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

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

Title of the film

My film title, seen in screenshot 1, is quite similar to a stereotypical title of an action thriller scene. I took inspiration from horror posters and titles and went for a dark feel, with blood and footprints to fit the thriller genre as they have connotations of danger and murder as if the footprints were taken from a crime scene. This contrasts the opening as the forest scene seems quiet and peaceful at first. I wanted to fool the spectator into a false sense of security before showing that something was not right and leaving them questioning as I cut quickly between the forest scene and the chase scene. I used a conventional horror/thriller title scene to show that the film is meant to be quite dark, showing how there is an unsettling disturbance in the peace in the opening of 

the film.

Setting/Location

I used three different settings and locations in total, I used an open area in a park near my house for the forest scene, a quiet street that had a slow bend for the chase scene, and a garage in an urban area for my final shot of the character, appearing to have turned dark through his sinister look. I carefully planned my filming to make sure that I captured each of these locations at the right time of day to get the lighting that I wanted in order to set the feel of the shot. For the forest scene, shown on the left, I wanted to shoot the scene at about midday so I got lots of light and the scene was light and appeared tranquil. I think I managed to capture this quite well and it helps challenge the thriller/action genre as it does not fit the violent, dark expectation of a thriller opening. The opening then quickly cuts to the chase scene and the audience are thrown into the action.

The shots in the chase scenes are much more stereotypical action/thriller shots as they use a dark setting and the main focus is the action. We see the main character running desperately away from something we do not see and, through the use of dark colours, tense music and fast moving shots, the scene feels fast paced, action filled and more typical of an action/thriller sequence. I used these conventions to show how the scene represents the thriller/action genre and how my film fits in to it. I wanted the contrast between the shots to make the spectator question what would happen next and think about what is happening.

The final setting used, seen in screenshots 4 and 9, was intended to be the darkest of them all. I wanted to twist the audiences perception of the main character and make him seem evil. I used a typical horror/thriller shot where we see the characters face before they quickly look up at the camera and the shot cuts. This is used a lot in horror and thriller films and shows the character in a sinister way as they seem dark, looking directly at the camera, intimidating the audience. The setting was very typical of a horror film as it is dark and scary and we do not see much of the surrounding area, we are forced to focus on the character in shot as there really is nothing else to see besides the dull background. This scene uses the conventions of real thriller and horror films by replicating a horror style shot and depicting the character as dark and making him seem evil.

Costume and props

I did not use many props in my film but I did look at costume. Throughout the whole opening only two different costumes are seen, the main costume consists of a blue shirt with the sleeves rolled up and purple chinos. I wanted him to be wearing fairly average clothes and not appear too casual or too formal so this was okay. I made sure he was wearing the same outfit in both the chase scene and the forest scene as I wanted the spectators to be able to pick up on the fact that the forest scene was meant to be a continuation of the chase scene as if I had been running all night and had finally found refuge in this park when morning came. I tried to show this by altering his costume slightly in the forest scene, I buttoned his shirt incorrectly and had the sleeves at different lengths to make it seem like he had got dressed in a hurry. This was meant to show how he had not really been able to sleep as he was pursued and had been forced to run with short notice. This costume challenges media conventions for real action films as often the main character is dressed in quite smart clothing and made to seem official and dangerous by dressing him in a suit and sunglasses, I wanted my character to seem like a normal person so I did not want this smart look and I think the casual outfit I went for fits the character well.

The second costume used was the darker outfit in the final shot. For this one, I wanted to make the character who we had been looking at appear sinister and dark. I managed this by dressing him in all black or dark clothing and having his hair covering part of his face. This uses conventions from real action, horror and thriller films as often the villains are dressed in dark and presented in a similar way and I wanted him to appear like this in the final shot to make the spectator wonder if his is the villain and what caused him to end up like this.

Cinematography and editing

When creating my final media product I focused on cinematography and editing more than most aspects of the film, despite this, I wanted the use of cinematography to be quite subtle. My main aim was to use camera shots and angels that matched what was happening in frame. For the forest scenes, all of the shots with the character in are completely still. The camera does not move when filming any scene in that location that is intended to be still, when the camera does move it is normally a change in the zoom to focus on a certain aspect of the scene, e.g. when the character first enters, the shot is from quite far away to help set the scene and show the setting. When the character progresses further into the shot, it zooms into a closer but still long shot of the character walking towards the bench. This shows how I have combined cinematography and editing to create a calm feel, fitting with the lack of action in the shot. The stillness of the camera is meant to help create a false sense of security as the quiet scene turns dark when it cuts to the action.

When filming the action scenes I used cinematography more freely and could use a wider range of shots to show the character and create the sense of action. Initially the shots were quite boring, for example, I would have the character running but the scene felt slow and boring. I used a different, more exciting shot to counteract this.

I decided to attach the camera to a steadicam like this one as every time I tried to film a moving shot, it was too shaky to see properly. This steadicam helped achieve lots of the shots I liked as I could run behind or in front of the character as he ran and follow him with a tracking shot from quite close. I was very pleased with how these shots turned out as they seem professional and well thought out. These shots were much more exciting than my failed ones and they helped achieve the conventional action sequence that you would see in a real media product that I was hoping for. When editing these action sequences I also applied an effect called ghosting on some shots. This effect, seen in screenshot 7, helps create the sense of confusion and chaos I liked as it is harder to make out what is happening as everything is shifting and moving around itself. On some of the shots were the ghosting did not work or did not look the way I wanted it to, I applied a slight gaussian blur, an effect that blurs video and makes details had to establish. I liked this effect as, with the fast moving shots, it was not too obvious but simply made it harder to see specific details in the shot and left you feeling as if you had been thrown into the action and could not focus on what was happening. 

I also used this effect in some of the quick shots in the build up to the action scenes when the main character flicks his head to the side as he has flashbacks to the the chase scene. When editing the transition between the two scenarios I realised it was too sudden, there was no build up or real transition so I spent a long time trying different editing techniques to help make the transition more tense and create a build up to it. As seen here, I decided to have it zoom in when he flicks his head to the side and applied a tint so that it became slightly more grey and slightly darker, showing how his memories are dark and horrible. This also highlighted the pain on his face as the events have left him in pain and suffering. 

How the characters are introduced

There is only one character in my opening and he is introduced right at the beginning of my opening. After the titles, there is an establishing shot which simply shows the scene with no characters in shot. The main character then walks into shot, limping and struggling slightly as he walks across the shot before seeing the bench and sitting down. Immediately we see that he is injured by the fact that he is limping and he seems to be in pain. The way the character is introduced makes it seem like he is invading the otherwise peaceful shot and makes him seem vulnerable.