Evaluation - Q7.

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

Upon starting the preliminary task, my group had very little experience with the processes that are involved in creating a film. We started out not knowing all that much about how a camera actually works, and wondered if we would be able to even finish the task to the standards that were expected of us. We went into filming our preliminary task with very little time spent on planning our shots, as although we had created a storyboard, I felt we did not have enough knowledge on which shot types were suitable for each shot, and we were quite inexperienced. 

An example of this is the scene were an over-the-shoulder shot is used of the dead body and you can see the killer’s face is slightly hidden by the body’s ear. We had aimed to use this shot to make it seem as though the dead body was the one speaking, when in reality it was the killer who has a form of mental illness. After watching our prelim back, however, I do not feel that this scene worked very well, as it comes across as quite confusing to the audience, and the over the shoulder shot is far too close to the subject’s head, which disorientates viewers. We learnt from this though, and in our final task we made sure our narrative was much easier to follow, and made sure our camera shots were a little clearer and easier for viewers to understand. Having created both the prelim task and the main task, I feel that my knowledge of the different types of camera angles and shots has increased.

Another point to make about our preliminary task was the continuity. We chose to shoot our prelim in an empty classroom, and in all of our shots the room is visibly empty. However, in one of the shots of the killer, there is a backpack on the table that wasn’t there in all of the other shots, which marks not enough attention paid to our continuity. For our final task, we made sure that our continuity flowed, and we ended up with a film that does not contain any continuity errors such as this one.

After creating our preliminary task with a camera provided by the school, we soon found that the quality was extremely fuzzy in the editing stages, and our end result was quite blurry and hard to see. We originally planned to make sure we would pick up a different camera from the school for our final film, as we did not want to end up with a blurry main task. However this did not go according to plan.

For our main task, we planned to shoot our film over one weekend, spending both Saturday and Sunday nights filming. However, after finishing school on Friday afternoon and getting home to realise that in fact no one in our group had actually picked up the camera from school, we had to rely on Van’s DSLR camera he had at home. We went into filming on Saturday evening not knowing if Van’s camera would produce a good quality image or not, and were worried that our final film would end up having a bad quality image. In the end though, Van’s camera worked well, and so forgetting to pick the camera up from school was actually not as catastrophic as it first seemed, as we ended up with a film that was a great improvement in terms of image and sound quality. Through this, however, I have learnt that knowing exactly who will be in charge of the camera is a vital process in order for things to run smoothly, and that we were actually very lucky our group member had his own camera at home.  

Eventually, though, we ended up with an end product that we are all proud of, and feel that we have learnt a great deal about the construction of film from the preliminary to the main task.  

Evaluation - Q6.

Q6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Whilst constructing our film opening, we had to learn a variety of new technical skills in order for our film to be a success, including:

Equipment:

• It took us some practice with the DSLR camera for us to figure out how to use it, however by the end of our shooting period we were all able camera users. 
• We also found that the use of a tripod helps greatly when trying to achieve a steady shot, such as the scene where our victim descends down the staircase and into the basement, as an unsteady shot would’ve killed the tension. 
• We  also learnt that making sure the camera is fully charged with enough battery is extremely important, as we ran out of battery halfway through our first day of filming. However, luckily we had another battery pack, and so we could continue filming without any major problems. 

Upon filming our opening, we had originally planned to use the victim’s torch as the only source of light in the house. However, after trying this out, we realised that it was in fact too dark, as the camera could not see anything. We therefore had to increase the lighting slightly by using a lamp and a mobile phone aimed at the subjects being filmed, and we found that this created a good effect as the film still looked dark enough to resemble the power being cut off. 

Also, the torch which we used to film the first few scenes with ended up breaking. In our film, our victim drops her torch down the staircase as she is dragged up into the hatch which, after capturing the shot, we realised the fall actually shattered our torch. We then had to use a spare torch which another group member had with him to film the rest of the scenes, and our little mishap ended up going unnoticed. 

