Hannah Bess

Who would be the audience for your media product? The questionnaire we did during the planning stage presented that the most popular age group for thriller films was fifteen to twenty five. This is something which remains the same. In my questionnaire I found out action thrillers were the most popular genre of thriller enjoyed by my target audience. This is something I have chosen to juxtapose by choosing to do a mystery thriller. This is something I hope my target audience will be adaptable towards. I think our film still meets its target audience. One of the ways we did this was by making our main character, April Greene, someone a lot of our target audience could relate to. Specifically we chose to dress her in jeans, vans and a khaki jacket which most of our target audience probably earn some version of as they came from the shops we found they specifically liked. Another thing way April Green meets our target audience is by her personality. She is a normal teenager who d...

How does your media product represent particular social groups? Firstly, our media product represents the female social group. We do this by having all female cast and this really portrayed the strong feminist image which we were going for. This contradicts the typical thriller cast, however this will make for a more interesting film and therefore might entice a more particular audience. The benefits of our media product representing the female social group is it represents powerful women and shows how strong women are which is a common area of interest among society in today’s time. Additionally, this makes it relatable to a more variety of audience but also touches a more specific audience type meaning it could have either a niche or a mass audience. My media product also represents a teenage social group. Similarly, this social group takes up a large portion of the global population and society has perceived it to have a mostly negative image. This is something we have...

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? My media product is the opening of a thriller film. We chose the story line of the disappearance of a teenage girl. This uses a typical storyline of a thriller film. We did this because it was a storyline which we could use and develop with the support of additional resources. This idea was inspired by BBC 1 series ‘The Missing’ in which a girl returns after she went missing.   A way in which we developed the storyline through the use of other resources is by incorporating the idea of a red van. This was initially my idea which was expanded on by the rest of the group. The effectiveness of the van was, if we had stuck with our original storyline and mise-en-scene, the red of the van would of linked with the investigator’s lipstick which could of shown a theme of villainess, another common convention of the thriller genre. However, we changed the mise-en-scene as red l...

My overall opinion of our editing journey was it was a long one but a great one! We spent a great deal of time together editing, editing in pairs, sometimes individually and that worked well for us. As a group we often work collaboratively in order to make sure the decisions were happily confirmed by everyone in the group. Editing is obviously a very lengthy process and I think we definitely had certain points where we couldn't agree on something and it was frustrating but it was something we worked through. Overall I am incredibly proud of my group and how we worked together when editing something which did take us hours. Shots I edited and analysis of them 1. Establishing shot to long shot to medium close up I edited the first establishing shot of the house which used a sound bridge into the scene with Paige into her bedroom. For this shot I chose to use a sound bridge to interlink the scenes and make it flow better. Commenting on the mise-en-scene, the bleak weather portrays...

This is our final product, our final thriller opening. Enjoy!

This photo is from our first filming day and shows me and Paige filming the conversation between the inspector and one of April's friends. We had to do, what was supposed to look like, an over the shoulder shot but it didn't really work and therefore we didn't end up using it in our final piece. This shot shows me, Paige and Eleanor looking over one of the shots we filmed of Paige walking down the road. This shot was successful and still features in our end piece. This was our first filming day outside of school. This was me filming Poppy's facial features to show her anxiety. This shot was extremely hard to film because it was an extreme close up we couldn't really use the tripod and this meant I had to make sure my hand was steady. Also we had to make sure the camera was focused and the lighting was good. This shot shows me filming April coming down the stairs and preparing to leave. This shot was okay to film, although I had to be very consi...

We spent a few lessons with a few members of our class and had a little brief discussion with our teachers about our thriller opening to see what they thought and from this we came up with these revisions. They loved our titles as they were barely noticeable and fitted the narrative. They also liked our angles. We need to edit the section where Paige walks down the road as at the moment you can see she stops before walking which looks unnatural. This will also give it a more professional appearance. Additionally for this section we need to cut in sooner. We need to make the sound more dramatic when the van passes Paige to add emphasis to this moment and make it more significant. Alternatively, keep the music the same for that bit and then change it for the rest of the opening. We need to re film the section with the remote as at the moment it looks very unnatural and makes it humorous which is inappropriate for the mood and the genre of the opening. Something else we need t...

