Tuesday, 27 January 2015

Q1 In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?




A thriller is a type of film that can have a wide range of different sub-genres in the film for example the thriller we created would be classed an action/thriller, there are lots of different types depending on what is in the film because some films are classed as psychological thrillers because they contain mystery. Horror/ thrillers because they contain blood and gore. Action thrillers because they could contain weapons etc…

Conventions of a thriller:

Narrative

-          Thrillers are supposed to create suspense and excitement for the audience.

-          The narrative resolves around the investigation of an enigma or the hero is the only person who can solve the enigma.

-          They mostly involve violence.

-          If often reveals the workings of particular institutions such as the police, the army or the Government.

-          The thriller centres on injustice in society but solves these wrongs.

-          There will be a rational rather than supernatural explanation of the puzzle.

Setting

-          A thriller can be set in an urban environment or a rural environment.

-          They can be set in old abandoned buildings or new city buildings.

-          They are usually set over big areas as there are usually chases.

-          They can also be set in abandoned buildings and asylums.

Characters

-          A Protagonist - They are usually a detective or someone on the run.

-          An Antagonist - They are usually a villain or a prisoner.

-          A Damsel

-          Villains - They are usually English, Russian or German.

-          Innocent victims/Bystanders

-          Characters with dark pasts

-          Psychotic people

-          Terrorists

-          Spies

 

 The different Shot types that we used made the film more effective because we had a wide range of different camera angles (High and Low angle shots, Extreme close and long shots, mid shots and pan shots.)The reason that we had lots of different angles was because we wanted to make the shots quick so the more angles we had was  more effective. A couple of examples of the different shots that we used was extreme close ups, high angle and low angle shots.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

This is a shot of Alfie holding an airsoft MP5 which is a small sub machine gun that is very effective in combat, these shows that the soldiers are fully equipped and ready for the task. The shot of the soldier holding the weapon is very good because the gun looks realistic. The different extreme close ups of the weapons from both the soldiers and the runaway this shows that the man is in trouble because the SWAT team are hunting him down. This links to other Action/Thrillers ‘The Expendables’ because it also shows different close ups of the characters faces and the weapons that they are holding so we want to put a big amount of Action in the film but we also want to put some mystery in as well about the runaway. Why he is there? and what has he done?

 
Psychological/Thriller 
 


           Horror/Thriller
Action/Thriller   
 


 

 


                                                          

 

 

-          An Action/Thriller is a film that contains lots of fast paced action which usually contains lots of weapons and gun based fights the example I have chosen is ‘Sabotage’ because it has weapons and powerful characters like ‘Arnold Schwarzenegger’ who has been in lots of different action films that contain weapons.

-          A Psychological/Thriller film is a film that contains a mysterious feel to it like you have to work out a puzzle to understand the meaning, the example that I have chosen is ‘Shutter Island’ because being on an island itself makes characters go insane.

-          Finally a Horror/Thriller is a film that contains a lot of blood and gore and is created to make you feel uncomfortable for the audience and makes you not want to watch the film because it is a genre that scares you to not watch it.

 

The use of Mise-En-Scene in the film we used was the clothing of the characters for example we made the protagonist look rough to make it look like the person has a hard life and is going through bad times because they have ran away. The clothing of the antagonists was dark because we wanted them to look like soldiers so they wore black, trousers, boots, coats and balaclavas. The reason they wore this was because we wanted them to look professional when completing a task.

Also in the Mes we had the lighting, because it was a thriller and an army/swat based film so we wanted the lighting to be dark so it didn’t give the identity away of the soldiers which gives a mysterious effect because in some scene you don’t see much of the soldiers in some scenes which creates tension because the man doesn’t know that the soldiers are there until they are really close. The lighting used for the protagonist that we used was bright lighting to shows that he is clear and defenceless in the light against the soldiers who are stalking in the shadows so the odds are against the protagonist.

 
 

 The props that we used for the protagonist were  bottled water, canned food, sleeping bag and a gun with bullets to shows that the man is always on the move and has nowhere to go to this shows that he has moved for a reason because he has been forced because of a problems that may have occurred. The props for the soldiers that we used was army clothing, guns and a car the reason that we wanted to use this was to make the soldiers look professional  like they are the real deal because they turn up in an expensive 4x4 with all the equipment for the job.


 

 

Music that we created was add to the youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54g817JCSz4

 

The sound that we used was a non-diegetic piece that was played over the top of everything else. The music that we had over the top we got Joe Main to make the music for us which was a good piece of music that fitted the type of film. It worked well with the thriller because the beat started off slow and built up the speed just like the action in the film.  The reason that we got Joe to create the music was because he had familiar skills with the music application on the Macs. We gave Joe information and details of the genre of our film and the key points that our film was going to contain he took this information that we gave him and he made the music which starts off slow and then builds up creating the tension for example when the car pulls through the gate and when the protagonist realises the soldiers are in the area looking for him.

For the Editing we all knew a little bit of information including the  tools on the Mac so we knew what we was doing, as  team we  knew what effects we were  going to put into the film. I think that the editing was a group effort because we were all giving pointers what effects he should put in for example we saw another group add in slide transitions in between their slides so we wanted to do a similar thing so we I went for a fade to white effect that would flash on to the next slide to cut the shot and to make it look like every time the viewer blinked it would change camera shot. This worked effectively because the speed of the change of shot changed really fast because we wanted the clips to be fast so it kept the audience on interests.

The Narrative of the opening the idea of a deserted place gives a psychological effect because you don’t know why the camera is there. When the camera switches and introduces the first character it shows a man living rough like he has escaped but a mystery why he has ran away. This makes the audience feel sorry for the man but then a swat team pull up and then realise that the man isn’t innocent if the army/police are after him as they search the area to find him. It suggests from the opening that the film might be a psychological thriller because it has a sense of mystery that is created with the fast cuts of the area the protagonist and the SWAT team.


 

 

 

 

 

 The Characters are introduced by one by one so the opening starts with the protagonist not doing a lot in a small building looking rough as the camera looks down at him to show that he is weak ( high angle shot). After the shot it moves onto the soldiers together as a big group to show they are powerful because they are being look up at with their weapons. Then it moves onto different shots of the soldiers as they take turns leading the group. For example a different always at the front directing the rest.
 

 

 The film Titles that we used was an inspiration from the film ‘The Lone survivor ’ where the titles go over the top of the shots as the opening is introduced the reason we wanted to do this is because it was a lot more effective than the titles  on a blank screen. We introduced the production company and the producer at the start because we thought they were the most important. When it came to the actors we did the names over the top when they were first shown in the opening to introduce the character and to give the audience an idea who would play the part. Finally toward the end of the opening we had the job roles of the people.

For example the Editor, Sound creator and the camera operator to make sure that we covered everyone who was involved in the production of the film. I think that the way we did the titles worked because it kept the audience drawn to the detail whilst they were watching the opening they would find out the actors and other information as they watched the film. The use of the final scene when the soldiers look out the window and see the man running in the dark to then go onto the titles ‘On The Run’ in a rough torn text was very good because it shows that we know how to time the titles correctly to make sure everything ran smoothly.

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