HOW I FEEL IT ALL WENT....

Overall I am very pleased with the outcome of the thriller. The basic aim of 'a thriller' was shown due to the increasing tension throughout and the subtext that was hinted. The current audience feedback that we have recieved has been very positive, and due to that, we have reached our target audience.
Cat, Steph, Lauren and myself all worked well as a team, contribututing ideas and techniques during the shoot day, and during the post-shooting production.
At first we were unsure where to go with the footage that we had, but as we gathered ideas we were able to mould the shots into an tense and exciting sequence.
The ending caused us alot of concern and debates over a few weeks, as we didnt know what to do with the shot, as it was so dynamic. But over thoughts we managed to edit it well, and ironically 'made' the thriller...

AUDIENCE FEEDBACK

Now that our thriller is on YouTube. I will update anyfeed back given from comments :)
FEEDBACK IS WELCOME!

Audience feedback will help us determine whether we have met our target audience and gained their interest...

LegacyOleg - YouTube Comment
Awesome and very atmospheric opening!
I like it :)

Sophie Evans - Personal Comment

I like the creative shots such as the tracking shots and the slow motion shots. I also like the tension building element and the titles with the blood.

Gabby Meech- Personal Feedback

My favourite shot is the birdseye high zoom at the end :)

mutemiss - YouTube Comment
Good tension at the beginning with the eye shots....Constantly building and kept me watching!Music is very suitable.Well edited :) Well done.

schreuderha - YouTube Comment
I love all the close ups! especially on the eyes in the begining it is a great way to build tension. I also think the tracking shots are very effective especially at the end and the slow motion effects are also very cool.Well done :)

stephaniemaureen - YouTube Comment
the end shot is absolutely INCREDIBLE!

hurtwoodhousemedia - YouTube Comment
great opening shot.

fatboy22222222222222 - YouTube Comment
The characters in this are well designed as they all oppose their stereotypes e.g. the female crime boss

TASK 7

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

From the preliminary task to our final media product I feel that I have learnt a lot in terms of general planning including clear and sophisticated storyboard planning with a key attention to details such as SFX's, Lighting and Action. Compared to the prelim, the thriller product took a longer time as they were all original ideas and the creation has to be a unique idea. Because the narrative was visual instead of dialogue everything had to be clear and follow a journey of the piece.

The preliminary task was a simple task that only required very basic shot types, but in order to create an interesting and exciting visual narrative sequence we learnt to use more experienced shots such as 'Extreme Close-up', 'Panning' and 'Tracking Shots'. I can see a clear development in the sophistication in the shot types since the prelim task as we have included 'Tracking shots' around the poker table and a high zoom out from above - something that before the prelim would have been a challenge.

The visual quality and positioning compared to the preliminary task is more though out, as we made sure that everything was in focus and we were constantly checking the 180degree rule.

In our final product we used sound effects from 'Soundtrack pro' - as during the shooting of our media there was a problem with the sound cable, no sound was usable. We have included foley work of gun shots, and ambient sounds of a room tone - creating an atmosphere that the preliminary task was missing.

With the use of 'Final Cut' and 'After Effects' on the MAC we had the ability to make our media product have sophisticated visual effects. In Final Cut we could add titles, transitions and import shots that were usable. Finally, in order to make our thriller the best that we can make it we used 'After effects' - this included a 'Muzzle-flash' from the gun, and a 'blood-splat' over our title ACE. This gave a professional finishing touch to our product.

TASK 6

What have you learned about technologies for the process of contructing this product?

TASK 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

Here I have made a presentation on the ways in which i have managed to complete the task question....

Task 5 Presentation Megan Knowles

View more presentations from hurtwoodhousemedia5.

TASK 4

Who would be the audience for the media product?

Due to the theme and genre of our media product being a gangster thriller and being rated ‘15’, the target audience age range would be 15+, and more targeted at a male audience. However some females would enjoy this due to the powerful woman figure that is represented as more superior than the men. A convention breaking idea in real media products.

The reason why we have rated at ‘15’ is because we have included weapons, drugs and a murder. And an‘18’ would detract from the success of the film, as we would no longer have the younger audience members, and an ‘18’ I feel is unnecessarily high, as the content isn’t that explicit.

These would be our target audience....

