evaluation number 4

Our target audience for our film is aimed at teenagers as well as adolescents. This is because according to my own research, thriller is one of the most favoured genre’s. Therefore, it will be easier for us to attract our audience. We used a young character to ensure our aim towards our target audience. Furthermore we used isolated settings. Since teenagers may ‘hang’ around in isolated settings, we wanted to reinforce where teenagers stay in everyday life. Furthermore our location was in tower hamlets, one of the poorest boroughs in the whole of the UK. We wanted to show teenagers and adolescents are ‘at risk’ in poverted areas

evaluation number 3

1) After long consideration I believe wt2 production would help promote our film. This company is independent and therefore work on low budget films. Furthermore they will be able to give us support to improve our film. Moreover, if our film turns out to be a big hit, then we can approach bigger film productions. However, since our budget is low, we may stick with wt2 productions. My decision was influenced by wt2 productions release of ‘shaun of the dead’ where it received major hits and excellent positive reviews.

evaluation number 2

1) We used a young character to ensure our aim towards our target audience. Furthermore we used isolated settings. Since teenagers may ‘hang’ around in isolated settings, we wanted to reinforce where teenagers stay in everyday life. Furthermore our location was in tower hamlets, one of the poorest boroughs in the whole of the UK. We wanted to show teenagers and adolescents are ‘at risk’ in poverted areas.

Evaluation number 1

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

One of the conventions that we used was developing suspense through many forms. For example, like effective thrillers, we used sound in order to build suspense; the sound used at the beginning makes the audience automatically think we are watching a thriller.
Furthermore I corporated the use of lighting, camera work and sound editing in the development of ideas in regards to my movie which is the same as to a standard movie as well as mise en scene, making my product conform to conventions of a real media product. I recorded the video with diagetic sound, and then editing it by including edited sound. This is a recognized use of convention. We also used generic conventions such as an isolated setting so it can be seen as a form of convention of a thriller movie.
Our art of the title is very effective since it tries to reel in the audience by not giving anything away immediately. This is shown in many art of the title sequences such as

EVALUATION

Question 1: Our media film theme is thriller. Having a thriller theme there is a certain way things have to be. For example, the background atmosphere cant be colorful as that wouldn't look tensing (it would look more funny or commercial like), another thing is the background music has to be tensing if not then it wouldn't put the audience in the suspense mood.. By doing this it helps the audience get into the pace of the film. Firstly the music, sound and music are a key as it creates suspense during the film which keeps the film interesting. It makes the viewer question themselves. We also used different camera-angles, we did this to create suspense and to make our film look more attractive.

Our title sequence that we chose to apply was done with a lot of thinking. We made it to suit our film by making the text RED. By making the text red, it creates anxiety. Also, the Font we used looked quite sinister and we made it BOLD, so it could stand out and catch the eye. As the title is a key in giving a hint if the film, we named it DEAD END, all in capitals, red and bold. As the title is shown at the beginning you could tell how the story will be or what is would be about.

Question 2: In our media film there is a representation of an asian social group, this is shown by the main character Tahera. You could tell this by looking at the mise-en scene. Firstly the clothes worn, she is wearing a headscarf, this represents islam. Secondly, the background people. During the filming of Tahera walking through the market and out of it, by observing the people around her you could tell that there is a mixture if races. Even though we shot the film in Bethnal Green for an asian community, there was not any bengalis at that moment in the market. Thirdly, by analysing Tahera's facial expressions the audience could tell she is very afraid even though there is lots of people around her. This also reflects to females being a lot less stronger then men, and a victim of society. All of these lead to how different ethnic minorities are viewed, and what opinion they give.

Question 3 & 4: In my opinion WT2 would be the institution that would distribute our final piece as it is a thriller and the locations are in england. WT2 films are more english with location shots in england. To promote the film i will upload it on youtube as others where done http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPXaysjZbkA to get a mainstream audience and with computers being a popular technology. Also as our film is a low budget film by promoting it through the media it would get more hits and become more familiar with audiences. By putting the film in a real life position of distribution, it would get a mainstream release. I can tell this by looking at the history of Shaun of the Dead and Star Trek as they both were mainstream releases.

The internet would be a good use of distribution and potentially reach a global audience. By uploading it on facebook and youtube i will attract and address my audience. Obviously the users on these sites will get the advertise of the publishing film and may look into it for more if interested. I could use popular out of home media like billboards to attract audiences which are more interested in that genre or theme.

Question 5: Our film is directed to teenagers around 15-17, but 20 year olds are even likely to go and see it in the cinemas on a day out with their mates. "Maria 18- I work in River Island and I love going out. Especially when me and my girls go cinemas and watch scary thriller movies." Many teens around 15-17 go cinemas when a new film comes out and just for the fun of it, either with their girlfriend or boyfriend or even with their mates. Other working class people aged around 20 and over go cinemas too. They are more mature and as they work all day might want to treat themselves or friends. "Tony 21- I work at an estate agent in Kings Cross, and me and my girlfriend always go cinema saturday night because that is when we both are free. We like watching scary films as it keeps us both anxious about what is happening." Overall, the film is directed to teenagers and others over that age too.

