Evaluation Question 1

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


The conventions of psychological thrillers are detailed earlier in the blog, our media product makes use of a large majority of codes and conventions from within the genre beginning with the plot line: the plot lines of psychological thrillers are centrally based around the mind and psyche of the key protagonist, our product focuses on the events which occur to one particular individual and the way that he emotionally deals with the ordeals that are thrown at him and how this leads him to react, this is seen in many previous psychological thrillers such as " The ButterFly Effect" and "Vertigo" in which we see the actions of the protagonists dramatically effected by the events that have formed a drain on their psyche. Continuing the theme of character, the key Protagonists within psychological thrillers are most often of an older generation, this links in with the audience and the age range of the film, this is because older people are more likely to be interested in the adult themes so therefore are more likely to emphasize with an older character.
The settings of psychological thrillers often include Claustrophobic spaces, this adds tension to any scene and makes the audience feel crammed in. the example of a claustrophobic space within our product is the alley way in which the protagonist is mugged, this is following examples from films such as " The lives of Others" where a prison cell is used for an interview and in "The Jacket" where the protagonist is put in a straight jacket and put into a morgue draw.
The lighting is often that of a light and dark contrast to achieve a shadowy effect, and to make the scene seem dark to the audience but still remaining aesthetically pleasing, as well as quick paced cuts that ties in with the fast non diegetic music to increase the pace of the film and add tension to the atmosphere received by the audience.

Final Cut

This is the final cut of our film opening that has been burned on to dvd and sent away for moderation.

Decisions about the office scene

• Having taken 3 different cuts of the office scene and having edited them and put them in to place we have decided that our second cut of the scene will suit our opening best as the first one was letterboxed by the computer, so basically made it unusable as the rest of our footage was not taken using a widescreen effect. 
• We then initially took 2 other separate cuts, it was a difficult decision to make between the two, as they both have their own advantages and limitations. 
• Cut 2 - had a good variation of shot type and good mise en scene with the yorkshire tea box; connoting aspects of regional identity however baubles that were previously inside the box we used were caught inside the shot. 
• Cut 3 - although it had similar mise en scene, the shot variation was not as wide, so therefore we decided to use "Cut 2"

Hardware + Equipment

To Film our footage we used a sony video camera that records on to Dv Tapes ( cassettes ) These are not as modern as HD Cameras, so there for do not rely on a hard drive. The tapes were reasonably cheap and could be brought from super market stores such as Tesco and obviously from specialist recording equipment shops although they may tend to favour newer modals. The use of this camera was fairly simple as they themselves as a modal are not over complicated. Options at the back of the camera: Play and record allow you to watch back what you have recorded before actually putting it on to a computer for editing. Due to the fact that it is a hand held camera during the shots we were taking it may of caused a slight shake of the camera, hence effecting what is seen by the audience on screen, to counter act this at many points of our filming we used a tripod (a 3 legged stand for cameras) to gain a steady shot  and achieve a better sense of verisimilitude through out our footage. Other things to take into account are the effects that are available on the camera's settings. Adjusting the white balance can make it appear that it is either night or day, alternatively you can use a variety filters to achieve different affects, such as the red filter we used to gain  the appearance that it was dusk. A range of different modes such as sports mode allows you to adapt the camera to your particular situation, whilst adjusting the focus to achieve a decent picture.

Production Plan

This is a copy of our production plan that we used whilst filming the footage for our film opening.

Screen play

Screen Play Snared

Title Name Continued

Originally the name we wanted to use for a film was "Phantasmagoria ". However that particular name is being released as a feature film this year, directed by Maralyn Manson. Due to the fact of copyright, we would definately not be able to pay the licensing fees to use the same title.

The new title we are using is "The Snared". One of our other original choices for a working title.

This phrase comes from a reference to the noose used to hang our protagonist, in the opening flashback scenes.