Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop and challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Our thriller, Caller Unknown, was mainly influenced by the use of the churchyard as a location in the film The Third Man, 1958 directed by Carole Reed and the use of everyday locations, at home in, the parking lot, etc, in the film Jackie Brown, 1997 directed by Quentin Tarintino. The shot of Jessie, in our production, (an 18 year old who is the victim of phone calls and threats from a past lover) getting out of the car in the car park at the churchyard (Swainsthorpe church) immediately sets the location for the opening of the film just like when Holly arrives at the graveyard for Harry Lime’s funeral just as he has arrived in Vienna.
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| Churchyard in The Third Man |
The sun is setting, casting shadows across the headstones of the graves which might make the audience wonder what Jessie is doing in the churchyard at that time of day, especially as she is on her own. The surrounding areas of the churchyard connote suspense, mystery, darkness and the feeling of being watched, just as Hollie watches from a far as Harry is buried, but it also connotes the sense of death and loneliness as churchyards are typically empty places.The flashbacks at the centre of the opening are also inspired by other well known thriller films. The scene shot in a deserted park (shot in Chapelfield Gardens) is similar to the park used in the French thriller Ne le dis à Personne (Tell No One), 2006 directed by Guillaume Canet. This is the film we saw when we visited our local cinema CinemaCity. Also, the storylines are similar as the main female character, Margot Beck, is being hunted down by her husband just like Jessie in our production is being harassed by her previous boyfriend Logan. Parks are city locations and should feel safe places as most have play areas for children but you can never tell who will be watching you. When Margot is in the park there is an abduction and when Jessie is in the park she receives phone call from an anonyms caller, which she doesn’t answer.
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| The Park in Tell No One |
The use of the lift for one of the other flashbacks was instigated by the lift used in Once Upon a Time in America, 1984 directed by Sergio Leone. At the beginning of the film a low angle shot of the lift descending could connote impending doom. When Jessie is in the lift it is very confined and this confinement is enhanced by a close up shot which is just a close up of Jessie’s hand holding the ringing phone. Again the storyline is also similar to that of ours as the man in the lift is being followed by a gang and is trying to escape them just like Jessie is trying to escape the bombardment of the unknown phone calls.
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| The Lift in Once Upon a Time in America |
The final location used in out thriller opening is the staircase. On a set of stairs there is a risk of being pushed or falling and this connotes tension and fear. Once again The Third Man was used as inspiration for this scene as the set of stairs are used to show control because the Austrian man is looking down on Holly, thus showing his superiority and Holly’s vulnerability.
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| The Stairs in The Third Man |
The names of the characters, Jessie and Logan, were chosen purely on the meaning of them; Jessie means woman of wealth in Hebrew and Logan means hollow and comes from the Gaelic language so their names are clues to their characters. Hitchcock in Psycho ironically used the name Marion Crane for one of the main characters, Norman Bates tells her she eats like a bird and Norman Bates has stuffed birds pinned to the walls in the motel which relates back to her surname - Crane - which is a type of bird and also indicates that she is Bates’s prey.
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Logan
Played by Niall Patterson |
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Jessie
Played by Catherine Fraser |
The props were important in the meaning of the film. The red flowers that Jessie places on the grave connote passion and love but also have an alternate connotation of blood and the oncoming danger of being found by Logan which is kind of ironic seeing as the flowers are being laid on a grave. The prop which was influenced the most by another thriller film was the use of the black leather gloves that Jessie puts on before she gets out of her car. A similar scene was shot in Jackie Brown; Ordell puts on black gloves before he is about to kill Beaumont in a dark car park, showing that he is trying to mask the murdered and be traced back to it. The lighting for this scene in Jackie Brown was very dark and all you can see in the scene is Ordell putting the gloves on and his face.
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| Red Roses |
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| Black Leather Gloves |
To conclude, thought out my film I have used some conventions, challenged some conventions but also developed some conventions and this make our thriller film unique to others available.
Question 2: How does your media product represent particualr social groups?
Many thriller films represent stereotypes, like age, gender, social class, ethnicity and status, in different ways, such as the black man murdering his white colleague in Witness and The Bride is portrayed in Kill Bill as a victim but in fact she is a strong, independent woman who can defend and look after herself though Tarintino challenges the stereotype.
In our thriller film, Caller Unknown, we have used a traditional representation with a female victim and a male stalker. Jessie is portrayed as a victim even though she is strong and independent woman, she keeps to her morals by visiting her friend that has passed away. Her strength is shown through how she dresses; she is smartly dressed indicating that she has a good job which pays well, this is shown through the mise-en-scene with the car she drives as it is quite an expensive car. The way she walks and holds herself also gives an indication of her confidence. Another section of the mise-en-scene that reflects her personality is the flowers she has chosen to lay on the grave, they are feminine signifiers and reflect her as they are red flowers which connote love and passion but still hint at the oncoming danger of Logan abducting her later in the opening of the film.
She clearly becomes a victim when she walks back down the path in the churchyard towards her car as the music creates tension and suspense which suggests something is going to happen as there is no other focus apart from her walking. The use of the abduction is very mood of the moment as just recently it has been reported in the news that a woman in Oxfordshire has been abducted and murdered. “Office worker Sian O'Callaghan, from Swindon, was last seen alive leaving a nightclub in the Wiltshire town. Five days later, police investigating her disappearance confirmed her body had been found and an extensive search was under way for a second possible murder victim.”
