What Kind Of Media Institution Might Distribute Your Media Product And Why? (Evaluation Task 3)

Below is a video I have created on what institution I think would make our film as a whole if it was a big blockbuster release.

This is a SlideShare explaining what indpendent institution would finish what we have already created.

This is another example of an indepedent institution that would finish what we have already created but on a slightly bigger budget.

How Does Your Media Product Represent Particular Social Groups? (Evaluation Task 2)

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The target audience for our Thriller would be 15-20-year-old males. We have taken this into consideration and ensured that our sequence represents particular social groups, particularly focusing on age and gender that will appeal to our target audience.

We decided that the victim of the thriller would be dressed in a white dress. The use of the colour white connoted that she was innocent and pure and therefore made the audience sympathise with her more as she was automatically the weaker character.  This costume choice showed that our sequence was adhering to the stereotype of females being weaker than males and in particular, younger characters being weaker than the older characters.

We had the psychopath (villain) dressed in a white shirt and a black coat and black trousers. The white here was a juxtaposition to the evil, powerful character of the psychopath. His charter wore white to juxtapose the fact that he was no longer pure. In wearing white, the psychopath was then directly contrasted to the hero of the sequence, the policeman.

The policeman had a similar costume to the psychopath, however he had a neatly ironed shirt and wore a dark tie. This set him apart from the other two characters as it gave connotations of power and authority. This costume makes the audience feel comfortable and secure with this character and makes them instantly trust him.

The victim is sitting down at the start of the sequence. This clearly shows the audience the fact that she is powerless because she is physically below the psychopath. Having her sitting down not only makes her appear smaller but also weaker because as she is tied to the chair, she has no escape. The audience therefore sympathises with her because she is the weakest character and it appears that she has no escape. FACIAL EXPRESSIONS

Further on in the sequence the victim is held back by the psychopath with a tool to her mouth. This shot makes her appear even more powerless as the psychopath is the one in control. This further emphasises the victim’s vulnerability and enhances fear for the audience as they are unsure of what the psychopath is going to do to the girl. This adheres to the stereotype of females being weaker than males and also gives the impression that people in middle age (20-30) are wreck less and irresponsible. FACIAL EXPRESSIONS

Through his facial expressions, the policeman is shown to be in control and powerful. He has the most serious facial expressions but he also doesn’t look immediately concerned, which suggests to the audience that he has been in this situation before. Later on, at the end of the sequence, he sees the psychopath’s reaction to the girl stabbing him and he looks more concerned. This change in facial expressions highlights for the audience that this is not what he was expecting and so warns them that they should be worried.

The first shot of the sequence is a close up of the victim. This shot makes her appear vulnerable and adheres to the stereotype of females being weak. As this is the first character that the audience see, we automatically side with her and sympathise with her. This encourages the audience to support this character and although she may be the victim, she is the central character in the sequence. Having a close up as the first shot is very intimate and means that the audience feel closer to the victim. This shot also enables them to see her panicked and pained facial expressions making them sympathise with her even more.

The first shot that we see of the psychopath is a close up high angle. As he is walking up a staircase, he is coming towards the camera, making him appear more threatening. This gives the audience a negative impression of the character and unlike the victim, we do not trust him.

Furthermore, there is a mid-shot of the psychopath cutting his tongue with a knife which adheres to the stereotype of young adults being irresponsible and untrustworthy. Seeing this shocks the audience and makes them question him as a character. A mid sot also means that the audience are able to see more of his body, making him more powerful and threatening.

At the end of the sequence, when the victim is saved, there is a mid-shot of her and the policeman/inspector. This shot shows that she needs to be saved by a man and so adheres to the stereotype that women are weaker than men.

This shot then changes to a close up  which enables the audience to clearly see the victim and policeman’s facial expressions. These contrast with each other and mean that the audience will have sympathy for the girl and trust the policeman because he is protecting a vulnerable, innocent young girl.

