Our Final Film 'The Next Target'

Next Target Radio Trailer

Final DVD Cover

Final Film Poster

This is the final film poster for our movie as it creates an interesting approach to the audience. It contains many features and conventions that a thriller poster would in order to signify a mysterious and ambiguous narrative. The poster was created on Photoshop using several special effects.

The main image was taken from our film. This is a medium close up displaying the protagonist from the waist upwards. The image suggests a threat and violence as the character is framed holding a gun. Although, this is one of the best shots in the film, a limitation to this would be that it reveals Charlie's character as an assassin. Therefore,this subverts the plot as the protagonist was meant to be ambigious. The title is represented in a bold red colour as it stands out against the black background as well as creating a effective and compulsive representation, the use of white, red and black were common in thriller posters we analysed.The colour motif of red suggests a sense danger revealing conventions of thriller. On the other hand, the greyscale splatter could display the blood from the assassinations therefore, this creates mystery upon the audience.

Due to time constraints, our poster could be improved by granting more time to editing it. An improvement could be to add more effects via Photoshop. By making the splatter red, this may fit the thriller genre more than greyscale to show the blood by the killing. By granting more time we may have created a more professional outcome. 

Evaluation 1

Click here for EVALUATION ONE

Q1

Evaluation question 1

Evaluation Question One

In what ways does the product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Our production follows the conventions and forms of the crime thriller genre. For our production, we researched how similar films to ours portrayed the thriller genre through sound, cinematography, locations, characters, as well as other significant factors in films.

Language of Film and Editing

Continuity editing is editing that gives the viewer the impression that the action in the film has spatiotemporal consistency. The purpose of continuity editing is to smooth over the inherent discontinuity of the editing process and to establish a logical coherence between shots, which emphasises smooth transition of time and space. Additionally, continuity editing allows a clear and uninterrupted flow of narrative which allows the audience to have a more immersive experience while watching a film. I followed the language of film and editing by creating continuity throughout my media product by using the three main types of continuity editing, which include shot reverse shot, the 180 degree rule and match on action.

Shot reverse shot

Shot reverse shot is a film technique where one character is shown looking at another character, who is often off-screen, and then the other character is shown looking back at the first character. A shot reverse shot is commonly used to portray a conversation.

An example of a shot reverse shot would be from the ‘Wolf of Wall Street’ (Dir. Martin Scorsese, 2013).

An example of how we used the shot reverse shot editing technique in our media product would be in the meeting scene between Mrs. Jones and the main character Charlie.



180 Degree Rule

The 180 degree rule as it enforces continuity and ensures that the audience understand where everything in the scene is and prevents confusion. The rule states that the camera should remain the same side of an imaginary line which is perpendicular the camera’s viewpoint in the establishing shot of the scene. Once this line is in place, the camera can move anywhere providing it stays on the same side of the line.

Here is a video explaining the 180 degree rule in further detail and providing some examples of how the rule is used in filming.

an example of how we demonstrate the 180 degree rule in our media product would be when the chase scene begins between Charlie and the Man in Black.

Match on action

Match on action is an editing technique for continuity editing where the perspective of the camera changes during a scene and the scene continues to flow. Match on action is when one shot cuts to another shot portraying the action of the subject in the first shot, which creates a visual bridge. The visual bridge in which the match on action creates draws the audience’s attention away from slight cutting or continuity issues.

An example of match on action would be 'Kill Bill' (Dir. Quentin Tarantino, 2003).

An example of how we used the match in action editing technique would be in our opening scene when an unknown person is pulling a gun from their pocket.

Additionally, we used the match in action technique during the flashback of Charlie as a child as she walks down the stairs to get her ball back.

Genre Conventions

Click here to see some conventions of the thriller genre

Setting

Our media product follows the codes and conventions of the thriller genre as we used a typical 'city' location, which appeared to be an area in poverty. For example, we chose to film in an area which has graffiti on the walls and dirty buildings as it portrays an unsafe environment and gives the audience a sense of danger. Our film demonstrates our location choice best when the chase scene begins as there are numerous shots which give the audience a good idea as to what the area around the characters is like. Additionally, in our film we have scenes in isolated alleyways which is also conventional for the thriller genre.

An example of similar film which uses a conventional city location like us would be 'Atomic Blonde' (Dir. David Leitch, 2017). Atomic Blonde uses conventional locations for the thriller genre as its based in a city and it demonstrated to have an unsafe setting. For example, the film has broken down buildings, barb wire and graffiti in the background which gives the audience the feeling that all the people who live in that environment are either criminals or frightened of criminals attacking them. The chosen locations in Atomic Blonde will also made the audience feel unsafe as these types of locations usually relate to anti-social behaviour and gangsters.

Costumes

Our characters followed the codes and conventions of the thriller genre due to the fact that they wore costumes which would be iconographic in that particular genre. Research has proven that it is conventional for characters in thriller films to wear black or dull clothing. For example, characters such as government agents, assassins or spies typically wear black suits or dark clothing to show their status, but at the same it is clear that they are not everyday business men. Therefore the audience don't need an explanation as to what their job role is as iconographic for these type of characters to wear black or dull costumes. On the other hand, it's also conventional for the antagonists in thriller films to wear the colour black as it creates mystery and allows the audience to feel a sense of danger as the colour black connotes death and evil. Therefore, we used the codes and conventions of costumes for characters in thriller films in our media product by dressing the Man in Black (the antagonist) in all dull/black clothing to identify to the audience that he is dangerous and evil. Additionally, it is conventional for antagonists to hide who they are in thriller films, which is why the Man in Black in our film is wearing a black mask. However, we also dressed our main character, Charlie, in smart black clothing to allow the audience to understand her job role of being an assassin.

