Evaluation By Lisa Walden

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

1st image-our titling
2nd image-mid-shot of Chantelle at graveyard
3rd shot-extreme long shot of chantelle ending her life
4th shot(second row)- Lacey imprisoned 
5th shot(second row)- Lacey struggling in low key lighting
6th shot(second row)- close-up of Lacey's entrapped hands
7th shot(third row)- first close-up image of Chantelle on Cliff
8th shot(third row)-close-up of Chantelle as she jumps
9th shot(third row)- Flashback scene of both Chantelle+Lacey as they run across the beach

We Incorporated different conventions of a thriller so that our opening would feel and look realistic. First of all, when it came to deciding on how we wanted our titles to appear, we looked into other thriller openings to get an insight into how we could style ours. Our thriller opening only has two characters, as we felt the audience would be able to connect more with characters if there were only two- Lacey and Chantelle. The protagonist in our opening sequence is Chantelle, being that she appears the most, and it is her flashbacks which the audience are encountered with. 


The audience are first introduced to Chantelle as she is walking and mourning in the graveyard(second image from left). We adopted camerawork, mise en scene and sound to ensure it is apparent as to the reason why she is visiting the graveyard- slow paced footsteps portray the image of Chantelle struggling and her uneasy movement as she recalls the death of her friend Lacey. 


Our opening develops the conventions of a thriller such as suspense and enigma as seen in Tony Scott's Deja Vu. We Incorporated these conventions in our trapped flashbacks(second row) to keep the audience engrossed in the next chapter to come. 


Our thriller too follows the traditional stereotypes, that being: two young female friends- both very common and colloquial. We see this through mise en scene (the way they are clothed and how their hair and make-up is presented). Having certain stereotypes allows the storyline to be more understanding to the audience, and for them to more focus on the plot of our thriller. Stereotypes seen in our opening are also conceived in Deja Vu- here however an average police man and young female are presented in stereotypical ways. 


Deja Vu(2006) uses sound and camera work to conduct suspense and expectancy into the film- a good thriller consists of neatly casting together sound with shots and editing. Here in this film ,various close-ups and eerie music are heard and seen to tell the story through effects. These conventions create expectancy and mystification in the film.




Here are some snapshots from the very few seconds of our opening where we incorporated the conventions of a good thriller to enable ours becomes some what suspense filled. 

Here is the opening of Deja Vu- we analysed how they use the style of titling to portray the story and impact the audience. 

This is Deja Vu's opening titles as they fall out of the shot.

Titling Plans

• The image from Deja Vu shows how their titling, letter by letter leaves the shot. As the girl in our opening jumps of a cliff, we wanted to integrate this image in our titling, so we used the idea of the letters falling out of shot.
•  We felt it was something unique to try and experiment with. A commendable thriller will adapt an opening which incorporates well with the moral of the story- we chose to use the idea of letters falling out of the shot to sculpture an image of Chantelle falling off the cliff without giving away the entire film. 

Flashback Scenes

• As we began planning our flashback scenes, we thought very carefully about how mise en scene represents the characters and their backgrounds. The scene here proceeds at (1.40)- we went forth with the idea of low key lighting to embody her struggling and showing that she's in a dark, somber environment. Again prime thrillers study hard about the effect the characters representation and appearance give to the viewers. 

This is a scene from Deja Vu, where low key lighting is also used to create a thrilling, somber atmosphere. 

Camera and Editing Decisions 

• At the end of our opening the audience are introduced to the female character for the first time- they are presented with two close-up images just as the girl is about the jump. 
• We used close-ups so that her emotions are clearly identified, as we wanted our audience to connect with the pain she is enduring, just as in a real thriller(such as Deja Vu or Se7en) you can associate yourself with the sense of affliction and pain. We wanted to use camera work and editing  to ensure these tormenting feelings are clearly shown and felt by all spectators. 

Sound Editing

• During this part we also used sound effects to illustrate the female jumping- a fast bang is placed in to image her jumping from the cliff. 
• As we couldn't get any footage of a female jumping off a cliff, this was the closest idea we had to sculpture her death, without actually killing one of our actresses. 