As we were in a church, the acoustics were noticeably different to how they are in a normal setting. This echo that was produced by talking in a church gave a more creepy and eerie atmosphere to the sequence and makes the audience feel more uncomfortable because it is not a sound that they are used to.

At the start of the sequence, the psychopath is singing. This out of place, happy Christmas song makes the audience more uncomfortable as it is not something that you would associate with the horrible situation that is going on. This diegetic sound makes the audience uncomfortable because that is all that can be heard in the church. The juxtaposition of a happy song and a terrifying event makes the audience even more uncomfortable and uneasy because they are unsure of what will happen next.

The diegetic dialogue in this scene is what helps the audience to understand the narrative but at the same time doesn’t give much away. From this dialogue, it is implied that this psychopath has done things like this before and it is also assumed that he is very dangerous because “the place is surrounded”. The psychopath uses a very light and unfazed tone when he says anything, which puts the audience on edge because the fact that he is so calm in this situation is usual and something that you would not expect. The policeman uses a very serious tone when he speaks which highlights the importance of the situation and the danger that the psychopath may cause. The policeman’s serious yet calm tone also indicates to the audience that he has been in this situation before and so they trust him as they believe that he knows how to handle the situation. The victim doesn’t have any dialogue in the scene. This highlights that she is the weakest character and cold also shoe the sequence adhering to the stereotype that females are weaker than males. It also reinforced the idea that younger teenagers are naïve and often unaware of what is going on. It could also be suggested that the fact she doesn’t have any dialogue is because she is too afraid to speak, and it would be difficult to say anything as her mouth is taped. This therefore makes the audience sympathise with her more as she is helpless.

The use of the diegetic sound of the knife when the girl stabs the psychopath is a climactic moment for the audience. This sound of the knife is very harsh and brutal and so grabs the audience’s attention. This diegetic sound also highlights to the audience the sudden change that has happened in the scene and changes the slow and calm pace to more frantic and action packed. This sound is very noticeable to the audience because up to this point, the sequence has been very slow and quiet. The sound also represents a sudden change in the victim’s character as she has changed from weak to strong, making the audience support her even more.  Most importantly, this sound effect helps the stab to look more realistic for the audience and helps them to believe that she has actually stabbed the psychopath.

The non-diegetic soundtrack we used added an element of atmosphere and fear that was missing. Using a soundtrack indicated to the audience when there were moments of high tension. The non-diegetic soundtrack adds another level to the sequence and creates a more sinister mood to the scene. This soundtrack therefore makes the audience feel more uncomfortable and tense as they are anticipating something happening.

As we filmed in a church, we had to rely mainly on natural light. This gave a tenser and thrilling atmosphere to our sequence as there were certain areas within the church with a lot of natural light but other places where there was very minimal light. For example, the psychopath begins the sequence in a stairwell which is very dark with only a window of light shining through. This lighting was particularly effective because the audience can only just make out his features, making him more mysterious and threatening.

We decided that we would edit the sequence in a linear order. This makes the scene easier to follow but also makes the audience feel as if they are there and things are being revealed to them at the same time that they are revealed to the characters.

We used short shot durations throughout the sequence to keep the scene fast paced and action filled, causing the audience to feel even more tense and on edge. This makes them expectant that something will happen but also keeps it engaging. Not all of the shots were short. Some were longer to contrast but to also make the audience feel more uncomfortable. For example, when the psychopath holds back the victim’s head. The shot is a just a bot longer than you would want it to be, making the audience feel uneasy and tense.

We used the shortest shot duration when the victim stabs the psychopath. When editing, we sped up the clip to make it seem as realistic as possible and to show that it is a moment of high intensity and action. Doing this made it look more realistic for the audience and made it more shocking as they only see it for a second. This is the point in the sequence when the victim subverts the stereotypes that she had earlier on in the sequence, she suddenly changes from the weakest character to the strongest character in a matter of seconds. Having such a short shot duration also emphasises how unexpected it is.

