The Coopers’ Company and Coborn School 12845

Emily Stevens 4765

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

Not all thrillers follow the list of thriller conventions. Some may subvert and feel that not all are appropriate in one movie. My thriller opening has five of the twelve conventions, some more visible than others, which I will explain in more depth later.

Sophie’s murder is at the core of my narrative. The crime is the pivotal point in my film which, hopefully, intrigues the audience into wanting more than my two minute opening.

At the moment, one of the main points of interest, that the audience hopes to be resolved, is Sophie’s ghost like figure. This helps to raise questions in one’s mind such as, will she always be a ghost?, will someone eventually see her?, is she really dead or just concussed? These questions should be running through the audience’s mind. This sense of confusion portrayed in my thriller helps to accentuate my use of this particular convention.

At present, the audience cannot work out why Sophie was running away from the antagonist. This sense of vulnerability, that Sophie may be controlled by a higher force of evil, systematically dis-empowers Sophie. This is an indirect way of her being drawn into a complex web of intrigue by the antagonist. I have challenged this convention as she is never directly led into complexity, where letters are given to her by the antagonist etc. This convention can be seen in my thriller if the audience were to read more into the sub text, such as the true meaning of her ghostly prescience, rather than the surface level information given, for instance, that she has been killed. I wanted to focus on the psychological aspect and entice the audience into the narrative.

Extraordinary events happening in ordinary situations is certainly a convention used and developed in my thriller. No-one is usually killed in the middle of a park in broad daylight. This makes the audience question whether the killer is foolish and naïve to believe he will get away with it, or if there is a sense behind his thought processes. This will obviously only be revealed as the narrative progresses. A macro element of my thriller is the mise en scene. All of the shots used are seen to have taken place in a park. This is to emphasise Sophie’s isolation and strengthen the antagonists power as nothing seems to be bigger than him as the park is mainly flat land.

Sophie is identified by her school uniform, this helps the audience to realise that she is of a young age, again, making her seem an easy victim due to her vulnerability. The school uniform is used as a motif in the narrative to identify her as a school child. This vulnerability is fundamentally Sophie’s main flaw. She seems to be an easy victim, at the beginning, due to the mise en scene and her clothing. However, suspense is built up as the audience can only ascertain the basic information, nothing if fully revealed during the two minute opening.

A macro element, such as the characters, help Over My Dead Body to address the representation of different social groups. This leads on to Sophie’s vulnerability and gender. The antagonist is a male showing authority and power over Sophie and the other ghosts. The other ghosts are all females, again, this emphasising their susceptibility to the antagonist. The stereotypical ‘boys are stronger than girls’ idea is explored in my thriller. The male gender is represented as the stronger so far, however, this stereotypical convention is challenged as it is questionable whether, because Sophie is a ghost, she has more power and holds more authority than Sam?

An important micro element is the mise en scene. The clothing worn by the other ghosts represent them as middle class white women. This can be depicted by Jess’s coat. It is clean and quite pristine representing her as a middle class woman. It does not seem to be ripped or scruffy which may be seen as a stereotypical convention for someone who is of a lower class. This is very much similar to Amy who, again, seems to be wearing very clean and fashionable clothing. The colour is also a very poignant factor. Amy is wearing bright colours and Jess is wearing a pink scarf, this makes them seem very approachable people, this juxtaposing with the Sam who is wearing scruffy trousers and very dull clothing. This fundamentally represents him as the antagonist and the total opposite of the female characters.

Fundamental micro elements are the shot types. Some of the shot types used help to emphasise the position of a character.

A slightly high angle is used when Jess is introduced. This immediately represents her as being more powerful than Sophie. The lighting, here, is also an important micro element. The glare of the sun hides her face, again, adding to the suspense. The audience cannot ascertain what this character looks like.

An eyeline match is used to manipulate the audience into sympathising with Sophie as we are not too sure of how to feel about her. As one can see the lighting here is a lot brighter, this has been done so that the audience can associate with her more than Jess.

The only time the audience can see Jess’s face is when she reveals that Sophie is dead. The lighting here is a poignant micro element as the audience can finally try and relate to her character.

A slightly high angle is used when all three ghosts come together. This micro element is vital as it foreshadows future events depicting that the three ghosts are eventually going to take control over the antagonists actions.

