Evaluation - Chris Turner

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

§  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D51QgOHrCj0 

(Link to Blair witch Project trailer)

•  Our piece, although only an opening, is very similar - almost identical - to the acclaimed horror movie Blair witch project. Both of them are based on three people going on a camping trip and getting killed (spoilers, sorry). Both are filmed by one handheld camera, and its all very minimalistic. However, after the opening, ours breaks off from the handheld stuff and a murder investigation takes place, using the footage found on the camera (our opening) as evidence to help find the killer. And this is where it switches to a complete thriller. So in that sense its quite unique.

• Thrillers are usually mind movies, where there's some really weird twist. A lot of thrillers are psychological and don't have a lot of action in them. They're tense and scary without being horror movies. However, our opening doesn't really reflect this. Most people would watch ours and think that it is leading into a horror or a gore, but I think that is a good thing. It almost brings the two together - horror and thriller. Its a

HRILLER.

 Question 2 – How does your media product represent particular social groups?

·         To be honest, I don’t think it represents any social groups. I guess in some ways it portrays the typical teenage boy, with the slang and unnecessary swearing. But other than that, there aren’t any social groups represented.

·         Normally, a social group would be represented through clothes, the way a character speaks and/or the way they act.
 However:

-          The clothes were chosen purely for their purpose: Tracksuits, coats, bags and hiking shoes/ trainers are perfect for going into the woods and camping – the main plot of the start of the thriller.

-          The way the characters speak: Well, I guess the way they speak reveals a bit. However, it’s not as if all people who are considered ‘upper class’ speak like this – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qk6v3Upix2w - and people considered ‘lower class’ speak like they’re a Jeremy Kyle guest. However, to be fair, the character’s speak with quite a ‘middle class’ tone.

-          The way they act: - The way our character’s – especially Jack – acts does not reveal anything in terms of social groups or status, but more reflects on the arrogance of a typical teenage boy. For example, when he throws the trespass or ‘tresspass’ (as it was spelled in out opening) sign off the path and decides to ignore it. 

Question 3 -

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

• Well, I guess one would like to have there thriller distributed by a company that specializes in distributing thrillers.  

•  Ouranos Films is a production and distribution company that specialize in thrillers and have UK, France and US based sales. The specialty makes them ideal for what we want. Also, their wide sale range means that if we were to do this properly we would have our product distributed broadly, hopefully resulting in good sales!  Also, I hear that everyone finds Chris Turner (the guy with the camera) so amazing and so this would also help in making money - everyone would want to see this young talent act and would pay heavily for the privilege.     

 

Question 4 - Who would be the audience for our media product?

• With the positive responses that we got from our fellow class mates as shown here http://foundationportfolio1354.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/audience-feedback.html#comment-form, it would make sense to have a teenage/young adults audience.

• So, we decided the best range would be ages 15 - 27. 

• The fact that we have three teenagers as the main characters for our opening, we felt this age range would allow the audience to relate and bond with the characters.

 

• Furthermore, we believe that anyone who enjoys a good movie such as 'A Night In The Woods’ and ‘Blair Witch Project' would enjoy ours due to the fact we have similar aspects of our opening in their movies. I have already explained in question 1 the similarities between Enigmatic and Blair Witch Project, and A Night In the Woods is very similar again, as shown here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4izXz765iA

 
 

 How did you attract/address your audience?

 
• Well, apart from attracting our audience using me and my great looks?

• A lot of my lines in our thriller opening was directed at the camera, as if I was talking to the audience that was watching.

 

• Also, when I was not talking, I had my camera faced forward. This gave those watching a first person perspective, as if they were part of the sequence. 

 

• The location itself is local – we filmed our sequence in the woods at Chelwood gate. The fact that is very common for people to go into the woods be it to walk their dog, walk with the family or just to go camping – like the characters in our opening. This creates a sense of realism and makes people believe that they are in just as much danger as the characters were – even though they aren’t.

 
(I mean, come on. Its not as if Lee is walking round the woods with a chainsaw, catching people. Lets be realistic, its Lee.)          

 

 

 

 

 Question 6 -

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

Question 7 - Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learned in the progression from it to the full product?

This concludes my evaluation. Thank you and gooood night!