For our storyboards analysis we have all chosen a shot to taken. I have chosen the last shot of each storyboard to analyse. We chose to make shot 4 a long shot which is panning because we wanted a clear view of around the room and how everyone is positioned. This also builds up suspense, foreshadowing what is going to happen next in the clip. We chose to use a cut to continue with the fast past editing and not make it look abnormal. Shot 7 was a shot reverse shot because it is at the end of a conversation. It shows Poppy inviting in the investigator and portrays the development into the investigation as to where April has gone. This shot is crucial because it involves an outside person coming into April's last place of residence before her disappearance. Additionally, the use of music in the background shows the formality of the situation. Shot 10 is an extreme close up of Poppy's lips. We chose to do this as part of series of shots to show the effect April's ...

Our experience with the music has been a positive one. We spent a lot of time scrolling through YouTube trying to find something which portrayed the mood of our opening and would partner the intensity of our filming. In the end we chose a sound track called 'Conspiracy'. We chose this soundtrack because we liked the pace of the music and how it travelled with our filming. Additionally, it didn't appear affected if we cut it or split it up; it still flowed nicely. We did ask permission from the composer and he has allowed us to use the music as long as we credited him which we have done. Additionally, it follows the same pattern of music and flows in the same way.

So far creating our editing experience has been a very long one and will only get longer as we continue through! Particularly with the filming in collaboration, its been pretty manic because we have filmed then started editing as a group, then rewatched and realised we needed to do more filming or refilm something which has made the editing journey lengthen out a lot. Through out the entirety of our editing journey so far we have all taken a fair share in editing. There have been certain days where just two will edit whilst the other two focus on their blogs but for the majority its been all of us sitting together and making the decisions regarding the editing together as a group. This has worked really well as any disagreements have been able to be discussed before there was any permanent damage which has also benefited our time tracking skills as we haven't had more time than necessary redoing things which has given us more time to film and thoroughly edit. One of the issues we...

 Living room The living room is a crucial room in our opening as its the room where all of April's friends and family come together to watch the news report which confirms her disappearance. Additionally, its the scene in which the audience witness the effect of April's disappearance on her younger sister Poppy. We chose to film a section of the opening in the living room as there is sofas for people to sit which was appropriate as there was a lot of April's friends and family and it was a place of distress. Additionally, the setting of a living room juxtaposes the atmosphere created by April's disappearance. Bedroom The bedroom is the room where the audience get their first view of April. Its the scene in which April has the phone call which causes her to leave to her and then go missing. The bedroom is significant because it helps set the character of April. The mise-en-scene shaped April as a person and who she was about. This was the setting we chose to fil...

Props Red van- This symbolises April's disappearance because its the crucial object which is present during her disappearance and its open to the audience's own interpretations as to where they believe she's gone during the opening. The News Report- This is really important in the opening as it defines how the disappearance has affected April's family and tells the audience there is a global search for April. April's phone- This was featured in the first showings of April as it was the thing that almost caused her disappearance and the phone call she had with her friend made her leave her house and then she disappeared. Costumes April Greene A khaki jacket Vans Dark jeans A red backpack A black top We have chosen for April to be dressed like this because its quite a typical teenage look like she is meant to be portrayed as. Also we didn't want to over dress her because she is meant to appear quite normal and not particularly significant until h...

Here is our pitch presentation: http://prezi.com/6u_zioxqmwh5/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share The feedback we got from our pitch was: The class liked the name of 'Red Van' and wanted to know the meaning behind it. Miss Court commented on how she liked our match on match shot of how the van drives past and April disappears. She wanted us to think about the duration of each frame which is something we've considered when we have been devising our story boards. Our peers tried to help us choose a title for our film opening but its still yet to be decided, although that isn't an issue at the moment. From this I can confirm that the title 'Red Van' isn't going to be used although the meaning behind it was because we are using a red van and we also had planned to incorporate red features within our the opening as a hidden meaning. However, we decided this would take the focus away from the actual storyline of the opening.

