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

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

Strangely Media products that are in the genre - thrillers, conventially are either hybrid genres (such as ‘Batman Begins’ which is an Action-Adventure /Thriller) or a sub-genre (such as ‘Goodfellas’ which is a Gangster-thriller). Ours almost follows both conventions, we originally conceived it as a subgenre of psychological/thriller but became a Hybrid genre of a Horror/thriller. This was done through the destruction of the masked assailants which seems to follow the conventions of the latter, but its does develop the conventions of the former. As the violence is never linked, the office psychiatrist scene’s tension is done through performance and music.

Very quickly we decided that by embracing previous Thrillers, our passion for them would bleed through into our thriller. Hence there is a numerous amounts of influences and references.

Firstly that a media product, if done fictionally is never a true reflection of the real world, but a stylised version. Hence all the characters are archetypes making them instantly identifiable. Russell T. Davies (Executive producer and Head Writer of ‘Doctor Who’ and ‘Torchwood’) said this of using classic monsters as the viewer immediately knows the rules and the story runs a lot quicker. This applied with our characters. Immediately the audience had a vague understanding of the dynamics between our two characters, because of this we’re immediately aware between the differences of the characters, meaning the tension begins immediately.

The same applied for our masked assailants to a less extent, Steven Moffat (Writer of BBC thriller ‘Hyde’) says the scariest moment is when the monster is about to arrive, hence all the scenes with the assailants is preparation (we even cut a sequence we filmed where the assailants walk into ‘Regent House’, the building we named our piece after, and a further sequence was never filmed where both narratives meet and the assailants burst into the office. We cut these sequences, with regards to time but mainly because the monster ceases to be scary once they are there. Once the assailants were there they wouldn’t be able to use the weapons at all, it would undermine the aura that the first two minutes build up).

We wanted to avoid hooded figures, such as in the fantasy/horror/thriller ‘Demons’, whilst ‘hoodie’ culture is being tried to be tapped into by some modern thrillers, we found it makes the threat mundane. When the convention of a thriller is to have a mundane location with fantastical threat (e.g. ‘War of the Worlds’ where Cruise’s characters normal life is set up, to be disestablished by the earth tremors).
We wanted sharp suits, such as the sci-fi thriller ‘The Matirx’ a sthe Agent’s uniformity is what’s chilling, it plays on our inner drive to not follow ‘the man’. The crispness of their suits, and steely expression show them like tanks, they will always follow you.

We mixed that convention with that of the Joker’s henchmen in ‘The Dark Knight’, all the masks have tormented smiling expressions, there is something scary about a perverted euphoria. Something pure that has been tainted, something we can relate to that has been twisted. I believe that our media product, whilst divertingly develops conventions in a new light (such as when the assailants walking is dissolved in on it self, it gives a mystic effect to them whilst not breaking the reality. Many thrillers tend to stick firmly into a “real worlds” such as ‘Psycho’, or to go into a fantasy film such as ‘Watchmen’. We wanted a stylised world that whilst never contradicts reality, through editing we discombobulate the viewer slightly and hint at a supernatural element).

Yet ultimately our thriller obeys these conventions, as they have been well established, into the culture of film, every viewer on a subconscious basis is scared by the similar principles. We graded our pictures to increase the shadows, because shadows are chilling. We are scared of the dark, because we do not know what is in it. The masks go to the same effect, as we never see exactly what they look like under the mask, our imaginations are much more thrilling then what we could see on screen. We kept to the primary principle, to create mystery. Mystery always unnerves us, which is why thrillers are so successful because they thrive on mystery…

Tim McNiven & Oliver Fitch

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Who would be the audience for your media product?

After examining what techniques media researchers use to work out their prime audience, we are going to use the same techniques to find out what audiences our thriller should be aimed at.

We are trying to tap into the mass-audience as a broader demographic. Our thriller will appeal to more people. However we do not want to water down our ideal to fit a blockbuster pattern purely for the sake of it, so this will limit our demographics to a certain degree

Approximately, our Audience demographics are from C1 down (with a slight overlap into B) as we're hoping to appeal to everyday situations (along with the codes and conventions). The high-concept ideals may appeal on a more academic level.

