Wednesday 19 October 2011
Monday 2 May 2011
Resit: Question 7 - Looking back at your perlimary task what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
http://prezi.com/pvbjnyfrhpen/looking-back-at-your-preliminary-task-what-do-you-feel-you-have-learnt-in-the-progression-from-it-to-the-full-product/
Question 6 - What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing the product?
The equipment we used when filming our horror genre film opening was the schools tripod and camera. I feel that the tripod was a good piece of equipment to use as it enabled us to keep a steady shot when we were filming our news report, this was vital for this shot to create an all round more professional feel to the news report to create verisimilartude to real life and create a scarier atmosphere for the audience. Without the use of the tripod this shot would have been shakey and this would not have been realistic and would look unprofessional and messy. By using the tripod we were able to include verisimilartude in our piece creating the hyperdermic needle effect on our audience through creating a realistic news report. The tripod when in an open area was a very handy piece of equipment it was easy to take up and put down however there was an inconveniance with this piece of equipment and that was when we were filming in a smaller area the tripod took up alot of room and made moving around the room difficult and made filming in such a small area rather difficult. The cameras we used was of high quality and enabled us to have a clear picture which therefore made our opening look a more profesional level they were simple to use.
As a group overall there was a few issues with the camera equipment, these were that the cameras that we used did not use the auto focus feature well which meant getting the right shot was difficult whilst trying to keep the camera steady to try and avoid making it blur. Another problem is that the dolly we used was broken, the stand would not stay still and wobbled constantly so created a fluid shot and the filming had to be done by hand when filming the pictures on the wall however when loooking back at our scene in which pictures are shown on the wall through the use of filming this piece by hand i feel creates a more eerie and scarier atmosphere on our audience.
It was difficult to find times for filming that everybody could make especially ones that were a long period of time in order to get alot of filming done to overcome this problem we created a schedule which we all followed we all said when we could film and from that found the best and most suitable times for us all to film.
Editing software
We found that a certain noise was running throughout many horror films with the same generic conventions as ours we found this out through analysis of various other horror genre film openings. The static noise we added made our film fit in with the horror genre genetic conventions better and increased the overall feeling of fear within our piece. We also changed the darkness of the shot in the park as before it was too light in contrast with the rest of the piece so we made it darker to fit in and create a more worrying scary atmosphere.
If i was able to do this again i would have filmed more shots because this way we would have more material to pop up every now and again througout the piece to show the genre easier. This also would help the group to decide on which shot is best as then we would have had more to choose from.
As a group overall there was a few issues with the camera equipment, these were that the cameras that we used did not use the auto focus feature well which meant getting the right shot was difficult whilst trying to keep the camera steady to try and avoid making it blur. Another problem is that the dolly we used was broken, the stand would not stay still and wobbled constantly so created a fluid shot and the filming had to be done by hand when filming the pictures on the wall however when loooking back at our scene in which pictures are shown on the wall through the use of filming this piece by hand i feel creates a more eerie and scarier atmosphere on our audience.
It was difficult to find times for filming that everybody could make especially ones that were a long period of time in order to get alot of filming done to overcome this problem we created a schedule which we all followed we all said when we could film and from that found the best and most suitable times for us all to film.
Editing software
We found that a certain noise was running throughout many horror films with the same generic conventions as ours we found this out through analysis of various other horror genre film openings. The static noise we added made our film fit in with the horror genre genetic conventions better and increased the overall feeling of fear within our piece. We also changed the darkness of the shot in the park as before it was too light in contrast with the rest of the piece so we made it darker to fit in and create a more worrying scary atmosphere.
If i was able to do this again i would have filmed more shots because this way we would have more material to pop up every now and again througout the piece to show the genre easier. This also would help the group to decide on which shot is best as then we would have had more to choose from.
Sunday 1 May 2011
Question 5 - How did you attract/address your audience?
We used the stereotypical generic conventions of a horror genre to attract our target audience.
