Evaluation task 3 - Who my thriller would be made by.

In my opinion, I would suggest that vertigo would be the type of company that would fund and make my film. I believe this for many reasons but my main reason is the fact that this would be my first film and vertigo would be more suited to making a low budget film rather than Warner Bros. who would only be interested in making a large scale film for a worldwide audience. The film that my group and I made was not designed to appeal to a worldwide audience but instead to fill a niche that would be appealing to those who appreciate small scale yet exciting thrillers. A film that vertigo have made that would be similar to the genre that myself and the rest of my group chose to portray would be The Business staring Danny Dyer as it is a low budget thriller that has the same sort of plot as my thriller.

The aim for my thriller would be to make more money in the cinemas than after realise. However vertigo would probably make more money outside of the cinema by DVD releases and pay per view on sky as advertising the film at a decent level would be extremely expensive which could cause the company losses on the film. Vertigo targets a specific audience of males, this would suit my thriller extremely well as the main target audience would be younger males rather than females. I think this would be the case as the main character is an attractive young woman and it is more suited to those of the male gender.

Task 2 - how does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our media product represents the social group of the working police. This is very common amongst thrillers and our thriller does conform to the stereotypical representation of the investigating units of the police. We chose to represent them as a swat team, this again is important in the way that it confroms to the stereotype of a thriller as many films of this genre have used swat teams and armed police. However we decided to represent this by giving the lead character of Jenna Smith a confliction to uncover the mystery of the photos for the benefit of society as many of the photos contain picture of the public unaware of the photos being taken. We also tried to challenge the stereotypical female ideal of staying at home looking after the kids and doing the housework. This is due to the fact that Jenna does not have any children or a partner which subverts the typical stereotype of a woman. The main male character however is more of a family man and is less authortitave than Jenna, this again subverts the stereotype as it is usually the other way round.

Task 1 - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Task 1

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cast list

                                                                    Karis Aghiros

                                                                   Richard Hill

                                                                     Niall Green

Account of Shoot Day

How we started

We set about as a group, obtaining our props and putting the set together. The set was made up of wooden walls in the studio, which were covered in plastic bricks to give the impression that we were in an apartment and floor boards which were laid down on the floor. This was different from our original plan as we were going to have a room which was all white with no windows; however it turned out well for us as it gave the impression of a dingy, dirty flat and it also gave us more opportunities for shots that weren’t in the original plan. These extra shots that we created gave us a lot of extra material and helped us to capture a lot more or the action and the story that went hand in hand with our thriller production. Although these extra shots made us drift away from our original plan, it benefited us in the way that we were able to get more done and were able to created more suspense and action. Although the set was located in the studio, we felt as a group that this was far more practical than going out and finding a grotty flat somewhere in the middle of a town/city. Also it gave us the opportunity to create the set how we wanted to. To create the inside of the flat, and make it look as dirty and horrible as possible, we threw toilet paper on the floor and left newspapers scattered around the flat, we also used two tables, a mattress and a light bulb that hung from the ceiling.

Reasons for our Choices

We chose an attractive female character to entice the male audience to pay to watch the film. We also chose her style of clothing to be seductive yet at the same time to be professional and important, which is how we were planning to portray the lead female character. We also made her out to be strong willed and a leader which would appeal to the female audience who would enjoy watching a female in the lead role. We created a lot of tension and suspense around our lead female character which would appeal to both the male and female audience.

Props

In terms of props we used dirty coffee mugs, plates and cutlery to make it seem like the man who lived in the flat was not fussed about personal hygiene. We also had a mattress on the floor, and scattered newspaper and toilet paper around the floor to create the sense of a grotty, dirty flat. We also used handguns, torches and a shotgun to go along with the swat team. In my own opinion I felt that these props were vital to creating the sense of realism about the group of officers. Also hand guns conform to the genre of thriller. Finally the photos along the wall were crucial in portraying the story. We took all of the photos and developed them to make the audience believe that the man who took all of these photos is obsessive over his victims. The costumes that we used felt to us as a group that they were suitable for the swat team and for the lead character. The swat team were all dressed in black boiler suits which we felt were appropriate, and to make Jenna (lead character) seem official and professional we dressed her in a suit and tied her hair back.

Lighting

We used dark dingy lighting in the flat to go along with the feel of the flat being a dirty run down place for someone to live. We also used a pink light coming in from the window to create the feel that this flat was situated in an urbanised area. We felt that the pink light might be coming from a dodgy club opposite, again conforming to the feel that this flat is situated in a dodgy area.

