1. In what ways does your media project use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
My film is based on a true story, but with some small changes along the way. I once watched a True movie (Thriller) named "The burning bed" this was a story about a physically and sexually abused wife, who had without her knowledge married into a violent partnership. Over the years her husband constantly prevents her from meeting certain goals in life such as going to college by beating her until she was unable to attend, and destroying her school books so that she could not study. When this women couldn't' escape her brutally tough marriage she resorts to drastic measures, killing her husband in his sleep by covering their bed in petrol and setting it alight with a match. When taken to court on trial, she avoids prison due to the torture she suffered within her marriage, and the countless times police had failed to save her from the abuse she suffered. This story truly touched my heart, i felt utterly devastated that a women had resolved to murder to free herself from the fear that some day her husband was going to kill her. The hate this women must have felt towards her husband contradicted the world i see, where i have a cosy, and happy home life, and never experienced abuse in any manner. When i watched this movie the first thought i had was 'promotion of abuse in marriage'. So this is how i came up with the idea for my short Thriller. My movie is slightly different to The Burning Bed as i did not want to copy the movie, but wanted the message of the movie to be portrayed. For example, in my movie, the bride who is abused is abused for different reasons, her husband scolds her because of jealously, instead of over an education. In both movies there is a power struggle, the husbands feel they need to possess their wives and the wives both try desperately to escape. However, the way the women try to escape is very different, in The Burning Bed, the wife results to physical violence herself, whereas in my movie, the wife runs yet fails to escape. The reason i changed this stage in the story is because i felt the story will be more powerful to the audience if the abuse was still occurring, and a feeling of realisation was felt, that when you enter a commitment and do not fully know the person, it isn't as easy to leave the commitment.
Furthermore, My movie uses conventions of a Thriller:
- Extraordinary events happening in ordinary situations, this is the abuse occurring inside the marriage. One scene in particular this convention is shown is when husband and wife are speaking whilst she is cooking. Her husband then becomes raged with jealously due to her male friends and scolds his wife with boiling hot water, ordinarily this wouldn't have happened.
- Another element is how the audience are prevented from getting close to the characters, so that a mystery is present. I used this effect in my movie, by not letting the audience get close to the husband, there would always be that sense of suspense in what he was going to do, what he was feeling etc. An example of when i added this element in was when the audience begin to see the husbands motionless face within scenes leading up to the present tense.
- An example of the unusual twist i added into my Thriller was the marriage, when a person watches a Thriller they do not expect it to start with a happy setting, a willing commitment, and an innocent couple. I added this effect into my movie because i thought how effective it would be to see a wedding, something different, the audience may even feel they have opted for the wrong genre!
- I also added in the idea of a protagonist with a flaw which is exploited by an antagonist. The protagonists flaw is that she allows her husband to abuse her throughout the movie, and does not even try to defend herself verbally. She has allowed herself to become venerable, so her flaw is her venerability, which is exploited by her husband.
- Finally another convention that supports my film being a Thriller is the near end of a film, where the protagonist is in danger. The scene that represents this is the door scene, where the wife feels she is finally going to escape her abusive marriage and is then awoken by the harsh reality of her situation, as she opens the door, her release to freedom, the entrance is blocked by a powerful and dominant figure. The audience are then encouraged to fear for this woman's life, a change of music is queued in at this point, sensing something bad is going to happen.
2. How does your media product represent particular social groups (gender age sexuality ethnicity etc)
My Film represents Age in particular, due to the topic, young marriage. my film revolves around a couple who have rushed into a rash decision and now both cannot overcome their emotions, the husbands feelings of resentment, jealously and possessiveness and the wife's feelings of fear, regret and powerlessness.
Furthermore, Gender is referred to in my movie. The audience are convinced to see the woman as weak, and unable, in stopping the abuse she is a victim to. We are then encouraged to see the groom as the dominant and powerful character, who has full control over his relationship, and his wife.
I did not refer to topics such as ethnicity in my short Thriller because it would have contradicted the purpose of my film, if i was to make a film with ethnicity involved, i would most likely have to make a prejudice film where violence was used on the grounds of ethnicity. However i believe if i added in too many types of social groups, the meaning of my movie would have been unclear.
3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media project and why?
I personally feel that the institution that would distribute my movie would be True Movies. The reason i feel this to be true is because my movie could promote how abuse occurs, and how once you are trapped inside such a commitment, it isn't always easy to escape, and some never find the strength, and result to drastic measures such as suicide, murder etc.