The news report at the beggining relates to real life we tried to do this as realistic as possible to create verisimilartude, to ensure we did this we analysed clips of various murder news reports and took note of how they present facts to the audience and even their body language a clothes they wear. The aim of our news report was that stright from the beggining we could create a fearful gloomy atmosphere for our audience so that they could immediatly tell the genre through creating a seriousness and tension to the film. We decided to play our news report through a television this was good to create verisimilartude so that the audience could relate this news report to their real life which therefore created the hyperdermic needle theory. The setting around the televisons whilst the news report is on is dark this connotes death and fear, darkensss is a stereotypical convention of the horror genre so we followed this to create the correct atmosphere (fear) on our audience and so that we were creating the film how our stereotypical audience profile would enjoy to see it, we knew this through the popularity and use of darkness in the film Scream (1996) and this is the same target audience as we were aiming for as we follow the same generic conventions.
Another stereotypical generic convention of a horror genre is threat, threat was also created through our news report. It is also created when panning across the pictures of the young girls, the music contributed to this scene well to create a fearful atmosphere when slowly panning through the photos of the girls on the wall the music used and camera angles used contribute well together to create fear amongst our audience.
One of the main genreic conventions of a horror genre is the use of blood and murder, we also use these in our opening and will continue to use these conventions throughout the film, there are examples of the use of blood in just the opening of our film when short clips of girls covered in blood are quickly popped up on the screen, this automatically adds a worrying effect on our audience and this is what we wanted when our audience was to watch our piece, we needed to add sound to these clips so after research of quick frightening sounds used in other horror genre clips we found the perfect sound that would scare our audience and added this to the short clips of the girl in blood to create a scary atmosphere, the film Scream (1996) uses a sharp quick sound throughout the film which creates a scarier atmposphere. There is another example of blood creating a scary atmosphere in the opening of our piece when a picture of a girl has blood rubbed across it by our antagonist this immediatly creates fear amongst our audience. As we were aiming for the same target audience as the film Scream (1996) we followed the conventions they used such as the teenage protagonist with the mysterious and unknown killer.
The titles we used we wanted to scare our audience we wanted them to know from straight off that this film was from the horror genre so we looked at other popular horror films and analysed there use of titles and followed the conventions they used, the films we analysed appeared to follow the same trend, they all came on slowly and were in strange writing so we followed these guidelines and created our titles.
So overall we attracted our audience through simply using the same conventions as other popular films in the same genre, so we watched and analysed the openings, titles, music, location and everything about the horror genre that made it the horror genre and followed the conventions as closely as we could.
The news report at the beggining relates to real life we tried to do this as realistic as possible to create verisimilartude, to ensure we did this we analysed clips of various murder news reports and took note of how they present facts to the audience and even their body language a clothes they wear. The aim of our news report was that stright from the beggining we could create a fearful gloomy atmosphere for our audience so that they could immediatly tell the genre through creating a seriousness and tension to the film. We decided to play our news report through a television this was good to create verisimilartude so that the audience could relate this news report to their real life which therefore created the hyperdermic needle theory. The setting around the televisons whilst the news report is on is dark this connotes death and fear, darkensss is a stereotypical convention of the horror genre so we followed this to create the correct atmosphere (fear) on our audience and so that we were creating the film how our stereotypical audience profile would enjoy to see it, we knew this through the popularity and use of darkness in the film Scream (1996) and this is the same target audience as we were aiming for as we follow the same generic conventions.
Another stereotypical generic convention of a horror genre is threat, threat was also created through our news report. It is also created when panning across the pictures of the young girls, the music contributed to this scene well to create a fearful atmosphere when slowly panning through the photos of the girls on the wall the music used and camera angles used contribute well together to create fear amongst our audience.
One of the main genreic conventions of a horror genre is the use of blood and murder, we also use these in our opening and will continue to use these conventions throughout the film, there are examples of the use of blood in just the opening of our film when short clips of girls covered in blood are quickly popped up on the screen, this automatically adds a worrying effect on our audience and this is what we wanted when our audience was to watch our piece, we needed to add sound to these clips so after research of quick frightening sounds used in other horror genre clips we found the perfect sound that would scare our audience and added this to the short clips of the girl in blood to create a scary atmosphere, the film Scream (1996) uses a sharp quick sound throughout the film which creates a scarier atmposphere. There is another example of blood creating a scary atmosphere in the opening of our piece when a picture of a girl has blood rubbed across it by our antagonist this immediatly creates fear amongst our audience. As we were aiming for the same target audience as the film Scream (1996) we followed the conventions they used such as the teenage protagonist with the mysterious and unknown killer.
