Media Evaluation

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

In our political thriller 'Vengeance' we have used, developed and challenged the conventions of real media products. We have incorporated generic conventions in our media product to provide familiarity and repetition but also by looking at and analysing real media products we have chosen to change conventions slightly to create excitement and variation.

Our titles were in white font with a black background which is conventional for political thrillers. We looked at many thrillers and political thrillers to see how the opening title sequence was set out and the elements of thriller they incorporated, how the titles were positioned and so on. From this we made our own decisions on what generic conventions we would use and develop and what conventions we would slightly change. For example, in 'Enemy of The State' the titles were also white with a black background, although the position of the titles were centralised and ours were in the bottom right hand corner of the screen, therefore the titles in our political thriller were similar to those in 'Enemy of The State'. Moreover, we combined some aspects of this with other aspects of another political thriller 'Spy Game' which used titles over the film instead of having them against a black background. As a group, we decided to have a mixture of titles on a black background and over our film- for example the protagonists name comes up when he is shown on screen.

Another way in which we used and developed conventions of political thrillers is the story line of the Prime Minister and the whole of the government being in danger, which conforms to conventions of the government being at risk and also terrorism is presented within our opening title sequence- this being another aspect of a political thriller. However, we challenged conventions by using our protagonist, this is because the protagonist is an English middle-aged smart business man which is very unconventional and atypical of him to want to blow up the houses of parliament. This is because it's stereo-typically people from different cultures and religions who are quite rugged looking that are a threat to the government.Moreover, we have conformed to the usual convention of the opening title sequence including many close-ups to increase the intensity as we believe it's good for the audience to have some familiarity and repetition of other thrillers; this is because if it was completely different, the audience wouldn't be interested as it's completely new to them and consequently they probably wouldn't give it a chance. Although, some things we have included such as the flashbacks are different to how they are usually presented. We have signified our flashbacks by making them black and white and using the dip to white transition before and after every flashback, whereas usually they are shown by distorted transitions. By doing this we have developed the convention of flashbacks. We chose to do this, because we felt that it heightened the tension and made it completely clear to the audience that it was in the past rather than the present time. As well as this the lighting at the beginning is light, reflecting his personality when he's at home as a happy family man. However as the opening progresses, the lighting gradually gets darker. This is reflective of his dark, dangerous thoughts and his inner personality which creates a sense of foreshadowing. We chose to do this to keep the audience on edge and create a sense of mystery and curiosity, the audience is meant to know that he's doing something bad, but not what he's going to do. This is similar to the dark lighting in 'Spy Game' as we closely analysed the opening of this film and used some similar conventions.

I think the use of conventions included within our political thriller indicate our sub-genre as the intense music makes it evident that it is a thriller and the Prime Minister and the government being in danger and at risk makes it clear that it is a political thriller. Additionally it is generically set against the backdrop of a political struggle which is unknown but portrayed through the protagonists anger at hearing of the Prime Minister's presence at the Houses of Parliament on the radio. The Mise-En-Scene immediately represents the political aspects as it's set in the iconic locations of London and the Houses of Parliament, making it evident to the audience that it is a political thriller.Furthermore, the conventions included have evidently been influenced by 'Spy Game' as both have similar lighting and titles. Both are mysterious and include political aspects. The variety of different camera angles are evident within our media product and 'Spy Game'. We made our media product similar as we believed the media text is very effective as a thriller. Although also being a political thriller, the film 'Spy Game' also has elements of crime and action, which is similar to our title sequence. I personally think that the way we have included, developed and challenged conventions makes our political thriller edgy and builds up the tension. The variety of locations encourage the audience to question the protagonist's ulterior motive due to him telling his wife he is going to a meeting in Oxford and instead travelling up to the Houses of Parliament. The conventional lighting creates familiarity with the audience, whereas the variety of the titles being on both a black background and over the screen, and the flashbacks being in black and white create excitement for the audience and this keeps the audience interested. This allows some repetition but also change which is what is proven to be successful in political thrillers- as our research has taught us.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

