EVALUATION Question three: Target Audience

Our target audience are males between 20 and 30 and this is a recording which shows the prezi in detail.

EVALUATION - Q1: Comparing Films

I have put together a picture using microsoft powerpoint of stills from our thriller movie and stills of a professional hollywood thriller movie and compared 9 shots from each to compare the two movies.

1) In the first picture from Dirty Harry of a woman in the scope of a sniper shot I compared it to the picture of kaleigh walking alone in the park from our movie FOURSQUARE and I think it is similar because it both shows the women in vulnerable positions and it also challenges thriller conventions because the level of threat top the women is very different because in ours she is not in any immediate danger but in the other she is.

2) In the second shot I chose to compare the shot of me on the roof with my silhoutte and the shot of harry hiding behind the sniper and I thought that they were similar since both of our identities are concealed well and that is typical of thriller movies because it creates suspense and it also shows power too; they're high up.

3) The third shot I wanted to compare was the shot of a landscape (london) from our movie and the shot of harry and his partner on the floor investigating a dead woman on a rooftop, there wasn't much to compare since they were very different shots but the similarities are that both shots are types of establishing shots.

4) The fourth shot I was comparing was the shot of all four scenes on screen on our movie and the shot of harry on the roof holding the sniper and they are similar in the idea that they both have a male antagonist it seems at the start and his identity is concealed but there is a major difference becuase I'm not in the shot.

5) The fourth shot I compared was of judiths feet moving and the shot of the lady in the yellow bikini walking while under sniper lens and they are smilar again because it's women in a weak position being watched and they comply with thriller conventions of women being weaker and men being in power or in control.

6) The sixth shot I decided to compare was the still image of kaleigh walking in the park and the still of harry walking in the streets of a city and the similarities I noticed were that they were both mid shots or full length shots showing people walking and the audince not knowing what they're doing yet.

7) The seventh shot that I compared was the shot of the red room in ours and the shot of harry and his partner from a high angle, the similarities are the types of shots which are people doing what they do from distance but the audience being left to think what they're doing.

8 & 9) The last two are together because they were similar, the first shots from ours were the shots of charon walking from behind and someone typing on the laptop and from Dirty Harry, the shot of the sky and the other shot of the city line, they do not challenge thriller conventions because they both are typical because they set the scene but compared to our movie they differ slightly when it comes to shots used.

Q3: TARGET AUDIENCE

The video below goes  through my PREZI in detail, on the PREZI I created a character who suits our target audience. The PREZI explains who this character is, what he does for a living and what would be in his man bag.  

EVALUATION Question three: Target Audience

This is a summary of the target audience member for our psychological thriller. Even tough it is aimed mainly at men, we feel that it could appeal to women as well.

This screen recording is of me looking for the images for the prezi of the things the 25 year old male would have in his bag.

Q2 - How does your media product represent particular social groups?

We were very inspired by the opening shot of Donnie Darko and used a similar style when opening our Thriller film. We felt the shot established the setting and the Mise en Scene of the characters, dressed in all black, suggests he is the antagonist and the Thriller revolves around his actions. This shot also creates mystery about the character as we don't see his face straight away.

Similarities: Both are the main antagonists and the story revolves around them. The shot from the back hides the characters identity and creates suspense and tension. Similarly to Donnie Darko, both characters are plagued by something, in our case the link the character has with the girls which causes him to send the change message.

Differences: In Donnie Darko he commits crimes as he is plagued by images of bunny rabbits. Also, he escapes an accident and survives, unlike our character who wasn't involved in any accident. In our Thriller, our character messes with his victims psychologically rather than physically. So there is little blood and graphic violence. 

We were also inspired by some shots used in Collateral. This close up of Jamie Fox is used to show his expression, emotion and reaction to another characters, which is what we were trying to convey with our shot of myself. It shows my reaction and suggests I am an protagonist in this, similarly to the shot in Collateral. Although the mise en scene in both shots are very different, that adds to the audience we were trying to reach, its shows it is not the same audience as Collateral and the film is quite fast paced and action packed as it it shot in a car. However, in a train station the scene is much slower and calmer, another way of creating suspense.

Similarities: Both characters are involved in the actions of others, they are the protagonists. Close up shots are used to show their emotions and reactions to the actions, and they are represented as the good guys.

Differences: In Collateral, the protagonist is male, and represented as an innocent passerby. However, through out the film the character changes, becomes more confident and is involved in the action and drama. Thus changing his role as a character.

EVALUATION Question two: Social Groups

I looked specifically for trailers because they show all of the main characters in full swing. I found the 1978 horror/thriller HALLOWEEN by John Carpenter and I saw that the women played the same kind of role as our thriller. In the particular shot above, the three women are the typical young, pretty, vulnerable friends who are not concious of what is to come. They fit the social group of the popular girls a high school that hang out together at each others houses. With our thriller even tough the girls are not together,there is still that feeling that they are united, because of the split screen. With all the girls appearing simultaneously you get the feeling that if something happens to one, something happens to all of them. They fit into the social group of young girls doing there own thing and that they often receive chain messages that they ignore.