The titles we used we wanted to scare our audience we wanted them to know from straight off that this film was from the horror genre so we looked at other popular horror films and analysed there use of titles and followed the conventions they used, the films we analysed appeared to follow the same trend, they all came on slowly and were in strange writing so we followed these guidelines and created our titles.
So overall we attracted our audience through simply using the same conventions as other popular films in the same genre, so we watched and analysed the openings, titles, music, location and everything about the horror genre that made it the horror genre and followed the conventions as closely as we could.
Question 4 - Who would be the audience for your media product?
When thinking about the audience for my media product we needed to consider the age and gender of our target audience, as we have decided on our film being certified as a '15' it is obvious that our film will not be aimed at anyone under the age of 15 due to the use of blood, violence and threat (which are stereotypical conventions of a horror genre)
By having the protagonist in our media product as a teenage girl this will automatically create verisimilartude also through the use of the photos at the beggining we tried to follow stereotypical guidelines of a teenage girl to create verisimilartude to our audiences lives, we hope this attracts teenage girls to our film and through use of this technique create the hyperdermic needle theory and create a scary film for teenage girls to watch.
However this film is also aimed at the older generations the age of our target audience could be any age we did not base our audience profile on age more on whether the audience enjoy the horror genre so we followed generic guidelines and conventions of a stereotpyical 'slasher' horror movie as we have done this our basic target audience will be anyone who enjoyed such films as scream 3 (2000) as we follow these stereotypical conventions eg the stalker and victim.
Through research using various websites I found that the horror genre is more popular within the male gender, this can relate to our film through the use of the male gaze theory when looking through the photos of the young girls in the opening of our film.
Overall through the use of stereotypical guideline horror genre conventions with the blood and murder and the use of the male gaze theory leads me to conclude that this particular media product will be more specifically aimed at the male gender.
Our film relates to other popular horror genre movies for example scream (1996) this film was aimed towards the same target audience as ours through the use of teenagers as the protagonists and stereotypical horror genre conventions for example the use of blood and a stalker/murderer adding a scary atmosphere to the teenage population through the use of verisimilartude in the film for example witht he house partys shown in the film or in the opening when the girl is home alone.
Now it is clearer to see the type of audience I expect to take interest into my media product the product will be aimed at more towards the male genreration but most certainly towards the teenage population. The type of audience this film would be aimed at would be a teenage boy from social demographic groups C and D this is because after research from various websites it was found that horror genre films are aimed towards lower social demographic groups as they are seen as 'less sophisticated' or 'immature' for a higher demographic group to watch research shew me that the more preffered genre of higher demogrpahic groups was 'Drama'. The teenage population will relate to this media product as it involves teenagers and will create verisimilartude and the hyperdermic needle theory towards their own lives.
By having the protagonist in our media product as a teenage girl this will automatically create verisimilartude also through the use of the photos at the beggining we tried to follow stereotypical guidelines of a teenage girl to create verisimilartude to our audiences lives, we hope this attracts teenage girls to our film and through use of this technique create the hyperdermic needle theory and create a scary film for teenage girls to watch.
However this film is also aimed at the older generations the age of our target audience could be any age we did not base our audience profile on age more on whether the audience enjoy the horror genre so we followed generic guidelines and conventions of a stereotpyical 'slasher' horror movie as we have done this our basic target audience will be anyone who enjoyed such films as scream 3 (2000) as we follow these stereotypical conventions eg the stalker and victim.
Through research using various websites I found that the horror genre is more popular within the male gender, this can relate to our film through the use of the male gaze theory when looking through the photos of the young girls in the opening of our film.
Overall through the use of stereotypical guideline horror genre conventions with the blood and murder and the use of the male gaze theory leads me to conclude that this particular media product will be more specifically aimed at the male gender.