Question 6: During the making of this film we used many technologies. Firstly the main thing filming. We used a JVC video camera. Before handling this we had to have a tutorial on how it works and the hazards of it. This helped us create suspense as we took many shots of one thing and pasted it many times which made the part have more power. This is what made our film other then the edits we did on the computer to make the piece final. Also, after getting all the filming done we used many other technologies to fix up the main and final piece. Soundtrack Pro, Live Type, Final Cut Pro.

We used Soundtrack Pro to make our soundtrack for the film. This program is used on the computer. We had to fiddle around with the sound instruments to see what sounds right together and what sounds tensing and goes with the film at the time. We used Live Type for the title of our film. Again this is another program in the computer which we fiddled with to get a satisfied title which went in the flow of our title opening. Final Cut Pro was the main program we used which helped us edit and improve all our mistakes. It helped us hide stuff which didnt come out right, it helped us cut things out and paste other things on top and it helped us edit. Edit as in make bits slower to create suspense. There was many parts in the film where we slowed the movement when looking back to create tension. All of these technical programs and devices helped us make our film how we wanted it, it helped us improve on things.

Question 7: By looking at both the films, the main media piece and the match cut preliminary there were differences. Firstly the match cut preliminary was the first filming that was done after getting the cameras. We didnt really know how to use the cameras and was shy to be filmed. Whilst filming our final film we had experience with the cameras so we knew what we had to do, also our minds were more maturer and was not as shy. When filming the match cut prelim we had to film one scene many times over and over again this was due to not much commitement and distractions. But when filming the main film we didnt have to film over and over again and there was not any distractions even though it should of been more likely to get distracted in the outside world rather than in the classroom which is were we recorded the match cut prelim. So many of our skills progressed. For example the use of the camera and how we filmed and the sensibility of our minds.

Skills Audit: Creation of soundtrack (Plus Posting of Compositions)

When using the soundtrack program, it wasn't something you could learn easily. It took messing about with things on the program etc, in order for it to be more easier to use as it was the hardest program I think we've had to use. I did not use create the soundtrack however I was there most of the time when Shreub and Imranul was composing it. It took a lot of concentration, effort and time . First thong they did was created a melody, a melody which went with our clip. Our soundtrack was a vicious cycle meaning it didnt change at specific times within our clip. After a certain amount of time of our sountrack piece has finished it was just suddenly restart again flowing within the same pace. However when there were to unsuspiscious bits we made the beat thump a bit quicker and louder then before giving a harsh suspense feeling for the audience. After finishing our soundtrack we then had to drag it on to livetype, on to the timeline where we wanted our music to start from. It was not easy because we then had to listen to the soundtack whilst watching our clip, and any little problems where it didn't fit in or go right we then had to go back to the sountrack program and change it around.

Skills Audit: Creation of titles (plis screen grabs of decision)

When we were creating our title sequence we had to make up names for each part. We were told to do this in order to make our opening of our clip seem more realistic and professional. At the beginning of our clip we chose to have studio canal to be the first title set and the font was vey basic. Followed by WT2 Prdouction which was nicely fitted and contrasted with our clip. We used a bright but darkish red which was slightly fading in a way that it looked as though their was a shadow effect on the writing. This was put against a black background making it more clearer for the viewer to see and also we thought that by using our title against a black background would have more of an effect to the audience. It showed for 2-5seconds which was enough time for the audience to read it alongisde with our names after in order so they know who's involved within this clip. We made sure that didn't put the title shots straight after or overlapping an important shot, this way it makes the important shot stand out how it is suppose to. After this someone in our group them had to import the title sequence and import them onto final cut pro. They then dragged the title sequences onto the timeline where they thought the tiltle sequence would fit in and by looking at where it is in our clip, it couldn't have fitted in a better place.

EVALUATION

Question One:

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

Our media product is based on a thriller theme and because thrillers are not meant to be funny or comical, it has a very serious feel to it. It uses appropriate music, because sound and music provides the pace of the film, which is very serious and tense and creepy. This makes the viewer feel as if something bad or sinister may happen.

The main aim is to build tension and suspense in the viewers.

In our media product, we used many different camera-angles to create that feeling of suspense and to make our character look vulnerable.

The title sequence that we used suits out media product because the text is BOLD and the Font we used looked quite sinister. Sometimes, just by looking at the title sequence of a film, the viewer can tell how the rest of the film will flow.

Question Two:

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

In our media product, we only have one character starring. the character is a female and she is asian so she wears a headscarf. I think that the character in our media product represents the social group of a vulnerable and lonely female, who can easily be attacked by a certain individual or something of the same sort.

