Evaluation Question 3

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why? (studio, TV, Web, DVD etc)

Evaluation Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups? (gender, age, sexuality, ethnicity etc)

In our thriller we included representation of certain social groups. One of which we included would be gender as the two main characters were both male. What this would mean is that as male is the dominant gender they should be manly and strong although in our thriller they were seen as weak in comparison to the other two masked men. This would then challenge hegemony as it isn't following the system of all men being strong and brave as the two main character were scared.

We have also included age as you can see that the two boys are both young and have something on them which isn't theirs, which could portray them as being thief's just because they are young teenagers which would also be agreeing with the stereotype of the young. 

Our thriller also includes the bad guys in hoodies and masks which would also follow the stereotype of all people in hoodies are thugs and bad guys, however this isn't always true.

In our film there is also a blue collar crime which takes place which is the kidnapping which is different to a white collar crime as that is something that takes place in a office such a fraud and is usually associated with the upper class, whereas blue collar is usually done by the lower class and is usually more hands on.

Evaluation Question 1

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

In real media productions many different conventions are used, examples of these would be red herrings, a macguffin, suspense, cliff hangers, fem fatale, bluff and a twist. 

Within our film we tried to include many different elements of a real media production. We included a MacGuffin, suspense and a cliff hanger which was then supported with the camera shots and movements used. 

Mac Guffin

A macguffin is a plot device that motivates the characters and advances the story but actually has little relevance to the story which the audience usually forgets about. We added a macguffin in to our film so we would have something to base it around. In our film the macguffin is the disk which you hear them talk about but don't see until the end.

Suspense

Suspense is used to create tension in the film to make the audience stay interested and on the edge of their seat during the film. We decided to add suspense into our film as we thought it would make it more interesting and will help to make the audience stay interesting as well. The suspense which we created was when the first boy got taken and then nobody knew what was then going to happen after.

Cliffhanger 

A cliffhanger is usually used at the end of the film and it is when the film is left on an open ending. The reason behind this is that it leaves the audience to come up with their own ending of how they would like it to end. It also makes the audience want to see more and it can be used if it is then leading on to another film. As our film is only the opening it is left on a cliffhanger, however we added to the cliffhanger more but still leaving it open in the fact that no one knows what was going to happen next.

The main film which influenced our thriller was 'North by Northwest' by Alfred Hitchcock. This film influenced our film on the idea of the maguffin which is where we got the idea from. 'North by Northwest' also influenced us with the suspense in the film.

Shooting Schedule

Shooting Schedule

Day	Scene	Location	Equipment	Costumes	Props	Cast +Crew
1 2	1 – 5 6 - 8	Valence Park A House	Camera, Tripod, Masks, Disk and Tape.  Camera, Tripod, Envelope with picture and blood, tape, torn clothes, chair.	Ordinary clothing for two friends. Masks and hooded tops for the kidnappers.  Ordinary clothes for one friend. Unkept clothes for the other.	Masks, Disk and tape. Envelope, Tape, picture.	Chloe King Leigha Betts Corey Maxwell Charlie Budge Jake Browning Matt Clarke Same as the above, including Maddison Nightingale.

The Birds (1963)

The Birds

'The Birds' is a 1963 suspense thriller film, directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The film is based on a series of widespread bird attacks on the public. 'The Birds' story was written by Daphne Du Maurier and the screen play was written by Evan Hunter. The film is starring, Rod Taylor, Tippi Hedren and Suzanne Pleshette.

This film does very well with including the aspects of a good thriller as you are constantly on the edge of your seat with the eeriness of the thought of bird attacks.

When analysing the trailer of 'The Birds' I realised it's very short (47 seconds). Which means with in this short period of time they have drummed in every bit of fast paced and exciting action to make the film seem very appealing to the audience. However they didn't include too much but just enough to make people want to go see the whole film.