Evaluation

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

The opening sequence to our Thriller generally follows the conventions and trends of film making and those of Thrillers. It is filmed using professional cameras to get a clear image of what is happening, with the audience as an outsider, rather than challenging the convention by using the style of seeing what’s happening through somebody else’s eyes. With the audience seeing the narrative in this way it enables them to really get into the film as they feel part of the experience. This is common in thrillers as it adds to the suspense. Suspense is built up in our opening sequence as there is an enigma as to who the boss is and why he has his ‘gangster friends‘beating up people in the kitchen. The fact we have a man as the boss being very dominant yet showing his weakness (i.e. filing his nails) roles in the film adds to typical conventions of thrillers as main characters often have weaknesses, which mixes power and enigma with violence to fulfil the aim of being all the more disturbing and graphic. The location we chose was an old kitchen, therefore the props we used were simplistic (i.e a meat cleaver and a hob combined with blood) these kitchen utensils add to the naturalism of the setting which is very characteristic of a thriller, as you have to believe it in order to experience tension. We also had to think about the time of day it is set in, ours was set at night and in the dark. This is so our thriller seems more naturalistic, as these kinds of things usually happen at night (it also makes it more thrilling to watch).We never are never told why the boss is ordering his boys to do his dirty work for him, but he is introduced to us as and it is clear the rest of the film will be telling his story, using a traditional British film convention.


2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The opening sequence to ‘Trigger Happy’ represents men in their mid thirtys’s/ forty’s as ‘bad boys’ who thrive on violence and money. Therefore the protagonists are men from aged 18 and above. Therefore we filmed it in a way in which we can see what’s happening through somebody else’s eyes in order to get the audience involved and draw them into the film: to do this we directed the boss to use direct address to the camera, and we used the hand held device to trick the audience into believing they can see the violence through their own eyes. We also held the camera low whilst tracking in order to create the idea of ‘creeping’ and not wanting to be seen by Adam Grant (Scouse) during his scene involving the leg chop. This builds up the tension and suspense for the audience. In terms of the mise-en-scene the props and costumes such as the boss’s suite represents him as the obvious leader, his placement (on his chair) suggests to the audience that he is in charge and the main focus of the film. He introduces his ‘men’ during the sequence, naming Scouse which suggests he is a Scouser and is a play on invention to suggest he is ‘hard’ as they are known for this stereotype, this is clearly seen during his scene as he screams in a scouser accent whilst chopping off an innocent boys arm. His men are wearing their normal clothes i.e. jeans and vest tops to convey this is a normal day for them and this type of thing usually goes on. One of the men (Matt) has a tattoo and this was particularly focused on during his ‘beating up scene’ as tattoos are stereotypical conventions for brutes.


3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

As a group we discussed that the distribution company for our film would be a high budget film. To pull in audience members we would also use famous actors, later on in the film as antagonists. This would be an English distribution company as we would use English actors such as Christian Bale and Gerald Butler. We would also use a famous producer’s name i.e. Shane Medows or Guy Ritchie so the audience know what kind of thing to expect. The distribution would mainly be focused in Great Britain and then the United States due to being English language countries and then being a high budget film, for profit returns we would hope for global distribution.



4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

The majority of the people watching this movie would be male but relevant for both sexes as some females are into gangster movies. They would be middle class and their age would range between 18 and older looking for a film that would acquire the taste of violence and character studies. On the Jicnars scale it would be A and B Class. The audience would have to be mature and intellectual to grasp the ideas represented in the film. Also people watching the movie would be Actualisers, Fulfillers and Achievers. Therefore, the audience would enjoy other thrillers such as “Get Rich Or Die Trying”. More mature and political and psychological and action movies also such as “Scar Face” are likely films to be popular amongst our target audience.

