Wednesday, 19 April 2017

Q5 - How did you attract/address your audience?

With the target audience for our thriller being relatively young we decided to target them through the use of social media for example, we set up a Facebook page account for our thriller and updated it regularly with information pertaining to our thriller. we also created a Twitter account for thr thriller and released information gradually through there. We made promotional images that were to be posted on these accounts as a form of marketing hoping that they could be shared by users as to spread the word of our thriller. On YouTube we created an account and slowly released teaser trailers and behind the scenes videos as to build up anticipation for our thriller.

Q4 - Who would be the audience for your media product?

The main target demographic for our thriller opening is people form the ages of 15-25. One of the main reasons we had chose this young target audience is because statistics and surveys show that younger audiences (30 and under) seem to drift towards thriller and horror films as a generalization. Also as of 2014 the age category of 15- 24 year old made up the largest proportion of UK film audiences at a staggering 31%. Some of the most watched films by the 15-24 year old category were; 22 Jump Street,The inbetweeners 2 (UK), Godzilla, The Hunger Games: Mocking-jay – Part 1 and Dracula Untold (UK). Most of the films on the list corresponded with the thriller genre and most had elements of criminality in there, So this seemed like the best demographic to target as it would reach a bigger audience and many more people would be likely to enjoy the film as well as spending money on it. As for our media product going internationally we decided best to target our film at the USA, UK, and the EEA mostly for the reasons that culturally the films would best resonate with them as well as in all of these areas combined the population and audience that our thriller would reach would be mass. We also used this age group because of how technology has advanced though-out the last decade, more adverting is now happening online for example on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Youtube and Twitter. We used Facebook and twitter to help market our media product by making accounts for the film and posting on there to try and build up anticipation for our thriller, this was done as the 15-25 year old demographic spends around 9 hours a day on social media (second link) 



Q3 - What kind of media institutions might distribute your media product and why?


As a group we felt that the opening we made would be distributed by a big multi-national conglomerate such as Warner Brothers. The reason we felt that this institution would be interested and could distribute our content is because the opening would appeal to a variety of people, with the main audience demographic being set at people in western countries who are in the age bracket of 15-25, but obviously not limited to that age range as it is the type of film that could reach and appeal to people who are in their 40's. Another reason we feel like Warner Brothers or other big media conglomerates would take an interest in our thriller and distribute it is because of the past successes that this sub-genre of Thrillers has, For example The Bourne identity started with a budget of £80 million and then in the box office it grossed $214 million, The Bourne franchise has then gone on to be a massive hit internationally. Another big hit was the 2002 film Catch me if you can, it was given a budget of $52 million and in the box office it grossed $352.1 million. As presented above there have been many successes in the Crime-Thriller genre and that was one of the main reasons we believe that we could gain the support of a big multi-national conglomerate such as Warner Brothers or Sony when distributing our media product. 

Q2 - How does your media product represent particular social groups

Thriller opening - The Hunted

As a group we decided that for our antagonist and protagonist we would rely on stereotypes as the stereotypes in question are in line with the idea our film as well as basic facts and statistics that are on crime.

Lower/Working class - for this particular social group we settled on the antagonist being from this social group. The main foundation for this was the common knowledge and statistics that the working class are the group that commit the most crimes. The crime that we decided was triple Homicide, this indictable offence is committed most by the working class based on statistics. This is a negative stereotype as it represents the lower/ working class as violent, un-trustworthy and as "CHAV's (Council house and violent). These are all negative stereotypes that the mass media has stuck to when in regards to the lower/working class, they never represent them as hard working or caring towards people.


  

Wednesday, 1 March 2017

Storyboard for the opening of the Thriller


The picture above is a freehand drawing of the church that we will be filming at. The purple circles are the shot locations and the number inside of those circles are the order that they will be filmed in.


This is side one of the story board. it contains shots 1 through to shot 6. Shot 2 is a blank screen (music slowly gains pitch and volume as to build up tension through shots 1 and 2) this is the designated space for the job titles and who's role it is. Shot 3 is a POV shot through a Go Pro body camera on the police officer. Shot 4 is a high angle shot (to make him look vulnerable) on the 'suspect' while he is whimpering on a pew inside of the church. Shot 5 is from inside the porch of the church showing the police officer walking up towards the door (Again we used a high angle 'cctv' camera shot as to make him seem vulnerable as he doesn't know what situation he will be getting himself into on this call-out). 
  