Most thrillers have a combination of sub genre’s. Over My Dead Body contains elements of a crime thriller and a psychological thriller. During my research I found that psychological thrillers were the most popular sub genre. Due to it being so popular I knew that this sub genre would be best for my thriller. My research has helped me a lot in the making of my thriller. For instance, psychological thriller was most popular and therefore I knew to incorporate this into my film.

Here are the results from my questionnaire taken from my research

A crime thriller, by definition, is a thriller that focuses on both crime but also psychological and suspenseful accounts of a successful or failed crime. This links in nicely with my thriller. Suspense was built up by just showing Sophie running through the park, however, the audience doesn’t see who is actually chasing her. This isolates Sophie creating suspense as to whether she will escape the antagonist. The ambiguity of the crime questions whether the murder was successful or not. It is clear Sophie is dead. However, has the crime failed due to her being present in the spiritual world and will she use this power to her own advantage and seek revenge? These questions intertwine both suspense and psychological elements into my thriller.

Over my Dead Body is also a psychological thriller. A definition of a psychological thriller is ‘in which (until the often violent resolution) the conflict between the main characters is mental and emotional rather than physical.’ This is evident in ‘Over My Dead Body’ when the conflict between Sophie and the antagonist heightens when she becomes a ghost. As the narrative progresses the audience becomes aware that the conflict will now be mental rather than physical. No-one, who is alive, is able to see Sophie and so her ghostly powers will be used to harass the antagonist mentally.

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

Warner bros is a media institution which may be attracted to ‘Over My Dead body’s’ narrative. Other examples of films made by Warner Bros, that are in some way related to my narrative, are:

Nancy Drew, a teenage detective investigating murders

Sherlock Holmes, again, a detective investigates a series of murders

Ghost Ship, ghosts are trapped on a cruise liner. Similar to my narrative, where Sophie is a ghost. Although she isn’t trapped physically somewhere, mentally, she is trapped in her own body.

As one can see the films distributed by Warner bros have a theme of detectives and murders. This is fundamentally the plot to my narrative. This is why I feel Warner bros is the best media institution to distribute ‘Over My Dead Body’.

My product would be best marketed as an advert in the middle of a teenage programme such as on, Nickelodeon and The Disney Channel, My target audience is the teenage group, due to this it would be pointless putting the advert on in the middle of football and, maybe, cookery programmes as teenage children would not be watching these programmes. It is extremely important that it is advertised on these programmes and during the day as this is when teenagers are usually watching TV. Night time, maybe during the break of skins, is another good time to market my film as this would then be appropriate for the older teenage group rather than the younger.

If my product was to be released onto TV rather than the cinema, it would be best to distribute the film on Nickelodeon and The Disney Channel. As I have mentioned my target audience is the teenage audience. The channels that they are likely to watch are these channels and this is why I feel it best to be shown on here. BBC one and E4 may also be an alternative to entice the older people of the teenage group. If Warner bros and a television channel, such as The Disney Channel were to join together one could see a great opportunity and considerable synergy between the merging of the two companies.

My target audience for ‘Over My Dead Body’ would be teens. This is shown through various ways.

School uniformOne would address the target audience through the mise en scene and the school uniform worn by Sophie. The school uniform, hopefully, would help the audience to relate to Sophie as they might imagine themselves coming home from school and a situation, like this, happening to them. This idea of the ‘unexpected’ is paramount in my thriller.

Who would be the audience for your media product? How did you attract/address your audience?

The park

When I addressed the mise en scene I wanted

a place that was believable and where teenagers

would hang out after school. The park seemed the best

place to use. Thinking about camera shots and

practicality the park was the best choice of location to be able to incorporate everything I needed.

I have used ‘Serif Movie plus x3’ as the editing software to make ‘Over My Dead Body’. Through this opening I have discovered many programmes that I may not have understood properly as I do now. From previous experience with Serif I had learnt how to over lap frames so that they interweave with each other. This was used when Sophie goes through Jess’s body. Another technique used was the speeding up and slowing down of frames. I have sped up the length of the soundtrack when Jess walks over to Sophie’s body. I haven’t incorporated any extra sound, it was purely just speeding up the soundtrack that I already had. It is from learning these sort of techniques, that I feel, makes putting the whole film together worth while as I am learning new things by just experimenting with the different tools on offer.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

After Effects is also another piece of software to which I have developed my skills in. The titles were made through After Effects. Prior to this project I had no skills in After Effects whatsoever. It was difficult at first, but, by simply experimenting and with a little bit of help, I was able to make suitable titles for my thriller which I feel work really well. It is through my thriller, that I feel, that I have learnt so much in the I.T department. Before I would never have expected myself to be able to edit and import in soundtracks and titles from other software.

