Thursday, 6 May 2010
Evaluation Question 7 - Looking back at the Preliminary Task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from the full product?
- David Huxford
Wednesday, 5 May 2010
Evaluation Question 6 - What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
- Bradley Hart, David Huxford, Tom Winn, Taylor Gladwin
Tuesday, 4 May 2010
Evaluation Question 4 - Who would be the audience for your media product?

Age: 21
Arthur lives a laid back life style as he works full time in blockbuster and has a high interest in films. He is interested in all types of thrillers but his favourite sub genre is psychological thrillers.
Arthur is not fussy about where he shops but buys the majority of his clothes from Topman, he also shops in River Island and Blue inc. He is not very keen on designer clothing but occasionally wears lacoste.
Arthur watches adult cartoons such as Family Guy and The Cleveland show. He also watches comedy dramas like Scrubs and Skins.
Arthur listens to all types’ music. He is very keen on clubbing with his friends so his favourite music is techno. He also listens drum and bass as he likes to attend raves.
Age: 17
Shelby has a hardworking life, studying her a-levels at a sixth form college, she’s finds it hard to make time to watch movies but is very interested going to the cinema to watch movies which are newly released. She says that her favourite movies to watch when she does go are either romantic comedies or action movies. But she also says that she also likes action thrillers which include Die Hard.
As an average teenage girl she likes to shop in shops such as Topshop, House of Fraser and Primark. She enjoys watching programmes like 90210 and Glee which are based around reality. She likes to listen to the new chart music.
These two people are our target audience because they are around the age of target audience and also they are both regular uses of the cinema meaning they both tend to watch films a lot, but Shelby is less likely to go and watch our thriller because she may not have the time or may be more interested in a romantic comedy which may also be at the cinema. There is still a chance she will see our thriller as she is partly interested in thrillers.
-Tom Winn-Bradley Hart
Monday, 3 May 2010
Evaluation Question 3 - What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
- David Huxford, Bradley Hart, Tom Winn, Taylor Gladwin
Sunday, 2 May 2010
Evaluation Question 2 - How does your media product represent particular social groups?
In the film, Trevor is extremely thin, there is almost nothing of him, and throughout the film other cha
One of the main aspects about our character will be the look of his face, and how it will look sleepy, almost as if it has given up. Trevor has a similar look throughout ’The Machinist.’ Because of his body, his face looks very thin as well. His cheek bones are easier to see than in most people’s faces. This gives him the look of someone that is struggling with life. His eyes also look very hollow, and there are large bags under them from lack of sleep. This makes him

Another aspec
A further interesting aspect about Trevor is his clothing. Throughout the film, the clothes he wears seem to be much too big for him. This gives the audience the impression that he has had these clothes every since he was in better shape, and as he has got thinner, they have obviously become too big for him. They also look very old and battered, as if he has owned them for a long time. We want to create a similar look with the use of our chosen clothing
To conclude, Trevor Reznik is a great character to study and analyse for our film because he has many interesting aspects about him, and was a big influence on us when we began creating the characters for our film. We feel that our character will create many enigmas for the audience, and make them want to watch the rest of the film to figure out why he is so different to other, simpler characters that are usually seen in films.
- Taylor Gladwin

The character in the suit will be living up to the dominant ideology as he is a white, male, able bodied, Christian, heterosexual but we do not look into the characters family as this is not an aspect of our thriller movie.
The Jokers suit is also very vibrant which stands out in the low key lighting in the film. This has had an influence on our character in a suit but we do not have enough money to buy a suit and it will also destroy the impact we are trying to create on the character of a smart intelligent person. It would also not fit in with the room that we are using and we are trying to create a gloomy affect by using low key lighting.
- Brad Hart
The character that Brad play’s in our thriller is going to be based on the idea of a man wearing a suit who is unknown to the viewing audience. To get idea’s towards what type of character that Brad will be based around each of us have looked at past characters in other movies.

In the movie Constantine, the character of ‘Satan’ is played by the actor Pete Storemare. In the movie the character is wearing a plain white suit which is a contrast to the normal stereotype of the devil. Satan’s outfit is a mix between a smart suit but also the director has tried to make the character look evil by making him not wear any shoes. In out thriller we want to create an enigma by making one of the main character’s wear a suit. This will make the audience suspicious of the character because it is not normal for a man wearing a suit to be in the location where out thriller is set.
- Tom Winn
In our thriller, Bradley Hart plays an imaginary character that wears a suit throughout his role in the opening two minutes. This immediately is supposed to speak to the audience as contrapuntal and confusing showing the state of the house and the state of mind of Taylor Gladwin’s character in the thriller. Characters wearing suits in films has become popular in some thrillers of the modern day, this to which influenced us in our thriller. In four different films, the use of suits is used as a key part of the characters persona, as it is a contrast to what the audience would usually visualise what they would wear.
Hitman



