Saturday 13 February 2016
Friday 12 February 2016
Thursday 11 February 2016
Media Evaluation - Question 7
The preliminary task that the group and I had to produce was to film a 30 second - 1 minute conversation of us walking in, sitting down, have a conversation and leave all in one continuous scene. We were also challenged with implementing a close up, panning shot, over the shoulder shot, long shot and a mid shot in our brief.
The group and I learnt to set up the camera and tripod to various different angles to try and make the scene look conventional. This helped us when we came to film the final product because the group and I already knew which camera shots were conventional and which ones we were capable to do due to a lot of trial and error in the preliminary task. The group and I also learnt to use the camera correctly, this being getting the correct settings and not toggling them, which would have made our scene different at time. For example, if we toggled with the brightness or the camera lens it could have affected the scene by making it lighter or darker in some areas, which would have made it unconventional. This was important to do during the preliminary stage because it meant that we knew our way around the camera and its settings so if we did need to toggle something we knew what to do, which saved us a lot of time. However, the group and I also had many problems that we had encountered during the preliminary task, one of them being the tripod. This was an issue for the group and I because it was difficult when we first used it setting up, this was because we had problems keeping the camera steady on it as it was not on properly, which made our shots tilted and uneven which we did not want as it made our shots unconventional. This was very important that we had experienced this difficulty because it meant that we figured out a solution, which was done before the final sequence and saved us a lot of time not struggling to solve this problem when it came to the real sequence.
The preliminary task helped the group and I because it helped us get more used to the equipment before we started to shoot the final production. This was very helpful because id the group and I didn't do this then we would have wasted a lot of time attempting to get used to the equipment while we were filming the final production.
The group and I did many things different form the preliminary task to the main task, one of them being that we re-watched scenes so that we liked what we shot rather than shooting it. This is because if we didn't do this then when we came to editing and didn't like the shots we couldn't retake them because the weather may have differed or the lighting would have changed. We also included diegetic sound such as the suspenseful background music to engage the audience. We also adjusted the frames to perfection so that our final production didn't look choppy like our preliminary task but smooth and pleasing to watch. Overall, Our final production was a lot better in terms of editing and the camera shots and angles we used, this is because we were more experienced and had a lot more time with the equipment the second time round of filming the final production. Also we had a lot more time to fully produce a suspenseful, conventional thriller opening sequence unlike the preliminary task, we only had an hour.
Media Evaluation - Question 2
Characters are important to include in thriller films because they are easily relatable to the audience, which then engages them to the film.
The two characters in our brief are very conventional to the thriller genre, this is because out first character is a female whom wears a school uniform and a white fur coat. She is of the age of 16, which makes the character around the asme age as our target audience, her narrative role is the female victim. The second character that we have is the antagonist, whom's gender is unknown to the audience, as well as their age. The antagonist is dressed in an all black attire, following with all black shoes.
Our characters are conventional because; the female victim is 16 and wears a school uniform with a white fur coat, this makes her easily relatable to females whom go to school and are also roughly of the same age, which means that the audience will be appealed to the female character through her relatable traits. The white fur coat also allows the audience to connote that the symbolisation of the colour white is purity,innocence and naivity, which resembles her personality and character as a whole. The antagonist is conventional to the thriller genre because their gender is unknown to the audience, creating an enigma, which is also conventional because the audience question who is under the mask. The antagonist also wears an all black attire, which the audience can connote and foreshadow death and demise, which resembles the antagonist's behaviour and personality.
All of these conventions make our characters relatable and help build a relationship with the audience. The female victim is relatable because she is around the same age as our target audience, thus the audience can relate and sympathise for her because they feel as if they could be in her situation die to having similar traits. The audience can build a negative relationship with the antagonist because they're wearing an all black attire, which symbolises death and the audience foreshadow something sinister to happen in the future. This engages the audience because they fear of the unknown as they do not know who is under the mask and what they're capable of.
The two characters in our brief are very conventional to the thriller genre, this is because out first character is a female whom wears a school uniform and a white fur coat. She is of the age of 16, which makes the character around the asme age as our target audience, her narrative role is the female victim. The second character that we have is the antagonist, whom's gender is unknown to the audience, as well as their age. The antagonist is dressed in an all black attire, following with all black shoes.
