Evaluation Of Post Production

In our preliminary task we used basic shots such as over the shoulder, wide and close up however when shooting our thriller we used more complex shot such as panning which are much harder to shoot espeacialy with panning because you need to get the timing exactly right.

The editing in the preliminary task was relitively simple because all we had to do was follow the storyboards so it was not difficult to figure out the order all the shot had to go in and there was a scrit which made editing also much easier, however in our thriller we did not have a script and the storyboards were simply a guidance. In the preliminary we just had to cut directly into another shot which is not hard to do and we did not have to use titles. In our main task the editing was more complex because we had to use fades, lots of sound effects, not to mention adding in the sound that we had recorded on the day of your shoot like the table falling over and glass smashing. In the thriller you had to cut in a certain way to build tension to keep the audience at the edge of there seats where as in the preliminary the cutting did not have to be in a scecific way because you were not trying to build tension.

Sound are important in our thriller because we do not have a script. We used sound FX to double up sounds to make some sounds sound like real objects, for example when our main protagonist falls into the other room the shoot is pitch black and the only reason the audience knows what is going on is because you can hear a table fall over and pins and glasss smashing on the floor this sound is diegetic.

Our group decided not to put the titles during the sequence of our thriller but to put them at the beggining and at the end because during our film we want there to be a build of suspense and tension and we felt that the titles would ruin that. Our opening sequence titles were slow however when the naem of our thriller comes up at the end the cut from to the shot because to that is fast making the audience want to know what happens next.

All of our choices have been chosen to appeal to our audience. The whole point of our thriller is draw in thrill seekers, so hopefully we have rewarded with our opening sequence, the sound and editing reflects our target audience directly as it is for horror junkies, and we edited the sound and edited the whole sequence with this in mind. We want this to appeal to the fans of Saw and Hostel, therefore with having a series of close-ups, POV shots and keeping it in a claustrophobic setting we were able to mkaintain the tension and drama which are a prerequisite for the horror genre.

Task 7- Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

The sophistication of the planning and preparation for the Preliminary task was much simpler than the main task. In the preliminary we were already given storyboards with the script on them, there were only a few shots we had to do, close up, wide shot and over the shoulder. In the preliminary task everything was very specific it just gave us the chance to get acquainted with the camera and how to film. However, when planning and preparing the main task we were not handed anything and had to do everything ourselves, we had to figure out what worked, what didn’t, how we would film things, if everything made sense, would our target audience like our thriller etc… We had to make sure that our thriller would be appealing to our target audience, for example we had to make sure that we were casting people who would appeal to a larger audience. We were creating our own film therefore every group member need an equal amount of task that needed to be done. Storyboarding was a long process because we had to be as specific as possible so that we film everything needed so that one editing comes we will not be stuck. In our main task we didn’t not stick to a few shots we did many and experimented which took us all out of our comfort zone, the hardest were the pan shot and the over head. Editing the preliminary task was relatively simple we just had to follow the story boards exactly however the main task was more difficult for example we didn’t not have a script and all sounds came in during the editing process.
For making a successful thriller storyboarding is a key element however it is not the only element, casts lists, prop lists, set design, costume lists, lighting requirements etc.. Firstly we needed to figure out exactly what we needed, who we needed, when we needed it and how we needed it. Then we needed to find where to get everything and how much it will all cost. In our preliminary tasks we did not need to worry about any of this because it was a very simple set and there were no props. Then we needed to think about were we would be filming our thriller, we decided on the studio because it would be easier to manipulate sound and lighting. The main task took a lot of preparation because the more we planned and the more specific and organised we were the easier are shoot day will be and then we would not have to change lots of things and we would not have to worry about anything else apart from making sure our filming was good and that all our camera shots were good.
There was a major improvement in the use of camera from the preliminary to the main task. In our preliminary we were still learning how the camera works how we need to film where as in the main task we already knew how to use the camera and how to film however we push past our boundaries and experimented with shots like panning, major close-ups and handhelds. Since our preliminary task we have been able to be more confident in our filming and we have also been able to apply the rule of thirds to a lot of our shots. In the beginning of our thriller our shots do not give away the narrative to much so intended to builds tension and make the audience want to know what happens next to keep them at the edge of there seats. It was more difficult to make sure that everything made sense in our thriller because the audience does not have any help from a script because there is no dialogue only sounds effects. The main task is better in showing off our skills in filming because every single shot has a meaning behind it, every close up was picked for a specific reason. We kept to the 180degree rule so that our audience would not be confused.
The use of sound from the preliminary to the main task has improved greatly, in our preliminary we did not have to add any other sound apart from the recorded dialogue however in our main task we did keep the heavy breathing of our main protagonist but we added in sounds by using the soundtrack pro. The soundtrack of our thriller, much like the thriller in general, was to build tense atmosphere. We also added in the sound of bricks clanging together to attract the audience’s attention towards the window to make them believe that our thriller would be based around what it outside that window. Our main protagonist then falls threw a door into a room of pitch blackness by using the sound effects of smashing class and a table falling, which we had recorded on the day of out shot, we made the audience believe that when our main protagonist had fallen threw the door he had smashed into things on the way making them fall of and break.

