AS MEDIA Evaluation

Task 1: In what ways does your media

product use, develop or challenge forms

and conventions of real media products?

Maddie Mason

The title of the film

This is a screenshot of the title of our film withinour title sequence. Originally, we had the titleappear right at the end as the footage faded out,however after feedback from our teacher and some friends, they all said that it would look more effective nearer the beginning as it looked like a movie trailer rather than an opening sequence. Not only this but after looking at other opening sequences, such as Dexter and Arlington Road, it inspired us to move it towards the beginning. We chose to put the title towards the beginning of the sequence because we felt that it was more suitable and effective. Also we felt it went will with the change of music. We thought this because the music at the beginning represents the more thriller side to our film therefore the title comes up but as the music changes to a more mysterious type it disappears.  The music at the beginning of our title sequence eerie and unusual and it gives off a tense atmosphere, which links to it being a thriller.

This is a screenshot of the setting/location of our opening sequence. As the story line of our title sequence was a girl (Josie) getting ready for college, we had to film it in a house which we portrayed as being Josie’s. We chose to have the setting of our sequence in a house as it made it look more realistic and we used Josie within it to portray that she was one of the main characters. Not only this but also in Dexter’s opening sequence it was of him doing his morning routine in his home, as and Dexter was our main inspiration we decided to use that idea too. Originally we had an idea to film each of the characters in our film getting ready for college, however this required us to film in 5 different houses. In the end we decided to scrap that idea and just stick to one as it could be quite confusing and a bit too much for viewers to understand. We kept it simple and chose to only do one location. In the opening sequence we did not film a long shot of the house as we did not want to give away that it was being filmed in our college as this would ruin it, therefore the only shots which I could use are the two below. The first shot shows the side of the house and Josie shutting the door. This part of the sequence is when Josie is leaving to go to college and the camera follows her walking up the side of the house. By doing this it shows that it isn’t the main location of the whole movie because it fades away from the house and then in theory would follow onto the next scene of the movie. The second shot shows a more broader image of the setting as your can see more of the house, the house is the only location we filmed in through-out the whole of the opening sequence.

Setting/location

Costumes and propsThis is a screenshot of the costumes and props throughout our opening sequence.  As a group, we all bought in items which we could use to decorate our setting to make it look as realistic and as close to a home as possible. In the two screenshots, these aren't the only costumes and props that we used in our sequence, it is just a small element. In the first screen shot it shows a photo frame, a book, an alarm clock, a flower ornament and a remote control. The reason I chose this shot is because it is simple things that you find in a young girls bedroom and it adds to the effect of normalcy. This shot does not challenge the conventions of the thriller genre or real media products but rather works alongside with the same ideas. Not only this but the shot is aiming to create a mise en scene where the atmosphere reflects the character and her personality. It can be seen by the layout of her stuff, because it is neatly arranges this can reflect on Josie portraying that she is a tidy and organised person. Not only this but the book on her side table gives us the impression that she is an intelligent girl. We got the inspiration from other movies, such as 'Se7en' as in the opening sequence, the main character is in an environment where the audience can take in the surroundings and get an

idea of what the person is like. All the props and clothing our group used within the opening sequence all go hand in hand to create the best mise en scene that represents the life of Josie, a typical teenage girl, before her life gets turned upside down. We chose to do a montage for the beginning part of our opening sequence by showing all the things in the characters room, from photo frames to other girly objects, such as a jewelry stand, this shows the audience that they are in a young girls bedroom. These certain elements appear before the character does to show that the sequence starts in somebody’s house/bedroom. Costume-wise, in this shot the audience can see Josie’s outfit which is jeans and a jumper which is what a typical teenage girl of today would wear. We filmed Josie getting out of bed and made sure she was wearing pajamas to make it as realistic and effective as possible, we also stuck to normal everyday clothes once she got dressed for the same reason.

Camerawork and editing

This is a screenshot of camera work and editing. I chose to use the first shot as an example of my groups camera work and editing because it shows the camera panning up the side of the house which gives the impression that the camera has eyes of its own and that it is as if it is the view from a persons perspective watching the house (Point of view shot). We did this in order to make the audience questions whether she is being watched or if something is going to happen to her. This works alongside the conventions of thriller because it is very vague and does not give the full picture to the audience in order to create mystery and build up tension. We chose to film this shot this way as it suited with our thriller genre. The second shot shows a window of the house being filmed, but it too being filmed as if it is somebody else watching through the window. One every one of our shots we added an effect called ‘Vignette’ to it which added a dark gradient along the outline of each shot, we felt that this was an appropriate effect for our shots as it showed a sort of mysterious and thriller-y filter towards the shots. I also chose this screen shot to represent editing because when we originally shot this shot it was almost a 2 minute long shot however we liked this section, therefore we cut it on IMovie and only used that section.

