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

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

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

Who would watch my film?
Age: 43
Gender: Male
Ethnicity: British
Lifestyle: He is a manager for a printing company and lives with his wife and 2 kids in a mildly expensive home. He drives a Chrysler and his wardrobe consists only suits jackets, jeans and an array of black and white shirts.
Aspirations: Wants to be an upper class aristocrat but his gritty South London roots and his big flashy gold chain hold him back from being perceived as anything but a mafia boss wannabe, even despite his expensive tweed three-piece suit.
Culture: He is fairly old fashioned and traditional in his values and he enjoys the common stereotypes and representations that go with South London. He, however grew up in a fairly normal part of South London and was never involved with any of the negative groups of people found there, yet he will always tell the stories of how he had to fight to survive in the heart of South London.
Media interests: He enjoys violent and action-filled thrillers- usually those associated with gang land London. The odd chick flick never fails to summon tears but that's the guilty pleasure he hides behind his love for British gangster films that cover the themes of drugs, sex and violence.
Other films they like: Love, Honour and Obey; Snatch; Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels; Rock n' Rolla

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels demographics.

In this example demographic chart, we see the audience is heavily dominated by males. Obviously this isn't a completely accurate representation of who watches the film but we can tell that by the amount of people that review it, there is a very large amount of Non-US 18-44 year old males.

We see a staggering 320848 of all the reviewers to be male, therefore suggesting that this caliber of film is heavily consumed by a male audience. With our film sharing many similar characteristics to Lock, Stock, we are able to decipher that our audience may be a very similar group of people.The masculinity of a film like this is deemed relatable to men as many men strive to be masculine and all enjoy watching testosterone filled men kill each other and do drugs. It's a form of purging those manly emotions through film. They aren't able to kill people or do drugs but a film can depict such acts and the audience can release their anger and negative emotions through the films doings.

The age group is fairly broad- we see a large number of 18-29 year old males watching the film and also a large group of men between the ages of 30-44 watching the film. This fairly broad audience may be less broad for our film due to the lack of comedy, however it might still capture a younger audience through the action and the power attraction within the story's plot.

It seems as though a non-US audience make up the majority of the voters, thus suggesting that the consumers of a British gangster thriller are generally non-US. Our consumers for our film, I would assume, would be mainly British. Being it's a British film, highlighting the lower classes of Britain and the gang warfare that goes on behind the scenes, it would usually appeal to a British audience.

Although it's not expanded upon in this review graph, I feel that the classes would be useful when analysing who would watch my film. We recount the underground goings-on of the British shadow markets and the behind the scenes crimes. It is a story of how a very low status man is dragged into this business and this is what causes his negative ending. It allows for people to feel somewhat relatable to this character as he is desperate and for a class of people who have to work hard to survive, this could be a path that many people could have taken but that moral choice held them back- and the fact they were probably in a much better situation than him. It accentuates the negative consequences of immorality. For our film I believe we would appeal to a lower class of audience, especially those who have witnessed the likes of South London or those who would like to associate themselves with South London, gangster ways.

EDITED 31/03/2017: Question 7- Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

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

Why did we do the preliminary task?

- So we can make mistakes

- Practise the use of the cameras

- Practise editing

- Teamwork, communication and skills

The initial differences between the preliminary task and the thriller opening task possess many contrasts, but many similarities when broken down. The demands for the two were different; one asked for a thriller opening based on the knowledge you have about thrillers, and the other asking you to film a conversation. The complexity has quite clearly increased as so has our breadth of understanding. The time frame for the thriller was much longer than the preliminary task and we were able to spend more time on it. We were also encourage to use a large, diverse range of location and we were also held responsible for growing our own knowledge of thrillers in lesson and outside of lesson too.

Pre-Production

In the preliminary task we weren’t needed to research much prior to the shoot. We wrote down all of our ideas and plans in our books or on paper and they didn’t provide much of a use in terms of complexity. Doing the thriller opening, however, enforced us to research a much greater amount and also create a much more in depth plan and a much more in depth vision as to how you were going to shoot your film. We had to create a shooting schedule to pinpoint when exactly we were going to film and what we were going to film on that day. We also had to use a storyboard that plotted out exactly what shots we would use and when in the opening they would go. The precision needed for the thriller opening highlights the difference of the two tasks and also the change in complexity. Another thing we had to do was study other thrillers and their openings. This was to understand the different techniques used to open a film and how other directors established different themes in their openings. All of which show a progression from the simplicity of the preliminary task.