As a group, we put a lot of thought into constructing the representation of the character in our media product in terms of gender, age, class and race. We chose the protagonist as we wanted to subvert to the stereotype of terrorists. The protagonist is a British, middle-aged man, represented as very smart and neat, the suit he wears connotes wealth- as well as his house. This is very unconventional as terrorists are stereo-typically untidy and rugged, and are usually from a different culture or religion. We decided to portray the protagonist in this way to challenge the conventions and shock the audience, this maintains excitement within our political thriller. This represents mainly men, as the protagonist is shown to be dominant throughout, which is stereotypical. We chose to present him as dominant and stick to the traditional representation as we didn't want to change the representation of characters too much as it may result in our opening being unsuccessful. We wanted to keep the familiarity by the male protagonist remaining dominant, but we changed the stereotype of terrorists. We chose to portray the protagonist as very masculine which is another well known stereotype of men. This is represented to the audience right at the beginning when he slams his fist on the table. His anger demonstrates his

masculinity as well as giving him power and strength.

The protagonist is evidently upper class, which is portrayed through his house and his clothing. Moreover the props used such as the Mac computer also connote wealth. This represents the middle to upper class social groups and allows these social groups to understand and relate to the protagonist even though what he's doing is shown to be wrong. However, the protagonist doesn't drive to London, but gets the train. This suggests that he may not be as wealthy as is made out and therefore encourages the audience to distrust him and question his portrayal. The Mise-En-Scene such as the dark blue suit jacket connotes power and intelligence and represents upper class business men who are strong and powerful.

The gates signify wealth

the protagonist

There is only one woman within this opening and she is a stereotypical representation of a woman, being the inferior wife of the protagonist. Her weakness is portrayed by her being marginalised and also oblivious to her husband's motives. Although the camera presents them at an equal level, the prevalence infers her weakness. We used this representation as it allows the audience to familiarise themselves with our thriller as this is usually how family lives are thought of; a dominant husband and a wife that is slightly weaker and stays at home doing the cleaning and cooking. The protagonist's wife is wearing bright colours which is symbolic of her happy personality, this contrasts with the protagonist. As a whole we haven't tried to attract a huge target audience as I personally think our opening is unique and would do better attracting a niche market that's largely male.

The iconic landmarks in this text, the Houses of Parliament for example, represent social groups interested in political economy and the British government. Evidently, these social groups are of high status which attracts not only middle to upper class but possibly working class as well as. This is because audiences like to view the lives of people that are so different to theirs. This links to the target audience as we aimed to target mostly male businessmen because of the protagonist and the locations used. Moreover, because of the inclusion of bomb making and the thriller elements we did consider that it may attract a wider range of people than we originally thought. As well as this, although the protagonist's wife is portrayed as weaker, women are not excluded from the opening altogether which means that women may be interested in this film.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

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

Man is bigger than the other man- inferred protagonist

Writing on the front, gives the audience an idea of what it's about and makes them want to watch

Only two men on screen- Males more dominant, stereotpical representation

Men positioned top and bottom and looks as if they are looking at eachother- Implied protagonist and antagonist introduced.

Limited colour screen. Dark and dreary and sets an ominous mood.

Miise-En-Scene- Both men's facial expressions looking stern and angry/worried

Red connotes danger and death

Glasses signify mystery and a hidden identity

Positioning of the men makes it seem as if they are looking at eachother-connotes rivalry

Reveals a bit of a scene to indicate excitement and action

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

After taking a long time to consider what kind of media institution may distribute our film, I originally thought that our film would not be a film distributed by a major Hollywood company, but would more be an art house film. This is because our media product intends to attract a niche target audience and is a serious film to convey the issues of many people and the struggle of the government at times.

However, after comparing our media product to other political thrillers, we realised our film is similar to 'Enemy of The State' which was distributed by Buena Vista home entertainment (also known as Walt Disney home entertainment) this is a very well known media company that would result in the film being likely to be successful. The conventions and the genre are similar, as well as the story line, this suggests that maybe our film would actually have the chance to be distributed by a largely popular media company.

Furthermore, another film which is more is similar is 'Spy Game' this was distributed by universal pictures which is another very large and successful media company. Both companies would result in the film having a high chance of attracting a larger target audience. However, as we only intended to attract a niche target audience, we came to the conclusion that our film would be made as an arthouse, independent film on a small budget, but has possible potential for universal and big companies similar to that to distribute it. I don't feel our film would be as successful as a TV film or internet release only as viewers may not give it the chance, due to the genre.

