Evaluation - Matthew Bishun

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

Shutter Island

• This is the opening of Shutter Island. This is an Establishing Shot of the setting, which is foggy. We can see a boat in the centre of the frame, which tells us that there is some form of voyage happening here.

• We can see here that there is a dark setting. Low key lighting has been used here, which exemplifies the dark, dull mood of this island.

• This CU of this main character's face is key to the success of this opening. We can see by the costume he is wearing that he is of reasonable wealth. His facial expression here is glum and his eyes look drained and tired.

• We can see from this Medium shot that there are two main characters, perhaps one antagonist and one protagonist. These two men are closely connected as they are both wearing similar clothing. The iconography we see here is of two men, who both are following the same adventure.

• This ELS of the two men tell the audience what the atmosphere and setting is like. The dark clouds in the sky as well as low key lighting add to the darkness for both the mood and setting in this opening.

• We can see from this CU, that one of the protagonists has a cigarette in his mouth, which tells the audience what kind of person he is. It also further adds to the fact that these two men are reasonably wealthy.

• This is another Establishing Shot used to show the audience where these two men are heading, Shutter Island. It is an important shot in this opening as the use of this setting makes it clear to what life is like on that island.

• This is a shot of the Island, as the boat reaches the harbour. We can see here that the island is fairly remote with some greenery in the background.

• This ECU is of a 'Deputy Marshal' badge on the belt of one of the main protagonists in this opening. It tells the audience that this man has a high power and status and therefore is well respected amongst other people on the island.

Broker (Our Thriller Opening)

• This, as in Shutter Island, is an Establishing Shot to show the audience our scene. This is outside the container in which the interrogation takes place.

• This is another Establishing Shot of our location. The setting looks deserted and we have used this scene to make the audience aware of this spooky atmosphere.

• We have used an ECU here to get a first glimpse of the antagonist in this opening. We can see his back here as he is walking towards the container, where he will interrogate our capture, Adam.

• We have again used a shot outside the container. This again is telling the audience what location this is. We have the antagonist in the centre of this frame about to light a cigarette. He is the gang leader and interrogates our protagonist inside the container.

• This is our protagonist, Adam, a stockbroker. He is wanted by our antagonist as he holds a large sum of money, which he says he does not have. In this CU, we see he is tied to a chair and is well dressed with combed hair.

• This CU is of our second antagonist. This is myself, I say nothing throughout this opening as my job is to guard Adam who is sitting tied to a chair. We have used very little lighting here as my face is very dark and you cannot easily see my face. The only light in this frame is from the window in the hall. My face is positioned slightly to the right of the frame as when the main antagonist walks in, I step aside.

• This LS is of the main antagonist. He is a tall figure who again his face is difficult to see. We have used no lighting here, the only light is of outside the container. He is wearing dark clothes and we have tried to make sure the audience can see his whole body in this frame.

• In this shot, we can see a shot of the protagonist. The lighting we have used here is mainly focused on the protagonists head as he looks down at the floor. The enigma here is that we do not know why he is looking down.

• This shot is an ECU of the weapon used by the antagonist. This knife is going to be used by the antagonist to interrogate our capture, Adam. Here, we again have used low key lighting, focusing on the main object in this shot, the knife.

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

• Adam, who is the protagonist is seen to be a young male of a weak status in this thriller opening. From the image below, we can see his head is bowed and he is looking down at the floor. This shows he is inferior to the antagonists. We can also see from the image that he is well dressed. As Adam is a stockbroker, we assume he is of the middle to upper class and around 30 years of age. We have done this to tell the audience that Adam is the protagonist.

• In Shutter Island for instance, costume is an important part of mise en scene to portray social class, gender and age. The image below shows one of the main characters seen to be wearing a jacket and a hat. This shows he is of the middle class and is around 40 years of age. 

• The image below shows the main antagonist, Iceman (played by Patrick). We can see from this image that his collar of his jacket his up. This tells us he is quite trendy and is a confident character. We have done this to tell the audience he is in control and has a very high power and status. 

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

I could see Broker being distributed online or via a magazine article. Our product could be displayed in the first few pages of say the local newspaper. In order for our film to be a hit for viewers, these institutions would be ideal for advertising our movie. For example this image below shows Spider Man 2 in a magazine article. Our ultimate aim is to get viewers to come and see our film, therefore an article in a newspaper/magazine would be necessary. Something such as an advert on a film website, wouldn't be as successful just because more people buy magazines and newspapers, than have the ability to access a certain webpage. Magazines and newspapers are everywhere which means people will be more inclined to buying a magazine than find a computer to visit the web.

4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

Our target audience would be males aged between 18-35. This is because our main character is around 30 so it would be appealing to males of this kind of age. A film that our viewers would have enjoyed would be the James Bond movie 'Skyfall'. This contained several male characters, however who were slightly older than our age bracket. However, despite this, our movie was somewhat similar to a scene in 'Skyfall', where we see somebody being interrogated.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

We addressed our audience by staging our film in a deserted hall. The darkness in our hall has been a key factor in trying to attract viewers. The use of the knife to the face as part of the interrogation, as well as having our capture in the middle of the hall tied to a chair are just some of the ways in which we are telling a story and make it appealing for watchers.

Below are examples of the capture tied to a chair to add tension to our thriller opening. Adam, our capture, is just a normal guy, so it seems strange that he is the one being targeted. We have tried to make our thriller authentic and by doing this catching the eyes of our viewers.

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

Final Cut Pro was the editing software we used in the creation of our thriller. I had no previous experience of using it before this course but came used it to the software after being shown by the media technicians what to do.

Link to Final Cut Pro User Manual:

http://www.pitzer.edu/offices/media_studies/documents/FCP7Help_complete.pdf

I found this software very useful in being able to edit our film and then convert it fairly easily. I had some difficulty to begin with, as it had been a while since I used it. I found rendering particularly frustrating as it took a long time to complete, but knew that it would only enhance our product. I enjoyed using the software and hope to use it again sometime in the future as it was a very effective tool in creating our final end product.

The camera I found very useful, in being able to film a variety of shots from many angles. I found the camera very easy to use as we managed to film each shot several times. However, I did find it difficult to handle as I had to film whilst kneeling which became a minor difficulty. 

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

In the progression from the preliminary task to the full product I have made sure when I filmed I did not leave lots of empty space in the frame, as this was picked up by my teachers during this task. However, I have amended this to make sure I did not repeat this again in the final product.

Below is an example of how my filming has changed. I have the character in the middle of the frame, with little empty space.

In the editing process, I have also made progress in learning the different functions of Final Cut Pro to create our thriller opening. Rendering, converting and editing the film have all been new to me during this course, but I feel I have learnt how to use the software effectively to make our final product.