- David Huxford
Saturday, 1 May 2010
Evaluation Question 1 - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Title of film: The title of our film itself ‘Allegiance’ use typical thriller conventions, but develops them slightly. We agreed to use the name as our title as we thought it imm
Setting/Location: The shot we used from behind the pill bottle as our main character approaches them was one of our favourite shots that we used, and we believed it challenged traditional thriller conventions. This is the first shot in our film where most of the room is visible, giving the audience an idea of the whereabouts of the character and what kind of state he lives in. To have the shot from the pill bottle itself, it gives the illusion that the pills are a big part of the characters life, and that perhaps everything else around him is meaningless unless he has those pills. The camera shot is almost from the bottle’s point of view, giving the audience the metaphor that it is almost willing the character over towards it.
Costumes and Props: This shot is an important part of the introduction of our film, and it the first shot where the suited character can be seen fully. The suited character dev
Also viewable in this shot are newspaper and police tape, which the main character was using was a bed. This also develops typical thriller conventions as most films have a proper bed for characters, no matter how bad they are doing. By using newspaper as a bed, we immediately tell the viewer that this character is not like others, and is maybe the most depressed and psychologically scarred character they have seen in film.
Camerawork and Editing: Though it is hard to see from the picture, this shot used a handheld camera and our director used just his hands to follow the character after picking up the pill bottle. This develops thriller conventions as most directors would have used a tripod for this shot. While we did try this method, it did not give the effect we had in mind. We wanted the shot to reflect our characters mindset, and by using just bare hands for the shot, it gave the impression that the characters mind could fall apart at any point.
Title font and style: Our credits also challenge typical thriller conventions. Credits to almost any film are usually a font that is easy to read, and the words nicely spaced apart so that the audience can read them easily. We decided to go against this and make our font tough to read, and have the words in our credits shaking. This gave an immediate impression that the film will have a similar tone and may be unstable and hard to take in, much like the credits themselves. We are showing the audience early on what kind of film they have got themselves into.
Story and how the opening sets it up: The shot of the hooded man running away was a very important shot for the beginning of our film and uses typical thriller conventions. There are many similar images in other thriller films, and by using this we wanted the audience to know that this film may contain someone trying to escape from something or someone chasing someone or something else. These are typical storylines conceived for thrillers and that makes the audience have connotations of what kind of storylines to expect from thriller such as ours. While a man running is a simple shot, the camerawork used and the enigmas created draw the audience in and make them want to watch on.
Genre and how the opening suggests it: The shot of the hanging man that is used as the first shot in our film develops thriller conventions and tells the audience exactly what kind of genre this film will be. Though many films use people being hanged as part of the story, not many use it as their opening shot. By doing this we immediately set the tone of our film, and allow the viewer to have connotations and remind themselves of other thriller or horror films that contain similar images.
How characters are introduced: The shot of our main character waking up and staring straight into the camera challenges thriller conventions. Most viewers expect the main characters of the film to be introduced traditionally, and that they will be part of one of the main establishing shots in the opening of the film. We have gone in completely the opposite direction with the introducing of our characters, as the audience becomes shocked by seeing him wake up suddenly and stare straight into the camera, almost straight at them. This gives the illusion that the character may know that he is being watched, and it questions whether he is breaking the fourth wall or not. The use of this camera shot gives the audience many enigmas, and intrigues them as the film goes on.
- Taylor Gladwin
Wednesday, 28 April 2010
Saturday, 24 April 2010
Shots that were not included/Crow enigma shot changes
The second shot that we had planned out but did not use was the shot that I had made a wedge for. We did not use it because the out come wasn’t good enough. When we decided to go ahead and use this shot because it would be vey effective we were thinking of a shot where the pills fell directly on the plastic which was hovering over the camera and then scatter over the floor. Once we had set it up and actually had it in action we had problems of getting the pill box and all of the tic tacs to fall in the same place in the correct spot. The first shot failed because the tic tacs got stuck in Tom’s hair but that could be changed. The second shot we just had problems of actually getting the tic tacs to fall in the right place. It was a lot harder than it seemed when we were planning it. On our third attempt the pill pot rolled across the plastic back and forth. Personally I thought that would have been good at the time but the rest of my group disagreed, just as well because when we edited it looked awful. Eventually we had a shot where we were all happy in that the pills looked like they were scattering on the floor directly under the camera.
