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| screenshots from YouTube. |
My media product has slightly taken influence from the nightmare on elm street films, using the same theme of going to sleep and in your dreams something is trying to kill you. This is a fairly common convention in horror/psychological thrillers, as when you are asleep or in bed, you are vulnerable to whatever or whoever is trying to kill you, unable to fight back or escape. This makes the audience feel scared for the character, who’s character they have probably became emotionally invested in during the film. This is used at the end of my film opening, as when I go back to sleep, there is a pan downwards of the same knife that was seen in my dream, on the floor in real life, suggesting I will inevitably be killed off on screen. This creates a moment of suspense, which psychological thrillers rely upon.
In nightmare on elm street, there is also the fact that when you die in a dream, you die in real life, this introduces a more psychological aspect of the film, especially when it becomes unclear what is a dream and what is real life, obviously this is unable to be shown in a 2 minute opening, but it would have been interesting to try and develop this idea. I was previously thinking of actually dying after waking up from the dream, however I was unsure of how to realistically pull this off, without using fake blood and awful acting, so instead I only hinted at with by showing the knife at the end my making it seem like it is fate that I will die. For example, in the horror thriller, The Babadook, the monster is “born” through a bedtime story when the kid is getting ready to go to bed, and subsequently, only visits the child and other during the night.
It's arguable that a connotation of a bed is death, in a bed is common way in films for a character to meet their end, it is normally considered a peaceful way to go, which juxtaposes with the violent deaths of most characters in psychological thrillers. death bed, simply means the bed that someone dies in, and the pan down to the knife suggests this will be my death bed, but won't have the "peaceful" aspect.
A convention of pretty much any film with psychological aspects is enigmas (unanswered questions) these provoke thoughts and discussion between viewers, especially if they remain unanswered (2 little girls in the shining) this keeps viewers interest in my film opening, as they want to know what I'm doing walking around a forest, if I'm trying to find something or someone? What attacks me? Who am I? The issue of what attacks me is never revealed in the story line of Endless (in my survey more people wanted the villain to remain hidden) and this will be thought provoking and add mystery to the film, which all are conventions of psychological thrillers.
I feel like my media product is comparable to the scene where Chrissie gets attacked by the shark in Jaws, as both feature a crescendo (buildup of music) when the attacker is getting ready to pounce on the victim, and to build tension to indicate something significant is going to happen. They both feature point of view shots from the perspective of the attacker, directly looking at the victim, who is oblivious to their presence. Finally after the action takes place, there is a period of very little sound, to reflect upon what just happened. The main difference in these 2 scenarios is that one is in reality whereas one isn't. Looking back at the buildup of crescendo before I am attacked, I feel this scene could have been improved, not only because of the unrealistic acting, but because I could have added better non diagetic sounds for the impact of the attacker, like the sharp, high pitched tones of Jaws, this may have made my scene feel a bit more professional.
Hitchcock's Jaws was also notorious for using colours to subtly represent danger, like when the shark kills a second person, and the inflatable toy and the swimming hat appear in before the shark attacks. I have tried to replicate this when I check my phone at the end, which gives a bright flash of red, having connotations of danger, blood and death, signifying my inevitable death, shortly before the knife is shown on the floor of my bedroom.
Another thing in Jaws that Hitchcock uses effectively is silence, which builds suspense that something dramatic is about to go down. This is used when the character "Chrissie" goes swimming at the beginning, and the only sound that can be heard is the waves, before the inevitable shark attack happens. I have tried to replicate this in Endless, as in the entire section where I am in the woods, it is very quiet, with only the sharp sounds of the slow music piercing the quitness, before the attack which ends the sequence.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Particular social groups are generally represented in media texts by stereotypes, which means traits that the media gives certain social groups in order to make it easier for the viewer to identify them, for example a person with a hoodie on is generally regarded as being a vandal, who's "up to no good.because I am the only character in my film opening, the only social group that is being presented is a teenage white male. The fact that the protagonist is a teenage boy and appears to be going through a hard time, represents teenagers as being quite troubled, as it is a difficult time between being a child and an adult.
It's arguable that a connotation of a bed is death, in a bed is common way in films for a character to meet their end, it is normally considered a peaceful way to go, which juxtaposes with the violent deaths of most characters in psychological thrillers. death bed, simply means the bed that someone dies in, and the pan down to the knife suggests this will be my death bed, but won't have the "peaceful" aspect.