I do not feel that DVD would be a good way to distribute this particular movie, as a person who is victimised to abuse would not go out and purchase a movie about abuse, but if the movie was on TV, i feel a person is more likely to watch the movie. Furthermore if the movie is a 'true movie' the affect will be a lot greater on the audience, and more emotion will be expressed to what is occurring in the scenes. Finally, when a person buys a DVD or goes to the cinema they are more likely to go see something upbeat and cheery to encourage a positive mood, whereas on sitting indoors, individuals may feel intrigued by the story and the title and therefore watch it. My movie title is "The Fairytale Wedding" which could alternatively trick the audience into turning my movie on, and then the storyline will pull the audience in, making them want to watch more of the captivating movie.
4. Who would be the audience for your media project?
I did not need to use survey monkey to find a target audience for my film because i already has a chosen age range. The age range i chose was sixteen to nineteen years old. The reason i chose this age range is because my film is about a teenage wedding, and the youngest a teenager can get married in the U.K, with their parents permission is sixteen, and nineteen is the last teenage year. If i had chosen any other age to be the target audience then the purpose of my film would not fully make sense. I am not saying that only teenagers in this age range can watch my movie, but they are the key persons who need to see my movie.
5. How did you attract, address your audience?
I reached out to my target audience through using different types of media which are popular around teenagers. Firstly, i used face book to promote my survey, this worked well any many people filled out my survey. I talked about my movie and what it was going to be about, to get people interested, and check if it was the correct approach. Furthermore, i sent emails to some people using hotmail, and gave them the link to my survey so that they could answer the questions and help me in finding the perfect movie topic, and focus inside the Thriller genre. Finally i informed friends and family about my movie and asked their opinions and if there is anything they would change or emphasise more thoroughly.
I feel my Thriller holds the audiences attention because the Thriller allows you to get close to the wife, who is suffering domestic abuse. When teens see this they may feel 'this could be my sister or cousin or best friend' and so will want to be educated about how abuse can occur and ways that you can avoid it. I feel that no one deserves to be abused yet people are so the only way this can be prevented is by remaining unattached until you are certain that the person you want to spend your life with is trust worthy.
I feel teenagers would want to see my film because at this current day and age many teenagers hop from relationship to relationship but occasionally some teens find their 'soul mate'. They do not think about the things they do not know, they just base love on affection, so my movie could promote that love is not always true love. It takes two people to be utterly committed to one another and sometimes commitments can be seen as different in some peoples eyes. For example, in my film the husband feels he must possess his wife, this is what commitment is in his perspective.
I feel the audience would continue to watch my film because the first two minutes are so packed with action that it will leave them wanting more! throughout the two minutes there isn't a dull moment, from scolding scenes to the scene of the scar, an element of surprise is always visible. Furthermore, my film ends on a cliff hanger, the audience is left to wonder, will the wife escape her husband, or will he physically hurt her for trying to escape? I have used young actors in my film, to appeal to teenagers, and i have also included a variety of ages so that the film will be suitable to other ages rather then just my target audience. Finally, i included some unusual factors in my short film such as there is a wedding in a Thriller, this will make the audience want to see more because the Thriller will be different to one they have ever seen before.
6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
When constructing my film i realised that angles are very important, because it is impossible to make a film if there is not a variety of different angles used. Variation proved very important when constructing my movie, because it meant the audience was always surprised, and suspense is very important in a Thriller. Furthermore, a calm setting is needed for diagetic sound over wise a voice over may be necessary. I realised this when i was doing the wedding scene and the background noise was very distracting, luckily i was able to edit the sound levels and the scene came together perfectly. I also found that on making my film, some techniques involved go amiss when we watch movies. When i watch a movie at home i seem to pay attention to the storyline more then i do the certain techniques added into the film such as a hand held camera shot to give the impression of a drunk person, making my film has completely opened my eyes, and now when i watch a movie i am more phased by pan shots, and tilt shots and different ways the producer has portrayed a certain feeling within a scene. Another thing i realised was that editing has to be spot-on in a scene, over wise the film looks rough and unfinished. For example, when the wife was coming down the stairs in the last scene of my movie there was a jolt in the shot, i then decided to cut part of the scene out at the jolt made the films quality decrease, and when i show the audience my film, i want them to feel the realistic feel to my film, and a jolt could interfere with this. In addition, i found it was vital for the sound to match the scenes, because if the sound started too early or too late it made the film seem rushed and that not enough thought and time had been put into the production stage. I suffered when making my movie, and found it very hard to match the non diagetic sound to the scenes as the sound kept on distorting. After much effort, i got the sound to match perfectly with the scenes, i felt it was much worth the effort, and i was very pleased with the outcome of my movie, as the sound helped stress the emotion i was trying to feel at different parts of my film. Finally i learnt how to add sound onto my film, i had never achieved this before as i have never used the software or even made a movie. It was very difficult adding sound onto the film as the software rejected certain methods of adding sound in such as the drag and drop, copy and paste, accessing through files. However, eventually our efforts paid off, and now i can successfully add music onto the software.
