Note To Examiner...

Below, you will see the final edit of our thriller opening 'Jealousy' which all four of us in my group (Myself, Jasmine, Hannah & Caitlin) have worked together in order to research ideas, script , produce and evaluate our film. 

As a group we are very happy with our work and final product for this project, therefore, I hope you enjoy viewing our film opening and reading through my blog!

Final Edit of our Thriller Opening

Evaluation - Question 7

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

Hannah & Jazz produced this video which shows them discuss what they feel like they have learnt in the progression from the preliminary task to the full product. Myself & Caitlin have watched this and we agree with what the both say and discuss.

Unfortunately, myself and Caitlin did not have chance to film our own video discussing this question due to other commitments with school, therefore, we decided as a group that Jazz and Hannah would film this question and then we would all discuss it and myself and Caitlin would comment whether we agree or disagree with the points they have raised. 

Evaluation - Question 6

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

Evaluation - Question 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

Our media product was created with the intention of attracting a generic teenage audience and this made clear throughout the casting of our film. 

Myself, Hannah & Jazz are all actors in the film and we are aged between 16 and 17, this helps all the teenagers who watch our film relate to it in a certain way. In my opinion, I would prefer to watch a film with people my age in it so I could relate to the story and the issues raised, rather than watch a film which features an older cast where I can't really connect with the characters. Therefore, with this in mind, we hope the audience who watch our film feel the same way. 

In terms of editing, I have used a variety of editing techniques to ensure the audience don't get bored whilst watching my thriller opening. I have used some fast paced and quick cut editing to conform to the typical conventions of a thriller and to build the tension for the audience. I have also used some slow pans and fades into black which further create tension and a sense of suspicion. This keeps the audience on edge as they do not know what to expect next. 

The narrative of my film focuses on the jealousy that may be encountered in a relationship along with slightly controlling aspect of relationships and being forced to feel a certain way and told to do things. These issues can also be incorporated into friendships, they don't necessarily just have to be in relationships. This is something else that they address my target audience as someone might be suffering or dealing with these issues that I have mentioned and highlighted in our film.

We have also incorporated the issue of control in relationships which is rather topical and prevalent between the ages of 16 and 19 and an issue that our target audience may face. Including this issue in our narrative was in hope that we could educate our audience in realising what a controlling relationship could look like and to stay resilient throughout it.

The non-digetic music that is used at the beginning of our thriller opening, "Jealousy" by "Frankie Miller" attracts the audience as it is not the typical type of music you would expect to hear from a thriller. The song is a rock/ballad played on guitar therefore, when when it is heard it grabs attention as it is not expected. This is then followed with a typical non-digetic 'thriller film' type soundtrack which also attracts the audience as it is eerie and provides the watchers with that 'scare factor' which entices teenage audiences.

We looked at our survey results closely to ensure we matched the needs of what people wanted, this was a way of how we attracted our audience. We carefully looked at what sub-genre our thriller opening would fall under as we wanted to ensure what had chosen the most popular choice, in order to attract and address a large audience.

Cinematography is a very large aspect of film and we have looked carefully over the process of making our film, how we can use camera work effectively and efficiently. The use of camera in our film was used to attract our audience throughout a wide range of both typical and non-typical camera shots and angles. We wanted to use a range of interesting camera angles to ensure our audiences attention would be maintained throughout the entirety of our opening. The 360 pan was a unique and 'stand out' shot in our film, this was because it was an alternative to what you would typically expect to see in a thriller film, therefore, serving the purpose in maintaining audiences attention and making the film interesting to consume.

via GIPHY

Evaluation - Question 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Our intended audience for our thriller product would be a teenage audience of males and females. I have decided this based upon the results of my audience survey which I carried out. We also wanted to target a teenage audience so we could showcase our thriller opening within the school and get some feedback.

40% of the people who answered by survey were situated in the 16 to 19 age demographic and I received an exact 50/50 split for males and females. We felt that this age demographic was appropriate as we all fitted into the same age range, therefore, our audience could relate to our film more closely than if the characters in the film where older than the audience themselves. We also have both genders, male and female acting in our film, therefore, this makes the film more appealing to everyone in our age bracket.

