Evaluation Question 3

Evaluation Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Within our opening, the two social groups that we have clearly represented is gender and age. Within the social group age, we have specifically looked at young people. It is clear to the audience within our thriller that both our protagonist and antagonist are young people. This is because as we are young people ourselves, we felt it best to represent this age group as we have experience of it and how to portray it. Due to this experience, we were able to able to properly portray how young people would act in this situation. We also felt that we wouldn’t want to give an unrealistic representation of other age groups which is why we avoided including them. This would just lead to stereotypes and unfair representations.  We also believed that representing a group such as young people would allow us to in some way avoid any stereotypes and conventions that surround young people in the media (Kevin and Perry).  We believe after looking back at our opening that we showed young people as realistically as we could.

We also presented gender. In this case, we did conform to a main stereotype of the feminine character being subordinate and the masculine character being the dominant. This was done through the antagonist and the protagonist. Although we did not have a male as our protagonist, we did have a masculine female which undertook the role of a ‘male’. We thought that we would have this stereotypical idea to conform to the conventions of a thriller because we believe that because it is in so many thrillers consistently, it must be popular. We felt that having a male as the protagonist would also conform to the typical dominant stereotype. Although this doesn’t challenge typical conventions, we again felt that we should have a feminine character as a ‘damsel in distress’ and a masculine character as the ‘bad guy’, because it makes for popular viewing among film fans.

For our thriller opening, we did not have a specific target audience and decided to instead, try and target to population wholly. We done this by using a variety of skills and techniques within our opening, taken from a range of different thriller films that appeal to different age groups and genders. Firstly, we followed typical stereotypes of a gender. We done this because, like previously explained, we believed that this makes for popular viewing. We also then decided to use a lot of popular cuts when editing. This would include quick cuts, and longer cuts to build suspense. This would also include long drawn out sounds and quick high pitched ones when there were quick cuts. We used a variety of shots such as long shots and close ups to show the character and the facial expressions of the character. We also used point of view shots to allow the audience to get into the opening more, creating more suspense as they feel like they themselves are being effected.

Evaluation Question 1

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

Within a thriller opening there are clear conventions that can be seen. These would include dark lighting, intense music, dark clothing, maybe moments of silence, a masculine antagonist and a feminine protagonist. Our thriller fits into these conventions through things such as dark clothing and intense music. For example, we dressed both of our characters in black clothing in order to create a general feel about the opening. We didn’t realise that we had done this until analysing the video afterwards and realised that our idea to have the antagonist as a ‘dark figure’ and the protagonist as a typical teenager, had inevitably lead to them both being dressed fit for a thriller opening. The theme of having a cast of a thriller in dark clothing can be seen in typical thrillers such as Sixth Sense, Insidious and Taken; all of which influenced our opening in some way.

We also decided to use the idea of having a stereotypical masculine antagonist and feminine protagonist because we felt that this would appeal to most to the audience, being it the most common theme in thrillers.  On the other hand, we did in some way subvert this because we had a female play the masculine role of the antagonist. This was due to the little selection of actors that we had within our all-girls school. However, Rhiannon is an androgynous female that can be made to look rather masculine which is what we done to create her into the perfect antagonist. We also done this by hiding her identity behind a mask. This again conforms to the stereotypes of a thriller opening, with the identity of the person being left to create suspense. This is one of the things that we wanted to focus on and so decided to give Rhiannon a black mask to wear, also allowing us to continue with the theme of dark clothing.

Regarding shots and camera angles, we decided to choose a variety of them in order to create suspense. We used a tracking shot into the bedroom initially to show the environment and setting. We then used extreme close ups of the laptop and phone, including mid-close up shots of Isobel’s face to show her facial expressions. This was repeated throughout the opening in order for the audience to become more involved in how the protagonist was feeling. We also used long shots when looking at both the antagonist and protagonist. This was to show the mise-en-scene of clothing and setting. We also used it to show the stature of the actor. This is to create the idea of the protagonist being a small and timid character compared to the bigger and more intimidating character of the antagonist. These shots were influenced by thrillers such as Sixth Sense. This is seen in the scene where the protagonist (Cole) is in the kitchen and sees a ‘dead person’ in the hallway.

The long shot of him in just pants and a vest shows how small and scared he is. A few moments later, the antagonist in this scene is seen in another long shot with a beaten face with aggressive expressions on it. The long shot shows how much bigger that she is than Cole, establishing that she is intimidating and the one to be feared. This heavily influenced our decision regarding long shots within our thriller opening.

Within a lot of thriller openings, there isn’t as much of the storyline in it as there is in ours. The reason that we decided to change this particular form was because we wanted to entice our target audience. We thought that if we were to have a strong storyline within our opening then this would draw people in to wanting a full film. We also left the opening on a cliff-hanger. This means that there would be a great way to follow on to a potential extended film. There are other films like this such as Taken but it isn’t done within the opening scene of the film. Although it was a risk to do this, we have had some great feedback in regard to wanting to watch the rest of the film that followed.

We did, however, follow conventions of a thriller opening with dark mysterious lighting. This was a conscious decision which meant that we had to choose the right time of day to film because it was filmed in a house and garden. This meant that we had to get the right contrast between natural dark and light in order to make the thriller look dark enough, but light enough so that the quality of the footage was good enough without having to use artificial lighting.

The media platform that we have decided to choose to present our video on is YouTube. Our reason for this is because not only is it a large video company but it is also very well known. We decided that YouTube would be best because it is very popular within our target audience age range. With it accessible to everyone and easy to work, we thought that it would be the best to put it on this media platform so that it would be viewed by people of all ages. Furthermore, underneath all videos is the option to share the video on other social media platforms. This would mean that YouTube would also be used as a promotional purpose for us and not just a publishing one.

Our Thriller Opening

Attached is our thriller opening. 

Behind the Scenes - Filming

Below are some pictures that were taken whilst we were filming certain scenes of our opening. Within the pictures you are able to see the equipment that we used and the angles that we took the shots from including mid shots and long shots.                                                                                                            

Behind the Scenes : Directing

Attached above is a video showing the directing of behind the scenes where each of us took part in deciding which bits would look the best for our opening.

Props and Costumes

For our thriller opening, we will be using a few different props in order to give the opening the right feel that we need for the opening. 

One of the props that we will be using is a mask. This can be seen on the right hand side. We decided that to use a mask would be a lot more suspenseful rather than not. This is because it hides the persons identity, allowing for the audience to be curious and suspicious as to who the intruder is. The colour of the mask being black allows for the theme of the opening to be seen throughout. This wouldn't be as effective if we had a different coloured mask because it doesn't portrayed the mystery that we want.

We also want to have our antagonist dressed all in black in order to continue the theme of mystery. The idea of dark clothing give the idea that the person has a dark personality. Furthermore, the use of long sleeves and long trousers allows for the identity of the protagonist to be unknown.




For our protagonist, we wanted her to be portrayed as a typical teenager. This is why we decided to have our actress wear what she thinks would be appropriate. It helped that our actress is also a part of our group, meaning that she knows exactly what we want from the costume. We decided on having our actress in ripped jeans and a crop top. This shows that she is just a normal teenager being targeted as an innocent person. We also included a phone and a laptop as part of the props. This shows that she is of a younger age and also allowed us to incorporate easily, different parts of the storyline that we felt was necessary. This would be where Izzy talks to her 'boyfriend' over the laptop and her best friend over the phone.