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

For our main task we chose the genre of a psychological thriller. To prepare us on how to achieve this genre, we studied the opening of films with a same genre to help us succeed in creating a similar one. Different films that we looked at created different responses as an audience, for example intriguing the audience as to the upcoming plot of the film, or a disturbing reaction also sceptical as to what is going to occur throughout the film.

Like many films within the media, female main characters are often portrayed as vulnerable and are essentially the victim within a lot of psychological thrillers. We used this same idea as we felt that it would be better and easier to present a character which is distressed and naive straight away.
However, we also challenged the stereotypical view of a teenage girl, particularly of her untidy appearance. For example, by giving her a hobby of playing classical music on the piano is perhaps not associated with a young girl, who does not fit the image of having an elegant talent such as this. We purposely chose to challenge this idea presented by the media, but not to the extent where we created a character that the viewer no longer had a connection with. We were careful not to reflect a character which would not be likely to exist, making the audience lose interest due to no link.

A opening of a film we studied closely was, 'Brick'. We found this exercise very helpful particularly within the aspect of music used. A simple repetitive sound sequence as the opening soundtrack was very effective in order to achieve a disturbing atmosphere matching the chosen genre. The music only included one instrument as to not over-complicate and draw attention away from the action happening on screen, so no lyrics are used within the music composed.

We were influenced by this successful technique and decided to develop on this technique, therefore we used modern piano music that linked with our opening sequence. The piece was influenced by the Italian pianist Ludovico Einaudi, whose pieces are associated with the series of 'This Is England'. The song "Nuvole Bianche" was played during a disturbing rape scene within the series, which added to the intensity. Because of this, Bethan improvised a similar piece on the piano to include in our opening scene. We felt that in doing this would hopefully achieve a similar effect, in creating an intense atmosphere, which would be instantly associated with that of a typical thriller genre. As a group, we thought that appropriate music for our opening sequence is one that has an immediate reaction on the audience, impacting on their mood giving the sense of a thriller. Many films of different variety of genres use classical music to capture the audience for different desired effects required from the director. It was also practical to have a person in the group that could play the piano, as rather than relying on other people outside of the group to perform on days which suited them, we were able to record the performance during media lessons which saved a lot of time and hassle.

To help distinguish the main character as being a typical loner, all the scenes are taken place in remote places with no passers by in the dull, quiet back streets, and empty area of the park. The camera shot from behind the tree observing the main character from behind as she sits by herself on the bench, also shows her to be alone, giving the sense that she is being watched by a mysterious figure who does not want to be found. This was developed, as when the main character turns around suspiciously, the camera jolts back to behind the tree, acting as a point of view shot from the unknown person that appears to be stalking her.

The majority of popular movies use continuity editing in order to achieve smooth flowing footage. "Brick" included matching shots which linked corresponding scenes. This makes is look professional, so we were keen to use the same idea to make ours look as professional as possible. We edited out shots in order, to give the impression of chronological order throughout the day, however we wanted to include flashbacks of the piano throughout the opening sequence to break up the scenes from outside, but also so that we could change onto our next scene in the park. It also gave the impression that all shots were filmed on the same day, when in reality it was over a period of weeks to get the shots fully accurate. The idea of certain props missing, was also an indication of the passage of time progressing throughout the characters journey, such as the beer can, as though it had been consumed. She is wearing the same clothes throughout the sequence linking to her untidiness, as she does not wear fresh, clean clothes each day, because of her abrupt lifestyle.

Moreover, after observing the film 'Brick' which inspired our ideas for our main task, we also thought that it was effective to have very little dialogue in the opening sequence. This matched the silence, and thrilling aspect of our genre of film which we were trying to achieve. Likewise, this influenced our decision to have our film suitable only for persons over the age of 15 as both of the films below which helped with our creativity, also use this age limit on their films.

A particular shot which I felt was effective, was the shots leading up the male character approaching the young girl. It only becomes clear that he does not exist in the final shot when the transition suddenly shows him over her shoulder, and the next shot revealing that there is nothing actually there, making it evident that this is all in her abrupt mind. This was the key event that linked with the idea of being a psychological film, as this is the first incline into her psychological disorder in which she believes she has a person victimising her, ruining her life. The music is also meant to add to the intensity the male approaching, instantly making the viewer recognise that his presence is bad and tense. The shot also links with the previous shot of behind the tree, as he is seen walking away from the tree where the shot was filmed, making it evident that he was the person secretly observing her.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The media massively contributes to the stereotypical view of different social groups. Within our production we decided that we would have a young, teenage girl as the main character. We tried to match this to the stereotypical view of the majority of teenagers being perceived as 'unstable' and rebellious in the sense that they drink and are unable to control their aggression.

Furthermore, by using a female character we felt that this would impact on the overall perception of her being vulnerable, in the sense that she was young and small in contrast to her age, giving the initial thought that she is weak and unable to defend herself as appose to that of an older male, who we decided to play the role of her 'imagination'.

