Introduction
In this blog post I am going to answer the evaluation questions for my foundation production. This is a way of reflecting upon my progress and final product.
Question One: "In what ways does your media product use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions of real media products?"
I feel that my opening sequence develops three main conventions. These are female main character, issues of mental health and use of classical music. My opening sequence also challenges many other conventions. These are mental health, location, female power, editing styles and use of sound.
The use of a female main character in a psychological thriller is not very common. I discovered in my focus group experiment audiences wanted a female main character. I felt that this was a convention that I could develop within my opening sequence. I started off by planning my video so that it only featured one character, a female. This would draw attention to the fact that there is a female main character. Next I shot the female doing a variety of "everyday tasks", such as hand washing and writing. This developed this convention as it made it seem normal for a female to be starring alone in an opening sequence.
I developed the convention of mental health in my opening sequence by making my character seem vulnerable. She is alone in an old fashioned house (mise-en-scene tells the audience this), and appears to be struggling to cope with fear of her house being broken into. This fear is irrational to the audience, who would not spent large amounts of time checking locked doors. I enforced this idea by using a hip-hop montage style sequence, which is repetitive. The theme of mental health develops throughout my opening sequence, as in the final scene the woman sets fire to a picture of a man’s face. This leads the audience to belief that she is violent, which contrasts with the vulnerable character which had developed throughout the other scenes.
The final developing convention in my opening sequence is the use of classical music in my psychological thriller. Normally, classical music has a light, happy and calm style to it. However the genre of classical music I chose has a feeling of impending "doom" to it. This develops as the music goes on. Starting out with bold and crisp sounds, which are normal for this genre. As the piece goes on and the audience begins to understand the plot, the music darkens. This is through the use of more low notes in an overlaying style. This develops the audience’s idea of classical music to accompany a thriller.
My opening sequence challenges the use of mental health, the psychological aspect of my thriller. This is as mental health is often shown as a disorder to be scared of, as the suffering character is portrayed as a bad person or the villain. In the beginning of my video I challenged this idea, as I make the audience feel sorry for the women which is unusual for the genre. However in the last scene, the burning of a photograph of the man, I go back to using this typical convention by making the audience scared of the actions of the character.
Next my location challenges typical conventions. Normally, psychological thrillers are set in modern day houses or abandoned old settings. However, mine is a mix of the two. Although the setting is old, the tower, the furnishings are not rotten or uncared for. This is not typical of the genre.
Female power is another convention that I break. As a general rule women are portrayed as less powerful than men, and men are often shown to be the ones harming women. However, in the last scene, the photograph burning shoot, it was the female character who sets fire to a picture of a male. This contrasts greatly with the typical convention.
The editing styles that I use also contrast with each other. A typical convention of this genre would be to use long slow edits, with large amounts of tracking and panning. However my opening sequences use both fast and slow edits. An example of a fast edit in my opening sequence would be the anxiety scene of the lock checking. An example of a slow edit would be the hand washing sequence for representation of OCD. Coupling these together is unusual and therefore challenges conventions of the genre. Although I also conform to the convention but incorporating long edits as well.
The use of sound in my opening sequence is different to any others that I have studied. Typically an opening sequence would either have no sound and backing track, sound and a backing track, or just a backing track. However I have challenged this by using a backing track and sound only to highlight the areas where mental health disorders are featured. I used the fact that this is uncommon to my advantage.
Question Two: "How does your media product represent particular
social groups?"
My opening sequence represents 3 social groups. These social groups are
the 40 - 50 year old age range, Mental health suffers and females.
I represent the age range 40-50 as my actor is in that age range. The
audience knows this due to the way she looks, the activities she does and her
costume. I feel that my opening sequences does not make any major statements
about this social group, but does hint at a few things. The first of these is
that the actor comes across as lonely. She is alone in an old house, which has
enough beds for more than herself. Yet she is the only character that we see in
the house. The second is that she is "living in the past" as the
house is furnished in an old style. The audience could generalise these points
to all people of that age range. The classical style of music is also linked to
the age range of 40-50 so links in well with this social group.
Another social group featured is mental health sufferers or patients. As
this is a psychological thriller, I decided to feature a range of mental health
disorders. These were anxiety, depression, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD),
addiction and aggression. As such
a range of disorders were featured then the social group that could relate to
the character is large. At the beginning of my
opening sequence I portray the actress as a vulnerable
and lonely person. It is clear to the viewers that the disorders greatly
disrupt her life, for example the obsessive hand washing scene. This would
endear sufferers to the audience, some many even relate to the issues that the
actor issues. However, at the end of the video she
sets fire to a photo of a man, this represents the social group of mental health
sufferers as dangerous, aggressive and violent. This gives the audience
conflicting thoughts about the social group as a whole.
