Media Evaluation – 46 Horns Lane

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

Our crime thriller, ’46 Horns Lane’, has been developed on the idea of dark lighting to add suspense and mystery. This convention is used mostly in noir thrillers; such as Disturbia and Shadow of Fear. The dark lighting that is used helps to set the mood of the film, with light darkest during points of danger in the film. While the lighting used also represents the characters and their attitudes, mainly the villain - Curtis Clarke where the dark light shows his evil side. The idea for the location came from Essex Boys

and The Take,

with a British urban scene which is dimly lit with damp pavements being used in both. I chose to use this location as it signifies the gritty nature of British thrillers and reinforces the genre. The location also makes the characters seem more realistic and this is very important for audiences to identify with the characters. The idea for the costume of the villain was also taken from Essex Boys, with the character wearing sports trainers, jeans and black jumper. This shows the characters as a working class person, helping to make a connection with the audience. The camera angles used in the production develop on those used in real media products. The use of low and high angles shows the power of the character and how much dominance they have in the film.

I have used this in our own production, mostly in the closing stages, to create a fear of the villain, while showing the vulnerability of the victim. With The Take being a favourite show of mine and being highly rated by critics I decided that I wanted to represent crime in a similar way to how it was in The Take. I have used the basic idea of what The Take is based on and developed it into a new storyline.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

We have used two stereotypical social groups in our thriller, with each character differing from the way they are portrayed as in their stereotypical view made by the public. The victim in the thriller is a young male who is wearing a ‘hoodie’ along with sports tracksuits. The costume represents the stereotype of anti-social youths who terrorise their neighbours on council estates. With this character being the victim it challenges the stereotypical view that the ‘hoodie’ is always at fault and the person who is likely to commit a villainous act, not the one who is on the receiving end of it. While the fact that the victim is male also challenges the stereotypical view of males being the more dominant and stronger gender instead of females who are usually seen as vulnerable and weak, for example in films such as The Take. Curtis Clarke, the villain, has a disability with his limping leg follows the stereotypical view of disabled characters. Characters that have a disability are normal seen to be vulnerable and weak, but Paul Hunt of Stirling Media Research Institute identifies an disabled character to be evil or sinister at number 3 in the top 10. The past of the character shows that he is a strong, violent character. The ethnic colour of Curtis is white, this would of challenged the stereotypical view on the link between skin colour and crime in the 1970’s to 1980’s with black people situated with crime and seen as the problem of rise in crime.

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

Our media product would more than likely only get as far as being a ‘You-tube film’ or any other Internet websites. With it being a 2 minute opening to a thriller film for an A-level course production companies like Working Title Films or Warp Films would not be interested in funding and developing it into a feature film, with the exception of it being of an extreme high quality. Our film can be put up on You-tube, social networking sites and other Internet sites. These websites allow amateur film makers to put their short films up as a way of getting to get noticed, either their idea or themselves a director. With our thriller opening uploaded onto You-tube users would be able watch, rate it and then give advice/comments about what they thought of it. For the research stage of the film-making I used social networking sites to interact with people and find their beliefs on what attracts them to a thriller film, while also finding out their view on the film industry. This was done so I could make our film appealing to an audience, making them want to carry on watching the film to find out what happens at the end. I also used http://www.imdb.com/ to learn about target audiences of thriller films to see what type of people are mostly likely to be interest in watching the type of thriller that our group was making.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience that our thriller opening is most likely to appeal to is males aged from 20-35 as they are the same age of the characters in the film making a link between the audience and the characters. This is the target audience as this demographic group would find the film appealing because of the storyline is unique and exciting, but not being made excessive. A female audience may feel alienated however, as our thriller focuses mainly on male characters giving females nothing to relate or connect to. The audience would also watch crime television programmes like Spooks and real thriller films like The Bourne Trilogy because our film conforms similar aspects of these, such as the genre, lighting and narrative structure. Although with the thriller not being mainstream many viewers will judge the film without watching it as the budget is low and the actors are mainly unknown.

How did you attract/address your audience?

I researched a number of people to find what attracts them to a thriller film and films in general. I used the information that I gathered and included the features in our film to make our film as attractive to the audience as possible. When the film was finished I published our film on my ‘Facebook’ page to gain feedback. These are some of the feedback comments that I received; the use of hidden identities of characters is used well and adds mystery to the thriller making the audience ask question about how the killer got his foot injury and how the killer acquire his knife. The font used for the titles fit the genre of the film really well. The time elapses used for the tittles and action in the mise en scene are very effective. The soundtrack of the film gives it the feel of a detective film, such as spooks.

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

Before the project I had a limited knowledge of how to use a digital video camera. I now feel confident to use one and could easily pick one up and use it without any difficulties or problems. Digital cameras enabled me to immediately view the footage that we had just shot informing us if we had to re-shoot the scene. Using computers for editing (Adobe Premiere) allows the immediate capture of raw footage. Through reviewing this I could select the most effective sequences to include in the narrative. I have learnt massively about the importance of editing is in strutting raw footage into a readable narrative. The most important aspect of using a camera is how camera angles are used. I have learnt how they are used to project a hidden meaning, and how they effect what is happening in the mise-en-scene. I have also learnt how to use and maintain a Blog. With using a Blog I was able to store my work safely and organised while also show what I have done in a clear way, without the Blog my work would have to be shown written out on paper giving me a problem with carrying the work around at the risk of losing it all. Editing is very important in the production stage of film making, and by having to do this stage it has made me learn the importance of the narrative structure with how each shot is sequenced to tell a story clearly and effectively. The effects I have used, introducing non-diegetic sound and titles, have shown that these are a strong part of the film making process. I have merged two songs into one to go with the tempo of the action in the mise-en-scene in our production, one of the editing techniques that I have learnt along with cross cutting two pieces of video together to signify the change in the mood and atmosphere. Along with using a video camera, I also used a stills camera and a phone camera. I used these to take pictures for locations ideas for the thriller film, and to choose which location to shoot the film in. I have learnt that technology is very important in every stage of the making of a film, from planning and constructing the idea to editing the final shots and uploading onto the Internet.

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

In the preliminary task that I completed, the only problem with it was the film did not fit the 180 degree rule, while the planning was very brief and wasn’t posted onto my Blog. I have realised that everything that goes into the production has to be researched and written out as a plan. With the soundtrack having to be non-copyright this made the choice of appropriate soundtrack harder of that for the preliminary when it didn’t matter if the music was copyrighted or not. The individual contributions that I made towards the film making was doing all of the editing, being at every shooting of the production that was planned while my other group member was there for half of them, and the taking of the location photos. The planning stage of thriller was shared out with my other group member who thought of an idea while I developed them into a suitable idea that we could both agree on, before I’d write them up in a suitable way to be put up on the Blog. The main strengths of the production are the soundtrack, the camera angles used in the shots and the linking between some of the shots. The soundtrack is two tracks which I merged together to suggest the build up of suspense. The merging of the two songs helps to dictate the tempo of the production. The camera angles used in the production helps to show the difference between the villain and the victim, with the villain shown as a big dominating figure in the mise-en-scene and the victim shown as small vulnerable figure. The links between the shots make the narrative structure flow helping to tell the story of what is happening in the mise-en-scene. The weaknesses of the production is the acting of the main character, while some of the shots may be seen as too dark if watched in a brightly light room. The acting of the villain is very amateur and is over exaggerated, especially the character’s limp. This takes away the fear that the character holds and should put into the audience. The problem however was overcome by using slow motion to make the over acting look less obvious and to a member of the audience who doesn’t have a high knowledge of films or media then it wouldn’t be a problem.