Bloopers

'Pyro' - Final Product (Group 7)

Evaluation - Q5 (Anna McConnell) (GROUP)

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

Here is a group director's cut of our film opening whereby we collectively discuss how we attracted/addressed our audience.

(Due to technical difficulties the sound quality may be a bit quiet so full volume is advised)

Evaluation - Q3 (Anna McConnell) (GROUP)

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

In terms of our marketing campaign here is our film poster presented on the side of a bus and on an ad-shell. This use of digital and static marketing is vital in capturing the attention of our target audience due to ideas that those of the 15-25 demographic are more likely to use public transport thus more likely to be exposed to this sort of advertising. 

Evaluation - Q5 (Megan Marsh) (GROUP)

The video below show cases us as a group reflecting on our opening 2 minuets and discussing ways in which we addressed our target audience.

(Due to technical difficulties the sound quality may be a bit quiet so full volume is advised)

Evaluation - Q5 (James O'Rourke) (GROUP)

The video below show cases us as a group reflecting on our opening 2 minuets and discussing ways in which we addressed our target audience.

(Increase your volume for this video as at some points you may find it hard to hear some of our points due to background noise) 

Evaluation - Q3 (James O'Rourke) (GROUP)

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

 


In terms of our marketing campaign here is our film poster presented on the side of a bus and on an ad-shell. This use of digital and static marketing is vital in capturing the attention of our target audience due to ideas that those of the 15-25 demographic are more likely to use public transport thus more likely to be exposed to this sort of advertising. 

Evaluation - Q7 (Harsh Makwana)

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

Hand-held camera shot in preliminary task

Hand-held camera shot in thriller opening

Match on action using continuity editing in preliminary

Match on action using continuity editing in thriller opening

Simple title font and credit page due to lack of time

Credits shown throughout the opening and animated title
due to the amount of time given to edit.

Evaluation - Q6 (Harsh Makwana)

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

Evaluation – Question 6 from Harsh Makwana

Evaluation - Q5 (Harsh Makwana) (GROUP)

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

Here is a group director's cut of our film opening whereby we collectively discuss how we attracted/addressed our audience.

(Due to technical difficulties the sound quality may be a bit quiet so full volume is advised)

Evaluation - Q4 (Harsh Makwana)

Who would be the audience for your media product? Include audience feedback.

Target Audience:

As a group, we decided that our target audience for our thriller is 15-25 year olds, so it only seemed fitting to select the certificate of a 15+ for our thriller. As our thriller features both male and female characters, we decided to target both genders as we believe our thriller will appeal to both male and females and this will increase our amount of viewers.

As you can see in the list below, the age ratings of thrillers can vary; it all depends on the content of the product. 

We decided on our age rating for our thriller based on our research. As you can see from the results below, a large majority of those who answered our questionnaire belonged to the 15-18 age category. We decided to extend that range to 15-25 for our target audience as we believed we would obtain a larger audience. 

Although some thrillers have an age rating of 12 and some are even rated PG, we opted to stick for our 15+ rating as our thriller would:

• Contain some graphic violence further on in the film which is not suitable for younger viewers
• Dangerous behavior throughout which is also not suitable for the younger demographic
• Disturbing events
• Aspects of suicide 

Similarly, our thriller would not appeal to those over 26 as despite our best efforts to make our thriller realistic, they may still judge the plot and claim it to be unrealistic. It may also not appeal to the older demographic as our thriller would:

• Contain jumpy scenes which some people, especially of the older demographic, do not particularly like
• Loud sound tracks and sound effects which the older demographic do not tend to like

Below, I have embedded a couple of screenshots taken from the BBFC website, stating what elements of a film make its rating a 15: 

An Example of our Target Audience

Thriller Forms and Conventions

We targeted our audience by sticking to the many different thriller forms and conventions. For example, thrillers are very well known for creating suspense and tension. An example of this is when the protagonist's father is walking up the stairs. A black screen then appears with the sound of a door opening in the background. This also leads me on to another thriller convention: cliffhangers. Once the sound of the door opening is heard, our title pops up in the centre of the screen, so the viewer is left guessing what happened next, which is something that a lot of people enjoy. Another thriller convention which is evident in our opening is the feature of a psychotic individual, being our protagonist. We portray her psychotic nature through her interest in fire and matches, as she is shown burning happy family photos. Thrillers also tend to be set in a domestic environment, similar to that of our opening, which gives it a sense of realism and one which our target audience can relate to.

