Evaluation: Question 7

Looking back at your preliminary task, What do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the final product?:

One of the most obvious areas of improvement in our final piece was our ability to frame shots. If you compare this still from our preliminary task:




With this shot from the final product:





It is easy to see that the framing has improved. This can be seen in how in the preliminary task there is a large amount of space on one side of the frame, however we ddidnt make this mistake in our final piece.

I feel that this also shows that our knowledge of using a certain lighting effect to elicit a certain response from the viewer has improved. This is because in the preliminary task only room lighting was used and everything looked very plain. However, from our research we found that dark grainy images our a lot more disturbing as it adds to the verisimiltude of the piece. This is a technique used in the film paranormal activity and can be seen here:


As such we decided to employ a realistic dark colour pallette as it is far more effective and scary.

This ties in to our improved knowlege of representation and ideology and showing these through mise-en-scene. For example one of the themes in our film is the gradual degredation of innocence, and to reflect this idea we chose to use footage of a burning doll as it is representative of the destruction of childhood and the innocence associated with it. I believe our implementation of ideologies and representation has also improved as in our final piece we both conform to and challenge ideologies and explore different aspects of representation. This would hopefully make the audience think carefully about what they are seeing and should make them feel involved in the film world.

Another thing that improved is the quality of our editing, and more precisely the pacing of our film. In our research we found that pacing can also be used to illicit a certain emotional response from viewers, as such we decided to pace our film with a wave like structure in that it is speeding up and slowing down throughout. I think that this would keep the audience on edge as it is unpredictable. The pace also increases towards the end which would hopefully signify to the viewer that they are speeding towards something inescapably and should make them feel tense and suspenseful as to what is coming.
Comparing this to the standard editing from our preliminary task and it is easy to see that our ability to use editing has vastly improved.

Anothere thing that has improved is the quality of music and how well it is choreographed with the images. This is because in our preliminary task we simply chose a piece from creative commons and as such it didnt really match the action or themes happening on screen. However, for our final piece the music was composed as the film was playing, as such it perfectly fits with the onscreen action and crescendos at corresponding points. Because of this it is much more effective and appropriately sets the mood for the film.

Evaluation: Question 6

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

During the making of the film i came into contact with various programs and technologies that i had not previoulsy encountered. Over the course of production i believe i became more confident in using them and now feel that i can effectively use the range of technologies on offer to me.
The main editing program we used was called Adobe Premier Pro, an editing program i had had no previous experience with. A screenshot of this program can be seen here:

http://heavenmetal.com/images/adobe_premiere_pro.jpg

I also had little previous experience in operating a Digital camera, however by the end of the project i was framing shots, adjusting lighting and operating the camera on a tripod to create pans and tilts. This is another example of how my technological knowledge improved during the course of the project.

Another process I was previously unfamiliar with was the process of logging shots and then capturing them with use of a 'Fire Wire' and the Adobe Premier Pro program.
This was a practise i can now confidently complete.

I also learnt a lot about the importance of good preperation in order to maximise the work achieved on a given day. We implemented this by getting together as a group before each day of filming in order to arrange the shots to be filmed on the given day. This meant that we were never stood around wondering what to do as we always knew the shots we needed to get.

In conclusion completing this product has greatly improved my knowledge of operating various media technologies.

Evaluation: Question 5

Once our film is finished and the target demographic decided, the next stage is to ensure that our film appeals to and reaches the audience it is intended for.
The main method of this is having an effective marketing campaign.
A marketing campaign usually consists of a mixture of these methods:
Posters
Print adverts (e.g in a newspaper)
Trailers to be shown on TV or in the cinema
Interviews (a star appearing on a chat show to promote the film)
Tie- in campaigns (A certain brand being used in the film)
Merchandise (ranging from T- shirts and baseball caps to keyrings and mugs)

A famous example of a Tie- in campaign is the film Casino Royale and its links with the company 'Marks and Spencers' which provided all clothing and catering for the film. I personally believe that product placement such as this would be a good method of marketing for our film as it is very stylised in the outfits used.
I believe other suitable methods of marketing the film would be Posters, Print adverts and trailers. I believe the poster and print adverts should be very minimalistic in what they show about the film as this would heighten the mystery and intrigue in the audience. An example of a famous film using a promotional scheme like this can be seen here:





However, I personally believe that a merchandise campaign would not be an appropriate method of marketing the film as this method is generally intended to appeal to a young pre-teen audience, a demographic we are not aiming to target.

As horror films appeal traditionally to a predominantly male audience I feel it would be appropriate to include an image of the lead female character on most publicity materials. This theory of 'Sex Sells' can be seen on many film adverts in this genre and also others. An example of this can be seen here:

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Evaluation: Question 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?:

When considering the prospective audience for a film it is importantto take into account demographics and socio-economic groups.
A demographic is a particular segment of a wider audience and are mainly based on a viewers Age
Gender
Income/Status
Race
Location

A number code is often used to determine between demographics, and these are as follows: A= Top Management, Doctors, Lawyers and professionals
B= Middle management, Teachers, Graphic designers etc
C1= Office supervisors, Junior Managers, Nurses and Clerical staff
C2= Skilled workers, Tradeworkers (white collar)
D= Semi Skilled and unskilled manual work (blue collar)
E= Unemployed, Students, Pensioners, Casual workers.