Our media product has been filmed in the location of Columbia Road flower market, which is based in east London. East London is known to have a large population of the Asian community and our character wearing a headscarf represents that very well. She is in a flower market and after buying a bunch of flowers she walks through the flower market which is very busy with many people around her. Throughout the clip, she is walking and she thinks that someone is following her and sometimes she turns around to check. Near the very end of the clip, she ends up getting lost and turns up at a dead end and drops the bunch of flowers that she was holding.

This part of the clip is showing that she is alone and vulnerable and she was being followed by someone, even though she wasn't entirely sure.

I think that portraying a female who is by herself shows that females are more weaker than males and that they can be approached by anyone without hesitation or fear.

Question Three:

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

I think that Universal Pictures might distribute our media product. The reason why I picked this distribution company is because our film has been made on the basis of it being a thriller. The inspiration for our clip came from the film American Psycho, where a normal person lives his life peacefully at day time but when it comes to night time, he turns into a psychopath and goes on a killing spree. Our clip doesn't show a psychopath but the character in our film, who is a female, is meant to be followed by one but she isn't aware of this.

Question Four:

How will you attract/address your audience?

There are many ways of addressing your audience or attracting them. The style of release we are planning for our film is for it to be globally distributed and we are hoping for it to be widestream. During my course in AS Media, we were all learning about two particular films, namely the British film called Shaun of the Dead which was quite a low budget film and was distributed by Universal Pictures. The second film which were all asked to study about was Star Trek, which was a high budget film and was distributed by Paramount Pictures. Both of these films were distributed differently. This is because Shaun of the Dead was British and was a low budget film, so it wasn't aimed at a wide audience and therefore it was only advertised in the UK first. Shaun of the Dead had many ways of advertising their film. They used the Internet, magazines, newspapers, television, marketing etc. Star Trek also advertised in a similar way but because their audience was aimed more widely, so they advertised globally.

Question Five:

Who would the audience be for your media product?

The typical audience for our film would be the age group between 16-40. The reason for this is because a person from the age of 40 or over is not likely to watch a scary thriller or horror film like we created for our media product. A normal person from the age of 20-25 will most likely have a job and he will be earning a decent salary or wage so he will occasionally go to the cinema to watch a film with either a friend, his girlfriend or a bunch of friends. This type of person will probably go to watch a thriller film which is what our media product is about. We hope that our media product wll be shown in well-known cinemas such as Cineworld, Vue, Odean etc.

Question Six:

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

Throughout our coursework we have learned to use many different types of technologies to create our media product. Below will be a short soundover clip of most of the technologies that we used to create our media product. Mainly to create our media product, we used a JVC video camera, 2 memory cards to save the clips onto, sometimes when we needed it we used a tripod, and on the Apple Mac computers, we used the softwares called, Final Cut Pro, which is used to edit film clips professionaly, Soundtrack Pro, which is use to create a soundtrack for our film and lastly we used Livetype, which is used to create title sequences which we put in our film also. Using the internet, we had to regularly update blogs on blogger.com, and this is also a form of technology. We also had to use other websites, such as imageshack.com and artofthetitle.com. Imageshack.com was needed to upload pictures in the right format and artofthetitle.com was used to compare 9 screenshots of out media product to another film that is similar or that inspired us.

Question Seven:

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

When we first started our coursework, before we actually started it, we had to do a preliminary match-cut task. Looking back at this, we can see that our skills regarding filming and also using the different softwares were not so good. The filming was not professional, for example, it was shaky and sometimes out of focus etc. This is because we had not yet known how to use everything properly. But as time went by throughout our coursework, we got better and better at using everything and it also became much more easier for us. The match-cut filming was done by us as 'rookies' at the time, but now, as we look at our final media product, we can call ourselves 'amateurs' or maybe even 'professionals', because we now have the know-how of filming and editing and all we had to do was put everything together and we ended up with our final media product, which was named 'Dead End'.

Overall, my experiance and also my group mates experiance has been very helpful. Before we started media coursework, we didn't really know much but now I can say that we know quite a bit.

Question Eight:

Audience feedback and comments.

After our films had been seen by the whole AS Media group in the cinema, we got alot of feedback and comments from them. We asked many different people to describe our film in one word, and then we gathered all the words together to make a word cloud about our film. We used the internet website wordle.net to create a word cloud. This is how it might look like, with all the words that were used to describe our film by other student, family, friends and teachers.

