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After Dark Evaluation

Chloe Bacon

In what ways does your media product use, develop or


challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Our final media product is a teenage crime thriller that both conforms to and challenges the conventions of
real media products similar to our own. We have taken stereotypical ideas about the main genre of thriller
(eg: action, tension, suspense) and mixed them with typical ideas about the teenage youth of todays
society and elements of crime (eg: drugs, disrespect, parties). This therefore built it up to be categorised
into a hybrid of a teen crime thriller as we have combined elements of each. However, we have adapted
some aspects slightly to separate it from other products in the same style. Instead of casting an all black
group of people to act out the footage we have cast white males and females. This breaks the common
ideology of black gangs being the antagonists and instead flips the ideas round giving the audience a
dierent perspective on crime and challenging the stereotype.

To fully understand what should go in to a crime thriller I researched the conventions that would typically be
seen in this genre. Upon looking at various websites and studying crime thriller plot lines, it is clear that the
vast majority of film in this genre hold the following conventions

Drugs (This would represent the crime element)

Guns (To represent the criminal element)

Violence (This would build tension which plays a huge part in any thriller)

Action (This makes the film interesting and engaging. It also is one of the most typical conventions within
a thriller)

By including these conventions and associating them with a specific genre the audience is able to instantly
categories the film into a certain genre and make a quick judgement on if they would like to see the film or
not.

To further strengthen my knowledge of the title sequence, I decided to look at the ways in which they are
put together. I analysed ten sequences through their sound, editing, mis en scene and camera work. This
had helped me to distinguish the elements of

In addition to this I also looked at ten movies within the thriller genre. This helped me to gain inspiration
from their use of camera, sound, mis en scene and editing. By looking at these films in the specific genre I
was able to apply the ideas and conventions of tension and violence to my own work. This helped to create
a more realistic outcome for my video and enhanced its professionalism while conforming to the ideologies
surrounding the thriller genre. An example from which I gained some of my inspiration is Kidulthood. When
watching the movie I noticed that there were dierent elements which we could use in our own piece.
These were things such as drugs, grime music and violence. Even from the film poster the image of the boy
carrying a baseball bat may suggest that he is involved with antisocial behaviour. Although a baseball bat
would typically suggest sport the other representational features such as his chav like outfit and
threatening facial expression hint towards a violent and aggressive person. This would therefore imply that
the baseball bat is a weapon to possibly smash up objects.

Sound
When finding audio for our title sequence we researched the types of music found in thrillers. The majority was very fast
paced which helped reflect the action. However, as our piece was about a teenage party we decided to subvert the typical
convention and instead have grime music as the sequence plays. This genre of music is relevant to our product as teenagers
are most commonly associated with listening to grime/rap music. By playing this style of audio over our title sequence we
would conform to the ideas surrounding teenagers but subvert the ideas surround a typical thriller.

The dierent instruments used within the music help to create the grime feel. This also h

Editing
Our product has conformed to the way thrillers are edited as within the beginning of our film we have incorporated
blackouts. This form of editing helps our piece to create tension which is one of the main features of a thriller. We have also
used the technique of cross cutting between the past and present tense. The two locations of the party and the suspect
board create a sense of worry as the knowledge that the two events are connected would imply that a crime has taken
place.
We have made sure that not one specific person has the same amount of screen time as the others as we didnt want to
give away the killer too soon. We feel that this would have made it too obvious for the audience and potentially spoiled the
film.
Within the final seconds of the opening title sequence we have quickened the pace of the shots. This pin points the part
with the most tension and makes it appear important to the audience. Our use of this editing technique conforms to the
conventions surrounding the thriller genre as it builds suspense which is a key factor in any thriller film.

Mise-en-scene
Our title sequences opens with the title of the production house. When researching about the typography used for thrillers I understood
that the convention is to stick to the colours of white, black or red as they stand out the most when juxtaposed with a contrasting back
ground. For our typography we made the colour of the font white and placed it on a black background to reciprocate this ideology.
Additionally, the font is messy and almost looks like graffiti. This reflects the conventions of teenagers from low socio-economic
backgrounds being involved with vandalism which is a type of offence, and therefore would link in perfectly with our genre. Below is the
final result of our typography and the two ideas we mixed together to create it.
As underaged teenagers are likely to get involved with
criminal activity at a house party we decided to portray this
through filming our piece at a house. This therefore gives
the idea that a house party is taking place and suggests
that there is criminal activity at the event. We decided as
most parties take place at night that we would wait for the
sun to go down before filming. This helped us to get the
best lighting and make it look more realistic.
The main boy in the footage wears a track suit and trainers
as we wanted to replicate the outfits worn in the film
Kidulthood. We decided to take reference from this film as
it shares similar ideas about todays youth. A stereotypical
image of a thug teenage boy is displayed through the
costume on the films poster. Tracksuits and trainers are
often associated with gangs which involve themselves in
illegal behaviour. We have tried to replicate the image from
the poster of Kidulthood through the footwear of one of
the party members.

