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

I feel that I have came a long way since my preliminary task. Im more confident when it comes to filming where as before I was unsure about it. During the filming of our opening sequence we used my camera, by doing this I found it more easier to film because I was familiar with it all.

How did you attract/address your audience

need to make video.

Who would be the ideal audience for your media product?

My initial audience profile:

Music:

Clothes:

Tv programmes:

The reason why I would rate my thriller as an 18 is because of the use of violence and criminal actions as our film is based on a kidnap. Also there may be possible explicit sex scenes, reason being because there are two males holding hostage a young female. Once again this would be of a violent nature.

JICNARS scale:

I would think that people from the B,C1 and C2 part of the scale would watch my film. These classes consist of 69% of the population. I believe my film is not really aimed at one particular class, I feel that anyone could really watch it which is why I chose the classes that make up most of the population. Not only are these the most common classes but they are also the most wealthy, therefore they are able to afford to pay to watch this at the cinema.

Psychographics:

I would think the type of people that would watch my film would be Strivers and Contented conformers. Strivers attach importance to image and status, wanting to enable acceptance in their peer group but they also hold onto traditional values. The reason I think this type of personality would be drawn to my film is because it shows characters of a higher status, with power and in control. I believe people who watch this would be strivers who want to aspire to this powerful role, possibly looking up to them because of their status, in belief that what they are doing is 'cool' however it is not, it may only seem this way to possible young adults who want to be this powerful figure. However most people may just be Contented Conformers wanting to be 'normal' accepts themselves. They are content and comfortable in what they do, therefore watching this type of film may not influence them in anyway as they accept who they are and don't crave anything more.

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

During the process leading up to the creation of my thriller opening, I have experienced the use of different technologies all with different purposes which when put together, allowed me to create my opening. In order to record all my research and planning, I used blogger. This website allows me to create posts showing my ideas, explaining my thoughts and also expressing my work visually therefore I find it very useful to record my work and alsoeasy to use as it is more suited to the subject as it allows me to upload pictures and videos etc.

In order to create our opening, we had to use various technologies to

make sure we got the perfect shot we wanted. One of these is a tripod. By attaching a camera onto the tripod, it allows us to film with steady shots therefore there was no shakeyness that often happens when holding a camera yourself. The legs on the tripod support it, making it well balanced firmly on the ground so our shots were sure to be still.

Also with the adjustments at the top where the camera rests, we were able to add mobility, giving us the choice to add pan, tilt or crane the shotwithout it being too shakey. Whilst using this equipment, I feel like I have developed my skills. I first used a tripod in my prelimanary task, and since filming our opening, I feel more comfortable handling it. However there was one point were we had to use this equipment incorrectly.

During this shot we wanted to get right up to the car window. Zooming in just didn't give us the look we wanted. So to resolve this we closed the tripod legs, tilted the camera upwards and held the tripod horizontaly infront of us so it was then resting on the cars surface. From then we zoomed the camera slightly in and out, showing either one of both characters.

Another piece of

equipment we used was a figrig. This adds extra stababilty to our shots however it is not the same as a tr

ipod. It allows us to hold the camera ourselfs and

doesnt restrict the area we can film in because with a Fig Rig you can walk about with it and move it more freely. We only used this equipment

in one shot where I walked fastly along side the isle, towards the protagonists. It was the first time I had used this making it new to me.

As I also take photography, I took this to an advantage and decided to use my own camera, a Nikon D5000. The outcome of this is that our film is of better quality. Personally I found it easier to use just because I am used to handling it, however not often I have used it for filming so it was still a bit of a challenge. By using this technology it has allowed to produce something creative as we were able to adjust the depth of field was filming. An example of a shallow depth of field is the shot of the trolly wheels. The subject only comes in focus once it is in short distance of the lense. We also played with the focus in our last shot by shooting the car driving away, then adjusting the lense to gradually become out of focus causing the lights to be blurred. By doing this it adds creativity to the shot.

The final piece of technology we use

d was the macs. This technology was crucial because it invloves the programs needed to edit our footage - iMovie and Live type. These two technologies needed careful use as it is what we used to put our film together.

I had previously used iMovie when editing my preliminary task, therefore I was familiar with how it works. Here is a screen shot of us editing our film:

Whilst working on iMovie, not only could we edit our film but we could also add sound. Even though this program came with sound effects, we chose to use the website 'www.freesound.org'. Reason being because it gave us more of a variety of sounds which are free from copyright.

Here are the steps of how to download a sound off this website:

Once we were happy with our opening and had finished all of our editing, making sure that the shots flowed together and the sound was in sync, we then imported our work onto Livetype which was the final step. Livetype allowed us to create titles on top of our film. We were able to choose different fonts and pick through a variety of transitions as to how the title appears on the frame. We also used Livetype to create our production company logo. Here is how we created it:

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

Before creating our thriller opening, we looked at a variety of media products, learning about the typical conventions included in this genre. I learnt that thrillers are usualy based on an odd event taking place in a normal typical setting. This is why we chose to shoot our opening in B&Q. It is extremely relevant to our story line and is a typical well known DIY store however it is being used to purchase items for a kidnap which is unexpected.

- contact sheet of shots from my thriller against shots from a real film.
- discuss the overall look (mise-en-scene)
- numbered then wrote about underneath.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

In our film, we looked at the stereotypical representations of gender. We show both genders, male and female in our film however the male is represented as a more dominant character because this is a stereotypical opinion, males having the more powerful role. In most films, we see males as often the criminals, the ones that the plot is based around in sinister type films. Here is an example of films with powerful male protagonists.

As our film is a thriller, we show 2 males off to kidnap a young women making the female seem intimedated and helpless which is the stereotypical opinion of females. They often play the innocent role however they are usually the ones in trouble, in the centre of the situation which is the case in our thriller. In our casting, we have portrayed the male as being a powerful and controlling by choosing tall characters which gives the feel of them towering over the girl, reinforcing their intimidating role. We also portrayed this in our camera angles, and the posture of the subjects walking.

This shot is taken from a lower level, as the characters approach and walk pass, their scale increases. Also their expression is very stirn and determin reflecting the fact that they are on a mission and they are in control.

This shot shows their posture whilst walking. We can see this more by the protagonist on the right, his step seems firm and his posture is quite masculin, reflecting a stereotypical appearance of a male criminal - tough and confident.

Not only did we look at the stereotypical male profile, we also included stereotypical female qualities. For example, we show the young women leaving her house for a night out which is often what younger females of that age do, party and have nights out. Most woman are very conscious of their appearance and care about the way they look, I have portrayed this by showing a shot of the girl putting on her makeup.

Ethnicity is also relevant when analysis this opening. The main characters are of different races - black and white. They are working together in order to carry out a kidnap. This challenges the ethnical stereotype as it is unusual to see these two different races working together. Also it is usually more likely to be someone from a darker ethnicity playing the part of the criminal, mainly because this is the stereotypical opinion. However by including both races in our opening it shows that this isn't always the case.