This is Question 7 of my media evaluation:

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

I think that I have definitely learnt how to use Premier Pro more efficiently.  During my preliminary task I worked with Charlotte again, and I did a lot of the editing and she did the sound.  However, I think from creating our thriller opening we have both learnt that our strong points are the other way around and during the post-production stage I contributed more to sound and Charlotte focused on the editing.  On Premier Pro I would say that I can now confidently use the cutting tool, razor tool and presets. I also explored titling and the different ways for a title to be introduced to the screen such as sliding on and other styles. 
During our Preliminary task we did not use Mixcraft at all, however it was a vital instrument in the making of our thriller opening. Although I had already had a lot of experience using Mixcraft during music lessons during my GCSE years I have never applied a piece of music to a video and therefore this process helped me to learn this new skill. 

In terms of the equipment, I didn't really use any that I hadn't already used. However, it was still quite challenging because during the preliminary task I was in a group of three, meaning that we had a camera person.  Whilst making our thriller opening someone from my group dropped out meaning that there was only Charlotte and I, subsequently we didn't have a camera person as both of us were in the video.  It was too late in the process to start looking for other people to star in our thriller for us so we decided we would have to film it and be in it at the same time. This meant that the types of shots we could include were restricted as we had to leave the camera on the tripod, press record and then get in place for each shot. It also meant that all of our shots were longer than necessary as we had to prepare before actually starting whatever action was in the shot. During the preliminary task continuity and match on action was an issue but it was one that we were able to overcome due to having a camera person as it meant that Charlotte and I could just stay frozen whilst our other team member moved the camera.  In our Thriller opener, on the other hand, it didn't work this way because we would have to stop in the middle of an action and move the camera and then try to replicate our position exactly.  

As stated before we did have some issues with teamwork until one of our members dropped out and we were able to reliably delegate jobs that needed doing.  From our Preliminary task we had already worked out our groups strong and weak points.  Therefore we decided that Charlotte would be best at the editing whilst my strongest point was working out camera shots (directing) and adding and creating music (due to my Mixcraft experience).  This meant that we saved a lot of time and it also sped up the editing process as we were able to work quickly and efficiently. 

Question 6 What have you learnt about technology from the process of constructing this product?

Question 4 and 5

We decided to film question 4 and five. I've uploaded it to YouTube and embedded it below.

After showing my mum my video response to question 4 & 5 she brought to my attention the way I described the elderly audience. On reflection "elderly people tend to fall asleep" is far too general and so to expand on this comment I would like to say that our thriller would have a rather complex plot that would require an audience's full attention. Typically an elderly audience prefer soaps such as EastEnders, that do not require a lot of concentration as they like to relax and watch these programs in the evening, and then discuss them with their friends. Therefore I doubt our film would appeal to an elderly audience.

As for gender and ethnicity we think that our product would appeal to both genders as it would have some action in it, which often appeals to males and the protagonist is female meaning a female audience may be able to relate to her.  Although we hope our thriller would attract audiences of all ethnicities it is likely that it would be more appealing to white people as it is a independent British film, filmed locally in Chesterfield, which is not overly racially diverse. Therefore the majority of our actors and actresses would most- likely be white.

Of course there is an BBFC rating for our thriller which restricts the audience. Our rating is a 15, for reasons I discussed in a previous blog post.

Question 3- what kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

I decided to answer question 3 in the format of a power point which I have embedded below:

Question 2

I decided to answer question 2 in essay form in a word document;

2. How does your Media Product represent particular Social groups?

There are only two characters within our thriller opening; a teenage girl walking through the woods, who becomes the victim and Chloe, the mental patient who escapes.

In terms of the victim (played by Charlotte), she is a teenage girl, so we decided to make her quite generic and stereotypical as she isn’t a major character and we didn’t need to develop her or express any personality. 

We dressed her in a pink jumper and black leggings, simple but typical of a teenage girl.  She also carried earphones with her which she managed to easily pull out of her pocket and use.  This also reinforced the ‘teenage girl’ stereotype as we are known as the generation that are addicted to technology.  

We were not trying to convey a message to the audience through this character, as her only purpose was as a victim for Chloe, to show her feral nature.

A large theme in our thriller is mental illness.  To avoid representing mental illness in a totally negative way we did a lot of research into schizophrenia to better our understanding of the illness.  We also decided that to avoid accusations of discrimination against Chloe, we would make her the protagonist rather than the antagonist.  As a plot twist we decided that the terrible mental asylum she was in treated her so badly and corrupt her so her violent actions in the opening are due to her lack of trust in people.  Using this plot, we are ensuring that we’re not suggesting all mentally ill people are killers.

