Jess' Evaluation - Question 2

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

In our thriller sequence 'Omniscient', we only represent one social group as there are only 2 characters presented in our sequence, both of the same social group. The two characters displayed are white males around the age of 17. Due to their clothing and props (car and iPhones) they are conveyed to look like middle class. We used a stereotypical male protagonist in our thriller, as males are often associated as being the killers.

• Jake, is the antagonist. He is wearing a long, beige coat with a bucket hat on. This is a modern representation of a young, teenage boy and his age could create empathy from the audience, especially from males due to the story line of his brother being abducted. For some people, this could be a negative thing that we have stuck to the stereotypical male stereotype because having a women protagonist could have been an interesting change. However, we have oppose the stereotype in the sense that the protagonist (Josh) is still very young, something that isn't seen very frequently in thrillers - although you can't see the protagonist's face due to restricted narration therefore he could be interpreted as an older age range 
  

Jess' Evaluation - Question 3

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

Omniscient is a low budget UK thriller, in our role as an independent British Film production company. The term distribution means to deliver a product from the producer to the consumer. There are three stages involved in the process of distribution. These are:

• Film production - making the film
• Film distribution - the place the audience watch the film (traditionally the cinema but increasingly becoming more options)
• Film exhibition - securing the placement of the film on an exhibitor's screen and for home viewing. 

• Films used to be exhibited in the cinema, on the TV and video, however now they are exhibited on YouTube, Netflix, lovefilm.com, which are all accessible on mobile platforms/tablets, and also on hardware platforms such as Xbox and PlayStation.

• As our film is a low budget one, our aim isn't too compete with the big thriller films already out there. Our goal isn't to distribute our film to cinemas along with the highly profitable films available in the cinema, instead our film would be more suited to home viewing. The most efficient way of distributing this would be via the internet. This way, we could potentially reach a mass audience and gain profit and a name for the company if it's a success, but without spending too much. The best website to upload this to would be YouTube, as it is a highly successful and popular website (3rd most popular) and it has many videos similar to this already on there. With so many people using YouTube, and with it being accessible on mostly every platform, it is possible that our thriller sequence could be viewed by millions of people. For example, Nick Lawrence released his 93 minute comedy film 'Time Expired' in late 2011. Since then, the film has been viewed almost 700,000 times, with 2,0003,000 people watching it everyday. This has resulted in them earning $3400 in ad revenue in the last year.

• It would be possible to earn a profit through merchandise. Such as t-shirts, jumpers, mugs, stationary, ect. Also, giving out free DVD copies to your target audience is a big risk however if the film is a success then it will gain popularity and you will receive the money back. If the film gets a lot of views, then YouTube will pay you in return for them being able to advertise on your videos. The more click through an advert gets means that you receive more money. This then enables you to post your video on social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, ect, to gain popularity that way. YouTube, and social networking sites have a mass audience ranging from males and females of all different age groups, therefore it will suit our target audience of 15-24.  

Jess' Evaluation - Question 4

4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

• After researching, I discovered that male dominated films mostly attract males, however they attract females a lot to. Therefore the audience for our thriller task 'Omniscient' is male and females, 15-24. The Pearl & Dean website tells me that our target audience also enjoy films such as Shutter Island, which is also male dominated and involved iconography such as guns which naturally attract males due to their love of action.

• The costumes are very similar between 'Shutter Island' and 'Omniscient', which could be another reason why they attract the same target audience, along with other elements of mise en scene such as props (gun). The clothing is very smart, something a detective would wear which creates spectator positioning which could be what attracts the target audience.

• An age range younger than 16 for our target audience wouldn't be suitable due to the weapons and hints of violence displayed in the sequence. Also, an older target audience wouldn't be appropriate as they may not be able to relate to the young characters.

Jess' Evaluation - Question 5

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

• Our target audience for 'Omniscient' is 15-25 year olds, male or female. Due to the characters being male, it is possible that our thriller sequence could attract males more than females. Also, due to the storyline of the antagonist's brother being abducted, males (especially brothers) could empathise with the characters, making the experience of watching more enjoyable and intense for the spectator. As our target audience is of a younger age range, we used young actors to star in our film to make it more attractive to the audience as they could relate to them.