In the second shot from HALLOWEEN along with the shot from FOURSQUARE the girls have an innocent look about them. 

Q2 PART TWO

I chose to look at another film, I looked at the 1978 version of 'Halloween' as we were told in involves women being stalked as the victim. I looked at the trailer rather than the opening, I did this because the trailer introduces all the main characters. The women here are all portrayed as having innocent features and petite bodies, they have pure expressions and seem to be oblivious to the world around them. Likewise in 'Four Square' we use females who have vulnerable gestures, they are all young and all appear to be in their own world. Both 'Halloween' and 'Four Square' create vulnerability to the females who appear to be being watched/stalked.

Q2: How Does Your Media Product Represent Particular Social Groups?

 Character Similarities and Differences:

As a whole class we looked at 'Collateral' this film gave us some inspiration for our characters. I also looked at 'Halloween' in terms of more female similarities, this can be found on Q2: PART TWO blog.




















Firstly, the females in our thriller are considered to be vulnerable. They all appear to look innocent and afraid likewise when we first meet the woman in 'Collateral' she is represented to be vulnerable, she is petite and has an innocent face. However, we later learn she gives as good as she gets this could be how we choose to switch our thriller, these females who are represented as being vulnerable could turn not to be vulnerable.

Collateral uses a male protagonist and so do we, this male is portrayed to have something suspicious about him just like our character. We can see in 'Collateral' that this man has something to hide, in our opening we created suspense by making our character appear to have something to hide.

Q1 - Our Media Product

Aspects of Intertextuality.

 1. Here is a shot similar to ours in the title sequence of Se7en. The shot in Se7en is closer up and blurred,however in our shot like this you become more aware of the Mise en Scene and can gain some of the surrounding and settings of the characters.

 2. This shot resembles the one in the title sequence of se7en. We felt that having our text on a black background would make it stand our more.

3. We conventionally put our title in white bold letters on a black background rather then over the action to really make the title clear and stand out. This is commonly used by other thrillers films as it effective and a clear and basic way to show the title of the film.

 4. We opened our sequence with an establishing shot to set the scene. This follows the conventional forms of media products, as an establishing shot is an obvious and easy way to set the scene, time and atmosphere by the use of an establishing shot. We felt this would enable our audience to automatically know about th setting, rather than trying to figure it out for themselves. So in this show we ensured to capture popular buildings in London.

 5. Here is two shots that slightly resemble our eachother. However, our shot is unconventional, we decided to get a birds eye view shot of the character reading to create the idea that she is being watched from all angles, thus creating tension.

 6. We used felt this shot was suitable and worked well because its different and the angles are good. This show is quite close and unusual, which follows conventional style of shots for thrillers.

 7. We used a variety of shots, so this close up shot of the book resembles the one used in Se7en.

8.  We merged images to link scenes together, in this screen grab it represents that the characters are linked. This is an unconventional tecnique that we felt would work well with our film, it challenges the forms of real media products, however we felt it was relevant in creating an idea of what our Thriller was about in the opening.

   9.  Here is another shot of a merged image, however this one is in the same scene. We felt it was suitable and clever way to express the characters point of view show by merging it with his face. We felt this was a conventional shot and is used in other thriller films. It creates suspense and tenson, as wella s appealing to the audience with the great effect.  

EVALUATION Question one: Art of the Title Sequence Comparison

Here is a comparison between a Hollywood movie, DIRTY HARRY and our media thriller. This opening is very similar to ours in many ways, such as the protagonist looking smart and having that certain suspicious and masterful aspect about him.

In the second shot the woman is the swimming pool is being watched which is similar to our thriller and the way that the female character seems vulnerable and oblivious towards what is yet to come. 

The establishing shot of the city where the man is positioned to the right of the shot makes the man look powerful and in control just like our opening where the protagonist looks upon the city and is also positioned to the right of the frame so that the viewer can take in two things at the same time, The protagonist and the setting. 

In DIRTY HARRY their prop used for killing is a gun and there fore there is a close up of it whereas with our opening the key prop is the technology used like the mobile phones and laptops. 

The titles stand out from the screen and are bold with a shadow which makes the opening look more manly and striking. With our thriller the font is also bold and stands out against the often lighter background.

Our thriller follows the conventions of the real media product of DIRTY HARRY in the sense that the male is the dominant figure who is suspicious and the woman is the vulnerable antagonist being watched.

Q1: In What Ways Does Your Media Product Use, Develop Or Challenge Forms And Conventions Of Real Media Products?

 Our Thriller has a similar title sequence to the film 'Dirty Harry' below is 9 shots of this film and 9 shots of our thriller. 