We used eye line match throughout the sequence which adds an element of mystery to the scene. For example, the audience first see what the victim’s reaction is and then it is revealed what she is reacting to. This keeps them guessing for longer but also means that they have already formed an opinion about whether what she is seeing is bad or good before they have seen it. It is also important that we see the victim’s reaction first because she is the main character and so it is important that we can see what everything looks like from her perspective.

Match on action is used within the sequence to show the audience that the policeman has a gun. This indicates to them that he has been in this situation before and therefore knows how to handle it. The fact that he puts the gun down also indicates to the audience that this is a high danger situation and so they feel more tense because they are aware that the psychopath can be very dangerous.

The use of props in the scene highlight the danger of the situation. The audience immediately see that the girl is a victim as her mouth is taped and she is tied to a chair. This adheres to the stereotype that females are weaker than males and because we can easily see that she is young, it adheres to the stereotype of younger people being more naïve.

The torture instruments on the altar also emphasise that the psychopath has the power to really hurt the girl and so the audience immediately feel panicked and expectant that something will happen to her. This also gives the impression that he is prepared and so has done this before.

Overall, our product uses the different areas of film-making (editing, sound, mise-en-scene and camera) to represent the thriller to our target audience. It focuses specifically on age and gender  to convey to the audience the message of our thriller.

In What Ways Does Your Media Product Use, Develop Or Challenge Forms And Conventions Of Real Media Products? (Evaluation Task 1)

Below is a video I have made addressing which answers the question; "In what ways does your media product develop or challenge forms and conventions of media products?"

Choosing The Title For Our Thriller

As a group, we decided to call our thriller “Thou Shalt Not”. This is because we wanted something that was religious themed because we set our thriller in a church. Eventually we found the Ten Commandments which all begin with “Thou Shalt Not” or something similar. We liked this idea because we thought it had connotations of religion but also mystery because it is not a finished sentence. The quote comes from a set of religious rules so this title is a good juxtaposition to the fact that the psychopath in our thriller is not following any rules. This title is also effective because it is short and so it is easy to remember for an audience and isn’t too confusing, however there is still an element of mystery behind it.

Post Production: Editing

This is part of the creative post-production process of filmmaking.

Three key decisions that I made in the editing process were:

1. We decided to change the start of the sequence from the shot of the victim's feet because when we watched the clip back, the candles we used looked fake and so didn't give off the creepy moody atmosphere that we wanted. To achieve this atmosphere, we instead began with the shot of Mike (the psychopath) standing looking out of a window as we felt this would add more mystery and suspense for the audience. 
2. I ensured that I watched back all of the shots that we had filmed before beginning the editing process so that I knew which shots we had and was familiar with the footage before I began the sequence. 
3. We also decided to change our original ending from the psychopath's hysterical laughter and blowing out the candles to him lighting the candles and blowing out the match because we preferred how this shot looked and thought it would end the sequence more effectively as it stayed more true to the character of the psychopath. 

Before I started the editing process I wanted to make sure that I set expectations so that I knew what I was going to do. I wanted to make sure I:

• Saved my work regularly. This is important because if one of the computers crashes and I haven't saved my most recent work, I will have to spend more time trying to redo everything that I have already done which could potentially make the quality of the editing worse as it would be rushed. 
• Worked effectively in a group. As I am editing with my group members, it is so important that I make sure I am telling them what I am doing so everyone knows what's going on and that everyone shares any ideas or thoughts to help to make the sequence the best it can be. 
• Log shots. Logging shots initially is very useful because it means that you can see what shots you have to work with and the ones that you are most likely to use will be "logged" so that everyone is able to see what they are working with and means that if people are picking up the editing from different points, they are able to see what has been done already.

Reviewing and selecting shots ensured that we knew what shots we had to work with and from this , we were then able to select the ones that we liked and were most likely to use. 

As our scene has dialogue, the audio is important but as a group we decided that we were going to work on the visual side of editing first to ensure that we had a sequence that looked good and then move on to editing the audio.

