Evaluation 7

Evaluation 4 -Who would be the audience for your media product?

Below is two mood boards of who our thriller opening is targeted towards, we aimed our film Seized towards teenagers, this is due to the actors in the film being teenagers themselves.

We aimed the film towards both genders due to the film including female and male casts. Due to the storyline of the film not being a stereotypical girly film such as a 'chick flick' it may appeal slightly more towards teenage boys. However a thriller TV series which is very popular towards the female market is 'Pretty Little Liars' this is a show which involved kidnapping scenes and therefore is a programme which links to our storyline, and perhaps foreshadows the stereotype of boys proffering thrillers then girls.

The Middle class market might be more interested into this type of film due to their being well known high street brands advertised in the filming.

Question 6 What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Throughout this project I have learnt a variety of new skills and been introduced to software programmes I have never worked with before. The course has improved my terminology and IT skills. Although I took media at GCSE  level I never used software programs such as 'iMovie and garage band'. 

At the beginning of this project my camera skills and editing techniques weren't very good, I lacked knowledge in editing software programs and the way they worked along with the terminology.

The most commonly used software programme that I used throughout this course was 'iMovie'.When using this software to edit videos and place together transformations and text to create a flowing clip it was something I had to learn as I went along. I understood the basic skills from cutting and uploading the video but removing sound, adding a filter and adjusting the speed of the clip something that I needed guidance with due to the lack of experience I sustained.

Garage band was another software which was used through the editing stage for our thriller opening. This was a programme which I hadn't used before but found it preferably easier to understand compared to the iMovie setup. One main reason for using this programme was to record conversations which wasn't heard when filming. One key part that made our original filming piece hard to hear was the wind ,therefore to overcome this problem we used the garage band software to record through the mac and then use within our final cut. 

Although I had never had any experience with blogger nor heard of the site before however I found it preferably easy to navigate myself around, it wasn't complex to use and I found it overall a usefully website to use, due to it expanding my computer skills. This is because I learnt how to import videos , insert pictures and hyperlinks into whatever I was talking about on a blog post. Adapting the text size and font colour and making sure the page layout was the same was something that I learnt first. Overall I wouldn't hide away if someone asked me to explain how to use this site due to me being quite confident with using the site myself.

Additionally a software site which I had actually used before was YouTube converter, this is a site where you can legally download both the audio track and the film clip to your computer. This website came in useful when we added the idence and production companies before the begging of our opening thriller clip. Therefore I had no trouble in using this site and its generally a handy website to use due to it being a simple copy and paste follow by a click on the convert button. 

A technique which I had done before was importing and exporting files, weather this was video recordings or photographs it was a section I was comfortable with and had experience with before. 

Evaluation 5 - How did you attract/address your audience?

Within our thriller opening we chose to use mise en scene and props to address the audience. By the male actors in our film wearing casual high street clothing brands it implies that they are of a middle class , due to them being able to afford the items. Teenagers tend to care about their appearance and tend to wear brands logos then what the older generation would. The brands the actors wear ironically represent and symbolises what teenagers in our generation wear. Brands couch as Vans , ASOS, Topshop, Nike,  Addidas, Pandora and Apple were all included within the media production. These brand names are known by our target audience therefore they would be able to relate and perhaps own the same kind of branded clothing as the actors.


In this image two boys are seen having a
conversation in the park, this is a location which its stereotypically known for teenagers to hang around; in parks and street corners. Therefore by using this setting its a location which enforces this stereotype and links to the audience target market.

The boy to the left wears a baseball cap and a Nike jacket whilst the boy on the right is seen holding an iPhone ,these day the generation of teenagers tend to have the latest phone upgrade. Therefore using this type of technology means it would more addressed to teenagers due to adults and the older generation perhaps not having the latest phone or appreciating how common it is for teenagers in society to day to be using a mobile.
By also using two mobile phones which were apple brands could attract the audience more to this generation due to the majority of young teenagers having at least one apple product.
In the second image the boy is seen wearing an expensive watch and picking up a Pandora bracelet. Overall we felt that using a costume style which linked to how teenagers stereotypically dress in the 21st century. Using well known branded clothing addressed our audience more and helped grab our target markets attention. 


Having constant background music in our opening thriller was a key importance, it added tension and created a dramatic atmosphere. Without including music it produced an unprofessional piece and wasn't at all effective. Overall we chose to keep away from a music track which included lyrics due it it distracting the view from what was actually being said in the scene. This restricted us from basing our music around a certain age group, however when researching into pervious on the market thriller films we found that to create tension and an unsettling atmosphere  no lyrical music being added only the audio track. Also by adding an audio it meant that it didn't restrict who would be watching the film, although we aimed to base it around teenagers ,we could've chosen a song which didn't appeal to most teenagers due to there being a huge variety of music categories to chose from.

For the filming purposes we weren't restricted to the filming location, we chose to film in three locations which were a park, the streets and a house/ basement. Using these locations it addressed our audience, this is because teenagers are stereotypically found meeting there mates in local places, therefore we chose a park for this scenario. It was important that we chose our locations to link to were our audience would normally go, choosing a park was a hangout place which teenagers could relate to.  Our second location was the roads/ streets , due to our target market not being able to drive It meant we could subvert the stereotype of parents picking their kids up and instead show the  teenagers walking to their location. We set the scene to the park because it was a place that everyone had been to  before and due to it being a normal everyday location it meant the audience could question why we didn't use an unusual location such as a abandoned building.

