Evaluation

This is our final thriller film opening sequence.

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

My thriller film includes many generic conventions such as

·         Low-key lighting

·         Suspense and shock

·         Generic camera shots such as over the shoulder

We did not develop these ideas further which made our thriller seem very basic.

·         We were influences by the thriller ‘it’ the movie is about a clown that can change into people’s worst fears, our thriller played on people’s fears.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

·         My thriller represents women as vulnerable and weak characters which is common in thriller movies.

·         The villain is played by a male which portrays him as dominant.

·         The baby is as vulnerable as a character can get because of its innocence.

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

·         I believe that my thriller film would only be in internet release.

·         It only appeals to a specific type of person therefore it wouldn’t necessarily be release in cinema.

·         It is not up to the standards to be a cinema release.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

·                                               ·  A person who isn’t afraid of clowns.

·                                              ·     A person to enjoys these type of thriller films

·                                             ·    My film would probably appear more to men than women.

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

·         I’ve learnt how to properly use a camera and get specific camera shots.

·         I’ve learnt how to use several programme’s such as logic.

·         I’ve learnt how to make things work with limited resources.

here is the sound of my evaluation.
Jona by user9470936

Production and post-production.

Group Roles

Jordan-Director/Producer (in charge of organization and final production)
Jordans job was to film the thriller film and

Daniel-Location/Lighting (In charge of choosing suitable locations)

Anthony-Camera/sound (In charge of the camera equipment)

Yona-Make-up/Hair/Props (In charge of costumes and props)

During the production my main role was to be the makeup director, firstly I put the face-paint on our clown actor which was quite difficult as we didn’t have a brush however I instead used my hands. I then had to dress myself up as I Was the main character in our opening sequence, I lastly had to make something which looked like a baby in a blanket, I did this by gathering around 5 toys and putting them into a blanket, the result was quite good. One of the dilemmas that we faced while filming was achieving a low lit room, I had the idea to place a black glove around one of the bulbs and the outcome was very good and we got what we aiming for. Another difficulty that we face while filming was achieving the right camera shots in a very cramped surrounding, we found a way around this by changing the position of the camera and some of the shots.

Camera angles and shots we used

Tracking shot- to show the girl walking around the house and to build up suspense as the audience’s eyes are following her.

Over the shoulder shot-to show the character through the eyes of the villain, helps the audience identify with the vulnerable teenage girl.

Low angle shot-to show the eye line of the clown, the audience is looking at the girl from his eye.

High angle

Extreme long shot-to show the surroundings of the clown and to add suspense to the shot as the clown is small yet evil.

I dressed the clown on set and this was what his costume looked like.

During the filming this was the outcome for my clown make-up, I was pleased with it however the consistency of the white powder was crumbly and did not convey the look I was going for.

 

Post-production
During post-production my main role was to be the editor with Jordan the director. I firstly found this role extremely difficult as ‘Final Cut pro’ is a complicated programme, however over time I became more comfortable with it. Editing is a very important part of making a film and I learnt a great deal throughout my experience, I learnt how to make scenes shorter and how to add motion blur. Me and the director choose the most important scenes and then cut it all down into two minutes which then gave us our finished product.

We only had a week to edit our thriller and our group chose me and Jordan to do this job, we started off with around 3 minutes and thirty seconds of footage of which we had to cut down as our thriller is only allowed to be two minutes long.We cut down clips that were unneeded in our film such a long tracking shot and a shot of the girl sitting down.

From my experience in making a two minute thriller opening I have learnt that it is a long hard process to getting everything right, there is a lot of thinking that needs to take place and one small mistake can make you rethink the whole thing. I have learnt how to use a camera and I have also learnt how to get desired camera angles.

Pre-production

My initial idea was that we would film a young girl walking home; she would then arrive at this huge block of flats. As she got into the elevator a dirty hand stopped the door from closing and a creepy looking man entered the elevator alongside her. The lights ten begin to flicker until they get to the 6^th floor. The door then opens and the man walks dragging out a huge bag. The girl is no longer in the elevator.

The narrative that I and my group chose was very simple yet effective; a young teenage girl is babysitting for her auntie, when she hears the young child crying, she goes up to check on him and she spots a terrifying clown doll staring at her in the corner, she is first scared however she realises it’s just a doll so she calms the baby and goes back down stairs and returns to watching TV, she then see’s the baby monitor go off a second time, she rushes upstairs and the room has been torn apart, the clown is no longer there and the baby is crying very loud. She then see’s a shadow outside the window, she nervously walks closer and closer towards the window and then open the curtain, she is shocked when she sees the clown doll outside in the garden, staring at her.

The main hair and makeup that I would have to complete is the clown, I’ve taken inspiration from the movie ‘killjoy’ and the 1990’s horror ‘it’. In both the films the clowns face has been painted on, I think painting on the face is more effective than a mask because the audience can see the facial expressions more clearly and get an intensified sense of terror.

 

The costume I have chosen is from http://www.argos.co.uk/, the costume is colourful and bright because I think it will have a real contrast with the genre of the film. The costume is £6:36 and also includes the hat,the costume will suit the makeup I have decided to use.    

 

The main other character in our film is a teenage babysitter, I have decided to make her look like your average teenage girl, her hair will be straight and her makeup will be basic (mascara and lip-gloss), she should wear jeans and a plain vest top. I will firstly use whiteface paint as a base on the clown character, white is the best base because it makes the clown look scarier and ghost like, then I will only paint a red circle on the clowns nose like in the film ‘killjoy’. I will put heavy eye-liner around the clown’s eye and I will also pain a black spike begging from the eyebrow and continuing down to the eye, I want to extenuate the clown’s mouth and make it look bigger with red lipstick.

Props- we will need a phone for when the parents send the babysitter the text