Moreover, I believe that this links to the Mise-En-Scene in our film as it is dark and ominous. Arthouse films are meant to be alternative and small budget, but effective as the target audience is very selective. The costumes of the characters promote this as the protagonist and the protagonist's wife's costumes contrast, making it evident to the audience that they are very different and that the wife is naive and doesn't realise how dangerous her husband is. The iconic locations also add to this as it presents the political aspects of the film and therefore relating to our target audience.

Who would be the audience for your media product? We have put the age certificate as a 15, this is because it doesn't include harsh violence or persistent swearing. However we know that the audience for our media product will be around 20-40 years old. We think this because of the representation of characters within the opening. The audience may be able to relate to some of the protagonist's anger at the government and also the helplessness of the wife. We also believe that the audience will be mainly male, this is because the narrative will be encouraging the audience to connect with the male protagonist. The Mise-En-Scene of the clothing will also result in the audience being businessmen or upper class males. Women will also be part of the audience as they may be interested in politics and may also be upper class, as well as this, they may be able to relate and sympathise with the protagonist's wife. Middle and working class are also a possible audience as they like to view lives of people that are different to theirs.

This film being similar to other political thrillers such as 'Spy Game' means that the audience will also be similar. The audience for 'Spy Game' is largely male and also 20+. The reason the audience is largely male is because men usually have a preference for films with a considerable amount of action and also the intensitys and violence appeals more to men. Furthermore, the narrative is focused on the protagonist, who is male, therefore men are more able to relate and connect with him.

The protagonist's dialect is sophisticated and he speaks very well, this reflects the upper class audience. Business and upper class men would be able to understand the speech and this is why we have chosen the protagonist to speak in this way. The Mise-En-Scene is also reflective of our audience as the prottagonist is wearing a suit and holding a briefcase. The location of London is where a lot of businessmen work and the house with gates outside connotes his wealth. The protagonist gets angry at the political struggle at the current time and evidently blames the Prime Minister, which allows the audience to relate to his anger. Therefore, I believe that the audience for our film would be 20-40, mainly men of upper class or businessmen.

How did you attract/address your audience?We created our opening title sequence with mainly males 20-40 in mind because this is the usual target audience for a political thriller. We used the protagonist to attract our target audience as he is wearing a suit which signifies he's a business man and of upper class. He's carrying a briefcase, although a flashback is shown of him taking his work out of the briefcase, which encourages the audience to question what he's actually taking to London. This adds to the curiosity and creates a sense of foreboding. We chose to do this, not only to allow the audience to realise he isn't going where he says he is, but also to attract men that like tension and mystery. Moreover, as the opening progresses, the editing gets faster-paced. For example, when he's on the train. This adds to the intensity and by doing this we have tried to address our target audience of men as men usually prefer fast-paced and exciting films.

Moreover, almost immediately, the protagonist slams his fist on the desk, which indicates his short temper and anger over something. This reflects our target audience as men are stereo typically thought to be more violent. We chose to do this to engage our audience straight away as usually men like the action to start immediately. We also tried to engage the audience by the use of close-ups as this encourages them to connect with the protagonist and question his thoughts and what he's about to do. The shot of the protagonist outside the houses of parliament creates an eerie atmosphere. The Houses of Parliament are lit up, yet the protagonist is in the dark. This creates the effect that he's waiting for something and is keeping a hidden identity. This attracts the target audience as it keeps them guessing and the mystery makes it intense.

However, there aren't many point of view shots which keeps distance between the protagonist and the audience, reinforcing the mystery and the suspicion. As well this, the opening begins with the protagonist's back to the audience, which establishes the distance This allows the audience to judge the character as they want, although as the camera follows the protagonist, it encourages the reader to believe he is in the right.

Flashback of the briefcase

Audience ResponseAs a group, we made a survey to get feedback from our opening title sequence. We asked questions such as gender and age, and also whether the audience felt the camera angles worked well and the soundtrack, but one of the most important questions was 'From the opening title sequence, would you want to watch the rest of the film? And if not why?'' this is important because it helps us see what age and gender liked our opening title sequence and whether or not we had achieved attracting our target audience. We only had one bad response, but it was from a male aged 16, therefore I would say it may have been because we didn't try and address teenagers.

