Evaluation 4 - Audience Profile

Audience Profile (Evaluation Activity 4) from JJJMedia96

Evaluation 2 - How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Evaluation Activity 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The character I have chosen to analyse is the killer in our thriller production. Throughout our film, he is shown as a mysterious and threatening individual, who’s only aim is to stalk and kill the innocent victim James. On evaluation of the final video, I thought that the killer from the film ‘Scream’ (1996) shared many similarities with the Killer character in‘Underpass’. I have compared the similarities and differences between the two, in an attempt to attract a wider target audience and fans of ‘Scream’, to watch our film, as well as thriller fans in general.

From instantly looking at the two characters, it is obvious they are both dressed head to toe in black. This gives the audience the idea of danger and death straight away, as these are the stereotypical connotations associated with black. This associates both characters as a symbol of death, and puts the audience on the edge of their seats throughout the thriller. Both characters also hold a sense of power and authority, as they have the ability to gruesomely kill the other innocent victims in their respective thrillers. The picture of the killer in ‘Scream’ standing behind Courtney Cox shows his method of killing is to approach his victim quietly, then attack when they are least expecting it. This is similar to our thriller, where throughout the film James (innocent teenager) is unaware he is being followed by a deadly hooded killer, seeking to end his life painfully. I also noted that in the film ‘Scream’, the killer would chase his victims after they attempted to run away, and this is also similar in ‘Underpass’ in which James, where he is literally running for his life.

However, there are some obvious differences between the characters. The killer in ‘Scream’ has a white, simple but scary mask totally hiding his/her identity, making the character unknown and adding yet another element of fear to the film, as no one knows who it could be. In ‘Underpass’, the characters face can slightly be seen, but is shaded by the hood. This also gives him a slight sense of hidden identity, however the audience can see that he is a teenage killer, perhaps giving them the idea of a deranged character, or there is something unsure and dangerous about his personality. Throughout the film ‘Scream’ the killer is constantly seen holding a long, sharp knife used to slice his victims with, usually resulting in his black costume caked with blood. In our thriller, it is clear the antagonist is carrying long bag with an item in it, and drops it whilst chasing James through the underpass. However there is an ellipsis in between where James screams as he’s about to die, and the CCTV shot of him lying dead on the floor. We chose not to include the killing, as we let the audience decide for themselves what happened, hopefully making our film more intriguing and having the desired ‘attached’ effect on the audience.

Due to us being 16 year old boys, we took influences from the same band of Social groups. We felt that this would allow us to reach out to our focus groups of teenagers, as this is who we targeted our thriller at. After watching the film ‘Scream’ we took inspiration from the killer, a young adult murdering fellow students at his college in America. We adapted this idea to our work, as the Killer murders James at the end of the thriller! This will hopefully have the desired effect of empathising with the audience, and putting the characters in their shoes.

Audience Feedback

Amy Lane, Lee Myers, Liz Taylor and Dan Button all gave us feedback after watching 'Underpass', and I jotted down their ideas. Below are what they thought.

Evaluation of Previous Students Work

Analysing other students work

In order to gain a wider understanding of what is required to attain the top grades in our coursework, I observed and analysed previous Year 12 students work, at Shenfield High School. The blog I chose to analyse was the ‘Twisted Nature’ group, who attained a grade ‘A’ for their coursework, therefore a good model to analyse. Using the official mark scheme, I observed the marking criteria for each presentation.

Video: I felt that the shots used throughout the thriller were appropriate when needed, and showed a range of skills and camera techniques. Some of the shots used at the beginning of the thriller made you ask a lot of questions as to what was going on, adding to the suspense and thrill of the opening. I thought the introduction of the cast was done in a stereotypical, thriller themed way, as they appear in a typewriter style theme, making for a tense and mysterious opening. On this note, I believe that the video techniques were excellent and kept me on the edge of my seat- everything you need in a good thriller. Therefore I would give ‘Twisted Nature’ a Level 4 for Video, as I believe it meets the guidelines of excellent creative use and correct shot transitions, as well as editing and sound.

Research and Planning: Each of the four group members produced sufficient and good quality work, sharing out a good proportion of work. I have highlighted this below, as all members of the group were invloved in many different tasks. When looking at the blog, I get the general gist that the students genuinely enjoyed working on the foundation project, and took time and care in writing and publishing their work. There were many ways used of publishing their work, such as videos, PowerPoints, and Prezi’s and almost all the work was detailed, good quality and relevant to the task. Therefore I would give another Level 4 to ‘Twisted Nature’.

Evaluation: I thought that ‘Twisted Nature’ addressed the evaluation task very well, highlighting their problems and struggles when filming their thriller, such as starting from the beginning mid way through the course. However I felt they dealt very well with this, and went on to produce a very good video and blog. They clearly had the appropriate IT and technological skills throughout the task to produce the final film, as well as a strong understanding of their target audience. Though there was one video where they were clearly unplanned and stuttered through it, I would give them another Level 4 for evaluation.