It was also the first time any member in our group had used the Macs, and so it took us several lessons to get used to the new controls. Our group also had to learn how to use new software such as Final Cut Express, which was the editing program we used. We learnt how to edit our film using the ‘cut’ tool, which we found was the most important tool when editing our clips together. We also learnt how to insert credits into our film, as well as deciding which font to use and where to position them onto the shot, which was very important as without credits our film would not have looked like an actual film opening. We also made use of being able to insert sound effects into our film, and we used several including a child’s laughter and ghostly breathing .We had to learn how to adjust the volume of these sound effects, however, as in the scene where our victim opens a door that was slammed behind her, the diegetic sound in our film overpowered the sound effects, and they could not be heard at all. We overcame this by reducing the volume of the character’s own breaths and then increased the non-diegetic breathing sound effect, making it heard. 

Evaluation - Q5.

 Q5. How did you attract/address your audience?

We attracted our audience through many different factors, such as:

Our Production Company: By naming our production company ‘Slaughterhouse Productions’ the genre of film produced by our company is immediately established to be horror. Therefore, our company appeals to a particular market of people who share a specific interest in the horror genre, and will attract them to our film. 

Our character: By making our main protagonist a similar age to the audience our film is aimed at, empathy is created, as many teenagers have had to spend the night in their own houses alone, which involves the viewers in the film. Also, by making her a stereotypical young female who dresses in typical teenage clothing, female viewers will be attracted to our film as they feel they can relate to her character, maintaining their interest by making them wonder “what would I do in that situation?”.  

Our setting: Through choosing to use the setting of a house, audiences will feel that they can relate to the situation, as some of the mise-en-scene in our film includes objects which would be similar to things typical teenagers will possess in their own homes, which lulls them into a false sense of security. 

Marketing: 

• We decided we will attract our audience by placing posters on different modes of transport, as well as bus and train stations; as we know that many teenagers use public transport on a regular basis, and so they are more likely to notice our film advertisements.  

• We will also place an advertisement on the sidebar of Facebook, to get the attention of large portion of young adults who use these social networking sites. 

• We would also advertise our film by placing trailers for it before popular videos on YouTube, such as songs in the UK top 20 and other popular film trailers, as we know that our target audience has an interest in current music and films. 

We chose to make these marketing decisions for our product in order to maximise our potential audience, and will be taking advantage of the power that social networking sites have to get our film noticed among teenagers.  

Evaluation - Q4.

Q4. Who would be the audience for your media product and why?

Audiences for our film would be people who enjoy the genre of horror, especially those who particularly enjoy supernatural or paranormal horror films, as that is the sub-genre of horror our film is categorised in. We chose to give our film the age restriction of ‘15’, and therefore we could be aiming at a specific audience of teenagers and young adults who are mature enough to enjoy the genre of horror. We chose to keep our age restriction at ‘15’ as we felt that we would lose a large chunk of our potential audience if we increased it to ‘18’ instead. Also, our film does not contain large amounts of gore, and so audiences around the age of 15 will not be put off of watching our film. Due to our main audience group being students, who tend to have more free time than working adults, they are more likely to regularly visit the cinema as a group for a social outing, meaning our ticket sales will be increased. 

The specific type of teenager our film would be aimed at would be between the ages of 15 and 18, who usually enjoys films such as ‘The Ring’, ‘Paranormal Activity’ and ‘The Haunting in Connecticut’, as they are all films that focus more on the psychological aspects of horror rather than over-emphasising the gore factor. They would partake in stereotypically teenage activities, such as hanging out with their friends, going shopping and listening to music. They would also need to have an interest in films, and would enjoy going to the cinema and also renting or buying DVDs. They would also use public transport quite regularly for them to get around. In addition, the stereotypical teenager would be a frequent user of social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and YouTube, and would use these online sites to share their opinions of the films they have watched to their friends from all across the globe; therefore widening our audience even further.

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Evaluation - Q3.

