1. „Disturbance Of The Un-Woken‟
AS Media Studies
Amber Gamble

2. The sub-genre in which our group
decided to work was the
psychological thriller. Research The illusionist
into the thriller genre and more incorporates the typical
specifically psychological thrillers white on black effect
meant that an understanding of common in the
the typical codes and conventions psychological
which are commonly evident genre, possessing a range
could be drawn upon. Ways in of semiotics (mentioned
which these conventions were on the following slide)
used can be seen throughout the which are effective in
opening, some clearly proving creating a mystifying
more effective than others. feeling. The chosen font
Personally I believed our title again aids to intend
sequence to be most successful; meaning.
it‟s slow pace, similar to that of
other psychological thriller films,
for example The Illusionist, Neil
Burger, 2006, works well in
building suspense and slowly
luring the audience into the
narrative.

3. Conscious choice was made during the
creation of our titles where colours and
fonts are concerned; we incorporated a
dark and sinister background against
simple white text, also common during
Our titles which
real media psychological thrillers. Black
evidently display
being symbolic of mystery and
the theme of
evil, white symbolic of innocence and
font mentioned
to the right. insolence, in addition the style of the
font was again typical of our chosen
sub-genre, rather than using block solid
font the smooth and twisted edges
incorporated in our font aid in mirroring
the protagonist and antagonist in our
sequence. The simple titles also allowed
the audience to concentrate solely on the
non-digetic music which usually
accompanies titles, particularly
mysterious music fitting in with the sub-
genre. The music used helped to set the
mood for the film and create an
unsettling feeling amongst the
audience, which after numerous
feedback from our target audience it was
Audience feedback from
established that the layering of a child
the facebook group which
singing a nursery rhyme onto the
we created.
soundtrack was successful in creating
this feeling.

4. Specific camera angles used for the shots inside
the house; high and low angle work effectively
in the audience‟s identification of the
protagonist and antagonist from an inferior and
superior point of view created. However we
then challenged this convention within the
second last shot whereby a high angle shot was
used of the protagonist (inferior character). In
spite of this I believe this angle helped to
portray her vulnerability well.
Here is the shot
We edited sound effectively whereby for the whereby we
introduction of the antagonist, harrowing and challenged real
daunting music is introduced at this point media
juxtaposing the softer music which the conventions.
audience was previously subjected to, thus the
audience can easily determine the good
character from the bad.
Additionally location (woods) proved extremely
typical of the psychological sub-genre, or
somewhat cliché, yet helpful by the fact that the
natural lighting within the woods worked well
in creating a mystifying feel, moreover the
woods offered a sheltered location which
worked well in portraying the protagonists
enclosed feeling.

5. Our media product presents
Our intended portrayal of It is apparent; mainly through use of
both characters in a
the female character was a camera that gender has been
stereotypical way. The male
disturbed young girl, clearly represented in a stereotypical
character portrayed as „The
distressed from her father‟s way, male dominance over female.
alcoholic father‟ through
actions towards her. The For example high and low angles
his aggressive mannerisms
costume in which we chose show superiority and inferiority.
emphasised through
was typical “emo” style Editing of sound as mentioned
costume choice, white dirty
dress, bright red lipstick portray the male character in a
vest and light jeans, iconic
and red short boyish hair to negative way. The on screen time of
of the working class.
put across her troubled, the protagonist exceeds that of the
Camera angles, mainly low
twisted and abused nature antagonist cementing her
angles emphasising
in the most effective way. importance within the film. The
dominance and finally
However it was evident from representations and intended
props included show a half
feedback that our peers and portrayals of each character are
empty whisky bottle
teacher did not agree that symbolic of a broken working class
cementing his alcoholism
our portrayal of the young family, the male figure has turned to
and iconic of an alcoholic.
girl was put across in the alcoholism leaving the child
best way, many believed disturbed and troubled.
she was supposed to be a
little girl, which raises
issues of additional aspects
of mise-en-scene that
should have been included.
For example some bruises,
in order to show how she
has been previously abused.

6. Limitations with actors/actresses, locations,
equipment and professional skills contribute to
the lack of professionalism of our final product
thus proving unsuccessful should it be used
within a major Hollywood studio within the film
industry. Although if producers were to take the
plot and ideas used in our product, it could
prove successful for the use within a smaller
film industry, in specific, FILM 4, a company who
are responsible for backing a large number of
films made in the UK and have produced and
distributed films like Better Things, Duane
Hopkins, 2008 that follows the same style and
ideas as our product.
Our product takes into consideration the thriller
conventions and in addition, a fairly original
idea therefore avoiding copyright.
Our product, as well as being suitable for FILM
4, could also be distributed as in internet
release again by the producers of channel 4 and
broadcast on their website, for it helps
emphasise the troubles children face from
alcoholic parents and broken relationships,
which is good for government awareness in
helping to discourage alcoholism and promote
citizens to donate to charities such as child line.