• The audience of our film would be familiar to the iconography used, such as guns and the stereotypical male protagonist. The protagonist being male and the fitting the stereotype would attract the audience targeted, especially males as would the violence hinted in the film, as stereotypically, men like to watch violent films. However, due to the violence, the certification of Omniscient is a 15. 

 

• We also used mise en scene to attract our youth audience. We did this with various props, one being an iPhone. Nowadays, teenagers and young adults lives are being taken over by technology such as iPhones and almost every young person has one, therefore by using this in our sequence our audience can relate. Also, the car. This would be especially appealing to a male demographic as cars are a common interest of teenage boys. We also used mise en scene to appeal to a youth demographic by the choice in clothing. The characters were wearing hats, which the style in particular are commonly worn by younger people. 

Jess' Evaluation - Question 6

6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

I have learnt a lot more about technologies from the process of constructing this product. Although we learnt the basics on how to use a digital camera for the preliminary task, I feel that I was still very clueless on how to use one and the techniques that accompany it. I hadn't had much experience in operating a camera before, therefore after constructing the thriller sequence my confidence has massively increased.

• I have learnt that when using digital camera to film, in order for it to be successful you need to 'make a sandwich'. This means  that you leave excess footage on the beginning and end of your recording in order to edit and trim them at the end. This gives you more footage to experiment with and doesn't leave any risk of not having enough footage.

• I have also learnt to use the white balance, which is something that I learnt before the preliminary task however only incorporated it into our filming for the main thriller task. This needs to be done so that the colours are presented correctly, and not yellow - which is what happens if the white balance is not set.  

• Due to some shots in our preliminary task being hand-held, resulting in the camera wobbling slightly, we used a tripod through-out the sequence which looked a lot more professional, especially when filming a tracking shot, or a pan shot. A tripod enables the camera work to look stable and the quality wouldn't have been as good without it. 



• The use of framing was highly effecting in our main task 'Omniscient' because our use of composition is a lot more advanced than it was in the preliminary task. We discussed how various shots should be composed in the frame and what effect this would have on the audience, which is something we didn't think about when filming the preliminary task. In 'Omniscient', it was obvious which parts in the frame were significant to the story as a whole through the use of composition and framing, whereas in the preliminary task composition wasn't an important thing on our minds when filming. This meant that it wasn't clear which part of the filming to focus on and that the didn't link well together, however in the main task parts of the frame were outlined through composition and shallow depth of field.

• In regards to editing, we expanded our knowledge and expertise in it by advancing from basic cut transitions to fades, and dissolves. This has a much greater effect on the sequence as a whole and on the spectator as the transitions could signify something that would cause spectator positioning. For example, a fade to black could signify death. I found that editing was very time consuming as I didn't realize the full extent of the time that goes into it in order to make sure that it is a success, and also how difficult it is to get the filming and asynchronous sound to fit together as we didn't do post-production editing for our preliminary task.  

• Also, I have learnt about titling from the process of constructing this product. The title 'Omniscient' dissolves in therefore it has a very transparent effect when it first appears, which gradually becomes bolder and more visual. The font is spaced out, and the background picture is of trees from the forest, taken from a very low angle. The background image then fades to black, and the font then changes to white. This adds an element of quality to the sequence as a whole as titling in highly important in the post-product process.

Jess' Evaluation - Question 1

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

• Our thriller sequence 'Omniscient' uses various elements to develop and challenge forms and conventions of real media products through the technical codes; mise en scene, sound, editing, and camera work. We also thought about iconography - such as the gun, restricted narration, binary oppositions, ect. The main aim we had when producing our thriller sequence was for elements in the story to remain unknown, creating irony as the title is 'Omniscient'. We met our aim by using restricted narration,  keeping the character on the other side of the phone call a secret, and through the use of shared context between the characters as the spectator doesn't know the background story of who the person on the phone has taken, and why.  