The final social group in my opening sequence is females, as my actress is
a female. I represent her as powerful, the burning photo scene, yet at the same
time vulnerable. Female viewers of my video may be able to relate to this, and
male views may be influenced by this representation.
Question Three: "What kind of media institution might distribute
your media product and why?
I think that Film4 would be the type of media institution that would distribute my media product (my opening sequence).
Film4 are a publicly owned film production company that is commercially
funded. They are known for their experimental work, taking risks with unknown
producers, creating distinctive films, and being experimental with their
methods used. Launched in November 1982, they have developed a
name in British film networks for taking on unexperienced producers, directors,
actors and film makers. They fund most of these films through advertisements
between viewings of their films.
I think that Film4 would be the kind of media institution to fund the creation of my media product as I am similar to the type of creators they look for. I am British, inexperienced and unheard of in the film industry. My opening sequence also features the edgy subject of mental health disorders. As Film4 tend to take risks when produce and often face "taboo" subjects. For example, "This is England" is a film by Film4 that include youth culture and racial discrimination. I think they would be interested in "Luttrell's Tower" as they have not produce a large amount of films for this age group. However, they did produce "A King's Speech" which is similar to my film. “A Kings Speech” faces the issue of speech impediment and is aimed a similar age group to my target audience.
Question Four: "Who would be the audience for your media
product?"
I think the audience for my media product would be both male and female,
of a middle class background and in the age bracket of about 40 -
60.
I think that the age bracket would be age 40 - 60 as the audience needs
to be mature enough to be able to understand the mental health aspect and the
issues surrounding it. Some aspects may be disturbing to
children under the age or 16, or in extreme cases 18. It has also
been shown by Professor Wells (mentioned in an
earlier blog post), that 55 - 80 year olds like the
configuration of night and dark. I think that this links in with my video as in
the end of it I filmed a night time using a torch to add an air of mystery. Based on Professor Wells’s research I managed to
place my audiences’ age group. This age
group also enjoys this genre more as it is not
packed with gun fights and drama, but largely focuses of important issues (such
as mental health) and the implications surrounding them. They find a
mentally challenging plot more interesting than a simple one packed with gun
fights etc.
I also think my audience would be of a middle class background as due to
the complex psychological aspects of my opening sequence, it lends
it's self to a more educated and intelligent audience. This is as not
all would they fully understand the mental health conditions, but would enjoy
the puzzles and problems offered. Middle class people generally have a
better standard of education, so therefor would be better suited to my film.
The genre of my audience would be both male and female, however slightly more male dominated. I think this as research has shown that the genre is male dominated, but only just. Figures have shown that the males dominates 51% of psychological thriller viewers. Whereas females are 49% (discovered in an earlier blog post). The genre is thought to be slightly more male dominated due to the fast action of the plots, which is preferred by males. However, females also enjoy the genre as an increasing amount of romance and romantic twists are being brought into the genre. I feel that both genres would like mine some part would be fast action, for example the quick edits in the close up scenes lit by a torch, which would appeal to males. Yet as there is a female main character female viewers may enjoy this more, due to being able to relate to her.
The genre of my audience would be both male and female, however slightly more male dominated. I think this as research has shown that the genre is male dominated, but only just. Figures have shown that the males dominates 51% of psychological thriller viewers. Whereas females are 49% (discovered in an earlier blog post). The genre is thought to be slightly more male dominated due to the fast action of the plots, which is preferred by males. However, females also enjoy the genre as an increasing amount of romance and romantic twists are being brought into the genre. I feel that both genres would like mine some part would be fast action, for example the quick edits in the close up scenes lit by a torch, which would appeal to males. Yet as there is a female main character female viewers may enjoy this more, due to being able to relate to her.
Question Five: "How did you attract/address your audience?
I attracted and addressed my audience in a variety of ways. These ways were the plot, the enigmas featured in the opening sequence, and finally the age group targeted for my audience.
The plot attracts the audience due to the fact that it is unusual and
"edgy". This means that I feature issues which people do not discuss
normally or do not normally feature in cinema films. This is also known a
"Taboo subject". These subjects, due to the lack of films about then,
appear to draw in audiences. For example, "The Kings Speech" was
released to 2,584 theatres (source: www.boxofficemojo.com) and tackled
the issue of speech impediments. I feel that this could be part of the key to
its success.
