In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
In the opening of my thriller i have thought about typical conventions used in a typical thriller. For example images of hands, eyes using close ups and extreme close ups to exaggerate these conventions. for example in one shot there is an extreme close up of the woman's eyes, we wonder what she is thinking. My thriller is a hybrid as it contains both thriller and supernatural conventions. The supernatural convention is the use of a little girl who is dead. My thriller is influenced by the film 'Fight club' by its complex structure. It is a fast pace and hard to grip exactly what is happening and why. The opening sequence creates an enigma
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
This thriller appeals to anyone who enjoys the thriller genre. It would appeal to an audience above the age of 15 as i believe it should have a 15 certificate. Women are the dominant sex in this film showing strong maternal love through determination for the mum to find her little girl and the girl to discover what happened to her and where she came from.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
I think my thriller would be a t.v movie rather than mainstream cinema. This is because it has a complex story line which some would find hard to follow. It would not appeal to a wide audience as people might not understand what the film represents. However it does deal with normal issues in an extreme case, for example a mother on a frantic search for a missing daughter, and wanting revenge on whoever took her. I think it will make more money through dvd release rather than cinema release.
Who would be the audience for your media product?
My thriller is aimed at an audience aged 15 and above. It deals with teenage issues with the girl not knowing her identity or her family, the only thing she has of her mum is short flashbacks of her as a baby, she is isolated. It appeals to an older audience as it deals with parental issues such as losing a child and not knowing what has happened. However it appeals mostly to young mum's as the main character is a young mum.
How did you attract your audience?
I wanted to use characters that my audience could relate, this is why i chose to have a young adult and teenager in the opening sequence, it is every mothers worst nightmare to loose a child, not knowing where they are or what has happened to them. My shots demonstrate a little girl playing quite happily by herself, although she does not appear to be playing by herself, this follows a supernatural theme, which is what the audience hope to see.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing the product?
To film my opening sequence i was given a camcorder and tripod; fortunately i had experience from filming a thriller trailer for my gcse's, so it was not alien to me. I also had a chance to play about with shots and how to position the camera and height of the tripod whilst doing my prelim task, so i was ready to film my opening. This is also true for the program that i used to edit in, Final cut pro, however i did need to play with some shots to jog my memory on how to use it, adding in effects, cutting shots, separating the sound from the shot etc. To do my text I used a program called motion, which i had never used before. Again I had to play around with fonts, colours, motions and effects to find which ones i wanted to use. I got my music from a cd, i learned how to put my music onto final cut pro from my cd, i done this successfully, although this process was new to me.
Looking back to your preliminary task, what do you feel that you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
I now have much more knowledge about filming and editing. I realised that it is necessary to take lots of different shots at different angles, tilts and distances to determine which one looks best, also because even if you don't use the shots, the option is there. I think maybe i could have used more obvious thriller conventions, however the emphasizes on my thriller is the supernatural side, i believe if i had killings and blood it boarder lines a horror. I like the fast pace editing as it grips the audience more than a slow pace, it is more exciting. This is also why i chose to use an upbeat soundtrack,it matches the pace of the shots, it also builds to feeling of frustration, as the opening comes to an end the story line is not very clear, this should make my audience want to keep watching to find out what happens and who each character is. I got this inspiration from the film fight club, Tyler is a mystery and the whole film leads to a climax at the end when we discover what is really happening.
What is the story line of your thriller?
My thriller opening is about a little girl who has an 'imaginary friend'. This little girl dissapears, no one knows where she is or what has happened to her, even if she is still alive. The martial arts girl in the opening has been hired to find this girl, she will later discover that the same thing happened to her when she was young, it then turns into a search for her own family, as well as the little girl. the twist is that both girls are living with a family that don't exist.
Did you receive any problems whilst filming?
I had a problem whilst filming the opening because I was supposed to have two little girls, however they both fell ill at different times and I had trouble trying to get them together. In the end I had to make do with the footage I had, this meant I had to demonstrate the little girl was playing with someone who was not there.
What was your audience response?
I got a mixture of feelings from my audience, both negative and positive. Some said it was intriguing, whilst others found it confusing and hard to follow. Overall people said they would watch the film to find out what happens and who the little girl, and the martial arts person are and how they are related. From a media point of view the audience noticed typical convention of a thriller such as the bright purples and pinks related to the little girl, demonstrating youth and innocence. Contrasted against the dullness of the stables, and the black and white shots of the older person doing karate. Overall my thriller opening sequence received a positive response.