Here is a list of the certain technologies i have used and why i used them:
Blogger: I used Blogger to write about my movie and progress. My Blogger discusses the techniques i have learnt since first joining media in year 12. For example, it discusses different conventions of film genre, and shows my preliminary task and the planning i did to make it.
IMovie: This is the software i used to make my film, without IMovie i could not have constructed added music and edited my film.
Mini DV digital camcorders: I used a digital camcorder to record the scenes i wanted to shoot in my film. I then uploaded the things that i had filmed onto IMovie and made changes, and could physically see if there were any changes that i needed to make that i couldn't detect on the camcorder, such as a jolt in the shot when filming.
Youtube: I used youtube to upload my Thriller onto, i then shared my film so that i could view it on my Blogger, this allowed me to see the image in a larger format then uploading it from IMovie.
Still Digital Camera: I used a still digital camera to take pictures of my animatic, and to take pictures of some of the settings that i used in my Thriller. For example i took a picture of the bride and groom to show the costumes on the wedding day, without the costumes the wedding wouldn't have been as realistic.
Google/Wikipedia: I used google and wikipedia to do some research on various film makers. For example i researched Alfred Hitchcock, and found out various information such as the first film he ever made, and the year he was born. This increased my knowledge on other film makers, giving me different perspectives for when i made my Thriller.
Survey Monkey: I used Survey monkey to collect feedback from my target audience, asking them their favourite types of film genre etc. I then included these answers into the making of my film, to make sure the film appealed to my audience.
Wordle: I used wordle to analyse the feedback i got from my Thriller. This helped me see the words the audience had most used, and the things they most liked, for example a lot of people used the world "interesting".
7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the product?
In terms of the progression of my film, i feel i have learnt everything, being a new user of the movie making software, i was blown away by the whole experience. I managed well in learning different methods of how to upload sound, edit sound, adapt sound, and alternatively, bring a unique rhythm to my film. Furthermore, i learnt how to add different effects onto my movie such as fade in, dissolve, wash out etc. This was a unique experience as the way certain scenes were edited reminded me of how you would edit an image, but the technology was more advanced. In addition, i learnt how to prepare and make a setting look, to achieve the best effects and get the most out of the scenes. For example, in the kitchen scene, the stove was the centred object, showing the significance of this item in the following scenes and the prior scene. I found it was vital to hold the camera steady (use a tripod unless going for a certain hand held effect) as it makes the image quality seem more advanced, and allows the audience to focus on the shots without being distracted by jolts in the scenes etc. I learnt more about imitation- how to make a certain scene appear as if it is something else. I achieved this by making the green outside my home look like a park, for the friends scene. Finally, i found how to work around faults in the shots, such as the way you could see the fences in my garden for the wedding shot. i distracted the audience from the fences by placing the brides maids against the fence so that the audience would be distracted by their costumes and makeup.
In this scene you can see my preliminary task (left) and my Thriller (right). In both of these shots i was trying to show a conversation occurring, however i feel my technique has improved in doing so. In the preliminary task one of the actors is cut-off and the other ones face is not visible, however in my thriller both actors can be seen and it is clear who is in control in the shot through body language.
In the next shots i was trying to show an action shot of the people walking towards a still person, as you can see in my preliminary shot (right) there is an aquas shot, the wall blocks out most of the shot, giving the impression the actors are being watched when they are not. However, in my Thriller (left) it can be seen that there is a clear shot, and the characters are sentenced, the audiences eyes will be drawn to the characters straight away. Furthermore, the lighting is easier on the eyes and will keep the audience energised and interested when viewing my Thriller.
Finally in the last shot i was trying to draw the attention to one character, however, i feel i portrayed this better in my Thriller (right) rather than my preliminary task (left). This is because in the Thriller, the character is central in the shot, and the attention is on her, whereas in my preliminary exercise the character is to the side and the posters on the wall could pose as a distraction to the audience.
This concludes the seven evaluation questions about my finished production, i hope this clarifies my perspective, challenges and opinions whilst producing my movie.
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