1. Evaluation – Molly Crisp
Question 1 – In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products?
My media product falls under the Thriller genre. The conventions of this genre include:
Theme of death; Antagonist is more clever and stronger than the protagonist; The main storyline is a
quest or dangerous character; A mystery must be solved; The film’s narrative is mainly from the
protagonist’s point of view; Realistic and natural characters; A major theme is the desire for justice;
A small theme is the presence of innocence in the dangerous situations; The protagonist and
antagonist will battle physically and mentally; Each character is dragged into a dangerous situation
that they are not prepared to resolve.
My media product uses, develops and challenges many conventions of real media products through
the short period of time. One of the main conventions that it uses and develops is upbeat,
suspenseful music which plays in the background, forming a tense and thrilling mood. This is
similar to the openings to many films such as the girl with the dragon tattoo and se7en.
Other conventions that my media product develops include quick cuts/face paced editing, location is
an urban/sub-urban area. The narrative revolves around investigation and there is a continuous
theme of death, murder and violence. We decided to keep the conventions of thriller form in order
to establish the genre instantly.
Conventions that we have challenged include 'antagonist is cleverer than protagonist'. In the
beginning this convention is developed as the good police man is killed by the murderer. However
this convention is then challenged when the female police officer takes over the case and becomes
smarter than the antagonist. We have also challenged the idea that one of the most important
characters is a male as we have made the leading police office which takes over the case, a woman.
Question 2 – how does your media product represent particular social groups?
My media product represents a range of social groups, particularly focusing on White British adults,
both male and female. Positive stereotypes associated with White-British are that they are clever,
authoritative, middle/upper class and have well paid jobs. This is represented through the use of
mise-en-scene in my media product, for example they are well dressed in smart dark clothing. Dark
colours connotate power and therefore present them as having authoritative jobs. The White-British
characters in my media product are police officers. This is also portrayed in the British film 'A kings
speech' where main character Albert is dressed in a dark coloured suit to show that he has power
and authority as he is royalty.
I have not shown a range of ethnicities as all of the actors in my media product are White-British.
This is due to not having access to actors from other ethnicities. Also, it is suitable for my media
product as White-British are stereotypically seen as wealthy and professional much like the
characters in my film.
Another social group that is represented in my media product is young women. The leading
character of my film is a woman, however in the police conference film she is being supported by
two males which could suggest that she still needs protecting as she is stereotypically the weaker
sex, despite being shown as a strong character through mise-en-scene. She is wearing smart
business clothing which suggests she is an authoritative figure.
The last social group that is represented is White-British young males. This is represented through
the journalist shown interviewing the police officer. Stereotypically, young males are scene to be
irritating and out-going which is represented during this scene as the journalist interrogates and
harasses the policeman. I have also portrayed this character as being stereotypical through us of
mise-en-scene. He is dressed in a hoodie and jeans which is stereotypical of young males, implying
2. they are not concerned about their appearance. Wearing non-smart clothing also suggests he does
not have much money to spend on clothing which is also a stereotype of young people.
Question 3 – what kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
I think that my film could be distributed by Universal as I believe it would be popular world wide as
there is nothing specifically British about it and therefore everybody can relate to it and enjoy it.
Also, being a thriller film, you do not need any specific knowledge to understand or enjoy the film.
It would be widely released, firstly across the UK in all cinemas and then is USA and other
countries, depending on its success. This is because, if the film is unsuccessful in the UK then it
would be not worth distributing it to a wider market as it would be too expensive and not make back
its money.
The film would be released in cinemas first as we have a large budget for marketing and then
eventually be released on the internet and websites such as Netflix. I think that by introducing our
media product through cinemas first would be effective because people enjoy going to the cinema
and therefore believe it will be more successful. It will also make a larger profit this way because
cinema tickets are more expensive than watching it online. Therefore, after the film has made
success it would be released online to websites such as Netflix to further increase its profit.
I would market my film to the correct audience (16-24 year olds) by advertising it on social media
websites such as YouTube, twitter and Facebook. This would guarantee that a large amount of
people in my target audience age category would have access to viewing the trailer/posters for
example.
Question 4 – what would be the audience for your media product?
The audience for my film is targeted at mainly males aged 16-24. During our audience feedback we
discovered that mainly males were interested in thriller films as they enjoyed watching something
that kept them on the edge of their seat rather than a soppy rom-com. Therefore, we have added
tension and fast music to add suspense throughout the opening in order to appeal to this audience.
