Question 3: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

What is an institution?

An institution is a company that distributes a media product for audience consumption.

Which institutions would distribute my media product?

  

We would have approached a company like Polygram to distribute our film as they have been responsible for distributing similar thriller films such as Arlington Road and Se7en – which were extremely influential in our production of a film opening. However, Polygram were taken over and merged with Universal in 1998 so we would look to Universal to handle the marketing and distribution for Lovers on the run.

Another distriution company who we would like to distribute our film would be Revolver Entertainemnt. Revolver are a UK based distribution company who have released films such as Kidulthood and Knuckle. They have also handled the release of the film You Kill Me, which has a similar look and feel to our film, and is of the same genre.

Which institutions would exhibit my media product?

New films would generally be distributed to places such as cinemas for example Cineworld and Showcase. The distributor would release short clips/trailers before the film release date as then this would get the audience to come and watch. We would produce our film in digital and film print, so that it could be shown by smaller exhibitors as well as the multiplex cinemas. We would not make the film available in 3D format.

 

Completed by Somer.

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

Question 2 media evaluation

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Social groups are often portrayed as stereotypes through media, whether its film, social media such as Facebook or Instagram, or in my case television. In my thriller opening scene I represented three different social groups:

• Young female – Generally in thrillers women are victimised, so in our finished product we included a young business women to challenge stereotypes that are being created through social media. Often when we see an advertisement on the television we see women being in the kitchen cooking or cleaning. The young female that is featured in our finished product challenges the stereotype as through mise en sene we see her wearing smart suit and generally looking very elegant. If we have used a women dressed very poorly and didn’t take care of herself we would reinforce the negative stereotype about women.
• 

  Female murderer – Our finished product also features a female murderer to challenge stereotypes that are created through social media. As mentioned before we think of women as gentle and very carrying about their family. For example we have drawn the representation of cat women who is cold and evil because it goes with the female murderer, also both characters have love relationship with the male characters. Also e have chosen to have a female murderer not a male murderer because males are generally more dominant and physically powerful, so we wanted to challenge this stereotype.

• Young male – White males are usually represented as lovers, family man and not usually as villains so we wanted to challenge this stereotype and use our male character as a bad guy who is very vicious and sexually attracted to the female murderer. The reason why we haven't used a black male is because black males are more likely to be involved in the criminal behaviour and we wanted the audience to be shocked seeing a white male as a villain. We have stuck to using the negative stereotype so that the audience would identify with ease what character stood for which representation. We have used close ups of his face to make the audience feel uncomfortable with being in such closeness with character they were just introduced to.   
  
  
  
  

  

  
   

Completed by Aleksandra.

Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Because we were familiar with thriller films we knew what sort of codes and conventions were associated with the thriller genre.

• They create a sense of enigma and suspense
• Some contain fast paced editing or slow paced to create even more tension throughout the film, this depends on the sub-genre
• The music is used to add rigidity. 
• Low key lighting
• Diegetic sound of either breathing or a heart beat
• Black and white shots

If we break this down further, we would have to look at the codes and conventions of the crime thriller as that is our sub-genre.

Crime Thrillers often focus on the life of a crime figure or a crime's victim(s), or the rise and fall of a particular criminal(s), gang, murderer or lawbreaker(s) in personal power struggles or conflict with law and order figures. Examples of crime thrillers are Se7en, Pulp Fiction and The Purge.
These are some of the codes and conventions we took into account when making our opening sequence.


Codes:

• Camera work (close ups of the characters to show their emotion).

• Body language (see how the character is feeling).

• Long shots (establish the location as well as what the characters are doing).

• Fast paced music (create suspense).

Conventions:

The characters might range from being:

• Materialistic

• Street-smart

• Dishonest

• Megalomaniacal

• Self-destructive


Completed by Somer.

Planning: New thriller film location.

We decided to change our location before we started filming as we believed it would be easier as it was closer.

 

So now this is the street that the victim will be walking down. There are quite a few places where the murderer can hide.

This is the driveway that the victim walks up.

 This is the hallway that the victim comes through when she enters the house. It's quite modern and new which represents that the victim is quite successful as she can afford her own house.

Another shot of the hallway.

 This is the door that the murderer walks through to get into the house.

 This is the part of the kitchen we first see when the killer is in the house.



 The stairs we first see the victims boyfriend.

 The living room where the victim is 'killed'. This gives off quite a homely feel which connotes with the fact that she gets killed here.

 Another shot of the living room.



Task completed by Somer.

 

Planning and Research: logo

Here is our logo for our production. We came up with SOLA as it was a mixture of our names. We chose the colours red, black and white as those are the main colours that will be in our film.

Task completed by Somer.

Research: Codes and Conventions of thrillers.

We decided to present our codes and conventions of thrillers research as a filmed conversation using shot-reverse-shot.

Task completed by Somer and Aleksandra.

Planning: Classification for out film.

Classification for out film.

We are proposing that out thriller film has a 15 classification.

What does the 15 symbol mean? No-one under 15 is allowed to see a 15 film at the cinema or buy/rent a ‘15’ rated DVD.  15 rated works are not suitable for children under 15 years of age.

How much strong language is there in a 15?

There could potentially be a great deal. At 15 there is no upper limit on the number of uses of strong language (eg f***).
Occasionally there may be uses of the strongest terms (e.g. 'c***'), although continued or aggressive use will not normally be passed 15.

What about discriminatory or offensive terms?

There may be racist, homophobic or other discriminatory language, and the work could explore themes relating to this.
However, at 15 the work as a whole must not endorse discriminatory language or behaviour.

How much sex and nudity is allowed at 15?

At 15 sexual activity can be portrayed, as long as there is no strong or graphic detail. Some sex scenes can be quite long at this category and may involve some nudity and movement. Though nudity may be allowed in a sexual context there should be no strong detail.
There are no constraints on nudity in a non-sexual or educational context.
There can be strong references to sex and sexual behaviour, but especially strong or crude references are unlikely to be acceptable unless justified by context.
Heterosexual and homosexual sex and sex references are treated the same.

Can there be strong violence?

Yes, at 15 violence may be strong. It should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury, however, and the strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable.
Strong sadistic or sexualised violence is also unlikely to be acceptable.
Easily accessible weapons may not be glamorised.

What about sexual violence?

There may be detailed verbal references to sexual violence (for example descriptions of rape or sexual assault in a courtroom scene or in victim testimony) but any portrayal of sexual violence must be discreet and have a strong contextual justification.

What about horror works?

Many horror films are rated 15. At 15 there can be strong threat and menace (as long as it is not sadistic or sexualised), although the strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable.

Can you see drugs in a 15 rated film or video?

At 15 drug taking may be shown but the work as a whole must not promote or encourage drug misuse.
The misuse of easily accessible and highly dangerous substances like aerosols or solvents is unlikely to be acceptable at 15.

Task completed by Aleksandra.