Evaluation questions

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

The opening sequence of Review is predominantly a long take/wide shot and research into both Hollywood and low-budget thrillers use long takes to create enigma and suspense, for example in Fargo (1996). The opening sequence of Fargo, there is use of long takes, wide shots and a dramatic metaphorical mise-en-scene. Fargo opening shots create a sense of isolation. This is a psychological concept that disturbs the audience and makes the mind feel uneasy. We also obeyed the rules of having a powerful male figure, dominating the frame, wearing a suit, in an office; satisfying the audiences’ expectations of a Gangster thriller. Revue is conventional of British Director, with a British Crew but with Big Studio backing e.g. Warner Brothers backing Guy Ritchie’s RocknRolla. It has clear references to the time period e.g. 1950s magazines, projector and film reel. The titles used are the conventional small white writing on black background like a Hollywood Studio would use. We have developed the style of Quentin Tarantino who we originally planned to imitate but instead of using his signature brighter, blocker colours, we have used a softer more gold light.
The camera remains in the same place, position and angle throughout the sequence to create an uncomfortable intensity for the audience which is conventional for a real media product. We obey Tristin Torodov’s theory of the opening act of a film and put across a balanced equilibrium – normality. The film is a typical film noir which involves crime, gangsters, sexual taboos, twisted relationships and macguffins (twists). Film noirs tend to portray “spider” women, who weave dangerous paths for the troubled men. We wanted to put this across ion our thriller so we have an attractive, scantily dressed woman and a sleazy man who communicate without conversation and draw the audience into their world.



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

By definition, all media texts are representations of reality and are entirely artificial versions of the reality we perceive around us. The “re-presentation” by the media and interpretation by the audience is known as mediation. Mediation is the way in which the reality is selected, shaped and presented by the agency to the audience. This is connected with the concept of stereotypes which reinforce common ideas about people. They can be dangerous and often negative (especially in the thriller genre) and a wide section of society is branded by a few signs. For example in our media, the man is represented as a sleazy, gangster type as he switches on a porn film and this is before we connote anything about his owning the Burlesque club. The woman is immediately branded a prostitute or burlesque dancer as she is wearing a corset and underwear. Simple stereotypes can be communicated quickly and cheaply and get the idea of the characters across within the first few moments.
Our media represents the under-ground networking of the 1950s, with dancing girls and drinking, rowdy men (heard offstage). The night clubs then were still seen as obscene and dodgy so this adds an element of excitement to the piece and we see the dark, sexual taboos and dangerous obstacles that arise in this world.



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


We feel our film could go either way and be a small, low-budget British film, focused on character development or a high-budget Hollywood film with British Director and Crew bought in for realism and typical British voyeurism and intrigue. We feel this because of the brave choices made with the editing that is typical of English films (like the long shot) that an American Director probably would not use as he wants the pace and action of the film to be constantly on-the-go.

Revue is conventional of British Director, with a British Crew but with Big Studio backing e.g. Warner Brothers backing Guy Ritchie’s RocknRolla. They would bring the big advertising campaigns (viral and otherwise) to make the product known to audiences. This can be difficult as if the film is marketed wrong then the film will flop as the wrong people will be informed of the film and the people who would watch the film will be insufficiently informed. This would then result in fewer people knowing bout the film and thus less people watching the film as they do not know about it, and so the film will make less money.

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

Thrillers are generally particularly popular with the under 25s but we personally our aiming our product at a wide scaled male population due to the violence and explicitness of some of the scenes that would occur later in the film. Most probably lower middle class to upper middle class men and students. The movie would be rated 18 and have a psychological, adult storyline that children would not understand or be frightened by. Our movie would be also being aimed at the C2 demographic due to its psychological style. The film would also be aimed at film buffs that don’t go to the cinema that often but visit film festivals. A good time to release the film would be around September or October, as it is not a specific seasonal setting but as it is a small budget feature, by releasing it at this time, its short run in the cinema would provide perfect timing to bring the film out on DVD for the Christmas period. As a low-budget feature, we would be looking to make between 500,000 and 1,000000 because we have lower advertising costs equalling decreased awareness about the film.

5) How did you attract/address your audience?

What we intended in our film was to create a mode of address that was serious yet mysterious and intriguing to our audience. By following the typical British Film convention of following character development rather than action scenes, it appeals to the intelligence of the films viewers. We have done this by giving the piece an enigmatic tone and dangerous, edgy quality that asks for the intelligence of the audience and for them to appreciate the creativity of the product as a whole as well as to enjoy the film as it was primarily created for. The avid film buffs and festival goers the film was aimed at would appreciate the creative side of the film.
The use of enigmas and lack of clarity for the audience are both affective and appealing as nothing is given away in the opening sequence. We don’t attempt to force feed our audience information and the sequence allows them to relax into the film whilst keeping them wondering what is going to happen. The thriller is mainly psychological but contains elements of gangster thrillers and a strong acknowledgement of film noir, so technically, this film has scope to attract a wide range of audiences. We have also attracted the majority of our audience by casting a young, attractive, scantily dressed blonde to allure the male population. Another aspect we have addressed is the historical and political setting of our film which would attract admirers of the 1950s and even, perhaps modern audiences that are interested in burlesque, made popular by Dita-Von-Teese.