Evaluation

Conventions of Thriller Opening

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

My film is based as a thriller movie and is called Dead End, just by the title we know that it isn't going to be a happy/comedy film. Our film is very serious and this is mainly so it can build up suspense,tension and uncertainty whilst watching. Due to our film being a thriller we had to make sure that the colour we used wasn't colourful and the music wasn't a happy tone. Therefore meaning there should be a lot of harsh, loud, thumping noise, etc in order for the audience to feel more engaged and also start to make them feel a lot of anxiety. Our soundtrack which we created is a type of tone/melody which relates to the type of our thriller and works together very well. Within a thriller it isn't just the acting or how your able to create suspense to the audience in a spectacular way but it's also how you put things together very well. At the beginning of our thriller our soundtrack fits in miraculously well giving the audience an exciting feeling. Also the the types of camera shots which has been used contrasts with our soundtrack nicely making the audience question themselves whether this film is going to be as interesting and scary as we've made it out to be, by the opening clip.


2) How does your media product represent particular social groups?
It represents Tahera as Vulnerable although she is in a busy market and this is a contrast with Tahera being alone whilst other people are getting on with their lives. Tahera is wearing a head scarf and this indicates that she's either trying to or is only approaching/trying to attract the asian community. Our film was located in Bethnal Green and this is a area which is popular for Asians. However we havent filmed our clip in a specific Asian area, our main location I believe is the market where she buys the flowers. As you'll be able to see its an diverse community and everyone seems to have come together seen as there are a lot of ethnic groups. Tahera, seen as being soo afraid of her surroundings, although she's around a lot of people could also indicate that she is trying to portray females as being more of a victim within society. This would be because women are known and seen to be vweaker, vulnerable individuals and not as strong or unworried as men.


3) What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
The media institution which might distributw my media product would be WT2 and this is because our film is a thriller and refers to how WT2 produces their film. My reasons being is because we also used British locations as we filmed in England. I will be showing my media product every week in the cinema. I will upload my media product on to youtube similarly to this one as it is a low budget film. I will do this in order to appeal and attract a mainstream audience and computers being a common technology I will be able to get passed on to different types of audience. Also uploading it on youtube as shown will also help my media product to get a lot of hits and become well known.



4) How will you attract/address your audience?
Placing my thriller into the real world of general cinematic release, my thriller would get a mainstream release. For e.g both Shaun of the Dead and Star Trek recieved a mainstream release. Shaun of the Dead appealed to a kind of 15-40 age group as it was both comedy and thriller. Shaun of the Deads institution is WT2 as it's also a low budget film and put more advertisements such as trailers on the homepage, games etc. This way it helps them to appeal to more of an audience. On the otherside Star Trek appealed to more an an older audience such as 16 onwards. However they also appealed and attracted the younger generation as they had games,toys and costumes which they'll definetly be interested in. It also appeals to mainly men when talking about gender wise. Its basically attracted to an audience who is matured, loves action and seriousness. Star Trek is the same as my product in a way of attracting an audience of aged 16 onwrads. However there's too many differences within our films. Wheres as Shaun of the Dead is appealed to the same kind of audience and is WT2. Its also a low budgeted film like my media product and is a thriller however my product doesn't involve comedy. Shaun of the Dead related to my thriller clip more.








This is the type of cinema in which my thriller would be shown at if it was going to be a real world of general cinematic release.











They style of marketing campaign i would envisage for my movie as shown and will be a wide-scale global release. To attract audiences we will use OOH media aswell as inside home and this will consist of billboards, facebook, youtube and asian magazines. We will use youtube and facebook as internet has a huge impact on encouraging and persuading people to watch our clip. Also due to our audience which we are appealing to, they are the ones mainly who would be surfing the net, especially the teenagers. We will advertise in the Asian magazine becuase our film in a way appeals to mainly the Asian Community.



5) Who would be the audience for your media product?
Our film is directed to the audience aged from 16 onwards also working class people aged 20 onwards would be interested in our thriller clip. This is because on their days off work they like to spend their free time doing something they are interested in. "Chinequa 21, I love it when it comes to the weekend, Saturdays, my girlies and I love going cinema to watch the latest horrific, spectacular, tense thriller films. We enjoy the suspense which are created throughout them and we really like screaming up the place in uncertainty and scaryness."



6) What have you learned about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
As media, we learnt how to use viedo cameras, Softwares such as Live Type and Soundtrack etc. This is the clip of still images with a voiceover note which we created. It's also showing one of us within our group (Tanika Warner) talking about what her group have used over the past few months. Using a range of different types of technologies helped improved the creation of our product by far. With using these technologies we were able to fiddle around with it in order to have better use of it so we can create a better piece of work which we did.


7) Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learned in the progression from it to the full product.
As shown underneath there's a huge difference between our match cut and full product. There's a difference within mise-en-scene, camera angles, camera focus. In our preliminary task we learnt how to use match cuts, 180 degree rule and reverse shots and this helped us to have a better use within our clip in our final product. Our final product looks a lot more professional than the preliminary one.