Question 3: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

 Lionsgate Studios:

After researching the film distribution industry, a media institution that we feel would be suitable to distribute our film would be Lionsgate Studios. Lionsgate has already produced many horror films of a similar genre to ours, such as ‘The Last Exorcism’ and ‘The Haunting in Connecticut’, along with other popular horror titles including the ‘Saw’ series, ‘The Cabin in the Woods’ and ‘The Descent’. 

This vast knowledge and understanding of the genre means that we know they would most likely distribute a film similar to our own. Lionsgate is also a very popular and well-known company, as being the sixth most profitable movie studio ever, it has a large audience of fans who are interested in the company and therefore trust it to produce good quality films. 
We would hope that if our film was distributed by Lionsgate then these fans would want to see our film, as the company has a reputation for releasing good horror films. Our film would also be released worldwide, due to Lionsgate being a global company, meaning we would have a much larger audience than if we were to choose a smaller distribution company. Also, many horror films released in recent years have taken advantage of the new technologies becoming available, including 3d cinema. Lionsgate films such as ‘Saw 3D’ and ‘My Bloody Valentine’ use this; and due to both films achieving box office success and receiving positive responses from fans and critics alike, 3d could be a potential marketing choice for our film. 

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Evaluation - Q2.

Question 2: How does your media product represent different social groups?

For our film, we decided to use a female character to play our victim. 

We found that many other horror films follow this convention and use female characters as their victims; including 'Sorority Row', 'Black Christmas', 'Scream', 'Psycho' and 'A Nightmare on Elm Street'. These female victims are usually dressed in white, and the connotations of this colour are innocence, purity, and goodness, which make them seem vulnerable.
We therefore chose to follow convention by dressing our main victim, Alice, in a mostly white costume. We did not feel it would be realistic, however, for her to be wearing a completely full white outfit, considering the time and place in which our film is set. Instead, we dressed her in a casual top and jeans, along with a white jumper over the top, to represent the middle-class background and teenage age group in which she is a part of. 

Through placing these victims in horror in isolated environments alone, the audience is made to sympathise with them, perhaps even relating with their characters. They are often presented to the audience in close-ups or high-angle shots, which emphasise their fear and vulnerability, and it could be said that through these elements, the young female social group are represented in the media as being vulnerable, helpless, and unable to defend themselves; which is reflected throughout many different films of the genre.  

Evaluation - Q1.

Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (ie. of film openings)

Production company name:

We decided to create our own production company, titled 'Slaughterhouse Productions'. We chose this title as we felt that it directly ties in with the genre of horror, which is the style of film our company would produce. The name suggests that films produced by this company would contain themes of murder or 'slaughter', and the use of the red shadow behind our logo reinforces this. We chose to keep our logo fairly simple, emphasizing the harsh contrasts between the red and white font and the black background. We chose to use a colour scheme that linked with the genre of horror, and so we chose red (which can symbolise blood or murder), along with black (which has connotations of death and mystery) to juxtapose with the white font - which connotes purity, innocence and vulnerability, linking with the 'victim' role found in horror films. 

Lighting: 

After watching many horror films, we found that ‘The Descent’ had excellently used lighting to maximise fear and anxiety in the audience. The story focuses around six women who are trapped in a cave with only their torches to guide them, and this is similar to our film with the fact that our female victim’s only source of light is her torch.  Through hiding most of the setting from the audience due to the film’s restricted view, ‘The Descent’ focuses on building tension by tapping into the audience’s fear of the unknown. In our film, we chose to incorporate these aspects into our opening, and kept the lighting minimal in order to keep tension running high. 

Camerawork:

• P.O.V. Shot: We decided to take ideas from the film 'Quarantine' and incorporate a point of view shot into our own opening. We felt it would not only vary the shot types used, but help to include the viewers in the film. This shot type is known to add to the sense of unease and tension found in real horror films, and we hoped to create a sense of claustrophobia as our camera moves towards the small staircase in our film. 
• Long Shots: Long shots are used frequently in horror films to emphasise a character's vulnerability by making them seen small and insignificant.  We decided to use several long shots in our film to make our victim seem small whilst inside the imposing house. One film which uses this shot type is 'A Nightmare on Elm Street'. 

