Evaluation Activity; Four

According to the criteria from the BBFC our media product has been given the age certificate '15'. Our target audience for this film is both male and female, however predominiately male, aged 15-25 who fall into the socio-economic groups; C1, C2, D and E.

Our typical viewer would probably be a college or university student. They would shop in large shopping malls such as Blue Water and Lakeside and specifically shops like HMV, TopShop/Man, New Look, Miss Selfridge, Blue Inc, Cecil Gee, JD Sports and online stores like ASOS. These are mostly high street stores who are marketing to a similar target audience. They would enjoy popular finctional TV programmes such as Skins, Gossip Girl, Prison Break, The Simpson, Friends, Family Guy. They would listen to mostly popular mainstream music such as RnB, HipHop, Pop and Grime.

Our film was created with the target audience in mind. We knew that those of an older generation would not want to watch a film based on young people in a college. Much the same as the younger generation would not want to watch a film based on an old fashion storyline. The younger generation can relate to the characters with in the film and may find some similarities between their own life style or someone elses with in the film.

Evaluation Activity; Three

Explain the production Logo

Hayley: As our film is a thriller we thought it suitable to call it adrenaline pictures. Adrenaline is the rush that you get from excitement and fast paced sequences which is what our film is about.

Explain the title sequences and what names appear?

Thibaut: In our title sequence there is reference to Wesley Snipes which we purposley did as his films attract out target audience. In the opening sequnce we put my name as editor actor, names that also appeared was the camera operator and the director.

The idea of a distributor and who that might be and why?

Hayley: The distributor is responisble for the film recieving recognition and selling it to out traget audience. A production company which would distribute ours would be a british based company as it is a british film. This would be Revolver entertainment which did Kidulthood.

Where the money might have come from for a film such as this?

Thibaut: The funding may come from UK film council which funded films such as Adulthood & Kidulthood


What does a production company do?

Thibaut: A production company is responsible for developing and funding for thing such as films, TV programs, and even radio. Actors may create their own production companies for more creative control and more profit, example Tom Cruise owns his own which is called Cruise/Wagner productions.

Evaluation Activity; Two

The antagonist in "The Package" can be compared to the antagonist, Sam, from "Kidulthood" At the beginning of our sequence our antogonist is left unknown. However it is clear that he/she is going to be an active character with in the storyline. Although in Kidulthood the antagonist, is given an identity straight away he still shows signs of being throughout the story, and also shows signs of being a trouble maker as it were. Both of these antagonist are looking for something, and wanting to seek revenge once they have got it. However there is a difference between what it is they are looking for. Our antagonist is looking for a package in which the audience has no idea what it is that is in there, and the importance of it. Sam from "Kidulthood" is looking for another person called Trife.


There is also a difference in the social status of these two characters. Sam is a teenager whose life merely depends on the streets and being tough and completes the hunt on his own. His mise-en-scene also shows his lower social status, he is dressed up in hoodies and track bottoms. As the unknown antagonist from "The Package" is clearly high up as he has 'workers' to do the dirty work for him/her. We do not see the mise-en-scene for this character yet but we can image that they would be dressed smartly in suits etc.

Evaluation Activity; One

My film, ‘The Package’ helps to develop the codes and conventions of a thriller due to the quick cuts used in editing and the different close ups in cinematography shown in the above pictures. We used a lot of close ups to help create that intensity that is shown in thrillers. The picture above, the extreme close up of John's face, shows the full emotion on his face once he has been kidnapped by the antagonist. It helps the audience to see and understand the feelings John is going through. Most of the shots associated with thrillers in editing are quick to help create excitement and enigmas. Since this is what we used in our film, it helps it look more realistic and easy to generalise to this genre. However we did manage to challenge typical conventions via cinematography by using a point of view shot. Not many thrillers consist of shots like this. We thought it would be interesting to add as we can get a sense of the emotions and views the protagonist is going through making the film all the more exciting.

Although our story line may seem like a typical thriller linked with crime and gang life, our protagonist isn’t an obvious character for the codes and conventions. Most protagonists in thrillers are people who previously worked for the government in some sort of way, or have intense specific skills which help them become successful towards the end of the story. Our protagonist is a lot younger than most and is just a typical teenage boy caught up in a bad lifestyle. The picture of John crouching on the floor shows us the mise-en-scene and setting, it is easily recognisable that John is not a typical protagonist from a thriller. The setting is clearly an educational environment. We wanted to let the audience know straight away that we was challenging the codes and conventions. We decided to have our film challenge this code to try and create a slightly unique storyline, also to make our film more relatable and accessible to the younger generation but also enjoyable for those who are older aswell. As our sequence is only two minutes in length we had to make sure they characters could be distinguished quickly into protagonist and antagonist.

We set the scene pretty quickly in our sequence. We chose a college because we have a much younger character playing and we wanted to connote the audience the difference between this thriller and most thrillers. The long corridors and stairs are perfect for a chase creating obstacles for our protagonist to face. We used a small simple briefcase to make the audience question about the importance of this bag. It is not stated what is inside it if anything. This allows the audience to question what kind of trouble this boy has got himself in and what consequences will he suffer because of this.

Our title name is shown near the beginning of the opening sequence, just after 20 seconds. It gives the audience an idea of what the story will be about and also to prepare them for the quick pace of the film. It also contrasts to the majority of thrillers as they usually wait a bit longer in the opening sequence to show the title. We used very simple yet effective colours; black and white. The font is in block form but also slightly blurred to give it an edgy shaken effect.

Textual Analysis; Taken [Need to be completed]

I have decided to analyse the film ‘Taken’ which was released in 2008 and directed by Pierre Morel. The film fits into the genre ‘thriller’ but also has elements of drama, action and crime. Our protagonist is Bryan Mills, the father of a 17 year old girl who has gone to Paris with her friend who gets kidnapped whilst on the phone to her father. The film and its action is based on Bryan Mills’ battle with people who know and were involved with the kidnapping of his daughter.

Our protagonist worked for the government as a spy and uses his skills to find his daughter such as recording the conversations he has with his daughter and her kidnapper. He eventually finds her being sold to a pimp. The story further continues as the kidnappers attempt to prevent him from finding his daughter.

The story creates an element of suspense extremely well as there are many clues that we, as the audience, are left to answer to help us enjoy and go along with the film. Brian is a character that can be related to in the modern world; he is divorced from the mother of his daughter and a lonely older man. His flat’s lighting is mostly dark showing negative signs; he spends most of his time looking at pictures of his daughter, the daughter he is not allowed to see on a regular basis.

As a character, many people would believe that he is one with no weaknesses, being a former spy for the US government, however many people may argue that the love for his daughter is what manages to keep him in danger throughout the film. This is productively shown towards the end of the movie when he suffers a lot of pain whilst trying to save his daughter.

From the beginning of the film there are a few enigmas created about our protagonist. He mentions early on while on the phone to the kidnapper that he has gained many intense and powerful skills from his previous career, but we do not actually the full on action of these until later on in the film when he cleverly fights to find and defend his daughter. Other enigmas about why he is not still working in his previous occupation or why he is not with his wife are created. We sense some sort of tension and bitterness in Bryan’s wife when they speak, which maybe shows us that he had done something wrong in their marriage. We soon find out that he had chosen his career over their marriage but missed his daughter so decided to give up his career.

Suspense is created quite effectively; this is done mostly through background music