A2 Media Studies Summary

At the start of coursework production, we had extremely high ambitions to create a film that would be equal to the short films we were researching on Youtube and the internet in general. Whilst this meant we were full of ideas for the film we were excited to make, it also presented many problems throughout the process. The process of creating the film was tedious at times, as we were presented with problems that we were unable to effect. From booking days to film, only to be told we could not could not film at the last minute, to losing our footage due to a small setting error that we failed to pick up, the filming process was not the smooth one we had pictured. A lot of this was due down to lack of communication on both sides, and with more planning perhaps this could have been presented. The film itself may have it's problems, but it was definitely a learning process all the way through for all of us involved.

Matthew Healey

HOW DID YOU USE MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND RESEARCH, PLANNING AND EVALUATION STAGES?

HOW DID YOU USE MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND RESEARCH, PLANNING AND EVALUATION STAGES?

Here is a timelapse of me going through both the designing process of the poster and magazine. 

Magazine Article: 

Poster:

 

This video was created with http://www.screencast-o-matic.com/ and edited with adobe premiere pro.

WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED FROM YOUR AUDIENCE FEEDBACK?

PART 2:

Using the audience feedback we learnt a number of things about our film. We showed the film to people both in, and outside our target audience, so we could get the best reaction and feedback from both. We asked them a series of questions of what they generally thought about the film, as well as what they thought could be improved. 

All the people we talked to had positive points to make about the way in which the different soundtracks used fitted in story of the film, however the sound also had some negative feedback as well. People felt that at times the sound jumps in volume were jarring and took away from the what was going one the screen at the time. This hurt one of our overall themes of the film, in that we wanted to create a tense atmosphere the audience could get lost in, and if the sound jumps took the audience out, the overall product suffered along with it. There was also confusion with this problem, in the early parts of the film we wanted to have a soundtrack playing over the dialogue, but this was viewed as being an actual problem for the film, rather than being an effective technique, which is what we were trying to portray. In the future, we will plan out the plans for the audio before principal photography, rather than in editing, like we did here. 

The audience members asked enjoyed the film, and some were still thinking of the ending, which is exactly what we were trying to do, leaving a lasting impression on the audience was a big part of our film, and the fact we were able to do that was satisfying. One negative, which could even be interpreted as a positive, is that the audience wanted more at the end, they wanted to learn about the characters and their story, but also wanted a longer build up to the reveal, which they felt would be more effective for the overall film. Whilst we agree we could have made the film slightly longer, we were also trying to fit in with conventions of the short film. The contradictions that came up surrounding this, and the pros and cons is maybe something we should have gone over, as the length of the film is very important part of the short film genre. We were going the idea that showing less would be a good thing, but sometimes it's the case that not enough is shown, and that could be seen as the case for some parts of our film. 

In terms of the Psychological Thriller, I believe that we met the criteria of the genre codes and conventions. Each audience member was able to guess was the genre of the film was, and some even commented on the similarities to another thriller film, Fight Club , which was another part of our original plan - to be a clear genre film. 


We also received positive feedback from social media, which also allowed us to showcase our film to a larger audience. 

WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED FROM YOUR AUDIENCE FEEDBACK?

Part 1:

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

Part 1:

The genre of our film is Psychological thriller, so we felt that the target demographic age would those aged between 18 and up. At the start of the film we talked about making the film having an 18 age rating, but due to the lack of graphic violence, the film would be rated 15, so those under the age of 18 could see it, but we still felt that the older audience were the more likely audience for the film. Whilst is may be have been okay for 15 year olds to see the film, we deal with violent underlying themes, which may seem distressing to some. That is why we didn't hold anything back when marketing the film in the magazine article and poster, we wanted to show that there would be violence, and the film will be dealing with subject matters, that some members of the audience may not be comfortable watching.

In terms of the social demographics, we aimed the marketing of the film as a C1, the lower middle class. The characters in the story are reflective of the social class in the film, and while we do no think that they might see themselves reflected in the characters, they will have a better understanding of who they are. We also targeted them through the magazine article; it takes a lot influence from Empire which also targets the C1 class.

The target gender for the film was very split, but the female audience took it, just because, as discovered through audience research, they were the ones who had enjoyed Psychological Thriller films like Donnie Darko  , Mulholland Drive  and Black Swan  the most. This is almost a separate type of Psychological Thriller, one that focuses in on one or two characters, and really gets inside their mind rather than films like The Usual Suspects and Inception, with more action scenes and a larger cast, which seemed to be favoured with the males.


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How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

Part 2:
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?


When we about designing the film, magazine article and poster, we decided that we should try and link and incorporate them together through the use of different elements. From the fonts we used for the poster, to the colours of the magazine to the characters themselves. These different elements would be exhibited through the three different ancillary texts.

Firstly, the film poster. When making the poster, I wanted to incorporate a style that would fit in with the overall product. The majority of the film uses dark and bleak colours, but I felt that using a different style for the poster, that still attributed to with the themes of the film. I wanted to use a 'blood' styling for the poster, to show the story behind the film, rather than what went on in the films narrative. I used a downloaded font  The poster is unique for it's genre, the typical psychological thriller poster, which normally focuses on the central actor like in Shutter Islands and the Fight Club poster, but this does not really show this, but more of a reflection of what we wanted to show with our film  - the idea of 'shocking' the audience, having a generic poster with dark colour schemes does not necessarily stand out or shock the audience, but a poster that incorporates taboo elements like blood will be more effective on the spectatorship front. The poster brings in the audience because it is different for it's genre and eye catching - we are targeting not just an audience suited to the genre, but ones who are hoping a reboot, a refreshment, and the poster is a clear indication that we are trying to that. 