Credits: 

After researching many different font styles online, we decided on a font called ‘cracked’ that was already available on our editing software to use in our film. This style of font is very harsh and eerie, and has sharp edges which link with the genre of horror. We believed the style of font we used would be typical for a horror film, and in fact many different horror films use fonts which are similar in style to ours, including the film ‘Seven’. As you can see, both fonts seem creepy and are written in an irregular way, which unnerves the audience. 

Mise-en-scene: 

• Paintings: chose to use several props in our opening. We decided to open our film with a shot of a painting of a naked woman embracing a white swan. Alfred Hitchcock used similar paintings in his film ‘Psycho’ and these paintings could symbolise being trapped or confined, and could therefore imply that women are seen as a form of trophy. We felt that including this painting in our film would achieve an effective result, perhaps foreshadowing our victim’s eventual confinement within the house.

• Other props: We decided to make use of the other props that were already available within the house we filmed in, including a sculpture of Shakespeare’s face. Shakespeare commonly wrote plays focusing around tragedies, often including or resulting in death. This could symbolically link with our own film, as our character eventually falls victim to tragedy and dies. Other props which convey the theme of death are the red candles shown in various places around the house and the Titanic monument on the wall in one of the rooms. Candles are significant for time and time running out which, along with the colour red (which connotes danger and blood), could symbolise the victim’s time running out before she is killed. Similarly the Titanic, which was known to kill over 1,500 people upon its sinking, could perhaps foreshadow the victim’s descent towards her death.

Film Title:

We decided we would choose a name for our film that linked in some way with real estate or the process of moving into a new house, as our film revolves around this process. We eventually settled on ‘The Occupant’ as it directly links to the plot of our film, and sounds quite sinister. After researching and trying out different font styles that would be regarded typically scary, with irregular shaped letters and blood-like patterns, we found that in fact numerous real horror films actually use simple and bold font styles instead. This creates a more sophisticated look, and avoids running the risk of looking cheesy. Therefore, we made our title font very basic, bold, and in capitals – making it stand out.  

Setting:

We chose to keep most of the setting hidden from the audience in the opening to create a sense of mystery, as although the audience can see it is a house, it is unknown where or whose house it is until later on in the film. Houses are used as settings in many different horror films such as ‘Paranormal Activity’ and ‘The Ring’, and these homely locations place the audience into a false sense of security. Through choosing a location that is familiar to most audiences, the sense of realism is increased, and we followed this convention in the hope that audiences will be able to relate to the setting and thus will be more involved in the story.

Characters: 

In terms of characters, our victim is introduced in this scene, and the audience can tell that she is worried and scared due to her facial expressions. We chose to use dark shadowy lighting with the torch being the only source of light in the room to make her character seem vulnerable, like most victims in horror. The juxtaposition between the bright light coming from the torch and the dark lighting all around the house could suggest that our main character is typically ‘good’, whereas the house is ‘evil’; making the audience feel more sympathetic towards our victim.
A film which shares similarities to our own in regards to its characters is ‘Scream’. In the opening scene, Drew Barrymore is introduced to the audience as she wanders through her house whilst being terrorised by a villain. The low-key lighting, whilst not being as dark as our film, still makes the victim seem vulnerable. The setting is also very similar to our own, and the victim is of a similar age group and social class to our victim. Her clothing is white and casual, suggesting she is innocent and is the ‘good’ character of the story, which is another similarity to our film. Therefore, the way in which both ‘Scream’ and ‘The Occupant’ introduce their characters is effective, as the audience’s sympathy is maximised due to the familiar setting, vulnerability of the young female, and portrayal that she is ‘good’ when compared to the ‘evil’ villains of the story.