- A tense score that increases in pace and suspense is built surrounding the lead character.
- The editing increases in pace as long, quick shots are aided by the help of cross-cutting.
- Enigmas are set up for the audience to try and work out
- Many close ups maybe used with high and low angles to show the balance of power between the two or more characters involved, and,
- Lighting is mostly low-key with a male predominantly playing the lead role
Basing my media product on these five indicators, it can be seen as fitting the classical mould. However it can be seen as unconventional to traditional thrillers as the film contains the use of a female protagonist compared to traditional thrillers such as James Bond.
Films such as Traitor and United 93 can be seen as inspirations for the film creation as it incorporates the idea of a person/people wanting to take revenge on the power that the key character cannot have. The basis of which is explained in the thriller movie created as the key character, Madeline is seeking revenge on the power that is the school for what has happened to her. The implications of using a female Asian character as the protagonist goes against conventions as in movies such as Mission Impossible, The Bourne Ultimatum and Casino Royale involve white, male protagonist with Tom Cruise, Daniel Craig and Christian Bale leading the movie.
1. 2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Many social groups have opinions based on them through stereotypical views on the average appearance of the group. For instance young people are seen as a nuisance because of yobs. There were six main areas of representation that had to be discussed when making this film. Each of the six areas needed a discussion on how each would be represented and how we would involve the different groups of representation.
Firstly, a female character leads the movie, which in itself was seen as unusual as predominantly, males are seen to be leading a thriller movie. This in itself goes against the stereotypical view of a lead character in a movie as a minority of films use females as the lead role in a thriller movie.Going against this stereotypical view conveyed the message to the audience that initially not only men have the top roles in movies but also that the use of a female with glasses seemed go with the stereotypical view that many of those that are bullied normally have these or some of these characteristics. This can be compared to that of Kill Bill as although the main character is out to out to exact revenge on a greater power than her, but Madeline goes against the greater power is a less direct fashion than that of Uma Thermon in Kill Bill, meeting the convention that females are less physical in their search for revenge.
Furthermore the plot of using a minority as the eventual bomber, does go along the lines of the stereotypical view of an Asian based person being a bomber, however instead of the extremist views that normally overshadow the values of a bomber, the key character instead is pushed over the edge by school bullying a thing that is widespread amongst nations.
The screenshot taken from the film, United 93 that highlights (terrorist plot of September 11,) shows that the stereotypical view of a terrorist in the mainstream American movies is a male of the Asian race, rather than females showing that it was unconventional to portray a terrorist as female.
Furthermore the involvement of a youth as the main character holding a bomb conveys the stereotypical vision to the audience that the character has to be extreme in her views compared to is an elderly man had been holding a bomb in a brief case.
In areas such as Northern England there is a much higher rate of Asian cultures of which they could possibly take offence to the common view that it has to be someone of the Asian race that has to bomb somewhere and not a young white man from Croydon for example. Furthermore if the typical view of a white girl from Essex was to lead the cast, the audience would feel that the bomb wouldn’t go off or that the traditional stupid view of this type of person would be upheld.
However the involvement of a typical power relationship of parent – pupil is upheld towards the end of the movie as the member of staff (Mr Boothe) is seen telling Madeline to “get on with her work” something that even though it was reluctantly done, was still followed out. The power of the teacher is something that can be related to by all as many people believe like Madeline in the plot that teachers either are against them or don’t take their side in close personal matters such as in this case the bullying of the key character. The school through the movie is portrayed as unwelcoming to Madeline in her case of bullying. It shows that through the continual dismissal of bullying has led to these circumstances.
3. What kind of media might distribute your media product and why?
In media there can be seen as five main industries to for new products:
- · Cinemas
- · Television
- · DVD/ Video
- · Social Networking
- Film Festivals
Firstly cinemas can be broken down into; mainstream, Independent and Art house. Mainstream films can best be defined as commercial films that know a wide release and play in first run theatres (A movie theater that runs primarily mainstream film fare from the major film companies and distributors, during the initial release period of each film). Being sold at popular stores (such as Amazon.com or its affiliates), or more typically, at general stores (such as Wal-Mart and its affiliates) can also be an indicator. Hollywood movies are usually considered mainstream and blockbusters are also mainstream films. The boundary is vague. Mainstream suggests middle-of-the-road and implies commercial viability, sometimes implying that the commercial viability is tantamount to a loss of artistic creativity. The opposite of mainstream film may be experimental film, art film or cult film.
