Further Audience Feedback

After looking at our audience feedback, we have decided to expand it to gain a better idea of how successful the thriller opening was. We wanted  to use a different form of media to display our findings, and therefore chose to create a small video. Over the next few days, we will be filming several people's opinions of our thriller, and will then be creating a video with the footage.

Audience Feedback

To estimate how successful our thriller was, we asked several people for their opinions on our opening. We will try to show our findings in a variety of ways, as this will allow us to gain an in-depth and detailed response.

After showing our thriller opening to several people, we asked three people to answer some questions for us. The three people were of different ages: 17, 21 and 38. Moreover, two of the participants were female, whilst one was male. Below are the results.

What did you enjoy the most about the thriller?

Female, 17
"I enjoyed the scene where the girl was walking, trying to get a signal and then running back. I liked this because the editing matched the pace of plot, and built up tension."

Male, 21
"I liked the shots of the stalker's eyes, as it made us realise that the stalker was following the girls, and getting closer and closer to them."

Female, 38
"I like the opening, as I could see what was happening with the stalker, whilst the girls were setting off. This made me understand that the two sets of characters were related, and hinted at them meeting at some point in the film."

How do you think we could have improved the opening?

Female, 17
"I would have liked to have seen more of the other two girls, rather than the main one. I didn't really get to know them that much, and then they disappeared."

Male, 21
"The stalker's weapon was a bit unrealistic. I don't see how he managed to attack the two girls with his bare hands and a small piece of rope."

Female, 38
"The section where the girls walk from the house to the camp site is slightly slow. Maybe it would have been better to quicken it a bit."

Would you watch the remainder of the film?

Female, 17
"Yes, I want to see if the main girl dies or not."

Male, 21
"Yes. I want to know who the stalker is, and what happened to the two girls that went missing."

Female, 38
"No. Unfortunately, I don't see how the story could develop and continue for an extra hour or so."

Judging by the response from the three participants, the thriller opening was a success. As suspected, it was least successful with the eldest participant - the thriller was not aimed at her age group, therefore, we believed that she would be least likely to enjoy the thriller.

We asked these participants, and the others that watched the thriller, to state a few words that summed up our thriller. Using these words, I created a wordle, which clearly shows all the words used, and their popularity.

Lost Signal - Our Thriller Opening

Evaluation of Finished Production - Question 7

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the product?

Looking back at our preliminary task, we noticed a lot of errors, and vast amounts of work of a poor quality. When comparing the task to our thriller opening, we can see a big improvement in every aspect of our work.

Our preliminary task was not really prepared that well, as we only had half of our storyboard completed. This meant that when we were going to film, we had to improvise and make the shots up as we went along. This resulted in a lack of variety with regards to the type of shots and angles used. When we prepared our thriller, we made sure the storyboard was completed, so we knew exactly what shots we had to shoot. This helped us later on in the project, as we always had a handful of shots to select from, as we not only filmed the shots on the storyboard, we also added a few spontaneously.

Sound was a major stumbling block during our preliminary project. When we were editing, we were not able to hear the sound properly, so had to guess when to cut the sound. After we uploaded the piece to YouTube, we noticed that the sound lacked continuity, and some of the dialogue was cut off. To prevent this from happening again, we made sure that the computer we were working on had functioning speakers. Moreover, in some scenes, we also used the sound from one of the pieces of footage, and used several different shots. This provided us with the continuity we were after.

One way we could have prevented the sound problems in our preliminary task would have been to add music. We did not use music at the time, which meant that we had to keep the sound we had already. We used music in our thriller opening, however. This created a tense atmosphere, and meant that our thriller wasn't boring, and held the audience's attention.

The quality of our shots was something we wanted to improve drastically. Our two pan shots were of a low standard, which meant that overall, the piece was also of a low standard. We worked hard on our filming technique, and often filmed scenes multiple times to make sure we had the perfect take.

Our editing skills improved drastically, as we began to understand the types of transitions and effects available. This helped our product reach a higher quality.

During the filming process, we also tried to improve our framing, by obeying photographical rules such as the rule of thirds. This would make our thriller more pleasing to the audience's eye, and give the piece a more professional feel.