• Straight after her eyes shut, we decided to cut to a black screen, portraying that her life is now over- although this isn't an easy viewing for the eye, we allowed our music and camera work to tell the story of Chantelle's death, hence the choosing of the loud boom, which we carefully chose to represent the ending of her life.  
• Our initial intention was for the audience to relate to the characters and how they feel, so when shooting close-ups it allows the viewers to become a part of their emotions. Conventions of real thrillers allow sound to become real and focused on as it ties in with the characters. Here we focused on the sound reflecting the feeling and emotion of both Lacey and Chantelle, so that the viewers can easily connect with the girls. 

This is a close-up clip from Deja Vu, showing the viewers how the girl feels. We incorporated this into our opening towards the end as the girl makes the decision to jump. 

What our Audience Thought: 

How does your media product represent particuar social groups? 

The audience are first introduced to the protagonist in our opening- Chantelle- a lively, confident young female, who's un-thought about actions lead to the death of her dear friend Lacey. Using sound, camera work and mise en scene we ensured that the audience would clearly understand the reason for her visit to the graveyard.
We wanted to embark on creating a slight contrast between the two characters- as Chatelles actions lead to the death of Lacey, it appears she is slightly more daring and outgoing than her friend.

The age of our two characters: 

• The female protagonist, Chantelle, is a teenager aged around 16-17- this will become apparent to the audience due to her clothing and behaviours throughout the extract. We want the audience to feel sympathy for her, as she has lost her beloved friend from a foolish act, yet there may be moments in the opening when the viewers feel slight anger towards her, as she is a reason for Lacey's sudden death. 
• The ageing of our second character- Lacey- is too of a similar age of Chantelle, as we felt we needed to cast them in the same age group so the storyline of two best friends (the same age) is more clear. I understand this is a stereotypical thing for female characters, as having them in a distant age group would be more adventurous, we felt we wanted to connect with the audience of young viewers, therefore having them as late teenagers allows the connection to be made. Lacey is a fragile, frightened young female, with the fear of death plastered into her mind being represented through sound, low-key lighting and mise en scene. The age of both female may portray their slight immaturity; scenes of them running on across the beach and throwing chips at one another (featured in a flashback) Also that Chantelle is not prepared and cannot cope with the loosing and struggle of death and horrifyingly believes the only option is death herself. 

Chantelle. 

Lacey.

These two images show the characters in our opening and the image that they represent. In the flashback scene we dressed them in very casual attire, symbolising that they are not affected by how there outward appearance looks, they just enjoy that they are together and happy. In the scenes of the girl by the graveyard and walking to the cliff, she is clothed in a dark, black coat with simple jeans and trainers. The dark coat implies she is distressed and down about the death of her friend- we wanted this to be as clear as possible.

Social Class of our Characters: 

• Both of the females- Lacey and Chantelle- come from a rougher, lower classed social group. This is symbolised through their clothing, make-up and our choice of location- Brighton. The audience may be able to identify with them being a stereotypical image of the females to be kidnapped and involved in death experiences. The girls are always dressed in very casual attire and dark hues- blues, blacks and greys. This equals with the gruesome actions later to occur- it also is an interpretation of their feeling and inner emotions, so that like in real thrillers it is clearly represented to the audience.  The style and choice of their clothing shows the laid back, casual girls that they are and that they are not associated with wealth or attractive clothing. From their actions later to come, this is acutely displayed to the observers. 
• There is no recalling of their job or money issues during our thriller opening, so we had to ensure a crystal image was made to emblematize their lack of money and lower status through the use of mise en scene. Low camera angles show the lack of power the girls obtain, as they are young and likely to have high social class and high salary employment. 

Gender of our characters: 

• The two of our female characters portray stereotypical characteristics of two lower-classed best friends, living in rougher estates and becoming involved in gangs and death-resulting unsolvable problems. 
• It is clearly apparent to the viewers eye that our characters are both females, however we used mise en scene to portray a more feminine and masculine look, for example when Chantelle wears a simple black coat; the look becomes far from a stereotypical female and leans more in the direction of the androgynous attire, which portrays a sense of lack of money and more masculine, laid-back dressing. 
• We chose for a neutral make-up for the casual scenes, to portray them as the females who don't have a keen eye for dressing up or looking presentable, however in the trapped scenes and cliff shots, we used a tutorial to create a darkened, distressing look, emphasising their stress and anxiety. 