Psychographics- there are 3 categories that we're aiming at:

Mainstreamers - This is the largest group, if we're successful then others will conform to see our thriller.

Strugglers. SEEKS ESCAPE - alienated and disorganised. Few resources beyond physical skills. Brand choice involves impact and sensation. Buys alcohol, junk food lottery tickets. D and E demographic.

Explorers - SEEKS DISCOVERY. Energy, individualism and experience. Values a difference and adventure. Brand choice highlights satisfaction, and instant effect. The first to try new brands. Younger demographic - students.
Although within marketing and demographics there are other issues that will need to be considered.

As media consumers we use or are entertained by media products on a literal daily basis. However, each of these media products has been marketed to appeal to us (even if on a generic basis). There are several means by which consumers are grouped as different types of audience.
A slightly more detailed way is through 'Audience Demographics', which are based on financial income:

'Group A - lawyers, doctors, scientists, managers of large-scale organisations - well paid professionals.

Group B - teachers, senior managers, some middle management - fairly well paid professionals.

Group C1 - 'white collar' junior management, bank clerks, nurses.

Group C2 - skilled 'blue collar' workers such as electricians, plumbers carpenters.

Group D - Semi and unskilled manual such as drivers, post sorters.

Group E - students, the unemployed, pensioners.

'However this does rather base upon very broad stereotypes, a more accurate but more time costly method is 'Audience Profiling'. Audiences can be defined by the following factors;

'-Age

-Gender

-Demographic (in this instance meaning where they live, regionally)

-Profiling (An example of this is the 'Tesco club Card' where all purchases accompanied with this card are registered to data system where vouchers are then sent to your address with vouchers to encourage you to purchase products tailored for you)

-Values, attitudes and lifestyles (this is more niche sections of the media product)'

This then leads onto demographic profiling which works on the same simple process calculating approximately through a consumer’s age, class, gender, geographical area, class, economic status and religion.

The most interesting of all these methods however must be 'psychographic profiling', where marketing executives do not merely define their consumers by age or region, but see what makes consumers want their product and, play on it to maximise its potential. It works out an average personality trait for different types of people. These are as following:

'Mainstreamers - SEEK SECURITY. The products they consume are domestic, conformist, conventional, sentimental-favour value for money family brands. Nearly always the largest group.

Aspirers - SEEK STATUS. Materialistic, acquisitive, orientated to image and appearance, persona and fashion. Attractive packaging more important than contents. Typically younger people, clerical and sales jobs.

Succeeders - SEEK CONTROL. Strong goals, confidence, work ethic and organisation. Supports stability. Brand choice based on self-reward, and quality. Typically higher management and professionals.

Resigned - SEEKS SURVIVAL. Rigid and authoritarian values. Interested in the past and tradition. Brand choice stresses safety, familiarity and economy. Typically older people.

Performers. SEEKS ENLIGHTENMENT - Freedom of restrictions and personal growth. Social awareness and independent judgement. Anti-materialistic, but aware of good taste. Has attended higher education and selects products for quality.'

Having examined how consumers are depicted and used within marketing, our group will need to replicate this as it will help make our thriller more appealing to our potential audiences.

(with quotes embedded from http://www.4cs.yr.com/ and http://www.nrs.co.uk/)


Written by Tim Mcniven, Edited by Peter McLaughlin. Further editing and formatting by Joseph Lawrence.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The characters in our product represent social groups in several ways.

Protagonist

- White
- Male
- Young
- Lower middle class
- Scruffy appearance
- Mentally unstable

Our protagonist is a psychiatric patient, and represents the "misfit" within the film, common within thriller films. His mental condition shows a representation of disability, whilst his middle class accent and scruffy attire represents the typical "everyman" that gets dragged into a situation despite being an ordinary person.

Psychiatrist

- White
- Male
- Older
- Upper middle class, well qualified, good job
- Smartly dressed, professional looking
- Position of power over his patient

The psychiatrist is representative of the upper middle class professional, with a smart attire and highly qualified job. His accent shows him to be upper middle class, well spoken and literate, in contrast to the protagonist. He shows no sign of disability, and age suggests him to be wiser than the protagonist.