Our characters are conventional because; the female victim is 16 and wears a school uniform with a white fur coat, this makes her easily relatable to females whom go to school and are also roughly of the same age, which means that the audience will be appealed to the female character through her relatable traits. The white fur coat also allows the audience to connote that the symbolisation of the colour white is purity,innocence and naivity, which resembles her personality and character as a whole. The antagonist is conventional to the thriller genre because their gender is unknown to the audience, creating an enigma, which is also conventional because the audience question who is under the mask. The antagonist also wears an all black attire, which the audience can connote and foreshadow death and demise, which resembles the antagonist's behaviour and personality.
All of these conventions make our characters relatable and help build a relationship with the audience. The female victim is relatable because she is around the same age as our target audience, thus the audience can relate and sympathise for her because they feel as if they could be in her situation die to having similar traits. The audience can build a negative relationship with the antagonist because they're wearing an all black attire, which symbolises death and the audience foreshadow something sinister to happen in the future. This engages the audience because they fear of the unknown as they do not know who is under the mask and what they're capable of.
Wednesday 10 February 2016
Media Evaluation - Question 1
The brief that the group and I had to produce was a two minute opening scene based on the thriller genre.
There are many thriller conventions; one of them being silence. This was used in the thriller film Scream 2, the audience can hear this when they watch the female victim get brutally stabbed to death by the antagonist as she struggles to get away. This non diegetic sound is very effective in terms of engaging the audience because the audience can infer from the silence that it mirrors the female victim's life as when the background music stops, so does her life. The audience start to build a relationship with the female victim because she was brutally murdered and they also sympathise for her because the people around the female victim in the cinema couldn't help. This can be seen by the audience in our own thriller sequence when the audience watch the antagonist attempt to kill the female victim and the screen fades to black. This engages the audience as they can connote from the silence that the end of the music marks the end of her life.
Having an unknown antagonist is also very conventional to the thriller genre. This can be seen by the audience in the film Halloween, this is evident when the audience watch the antagonist stab the female victim. The point of view camera shot shows that there are two eye holes meaning that the antagonist was in fact wearing a mask. This is conventional because it creates an enigma, allowing the audience to become engaged as they question who the antagonist under the mask is. The audience then build a negative relationship towards the masked antagonist as they see him commit a crime and at the end of the opening sequence, they see the mask being pulled off the head of a young boy. This creates another enigma as the audience question whether it was really him under the mask. This can be seen in our thriller sequence when the audience watch the antagonist getting ready in a bedroom in the opening of the scene. This engages the audience because it creates an enigma as it leaves the audience questioning who is under the mask, automatically allowing them to build a negative relationship towards them.
Low key lighting is another thriller convention, which can be seen by the audience in the thriller film Halloween, when the antagonist is spying on the couple through the window. The audience are able to see low key lighting, which sets the scene and gives it an eerie tone. This then allows the audience to forebode something bad to happen in the future due to the dark tone. The audience can also infer that the dark low key lighting mirrors the antagonists dark behaviour and thus sense death in the near future. The audience start to become engaged and build a negative relationship towards the antagonist as they foreshadow that he is evil due to his dark tones and the eerie sense. This can be seen in our thriller sequence when the audience watch the antagonist holding the female victim hostage in a dark unknown room, this allows the audience to become engaged as the dark tones allow the audience to foreshadow something dark and sinister to happen in the near future.
Another common thriller convention is having a female victim. For example, in the film The Orphan, the audience witness this when they watch the mother (Female victim) running away from the female antagonist, whom is holding a knife, attempting to kill her. Having a female victim is conventional to the thriller genre because the audience expect to see a damsel in distress as it differentiates the power between the two, victim and antagonist. The audience can build a relationship with the mother because they sympathise for her as they question whether or not she will escape from the female antagonist or not, creating an enigma. The audience can see this implemented in our thriller sequence as the audience can see that there is a female victim being tied hostage in the dark unknown room. This engages the female audiences because they can relate to the female victim and can therefore build a relationship with her.
