Final Evaluation

Media Evaluation

My media product is the opening sequence to a film of the thriller genre. My group and I decided to take the conventions of existing thrillers such as David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive and Joel Coen’s Fargo, and use them to create an original, inventive idea of our own.

Both the opening sequences to Fargo and Mulholland Drive have strong themes of ambiguity within them, and this is something I wanted to be present in my opening sequence, as it is a theme behind many thrillers. It poses questions and draws in audience interest, like in the clip below from the opening of Mulholland Drive. The dancing on the plain purple background (pictured) is unusual, and holds no real narrative. It makes the audience question what is occurring. I decided to take the idea of posing a question, and use it with darkness, to give the hooded, walking character a sense of ambiguity. The opening of Fargo does the same, as it is plain, basic, and poses many questions regarding what is happening. Therefore my product uses already typical conventions of the thriller genre, and develops them rather than challenges them, to create a darker sense of ambiguity.

Because it is only the opening sequence of the film, and one of the main themes behind it was ambiguity, my clip does not aim to present or represent any sort of social class or social groups. This means that the character seen in the clip could be of any social class, which also helps to create a host of storylines that could be continued from this clip. It also helps to immediately draw in a wider target audience, as many different people from different social classes and groups. However, it is evident that the character is male, and that they are of a youngish age, as he is very brisk in the manner he walks. The clothing he wears, plain black, with a hooded top, also carry the connotations that the character could be a teenager or young adult, as 'hoodies' have become associated with this age group. Hooded tops have also become associated with thug culture, and this carries the connotations that this could be a thugish, unwanted, perhaps even villanous character. The below picture demonstrates the way in which the hooded top could give off these impressions.

The kind of institution that would distribute my company would be WarpX. This because WarpX works to harness low budget technologies and methods to distribute small films all over the world. This would work well with my film because I am not well known in the film industry, and WarpX look to aid new and exciting prospects such as film writers and directors, and also because my film could be filmed on a low budget, perhaps even lower than their typical £400,000-£800,000 budgets. It would also be a good company to aid me in my distribution process, as they are based locally, with offices in my hometown of Nottingham, and work with EM Media, who are based in my region of the East Midlands.

The certificate for my film would most probably be a 15, as some of the ideas that I have to continue on from the opening sequence are quite gorey and scary. Therefore, my film would target an audience aged 15 and upwards, but more specifically to around late 2o's, as the thriller genre has, over recent years, become increasingly popular with this age group. It has become even more popular with the men in this age group, so I therefore believe that they would be the sex more likely to enjoy it, even thought women could as well. This is because, stereotypically, men like fast paced action films, which could compose part of my film, but also like gorey, disguisting types of films such as 'Saw'. An example of two people, male and female, from this age group, were Hannah and Jordan from my media class, and I decided to get feedback from them.

I planned to attract this target audience through ambiguity, and a scary soundtrack, and perhaps weird camera shots. This is because I wanted the idea of the film being scary and weird to be put across almost immediately, and for it to also force the audience to ask questions about it, making them want to watch the rest of the film.

Hannah and Jordan both watched it, and said that they enjoyed the film. Hanah said 'I found the music went well with the interesting combination of video shots. It really gave it an eerie and creepy feel.' Jordan said 'I thought it was interesting, but also left a lot of questions on my mind such as "Who is the man walking?" and "Why is he walking?". That would definitely draw me in and leave me wanting to continue watching the film.'

I was very happy with this audience feedback as I felt it achieved my aims in attracting the audience to the film. This is demonstrated as the questions show there was a sense of ambiguity, and the audience found it creepy and eeire, something I was aiming to achieve.

Throughout the project, I have used a series of new software programmes, and also a video camera. Before the project, I was not very good at using video cameras, but now, I feel confident in using them. I know how to record, zoom, and also adjust colour, brightness, and other things. I also learned how to sort the white balance, which makes the colour as normal as possible. I also found new and different ways to use reason, a programme I was not previously too familiar with. This could help me in the future, for example perhaps in A2 Media projects, or in later life depending on the career path I decide to undertake. I also became more accomplished in using Adobe Premier Pro. I now understand how to use it in a variety of ways, and also how to add effects such as fades, dissolves, and adding titles, to make my film seem more authentic.

Looking back on the Preliminary task, I have learnt many lessons. I now realise that it is not just the visual, but also the audio contributions of the film that are key and essential, especially in making an ambiguous opening sequence to fit the thriller genre. The sound must be smooth, and sound layering such as effects over natural ambience can create the perfect sound you want. I also learnt that picking who I work with is essential, as the conflicts I encountered in my preliminary group hindered our progress heavily.