My group made sure that we renamed the clips. This is so useful not only to orgainse the clips for yourself, but when other people come to edit, they can easily negotiate the clips and work out which ones they want to use. This also made the process much quicker as we didn't have to continuously watch back the clips as it was clearly labelled what the clip was. However, when doing this, it is important that you are all aware of what each shot involves because labeling for one person may make sense but for someone else may not. 

The timeline is particularly useful in the editing process. The timeline is used to combine and cut shots together. You can extend the timeline to make it easier to organise the shots and watch them back. It also separates the visual clips from the audio clips, allowing you to edit them separately. This enabled us to see our shot durations and helped us to put everything together.

We then had to reorganise our timeline because we didn't have it in a neat, clean order which made it easy to work from. To do this, we moved all the visual clips to lines V1 and V2 and made sure that all the audio clips corresponded on lines A1 A2 A3 and A4. This will make it easier to work from when we need to match up the dialogue with the sound.

When we re-organised the timeline, we made a duplicate of the editing that we had already done in case we lost something or decided to change the order of any shots. Making a duplicate ensured that we could do whatever we wanted and all the work we had put in would still be safe.

When editing the end of the sequence we had to make sure the stab looked realistic and because we had used a retractable knife, this was particularly difficult. To solve this problem, we changed the speed of this clip to 150%. This improved the sequence because you only saw the stab close up for a few seconds, making it more tense and more dramatic for the audience and therefore added more action. 

We cropped shots to improve the pace of the scene and make it more naturalistic and more engaging for the audience. There were different tools to help make this process quicker and more simple. One tool that we used quite a lot is the razor tool, which enabled us to cut shots in half and we were able to change where the clip started and rearrange the order.  

We mainly used the timeline to watch the shots back once we had edited them but one helpful thing that we did was drag the line to mae the footage go slower. This meant that we were bale to see individual frames and so check to see if anything was in shot that shouoldn't have been, thus helping with continuity.

Our Shoot: Mise-En-Scene Script

Below is the script that we used for our Mise-En-Scene video:

Hello everybody, today I am going to be talking to you about my monthly mise-en-scene favourites.  This is the month of November and so these ideas would all be great for Halloween season which works well with the thriller film idea. This month there have been a lot of things that I have really enjoyed using from costumes, to locations and even props. This months theme was thriller films and so i have really been trying to capture the encaptivating and mysterious look that comes with a thriller film.

One of the things I have really been enjoying this month is costumes. One of the looks I have been really enjoying is the hostage victim look because you can really capture the vulnerability and innocence of this type of character through a white dress which provides connotations of youth, purity and naiveity.

This look works best with a short white dress because the colour white shows the connotations of innocence and vulnerability. The fact that you are wearing white definitely provides denotations that you are a victim and this works well with the genre and conventions of a thriller film.

This look, achieved with a white dress provides a sense danger to come and the fact that the particular dress I chose to wear had lace on it added to the vulnerability and innocent youthfulness created with this look. The adhering stereotype of the victim in white works really well for this look.

However, the issue with wearing this look during the winter months is that you will be really cold and so it is important to accessorise the look appropriately, with a matching jacket or a shawl. It is important that you also consider wearing tights to keep your legs warm.

Another look in terms of costumes that I have really been enjoying wearing this month is the psychopath look, however this look works better on males. You can achieve this look through a white smart shirt, black suit trousers, smart black shoes and a black winter coat. This look, at first glance appears to be a subverting stereotype because someone with a crazed mind is wearing such smart clothes, which would usually be a representation of a business man. This look can be made to look like a psychopath through minor details such as a non-ironed shirt which is crumbled up and shoes which have mud on them and have been scuffed up.

This costume provides connotations of someone who is going to do a business deal, however in this circumstance it is someone who is dealing with a negotiation over a hostage.

