Method 2: Analysing media questionnaire

I have selected a small group of participants all who are 16 years old. In my focus group, there is 1 female and 3 male. All the participants are students at CNS. All questionnaires were filled out in a Media Lesson with Ms Barton or in the free Period following the lesson. This happened in October 2008.

From my research, I have found out that the 3 males all wanted to go to university after 6th form. The one girl wanted to get a job and go to university. When I asked them about how often they watch films, 2 put 1-2 times a week, while the other 2 put once a month. For this question, the female chose one to two times a week and one of the males also chose this option.


Analysing media questionnaire


Here is the pie chart for how people watch films. I can see that all the participants in my focus group watch films by cinema, television or DVD. One person chose VHS as a means of watching films and 2 people chose computer.

When asked how do you prefer to watch films, half of the audience chose with friends or family, while the other half chose both friends and family and alone. I can see that people like to socialise when watching films.



I can see that people are attracted to films by either the advertising or word of mouth. 75% of the survey chose advertising while the other 25% chose word of mouth.



In this question, people chose more than 1 category. 3 out of the 4 people chose action and comedy, 1 person chose horror and 2 people chose thriller. This shows that action and comedy genres are the most popular at the moment.



From this pie chart, I can see how often the participants in my survey watch TV. I can see that 2 people watch 10 hours or more a week, 1 person watches 5-7 hours a weak and the other person watches 3-5 hours a week. The 2 people who watched 10 hours or more were 1 male and 1 female.



In this question people chose more than answer. The question had 4 votes for comedy, 2 for drama series, 1 for sport and 1 for soap opera. The only vote for soap opera was by the female. This indicates that females like soap opera’s more than males. Females prefer Soap Opera’s due to production companies aiming the show with female orientated storyline. The only vote for sport was by a male participant. This shows that males prefer sport more than females. This would due to the male dominance of sport on television and masculinity in sport.



In this pie chart, there were 3 votes for heavy metal, 2 votes for pop and punk and 1 vote for rock, hip hop and R&B. I can see that the subjects in my survey liked different type of music. The most popular was heavy metal, which was chosen by all 3 males, while the only girl chose hip hop, R&B and pop. Girls may chose to like hip hop, R&B and pop due to there being more female artists in this genre such as Rihanna and Beyonce.



When asked about how they listen to there favourite music, 4 people said computer, 3 people said MP3 players, 2 people said CD’s and there was one vote for DVD and radio. This chart shows that CD’s are becoming more out of fashion as MP3 players are used to consume music. This is because they can hold 1000’s of songs and are portable.

In my last question, I asked how often they listen to the radio. In my survey, 3 people said they listen to it each day, while the other person said 3-5 times a week. This shows that the radio is still popular even in the world of downloading of the internet.

Target Research

My thriller film is both going to be filmed and produced in the United Kingdom. This makes it a British film, so this means it would be ideally shown in the UK.

I plan to aim the opening predominantly at a male audience: by the ay in which we aim it in the sun-genre of Crime/Thriller with references to corruption and organised crime. Television shows such as Waking the Dead and Above Suspicion. The deal with the cases of murder and crime that usually take twists and turns before finding the real offender. Also, I think that the target audience would like films such as Psycho and Leon as they both follow along the same line as my production (Crime and murder).

I aim to base my media production opening on the age group 16-30 because both characters are in this age bracket. Also, as one of the characters carries a weapon with the potential kill; this would not the suitable for a lower age group. Although I would like it to appeal to all age groups, this is not possible due to the content in the production. Furthermore, when researching about thriller films in previous tasks, I found out that the 16-30 demographic group enjoyed thriller genre films.

In the target audience, most of the demographic will be in full time education, further education at either 6th form/collage or at university or working. I found this when researching into target audience in other tasks.

The target audiences aspirations and interests vary due to age and gender. They like a diverse range of media because of the wide range of references that I have collected while researching target audiences.

