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

From looking at both the preliminary task and the main task comparatively it is easy to see that the difference in the quality of the editing between the two is huge. What has to be borne in mind though, is that we shot the preliminary in just under an hour using ourselves as actors and whatever we had in our bags as props. On the other hand we had almost an entire day to shoot the main task on location in two different houses and we had weeks to prepare, gather up props and such. 

In terms of sophistication, the prelim was actually quite offhand, we turned up, were given some guidelines, a storyboard and a camera and told to go and shoot it the best we could. During the shoot, we experimented with adapting the storyboard, different moods with which to shoot and even added some of our own touches into it, such as the mobile phone, implying a call was to be made. The main task however was a totally different story, we had about 3 months to plan it and then another month to edit the rushes. Our planning started from brainstorming ideas in November then moved to choosing an idea in early December and getting it approved and storyboarded by the end of the month. Next we got a shot-list written out, actors cast, a final storyboard and props collected up before shooting in late February. 

We found that shooting the main task was in some ways easier than the preliminary  as our main task didn’t include dialogue, eliminating the possibility of the actors saying the wrong words or not speaking them correctly. In hindsight this was an extremely good choice as we would have been very pushed for time otherwise. 

We mostly shot the main task in medium close up, although we did have a few extreme close ups as well, and I feel we were more adventurous in the main task as we deliberately broke the 180 degree rule, and included a tilt shot showing the debris scattered across the floor. Because we were filming in 2 different locations with the aim of jumping between the two, we actually gave ourselves a lot of freedom with shot order, as during the editing process we experimented with three different sequences before choosing the one that we liked the most and continuing with that one.


While editing the the preliminary task, we began to realise the importance of added sound effects such as the mobile phone bleep and the door slam which emphasise these key noises. Finding these sounds in Soundtrack Pro was harder than I thought, as almost every different bleep we tried sounded wrong, and there were so many of them.  What I hadn't realised prior to this first bout of editing was that the buzz track is essential in ensuring continuity between cuts. In the main task, we actually used much of our original sound dubbed over with an original score created by Sophia, so the buzz track wasn't actually needed. We actually used less sound effects than we thought would be necessary, as the original recordings were extremely realistic, so we kept them. 

Evaluation Task 6 - What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Evaluation Task 5 - How did you attract/address your audience?

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Evaluation Task 4 - Who is the target audience for our thriller?

The target audience for our thriller is mainly for 15-25 year olds, but older viewers may also enjoy it as they will probably know someone who has had a break-up similar to that, as the characters are fairly normal. The reason that younger viewers are more likely to identify with the characters is because they will definitely either have had firsthand experience of something like this or will know of many cases like it. This is due to their age, as it is fairly commonplace now for young people between the age of 15-18 to go through many boy/girlfriends in a year. Someone who would be likely to go and see this film would also tend to prefer independent films as opposed to Hollywood blockbusters, maybe because they want to be different, or because this is the sort of film that would have people swarming to go and see it, and this person would probably have a lot of spare time on their hands. They would tend to be more in to the whole emo scene, or be very alternative in their style, the kind of person who would enjoy a dark film about revenge and holding a deep grudge against someone for years.

The viewer would also have to have an interest in indie films, because it is not shot in a regular way. We break the 180 degree rule numerous times, and this will make it very disorientating for the viewer, possibly even to the point that the audience may feel sick. However until the editing is finished we won’t know quite what effect that will have on the audience and at this stage we are still aiming for a dark feel to the film. Even though the room is well lit, the theme behind the story is menacing, and once Ellie gets over her initial rage, it turns to scheming. The rapidity of the opening is what will keep the audience interested, each shot is about 1-2 seconds long, the jumps between locations will make the audience uncomfortable and the difference in sound will be highly noticeable. In her room she is going insane, breaking things, and screaming whereas the only emotions we get from him are a mixture of relief and stress, with the only sounds coming from him being calm and subdued. The only weaknesses I can see so far in our thriller are that I think the lighting is different in each location which could potentially confuse the audience, as we shot in the Turrets at around 3-4 o’clock, so we were already losing light.

Evaluation Task 3 - What kind of media institution would distribute our media product and why?

I think the sort of company that would distribute our film would be an smaller independent institution such as Warp Films, but it could also be a lager studio as many audiences would identify with the characters. The rest of the film would explain their violent break-up, and then be about how she plans her revenge on him, going slightly psychopathic along the way.

The film would be fairly low-budget, so attractive to most independent film companies, but some larger studios may also want to distribute it as it would be a low risk gamble. Therefore it wouldn't be disastrous if it didn't sell particularly well, but there are many low budget films that have gone on to be money-trees that make a profit of more than 10 times their budget. Also it may provide a larger company with ideas for more films along this line, or maybe to use the same actors again in some of their bigger films if it sold well.

Evaluation Task 2 - How does your product represent particular social groups?

I would say that our product represents a social group that has a very similar background to the majority of the people immediately around us, that is the middle classes. We chose this group as the majority of the population in England fall into this broad category and we wanted the audience to be able to identify with both the characters.

We wanted the audience to initially feel as if both characters were perfectly normal and could easily be your next door neighbour, and we achieved that through our choice of characters. The character of Ellie (acted by Rose) was intended to be a typical girl in her late teens, who feels that life is going well for her until her boyfriend Matt (acted by Jake) decides to cheat on her. This scenario is a very familiar one, we all know of a guy somewhere who has cheated on a girlfriend or wife, and we wanted Matt to represent this type of person, somebody who uses their charm to their advantage, but are soon bored and will move on quickly. It is difficult to give an idea of what a typical person should look like, as it really doesn’t matter so long as they don’t have any particularly striking features. 

Usually in the media our chosen social group are the victims of accidents, crime and other unpredictable events as they are the majority population in this country. The idea of remaining anonymous has also been largely played with in films such as The Bourne Identity and Unknown. This is the sort of thing we are trying to represent, the idea that anyone, even somebody you think you know well, could suddenly flip.

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

From these 9 screenshots alone, it is easy to make the connection that the two of them have split up. We have highlighted this through using mirrors, and placing the characters on opposite sides of the frame most of the time.
Due to the fact there are more CU and ECU shots of Ellie, we connect to her character more as we feel closer to her. Also as she has more screen time, and displays more emotion than Matt, this helps us to identify with her a little more.


We were aiming to unnerve the audience with the CU shots of Ellie's face, as it feels like the character has invaded our personal space and the initial reaction among viewers that I have shown it to, is to sit back a little in their seats. With the character of Matt we deliberately showed him to be quite lazy, and we don't want the audience identifying with him beyond the surface, so we didn't give him any exclusive  close ups.