In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge the forms and conventions of real media products?
There is a clear similarity in our film to the effects and shots of Se7en, Strangers on a train and Red Eye.

The fist way we have created this is by using partial vision. Here we can only see the characters (Abbie) head and shoulders. This is attracting the audience to her showing she is the main focus at this particular point in the film. During this time the audience can clearly see her emotions however it is lit up in a red light to add drama. The lighting can also connotate evil and death (A common use of colour in a stereotypical thriller film). The red lighting on top of the dark black background is to emphasis the fact that the film is shot at night just like the the opening of red eye.
The emphasis that teenagers are only trouble at night as they are majority shown in large groups hanging around the streets can be taken from this. The fact that it is shot at night in a large group of people can create suspense as the audience already has a preconception of what teenagers in this situation are capable of.
Examples of some codes and conventions of thriller films that are also typical of this genre are the colours; Reds and white are used alot to connotate evil in these particular films alot of the time used against a black background or some type of dark scene (night time). The idea of equilibrium in a film is also shown as the teenagers are unaware and happy as they are walking down the street however when Abbie loses her phone this is disturbed and creates tension in the audience.

This is another example of the similarities between the films 'playground' and 'strangers on a train'. As the camera in playground walks down the path to the park the shot can be linked into the 'strangers on a train' film where the camera is shown following the train down the tracks. Both shots from the film show the camera view therefor not actually including any of the characters. However one difference that can be depicted from this shot is that the track from 'Playground' is shown as one direct route and as a clear pathway to the playground (the scene of the crime). Compared to the shot from 'strangers on a train' where there are many routes it can follow (suggesting the idea of fate) both however can be linked into the typical thriller genre as both ask intrigue the audience to ask whats at the end of the track/path.

The next example is with the film 'Se7en' here both title sequences are shown playing over the actual opening scene. These fade in and out without disturbing the actual shot and still allowing the audience to watch the scene without interruption. The titles are shown as a white font infront of a black background creating the idea of good and evil (another typical use of colour in a thriller film). The shot during this is normally a simple shot providing the audience time to see the titles yet still be able to concentrate on that is happening therefor not missing out on anything vital going on in the scene.

The film 'playground' can be compared to 'red eye' in several ways. The titles can be first compared in the way which 'red eye' is presented; Bold and shown in big font. The use of the colour red (common in thriller films) is shown as well in the titles of 'playground' the way in which the red writing is shown over the black background before the scene actually begins draws attention the the name and emphasises its importance.
Question 2
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
During the opening sequence of the film 'playground' you see a group of 5 teenagers. The teenagers are shown in the stereotypical way that the majority of people see them; gathered in a group, drunk and being loud. although this is not a good representation of teenagers some people may be able to relate to the characters. During the holiday pictures the teenagers are also shown in the middle of the village, once again in a group looking drunk. These pictures can be compared to normal teenage life.
Question 3
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
Due to the fact that 'playground' is a low budget film made by amateur producers as well as the fact that it does not include any well known actors/actresses, realistically the film would only be distributed by a small independent media institution for example Metrodome group who have distributed such thriller films in the past (Donnie Darko - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0246578/). The company focuses on the licensing, marketing and distribution of feature films, television and video programming primarily through cinema, DVD, TV and video on demand channels. Bigger distribution companies for example The Walt Disney company/20Th century fox would not be likely to benefit from distributing the film 'playground' as the company's would most likely gain no profit or help the company's reputation by doing so.
Link to the suggested media institution -
(http://www.metrodomegroup.com/)
Question 4
Who would be the audience for your media product?

The target audience for the thriller film 'playground' would be teenagers and young adults. We chose the certificate 15 due to the popularity of thriller films of teenagers around the age 15 and upwards. As well as this the main characters in the film are infact teenagers themselves due to this we are hoping that the audience will beable to relate to them and give them a chance to think about what they would do in this situation.
Question 5
How did you attract/address your audience?
While we were planning the we used audience research to find out ultimately what our target audience would want to see in the thriller film we were creating. We wanted teenagers and young adults (around 15-25) to want to see the film therefor created a questionnaire targeted at this age range. The questionnaire helped us decide upon the name of 'playground' and the use of children in the film to make it exactly what this particular audience would like to see. By finding out what the audience liked and disliked about our plot it enabled us to make any needed changes before the film was actually shot and edited.
The video clip blow shows the audience feedback on our finished production
Question 6
What have you learned about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
Question 7
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learned in the progression from it to the full product?
From the first task of filming a conversation between two people to the thriller film has increased my knowledge of film making greatly. Having now had more experience with the cameras and editing equipment i am now more confident in using them in the correct way I have learnt the value of editing and learnt how important smooth editing is within a film. The cuts have to be smooth and a various use of shots must be used to keep the audience entertained and intrigued. As well as this I have found it is greatly important of sound check editing and making sure the sound fits together perfectly. We still had problem with this in the thriller film but we learnt how to overcome it if we were in this situation again. Another issue I have improved on is the planning of the film (storyboards, location sheets, actors etc) as this is a vital part in the making of a film. The group altogether as a whole has improved on communication and there were less disagreements between the group as production went on.
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