Tuesday, 4 May 2010
Thriller Genre
I watched and assessed three different crime-thriller genre films, 'Silence of the lambs' directed by Jonathan Demme, 'Reservoir dogs' directed by Quentin Tarantino an 'Se7en' directed by David Fincher.
Crime-thriller genre
This particular genre is a hybrid type of both crime films and thrillers that offers a suspenseful account of a successful or failed crime or crimes. These films often focus on the criminal rather than a policeman. Crime thrillers usually emphasize action over psychological aspects. Central topics of these films include murders, robberies, chases, shootouts, and double-crosses are central ingredients.
I watched and assessed three different crime-thriller genre films, 'Silence of the lambs' directed by Jonathan Demme, 'Reservoir dogs' directed by Quentin Tarantino an 'Se7en' directed by David Fincher.
Crime-thriller genre
This particular genre is a hybrid type of both crime films and thrillers that offers a suspenseful account of a successful or failed crime or crimes. These films often focus on the criminal rather than a policeman. Crime thrillers usually emphasize action over psychological aspects. Central topics of these films include murders, robberies, chases, shootouts, and double-crosses are central ingredients.
Idea 1
- 3 men having photos taken for their police files.
- Just go arrested
- A detective interviewing each one trying to work out which one the killer was.
- Flashbacks with a mysterious man stalking a woman to her house then walks away.
- Back to more interviewing.
- Another flash back of the man breaking into the house.
- Walking around.
- Finds the woman.
- A scream
- Shot from outside the house.
- Killer walks out.
- Close up of his face.
Idea 2
- Well dressed man (detective) on computer searching through police articles and making notes.
- He's very tired.
- Lamp, cup of tea, dark room, frustrated man.
- A scruffy dressed man stalking a woman along a high street.
- Lady has red shoes.
- Lust.
- Lady turns a corner.
- Man pulls out a knife.
- Runs around the corner.
- Scream.
- Titles.
- No capital letters.
- Not in your face.
- Detective.
- (Shots cut between detective and stalker not one then the other).
- 3 men having photos taken for their police files.
- Just go arrested
- A detective interviewing each one trying to work out which one the killer was.
- Flashbacks with a mysterious man stalking a woman to her house then walks away.
- Back to more interviewing.
- Another flash back of the man breaking into the house.
- Walking around.
- Finds the woman.
- A scream
- Shot from outside the house.
- Killer walks out.
- Close up of his face.
Idea 2
- Well dressed man (detective) on computer searching through police articles and making notes.
- He's very tired.
- Lamp, cup of tea, dark room, frustrated man.
- A scruffy dressed man stalking a woman along a high street.
- Lady has red shoes.
- Lust.
- Lady turns a corner.
- Man pulls out a knife.
- Runs around the corner.
- Scream.
- Titles.
- No capital letters.
- Not in your face.
- Detective.
- (Shots cut between detective and stalker not one then the other).
Monday, 3 May 2010
Evalutation
Evaluation
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
I think my media product did not challenge the conventions of a real mystery-thriller movie because I think there was nothing out of the ordinary for a mystery-thriller to have. It had all the things that signified a mystery-thriller. There was confusion at the beginning where there was the detective and the stalker and it is hard to tell what is happening and whether it is his flashback or not, but those questions are answered a little later, by the article which show he is a detective so he would be solving this crime through out the rest of the film. Also, there was a lot of mystery because you do not see the stalkers face at any point in the opening or the woman he is stalking, and the music helps to build suspense, a series of long dragged out notes to build tension and suspense. The only thing that I should have done but didn't is that the editing is not very fast paced which is common the most thrillers, something I would do if I was to do this project again.
In the opening two minutes of Silence of the lambs, the film I based mine around, the music builds suspense and so does the setting, there is not a lot of mystery or confusion in the opening because it is just the detective on a assault course, but it shows it is a mystery thriller because it has a detective running in a scary setting.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
There is no a lot of representation of many social groups in my film. There is representation of age if anything. Even though you don't see the murderer you assume he is in his younger than the detective because the youth is always the ones that do the terrible things and this helps this stereo-type. The murderer is shown as younger because he has his hood up and is dressed very scruffy, as apposed to the detective who is a working man and is dressed quite neat even though the messy office contrasts with this.
Another social group that is represented in this film is sex. The woman is the one being stalked by the man and the red shoes signify that it is for lust, the detective is a male so it is shown that males are the workers. This is the opposite to Silence of the lambs because the detective is female.
Who would be the audience for your media product?
The audience for my media product would be mainly for middle aged adults because the mystery thriller genre mostly appeals to them. This is because in most mystery-thriller films the main characters are middle aged adults so the viewer could related to them.
How did you attract/address your audience?