Task 6- What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Task 5-How did you attrack/ address your audience?

Task 5- How did you attract/address your audience?

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Task 4-Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience for my thriller would be teenagers and thriller lovers. The teenagers would be students or slightly older aged from 18 to 25; this is because of the age certificate. Teenagers are my target audience because I use a teenager as my main protagonists and the rest of the cast are also teenagers. Using a good looking boy as my main protagonist would make my niche audience slightly more mainstream gaining a larger number of viewers because audience are always attracted to good looking characters. This would also attract girls where as the thriller genre is stereotypically a male genre, making more people come and watch seeing as the girls are going to see the good looking main protagonist and boys would be going for two reason firstly the girls are going and secondly they like action and thrillers.

Task 3- What kind of media institutions might distribute your media product and why?

The idea for our thriller was very much inspired by films like Saw and Hostel. Our Thriller is very much like these films because our film has lots of blood and gore. In Saw 1 the two main protagonist wake up in an unknown place, a abandoned and grotty bathroom, much like our main protagonist wakes up in a strange unknown room this creates suspense.
Next I looked at the production company Lionsgate. Lionsgate is the studio with a key presence in the production of films and television programs. With films such as“tyler perrys madea goes to jail” which made $41 million in the opening making it their largest ever opening weekend grossing film other films include Rambo, and the Bank Job these are all respected films that have grossed well, with more to them then only sex and gore, although are not centralized around character and story which is what I want as I think a horror would have little success if It focused on the plot and characterization rather than creating a dramatic suspense and basically scaring the audience as this appeals to a much larger audience.
Eventually I came across horror films made by Lionsgate including My Bloody valentine 3D, and Saw franchise this showed me that the firm had links to the horror industry and was experienced in producing them. I found more specific aspects of Lionsgate such as information on their sister company 20th television. 20th television has control over many American channels mostly appealing to a male audience (which is my target audience). English channels that they owned which I was familiar with included FX this is a channel marketed especially towards men and shows programs such as the infamous “true blood” a horror that focus on appealing to the mass audience by including copies amount of gore an of course. This would be a brilliant opportunity for my film advertising on this channel as viewers enjoy this genre and relations with the channel mean lower marketing costs. Not only do Lionsgate have continent relations but I found on their website that they also own TV guide network, a huge cable network which again would make the distribution of “mute” and would give us the opportunity to release “Mute” directly onto Cable TV as research has showed me that the purchase of individual films on cable TV is becoming one of the most profitable aspects of the film industry especially for lower budget films like mine is. I was very optimistic about using Lionsgate and then I found information on a popular website that they have started called FEARnet. This website is specific to horror films and has reviewing and trailers this is a hub for horror genre fans and marketing on this would be very effective and again low cost. I was convinced this was the appropriate production company for my thriller “Mute”.

Task 2- How does your product represent particular social groups?

How does your product represent particular social groups?