Antagonists

The antagonists are masked throughout the entire film, and have no lines of dialogue. We decided on this to remove them from representation, with their age, class, race, disabilities and profession impossible to determine. This makes them almost removed from being human, and makes them exist purely as a mysterious and scary entities within the film, with no discernible features aside from their costumes and weapons.

- Joseph Lawrence

What kind of media institition might distrubute your medfia product and why?

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

In the same way the makers of Cloverfield described their thriller ‘as a monster movie for the Youtube generation’ we accepted that our media product would need to be distributed through many institutions and means to reach our target audience. Throughout this answer I plan to compare our techniques to the tried and tested (whilst pretty revolutionary) methods of ‘Cloverfield’’s distribution.

So firstly we started with Youtube, professionally it works on a financial level. To put your video on Youtube, it means anyone around the world can talk about this. This would raise issues however of getting your product noticed. The means to this is anticipation. We made a demonstration trailer, and for a real distribution these would be increasingly longer revealing more and more plot points, this would fuel the forums. Also through advertising, a video that is on Youtube has never been advertised on the website itself, I think this would be an original means to get the video going.

If working with a corporation like Microsoft or Apple, we could use widgets. Widgets are pieces of software, which can be downloaded for free, they are various applications. Cloverfield used a technique of making a widget which contained an introduction by Produced J.J. Abrams and the first five minutes of the film. It offered a prize to the web user who shared that widget to the most amount of friends. This clever technique makes it’s own consumers distribute their product, for free. The opener of our thriller could be used in a similar manner.

The Major film networks now are Columbia, 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros., Paramount and Universal. With Walt Disney’s ‘Buena Vista Motion Picture group’ emerging. We would have to pitch it to all those companies through various meetings, any of these would be ideal for our movie, as they would have major budget to advertise and distribute, Pixar spent 53 million to advertise Cars.

After the films release, Television Premières must be thought of, whilst our film isn’t quite mainstream enough to go for ‘Sky Movies’, I would suggest ‘Film Four’ they make a careful balance between showing classic well known films, and mixing it so viewers might stay tuned to lower budget, less know films. Film Four would offer a one off payment, for the rights, then also pay royalties each time shown. This could even give the film a cult like status with the ultimate goal of being marketed as a cult film to build a heavy, loyal fan base.

Tim McNiven

Preliminary evaluation question part 2

Preliminary evaluation question part 1

Evaluation

Oliver Fitch & Peter McLaughlin

Evaluation

Oliver Fitch & Peter Mclaughlin

Reasoning behind our Locations

London

An earlier post shows the efforts of our location hunting. But as the negotiations with the B.F.I. became harder as we needed to use a section closer to the entrance without anybody else in frame, this was obviously an issue for the B.F.I. with constant inflow and outflow of customers.
With one location down before we even left, it became increasingly aware that we were adding the London location for scale, it not only didn't not add anything to the narrative, it slowed it down, and complicated an already hectic plot. Ultimately the story is the main thing, and if something is holding back that story, even if a lot of work has been put into it, and it works in another context, it needs to be removed.
The drawbacks for this, is the odd location i liked, The tunnel myself and Peter found with the changing colors and lights. (Admittedly the changing colors did make more sense when each member of the gang had an individual color scheme, this was deemed unnecessary in later drafts of the script)


The Abandoned House

We located three different abandoned houses, the first two were abandoned due to the permission needed, we came lucky with the their house, as it's had plans to be demolished for a while now (there was even a JCB outside when we arrived) the company now in possession allowed us to shoot, (this was aided as we found out during the editing process the year above had used it in 2008).

We were incredibly fortunate with this location as the archaic setting adds to the rustik physicality of our media product.

Tim McNiven

Regent House Trailer

A trailer i made durign a free hour on Windows Movie Maker, for the production sing stills made on the day. It links to many thriller trailers in creating an enigma (who are the masked assailants) whilst not giving a full picture and explaining very little of the plot. If this was a real film, fans would be able to go on Youtube (where it is available) and anticipate and speculate on the actual thriller...

