How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our Media Thriller represents multiple social groups because we have many different types in it. With it being the  Vietnam war there are Americans and Vietnamese people which are represented in our thriller. The gender differences are also apparent because there's a woman and man on together on screen and we see the differences between them. The comparison between the old and the young also get shown because the shots we take show that the old have much more memories than the younger generation and are a lot wiser. The Americans are shown very stereotypically in our intro because they're seen to be tough, armed fighters who will waste bullets on the enemy this is shown by our American soldier. The Vietcong is shown very blandly like from a photo, we got a part Chinese girl to dress up in the Vietcong costume but no in depth study was made. The young is represented by the couple before the war all happy and full of life, and the old is shown by the bitter veteran staring at the gravestone.

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

To get our thriller into cinemas nationally or internationally we would have to find a company that would be willing to distribute it for us. With our film being a thriller intro we would offer it to universal studios because they have a good history with thrillers and have become famous because of it these include Jaws, The Wolf Man and Dracula. These films have had good ratings and reviews so with Universal Studios guidance we could make our intro better before distributing it. Another company we would offer to would be Paramount Pictures this is because this is a company that focuses mainly on action films these includes Transformers, Saving Private Ryan and Star Trek. Although our film is a thriller it does have a considerable amount of action in it this is where Paramount would come into the picture because of their popular action films this company will help boost our film. Another reason to have them is because Paramount has a deal and good history with Tom Hanks (we might meet him). This is what we would do if distributing to a cinema below is what we would do if we were selling the thriller just as a DVD.

In all honesty I don't see our Thriller opening doing very well at first, because of it's shortness and amateur quality, no offence to the rest of the group but this is our first time being marked on filming, we wouldn't be able to get into anywhere which has a large empire of stores across the country. So we would have to start small this means independents small stores that probably sell their products for cheap prices, the stores we would look for would be ones selling old-new DVD's and maybe VHS, retro and modern games but the reason for going there would be the cheap DVD collections or retro video games. An example of this is the now closed Music Zone in Stafford town it had the quality's we were searching for and if it hadn't closed I believe they would've distributed our product. However because that shop closed due to the governments credit crunch, damn them, so we would focus on Blockbuster stores, Dalons next to Stafford Prison, Disks in Stafford Town and Chips again in Stafford town. These places would be our main focuses for distributing our Thriller intro. As the weeks go by and our intro becomes more popular we would try to strike a deal with ASDA, Sainsbury's and Tesco to again boost the popularity of our Thriller intro and with the backing of the stores that have popularised it we would have a better chance. After a certain amount of time had passed we would try and show our product to hmv but I don't see us getting any better than the supermarkets.

How did you attract/address your audience?

We attracted audiences to watch it by the following ways. First off when it was released we posted it on Facebook so that friends from each of us could view on it and comment on it, this is without a doubt the best method we took because there are more people on Facebook than anywhere else and we could inform the most people by it. Another way was that we could tell people at school about it too but seeing as most of these people would see it from Facebook anyway it made it quite redundant. Another method was Youtube although it was necessary to upload it there anyway, the title memories is different to most and at the same time simple so if people here about it and want to look it up they won't be going through pages of either too simple titles or ones that take forever to spell. The final form of advertisement was all members of the cast and crew found a way of spreading the news of the thriller round so it was guaranteed that over 100 people would view it. The fact that our Thriller was flexible with its age rating was also helpful, I'd say it was at least a 12 upwards. The reason for this was that there wasn't any nudity and not buckets of blood and gore, but there was still enough violence for certain ages to stay clear of it.

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

The technology's I have learnt about while making our Thriller have been digital cameras, Mac Airs, and the right and wrong cables to use when connecting the two. I have been using the digital camera to film the entire thriller as shown in some photos beforehand. The camera is simple enough to turn on, off and start recording, I had no trouble with getting it to work once I found out how to record and play back. The only trouble we had was that when playing back you had to make sure the video was right at the end before starting recording again. Though I had no trouble with this when Ben filmed the graveyard scene he accidentally filmed over previous footage that we took in Cannock it left a gap between the death of the Vietcong and when he returns to the other soldier. Though Ben and Sam initially did the editing I learnt how to use my Mums Mac Air in such a way that I could add effects, sounds and visual effects to the video. The only problem I found with this was that for every computer you need a different type of wire, which brings me to the next point. The wires were the biggest problem to come to terms with it took me three days to find the right wire to get the camera compatible with the computer. Other than this though I was able to learn a lot about the camera and editing which should help me in later productions.

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

While filming our Thriller I tried to use as many techniques and camera shots as you would see on most films and shows shown on television. Most of the camera shots we use are edited well so that the scene cuts to another quite nicely, this also prevents from having any long panning shots, films like 'Sin City' can pull those off but we couldn't with ours being set much different. Another way we've used camera techniques from professional media productions is that our camera shots don't shake. I know I have mentioned this before but the fact that our camera shots don't shake in the film does count as us learning from TV developers. The shots we took initially followed the way films take their shots but it was the editing that developed it for us. The muzzle flashes, music and sound effects in the thriller opening are all edited in. Another way we've developed the filming is that every time we filmed a scene we would always do it more than once so that we could pick the best one and use it for the final product. Though our Thriller was more of a war film and a lot less scary or enticing as it should have been but we were able to fit it to be a successful production as shown by the likes and dislikes of our video.