Although the film is mainly targeted at males it may also be enjoyed by females as there is one of
the main characters in the film who is a strong female figure which may be relatable for them. Our
audience feedback also suggested that teenage girls enjoyed watching thriller films as well as the
majority of people who took the survey were female and the most popular answer was Thriller.
I would make the film a rating 15 as it involves crime/violent scenes and narrative involving solving
a murder which may be too intellectual for somebody younger than 15 to understand. I also think
that it would be suitable to rate it a 15 as we are aiming at mainly 16-24 year olds and therefore we
want this audience to be able to view it. As the film is a 15 this means that the content of the film is
also allowed to be a bit more outrageous, including swearing, sexual references and violence. This
is vital in order to make an interesting, suspenseful and climatic Thriller film which would be
appealing to our target audience.
Other Thriller films such as 'Taken' and ‘Side effects’ have a rating of 15 and I think that my film
fits in this category.
Question 5 – How did you attract/address your audience?
From taking our audience survey we found that teenagers/young adults mostly enjoy the thriller
genre as they find them more exciting than other films.
Although most of those who took the audience survey were female, we decided that the main target
audience would be males as generally males enjoy thriller films as they involve violence and crime
scenes which are more associated with males, based on the stereotype that teenage boys play violent
games and associate with gangs. We have tried to attract audience through the use of mise-en-scene.
The mise-en-scene used for my media product would appeal to the teenage/young adult audience as
the costumes are simple and not old-fashioned as it is set in the 21st century.
We have also used a modern setup/location for the press conference scene. It is located in a High
School building. This is attractive to the target audience as it is relevant to their time therefore they
3. will be able to engage more and put themselves in the situation.
We have also tried to attract our audience through the narrative. The main themes that occur in our
opening are death and crime. This is attractive to our target audience as they love to feel adrenaline
and are generally interested in these types of scenarios.
Question 6 – What have you learnt about the technologies from the process of constructing the
product?
Before starting my media product, I did not have much knowledge on how to use the technology on
an apple mac computer. However, throughout the process I have learnt many things about
technology. The major piece of technology that I have become familiar with is I movie. Within
iMovie I have learnt many skills. I have learnt how to import clips and edit them effectively into a
montage structure in order to make my film more interesting rather than a basic timeline of events.
This montage structure can also be recognised in other films from my genre for example in the
opening to 'se7en' where the clips are jumbled up into a non-chronological order. I have also learnt
how to import music and make the dialogue sound more consistent by detaching the audio and
using a variety of visual clips. I have also used a website called WordPress. Within WordPress, I
have learnt how to set up my own blog and upload files/videos via Slide share during the process of
constructing my media product. SlideShare is the website in which you share and embed your work
before uploading it to the blog and I have learnt how to do so during this process. Lastly, I have
learnt how to use Final Cut. I learnt how to add credits to my final product, pick fonts, add effects
and create titles. All of these techniques helped to make my product seem realistic and professional.
Question 7 – Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the
progression from it to the full product?
Since the preliminary task, I have learnt a variety of skills and ideas as to how to make a much more
effective and smooth flowing media product. I have learnt that planning and preparation before
filming is a necessity. In preparation for my final product, we created several story boards featuring
a time line of events. We also created a shooting schedule and safety risk assesment.
Planning mise-en-scene is vital in order to portray your characters in the correct way for example,
dressing outrageous, careless characters in bright colours or dressing sad and lonely characters in
dull and dark colours. It is also important to plan mise en scene in order to establish authority for
example a highly important character may be dressed in a smart suit whereas a lower class person
may be dressed in casual, messy clothing.
Planning camera shots is also important in order to make a more creative and versatile media
product which will keep your audience entertained and engaged. My preliminary task consisted of
basic camera angles including a close ups and long shots. The only editing technique that was used
was match-on-action. Throughout the process of making my final product, I experimented with
different camera shots including tracking shots, panning shots, close ups, mid-long shots etc. I then
used iMovie to edit the shots into a montage structure which adds excitement, suspense and tension
to my product, making it much more entertaining to watch than my preliminary task. Planning the
shots of my final product before hand made it easier to vary the camera angles and made sure that
we had a clear understanding of what we wanted the final product to look like.