Evaluation of Finished Production - Question 6

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Evaluation of Finished Production - Question 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

We used a variety of thrillers conventions to capture and hold the audience's attention.We included a false build up of tension, hidden identities, suspense and more tension. These, and some others, help to create a tense and interesting build to the climax of the thriller. I also think that the music we used help create a more interesting experience, as it was of a fast pace and matched the editing.

To make sure we were addressing our audience, we referred back to our survey. By casting three females all of similar age to our audience, it allows the viewer to become more attached emotionally with the character. The audience can sympathise and be scared for the characters, and may also be more thrilled as it could happen to them. This was another reason why we chose ordinary-looking girls. We didn't want the characters to seem out of place in the setting - we wanted our thriller to look at real as possible. We believe that the more real something is, then the more likely people are to believe it, and immerse themselves into the world of the film.

As the protagonist and supporting actresses were female, we thought we should cast a male for the role of the antagonist. This would be more daunting for the female audience, as men are generally stronger than women physically, therefore at an instant disadvantage. This would mean that the audience would sympathise further with the female characters, and would be interested in finding out their fate.

The locations we used added to the overall realism of the piece, as they were a house and a park. These places are common in our target audience's lives, and are not out of the ordinary.

Our think that our thriller opening would encourage the viewer to continue watching the remainder of the film. I think this because our opening finishes on a cliffhanger. The protagonist screams as the screen cuts to black, and the audience do not know whether she survives or not. Moreover, there are a number of unanswered questions that will entice the viewer into watching more of the film.
These questions include:

• Who is the antagonist?
• Why are they stalking the protagonist?
• Where have the two friends gone?
• What will the antagonist do the the protagonist?

Evaluation of Finished Production - Question 4

Who would be the audience for your media project?

Before filming our thriller, I created a survey using surveymonkey. From the results, we could easily identify our audience, and what the audience expected from our thriller.

The audience of our thriller would be teenagers and young adults. We believe this is correct as this age range tend to watch a large amount of thriller films. Moreover, the type of thrillers they watch are either horror or disaster. Psychological thrillers came fourth in my survey. From my results, it is easy to see that teenagers are highly interested by the genre. Also, we believe that a large section of our audience will be female, as the survey results indicate a majority of females.

We believe that our target audience would want to watch our thriller as we have catered to them. Our protagonists and antagonist are teenagers, and three out of the four cast members are female. The characters are of a middle or low working class, and are therefore relatable - something which is fundamental in a character.

One question in my survey asked the participants to state three words they associated with 'Thriller'. I would then try to implement the useful ideas into our thriller, to create a film designed exactly for the viewer. The wordle I create at wordle.net is below.

From the wordle, I can easily see that mystery, action and suspense are key elements that must be included. Also, other answers such as 'Michael Jackson' and 'rollercoaster' may seem useless, but they do help us get a better understanding of what the audience wants. When people say 'rollercoaster' they mean a series of high and low points within the film, as well as the theme park ride. From this, we can see that the audience do not wish to be thrilled from start to finish, and do want some parts of the film where they can be more relaxed. The term 'Michael Jackson' also leads me to think of Jackson's 'Thriller' music video. The video was, and still is, iconic and pushed many boundaries. Therefore, I believe that we should be striving to create an iconic scene, or entire film, as well as challenging the limits of thriller films.

Another question asked in my survey was why the participant liked a particular genre the most. One participant stated "Beacuse its so lifelike and it could happen in the future." This indicates that the audience want to witness something that isn't completely ludicrous. I hope to create a balance in our thriller, where something unlikely, yet possible occurs. Moreover, if the victim is just an average individual, the film seems more authentic and real. The film 'The Strangers' for instance, uses two ordinary characters as their protagonists. The antagonists, and their motives are unlikely to be found in the real world, yet it is not completely impossible. This leaves the audience with doubts in their mind during the film, and for a long period after.

Evaluation of Finished Production - Question 3

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

After some research, I have found several different film companies and institutions that could potentially distribute our film. I have researched into companies that have produced psychological thrillers in the past, and also companies that distribute a wide variety of films.

