Section 12: Analysis of completed sequence

Q1 - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge the forms and conventions of real media products?

There is a clear similarity between the opening sequence of Suite 16 and the film 1408, a thriller based on a novel by thriller writer Stephen King. The film is set in a hotel room, and is about a cynical writer investigating the room's supposed paranormal activity. During the film, the main character goes towards the window a lot, observing suspicious activity - just like the main character of Jenny in Suite 16. She is continually checking for threats to her safety, and acts accordingly. For example, she is always checking noises such as the slamming door outside the bathroom. However, parallel to this, the audience can clearly see the cuts on her wrists; which clearly suggest self harm. This connotes to the audience that she takes her life in her hands, and doesn’t trust anyone else to look after, yet in trying to control her own life, ends up damaging herself more, in a cycle of self destruction.





The comparison between pictures lining the walls of Jenny's hotel room, and the comfort of the framed pictures within Red Eye is striking. It shows the clear division yet similarity of pictures, both posed and unposed, making a house into a home. The fact that the photos that line Jenny's wall unframed is a metaphor for the audience; the photo's aren't secure, just like Jenny's presence within the hotel. Nothing is for sure within Jenny's world, and her life can be easily moved if it needs to be. This is very different to the solid nature of the home in Red Eye - there is a distinct place for each thing - each frame is in the right place and there is an area in which the family always put their valuables; in this case the father's wallet and keys. It is as if the valuables are being protected by all of the frames and pictures watching them; Jenny doesn't have the same type of 'photographic protection' as although she is surrounded by the photographs, she has no order within her room, and is messy and careless. This juxtaposes all of her concerns about safety and her demeanour as a hypochondriac.




There is also a distinct similarity between the killer's book in Se7en and the threat letter that Jenny receives in Suite 16. It is as if the two films are connected and Se7en's killer is aiming for Jenny. However, the handwriting in Se7en isn't reflected in Jenny's threat letter, which is typed in a hardly readable font; the fact that Jenny's threat letter is on plain white computer paper makes the whole act of the threat less personal and more mechanical in a way - it is as if the people who issued the threat had the goal of being anonymous throughout the ordeal. The killer within Se7en is a lot more careful and calculated than that; he has made his deathly scrapbook almost part of his life's work - while painstakingly sewing the book together by hand, in the style a book would have been made hundreds of years ago. During the process of making the book,he even shaves his fingerprints off manually - he doesn't want to leave a trace of his DNA, but ironically still leaves his identity through his personality in the manufacture of the scrapbook.


Q2 - How does your media product represent particular social groups?



We only have one character shown on screen in the opening of our film, the main female character, a young girl called Jenny. She is with the audience from the start to the end of the opening sequence, which encourages the audience to make a bond with the character and feel intrigued to guess what is happening next.



Jenny is seen as neither rich or poor, and her class is not relevant or obvious within the film. However, it is clear to see that she has issues with self harm and addiction to prescription pills (pills scattered on the bed and scars on her wrists).





Q3 - What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

As a low budget thriller film, Suite 16 could not realistically use a film distribution company such as The Walt Disney Company, as the genre would be completely distorted and the extreme small scale of production value would not be of any benefit to The Walt Disney Company. It would be likely that a smaller more localised distribution company would be used. Companies such as Content Films (found at http://www.contentfilm.com/) Goldcrest Films (found at http://www.goldcrestfilms.com/films/) and the Metrodome Group (http://www.metrodomegroup.com/) are all distribution companies which have used horror and thriller films in the past. A company more specialised to the horror and thriller genre is Hammer Films (http://www.hammerfilms.com/) - a company which is renowned for its success within the genre.
However, a viral campaign, similar to that of Paranormal Activity of late 2009 could mean that small low budget thrillers become more popular to distribution companies; the extent of Paranormal Activity's campaign meant that eventually, the film was distributed to cinemas worldwide, such as in the USA, England and Japan.
More realistically, we would use a distribution company such as Goldcrest or Metrodome, as they cater specifically for films of the genre our film is a part of.

Q4 - Who would be the audience for your media product?



Teenagers are our ideal target audience, as we feel that thriller films are found to be much more universally popular among this age group. This is because we feel that teenagers are interested in the thrill and excitement of a film from the thriller genre and will get more involved with the characters in our film; especially with the main character being a teenage girl, which means the audience can relate to the character more as they are close in age. It reinforces the thought for the audience that it could happen to them - the more real the story feels to the viewer, the scarier the film is.


Q5 - How did you attract/address your audience?

We used audience research in order to be able to make sure we were aiming the content of the film at the correct audience - We wanted teenagers and younger adults aged around 15-35 to be interested in the storyline so that ultimately that they would enjoy the film, and get the typical thriller 'scare' that potential viewers of films of the thriller genre want. By seeing what the audience liked and disliked before we shot the film, it enabled us to change the storyline and tweak any parts of the sequence, in order to more precisely target the audience.






Q6 - What have you learned about technologies from the process of constructing this product?



Q7 - Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learned in the progression from it to the full product?

Within the whole process since my preliminary task, I have learnt a lot of information on topics such as editing. I feel that learning about this has been monumentally important, as the value of things such as match on action are priceless within filmmaking. I also feel that without editing, long takes would be too difficult to produce, and filming would take much longer, as any mistake would mean a complete retake.