Another way in which we targeted our audience is through use of our research. A large number of those who make it into our target audience completed our questionnaire, so we as a group took on board what it was they expected to see in the first opening minutes of a thriller. For Example:

As shown above, many people said that they did not want the opening two minutes of a thriller to give away to much, and voted to find out "as little as possible". Taking this into consideration, we decided not to reveal the protagonist's father's face but instead, just to show his body:  

  

We also interviewed a couple of people and asked them to watch the opening of 'Se7en' and 'The Bourne Ultimatum' and discussed the evident conventions of a thriller and how we would incorporate them into our own opening: 

Overall, I believe we were successful in reaching our target audience as everyone who gave us feedback said that it fulfilled the role of a thriller and had the makings of being a good film:

Evaluation - Q3 (Harsh Makwana) (GROUP)

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

 


In terms of our marketing campaign here is our film poster presented on the side of a bus and on an ad-shell. This use of digital and static marketing is vital in capturing the attention of our target audience due to ideas that those of the 15-25 demographic are more likely to use public transport thus more likely to be exposed to this sort of advertising. 

Evaluation - Q2 (Harsh Makwana)

How does your media product represent a particular social group?

Actress from our thriller opening

Actress from 'Orphan' (Jaume Collet-Serra, 2009)

Evaluation - Q1 (Harsh Makwana)

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

CONFORMS - as it establishes our protagonist right from the off.

• Close-up of the protagonist Megan holding a match directly in from of her eyes. 
• The mise-en-scene use of prop of the match reveals to the audience the dark nature and interest of our protagonist.

CONFORMS - as it shows the prominent setting of the thriller.

• Panning shot along the skirting board of the hallway, which establishes the setting of the film. 
• This shot features the props of an empty beer bottle and two pairs of shoes; one belonging to a male and a paid of heels, belonging to a female. 
• We placed the empty beer bottle next to the men's shoes to signify his alcohol addiction and the fact its just laying in the hall suggests how alcoholism can lead to an untidy life. 

CONFORMS - there are usually changes within a thriller, therefore this shot conforms to thriller conventions as it portrays a change in the protagonist.

• Shot of our protagonist looking through a photo album. I chose this shot as it symbolises how the protagonist had a normal childhood.
•  In the screenshot, we can see the protagonist stroking the image of her and her mother. This suggests she has a good relationship with her mum.

Challenges - high angle shots are used in thrillers to convey vulnerability.

• High-angle-shots are usually used to portray vulnerability, however in our thriller, our protagonist is not vulnerable.
• By use of the rule of thirds, we places the protagonist and her mother in the centre of the shot, illuminating their importance in the film.

CONFORMS - all genres, particularly thrillers, place their protagonist in the middle of the screen using the rule of thirds.

• Medium-close-up of the protagonist, shown in the middle of the shot to emphasise her importance. 

CONFORMS - thrillers tend to show the underlying problem of the film at the start, in this case, it's alcohol.

• Close-up of glass with alcohol being poured in shows the protagonist's father's addiction.
• Again, placed in the centre of the shot to accentuate the importance of the effects of alcohol within our film.

CONFORMS - thriller openings tend to have a type of "behind closed doors" shot, whereby the audience is shown an event occurring that other characters are not aware of, similar to Shutter Island.

• Close-up of the protagonist burning a picture of herself, her mother and her father.
• On the picture, we made the face of the antagonist damp to ensure the fire burned around his face, accentuating his importance.
  
  

CONFORMS - like our thriller opening, most thrillers feature their title at the end of the opening sequence, similar to Shutter Island.

• The title of our film "PYRO" appears for the first time.
• Use of the black background strongly contrasts the flame in the background, illuminating the letters. 
• We also use a soundtrack of a crackling fire which goes well with the plain font. There is also a build up from the previous scene to the title shot, which will keep the audience engaged for the name of the film.

CONFORMS - to refrain from making an opening sequence look like a trailer, most thrillers set the scene after their title, similar to ours. 

• Shot of the house where the film is shot, creates a domestic setting and environment.
• The normality of how the postwoman goes about her job emphasises the fact that on one knows what goes on behind closed door. 

Our Title Font

• The title of 'Basic' (John McTiernan, 2003) has a simple text font. We too chose to go for this type of font, however to contrast the simplicity of the font, we added a flame in the background of the letters.
• Our simple yet complex title again links to how everything looks fine on the exterior, however there are always ongoing problems behind closed doors.
• Our title has a similar font to that of the film 'Basic', and therefore conforms to thriller conventions.