Our final sequence

 

CCR Task 4 - How did you integrate technologies software, hardware and online in this project?

For Creative Critical Reflection 4, I answered the question 'How did you integrate technologies software, hardware and online in this project?' by creating a website using the technological software WIX where I explain how I used these three forms of technology in pre-production, production and post-production.  

https://alicesilver8.wixsite.com/my-site-1

CCR 3 - How did your production skills develop throughout this project?

For Creative Critical Reflection 3, I used Prezi as a form of online technology to create a presentation explaining 'How did your production skills develop throughout this project?' where I go into detail about research, planning and production skills. 

Here's the link:

 https://prezi.com/view/KejfnfQq3ryc2R7JZnLu/

CCR Task 2 - How does your product engage with audiences and how would it be distributed as a real media text?

For Creative Critical Reflection 2, I answered the question 'How does your product engage with audiences and how would it be distributed as a real media text?' on the technological software Blogger and by making a film poster using Canva. 

To understand my audience I looked at similar products of my genre in order to determine who is likely my target audience. From this research (see below) on target audiences which we decided would be males age 16-17.

research to target audience:

https://alicesa1media.blogspot.com/2022/03/target-audiences.html

research into similar products of my genre:

https://alicesa1media.blogspot.com/2022/03/similar-products-and-conventions.html

research into The BBFC:

https://alicesa1media.blogspot.com/2022/03/the-bbfc.html

I have picked 6 moments from my product where I considered how these scenes would engage our audience but specifically our target audience of males aged 16-17. The first scene I picked was the very opening 4 shots which show a weapon, a CCTV camera in the corner, a male's hands tied up with barbed wire and a radio which an unknown male walks to, turns on which begins to play coffee-house jazz. This immediately links to Barthe's enigma code theory which states 'Producers want audiences to keep watching' therefore our product has mysterious unanswered questions to keep the audience engaged which would later get solved in the film. The first shot of the weapon instantly targets our audience of males as stereotypically, violence in films attracts the male gender. The next shot of a CCTV camera which is placed in the corner of this unknown location creates suspense linking to the thriller genre conventions. The audience is then partially introduced to the key characters of our product which are shown in a close-up of bloody male hands which are tied together with barbed wire behind a chair. This introduces the victim character within the first 9 seconds of our opening sequence however due to his face not yet being revealed, this makes the audience wonder who is this man, why is he tied up and why is he being watched, therefore engaging our target audience. This then contrasts with a shot of a radio where the audience is shown another anonymous male walking over and turning on the radio. Again, the audience is not shown his face, therefore, building suspense and intrigue for the rest of the plot. As soon as the radio is turned on by this anonymous male, non-diegetic coffee house jazz begins to play which increases themes of tension as it sets an eerie tone creating excitement for the audience and escalating the danger in the plot linking to the thriller conventions.

The next scene I picked which I believe engages our audience the most is where our villain character is inspecting the weapons. This is where the audience is fully introduced to both characters but mainly our villain which begins to increase the suspense and tension of our product linking to the thriller conventions. As our male villain inspects each weapon, it creates a cliffhanger for the audience as to what he will do to the victim character as he decided which one will be the most brutal in effect. As our victim character's hands tied up has been previously shown, he appears defenceless and weak therefore building tension which the audience can assume will be a violent action scene. A sense of mystery keeps our audience captivated by our product as it creates intrigue for the audience as to the relationship between these two characters and how the victim has ended up in that position. This scene is also where the audience first thoroughly sees the setting of our product which builds this element of suspense as the victim is isolated in the shipping container with no contact with the outside world linking to thriller conventions of location. This links to the similar products that I researched, in particular, Nerve directed by Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost where the protagonist is trapped in a shipping container in one scene of the film showing how she can't escape building suspense. In this scene which I chose from our product, the villain's facial expressions present him to be excited from the weapons creating an eerie tone and hinting at the psychopathic nature of the character which creates intrigue as well as a sense of fear for the audience as to who this character is and the storyline which will follow. Blumler and Katz's theory about uses and gratification links to our product, specifically this scene, as a sense of escapism for the audience is presented due to this suspenseful scene. The theory also links to personal identity where humans need to define both personal identity and a sense of self based on choices, judgments and opinions which links to our product as the male stereotype of violence is heavily hinted at in this scene.

In this scene, the victim begins to break free from his trap which engages the audience and makes them wonder what will happen next creating suspense in the narrative. His bloody hands link to the themes of violence and freedom as well as creating intrigue as to how he will escape. This creates excitement for the audience by linking to thriller conventions as to what the escalating danger of our product will be. The use of the barbed wire to tie the hands was inspired by another thriller film, Saw 1, where the villain also uses this to trap his victims therefore we were inspired by this as we thought it was a creative choice for our victim to be held captive in which engages our audience. Themes of freedom are also shown therefore leaving this scene on a cliffhanger.