8) Audience feedback and comment


This is a audience feedback from 2 students at City and Islington 6th form College who watched our clip. As you can see we have recieved to positive feedbacks which is wonderful meaning we used all our technolgoies and lessons very well.

In my media lesson we went on to www.wordle.net and typed a few words which we believe referred to our clip and thrillers in general. We then customised these words in different fonts, layout etc to what we want.

Wordle

These were some of the word feedbacks we got after watching the films within our media class. All of these words are words which described our film best and the name of our film was called Dead End. We used wordle to edit these words in a different types of style and font so it can stand out.

Skills Audit: filing (Plus 'on shoot' photos)

This is a photo taken whilst filming our thriller clip. This is an important piece/photo to our film seen as this when uncertainty, suspense starts occurring which makes the audience engaged to the film and curious of what is going to happen. The audience starts thinking and questioning themselves because Tahera, the girl in the photo seems to be paranoid as she's curious to whether something/someone is following her. That is why she keeps looking back as she walks up to an unaware alleyway.

Location Shots

These are our two location shots which is d on Columbia Road E.2. We chose this to be our 1st main location seen as it relates to the flowers due to it being bought there. We thought this would be a great idea because it is a busy market which means there are alot of people in the environment which helps us to create more suspense towards our audience.

List of Thriller Sub-Genre

• Supernatural
• Serial Killer
• Psychological Thriller
• Action Thriller
• Political Thriller
• Innocent on the run

The type of thriller sub genre which inspires me at the moment are Supernatural and Action Thriller. Within Action Thriller films/movies there tends to be alot of harsh noises and violence and with the special effects which are created/shown makes it even more exciting for the audience to watch. It also helps me to engage to the film and query whether it is going to be a good or bad ending and what else might happen. I generally like Supernatural Thrillers as the unexpected scenes create alot on anxiety, tension as well as suspense.

skills audit: filming (shoot photos)

this is one picture of a shot we took whilst filming. in this picture i walk into the garage and act paranoid, this is one of the main bit of suspense during the film.

Location shots

these are the location shots. it is based on 'columbia road' which we chose for the flower market. as we thought it would create good suspense in between crouds of people.

skills audit: soundtrack, 2minute preview, title sequence

THIS IS OUR TITLE SEQUENCE WHICH WE DID AS WT2 PRODUCTIONS. WE DID DULL COLOURS TO CREATE SUSPENSE, AS IT SEEMS DARK.

THIS IS OUR SOUNDTRACK WHICH WE WORKED ON. WE MADE THE SOUNDTRACK CALM WHICH THEN GOES INTO LOUD, TO TENSE THE AUDIENCE AND TO MAKE THEM THINK AND ASK QUESTIONS TO WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN NEXT.

THIS IS THE BEGINNING OF OUR TWO MINUTE FILM. WE RENAMED ALL OUR SHOTS TO MAKE IT EASY FOR US TO RECOGNISE WHICH ONES WE WANT TO USE. IN THIS PICTURE WE ARE GETTING ALL THE SHOTS TOGETHER.

skills audit:creation of titles(Plus screen grabs of decision process)

skills audit: creation of soundtrack (plus posting of compositions)

skills audit: editing (Plus screengrabs)

Skills audit: filming and editing preliminary match cut excercise

Today i practiced how to film and edit a preliminary match cut. We got a short story line, and decided to film our match cut. Our match cut was opening a door. We had to stand by the rules of the 180 degrees turning, the match cut and the shot reverse shot.

We first did the match cut, which was filmed by a lot of team work. We did a shot of imranul walking towards the door looking as if he is going to open the door. Then we did the shot of hiim opening the door, then closing it behind him. By putting all these shots on the computer we edited it and it was a match-cut.

Then the 180 degrees turning. We were told to stay in the 180 degree semi circle, as when filming if you dont stick to this the shots will be all over the place. For example, one of the shots will be with one actor on the right side then they'll be on the left. This makes the filming look unprofessional and not persuasive to watch as it doesnt look interesting and looks as if it is all over the place.

We had to do a shot reverse shot, which is with dialogue. When one person talks the camera focuses on that persons face then when the next person talks it goes to their face and back and forth. This makes the conversation more interesting as it creates tension, as all the facial expressions of both the actors faces are shown.

We will use these techniques in our final piece.

Final edit of livetype and sound filming practice

During our filming, we took many of the same shots so when we are putting it together and editing it, it would be easier, as we have a variety to chose from. Also, because some of the shots may not have worked or didn't look right. For example if there was a shot on the road, one of the shots might have another person walking down the same road and the other shot may not have a person walking down. This could cause a little confusion and make the film not realistic.

So after getting all our shots, we used livetype to make put title sequence. When filming we decided to take shots which we would edit to put into the title sequence, so whilst the names of directors and actors where coming up the shots would be the background film which would give the audience a vague idea of the location of our film.