Independent films however are a film that is produced mostly outside of a major film studio. The term also refers to art films which differ markedly from most mass marketed films. In addition to being produced by independent production companies, independent films are often produced and/or distributed by subsidiaries of major studios. In order to be considered independent, less than half of a film's financing should come from a major studio. Independent films are sometimes distinguishable by their content and style and the way in which the filmmakers' personal artistic vision is realized. Usually, but not always, independent films are made with considerably lower budgets than major studio films. Generally, the marketing of independent films is characterized by limited release designed to build word-of-mouth or to reach small specialty audiences.
Art House films, are typically a serious, noncommercial, independently made film aimed at a niche audience rather than a mass audience Film critics and film studies scholars typically define an “art film” using a “...canon of films and those formal qualities that mark them as different from mainstream Hollywood films”, which includes, among other elements: a social realism style; an emphasis on the authorial expressivity of the director; and a focus on the thoughts and dreams of characters, rather than presenting a clear, goal-driven story. All three film operators can be seen as unrealistic to provide to as it would involve distribution rites being given to the cinemas in question which would be completely out of question as the budget given to the group was minimal. From which the Art House cinemas would be seen as the more viable.
Although a more viable solution would be to release the film on a DVD, although again costs of copying and rights would mean the minimal budget given to the group would be another stumbling block as the DVD would have to be advertised continually. Television is an even more viable option as terrestrial television especially channel 4 would possibly invest in the film during seasons of television such as the recent ‘Slumdog Millionaire’/ Indian Winter season highlighted. It also provides endorsement for creative new programmers such as; the Inbetweeners, Skins, Shameless and Misfits which have all been successes with some even being gossiped about becoming a movie.
Social Networking such as YouTube, MySpace and Facebook would be a greater option as it would open the avenues to further endorsement. YouTube for example uses the money from subscribers to invest in amateur channels such as charlieissocoollike and richiesherman which could even end up on television programmers such as ‘Rude Tube’ that uses YouTube videos.
Therefore placing our clip on Youtube could represent a chance for the film to be developed and placed onto television with channels such as Channel 4 representing the best prospect. TV preogrammes such as Friends, Inbetweeners and Skins are now recognised as part of the British television culture. Although programs such as Gavin and Stacy have developed from small scale budgets to become mainstream with rumors of movies as a result. Seeing as ITV base their programming around commercial finance rather than the BBC who use TV license money to produce programs such as Mock the Week and Never Mind The Buzzcocks which regularly attract over two million viewers.
Small film festivals are seen as provides moviegoers with the first exposure to cinema's best new films. Influential international film festivals as Cannes Film Festival, The Toronto International Film Festival, Venice Film Festival, and The Sundance Film Festival showcase the most exciting work by contemporary film makers. Cinephiles will want to stay up to date with news from these top film festivals. Films such as Slumdog Millionaire have passed through these festivals with it going on to win many Academy awards and even Oscars.
4. What would be the target audience for your media product?
The target audience of the product is that of a 15+ age group, this is because the narrative is seen as the key to story, of which a fifteen year old is able to manage. The British Board of Film Classification or BBFC allowed:
· A strong threat of menace
· Drug taking allowed but not encouraged
· Dangerous Behaviour
· Strong Language
· Appropriate theme
· Strong Violence
For me I believe that the storyline involved in the plot of the movie is completely suitable for the target audience as terrorism is a threat that 15 year olds and above will deffinently know about as they would have seen the media after the September 11 attacks as well as July 7 attacks in London. Although as a result of this, it would limit the type of media producer that would acknowledge the piece of media we have created as a group. The terrorism theme at the moment is seen throughout the world creating severe sorrow such as the families having to watch their sons/daughters die in Iraq.
