AS Media Studies

Coursework Evaluation
M I s h a S h a h
 1. In what ways does your media product use,
develop or challenge forms and conventions of
real media products?
For my research I looked at other opening scenes to thrillers. This not only helped gives stimulus for my own
sequence, but helped me realise that to create a feeling of authenticity it was important to include the specific
conventions normally associated with the thriller genre. A film which provided me with clear examples of
narrative theories was Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest (1959). This is a classic Hitchcock thriller, which
incorporates narrative conventions often associated with the thriller genre. The enigma seen throughout the film
is 'who is George Kaplan?' Combined with the pursuits and the quest of a man trying to prove his innocence it
gave us clear examples of what is typical of a thriller. Although there is a fairly simple opening sequence in
North by Northwest the film visibly displays Todorov's theory of equilibrium. In the start of the film we see the
protagonist carry out his day to day routine giving the audience an initial equilibrium. Then there's a crisis point
when the protagonist gets kidnapped, at the end we see a resolution and a new found equilibrium. David
Fincher's 1995 film, Seven showed us a very different opening sequence. The opening sequence is composed
of just credits displaying actor's names in stark lettering. This shows how simple attributes like music, colour and
typography could establish a mood for a film and how relevant simple things can become. Another thriller which
I found particularly interesting was Bryan Singers (1995) The Usual Suspects, unlike many of the other films I
had watched this one showed the resolution at the very start of the film. This then raised the enigma of 'How and
why did that happen?' rather than a more conventional 'What is going to happen?'. We see The Usual Suspects
as not fitting into the codes and conventions normally associated with Charles Derry's (1988) six major sub-
types of suspense thrillers, unlike Alfred Hitchcock's North By Northwest which fits neatly into the innocent-on-
the-run thriller. I quite liked the idea of creating a thriller that fitted into the subtype involving moral confrontation.
I chose not to use the 'resolution at the start' as seen in The Usual Suspects in my own opening sequence but I
took into account the way the film immediately establishes Dean Keaton as the protagonist. Through
investigating these movie openings, I have been able to integrate various conventions in to my thriller.
 This is the ‘Cape Fear’ movie
poster the title is white with a In my product my thriller dons the conventions of
black background. This shows the thriller genre, by initially portraying the
that films with a crime thriller protagonist, a typical teenage female, in the thriller
genre have these titles genre this is usually presented as weaker persona
because they are very . Very much like in the film Silence of the lambs,
effective. the initial interpretation of the protagonist women
coupled with the strong presence of Hannibal
lector, in the scene where the first meet, shadows
her and bolsters the on screen strength of
Hannibal creating a wider dominance. Continued,
the protagonists weakness is structured by the
use of Mise en-scene such as the location of the
woods , in contrast to the powerful structure of the
trees, her figure is portrayed as weak and
vulnerable. The women smoking also illustrates
her nervousness too. The darkened shots and
lack of close up shots to her face at the beginning
I have also used a white of the clip, keep the audience guessing and
font similar to the poster wanting to see her face another common
above because it contrasts convention. The shrouds upon her create a
well with a dark elegance of mystery a sense of withdrawal from
background, I used a the full story , commonly used in thrillers setting
moon as it symbolises the audience up for the evidential fact that this film
horror and darkness, will not give away much till the very end.
Connecting my image to
my genre.

The music coincides directly with the theme of mystery and drama that
is evident, the low base beats and the build up of tempo is rather dark
and sinister, a common type element used in thrillers. The music
draws the immerses the viewers in to the thriller. My choice in music
however also develops the typical conventions in thriller music, as my
choice of song is from the music genre of ‘techno’.
 Crisp white credits contrast with the dark surrounding enough to
be readable. The font size is big but curved so it blends in to the
background of the locations.

The credits used in my thriller are based on the

general thriller conventions as they are over laid on
the visual images of the opening sequel. The
simple white shadowed credits do not take the
attention away from the plot but also inform the
viewer of the people who have create the movie.