To show that she had been hospitalised for years I dressed in a long white nightdress.  I also applied white face powder, to make myself appear paler, as if I hadn’t been outside in a long time.  I used brown and yellow powder under my eyes to make myself look sickly and hollow.  We decided to create this image to show the neglect of the patient and also to alarm the audience. 

In terms of sound and editing, we focused of building tension rather than representing social groups and therefore i would say that our thriller does not represent any social groups.  However you could argue that the spooky music and spikes in pitch imply a sense of unpredictability in people with mental health. 

Question 1

I chose to answer question 1 of my evaluation on Prezi because I haven't used it before and I thought now would be a good time to learn how to. I have embedded the Prezi below: 

Famous thriller directors

Whilst creating our Thriller opener I decided to study some Thrillers and their directors to gain inspiration. After doing this I created this power point, describing different directors and their different styles. I found that each director has a different style and so it is important to be original whilst creating our film.

Paramount Pictures

As I have now stated to create my thriller I think it would be important to research them, and Paramount is a very popular producer of this type of film.

It was founded by Adolph Zukor, Jessie L. Laskey and W.W Hodkinson in 1914. The company has made many famous Films such as Transformers and G.I Joe. It is seen as one of the 'Big Six' of Hollywood, creating very entertaining films, with their main audience being men. In the future they aim to make more action orientated films using digital effects to maximise their special effects and potential realism.  they have not and are not planning to make any animated films. Most of their films are fictional but are sometimes based on real life occurrences such as The Titanic.

Most popular are Paramount's psychological thrillers. Examples of these are 'The Conversion', 'Shutter Island' and 'Rosemary's Baby'. 

Influential Film Directors

Tony Scott 

Tony Scott was a film director and producer who was born in the UK. He was the youngest of three brothers, one of whom is fellow film director Ridley Scott. He was born in Northumberland, England to parents Jean and Colonel Francis Percy Scott. His father's career in the British military meant his family moved around a lot. At the age of 16, Tony was cast in his brother's directorial début, the short film Boy and Bicycle. In 1969, Tony directed his own short film One of The Missing about a soldier in the American civil war. 

He attended Leeds college of arts for a year and then went on to study for his masters of fine arts degree at the school of art at the University of Sunderland.  After university Scott spend several years as a painter, but when he grew sick of that he joined with his brother and formed Ridley Scott Associates and it was there that he shot his first commercial.  

His directorial début came when ue he created The Hunger in 1983, which attracted interest from Hollywood and he was asked by Don Simpson and Jerry bruckheimer to direct Top Gun (1986) starring Tom Cruise.  He also worked with Tom Cruise later on in another movie called Day of Thunder (1990) which was less successful. He followed Top Gun with Beverly Hill Cop 2 with Eddie Murphy. 

In 1993 he directed True Romance with Quentin Tarantino. Tony worked five times with actor Denzel Washington with Crimson Tide (1995),The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (2009), Deja Vu (2006), Man on Fire (2004) and Scott's final film in the director's chair Unstoppable (2010).

Tony Scott passed away at age 68 on August 19, 2012 in California, USA.

His Trademarks

• Has used dogs in many of his movies including Top Gun (1986), True Romance (1993),Crimson Tide (1995), The Fan (1996), Enemy of the State (1998), Man on Fire (2004) and Domino (2005).
• Constantly wore a faded red baseball cap. It often appeared in his films.
• Often ended a film with a shootout. See True Romance (1993), The Last Boy Scout (1991), Enemy of the State (1998).
• Frequently had sunlight flashing at characters to make the picture more effective.
• camera pan across a large tower] The "top of the world" tower at the casino in Domino and Beat The Devil, the tower in Mexico City at the start of Man on Fire.

Attempting To Use Piktocharts...

As part of the theory side to the cause we are studying representation.  Sir set us homework to use Piktocharts to create a presentation however when I saved mine I noticed that some of the pictures I had used didn't show up properly. I'm not sure why they didn't but I now know that Piktocharts isn't as simple as it seemed...

Six Stages of Media Production

Whilst creating my thriller opening I decided to research the Six Stages of Media Production to gain a better understanding of the process.

Negotiating a Deal

The film industry is made up of many large studios, to which ideas must be pitched. If a pitch is successful and the studio agree to work on the proposed film it is then the studio's job to hire the crew, directors and actors to work on it. some examples of the major companies are; Warner Brothers, Sony pictures, Disney, Paramount, Universal, and 20th Century Fox.