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation would be an obvious choice. They are probably the most well-known film company in the world, and produce many hit films every year. Their success is mind-blowing, and any film produced by them is at an immediate advantage. Some of the films distributed by the company include: 'Avatar', 'The Simpsons Movie' and the classic 'Sound of Music'. The company's success appears set to continue as films such as 'X-Men: First Class' and 'Titanic 3-D' are scheduled for release in the coming years.
A problem with this company, however, is that few low-budget films are produced by them. Many of the films released by Twentieth Century Fox are high-budgeted, visually spectacular blockbusters. As our film would have a low budget, and no Special FX, it would be extremely difficult for us to sell our film to the company. Therefore, Twentieth Century Fox is not the best option for our film.

Universal Studios is another well-known company that could possibly distribute our film. The company has produced many notable films including: 'Dracula', 'Frankenstein', in 1931, and more recently 'Drag Me To Hell' and 'The Fourth Kind'. Moreover, Universal Studios are set to release other thriller movies, which include the tongue-in-cheek 'The Cabin in the Woods', and -thriller-sci-fi-action-romance film "The Adjustment Bureau. This company would be a great choice, as the films they produce span a wide range of budgets and visual effects. However, there would be stiff competition for funding from the company.

Dimension Films are another company that could distribute our film. After being founded in 1992, the company has set upon distributing a number of movie franchises, which include the latter 'Halloween' films, 'Scream' and the horror spoof 'Scary Movie'. If the movie were to be produced with this company, there is a high possibility of a sequel, and 'Lost Signal' could potentially become a franchise, much like the films stated before. Dimension Films work closely with Miramax Films, which means that our film may be backed by two companies, rather than one.

Miramax Films works a lot with Dimension Films. Working with either company would be a great option. However, prior to 2010, the company had not produced a film for five year. Only four films have been released since December 2005, all of those coming in the latter half of 2010. Moreover, only two films have been scheduled for release in 2011. This means that if our film is released by the company, the institution's full attention will be on our movie. On the contrary, though, the lack of releases could indicate a downwards spiral of the company.

Hammer Film Productions is a company that is known for its collection of horror films that dominated the genre from the mid-1950s through to the 1970s. The company was in hibernation from the 80s onwards, but was recently purchased by John De Mol. The company have since made films such as 'Let Me In' and 'The Resident' which is in post-production stages.

Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation is a possible option. The company boast films such as the 'Saw' series, 'Dogma' and 'Fahrenheit 9/11'. The company seem to produce a lot of movies, which would indicate that there would be a lot of competition to get our film distributed by them.

Another method of distribution would be using the internet. Hammer Film Productions recently released 'Beyond the Rave'. The film was released in twenty sections, with each section lasting four minutes. The videos were released onto the then popular Myspace, and gain a great deal of attention. This is one possible route we could go down if we were going to create and distribute the entire film.

The same idea could be carried out on other websites too, such as: Youtube, Blogger, Wordpress, Facebook and many other regularly visited sites.

Below are two advertisements for television shows aimed at the same audience our thriller is directed towards. The first video is the 'Skins' trailer for the fifth series, and the second video is for the Christmas Edition of 'Misfits'. Both of these are effective means of propaganda.
The first video is an introduction to the newest series of 'Skins'. This means that the video has to be vague, yet interesting. This is something we could potentially place in our advertising. The second video is just for one episode, so it is slightly more detailed, yet it doesn't provide the audience with any major plot twists. The second video could be used as a guide if we decided to release our film in separate sections, like 'Beyond the Rave'. These trailers could appear both on the internet, or on television or even both. e4 is known to show one trailer on their television channel, and several on their website. This gets the audience to almost research the show, and find out as much as possible about it. This hooks the audience, and creates a fan base - something which is fundamental.

Other forms of propaganda include those that appear on public transport. This is an ideal way of sending a message to large numbers of people. When commuting, the public spends a long time waiting for the arrival of their vehicle. When waiting, the people have nothing to do besides reading the advertisements printed over the walls, on the sides of buses and even in airports. Moreover, even when on their particular mode of transport, the passengers cannot help but look at the large amounts of advertisements printed on the inside of their train, or on the numerous billboards they pass. This form of advertising is very effective, but also very costly, as many companies wish to advertise there.