Looking back at the preliminary task to now I have learnt so much in the way of storyboarding, framing and editing. It is from the thriller task that I have learnt the true importance of storyboarding. In my first attempt, at creating my two minute thriller opening, I had put together a very basic storyboard thinking that I had all the shots that I needed in my head. However, I underestimated the help a storyboard can give when trying to film. I remember trying to edit my first rough cut and thinking about how many shots that I could have done or in fact had missed out. It is through this attempt that I then drew up another storyboard, one with much more depth in it to aide my progress in media. This time it helped me a lot more as I had a thorough picture of what I wanted.

The Preliminary task was a much shorter task than the two minute thriller opening so I had a lot more time to think about each and every frame and I was able to think about each shot as I went along in the preliminary task. However, it was difficult when it came to thinking about every shot that I needed to incorporate in my thriller. On the contrary, I do feel, that by completing the preliminary task it has made me much more aware of all the different types of shots that one could use for a simple piece of dialogue.

It was through editing the preliminary task that I have learnt the skills that I adopted in my thriller opening. I learnt how to incorporate more than one soundtrack and video track. I also learnt how to do a split screen which was, in fact, used on ‘Over My Dead Body’ the rough cut. If it wasn’t for the preliminary task I feel that my ideas for the thriller would have been more difficult as I wouldn’t have been able to vision it as a full product at the end of editing.

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

In order to successfully shoot ‘Over My Dead’ I needed to consider the safety of my peers. Here is a table of the risk assessment I undertook to make sure everything ran smoothly.

Risk Number Risk Level of risk Prevention

1 Strangled by scarf 1 Keep a pair of scissors with you so that if the actress was to become in any trouble, one can cut the scarf

2 Dead camera battery 4 Bring two batteries with me so that if one was to run out I can simply swap them. Another way to avoid this is to charge the batteries fully before filming.

3 Running out of tape 1 This is very unlikely but if I feel I am about to run out of tape I will bring two instead of one.

4 People walking through the shot

5 This is very likely as I am filming in a park, however, I will try and find an isolated part of the park where no one is to get in the way.

5 Bad weather 5 This is very likely, however, I will obviously check the weather forecast but if it is due to rain I will bring an umbrella to cover the camera.

During the term, after evaluating my project, I decided to change the shot types slightly and, at the end, the narrative. I feel that this has improved my project, however, in order to make sure it was the right decision I got my peers to circle whether they preferred my first thriller idea or second after hearing the plan for both videos. The questionnaire looked like this

In hindsight, to make the decision more reliable, I should have done a questionnaire using quantative data where the interviewees could have wrote down what they actually felt.

Here are the results

02468

1012141618

1st thrilleridea

2nd thrilleridea

1st thriller idea

2nd thrilleridea

In total I asked twenty of my peers, only three said that they preferred my first idea and seventeen preferred the second. I took their advice and decided to proceed with my new idea.

Here are my two videos, the first was my original idea, the second is the improved idea.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkrZLa4cwHI

Original idea

Improved idea

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxsjqQo07m8

I feel that I have improved so much since shooting and editing the first film. The first film looked extremely shaky and I used some cross fades which I now know do not look very good. However, it is from these mistakes and shooting the thriller, that I feel I have learnt what looks most effective and what creates an impact upon the audience. For instance, I made sure the camera was still in the second cut. I also haven't used any cross fades as I feel they can look very amateur. I feel that I have explored and used a better variety of shots such as, extreme long shots ,long shots, close ups, high angles, eyeline match and extreme close ups. I have also used a better variety of diegetic and not diegetic sound. I feel that the non diegetic sound used during the credits and establishment of the park builds up the suspense and creates the atmosphere for the rest of the film. I feel that my original copy didn’t have this and so I felt as though I didn’t know what to feel, should I feel scared, worried excited? etc, however, in the final cut I feel that I am worried for the future of Sophie and I feel that the music has helped to build this atmosphere. The diegetic sound used on Jess, when she is first introduced to the audience and as she walks over to Sophie’s dead body, creates this ghostly presence and makes me feel that I am being dis empowered by her power. This is created solely by the diegetic sound which makes me more aware of exactly how important the soundtrack is to a film. I am really pleased with my final cut of ‘Over My Dead Body’ and feel that the reason I am so proud of it is because it has been improved through the different mistakes I have learnt from and the skills I have been taught.