our project in the end.