The problem with this costume is that it can sometimes be mistaken for a different type of character as it is a subverting stereotype. It can appear too smart on camera, and sometimes a more casual and scruffed up costume would work more effectively at providing sufficient connotations for the character of a psychopath.

The final look that I am going to be showing you today is an inspector/negotiator. This look can be achieved through a smart suit, a fedora style hat and a black trench coat. This provides an adhering stereotype, as the smart and business like style of this costume connotates that an inspector is work driven and conscientious.

The use of the dark colours of the suit and a boring tie gives a slightly dated look to this character's costume and it also provides connotations of a uniform look to the costume. The colour connotations behind the dark colours of the suit suggest that the inspector is harsh, has high authority and also that they are used to dealing with the bad guys, such as the psychopath mentioned earlier.

The problem with this costume is that the dark colours could provide connotations that the inspector is the villain, which would be an incorrect representation of an inspector. Another thing which could cause problems, is the use of the dated suit could connotate and generalise that all inspectors are old fashioned and have dated opinions and methods of negotiating.

Another area of mise-en-scene I have been enjoying recently is props, as these can add to a character's costume to make them more dynamic and add more character detail as well as provide genre connotations.

One of the particular props that I have been enjoying recently is a retractable knife. I prefer retractable knives because they add to the connotations of danger and suspense, whilst also being a very safe prop to use as they cause no harm to the actors using them. It is important to ensure that a retractable knife looks realistic on camera, as if it looks tacky and fake this could affect the mise-en-scene. Knives are a suitable prop for a thriller film because they provide an adhering stereotype of danger, violence and death. The issue with using the props of knives is that you have to ensure that they look realistic on camera, however when in public, they cannot be mistaken for real knives and really they should not be used in the public because of the assumption that they are real. Another disadvantage of using a knife prop is that they will not cause any harm to the actor and that the material will not hurt the actor.

Another prop that provides great mise-en-scene in a thriller film is torture weapons to be used on a victim. This is an adhering stereotype as torture weapons provide connotations of harm, danger, violence as well as creating suspense and atmosphere. However, when using the prop of a torture weapon, as with a knife prop, you have to be careful when in public that they are not mistaken for being real and not a prop, also you need to ensure that they do not cause harm to the actor and that they are safe to use.

A prop that I find works really well for a torture victim or hostage and would work well with the white dress are duct tape and rope, these can be used for muting the victim and tying up their wrists or ankles. These props provide adhering stereotypes as they are usually associated with torture and hostage situations. The connotations behind these props are that they are being used to make the victim vulnerable and not giving them the freedom to talk or escape the torture. However, the problem with using these props is that sometimes they can cause harm, and so you have to be very careful not to tie the rope too tight around the victims wrists and ankles. A good tip for when using duct tape is to put masking tape on the other side and stick the masking tape to your face which makes it appear like the duct tape is stuck to the face, this reduces the pain when the tape is ripped off.

The final prop that I have been enjoying this month is candles. Candles are a really effective prop as not only do they provide a source of light, but they also have the connotation of relaxing, religion and peacefulness, which is a subverting stereotype as this completely juxtaposes the use of the torture weapons, tape, knife and rope. The flickering of the candle light mirrors the emotions being felt by the torture victim and the metaphor behind blowing out the candles is that another victim has been tortured and the lighting of the match symbolises the start of another torture session. I really like the hidden meaning and the symbols behind the prop of a candle as they can be used in two completely different ways to connotate different meanings. However, the limitation of using a candle is that they can effect the continuity of the scene if you use real candles because the wax levels will lower, and the limitation of using the battery operated candles is that they run out of battery very quickly and often they look very unrealistic.

The next area of mise-en-scene that I have been enjoying this month is Location and Setting. The location that I am going to be talking to you about is a Church. A Church can provide a range of connotations due to the fact that it can either been seen as a religious and holy place of worship or a mysterious, creepy, haunted building with good acoustics and atmospheric lighting.

