Evaluation - Q1 (Megan Marsh)

1) In what way does your media product use, development or challenge forms and conventions of real products? 

Here is our 9 Frame Analysis!!

Title of the film; PYRO

 

•Conforms; I believe that this image conforms to the stereotypical layout of a thriller convention. This is because the lighting is darkened to reveal eyes and only one aspect of the shot is in focus (the flame). 

 

•Conforms; I believe the props used in this shot also conform to the stereotypical view of a thriller as it indicates an underlying problem of alcohol abuse, which is later revealed in film.

 

•Conforms; although the lighting through out the opening 2minuets goes against the stereo type of a thriller, the camera angles reveled tension as the shot is carried out between the banister. It also indicated an unhappy home which may may trigger the reasoning for the c

 

•Challenge; I believe that the shot of the home and James sitting in the kitchen challenges the stereotype of an opening for a thriller because the there is an image in the back ground stating ‘family’ and happy images surround this. A second reason why I think it challenges the stereo type is again due to the lighting; this is because of the open kitchen plan that allows light to fill the room.  

 

•Conforms; this shot is taken directly after seeing the mum shouting through the door, this indicates that the child witnesses all of the abuse in her home the audience is lead to believe that this is one of several triggers that has led to an unhappy home.

 

•Conforms; this shot along with the use of our audio line is very effective due to the fact that there is a change in the piece of music we were using that helps to build suspense and tension, I also believe that the reflective marble add emphasis to alcohol abuse that the child has to witness.

 

•Conforms; this is an icon shot due to the fact that the camera angle pans down to reveal a ‘happy’ child hood photo being burnt which leave only the dad’s face, which indicated he is the one in the family causing all the problems. I believe that this confirms to thriller conventions as it involves destructive behavior.

Conforms; the title has dark background which connotes power, elegance, formality, death, evil, and mystery. The color black Usually has a negative connotation (blacklist, black humor, 'black death'). Denotes strength and authority; it is considered a very formal, elegant, and prestigious colour. This is then contrasted with the colour orange. Orange combines the energy of red and the happiness of yellow. It is associated with joy, sunshine, and the tropics. Orange represents enthusiasm, fascination, happiness, creativity,determination, attraction, success, encouragement, and stimulation.

•Challenge; finally after seeing snippets of what is going on inside the house the audio line changes drastically and we are brought out into day light where people as common as the post lady are able to make contact with the people inside suggesting that ‘you never know what is going on behind closed doors’.

Title, Font and Style

I believe that our film cover can be linked strongly to the film title 'Seven' due to the fact that both covers are in darkness besides the image of the face that has been lit with flame lighting from the bottom. The tag line is also done at the bottom of the screen in white font in order to make it clear to the audience.

Sound 

Evaluation - Q7 (James O'Rourke)

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

Below is my preliminary task, to just get you guys to familiarise yourselves with what it was, hope you enjoy it!!!!

Here is an audio clip of my full evaluation 

Evaluation - Q6 (James O'Rourke)

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 - Q4 (James O'Rourke)

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

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 - Q2 (James O'Rourke)

2.How does your media product represent particular social groups? 

Evaluation - Q1 (James O'Rourke)

Here is a 9 frame analysis of our thriller opening!!!!!!!!

Here is a slideshare analysis of our 9 frames!!!!!!

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)