Evaluation Question 7

Q7 - Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

My preliminary task was not my best work but it did teach me one important thing. If you use the camera in such a way you can tease the audience with it. So you can show them a shot of someone’s arm but the audience then want to know who’s arm it is. This intrigues the audience and keeps them guessing throughout. I learned this as in our prelim we used a lot of over shoulder shots and came up with the idea of showing the character we’d already seen walk in from the mystery person’s perspective keeping the audience guessing.

As well as this I was first introduced to the camera during the prelim and since then my camera skills have significantly improved as the prelim was a sort of dummy run with the camera experimenting seeing what worked. I also experimented in the time of my thriller opening filming. So my camera skills have come on leaps and bounds since then.

Another that went much better in the actual project was the time it took me to complete everything. During the Prelim I had to depend on others and had to spend time chasing the up. An example of this is the fact that we split the editing into three but I actually ended up doing all of it. This time I did it all on my own so there was no last minute waiting for other people I completely depended on myself making life much easier for myself.

The big improvement since the prelim has to be my editing work, the prelim editing went terribly as I had never met the software before but when I got the hang of it, it became easier that is why my editing in my final draft is much more professional than that of my prelim.

Evaluation Question 6

Q6 - What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

In this project Ive had to endure and ongoing battle with technology, learning how to use new pieces of technology and new pieces of software.

The first piece of technology I had to learn turned out to be the most reliable and straight forward to use, the camera. The camera in question was a relatively recent canon camera which I had to learn how to manipulate in different ways to ensure I got the right shots, for example the lens and focus.

When speaking of software that was much more complicated, the Adobe premiere system was introduced to me on my prelim task and I’ll be frank it was a bit of a sham. I was very naive to the system making silly mistakes like accidently over lapping clips. But I researched in depth and got there eventually learning the tricks of the editing trade.

I also briefly had to learn how to upload to youtube which I didn’t have much experience with, that was fairly straight forward.

During the evaluation, I had to create presentations meaning I had to use presentation application and websites. The first one I encountered was prezi which looks like a labyrinth of doing things wrong but eventually you get the hang of it and produced a very good looking presentation. As well as prezi I used a cartoon presentation sight which was enjoyable and fun to use, complicated at first but really quite straight forward.

Evaluation Question Number 5

Q5 - How did you attract/address your audience?

My first draft of the film featured my lead character Adelaide having dreams/nightmares about a masked figure. The mystery of the masked figure driving a car would creep out the audience and intrigue them into watching. But in my feedback I was told the mask was’t work and just looked wrong the way I was using it. So with this I went back to the drawing board and came back with my final draft where I had re-shot some of the film. The way I decided to grip people time was mainly in the music it begins with tense soft piano music. Which dramatically changes to “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” this change in music draws in the viewer giving them almost a false sense of security. When they we’re feeling safe watching the film, sound of a car crash hits shocking the viewer and causing them to want to continue watching. As well as this the added mystery and puzzle of why the woman is dreaming of herself driving stays with the viewer causing them to want to continue.

As well as the obvious curiosity through the music I have attracted the audience through the creation of a very clever and intriguing character in Adelaide. The young student sleeping alone in a very well lit room wearing what looks to be some form of engagement ring on the wrong finger, which then cuts to the same girl driving what seems to be her car late at night on an abandoned road. This character creates interest in the audience, making them want to know the answers to all the questions my opening creates like "why is she driving at night?".

Evaluation Question 4

Q4) Who would be the audience for your media product?

Above I have found some information on different ages and whether they watch thrillers. This is a rough guide line because each thriller is different and in some cases aimed at different age groups. An example of this is Se7en, a very well known thriller is definitely aimed at the higher end of the age barriers for its explicit and distressing content. On the other hand we have films such as Skyfall which is an all round thriller have the ability to entertain all ages from around the age of 12 up, this is because of its extravagant police chases and huge sets.  Then there’s films like Apollo 13 which is still a thriller and still a PG but may not appeal to all age barriers even though it fits all age barriers.

On to my thriller, Counterblow which is about a woman coping with the manslaughter of a child while driving home one evening. This film should not be to graphic but may contain some bad language keeping it at least a 12 this followed by the situation itself f manslaughter may make the film a rating 15 film. As the manslaughter of a child to some people can be upsetting. With this film being aimed at 15+ it may not entertain those people as people all have different views. This will be a tense thought out thriller narrowing my market. So despite the film being a 15 it may be aimed at 20-50 year olds. 

