dear examiner

This has been my thriller blog and contains my full evaluation of ym finished product. This expresses my full experience of learning the conventions of thriller products and using this information to recreate my own thriller piece  yours sincerly Josh AKA the kingpin

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

When we planned our preliminary task we didn't think about all the unanswered questions in the storylines . The. We were wary not to make the same mistakes when planning our thriller opening sequence. As a group we came up with similar concepts, and we incorporated aspects of each person's ideas and used them in our script. The good thing about the end idea was man-on-the-run as we have all watched a great amount of films which follow this genre such as Snatch.
  

from the preliminary task we shot a scene were one of the characters walking away from the camera. We felt that this was very successful so when considering shot for the thriller opening we decided to re-create this shot as it was a good way of using a long shot incorporating movement without moving the camera and creating the amateur affect. When writing the storyline we decided to try and include a passage were a character would be walking a away from the camera and in the final product it was very successful.


compared with the shots used form the initial preliminary task there have been many marked improvements. When holding a conversation in the preliminary task we chose to use over the shoulder shots, this made it difficult when showing from the two characters reaction a created a lot of excess editing. when evaluating this from the preliminary task in the final product we decided to cross cut the conversation between characters so there was less chance of breaking the 180 rule of loosing continuity by having the character shift out of position.


After deciding on a storyline, we began work on our script, we tried to limit the amount of dialogue and in the end it only included the short exchange between the kingpin and the henchman over the phone. we then began work on the storyboard.This required  more contemplation as we had to decide how to introduce characters, the best way to finish the sequence, and finding an appropriate location. The storyboard took around two hours to complete together, as we had to work out many factors, but we were eventually successful.

In our first shoot we all came wary after learning from our mistakes from the preliminary task . The main problem which we would have to deal with was the continuity. This is something we were conscious to correct throughout the shoot. In our opening sequence we also used a wide range of shots in comparison  to our preliminary tasks, which consisted of mostly midshots and point of view shots. The point of view shot used in our opening sequence was more appropriate than when this shot was used in the preliminary task and was more relevant. The many camera shots we used included pan shots, a tracking shot, an establishing shot, longshots, midshots, a point of view shot, close ups, an extreme close up and a high angle shot from a rooftop.

By the end of production i was quite pleased with the finished product as it took a lot of time and effort putting together the final video. In comparison to the preliminary task which contained a lot of amateur mistakes that wouldn't occur if i were to do it again.

Evaluation Question 6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing the product?

evalutaion question 5 :How did you attract/address your audience?

Evasion included many conventions to attract the desired target audience. The main point when trying to attract a particular audience, is to make references that only their sub-culture, rather than wider society, can relate to. This makes small groups of people with a strong identity feel understood, and they are usually very enthusiastic about the rare movies that express their attitudes and way of life.The use of social networking sites such as Twitter were used to canvas ideas and opinions for Evasion.This was used to show questionnaires and for feedback and response.

 The easiest way to make specific references to small sub-cultures is through the mise-en-scene and the language. We used some slang in the script of Evasion such as the line "My man won't know what hit him" but did not take this idea too far as this could be considered unprofessional because it may repel more people than it attracts, especially people such as film critics, whom are unlikely to be part of the target audience and therefore may become uninterested if there are lines which they do not understand.This could lead to negative feedback and less of the target audience would be likely to watch Evasion due to the bad reviews. 

The whole cast are young males in the UK which would make this audience feel greatly represented and understanded, and of course two sides are shown, the pursuers; who were the more evil people in the script, and in contrast; the supposedly innocent man-on-the-run. Other aspects that the target audience can relate to are the appearance of the characters, which include popular fashions among young men in the UK who follow the urban sub-culture, and the setting which of course portrays a typical neighbourhood on the outskirts of London, which would look similar to where many of the target audience who have grown up or lived in a city or the outskirts of for a large portion of their lives. 

Some scenes such as the one where the kingpin is speaking in a hostile manner to the henchman over the phone, may appear quite shocking to older generations who in some cases would not expect to hear such aggressive speech towards so that lead to negative response. The portrayal of a gun in the film also may appear shocking to these people as most UK residents have never seen a gun on the streets, which is of course an idea incorporated in our movie. 