We also started working on the sound, as we wanted a suspensed theme tune to make the audience more entertained and tensed to what is happening. We tried not to make the sound for our film too violent or loud, but steady and tensing as if somethings about to happen.

Overall, we are going to put the whole piece together with the sound and title sequence with the 2 minute film preview and hopefully it will work.

List of Thriller sub-genres-which inspires you at the moment and why?

PSYCHO AND SERIAL KILLER sub-genres.

In my opinion i like psycho and serial killer sub-genres.

This is because in these genre films there are a lot of suspense built and tension, of who done it? where did they go? why did they do it? etc

By doing this it builds interest in the viewer and persuades them to keep watching as the thrill of the psycho or serial killer questions the viewer as what they are going to do next.

For example, 'Prom night.' This film is a psycho film, it is really interesting as it always keeps the audience entertained and lets them know different things at all times, like who the psycho is, and why he is behind this girl.

What keeps the audience interested throughout the whole film in these sub-genres is that the film keeps going and the audience get to know different things whilst watching. This keeps the audience in tension as the main question doesn't get answered till the end.

But overall, both these sub-genres are the most interesting as it has the most suspense built and inspires me.

Intro to Cameras & Health and Safety Tutorial

During my media lesson today i learnt how to use the cameras and the health and safety issues which was involved. I specifically got shown how to turn the camera on, put the battery inside, how to insert the memory card, how to use the focus while recording, put the camera on a tripod and how to eject properly. Last but not least I got taught how to use a camera without breaking it. I also got shown how to hold a camera in an appropriate way without damaging any of its devices.

News and Current Affairs Events

Review pledged over use of legal high drug mephedrone

Police said the boys had been out drinking on Monday

The legality of the drug mephedrone will be examined "very speedily, very carefully" following the deaths of two teenagers, Lord Mandelson has said.

The business secretary said the government would take "any action" needed to deal with the drug.

Louis Wainwright, 18, and Nicholas Smith, 19, died in Scunthorpe on Monday after taking the drug.

The Home Office said it would receive advice from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) on 29 March.

The ACMD said its chairman, Professor Les Iverson, has discussed mephedrone with Home Secretary Alan Johnson, "who has expressed his grave concern about the drug".

It said: "The council has been looking at the dangers of mephedrone, and the related cathinone compounds, as a priority.

MEPHEDRONE FACTS Recreational drug with effects similar to amphetamines and ecstasy Sold as a white powder, also found in capsules and pills or can be dissolved in a liquid Often sold online as plant food marked "not for human consumption" Completely different drug to methadone, which is a pharmaceutical drug typically used as a very strong painkiller or to treat heroin addicts Reported side-effects include headaches, palpitations, nausea, cold or blue fingers Long-term effect of taking drug unknown Currently legal to buy and be in possession of the powder, but against the law to sell, supply or advertise the powder for human consumption under the Medicines Act Already illegal in Israel, Denmark, Norway and Sweden How has drug affected users? What is legal high mephedrone? Drug debate

"The ACMD held an evidence-gathering meeting on 22 February and continues to carefully work on its considerations with a view to providing advice to ministers on 29 March."

According to BBC home affairs correspondent Danny Shaw, a member of the ACMD, speaking anonymously, said he would be "very surprised" if the council did not make its decision at its next meeting in March.

The council will then write a full report, containing its recommendations, and present it to the home secretary.

The ACMD member said there was also "some understanding" of the science behind mephedrone, though it was "far from perfect".

Lord Mandelson said: "We will take any action that is needed, any action that is justified, to deal with this and to avert such tragic consequences occurring in the future."

He also admitted that he had never previously heard of the drug.

Mephedrone is known by various names, including "M-Cat", "MC", "mieow", "meow", "4MMC" or simply plant fertiliser.

It is usually a white or yellowish powder, which is snorted, but can also be obtained in pills and capsules. It is marketed as plant food.

Police made three arrests following the death of the two teenagers.

The National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) says a ban on the substance should be considered.

FROM BBC RADIO 5 LIVE More from BBC Radio 5 live

NAHT general secretary Mick Brookes told the BBC the use of the drug had become more widespread.

He said: "This drug clearly has the same inherent dangers as any Class A drug and I think serious consideration should be given to banning it.

"The problem with that is that you then criminalise the people who take it, so we need to think very carefully about what we do, but act with some speed."

Some heads say the drug should be made illegal immediately - even if it risks some children getting a criminal record.

Schools have become increasingly worried that because the drug is legal, children as young as 12 are trying it.

Legal high report; first broadcast December 2009

An ACMD sub-committee had been looking into legal highs, but its work stopped following the dismissal of Professor David Nutt as the chief drugs adviser last October.

Prof Nutt was sacked after publicly disagreeing with the government's decision to reclassify cannabis as a Class B drug and not to downgrade ecstasy.

Club scene

Five ACMD members then resigned in the row that followed Prof Nutt's departure.

