In what ways does your media product use, develop or challen

Overall I have learnt a lot of fundamental media skills and methods of filming and editing, my group work is increasing dramatically and I have gained a lot of new techniques and learned skills that I will continue to use in future projects.

From experience in GCSE and made clear during the filming of our continuity piece in AS, it is essential to really plan every article that goes into each scene, from character analysis and camera angles to mise-en-scene and sound. During our continuity we discovered how ill-planning can have such a huge effect on the end product, the lack of organisation in the group can lead to the end product being rushed and not being quite as we envisioned. Although we were overall all happy with the end product it could have been better provided and shown much more promising qualities had we planned better, we learnt from this and made sure everyone knew what they were doing before we started filming for our thriller opening.

In addition, I have also learnt that taking variations of the same shot is helpful when it comes to editing, also filming for longer than the number of seconds required in the final product. Sometimes you can take a shot a straight away feel that it is perfect, but it is unlikely you will know for sure until it is lined up next to the rest of the clips being edited. It is always better having too much footage than too little. Having variations of the same clip allows you to experiment to find the best version of the scene, and clips that flow nicely between each other.

In the continuity we didn't think about how the sequence flowed and how one shot cut to the other. Moreover, we made sure to fully encompass this in our final piece. We also focused on finding the best possible sound for our thriller opening as we were disappointed with how limited we were for choice in our continuity piece. We wanted to use better sound effects and a more dramatic soundtrack. For our final product we also filmed outside of school property, this gave us more opportunity to focus on building suspense and we could essentially film at our chosen time of 6pm when it was dark.

Despite any technical knowledge I have gained, or any basic filming facts I have attained over the process, the most important thing I’ve learnt, is listening to your partners. I am quite an independent worker, I enjoy doing a lot of the work myself because in my head I can get it done right and the way I envision it, but during the filming process for our final thriller opening it occurred to me just how impo finding the answer to an issue a lot easier and sometimes peortant including the views of everyone is. There was many times when I’d be struggling on an issue during editing, or was looking for a new solution and one of my group members would offer that solution. Especially in the planning process as there were members of the group that were better at coming up with a narrative than I was. It madeple have better ideas than your own and therefore their input can be crucial. It was also a lot easier to edit with another member as sometimes this can prove difficult so you need that support to get the job finished as quickly as possible. Furthermore it is important to listen to the views of all because sometime the best ideas come from the strangest of notions.

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

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

The most important new lesson I have learnt during this process would be how effective and important the internet is when marketing a film or a product you have produced. It should be noted that the internet should be taken full advantage of especially if your budget is minimised to a low figure. In essence the internet is free advertising on the biggest scale you can find.

Social networking is a good step to take when trying to gain publicity, word of mouth and reviews spread quickly over the internet as friends can share/comment and like posts. A well organised viral campaign can be just as effective as paying for better advertising. People and most importantly our product, can be recognised from the click of the mouse and you don’t have to rely on luck because statistics can tell you exactly how many views your page or product is receiving.

Another aspect I have learnt about technology is that using better equipment provides for an overall better end product. The camcorder we used was a Canon LEGRIA HF R406, in the end we felt this was fairly good quality for its uses and our amateur style filming. We did however feel the quality could have been better and maybe we would have obtained better quality with a standard IPhone 6 camera (8-megapixel 1/3-inch sensor with a 1.5µm pixel size). However the canon camcorder was very easy to use and we could still use zoom techniques and by using a tripod also we were able to angle it perfectly. This in turn became a positive for the group as now we are aware that by using various methods of filming, you can change the FPS (frames for second) to something suitable for best development. This means that you can use a higher FPS on clips we wanted to slow down so no quality is lost and when rendered, will take less time.

The use of editing software is another area I gained a better knowledge in also. I have a good natural ability and knowledge in iMovie (Macbook based editing software), but there was always room for more improvement and knowledge. Fortunately I feel this process has allowed me to do so in that I have created multiple versions of the thriller opening and strands of related edits to compliment this. The process of putting together a mock interview and the actual opening etc has allowed me to really utilise each feature of IMovie. I have found that using the more advanced editing software produces the best end product however iMovie suited the task as it didn’t require much intensive editing.

The Mock interview was simply edited on the same IPhone app that I used for the continuity edit, this was due to the fact that there wasn’t relatively much editing to do in order to produce these clips. Also the app proved very straight forward and therefore quick to use.

Evaluation

How did you attract/address your audience?

Ideally we would want to look at television marketing with compliments from online adverts/popups, billboards, posters etc. However, this unfortunately wasn’t possible considering our small budget. Because of this we had to take diverse routes during the distribution and marketing stages to attain the same broad audience we planned for, using the smaller budget we realistically had.