Another way in which I attracted my audience was in my opening sequence.
I carefully planned my opening sequence to include a lot of enigmas. Enigmas are small pieces of a
puzzle which are presented to the viewers in sort of them to try to solve the
problem being tackled. This is as I feel that they attract in people would wish
to solve the puzzle of them. For example, I showed
exploring a scene with a torch, which might intrigue an audience to find out
where, what and why. Films containing enigmas have often done every well in
cinemas. For example, "Sherlock Holmes" was released to 3,626 theatres
and made $524,028,679 profit (source: www.boxofficemojo.com). The film was full
of enigmas for the audience to think about. Therefor I feel that enigmas are a
successful way of addressing the audience.
Question Six: "What have you learnt about technologies from the
process of constructing this product?"
Due to the planning, editing and filming of my media product I have had
to learn a lot about technology. Although, I already knew basic information due
to my Media Studies GCSE course, I had to radically update my existing knowledge and gather more.
One technology that
was completely new to me was blogger. Having no previous experience with
this site meant that I had learn everything, from the basics of how to publish
a post to additional details about embedding items. I learnt how to embed
videos from YouTube, website links, and pictures from my computer.
Another technology that I learnt more about was YouTube. I learnt that
it could be used for more than just simple searching and up loading. I
discovered that I could use it for evaluations of filming ideas that I tried.
For example, I did some trail runs of editing ideas that I had. I uploaded them
to YouTube and then recording my self-evaluation it, added it to the video and
re uploaded. I also used YouTube for displaying my footage of my focus group.
Videoing it was a better method of recording my findings compared to writing it
down.
One technology that was completely new to me was filming on my Canon 60D. I had work out how to use manual focus while filming, through the method of trial and error. I also had to experiment a lot to film the photo burning scene, as it was difficult to capture it in focus.
One technology that was completely new to me was filming on my Canon 60D. I had work out how to use manual focus while filming, through the method of trial and error. I also had to experiment a lot to film the photo burning scene, as it was difficult to capture it in focus.
In the editing process I had to radically update my knowledge and
skills in using Serif MoviePlus X6. This included adding text which faded in in
a create way, curving the text and adding special effects such as changing the
levels of contrast. This was difficult due to the issue that my software was not
as advanced as some of the ideas that I had. This meant that I had to find ways
around it, for example multiple text boxes to curve text as there was
no curving option that was suitable.
Question Seven: "Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?"
Here is a link to my preliminary task: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBR8nORYvP4
Here is a link to my finished media product: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3SDPGFJqws
I think that the main points that I gained from my preliminary task was
that planning before filming is vital to success. I discovered that I work better
alone than in a large group and that sound is vital for setting a scene. I also
realized that fast edits make the video more interesting.
When creating my preliminary task with my group we simply decided on a
very basic plot and set out to film. We did not plan any camera shots, casting, or a detailed idea of
the story-line. This meant that we had to create ideas while filming, which made our
preliminary task lack professionalism. For my finished media product (opening
sequence), I planned my ideas well in advance of filming. In this area the
preliminary task really helped me to have an idea on how to start out on my
media product.
For my preliminary task I worked in a group with the rest of my
media class (Frankie, Vincent and Alex). Due to working in a large group we had
a wide range of different ideas, and it was rather difficult to get everyone to
agree on things. This led
me to decide that to be able to produce a piece that
I was perfectly happy with it would be better for me to work in a smaller group
or alone. This meant that I would have a lot more control over situations
and decisions. I decided to work alone, as I was planning to film while on
holiday.
While editing the preliminary task, I noticed that video camera
picked up a very high quality of sound. This meant that tiny details could be
picked up, which really help in setting a scene. In my opening sequence I used
this knowledge for the door locking scene. As without the sound that part would
not have had such an effect.
I also learnt through the preliminary task that although long
edits are brilliant at setting a scene and conveying a story-line,
shorter edits are much more interesting to viewers. In my preliminary task
we used a variety. But while editing it became apparent that some of our
footage was simply too long and drawn out. This lead me
to investigate the idea of hip hop montage, which was another video
filmed with Frankie, Alex and Vincent, (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZLzxOg1-gw). Here I discovered
that our thoughts about fast editing making the plot more exciting were
correct. I used this knowledge in my opening sequence in the scene where I use
the torch to show flashes of coffee cups and various other items.
