Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

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

How did you attract/address your audience?

Who would be the audience for your media product?

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

Media institutions are companies that produce/distribute media products.  My media product is a very small budgeted film therefore I need to choose a smaller, more lowkey distribution company to produce it.  Smaller companies distribute smaller films because of the lower budget.  Small distribution companies do not give large budget to the film makers they work with and because my film is very low budget, this fits well.  Since 2010, according to blogger 'StephenFollows' who is a
British Independent Film Awards nominee, 'the number of films being made on under £500,000 has fallen by 50%'.  This means that less and less independent low budget films are being made and thus independent companies are harder to come by.  I am in need of an independent company that would distibute a thriller film.

'Independent specialises in the development, financing, production, and distribution of independent feature films. Led by CEO Luc Roeg, who has over twenty years’ experience in the film business, Independent has a team of highly motivated and experienced professionals with expertise in project development, production, structured finance, distribution, sales and marketing.'

Independent would be a good choice of Distribution Company because they are as the name suggests, Independent.  They don't produce huge blockbusters like other distributors which means they're more likely to allow smaller films like mine to be distributed by them.  

'Established in 1997, Axiom Films is a leading independent label that brings together a range of film activities, including the production of feature films and a flourishing distribution division with a rapidly expanding library of high quality film content under direct ownership.'



Axiom Films would also be a good company to distribute my film because they distribute low budget films.  Axiom have been known to take creative risks within the company meaning they may be prepared to distribute a low budget independent film made by myself.  

'Netflix is a global provider of streaming movies and TV series, has over 75 million subscribers as of 2016. Netflix started as an American DVD-by-mail service in 1998, and began streaming in 2007. Netflix expanded with streaming to Canada in 2010 and now serves over 190 countries with streaming. Netflix's first widely advertised original series was House Of Cards, which debuted in 2013, and Netflix now produces hundreds of hours of original programming around the world.  The company was established in 1997 and is headquartered in Los Gatos, California.'

Netflix are a well known online company which display films and TV series on their site.  People pay subscription to Netflix in order to access their content.  I think Netflix would be an ideal distributor for my thriller as the brand has many independent low budget films so are more likely to distribute mine.  Also, as Netflix charge people for their memberships with the site in order to watch the media Netflix offer which means that I could make money from having my film distributed by them.


 Links to where I got the 'About' information from:
http://www.independentfilmcompany.com/about.php 
http://www.axiomfilms.co.uk/about-axiom 

Other links:
http://www.launchingfilms.com/links/ 
https://stephenfollows.com/falling-uk-low-budget-film-production/

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

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

Here are the notes I was referring to whilst creating this video-

Conventions of a thriller-

•         Suspense
•         Low key lighting
•         Tension music
•         Different angled shots
•         Variation of visual effects to keep the audience guessing

Conventions of an opening scene-

•         Titles
•        Unknown
•         Not giving much away
•         2 minutes’ long

I believe I kept suspense throughout the whole opening scene.  Different elements contributed to the overall suspense such as the flashing images, sound effects and backing music.

The low key lighting in some parts of my media product kept the whole scene looking eerie and suspicious.  Although saying this, some of my opening scene was filmed in higher key lighting.  This challenges typical thrillers because most of them like to keep the whole film quite dark and spooky.  I don’t think this took away from the suspense of the opening scene because other elements contributed to the suspense.

The music throughout the opening scene builds a lot of suspense as it is supposed to.  Typically, thriller films have a lot of quiet background noise with the occasional change or extra add in of audio to keep the audience on the edge of their seat.  I believe we achieved this by having a continuous beat throughout the entirety of the scene as well as other added effects too.

The variation of different shots is typical of a thriller so this is why we mimicked this in our final piece.  Changing the angle of the shots and switching from one to another means that the audience is always guessing what is going to happen next.  Quickly switching from between angles throws the audience off looking at one thing for too long with is what is required.

There is usually a male protagonist in thriller films so Millie and I took this element and used it in ours.  We dressed George, the male character, in an all-black outfit to make him look creepy and mysterious.  On the other hand, we dressed Amy, the female character, in girly clothes to make her look sweet and innocent just as most victims are portrayed in thrillers.  

 Varying angles

   Different titles