The audience sees the storyline from the perspective of the henchmen if anyone. The only point of view shot used is one of the henchman watching the man on the run crossing a road. The viewer, following the henchmen's characters would develop an opinion, and hope for the man on the run to escape, as they can see the henchmen's and kingpin's aggressive attitudes and violent intentions, which would put them off the character. This idea of the audience developing a preference of a certain character, and siding with them, would make them more intrigued by the movie, and create more suspense when their favourite character is in danger of being captured or killed.

evaluation 4: who would be the audience for your media product

evaluation 3

evaluation question 2

evaluation question 2 on Prezi

evaluation question 1

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

Above is a 9 frame sequence that has been screen grabbed from our opening sequence which we feel portray typical thriller conventions. 

Here are the aspects I will consider across the nine frames:

• Setting and Location
• Titles (fonts/style)
• How the characters are introduced
• Lighting
• Genre and how the opening suggests it
• Camerawork/Editing
• Costumes/Props
• The title of the film
• Story and how opening sets it up

Frame 1

The shot is a crane shot of the kingpin at his desk doing what appears to be uninteresting but this sets the scene as he is a very dangerous criminal and the best way to not be be immediately found out is to act casual and passive which is a theme with many criminal bosses in films such as the departed and the Bourne ultimatum. 

Frame 2

The second frame begins to unfold the mystery that is the Kingpin as you can tell by the concentration and annoyance in his facial expression that he is angry. The extreme close up pulls emphasis to this as he face takes up the entire shot so that nothing can steal focus. This was chosen because we thought it would be most affective to create an enigma as we have not yet been introduced to the man-on-the-run.

Frame 3

We are introduced to the first of the henchman and the one that the kingpin is shouting at. He has the look of stereotypical working class male. As the character is on his own, it suggests to the audience that he is one of the main characters. There are not other characters in the scene, therefore putting all the attention on the male, which was our intention. This further enhances the enigma of who are they trying to catch..

Frame 4

The fourth panel is a reverse shot of the second henchman 'Knuckles' who is the driver and the self titled "Hardman". This shot is used to hide his identity until he is called into action to assist in the chase. This is a convention of the thriller genre as until the point were it would be impossible certain characters' identities are hidden. 

Frame 5

This frame is of the still unknown driver to the audience. The shot shows him driving into the shot and this shows the intent of the chasers has now increased as the man-on-the-run has been spotted. the shots used for the car are all simple medium shots so that the henchman has head room when he exits the car and the car still remains part of the focus. this is similar to the shots used in 'Snatch'.

Frame 6

This frame shows a long shot of the two henchmen running after the man on the run. We chose to use this in our sequence so that we would be able to capture the chase scene in one shot and it adds prospectus as the  characters are running through a busy street in the middle of the day and there is police or people to stop them because the areas in which we shot were meant to represent the crime hit parts of the city were the police are nowhere to be seen and  the rough street people are free to do as they please.

Frame 7

This shot was of a medium long shot and shows are man on the run trying to do whatever he must to avoid capture. This shot was used so that the complete stunt could be captured and the man on the run identity still isn't clear and we chose to continue to protect it so that the enigma of the film was not given up in the early stages of the film which wold possibly ruin the narrative expectations and make the story line predictable and dated.

Frame 8

 This frame shows are henchman who have temporarily lost the man on the run . As they are running into the shot none of the rules of camera work as they centered so they do not break the rule so it seems as though they are pushing the camera along. They have enough head room and rule of thirds has been mastered in this shot. The shot allows the characters time to pursue the characters without disappearing from view. This uses the convention of thriller movies which has chase scenes where there is a hot pursuit to capture the man on the run.

 This shot has the convention of the cornered man as three henchman have the man on the run seemingly trapped and it seems as though there is nowhere for him to run to. This convention is often used used in man-on-the-run films such the Bourne supremacy were the main character Matt Damon is seemingly trapped in the hotel by the waves of armed police and he still manages to get away. This is also used in Evasion as even though the man has been surrounded he takes the unorthodox path of escape by scaling a wall and becoming out of reach for his enemies.

