Media Conventions and Audience Theory

Audience Theory - It is virtually impossible to go through a day without encountering media in some form. Some types of media are; radio, iPod, billboardsm television, films etc. We are an audience for all of the different types of media products. There have been fears that media texts could make their audiences react in different ways, e.g. becoming more violent.  The audience can be easily manipulated to buy a product due to advertisement.

Media Conventions - Things that we would class as media are 'recent inventions'. The things we call media now would have been fantasies over a hundred and fifty years ago. The times which are spent with media are either on our own or im small groups. Millions of people across Britain or the world experience the same media event(s). The media has an unprecedented power to affect us in negative ways.

The Hypodermic Syringe - According to the theory the media ia like a syringe which injects ideas, attitudes and beliefs into the audience who as a poweless mass have little choice but to be influenced - in other words, you watch something violent, you may go and do something violent, you see a woman washing up on TV. and you will want to do the same yourself if you are a woman. However, if you are a man you will expect the women to do the washing up for you.

The Cultivation Theory - Because of difficulty of proving the effects of individual media texts on their audience, a more refined version of the theory has been created called the cultivation model. According to this, while any one media text does not have too much effect, years and years of watching more violence will make you less sensitive to violence, years and years of watching women being mistreated in soaps will make you less bothered about it in real life.

The Two Step Flow - The idea of this is that whatever our experience of the media we will be likely to discuss it with others and respect their opinion, the chances are that we will be more likely to be affected by it.

Target Audience

The target audience for many thriller's are aged 18+, this is because they include a lot of violence and some psychological issues that can be disturbing for younger ages. The reason why chose to use 15+ and not 18+ is because we researched other successful psychological thrillers such as "Final Destination" and "Disturbing Behaviour" and realised that it attracted interesting commentary from teenage society as young as 15. Furthermore, these films did not include any real explicit conduct in the film, it was largely based on violence, deception, betrayal etc. Such themes are typical for a thriller film.

The target audience that we have chosen is 15+, however it will not be a 18+ because the content isn't overly explicit. For our film, this can be related to by the audience, as our main characters are teenagers/young adults, providing a pathway for connection from the audience. The film opening will have a target audience of 15+ because it contains psychological problems.

The gender towards the film can change, for example: for the opening, the characters evolve around two girls, this would be more aimed at female's. However when reaching to the end of the film when psychological takes place, male and female gender would be more interested.

Planning the Location.

When planning to find where to locate our film, it was quite difficult. there were many aspects we had to consider; somewhere dark, relates to our idea of the script, creepy and somewhere that the audience wouldn't want to be alone at.

Eventually we come up with the idea to locate it at my house, this gave us a big advantage because it matched the criteria of what we wanted. Because we wanted a power-cut i am able in my house to do this from the garage, which can be very effective for the film. Also that from my games room, it gives a clear view to the bottom of the garden, and when its dark at night it is fairly scary.

The filming then moves down the garden, when at this point will be pitch black and not a light in sight. At the bottom of the garden is a swimming pool with a roof over the top. This is where all of the scary things happen and therefore this is why we needed a creepy abandoned scene to make our film as thriller as we can get it. Having the swimming pool at the bottom of the garden means that we can add to the physocological effects of the watcher, by making them think that there is something/someone in or near the water. Another good effect for using this location, the monitor in one of the rooms, makes a loud whirring noise which can be effective when filming.

The first location we chosen was in my room, where honor plays the part of dropping her the blusher brush and  shouting to Katie; who is in the bathroom. This is a good location for this specific shot, as it shows Honor getting ready, which is the best place for a young girl to get ready while playing music, this was the reason why we chose to add the radio this in later on.

This second shot was took in the bathroom, where Katie brushes her teeth when talking to Honor. A good place to choose for this location shot because mainly of the scary person appears in the mirror.

This was only place in the house which has the mirror giving the shot the best effect possible. This location wasn't a main part of the film, this was only used when Honor screams and runs down the stairs. However when we filmed this part it was dark and therefore could not see any of the pictures just a glance of Honor running.

This location is linked to the one before, when the film shows Honor running down the stairs. However this particular part shows Honor actually running towards the camera, using match on action.

This is located in my games room, which is used when Honor and Katie discuss which one is going to the monitor at the swimming pool. However we chosen not to get a picture of the swimming pool as it was dark and not have a clear view of the scene. Using this location gave us  advantages on the fact that looking out the games room it gives a clear a view of the swimming pool, and the games room was cold, giving the actress more of a effect of acting.  

Camera Angles

When we are filming our main media film, we have to take into account 3 main shots, this includes; 180 degree rule, match on action and shot/reverse shot.

180 degree rule - This is a basic film editing technique used usually in convo’s and to distinguish the left/right relationship between 2 people. To do this, there is an imaginary line between the 2 people, and the maintain continuity, this line is not to be crossed. This is used in our film where Katie is in the bathroom, however we are going to edit this scene so it all fits into place.

To the right is an example of what 180 degree rule; The camera can move anywhere within the half circle, but it shouldn't go across the red line otherwise from a viewers perspective it will cause confusion and disorientation, so avoid doing this.

Match on Action -

This is a cutting from one shot to another view that matches the action and place of the first shot. This creates an impression of continuity although the shot have been filmed weeks apart. If the character begins an action in the first shot and completes an action in the ext, a visual “bridge” is created which acts to disguise the cut from on to the other. A typical example of this is a car entering form one side of the shot and leaving then appearing from the left again.

In our film we used the match on action shot, when the character Katie is walking towards the door of the games room, to go outside. This gave it more effect, as you could see the emotion of the character coming to the screen.