7. After extensive research on the BBFC and feedback from
questionnaires we came to the conclusion that our
thriller should target 15+, the feedback from our target
audience was that the majority preferred the
psychological sub genre, hence our decision. (See blog
post 16/12/08- results from audience research
questionnaire).
The older generation would probably find our thriller
unrealistic due to the differences in society today in
comparison to when they were younger. For example, a
rise in alcoholism.
Similar openings to ours include The Sixth Sense, M.
Night Shyamalan, 1999 and The Village, M. Night
Shyamalan, 2004 (see direct comparisons on next slide)
which as mentioned during a previous question both
take the approach of a slow pace in order to build
suspense. Both of these films fit into the
psychological/horror sub genre, similarly to our media
product and again both have a targeted audience of
15+. Due to the feeling of intrigue which our peers
commented on after viewing, it suggests our narrative
to be one of a complex nature, again likewise to The
Sixth Sense, M. Night Shyamalan, 1999 and The Village,
M. Night Shyamalan, 2004. (See blog post 23/04/09-
Final grading/feedback).
http://ambergamble.blogspot.com/2009/04/final-
gradingfreedback.html

8. The Village, M Night
Shyamalan, 2004.
The psychological thriller takes
the opposite approach to that
of an action thriller which
jumps straight into the action
rather than adding in numerous
shots in which add to building
suspense.
Both my thriller product and
real media incorporate the
common black on white text
effect in which the focus can
then solely be on the music
accompanied with titles.

9. Attracting our audience was done
Our camera work proved effective during the shots inside the
in numerous ways. Firstly our title
house, the low angles and two shots used, helped to show the
sequence, the slow pace and clever
males dominance, perhaps causing discomfort amongst a
soundtrack choice lures the
young child viewing (reason for 15+ rating) but the age in
audience in, the inclusion of one of
which we have targeted will most likely feel pity and sympathy
our actors singing “twinkle twinkle
for the young girl, which was our intended effect, and therefore
little star”- a child nursery rhyme
beneficial. Furthermore the POV shot of the father with the girl
proved particularly successful, yet
positioned below again emphasises his dominance, this shot
it became apparent it would have
also works well as it displays the make-up used under his eye
worked better had we held it for
creating a bruised tired look portraying him in a terrifying light.
longer.
Dialogue at the beginning of
Through panning and tracking of the main character (young
the piece is particularly
girl) it allows the audience to engage with her feelings of terror
important as it hints at the
and be wilderness. The engagement which we have included
child being abused “don‟t
was a main positive which we received from our peers and
worry teddy, no one will ever
teacher showing how our camera skills whilst following a
hurt us” this line entices the
character worked particularly well. By engagement with the
audience; they are left
character any parents who have a broken relationship with their
wanting to know more, who is
child can relate to the situation and view the feelings of the
hurting her? Or is she just
child, perhaps empathising more and consequently leading
playing a game?
them to take their child‟s view into consideration.

10. Researching helped to gain knowledge into the typical codes and
conventions used within thriller films and how they have been
constructed. (See blog posts from 03/11/08 to 04/11/08).
Storyboarding aided in the creation of the opening and the realisation
that 2 minutes worth of footage requires a lot of shots, the storyboard
also helped to break down the variety of camera angles that need to
be used to create intended meaning. (See blog post 27/11/08- Ideas
for thriller opening) to view parts of the storyboard.
Although the storyboard broke down the amount of shots that were
needed our group deviated considerably during the editing stages so
it could be felt that the story board was a waste of time. However it
was helpful during filming as it provided a plan and not just randomly
filming anything.
Sections of
The anamatic was good practice and an insight into different effects
and applications within the programme premier. After group viewing
the
of all of the anamatics ours proved a good way to aid understanding
as to how the sequence would flow, (for detailed evaluation see blog
storyboard.
post 05/01/09- Evaluation of thriller anamatic). I felt it particularly
useful as it gave me an understanding as to how lengthy the editing
process is.
Looking back at the standard of filming and editing from the
preliminary task to the final product huge improvements are evident
particularly editing. (See blog post 25/11/08 for full evaluation of
preliminary task). Our editing was a lot smoother, in specific 5
seconds into our continuity task evidently shows a lack in continuity
through our jumpy cuts consequently detracting from any realism
within the narrative, this has significantly improved and can be seen
when looking at our final product in particularly (56 seconds to when
the girls leaves the house) editing here is smooth and aids the flow of
the narrative. Also there is a great difference in the variety of shots
and positioning of characters in order to display meaning. Use of
sound has improved, match on action significantly and it is evident to
see that confidence has been gained in the use of software such as
premier and Photoshop through transitions which have been
incorporated and also when compared the general overall standard.
Consequently I now feel confident with easy navigation on the video
camera and its settings as well as the upload steps showing that the
practice and preliminary tasks proved helpful.

11. During the creation of our media product, I learnt how to edit film, adding in transitions, editing sound in
order to match on screen action with the use of premier pro. This programme also enabled me to create
titles in which would attract our target audience, as mentioned throughout previous question the style of
font in which I chose took conscious decision and different applications within premier pro allowed me
create the perfect titles. Whilst doing so I learnt some very interesting and important skills, all of which
contributed to the overall intended effect of the product.
I was also able to darken the lighting of each shot allowing a sinister and darkened atmosphere to be
portrayed, much like how The Village, M. Night Shyamalan grabbed the essence of horror/psychological by
using a lot of dark footage. Whilst editing 'The Disturbance Of The Un-Woken' I also learnt how to edit
soundtracks with the footage, in order to create impacting and sinister feeling.
Also Photoshop enabled me to create a logo for the hypothetical production company included within the
title sequence.
Overall I feel that I have learnt a variety of different skills whilst producing this media product for
example, planning-costumes, storyboards, props, sets; editing footage, sound and also text, additionally
organizational skills and the different processes associated with creating a producing a piece of film and
exactly the lengthy progress in which this entails.
If I was to do this task again I believe I would benefit greatly in some classes on the more advanced uses of
premier in order to finish with a more effective and professional product, as editing proved a huge part of
technical aspect which I and we as a group clearly lacked, evident in our final grade.