My opening sequel plot has various elements of conventional

thriller themes, for examples the locations of the woods and
graveyard are typical in thriller movies. The' Blair Witch
Project’ filmed in the woods for instance illustrates the use of
the location in thriller movies, for the use of isolation.
Furthermore the masked hoodie used to hide the killers face
develops the conventions of thrillers by the use of hiding the
killers identity, through various different techniques. In crime
thrillers the killers identity is not found sometimes until the end
when. In the cartoon ‘Scooby Doo’ the killer is always unveiled
at the end, this technique keeps the audience curious and
interested in watching the movie to find out who it could be.
 2. How does your media product
represent particular social groups?
The social groups that have been represented in our opening
thriller differ in terms of the antagonist – Killer and the protagonist
–Victim. The Victim a Typical Teenage Girl is easy to relate to,
through an audience perspective. Many teenage girls with similar
personalities could relate to her, where as adults would feel
sympathetic towards her. Her habit of smoking suggests a flaw in
the girls character creating a more realistic theme. These
elements that create realism allow the audience to feel more
connected to the characters' in the thriller. This is why I have
created no identity to the killer, this allowed the audience to out
their own individual interpretation on who or what the killer could
be. Through the use of a teenage girl I represent all the rebellious
teenagers that never listen and end up in trouble in society. The
masked killer represents suggests that a killer could be living next
door to you and you would not know because he/she could hide
their identity from the world.

The location inspired by the “Blair Witch

Project” represents the crazy rebellious
teenagers who like to frequent isolated
surrounding so they can ‘chill out’, party,
drink, take drugs etc… There woods
represent all the teenagers who have
been lost. The atmosphere displayed is
isolated and eerie.
 The Gender
suggests vulnerability, as females are
viewed as weaker then men.

The costume of the killer is a big jacket and a hood. This is a

common stereotype of what teenage boys look like. It also
supports the stereotype that anyone wearing a hood or hat is
trouble. Whilst attacking the girl they are represented as being
aggressive, abusive and ruthless which are characteristics often
associated with being a male and perhaps a representation of
them being black males. A common stereotype associated with
attacks and rapes is that they are committed by older men. .

The gender of the killer as a male suggests a female/ale

domination. As men are viewed more stronger the
conventions of this plot are somewhat typical as the man
over powers the weak female.
 3. What kind of media institution might
distribute your media product and why?
I have chosen Lionsgate as my media
distribution company. As a very well
established company. They constantly
bring (to the big screen and DVD) some
of the best horror films around, with the
likes of "Saw", "Open Water" and the
uncut version of "Haute Tension".
Therefore with the experience Lionsgate
has to produce horror/thriller sequels, my
movie would be widely produce to a mass
audience.

However on the other hand as my movie is a low budget film therefore I

may be better off working with microwave companies s they would be able
to work with that small amount of money and distribute my film
successfully.

‘28 Weeks Later’ was distributed on the internet which helped to gather
am larger audience to watch the film at the cinemas, as people saw the
advertisements and thus more people went to see the film on release.
Using a method like this would help our profit to be larger than it would
have been without the wider choice of ways to distribute our film.
 4. Who would be the audience for your
media product?
From my previous study of the thriller genre I became aware that to create
an effective opening sequence there must be substantial enigmas. This is
highlighted by Roland Barthes’ theory on action and enigma codes. He
believed that to create suspense in narrative, there must be unanswered
questions which will compel the viewer to anticipate action with a
resolution. For my opening sequence I wanted to create a narrative
structure that would encourage the viewer to continue watching the rest of
the film and that would leave areas in which the film could develop. Before
any ideas were drawn up I wanted to consider closely the target audience
my film was aimed towards. I chose a wide target audience of both males
and females aged 15-35. This age range is more likely to attend the
cinema to see a film, particularly a film within the thriller genre, also due to
the violence implies in my thriller I also had to maintain a certificate
classification of over 15’s.