Our film relates to other popular horror genre movies for example scream (1996) this film was aimed towards the same target audience as ours through the use of teenagers as the protagonists and stereotypical horror genre conventions for example the use of blood and a stalker/murderer adding a scary atmosphere to the teenage population through the use of verisimilartude in the film for example witht he house partys shown in the film or in the opening when the girl is home alone.
Now it is clearer to see the type of audience I expect to take interest into my media product the product will be aimed at more towards the male genreration but most certainly towards the teenage population. The type of audience this film would be aimed at would be a teenage boy from social demographic groups C and D this is because after research from various websites it was found that horror genre films are aimed towards lower social demographic groups as they are seen as 'less sophisticated' or 'immature' for a higher demographic group to watch research shew me that the more preffered genre of higher demogrpahic groups was 'Drama'. The teenage population will relate to this media product as it involves teenagers and will create verisimilartude and the hyperdermic needle theory towards their own lives.
Tuesday 12 April 2011
Question 3 - What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why? Question 3
We wanted to make a film that fit in with the conventional horror genre after research of recent releases of horror films it appears there is a lack of mainstream horror genre films compared to other genres such as Comedy. However although the decrease of releases of horror films is occurring after research on the internet I still found a large target audience that favour the horror genre, this is proved with Dawn of the dead (2004) which was shown on 2745 screens on its opening weekend and a more recent film ‘Paranormal activity 2’ (2010) was shown on 3216 screens on its opening weekend. This shows that there is still a large target market for the horror genre, however these films are of the same genre but do not particularly link to my own film so I researched a film that was like ours to see the popularity of this certain type of horror I looked at the popularity of the film ‘Scream’ (1996) this film links strongly with our film as both involve a antagonist in a mask murdering/stalking a female victim, our film follows the same conventions as this film with the stereotypical use of blood, darkness and murder. I did not look at the first scream as this was released in (1996) so I looked at the third scream ‘Scream 3’ (2000) this way I have a more recent outlook on the popularity. ‘Scream 3’ (2000) still shows signs of popularity with it being shown on 3467 screens on its opening weekend, this shows that this type of horror genre ‘slasher’ is still a popular type of film for this reason I believe our film would be released to a mainstream audience as we follow the same conventions as other horror genre films that have become big famous titles. Our film because it follows these stereotypical conventions could be produced by such companies as Evolution entertainment which is an independent American film production company, we could use this company as our film is like other films released by this company such as SAW (2004) which is like our film through the use of a psychotic male antagonist and the extreme use of blood.
As our film follows stereotypical conventions of a horror ‘slasher’ genre and as there is large popularity for these types of films our film will be distributed to a mass audience, our film will be shown to a mass mainstream audience so I needed to research into mass mainstream distributors and cinema lines to enable I distribute the film correctly and aim towards my target audience. I feel the most successful distributors to use would be ‘Entertainment film distribution’ this company is very successful and has distributed other horror films that have the same convention as ours for example Halloween 2 (2009) SAW (2004) and are yet to be the distributors of Scream 4 which will be released later in 2011. As my film is alike these films in terms of conventions it is clear that this distribution company are successful at ensuring the films reach the correct target audience proof of this is that the film SAW (2004) was shown on 301 screens in the opening weekend, this is not a lot compared to some films but it obviously hit the correct target market, I can tell this by looking at the sequel to the film SAW 2 (2005) was shown on 2949 screens in the opening weekend, so clearly when the first SAW (2004) was distributed, it was done well to the correct target audience leading to the success of the second film. The film would be distributed firstly to cinemas, the cinemas I chose to distribute too were Cineworld and Odeon as these are the two most famous cinemas in the UK gathering thousands od customers a year between them, by distributing my film to these cinemas it will enable my film to be shown to a larger amount of people, my target audience will use these cinemas to watch films as they are the most popular in the UK so by distributing my film to these cinemas I will defiantly hit my target market.
After a while of my film being shown in cinemas I will distribute my film to famous video stalls such as HMV. I would also distribute my film online and on I Tunes, I feel by releasing my film online as my target market is mainly the teenage population by distributing online I will reach to them and therefore they will notice my film more if it is advertised and sold on their favourite popular websites. The reason for distributing my film on I tunes is because my target market will be lovers of music and will therefore probably have an I pod as this is the most popular music player, so if they have an I pod they will have access to I tunes and will notice my film so this will help me when distributing to reach my target audience.