Additionally the type of characters we used effected the type of audience we would attract. Due to their being both genders within our film it meant the film would appeal to both male and female. However due to us choosing younger teenagers to be actors it meant that it would limit the age barrier that the film would be marketed towards.

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

Towards the beginning of the year we were given a task to practice our camera work and editing skills, by setting a prelim task we was able to work with the equipment and produce an understanding of what different shots would be successful during our final thriller opening.

We were provided with a list of camera shots we were required to include for example , a shot reverse shot , 180 degree rule and match on action.

We used a shot reverse shot during a conversation during the interview, by using a shot reverse shot it signifies to the audience that the two characters are looking directing at each other. The shot reverse shot often ties in with the 180° rule to retain continuity and not distorting the audience’s sense of location of the actors in the shots.

Below is a video clip of be discussing the problems towards our final prelim video.

Throughout the project our knowledge and understanding of making a clip flow smoothly with transitions and editing technique. This is something that we wasn't to strong with when it came to using transitions in our prelim task, also within the prelim task we had very long shot framing, this subverted the stereotypical thriller opening due to there being fast short cuts from each scene in a traditional thriller movie.

Something that I noticed I didn't mention in the video was the list of cast and crew towards the final few second of our prelim video, By watching this back and researching into what was scene at the begging of a film ,I've noticed that it wasn't a necessary to have it within the film opening due to no film having the end credits shoved into the middle of their storyline.

Evaluation 3

Our ideal audience of our media product seized would be teenagers, male and female; this generation could relate to some events that take place within the film. The narrative and storyline of our film could appeal to a variety of ages ,preferably 13-15 year olds due to the actors being relatively around the same age group. Some themes that we have included are abduction/kidnapping along with mystery. These are stereotypical themes that are conveyed into thriller movies and overall appeal to a mass audience. We’ve targeted our film at middle classed people due to the highstreet branded clothing and accessories which are worn by the actors. A film that our opening could relate to is ‘Taken’ due to the main character being a male who is left saving his daughter who has been kidnapped. Our end thriller opening piece is similar due to the catalyst being a teenage girl being kidnaped and her male friends are left to rescue her. However we didn’t include any sexual content, graphic scenes of violence within our opening which therefor doesn’t restrict our audience and actually widens the audience range. Due to the main characters in our film being males we chose to ensure we would appeal the film majority to boys rather than girls, however because there is a girl who is also one of the key characters we did enforce that girls would also benefit and perhaps could relate to the film which is why they were still partly our target market audience.

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

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

In our thriller opening the main social group we chose to represent was younger teenagers. As seen in the print screens from our film the teenagers are seen wearing causal clothing from affordable high street brands. Within this shot the boy to the right seen in the jumper and basic black jeans it portrayed as a typically dresses teenage boy. He obtains an earing on his left ear which automatically emphasizes his young age and the lack of maturity due to a piercing on a boy can be seen as either a gang symbol and perhaps something that he done himself or stereotypically related to a boys teenagers years as grown men don't seem to wear them due to them being seen as tacky and chavy. The boy to the left is dressed similar he wears a baseball cap ,a black puffer jacket and casual blue jeans. The cap he wears is worn to represent the sporty side that male teenagers seem to obtain, the jacket with the nike symbol is stereotypical for teenagers to have especially boys due to the brand nike being a sport based clothing and footwear company. Black teenage boys are stereotypically seen as trouble makers and hang around the streets in gangs, therefore our thriller opening subverts this idea due to their being only two boys who try and rescue their girl mate. The girl (megan) wears jeans, a stripy top and a leather jacket. By her dressing in this way it implies she is subverting the stereotype of looking girly by dressing in skirts and dresses, also this is seen through the dark and dull colored clothing she wears, another thing would be the minimal make up she wears which also subverts how teenage girls dress. Due to her being the only girl present it could suggest that she prefers hanging out with the boys rather that girls, signifying that she gets along with them more which is shown through the mist en scene and her body language.

Megan however comes across to be giggly and her body posture/ language towards the boys makes out she is shy and nervous perhaps which is shown through her giggling. Therefore megan does begin the fit the stereotype of a girl acting cute and not with over confident and showing off by being loud. The way she sits portrays megan in an innocent and vulnerable way with foreshadows why she may be an easy target to kidnapped rather then the two black boys who stereotypically are seen in previous thriller movies to be involved in violence and crime.

The boy in the grey hoodie fits the stereotype of a teenage boy, they are portrayed as being over confident and often loud, perhaps showing off in front of girls. Being a black teenager they are stereotypically exposed as being assertive ,funny and flamboyant in movies, actors like Kevin heart are seen cracking a joke or casually laughing in films ,this links to our opening because David jumps up and starts awkwardly laughing which adds the stereotypical comedy genre that back boys uphold in films. However the second boy subverts this stereotype of how a black boy acts because he comes across to be quiter and more concerned about where megan is and begins to panic questioning if they said to meet at their usually seating area in the park.