Critical evaluation: 1

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

We took utmost consideration in maintaining continuity within out film. We researched and observed films from other projects from Youtube (other A2 projects and professional short films) and noted any failures in continuity, which we would endeavour to avoid. We observed that these continuity errors had a negative impact on the film and decreased viewing pleasure. These errors made the viewer more aware they were watching a film rather than being immersed in it.

We researched camera techniques and positions as well as rules such as the 180-degree rule. Using a static camera allowed us to easily navigate the positions with careful planning beforehand. We encountered difficulties with where to place the camera for shot-reverse-shots and match-on-action but with our attentive planning we managed to film these successfully.

Using the HD1000 we could ensure that it was filmed all in the same format. However, we encountered the problem that we had filmed part of it in standard definition format rather than high definition, which was very noticeable and detracted from the film; we overcame this by re-shooting the scene. This affected our schedule, but it was necessary to make, as we believed it was very important to keep continuity. With the heaviness of the camera it was difficult to keep the camera steady when attempting POV shots and therefore we decided to limit the amount we used.

During the editing stage we came across many other difficulties that we had not noticed until we had imported to final cut express. We realised that match on action was not entirely fitting. We noticed that human errors played an impact i.e. I as Andrew Francis had not taken into account how far I should bend over when picking up the papers in the work scene. We quickly rectified this though by reducing the length of the shot we intended and using a different one in place. There were also parts which didn’t look right, for example in the second killing we originally had it so it went into hitting the victim from tapping him on the shoulder. We decided this was too abrupt and chose to include cross cutting to increase the fluidity.

Originally we hadn’t taken great notice to the continuity of the sound, however after paying close attention we noticed ‘crackling’ within the background as well as others speaking in the background. We overcame this by using cleaner audio from other scenes that worked with the shot. There were also noticeable changes in the soundtrack the audience was very aware to this and ruined viewing pleasure and decrease continuity. We corrected this by using fades in and outs to allow it to sound much smoother. We also went for rhythmic editing to create greater impact i.e. music starting fading out when putting the glass down and fading back in after the sound of it being put down.

We originally had several ideas, however we felt it was best to opt with a thriller. However, there are multiple options for a thriller to go with, as there are so many sub-genres and hybrids on offer. We researched many options through youtube, imdb and looked at numerous conventions for a specific style and decided we’d go with a psychological thriller. We analysed the conventions needed and found that a dark, mysterious character was often used and that they often weren’t fully aware of the overall story and that the audience didn’t realise this until the main character did. Examples we found were Patrick Bateman in American Psycho and Trevor Reznik from The Machinist – also, I was influenced by the creepy character of Jon Doe from Se7en. Originally I wanted a schizophrenic character with a double personality as that of Tyler Durden in Fight Club, however it was difficult to imitate this in only five minutes and be able to create an original film.

We used similar elements in our film such as Andrew not aware of being manipulated by his wife and used original ideas such as Andrew’s OCD, I felt this was a good addition as it made the character much more interesting. We used original plot as Andrew’s wife is drugging him and it is in fact her who is committing the murder. We used other conventions of thriller such as attention, fast paced editing and audio as well as sound effects to create edginess and make the film exciting.

 

We deliberately subverted expectations in the film to create an interesting and dramatic twist. The film was built up to imply that Andrew was the killer, however the truth is that it was his wife Maria who was the killer and she kills Andrew. The audience would have originally have been against Andrew as he is presented as a dark, creepy character. However, the audience may feel sympathetic towards him when they find out how he'd been manipulated by Maria. We also used the soundtrack to lessen tension in the work scene and built it up as he is gradually getting more and more annoyed to reflect Andrew's emotion. We also slowed it down when he is walking back into his house and built it up to a crescendo at the point he is shot by his wife. This build up-slow down-build up created an excitement and tension to reflect the overall genre and topic of the film.

Richard Dyer's theory of entertainment can be applied to our film which suggests that an audience is temporarily put into a scenario of utopia when viewing a film, especially those who feel that their life is not ideal. 'Intensity' is a relevant feature in our film as we build intensity through action, music and editing i.e. intensity was formed through the actions of beating up a victim, and the other murder scenes. From editing we made sure there were many cuts and varied close up shots that would stay to thriller conventions that made up tension as well as cutting to the music to further intensify. The music increases intensity as it builds up to an eventual crescendo in the scene where he is coming into his home reaching a peak point just before he is shot by his wife. 

Another theory in which can be applied is the Laura Mulvey's scopophilia theory of narrative ("love of looking" to me and you). The audience will be greatly interested in seeing the perception of another person and how their character is presented and the ordeals in which they go through within our film for example, tricked and drugged by his wife, OCD and is then eventually murdered. The setting of the film will greatly add to the audience pleasure as there are some nice shots especially at the beginning with the clouds that present an eerie pathetic fallacy accompanied with the eerie music. Also, variation of shots and sound effects with tense moments and fast cutting. 

Though our film I feel is an orignal film, it would be ignorant and untrue to say that it was from our own imagination completely. We were influenced by a number of films i.e. Se7en, A Clockwork Orange, American Psycho and The Machinist. Se7en influenced us for our title sequence with the flickering text and writing in the diary. The narration of Andrew Francis was influenced by the character of Alex from A Clockwork Orange, using speech that would be comparative to his character. American Psycho; how he is perceived as a psychopath, but with our own twist - I would have liked to have created a character like Patrick Bateman in my own film but 5 minutes was not long enough to create this convincingly, same goes for Trevor in The Machinist as I'd like to go for someone who has insomnia and split personality (similar to Fight Club). There were many of favourite films that I'd have liked to have taken bits and pieces from but we knew it had to be original and I feel we accomplished this with a unique narrative.