Ruth Cooper 5061

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

There are many conventions to the thriller genre which I have incorporated into ‘The Perfect Life’. Through character development I have created two main conflicting characters that portray the genre well. One way in which I have developed the characters to portray the thriller genre is through costume; the male character wears very casual but dark clothing as he is in control and connotes fear in the film. It is common to see in thrillers a normal character being put into a dangerous situation; the female character therefore wears normal clothing as if she is going to a party, however her clothing is not too bright and colourful as to bring tension away. The storyline is also very much suited to the thriller genre, it revolves around a young female who is stalked and followed by a male who has an obsession over her, his obsession becomes apparent to the audience through flashbacks whereby he is seen to drug the woman and takes her home with him where he keeps her hostage to live his perfect life with her. The storyline displays many aspects of the thriller genre, firstly, it involves a disturbed male character who has an obsession, this aspect is very common in psychological thrillers especially in the late 1960s through to the 1990s as shown in such movies as; Psycho, The Talented Mr Ripley and Play Misty For Me. Personally, I was inspired by a more recent film, One Hour Photo (2002), when creating my thriller; both films portray a male character obsessing over and stalking a young woman, however through the use of photos, in my film these photos are gathered through social network sites. I felt that in watching a fairly recent thriller film to help me develop a storyline, it would be better suited to my target audience of 17-25 year old's as the audience would be able to relate with the film better with it being of the same era. I used different props to enhance the thriller genre in the film, the obvious prop being the glass and solution which Nathan drugs the female character with, it is very clear to the audience through the use of this prop that the female is drugged through her drink being spiked. This therefore shows a disturbance in Nathan’s character, yet also elements of the unknown, vulnerability and innocence in Amelia’s character as she is oblivious to what is happening to her at the time, this creates tension and suspense for the audience. Other props used such as the old table and the candles tell the audience a bit more about Nathan’s character, we know through the usage of these props that he is living in poor conditions, the use of candles shows a creepy, mysterious, lonely character. It is common in thrillers for the protagonist to live only with the basic necessities, without a lot of possessions and to be alone. Throughout the film there are different shots used to create tension within the plot, to begin with, is the scene where Nathan is stalking Amelia, suspense is created here through a variety of different shots including over the shoulder, pans and Point Of View (POV), in this scene as well as others I have included jump cuts and Close Up (CU) shots to create tension as the plot develops. The scene in which Nathan follows Amelia in the flashback is exterior at night, this was done in order to connote mystery and elements of unknown, as well as fear amongst the audience. To show Amelia awakening from her drugged state I have used a POV shot, this shows a disturbed character and also symbolises her weakness as these shots are also a little blurred to portray her state of eeriness.

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

I believe my film links very well with my poster and magazine article, they all appeal to the audience in different ways yet they all tell the audience about similar aspects of the film, giving them an idea of what to expect. I have designed my poster in a way which grasps the audience’s attention and gives them subtle details about the film. In the poster there are three main images, two of which are merged into one, and there is the title of the film to gain the audience’s immediate attention. The main image used is the male character Nathan in the background, the image is blurred to show a disturbance in his character and his eyes are focused directly on the audience to show a dominant, controlling character, the fact that he is the main image of the poster also suggests his main role in the film. At the bottom of the poster, to the right and below Nathan’s face is an image of the glass in which the solution is, in the glass is an image of Amelia, it is a transparent image which shows only an outline of her face. With the image being within the glass and below Nathan it shows a weakness in her character and shows the control which Nathan has over her. The title used is in a typical thriller font which connotes fear as it is crooked and red, a colour which denotes danger. I feel the colours in my poster are very dark, thus representing the thriller genre well. The poster shows few but major details about the characters and the storyline through showing the main prop used in the film and the two main characters in the film. The magazine article appeals to my target audience very well as it is a similar format to that of ‘Empire’ magazine which attracts a similar target audience. The article includes images from the film, to show snippets of what to expect. It also includes interviews with the actors themselves to involve the reader in a personal reaction to the thoughts of the actors. It allows the audience to learn more about the film and its production in order to promote the film and attract a larger audience.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

My audience feedback was very useful, when I showed my first edit of my film to my target audience, there were no transitions, sound, and the shots didn’t have a natural flow from one to another in terms of the storyline, however it portrayed the early development of the storyline .i.e. the male character stalking the female character. It showed elements of a psychological thriller which the audience enjoyed. The audience also liked the actors used; they thought they were created well to show the genre through costume etc. I have taken on feedback constructively and have since added different transitions, flashbacks, sound, and have also sped up shots and added jump cuts in places to give the film more of a thriller element to it.

How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

I used a variety of media technologies when creating my final product. During the research I used the internet; sites such as YouTube, IMDb were used when looking at similar products, thriller music etc. When creating the script for my film I used Celtx, an easy to use program which allows you to create a correctly formatted script. Whilst researching special effects I used After Effects to get an idea of the sort of effects I could have used in my film to make it more of a thriller, for example, adding fire to buildings etc. I used a Canon camera to film, and edited using adobe premiere pro. All my research and film products were uploaded to my blog on blogspot.com, some documents were uploaded using Scribd.