Chantelle with a dark, smokey make-up look as she appears distressed. 

A neater version of the smokey eye we mirrored for Chantelles last look. 

Here is an eye-shadow palette, showing the colours we used to create the smokey dark look. 

Here is an image of Dilys, as she prepares Lacey's look for her trapped scene. 

Using video tutorials, we wanted to create a stereotypical look of a girl being trapped and enclosed in a small, dim room- the final look for the flashback scene was a rough, beaten look- something very stereotypical for this scene.
Here is one of the tutorials we used to create this look:

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

A screen shot image of 'Film Distributors' Association

This table shows the distributors which distributed various films, and the profit that they made. 

This image shows the various steps a film has to take, once it has been made. 

The distribution of films is the third part of the film supply chain, and is often referred to as 'the invisible art', a process which is oftenly only known to those in the industry. Distribution is the most important part of the film industry, as the films are brought to life and are therefore able to be connected with the audience. Distribution is mainly divided into three stages- logistics, licensing and marketing.


As our thriller consists of elation and connection with the audience- 15+- i deem it will be an impeccable thriller for the wide, crisp screen of the cinema- this would be an excellent first appearance for our thriller to make.


Taking a film into the cinema would result in a vast amount of revenue, taking into account that teenagers(our audience) find that watching a HD spectacular film extremely enjoying, and will therefore result in a high amount of profit. Of course advertisement of the film is essential in order to promote a latest thriller, as it informs the public of an upcoming film.


Due to the Genre and target audience of our film, i deem it will become a great success when shown in the cinema; there is too the DVD release, which would allow our audience to purchase the spine tingling 'Pushed off the Edge' in a hard-back copy. Once the film had been released into the cinema, we would take drastic action into ensuring our promotion and advertisements are popular and well-known with our audience- i think promoting the DVD copy too would benefit us as film producers. Billboards and short, quick T.V commercials create an impact on the audience, allowing them to get a shot, one minute insight into our thriller. Eventually after two years of the cinema release, our thriller would be displayed on free-to-air television- this allows people who haven't yet seen the film, to have a chance to view our suspense filled, thriller, and may result in them making the choice to invest in a DVD or VHS copy.


I believe we would make the selection of choosing a 'local' distribution- as we have a slighter lower budget-, which involves the distributor acquiring the licence to release our thriller in a particular country- this would be the United Kingdom to begin with.


I think it would be highly beneficial if our thriller was distributed on an online store, such as ' iTunes', as statistics now show that close to 70% of people are now in use of iTunes, which shows us that if our film were to be sold there, it would be a popular film for youth and possibly early adults to consider purchasing for their ipods or computers. Having options such as: renting and buying gives the public a wider opportunity to view the film, regardless of their budget.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

• Our thriller is aimed more towards middle-aged teenagers (11-17 and 18-35) and young adults, preferably because they are able to connect with character issues, themes and teenage problems, which the variety of young people would occasionally encounter. Even though we chose our two main characters as female, this thriller is addressed at both females and males. Being that the story-line contains violent action packed scenes, this in a stereotypical way may more so be enjoyed by males, however the emotional aspect of the film would be felt by the females- again in a stereotypical way. Regardless of the gender division, we proposed that our thriller would appeal to both sexes and that both would appraise in the agitated and moving ways. 

• The 2006 mystery drama Deja Vu tells a story of the disappearance of a young women and the hidden truth behind her death, the main storyline of this is similar to ours. I appose that it is aimed at a similar age group to that of our own, and with somewhat outstanding reviews and DVD sales, ours too can become dominate once released into cinema and Internet sales. With their theatrical performance at $181,038,616 and domestic DVD sales at $40,590,649, this is something sure to mirror. 

• Looking more so at the global spectrum our product would be suited in modern countries where thrillers appear to be growing in popularity- the U.K and various parts of Europe- France, Germany, Spain. Being German myself i have a wide knowledge on the youth culture and interest in parts of Germany and am positive that 'Pushed to the Edge' would be a film sure to pursuit both young males and females, generating a further income for our product. Of course once our revenue begins to increase, we would take any opportunity to expand our thriller into Asian and American countries. 