Title font and styleThis is a screenshot of our font style throughout our opening sequence.  We all decided to chose a simple, yet bold font because we didn’t want it to be too distracting from the sequence. Not only this but we where inspired to keep the font white and simple as it is like that in Arlington Road and it gives of an effective result, also it contrasted with the background and is the easiest colour to read from our footage. We decided to make all the letters in caps-lock because it added a bold effect to it, and lower caps weren't as effective as the bold ones, also Arlington Roads font was in Caps. Within the titles, we made the names of people first names in a bigger size, and the surname a smaller size because we felt that it was more professional and was recommended to do so from audience feedback. We went onto a website called dafont.com and looked through a number

number of different fonts for our titles, this included fonts such as a calligraphy one and a distorted one. In the end we picked a font called copperplate, in bold. We decided not to pick a font off of dafont.com as there was too many to choose from, so we stuck to a font on the IMovie program. We chose this font because it wasn’t too plain but it wasn’t to big and bold, it was simple and effective. We used a simple 'Fade In' and 'Fade Out' effect on the titles as it made it look dramatic. We did not want to go over the top with the font and chose one which for example had blood oozing down on it because it didn’t suit the simple story line of our opening sequence

Story and how the opening sets it upThis is a screenshot of the story and how the opening sets it up. This particular

shot I chose shows a view of Josie opening her blinds but somebody is watching her behind a tree at her through the window. This creates tense atmosphere for the audience as they know somebody is watching her, however they do not know who or what for. Also question whether she is the main target of someone who is out to get her. Whoever is watching her is hidden behind the tree, which suits with our thriller genre making the atmosphere of the opening sequence mysterious. We chose to do this because it created an effect of her being a high target, and the main character of the movie. Not only this but I chose this shot to show how our opening sets up the story line because this is the moment when the tension really starts building as it is unexpected to happen. Josie is simply getting ready to go to college but is so unaware of what is happening, and this gives the impression that it could be like this through-out the whole film. The music in this section is unusual but at the same time daunting and this all adds to the tension adding an unnerving feeling to the shot. These shots of our opening sequence does the same things that thriller films aim to do; aim to make the audience know what could happen before it even happens by using the location/setting, music and camera work.

Genre and how the opening suggests itThis is a screenshot of our genre, which is thriller, and how the opening

suggests it. In most thriller movies, such as Taken, things such suspense, tension and excitement is the main elements. I chose these three shots as I feel they show those three elements mostly and how our opening sequence is thriller. In the first shot it is of Josie opening her bedroom blinds however the shot is point of view shot which shows that somebody else is watching her; the wobbly movement of the camera and the positioning of it behind a tree shows this. By doing this it creates a tense and effective feel to towards the audience and makes them realise part of the story line already. Also we chose to add another point of view shot, as seen in the second screen shot, of somebody peeking through a window of Josie’s house. Just like before the wobbly movement of the camera and the way it leans in to look through then looks away suggests that it is somebody watching her and that it is a point of view shot. Also in the third screen shot, this particular shot shows Josie leaving her house, and then the camera fading into black whilst moving up the house; the fact that the girl walks off into the distance and it fading into black creates an eerie and mysterious feel of the opening sequence, and links to the movie title ‘Missing’ and makes the viewer eager to find out what happens to her and what's going to happen next.

This screenshot shows how our main character, Josie, is introduced in the opening sequence. Throughout the wholeof the opening sequence we only showed one character,however in the film there is 6. The sequence consists of the showing of only Josie, as she is the main one and she isthe one who is mainly involved in the plot of the story, which viewers will also assume as she's the only one shown in the sequence – it shows an obvious give away to the main character. However it too also makes you question whether it is just tricking them to think that. The first appearance of Josie is when she wakes up and gets out of bed, as seen in the screen shot. As a group, we decided to introduce Josie in a relaxed atmosphere where she is happy and it does not seem as though anything is going to happen to her during the course of the film. The reason we do this is because we wanted to put across to the audience the idea that her end fate can happen to anyone, that is also the reason why we made Josie seem like just a normal everyday teenage girl because that automatically makes her relatable and the audience will be drawn in to watch the rest as they feel empathy towards her. The music in this section is a simple yet mysterious melody but it does not sound too scary. The sequence is set in the main characters house, therefore is shows that she is enclosed in her own space showing that she is the only one there, however the outside scenes show that someone is outside and watching her, and not in her own space. So when she leaves her house at the end of the sequence is represents her leaving her own personal space and becoming more vulnerable.

How characters are introduced

Special effects

This screenshot shows special effects within our opening sequence– which in this case is the black and white effect when the newspaper appears. Whilst Jodie is getting ready she makes a cup of tea and goes and reads a newspaper. As a group, to try and make it seem less boring to watch and to add a

bit of tension to it, we zoomed into the word death on the newspaper to create a tense atmosphere and add a hint to the story line making the audience question whether somebody, or even Josie, is going to die in the film. We chose to make it black and white as it adds a more daunting feel as it wouldn’t look as effective in its normal colour. ;In our whole opening sequence, our special effects are limited because the concept of our video is to make it seem realistic and that it is about the morning routine of a teenage girl rather than an over the top dramatic piece of media. Within our opening sequence we added sound effects, such as a kettle being turned on and a tap running, this way it made it look more realistic.