In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge the forms and conventions of real media products?
I feel that our thriller has included many forms and conventions already familiar in the genre, but also developed some of the ideas. For example, we had a typically male protagonist, but we had two, our detectives, instead of just one. Our antagonist is introduced at the beginning, instead of being hidden till the end. This is typical in thrillers, as the film is usually about how they are stopped, not revealing their identities. Our film is not set in an exotic location, like a lot of thrillers, so that is one way that our thriller challenges the conventions of a real thriller. We had our protagonist(s) involved in some kind of puzzle solving, working out the case, and I think if we’d have taken it further, the film would follow the detectives in their solving of the case, as well as an emotional battle between the proatagonist and the antagonist, which is prominent in most thrillers.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
When looking at our thriller, we have shown two main “groups”: The detectives, and the killer. Although we didn’t set out to represent any social group in any particular way, it is obvious that our detectives are hard working, resourceful and intelligent. This is evident from their working out of the puzzle that is the case, “Hang on – it says here Jason Crook was in their year as well”. With the killer, we wanted, through the use of the internal voice, to show the internal struggles that people who have disorders, such as schizophrenia, endure, and how hard it must be for them.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
I feel that, in terms of distribution, a media institution such as Warner Bros might be good to distribute our product. This is because they are big companies, and can distribute the film to cinemas all over the country, especially as Warner Bros owns a lot of cinemas over the country. I feel that cinema would be relevant for our thriller, as it makes towards an overall more intense experience, which is what we were trying to achieve.
Who would be the audience for you media product?
Our thriller is mainly based at an audience of late teens onwards, as I feel that age would be able to understand the psychological aspect included in our piece, such as the killer’s schizophrenia. When we looked at the different regulations by the BBFC, we decided that our thriller should be a 15 rating as, even though our introduction contains no violence, it is one of the main conventions of a thriller, and if we’d carried the film on, we’d have liked a couple of fight scenes in there.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of construction this product?
I personally learnt a lot about the editing process from constructing this project, and have improved my skills greatly on “iMovie”. Also, I learnt a lot about the filming process, in terms of the camera. I can now recognise and execute different camera angles, shots and movements, and I feel I know now how to take a fuller advantage of the camera’s capabilities.
How did you attract/address your audience?
We tried to attract our audience in several different ways. For example, our opening shots were shown on two different desks, in two different places. This was intended so the audience would question the meaning of it, enticing them further. The split-second “x-ray” flash on the next victim was used to draw the audience’s attention to it, and their thoughts are confirmed when the victim is seen walking past our killer. By introducing our audience to a murder case, we hoped the audience would want to learn more, especially as the detectives find some “new” to the case.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
I feel that we have learnt from our mistakes in the preliminary task, in terms of making an overall less amateur production. For example, on one of the shots of our preliminary task, we can see the shadow of the camera on the wall. We worked hard not to make these mistakes again, and made sure the camera was not intrusive, in terms of reflections and shadows. Also we’ve learned that holding our audience’s attention is important. In our preliminary task, our opening shots are just James walking for half a minute. We realise now that this is not the best way to go about engaging our audience. As such, we tried to contain our thriller with enticing information that will attract the audience to know more. I feel we chose the different shots more careful than before, as we framed a lot of them well.
My favourite part of our thriller opening is the scene in which our killer is introduced. I feel that the use of the internal voice was very effective to showing the struggles of our killer. I like very much the framing of his face in the mirror, and how that was contrast with the other shot from the side. As the killer slammed the door, I liked the slick use of editing (the cut to black) to show that the outside world is the truly dark and mysterious place.