As our film follows stereotypical conventions of a horror ‘slasher’ genre and as there is large popularity for these types of films our film will be distributed to a mass audience, our film will be shown to a mass mainstream audience so I needed to research into mass mainstream distributors and cinema lines to enable I distribute the film correctly and aim towards my target audience. I feel the most successful distributors to use would be ‘Entertainment film distribution’ this company is very successful and has distributed other horror films that have the same convention as ours for example Halloween 2 (2009) SAW (2004) and are yet to be the distributors of Scream 4 which will be released later in 2011. As my film is alike these films in terms of conventions it is clear that this distribution company are successful at ensuring the films reach the correct target audience proof of this is that the film SAW (2004) was shown on 301 screens in the opening weekend, this is not a lot compared to some films but it obviously hit the correct target market, I can tell this by looking at the sequel to the film SAW 2 (2005) was shown on 2949 screens in the opening weekend, so clearly when the first SAW (2004) was distributed, it was done well to the correct target audience leading to the success of the second film. The film would be distributed firstly to cinemas, the cinemas I chose to distribute too were Cineworld and Odeon as these are the two most famous cinemas in the UK gathering thousands od customers a year between them, by distributing my film to these cinemas it will enable my film to be shown to a larger amount of people, my target audience will use these cinemas to watch films as they are the most popular in the UK so by distributing my film to these cinemas I will defiantly hit my target market.
After a while of my film being shown in cinemas I will distribute my film to famous video stalls such as HMV. I would also distribute my film online and on I Tunes, I feel by releasing my film online as my target market is mainly the teenage population by distributing online I will reach to them and therefore they will notice my film more if it is advertised and sold on their favourite popular websites. The reason for distributing my film on I tunes is because my target market will be lovers of music and will therefore probably have an I pod as this is the most popular music player, so if they have an I pod they will have access to I tunes and will notice my film so this will help me when distributing to reach my target audience.
Question 2 - How does your media product represent particular social groups? Question 2
It represents particular social groups through the use of verisimilitude, the photos of the young girl links to the social group of a teenage girl it relates to real life in the pictures through the clothes worn and poses shown, Teenage girls can relate to this character which will add a more scary and worrying atmosphere to the film as they can see the story occurring in real life. The news report also uses verisimilitude the clothing and location we chose to shoot our news reporter scene are life like, he target market can relate to this news report as if it is real, this is the same with the choice of location and props used in our opening, for example the television, people will relate to these as regular house hold items and therefore will relate to the film more creating a eerie and worrying atmosphere.
Representation of gender
The male gender is shown to be the holder of power in our opening, he is shown to be feared of compared to the female gender shown in our film, the female’s are represented as innocent and naive, the clothes they wear signifies the age of the girls, they are shown as young and the hair styles and make up they have along with the clothes worn signifies the innocence of these girl and also creates the male gaze theory when looking thought the pictures of the girls. Throughout the film the camera shots used when showing the girls will be a high angle shot to signifies they are weak and innocent, this will create a more terrifying tone to the film as the audience will see that this girl will be helpless. Although the male character holds the power he is shown in a negative light, the blood on his hands signifies he is a violent character, along with him watching the news report on his own murder signifies he is a twisted man who should be feared. Throughout the rest of the film this character will be shown using a low angle shot to signify he is in power of the situation that he is the more dominant character, this will scare the audience and make them fear this character more. The use of a man in a suit for the news reporter signifies that the male gender is the dominant sex and will come across as more important this was unintentional however this may be how using a male news reporter may come across to the audience. It is very stereotypical for the man to overpower the woman with the male antagonist and female protagonist.
Representation of Age
The younger age is represented as nave and innocent in our film opening it shows that the male antagonist holds power over the female protagonists you can see this through the picture scene on the wall, this scene also represents the younger generation as careless just out to have fun and party this will relate to the younger viewers of the audience. The way in which our antagonist is watching his own news report signifies that the man is clever that he is not getting caught for what he is doing, this represents the older generation as wiser than the younger.
