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

- We wanted to use a wide amount of Mise en Scene throughout of short sequence to convey a sense of suspicion and phycological emotions, For example we did things such as filmed her wearing black clothing representing a dull,dingy lifestyle showing the character representing inner darkness.
- An interesting setting depending on the plot of the story showing normally a dark dingy setting looking eerie and creepy. The thriller ‘Physco’ but instead of dark and dismal.We thought this at first but we wanted to show a different approach to a thriller film so we decided to use bright lighting showing the details in the screen and making it clearer for the audience. The scene being in a bath showing light and clarity.
- Also instead of using lighting to convey this we used a wide variety of conventions such as mirroring the protagonist to show reflection of victim and create anticipation through viewers of what is going to happen next through the thought in her face which shows a connection towards the audience that some teenagers can do this in the real world.
- Other conventions are Low key lighting making shadows such as silhouettes but again we didn’t use this is our sequence because we wanted our lighting to be filled so we could see the detail of what she is doing, For example looking through the cupboard and watching the water rush into the bath.
- We have used a range of slow,medium and fast paced cuts to create suspense and ENIGMA to audience of what is going to happen to this timid girl.
- Different camera angles and different sized shots. such as low angle showing direction and straight angle when doing mirror reflection. Shot angles such as Long shots showing body movement of what she is doing and also close ups to show state of mind.
- We also used both tracking and panning to show footsteps and track of setting creating that suspicion and disorientated feeling. Then ending the scene on a pan into her face creating that end anticipation then a fade to black. This will make the audience want to know what is going to happen next.
- What could of happened? we did this through use of ECU to show panic in her face.
- Films such as ‘physco’ has use of black and white filming which emphasises shadows.
- The protagonist is the girl about to commit suicide and there is no antagonist in this opening sequence but there is in the story itself. eg the bullies that led her to feel this way.
- The sound in our opening was slow,pounding and slightly creepy conveying enigma and thrill inside.
- It was also slightly down,depressing and mind puzzling to create that tense atmosphere.
- The film 'Seven' we looked at closely as by watching the opening sequence it shows the end of the film. This is what we conveyed in our thriller to then back channel and create a clearer picture.
- We wanted to create a sense of thrill making sure the audience being on the edge of their seats. We did this by using track to create suspicion, fast cuts of the bath filling up wondering what she is going to do next.
- The opening titles of ‘Se7en’ are fast paced and dissolve quickly onto the screen with a mysterious soundtrack in the back ground and occasional close up shots to create enigma. We took inspiration from that using a sharp edgy font.
- Using a sharp font to convey thrills in the colour of black and white making it give a sense of tension and coldness with the words dissolving and fading from the screen.
- We thought this was effective to shock the viewer and making the film look more intriguing always making sure the text was in empty space.
- In our opening thriller sequence,not all of Todorov’s points are used, if we had more time we would of improved this by using flashbacks, for example doing the disruption of that order by an event.e.g the bullies taking the mick out of her.
- Dramatic sound depending on what mood the makers want to create.
- Use of dramatic parallel sound at opening of our sequence.
- stop of music then using own sound to enhance anticipation
- Ending the sequence with a mind puzzling soundtrack trying to convey a crazy,traumatic thoughts from character.
2.How does your media product represent particular social groups?
- Age is a particular social group that this is extremely connected to. Many teenagers have troubles and problems when growing through that stage.
- We have tried to convey this by using ECU to show thought process and depth of thought. Here is an example:
I think this shot is interesting because it shows the thought as a teenager could connect to this as you can tell she is going through a hard time. The anticipation in her eyes makes the audience question why she is being like this and who has done this to her. The ECU explaining the deep thought in her eyes as she looked confused and puzzled.

This shot of the pills that the protagonist is hesitating to take is showing many different problems that the audience could think of. For example, illness's such as physcial, mental states. Looking through the cupboard is telling the audience that she is unsure on what she is doing but it doesn't look good seeing as there are pills involved. The connotations through this shot all prove to be negative. Behind this shot we used tracking to emphasise the Protagonist going to the cupboard creating anticipation.
Use of Tracking shots - again slow paced showing what she’s doing step by step.
- This is representing how a lot of teenagers go through struggles as they are getting older by using slow paced cuts to show emotion and that they aren’t rushing, almost don’t care about anyone else at this point in time.
- Our thriller is a negative representation of the teenage years because it shows
- bad thoughts(through ECU,MS) suicidal,depression and being hormonal.
- Ways in which we have tried to convey a teenager who has been having problems
- Mise en Scene- Make up on face of a scar made by a previous accident which has stayed with her.