I have also chosen this scene from our product where our victim character sneakily takes the weapon when the villain is not looking. This immediately creates suspense for the audience as to what will happen next and foreshadows the violence which will follow. This also links to Barthe's enigma codes as the audience wants to continue watching therefore this scene of our victim carefully taking the weapon whilst the villain is distracted hints that an element of action will then take place creating excitement for the audience and a sense of escalating danger. This is also where the character roles in our product begin to switch as the victim character begins to gain more power linking to the representation of status in our product. The violence hinted in this scene plays into the idea of fantasy which links to Blumler and Katz's theory which is about diversion/escapism from the real world which engages our audience. 

The next scene which I believe engages our audience is the short scene of the villain and the victim acknowledging each other. This scene engages our audience as the villain is searching for the weapon until he looks up and makes eye contact with the victim character. Our villain has a shocked fearful facial expression creating suspense as the audience can assume that the next scene will be intense and violent. The short shot duration of these shots also adds to this element of suspense as it creates a sense of urgency while still capturing the key emotions of our actors. This scene also hints at the narrative of our product as when the two characters make eye contact with each other it makes the audience want to know more about the relationship between these two, therefore, engaging our audience. The contrasting facial expressions from previously adds to this tension as well as it appears that the roles are beginning to change in our product as the villain character looks shocked and scared whereas our victim character is presented to have gained more power showing status which is emphasised by the character positioning of our two actors where the villain is now on a lower level portraying how he is more vulnerable. 

The last scene I chose which I believe engages our audience is where the audience is presented with the victim character stealing the bag of money which is hidden under the table. This again links to enigma codes as it makes the audience want to know more such as whose money that is, why is it in the shipping container, is it the villain's or the victims or even stolen and many more. This also creates an element of intrigue about the two characters as it makes both of them seem suspicious even the victim as he steals it for himself. The money hidden in a black duffle bag adds an element of mystery to the plot as well as links to themes of greed and power which keeps the audience captivated and wanting to know more about how this will develop in the film. 

I believe our product was successful in engaging our audience as I had done previous research into The BBFC, target audiences and similar products to ours. Our product conveys the conventions of a thriller which is shown specifically in these six key scenes which I believe best engaged our audience. Elements such as the use of weapons, action/violence and the contrapuntal soundtrack create an eerie tone throughout creating excitement for the audience, therefore, them being engaged. The representation of gender and status in this opening sequence links to the narrative and how the relationship between these two characters will develop. The use of the soundtrack combined with the diegetic screams contrasts with each other therefore creating a sense of chaos and which is heightened through the use of such a confined small location of a shipping container, therefore, creating tension. 

I created a film poster for our product which would help to market and distribute our film. This poster includes the title of our product, our key characters, reviews from newspapers, the production company, the release date and other companies and people involved in the making of our product. 

I believe the studio which would distribute our film would be Millennium Media which is a film studio. It is one of Hollywood's longest-running independent film companies and was founded in 1992. The studio creates, produces, finances and sells films globally with its headquarters in Los Angeles, California, United States. The studio has produced many thriller films such as The Expendables 4, Drive Angry, Rambo: Last Blood, Cleaner and Till Death. 

This studio, Millennium Media, would be successful in distributing our film as it has previously distributed many other thriller films which have done extremely well, therefore, benefitting our target audience to attract them. Millennium Media was one of the companies to produce Rambo: Last Blood as the film was distributed on a range of platforms including Google Play Movies & TV, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV and YouTube showing how the Millennium Media would be a successful choice of studio. This would work for our opening sequence as distributing our film on a range of platforms would increase our audience internationally as well. Millennium Media would be successful in managing the marketing and distribution as it is an independent film company, therefore, are a smaller production company which would be more financially beneficial for us as a product group due to a lower budget. However, I believe that if our film were to have a cinema release it would be an amazing cinematic experience due to the colour theme we used making our overall mise-en-scene one of the strongest elements of our product which is a big part of a cinema experience. Our film also creates tension and suspense making it an exciting thriller to watch as an audience whilst creating mystery through enigma codes and cliff-hangers. I believe that because Millennium Media is a smaller independent studio, our product would have a targeted, limited cinema release which I believe would be more beneficial for our film. This is because it would minimise the risk of losing potential profits as our audience would be more targeted as our product is a thriller film with a target audience of males aged 16-17. I also believe that our product would be streamed on platforms such as Netflix, Amazon, Apple and Youtube as many of Millennium Media are distributed here meaning it would make sense for ours to as well which would also benefit the studio. 

CCR Task 1 - How does your product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues?

For Creative Critical Reflection 1, I made a presentation on the technological software Google Slides to answer the question 'How does your product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues?'.