Evaluation Question 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Our media product, ‘Rebecca’, would be classified, by the British Board of Film Classification, as a 15 because of the violence and mature themes that motivate the plot.  Therefore the product is targeted mainly at males and females, aged from 15-30 who enjoy watching thriller films, specifically psychological thrillers.  Our product would target specifically those from socio-economic groups C1, C2, D and E because our protagonist is from a similar, working-class environment; our audience would hopefully empathise with her more because of this.  

We set up a poll on our blog so that our audience could respond to our opening sequence.  9 females and 6 males took part in the online questionnaire, 15 overall.  Among the questions we asked them were: ‘What is your favourite sub-genre?’ and ‘What are the codes and conventions you look for most in a thriller?’  The responses we received helped us to judge whether we had successfully met the preferences of our target audience. 

An example of an appropriate target audience member is Angela Michael.

Evaluation Question 3

What kind of media institution might distribute your product and why?

To make as much profit as possible film distributors must connect with as wide an audience as possible.  To do this they must be skilled in promoting and publicising their product.

Some distributors are associated with Hollywood film studios whereas others, unaffiliated film distributors (Independents), concentrate on productions unrelated to Hollywood, which usually originate from their home countries.

Our film would be independently produced and would likely attract a distributor once it had been premiered at a film festival such as the Raindance Film Festival; this is a common practice in the independent sector.  A film sales agent, whom would usually be acquired through the director (in our case Tobi Odeleye), would be responsible for finding a distributor once the film was completed.   However, it is more ideal, in regards to generating as much profit as possible, for the distributor to be involved from the pre-production stage of the film; the more the distributors knows about the production the more capable they will be when publicising the film.

It is vital where a film is release so that its opening will generate as much profit as possible.  Therefore distributors must be experience in determining the target audience of a new film; they must know the best media through which to promote the product.  Our film is targeted at a relatively young audience, aged 15-30, so an apt medium of promotion would be the internet, specifically social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace.   

In regards to who would distribute our film, the film distribution company Lionsgate would be a likely candidate.  Lionsgate is one of the most commercially successful independent film distribution companies in the USA; they distribute products similar to our proposed film, such as Hard Candy (Slade, 2005), Harry Brown (Barber, 2009), Brothers (Sheridan, 2009) and Trust (Schwimmer, 2010).  The posters for each of these films convey the company’s skill in attracting audiences.  The poster for Hard Candy is particularly effective in evoking intrigue and enigma within a target audience.  The ominous image is deliberately reminiscent of Little Red Riding Hood, yet is simultaneously dark and disturbing; the film’s subversion of innocence is immediately clear.  The image is haunting and eye-catching and entices a mature audience that can deduce the sinister, psychological aspects of the subject matter. 

 

 Lionsgate would be an attractive choice to distribute our film because of the commercial success that many of its independent films have made.  In 2010 Lionsgate grossed over half a billion dollars at the North American box office and the company has earned 55 Academy Award nominations and 10 Oscar wins over the past 10 years, which is more than any other independent studio.  Having our film distributed by this successful company would also help the international promotion of our film and, specifically, the release of our film into American cinemas.  

http://www.skillset.org/film/jobs/distribution/article_4958_1.asp

http://www.independentfilmdistribution.com/?page_id=18

http://www.raindance.co.uk/site/index.php?aid=2076

http://investors.lionsgate.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=62796&p=irol-homeprofile

http://www.imdb.com/company/co0179392/

Evaluation Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our media product, like many opening sequences of thriller films, particularly the sub-genre of psychological thrillers, is ambiguous.  To create a greater enigma and to fully grip our audience we decided to reveal as little as possible about our characters.  What we did reveal was a suggestion of the relationship between our two characters.  Our representation of social groups was limited deliberately.  However, we did convey a representation of gender.

Our proposed film, as a whole, aims to convey an interesting and varied representation of women.  We wanted to undermine the stereotype of women as submissive by constructing a complicated protagonist, who is realistically contrary in her character.  Rebecca is not a submissive character but she is also not a strong character; she allows her anger and trauma from past experiences to overpower her judgment and as a result she becomes a vigilante.   She avenges others as a way to sate her own thirst for revenge.  In the full version of our film it would be suggested that Rebecca is a victim of rape or possibly sexual abuse; she had, however, missed her opportunity for revenge in the past.  Unable to vent the rage and trauma of her own ordeal, Rebecca’s anger has diffused to include any perpetrator of a similar crime.

Both of the characters that feature in our sequence are enigmatic.  Rebecca is working-class and from socio-economic group D whereas Tom, our antagonist, is middle-class and from the socio-economic group A; this is not clear through our sequence because we have no dialogue and our costume is simplistic. 