This is mainly because 1 have used teenagers in the film and people
around this age tend to be quite interested in thriller and horror films.
Furthermore they will be able to relate to the teenagers in the clip. The
target audience will consist of both males and females as it is not aimed
mostly at one gender.
They will have to enjoy watching thriller films and like the idea of not
knowing what is going to happen. They will also obviously enjoy the thrill
that this type of genre gives them. Existing films that they are likely to like
would be The Crazies, Shutter Island, Law Abiding Citizen and Sorority
Row etc. These are all other films within the thriller genre.
The guidelines for the classification 15 will contain no discriminatory
behaviour, can contain drug-taking without encouraging it, a strong threat
unless sadistic or signalised, dangerous behaviour should not be done in
too much detail so it cannot be copied, frequent use of strong language is
allowed, nudity is accepted without going into too much detail within a
sexual reference, sexual activity is also accepted as long as it doesn't go
into too much detail, the theme doesn't really matter as long as it is
acceptable for 15 year old and violence can be used as long as it doesn't
dwell on pain or injuries.

In my thriller film i used the implication of violence and harm through out.
The soundtrack added to the suspense and kept the viewers entertained.
The use of flashing images will also kept the audience hearts racing. The
use of swearing and sexual content was kept to a minimum. Overall my
clip is be suitable for 15 year old but also be entertaining for audiences
over the age of 18 - 25 years.
 Based on my questionnaire my Target Audience 77% of my target audience
was between the age group of 15-25. Both genders seemed to be interested
in thriller movies. Race and cultural differences did not seem to make a
difference in a persons view toward the genre. My target audience believed
that props were needed to create a realistic atmosphere in the movie.
Therefore i will be included props where i need them to create realism in my
clip. 60% of the people felt narrative was important in a thriller movie.
Therefore i want to have an exciting narrative for my movie, with different
themes and elements combined together. For example i will intertwine two
thriller sub genres together- supernatural and crime thrillers to create my
movie. When questioning my audience on whether they prefer colour or
black and white movies i was given a close to 50/50% answer, therefore i
shall decide what suits my thriller better. My audience seem to favour the
protagonist in a thriller movie, so i shall portray the protagonists is a
sympathetic and favourable light compared to the antagonist. My target
audience were very favourable to having dramatic music that matched the
violent visual images and having a contemporary and modern feel to the
video. I shall try to incorporate these elements in to my video.

Based on the Interviews my target audience seemed to like crime thrillers that
were based around the killers journey through the movie and how he would be
caught. One of the interviews results suggests the clues and investigations
create a great movie. The use of symbolisation through objects and various
other techniques therefore seems like a great idea in my thriller. The locations
chosen by my target audience seemed to be in isolated places or confined
spaces that created a sense of fear in the victim. The target audience all liked
the implication of violence in thriller videos if not the display of it. As i am a low
budget media student i have decided to imply violence in my thriller instead of
display it. I have also decided not to use swear words in my thriller, this allows
me to widen my target audience to the age of 15 and above. Over all i found
the interviews gave me in-depth knowledge on what my target audience expect
in a Thriller.
 5. How did you attract/address your
audience?
I attracted my target audience by using various
techniques and ideas they had suggested to me in the
interview and the results of the questionnaire. The
masked villain was a suggestion from a target audience,
therefore I incorporated this idea in to my thriller.
Through the use of mise en scene I have created a
gloomy and isolated atmosphere.
Using editing I was able to dim the white balance and
create more of a contrast in the visual images. This
created ore shadows in my thriller therefore adding to
the atmosphere. The use of locations also suggested by
the target audience have bee used to create suspense
and isolation so the killer can murder the victim without
being caught. 60% of my target audience suggested that
conventional thriller associated music is more preferable
to use in a thriller movie, consequently I have developed Voyeurism – I have used a
this idea using an instrumental track that adds to the beautiful actor to play the
suspense. Using various camera shots and movements I victim, this allows the
was able to create excitement and engage my target audience to feel more
audience as I was able to create an element of urgency attracted to her, thus they
and speed. feel more emotional when
she dies.
 6. What have you learnt about
technologies from the process of
constructing the product?
Trough out my thriller coursework I have been able to develop my understanding for media and have
learnt new skills too. Using a variety of different media products I was able to produce the opening
credits to a thriller movie. The journey led me to experiment with various technologies. For example the
Internet as a media was great when researching various other example of thrillers. Sites like You Tube
were helpful in gaining understanding of what a thriller opening sequel needs.