We used this camera angle, making sure the we,as the filters didn't get in the shot to show the scar in a mirror reflection. We thought this would be more interesting to do rather than just a close up making it obvious we want the audience to know the scar is part of the story. Following on into the second mirroring shot when she lightly put her hand across her face and touches it giving the audience an idea.

- We have tried to stereotype this girl with the use of clothes trying to emphasise that by what she is wearing indicates what type of girl she is, i.e not very colourful and happy.
- The character keeps herself to herself and doesn’t tend to have a big social group,only a few close friends which is the boy at the door who understand her and is one of a few.
- We wanted to also convey this by showing that she’s not talkative i.e not replying to her friend who is banging from outside the door.
- Thrillers such as 'The edge of darkness'.
- An production team that would buy my film could be 'Coffee films' which like independent,indie short films or documentaries.
- http://www.coffeefilms.com
3.What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
Institutions,mainly indepedent distributers like Netflix,Duke of York and Film 4 which is a local distributer in Brighton and also film 3 are the ones I have found and researched which could distribute our media product.
Below is the Netflix logo which does distribute Independent Films across the world, one being the United Kingdom and this is any genre of film from romance to thriller. One thriller in the top ratings on Netflix was named 'Case 39'.
Thats why our film would definitely be able to stream on this website.
It would be a good website to use for our media product because statistics show in 2003,earning 6.5 million profit on revenues being $272 million.
Back in 2012 Netflix signed the first UK film deal ahead of the 2012 launch showing that they are interested in what Britain has to show.
The Duke Of York
The Duke of York is independent cinema screenings that would distribute our media product with it being british and the film being british that would be a big bonus when coming to distribute as it was made in the country. It has been open for 100's of years and likes independent films although a lot of block buster films.
Film 4 is also a british distributor which again would happily distribute our film due to its british background. It has been backing a large number of films since 1982. They specialise in distributing all sorts of films and I think our thriller would fit right in to that category due to it's use of editing,sound,Mes and lighting which we hoped to have achieved.
I would like our media product to be distributed through a website as there are a lot of advantages through doing this such as it being easy and quick to get access of the film,also advertisement is good as they put the top rating on the front homepage of Netflix and Film 4.
Here is an example of the top thriller ratings
at the moment on Netflix.
If it was to get many views so this gets you're product out there and visible to the viewers. Also on Netflix the website is fast to use and there are no loading problems and to finish off it is simple and clear to use.
Ways of marketing this would be posters,billboards and banners around you're local area,advertisements on adverts in short slots as this is an independent film it could depend on the area, for example you can only view it in your local town.
Social networking sights would be a main priority for our independent film,could be shared by various people you know that could support you or could be icons on Facebook that could like you to a page and show you what it's about.
Also sights such as Twitter would be a great way to advertise through something called 'trending'. This mean it makes one word,phrase on sentence be shared and known by everyone on Twitter. This would be a great help to get the word out there about our film.
4.Who would be the audience for your media product?
With our sequence I feel the audience is targeted at mainly females as the protagonist is a female. Girls will feel they can relate more with the character rather than a boy because at this age many girls have problems.
I think this mirror shot is especially good because it stereotypes a typical girl looking in the mirror, looking upset or confused wondering what is wrong with her.
Her imperfections which have made her feel this way in the first place are shown in the next mirror scene when she gently touches her face proving that she just wants the scar to go away. Many girls will have problems with scars and appearance problems overall so they can definitely relate to this sequence.
The age range that I have picked would be 18-25 year olds because the use of shots as seen below
This use of this camera shot, close up, conveys thought and sadness as if she is looking in the mirror and hates how she feels. This can relate to many teenage girls and up to grown woman making them think they are imperfect. So that is why when watching this sequence many woman will feel for this protagonist and feel they understand her clearly whereas males won't as much.
This low angle establishing shot shows the bathroom and how it is laid out. We chose to do a shot like this because it's showing the target audience how this is a normal average bathroom,nothing extravagant which makes the scene more realistic. We haven't made it spotless and positioned, we have kept it the way we saw it with bottles on the side of the bath and a rubber duck. We thought this was interesting because it conveys more of a typical bathroom that viewers will connect to with to their own.
This straight angle medium shot is a good relation towards the target audience because they can feel they connect with her through seeing a clear shot of her face panicking, thinking too hard and being in pain. This will make women empathise her.
We decided to make sure the protagonist wore her clothes when we did the bath scene. We did decide this because it automatically attracts the audience showing that she isn't thinking right and that she just wants to do something bad. The use of black clothing also attracts the audience because females are typically known to wear pretty,colourful clothing and this is more of a masculine,dull colour.