                                 

In my survey I also asked the question "What is your favourite sub-genre of a Thriller film?". The results from this question is the reason why we decided to include a crime/psychological aspect to our thriller via only giving brief hints to what might have happened to Jazz throughout the use of camera and mise-en-scene. 

Did she commit suicide? Is that what the pills where for? Was she murdered? Is the death staged to look like suicide but its not?

These are all the questions we want our audience to be asking from watching our opening creating that psychological/crime feeling.

Myself and my other group members who are all aged 16/17 enjoy watching psychological thrillers and we also knew that our friends and other pupils in our school enjoy watching thrillers of this sub-genre too, therefore, this sub-genre was proving to be the most beneficial one for us to use.

Evaluation - Question 3

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

Production

As mentioned in an earlier post; we were interested in using Film 4 Productions as our production company for our film. As a group we have decided that this is the most appropriate decision therefore, this is the company we would like to use. Film 4 have a reputation for developing and co-financing many successful films, including ones of the thriller genre. 

Film 4 has produced and co-produced the thriller films: 'Black Sea' which is an adventure thriller and 'Dead Man's Shoes' which is a psychological thriller. 

 Film 4 which was previously known has Channel 4 Films, have produced/co-produced a number of films which have won a number of Academy Awards and BAFTA's, therefore, this makes us believe that Film 4 can produce successful films making them the best contender to produce our thriller. 'Slumdog Millionaire' was co-produced by Film 4 and went on to win a sweep of Academy Awards in 2009 for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Cinematography plus Best Sound & Editing.

Film 4 is an independent, British, film production company therefore, making it more accessible for us to use rather than the likes of 'Universal' or 'Columbia' which are a part of the 'Hollywood Big 6'. This production company tends to not deal with productions which have overly large budgets therefore, appealing to more independent films which do not have large budgets or spending margins. This was a reason why we thought Film 4 productions would suit best for our thriller film. 

Distribution

The way a film is distributed plays an important role in the success of the film. We were very interested at using online platforms as a primary distribution route for our film because of who are target audience is. The majority of our target audience use the internet on a daily basis therefore, making the internet the best place to distribute our film content. 

Hybrid distribution is something that we are very interested in and it is becoming more prevalent in its use my film makers (producers) to achieve success in the film industry. A hybrid deal would mean that we would keep the right to sell certain things such as, DVD's and digital downloads to our target audience if we wanted to whilst also using specialised distributors who have the ability to reach people that we cannot. 

Our film would be distributed onto various online platforms and movie streaming sites, the biggest and most popular one being, Netflix. From conducting some research into the viewing habits of our target audience, we found that the majority of them (aged 16 to 19 ) use Netflix as a way to consume film from the comfort of their home and on the go. 

Therefore, considering the popularity of online movie streaming sites with our target audience, I feel like this distribution technique would be the most successful for our thriller film. We also thought we could distribute our film online using BBC Three which has most recently become an online only channel, attracting a wider teenage audience than it did from being a TV channel. 

We did not want to distribute our film using main-stream cinemas due to the cost and the risk of being unsuccessful in attracting our target audience. We wanted to choose the most appropriate way to use money efficiently and target our intended audience to ensure success. 

Marketing 

Marketing is a vital aspect in ensuring that people find out about a media product and to ensure success in people viewing it. 

considering our target audience for our film, I believe social media and web based advertising would be the best way to market 'Jealousy'. Using platforms which are very popular with our target audience such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram & YouTube would ensure the best possible knowledge and awareness of our film. 

If we had a budget that was quite high this marketing would be above the line, however, due to us not having a large budget we would use the benefits of below the line marketing such as word of mouth, and reviews to help us achieve successful marketing of our product. Below the line marketing is usually very successful in the marketing of smaller, independent films.

Whilst I was researching marketing techniques I found this interesting and helpful presentation on Slide Share. 

Marketing Strategies for Film Promotion - Film Marketing Services from Film Marketing Services