I decided to use a Church because I believe it provides connotations of mystery, paranormal or spiritual beings, religion, the presence of a greater being as well as a creepy, suspenseful and haunting atmosphere.

I believe that by using such a location it really enabled us to show the audience through the location, the feelings and emotions of the victim as well as the psychopath as the creepiness and haunting qualities could be seen and almost mirrored in the psychopath, whereas the purity, tranquility and holiness could be seen in the calmness of the negotiator/inspector and the innocence of the victim.

However, the issue with using a church as a location is that it is a place of worship and so some of the elements of a thriller film need to be checked and possibly adapted as to not be offensive to the church. Another problem with filming in a church is that most of the things within a church are actually from the 14th century therefore, they have a lot of sentimental value as well as being impossible to replace, therefore it is important to be very careful when filming inside this location.

Another disadvantage of using a Church for a location or setting is that they are usually very cold and therefore when you have actors that are only wearing a short white summer dress in the middle of winter, it can be very impractical and so it is important to bear this in mind when considering filming in a church.

Hey guys! I have also been loving mise-en-scene this November cause like Nanci said it’s perfect for this Halloween season, but I have been enjoying some different areas to Nanci.

The first area that has been one of my personal favourites this month is lighting. I’ve been really enjoying natural lighting as I feel like it really sets the mood for these more mysterious thriller type themes I’ve been loving. Sometimes using natural light can be tricky though because you can’t always see properly so it’s always good to carry extra lights around with you in case you need them to help you light certain things. If you’re in a certain location for example a Church, making use of the natural lighting is great because it has a very particular atmosphere which is perfect for adding tension but you can’t always see so I would recommend turning on some lights that might be available to you cause you don’t want everything to be pitch black!

I’ve also been obsessed with character positioning. This is one of my ultimate favourite areas of mise-en-scene because you can tell so much about people’s relationship with each other through it. To add to Nanci’s example of a psychopath and hostage situation I think a great Halloween look would be to have a hostage tied up to a chair for example and then the ‘psychopath’ standing up above the hostage victim because it would clearly show the victim’s vulnerability and the authority the psychopath has over her. You have to make sure that you can see everything because sometimes it can be tricky to get these two positions to work together. Maybe having someone else, like Nanci suggested a policeman standing further away could enhance the relationship because although he may be further away, he still has power as his movements are steady.

Facial expressions are something that are essential to mise-en-scene. I love that you can tell what someone is thinking through their facial expressions and what’s really on trend this month is the vulnerable scared look. This is perfect for a hostage or victim. All you have to do is breath heavily and keep looking away from anyone who you think may be a threat to you because then you appear frightened and like your life could be ended at any moment. A great contrasting facial expression for this if you prefer something a bit more psycho would be to smile a lot. This can become quite uneasy at points and confuse people because often the situations that you would not smile in, a psychopath would. So try and go against your instincts as being overly calm and happy through unblinking eyes and a wide smile can be very intimidating. You have to be careful though as it can look like you are just laughing- and no one wants that! If these two suggestions don’t float your boat why not try the authoritative policeman look. This is a very serious expression which works best on males. Having a serious yet calm facial expression gives you instant authority and lets everyone know that you are not to be messed with!

My final favourite is makeup. Makeup is so great because you can instantly tell a story with it. For men it isn’t as important because the facial expressions that I have also been loving are usually enough. For girls, especially ones that are into the hostage victim trend for this month, I would recommend creating some wounds and scratches on your face and possibly chest because it creates a back story and means people can imagine their own ideas of what happened to you without you telling them- this also adds an element of mystery. To pair with these wounds, I would recommend wearing minimal face makeup, just some foundation, mascara and blusher to give you a youthful, innocent glow. Bang on trend!

Our Shoot: Mise-En-Scene

We created a video explaining how the 6 areas mise-en-scene were incorporated into our Thriller Opening Sequence. We've included details about each area and the reasons behind choosing particular costumes and lighting and what these connote to the audience.