 

An example of a similar film which uses conventional costumes like us would be 'Mission Impossible' (Dir. Brain De Palma, 1996).  Mission impossible follows the costume conventions of thriller films as the main character wears all black. The costume which the main character wears allows the audience to understand what job role he does, without actually being told, and creates a sense of mystery which allows the audience to create enigmas.

Another example of a similar film to ours which uses conventional costumes would be 'Scream' (Dir. Wes Craven, 1996). Scream follows the codes and conventions of thriller film costumes  as the antagonist wears all black and hides his face with a mask. Therefore, the use of the conventional thriller consume is effective as it creates a sense of mystery as to who the bad person is and also indicates danger to the audience as the colour black connotes death and evil.



Editing   

Our media product follows the codes and conventions of thriller film editing as we used fast paced editing and a graphic match. A graphic match is used to connect two shots that are disconnected by finishing one frame with an image of the next frame by matching either a colour or shape together. This cut’s intention is to skip forward or backward in time while maintaining a continuity of action and creating a metaphorical link between the images that bookend the cut. We used graphic match editing in our media production to connect two similar shapes, which were clock and Charlie's mirror where she is getting ready in the morning. A graphic match draws attention to the passage of time which we wanted to portray in this scene of our thriller film.

An example of a similar film to ours which demonstrates conventional editing would be 'Psycho' (Dir. Alfred Hitchcock, 1960).   This use of graphic match inspired us to use a graphic match in our film as Psycho is a classic thriller film as I known to follow the codes and conventions of the thriller genre. Additionally, the use of the graphic match was effective as  it creates a variety of visceral or emotional reactions from the audience.

 

Thriller film conventionally use fast paced editing as it causes the audience to become nervous and anxious about what is going to happen next. Fast paced editing is effective in thriller films as the audience are waiting to be surprised or scared by what the next quick-cut shot will be. Fast-paced editing is conventional in thriller films and it builds intensity and makes the audience feel like their at the edge of their seats. Therefore, fast paced editing allows the audience to form enigmas about what's going to happen next in a film. In our media product, we increased the pace of editing in our 'chase' scene as we thought it might increase the intensity and draw our audience in.

An example of a similar thriller film to ours which demonstrates conventional, fast-pace editing would be 'The Bourne Supremacy' (Dir. Paul Greengrass, 2004). This scene from The Bourne Supremacy encouraged our group to use fast paced editing in our thriller film as it made the scene much more effective and built up tension for what was about to happen, which is what we wanted to achieve in the chase scene of our production.

Uses and Gratifications Theory

In order for an audience to be fully interested in a film it must offer them audience
pleasures. The Uses and Gratifications Theory explains this fully stating that there are four
main pleasures a film should provide; entertainment, education, socialisation and role-
model. Our film focused on providing both entertainment, socialisation and role models.

Entertainment

This is often the most popular reason for people choosing to view a film. Watching a film
allows the audience to escape their own lives through the suspension of disbelief. When
creating our film we aimed to entertain the audience through suspense found throughout
our film, in particular when Charlie screams and the audience is left in suspense as to what has happened. 

Socialisation

This aims to stimulate discussion between the audience and others around them. The topic of
assassinations are relatable in society due to the fact that people are killed more often nowadays from murderers, terrorists or assassins. Therefore when creating the initial idea for our film we decided to focus it around murder and assassinations and is an interesting topic and is quite relatable for some individuals in society, increasing the effect of socialisation.

Role models

An audience can recognise a person if role models that reflect similar values to themselves and mimic or copy some of their characteristics. Our film has a powerful female lead which may be relatable to some of our teenage audience members as she dresses similar to our target audience and appears to be completely normal. Our target audience may sympathise with our main character as she lost her parents and a very young age, but may see her as a role model as she is represented to be powerful and intelligent in our media production.

Richard Dyer's Entertainment and Utopia

Richard Dyer argued that media offers us something that is lacking in modern life. Specifically, a sense of community, intensity, abundance, transparency and energy. The film theorist argues that one of the functions of entertainment is utopianism; which is when everything is good against. A utopian society is the result of when everything is bad at the start, and then everything goes back to normal and good again. Utopian categories of entertainment:

 Reality:

• Exhaustion
• Scarcity
• Dreariness
• Manipulation
• Isolation/ Fragmentation

Utopian Solution:

• Energy
• Abundance
• Intensity
• Transparency
• Community

Energy 

Energy is the illusion that you are energetic. Richard Dyre suggests that people look for energy filled films when people feel exhausted from their everyday lives. Dyre suggested this is reached by looking at scenes with things like running, shooting and dodging explosions. Energy is demonstrated in our film when the main character run from the person following and also when she's about to shoot him. Therefore, our film offers the audience energy as it shows scenes of running and shooting which provides the audience with a spurt of energy which they may be missing in their lives.

Intensity

Intensity is when the audience feels like their life is exciting. Intensity occurs when a person feels dreariness and feels the need an escape from it. We use intensity in our film when Mrs. Jones hires Charlie to kill the Man in Black at it creates a sense of excitement in the audience as they want to see what's going to happen. Additionally, our film offers intensity as it provides chase scenes which increase tension as the audience feel like they are on the edge of their seats.

 Transparency

Transparency is the illusion that life is simple. We use films with transparency when we don't have control over our lives and feel like we are being manipulated by others around us. Our film uses transparency in the voiceover as it explains how our main character is feeling and why she does the things she does. Additionally, our film offers our target audience some transparency as it clearly identifies who is the bad character and who are the good characters.

Evaluation Question 1