For the magazine article, unlike the poster where I wanted to somewhat differentiate from the film, for the article I wanted to try and talk about the key aspects of the film, and this includes talking about the main colour scheme, which would be dark colours. The magazine itself may not use dark colours, but the images that we grabbed from the film can used to summarize how we are trying to represent the film through other forms. The magazine style is also reflective of the target audience - it takes a lot of influence from the Empire reviews, who's audience are not exactly niche, and is fact more mainstream, but is not for the 'transformers' crowd, it would be for people who enjoy film for what it is, they may not study it, but they will have an appreciation for what the film is and what it is doing for the audience. 

 





















In terms of the film itself fits in with the elements I have already said. The opening font used for the credits is very plain, unlike the poster, but this was done to fit in the characters of the film. Both Henry and the Psychopath have that manic side, which is what we see in the film, but Henry is also meant to be interpreted as, at least one point, to be normal, shown through the costuming and style of hair used for the film. Henry is very button down, and has a straight 'white collar' look about him, compared to the more rugged Psychopath. This fits in with the way we have set them up in the magazine and poster, yes there is the twist, but we wanted, to not give the plot, set them up with the use of other elements as being more straightforward characters, before challenging this in the film. By showing the characters in their costumes in other media, we have created an icon, something for the audience to reflect on before they had even seen the film. 

The colour scheme and lighting used throughout the film correlates well with the rest of the project, here are two separate shots, one with a very obvious bright lighting effect, and the other more dark. Going back to the representation of the characters before the film, it could said that the bright side is a reflection of Henry, and that the dark would show the Psychopath. This would be typical convention of the psychological thriller, to use contrasting editing and lighting techniques, but fitting in line with the twist ending that Henry and the Psychopath being the same person, the light and darkness in fact the same person. This goes back to us wanting to 'toy' with the audience, not just throughout the film, but through the poster and the magazine article as well.

We set up a typical thriller film, and market it as such, with hints here and there, which was done purposely to draw a reaction from the target audience - a audience who have become accustomed to the norm due to the over saturation of the market. We had an audience in mind, and pulled them in, and we also had ideas and themes we wanted to showcase through all stages of the film, and all elements of further media. 

IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?

Length

Our short film is, all together, 3 minutes and 45 seconds long. The length fits with the short film conventions in that it is not too long, but not short enough that the narrative would not make sense, which is important for a film of our genre. 




Storyline

The storyline from our film is individualistic from other films of the psychological thriller in the sense that we tell most of our story through camera angles and other non verbal means. The lack of narration, which we see in many other psychological thriller films such as Fight Club, means that the film has an extra usp, which allowed us to experiment through editing and camera work so we could still tell the story we wanted to tell, even with a lack of dialogue throughout. We felt that leaving the audience with an understanding of the film was key, and that if we'rent able to properly explain the film without a dialogue, we wouldn't do the film like this, bit it turned out, through audience research, that the story was easy to identify. 

Characters

In 'Twisted' we kept within another short film convention in only having a small number of characters, Mary, Henry and the psychopath. This allowed us to flesh out the relationship between Henry and the psychopath, the mystery surrounding the two was a key part in drawing in the audience. They want to know who the psychopath is, why he killed Henry's wife, they want to know how they got there, where exactly they are, and is Henry who he claims he is? The questions that is brought up by audience trying to understand the characters is a common convention of the genre, and we try to replicate it here. 

Twist

Another convention of the psychological thriller, and the short film genre, which we adopted was the 'twist ending'. Our film was built around the twist, we wanted to build a tense atmosphere for the film so that the audience would not necessarily be shocked when the twist when it happened, but rather that they hanging on for it to finally happen. The name of the film, 'Twisted' both hints towards this, as well as being a representation of the state of mind of the two central characters. The twist in our film is that the Henry and the man he is accusing of murdering his wife are in fact the same person, meaning that Henry is in fact the psychopath. The twist is built up slowly, we see the psychopath first before Henry is introduced on screen. This sets up an air of uncertainty in the mind of the audience, as we slowly learn the details of the plot through flashback scenes. The flashback scene is then later re shown with Henry in place of the murderer, making it clear that they are in fact the same person. 

Budget and Creativity 

Our film was made with almost no budget whatsoever, keeping in line with other independent short films. We used props that had we had on us, and used a friends house as the main location. If we had a larger budget however, I do not feel as if the film would change that much. We wanted to use a typical house as the main location, so we would not need a budget for that, the only thing that might change would be the use of blood in the film. We encountered problems putting blood onto the film in post production as we felt it looked 'cheap', so with a larger budget we could have paid for so we used of make up to give the film and extra 'gritty' feel to it. 

Distribution

As a short, independent film, we felt that the majority of our audience would be online. We did not have the large companies to market and mass produce, so posting the film in it's entirety on Youtube was the best way to gain a larger audience.