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

The common denominator of all of the inspirations (except ‘Old Boy’) to our film,

visible in sequence lower down on my blog, is the setting. We felt to give the ultimate sense and feeling of foreboding and isolation would have been to film every shot in

dense forest. This conclusion arose after many viewings of each of our final inspirations, along with other contemporary thriller films. Our most prominent

inspiration in terms of cinematography and editing was ‘Severance’, while in terms of atmosphere and sound, ‘Them’ was perfect for the isolated nature of the film, while it

still showed the warm companionship that we needed in our film, in order for our synopsis to be fully explored and satisfied. Similarities in camera movement are

apparent in ‘Severance’ and ‘The Youth’, as it features panning as a component of portraying movement and progression (figure 1), static to show the exact movement, along with pace of the actors, and features tracking and point of view shots to give

the impression of the actors being followed and being watched by ‘The Youth’. Other than camera movement, there is the use of framing, which, in ‘The Youth’s context,

shares more in common with ‘Them’. Disregarding the ‘present day’ interview, in which the only survivor is framed alone and directly in the middle of a blank

background to portray his emotional void, these intermittencies are dispersed between constant group shots. Some shots, such as Morgan (Alex) and I (Tom)

walking towards Alex’s (Nikki’s) house, were portrayal of the former stages of the attacks. Group shots of Morgan, Alex and I, all blissfully unaware, were portrayal of our reasons for being there (simply to be in each others company). Group shots of ‘The Youth’ were to instil fear in the audience, while single shots of Alex were to

represent our group as being split up. These all, in a sense, combine the ideas and conventions in each of the two films in our studies that were most relevant to our film. However, our media differs these conventions in the context and editing of footage.

The clip of ‘Severance’ we studied, like ‘The Youth’, was entirely retrospective, however it showed actual events. The footage in ‘The Youth’ interspersed in the

interview, was all of flashbacks, shown from the narrators memory. This was a way in which we developed the forms of one of our real media product studies.

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The story of the film is all triggered by a contemporary idea of friendship, in that 3 friends have finished their college courses together and plan to spend their final time

together and alone, to enjoy themselves. This idea is not far-fetched, though as a representation of a specific social group, it is no more specific than ‘young adults’.

Given the themes of the film (fast-paced, flashback, anxiety), the only opportunity to represent any of the characters in the way of either accents or dialogue was the interview. Being an official interview, I felt I had to play a fairly self-manipulated

character, in that formality and clarity were both important. In this, I spoke in a fairly regular accent, though some viewers of the same age band, from different cultures or

social groups, could argue I sound ‘well spoken’. This is only an insignificant indication of my character, and bears no true reflection on any of the other main

characters as a whole, in that our social groups are unimportant in the context of the story. However, ‘The Youth’ themselves are formed on common stereotypes of a

more violent younger generation. Not only do their clothes and one of their member’s (Roman) accents give an impression of their social group, but his only spoken line, ‘I

told you not to come here: I’m gonna kill you!’ does too. The abbreviation is a colloquialism, while the threat itself bears yet more resemblance of a violent

teenager, the kind that is heard about more and more in recent news articles. The mise-en-scene for ‘The Youth’ was specific, while that of Alex, Tom and Nikki was

completely the opposite. Our main aim was not to create a specific social group that the teenagers fit into, for the fact that if we were to be specific the film might appeal

to a smaller audience. Our main aim was, however, to portray a conflict in views, the students view being that they simply wanted to enjoy themselves, while ‘The Youth’

were claiming this woodland as their own.

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

Ideally, I would want ‘Lions Gate Entertainment’ to distribute our film. Key reasons for this would be their multi-faceted forms of distribution, from multiplexes to DVD to Blu-

ray (not to mention their music label, for marketing soundtracks and artist albums, and their television distribution) and this would broaden our demographic. For our film to be available on a variety of medias, naturally it would be more vastly and

readily available to more people. With a thriller film and target audiences being young people (15 and up) it is most probably wise to distribute it on DVD and Blu-ray, as

much of the younger generation depend on digital formats to have a second chance to see a film. More specifically, Lions Gate have had major successes in their horror and thriller films being shown in multiplexes, which would suggest that not only would it be wise to pitch for Lions Gate in terms of their forms of distribution, but would also

suggest that we would have a greater chance of attaining their approval.

4. Who would be the audience for your media product? Teenagers around the age of 15 to adults around the age of about 25. The reason for

this is that the primary story is focussed around teenagers, and thrillers are a time-honoured success for young audiences. The reason the target is so high, in my

opinion, is that it deals with issues that can now be eligible for any one of any age, right the way up to and far surpassing 25. The topic is dark and the cinematography,

editing, story and sound all suggest this. The reason for the limit being 25 and not higher, however, is that it isn’t often that adults or middle-aged people could find or understand the attraction to a film that is, at heart, a murder mystery. Some older

viewers my argue that it is a formula that has found success for the younger generation time and time again, because a film that scares someone could be seen as, essentially, a ‘cheap thrill’ – take for example the ‘SAW’ series, with many young adults and teenagers my age considering it to be a mockery and an exploitation of

gore-loving movie goers.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

We wanted to include an element of empathy, to an extent. Many teenagers would be able to understand and empathise with the want to spend time alone with their

closest friends (and, in Alex’s case, a girl he particularly likes). This was to attract an audience that was interested in something eminently realistic, and similarly fairly

heard of in the news. It is something that (hopefully) all of the audience is aware of though has/will never experience. It has the same attraction, in that sense, as any

other horror or thriller film, especially the films we studied before shooting ours.

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

As far as specialist technologies go, I was experienced to some extent in all of them. I never touched Garageband during the making of the soundtrack, as I had Logic and Reason at my disposal (LOGOS). I have always used Apple Macs since I was young, so that wasn’t a new experience either, and the computer we worked on the film with

in the Media Studies room is the exact same as I have at home. Photoshop was never used, as our only graphic design was done in Pages. I had never made a

poster in pages, however that was simple and easy and looks very professional (and is the front cover to our planning booklet). This was however the first time I’d used

Final Cut or LiveType. In all honesty, I expected Final Cut to be more difficult to use than it was, while I found LiveType almost unnecessarily hard to use. The main (and only true) problems we faced with Final Cut were rendering (as we had put filters on

every single shot) and sound syncing, as often the sound tracks would snap to different points than the video, making calibrating the sound fairly difficult. As for

LiveType, the main problem was understand where to input certain things, like the text we wanted to see, and where it was appropriate to put it for it to be our final

product, rather than a preview piece. Overall however, other than these few hiccups, production and post-production ran smoothly and was my favourite part of the

process as a whole.

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

I’ve learnt, in practicality, that continuity is a much more prominent factor to a

successful film than at first (in the preliminary task) I had thought. I have also learnt to appreciate the cohesion of audio and video to evoke greater response from an

audience. Audio essentially heightens the appreciation of what you can already see, as is evident in the reactions and the comments of many of my classmates and

peers. I found organising the shots we needed took time, and in this we stuck to the 3:1 (footage shot:footage used) ratio. This has taught me, if not all of us, to be

content with a shot only once it is absolutely right for the film. My ideas of what is and isn’t worthy of framing have been changed also, and I have learned that all that is in the frame should be relevant to, or in some way enhancing the mood or message in

what is being filmed. In all, I feel I have come a long way in many ways, both in editing and in filming, and I have benefited greatly from what I have been taught and

in what I have taught myself.