1. In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of media products?
Our film Blackout is a thriller/drama film, we took stereotypes of what we as a group thought consisted in a thriller/drama film, such as a villain who was portrayed by the character Ivy the alter personality to Cassie, the victim, who in the end causes the ‘death’ of Ivy. The opening scene shows Ivy kill, Cassie’s boyfriend Michael. Unlike most thrillers where there is a villain, hero and a ‘damsel in distress’ Blackout doesn’t follow the classic ending where the hero defeats the villain and gets the girl, therefore I feel it challenges the conventions of a thriller. The villain Ivy, is in the same body as the ‘damsel’ who towards the end saves herself but ‘killing’ her other personality who was responsible for killing all Cassie’s loved ones including her family. There is no hero who will come and ‘save the day.’ The film shows Cassie trying to piece together bits of her past to discover what really happened, which creates a sense of mystery where the audience will be drawn in.
2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Blackout does not follow a typical stereotype for young women as the main character Ivy, in the opening scene, kills her boyfriend. In thriller/drama films the murderer is generally a man, while the women portray a “damsel in distress,” waiting to be saved, although there are some exceptions such as “Obsessed” where a man is being stalked by a woman. The man’s wife also plays a strong female who goes tries to stop her husband’s stalker. This influenced us as we wanted to create a strong female character, Ivy, which we contrasted with her other personality Cassie, who is the complete opposite and does until the end of the film portray a “damsel in distress.” I believe our film will attract our target audience aged 15- 45, as we have used character who are simular ages. The female lead is a college student, along with some other charaters, although there are some adults such as the police and a psychiatrist. Eventhough the film is focused on a woman I believe that Blackout will also attract a man audience as there is the film includes bloody scenes, which is also shown in the opening scence where Ivy stabs her boyfriend Micheal. The film is also a mystery which will keep the audience interested and whating to know what will happen next.
3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
I feel that Blackout could be produced by a major studio such as Universal Pictures because it is similar to many thrillers but the differences such as having strong women such as Ivy and towards the end Cassie, which will attract a wide audience. I feel that Blackout would have a similar budget as thrillers such as “Obsessed” and “Jennifer’s body,” and would have a similar reaction from audiences therefore, I feel it would do well as a cinema release. Blackout would be advertised with TV trailers and posters.
4. Who would be the audience for your media product?
Our target audience was both men and women aged 15-45 years old. I believe our film would be successful to this audience as we included characters of similar ages.
We felt Blackout didn’t qualify as an 18 as it doesn’t include any serious images of sexual activity, violence or torture and therefore would fit better as a 15.
5. How did you attract/ address your audience?
We attracted our audience by involving characters of a similar age group as our target audience (aged 15-45.) We also used conventions of a thriller to help attract thriller fans. I feel that the opening begins by building tension during the fight between Ivy and Michael, and when the audience then see’s things through Ivy’s eyes, shown in a point of view shot, after she kills Michael backs up the point Michael was making which was that Ivy was sick. This is shown when Ivy faints, to show this we used a fade, indicating Ivy losing consciousness. The lighting in the film, I feel wasn’t dark enough. This would have gone better with the scene as opposed to a bright lighting which gives a false impression, such as something good is going to happen as opposed to bad. I feel that the voice over worked well as it indicates that the rest of the film will consist of a series of flashbacks in which Cassie has to discover the truth of what really happened to her family, which keeps that audience interested as they too, want to know the truth. I feel that the editing is good quality, the shots flow together well and the effects help add to the film.
6. What have you learnt about technology from the process of constructing the product?
I learnt many different things during this project such as how to use the Sony HDV 1000 camera and tri-pod. I also learnt how to use the editing software Final Cut Express. I have never used a Sony HDV camera before, but I learnt how to use it quite quickly and felt that it went well. I only filmed a little bit as I played the main character and therefore in most of the scenes, so I could only film ones I wasn’t in. We faced some problems when filming as some members of the group couldn’t film on the days we planned, as a result of this we were forced to film parts without them. I leant many different things on Final Cut Express and was able to upload the film onto the computer. From there I learnt how to cut parts of the film together. I also recorded a voice over which I then added onto the computer which I then put on final cut. We used a lot of fades in the film, this signified then end of the opening sequence and also my character’s point of view shots (POV). It showed that the audience was seeing it through the characters POV.
7. Looking back to your preliminary task, what do you feel that you have learnt in progression from it to the full product?
Since our preliminary task I feel that I have gained more skills which helped improve the quality of the film. This was done by planning thoroughly, which involved a storyboard, detailed treatment, and research. Since our preliminary task we have learnt different techniques which we were able to add into the film, such as POV shots, eye line match and adding effects such as fades. We used more shots in the film than we did in our preliminary task and the shots we had used we did better for the film. Since our preliminary task my confidence with the equipment has grown.
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