Mise-en-scene Continued
We have tried to show the teenagers in our film being antisocial. Within one of the clips, one of the party members turns the volume up on
the speaker. We included this as we wanted to conform to the idea that teenagers are disrespectful to their neighbours and play their
music loudly.
Our research about the ideologies of teenagers lead us to find out
that underaged drinking is one of the most common illegal activities
that teenagers are involved with. This therefore inspired us to
present the people within the party conforming to this fact and led
us to produce a clip with one of the members placing down a bottle
next to two others.
When filming parts of our suspect board I was inspired by a scene
from the thriller drama Pretty Little Liars. The photo below
incorporates string attached to different pieces of evidence and
photographs in order to map out the polices thoughts. I wanted to
reflect this within our piece as I felt that using the same idea would
help viewers associate the murder with the consequences of a
police investigation. Eventually we presented this through the use of
cross cutting between the past and the present, as if the viewers
were trying to solve the investigation themselves.

Mise-en-scene Continued
Another concept that we found related heavily to teenagers was the use of illegal
drugs. We decided to conform to this ideology and show one of the members
sniffing a line of cocaine. To create this effect we used flower and a rolled up 20
pound note as typically this is how drug taking is displayed. Our group took this idea
from the film The Wolf of Wallstreet as the main protagonist is also involved with
drugs. We decided not to show the members face as we wanted to create a
microcosm for the wider issue of dug taking and by doing this represent how it
could be any teen.
Although the majority of our sequence conforms to the elements of thriller, crime and
teenage parties the casting challenges the conventions. The casting of white
teenagers acting out the crimes goes against the stereotypical idea of black
teenagers being involved with this activity. Our group decided to not conform to this
typical idea as we wanted to break the convention and display how it isn't always
white individuals who are innocent. We believe that the common idea media has
towards black individuals is unfair and by casting white party members to participate
in drug taking and alcohol will change this view.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?


Personally, I believe that my final product represents the social group of the teenage youth. Within our piece we have presented this group to
conform to the stereotypical ideologies thats surround this age. When researching about this specific age group I came across the conventions
of teens being:

Anti social

Lazy

Having an attitude

Listening to rap/grime music

Being disrespectful

Being involved with illegal activity

Partying

As a group we have displayed characters taking drugs and drinking which would fall under illegal activity. We wanted to present our characters in
this way so that the audience would see the eects of these actions (eg: the death of the teenage girl). Our piece aimed to educate as well as
entertain our audience as we wanted to give o the message that doing this shouldn't happen and the consequences of doing so. By casting a
girl as the one who dies it may help any female viewers relate to the story and therefore make it more engaging for them to watch.

Furthermore, the tv show Waterloo Road and the film Ill Mannors stereotypes teenagers to conform to the conventions above. This helped our
group to fully understand the medias interpretation of teenagers so we could reflect this in our own work.

Mis En Scene:
Within the mis-en-scene we have made sure that we present the characters in a very stereotypical way. The main boy in the film wears a grey
tracksuit and trainers. This image is very common for the teen youth of today and is often associated with teenagers who are anti social. This
helps the audience to immediately distinguish what type of person the characters are in the sequence.

Narrative:
The narrative for our sequence is about a girl who goes to a house party and dies. The cause of death is unexplained but hints towards a drug
overdose through the props. Our narrative is sadly a very common story within the teen youth of today. Within my research on similar stories I
came across a girl who died due to an ecstasy over dose. By creating a story similar to a real life event our group ensured that we were being
accurate with our portray of teenagers. As many of the audience may be aware of these types of events from the news it makes the storyline
appear current and relevant. This will help them to identify with the events keeping them engaged.

Audio:
The audio that features within our piece is in the genre of grime music. We decided to have this type of music over our title sequence as this
category is stereotypically associated with teenagers. As the audience would be made up of mostly teenagers they would immediately associate
this type of music towards their personal interests and become engaged.

Shot Types:
We used lots of close ups of the actors and props within our sequence. We decided on having these shot types as they make the feeling of the
footage more intense. Additionally, in some of the close ups (eg: the drugs being taken) you cannot see the actors face. This was done to present
a microcosm for the wider issue in the teenage society. By not including the actors face the person taking the drugs could identify as anyone
making it relatable for any audience member.

