In What Ways Does Your Media Product Use, Develop Or Challenge Forms And Conventions Of Real Media Products?- Evaluation 1

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

Title of film

As our film is located underground as a group we called our thriller ‘Subterranean’. We wanted to pinpoint the location to give the audience a sense of unknown. After thinking of many names to do with nuclear war, bunkers, gas masks, this one seemed to fit our film and was different sounding to what we had heard previously. The word Subterranean also implies something that is hidden and this fits the antagonists who we introduce with gas masks and who are also hidden from view, again this fits the codes and conventions of a thriller horror movie.

Setting and Location

For our setting and location we wanted to find somewhere dark and mysterious to show the audience that our film is a Horror movie. Also from watching films about Nuclear Explosion and post-apocalypse settings, most locations within the films are dark and abandoned and we wanted to choose a location which fitted in with the codes and conventions of thrillers about this sub genre of a horror movie. We decided to film our thriller underground, in a Secret Nuclear Bunker which would fit into our storyline as when nuclear attacks happen you go to a bunker to keep yourself safe. We chose only some of the rooms included in the bunker to film in. The rooms that we chose were dark and shadowy. This was effective as it looked good in our movie because it provided a foreboding atmosphere that fitted the codes and conventions of a thriller. We also choose some practical rooms such as the washroom, dorm, etc to show that this is a long term experience. This was to allow the audience to get a sense of how serious the nuclear attack was and get a sense that there may be other characters lurking because these type of rooms are in use.

Costumes

For our two gas mask characters, we choose to dress them in plain black top and trousers, black military boots, camouflage jacket and gas mask. The camouflage jackets were used to be able to show the two characters backgrounds. This is because they have both have past experience in the army and by using these jackets easily shows to the audience this without having to explain it or give too much away. We used plain black clothes for the rest of their costume to show that these are serious characters in our movie. This is because instead of having bright colours like comical characters would, plain black helps to show to the audience what type of characters they are (serious) and whether they fit or juxtapose these stereotypes. The only other character in our storyline wore similar costumes with the exception of the gas mask. This was to help to show to the audience that these characters may have something to do with each other in the future. This helps to foreshadow to the audience that these characters may be similar and may even have to come together despite how the audience perceives them as being apart at the beginning. We left Beckie without a gas mask to help show the naïve girl that she is due to radiation being in the air and she is ignoring this fact. This could also show what she has been through because she has been too worried and running from something that she hasn’t had time to acquire a gas mask. Again, the plain black clothing helps to show that she is a serious character in our storyline, although white instead of black shows helps her to stand out more, showing her to be the most important character in our storyline.

Props

We didn’t use many props in our movie due to everything we needed being built in at the bunker. One prop we used was gas masks. We used gas masks to show the audience what has happened before to make the world as it is. The gas masks help to easily show some kind of chemicals or radiation have been used to turn the world like this. We simply gathered the gas masks used from a fancy dress section located within the bunker itself. Another prop we used was bunk beds. We used the bunk beds to show the audience that this is a permeant state that the worlds in and how people have managed to quickly adapt to this. The bunk beds help to show the audience this quickly as in temporary places, beds are the least of your worries. The bunk beds used was already located in the front dormitories in the bunker. We also used these beds to our advantage by having characters hidden in their unbeknown to the protagonist. One final prop that we used was the coffin. We used this coffin to represent the death that is in the environment. Due to the lack of people around, it helps to already show to the audience that the disaster has impacted people badly. However by adding this simple little touch it was able to quickly show to the audience that death was something within our film and that the characters in our storyline are able to deal with it and aren’t dazed by it. The coffins were the original coffins put there for use in 1952 which remain in the bunker for people to see.