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

Whilst constructing our thriller sequence, I have learnt the detailed effects on Final Cut pro such as how to change the opacity of the YouTube video and to create fluidity between the video and the titles by using fades in and out and over-lapping the YouTube image with the captions to produce smoothness. We did a sound workshop and learnt that to create realistic sounds it was all about layering. We have several recorded folly sounds such as the clinking glasses and we found the sounds of the club, footsteps and knocking on a wooden door on the school sound bank. We then had to layer this with the music, which has been changed over time as we learnt more about linking the signs of the product and creating an overall package. We played around and discovered how to muffle the sound when the door was shut and then raise the level when the door was open so you could hear the cheering crowds over the music.
At the start of the product we didn’t really have a detailed knowledge of camera use but when filming, we learnt how to focus the camera properly and keep things in shot properly and how to balance the shot in a professional way.

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 how to competently use Final Cut Pro and how to layer and create fluidity within a sequence. I have also learnt the correct order of titles and how to construct a conventional thriller with different types of techniques such as titles. I have also learnt how to use a camera, and studying in class different angles/camera movements and how you can use them to connote different meanings has helped me develop my knowledge of using a camera. Also, we have now learnt target audience, different institutions and how to market a product.
In our preliminary task we just used the lighting in the room and did not add in any effects or sounds so I have developed onto using folleys and other types of sound as well as using a score and recording sounds and placing them over the top. When it comes to sound, it is all about layering. When recording our final product we used professional lighting and we figured out where to put it to make it look more natural. Overall I think I have learnt a great deal about the media in the progression to my final task and have developed my skills in all areas.

Editing and Product

Editing the project

We all have specific ideas about what we think looks good and have tried many different combinations of video effects to create an authentic 1950s feel. Our main problem with editing has been the projector video of the dancing burlesque girl. We at first had her filling the whole screen but realised this was pointless as you could not see anything we had shot originally. We then fiddled around with her opacity and found that if she was too light then you couldn’t really see her and she looked like a ghost and if she was too dark then you couldn’t see through her.

Whatever we tried, somehow she did not look right but then we started fiddling around with the size and placed her directly in front of the projector so it actually looked like a video was being projected onto a wall (as intended). The next problem we had to overcome was now, the projected video was in a white square, hiding the projector and looking like a solid block of white in the middle of the screen. Again we lowered the opacity so you could see the projector light shining through her and experimented with video effects to change the shape of the inner frame. We decided on soft-blur and oval so you could not see a distinct shape but just the girl’s projection.

Specifically, we are having problems with the flickering of the projection and even with the flicker filter on highest it does not look authentic. When we have finished on Final-Cut Pro, we are going to add extra flickers to the project to make it seem realistic and time-related to how moving pictures were at the time. The background colour of the projection is white, so at first we went against the typical thriller conventions of white writing on a black background and reversed it, but after making the girl smaller, we found it looked odd to cut to white so converted to the typical convention and found it looked a great deal better.

Rhythmic and Temporal relationships
We have gone for continuity editing as we wanted to create a narrative and we have employed hidden cuts to sow together time for the appearance of continuity.


Graphic relationships
We used lighting to create shadows and our titles mixed with the YouTube sequence, the patterns of light and dark of the image appear underneath the title like looking through a keyhole.



FINAL CUT OF 'REVUE'



AUDIENCE FEEDBACK


Archie: the continuity is very good. the sound really adds to the character and the sets the age very well. good use of costumes and props.

Greg: The long take really explores the magic of film. The camera points in one direction but infers loads of different things and creates different dimensions.

Tor: The costume and props in the mise-en-scene are effective in setting the time and creating an atmosphere. I liked the editing where the projector was superimposed onto the frame as it conveyed the idea of multiple places.

Tom: i liked the superimposing of the dancing girl. it worked very well and set the scene. it was interesting in the way that the camera never moves throught the sequence. i liked the use of the rule of thirds.

Gio: I think Revue has been one of the best sequences I've seen. This since the superimposing of the girl dancing was very well framed onto the screen. Also the sound bridge between the conversations on the background and the music worked extremeley well.


My Analyisis of Audience Feedback
I'm very happy with the audience feedback and glad that the long shot has been mentioned as that was one specific thing we set out to do, a long shot creates tension and enigma therefore adding to the feel of the piece. Also, the mention of the framing of the Youtube footage dancing girl was important as we worked hard to create the right opacity, position and shape of her. I wish someone had mentioned how seamless the editing was within the long shot but then again it is perhaps good they didn't as it was supposed to be unnoticed!
When creating a product you set out to make a believeable concept so it is good people have mentioned the mise-en-scene and the costumes as we wanted them to be as authentic as possible. Greg mentioned the way we created "different dimensions" and this is exactly the reading we wanted. We wanted to create a world where people were intrigued, scared and curious about what was going on behind the door. Overall, the audience feedback has been fantastic and our prefered reading has been achieved.