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

Since our preliminary task I have gained confidence with using the technologies, from still cameras, to film cameras and the use of IT involved with it. It served as a practice to familiarise myself with the preparation processes of story boards, so we were therefore able to produce a longer, much more detailed storyboard for our opening sequence. From this story board of our original treatment, I learnt that throughout the process you will make lots of changes to the original idea, and it evolved further even once our story board had already been made so cuts and changes had to be made to it. Next time I would probably make the entire story board of digital photographs rather than drawing to be clearer and it would be easier to edit in changes later. Discipline is something I have learnt to be vital for the product to be successful. From setting deadlines for preparations to be done and meeting them would make the actual shooting day run much more smoothly. Working as a team we were able to decide quickly after seeing our location exactly how we pictured our thriller to turn out, however we did not get all of the footage recorded in one day therefore we had to go back another day to get one final shot. Being realistic with time schedules is also something I have learnt, and from the experience have realised how long it really takes to set up for a shot and how long it would take due to having to film various takes. I also realised when directing shots you have a very direct approach with the actors and have to be as precise and accurate with shots quickly so that you can get it all done in the time allocated. Regarding takes, we also had to be very aware of continuity to make sure the cuts would flow realistically. This process is carried through to the editing where it takes a long time to choose the best takes and cut them together. I learnt that editing is a long process too, starting with a rough cut of the sequence which then needs to be trimmed so that it does not linger and become monotonous and to keep the suspense high.
6. How did you attract your audience?

We firstly addressed our audience through the narrative which meant the audience who we expected to be of a mature generation, would have to be attentive. This is because they need to be mature enough in order to watch the scenes of violence without wanting to experiment with it themselves; they also would need to be attentive as the whole film would be based around the lives of characters. The generation being more mature, would possibly mean many 18 to 65, therefore, there would be expected violence and disturbing images, i.e. the stamping on heads and the blood .The music may attract this age group as its quite modern and lively which makes it more thrilling to watch. The audience’s tastes are also reflected in the mise-en-scene of the sequence, particularly the location, being a crappy restaurant in east London. The realism would also add to the enticing of the audience as most men have had fights or get excited by them. Also, the fact there is a boss would leave them on a cliff-hanger as they would want to know his reasons for beating up these innocent people i.e. burning a young girl’s hair off, they would want to know why he has a fetish for this type of thing. Our target audience is likely to be British as we would be using British actors, and it would be character focused which is a dimension used by only British film makers.


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

Using technology became part of our process even before the actual shoot day. Preparations were essential for this day, and as part of this we used still image cameras and software such a Photoshop to create story boards and props. We looked at gangster films in order to get some idea of what we wanted our thriller to look like. We experimented a lot before we came to our final conclusion and we looked through a gangster’s book in order to create the ideal lingo. Before we could start filming, we had to establish the lighting to create keys of light in the darkness. We didn’t really have to do much as the room in which we were shooting was pretty dark- we just needed to black out the windows. I learnt how to direct the light by moving the shades and choosing good angles, we also tried using a reflector but realised it did not work. A good example of this lighting can be seen when the boss is talking at the camera, and when Al is pouring the ‘acid’ into the sink (we purposely created a shadow on the wall so you could see the water being poured). With regard to using the camera I learnt and practiced the importance of the camera display to make sure we had the best quality picture. We used hand-held some of the time so we had to be still with our hands and move our bodies with fluidity in order to create a flowing shot. At some points we we adjusted the height and therefore also had to re-bubble the camera to make sure the picture was not slanted. We also learnt we had to re-focus the camera regularly to keep the image sharp. On the actual day we had to work hard at getting the correct levels of lighting, so establishing the correct levels of aperture was really important. After the filming we uploaded our footage onto Final Cut Pro. I wasn’t familiar with using Mac computers, so I learnt to familiarise myself with new layouts and formats. Every time we started editing we ‘scratched’ the disk to save exactly what we did. I learnt the importance of saving every piece of relevant footage in a rushes bin, so that we could go back to the footage and use it whenever we wanted. I also learnt how important the cutting is to the flow of a sequence, such as that quicker cuts build up the tension and atmosphere. Because of this I learnt how to cut sequences, move them around to cut back to them and over laying sound from one take over another take.