Websites selling the drug have told their customers it is a case of "when" not "if" mephedrone will be banned.

Head teacher Mike Stewart: 'We need help'

The two teenagers who died were found collapsed at their homes after a night out in Scunthorpe.

Humberside Police said the drug appeared to have contributed to their deaths. They had been out drinking in the hours before they died.

Two men, aged 26 and 20, and a 17-year-old boy have been arrested in connection with the incident.

Post-mortem examinations are being carried out.

Mephedrone has become popular on the UK club scene in recent months.

Its side effects are said to include psychosis, palpitations, burning throat, nosebleeds and insomnia.

Suspense

Suspense is a feeling of anxiety and uncertainty for the audience during a dramatic piece of work which mostly takes place in films. Its used in situations where there's a lead up to possibly a big event or a dramatic moment. This helps keep the audience engaged to the film and wondering what's going on. Suspense makes the audience question them selves to whether what could possibly happen and keeps them wanting to watch it even more because they're curious of what could happen next. Although you may feel frightened or uncertain you still want to carry on watching it because its a feeling of excitement and makes the film more enjoyable.Suspense doesn't always take place in films it could also be used inside a book.

Intro to camera and helath and safety tutorial

We learnt how to use the camera and its stand to help us record our film. As a group we learnt how to use differnt functions of the camera.

Intro to cameras and health and safety tutorial

During todays lesson the class was given an introduction to the cameras, we were shown how to use the cameras, what to do and what not to do. There were many advantages and disadvantages shown. We were shown not to turn off the sound as it would be difficult for us to show the video even though we could put subtitles, but it would be hard and long. We were shown how to hold the camera, how to put it on the tripod without damaging it, how to preview the last video we recorded. We also learnt how to use the memory cards, changing and slotting the memory cards was shown as a tricky point as we could put it in wrong or use the wrong memory card whilst recording. By learning all the advantages and disadvantages with the camera it helps us learn the health and safety techniques, and makes us aware of what to do the next time.

Detailed Analysis of Thriller CLip analysed in class (Collateral)

The Thriller clip that we analysed in class was a short snippet of the film Collateral.

The clip started with Tom Cruise walking through an airport from a distance. All the crowd in the airport were blurred out and only Tom was in focus. Then there was a close up of his face.

After this, there was a shot of Jason Statham coming through the airport. They then both meet up and bump into each other and drop both of their brief cases. They have a little conversation saying ' Sorry about that mate, you alright? ' and so on. They exchange one last glance at each other and pick up the brief cases, but not their own ones.

Then you see an over the shoulder shot of Tom again.

This short clip creates quite a bit of suspense. It leaves the audience thinking ' What's going on here?'. It is a good way of keeping the audience gripped and making them want to watch the film more.

News and Current Affairs Events- Chile Earthquake

Powerful Chile Quake 'Shifted Earth's Axis'

10:17am UK, Wednesday March 03, 2010

Huw Borland, Sky News Online

The powerful earthquake that killed hundreds of people in Chile on Saturday probably shifted the Earth's axis and made days slightly shorter, a Nasa scientist has said.

Chile and the Andes mountains, as seen from Space Shuttle Columbia in 1994

Richard Gross, a research scientist at Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, calculated how much the axis may have changed in position following the the disaster.

More than 700 people died and two million are estimated to have been affected by the 8.8-magnitude tremor and subsequent tsunamis.

The quake, the most powerful to hit the nation in 50 years, sent shockwaves out from the epicentre 70 miles from Chile's second city, Concepcion.

Buildings and roads collapsed and 500,000 homes have been left severely damaged.

Six aid workers died when a plane carrying them to Concepcion crashed.

The team was on its way to help organise accommodation for those left homeless by the disaster.

Soldiers were sent to patrol Concepcion's streets after mobs set fire to shops and started looting them, hindering attempts to rescue survivors.

Devastation after the Chile quake

If the planet's axis did shift by 8cm during the quake, days would have shortened by 1.26 microseconds, Mr Gross calculated.

A microsecond is one-millionth of a second.

Earth days are 24 hours long because that is the amount of time it takes the planet to make one full rotation on its axis, so shifting the axis would affect rotation.

The quake shifted the Earth's axis by even more than the 9.1-magnitude tremor off Indonesia that started the deadly tsunami in Asia in 2004, according to Mr Gross.

This was partly because the fault line responsible for the quake in Chile "dips into Earth at a slightly steeper angle than does the fault responsible for the 2004 Sumatran earthquake", he said.

The different angle made Saturday's tremor more effective at moving Earth's mass vertically and shifting the planet's axis, Mr Gross continued.

The 2004 quake in Asia, which killed hundreds of thousands of people, caused the Earth to move by around 7cm.

It chopped an estimated 6.8 microseconds off the length of a day, Nasa said.