This is the gun used by the protagonist in our thriller sequence. It is iconography used frequently in many thrillers as it creates enigma. It also gains an immediate reaction from the audience as so familiar to them from it's stereotypical use in various thriller film. However, we tried to challenge conventions of real media products by using a sound bridge of the gun shot, rather then the spectator seeing the gun being shot and whose shooting it.



This shot was inspired by 'Zodiac', because it created such an intense scene full of enigma. However, we challenged this by having the end of the rifle pointed towards the camera, so that it was closer in the frame giving the sense that its pointed at the spectator, whereas in the screen grab from 'Zodiac', the gun is further away meaning there's less of it in the frame.

• Similarly to the thriller 'Zodiac', our thriller sequence also had a scene of a POV shot from inside a car window driving past houses. This creates enigma for the spectator as you can't see who is in the car (restricted narration) and whether they're an antagonist/protagonist. However, the lighting at this scene in 'Zodiac' is very dark and mysterious which is suitable iconography for a thriller; whereas in our thriller sequence the lighting is dull and faded as opposed to dark - which adds mystery.

• Enigma is created through other technical codes such as sound. We used a non-diegetic soundtrack to accompany the sequence which started slow in pace and accelerated as it builds up as the sequence begins; creating suspense, unlike other thrillers I researched such as Seven. In the thriller Seven, the non-diegetic use of music is very creepy and intense. We also used a sound bridge when the male character, the antagonist, gets an unknown phone call. By using the sound bridge , enigma is created because the spectator isn't aware of who is on the other side of the phone call.

• Enigma is also portrayed through the introduction of the protagonist. The identity of the protagonist isn't fully known, due to the lighting. This creates spectator positioning because it causes the spectator to wonder who the character is, what their purpose is and whether their the antagonist or protagonist. However, we used mise en scene and iconography for a thriller to hint to the audience that the character is the protagonist. The spectator can see that he is male - male protagonist's are highly popular amongst thriller films therefore it fits the stereotype. The setting is very dark, with minimal colour and the lighting is being presented from a low angle on to the bottom of the protagonists face in order for the outline of his face to be visible - conveying a mysterious, eerie atmosphere. Also, the protagonist is smoking which is iconography often associated with protagonists in the thriller genre.  

• Restricted narration is used in our main task, something used in many thriller films. We used this to mask the true identity of the protagonist in order to create enigma and spectator positioning. The screen grabs below show how we used restricted narration, and how it was used in 'The Usual Suspects'. We used the rifle (prop) to hide the face of the protagonist whereas in 'The Usual Suspect' they used composition, only showing the bottom half of the character in the frame. 

• I researched the thriller opening to 'Silence of the Lambs' which has a similar setting as Omniscient - a forest. The scene in our thriller sequence where the antagonist is running in the forest through the trees is fairly similar to a scene in 'Silence of the Lambs'. I felt that this scene is full of suspense and leaves the spectator drawn to the scene, therefore wanted to incorporate it in our thriller. 

Jess' Evaluation - Question 7

7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learned in the progression from it to the full product?

We have progressed a lot since the preliminary task, and this shows in our main task. We have developed a lot with our use of technical skills:

• We didn't set the white balance in our preliminary task however in our main thriller task we did which made a huge impact to the quality of the sequence. As you can see from the screen grabs, the second one taken from the main task is a lot clearer and therefore more advanced. The white balance is highly important because it enhances the colors, making it look more appealing to the audience. Without the white balance, the quality of the sequence is poor and has a blue/yellow tint instead of it being white. Also, it could potentially ruin a picture as it adds unwanted colour casts and causes skin tones to look very unnatural. 

• We incorporated titling into our main task which is a progression from the preliminary task because it's highly important in the film industry to use titles as it displays the production company. The appearance of our titling is suitable for a thriller as it appears on a black screen, and black is an ideal color and iconography to appear in thrillers. However, the black screen cuts to a background imagine of a POV shot from inside a car, watching everything go past from the car window.

