Evaluation Question 4

Evaluation Question 5

Evaluation Question 3

Evaluation Question 6

Evaluation Question 7

7. From our preliminary task, which featured me losing my phone under a set of stairs and molly helping me finding it, was used as a mock production before our opening thriller sequence, a chance for us not only to work on our acting skills, but also get familiar with using the camera and tripod and explore it's uses, and also practise possible camera shots in situations that we could implement into our main production. From our preliminary task to our main production, I myself learnt a number of things. Based on watching the preliminary task back and looking at our main production, the first thing I noticed was the use of camera angles were far better in the main production compared to the preliminary task, for example, throughout the preliminary task, it only really appeared that we used mid-level and medium shots, showing a lack of diversity, however this changed in our main production drastically, using a wide range of camera shots, such as high angle, panning and P.O.V. This showed that not only myself, but my group members had gained a better understanding of camera use and the effects it can have during this time and I was able to make suggestionsn when creating our group storyboard and designing our frames. It seemed only one camera angle, a medium shot was used during the preliminary task, which greatly changed in comparison to our main production. Our main production obviously turnt out much better than our preliminary task, and I had learnt different things in general about things such as sound technique and mis-en-scene in general and how it can be used to draw in an audience and set the tone for the audience in a scene, by then my skills and knowledge had improved, as did my group members, which played a part in our production being successful. A difficulty we had of the preliminary task was that we did not know much about filming and appropriate camera shots to suit situations, but we overcame this with experimenting, and looking back at our filming on the camera at the time to decide whether or not we were satisfied with the shots, which lead to us finally settling on which shots we were happy with, and our knowledge of camera use and editing greatly improved through making our production, as we spent more and more time with the cameras to gain more experience and knowledge to help us complete our productions. If I had to do anything differently from my preliminary task, I would improve my acting, because if it was better and I could've impressed then, maybe I could've been the main character, Cameron in my production, and in my next media coursework filming assignment, I hope to take a main role and further showcast the potential of my acting skills.

Me and Molly acting in a shot

A close-up of me acting in the scene

Experimenting different shots (Long shots)

Evaluation Question 2

2. Our media product featured a male antagonist, and two female victims, which is very conventional to a thriller, as this is one of the main features and what you would commonly expect to see in a thriller, for example, it is present in Alfred Hitcock's best-seller "psycho". This is conventional and common as females are usually seen as easier to overpower, which makes the audience more fearful and draws them in more if they see a female being attacked instead of a male, as it builds further suspense as their feelings of fear are stronger. As many people are used to seeing this, we did not try to change a typical and standard convention, as although we wanted to be a little bit different, we did not want to take too many risks in doing so incase our audience did not like our production.In our production, the male is displayed as powerful, unpredictable and dangerous, like many other thrillers, an example being hannibal lector from silence of the lambs, who displays all of these characteristics, however we also tried to display cameron slightly differently in a less-stereotypical and a more subersive fashion, as he had a bad childhood, showing he is depressed and emotionless, but it is not his fault, meaning that the audience show sympathy for the antagonist, which is rare for a thriller and I believe a good twist yo our production, as it also draws the audience as they have many emotions and feelings towards the antagonist. The females in our production are displayed as worried and innocent, like many in most succesful thriller films, meaning it is stereotypical, as it is a main convention of the genre and we used it in our production seeing as it had been so well known and successful in the film industry. Although we wanted to be different, we did not change the stereotype of women in thriller films, as although subersive plots such as the plot in silence of the lambs where the main protagonist is an aggressive dominant female has worked before, audience are used to seeing women as vulnerable, powerless and endangered, and in the past this has been the most common formula to grip and attract an audience. The characters appeal to the audience in a number of ways, Cameron's girlfriend is a typical, outgoing and innocent teenage girl, which many females aged 14-19 who view our production can relate to. Our main antagonist, Cameron is an emotionally confused and depressed character, which may be hard many member in our audience to relate to, however the audience feel sympathy for him, as the problems as has been through are not his fault and it's almost as if he cannot help it, bringing out strong feelings from the audience towards him.

Shot of Cameron stalking his Girlfriend

Cameron killing his mother

Evaluation Question 1

1. My product; Disutrbia managed to use, develop and also challenge real life thriller media products in a number of ways. In a thriller film, it is usually expected that there is a main antagonist and protagonist, with the story usually being the two battling each other, with suspense and tension created leading up to this, followed by surprise and shock. Your typical thriller may feature the following conventions, such as a powerful dominant male being the main antagonist and a vulnerable female being the main victim, usually seen with blonde hair, films such as the shining and psycho are both examples of vulnerable female victims being hunted by a powerful male antagonist. Suspense, shock, tension and surprise are the four main elements of a thriller, which are usually built by micro-elements, such as mis-en-scene, sound, lighting and cinematography. My film builds tension in a number of ways, especially during the kitchen scene, where iconography and slow editing is used to build suspense, where Cameron grinding the knife gets slower and slower, coming to a sudden point where he slams it into the plate, the audience are taken away by this, which further draw them into the scene, which then leads into the shock where Cameron kills his own mother. My film also followed the generic conventions of a thriller in a number of ways, having a dominant and unpredictable male antagonist have weak and vulnerable female victims, as Cameron kills his mother and the ending features a cliffhanger where his girlfriend is in danger. This can be compared to a thriller such as the shining, where the main character, Johnny is hunting an innocent, weak and vulnerable female, which is his wife. Although our character is not as insane, he too like Johnny is mentally unstable and the added sense of unpredictability creates suspense and keeps the audience on edge, wondering what will happen next.

Tension:

Shock:

Surprise:

Eery Music

Suspense

Slow editing