TASK 3

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

We chose ‘Lionsgate’ to distribute our film, as in the past they have produced similar films that included violence, high stakes and are generally based around masculine films – these include The Bank Job and The Gamer. Therefore this would make ‘ACE’ an interesting and exciting possibility for them to distribute. Lionsgate are a reputable distributor and are very well known within the industry, so for our film this gives us a higher chance of success in all areas from cost, release – making it a profitable product.

The film is 'low to medium budget thriller' and would therefore be similar to other budgeted films such as Saw 1, that lionsgate have produced. Due to the film being a fairly low budget, Lionsgate would find it more appealing, and therefore extra money could be spent on the marketing and advertising of the film.

TASK 2

How does your product represent particular social groups

Our media product was based around social groups and people from different ethnicities around the world. This effect created a sense of an international atmosphere within the poker game.

In most American product these ethnicities are categorized as stereotypes, but we wanted to move away from this, and there is little effort to focus on a specific region Therefore the oriental was Korean, the eastern European was Ukrainian and the African was Nigerian. So we are subverting the societies initial views on the looks of people, from the traditional media product. We do this by pinpointing their nationalities.

We have created a ‘harmony’ between all the nationalities, and not highlighting any ethnicity to be worse than any other. Whereas in usual media products the ethnicity that would be clinically highlighted would be the Arabian, as it is stereotypical for us think that the Arabian would be the terrorist. This is due to the influence that media has on societies mind set and the way we perceive different people from different ethnic backgrounds.

Our Media & Casino Royale

We have followed the conventions of poker game from similar films such as 'Casino Royale', but havent followed the gender convention with the seemingly high man, as in our media product our 'higher figure' is female. But we have followed the international feel as in James Bond, but by clarifying each ethnicity.

TASK 1

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

Our screen grabs from out titles are following the conventions of real media products are we have informed the audience of the distributing & production company at the beginning, then at the end the film name ‘ACE’ and the director.

We made the decision not to include the titles in the action as we felt that it would detract from the action and it would create a faster pace, and would be continuous sequence.

Compared to real media products of this type, it is alike. As we chose not to put the title over the film itself, just like Smokin’ Aces and Casino Royale – where they have included cartoon graphics of action. The reason why we decide to keep our plain with just black and white was because we felt that it wouldn’t give too much away, as the sequence moved on the audience begin to understand what the films about….

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In conventional media products genre representation is usual steered towards the controlling male. But in our media product we are going again conventions of society and making the controlling power a female. This can be seen with her sitting at the head of the poker table, surrounded by men. Simple gestures such as a ‘click’ suggests a powerful figure

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Our media product does have the typical 'highlighted' figure that the sequence is mainly focused on. And the tension is shown throughout shots between him. We have chosen to make the highlighted character an attractive male, as this is a USP. The audience therefore will be instantly more inclined to follow and watch this characters progression throughout.

EDITING - SOUNDS

Because of a failure with the sounds whilst filming our media shoots, we have no sound to work with, as it is a fuzzy loud noise. But luckily we came up with the idea that there will be no text or speaking parts from the poker players. So in sense it is a slient movie. Apart from the underlying room noise throughout and the occasional foley noises of doors, glasses, coughing and poker chips. These have worked well as we have not mad them very loud, so you can recongise that they are there, but it doesnt distract from the acting.
The reason why we decieded to add sounds is again to increase the tension throughout. Especially the underlying 'room tone' that we chose to add, because it creates a good mood and tension within the atmosphere. Which subconsiously creates tension for the audience.
W used soundtrack pro to choose and create the right sounds for us to use, and it was a simple task of importing that particular sound into the final cut pro timeline. Occasionally we had to render the sound, which simply concerts the format into something that final cut pro can recongnise.

EDITING - SHOTS

The way in which we have chosen to edit our shots is in a clear, slick and precise way. The shots are sharply cut between shots of the poker game itself and the players eyes, faces, or body languages. In certain shots we decided to put teh shot in 'slow motion' as it bought focus to that shot. This provides a gradual build in tension between the fast motion shots and the slow motioned shots. Then we introduces the fast pacing actions of Guy, walking down the alley. As the colour tone of these shots are very different to the poker scene. This works well as you can clearly see the contrast. So overall the way that we've edited creates tension throughout, to build to the climax at the end.