When we were editing our footage we found that the quality of the shot was very poor because the plastic that was being hovered over the camera for the pills to fall on got very dirty. This gave a blurred image that didn’t look very professional. Another problem that we found whilst editing was we could see the movement and reflections in the plastic. As it got a little bit dirty every take you could see it jolt and move around. This was highlighted by the fact we could see a reflection of the screen on the camera in the shot. We decided that if we included this in our thriller it could instantly loose marks. We tried to crop the footage but because it was within the main action of the shot it was pretty much just an empty screen. This was not how we wanted it and decided to abandon the idea of this shot and replace it with the character in the background of the hanging shot running away from something. This worked very well because it was obvious that the character Taylor’s played had dropped the pills from previous shots and the fact he was eating them of the floor afterwards.
Bradley Hart
Friday, 23 April 2010
Coming Up With a Name for our Thriller - Changes
As time went on, the name didn’t seem to fit well and changes meant that it didn’t give us the same feeling it originally had. Firstly, the card that bares the word ‘Allegiance’ on it was changed, and no longer featured any picture of the nymphia flower on it. Secondly, our original filming location contained many of the flowers in the garden, and we planned to use them in the first shot of the hanging man, and have one in the pocket of the character in the suit. After having to change location, we no longer featured the flowers in any of our shots.
After filming had been completed, we realised that Nymphia as our title would not make much sense and would be lost on people. Because there would be no actual flowers present in the film, the title would seem rushed, and it no longer created the enigmas it had when we had first thought of it.
After much discussion, we came up with many other ideas for names. Some were complex, containing many intriguing words, and David and myself both thought would work well. Some were shorter and more to-the-point, which Brad and Tom preferred. In the end though, we decided to go down the simple route and simply title our film ‘Allegiance’. It made sense, since it is still a word that creates enigmas when heard, as it is not something that is said during everyday conversation. It also related to the film better, since the card used in our opening bares the same word. We are now happy with our title, and believe it will have an instant impact on people when they see or hear it.
- Taylor Gladwin
Wednesday, 21 April 2010
Music Used In Our Thriller (2)
We came across a piece simply entitled ‘Thriller.’ After listening to it we agreed that it had exactly the sounds we were looking for to go over our credits. The opening part has a sound very similar to glass shattering, or rain hammering against a window, but almost sounding like it is slowed down. We liked this effect, as it made the music sound almost supernatural and we agreed that was another interesting enigma for the audience to hear and try to figure out. Also during the piece, there are many high pitched sounds, some that sound like a woman faintly screaming, and some that sound similar to heavy breathing or ghosts. This gave us as a group the feeling of not being alone and not having a clear conscience, themes that are expressed throughout our film. We liked the idea of having these enigmas over the credits, as it is almost like saying to the audience subconsciously that nobody has a clear conscience, not even the makers of the film or even the viewer. We liked the thought that our film could affect people in more ways than one and then decided to use this piece over our credit sequence.
Below is the music we chose:
- Taylor Gladwin
Music Used In Our Thriller (1)
After figuring out which pieces of music was the best, we then decided where it would go in our film. Our first choice piece was one called ‘Waiting In The Shadow’. The whole group instantly liked this and we chose it as our main piece of music for our thriller, and ended up using it in our teaser trailer as well. We liked this piece because it instantly gave us a chilling feeling, that it was a piece of music that instantly grabs anyone’s attention. As the title suggests, it gave the feeling of someone being watched, having a predator stalk them and ready to pounce. The slight heightens in volume during the piece intrigued us also, as it gave us the feeling that someone or something could be getting closer, or that a particular person could be getting deeper and deeper into more trouble and danger. The music also made us agree that playing it while only one character is on screen would give the feeling that the character could be worried about something that they have seen or done. After all the enigmas the music had created we all decided that it would be perfect for our thriller.
The group also decided to use it in our teaser trailer, as we agreed that it was the sort of music that is typically used in thriller/horror films. By using it in our trailer, we would be targeting the correct audience, and anyone seeing our trailer would know what to expect from our film. We also thought that if this trailer was shown in cinemas, it would make many people uncomfortable and stressed, the kind of feeling we want people to have when watching our film.
Below is the music we chose:
- Taylor Gladwin
Tuesday, 20 April 2010
Audience Feedback