• Thinking carefully and hard about the rating of our thriller, I've come to a conclusion to make a rating between PG and 12, purely due to disturbing images and some sensuality. Having a clear and truthful rating on a film, allows the audience to make the choice as to whether the film would be suitable for them to watch- we of course, want to ensure that our viewers are happy and satisfied with the film. 

• I feel that our audience for this opening, would be a mixture of both male and female- although we have two females as the main character, i feel it would appeal to both categories.

• We aimed our opening more towards young adults and adolescence, as they would be able to relate to the situation present in the scenes.

• We wanted our viewers to be able to clearly relate to our characters- Lexie and Chantelle- as anybody could find themselves stuck in this situation.

What our Audience Thought

• I asked the audience who watched the clip, what they thought of having young females play in the main drama- their response was: "I really felt that i could relate to the young girls, as this is something that could happen to anyone."-Elle Walden.

• The people i questioned also found the likes of Jaws and Deja Vu a suspense filled film and too could connect with the characters, purely because they also were young adults.

Young female in Jaws: My audience believe they can connect with young adults of a similar age. 

How would you attract/Address you audience? 

• The main key for any movie product is the audience and how you captivate and address them. Our critical priority was to have our audience sitting on the edge of their seats in feeling the emotions that of the characters: trepidation and wondering about future scenes. Although this is hard to accomplish, we tried our utter best to engage and interact the audience with character decision and emotion. 

• Being on a limited budget meant we had to think attentively about how we would use lightning and clothing to portray our stereotypical characters with the audience still being able to connect with their actions. We used hand-held shots to conduct a sense that the audience feel and are with the characters as they journey through this difficult time. We have a match on action shot at the beginning of Chantelles feet walking towards the graveyard- this sense of the camera tracking with her, allows the audience to become a part of her movement and feel what she is feeling. 

• Another way we will try to attract our audience is by our marketing and promoting techniques- we will embark on using cinema and television advertisements as well as promotions across the Internet. Placing billboards in popular public locations such as, the London Underground and on larger buses will create an attraction for the public eye. This will provide that our audience will have knowledge about our film and be interested in the viewing. The style of our advertisements too is very crucial; it is the first insight the public get into our thriller, so it therefore has to be astounding. Dark, bold font, with faint images of a cliff, will sketch an outline of the story of our thriller. 

This image is a handheld shot, allowing the audience to journey with her. 

This is too a hand-held 180 degree turn, to invite the audience into the fun memory's they had together. 

Choosing popular locations, such as Brighton allows the audience to connect
with a familiar place loved by all. 

Using an inspiration 'street style' look for our characters, made it easy for
both females and males to connect with. 

Again using a close shot such as this one, allows the audience to see their emotions, make-up
and clothing, as it reveals a lot about their personality and
who they really are. 

We went ahead with the shot of a held held camera walking in front of the Chantelles feet
so the audience are more connected with her steps towards the grave, however
if we were to use a shot such as this one above, it would make the viewers
feel merely as spectators and not becoming involved with the characters themselves. With every shot, we
thought carefully as to how the audience would react and connect with
what was happening- this was crucial for us. 

Plot and Character Decision 

• We used mise en scene, camera work and use of character to connect and attract our audience of young adults. Deciding to go ahead with two young females, will more likely appeal to our audience, as to using older characters. This way the audience will be capable of connecting with the characters. 
• We discussed carefully what our themes and issues would be, in order for the audience to relate too- we chose a common plot for the opening: two young girls attached to gangs, which lead to violent killings. We believed that this was something young people would understand and enjoy watching. 

Shots and effects used to connect with the audience: 

• The use of camera throughout the film, is mainly a vast mix of long-shots and close-ups of objects, such as the graveyard, flowers and shoes. We kept the close-up of the characters faces until the last few shots, to reveal all at the end- this keeps the audience more in suspense. 
• The story was told through various flashbacks of the two females having fun and enjoying life- this is displayed through the numerous sound effects: sound of friends laughing, and crashing waves on the beach. With scenes like these, this is something all young people can relate to, as they will recognise the strong friendship bond between the girls. 

First appearance of Lacey: Close-up used to display her fear and emotions. 

What my Audience Thought: 

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


This is a video talking about everything that i have learnt during the process of filming and editing. I discuss any difficulties that i encountered and the techniques i feel more confident with. 

