my evaluation

My Evaluation:

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

Our film is a psychological thriller and it follows in the footsteps of A Clockwork Orange (Kubrick,1973), Shutter Island (Scorcese, 2010  ) and Psycho  (Hitchcock,   ). Our film shares with these the theme of insanity , the threat of violence and taps into the audience's fear of the unknown . The theme of insanity is placed in our film with  the asylum setting that the opening film is based in. the idea of insanity is a code of triller films as is gives the element of unpredictiblitiy and lack of control .


Also our film uses a fear of violence is used to create fear of main protagonist and the other characters in the film as they are seen as violent or at least unpedicatable . furthermore the fear of the unkown with the enigma codes of insantity and strange threatening characters and setting creates a fear of unknown adding to the surpense .


Our film is similer to the these films aswell as it has a carasmatic but not simperfetic lead . the idea of what is wright and wrong like in many pshcological thrillers due in the same way.


Our film's mise-en-scene creates a locaton that has been the stuff of many thriller films as it inspires teror: the insane alsyum and the groups inside them.  We use the conventions from films like One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest which atttacks the treatment of the the mentally insane and their over medication. Our film is quite anti-establishment in this way and it attacks the keeping to the main character in the such a place. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvkvxJzQch8 

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The social groups that our media represents is the group of mental insane or changed group. It deals with the issues of wherever or not the current system of dealing with sciatic patients is best and most moral way of doing so.  The issue of insane or psychologically damaged people in the media is a long running problem in the social group. 

In the early days of psychological research the pictures are used try and define whether or not the person in question is actually insane.

This method is one of the most famous representations of the mentally insane in media. The method was not very effective as it meant that with the composition and general condition of the patient at the time the photo effects how the patient is diagnosed.  As in the picture below.

In our media product the issue of ambiguity with the mentally insane people and their treatment is right or wrong. The social group is representing in a more morally questionable way as the idea of mental illness is putting a label on a part of normal complicated human being. The institutes that the mentally ill are kept in are dealt with our product. Also the way they are dealt with in media and come under scrutiny whether they just a modern version of bedlam a place to sort and hide social undesirables .

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

Our film is going to be distributed by Lionsgate Distribution Company. We chose this company because they are one of the biggest distribution companies in the world and the British wing of the company has distributed many successful films in the UK that have spread to the USA and around the world. With the current wave of good quality and successful British cinema like the Oscar winning Kings Speech and Slumdog Millionaire our small British film is more likely to get a international release through Lionsgate.

Also Lionsgate UK has a good history of releasing thriller films in the UK. They have distribution such films as Saw 3D and The Next Three Days. These films are similar to our film, thriller genre and style of a dark intense drama. The success of these films being distributed through the UK will help with the distribution of our thriller film. Not only this but the Lionsgate company is synonymous  with good quality films and has released some of the most successful and universally received films.

Lionsgate as a whole is a company capable of taking a small independent film like ours and making it into an international success. They have the connections with cinemas, to ensure exhibition, the control and capital to release a film to the largest possible audience. L.ionsgate can afford billboards, TV and cinema trailers , radio spots , print media advertising , fleet media advertising and even test screen the film to secure the largest possible box-office for our film in a way that other films could not. For example American Psycho to released a to a box-office total of $34,266,564 .  This is therefore also why we will b selecting lionsgate to have the best distribution company in terms of finical and in terms of experience and expertise in selling films.

4.  Who would be the audience for your media product?
The audience of our film will be in three main groups working on different levels of the product. Firstly the superficial level of the film the action and thriller elements will attract a younger and less discerning audience. For example the thriller elements of suspense and ambient sound will attract an audience looking for action thriller genre. This will be an audience from around 15 to 20 they will be looking for escapist drama.


