Ameena Haq - Question 7. Looking back at your preliminary task (the continuity editing task), what do you feel you have leant in the progression from it to...

In our preliminary task, we were asked to film a conversation between two people using the 180 degree rule, match on action, and shot/reverse shot.
In our thriller opening we used:
Shot reverse shot, which was used to help indicate the flow of the images and the fact that the serial killer was staring outside the window, at the victim.

Ameena Haq - Question 6. What have you leant about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

• I-movie : By using i-movie I learnt how to utilise the basic aspects of video editing to create a more polished and powerful final piece.
• Photoshop: I learnt how to transform a quick hand-drawn sketch into a sepia effect design. This helped make it look more planned, and professional, and added a certain aged charm to it. It was inspired by a film called Dead Ringers, and the opening sequence of that.
• Blogger : This program has given me a direct outlet to share my media work with.

Ameena Haq - Question 5. How did you attract your audience?

The "weird" teenager is a role which may attract an audience because it is unique. Too often the image we see of teenage girls in the media is one of an anorexic, unhealthy, self-obsessed and unintelligent young woman. The creation of my charachter is a way of smashing my heel into this stereotype of teenagers, and creating a wider and more diverse record of the teenage experience. The role I created brought together various aspects of youth culture, and I aimed to present an image which could appeal to all teenagers and show that for all our cliques and imagined differences, we are all young adults with the same human needs.

Ameena Haq - Question 4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

• Teenagers: In some way or another, teenagers can relate to the killer, because adolescence almost always means a turning point in your relationship with your parents; which usually becomes significantly more strained.
• Parents: The parents of disaffected youth often cannot emphasize with their child due to generational differences, and this film may help bridge the gap by invoking a sense of empathy in the parents, and humanizing an extremely difficult teenager.

Ameena Haq - Question 3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

We have chosen to use a mainstream network to distribute our film. This is due to the fact that the conventions in our film are primarily mainstream according to the conventions of a typical thriller. We used things such as:

• Makeup to conceal the identity of the killer, the extreme excess of makeup also challenges, parodies, and critiques the way in which women are expected to look,
• Washing the hands symbolizes the lack of remorse of the killer, and the sense of a new beginning that washing her hands gives her. Water is a traditional symbol of new beginnings, for instance baptism.

Ameena Haq - Question 2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The image we tried to portray from our film, was that of child abuse.
The main part in the narrative of our film is the "punishment" that abusive parents should recieve.

Anam was pulling a young girl along the pathway. We hoped this would appear as though she were the child's parent. The fact that she is forceful towards the girl suggests the abuse the child is suffering.

Ameena Haq - Question 1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (i.e of film openings).

"Once upon a time" is the title of our thriller opening. The title suggests a link between the storyline as it is primarily based on fairy tales and the subversions of it. The use of the title also suggests a strong link to the past and is also a subversion of a the fairytale format because is in fact more accurately described as a thriller.
It's filmed in the school because it suggests "the typical life of a student", and it challenges the stereotype of a school girl, as she is a supposed serial killer, instead a frivolous fashionista. The use of the serial killer archetype is typical to the thriller genre, and so manages to uphold the conventions.
The drawings of the fairytale charachters help to establish the narrative and the subversion of fairytales, because they are not photographic and they are products of my imagination. The opening establishes the protagonist and hints to the possible killing of a parent, which sets up the narrative.