evaluation karel

Evaluation

My opening sequence for our thriller uses the conventions of real thriller films. It uses conventions such as:

• An Exotic setting(deserted location)
• Non-diegetic sounds
• Thriller atmosphere
• An establishing shot
• Close-ups
• flashbacks

The opening of my thriller is very thrilling and it has an establishing shot to indicate to the audience the location where all the action might possibly be taking place. The non diegetic soundtrack creates tension and a haunting atmosphere. We also used extreme close up to create a great impact on the audience and also to add tension. These are all forms of conventions that thrillers use to create a scary frame of mind for the viewers. Our opening also slowly progress to the exciting bit which allowed the audience time to develop anxiety and make their own interpretation. “events in storyline enables the film to progress and allows the audience to second guess what will happen next…the dialogue in thrillers never contains a complete explanation of events or plot in order to give it pace and maintain the mystery which is essential in building up suspense.” Hhtp://latymermediathriller07.blogspot.com/2007/09/common-thriller-conventions.html I think this definition of what makes a good thriller can be said about my opening thriller because it involves all these aspects.

Example of a thriller looked at in class: “The Shinning”

The film “The Shining is a great example of a thriller that contains all the conventions of a thriller. In the shining there is change of camera angle which immediately creates a creepy atmosphere and there are points of view of the villain, there are lots of flashbacks, and quick cuts. All these techniques used makes the audience think and it also creates a thrill. These influenced my decision about my film opening because it made me think of all the elements that make a successful, thrilling and exciting opening that people would want to watch. Therefore I applied examples from “The Shining” in order to create a exciting opening for my thriller.

The opening sequence of “The Shining keeps the audience on the edge of their seats and gives them something to look forward to rather than having instant arousal. According to the director Jean Jacques Beineix the risks of instant arousal is that “you wouldn’t have anywhere else to go”; as a director you would not be living up to the audience’s expectations. As a director for the opening sequence of my thriller I avoided instant arousal because this means that the target audience would have more to look forward to after the opening sequence. I also believe that the opening of my thriller makes the audience feel that they don’t know nearly enough yet as was shown by the feedback that I received from people that had watched it.

Due to the fact that mise-en-scene creates the effect of suspense for the audience; our use of mise-en-scene makes the audience think about what could of happened and it also enables them to ask questions. For example: when the audience is introduced to the very first character, a wide and high angle shot is shown of her laying on the pavement with rubbish beside her; a similar description can be said for the second character who is seen dead beside a bin with her shoes on the floor and blood on her clothes. “Thrillers may be defined by the primary mood that they elicit: fearful and excitement, if it thrills then it is referred to as a thriller”. Following this definition I can clearly say that my opening sequence is thrilling and keeps the audience on edge. (Google: what is a thriller?) In addition our opening makes the audience ask questions such as, did the victim’s friend kill her? What happened? And why did it happen? It also creates anxiety for the audience because when the dead body is first revealed to the audience before it’s revealed to the villain, it makes them anxious to want to know how the villain would react. I think we lived up to the audience’s expectation because the villain was in the same confused state as the audience is supposed to be and found the situation ambiguous.

My media product (thriller opening) represents particular social groups such as young teenage girls that likes to go clubbing or parties. It represents such group because the characters in our thriller opening are young girls at the age of 17. In addition it represents such groups because young teenage girls are vulnerable and are sometimes unaware of the bad things that can possibly happen on a night out, therefore our thriller opening represents awareness for teenage girls.

The kind of media institution that might distribute my media product is big Hollywood block buster or a DVD release because I think that it would be good enough due to the fact that it uses thriller conventions and it is enjoyable. The audience for my media product would be from young teenage audience of the age of 15 years old onwards. This is because of the fact that our opening revolves around a party scene and this would attract young people because of the fact that they like going to parties. A typical person that fits into our target audience would be 17 year old Tope that does ordinary stuff at day but enjoy going party and getting drunk and not remembering what happened. I would market my film through the genre because of the fact that people enjoy watching films that are thrilling and full of excitement. I would advertise my film on Billboards, the internet and also trailers. This is a very easy way of getting peoples attention because such forms of media are everywhere around especially billboards and posters on buses.

My experience using the digital camera

I gained great experience of how to use a camera and how to use different angles and shot type to create different atmosphere. Due to the fact that I did most of the filming it was fun and I enjoyed it because I was exposed to doing something different and this helped me to gain great insight of what it is like to be a camera person.

Final cut Pro

At first I found it hard to get use to using to final cut because I found it very complex. However after doing independent work on my own in the editing suite I found it really easy and it was very fun which opened my heart up to other things that I might want to do in the future in the media industry.

I used final cut to edit clips for our thriller and to add transitions and other effects. Final cut was also used to import clips from the camera. I also used it to capture and log the footage from the camera onto the computer.

Live type

I used live type to create the credits for our opening thriller. On live type we were able to change the size of the font, the colour and we were able to choose different designs. The type of design for the font that we created was creepy; the font was a cracked typed font which also added meaning to our film. Live type was also used to shorten the speed of the credits. As a group we wanted the credits to be

Soundtrack

I used soundtrack to create the non-diegetic sound for our opening sequence. We also used soundtrack to fade in and out sounds so that it could match what was taking place in our opening film. The type of sound that we used was inconsistent, the beat and rhythm changed, however this was good because it compliment our film and it was in perfect time as the credits.

I used the internet to do various researches about thrillers and what the conventions of thrillers were. I also used the internet to blog the process of my practical work that was taken place each time I had media. In addition to this, we used the internet to upload the opening of our thriller so that others could view it. We also did the same process and uploaded it onto vimeo. Doing this has widened the potential audience for my product.

Looking back at my preliminary task the things that I feel I have learnt in progression from it to the full product is how to work well as a team and to give people an equal chance. I have also learnt the necessity of taking leadership if individuals are not willing to make sacrifices in order to have a successful product and in order to achieve the best grade for ones self. My knowledge of how to use media terminology has developed immensely, in addition to this my overall knowledge of media on a practical scale has progressed up to the final product which makes me feel great due to the outcome of my thriller opening. Overall I have learnt the great importance of camera angles and camera shots and how effective they can be.

Looking back at my match cut exercise I have learnt a lot about the film making process. I have learnt that a successful film starts off with an idea then that idea is developed into a plan and then from a plan to a story board then a pitch. After this process has been successfully achieved then the practical begins; by starting off with filming then editing which final adjustments are made.