Based on this system i personally believe that the target demographic would be both C1 and C2. This is because horror films stereotypically appeal to teenage boys. However i believe our film has a more mature plot and feel to it and as such we can challenge the dominant ideology of a typical audience. I feel the C band is an appropriate demographic as they are all skilled jobs, therefore the workers are obviously fairly intelligent and would be able to appreciate the nuances and subtlety in our film. Also the jobs arent particularly high up meaning the workers are probably fairly young (20 to 30 approximately). This age is very close to the main market for this type of film and I feel that these two points combine to justify the C band as a good target demographic.

Evaluation: Question 3

What kind of Media institution might distribute your product and why?:

In order to find a suitable distributor for our film it is necessary to research a wide number of companies and also look at the kind of films they have released in the past.
There are over a hundred film distributors in the UK alone. Some of the big names included in this list are: 20th Century Fox
Columbia Pictures
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
Paramount
Warner Bros

However there also dozens of lesser known companies as well
These include: Axiom Films and
Blue Dolphin Films.

The main role of the distribution company is to persuade exhibitors to show the film being distributed. This is done by holding screenings and also showing exhibitors the films marketing scheme, all these things are intended to show the exhibitor that the film is capable of making a profit.

As such i believe a big and well known distributor would be the best kind of media institution to dsitribute my film. This is because they are obviously good at securing deals and getting films shown and as such I feel the film would be far more succesful distributed like this than through a smaller company.
The next stage was to find a large distribution company that has had success in the past with horror films. Companies that fit this description include:
Paramount Pictures
20th Century Fox
Universal

Out of these 3 companies i personally believe that Paramount pictures would be the best company to distribute the film, as they have made great profits in the past with horror films such as the 'Friday The Thirteenth' series and also a number of Stephen King adaptations such as 'Pet Semetary'. They were also responsible for distributing the recent film 'Paranormal Activity' a film with similar themes to ours.

Evaluation: Question 2

I believe that our product adheres to and challenges the dominant ideology concerning many areas of representation.

One of the main themes explored in the film is the representation of gender.
The dominant ideology in this theme is that women are weaker and less dominant than men. Our product both agrees with and challenges this idea.
One way we adhered to this dominant ideology is in the clothes that the character wears. This is because they are very sexualised and also give the character a sense of vulnerability. Also, the neutral colour of her main outfit could infer a sense of weakness as white is not a strong colour. White is als considered a virginal and innocent colour. This adheres to the dominant ideology that women are weak.

I believe the typical representation of women being weak and vulnerable is the reason that they are so often cast in horror films. I personally feel that their percieved weakness makes them seem constantly vulnerable. This would make the audeince feel constantly at risk and this in turn would make them feel uncomfortable. Film makers like to play with this ideology and shatter the perception that women are inferior by making them the leads and they are often the only character to survive. Our film also adheres to this genre cliche. One way we achieve this is that she is the only character to be shown in the title sequence, which could represent her as being strong and independant. It could also be inferring her feelings of loneliness and isolation, thus hinting at the themes prevalent in the rest of the film. Another way we present the character as strong is in the performance. This is because the character doesnt look fearful and weak, her facial expressions look dark and brooding, almost suggesting that we should fear her.

The subject of age is also represented in our film. The dominant ideology is that teenagers are all troublemakers and criminals in the making. Once again we both conform and challenge this ideology. One way we conform to this idea is the performance from the character. She looks almost evil and reinforces the fact that people should fear teenagers. I believe the burning doll could represent how society has made her that way and destroyed her innocence, thus showing the only reasons teenagers rebel is that they have had an improper upbringing. This shows how society is making its own problems in the modern age.

Evaluation: Question 2

Evaluation: Question 1

In what ways does your media product use, develop and challenge forms and conventions of real media prodcuts:

In the making of our final piece we both challenged and conformed to a number of media conventions. To be able to do this we had to first research what these forms and conventions are, and I did this by watching a number of films in our chosen genre of Horror (and also some that werent) and noted any common similarities between the film.
The first Media convention that we noticed and decided to conform to was the standard order credits displayed in a title sequence.
In almost every film we watched the titles were as follows:

The production company
The maker of the film (e.g a Steven Spielberg film)
Main Actors
Title of film
More actors
Casting
Music composer
Costume designer
Cinematographer
Editor
Production designer
Executive Producers
Producer
Screen play writer
Director

This order can be seen here in the opening titles of the film 'Catch Me if You Can'.



Our original idea was to produce a stalker/ slasher film, similar in style to Scream or Fatal attraction. However on researching the current climate of popular horror films we noticed that the number of films in this style has decreased, possibly suggesting a lack of interest. On the other hand, we found that films with a supernatural/ paranormal edge are enjoying a surge of popularity at the moment. This can be seen in the critical and public praise of the film 'Paranormal Activity', an also in the anticipation surrounding the release of 'A Nightmare on Elm Street 2010' both films dealing with supernatural themes.
As such, we decided to conform to the current trends in the media world and opt for a supernatural horror rather than a stalker film.

in terms of film-making conventions we stuck fairly rigidly to the normal conventions. An example of this is how we stuck to the 180 degree rule.
However, in some instances we broke certain rules in order to create a sense of unease in the viewer. One example of this is that we often didnt frame an item directly in the centre of the screen, this is not the normal method of framing but I believe it works in the case of a horror film.

In conclusion, researching and understanding the forms and conventions of horror films allowed us to adhere to the norm, but also effectively deviate from it.