The use of a Extreme close up defines the panic running through her mind as she can hear her friend banging on the door. This is what we wanted to achieve because the audience will feel they are almost in her head feeling puzzled for her,really connecting.
As the opening is the end of our story people will gather that through the last shot being left on a cliff hanger finding out whether or not she did commit suicide.
Even though Mean Girls has a totally different approach, it is still similar to what we were trying to convey in our thriller as many girls look up to this film and understand what teenage girls go through, the struggles and the feeling of always having to look good which this film portrays in which we tried to portray in ours to make females connect.
5.How did you attract/address your audience?
I feel that we attracted mainly female audience through use of diegetic sound being dramatic and hard to miss.
The sound then becoming more of a strong,hypnotic beat to bring the audience in.
The aspects of the film we expected people to empathise and connect with was mainly the close ups,medium close ups and tracking shots of the protagonist showing a lot of the scar on her face.
This makes the audience feel sorry for her and empathise for what she is going through.
Teenagers will definitely be attracted to this as from the teenage is the age that people tend to mainly get bullied in different ways such as cyber bullied,verbally,physically etc. Not only this but losing friends,family can also all be related to.
Also we made sure our sound was parallel to the sequence giving that vibe of enigma and mystery.
When doing this shot we were trying to portray a young girl who has been traumatised from something. We did this through a mirror reflection showing the stare into the mirror at herself. This can give the viewer more of an understanding that it is something to do with herself. Her own state.
Showing this with no dialogue was difficult to get the full effect but I think this came out better than I thought as it shows the intensity and thought through her facial expressions and dull emotions.
We have tried to show this as her looking through herself as if she was nothing and meant nothing so didn't deserve to be on the planet. As if she wanted to make that permanent.
As she points at a scar on her cheek, we tried to make it a subtle scar through using make up, just so it's not obvious and in your face that,that is the reason she is upset because it's not the only reason.
This is an example of what we tried to copy but slightly different.
This shot proves and addresses to the audience what is wrong. This is shown through a medium shot leaving a lot of empty space as tracking into the mirror. We thought this was more effective than just showing her touching her face because even though there is no talking, the way she touches it and examines it shows how she feels about it.
Even though no dialogue is shown in this sequence, we wanted that to make it more mysterious, creating enigma towards the audience.
Using the bang on the door from her friend and then cutting back to her face, we wanted that face to show her thought, of why she didn't want to talk to anyone.
6.What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
7.Looking back at your preliminary task,what do you feel you have learned in the progression from it to the full product?
In the first frame of this sequence I screen grabbed our first shot of the extreme close up of the clock. I think this was good because it gave a sense of time changing the someone waiting. The angle is was well thought through, through making it a point of view shot from Lily. Overall I don't think I would of wanted to improve this because I like the angle and the way you cannot see all of the clock.
In the second frame, this was the close up of brads hand as he enters the room. From looking back I realise he doesn't pull the handle right down which could look confusing to some people as the transition from that shot to the next is disorientating, I realise now there needs to be a shot imbetween of him opening it right up.
This is shown in frame 3,that the jump from two to three is too confusing as if he is walking out even though he has walked in.
Frame 4 is an over the shoulder shot of the two characters showing the male characters expression on his face. This is an average shot but now having more experience I realise there is too much wasted space that is not needed in the shot and shows too much establishment which has no need to be in the plot.
Frame 5 is another two shot showing both characters and the females expression, this shot is again showing a lot of wasted space, but it shows a good amount of both characters and also portrays shot,reverse shot lets us see the dialogue from both characters. The continuity editing was shown throughout and we made sure that we kept a close eye on the 180 degree rule we made sure we didn't cross.
Frame 6 and frame 7 didn't quite go as we wanted them to, taking lack of shots we couldn't find any that flowed, as we took two different shots they change places in the second shot which looks confusing and forced/planned which we tried not to do so unfortunately that didn't flow although we are glad we showed this as it did shot match on action.
Frame 8 shows the character of Lily, we made this a point of view shot from the boy Brad. This is interesting because it looks realistic from the audience point of view showing her in the centre of the shot and the emotions going through her face.
Frame 9 is finishing the sequence by the character of Lily walking out showing a two shot. I think this was successful because it shows the 180 degree rule from Brad sitting at the table and is a good shot size (medium shot) showing the right amount of information to show what she is doing. e.g walking out of the classroom door.
Overall I have learnt a variety of things such as shot size,angles, Use of Mise En Scene, editing such as fading,cutting,rendering and many other tools which have helped me hugely with our Final thriller piece. I feel the preliminary was a good thing to do because it taught me what to do and not to do to make my thriller a better sequence.