media evaluation

Title Sequence Evaluation

For

By Benoit Ganesan

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

• I have created a political thriller that not only uses existing and generic conventions associated with the thriller sub-genre; but has developed upon a few in order to modernise the genre and challenge the way the genre its stereotypically depicted. Which has helped to produce an interesting take on the genre.

• As we developed the product, we began looking at thriller products that has a similar tone that we wanted to emulate; we looked towards real media products such as ‘Seven’ and ‘Enemy of the State’ for creative inspiration, looking to how they thrilled their audience within their openings. What we then realised that what they utilised to achieve a thrilling tone was through the use of sinister and eerie visuals that have relation to the story; an example was in ‘Seven’ in it’s opening sequence, it contained disturbing images taken from police cases that helped hint to the audience that its a crime thriller. We then ultimately decided to utilise a harsh and frightening aspect of our society, to incorporate it with the generic conventions of the thriller genre. Generic conventions such as: a desolate location, eerie soundtrack, disturbed characters and gloomy colour palettes. All of these conventions will help present a thrilling introduction to our story. We wish to challenge these conventions particularly with sound, as there is a tendency for thrillers to use dark and sinister soundtrack. We wish to challenge this by incorporating a soundtrack that audiences would not usually associate with the thriller genre but yet still provides the same effective experience. The objective is to use more contrapuntal sounds rather than parallel in comparison to other conventions of the sub-genre.

• Our group had many concepts regarding what harsh aspect of our society should we portray; our concepts consisted of: organised crime, heists, gangsters and terrorism. We developed the ideas for each concept but ultimately agreed on terrorism; as it seems the most relevant and appealing within today’s society. As this concept has a huge impact within the world today, this would help modernise the story in order to help audiences immerse themselves in a story they will certainly relate to.

Font

As apart of the forms and conventions associated with producing a thriller product, the font does illustrate the type of film it will be.

Regarding the font, we wanted a font that alludes to a sinister tone. During development We looked at various fonts ; but none made the impression we intended as they came across as to be calm and soft. We then resulted to looking at existing fonts from real media products for creative inspiration; a product that caught our attention was the font for ‘Transformers’ as a group we agreed that it would fit our product.This was because it presented a dark and edgy tone that we wanted for our project. We then research similar fonts on ‘Dafont’ and found similar to the one we eagerly wanted. Which we then came across a font called ‘Chinese Rocks’ that not only met the visual aesthetic but conveyed the genre and the tone of our media products; through the way the words are designed.


Camera and Lighting

As apart of the cinematography of our media product, I wanted it to look haunting and discomforting, which we achieved though using close up shots .In order to provide a sense of intimacy or invading privacy; this was crafted within the opening to welcome the audience in the main subject’s mind to see how he behaves to provide in site foreshadowing the events to come. In regards to lighting the we used mainly low key lighting to cast a general darkness within the sequence to connate the seriousness and dark tone the story will have. But it is also used to focus audience’s attention on certain set pieces that are lit; in addition to creating a silhouette of the subject, helping bring a sense of ambiguity with the character. Provides a sense of tension building towards his reveal. Another part of the cinematography we felt added a more cinematic and professional look to our media product; was the need to present it in anamorphic and in 24fps, an idea developed from other products using the same technique.


Sound

Within our media product, sound was one hardest factors to decide on whether or not it contrasted with the project whilst providing the audiences with a thrilling sensation.The process of sound went on all the way through from development to editing; this was a result of passions changing and feedback from various selections of tracks played along with the scene. During the development stage and through pre-production, our group’s main intentions were to challenge the forms and conventions of the thriller genre. How we wanted to achieve this through sound was through the use of classical music. We believed that this decision would help bring an unsettling atmosphere to the sequence as thrillers tend to do but whilst having a different take on the forms that we tend to believe is unsettling sounds such as screaming.

As we created the animatic for our media product, we included the classical track but unfortunately it didn’t create the tone we wanted. As we then did various tests with different audiences, the overall feedback in relation to the track was that it did the opposite of what it was meant to do; leaving the audience not thrilled and unsatisfied with the animatic. As a result of this, our group decided to stick to the traditional forms and use a track that is up beat and fast paced; this will ensure that our audience is thrilled.