Question 3: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
Question 4: Who would be the audience for your media product?
Question 5: How did you attract/address your audience?
To find out what our target market thinks of our thriller film production we showed the opening of Caller Unknown to 8 males and females from our target market (16-20 year olds) and asked them to fill in a questionnaire afterwards.
Here are the questionnaires that they filled in:
Everyone from the group of people we surveyed found it very easy to understand what was happening and the narrative of the film. This shows that the way we edited the clips together worked as there was nothing that left the audience wondering what had happened in a bad way, by which I mean not creating tension or suspense for later in the film. They all also said that it held their attention and that camera work and editing was to a high standard. They rated the standard of muse en scene, including colour, figures and lighting to be very high. Everyone we asked said that the production was clearly and opening to a thriller film and that if there was a full feature length film they would want to see it which is good because that tells us that we have directed our film at the correct target market so that it appeal to them making them want to see it.
For the most part the film was appealing to our target market as it made use of all aspects of mise en scene such as costume, lighting, and props etc, a high standard of camera work and great editing. The only two things that the people we surveyed believed could be improved on was the shot types used throughout the opening, so more close ups and extreme close ups of Jessie’s face to show her emotions and the contrast of the flashbacks could of been adjusted to make the more gritty and interesting.
One person we surveyed found the flashbacks hard to understand but they understood by the time they had finished watching the clip. Everyone else said that they knew what was happening and that they understood the opening sequence.
Overall, the main part of the production that our target market believed was the best part of the production was the soundtrack. They said that it was “powerful, suspense building” and “great”. Something else they believed was a strong point in the opening was the location used, “I liked the location” and “Location was good”.
Some of the comments about the soundtrack included: “Yes! Loved it!”, “Dark and sinister, great track” and “Yes, holds the audience’s attention!” This is the information that backs up what we already knew; that the soundtrack is very important in the opening of a thriller film as it can hold the audience’s attention and possibly make them want to watch the rest of the film.
The last question was asked was rate the overall production, to see overall how well we had done in making our thriller film so that it appealed to our target market. They had to circle a number 1-10, 1 being low and 10 being high. The lowest rate we received was 8 so this shows that overall our thriller film opening really appealed to our target audience, some people even gave our production a 10.
There was a space at the bottom of the survey for any further comments and we received some helpful comments, “short film should have finished when character was put in car, car boot closing.” This comment means that if we were to re-edit our thriller film opening we would maybe leave the ending of the car driving down the road off to create a more suspense filled ending. Another comment was “The kidnap was far more effective and believable than a murder.” which shows that they enjoyed the opening and felt that it was realistic which was one of the things we were trying to achieve.
Question 6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
Throughout the construction of our thriller film opening, I feel I have learnt a lot about a range different technologies that are used in media today. The technologies have included: using a blog, filming our production, editing our raw footage to make a final cut and uploading our film online.
The most important thing I have learnt during this project is how to use a film camera and the techniques involved with it, such as camera angles, movement and shot types. The angles of the camera and shot types used in thriller films are very important as they inform the audience of what is happening, how people are feeling, and generally what is happening without having to explain it all.
One aspect I have enjoyed a lot during the process of making our thriller film opening is using Blogger to display our work on and also using online sites such as Survey Monkey to get surveys completed or SlideShare for uploading PowerPoint presentations to my blog. The internet is a great way to display and record work but it also a simpler way of working as everything is only a click away, like advice from a teacher in an email or information found through a search engine such as Google. I believe that the use of online technologies is partly what has made our film as good as it is. Cat and I were able to discuss plans and filming times on Facebook, research other thriller films to influence ours, share our planning information via email and look at one another’s works on the blogs. YouTube is also a great piece of technology that I believe has aided us a lot in the research and planning stages of making our thriller. After watching some clips in class, YouTube allowed us to re watch those clips again and again and also find other films that were relevant to our work very simply. It also allowed us an easy way of distributing our film so other people can watch it and it also allowed us to easily embed our final thriller film opening in our blogs.
Finally, the programme we used to edit our raw footage was called Premiere Elements 1.0. I had never used this software before the preliminary task, so it was rather a steep learning curve trying to understand how to use the programme to get the best from our footage. Overall, I found it simple and enjoyable to use without having to ask for too much help and would confidently be able to use it again if I had to edit another piece of video.
Question 7: Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Looking back at our preliminary task that we completed a few months ago I feel that I have come on leaps and bounds in terms of understanding the cycle of making a film and also how I use technologies in different situations.
During the preliminary task I learnt a lot of information and techniques used when planning and filming a film, such as storyboards, shooting maps, location scouting, and working with and directing the actors, working from brief and using shot types, which are all very important aspect of making a film. If I hadn’t have been able to research, plan and film before I started the thriller film coursework I would have struggled a lot as it is all dependent on one another. If there had been no research done we wouldn’t have been able to plan for our filming and if there was no plans made filming wouldn’t have been able to happen.
Also, during the preliminary task I learnt that it is very important to work well in a group and be open to other people’s ideas and discuss various plans. As there was only Cat and I in our group for the thriller film it was much easier than if there had been more of us; we found it easier to compromise on ideas, distribute responsibilities and work together.
The most important thing I have learnt from the preliminary task to the end of the final product, that I didn’t know before, is how much of a film is specifically aimed at a certain target market right from research into planning and on to filming. That is why the target market research we carried out was so important as it was the key to aiming our film at the right type of people and that the people who would see it would enjoy it.