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


1st Image- Our attempt at shot reverse shot in the preliminary
2nd Image- Match on Action during our Thriller
3rd Image- Match on Action in our Preliminary
4th Image (second row)- Our Successful canted shot in our opening
5th Image (second row)-A flashback scene from our opening
6th Image (second row)- Our titles at the end of our thriller
7th Image (third row)- Shallow depth of field used in the opening
8th Image (third row) - Low-key lighting in the flashbacks, showing a sense of desperation
9th Image (third row) - Another Match on Action in our preliminary

Progress from the Preliminary 

Shot 2, 3 and 9

Both shots two and nine are Match On Action shots from our first preliminary, so we were relatively new with this and had only just begun practising. Here when she comes in through the door, the camera automatically changes to her entering through the door, showing where she walked from. As seen in shot nine, we wanted to impact the audience with the quick flying paced image of the book as it flys out of shot; using match on action was an effective way to create this impact, portraying speed of the book. Although at the time we were pleased with the outcome, looking back, we could have incorporated various close-ups to give a clearer image of the object. So when it came to match on action in our thriller opening, we aspired on shooting a close, crisp image- the close-up of Chantelle's feet slowly moving towards the grave. We have therefore learnt much more about the content of professional match on action and how it can be successfully placed into a sequence. 

Shot 1 and 5

These two shots contain the two main female characters in both our preliminary and our thriller opening. The first shot in the 'Art of the Title' is a shot reverse shot in our preliminary, where we wanted to create a realistic discussion between two girls- having a shot reverse shot, enables the audience to feel apart and connected with story; we too wanted to assimilate this vibe into our opening. To do this, we used a shot of our two characters and tracked as they ran across the beach- this enables this spectators to feel alive in the story- almost as if they are there. 

Overall this shows that our level on making the viewers feel inside of the sequence has grown and become more knowledgeable. 

Shot 4 and 7

First of all, shot 4 shows an image of our carefully thought about Canted Shot , which we used to symbolise an image of Chantelle journeying towards the peak at the end of her life. This is far from anything which we adopted in our preliminary, consequently showing how far we have come from a simple two shot to a more confounding canted shot, which took great time and effort to achieve. Another more advanced camera technique which we have developed high skill on is our Shallow depth of field on the flowers at the grave, in which we spent much time practising how it can be professionally done. 

Shot 8

This final low-key lighting shot is something we incorporated ensuing that the viewers understand the rural and dangerous location in which she is trapped. During the preliminary, we tried using still lightning so that the face of our characters was easy to identify their emotions and expressions, however in our thriller we used the affect of moving light to truly indicate the distress she is in. This exhibits the knowledge that we have developed with the effects of lighting and how ambitious we have been. 

Location Change

Looking back at the preliminary shows the differences in location which we have made; changing drastically from a small college classroom to the top of a cliff and shooting on the beach. Although the bland choice of setting chosen for shots 1, 3 and 9 tie in with the theme, i believe that we could have tried to be much more adventurous, however our audacious side did make it's presence as the filming on top of 'seven sisters' cliff had begun. 

Sound Changes

The sounding of the preliminary ended in us choosing a simple soundtrack which ran through the whole sequence, however during our thriller we opted in sound effects- laughing, wave sounds, deep breathing- even though we had a soft, mellow sound track backing the entire opening. This shows how experimental we have become since the planning of our opening began; i feel i have learnt a great deal and am looking forward to new learning challenges to commence. 

• As a whole, I've learnt so much about continuity, editing, sound and the camera- i feel much more confident for filming again and feel that i would experiment with much more with a variety of skills and techniques. It's been such a journey from our first preliminary to filming and editing our opening and I feel I've come far in my learning and understanding of technical skills.  

A shot reverse shot in our Preliminary. 

A match on Action in our opening. 

A match on action in our preliminary. 

Here is an image of myself(left) operating the camera as we began shooting the flashbacks
with low lighting; it was a challenge but it was something i enjoyed
taking part in . 

A canted shot in our opening. 

Overall, this has been a roller coaster learning curve for me, as i have experienced and practised new skills; whether it be shallow depth of field, discovering sounds on garage band or just simply playing around with the camera. 

By Lisa Walden.