Shot/Reverse Shot -

This is a film technique used to show 1 character looking at something off screen. In our case for our film its another character in a conversation. Then the camera switches to the person that the original character was looking at. Since the characters are shown facing in opposite directions, the viewer unconsciously assumes that they are looking at each other.This was locted in the games room when the character's Honor and Katie were dicussing who dared to go outside.

Questionnaire results

Question 1. What is you favourite genre?

This was asked to see if we have picked the right genre, or if it was close to being the most popular answer. If our genre we chosen; thriller, wasn't a high answered answer, then as a group would need to consider whether to change or improve our film based around thriller. However from our results Horror was answered 7 people people, making it the main genre, although thriller was just underneath with 6 people answered, meaning that we have made the right decision in our genre and should be a popular choice. The least favourite was Sci-fi, which luckily enough we didn't choose this.

Question 2. This question was related to question 1, asking why is this you favourite genre? we chose to leave out as it was an open-question meaning that it gives a wider answer variation. We couldn't put all the answers into one graph.




Question 3. What makes a thriller film?

This was an important question, because this will influence our main aspects to use in our film. It was a open question, which gives us a more valid response of what the audience really want. From looking at our results is shows that the main answer was "physcological", and second was "the unknown", both of these come under to what a thriller is, therefore as group consider to use the elements.




Question 4. Which of these thriller films have you watched and enjoyed?

Using this question it will help us to make the plot of our film, we can analyse the characteristics of the most popular answer and compare what it has, to what ours doesn't to improve the elements of our film. From the results it shows that jaws is the most watched and enjoyed film by far. "The silence of the Lambs" is joint with "Se7en", these two films wouldn't have an effect on the film just "Jaws". Although because jaws has many comparisons to our plot, we can still consider the suspense of the film and incorporate it into ours.


Question 5. What are the main aspects of a thriller film to get the full attention of the audience?

This question can also help our film which what are the best qualities of a thriller that we can incorporate. This is also an opened-question which can be more valid giving the audience there own opinion.  The most popular answer is that the thriller film has "mystery" and secondly "jumpy", these two will be Incorporated into our film making it better and have more aspects of thriller involved.

Final Decision

We all finally got together as a group to discuss, and were able to talk about what we actually want to do and how we will do it.

We thought of a couple ideas, but they only centered mainly around one person, and we all need to film parts of our project and act in it. It was a little hard coming up with ideas that focused on everyone, but we managed to get to a point where we knew what we were doing and just how we were going to achieve our goal and make sure it worked well.

Because our genre is a thriller, we wouldn't something that puts the audience in suspense with a sense of mystery. Our first idea was that we would base the idea around two girls getting ready for a night out, but with a twist. The twist would be that they aren't the only people in the house. From previous thriller/horror films they use the devil to creep up and appear in the bathroom mirror, because this is so effective we chosen to use this in our film.

Our group also come up with the suspense of the thriller, involving this in the film we chose to have a power cut, and the only way to reconnect it is by going to the end of the spooky garden. From using this as our main decision we have used the three main elements of what a thriller actually is: suspense, tension and excitement.

Questionnaire and Results

Within our group we thought it would be a good idea to carry out a questionnaire in order to get opinions and ideas about what we could possibly include within our two minute trailor. We handed out 20 questionnaires, to people mainly from our media group, with questions relating to our specified genre, thriller.    

We would like to think that the answers we recieved were genuine and their honest opinions, therefore will go ahead and use the opinions in order to better our opening scene.

The Opening Credits of "Juno"

Decontruction of Juno

The music that is used to go with this sequence is a cheerful, happy song, giving a buzz to the audience towards the film. In this particular clip it has changed into cartoon, this could be because of the target audience of the film is for young teenage girls. The font is scribble wiriting which also links with the target audience, so it is clear and easier to understand. From this first clip, the character would most probably be the main character or some type of involvement.

Next one we see the girl again, but this time she is drinking cartoon from the bottle and standing in the middle of the road. This could mean many things, one being that she is carefree. This time the writing isn't scribbled but takes up half of the clip, emphasising the production.

This shows someones legs walking, the clips before I'm guessing from the outfit its the same girl. the van in the background could belong to girl. although this character still shows that she is carefree as she is walking along without no hesitation.

The opening credit shows the film title. Again the girl that we do not the name is yet, is walking down the street still with a carton in her hand. she looks like she is in a mind of her own, maybe she is walking to a destination, somewhere she wants to be.

As an audience this clip is pointless, it doesn't really mean anything. It shows a telephone pole, with birds flying around it. It's gives out to the audience a sense of calmness, the clip is light colours and doesn't have much involvement.

Again this is carrying on from the previous clips of the girl walking through the streets. This one shows her passing a house, can make the audience wonder whether this is her house, or a friends that she knows. Because the clip is cartoon, the writing follows this by being scribbled to stand out from the clip.

This also shows what the girl might be walking towards, though this doesn't actualy show her in this clip. It shows from what looks like a alley way along next to houses. This could be important to the girl, in fact could be the girl in her visions. 

From the previous clip walking through the alley way, she is now walking past a music shop, the audience dont whether she has visited this shop, maybe she could be interested in the music. However she isnt carrying anything on her, except her carton.

The last clip shows the name of the costume designer, also of her drinking out of her Sunny D bottle. Throughout the opening credit the audience dont get to see what the catron is she is drinking out of till now. This could be something she is interested in as she carries the carton around the whole time.

'The Kingdom' Lynnanne Zager Voice Opening Credits

 This is the opening credits of the film "The Kingdom", shows facts and figures bout the various subjects in the film, for example includes the narration of the oil cconsumed in Saudi Arabia.