Cinematography is used in the film, Insidious 3. This can be seen through a close up shot, the audience can see this when Elise is trying to get in the other dimension whilst she is closing her eyes trying to contact the demons. This shot was used to show how much concentration Elise has, as the camera is positioned so that the audience are only focused on Elise. This tells the audience how important this ritual is to her and the family she is trying to save. This is conventional to a thriller film as there is a sense of fear and death. This helps the audience build a relationship with Elise as they sympathise towards her because they are unsure if she will come back into this dimension safely. The audience can see this in our thriller sequence when they watch the close up shot showing the facial expressions of the female victim as she terrifyingly and slowly looks at the antagonist. This engages the audience because they can connote from the scared facial expressions of the female victim that something bad will happen in the near future.
Lastly, the mise-en-scene; iconography plays a huge role in the conventions of a thriller, a knife or sharp object to be more specific. This is evident in the film American psycho, when the audience watch the protagonist axe the innocent man sitting down to death. The iconography is conventional to the thriller genre because it represents the characters personality as being sharp and dangerous, it also gives the user more power when equipped with it, as it is a weapon used to inflict pain amongst others. The audience can then build a negative relationship towards him because he has murdered an innocent man, they also question what made him commit such a crime. The audience can see this when they watch the reaction shot of the antagonist laughing sinisterly while staring at his knife. This engages and excites the audience because they can connote that the antagonist killed the female victim with a very conventional weapon; a knife.
Our brief followed many conventions, one of them being low key lighting. This is evident in the scene where the antagonist has the female victim tied up in a dark room. We did this do that the audience can infer that she is in a lot of danger and has no way of escaping as the low key lighting sets a spooky tone to the atmosphere. The audience can then become engaged and excited as they question what might happen to the female victim. The group and I also used a female victim as the audience expect to see a damsel in distress. This is evident when the audience see the flashback of the antagonist putting a note in the female victims bag , thus making her a target, this is conventional because females are stereotyped as being weak and an easy target. However the group and I also developed further the convention of having an unknown antagonist. This is because at first we wanted our antagonist to wear clown face paint however, then we decided it would be easier and more conventional to wear a clown mask instead. This is evident when the audience watch the antagonist gets ready in their bedroom before having a flashback. The fact that our antagonist is wearing a mask creates an enigma because they audience question who is under the mask.
Our thriller film is conventional when compared to the thriller franchise, Saw. This is because there are many similarities as we gained many ideas from them. For example both films have a masked unknown antagonist because it creates an enigma and engages the audience as they question who is under the mask while also building a negative relationship towards the antagonist. Both use non diegetic music to make the atmosphere of the film become spooky and eerie. However, Saw's conventions are more thorough and detailed because it is more engaging and gripping because they implement more gruesome scenes and had a higher budget. Overall, my thriller sequence is conventional to the thriller genre through many micro elements, however it could have been even more conventional if we had a higher budget to implement more conventions into our sequence.
There are many thriller conventions; one of them being silence. This was used in the thriller film Scream 2, the audience can hear this when they watch the female victim get brutally stabbed to death by the antagonist as she struggles to get away. This non diegetic sound is very effective in terms of engaging the audience because the audience can infer from the silence that it mirrors the female victim's life as when the background music stops, so does her life. The audience start to build a relationship with the female victim because she was brutally murdered and they also sympathise for her because the people around the female victim in the cinema couldn't help. This can be seen by the audience in our own thriller sequence when the audience watch the antagonist attempt to kill the female victim and the screen fades to black. This engages the audience as they can connote from the silence that the end of the music marks the end of her life.
Having an unknown antagonist is also very conventional to the thriller genre. This can be seen by the audience in the film Halloween, this is evident when the audience watch the antagonist stab the female victim. The point of view camera shot shows that there are two eye holes meaning that the antagonist was in fact wearing a mask. This is conventional because it creates an enigma, allowing the audience to become engaged as they question who the antagonist under the mask is. The audience then build a negative relationship towards the masked antagonist as they see him commit a crime and at the end of the opening sequence, they see the mask being pulled off the head of a young boy. This creates another enigma as the audience question whether it was really him under the mask. This can be seen in our thriller sequence when the audience watch the antagonist getting ready in a bedroom in the opening of the scene. This engages the audience because it creates an enigma as it leaves the audience questioning who is under the mask, automatically allowing them to build a negative relationship towards them.