In Evasion, many thriller conventions are exhibited . As our sequence was a crime/man-on-the-run thriller, one convention which would be expected and was incorporated into our sequence, is a chase scene. Our chase scene through the streets is similar to many chase scenes in similar movies such as the bounre identity, and captures the audience from the start. 

The use of a gun as a prop when the henchman is pursuing the man on the run, also showed a generic convention of a crime/action thriller. One aspect which may be considered to challenge the conventions is the fact that the man on the run was identified from the very beginning of the movie, setting up the rest of the movie for a hot pursuit in throughout the movie, and over the course of days rather than weeks, as the man has already come close to being captured and clearly after the opening sequence would only have a matter of time before his pursuers find him again. This could set up a in-depth of how the man is on the run.Another way that Evasion challenges conventions is that the people chasing the man on the run were not police chasing a vigilante, as is often the case, but seemed to be a small group of young criminals chasing another young man. This adds mystery to the plot and suggests that the pursuers are criminals wanting to capture the man for other reasons than to uphold the law, but probably something more along the lines of interrogation or revenge for a past regretted incident. Evasion cleverly uses all the conventions expected in an action/ man-on-the-run thriller.

Editing

After looking ove the feedback given on Evasion on youtube a view slight edits need to be made to the soundtrack and timmings of Evasion. I will be using final cut to rectify these certain mistakes and improve  The final product.

feedback

This was the feedback given from a fellow media student given after watching evasion with a critical eye

at 0:46 when Josh throws the phone, he stands there for too long, this should be cut

works well, not confusing...not feeling the random sirens though! soundtrack is brilliant, however the random drums added should be left out...editings good apart from 2:04 - 2:05 the jump isn't great but this is all minor. overall really good! soundtrack can be repetitive and a bit quiet sometimes though.

This has all been taken into account and will be asssessed during the editing session available

filming

On set today as our group intends to rectify certain errors made during initial filming spotted in editing. We are going include an establishing during the beginning of the scene before the chase so there is a stronger element of setting the scene. There will also be a wider a variety of shots used that we forgot to use during initial filming such as more close ups panning shots and more angles instead of using simple long shots for most of the sequence.

soundtrack edit

soundtrack edit

This is the soundtrack edit we did using garageband. We used 3 instruments (church bell, bass drum and snare) and played an intro which falls into time with the instrumental imported after. After using the initial soundtrack of rusteeq we decided that it would appropriate to add a section with instruments to play in the opening titles and then fade into the initial soundtrack. After listening to the song we were able to recreate the loop using the the software on garage band to create the various sounds in the track. we then listened to the edited soundtrack and played it alongside to rough edit of the sequence to see where rusteeq could be layered or edited to fit the mood. We now intend to make the necessary changes to the soundtrack to create an improved version of what we already have.

props

As are opening sequence consists of of a man being chased by hit-men we thought that it would be appropriate for our characters to be in possession of weapons. This would fit the mise-en-scene as out characters are meant to be dangerous men and carrying guns would give the impression that these are violent people who are about to kill. We had to ask for permission from the local police to film with weapons as pulling out fake guns on the street could have caused distress to local bystanders and may have encouraged irrational behaviour. due to this we decided to make the visibility of these weapons limited to stop unwanted attraction.

todorov's five stages

I robot
Equilibrium- Detective Spooner is going about his daily duties as a police officer


Disruption- the robots are not obeying the three laws and are attacking humans and causing chaos

Recognition of Disruption- Detective Spooner notices a set of robots jumping of a hanger and destroying his car and disobeying the three laws

Attempt to Repair Disruption- Detective Spooner enlists the help of a scientist who is an expert in robots and a robot called Sunny who has the power to resist the three laws and to not attack humans. They go to the industry were the dangerous robots are being controlled from and take on the person or the computer responsible for the robots violent behaviour and disobedience. 

Restoration of Equilibrium- Detective Spooner manages to reset the computer known as Viki who has been causing the robots to act up  and resumes his normal job as a police officer