Below is an example of a poster I made for our film.

Evaluation of Finished Production - Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our thriller opening only contains a limited number of characters - three female and one male. As the male appears to dominate the three females, the females could be perceived as weak and vulnerable. Moreover, the male could be seen as strong and more powerful than the women. Feminists would believe that this is a negative view of women, as they are subsidiary to men.
This was a deliberate choice as we wanted to use three females who were vulnerable We felt that this would make the thriller appear more realistic and believable; thus bringing it closer to the the Hollywood standard. Furthermore, a strong and mentally unstable male would enhance the realism within the film. Due to last minute changes, however, our male character was played by a female. Plus, our original female cast was changed dramatically. As a result, our ideas had to be altered slightly, meaning that the characters would be perceived in a different way than we originally thought.

Original Cast

New Cast

Unfortunately, we did not use any ethnic minorities in our thriller. Three of characters were white, whilst the other was mixed race. We do not feel as though our cast is the most diverse we could have chosen, but due to the limited amount of people who wanted to take part, and the unreliability of the original cast, we settled on choosing our close friends, as we knew they would be comfortable around us. We would have liked to include some actors/actresses from a more ethnic background, and would certainly consider it if we were to do the project again.

Sexuality was not explored in our thriller, as we did not feels it was necessary. The antagonist's obsession was not supposed to be sexual in anyway; the obsession was based around the character of Jed Parry from the book 'Enduring Love'. Parry's obsession was about love, but not about the sexual side of the feeling. We wanted to take this aspect of the book, and instill it into our thriller. We feel this was effective, as the obsession seemed more of a darker topic. Also, the lack of a sexual element in the thriller thus far would allow the audience to feel comfortable with the subject matter.

The class structure is explored, but only on a really shallow level. We show the female characters as a higher class to the male character. The females are well-dressed, and equipped with the items they need for the camping trip. The male character is dressed shabbily, indicating a low income. Also, the room in which he is situated in the opening scenes highlights the poor living conditions the character has.

Overall, I think that young people are shown in both a positive and negative light. The contrast between the protagonist and antagonist highlights the innocence and the deeper side of teenage life. Both the extremities are shown in our thriller, so the audience can identify the good and bad points of young people.

We tried to avoid stereotypes in our thriller, as they can make the film seem rather amateurish. However, when creating the antagonist, we needed to use conventions of the stereotypical 'hoodie'. We decided to dress our character in a hooded sweater, as we wanted his identity to remain hidden. Our character differs from the stereotype through his obsession. A typical 'hoodie' would not have an obsession, and would most definitely not stalk someone to the extent that our character did. Also, a stereotypical 'hoodie' would carry a weapon such as a knife, or baseball bat. Our character's weapon is just a piece of rope.

By using the 'hoodie' stereotype, we are immediately classifying are character as negative. The lack of a weapon makes him appear less threatening, but the dramatic irony (the audience knows of the antagonist's obsession, and know that he is chasing the females, whilst the girls are unaware) reinforces the nasty and vindictive nature of the character.

Our 'hoodie'

A Stereotypical 'hoodie'

Evaluation of Finished Production - Question 1

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

Finishing and Uploading

Today we completed our thriller. I added the music to the film, whilst Ashleigh and Sarah added the music to the ident, which we later placed into the film. We showed a few of our class mates, and then uploaded our video to Youtube. After watching the video on Youtube, we noticed a small glitch in our video. We hope this error occurred when converting/uploading, however we will double check during our lesson tomorrow.
As our thriller is complete, I can now start my final evaluation of the project.

Ident with Music

Below is our final ident along with the music Sarah created. We are very happy with the outcome, and feel as though the ident sets the standard for the rest of the thriller.

Titles and Editing

During my free lesson, I created a set of titles based around the Facebook status used in the thriller.

When I placed a few of the titles into our thriller, but they didn't seem to go well. Each time, the tension began to build, and then the title would destroy the tension. As a result, the thriller didn't flow. I then changed the titles, to a simple, yet scary font, with an ominous effect from LiveType. As the background was black, I faded the title from the previous clip. The thriller seemed to flow better after I did this, and the dark and mysterious titles seemed rather professional.