I believe that my research has been helpful in understanding how audiences consume media. I have found out that female like different types of genres because females occupy more of the market. For example, R&B and pop music have more female artist than rock bands.

I believe I could have made this method could be improved by asked more people to complete this questionnaire. This would help to create a more devise and widespread view of the film industry in the United Kingdom.

Final Thriller Production

Thriller Titles

We are going to embed the titles within the long establishing shot at the beginning of the sequence. The editing speed of this will be fairly quick to impose the feeling of intensity and threat, and to make the introduction fast moving.
The titles themselves will be on top of a black background in what we hope is a thriller style font, that will be in white and slightly fading into the black background. Between the establishing shots and the titles, the screen will be fading to black to show the titles, and fade back from the titles and black background into the establishing shot again. We plan to immitate this editing effect with the music building up and getting louder as the transition takes place to show the titles, and as the sequence returns to the establishing shot the music will quieten and receed.
We got this idea from the film 'Heat' and we will be basing our titles sequence on this.

Evaluation of my thriller production opening

Evaluation of my thriller production opening

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

I believe that my media project develops and uses forms and conventions in the film. I used many codes and conventions during my production to create an authentic thriller feeling. Firstly, two thriller characters are used create to tension. They are two rather lonely and violent characters. One of the characters, played by Ian Gurney, is a typical thug who intendeds on getting revenge on the other man, Played by me (Ryan Hayward). We decided to dress the thug in dark clothes such as the black leather coat and DM boots. This gives a sense of intimidation and the dark life of the thug. The other character dresses in normal clothes to create a sense of normality about him. However, this is far from the truth. He lives in the run down house with very little possessions in the middle of nowhere. We decided to use the derelict house because this further added to the spooky and dark natural of both characters. This, along with the train station next to it, gave a perfect opportunity to create the sense we were wanted to achieving. We decided to film the production at dusk. This gave the camera enough light but also provided an eerie touch to the production. These conditions also proved useful when the headlights of the train became towards the camera.

The soundtrack that I have used for my thriller production helps to increase the tension. This wasn’t the first choice of music after finding out that could I couldn’t use copyrighted material. The music that I used rises and fails throughout the opening. I have edited the soundtrack to rise at certain points in the production to increase the suspense.

I believe in that my production didn’t challenge the convention of a normal thriller film. Most of the techniques I used have been repeated in many block-buster thriller films such as Identity and Heat.

• How does your media product represent particular social groups?

In my production, I only had two characters, both which are male. This creates the stereotypical image of the villain and murderer being male. The victim in the production, played by Ryan Hayward, is a lonely guy, who lives in a run-down house next to a rural station. I used this location as it is a stereotypical thriller location. The station is in a rural and sleepy village with small population. This is a stereotypical location due to it being quiet, helping to cover up the murder. Before the victims life in the run down house, he had attacked a friend of the murderer. In my production, the victim is represented as doing nothing wrong, however as said before, there is more than meets the eye.

The villain is the production is the stereotypical hard-man. He wears a leather jacket and big black boots. He is in no mood to chat and is ruthless is the killing of the victim. In the production, he is represented as a ruthless and no-nonsense killer. I show this in the production by the first shots of him. The first of him is when he steps off the train and him walking down the platform. These shots were used as they covered up his identity but also showed his ‘hard’ character with the knife shot, his purposeful walk and the style of his clothes.

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

I believe that my thriller production would be distributed by an art house such as Cinema City in Norwich. I think that is would suit my production because the storyline and the style of the thriller is like a smaller production film. After asking the media class and teacher, they also agreed that this thriller should be screened in a small cinema due to the plot and the way that it was been produced. Both the rural setting and the ambiguity of the characters would suit an art house audience.