The film will try to link the art house elements with a conventional thriller and attract the largest possible audience. The film loving audience who are connoisseurs of film will enjoy the complex plot and interest shots. This audience will be more patient and willing to enjoy the more artist elements of the film. This audience will be slightly older around the 25 to 40. This group will be looking for more in depth film. 




   5. How did you attract/address your audience?

We created a Facebook page for the film allowing people to comment on it and share their opinions on the film with one another offering feedback about it.

Also we made a twitter page for the film and different status updates about the film. This lets followers of the page know about the film and also will be spread by people retweeting  the same posts .We did this after inspiration from the UK film council digital innovation fund, using these types of social media will create online buss before the film is even released.

Another way to gain online awareness was by creating a film website this is very popular in modern film making and we will be having all of our promotions linked on it such as Twitter and Facebook to link to the other media, also so people can find us easier and big and visual for the viewer to enjoy.

We hope to get slots 5 weeks in advance, with 30 second teaser clips of our film on television or on radio. Then we will release in cinema the full trailers on the begging of related films.

Also we aim to have our film done by Secret Cinema where subscribers are sent messages telling of where to meet and the film that will be screened. They are encouraged to dress in theme of the film then they are led to its screening were actors and props will be arranged to make it a fully immersive experience. Our sceeing will be in a private mental aslym with props and staff as paients to complete it.

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

while making this film I have learnt about and how to use a wide variety of technologies.

·         Filming   technologies to chapter our film product in the most effective and artistically pleasing way. For this we used two different cameras to create the different effects shots. The shots in the white corridors and larger rooms were on a older more robust camera with a wide lens but poor zooming ability. For the small room shots and long close up we used a smaller HD camera to give these shots a more stylist feel. during this film project I learnt different cameras have different elements and different qualities useful for different effects and shots. The qualities of all the different equipment need to be utilized to create a good film. 

·         Editing technologies to add to and change the look of the finial film. The editing equipment we used on this film project was the imovie program on the apple mac  computer. This is a easy to use but complex program and we used it for all the editing on the films. I learnt how to create pace and genre with the use of editing placing different shots in certain places to create an effect. This was used in our film to make a genre of thriller clear in the film. In imovie I also learnt how to make artistic effects with post-production tools to give certain shots a washed out theme or coloured filter on a shot. This was used in the final film with the corridor shots being washed out and whitened in all cases . also in the shot of the eye I learnt to make a effect of terror or threat colour filters can give association of fear. This was used on the final eye shot that had a red filter on it to create an idea of paranoia and fear also of something unexplainable.

·         Music technology to make the soundtrack for our film.  For the music in the film we used the gargeband program on the apple mac computer . on this program we used the movie setting to make our soundtrack. We used the standard garageband to make the music. The music was made to give a feeling of genre and an impending doom or terrible event. The diagetic sound was used to draw attention to certain events like the door opening. I learnt a huge amount about these programs as I used them for all elements of sound and music production on the film.

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

I have learnt lots of things from our prelim project and have improved many elements of our film making capabilities. These can be broken down into many different groups.

·         Firstly I learnt how hugely important the soundtrack of the film is in creating the narrative and tension. The soundtrack of our prelim film is just a simple diegetic sound, footsteps, doors and other such sounds. Our final project film has many different diegetic but also non-diegetic sounds like music to build suspense and convey the thriller genre.   We have also enhanced the volume and sound of key moments such as unlocking of a bolt and footsteps echoing down a corridor. I learnt to use Garageband to create music for my film.

·         Also I learnt the significant of mes-an-scene that is the lighting, setting and costume to create a image or idea of the location or character. In our film we use a washed out white color all through it to create a sickly effect to the film.

·         Thirdly I learnt huge amounts about the shot types to create a sense of genre and atmosphere. For example with the extreme close up and zoom out shot is deliberately symmetrical with the lockers on both sides drawing closer in to create a seemingly endless scene of entrapment. The second shot I learnt amount about was the corridor shot that creates yet more feeling of incarceration.  

 

Our preliminary exercise