Thriller Evaluation

Media Evaluation:

My final media product challenges some forms and conventions of a real thriller product as well as develop them. The thriller does not open with a typical establishing shot, instead it goes straight into the drama with the victim being tied up and also reflects the storyline as being recognisable which can let the audience be immediately taken in by the opening. The camera angles do however develop the forms and conventions with the variety of camera angles and lighting, during filming the lighting did become an issue as it seemed to be too dark, but it became useful as it added to the effect we were going for. Also the use of violence portrayed in the beginning towards the victim has an effect of a dramatic/psycho thriller. That is the reason why our product can be seen as a thriller and a horror movie at the same time, as it shows typical thriller and horror conventions which makes our product somewhat unique.

The representation of particular social groups in the media product has a typical set up where the woman is a ‘victim’ and the male is the ‘killer,’ with the male being perverted towards the helpless woman. This is useful as it can play on the fears of the audience to get them into the story and has the dramatic effect of what they want to see. This is what particular thrillers or horrors do to draw in their target audience.

To get the best results for my film I would want it to go straight to the cinema, this can let more people have the opportunity to see the film and also has a bigger chance to create more of a profit if the distribution is done correctly. That is why I would want well known companies to distribute trailers and posters to draw in my target audience. The companies I have in mine include Lionsgate, Working Title, Universal and MGM as they have distributed many films including, the James Bond series, The Spirit, Crank, The Haunting and 8 Mile. These films have produced many stars that have gone on to become more famous and make other films, these starts include Jason Statham, Sean Connery and Pierce Brosnan.

The target audience would mostly be teenagers and young adults. The cross genre style of thriller and horror would also be useful to attract the target audience who are looking for an interesting film. The reason for the target audience being teenagers is because the protagonist is in the same age group which helps the film to appeal to a niche audience. Also it may appeal to the people who enjoy a film which shows the sadistic side of life seeing the victim being imprisoned and then filmed. The rating would probably be a 15 which backs up the target audience being teenagers and young adults, although I don’t have a specific class range for my film because I think it can also appeal to anyone who would be interested in the film with the thriller and horror aspect. The gender balance of the film is mixed because is starts both a male and female in the movie, so it will show how both of them are going through this experience and hopefully the audience will go through the same experience if they are into the story. The market I have aimed my film at is mainstream, because it would have been more difficult to just make it for a niche market and therefore may have made less money on release so it would have been better to show it to a wider audience to attract more.

To attract and address my audience, I will use advertising techniques that would apply to me when looking at a film, these include trailers which would be put on TV so that everyone would be likely to see it. I would also use the gaming industry such as the Sony Play station 3 and Microsoft Xbox 360, by posting trailers on their home system and dashboard, this will be very useful as the gaming industry includes a lot of young adults and teenagers so would be good to attract them. Also I will use public transport to advertise my production by using posters on buses and transport so they would be seen all of the time. Also I would create a dedicated website specifically for my film showing trailers and release dates, to advertise the website I will use the trailers, posters and billboards to show the site.

The experience of filming has enabled me to learn a lot about the technologies from the process of constructing the product such as using the Final Cut Pro program that is used to modify the film itself. Final Cut Pro made it possible to add match cuts and special effects to the product which can keep the audience engaged in the film. Although at first it was difficult to get the hang of using the program and I also kept forgetting how to do some actions at times, but after a while I was able to use it and do what I needed. The same goes for Soundtrack Pro which is used to add sound effects and music to the product, although it had an easier learning curve the Final Cut and once I got past it, it was a fun process to experiment with all of the different sounds and tones. Also the experience of staring as the main character was fun and I also thought it was a big role and was important. This is because I had to portray the story through the actions I made while I was playing the kidnapper. The internet was used to plan and post the process and the progression of the film and also post the opening itself on the website, through blogging which shows the evidence of the work I did in my group and so that other people would be able to watch the work that we had done.

Looking back at my preliminary task I feel that I have learnt many things in the progression to the full product. Before we started the work on our thriller we made a practise film where we had time to practise with various camera angles and match cuts to help improve our skills with acting and filming. Although we did not use any sound effects in our practise film we did integrate a match cut, which was the main task. The practice film also let us try planning and storyboarding in an efficient way and keep to what we had planned and go through with it. We also brainstormed some ideas such as camera angles and locations for the film, this was a good way to prepare us for what we had to do for the real thriller opening.