Detailed analysis of 'Collateral'

By watching the first bit of Collateral it creates tension by the use of sound used, the way the shots are taken, the mise en scene and the dress sense. Firstly, during the clip of Collateral there is no speaking sound, there is only background sound which tenses up the whole situation as we have no idea of what is going on, only the fact that there are alot of people at the background. Secondly the shots, there is an establishing shot of the airport, the camera shows everyone in the airport but the audience seem to know who the main character is as there is a main focus on one particular person. This again creates suspense as we do not know what is going on with him or what is going to happen. The mise en scene, in the airport, this makes the audience tensed as airports are really big places and alot could happen there. When we see the other man coming the background people are blurred out and the camera only focuses on the two main characters now. At this point we could tell something is going to happen but we do not know what. When the suitcases get swapped it creates a large amount of suspense as we do not know if this has happened on purpose or by mistake, we also start asking what is in the suitcases and what really has happened or what is this going to lead to. After the suitcase swap there is digetic sound, the men talk. This does not go on for long, and the facial expressions make the audience curious if the swapping was on purpose or not.

News and current affairs

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James Bulger's mother says killer 'where he belongs'

James Bulger was murdered on Merseyside in 1993 The mother of murdered toddler James Bulger has said killer Jon Venables is "where he belongs, behind bars". In her first reaction to his return to custody, Denise Fergus also said on Twitter, "is this my [son's justice?]". Venables, 27, was recalled to prison last week after breaching the terms of his release. He and Robert Thompson killed James on Merseyside in 1993. Home Secretary Alan Johnson said he could not give details of why Venables was back in custody. Venables' solicitor at the time of the trial told the BBC he would be surprised if he had contacted Thomson or returned to Merseyside. Two-year-old James was abducted by Venables and Thompson while at the Strand shopping centre in Bootle. Home Secretary Alan Johnson could not give details of why Venables was back in custody His battered body was found by children playing on a freight railway line more than two miles from the shopping centre, and 200 yards from Walton Lane police station in Liverpool. The killers were given life sentences, but released in 2001 with new identities and under certain licence conditions. Family members said Mrs Fergus remained unaware of the nature of Venables' breach. The precise details were not released by the Ministry of Justice. Both Thompson and Venables were given new identities when they were released. An order prohibiting the publication of details which could reveal their whereabouts has since remained in place. ANALYSIS Danny Shaw, Home affairs correspondent It is understood from an official source that this is the first time that Jon Venables has been recalled to prison. The Parole Board will have the case papers sent to them within 28 days, and a three person tribunal will be set up - chaired by a judge - to determine if it is safe to release Venables. It may take some time to convene as fresh reports may be needed. James Bulger's parents have the right to make a written statement and to read it out at the parole hearing. Hearings are normally held in the prison where the offender is held, but it is possible the high profile of this case will necessitate a change of venue. It is not a public hearing. Experts say that when life licence offenders are recalled to prison it likely to be because they have been charged with an offence or their behaviour causes a concern that they pose a risk. Offenders can also be recalled for not complying with their specific release conditions. Speaking on the BBC News channel on Wednesday morning, Home Secretary Alan Johnson said he could not reveal the reasons behind Venables' recall to custody. Later Justice Secretary Jack Straw said it was in the public interest that it be kept secret. "But the public also need to be reassured that action was taken properly and promptly to recall him to prison and there will now be proceedings before the Parole Board to determine whether he should remain in custody," Mr Straw said. He confirmed the Bulger family has not been told the reasons for the recall. "For very good reason we have had to keep restricted details as to why Mr Venables has been recalled. "I was however very anxious that the victim's family should know that he was being recalled before they found it out from the newspapers." Harry Fletcher, assistant general secretary of Napo, the probation union, said Venables could have been recalled to custody under two procedures. It could be an emergency procedure in which he would have to be charged with a serious offence, or a standard incident, perhaps involving a technicality such as a failure to keep appointments with a probation officer, Mr Fletcher said. In an interview on BBC Radio Merseyside, Venables' solicitor at the trial, Laurence Lee, said it was a "bit early to condemn him completely until we know what he has done". Venables was released from custody in 2001 and given a new identity He added: "If he went to Merseyside when he shouldn't have done or if he contacted Thomson, goodness knows why he should, going by the hatred that developed on the part of Venables towards him, I'd be surprised. "But if it's a breach of a condition not to go somewhere or not to speak to somebody or not to carry out certain meetings, that kind of thing, then it should be a minor breach and presumably he wouldn't be in custody for long." Venables will appear before a hearing of the Parole Board to consider the reason for recall. The outcome of such hearings is not usually made public, but a spokesman for the Parole Board said it was likely the result would be released because of the high profile nature of the case. Bookmark with: Delicious Digg reddit Facebook StumbleUpon What are these? E-mail this to a friend Printable version