Our Final Thriller Opening Evaluation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEPlEd60CGk&feature=player_embedded


We open up with the sounds of birds squawking as a man walks through a graveyard, he then arrives at a particular gravestone and turns, from here on in we've only seen the man's feet but the camera quickly cuts to the back of the gravestone and we see the man's face, it appears to be modern day judging from the man's clothes and he is older, we the audience then see an over the shoulder shot of a teenager with his girlfriend walking past, the boy of the two looks similar to the man, as the two walk past we hear gun shots and screaming while the screen goes white and then black. We then open in what appears to be a flashback because of the camera effects there are trees and branches covered in blood giving the audience a sense of dread, people have been killed here. We then have a close up of two soldiers walking through the woods with crickets in the background it appears that all is calm but we the audience know that something will happen because of the whole blood scene beforehand that scene faded out along with the eerie music. One of the soldiers is fully equipped and carrying a gun and is leading in front while the other one behind him is carrying almost no equipment has a bandage around his head with blood soaking through it and an injury on his arm it appears that the armed soldier has found the injured one and is bringing him back to the base. The soldiers are walking through the forest and we get a shot from the front as they walk past more trees, but the camera is at a distance so we can take in the surroundings also. We then see the injured man shot and a gunshot sound rings through the forest as the injured man falls the other one dives for the nearest tree and crawls for a good line of sight. We then see an over the shoulder shot of the soldier lying in the dirt firing his gun into the distance, its very clear the soldier has no idea where the shot came from because he's firing in all directions. We see him waste the last of his shots hoping to make contact we view this entirely from the side but the shot shows his entire upper body and the rifle so a well placed shot. We then see the soldier get up and run across the field (and I use that term loosely) while the camera follows him. The camera at this point is shaking but still keeps a good view of the soldier so its not uncontrolable, the soldier then dives down into the dirt taking cover. We then get another over the shoulder shot but this time of the enemy, the enemy is wearing a Vietcong outfit with a straw hat, this clears up our suspicions of what war it is set in if the jungle didn't already show it was Vietnam. The enemy fires a shot at the soldier who we can also see from this shot and misses, she then pulls back behind the tree. We then get a close up on the soldier behind cover taking this opportunity to pull a grenade out and toss it at the enemy. We then get a shot of the grenade landing and the Vietcong pulling back but is blown up by the grenade, the camera then cuts to the soldier trying to help the injured one, it feels a little incomplete because we have no idea how he got there. He tries to reach for the injured soldier but a bullet hits the tree showing that there are more Vietcong out there he then gets up and leaves while the camera follows him, leaving the other guy to die. We then leave the flashback the same way we entered it and it returns to the man in modern day still staring at the gravestone who we now know belongs to the man he left behind. The man then turns and leaves the graveyard in slow motion, the picture then turns to black and white and the credits come on.


We realised as we planned this that there was a good chance that this would become a war film instead of a thriller because of the action scenes and the setting of Vietnam, which is why we wanted to base the thriller genre mainly in the present day parts to show the emotional stress this guy has gone through. We also took notes from the film 'Saving Private Ryan' because their intro starts with a flashback like ours does. The main element that we thought would show this as a thriller rather than war and action war in general. We tried to show that war itself is a very frightening, unforgiving and brutal experience and how the experiences and mistakes on the battlefield may never leave you. Because this was only an intro and we had a five minute limit we couldn't show everything we wanted, of the thriller genre but we discussed what we would do if for the film. We discussed this because seeing as we were already making the intro we thought it was only right that we at least think about how we would show the rest of it. We agreed that for a full film we would make more flashbacks occur, see how everyday scenarios would remind him of his time in the war and we also thought that for a more in depth and detailed storyboard we would have the man get frustrated or angry when seeing something about soldiers either TV or in the street be it protest, praise or just news on how the current war was going. Another in depth thought was that the main character was suicidal, something we didn't show in the intro, and we thought that the best way to show this would be having the film course over about 5 days and at the end of each the man would sit down in a chair and think about how he left the fellow soldier, with a pistol on the arm of the chair indicating his insanity. I think that war is linked very closely to thriller because though there aren't many thriller and war film mashes, that are good there are still moments in war films that show the emotional stress and haunted memory's that veterans deal with, I think that combining the two to become a thriller could be a good choice if handled correctly.


In conclusion though our thriller opening is more war than thriller based if viewed from another perspective one begins to understand why our thriller was set out like this.

Behind The Scenes: Costumes and Props

For a war based film intro we had to get appropriate costumes and props so army Jackets, guns, and something a Vietcong would wear. The picture on the right is an American soldier in the Vietnam war this is what Ben was going to wear and lucky for us he already had most of the stuff that made up this costume. We could get the same type of gun from Mr Silverwood, the Jacket and trousers and especially the equipment he's carrying was all down to Ben. The picture on the left is Ben as seen he has a very detailed replica of the American soldiers costume it highlights most of the things the American soldier has and makes a suitable costume for the main character. Also the clothes Ben is wearing didn't cost us anything because he already had those clothes in his house thanks to his Grandma and his obsession with war. I too had to get an American costume but my guy was also injured so I had a bloody bandage around my head. Also my Jacket was camouflaged as opposed to plain like Ben's was I hoped this would distinguish us.


For a Vietcong soldier we needed to get Alex mostly Black clothes and a straw hat or a helmet. The picture on the right is a picture of a Vietcong soldier from the Vietnam war, as seen they are Asian, wear black and have little to no equipment or backpacks. The picture on the right is Alex who plays the Vietcong in our thriller opening we got her a Ju Jitsu jacket which looks similar to what the actual soldiers wore and a home-made straw hat which was also what they wore back then. By comparison between both characters we did a pretty good job on the costumes.

2. Hendrix (Becko) - Vietcong 2 (game)

3. The  - The Doors

4. For what its worth - Buffalo Springfield

5. Clapton - Vietcong 2 Vietcong 2 (g