The Similarites: One of our first shots was of a prop which was our films weapon- the male character's phone, whilst 'Dirty Harry' shows the gun- their weapon.  

Another similarity comes with 'Dirty Harry's second shot- the antagonist being victimized. The female is being watched and has a vulnerable status, in our opening the females appear to be being watched and are also made to look vulnerable. 

We also- like 'Dirty Harry' have a lot of shots in the opening of our protagonist to create suspense and intrigue. 

Another similarity is the establishing shot they use of Clint Eastwood on a rooftop looking down towards the view. We to use this shot of our male character on a rooftop looking out onto London- as if he was watching his victims.

'Dirty Harry' uses match cuts and close ups of key props in the opening. We also use this as we film close ups of the phone screens and computer screens. 
 
'Dirty Harry' ends its title sequence with a side shot of Clint Eastwood, as you can see below our final shot in our opening sequence is a side shot of our male character, we have used a suspicious character however our is dressed in all in black whilst 'Dirty Harry' uses a suit to create their suspicion. We also place our titles over the film and next to the characters which is also used by 'Dirty Harry'. 

We use differences also, such as our font is only 'black' whilst 'Dirty Harry' uses a mix of both yellow and red, however both openings use big bold text. The mise en scene differs and this is because the story line is different so different props, location and setting is used. We also based our shots on what we felt worked to build atmosphere so these also differ from 'Dirty Harry' 




Our opening uses the forms and conventions of 'Dirty Harry' but they are slightly changed to form our own work. Our thriller is conventional because it follows the typical themes of a thriller, from drawing up the comparisons from Dirty Harry we can see the similarity's between our thriller and with 'Dirty Harry's'. 
We have used intertextuality of real media products as we have borrowed aspects of 'Dirty Harry'
                                                                 

EVALUATION Question Six: Audience Feedback-Constructive Criticism

Along with our positive feedback we were given Constructive criticism which we definitely will take into consideration when filming again. The most common feedback was that we needed to use more diegetic sounds and that we should have faded out the music at the end. Some also felt that the ending was quite abrupt.  

EVALUATION Question Six: Audience Feedback-Strengths

We asked the class what they thought was successful about our thriller opening and then I made a word cloud about the positives aspects of our film. The one thing that almost everybody thought was good was the overlapping effect was very effective. Also people thought that the sound was very suspenseful and that our shots were very interesting. I also chose the colours for the wordle carefully as i thought they went well with our thriller because our titles are black and mostly against a lighter background.

Q6: Audience Feedback And Comment

We got some audience feedback on our films from other AS media members, above shows a wordle of mixed comments from our audience. We were given positive feedback along with constructive criticisms, the most common constructive criticism was that we should have used some diegetic sound rather than just music. The positive comments differed by the most common was our good and specific use of effects and overlapping shots, people liked our range of shots and match cuts. They said the music made our piece very suspenseful along with the mise en scene which created innocence, the comments  were very helpful and allowed us to experience non biased feedback.

We posted our video onto facebook and asked for truthful comments so that we could get a range of people commenting on our video- including our target audience.  Here are the comments we received from facebook from both male and female audiences,it was highly suprising as to who was actually commenting on our film. It was surprising because we originally believed our target audience is young male's prefably uni graduates, so when we discovered that teenagers were commenting on our film of both sexes we realized that our target audience may have been quite limited as it was clear to see that others- including females are attracted to our thriller. This is quite a positive, as we were not aiming to appeal to females so it is quite flattering that they want to watch it.

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Q6 Audience Feedback.

Here is a Wordle of some of the feedback we received after our class watched our Thriller Opening.

This were the main terms people used to describe our work, including positive feedback and constructive criticism.

End Of Movie Thoughts

Now today is the last day of our time limit for our movie and it's been a long road but we're done and this is the last blog for this section I'll be doing, and there isn't really much to say but well done to my team and me!
Now we're going to the cinema soon to watch the movie itself in the cinema and get some feedback and then complete our blogs but on a new section titled Evaluation so this is the last post on this section of it so bye!

FINAL EDIT

This is the final blog i'm going to do and the video explains what we've done, we're done and now I just recorded my last video to wrap up the whole process it's a type of evaluation and it's done now.

FINAL CUT

Here is our final piece of work, the opening to our Thriller - Foursquare.

FINAL SOUND & TITLES

We experimented with soundtrack a lot in our editing process. as the deadline was coming closer and closer we decided to take a sample track from youtube called Royalty free collection- Suspense, we took this music and edited it slightly to make it our own. We also had to edit this music on final cut pro to get it exactly how we wanted it.

The titles were made using Final cut as we felt the effects on livetype were to comical and dramatic for our piece, we wanted to keep our titles simple so at first we did this on livetype but in the end we just stuck with Final Cut because we were told we could produce the same titles a lot quicker using final cut.