We decided on using this stereotypical view of a teenager portrayed in the group of a 'college slacker' because we thought that the audience would be able to relate to the character more.

We achieved this view through the props used; beer can and a bandage on her wrist. Although, we did not show how the damage to her wrist was caused, this created the audience to follow their bias imagination of her causing harm to herself. This also was a good idea to leave the audience in suspense, as for a short opening of a film sequence it would not be appropriate to reveal a lot of the story line that follows it.

Also, the appearance of the character matched that of the social group of college students who look like slackers. This consisted of large, volumised hair, dirty black tracksuit bottoms, with an odd denim jacket. This helped us to portray college students of not having pride in their appearance, often wearing loose casual fitting clothes, usually that of a dark colour to make them look slightly intimidating.

However, we also challenged this perception as the character is actually a dedicated student, especially towards her music career, despite her untidy appearance. We hoped that through this we would achieve a character that perhaps fitted into the social group of having a rough lifestyle, therefore not having a lot of money to buy fashionable clothes to wear.

Also, a lot of the shots used within our production mainly focuses on the feet on the main character. These shots represent how she is always looking down on the floor walking, not wanting to look up at what awaits her as she is incredibly paranoid and does not want to face up at what awaits her because of this uncontrollable fear. This idea could make her fit into the social group of a 'bully victim', as though she does not have the confidence to stand up for herself and has the negative attitude, as she is always looking down at her feet. It also represented her as being insecure and a loner in comparison to popular teenagers who are out socializing a lot.

Because of this, we felt that by her drinking on the streets matched the social interpretation of the way teenagers are portrayed particularly in the media such as the news. However, at the same time we wanted this to mirror the decision of her turning to drink excessive amounts of alcohol perhaps because of her difficult lifestyle.



Moreover, the decision for the prop of a piano to be included, represented a solitary hobby, in which she played alone. This further portrayed her as an outsider with no social life. We aimed to show music as a way of an escape for her and to finally express herself. Therefore, when this is taken away from her due to her injury, she results in having nothing else in life that she perceives as working hard for to achieve.

The shots that were included also portrayed her as being alone. For example a long shot of her sitting alone on the park. This presents her of having no friends, and the idea of her wanting to be alone as she is segregating herself off from society by choosing a quiet area of the park of a lonely bench on the outskirts.

We hope we achieved the way we wanted our social groups to be perceived by the audience, and was successful in a lot of stereotypical views created by the media about different social classes. A lot of the main character was inspired by the media on the television such as the TV programme 'Skins'. This is a particularly good example of how teenagers are portrayed in a rebellious way, but still put forward as likable characters at the same time.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The genre of our production that we decided upon was a psychological thriller.

The primary target audience of this genre is normally the ages 15+, this is because they usually include a lot of violence and numerous psychological issues which some younger viewers may find disturbing.

Therefore, for our production we have decided upon rating our beginning sequence suitable for ages 15+. This is because we deem our opening of the film to have possibly some disturbing elements which may unsettle younger viewers, yet there is no extreme violence within our production or any gory elements that are regarded as being overly explicit so this age limit seemed appropriate for our main task.

Our production is obviously aimed towards people who particularly enjoy this genre of film, but mainly at the age group of female teenagers, as the main character is a female teenager. We tried to include as many techniques associated with psychological thrillers as possible, such as the distressed protagonist, usually a female depicted as being weak and vulnerable,thrilling music and a bad character to create the conflict with is essential in any storyboard in order for it to progress. These are used so that it appears much like a typical one with similar aspects that the audience are able to relate to much easier and associate with the same genre.

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

A distributor is an important factor in order to get any film recognised through advertising. A media institution which would be appropriate for our genre of film, and target audience would ideally be popular on the television programmes which is also popular with our target audience of teenagers. Channels such as MTV and Viva and various other popular music channels would be suitable as the main viewers of these programmes are the same as our target audience; 15-24 years old. These channels have advertised similar films before being previewed such as 'Never Back Down' and a psychological drama 'Girl, Interrupted' which was one of the films that inspired a lot of our ideas for our film; 'Him'.


After researching several films that we consider similar to ours, we found that the distributors that would be most ideal for our film would be companies such as 'Red Wagon Productions' who are responsible for distributing 'Girl, Interrupted'.

Also, they are also behind several other films that have been featured on MTV on the television.

Likewise, we felt that being a purely British film, it would be appropriate for BFI (British Film Institute) to also distribute it, as they are responsible for distributing many well known, successful British films.

Optimum Releasing are also a UK production company, so would also be another option that would be appropriate for distributing our media product. Despite this, studio canal which is a French distributor may also be classed as ideal for distributing our film as it is popular with British films. American distributors would not be very appropriate as they distribute films which contain big-named actors such as Angelina Jolie in 'Girl, interrupted' and have an extremely expensive budget, which our film does not have.