Feedback-

"Great approach, especially mood change on the train"

"The story is well executed, not too complex and flows well"

"Very keen to find out what happens next"

"The storyline isn't too complex it's good and keeps you guessing"

The majority of people gave our opening title sequence an 8, which I am pleased with

Almost everyone believed our camera angles worked well and that it was a believable title sequence of a thriller.

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

Throughout this whole process of filming, editing and creating an opening title sequence of a political thriller, I have learnt a lot about editing and how to use the camera. The equipment we were given for filming and for editing was good as the cameras are reasonably easy to use and are good quality. Moreover, the tripods are very stable and also easy to set up. A weakness of the equipment is that we didn't have a dolly to track the characters, therefore we couldn't follow the actor with the camera. Another weakness is that the camera batteries ran out very fast and when filming, it would be hard to re charge in time. One time when we were filming we were faced with the issue that we hadn't checked the equipment and found the tripod missing the object that attached the camera to the tripod, this resulted in the shots not being steady. However, we learnt to always check we have everything before we film. The editing software 'Premiere Pro' was very good as you can do almost anything on it, although it can get quite complex when editing some parts, for example, trying to make the titles move in a specific way and trying to blur out a word when the camera zooms into it. The transitions on Premiere Pro are easy to find, even though there are only 4 or 5 to choose from, but overall the equipment was adequate for filming our title sequence.

The filming process was very long and difficult, but as a group we worked really well together. We faced many problems such as forgetting props to filming and realising at some times we had ruined the continuity. For example, we were filming a shot of the protagonist opening the draw to get out his gun, and then a shot of him loading the gun. However, we realised that the gun was loaded when we opened the draw and in the next shot it wasn't loaded. We resolved this issue by re-shooting and being more careful about the order in which we shoot things. Another issue we faced is breaking the realism. We filmed a zoom in on a train ticket, only to realise after, that the ticket had 'child' on. At that point, it was too late to re-shoot so we just cut that shot out unfortunately, but the process taught me to be more careful about what I shoot and how I shoot it.

Before this process, I only knew how to shorten the clips and add in transitions but my skills have evolved and I now know how to edit the sound and make it fade out and to edit the lighting and make shots briighter and darker.On Adobe Premiere Pro, I liked using the transition 'Dip to White' as it was very effective to indicate a flashback. I found finding music very difficult as everything we liked was copyrighted. However, in the end we found a good soundtrack that suited our opening title sequence.

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel that you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?Preliminary exercise: Continuity task involving filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. This task should demonstrate match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180-degree rule.Main task: The titles and opening of a new fiction film, to last a maximum of two minutes. All video and audio material must be original, produced by the candidate(s), with the exception of music or audio effects from a copyright-free source.

I personally feel I have come along way since our preliminary task as I have built and developed upon my skills in using the camera and also editing. I have learnt the importance of the planning stage and the research, this is critical because it's the foundation of creating a film. The research into genre was critical as it allowed me to understand the conventions of a political thriller and the key elements to include. The planning- storyboard and animatic, are also an important process when creating a film as they help you create an exciting and engaging narrative and also keep everything organised so you know what shots you need to capture and what order to edit in. This also gives you an idea of how your media product will look and from there you can decide what bits you may need to change. The animatic really helped us understand fully what we were going to do and resulted in the process of filming being smoother than it was in the preliminary task.In our media product, we have used a variety of different camera angles and positions and the editing runs much smoother due to the use of transitions. It is evident that we have improved significantly from our preliminary task as we have been much more confident with how to use the equipment. For example, when doing the preliminary task, I didn't know how to attach the camera to the tripod and I wasn't clear on what type of files to import onto the computer, but now I have learnt many things about the equipment and how to handle it. Moreover, shots such as over the shoulder shots and point of view shots have improved and noticeably our opening title sequence is a lot better than our preliminary task. This is because there was a lot more planning and research involved in the process of making our title sequence, and this helped a lot as we knew what key codes and conventions to include and what shots are effective for the audience. I feel that we have been successful in fulfilling the task as we have created an opening title sequence of a political thriller and have included the key codes and conventions, whilst creating a thrilling and exciting narrative.