Representation of disability
Disability is not referred to Marjory in our film opening however the scene in which the male antagonist watches his own news report on the murder he committed shows signs of mental disability which creates a more terrifying effect on the audience, this scene signifies that the killer shows no regret or mercy for what he has done. This links in with the SAW (2004) in this film the male antagonist also shows signs of mental disability through torturing the victims and showing no mercy.
Representation of sexuality
Sexuality was not touched on during our film there is no reference of sexuality shown in our piece however the male is shown as dominant over the female and the male antagonist only attacks younger girl, by making the photos of girls as realistic to real life as we could we hope to create verisimilitude and create a scarier effect on our target audience as they will link what happens in our film to their lives.
Our film is shown through a male point of view in the opening however circumstances throughout the film change and it switches through the eyes of the girl.
I feel our film links well to our target audience by as I mentioned earlier it has similarities to the popular SAW (2004) films, it also follows the stereotypical background of a horror genre, it does this through the use of blood and darkness, it has a stereotypical ‘slasher’ theme to it with the male antagonist stalking/murdering the protagonists, this is like a lot of other famous popular horror genre films such as scream (1996) this film includes a male antagonist stalking/murdering victims and has the use of blood and also our film relates to scream (2004) through the use of the younger generation being the victims (teenagers) so as you can see the two films are quite similar.
Representation of gender
The male gender is shown to be the holder of power in our opening, he is shown to be feared of compared to the female gender shown in our film, the female’s are represented as innocent and naive, the clothes they wear signifies the age of the girls, they are shown as young and the hair styles and make up they have along with the clothes worn signifies the innocence of these girl and also creates the male gaze theory when looking thought the pictures of the girls. Throughout the film the camera shots used when showing the girls will be a high angle shot to signifies they are weak and innocent, this will create a more terrifying tone to the film as the audience will see that this girl will be helpless. Although the male character holds the power he is shown in a negative light, the blood on his hands signifies he is a violent character, along with him watching the news report on his own murder signifies he is a twisted man who should be feared. Throughout the rest of the film this character will be shown using a low angle shot to signify he is in power of the situation that he is the more dominant character, this will scare the audience and make them fear this character more. The use of a man in a suit for the news reporter signifies that the male gender is the dominant sex and will come across as more important this was unintentional however this may be how using a male news reporter may come across to the audience. It is very stereotypical for the man to overpower the woman with the male antagonist and female protagonist.
Representation of Age
The younger age is represented as nave and innocent in our film opening it shows that the male antagonist holds power over the female protagonists you can see this through the picture scene on the wall, this scene also represents the younger generation as careless just out to have fun and party this will relate to the younger viewers of the audience. The way in which our antagonist is watching his own news report signifies that the man is clever that he is not getting caught for what he is doing, this represents the older generation as wiser than the younger.
Representation of disability
Disability is not referred to Marjory in our film opening however the scene in which the male antagonist watches his own news report on the murder he committed shows signs of mental disability which creates a more terrifying effect on the audience, this scene signifies that the killer shows no regret or mercy for what he has done. This links in with the SAW (2004) in this film the male antagonist also shows signs of mental disability through torturing the victims and showing no mercy.
Representation of sexuality
Sexuality was not touched on during our film there is no reference of sexuality shown in our piece however the male is shown as dominant over the female and the male antagonist only attacks younger girl, by making the photos of girls as realistic to real life as we could we hope to create verisimilitude and create a scarier effect on our target audience as they will link what happens in our film to their lives.
Our film is shown through a male point of view in the opening however circumstances throughout the film change and it switches through the eyes of the girl.
I feel our film links well to our target audience by as I mentioned earlier it has similarities to the popular SAW (2004) films, it also follows the stereotypical background of a horror genre, it does this through the use of blood and darkness, it has a stereotypical ‘slasher’ theme to it with the male antagonist stalking/murdering the protagonists, this is like a lot of other famous popular horror genre films such as scream (1996) this film includes a male antagonist stalking/murdering victims and has the use of blood and also our film relates to scream (2004) through the use of the younger generation being the victims (teenagers) so as you can see the two films are quite similar.
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