As a sole benefactor in my project I was able to gain a great amount of knowledge on all technologies.
The Video Camera was interesting to use as a I learnt various ways of filming and new camera shots
and angles. I learnt how to adjust the exposure for correct light intensity, I done some of my filming with
manual focusing to be able to control the depth of field with the aperture settings. Using various rules of
thirds and techniques of composition I have tried to create great camera shots of my scenes. The tripod
was also very important I found as I filmed as the shots were steady and looked more professional in
the end product.

When editing my footage I used programs; Final Cur Pro and After Effects. Learning how to use this
program at the beginning was difficult, however as I practiced various different techniques and toyed
around with the editing, I learnt new techniques on how to organize my footage, import my soundtrack
and use the transitions and effects to enhance my footage. The effects were especially fascinating to
experiment with, as they changed the atmosphere of the clip by using various colour filters. I learnt how
to editing my work overall to a clean cut and professional standard.
 YouTube is a video sharing. Videos uploaded
to YouTube by standard account holders are
limited to ten minutes in length and a file size
of 2 GB. When YouTube was launched in 2005 it
was possible to upload longer videos, but a ten
minute limit was introduced in March 2006
after YouTube found that the majority of
videos exceeding this length were
unauthorized uploads of television shows and
films.  website on which users can upload and
share videos.
research . .
. & Planning
I used you tube to gather research on the
thriller genre, from this I looked at the
conventions found in these videos and tried
to develop them with my ideas. I also used
you tube to analyse some music thriller
movie openings to see how they are
constructed. The use of camera work,
representation, editing, mise en scene and
sound in these movies are distinct to the
genre. Therefore it was an important
experience that taught me what I can
include in my thriller opening
construction . .
I used final cut pro when editing the thriller to
Final Cut Pro allows users create movies from a variety of file
sources. The sources can include digital video cameras, DV-
encoded movie files or a collection of pictures. The final result
can be written to DVD, CD, DV camera or saved as a file. Movie
imports video footage to the Mac using either
the FireWire interface on most MiniDV format digital video
cameras, the USB port, or by importing the files from a hard
drive. From there, the user can edit the video clips, add titles,
and add music. Effects include basic colour correction and video
enhancement tools, and transitions such as fade-in, fade-out,
and slides.
cut scenes and put them in order, then add
the transitions and after effects. With all the
film footage adding up to be over an hour
long. Through final cut pro we were able to
narrow it down to what scenes we needed to
create the music video. I found this editing
software to be easy to use after practice and
very proficient. The after effects program
helped give our music video a more
professional finish.
 A camcorder (video camera recorder) is an
electronic device that combines a video camera
and a video recorder into one unit. Equipment
manufacturers do not seem to have strict
guidelines for the term usage. Marketing
materials may present a video recording device
as a camcorder, but the delivery package would
identify content as video camera recorder.

Construction
& Evaluation…

As the camera women. I handled the camera

through out the construction stage and felt it
gave a professional finish to our film. With
high pixel quality and build in motion blur. I
found that combined with the tripod the video
camera gave us a steady film footage. We
also used the camera when filming out video
evaluation and music video commentary.
 A single-lens reflex (SLR) camera is a
camera that uses a semi-automatic
moving mirror system which permits the
photographer to sometimes see exactly
what will be captured by the film or digital
imaging system ,We felt that we needed
to use high quality images for our Digipak
and magazine advert so therefore this
allowed us to create professional looking
products.

I used the SLR camera through

out the clip. When researching I
took photos of images and
locations I liked then put together
mood boards with my images.
These mood boards inspired me
with the project. I also used the
SLR to take photos when filming,
making logs of my filming
sessions with a new media
instead of writing paragraphs. The
visual detail can be understood
better. I also felt through photos
research, Planning, people can understand my project
and feel more connected to my
ideas.
Construction and
Evaluation…
 Scribd is a document-sharing website
which allows users to post documents of
various formats, and embed them into a
web page using its iPaper format , iPaper
is a rich document format similar to PDF
built for the web, which allows users to
embed documents into a web page.

research,
Planning,
Construction and
Evaluation…
Scribd is a great website in which you can
upload PowerPoint presentations. These
power points can then be transferred to the
blog therefore creating a new media to
work with. I found it great using power
point presentations as they were more
interactive and you can include images
with the writing to allow the viewer to
understand your work. I used these when
researching about nightmares, doing my
evaluation and also when creating my story
boards.
Blogger is a blog publishing
system. It was created
by Pyra Labs, which was
bought by Google in
2003. The service itself is
located
at www.blogger.com, and
blogs that do not publish to
their own websites are
hosted by Google at sub
domains of blogspot.com.