A film which represents women in a similar way is Hard Candy (Slade, 2005). 

 Ellen Page plays Hayley in Hard Candy, a seemingly innocuous 14-year-old, who is revealed to be a ruthless vigilante.  It is alluded to, but never clearly stated, that Hayley has been sexually abused herself and as a result feels it necessary to punish peadophilic murderers.  Hayley is represented as merciless and determined, yet simultaneously damaged and vulnerable.  This is how we wanted to represent our protagonist – contradictory in her character which, ultimately, is realistic of human nature. 

As a psychological thriller our film would revolve around our protagonist’s mental state/issues rather than the plot.  Some psychological thrillers are concerned with a ‘battle of wits’ between the protagonist and antagonist, eventually through which one will emerge a victor.  Our thriller, however, would deal with the protagonist’s lack of psychological equilibrium.  The plot would be the motive which would eventually reestablish the balance in Rebecca’s mind.

Evaluation Question 1

Evaluation Question 1

Filming Journal

Filming Journal ">

Genre Research

Genre Research – Thriller

This genre of film aims to literally ‘thrill’ by engaging the audience with a mixture of suspense and tension. Generally, a typical thriller will steadily build these emotions to a climax which aims to surprise and excite the audience. Twists are used in a plot which aim to shock or surprise the audience. The protagonist’s life, or that of a loved one or loved ones, is threatened, usually because the protagonist is involved unknowingly in a dangerous and mysterious situation.

Stereotypically, the protagonist in a thriller is a character, usually male, accustomed to dangerous and difficult situations. For example, a thriller protagonist is frequently a police officer or detective (Se7en; Fincher, 1995 and Insomnia; Nolan, 2002).

Conventionally, thriller narratives are more focused on the protagonist thwarting the antagonist, rather than the protagonist solving the crime/event that has taken place. The villain in the thriller is typically unknown until the climax of the film.

Typically, a thriller will have a non-linear, disruptive narrative, which generally consists of flashbacks or flash-forwards. The use of this type of narrative aims to disorientate an audience and perhaps undermine any predictability in a plot. A good example of this narrative use is Momento (Nolan, 2000).

Location is also, generally, an important feature of a thriller. Thrillers often take place in small, spatially limited locations to evoke a sense of claustrophobia within the audience. For example, Flightplan (Schwentke, 2005), Panic Room (Fincher, 2002) and Buried (Cortés, 2010).

It is not, however, always necessary for the location to be physically claustrophobic. Many political thrillers, for example, still create a sense of claustrophobia without use of location; State of Play (Macdonald, 2009), for example, creates a stifling feeling throughout the film with its use of cinematography, editing, mise-en-scene and sound.

Another generic code of the thriller genre is the use of fast-paced editing (short takes and fast, hard cuts) or discontinuous, montage editing (jumps cuts etc.), which aim to provoke audiences; to make them experience the emotions that the protagonist feels. Some thrillers use montage editing to disorientate the audience and to make their heartbeat physically accelerate.

Lighting, a key aspect of mise-en-scene, is also a vital tool used in thrillers to convey certain tones/moods. Low key lighting is generally used to create tension and a sense of eeriness. Shadows are inevitably linked with this lighting and are often used to represent the dark, conflicted aspects of the protagonists. This technique is predominantly present in neo-noir thrillers and psychological thrillers.

A standard icon often used in thrillers, especially the sub-genre of psychological thrillers, is a mirror. Mirrors are used to connote different emotions, most notably the inner darkness within a protagonist. A recent and apt example of this use of iconography is Black Swan (Aronofsky, 2010).

There are many sub-genres of a thriller, for example:

• Action Thriller: The iconography of this sub-genre consists mainly of guns, explosions and violence. There are also often elements of crime and mystery, for example Jason Bourne films (Liman, 2002 and Greengrass, 2004 and 2007).

• Crime Thriller: This sub-genre is a hybrid of thriller and crime films; it is usually from the perspective of criminals, rather than the police/law enforcement, for example, The Godfather Trilogy (Coppola; 1972, 1974 and 1990).

• Disaster Thriller: The main conflict is usually centered on a natural disaster, e.g. earthquakes, hurricanes, volcanoes (Volcano; Jackson, 1997), or a man-made disaster such as nuclear war.

• Psychological Thriller: The conflict is mainly focused on the mental and emotional aspects of a character, rather than the psychical. A good example of this is Vertigo (Hitchcock, 1958).

Each of these include certain codes and conventions, many of which are mentioned above, that coincide with the thriller genre but also have separate, distinctive aspects that individualise them as sub-genres.

Preliminary Task