I believe that this shouldn’t go to a multiplex cinema due to this film not small production and style. The storyline would be too far off the normal storyline and complicated for a multiplex audience. Also, with this being a United Kingdom production, there is a less chance of it making it in the US backed and run multiplex cinemas. Furthermore, they would prefer to screen an audience favourite from the USA as this would be more likely to produce a larger income than a small-production from the UK

• Who would be the audience for your media product?

I plan to aim the opening predominantly at a male audience: by the way in which we aim it in the sun-genre of Crime/Thriller with references to corruption and organised crime. However, because of the subtly of the action, shots and by the way it is filmed, this will hopefully help it to appeal to a female target audience as well. By doing this, we are opening it up to as wider audience as possible. Television shows such as Waking the Dead and Above Suspicion. The deal with the cases of murder and crime that usually take twists and turns before finding the real offender. Also, I think that the target audience would like films such as Psycho and Leon as they both use similar codes and conventions to my production (Crime and murder).

I aim to base my media production opening on the age group 16-30 because both characters are in this age bracket. Also, as one of the characters carries a weapon with the potential kill; this would not the suitable for a lower age group. Although I would like it to appeal to all age groups, this is not possible due to the content in the production. Furthermore, when researching about thriller films in previous tasks, I found out that the 16-30 demographic group enjoyed thriller genre films.

• How did you attract/address your audience?

After looking through the results from the questionnaires that we handed out, I can tell that most people liked the concept and final production of Deception. Two people gave the five categories (Genre, Narrative and characters, Sound, Mise-en-scene, Camera Work and Production, Editing and post-production, Media studies project) all above 8 with one 10 coming from Amy Collins for the Camera Work and Production. 6 people in the survey gave the 5 categories a score between 6 and 10, with Emily Buck giving the production three 9’s for Genre, Camera Work and Production and Editing and post-production and a perfect score of 10 for did it work as a media studies project. Finally, 1 person gave the film a score between 5 and 8 for the five categories.

After looking through the questionnaires, the participants in my focus group all liked the narrative and characters, with 1 participant giving it 6, 4 people giving this category 7 out of 10 and another 4 people giving it a rating of 8. This shows that the focus group enjoyed the storyline and would want to watch the full length film. I think they would have liked the interesting character storylines and the suspense that was building up though the two minutes.


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

Looking back at the thriller ‘task, I feel that that one main things I have learnt is that slight changes can be made in the editing process but improve the production massively. Other things that I learnt are how to use the editing program (Adobe) and the various audio and visual techniques that we discovered.

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

I believe that I have learnt a lot of processes and techniques that are involved in creating a successful film. The preliminary task that was completed before the thriller production help to think and plan about the shooting and editing involved.

I think that my group worked very well to produce this project. We decided to split certain planning and research jobs to make it easier for us. Once we were ready to shoot, the production, we planned everything thoroughly, making sure we wrote down every shot and any equipment/props that we needed. When editing together, we made a decisions as a group, with advice from other people in the class and the teacher. We worked maturely to make sure we got the production that we were looking for and finished it with time to spare.

In the production of Deception, I worked on practical and technology mostly. In the planning stage, we all added information for the treatments, with Ian Gurney and Jeni Dady typing the final copy up. The storyboards were also drawn up by Jeni. I worked on the itinerary and shot selection for the shooting days and the soundtrack write up.

Before we started filming, I drew up all the equipment that was needed. This included booking cameras and tripods, buying a tape for the camera and making sure everyone had the equipment that they were due to bring in. Once we got to the film set, I was responsible for most of the camera filming. This only excluded any shot that I was in, in which case Jeni Dady filmed. I was also responsible for safeguarding of the camera and tripod, which belonged to the school.

Once we had all the shots that we needed, I and Ian worked on the editing, with Jeni overseeing the project. With little lessons to edit and put are production together, I worked in my spare time to finish off the project. This included finding a new soundtrack (after the first one was copyrighted), creating titles for the beginning and transferring any footage from the camera to the computer.

