Media Film Evaluation

Our media product uses conventions of a real thriller in a variety of different ways such as using an unnatural feel to it by firstly, only using one sort of camera shot which was in the first person of myself to give the viewer an uncomfortable feel and to make them feel how I felt not knowing what was going on when the light had been turned off. This is effective because it makes the audience feel on edge and not knowing what’s going to happen next so therefore, leaving them as vulnerable as my character felt in the scene. There is a part that gives a very paranormal effect to the film as after the light had been turned off I go to check the doors to the only exits in the room to find out they’ve all been locked, a chair flies across the room, this gives the audience the feel of uneasiness and causes suspension of what could possibly happen next. The soundtrack which is by a band called ‘Despite My Deepest Fear’ is a good choice because it is slow, calm but eerie in the first 46 seconds of it, then as the paranormal starts to happen the pace picks up and there’s a voice on the soundtrack which gives it a more violent feel and shows the panic which I am feeling in the scene which also makes the audience feel uncomfortable because the music starts to become very up tempo and at a very quick pace so gets the heart beating that more faster as you don’t know what’s going to happen next.

Jamie then enters the room to reveal the shocking revelation that Reece, who was supposed to be meeting me has had a terrible accident and has unfortunately died by falling down the stairs, which makes the audience wonder if the happenings which were going on with myself links to the unfortunate death of Reece. You see myself rush out of the room to see what was going on as it subverts the audience as I relate Reece to the paranormal happenings which was going on in the room so the audience actually thinks that Reece was the main core of it. The scream is very symbolic as it indicates the severity of the incident. Straight after the scream the audience are then quickly diverted to myself sitting up in panic, in bed and that is a very strong point as it is like a sting as it stuns the audience into changing their feelings from almost feeling bad to waking up themselves. They then see me trying to call Reece to make sure it was actually all a dream and as a surprise there is a sinister voice of a girl crying for help which makes the audience wonder what has actually happened to Reece, if it was an incident or on purpose. This is a very good twist as it undermines what might have happened with the paranormal side of things as the voice is very sly and confusing. The visuals are then cut out so then you could hear the voice but then start to see the credits, this means that the audience are then on the end of their seats as it ends on a cliff hanger and leaving them wanting to know what is going to happen next and it helps to impact the mystery of the scene. The name ‘Dream Demise’ is a very good title to our film as it means you dream a death which is exactly what happens in our opening, the title gives away just about a death in it but it doesn’t give away too much as there is an ill-fated turn of events and it isn’t just a dream but is intertwined with reality. Knowing that it was the first two minutes of the film, it was vital that we actually didn’t give away much because then it’d ruin the whole film, so we made sure that the audience would give a little taster to them so that they felt the urge to watch more. We chose to have it for an age rating of 12+ so that means we couldn’t show physical gory violence neither could we use a lot of strong language.

In conclusion, I think that we didn’t work the best as we could as there were some bumps on the way. We should’ve worked on a professional level at all times to get the film done as quick as we could. I personally think I should’ve put a lot more effort in when I could’ve. Looking back on how we did as a group producing this product we now know that we need to do a lot of managing at the beginning when we first started planning so we knew exactly what was going to happen and everyone is thoroughly informed so there are no implications as the previous things we did obviously didn’t work the best they could. All in all we got a film done and I’m happy we pulled it together even if it was last minute.