Tim McNiven

Editing Diary

I was told before we even started by, a Year 13, Samuel Pate who claimed that the editor has more power over what the story will be like than the director. It was after this experience that we learnt what this meant. Throughout this i wish to convey how much of our vision altered through out the editing process, and how the software opened new opportunities whilst creating many obstacles. We edited over 4 days (twice the amount of time it took to film). With Peter taking two of those days. We tended to edit when ever we could.

Interestingly our editing technique varied to others. Where as all over groups edited chronologically. We edited small sections (the car pulling in to the house being the first) we felt this kept the experience fresh, if we got stuck with what to do on one section, we moved unto another then would come back to it. This meant we strayed form the original narrative we storyboarded but to great effect. The cutaways to the floorboards and the inkblots really make the viewer focus on both simultaneous plot strands.

The first thing we did was altering raw footage, this included grading. Something which is vital in creating an atmospheric tone. This included grading pictures, as we had no control of lighting (the office scenes were done under normal lighting. The House scenes were done in the day.) We found by decreasing the darkness it prolongs shadows, creating much more menace. Extreme colours are much more gripping, so contrasts were used, this proved great with the masks as sometimes the insides of the mask went black when contrasted, mystifying the characters. Another element to the picture we graded was the white balance, we found it creates this odd effect of making the lights of different colours stand out (for an example on the finished piece, where the assailant opens the bonnet, the car appears pure black, and the reflection fo the sky is shining white). Whilst we were concerned it ruined the reality, we found we preferred this, it glamorises the setting of the masked assailants. it also adds to this "Agent" (the antagonists of 'The Matrix') image, of them not fitting in with the our (the viewer's) world.

We weaved in six different soundtracks Peter found on freeplay.com. By using numerous soundtrack, all of them crossing each other fading in and out. It creates a complex, epic grandeur. All the track, especially when edited to together it was reminiscent of that of 'The Dark Knight' specifically the Joker's Theme.

There are several references that we created purely through editing. The first is to the recent Bond film ‘Quantum of Solace’. The moment where the two protagonists are walking along the desert dunes, the same shot dissolved to speed up the process of the characters walking. We wanted this for the section where the antagonists walk out of the house, especially as it is a long take. There was a draw back with ‘Vegas’ in that there is a limit to how much you can dissolve, I found this frustrating a sit hardly creates the subtlety that I wanted. But it does quicken the pace so it stayed in the final edit.

A massive section of filming remained on 'the editing room floor'. We filmed an entire section where the assailant reach ‘Regent House’ (which was to be revealed as the house stated in the title.) But we abandoned this section for three main reasons.

Our project was already overrunning and to keep to the suggested length we’d either have to seriously cut down on what we had, or take that section out
There was some flaws with how it filmed, whilst we took precautions, it was simply impossible, on a big screen, to film the porche close up without a reflection of the camera
It became too pushing of the viewer, the dialogue with the psychiatrist would be pushed out to thin, to the point the audience couldn’t recognise it as a conversation
We therefore made the decision in the editing room to remove it.
Finally something we caught unto very quickly was that another means of making our media product look as professionally, is to crosscut between a lot of frames, at a level that gives as much stimulating information as possible, without confusing the viewer. We did this by either placing cutaways in the middle of the same shot.

For example, when the camera tilts down one of the assailants, we cross cut to the patient, we calculated where one shot ended and the other started. This Match on Action works well.

Another example is match on action but with a jump, as we cut between a close up of an assailant looking at a hammer, to the patient, then to the assailant hitting the wall. This jump is my favourite cut in the whole piece, because it takes the viewer by surprise.

Through editing we found that not only could we add to the story we started constructing, but that is when the story is made. Filming is merely acquiring materials, editing is turning them into an effective story telling. Most of the elements that are linked to a thriller can be done through editing.

Tim McNiven & Peter McLaughlin

Influences IV

Written by Oliver Fitch

War is a 2007 action/thriller film written by Lee Anthony Smith and Gregory J. Bradley, directed by Phillip G. Atwell. War follows John Crawford (Jason Statham) an FBI agent determined to take down a mysterious assassin known as Rogue (Li), after his partner is murdered.