Mise en scene

For the mise en scene of our media product, we wanted an environment that reflect the needs of the story and the character ; but also catering to the thriller genre. Our main thought remained the same throughout development; we all wanted to have a mise en scene that seemed to capture the psychotic and obsessive nature of the main character. Both of these factors merged well with our ideal tone of the genre and story.

We achieved this idea through the use of location and props: news articles of terrorism, bomb parts and the isolated room all helped bring the obscure nature of our character to life. In relation to costume, the main subject dressed smart as he is meant to be a student; we gave the character a bizarre walk to enforce of abnormal mind of our subject.


Editing

Within editing, we wanted to focus the audience’s attention on ‘Joseph’ which we achieved through having him in the frame of almost every shot in the sequence; emphasising on the notion that he is the driving force of the story . In order to create a sense of tension; we used shots for a few seconds and immediately cut to another, this helped create a feeling of urgency. With the inclusion of a track with a fast tempo to help re-enforce this intention.

An issue that we encountered during post-production was that we kept force feeding our audience exposition that was intended to be ambiguous and subtle; instead through the last shot of various drafts ,we had included a shot of Joseph’s bag with the addition of a ticking sound effect to forcefully tell our audience that there is indeed a bomb in the bag.

However in order to end the sequence with ambiguity, we decided to cut that shot of the bag entirely. This helped trim the product down so it cuts to black as Joseph delivers a mischievous line. Ultimately helping us deliver a sense a fear of the unknown and to cause our audience to think of potential outcomes from their interoperation of the story and of the character.

The main character in our media product ‘Joseph’ is a form of radical on the verge of committing extremist acts. Due to the vast themes and ideas of our controversial society; we decided to represent the racial group of asian immigrants who our society stereotypically associate to what an extremist would allegedly look like. We felt that this would be a compelling group to present as it would not only help give a perspective of their view of the world but helps give our media product a modernised quality as it touches upon present issues within our society. An interesting factor of our story was the character’s name ‘Joseph’ was meant to signify that he is a catholic ; but audiences would stereotype him as a muslim solely due to his appearance. Therefore challenging the representation of particular social groups.

Our group had put a lot of planning into how we wanted to portray this social group by placing the character in situations where he’d have to interact and confront others; showing the audience how he has dealt with the world’s perception of him. Causing the audience to face a form of dilemma, deciding whether or not Joseph is the protagonist or antagonist of this story based from their interoperation.

The character of Joseph is played ‘Aayush Joshi’ a British Asian man. This character is a social outcast, this is illustrated by the way he is presented during the sequence taken in school as he appears unsettled and unwelcome by those around him. As apart of his costume, Joseph had to look smartly dressed with a shirt and trousers as he is meant to be a sixth form student; the addition of the bag adds to this.

The other characters seen present in the classroom were generally white British men, this was intended to present Joseph as the racial minority enforcing that he doesn't fit in both figuratively and literally. As you watch the product, you will notice that his classmates glance at him and examine him, this was to convey that they’re suspicious of him as to why Joseph is so late to class. This scene was meant to appear a sampled re-construction of the current of how our society currently handle racial minorities.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Within our media product, we wanted to enforce the idea our society target those minorities. In our media product, the way we chosen the represent this concept was by placing Joseph between his two classmates whom are white British men. During this scene, if you pay attention you’ll notice that those characters look at Joseph with judgement and discrimination. Another interesting aspect of this scene is that Joseph doesn't acknowledge any of those around them both through eye contact or verbally; signifying of form of segregation amongst the class and that he must be addressed by in order to then make contact.

The whole purpose of this scene was to elaborate on racism and the affects this type of behaviour has on our society.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

With our media product, due to the controversial messages behind racism and the way we as a society stereotype races; I would imagine institutions may wish to distribute our sequence to act as a form of anti-racism presentation which could possible be screened across social-networking sites such as: Facebook,twitter, youtube in order to help spread the message behind the video. I believe that the best method for our media product to be distributed is with British institutions such as Film4, an institution supporting independent products with will share it on their channels previewing before scheduled films. But certainly by sharing it through social networking sites such as: Facebook,Twitter and Youtube. This method of distribution would be most effective as it would help reach our target market of 15-25 year olds, as they tend to use these sites on a frequent basis. This product would then potentially become viral as they’re appealed to topics of terrorism therefore our product would gain vast amount of attention with minimal costs of distribution.