Overall, I would agree with the Exam Boards final evaluation of an A, due to a very good blog, marketing pages and the final video. The blog post's were all excellent, however I felt some of them were not diverse enough and needed more media products to present their work. Though I enjoyed 'Alice' I found it confusing and I didn't really engage with it. Due to these two negative factors, I would grade the group a mid ranged level 4, as I thought these two points were the only points that hindered the groups excellent coursework.

I enjoyed the thriller opening and I admit it was one of the stronger openings from the year group. I look forward to seeing the groups Advanced Project work in the future.

Film Influences

Before filming, I scoured the internet for similar thriller openings that we could employ to our own production. Our specific demand needed to be some sort of chase or stalking scene, as this is very common placed in our opening. The film we decided to base our thriller on is the 1991 film ‘The Silence of the Lambs’. The opening of the film is extremely relevant, as it shows Jodie Foster running through a deserted forest, with the camera tracking her, creating an air of anticipation and excitement as the audience is expecting something to happen, therefore tensing themselves and being drawn in. this relates to our thriller opening as we plan to film James walking alone down the near empty streets of Romford. However, after 1:40 of anticipation the audience discover infact that Foster is training for her FBI intuition, almost giving the audience a mixed sense of relief and disappointment, as nothing happened. (Known as a 'Dummy Scare.') This could signify a thrilling and exciting event to occur later on in the film, drawing in the audience and making it an effective thriller film. The dark, eerie background of the forest also plays on the stereotypical setting of a thriller, giving the character a sense of Impending doom and adding to the suspense of the opening. The camera shots used, such as mid shots, also present Jodie Foster as alone and isolated, making her appear vulnerable and helpless. The violin themed, high pitched music also adds to the mysterious and threatening opening to the thriller, keeping the audience glued to the screen in the simple thrill of the opening, an atmosphere we aim to create in our thriller.

Poster Influences

I researched and discovered these two appropriate thriller posters to base our own work on.  Due to the recent release and success of the Batman ‘Dark Knight’ films, I chose to model our poster on these designs, as they both share a relatively simple but powerful message, as both posters portray Batman standing away from the camera, masking his identity. This is relevant to our original idea of a poster, as James is standing on the train platform awaiting the oncoming train, whilst a man in a black hood is standing behind him, oblivious to James and instantly telling the audience that the film follows the conventions and iconography of a stereotypical thriller- mystery, death and excitement. Like Batman, I am dressed in a black hood, symbolising death and danger, and signalling I am a powerful character throughout the thriller. The Mise en scene of the posters are also based in a dark environment, linking to our thriller poster in which we have James standing isolated on a desolate platform, unaware of my presence.

On the left hand side, the poster shows batman looking out over the city. This could symbolise that Batman is in control and owns the city, similar to my character in our thriller, who knows exactly what he wants to do and is in control of his territory and surrounding area.

I have also noticed the slogan at the top of the poster on the right hand side. This short sentence is effective and powerful, as it gives the audience a taste of what to expect in the film and adds to the poster, in an attempt to engage with whoever reads the poster and encourage them to watch it. We are considering adding this technique to our poster, as it gives a short synopsis of what to expect in our film, and should draw the reader in.

 Joel Guest

Risk Assessment

I designed a risk assessment to ensure maximum safety whilst filming 'Underpass'. This assessment ensures that all group members are as distant from any danger as possible whilst filming.

Joel Guest

Characters PowerPoint

Characters PowerPoint

Characters PowerPoint from JJJMedia96

Joel Guest

Location

Location- Marketplace                 Location- Underpass

The above links show a short walkthrough of two of our locations for our thriller production. . Recorded by Joel Guest, on the 8th March 2012.

Joel Guest

Blogger for iPhone

We have downloaded the Blogger for iPhone app, enabling us to upload posts directly from our iPhone's. This is an efficient and quick way of updating our blog, and shows technological convergence from Google, the designers of Blogger.

Published by Joel Guest

Twitter Page

      

We are now on Twitter! 

Check out the official page at:

@MediaJJJ

We have created a Twitter Page for our thriller production, in an attempt to connect with our followers and fans who are interested in our production. The page is administrated by all 3 members of the group, and we will be posting and uploading news and the latest information on our upcoming short thriller film.

Published by Joel Guest

Focus Group - Teachers

In this podcast - Joel chats to Mr Goodacre and Ms Weeden from the Business department at Shenfield High School to discuss Thriller films.

Demographics

Demographics by Joel Guest

Cape Fear Analysis

Prelim Log - Pre-Production

Pre-Production by Joel Guest

Year 13 Advice

Year 13 Advice by Joel Guest