Audience Reaction

What do you think? 


I thought Time Rift was very successful in many ways. Firstly, the use of continuity editing worked very well and was smooth between transitions. The variety of shot types and camera movements were also very effective. For example, when Sean was on the bridge the camera was handheld, conveying the idea that someone was walking towards him and this, with the use of black and white editing, created a tense atmosphere and made the audience ask lots of questions - the general aim of a thriller film. My favorite part of the opening was at the end where the clip was repeated twice; the first time normally and the second time in black and white and in slow motion, something i found very effective in making the audience ask lots of questions.

Journey from Preliminary Task, to actual task

Overall I think I have learnt the sheer amount that actually goes into a thriller. I found that the technology was rather difficult to get a grip on as sometimes computers would freeze or work would be accidently lost. At the beginning, we were unsure of our storyline, and even had to change it because of the drastic weather and ill member of the group. However planning, stoaryboarding and researching provided us with visual help, knowledge and understanding of what to do. But overall, I believe that the story flowed effectively and my aim to raise obscurity in my adaption has been successful.

Who would be the audience for your media product? How did you attract/ address your audience?

The audience for my media product would be young teenagers and young adults who enjoy storylines where they have to think as it involves a sense of mystery; the mystery of how Sean died and why.  It could be said that my opening sequence is similar to Memento as the movie is dedicated to finding how someone dies. In TimeRift, A ghost, or a lost soul meets with his guardian angel to find out that he is dead, the story shows the journey of his life up till that point of sudden death.

By using similar conventions to famous thrillers such as Brick, Memento and the Sixth Sense, like fades to black, tension and obscured information, TimeRift attracts those who like thrillers on a whole because they would be attracted to these common conventions and it would make a connection with the audience. I would not say that my opening sequence is too scary, but more so eerie. This is because of the amount of questions being raised; such as 'how did Sean die?' 'who is Gabrielle to Sean?' and 'Whats the significance of the bridge?'

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

In my thriller, I have represented ethnicity and gender in equal ways. We have a black girl of West Indian heriitge and three white characters of English heritage. Additionally, there are two male characters and two females. We have decided to make all of the characters equal; consequently not following any stereotypes that dominate our society. For example, the females are not typically dressed in pink, but instead blue and blacks as we can see by Gabrielle's outfit:

As for other social groups, Time Rift does not particularly represent any typical social groups in particular as that was not our intended aim. However it could be said that it would appeal to Goths. This is as the opening sequence includes graveyards and a theme of morbid death. The subculture became well-established, the connection between Goth and horror fiction became almost a cliché, with Goths quite likely to appear as characters in horror novels and film.  The characters within our opening sequence however are not of any particular social group as we wanted our audience to focus more on the storyline in oppose to the characters in the piece.

In regard to costume, the white jumper that Sean is wearing connotes innocence and a sense of naivety. Brides wear the color white to symbolize innocence and purity. White is often worn in the summer to help stay cool by reflecting light. Doctors and nurses wear white to imply sterility and cleanliness.  This is a huge contrast to the black clothes that Gabrielle is wearing which has very negative connotations; in most Western countries black is the color of mourning. Among young people, black is often seen as a color of rebellion. Black, especially combined with orange is the color of Halloween. In early Westerns the good guy wore white while the bad guy wore black. Therefore Gabrielle could be seen as the more mysterious character than Sean.

This is critical in the story as this determines the viewers overall perceptions of the characters, who they can trust, and who they feel they can't. .

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

There are many things I have learnt about the process of constructing an opening thriller, different aspects of media technology and how to use them to impact on shot types, mise en scene, sound and editing. Consequently, I have learnt how to use basic equipment such as camera, tripod fire wire and I Mac. This was mainly due to the lesson we spent with a member of staff who helpfully went through the different modes on a camera, and how to make a tri pod tilt for dramatic effect. Cinematography is used to determine what we see in the screen through the shot types or compositions. I noticed that a typical thriller will attempt to obscure a lot of information so that questions are raised. An establishing shot would therefore be inappropriate as the audience would know where the characters are, and what we are meant to pay attention to. In regards to editing, I have had the opportunity to use both montage and continuity editing in my thriller which revealed to me the different effects they both have, and regards to titles, I have learnt how to put some over black, and some over footage too make the sequence flow more. I have learnt how to cut clips to make sure that the shots look the best that they could. Through all these experiences I have learnt to save my work as soon as I made changes to it as sometime I Movie can crash. In my opinion, the hardest part of making the opening sequence was trying to keep a sound effect in the place to correspond with the footage. This was sometimes difficult as if you cut some footage to make it shorter, the sound effect of sound would change position. I came over this obstacle by locking the sound track to the player head, meaning that it would be fixed and not move. This is another thing I learned, how to be patient and experiment with I Movies various features to achieve an intended effect.

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

If my film were to be distributed, Hollywood Pictures and Focus Features would perhaps consider my product as it contains the typical conventions of a successful thriller, including atmosphere, flashbacks and fade outs, montage editing, and quick cuts in order to obscure information from the audience. Perhaps  another media institution would distribute my media project  including magazines. This is as my opening sequence creates impact through the micro elements of sound, mise en scene, editing and cinematography. Also,  magezines would perhaps use their means to promote my thriller to target teenage and audiences interested in thriller films. Perhaps the radio industry would produce sound clips of the film to also promote it.

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

The opening sequence for my thriller ‘Time Rift develops and challenges forms and conventions of real thriller movies through the eerie use of music, special effects and regular fade to black. I have also used a range of shots such as long shots, mid-shots close ups and extreme close ups. These are very important for portraying emotion. Secondly, the credits drift across the screen and correspond with the music similar to the credits in "Memento". Another thriller convention that is present in my opening sequence is the amount of questions being raised. There is a lot of obscurity within it, thus creating impact and dramatic effect. Our opening attempts to set the scene by using an establishishig shot, and I also use montage editing in my flashback. where the pace is sped up making the flashback seem more intense, then thetre is a sudden fade to black.