Getting to the point, the part of the film that may have influenced my addition to the story-line of our thriller may be the scene where Rogue the Yakuza/Triads (as it is unclear for whom Rogue is working for) assassin is sent to assassinate an FBI agent Tom Lone. In being a big fan of Jet Li and this film (War) I may have unconscientiously been influenced by the series while selecting certain elements within our film.

The sword in our media video may have also been influenced by my watching of War. As Rogue’s preferred choice of weapon it is a main aspect of iconography. The connotations represent predominantly pain, gore, blood and death which clarifies why it links more towards a horror, although knives in thrillers tend to show a less masochistic approach. However the main aspect of iconography that I thought mainly influenced our thriller was the white mask Rogue wore to assassinate his targets. This part of iconography is what transformed our psycho/thriller into more of a hybrid or a psycho/horror/thriller. The masks gave a disturbing image to the audience due to hiding the identity of the characters, which created suspense and enigmas. In War the mask Rogue wears is used to make the character seem more menacing and more of a violent killer. This creates a very disturbing mood when Rogue is sent to assassinate Tom Lone (An FBI agent). His ruthless character is shown through the mask when he not only murders Tom Lone but also his wife and daughter, as shown in the video below:

Character Profiles

The characters within our thriller are stereotypes common within the genre.

The protagonist is your typical psychiatric patient seen in a thriller, dealing with a problem that has caused him trauma. We approached his character by making sure to use close camera angles to make sure his eyes were seen looking intensely at the psychiatrist. This gave the viewer an insight into his state of mind. His costume is scruffy and he looks unkempt, showing that he has no care about his appearance due to his mental condition.

The psychiatrist is representative of order in the film, playing a straight and intelligent character, well dressed and professional. We decided to use him as a contrast to the disorder and chaos of the other characters, making him stand out and his role differ from the rest of the cast.

The antagonists are portrayed as stereotypical psychopaths, clutching weapons and wearing masks to hide their faces. The uniformity of their costumes makes them appear as one collective unit, rather than individual characters. We decided to do this to make sure that the viewer could tell that they were part of the same "team" and had the same agenda.

- Joseph Lawrence

Influences iii

Written by Peter McLaughlin

Bleach is a long running Manga series written and illustrated by Tite Kubo. Bleach follows the adventures of the Japanese teenager Ichigo Kurosaki who obtains the powers of a "Shinigami" (Death God in translation) and has to take on the role's responsibilities. Bleach Manga has been in production since 2001 and has been made into an Anime television series aired in Japan, the U.S.A and streamed over the internet. 3 Movies have been made and put to DVD in Japan and America showing the success of the series.

Getting to the point, the part of this series that may have influenced my addition to the story-line of our thriller may be the "Hollowfication" process. In being a regular reader of this series I have been influenced by the series while approving of certain elements within our film.

The sword in our media video may have also been influenced by my watching of the Bleach series as the sword is seen as part of the character. But the main influence from this series I can find is the "Hollowfication" process, which is a technique a character uses to gain power and the upper hand whilst in battle. This technique involves the character summoning a blank mask, which grants him greater strength, speed, mobility and power. The mask itself contains the characters "Inner demon" or "Hollow", which is an entity that lives inside a person and is their negative persona in the series meaning that they are evil and bent on destruction. The mask harnesses their evil power and the character is able to use it to their advantage, as shown below:

Promotional site

Please view copy and paste the web address into your address bar, www.myspace.com/regent_house this is the promotional site for our video and is aimed to create publicity around the film and word of mouth.

Website created by Peter McLaughlin

Masks: a walkthrough

Publicity

Here is an example of a fan made trailer. This is a prime example of how the internet would be a tool in publicising our thriller to our internet savvy demographic (predominantly male 15-45). The introduction of internet 2.0 has meant fans can actively participate in upcoming films. There are Myspace and Facebook accounts for fans to chat on forums of what they want from the film and and about upcoming news. This was even taken to a whole new level when fans were allowed to totally rewrite 'Snakes on A Plane'. On Youtube and video networks, exclusive photos are taken and put to their favourite tracks to make fan trailers.