- David Huxford
What audience does our thriller wish to attract based on the Psychographics and Demographics?
In terms of the Advertising social grades, we plan to
In terms of psychographics, the grades we plan to target will be the C1/C2 class. This is because we want to target the people that would go out with friends on a regular
In conclusion, our thriller needs to target the people that are most likely to go to the cinema. These people will most like spend more money to see the films in which they believe is going to be the blockbuster of it’s time of release. This means that our advertising needs to be placed in the specific points to attract the audience members in which the Social grades represent.
- David Huxford
Thursday, 1 April 2010
Rating Thriller After Filming


On the official BBFC website the official critiria for a 15 rated film is “strong threat and menace are permitted unless sadistic or sexualise”. We felt as a group that this was a good as the 'strong threat' or 'menace' isn't used in the way described by the BBFC, the rating we gave was indeed a correct one from the start and even after the extensive research conducted on it.
- David Huxford
Tuesday, 30 March 2010
Researching Film Posters to Influence Ours
Brad has taken some very professional looking pictures of the outside of the house we were using to film in. With some exc
Another set of excellent photographs that were taken at our location were of my character looking into a mirror, seeing a reflection of himself, but also seeing one of a man behind him, with his back to him. We immediately liked these pi
Below is our completed poster. We are very happy with the final product and feel that if this was shown around the internet and at outdoor places (a bus stop, for example) it would shock people and make them wonder what the story was about. We want people to be intrigued by the images shown, so that they will become interested and come to see the film.

- Taylor Gladwin
Monday, 29 March 2010
The Use of Viral Marketing for our film
Another example of successful viral marketing was ‘The Dark Knight’ (Dir. Christopher Nolan, 2008). Like ‘Cloverfield’, a whole world revolving around the film was created. But, along with that a treasure trail was made, and fans had to follow clues around the web and also around the USA to get their first glimpse of The Joker among other things. Almost a hundred websites were also created to make G
We agreed that viral marketing would be a great strategy to use to market our film, as we thought it would build hype and we would be able to give away the name, posters and trailers bit by bit, allowing people to become excited and intrigued about the new film. We would want to be as secretive as possible, so that no major plot points would be given away and that people would go and see it to find out why this film was so secretive.
Techniques like dark, gloomy advertising at the top of websites would intrigue people. We would want something to catch people’s eye and make them wonder what the advertisement was about. Maybe we wouldn’t put the title of the film and just a tagline of some sort, so they would click the link to find out the title and other information. The trailers that would be released would barely have any footage from the actual film, just specific sounds or voiceovers. We hope that this would make the viewer feel tense, yet wonder what this advertisement was about. A website or social networking page would maybe be displayed at the end, not the film’s title. This would allow people to log onto these sites and find out more, thereby increasing the interest in our film.
We would want to create as much interest as possible for our film, without giving away any of the plot and barely any footage. We agree that this technique would make all types of cinema-goers interested, not just the ones that only enjoy thriller films. Overall, we think that this would create much interest and allow our film to succeed at the box office.
- Taylor Gladwin
Tuesday, 23 March 2010
4th Day of Filming - 'Hanging Man' shots
The location needed to be isolated, as someone would not be hanged in a busy area. That meant that the area needed to be open, with no houses or people in the background. It also needed to have a tree in the middle of a large field, as this is a typical place for an act like murder to occur as it is closed off from the outside world. It also gives the audience the impression that someone could be being watched but not know it, or that they may feel very uneasy and nervous out in the open. We thought the location was perfect, and would look very intriguing and suspenseful in our thriller.
On the day of filming, the weather was also going to play a big part. We didn’t want it to be very bright and sunny, as t
To film these shots of the man being hanged, we
We also filmed a few close up shots of the man in the background running away. This proved slightly difficult as it was hard to run after the character and keep the camera still at the same time. Thinking these shots hadn’t turned out particularly well, we didn’t hold much hope. But when returning to the editing room, the shakiness of the camera running after the running man looked very effective and added to the confused psychological state of our main character.
- Taylor Gladwin
Monday, 22 March 2010
Location hunting for the hanging person shot
Although this is pretty much a perfect location I thought it would be a good idea to take photos in the nature reserve at Langdon Hills. I thought it would be good to show the group and then we may want to change our minds where we are going to film this.
This is the first part of the nature reserve. It overlooks farmers fields and if the picture was big enough you would see Canary Wharf but if we did film hear you would not be able to see it in the film anyway. The field is good because it gives you a wide view of a nice landscape but the lowest branch on the tree was very high. This means we wouldn’t be able to hang from it. Even if we did it would be to dangerous because it was at least 12-15ft.

A short distance away in the nature reserve there is a massive hill. As it is in a nature reserve there are trees everywhere but finding the right one is very hard.
Here you can see the hill is very steep and would be ideal for the footage of the hooded man running away or standing in the background.


The best location to use for this shot is the open field and tree in Ongar as it portrays the best image and shows isolation of characters. We have also been waned not to use the woods as a setting because it just isn’t scary enough because it is what the audience are expecting to see, they may also be thinking “oh here we go again, another film in the woods.” We are trying to think out side the box and create as many enigmas for the audience to make them engaged to make them want to watch the whole movie.
-Bradley Hart