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

New line cinema is a production company that has a common tendency to produce and distribute real media products that are apart of the thriller genre. This studio ranges in their class of thriller products; different hybrid thrillers such as crime,gore and slasher. New line cinema produces both independent and blockbuster sized products. Our media product ‘Oblivious’ will be an independent film as it primarily character driven and doesn't require a large scope which therefore doesn't require a large budget. Another important influence choosing to create an independent film over a blockbuster is that studios allow the film-makers more creative freewill to execute the story however they please; where as media products with a large budget will be controlled and will manipulate the execution of the story in order to ensure it’s financial success as it must appeal to the mass market instead of a niche market.


I believe that ‘New Line Cinema’ is the most suitable distribution company for our media product. This is due to their familiarity with the type of product it is, as they have produced various real media products such as ‘Seven’ a product that has a similar overall tone and marketing as ‘Oblivious’.

New Line Cinema is certainly a suitable distributor in regards to handling marketing and distribution as we can therefore ensure the likely outcome of us retaining our investment in the production costs of our real media product. The decision to choose ‘New Line Cinema’ increases the likelihood for our audience to be drawn by our media product; as this will rely heavily on our audience’s familiarity with not only with the thriller genre and what they expect to see. But as a method of ensuring that our media product will in fact deliver on the audiences expectations; New Line Cinema’s involvement will act as a benefactor as audiences will be able to recognise their brand. Therefore allude that they produce real media products of high quality and that meet expectations.


Due to the mature themes and ideas behind the media product, our audience would need to be aged from 15 and above ; simply because of the concept presented in the sequence revolves around extremists committing horrific acts of violence. Audience members must be aged 15 and above in order to be able to understand the concepts playing through the sequence. As apart of our research we did delve into the criteria of age ratings; according to the ‘British Board of Film Classification’ due to the strong violence and discriminatory behaviours, the product would be classified as a 15; this research also allowed us to see what was the limit regarding conventions to including or remove. This was apart of what was deemed too much or acceptable for the audience of this rating.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

According to the BBFC ‘British Board of Film Classification’ these are the following listed that classify a media product with 15 certificate as it meets these categories.

This is an important factor to address as this will then help find our audience as our media product will have a specific audience to appeal to due to the nature and the harsh reality of the story.


Within our media product, the main factor of ‘Oblivious’ and why it must be rated 15 is due to the concept revolving around discriminatory and offensive material. The story involves racism and acts of urban terrorism. Which audiences must be aware of as it may harm their experience of the product.

After test screening the final cut of the media product, we released a survey that the audience would be ask to complete. The data collected from this helps justify who our audience will be.

This data has shown us that the content shown in ‘Oblivious’ and the nature of the story would have an appeal with our target market but will also have a greater appeal beyond our expectation as most of the teenage youth seem be the majority of the audience. Therefore this does state that not only is there a market for our media product but there is a large audience that the product will cater to.

However, as our product does convey some harsh aspects of our reality; we as the film-makers of the product must ensure that none of the discriminatory actions committed in the media product endorse any of these actions in any way what so ever. This has to be addressed as a large some of the audience are minors.


I believe that our product will in fact lure in the attention of our audience specifically due to the nature of topics our product is based on. In regards to the rating, audiences can expect to experience conventions that will cater to their expectations. As ‘Oblivious’ is a product about terrorism, audiences expects to conventions associated with that story such as :Bombs, stereotypical characters and a political elements.

All of these forms help immerse the audience in the reality of the world within the story; which is far more effective as it is a representation of their own reality but elaborating on a specific aspect of their daily lives. A way in which our media product attracted it’s audience was through the threat video, opening the sequence to the subject looking right at the camera as if he is breaking the 4th wall and addressing the audience; creating a sense of privacy as if he oddly is inviting the audience to participate in the world of ‘Oblivious’.

How did you attract/address your audience?