I wanted to attract the audience by using a middle aged man as my main character so they could related to them, but sadly I could not get a middle aged man to act in my film, another thing I would do if I was to do this project again, so I got somebody my age and attempted to make them look older. I also attracted my audience by making my film confusing and gradually showing the plot instead of all at once because most middle aged adults are quite intellectual and like to use there brain when watching the film. I found this was the same case in Silence of the lambs.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
I have learnt a lot about the Mac computers and using garage band and imovie. I found I learnt more about imovie than garage band because I never been a musical person. I wish I was because the music in my film is not very good, if I better at garage band I would have made my own sound track but instead I had to find one suspense building sound clip and repeat it, so after a little bit the sound track gets quite boring.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
I think I have learnt a lot during this project. I now feel a lot more confident with a video camera than i did during my continuity exercise, I have learnt a lot about the editing of films which i found quite difficult at first. I did not learn a lot about garage band but I wish I did because it would of made my film better. I also learnt a lot camera angle like shot reverse shot, 180 degree rule and basic continuity.
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
I think my media product did not challenge the conventions of a real mystery-thriller movie because I think there was nothing out of the ordinary for a mystery-thriller to have. It had all the things that signified a mystery-thriller. There was confusion at the beginning where there was the detective and the stalker and it is hard to tell what is happening and whether it is his flashback or not, but those questions are answered a little later, by the article which show he is a detective so he would be solving this crime through out the rest of the film. Also, there was a lot of mystery because you do not see the stalkers face at any point in the opening or the woman he is stalking, and the music helps to build suspense, a series of long dragged out notes to build tension and suspense. The only thing that I should have done but didn't is that the editing is not very fast paced which is common the most thrillers, something I would do if I was to do this project again.
In the opening two minutes of Silence of the lambs, the film I based mine around, the music builds suspense and so does the setting, there is not a lot of mystery or confusion in the opening because it is just the detective on a assault course, but it shows it is a mystery thriller because it has a detective running in a scary setting.How does your media product represent particular social groups?
There is no a lot of representation of many social groups in my film. There is representation of age if anything. Even though you don't see the murderer you assume he is in his younger than the detective because the youth is always the ones that do the terrible things and this helps this stereo-type. The murderer is shown as younger because he has his hood up and is dressed very scruffy, as apposed to the detective who is a working man and is dressed quite neat even though the messy office contrasts with this.Another social group that is represented in this film is sex. The woman is the one being stalked by the man and the red shoes signify that it is for lust, the detective is a male so it is shown that males are the workers. This is the opposite to Silence of the lambs because the detective is female.
Who would be the audience for your media product?
The audience for my media product would be mainly for middle aged adults because the mystery thriller genre mostly appeals to them. This is because in most mystery-thriller films the main characters are middle aged adults so the viewer could related to them.
How did you attract/address your audience?
I wanted to attract the audience by using a middle aged man as my main character so they could related to them, but sadly I could not get a middle aged man to act in my film, another thing I would do if I was to do this project again, so I got somebody my age and attempted to make them look older. I also attracted my audience by making my film confusing and gradually showing the plot instead of all at once because most middle aged adults are quite intellectual and like to use there brain when watching the film. I found this was the same case in Silence of the lambs.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
I have learnt a lot about the Mac computers and using garage band and imovie. I found I learnt more about imovie than garage band because I never been a musical person. I wish I was because the music in my film is not very good, if I better at garage band I would have made my own sound track but instead I had to find one suspense building sound clip and repeat it, so after a little bit the sound track gets quite boring.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
I think I have learnt a lot during this project. I now feel a lot more confident with a video camera than i did during my continuity exercise, I have learnt a lot about the editing of films which i found quite difficult at first. I did not learn a lot about garage band but I wish I did because it would of made my film better. I also learnt a lot camera angle like shot reverse shot, 180 degree rule and basic continuity.
Tuesday, 10 November 2009
Thursday, 24 September 2009
Evaluation
Evaluation of research
The website I found was really helpful because it gave me an idea of what i could use to make my music.
I think we could of done it better if we could use Youtube we could of done better, because we could of heard a theme tune.
If i had to do it again to make it better I would try to use a computer without filters so that i could watch a video and then get a better idea of what I could do.
Evaluation of practical
Our task was to create a 30 second piece of music to play at the beginning of a genre of our choice. Mrs Blackmore and another student showed a demonstration of how to use Garageband, it helped me to understand how to use it. I found using it quite easy because the demonstration explained the basics which was all I needed to know. I worked with a partner because we didn't have enough computers. We tried many different things but nothing turned out very good. Our best one was some chopsticks music with a laughter at the end. We were very unsuccessful because we could not find anything good. We found out that it is hard to do a comedy. If I was to do it again I would choose a different genre because comedy is hard.
My role in the team
Lee played the main tune, while I was playing the background because I'm not very good at music so I did not want to do the main tune.
Skills i have learned
I now understand how to use GarageBand, which I never new how to use it before. I also learned about codes and symbolism but I still do not fully understand it.
Tuesday, 8 September 2009
Why I chose media studies
I chose media studies for an A-level subject because I enjoy most types of media, e.g. televison and newspapers, and I would like to learn and understand the techniques they use to make things seem more interesting to their audience. I didn't take media in GCSE because I wasn't sure if it would be a subject that i would enjoy but I spoke to my friends that took it and it sounded interesting so I decided to take it for A-levels.
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