5. How did you attract/ address your audience?
The theme of terror is one headlining many types of media whether it is on the news with deaths in Iraq or terrorist atrocities such as that of 7/7 and 9/11. The audience group that we set out to attract felt that it was reflective of them in an everyday sense as they go to school and some may have witnessed or been a part of bullying in one sense or another. The conventions of cross-cutting and increased pace in the editing was something that the group as a whole tried to incorporate with effects of black and white to show the flashbacks of the bullied victim whilst also including a wide range of shots and transitions (as seen in the film trailer at the beginning of this post) as commented upon in our audience feedback .
Although the compliments of the feedback were also coupled with suggestions such as adding more sound and titles to attract the audience to the film, the music, was seen as not long enough which the audience believed effected the tension and suspense it created. Also after the first edit the audience believed that the titles used didn’t make the sequence as believable as if it had been for instance a thriller such as a James Bond opening sequence.
The theme of bullying was also seen as a daily problem in some schools with us addressing 15 year olds who may have been part of bullying in one form or another, a problem facing many everyday. But also the school setting is seen as relevant with that being a place of torture for some who are faced with the possibility of being put under pressure from others such is the circunstances surrounding Madeline, the key character.
6. What have you learned about the technologies from the construction this product?
During the research, preparation and editing of this project many different forms of technology were used. It started in the research with the use of an internet blog to store the research for what would end up as the film. New media has significantly influenced the making of this product as the internet as a whole was used throughout all processes of the film, whether to research key historic films in the thriller genre or just plainly to organise a film shoot between the four of us. The iMovie technology allowed us to develop our film in different orders to what had been arranged in the storyboard with the editing process being made easier by this technology.
Internet video websites such as YouTube provided an extremely helping hand as we were able to find influences for this production. The internet was seen as essential in providing the group with able copyright free music, which would become either the score to build up the tension in the background or plainly as the school bell/ fire alarm.
7. Looking back at the preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
From the preliminary task I feel the planning and organisation of the main task was extremely different from small effects such as high angles and match on action to adding a score and transitions to a film. The preliminary task was one that provided problems especially in the area of continuity as in one scene a character or object may be in the camera view but in the very next scene filmed at the same place it wouldn’t be. This was a problem as group we were forced to try and create as many closed sets as we could in order to present the film as if it had been filmed as one and not in many different cuts.
In the preliminary task the group as a whole was able to use the camera for relatively the first time, which meant that silhouettes of the camera operator would appear if there was scenes involving doors, mirrors or shiny surfaces meaning as a whole the suspense would be lost from the scene. This is compared to the final project on which the whole group was more familiar with the camera and understood how to use it much more than had been the case in the preliminary task, zooms were used instead of walking the camera up to the character involved for close-ups and actions such as tilting and panning became easier to manipulate allowing for a smoother transition.
Furthermore during the filming of the final film we had to pay close attention to detail with character clothes and props closely monitored as to make sure there could be no confusion as to the role of which character was. During the preliminary task we also found out how hard it was to film in an open set with continual movements past the camera and unwanted ambient noises. From this we understood further how to maintain a closed set inside school filming at hours of the day where a majority of the group members were able to film allowing for the ambient noises to be only that of which we wanted and not from distractions.
The preliminary task also faced the group for the first time of having to use set camera a movements such as panning, tilting and use of high and low angles, of which everyone had a faint idea of how to capture. The final edit contains tilting and panning showing how the camera had to placed in a variety of positions to create the scene and film it, with approximately twenty minutes of practice/unwanted footage as a result. The sound was another major issue facing the group as the sound was not always there for a purpose, during the preliminary task this was a major issue with filming having to be repeated several times as passers-by talking would be picked up by the sensitive microphones on the camera. It was also another reason why as a group closed-sets were preferred as it meant minimal unwanted sound was picked up. Editing during the preliminary task was made harder due to the fact that there was no experience of camerawork between the group with match-on-action and the 180 degree rule becoming harder and transitions unheard of. It meant that during the filming of the final film, the experience of each of the group grew and with that came the added advantage of filming match-on-action whilst not breaking the 180 degree rule and no jump cuts. Transitions were made by using the preview palette and applying transitions to multiple clips.
The problems of the preliminary task meant that the main task filming and editing was made more convenient, the experience of the camera was shown especially through the tilting and panning throughout the film. The editing also provided less of a challenge with the controls on the iMovie task bar seen as less difficult with it seeming easier to create a free-flowing film rather than an badly grained version of a film.
Ryan Angell