I have experience in making media products; in my experiences I have used DSLR cameras for both video and photography. In the past I have learnt how to frame a shot and capture what I needed from the shot; I have main experience editing sequences of my shots within editing softwares such as Adobe Premier Pro. All of these past experiences have helped me with the process of constructing this product. However I have learnt a lot in regards to how I approach a scene, as I learnt to plan a shot depending on whether or not it’s needed to tell the story. In the past, my work has contained a few shots that were included merely because it was visually pleasing but didn’t add anything to the telling of the story. For example In a draft of ‘Oblivious’ as Joseph entered the classroom we had two shots; we included both a ‘Pan’ and ‘Push-Out’ shot which had no impact on the story but caused the edit to seem sloppy and unprofessional. Instead we decided to use one still wide shot of Joseph entering the classroom, which made our edit flow smoothly and the product looked more professional. In relation to editing, I was very pleased with its ability to manipulate the colours in a frame by adjusting the levels of certain colour; this tool allowed us to gain the specific dark colour palette filled as that what is tend to be used in thrillers. Within the editing software, it also allowed us to further adjust our footage through the addition of graphic; in our product we had to add various graphics in the threat video such as the streaming icon. The most obvious graphics were the credits, this editing software not only allowed us to include these but also customise the font to a style that would fit well with the thriller genre.

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

Within our preliminary task, we were able to practise how we were going to build tension through sound and camera. This task was an important aspect of our learning ;we got to test out certain elements such as the 180 degree rule. This rule was vital that we had to be accurate as it would effect the way audiences received the narrative of story as the placement of the camera would change their perception of the scene.

However the most important purpose of the preliminary task which we had progress to our full product was the smooth edit of continuity. This principle was to ensure that the match on action was as fluid as it could be; this was vital as it would effect the audiences experience and may lure them away from the reality of the sequence.

After completing the preliminary task, our group realised the major benefactors of what we have learnt from this task and will incorporate this new knowledge into our full product.

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

During all the stages of production, I was surprised at not only the extensive amount of research needed for the task but also how important it was. Through development, every member of our group had researched different conventions and other forms of visual factors that make up the thriller genre. What we found through our data was that there are many different ways to execute a thriller; through the concept, camera work and lighting. As we can starting developing the story, we all had different ideas for thrilling concepts such as: organised crime, heists, gangsters and terrorism. We began by creating brief pitches for each idea include a concept of what would the story be in each idea; this ultimately lead our group deciding to choose the plot from the terrorism pitch as this had an interesting perspective and allowed us to represent a story that is relevant to the world today, as terrorism is a large issue within our society. What I had learnt from this stage was to condense my ideas and pick ideas that help tease our audience, as the task was to create an opening but my mind was thinking beyond the opening. However this was slightly helpful to our group; as this allowed us to see whether the end of our sequence teases the story we planned. As we produced the animatic for our product, this was extremely useful as it not only presents what our idea will look like visually but tonally as the addition of music helps build tension and a thrilling sensation. The storyboard also came to be a essential tool during filming, as it helped us remain on track in relation to what we had to shot and what in needed in the frame. When it came to editing, there was slight issues with the last shot as it had to be removed as it forcefully told the audience information they already knew; this will then have a huge influence on the next time we will need to storyboard a project as we must consider how we wish to treat the audience regarding to how much information we must provide them with . However the main issue within editing was with the soundtrack, during this stage, we tried various soundtrack as they didn’t achieve the sinister tone we wanted but instead distracted the audience. We later found a song that not only established the product’s tone but gave the audience a thrilling sensation; the track also help set a pace for the sequence and helped it flow smoothly.

I would state that through the stages of production on ‘Oblivious’ despite some of the issues we encountered ,our group dealt with it in a professional manner and faced every challenge with open arms and produced a sequence that has to some degree surpassed my expectations and overall I am a pleased with my group for working so well together to produce a professional piece of work.


As apart of our survey, we asked the audience what could have been improved to the media product. We got a range of comments but there was in particular that was very interesting as it touched upon ideas we had during development but agreed to move forward with other ideas as we believed it delivered the best product that we could have produced.


This comment had us interested as this comment addressed their issues with the way we executed the end of the sequence; giving us an alternative way on how they would have liked to have seen it executed. Despite the intriguing perspective this alternative direction would be; I felt that it would have deprived some attention from the main subject ‘Joseph’ and over edit the entire sequence as there would be far too many shots to cut from. However with the conclusion we executed, it provided it will few shots but with large effect as Joseph remain the centre of attention whilst still having an ambiguous feel to it.

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