Another big thing that effects whether or not a Thriller will be successful and must be considered when figuring out a target audience is the gender it’s also being aimed at. An example of this is Apollo 13, a star studded thriller in it’s own right but very much aimed at man. The film being based on the real life Apollo 13 shuttle may be found boring by most woman. Another example of gender choice in thrillers is Hanna a sharp unique thriller with a female heroine instantly appealing to woman.

The final thing that has to be considered when creating a target audience is class, for example films such as Casino Royale are aimed at the middle and upper class audiences. But thrillers such as The Sweeney are aimed at The lower classes reasons for this would be the frequent bad language the fact it’s set in the London suburbs, etc.

Evaluation Question 3

https://www.powtoon.com/show/b9lcaro9Mdv/media-evaluation-question-3/#/

Evaluation Question 2

My thriller opening only includes one character an 18 year old girl. This character is shown to be rather young suggesting she is a new driver this is her social group. As well as this a character of her age is suggested to be a student.

The room itself seems to be clean suggesting a tidy person maybe an OCD sufferer as well as this the lighting suggests she is paranoid as the lighting is far too intense suggesting she has trouble with sleep or is fearful of what is or is not in the room..
As well as the room being immaculate it is also very well furnished suggesting this character is middle class, reinforcing this fact is her name Adelaide Smith.

In my thriller I suggest that 18 year olds suffer with sleep problems, evidence of this is Adelaide being seen rolling back and forward continuously in her sleep.

This furthers the characters representation of your run of the mill student being up all hours and being a young driver are two of those stereotypes.

Towards the end of the clip the thriller cuts to black and we hear car crash sound effects this suggests young drivers are reckless and prone to incidents. An example of all the points I made is in my final draft posted previously.

Prezi Evaluation Question 1

Final Edit

Oldboy (2003) A-Level Research

Fargo Intro Commentary - Research

21/01/2015

Last night I concluded my filming with more car shots from many different angles round an industrial estate, which was desolate. What I failed to realize was that me with a camera around an industrial estate full of ware houses with expensive goods seemed abit dodgy. So at one point during the filming I was pulled over by the police and asked what I was doing. Apart from this minor mishap I got many good shots to replace the ones of the mask as feedback from my first draft was mainly negative.
Today my re-edit has begun, clips need to be changed but I'm having technical issues as my files will not transfer.

17/12/2014

Today I have prepared for the christmas break and listed all that needs to be completed. As well as this I have looked into other research oppurtunities.

Movie Research 'Funny Games' Commentary

Feedback of Counterblow Draft

Mrs Dughan-

Great start Ciaran, but too long - the brief says a max of two minutes.

I don’t like the mask - I think you have enough footage without it

Try intercutting the car shots (which are great) with the bed shots (also great - lovely variety and framing)

Key shot is too long and should be intercut with the bed shots

Think about including other shots in the bedroom and perhaps a few more car shots without the mask.
Tom Gent- 
"Yeah you need to contrast the music some more, and yeah I think taking the mask out would be better."
Emily-
"The font was nice but when it said executive producer you cannot read it. The film felt really slow. Film was confusing but good."

Prop Choice

The main prop for the film is the mask worn by the mystery character, this is because the prop is original, mysterious and memorable. Other props we used we're the keys, the phone and the alarm clock we're used to create verisimilitude.

Music Choice

The reason I chose this music is because it was simple, effective and gradually builds.

Costume Choices

Elena Bed Outfit-
This outfit is very simplistic only featuring a white top and black leggings, the reason for this is to create verisimilitude in the audience.

Masked Person-
Obviously the key to this was the white mask itself creating fear and making the audience feel uncomfortable. As well as the mask the masked person wore mainly plain clothing to emphasize the white mask when in darkness and make sure that is the only thing that could be seen.

The Masked Person was played by Brittany Reddish as well to reduce the chance of being let down.

Actor/Actress Choice

My choice for lead actress is Brittany Reddish, someone I knew I could count on and could give me a lot of her time. That's not the only reason Brittany also played Sandy in a performance of Grease last year, this is great evidence to show she has acting experience.

Story Boards for Counterblow

The Plot line has since been changed, as the fire itself was unsafe and I simply ran out of time. The plot became a lot simpler, my lead actress would be lying in a bed having a bad dream. The camera would include several inserts to create atmosphere e.g. an alarm clock shot. I would then edit in images of a masked person which would be what the heroine would be dreaming of.

Draft 1 Counterblow

Counterblow Draft 1