Beth (2162) Evaluation Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

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

1. The name of the film- The name of our film is ‘Missing’, this suits the Thriller genre because the title implies that something is going to happen to the someone, most likely the main character, this means that the viewer will constantly be anticipating events that will happen throughout the film. This is very much like the film ‘Taken’. The title of this film makes the viewer question what is going to happen in the film, and very much like our film make them question events that will happen in the storyline. The title of a film is a very important aspect, this is because the first part of a film the viewer see’s is the title. This will mean the title will have to be picked by looking at what will make the viewer want to watch the film and what catches the audience’s eye.
2. Setting/location- We chose to set our film in different locations which fit the story line. Our first location was along a road of houses looking at a telegraph pole. We decided this would be the best place to film as we wanted it to be in an ordinary place, so it looked as if the attacker was just leaving a house and walking down a road of houses. Our second location was the main characters bedroom. We thought this would be a good setting to film as it shows the innocence of the girl, by having a pink bedroom with features of love hearts. Our third location was near her school along a road of houses. We chose this location as we wanted it to look like a normal day where she is walking to school and texting. Our fourth location is in a dark cellar. We decided to use this location as we wanted to show the viewer that the girl has been kidnapped and locked in a cellar where there is no way of getting out. This will give the viewer a closer incite as to what might happen in later events. 
3. Costumes and props- The props used in a film are very dependent on the storyline. We used a mobile phone in our film to show that the characters are modern. We used a bag to show the audience question what she has in the bag. We thought this would be effective as it will give the audience a small clue to what is going on but it won't give away any of the story line. This is similar to the film 'House of 9' where the front door opens revealing a bag in the floor, the girl walks to the door picks up the bag and leave, this is like our film where 'Poppy' leaves her bedroom picking her bag up on the way and leaving through the front door. Another prop we used is make-up. We thought it would be a good idea to show her applying make-up as it makes the audience think why she is putting make-up on? Is it because she is meeting someone? Is she trying to impress somebody? This is good as it makes the viewer question what is going on and this encourages them to watch it more. The costume we decided to use was school uniform, this is because we wanted the viewer to know that she is still in school implying that she is 14/15 years of age. Her being in school uniform also portrays her innocence of being a school girl and not having much knowledge of certain things. You also see her briefly in her own clothes, these are the clothes that she decided to wear when meeting the guy and from the location you can see that she isn't in a good place and something bad has happened. By her being in her own clothes it shows she wasn't aware of what was going on and didn't see the danger in talking to this man. 
4. Camerawork - A lot of thriller films use high angle shots on certain characters to give across a feeling of authority. However we did not do this in our film. We used many long shots as we wanted some of the background in the shots to show where the character is. 
5. Editing- The editing techniques we used were fairly clear, however we wanted to create a flashback but this was quiet difficult to do so we used a blank white screen either side of the clip to give across a flashing effect. We also used a match-on-action shot, however because of lighting issues we decided we would not be able to use this part of the film in the final piece.
6. Title font, style and colour- The font we chose for our title is a very simple bold, black font but it is effective as we didn’t want too much emphasis on the title of the film but instead on the actual film.
7. Story and how the opening sets it up- We don’t have a set idea of what is going to happen after the opening of the film, however we have the idea of the girl going to school as normal but leaving school to go and meet this guy that she has met online, this guy that she meets online turns out to be a family friend but that doesn’t change anything for Poppy she is still happy talking to him because she feels she has a connection with him. Later on in the film she has been reported as missing and it turns out Craig kidnaps Poppy and takes her to a cellar where nobody will find her and end up abusing her physically and sexually. 
8. How characters are introduced- Poppy is introduced in the beginning when she is getting ready for school and keeps checking her phone. This gives clues to the audience about the character as she is constantly on her phone showing that she is most likely talking to a guy. This then makes the audience question and think about certain things.
9. Special effects- We didn’t really use any special effects in our opening sequence. However we wanted to create a flash back so we used a blank white screen either side of the clip to give across a flashing effect.