1. By Tufayel
Ahmed
EVALUATION QUESTIONS
1,3,4,5 AND 7

2.  T he word convent ion m eans the typ ic a l techniques used by f ilm m ak ers to distin gu is h the genre of the
f ilm . For exam ple, a typ ica l location in a thrille r f ilm would be an isolate d and dark place; this is what is
expected in a thrille r f ilm . Som e other typ ica l conventions are the use of sound, cam erawork and the
characters in a thrille r f ilm . T he typ ic a l sound you would hear in a typ ica l thriller f ilm would be, repetit ive
and suspensef ul m usic, if you look at other thrille r f ilm s you would com e across sim ila r types of m usic.
Another typ ica l conventions is the characters, characters can be typ ica l in m any wa ys; the typ ic a l dam sel
in distress is the vulner ab le lad y that is in danger who is saved by a good look ing m ale hero.
 T he typ ica l conventions we used in our thrille r production were extrem e close ups which is a typ ica l shot
type with in the thriller genre. Extrem e close ups allo ws the audience to f eel how the character m ay be
f eeling at a tim e and place. T he shot typ e expresses em otion of the character f or exam ple in our thriller
f ilm we have an extrem e close of the m ain characters f ace lily when she discovers that her photos are
spread across the table of her school science lab. Sound is another conventio n we used as the wa y we
used it, was in the f orm of a voice over, which was used to m ak e the audience f eel sym path y towards the
character lily. Location is k ey to a thriller as it sets the m ood to the whole f ilm , so during our research
stages of producing our thrille r opening we decided that we should go with a typ ica l convention and locate
our thrille r in an ever yd a y enviro nm ent where people should f eel saf e, so we decided to choose W anstead
High school. Music is another typ ica l convention which we used in order to add suspense to our thrille r; I
went on a f ree copyr ight m usic website which allo we d us to search f or soundtrack s which f lows with our
thrille r opening. W e also used soundtrack s f rom the video editin g sof tware Final Cut pro.
 W e also used one or two m ontage shots which is a f ilm ing technique, m ainly used by Alf red Hitchcock .
Montage shots are a series of short shots which are edited into a sequence in order to abbreviat e tim e
and inf orm ation . Exam ple of the m ontage shot we used is below:
 I believe that m y thriller opening did challenge som e typ ica l conventio ns f or exam ple we portra ye d out
m ain character who is f em ale to be power less and weak , which is a typ ica l stereot yp e which is portra ye d
in thrille rs .
1. IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT
USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND
CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCT?

3.  A production company may be directly responsible for raising the funds for the production of the
film.
 Distribution is the process of bringing a film into the movie market which is made available to watch
for an audience. There is now more competition for distribution companies. The big five
conglomerate companies are 20th century fox, warner bros, Walt Disney, paramount and FOX.
Production Co mpany:
 I believe that my group’s thriller film is unique that’s why I think that the production company for
our thriller film can be 20th century fox because it shares the typical conventions of a thriller but
the overall theme is different. 20th century fox have produced films such as ‘Taken’, ‘Transporter 2’
and ‘Hitman’. Taken shares some typical conventions which relate to our thriller production for
example the main character ‘Kim’ who was played by Maggie grace, who in the film was taken by
Algerian woman traffickers. The emotions that are portrayed in the film play a key role to why I
believe this particular film has a direct relation to my thriller production, as most emotion are
distress, confusion and a sense of powerlessness towards the antagonists. After my thriller film
‘The Photographer’ leaves the cinema screens, I would take the film to distributing companies in
England, for example UK’s number one entertainment company Blockbuster, as they allow consumers
to buy or even rent films of their choosing meaning my thriller film could make a respectable profit
from premier openings right towards the end of the life span of my thriller film, also blockbuster has
a great relationship with our target audience which is 16 -24 year olds, this will help as wider
audience could be introduced to the thriller film. To make sure I keep up with modern times of
technology I would use synergy to distribute my thriller film in Blu -ray in order to provide the best
viewing experience to my audience, during the process of getting ‘The Photographer’ on to the
shelves of Blockbuster we would also use online web 2.0 to distribute our film online, using Netflix,
Love film and Amazon prime, this will hopefully gather a wider audience around the world.
3. WHAT KIND OF MEDIA INSTITUTION MIGHT
DISTRIBUTE YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT?

4.  The target audience is very important this is a priority; a target
audience could be for example adults. The target audience needs
to be decided before post production and pre-production. So our
primary audience is 16-24 year olds, as the character is also a
young this would be a good range for our audience, then we
decided to choose our secondary audience would be aimed at
people older for example 25-30 but this may be the stages when
it’s on DVD as it allows us to distribute the thriller production at
a larger scale. Our thriller is based on a school girl who is being
hunted mentally by a school teacher so this storyline can exert
influence on the older individuals as nowadays it’s kind of
become something that we hear of in the news for example there
was an article on a newspaper which stated that a known
paedophile went undetected when applying for a job at a school,
so this could be an influence to why an older audience might be
drawn to this thriller film. A secondary audience is vital because
it can act as a backup plan in case of an issue with the original
audience.
4. WHO WOULD BE THE AUDIENCE FOR YOUR
MEDIA PRODUCT?

5.  To attract our audience we made sure that our opening was very
entertaining but at the same time something dark and atmospheric. We
attracted our audience by simply making a film about something which the
audience have all experienced so we decided to locate it in a school, but
then we decided to switch it up by suggesting that there is a predator
within the school who is taking images of female students. This will attract
the audience as I would hope that everyone in UK has had the privilege to
attend a school, so this which will add to the suspense and feeling they
would receive from watching the thriller production.
 My group wanted the thriller film opening to relate to the audience by
addressing what would make people feel uncomfortable the most, so we
decided to choose an Idea that people would be speaking of or going to
nearly every day of their life, so with that in mind we decided a secondary
school would be the best place to locate our thriller opening, as this would
concern parents which opens our thriller opening to a wider target
audience and also with the main character who is portrayed as a young
student, who would attract the audience as the target audience for our
thriller film opening is 16-24 year olds so having this young, powerless girl
which goes with all stereotypes illustrated by most thrillers would help
attract our audience.
5. HOW DID YOU ATTRACT/ ADDRESS YOUR
AUDIENCE?

6.  In the preliminary task we were told to complete a short clip in groups that we were
able to pick on our own but to keep in mind that this group would be the group that
we start our actual thriller production project with, so for me this was a really
exciting task as I enjoy producing a piece of work that I can call mine. Our teacher
gave us the opportunity to choose our own scenario providing we use the shot types
which we practised earlier. (The shots we needed to include have been explained in
a previous blog post.) The group and I came to conclusion after many different
ideas to base the preliminary on a student getting bullied while in school. During
the preliminary task I was responsible for directing the prelim as well as playing
the character getting bullied.
 Looking back at the preliminary task I learnt about the 180 degree rule, which was
not clear to me at first after filming some shots I found why the rule was important.
I have learnt different ways of experimenting with different shots and finding ways
to enhance the shots making it more innovative. I have learnt how to work in a
team effectively to accomplish your goal. We all had different tasks to do, we all
did them and we were successful in finishing our thriller. As a group I think we have
learnt to share ideas and work well as a group. I have also learnt useful editing
techniques which I made sure to use in our thriller opening for example while I was
editing I included a montage shot which helped add to the atmosphere of the
thriller production .
7. LOOKING BACK AT YOUR PRELIMINARY TASK, WHAT DO YOU FEEL
YOU HAVE LEARNT IN THE PROGRESSION FROM IT TO THE FULL
PRODUCT?