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

Our film genre is that of thriller and we have worked within the sub-genre psychological thriller. It is based in an unidentified asylum facility, a hospital you might say, we did not identify the building deliberately for then we could create uncertainty, unfamiliarity which then caused the audience to be anxious.

 The main character is locked in a strait jacket along with that he is under watch from two guards who occupy an office down the hall from his cell, which shows the audience that he is a threat. The corridor in which he is held is pure white and as so is he along with his cell, the two guards are also dressed in white attire this was a key theme and element within our thriller opening. Together this all created a mise-en-sense which is common in the opening of a thriller genre film, specifically political and psychological thriller where people are incarcerated by forces.

The setting in which is specifically chosen to identify the characteristics of an asylum, with its underground tunnel arched ceilings and iron bars running throughout the ceiling, the small cell in which are main character is in is an establishing shot where he is positioned sitting symmetrically between the cell walls with a zoom in shot and quick zoom out shot. This is identified by the audience that he is trapped by these walls however the expression on the face of the character gives the audience an impression that he is not bothered, yet he is still bound by forces that the audience is not yet aware of, this creates the sense of enigma, which a main theme throughout thriller films. 

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our film was based around the idea of a criminally insane patient, a member of a minority social group in society. People classed as insane find it difficult to cope in society and I think people see them self as inferior to themselves which is wrong. People who are insane can be linked with such groups like mentally handicapped and physically handicapped because they are a small minority in society and are not represented in many media aspects.

How do we diagnose and categorize a person who is insane? In Victorian times Bedlam Mental Hospital was the first institution in the world to specialise in mental health, patients were driven to insanity rather than cured due to inhuman methods used by the employed doctors, and the doctors were unaware of effective techniques to cure mental patients.

 Our film will ultimately represent mentally ill people as dangerous and as a threat as you see our main character being locked up but escaping giving all kinds of possibilities at what he can do. It seems to create a sense of threat.

In our product we represented our main character as a criminally insane person; however being insane does not make them unaware or numb brained. He escapes from his prison which shows cunning and intelligence, he is also seen as a threat for some reason; however the audience still gains the feeling as if this villain is on their side, we call this an anti-hero, a prime example of an anti-hero is Daniel Radcliff in layer Cake a drug crime thriller.

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

We choose Lionsgate Production Company as the production company to distribute and advertise our film; they have a good history in being producers in films very similar to ours, films such as ‘The Haunting in Connecticut’, the Saw series and ‘The last Exorcism’. It also from 2007 onwards has been the most commercially successful independent film and television Distribution Company in North America.

Since the recent success of ‘The Kings Speech’ in America we as a group also thought it would be a smart idea to choose Lionsgate since they are an American production company. The success of the king’s speech shows that British film in America is very popular at this moment in time, so it would appeal to a more global audience if released in the US, also creating greater revenue.

Lionsgate also doesn’t just produce film but other different types of media, “We develop, produce and distribute a broad range of motion picture, television and other film”. This quote came straight from the Lionsgate official website and if you go on to the website investors section it shows that Lionsgate have made a profit of over one billion dollars since they started in 1995.

4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience for our Film will have to be above the age of 15 or over for we expect that the ‘British Board of Film Classification (BBFC)’ will rate it as a 15, although this puts us at a disadvantage for we cannot reach audiences below that age for profit from the beginning we were looking towards making a film that will shock and thrill our audience placing it in the thrill genre. I would say that persons who are interested in how the mind works would be intrigued by the film due to the motion picture looking deep into human thought, as well as lovers of thriller films since we included all the codes and conventions of what a true thriller film contains.

Lovers of films like ‘Clockwork Orange’ (Stanley Kubrick 1972) and the more recent ‘Shutter Island’ (Martin Scorsese 2010) we would also expect them to be a fan of ‘Memento Mori’ due to them having similar values and us using some of the ideas and camera shots from these films. We used the same the theme of ‘Shutter Island’ which is a psychotic thriller which follows a patient who is mentally ill throughout the film, however cleverly the audience does not find this out until the last film sequence which is a shocking twist in the film.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

I used several different ways in which to make audiences attracted and aware of the film which we had produced. This is a vital and key role in the producing of a film due to the film being at all successful audiences are going to need to hear and learn about your film in order to make them want to come and see it.

One of the ways I tried to attract audiences to my film was the use of the Secret Cinema model. This has been a hugely successful marketing device through which older films are screened along with various entertainments to audiences around London. Several weeks before each screening emails are sent to subscribers of secret cinema.org but the location of the event and the name of the film is withheld in order to keep peoples curiosity alive as well as its exclusivity.

“Secret Cinema is a monthly gathering of all that love challenging and groundbreaking cinema, screening mystery films in extraordinary locations.

www.secretcinema.org”

Nearer the time the identity is revealed and audiences are invited to dress up in a suitable genre. When they arrive they are treated to street performer’s music theatre and all sort of stage props recreate the mise-en-scene that relates to the film. There is a great sense of fun and spectacle.

In order to create awareness and build excitement I intend to invite people to participate in a private screening location is relevant to the film, such as an abandoned building or warehouse which then we will dress up as a mental asylum. This is because our film is a horror/thriller about a patient who has lost his mind.

On arrival audiences will be greeted by actors looking like the stereotypical patient or medical psychiatrist/doctor in order to create a sense of being within the actual film. We will also include trauma victims made up to lookalike the actors.

Other ways in which we would use to attract an audience would be through Facebook and twitter social networking sites. These hugely popular websites can spread word of anything attractive in media whether it is a new film, band or magazine. I personally set up an open Facebook group for our so people can receive up to date news on the creation of the film as well as which cinemas it will be showing at. Letting audiences know about your film is imperative in order to keep them interested and on the edge of their seats waiting to go and see it.

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

We have learnt and understood many new techniques in the creation of our final product, we have also learnt about technologies such as iMovie and garage band on the Imac computers in our classroom. As well as the technique in which to record film and set the camera angles up in the correct position and then place the film onto the editing equipment, I also as being a complete novice to the means of editing a film can now shift, cut, extend and put in transitions in iMovie.

We created original music from the Garage band application on the IMac to edit into our film to create suspense and atmosphere in our thriller movie, Quentin Tarantino once said that music is 95% of what makes a thriller a successful thriller film. We simply transferred the created track from garage band to IMovie and then edited it to fit along with the film shots.

Whilst editing the film shots, we discovered that we could edit the contrast, colour tones, saturation and brightness of different film clips. This allowed us to create different and less monotone film sequences, for example the eye shot in our movie was originally the normal colour that the camera picked up; however we changed it so a red glare was throughout the shot, this was edited to red because red is a colour code of warning or danger which the audience would recognise as being part of the thriller code.

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

I have learnt so much during my creating of our final full product. Compared to where I was when we had completed our preliminary task I have come on leaps and bounds, being able to function movie maker properly as well as understanding what stages you have to produce a film. I have improved as well in terms of camera angles and different shots which we did not have in the preliminary video. Our story boarding and ideas research was a lot more thorough in our film than it was in our preliminary as well.

Also we improved the setting and location of the film, there is a real sense of atmosphere in our film than there is in the prelim, the opening shots of a pure white mysterious tunnel with added dramatic music and a deep red eye right filling up the screen, compared to just a man walking up a stairs and opening a door to a dull darkened room with two other very plain boring men.

We improved from the prelim as well the music and editing of the film. It is a far smoother finish than the prelim with better diverse transitions and we did much research into which music to choose for our film, as well as the editing of the music alongside the film. We completed this all on our imac computer in which our prelim and film is saved on.