We mostly used social networking to advertise our product and gain views. The main sites consisted of YouTube, Twitter and Facebook. These sites are free, easy to register on and have the widest range for us to focus our advertising onto. Due to the age restrictions of these websites being 13+ this was the best way to appeal to our target audience. We produced accounts for our film and posted regular updates on all three social platforms to address our potential audiences. If we had a larger budget we could have paid extra on each site to boost our viewing rating by promoting our video/post on the main home page of the site and also specifically directing the advertising at our target audience. The use of social network allows international viewing and it means users can follow the recent updates of the film, this means more and more people can interact with what we’re doing and therefore are more likely to view the final product.

We knew from even before we began creating our storyboard that our target demographic would be. However we did consider different ages within the planning of our product and after careful consideration as to what the product includes and how the general public would react to this, we decided that the +15 age category is an appropriate choice in concurrence with the guidelines of the BBFC. We felt the content in the product was suitable for under 18’s but the soundtrack and high anxiety levels on specific scenes wouldn’t be appropriate for anyone below 15 years of age. In addition, we hoped that our product would appeal to both genders of this age range this is so more people would enjoy the film and ultimately, bigger revenue. However, realistically we could see more female users viewing the film despite the anomalies of males we may encounter. On the other hand, more independent male roles will become apparent as the film develops and these roles will be vital in the run-up to the plot line. This hopefully gives a chance to both genders to be applicable target audience’s rather than just females.

We also hoped this film would branch out to more than just the audience for ‘thriller’ genre but also, action adventure and horror as well. Our thriller opening includes scenes and soundtracks from horrors and action adventure would be present later on in the film therefore hopefully we will attract a wide audience with our product.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Our budget was very limited considering we’re independent film makers and this therefore limits our options and methods of distribution to an extent. Due to not having the available funds we cannot distribute the film using primary methods like cinemas, adverts on television or radio. The basic methods of distribution for our thriller opening are cut short because of our lack of contact, connections and funding. One way easily available to us is uploading and trying to distribute via social networking and word of mouth, you can now buy stalls on facebook and twitter so that you can be assured more people will view your page- this would be considered cost efficient as it wouldn’t be too much money, however we couldn’t be sure that the specific target audience we are trying to appeal to will be the viewers. Due to this hiring an independent distributor is probably the most likely scenario, institutions like Working Title Productions and New Line Cinema. These independent distributors would hopefully successful for us in reaching our specific target demographic and the use of professional business might help spread the word to new viewers and an unexpected audience.

These companies could also possibly use film festivals to help distribute our film and gain an audience for it. This is helpful for both sides of the transaction because it wouldn’t cost much for the independent distributors but festivals are well-known for their numbers so we could be assured a lot of people would be seeing our film. By entering into festivals we would be gaining publicity and this ultimately makes it easier to distribute the product.

Before beginning our thriller opening we knew following the typical and known forms and conventions of thrillers would be easier as than us challenging these conventions in terms of creating a successful thriller opening. The key features of a thriller are suspense, tension and the fear of the unknown, we tried to emphasise all three of these elements within our piece focusing on camera movements, fast pace editing and sound to really highlight our point. We also exercised shot types, mise-en-scene costume design and natural filming techniques to help complement our main focus.

An example of a typical convention we focused on was to produce a dramatic build up and high suspense sound. At the beginning of our thriller opening we used natural sounding such as loud footsteps and muffled traffic to develop an eerie atmosphere and to portray the realism of the situation. The non-diegetic foreboding soundtrack is first present when our main protagonist receives her first text from an unknown number; this is so the audience is aware that the protagonist is in trouble. During the build up to the climax we used both diegetic and non-diegetic sound to help create the best effect for building suspense. We kept the natural footsteps of both the protagonist and the antagonist kidnappers this is to emphasise the realism and the fear of the situation this is also then reiterated by the sound of heavy breathing. It should be noted that many thrillers use the absence of sound to create this same effect, however we wanted to be able to convey all our editing skills including adding sound track and artificial diegetic sound. In turn after we analysed our thriller we found it had more impact with the sound present rather than without the soundtrack over the top. Our group wanted the non-diegetic soundtrack to create a dramatic effect, due to this we decided to use natural artificial diegetic sound and then an ominous non-diegetic soundtrack over the top which at the very end of our opening reaches a crescendo to panic the audience further.

Another way we used a common thriller convention was by putting the protagonist in what seems a state of vulnerability. This makes the audience fear the worst and therefore their emotions and anxiety are heightened. There are a few ways in our opening where this point is illustrated clearly, from the obvious narrative of the protagonist’s position and her present worrying situation to the more thoughtful camera angles that endear themselves to emphasise the point. To create the feeling of vulnerability usual convention dictates using high angled shots, this is due to the looking down at the protagonist to imply they look inferior. We used many high angled over the shoulder shots when showing the texts and furthermore a high angled shot when the main protagonist is sitting waiting on the swings. This high angle shot follows the conventions of typical thriller films as it puts the protagonist in a position of vulnerability, and the idea of the protagonist not being in control is frightening to the audience. This is an easy way to create adrenaline and the suspense.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of a real media products?