This is side 2 of the storyboard which illustrates shot 8 through to shot 14. Shot 8 and 9 link together as shot 8 will follow the police officer walking down the path towards the second entrance and shot 9 will be the point where the camera stops moving with the subject and instead creates a pan round following him towards the entrance. Shot 10 is pew level and shows the 'suspect' as he is laying on the pew while the 'police officer' is outside the stained glass windows. 

The importance of the 'right' soundtrack

The soundtrack is detrimental to how the film will come across and if a serious scene will make an audience laugh or if a comedic scene will bore the audience. this is a tricky thing to get right and there have been many blunders in film where the soundtrack just hasn't quite matched with the effect that the director was trying for. For example, I found this video on Youtube which someone has edited to make the very serious scene of Darth Vader entering the death star and made it comedic and 'romantic'.

This is a prime example of using the 'right' soundtrack as it can make a scenes effect seem miles away from what it should be.

This will be taken heavily into account on my groups film as we want to set the ominous feeling so we will be searching for the soundtrack with the right effect as to not join the ranks of these blunders. 

Wednesday, 15 February 2017

Thriller task storyline and title chosen!

The story line that we have chosen is that of there is a 'murderer' on the loose and no one knows where. An unlucky police officer takes the call to go and have a look at a disturbance at the local towns church. The reason he is unlucky is that the murderer has chosen to hide there. Once the police officer knocks on the door and tries to gain entry everything becomes uncertain for him and he will want to 'pray' that he doesn't find what he is looking for.

The name of the thriller is still being developed and as of this moment is currently called
"The Hunted"

The reason we have settled on this name at the moment is because of the main connotations of "Hunted", as it connotes hunting animals or 'monsters'. Both are common words to describe cold blooded killers. The hunted makes the reader ask the questions "who/what is being hunted?" "why are they  being hunted?" "who are they being hunted by?". All of  which make the viewer more curious and make the reader want to know what is going to happen thorough the storyline of the thriller. It also leaves an air of mystery as it doesn't give any big hints as to what the full story will entail.

Tuesday, 24 January 2017

CONVENTIONS OF A THRILLER

By Spencer Graham

A thriller usually consists of a battle between a protagonist and a antagonist. The story usually revolves around a pivotal plot point of anarchy or disruption to everyday life. The story thorough the whole film usually builds up to a climax towards the end and then the antagonist is quashed and their plan is thwarted.
In a thriller there are many conventions that set up the emotions and atmosphere of the film for example here are a few;
  • Montage of shots
  • Protagonist is at the mercy of the Antagonist
  • Low key lighting
  • Shadows

The character of the protagonist is often courageous and this is often viewed as a male trait hence the protagonist is often a male who is trying to restore order and justice to the problem that has occurred.

The antagonist is a character that is often shrouded in secrecy in terms of his identity until the final revile. The antagonist is often looking for revenge for a past event, a good example of this is the character of Amir Barkawi who sought revenge for an American drone strike that killed his daughter in the film London has fallen.

The Storyline of the thriller is designed as to promote a sense of realism as to evoke the thought that the storyline from the film could actually happen to them. which can make the reader feel worried, un-settled etc. This would overall add to the enthralling nature of the film.




Friday, 20 January 2017

The Thriller Task

This week we have began to start to look into the research and planning of our thriller and what would best suit it and us. Now that the location for the thriller has been finalised - The St Johns church in Stavley - we have started to brainstorm on ideas for this thriller (general storyline, what we would need for these storylines, etc)

The one key idea that is set in stone is that we are going to have a murderer and a victim. But as to not be the same as the rest of the students we have been having ideas on how we can make our thriller different. we have thought about having a psychological thriller involving the murderer not knowing what he is and what he is doing at the point in time, A espionage thriller set back in the 40s with one of the characters being a German spy (Filming would be done indoors as to not compromise mise-en scene, also props and dialogue would have to be altered to that time period).

We will finalise the General storyline by the end of next week and get prepared to start planning a story and gathering the materials for that specific story.

Sunday, 15 January 2017

Fury (2014) Textural analysis

I have completed a textural analysis on the opening to Fury (2014), The film revolves around a tank crew and their experiences in the second world war. Below is the link for a power point which has the textural analysis.