Preliminary storyboard

An example of 2 of 5 storyboards from the thriller task

Production

Before the preliminary task, I had no trained skills within media breadth of needed skills. For example, through doing the preliminary task and the build-up of knowledge before and after this, through lessons and research, we gained a wide knowledge of the skills and techniques behind camerawork. We developed an understanding of the 180 degree rule. I was able to transfer the way I used this rule from the preliminary task to how I used it in my thriller opening. I was able to transfer the shot-reverse-shot technique with using the 180 degree rule from where I had used it in my preliminary task to my thriller.

Preliminary task 

Thriller task

We were also able to use skills that we established through creating our preliminary task, in our thriller, such as the different angles to use and which angles portray what. For example the use of close-ups to really highlight a key object. Which we used to show the importance of the ring in our thriller. In production we also looked at the basics, such as work with a tripod and the steadying of the camera; the correct techniques that have to be endured in order to enhance the professionalism of the film. Since the preliminary task, I have developed my skills behind the camera. The simple development of my camera skills has been massively prevalent in the contrast from my preliminary to my thriller. Although I did use some similar skills from my preliminary task- I have always like the idea of symmetry in shots and used this in both tasks.

Preliminary Task- centre shot

Thriller task- better centre shot

However, I feel as though my skills that were shown in my preliminary task, have grown in terms of understanding and efficiency. There was a lot of things I learnt from doing my preliminary, in terms of mistakes and further, from lessons and studying different films- taking shot ideas and the use of camerawork/editing in other films. My preliminary highlighted the issues that can come with not using the camera correctly. My peers I and unintentionally didn’t film what we needed to as we had a problem with correctly using the record button. Thus we were lacking in film. This was used a tool for progress in our thriller as we were much more focused on making sure we had film and making sure we had backups just in case. Another problem we encountered was sound difficulties and the necessity to record sound separately due to background sound in loud places. We took this on board and had a shot to just cover the dialogue of the two characters talking. We were then able to synchronise the sound to the shots we took after. This allowed for the dialogue to be much clearer and much easier to hear.

After we filmed our preliminary task, we started to study different thrillers which helped develop my breadth of understanding over the way that thrillers are filmed and the techniques that are used to portray different feelings and convey certain emotions and tensions.

We based this shot on how they revealed the different objects in The Disappearance of Alice Creed.

When studying media studies you start to watch films with the intentions of taking ideas or studying that director’s use of camera work and editing. After watching different films and different directors, I’ve started to take ideas from them. For example, in the shots of the paintings, I tried to use the symmetry and obscurity of the shot similar to how Wes Anderson uses symmetrical stills in his films. This came after a development of understanding through the build up to the preliminary task and the thriller opening task.

Wes Anderson's film

Charlie O'Brien's film

The symmetry of the shot and its position on the screen creates a non-naturalistic setting and establishes a more eerie atmosphere where the audience can be unsure as to what is about to happen. Since the preliminary task my observance upon films has grown and my understanding has helped to develop that and take ideas.

Editing Through the preliminary task, we had to use Premiere Pro in order to edit our film. We had to edit many shots together in order to make it look real and professional. The task we were asked to complete was to film someone walking through a door and a conversation. In order to complete this we had to use editing skills such as continuity editing which we used in our thriller. When the boss hands over the money, we use two different shots of it, so we have to make sure that the continuity of the shot allows for the action to flow and look believable. Likewise, in our preliminary task we had to film someone opening a door and furthermore walking through it. This skill is a very transferable skill and we were able to bring the piece more to life by including this.

Within our preliminary task, although it wasn’t specified, I included a soundtrack in order to accentuate the mood. This however proved fairly ineffective in this piece because of the ill-professional manner. Therefore I took from this the difficulty of it and how easy it was to get it wrong. When introducing a soundtrack into our thriller, I made sure the music fully suited the atmosphere of the piece and furthermore was edited in with precision and professionalism- for example, the point where the music plateaus and the lights turn on. This synchronicity of the music and the edit was a skill developed since the preliminary task and something that I hoped to develop over that time.

EDITED 30/03/2017: Question 2- How does your media product represent particular social groups?

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our media product is a British gangster style film, dominated by male actors, all of which represent a different group of people; we have an elder character who represents an older generation, a younger character which does vice versa and a character who is used to symbolise the vulnerable people in society. We don't necessarily highlight a protagonist and therefore we diminish this idea of hope for any of the characters, from the start, a negative ending is foreshadowed.

This shot shows the elder character to be hosting the shot essentially.