• In terms of sound, there has been a massive progression from the preliminary task to the main task. In the preliminary, we relied on background sound without any form of non-diegetic sound; only dialogue which was recorded at the time of filming. This worked poorly as there was a constant noise in the background which took attention away from the filming. In the main task, we used a soundtrack fitting to the thriller sequence, and it worked really well as it starts with a slow pace and sounds fairly peaceful yet suspenseful. The dialogue is a lot clearer and effective in the main task than the preliminary as it was recorded separating to the filming and added in post-production, therefore there is no background sound like with the preliminary task. We also experienced with foley sounds in the main task such as the diegetic sound of the phones ringtone, and the gun shot. This increases the sound to add effect; which we didn't use in the preliminary task. This shows that our knowledge and confidence in experiencing with different elements such as editing and sound has increased since the preliminary task. 

• Our preliminary task lacked a lot of editing techniques. We did no editing in post-production, only the use of cuts when putting the shots together. Although we incorporated continuity editing in the preliminary task, they were very basic. However, now our skills have advanced and the use of shot reverse shot, match on action and other continuity techniques used in our main task flow a lot better as a sequence. We also experimented with other editing techniques such as a sound bridge. We incorporated this into our thriller sequence when the antagonist receives a phone call, in order to create enigma.

• Also, in our preliminary task the camera work was very basic and in many scenes, the camera isn't steady as they were hand-held shots. This massively reduces the quality of the sequence as when you're watching, the camera shakes, resulting in the spectator losing concentration. However, in our main task the camera is very still therefore the shots flow together very well and give an effective performance. In the main task there is a lot more variety of shot sizes and angles to create a more successful and interesting thriller whereas in the preliminary task there were only a couple of CU's, a ELS and every other shot was mostly MS. Aswell as shot sizes, we expanded our use of camera movements such a panning shots (as shown with the car in the screen grabs) and camera angles (as shown in the screen grabs - high angle, eye level). 

• When planning for the preliminary task, we were highly unprepared in terms of costume, location and lighting. When filming the preliminary, we were unorganized therefore we wore our normal, everyday clothes and didn't think about how other costumes would help construct the story line, or conventions of a thriller. However, in our main task we thought more deeply about the characters role and purpose in the sequence, therefore we chose appropriate clothes which we thought would suit an antagonist/protagonist. For example, a long beige coat and a smart hat says a lot more about a character than jeans and a jumper. It allows you to make assumptions about the characters occupation, social class, ect.

• In terms of location, we were very restricted as to where we could film on the preliminary task as it had to be on college grounds, therefore the main task was immediately better in the sense that we could venture out and choose a location to film our thriller sequence in as long as we had permission for the premises. This enabled us to be creative and experiment with locations, and in the end we chose a stereotypical location, a popular setting for many thrillers - a forest. This setting worked extremely well as it is very open and free therefore the scene with the car driving along the hill worked extremely well. The scene where the antagonist is running also worked well in this particular location as it has many trees to hide behind and run to. This creates enigma and suspense for the spectator as they're unaware who the antagonist is running from, especially with the non-diegetic music accompanying it. When filming our preliminary task were very unprepared as we weren't able to use our original location due to a class being taught in there, therefore we overcame this by choosing a different room to film in which would have a different effect than the original room, as that was more dark with various lighting.

• With the lighting, in the preliminary task we relied on the light from the ceiling in the small room that we filmed in, adding no additional light for effect and to increase the quality of the film. However, for our main task we experienced with lighting a lot more and increased our knowledge and techniques on how to use lighting. This improved our main task a lot as we were able to achieve different lighting to match different scenes, whereas in our preliminary task we used the same amount of lighting through-out. This is shown in the first scene which is the introduction of the protagonist, where natural dark lighting is used with staged lighting to help the outline of his face to show. For a majority of the main task, we used natural lighting as it is filmed outside, and we discussed which time of the day would be the most efficient to film in regards to lighting. 

• We also incorporated the continuity editing technique parallel cutting in Omniscient, whereas in our preliminary task all scenes were shot in one place, in one situation. This shows that events are happening simultaneously and creates engima and suspense.