A convention of pretty much any film with psychological aspects is enigmas (unanswered questions) these provoke thoughts and discussion between viewers, especially if they remain unanswered (2 little girls in the shining) this keeps viewers interest in my film opening, as they want to know what I'm doing walking around a forest, if I'm trying to find something or someone? What attacks me? Who am I? The issue of what attacks me is never revealed in the story line of Endless (in my survey more people wanted the villain to remain hidden) and this will be thought provoking and add mystery to the film, which all are conventions of psychological thrillers.
I feel like my media product is comparable to the scene where Chrissie gets attacked by the shark in Jaws, as both feature a crescendo (buildup of music) when the attacker is getting ready to pounce on the victim, and to build tension to indicate something significant is going to happen. They both feature point of view shots from the perspective of the attacker, directly looking at the victim, who is oblivious to their presence. Finally after the action takes place, there is a period of very little sound, to reflect upon what just happened. The main difference in these 2 scenarios is that one is in reality whereas one isn't. Looking back at the buildup of crescendo before I am attacked, I feel this scene could have been improved, not only because of the unrealistic acting, but because I could have added better non diagetic sounds for the impact of the attacker, like the sharp, high pitched tones of Jaws, this may have made my scene feel a bit more professional.
Hitchcock's Jaws was also notorious for using colours to subtly represent danger, like when the shark kills a second person, and the inflatable toy and the swimming hat appear in before the shark attacks. I have tried to replicate this when I check my phone at the end, which gives a bright flash of red, having connotations of danger, blood and death, signifying my inevitable death, shortly before the knife is shown on the floor of my bedroom.
Another thing in Jaws that Hitchcock uses effectively is silence, which builds suspense that something dramatic is about to go down. This is used when the character "Chrissie" goes swimming at the beginning, and the only sound that can be heard is the waves, before the inevitable shark attack happens. I have tried to replicate this in Endless, as in the entire section where I am in the woods, it is very quiet, with only the sharp sounds of the slow music piercing the quitness, before the attack which ends the sequence.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Particular social groups are generally represented in media texts by stereotypes, which means traits that the media gives certain social groups in order to make it easier for the viewer to identify them, for example a person with a hoodie on is generally regarded as being a vandal, who's "up to no good.because I am the only character in my film opening, the only social group that is being presented is a teenage white male. The fact that the protagonist is a teenage boy and appears to be going through a hard time, represents teenagers as being quite troubled, as it is a difficult time between being a child and an adult.
The fact that the first thing I do when waking up from the dream is to check my phone, supports the representation that teenagers can’t live without their phones, which is obviously the target audience of my film, however, in this case no amount of technology could save the protagonist from his inevitable death.
Another stereotype of teenagers is that they are care-free and rather laid back,this is shown by me walking through the woods at a slow pace, with my hands in my pockets, and how I appear to look like nothing could harm me, until the thing comes out from behind the tree.
Another stereotype of teenagers is that they are care-free and rather laid back,this is shown by me walking through the woods at a slow pace, with my hands in my pockets, and how I appear to look like nothing could harm me, until the thing comes out from behind the tree.
A stereotype of teenage boys is that they go around acting rowdy, and want to cause trouble, however I just seem to be minding my own business, not looking for any sort of trouble.
Acording to
Apart from this, my film opening didn't feature many stereotypes of social groups, this is mainly because my film opening was only 2 minutes long and so in this case there wasn't really enough time for characters in the film to be introduced.
Acording to
Apart from this, my film opening didn't feature many stereotypes of social groups, this is mainly because my film opening was only 2 minutes long and so in this case there wasn't really enough time for characters in the film to be introduced.
what kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
A media institution is a media company that produces, distributes, exchanges or regulates any form of media. distribution means how the media product is transported from the factory to the consumer. I will have to take into account that many of my target audience will simply stream the movie from an illegal streaming website, like 123Movies, this “distributes” my film, however they won’t have my permission and I won’t make any money from this, so this would be harmful, especially to a small independent film company like Shocker Studios, who need to make a certain profit from the film and can’t afford to be losing potential income.
My film will also be distributed by lorry companies to supermarkets like Tesco, so people can conveniently get the product while doing their weekly shop, however this method is decreasing popularity, partly because dvds are more expensive compared to downloading films off Amazon or Playstation, and that the costs of the lorry company transporting these goods will work out more expensive than the cost of putting your film on an online exchange company, the dvd and case have to be physically made, whereas with digital distribution this isn’t the case. People still find DVDs attractive though, because it is good to physically own something, rather than just streaming in or having it hidden away as a file, this is generally not young people.