I think that the feedback we have received from the class has been good. Nearly all the class enjoyed the production, with the train shot being there favourite shot in the film. I think that the teacher’s comments were helpful in creating a more polished finish. However, I think, at times she was a bit negative in pointing out shots that could have been better. Apart from that, no one gave us any bad comments over the production.

I think that the strength of the production is the variety of shots used and the setting that we used. I believe that the setting with the station and the derelict house was the best part of the film. Without this setting, the film wouldn’t have looked as professional and spooky. However, if I was going to produce this film again, I would change a few things. Firstly, I would have prepared and planned the shooting day better. We decided to film in the darker lighting once we got to the location, which gave us little time to film. Because of this, we had to shoot for a second time. Also, some of the shots were either to shaky or something came into the shot that wasn’t supposed to. In the shot of the train coming towards the camera, a little part of my black coat appears in the top right hand corner of the shot for 2 seconds. Small mistakes like this made the production look slightly amateur, which isn’t what I w3as looking for.

The most important thing that I have learned from the making of Deception is that planning is key to a successful film. If you don’t plan every shot that is in the film, something will either go wrong or not to your liking. Planning the day of shooting is also key, so you do not forget any shots or equipment that was necessary.

Thriler Film Script

For out thriller film project, we deliberately decided against including any dialogue or voiceovers.
We did start to write dialouge, but found it difficult because by doing so, we found that it ruined the ambiguiety of the characters and narrative, thus disrupting the atmopshere of the situation.
We would have inserted this dialogue into the section of our sequence where the man situated inside the run down house is writing his letter, but having this dialogue we felt told too much of the story too soon and ruined the desired effect of mystery within what was written in the letter (this mystery was our main catch line to encourage viewers to view more of the film and discover what was written in that letter and about his link to the killing character as why we was killed).

Treatment for thriller opening

We have decided to shoot the opening in the sub-genre crime/thriller, much like other thrillers of its kind. For example, like in Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Leon etc. We aim to create a tense atmosphere which lends itself well to the genre. The way in which we will aim to immediately establish the equilibrium is through the setting. We will create the equilibrium by using music to build and tense atmosphere but without giving away the plot. The place we have haven chosen to shoot this opening is at Salhouse Train Station, mainly because of its deserted location, a convention used in many other thrillers.



Our film will begin with the first few shot of the station and the surrounding area to establish the location and enabling us to use a different camera shots such as long shots and worms eye view. Within these shot, running titles will be added discreetly so the viewer attention is not distracted from the opening shots. Throughout this opening, we plan to use a soundtrack, which fades in as the picture does which, by the low volume, sounds like it is being played out of shot or from a distance. Within these shots, a dark and derelict house is shown. This is the frame that we end the title sequence with. The camera then cuts to inside the house to a man sitting by a window which faces the platform. We plan to make the opening shots to set the scene last approximately 35 seconds long.

The character lives in the house alone. He is a recluse who lives in the run down house. He lives alone and is very socially isolated because he has recently stopped being involved in a gang in a scene of organised crime and corruption. Throughout the opening, we are going to have subtle clues as to his past (for example; a letter, the character stepping off the train and his intent) His house is next to the platform at the quiet station, its location is secluded, overgrown and the interior of the house is damp and dirty. There are bare wall on show and the floorboards creak as you step on them. The rooms are very bare with only essential such as his bed and a small television in his bedroom.

He is writing a letter and the camera focuses in onto an over the shoulder shot of the letter although the words are unclear on the page. When we cut to this shot, initially the music increases in volume; as if it is coming from inside the man’s room. From the over the shoulder shot, we cut to a frame of his hand turning off the radio- where the music is coming from. When the man clicks the radio off, it becomes silent. The sound of the click will be enhanced when we editing the film, which will provide a more noticeable contrast between the music and silence, making the atmosphere even more eerie than before. Another way we show the contrast between the inside of the house and the outside, as well as the soundtrack, is the lighting. Outside; we are only going to use natural light, which will contrast with the house, where there will be darker, more noir lighting.