These are the storyboards we are going to follow for our filming. Shot two is the first scene where actual video footage is shown and we have decided its going to be the clip that sets the scene for the opening. I particularly, like the idea of this shot because we will be able to portray the weather which will hopefully be really bleak and therefore portray the emotions which the character is feeling. Shot three is edited with a cut because we wanted to make it as naturalistic as possible. There is sound dialogue of her speaking on the phone to her friend because this makes the atmosphere appear very normal. Also its common convention of a stereotypical teenager. We have decided to use a crab movement to show what April is doing and then show the actual April. Shot four is a close up of April's face and we decided to use this because it portrays how April is feeling about the conversation she just had. Shot five features dialogue of April shouting to her mum about...

I conducted a survey for target audience research. 92 people responded and I have taken the results as percentages to make comparison easier. Question 1: Are you male or female? Results: Male- 8.7% Female- 91.3% Question 2: How old are you? Results: Under 15- 3.26% 15-25- 70.65% Over 25- 26.09% Question 3: Do you watch Thriller films? Results: Yes- 81.52% No- 16.3% Don't know- 2.17% Question 4: What Thriller genre do you find most appealing? Results: Action thriller- 28.26% Crime thriller- 21.74% Erotic thriller- 0.0% Horror thriller- 14.13% Techno-thriller- 0.0% Psychological thriller- 21.74% I don't watch thrillers- 11.96% I don't know- 2.17% Question 5: What's your favourite thing to see in a thriller film? Results: A car chase- 12.22% A flashback- 35.56% Some form of death- 25.56% A runaway- 8.89% The present day- 10% A montage with narration- 3.33% Other (please specify)- 4.44% Other answers: I Yes A twist in th...

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This was a discussion we had previously prior to filming.

Thursday 12th January 2017 Recording the news report after school that's going to be featured in our opening scene. Where: In the media studies room at school as it has a green screen Props: a desk that we can use as the news desk, paper to use as documents. Characters: Our teacher, Miss Court as the news reporter, Samantha Jones People that will be there: Paige, Jasmine, Eleanor, Hannah and Miss Court Saturday 14th January 2017 Recording from the establishing shot of April's house to the long shot of the van and April disappearing. Where: My house and the road near where April will disappear from.  Props: April's costume, which consists of black skinny jeans. a hoodie, converse, a hat and a backpack, a red van, a mobile phone and earphones.  Characters: Paige as April Greene.  People that will be there: Paige, Eleanor, Jasmine and Hannah Thursday 19th January 2017 Recording from when April disappears to the last scene with April's sister Poppy. ...

Potential storyline plots Kidnapping  Runaway Online stalker Some sort of murder Someone missing Dark history Potential titles Searching for April 3..2..1.. The Disappeared Wanted Red Van  Potential locations The woods An empty street A deserted quarry  Somewhere dark at the top of a grassy hill Potential characters A teenager who has a low self-esteem A middle aged man who has a bad past A small innocent girl A lady who is in her twenties suffering from a mental condition A high achieving teenager 

This is the clip just after Cole has told his Mum he sees dead people. It is the build up to her getting upset. Editing Slow pace editing is used to build suspense because it shows the effect of the news on Cole's mother and how she is absorbing it. It also shows building suspense because it creates the impression there will be some external reaction coming up. Additionally, the use of continuity editing helps to show each character's reaction to what the opposite character is saying. Sound The only sound that features in this clip is diegetic sound. The diegetic sound is the dialogue of Cole and Cole's mother. Cole's mother's dialogue builds suspense because she has long breaks between each time she speaks. This shows her shock. Cole's dialogue is spoken in a slightly whisper and quick tone. This shows his anticipation of his mother's external reaction. Camera Angles The use of close up shots for the entirety of the clip keeps it very familiar so t...

Sound The use of diegetic sound in the sixth sense portrays Malcolm talking in a calm manner. This implies he is un-expecting of anything major to happen. The effect of background music fading in and it gets louder as Cole talks more seriously. The background music is non-diegetic sound. Additionally, the way he whispers builds suspense because this implies something is wrong because it isn't his normal speaking tone. Camera angles The effect of a long held over the shoulder shot of Malcolm whilst he is talking creates empathy from the audience to Malcolm because he is talking about something very personal to him and he is sharing it with Cole. This also shows the closeness of their relationship which is very touching. Additionally, a zoom in shot is used to build suspense because it shows the intensity of what Cole has just said and shows how important it is in the film. Another shot used to build suspense is a match on match shot. The speed of it is slow and this is used to b...