Camera Work And Editing

We filmed our thriller movie on an IPhone 5. We decided to use this because although cameras were available, the IPhone still has good quality footage and is easy to upload to a computer and to edit. It also made it easy to check back footage before we moved on. When filming, we had to make sure that everything was filmed landscape. A couple of shots had to be re-done due to filming portrait but by noticing it early was ok. When arriving at filming, I had to make sure that we had plenty of memory and battery available. This was important because if the battery run out then we would be unable to film and the same if memory was full. We carried around a charger and I had backed up all of my photos ready to delete in case. When filming, we made sure that all of our shots followed each other and immediately watched them back to try to achieve continuity editing.  We always made sure we started filming before the action started because by missing a little bit of filming may make our continuity uneven. We used some match on action shots through doors to help show this continuity editing we have used clearly to the audience. Without using continuity editing, the film wouldn’t make sense to the audience and would leave them feeling confused for a bad reason. When editing, we turned all of our shots black and white. This helps to fit with codes and conventions of thriller movies because it makes it appear dark and shadowy and help set the mood rather than light and cheery. When editing we put on a title sequence. We constructing our title sequence by analysing other title sequences and taking inspiration from how they named the roles and then by looking at roles we had used such as ‘Sound Designer’. When editing together the actual clips, we had to make sure we put them in the right order. This was so that Beckie and the other characters moved fluently through the bunker. We firstly editing together all of the shots that follow each other than put in random shots to help show the audience other characters and not bore them.

Title Font and Style

In our opening credits we have used a military based font. We used this to help’s to fit with the codes and conventions of a thriller movie. This is because rather than it be swirly like in other movies, thriller movie fonts as quite boring and serious. We also used this font to keep reminding the audience of the army background that our characters have. When the film name ‘Subterranean’ appears the letters appear one by one. This helps to look like its being written on a type writer. This helps to show the trouble the characters may be in because due to the explosion, type writers may be there only way to communicate. This also helps to bring in the army element because it’s how they would have communicated back in the war. Before finding this font, we tried many other which simply didn’t fit with our footage or genre of film. This was due to them being too pretty and fitting other genres.

Story And How The Opening Sets It Up And Genre

One main point in our storyline is how there has been a nuclear explosion and the radiation has caused the world to nearly end. Only a few characters with previous military background are left and they have to fight to survive. We help to set this up in the opening by using props such as gas masks to show the radiation side and camouflage jackets to show the military background. We also used abandoned shots to show that not many people are left in the world but didn’t include too many of these to not bore the audience. In the opening we are able to see the characters, a little bit about them and some of the settings and locations. We did this to be able to help get the audience engaged but also not find out too much about the film in the opening. The opening overall helps to set the story up because we show elements about our storyline and our audience is able to add it up. This is a very common things in thrillers and the stereotypically thriller movie viewer likes this challenge and rollercoaster of emotions that follow. We showed that our movie was a thriller in our opening by the black and white effect used. This was because it causes it to be more gloomy and serious than in the bright daylight. This helps to show the type of movie it is because by seeing this effect the viewers are expected this. We also showed our genre in the opening by characters jumping out on other characters. This shows it to be a horror thriller movie because by this happen gives the audience a different emotion then they may have previously had. This gives them a rollercoaster of emotions which is very common in thriller movies, especially horror where there may be jumpy scenes. Another way we showed genre through our opening was by not giving too much away. In films such as chick flicks, they give away the storyline in the opening and show how it happened/developed. In thriller movies this doesn’t happen. There are stereotypically mystery’s involved which gets the audience thinking and the storyline comes together in the end. This has happened in our film by only giving the audience implications of the storyline then allowing it to be later revealed in our movie. This fits rather than juxtaposes stereotypical thriller movie openings.

How The Characters Are Introduced

Our protagonist character is introduced into our storyline by the audience first seeing her running towards then past the camera. This shows the audience that she is the protagonist in this movie because she is running away, she is the victim. This is an effective way to show the audience her character because they are able to instantly make an assumption on her character. By her being a girl, the audience instantly assume that she is weak, unable, but by her running and no sight of the antagonist, these views are almost juxtaposed straight away. We decided to introduce her like that to shock the audience rather than first seeing her in her normal environment. She has been thrown right in the deep end and the audience is able to see how she develops throughout the movie and juxtaposes these stereotypical views. We are first introduced by our antagonist characters by seeing them calmly walk down the tunnel away from the camera. Walking rather than running shows the audience that they are in control rather than the other character. By them walking away from the camera helps to show the audience that these are the antagonist characters and that they are in fact the people chasing the protagonist. Due to the audience expecting to see someone chasing her, they are able to instantly assume their character and personalities. We decided to introduce them from behind to try and keep their characters and personalities hidden from the audience at first to be later seen. This helps to create all different emotions for the audience and help to fits the codes and conventions of watching a thriller movie.