From here, the camera then cuts to a view of the train tracks outside. The soundtrack remains silent until you begin to here the sound of the train along the tracks. This noise builds to a crescendo; however, we don’t see a train approaching because it is coming from the opposite direction. We chose to do this because by playing this trick on the audience, it adds to the build up the tension and mystery. This is the point at which the equilibrium is disrupted. It isn’t dramatic, but it is enough to change the atmosphere. The sound of the train approaching increases until it reaches the point at which the train is about to come it view. The camera remains still; focusing on the tracks, but at this point it cuts back into the house, focusing in on a blank wall, with a clock hanging on it. The camera remains on this point until the second hand then strikes the hour. We then cut back to a shot of the concrete floor of the platform. Onto this arrives the 2nd man in our opening. He is wearing distinctive boots, which is the first thing we see of him. The camera then cuts to a side-on shot looking across at the platform following his footsteps as he walks (like in the film ‘The Third Man’). The camera then stops, as does he from here, the camera then goes to a close up shot of his side where he reveals a weapon concealed under his jacket. The soundtrack remains silent. Also, when the camera focuses in, background is blurred- this is so the audience’s attention is drawn to the object.

After these shots in which the weapon is identified, this 2nd man continues to walk towards the house where the 1st man is located. The camera cuts back to the 2nd man walking towards the house, focusing on his feet using a low angle shot. From this point, in a series of 3 to 4 frames, the camera will keep cutting back and forth between the low angle shot and the 1st man in the house writing the letter, with the use of over the shoulder, high angle, medium and long shots of the man from behind, with the edition of a high angle close up shot of the 1st man’s hands and the letter as he writes.
Once the man reaches the house, the camera will then cut to a medium shot of the 2nd Man’s side, from his shoulder to his waist as he knocks on the door. We will then cut back to the high angle close up shot of the 1st Man as he stops writing and puts his pen down to get up and answer the door. The camera stays focused on this as ink begins to leak onto the page from the pen (like in the opening of ‘Don’t Look Now’ with the photo slide). The camera will then cut back outside for the final shot sequence which is an over the shoulder frame, in which the 2nd man is waiting at the door. As the man opens the door, we are going to see the reaction on the 1st mans face as he quickly goes to shut the door again, before the 2nd man pushes the knife forward, into his side. We then cut to the 2nd man grabbing the letter and in a close up shot we watch him set fire to it - suggesting to the audience the connotations and possible consequences of the letter, also making the audience wonder exactly what it could say.

Amendments and Reflections

.To begin with our introduction was going to consist of 5 different establishing shots, but because this took took up too much time of our introduction and the transition between them was too smooth, we have cut this down to 1 sole establishing shot to set the scene, along with a couple of slides before hand for our titles. This therefore will be cutting the time from 35 seconds for establishing shots to 6 seconds, and hopefully this will make the introduction more fast moving and intense.
.In shot 7, Man 1 will not turn off a radio, although the music will stop at this point.
.There won't be a shot of Man 2 walking off a train, instead the scene will cut from the train stopping at the station, to him walking next to the train as it makes its exit from the scene.
.There will be no close up of a knife in Man 2's pocket as this shot was unfortunately lost during editing.
.Man 1 will have less essentials in his house, no chair, clock or desk will be added, thefore Man 1 will be writing with pen and paper on the floor in an empty room, and there will be no focus of a clock in shot 9.
.We thought that watching the train approach the station rather than watching the opposite direction of the train tracks would be more effective as there is no need for surrealism at this point.
.Red converses were substituted for dc skater trainers to make Man 1 look more common and run dowm, unfortunately we do recognise that there will not be an as stronger reference to the theme of red he will be wearing, however we hope that the reference and boldness of the red t-shirt will be impacting enough.
.We have made the transition speed of shots quicker to make the introduction more intense.
.We have had to change the intended soundtrack because of copyright protection.