During our Media lesson today, Sarah put the last few clips into place. This enabled us to spend our after school session adding the effects, and placing all the titles into the film. Below is an example of a graphic match we created.

Editing

Today we managed to piece together the majority of our thriller. We haven't added any effects or music yet, as we are waiting until all the clips were pieced together.
Tomorrow, we will complete putting the clips in order, and then hopefully add the titles.

Uploading Our Footage

Today we uploaded all our footage from the camera onto our iMac. We discovered that we had more than enough footage to create the thriller, and were confident that the variety in shots and angles would give us enough choice and options to put together a thriller of the highest standard.

To celebrate the end of our filming, and Valentine's Day, some of the group and our actresses attended a meal. We now feel closer as a group, and optimistic and excited for the editing process.

Changing Our Actor and More Filming

Today, we went to film the scenes with our actor. However, our actor was unwilling to cooperate for personal reasons. We decided to use Sarah as the stalker, as her tall and lean frame seemed to fit the role better than mine. Additionally, for the eye shots, my eyes will be used, as Sarah's face is too feminine.

We achieved all we needed to today, and are confident for this weekend's filming sessions.

Filming the First Half of Our Graphic Match

After school today, we took Georgia to film the first part of our graphic match. We sat her at the computer screen, and made her type out a status on Facebook. We then zoomed in on her picture.
We feel as though the graphic match will be a success, and that it will enhance our thriller, and make it seem more professional.

New Cast

Below is a photo of our new cast. From left to right they are:

• Georgia Wigley (Protagonist)
• Hannah Sharples (Supporting Actress)
• Sarah Warnock (Antagonist)
• Ashleigh Hay (Supporting Actress)

Revised Opening Credits

Today, Ashleigh re-made the opening credits of our thriller. Sarah and I agreed with Ashleigh on the order of the titles, and we have decided to add some false names to create a sense of realism within the film; Hollywood movies do not repeat names several times.

1: Panoptic Productions present

2: A film by Connor Murray

3: Starring
    Sarah Warnock    Georgia Wigley
 
5: Also starring 
    Hannah Sharples
    Ashleigh Hay

6: Edited by *false name*

6: Music by SilenceFreedom and TheBiocide

7: Cinematography by Hollie Tuvey

8: Produced by *false name*

9: Directed by Connor Murray

10: LOST SIGNAL

Re-Preparing the Room

As we changed actresses, we had to re-prepare the wall of pictures. During lunch time, the group, as well as our other friends, printed out roughly 200 photos of Georgia. After school, Sarah cut them out, and we helped stick them to the wall in the shape of a heart. We then printed out the picture for our graphic match, making sure that it was large enough to been seen clearly.

Filming and a Problem

On the Saturday, we had arranged to film. However, our actress did not show up for a fourth time. After heading home, we decided as a group to change the main actress. We decided on Harley, who was originally our supporting actress. Our friend Hannah would then play the third character. However, on the Sunday, Harley fell ill, meaning we had to change actresses again. We chose Georgia, our other supporting actress, and we had easily access to many pictures of her. We decided that Ashleigh, who was originally helping Sarah and I with the camera work, would play the other character.

We understand that changing our actress at such a late stage is risky, and it may mean that we will not finish in time. However, we now know what the actresses were are using are reliable, and they understand that we will be spending a lot of our own time over the next two weeks filming.
In changing the actress, we will also have to re-prepare the wall of pictures, something which we intend to do tomorrow.

With regards to filming, we filmed a large amount on the Sunday, which eases the pressure slightly. Below are some images from our filming session.

Referring to the Checklist

After looking over the checklist, I realised that certain things were expected to feature in out thrillers. These were:

• Holding a  steady shot
• Using a variety of shot distances
• Framing a shot
• Shooting appropriate material
• Selecting mise-en-scene including colour, figures, lighting, objects and setting appropriately 
• Editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer
• Using varied shot transitions and captions
• Using sound with images and editing appropriately for the task

As we are re-starting our thriller, I feel as though these would be easy to add to our storyboard if they are currently lacking.