The blog is when all the information through out

research, our project is uploaded. It is the mainframe of
our project, where all my ideas come together
to create a cohesive journey from start to finish.
Planning, I was able to combine various media on to the
blog and present out work.

Construction and
Slide was formed to develop and run a
service users would download for
their network browsers that would
organize photos on their computers
and post them to personal blog. Later,
Slide began to make application
widgets for online social network
platforms.  

Planning …
I liked using slide to make a picture
presentation. I used this in the planning
stage… for my locations
I found in fun and innovative as I was able to
edit the boarders, effects and styles.
Making the viewer more interested in the
blog. This method of uploading my
pictures was all to do with presentation.
 7. Looking back to your preliminary task, what do you
feel that you have learnt in the progression from it to
the full product?
From first experimenting with the video camera to creating a Final thriller product my journey has allowed me to
develop and progress in various ways. At the start of my coursework I was informed that I had to create a
preliminary video in which I had to follow specific camera rules to create a flow in my video. Using the 180 degree
rule I found it at times difficult to capture the scene. In my thriller filming sessions I used the 180 degree rule at
times as I found it did create a sense of flow from one shot to another with out create jumps or disorientating the
audience.

For my preliminary task the content was not important but rather the camera skills and editing. My plot for my
preliminary task was a women walking down some corridors in a college, she reaches a room walks in and sits
opposite to a man. He opens a brief case and then passes to the women. I wanted to create a flow from shot o
shot, but at times I felt that their seemed o be jumps in my video. In my thriller video I was able to correct y
mistakes from my preliminary task and use a large range of new camera shots and movements that would create
excitement in my video.

From my preliminary research and brainstorming sessions I learnt an effective way in which I could research and
plan the construction of my thriller video, Through the use of brainstorms, storyboards and audience research I was
able to combine the feedback and develop my own ideas on my thriller plotline. My preliminary task enabled my to
organise my self for the thriller project overall as I understood deadlines were important in keeping as editing and
filming can sometimes take longer than first anticipated.

My camera skills developed as from my preliminary task to my thriller video filming, as I was able to learn new
camera shots such as reverse shots, 360 degree shots and zoom in-zoom out shots. I improved on my composition
and framing to create the best shot possible. Furthermore I was able to master the use of manual focus on the
video camera, but found that I rather liked the location in the background as it created atmosphere.
For my preliminary task I did not use either diegetic or non diegetic sound as I wanted to focus on
experimenting with camera work and editing. Therefore I was able to learn more about sound and
experiment more with audio when creating my thriller movie opening. I wanted to create a connected
between the music's beat and the speed of the visual image at times. Therefore I learnt how to speed and
slow down my camera footage to suit the music I had chosen.

For the mise en scene I used artificial dim lighting and some natural lighting in the preliminary task as I
wanted to investigate whether the natural light of a cloudy day would have enough lighting for the quality of
my video to still be good. As a result I found the quality decreased, therefore when filming my thriller
opening I decided to film only on sunny days as I felt the that the best lighting was natural sun light and I
could edit the white balance later on and still keep the quality of the camera work. In the preliminary task I
did not have a set costume but in my thriller video I learnt that the costume allowed the audience to
understand what role the actor Is playing therefore I designed the right costume for each actor.

Over all from completing my preliminary task I have been able to develop and learn new skills, that have
allowed to me to create my thriller product. Using the skills that I had also exercised in my preliminary
video I was able to combine my knowledge and create the final thriller product using various technologies,
ideas, inspirations and methods.

I believe that the end product was shockingly good as I was able to meet the demands of the audience. I
also believe that my final production is close to the standard of professional products, taking into
consideration, that there is and immense contrast with the quality of the equipment, I also didn’t have the
financial support, technologies to create shots desired (steady cam), and the time frame they have. Taking
all these points into account I believe that my thriller is engaging and on point from the mese-en-scene
construction, editing, camera work and overall construction