We look to reinforce the masculinity in crime and emphasise the stereotypes that ride adjacent to the crime world. Through mise en scene, we chose to not include female actors; this is to further present the crime world as masculine and feed upon the stereotypes that are already structured. All of the shots are dominated by a male character and follow the most masculine character. Through our camera skills, he appears more prominent than the other character. He is literally and metaphorically positioned higher than the other character. We also reinforced masculinity in crime through costume. The difference in costume between these two characters shows a contrast in their masculinity. We again reiterate this through the mise en scene in this shot. One character is sitting and the other is standing, making how they formalise themselves a representation of their masculinity. The whole opening is very gritty and very true to its British gangster origins shown through the quick and slightly messy cuts- this idea of males governing the gangster world is established in many other films. For example, in Alice Creed, the only two people we see in the opening are two men. Out of the three characters in the whole film, the two male characters are the criminals and the female the victim. This reinforces a masculinity in crime. They further develop this conflict for masculine power, by creating shots in which a conflict is apparent.

The boss is talking over the shot of the other character, showing his dominance
of the edit

Linking into this, our film represents an age hierarchy; not just the world of crime but also within society. However we did present this through a gang as a hierarchy as such within is almost always prevalent. Using a similar shot as we I did before, I can show how the older a man is, the more power he has. This use of age to represent power is quite popular within various other gangster thrillers. For example, in the film Love, Honour and Obey, the character played by Ray Winstone is an older character and his power and status has grown over time and he is where he is because of his age. Another example might be the film Snatch. The character "Bricktop" is always dominating the shot and we often follow what he is doing and what he is focusing on, through camera work and editing. The director, Guy Ritchie also has this character speak over shots of other people, to show his dominance over others.

 We are able to present this through masculinity as we did before as it shows how through crime and the gritty illegal world of Britain, people become hard and masculine. There's a social status that one must conform to to ensure their authoritative position in the gangland of Britain. We show this through the way the control that the boss has over the edit. We, for most of the scene focus on him and what he is doing as opposed to what the other character is doing, unless we focus on the reaction of that character. We, however made it clear that we were not trying to belittle the other character but instead highlight the difference in authority. We can refer back to the previous shot I used to represent masculinity as it shows the same levels of dominance. We also were able to capture the boss's dominance of the edit as we follow what he is doing when he hands out the money. By showing the movement of the scene to be following the movement of that character, we re-emphasise his importance and especially his importance over his colleagues. In this same shot we show the boss character to have a significant amount of money- money equals power and the thought that this character is more powerful because of money, nicely complements his power gained through age. The age difference and the power difference because of that is again shown in the shot where they both enter the cellar. The older man is leading, and this simple trick highlights their difference in authority and their difference in age- almost holding a metaphorical barrier between them.

Our films signifies the vulnerable and their susceptibility to crime and a derogatory lifestyle. We open the film with shots of him and shots that establish his surroundings. By doing so we can focus on the sort of lifestyle he lives before he is taken. He is proposed as a character that has nothing. In this shot ,we have positioned the camera floor level to bring the viewer to his level; by doing so we can capture his desperation and really allow the audience to see his vulnerability. We can thus capture the importance in the other character coming to help him out. The cuts are fairly slow and the camera lingers on the homeless character for quite a while. This emphasises his loneliness and his desperation. In a fairly subtle fashion, we were able to develop this desperation of the character by using a track which is actually named "Desperation". The track holds a foreboding tension to it as it gets louder as the pace builds up. By using this we can allow the audience to initially determine the outcome of this character. The irony of his desperation leading to his death is mirrored through the contrast in the soundtrack. The sound builds up until it suddenly plateaus and then it develops into a very quiet, almost eerie sound. I synchronised the edit withe the movement of the music; as it got faster, so did the edit. The cuts before the music plateaus are extremely quick, similarly, so is the music. However when the lights are turned on, the music plateaus; this synchronicity allows for the viewer to be more immersed into the vulnerable character's mind.. We see his desperation as the tension builds and we see his helplessness as atmosphere turns from tense to eerie. The big contrast in soundtrack from fast to slow and the big contrast in the speed of the edit, makes this character seem more vulnerable as he is held helpless in the shot. We also see a vulnerability within the other young character. His vulnerability in the criminal world, especially his vulnerability towards his boss, almost suggesting that youth are a vulnerable group in society. The boss dominates the shot in the shots between those two characters. This shows how despite having some authority, this character is still under a strict regime where he is somewhat just as vulnerable in terms of actual importance as the homeless man. Referring back to my previous shot, we see the power difference; we see the difference in masculinity and age and these all make the other character even more vulnerable. To conclude upon such a representation of vulnerability we decided to use a fairly gritty font. insert picture. This brings the audience to perceive the whole piece in this gritty manner. The demeanour of the whole opening negative and is used to forebode a bad ending for the characters. By creating this through visuals, we then enforce an idea that vulnerable people in society are more desperate for a happy ending but in reality that isn't the case.

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

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