Pre Shoot Day Shot List and Shoot Day Shot List

Pre Shoot Shot List

Outside the Flat

• 1. Mid-shot, shows the officers from the side of the door leaning against it
• 2. Wide shot of them from behind as they break in.
• 3. Mid-wide shot of officers running in.

Inside the Flat (hallway)

• 1. Long shot of the door from the inside, they break it down and rush in and past the camera. Jenna Smith walks in last.
• 2. Low angle shot of Jenna walking into the hallway
• 3. Mid shot taken from side of the door of officers running in.
• 4. Close up of Jenna Smith (dialogue)
• 5. Long shot from the hallway looking in on the open room, with photos in, she walks into shot towards the room.
• 6. Point of view shot of her looking at the open room, gets closer.
• 7. Close up of Jenna Smith’s reaction in the hall way

Inside the Room

• 1. Mid shot from center of the room looking at the door frame as she comes in, she flicks switch.
• 2. Long shot from center of the room looking at the door frame as she comes in, she flicks switch.
• 3. Point of view shot panning across the room.
• 4. Mid shot of the photo developing equipment
• 5. Mid shot of the photo developing equipment, pans across past it towards the photo wall.
• 6. Close up of empty bottles, shoes.
• 7. Wide shot from the wall’s Pov, Jenna walks to wall, guy walks behind her
• 8. Mid shot of the guy walking up behind her from door.
• 9. Mid shot from the side Jenna picking up photos, guy behind her. (dialogue?)
• 10. Over the shoulder shot of Jenna picking up the pile of photos, close up on photos.
• 11. Two shot of Jenna and guy, (dialogue)
• 12. Close up of Jenna flicking through photos
• 13. Close up of Jenna’s reaction (dialogue)

Shoot Day Shot List

• Wide shot take 1 – n/g fell over
• Wide shot take 2 – wrong line
• Wide shot take 3 – good with exception of wrong line and strolling out of shot
• Wide shot take 4 – wrong line & strolling out of shot
• Wide shot take 5 – GOOD
• Wide shot take 6 – GOOD, switch of actors
• Wide shot take 7 - strolling out of shot but good lines in the beginning
• Wide shot take 8 – GOOD, best take so far in terms of lines
• Wide shot take 9 – too quick response with actors but best take

• Mid shot – GOOD

• Zoomed shot of door take 1 – GOOD
• Zoomed shot of door take 2 – GOOD

• Low angle shot take 1 – shoes shown
• Low angle shot take 2 – GOOD

• Shot from side looking out of window take 1 – wrong
• Shot from side looking out of window take 2 – GOOD

• Zoom of gun take 1 – GOOD

• Shot of conversation from behind take 1 - GOOD
• Shot of conversation from behind take 2 – GOOD

• Close up of conversation from behind 1 – GOOD, nice focus but dark
• Close up of conversation from behind 2 – BETTER

• Pan across pictures take 1 – BEST ONE
• Pan across pictures take 2 – opening not great but good
• Pan across pictures take 3 – wrong pictures shown
• Pan across pictures take 4 – GOOD, especially sound in the shot
• Pan across pictures take 5 – jerky + too quick
• Pan across pictures take 6 – GOOD, quicker than others

• Shot showing pictures on table and being picked up 1 – very good
• Shot showing pictures on table and being picked up 2 – OK

• Shot from behind with dialogue take 1 – N/G
• Shot from behind with dialogue take 2 – GOOD
• Shot from behind with dialogue take 3 – GOOD, but late in camera movement
• Shot from behind with dialogue take 4 – N/G, too much headspace & change in position
• Shot from behind with dialogue take 5 – N/G ,late
• Shot from behind with dialogue take 6 – GOOD, but too much headspace
• Shot from behind with dialogue take 7 – BEST ONE

• Tracking Shot take 1 – N/G
• Tracking Shot take 2 –
• Tracking Shot take 3 – OK
• Tracking Shot take 4 – GOOD, little jerky
• Tracking Shot take 5 – GOOD, but jerky
• Tracking Shot take 6 – GOOD
• Tracking Shot take 7 – bad
• Tracking Shot take 8 – bad
• Tracking Shot take 9 – good
• Tracking Shot take 10 – alright
• Tracking Shot take 11 – GOOD
• Tracking Shot take 12 –  bad
• Tracking Shot take 13 – bad
• Tracking Shot take 14 – GOOD
• Tracking Shot take 15 –GOOD, but jerky