Editing:
Our group has used blackouts within our title sequence. Having regular blackouts not only build tension within our piece but can also reflect the
mindset of someone on drugs. It is commonly known that people experience blackouts when under the influence. Having this eect would allow
the audience to get into the teenagers mind and how they would be feeling within the party.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
If my group had made After Dark into a completed film it may be distributed on movie
watching websites. These would be institutions such as Netflix or Lovefilm as they are
popular within todays society. By distributing our content on a well known site it would
help to promote the film and increase the audiences awareness of it. This would make
the film more successful all round.
Film sites such as Netflix and LoveFilm would be the more preferred options as they
already produce similar content to our own. Thriller films such as Django Unchained
and Taken hold conventions which are also displayed in our own video. Ideas of
violence and murder are reflected in each and therefore this would suggest that our
product would fit in with the type of films being shown on these websites. Alternatively,
the message that our group was trying to project when creating our film was that there
will be consequences if an individual is to get involved with criminal activity. Given that
our target audience is mostly teenagers other institutions such as YouTube may also
want to distribute it. As YouTube is a popular site with teenagers, it would be ideal to
spread the message of anti social behaviour. Similarly on YouTube there have been
videos such as Who Killed Deon? which share the same education message about the
consequences of illegal activity.
When comparing our

Who would be the audience for your media product?


Target Audience:

To gather insight into the type of audience that

Age:

From my research on the BBFCs rules and regulations regarding age ratings for films I believe that
our piece would fall into the 15 category. This is due to the use of drugs and alcohol as well as the
death of a teenage girl. Additionally, an audience who are around the same age as the characters
within the story would make the content relatable and therefore enable them to identify with the
events keeping them engaged. Anyone who would view our product that is below the age of 15
may find it disturbing and could have the potential to lead to moral panic.

Gender:

In regard to gender I believe that both men and women would be part of our target audience
as within the film we have cast male roles and female roles. The mixture of the two will help
our audience to identify with their own sex and keep them emerged within the film.
Furthermore,

Race:

As our media product

Who would be the audience for your media product?


We used our target audience research to find out the interests of the general
public. We wanted to aim our film at a teenage audience and so we asked the
majority of teenagers in our school to fill out our survey. From our results we could
conclude that

How did you attract/address your audience?


Target Audience Research:

To find out more about the type of audience that would watch our
When screening our first take of After Dark we held an audience feedback session. Some of the comments were

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this
product?
From constructing our media product I have learnt about the ways of using editing
software. Our editor Jett used Adobe premier pro to edit together our footage. We used
the version already installed on the school computers which cut down the cost of the
product. Initially, our group had little knowledge of the workings of this software so we
decided to research and find tutorials on how to use it in order to make our video as
professional as possible. As a result of this research we were able to develop a wider and
more secure knowledge of the different tools and features. This helped us to fully
understand what we were doing and how to help ourselves when we came into difficulty.
Additionally, as a director of photography (and the camera operator), I have learnt about
how to use a professional nikon camera. Beforehand I had only been aware of the features
such as video, different settings for different photo types and how to zoom in and out.
However, upon filming our piece I became more familiar with the camera and its functions
which helped me to use to camera to its full potential and create the best shots for our
video. Similarly, to the software used for our editing, I researched different YouTube videos
on the cameras functions which helped to expand my knowledge. Our group also became
more confident with the use of lighting to create certain effects. By experimenting with
different ways of creating light in scenes we were able to form the type of atmosphere we
wanted which helped with the display of the genre. For our main task we used a spotlight
on the suspect board which gave theses scenes a tense feel which is what we wanted.
Using a tripod to create certain shot types was also something we became used to.
Knowing when to use the tripod and when to have the camera hand held helped to break
up the static feel that some of the clips had and make the content more engaging.
Using research tools to find and collect information about the genre and conventions was
something that I became more confident with. The majority of my research was done
through web search engines such as Google and Yahoo. being able to use these websites
helped me to find the details that I needed in order to expand my knowledge. Additionally, I
has to get used to working with other websites such as Wordpress. This helped me to
form my blog and keep all of the planning and research in one structured place. When first
making the blog I had to learn how to used features such as the create bar which helped
me to design my blogs layout. Also learning how to post blogs onto my website helped as
it would allow me to share my content. Youtube was also a website that previously I had
very basic knowledge on. However, through my time in media I was able to learn how to
successfully upload a video. This skill will help me further in my media journey if i have to
upload videos in the future. To create my target audience research questionnaire I had to
use Survey Monkey. Being able to create a list of questions helped me to gain insight on
what the general public would like from a thriller video. As I am now able to create and
upload a survey on to this website it will be useful for me if I ever consider making another
video.

Looking back at the preliminary task, what do you think you have learnt
in the progression from it to the full product?
Initially, I had little knowledge on the subject of media and
the ways in which the four technical areas are used to
represent common ideologies. I additionally, had little
awareness of how to use the technology surrounding
filming and editing (eg: camera, tripod and editing
software). However, through my journey in media I have
developed an understanding of this aspects and feel that I
am now fully aware of how they work. My progress is
mainly down to the continuity task. By creating this I was
able to become more confident when filming as I had
previously had little experience. Getting used to the idea
of filming came with some challenges at first. For my
group these were things such as time management and
disorganisation.

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