Cinemas, like Odean, would want to distribute my film if the ratings are high, my film is likely to do well in a cinema because people go to the cinema specifically to get a thrill and feel scared.
the numerous subscription streaming services, like Now-TV, Netflix and amazon prime, will want to distribute my film to their audience, this is an example of cross media convergence, Endless, will get people to go to netflix, to watch the film, and at the same time, Netflix will be showing Endless to millions of potential customers. This depends on the ratings of the movie, and the expectations that audiences have on that movie, based on past advertising and current knowledge, will possibly get the film on the front pages of these.
You can also distribute, as well as consume films through iTunes, although this is a less popular way of distributing films due to the higher price. Because psychological thrillers are a niche genre of film, it can be difficult for the target audience to access the films that they want to watch, especially as the audience is very fragmented.Because of this, once people have downloaded a psychological thriller from iTunes, like silence of the lambs, my film, endless, will be "suggested" to them, through the algorithm, which helps people find films of the same genre with similar themes. This is also used for songs on iTunes, with niche genres like progressive rock. My independent film company, shocker studios, will benifit from this form of advertising hugely, because they don't have the Advertising budget that conglomerates like Sony have.Who would be the target audience for your media product? the target audience for my film is males over 15-25 , this is because my film is rated 15, due to common moments of horror, as well as fairly common moments of mild violence, and uses of mild bad language. there is also drug use later on when I am trying to control the dreams, which wasn’t being frowned upon in the film, but the use of context in this case meant it wasn’t enforcing a message that the audience should use drugs, which would spread a very bad message. To venture more into this, I researched the BBFC and what they do, in order to better understand what rating my film should be.
I had a look at similar psychological thriller/horror film's age rating, to get a feel for what my conpetitors felt their films were rated in the UK
Donnie Darko- 15
se7en- 18
Black swan- 15
Shutter island- 15
Because the average psychological thriller is rated 15, this is what Endless will be rated, this means I have more freedom to create terror, rather than overusing sex and profanity in order to keep viewers engaged.
I haven't taken into account the age rating of films like Psycho and the shining as much, as people's opinions of what is socially acceptable to show on film has changed over the years, so the BBFC has had to change with them.
how did you attract/address your audience? Because my audience is fairly niche, it is important to be able to address them directly, to know what they want. This is because audiences today are fragmented, this means I used survey monkey to address my audience directly, and find out what they expect, or dislike from psychological thrillers. My film, Endless, will have it's own official website to further build up the excitement until its release date, and on here fans will be able to interact with each other and build up a little community, this would help the message of the film spread to others through word of mouth. On this website there will also be examples of cross media convergence, so links to the Shocker studios's official twitter and Facebook, as well as youtube channel. This gives these sites more attention, while promoting the film at the same time, The majority of Facebook users are also 15 to 25, which is also my target audience.
what have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product? from the construction of this product i have learnt how to use iMovie to perfectly time sound affects with things going on, on the screen, like when the knife fell on the ground and I added a boom affect, plus how to add affects to sound in order to make them feel like they belong in the works of the film. For example, when I am walking through the woods I added a sound of a dog barking, but I put an echo sound affect on it, this was supposed to make it seem less in touch with the real world, as the effect made it sound almost like a figment of my imagination, not really there. Also regarding affects, I learnt to how add a "day to night" filter on scenes which were meant to be at night, so when I had woken up in bed, which built verismilitude, as waking up "in the middle of the night" in a bright room wouldn't have been convincing, this was very helpful, as I didn't have to record when it was darker, and visibilty from the camcorder would have made it harder to see what was going on,
I also learnt how to trim bits of footage and made it so that the end of that clip lights up, so when it cuts to the next scene it is bright for a split second, before going back to normal. I have used this transition between the panning down of the tree and the shot of me walking towards the woods, this was to make it seem more dreamlike, sort of like it is transitioning between the real world, and the dream world that I was trying to convey.
I have also learnt how to use prezi, to deliver my textual analysis, in a more aesthetically pleasing way, than just typing up paragraph after paragraph like I'm doing right now, I felt this will make my blog seem better flowing.
These were the main things I learnt, I was already aware how to use a camcorder, to carry out different shot types.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you think you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?
Looking back at my preliminary task, I have learnt that it is important to use the best sound quality, as when I shot my preliminary task I was using my phone, instead of a camcorder which I used for my film opening, this is because when I was talking to my teacher in the classroom, I struggled to hear what the characters were saying. The constant tinny I had also learnt how to use iMovie properly for my final product, as when I made my preliminary task i used iMovie on the iPhone, which lacks the ability to add sound affects, and change the affects of the sound and video, like the mac that I used for the film opening, so I have learnt to alway use the best technology available to me, in order to have better quality in my film.
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