Low key lighting is another thriller convention, which can be seen by the audience in the thriller film Halloween, when the antagonist is spying on the couple through the window. The audience are able to see low key lighting, which sets the scene and gives it an eerie tone. This then allows the audience to forebode something bad to happen in the future due to the dark tone. The audience can also infer that the dark low key lighting mirrors the antagonists dark behaviour and thus sense death in the near future. The audience start to become engaged and build a negative relationship towards the antagonist as they foreshadow that he is evil due to his dark tones and the eerie sense. This can be seen in our thriller sequence when the audience watch the antagonist holding the female victim hostage in a dark unknown room, this allows the audience to become engaged as the dark tones allow the audience to foreshadow something dark and sinister to happen in the near future.
Another common thriller convention is having a female victim. For example, in the film The Orphan, the audience witness this when they watch the mother (Female victim) running away from the female antagonist, whom is holding a knife, attempting to kill her. Having a female victim is conventional to the thriller genre because the audience expect to see a damsel in distress as it differentiates the power between the two, victim and antagonist. The audience can build a relationship with the mother because they sympathise for her as they question whether or not she will escape from the female antagonist or not, creating an enigma. The audience can see this implemented in our thriller sequence as the audience can see that there is a female victim being tied hostage in the dark unknown room. This engages the female audiences because they can relate to the female victim and can therefore build a relationship with her.
Cinematography is used in the film, Insidious 3. This can be seen through a close up shot, the audience can see this when Elise is trying to get in the other dimension whilst she is closing her eyes trying to contact the demons. This shot was used to show how much concentration Elise has, as the camera is positioned so that the audience are only focused on Elise. This tells the audience how important this ritual is to her and the family she is trying to save. This is conventional to a thriller film as there is a sense of fear and death. This helps the audience build a relationship with Elise as they sympathise towards her because they are unsure if she will come back into this dimension safely. The audience can see this in our thriller sequence when they watch the close up shot showing the facial expressions of the female victim as she terrifyingly and slowly looks at the antagonist. This engages the audience because they can connote from the scared facial expressions of the female victim that something bad will happen in the near future.
Lastly, the mise-en-scene; iconography plays a huge role in the conventions of a thriller, a knife or sharp object to be more specific. This is evident in the film American psycho, when the audience watch the protagonist axe the innocent man sitting down to death. The iconography is conventional to the thriller genre because it represents the characters personality as being sharp and dangerous, it also gives the user more power when equipped with it, as it is a weapon used to inflict pain amongst others. The audience can then build a negative relationship towards him because he has murdered an innocent man, they also question what made him commit such a crime. The audience can see this when they watch the reaction shot of the antagonist laughing sinisterly while staring at his knife. This engages and excites the audience because they can connote that the antagonist killed the female victim with a very conventional weapon; a knife.
Our brief followed many conventions, one of them being low key lighting. This is evident in the scene where the antagonist has the female victim tied up in a dark room. We did this do that the audience can infer that she is in a lot of danger and has no way of escaping as the low key lighting sets a spooky tone to the atmosphere. The audience can then become engaged and excited as they question what might happen to the female victim. The group and I also used a female victim as the audience expect to see a damsel in distress. This is evident when the audience see the flashback of the antagonist putting a note in the female victims bag , thus making her a target, this is conventional because females are stereotyped as being weak and an easy target. However the group and I also developed further the convention of having an unknown antagonist. This is because at first we wanted our antagonist to wear clown face paint however, then we decided it would be easier and more conventional to wear a clown mask instead. This is evident when the audience watch the antagonist gets ready in their bedroom before having a flashback. The fact that our antagonist is wearing a mask creates an enigma because they audience question who is under the mask.
Our thriller film is conventional when compared to the thriller franchise, Saw. This is because there are many similarities as we gained many ideas from them. For example both films have a masked unknown antagonist because it creates an enigma and engages the audience as they question who is under the mask while also building a negative relationship towards the antagonist. Both use non diegetic music to make the atmosphere of the film become spooky and eerie. However, Saw's conventions are more thorough and detailed because it is more engaging and gripping because they implement more gruesome scenes and had a higher budget. Overall, my thriller sequence is conventional to the thriller genre through many micro elements, however it could have been even more conventional if we had a higher budget to implement more conventions into our sequence.
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