In Order For a Film to be Successful it should be;

• A remake of a European box office hit.
• A sequel to a box office hit
• An adaptation of a best-selling hit
• An original idea from a successful director

Pre Production

Once a deal has been made there is a lot of work to be done, actors must be cast (including extras), the location scouts must begin to look for locations to shoot at, costumes made and hotels booked for the cast and crew to stay in. this will take a long time and once it is done an official start date will be decided.

The Pre Production process for us, is called our Research and Planning Stage. During this time we have created our plot and drawn out our story boards, I have created my costume for my character and we have found the location we will be filming at, which is Stubbing Court. We have also decided that I will play the mental patient and Charlotte will play the girl walking through the countryside. Furthermore we have decided on our filming days and although they aren't completely official we are hoping to stick to the schedule. 


Production

The production stage in the making of a film is said to be the hardest as everything must be correct and perfect, as re-shooting scenes would cost a lot of money. some people call it the principal photography stage and is the shortest of all six stages. The shooting process is usually complete after about 50 days.

When filming our Thriller opener also noticed that this was the shortest process and it only took us approximately 4 hours (as ours is 2 minutes long and not an entire film). However, this process was very difficult and without our planning and story board it would have taken us a lot longer.

Post Production

Post production is the longest sage in the process. During this process the shots are edited and the story is assembled. The director and editor can either work very closely together at this stage or can be completely separate, depending on the film, as every team is different. This can take many months and sound is edited in, along with any visual effects.

For our thriller opener this stage will be completed on Premier Pro and possibly other software such as Mixcraft so we can add music and sound effects. on Premier pro we will be able to experiment with gradients and other effects to improve our footage and cover up any continuity errors that may occur. I think that in our group the editor will work with the director so as to make sure we both agree on the decisions and to maintain our creative idea.

Distribution and Marketing 

This part of the Media Production process is very important as it can make or break a film's success. Large Production companies will use billboards, television adverts, merchandise, twitter accounts and Facebook pages, YouTube videos and sometimes even Teaser trailers to entice the public into watching their film.  They will often try to tailor their methods of advertisement to their audience, for example synergy is has becoming very popular and particularly with children's movies it is common for the company to work with McDonald's to create a little toy for children to get free with their happy meal. 

However, because we don't actually have to advertise our thriller opener, this won't be too important to us but we do think it's important to know who our audience would be and what their opinion on our concept is, so we will be asking our class mates if they think it would make a good thriller. 

Exhibition

In America the major studios were barred from ownership of large cinema chains, however overseas there were no restrictions and companies such as Warner Brothers have built multiplexes in cinema markets. Control or ownership of stage productions is known as vertical integration and had advantages for the majors in ensuring that they will have a cinema available to take a film when it's ready for release. 

Use of Cutaways

Whilst studying thriller films we learn how important the use of cutaways are and how they can influence a scene.

                     

                                                                                                                                                       This first example suggests that the man is attracted to the woman.        








The second example suggests that the man is watching his children play. This completely changes the way the character of the man is perceived by the audience.


This led me to researching the Kuleshov affect which is the theory that a cutaway in a scene can change the entire meaning of it.  ''The Kuleshov Effect is a film editing (montage) effect demonstrated by Russian filmmakerLev Kuleshov in the 1910s and 1920s.It is a mental phenomenon by which viewers derive more meaning from the interaction of two sequential shots than from a single shot in isolation.'' http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuleshov_Effect .  We hope to include this in our thriller as we are planning to cut from a sinister shot of the patient, straight to a shot of the victim.                                                                   

Textual Analysis of Seven

Here is my textual analysis of Seven.  I was planning on using Prezi, but I had difficulty accessing the software and had to use a power point:

Pitching our Idea

Our group pitched our idea to our teachers on Friday 12 December 2014 so that they could here our plot and tell us if it was suitable a whether they thought anything needed to be changed.  In our pitch we told them important information such as; target audience, tag line and film length.  We also showed them our story board, giving them an idea of how our opening would be structured.  

During the feedback our teachers told us that they had some concern about the way in which we were incorporating mental health and wanted to make sure that we had considered the stigma surrounding it. However we had already discussed how we could use a character who was mentally ill without portraying them in a completely negative way.  We decided that although our opening suggest the patient is the antagonist, later in the film (if we were making the rest of it) the audience learns that when she enters the mental hospital, Chloe is suffering from Bipolar and schizophrenia.  However, the hospital is not your average unit and inside of it Chloe becomes corrupt from her 'medical treatment' and the Chief of Medicine at the hospital becomes the antagonist. 

Here are some sites I used when researching mental health disorders:

Mental Health Foundation- bipolar 

Mental Health Foundation - Schizophrenia