Film 4 would also be an option, as it is owned by Channel 4 and often previews films produced in the UK, like our film.

Advertising can be very expensive and being a very 'no-budget' film, other alternatives would be more ideal. Such as forms of advertising on the radio as it is considered a lot cheaper to get our film noticed. Because of this, if our film was to be distributed we would choose a British Company which distributes low-budget films such as Working Title. In comparison to the films we have studied, they have had a larger budget and therefore can afford larger distributor companies to promote their film. Furthermore, our film is classed as typically British, with the typical working-class environment and untidy local parks set as our locations.

The time of release for our film would ideally be leading up to Halloween, during the Gothic Horror period to further enforce our genre of being a psychological thriller. However, depending on the other rivaling films being released at the same time as ours, as a second alternative we would choose our film to be released during the Summer holidays when a lot of people have time off, and therefore have more time to go out and watch films.

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

During our main task, as a group we have learnt a lot about technologies and how to construct a media piece together in a professional fashion using appropriate software.

Normally, we are use to using basic computers, yet for our main task we used specially designed computers used for editing pieces of footage on the Apple Mac, and used the software Final Cut Pro software. These were a lot more complex, therefore it took a lot of practice and exploration to ultimately do our final desired effects on our opening film. Because of this professional programme that we used, it enabled us to use technologies which would not have been possible on a normal PC, such as adding in sound over the top of the footage, and inserting the credits between shots.

Although there was a lot of icons which were used to help us with certain functions, some procedures were difficult to achieve, such as trying to slot in the credits and change the way that the credits entered the slides. It took many attempts before we were happy with the final product.

College provided us with the recording equipment; camera-recorder and tripod. When filming we were especially careful when shooting all of our clips, to make sure that we left a large gap before and after filming. This made the process of editing in the suite a lot easier as we knew when to cut the shot and merge the clips to make the transitions smooth and flow. After getting use to filming with the cameras, this enabled us to develop our more creative ideas, as we knew how to work the camera for different desired effects, such as placing it on the flat ground, doing a close up of the feet walking down the pavement.

A shot which we wanted to include, was a fast paced editing shots, showing the main character running away from her imagination down an alleyway, dodging through the bins. However, after observing the footage that we already had, we felt that it did not fit in, and perhaps would not have finished the editing in time for the dead line, as lots of different shots were needed to be cut and inserted.

The tripod enabled us to do certain angled shots which would not have been possible otherwise, and was particularly effective for keeping the camera straight and not shake whilst shooting. It further allowed us to do higher shots that we were unable to reach at a safe, stable angle.

From watching other media products, we were able to learn more about the 180 degree rule and how to film it correctly without exceeding the angle. This was done in our product, so that it does not confuse the viewer when watching, particularly when there are two characters during a conversation. It is ideal to associate each person on one side of the screen so that the camera can act as the person's view. Swapping them round on straight after a shot, would confuse the viewer as the shots do not connect with the previous one shown.

Different shots are essential in creating different atmospheres and representing emotions. For example, a low angle shot suggests a character that is dominant and has respect, as the shot suggests that the character is above everyone and looked up by them. The camera acts as an almost point of view shot from the viewer, so that they can identify the person as being in control. Because of this, we were keen to use as many shots in order to show our creativity, and likewise present our characters in ways to provoke pity from the audience, from the young girl as she appears naive and alone. High angle shots would be appropriate, to portray her as being looked down upon, in contrast to having no control giving the effect of her having a dark cloud constantly above her head, disrupting her life. A high angle shot of her feet as she walked down the pavement suggests how she is always looking down, promoting the idea of her being insecure.

Some problems did occur whilst filming. At the beginning, we found the different functions of the camera, different to get use to, as every camera in different in that it has different buttons for different functions. It made some filming difficult in that sometimes when we thought we were filming, we took still pictures instead.

Another incident which occurred affecting our overall progress was after recording some essential shots from behind the tree, we put them onto the Mac to view, but were not able to locate the files, and therefore had to go out and make sure we recorded the footage again on a different day.

Moreover, after saving some of our edited footage at different stages, misplaced our saved footage instead of saving in the HD Macintosh folder. This created more hassle when we wanted to find our footage and carry on editing, instead of saving it to a server where it should have originally been.

To help us with ideas, we used websites on the internet such as 'Youtube' to help us look at footage from films which were ideal in helping us expand on our current ideas. We looked at the films, "Brick", "Changeling" and "Girl, Interrupted".

Blogger was also used as a diary, in order for our group to keep updating our current progress from the beginning with all of our basic ideas, leading up to the final piece. It was also an opportunity to share our final piece with others, and gave us practice if we were to use this software again in the future. Newer technologies are essential in creating better, and more realistic films in the cinema and in the media in the future.