'The Stalker' - Final Video

                         

Evaluation Question 7

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

  From our Preliminary task to now, there have been various skills we have learned and developed. 


  

Evaluation Question 6

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

  Throughout the process of constructing this product, I have learned how to use different types of technologies. 

  We learned to use hardware such as the digital camcorder. I enjoyed learning how to use this. I found it tricky to hold still in order to gain a still shot. Thankfully, we also had a tripod. This made it a whole lot easier for us to film. Another piece of hardware technology we used was the microphone. We did not use this in our product but in our preliminary task. 

  We mainly used one software throughout the production of our product - Final Cut Express. This was used for editing filming and to help post our storyboard on YouTube. 

  We also used different websites. For example, we used YouTube to upload all of our videos. We uploaded videos such as our Preliminary task, our behind the scenes footage and our final product. We also used websites like Survey Monkey to take surveys for our thriller and to gain information. 

  I have learned a lot overall. I now know how to record a film and upload it on to YouTube with the help of software such as Final Cut Express. I also learned how to record from different angles and which angles are best suited to certain scenes.



  

Evaluation Question 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

  Our thriller opening has all the conventions you would expect to see in a thriller; this is what makes it so interesting and eye catching. For example, the building drama towards the capturing of Sarah is what mainly holds the audiences attention. The audience will want to know why they should care about her losing her phone and who the mysterious man is that called her. 

  After the opening has ended, the audience will want to carry on watching; this is because the ending of the opening is a huge cliffhanger. The audience would be curious to know whether or not Sarah made it out alive or if the reason for her capture would be revealed.

  I showed the thriller to my friends and family and they all enjoyed watching it and they wanted to watch more; this shows that the opening was really good and captured the audiences attention and interested them.

Evaluation Question 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Here is a link to participate in the survey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/MSGKF5T

  
As you can see by looking at my results, the opening of our thriller seems appealing to people of the ages 14 to 29. This shows that generally young people would enjoy watching our thriller. 

  It is understandable that the younger majority of the audience would enjoy  thriller like this. It is fast paced and action packed, which is something they would tend to find rather suiting to their taste. I believe that the reason the older majority of the audience would not find this thriller as appealing is because they tend to enjoy more joyful or gentle film genres such as Comedy, Romance, or even documentaries. 
It is also understandable that younger majority of the audience(ages 10-13) might not enjoy it because they are simply too young. They might find it too frightening to watch due to their age range and in comparison to what they would usually watch, i.e. Children's Comedy, Adventure/ Fantasy, Animation etc. 

  
  Thrillers generally have a limited target audience mainly due to age; however, another factor is gender. It would appear that males are more interested in thrillers than females. Males tend to enjoy watching violent, action packed films, whereas females generally enjoy watching romantic and gentle films. 
  I believe that the majority of the audience of our thriller would be males. This is because our thriller has the content that will catch the attention of the males in the audience. This content such as; a dark night, good looking females, nice clothing, violence, suspense etc.

  To summarize, I believe that the type of audience our thriller attracts are males from the ages 14-29. This because that males enjoy content like violence and attractive females, and people around their age range enjoy a suspenseful and frightening thriller. 

Evaluation Question 3

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

Our media product appeals to many different media institutions. Specifically E4, Film 4 and YouTube. This is because our media product is an independent film. Media institutions such as YouTube are easy to help use to promote yourself with. It easy to access and upload your film on to. Film 4 also tend to distribute independent films such as mine. There are independent films being distributed on it on a daily basis. E4 also distribute many films and even television shows that were made independently. 

Evaluation Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

  
 Our media product displays the average teenage stereotypes, especially gender and race.

   It represents gender right at the beginning. The stereotype that females can be dumber and more forgetful than males is shown when we see Sarah’s character drop her phone and not notice. This is a very commonly said stereotype that is presented. One more stereotype that is used to represent gender is that teenage boys tend to be aggressive and rough. This is shown when we see Nick’s character and my character about to grab Sarah’s character from behind.

  The stereotype that men are superior to women is also displayed. This is shown when we see that ‘The Stalker’ is in control when he has Sarah’s phone. This makes the audience believe that he has the upper hand is now able to get what he wants. This stereotype is often used in today’s modern society. Aspects like the contrast between strength, height, energy, intelligence, and maturity between the two genders help the stereotype become more believable; which is why we used it in our thriller opening. It makes the thriller seem more realistic if Sarah comes across as inferior to ‘The Stalker’.
                                                                                                                                       

  

  Another social group represented is race. The stereotype that black people tend to go around at night is shown when we see Sarah’s character and Nicholas’s character walking on the street at night. Another stereotype that is shown is that black people tend to steal what does not belong to them. This is shown when we see Nicholas’s character, ‘The Stalker’, picking up the phone Sarah’s character has just dropped.

  Most of these social groups seem to be portrayed in a negative aspect. I think this is good because it means that our opening scene looks more realistic. If it was to display all the characters in a completely positive aspect, then the opening scene would highly fictional. Most of the representations are stereotypes; in my opinion, it was good to do that. It is not shown too obviously but they should be recognizable.