Mt product represents teenagers and young people as a social group. In my thriller the main protagonist is a male of 18 years of age and all the other characters in my thriller are teenagers from the ages of 16-17. The story of my product is quite like the saw, our main protagonist wakes up in this dark room not knowing where he is or how he got there, he has been kidnapped. He walks around the room bewildered and looks around. All of a sudden a light turns on and he is blinded by the brightness. He then falls threw a door into the next room in here he finds a torch which he shines around the room only to discover a pile of dead bodies or what he thought was dead bodies. He stares at the bodies and finds that they all have tape on there mouths so he moves closer and takes off the tap from one of the “dead bodies”. A story which has a pretty similar story is Saw 1, two men wake up at opposite sides of a dirty, disused bathroom, chained by their ankles to pipes. Between them lies a dead man loosely clutching a hand-held tape player and a handgun. Each finds a tape the perfect fit for the player in their back pocket. Hostel is another film which is similar to my thriller the concept is very much like saw, 3 young boys are traveling and they meet these two beautiful Slovakian girls who lure the boys one by one to there deaths in the factory however one of them survives. I chose to represent teenagers in this way because they are often vilified in the press therefore I chose to subvert the stereotypical notion presented by the media to show teenagers as scared, frightened and anxious. These feeling are common amongst this group at this time in their life and I felt that horror would be the right genre to reflect this.



Look at how social groups are represented in media products and compare these to your own film- how do they differ?

Example of the way teenagers are represented in the news, there is an article about another teenager committing suicide, he is the 19th in a year in this town called Bridgend. The Sun represents the teenagers in this town shocking because there were never any symptoms of depression, nothing suspicious however the hangings are still going on. The Guardian however described Bridgend as dark and depressing: A year ago, Bridgend in south Wales was the centre of a media frenzy as the home of a supposed youth suicide cult. Bridgend was portrayed as dark and depressing - and as the coverage intensified, so did the deaths. Carole Cadwalladr, who barely recognised the description of the place she grew up in, returned to ask friends and family of those who died what role the media played in the tragedy. I chose to represent teenagers as victims because they are never portrayed in this is way.

Task 1-In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Redrum Productions is not a real production company but during the course of our thriller process we have decided it would a good name for a thriller promoting production company seeing as it spells murder backwards we got the idea of the name from the Shinning. We faded in the titles and we animated them so that the colours separated to create a sense of mystery, we got this idea from Lost. The Titles do not have any capitals giving them a different approach.



This Major Close Up of our main protagonist’s eye gives our film a mystery there is a restricted narrative meaning that neither the audience or the character knows what is going to happen next giving our thriller tension. However the only thing the audience does know is that the main protagonist is not is somewhere good this is shown threw the dark lighting, the eye is distress and the makeup we used made this character look like he has been punched.



This shot is good at showing the distress our main protagonist is in. The makeup shows that our main protagonist has been badly beaten up making him look like a victim. The ripped clothing also shows how he was abducted. Our film is more saw like in the way that we only focus on gore, however, we never show our victims actually being tortured only by using makeup we let our target audience imagine what could of happened, this builds tension.



During the course of our thriller we build tension with our restricted narrative however in this particular shot we lead our audience to the window with a sound we put in (we got the idea of the sound from the Blair Witch Project). By making the main protagonist go to the window we make the audience believe that there is something outside which obviously scares our character because he backs away. However it was a trick to distract the audience from what will actually happen.



In the sequence of our other shots we were leading the audience to believe that our thriller was going to be centred on what was outside of the window, up until this shot the suspense was growing and the thriller was going slowly however suddenly this shot shocks the audience. By using sound effects and white balance and exposure on the shot we make the target audience believe that the light bulb has suddenly exploded however it does not.



After the light exploding our main protagonist falls threw a door and lands into a pitch black room. This shot is when our protagonist finds the torch and shines it on his face to see if it still works. This shot makes our audience sympathetic towards our main protagonist who has a look of horror, terror and confusion on his face. We used the rule of thirds for this shot.



This shot is when our main protagonist shines a torch across a blood covered wall. With this shot we follow the thriller stereotype by showing lots of blood and hand prints on the wall. This wall really shows how people have been tortured and killed. We used fake blood and splattered it around to make it look more realistic and the fake hand was an extra touch



This shot is very important to our thriller because this is the victim who wakes up. The tape on his mouth is very representative for our thriller because our title is called Mute and the point of this is that the victims are mute because out the tape around their mouths. The light shinning on the victims face is the light on the torch which gives a good effect making the rest of the victims face dark and in shadows.



This is the name of our Thriller making this shot important and it follows up from the shot before with the tape making this shot representative. This shot is actually overlaid on top of another shot which is just blackness. The simple title builds more tension making the audience want to know what happens after the titles.