EVALUATION

This is a link to my evaluation:
http://prezi.com/z4p2e7l5wetr/productmedia-evaluation/

Our media product

This is a link to my media product on youtubehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7S_Cy3TvvI&context=C42079d0ADvjVQa1PpcFNK-uiaNjOmTkuQHo2n0akPbszbqyyp95E=

Problems, Decisions and Changes

 Whilst filming we encountered a few problems which then had to be changed, the first example of this would be the lighting, initially we wanted the lighting to be quite a low key light, however the camera's were unable to pick up everything that we wanted as the room was too dark, this meant that we had to make our film a bit lighter so that the camera is able to pick up the actors and the room, we have done the lighting in such a way that it still gives a thriller feel, which was hard to do in a fairly well lit room. Another problem that we encountered was that initially we were going to film in one of the group members garage as it seemed perfect location, however we were unable to this as it was too hard to work around the items in the garage, this meant that we were forced to use a different group members garage. A change that we made was the jump cuts, originally we only planned to have about five in one scene, however now we have about 13 spread over two scenes with jump cuts, this was to add pace and suspense. Another change that we made was to the eye scene, originally we had an internet dial up sound playing in the background while numbers flashed up on the eye, however feedback from the class showed that this was one of the worst bits of our film, we completely changed it to have a sort of light tunnel into the centre of the eye, with a high pitched suction noise over the top, this is now concidered one of the best scenes.

Where I am up to

Over the last six weeks, me and my group have been concentrating solely on the filming of our product, and the post production editing of it, this has taken up most of the class time, and a lot of time our of school to complete. The filming took up several days on weekends to gather all of the necessary footage,  and then a few lessons of class time to film very small sections like close ups. The editing of the film has taken about five weeks of class time, this is because I had to watch the film back and choose where certain transitions/effects should be put in place, and this took a lot of time. The importing of sound also took about two weeks to do, for instance we spent a lot of time searching for a sound track that we might have used, however we were unable to find a sound track that would have fit with our film/dialogue and genre, however we did find some sound effects which work very well for the genre of the film, one such example is a heartbeat that we have used which is very fitting with the genre as it builds suspense.

feedback

Our group has shown the completed film to the class, and we were given feedback on what was good/bad, we will now change our film according to the feedback that the class have given, to make a new and improved film

Target audience research

I constructed a questionnaire on thriller films and then handed them around to other students in my college, the aim, to get feedback to attain the optimum results for my product.

The first question: What is the minimum age a Thriller should be aimed at?
 Feedback showed that they thought the acceptable age for a Thriller was 15+ to include all the conventions successfully. This was the target audience for our film anyway.

I also found that the audience we asked wanted their films to be exciting and gripping with elements of suspense however they wanted it easy to follow. Attaining this research has meant that we are now able to please this audience, whilst making it acceptable viewing for young adults who don't want to constantly have to piece the film together.

Our potential target audience is 15 to 25 year olds, this is because our group age range is 16-17 year olds therefore we can relate to the younger end of our target audience but the plot will attract older viewing.

Mise-en-Scene

Mise- en- scene

Below is the description of each mise en scene category and explanation why we are using what we are using.

Costume- Thomas Ryder/ antagonist/ Agent Ryder

·         Black trousers- which look smart and formal to show knowledge of his character.

·         White shirt (with some undone buttons)- the shirt goes with the formal look whilst having the buttons partly undone it shows that Tom will be getting involved with the action

·         Black leather shoes- This type of show is formal and expensive to go with the rest of the outfit.

·         A large watch to show Tom’s status within the film, also the watch can represent his personally because it shows his expensive life style and that he must be successful.

Thomas Riley/ Antagonist/ Agent Riley

·         Grey suit trousers- Make Tom look formal and serious.

·         Black shirt (top button undone and rolled up sleeves) - The rolled up sleeves show he is the fighter and not to be messed with.

·         Black leather shoes- to complete the formal image we have given to Tom.

                Adrian Northcott /Antagonist/ Unknown name throughout       

·         Black trousers- formal black suit trousers to match other villains to show they are part of the same “gang”.

·         Black leather shoes- To match the rest of the outfit and again to make character look formal.

·         White shirt-the white shirt is very simple but works for the character instead of a bright green shirt because the character looks more meaningful.

·         Black suit jacket- The only character to wear a full suit to show his wealth in the film and shows his success

·         Large watch- To show success and for formal purposes.

·         Black sunglasses- to hide his identity and to appear mysterious to the audience.

             Arthur Scholes-Furness / Protagonist/ Mason

·         Grey cotton joggers- the joggers look informal and very ordinary, this can show the vulnerability of Arthur’s character because he doesn’t look out of ordinary and mysterious.

·         Polo shirt- This again is ordinary and very casual everyday clothing, this stops Arthur looking suspicious.

·         High tops- Casual shoes that suit the rest of the outfit, helps Arthur blend therefore he isn’t suspicious looking.

Props:

·         Chair- The chair is significant in the opening sequence because Arthur’s character spends most of the time sitting on it. Used instead of stool because we can tie him to it.

·         Rope- the rope is used to tie Arthur to the chair which shows his vulnerability because he can’t pull the rope apart. More realist than string for example.

·         Car (Mercedes Benz) - The car is black keeping in with colours of antagonist colour, it can represent evil.

·         Tape player- Used to record Arthur speaking and used as evidence in the main part of the film.

·         Gun (pistol)- the weapon used to kill Arthur’s character in the opening sequence

·         Bag (potato sac) - This type of bag is common ids used in a lot of thrillers for effect, so we want to be in keeping whilst using thriller conventions.

·         Fake blood- used on Arthur when he has been hit repeatedly be Thomas Riley, more realistic than ordinary make up.

Makeup: The only make up we use is the fake blood to show realism within the film. None of the other characters have makeup on to show they are very stereotypically masculine.

Lighting:

·         Interrogation room- This room will be dimly lit by a small ceiling light (we will use a large torch to create this effect) the light will be directly above Arthur draw the viewer’s eye to him, whilst the rest will be dark to create enigma due to the shadows from the other characters.

·         Car- the car will be lit by street lights and passing cars for a realistic night time drive, creates partial confusion because the setting is obvious for the viewer.

·         Street- Street lights as well with possibility of security light if nothing in shot is clear. The dim light creates nothing intruding but shows that the equilibrium has been disturbed due to the dodgy events that would look out of the ordinary in the day. And not as realistic. Also we want it to look natural to the scene so nothing artificial.

Location: Tom riley’s garage is been used because it large enough to represent an interrogation room.  Also the house is the most remote therefore it looks more dangerous. It creates tension due to the fact that Arthur will have no where to escapes to. The driving scene will be filmed down and around Tom riley’s street due to it not being busy which could be dangerous with a higher chance of a collision.

Actors/ Characters

Actors/ Character	Reason why chosen for role
Thomas Ryder	Thomas is the main controlling antagonist because he is built for the role and looks like a fighter and more controlling than Arthur.
Thomas Riley	Riley dresses more formally than Arthur in the film to make him look powerful but not as controlling as Thomas Ryder. This shows that Ryder is the “gang leader”. Riley is used for this part for that reason to appear brutal when really he is under Ryder’s control.
Adrian Northcott	We chose Adrian because he is an experienced driver and looks very professional when in the characters costume. Also he is very serious which matches the character who doesn’t mess around, this is shown in the opening sequence.
Arthur Scholes-Furness	Arthur is the protagonist because by his appearance looks very genuine with nothing to hide this suits his character because we want the audience to feel sorry for Arthur and want to help him.