Evaluation

 

1-In What ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

At the beginning of making our opening sequence, we decided it would be best to do a cross-genre with rom-com and thriller. This idea was that the two people fall in love but the girl is a vampire and she tries to go against her powers, this was inspired on watching ‘Just like Heaven’. However, as we started to make the film our ideas evolved and the genre changed to making an opening sequence of a thriller, where a girl died and then she started haunting a man, who kept seeing her and he doesn’t know why. We also thought this was a good genre to do as our target audience is teenagers aged 15+ and we found from doing the questionnaires thriller was the genre that was most popular for the audience. The opening film sequence has a various range of effects to make the film look like the thriller genre. The music which appears over the top of the opening scene is incidental music at a slow pace which builds up the tension, the music is called ‘Measured pace’ we didn’t adjust the sound level on this as it was loud enough to be able to build atmosphere. This is conventional in thriller films because it gets the audience on the edge of their seats.

The opening title sequence was inspired by ‘Edward Scissor hands’ where the writing is obscure and placed on a black background, we found that this created tension and got the audience thinking about the will happen in the film. We took the idea of linking the title with the opening credits and decided by having stereotypical horror looking writing, this gives the audience the impression that something in the film is not in the ordinary. The background is black, and links in with the title ‘seeing the unseen’ because in the dark (black background) people can’t see, only what is shown to them which are the writing. We challenged the film conventions ‘thriller’ by having a green screen of fast falling snow over the top of all the opening credits. By having snow it shows that something in the film might be cold hearted or isolated from others. To link the film with the thriller genre, we adjusted the brightness/contrast so that they were both higher making the video clips darker than when they were taken, half way through the opening scene we changed the tone to a dark blue following the traditional ways of making a thriller/horror film. It was also inspired by the film‘se7en’ as throughout the opening scene the lighting was dark, building the tension up in the audience. We changed it by using the fast colour changer effect in Adobe Premier pro.

At the start of the film we challenged the genre by using the green screen so that we could have a ghostly looking girl appear every now and then in the film, while a boy wearing a is walking through the town, the girl is dressed in black adding to the dark themed setting. We also layered film clips over the top of one another, with one having nobody walking, and the other having the girl walking 'through the gate' we then changed the opacity of the girl walking which made her seem like she is walking through the gate as a ghost. By having a girl as the ghost in the film, this is going again the conventions of a thriller. The slow paced music is still running throughout this scene, there is ambient music of birds tweeting while the boy is walking. Also, when the girl appears there is a loud gust of wind sound, which is inclined to make the girl seem like she has a power. The setting of our opening scene is in a ruined down area, which contrasts with the smart suit the boy is wearing. We did this so that it got the audience asking questions about the boy and his background history.

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

Our film represents the low class and high class. The setting, in which the film is being taken place, it shows the low class as at the beginning of the film, the setting is in a ruined down street, the audience can tell this by the graffiti sprayed on to the brick wall, indicating that it may not be a very nice place to live. As the film goes on, the setting changes to a ruined down park, you can tell this by the lack of people around them and the fact the grass doesn’t look like it has been looked after. However, the high class is shown through what the boy is wearing. He is in a smart suit with tie, this gets the audience question why he has a suit on and maybe he only wears a suit outside to try and show he is from a posh background, but behind closed doors he isn’t from the high class at all, or maybe he has got a really good job which required him to wear a suit. The age of the characters are both 16+ as our questionnaire findings showed that 90% of the audience would rather watch a film about a Girl/Boys life aged 16-25, so that they can relate. We went against the thriller convention and had a boy and girl staring in the film, as it brings in the rom-com genre.

3- What Kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

The film production which is most likely to distribute our film is 'Hammer Films' as they are known best for releasing Gothic Horror Films since 1934, and is well known in the UK. Hammer Films have dominated the horror film industry before; as they had a partnership with Warner Bros.Hammer film productions have made over 150 action-adventure, thrillers, horrors and historic films. Including 'The Women in Black', this is also a thriller film about a ghost haunting a man, to get revenge. Another production studio that is more likely to distribute our film is 'Universal Studios'. As it’s a worldwide famous film company and they are known best for producing action-thriller films such as Iron Man, The wolf man, Harry Potter etc.
 

4-Who Would be the audience for your media product?

The target audience for our media production is rated 12A, as with it the film there is moderate physical and psychological threats being made. It is aimed for teenagers and young adults as the characters within the film are of this age range, this makes it so that it is easier for the audience to relate to the film. We have gone against the convention of thrillers as they are mostly aimed for males, as the main characters in the films are dominated by males. Whereas our film has been made to attract both male and females, we did this by making the characters both genders. We have targeted the working class as the setting in the film is in a working class area, which the audience will be familiar with. The characters seen in the film are Caucasian, so therefore we have targeted the Caucasian ethnic group so they can relate to the film.


5-How did you attract/address your audience?

The film opening grabs our targeted audience attention through the storyline, music, characters, how they are dressed and the title sequence. With the genre being a thriller, we had to make sure that our film had scary and spooky elements to it so that it fitted with in the thriller criteria, and got the audience sitting on the edge of their seats. The title of our film is 'seeing the unseen', the title in itself will attract the targeted audiences attention as it explains the story line, of the man seeing the ghost that nobody else can see. Also the title sequence with the music, both work together as it starts the film off with a lonely, mysterious atmosphere. The music we have used is incidental music played throughout the whole of our opening scene, the music is slow paced at the beginning and builds up over time towards the end, this attracts the audience as it gets them asking questions about the film, and to why the boy is seeing the girl and random points, and why nobody else can see her. The film can attract the audience through the characters and what they are wearing, as the boy is wearing a light grey suit which shows he is the protagonist, which the working class will be able to relate to. The ghostly girl is dressed in black, showing that she is the antagonised. The clothes the girl is wearing is a typical teenage school girl look, which attracts the teenage audience as they will feel like she is from the same social class as them. The storyline attracts the target audience as most teenagers have gone through a loss of a close family member or friend. So they can connect to the film which will make it scarier for the viewers.

To promote our film to the targeted audience, we would have billboards, posters and trailers playing at the beginning of other thriller films that have the same targeted audience; this will make it easier for our film to get across to the viewers. The posters and billboards, will have bold dark colours with white horror looking font so that it links in with the opening scene, the posters won’t give away too much about the film as we don’t want the audience to look at it and already know the storyline.

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

In terms of technology I have learnt a various range of new skills, such as how to use the Sony HD Cameras for filming, Adobe Premiere for the editing, and how to make and use my own blog. The Sony HD Camera was pretty straight forward in terms of videoing, however we had to make sure that we had the correct angles for the scene, and the camera had a SD card inserted into it. I then learnt how to import the film clips into an Apple Mac Computer, so it allowed us to edit it by using Adobe Premiere. To make our logo which appears at the very beginning of the film, we used photoshop which I was already familiar with. However, I wasn’t very familiar with Adobe Premier, and I learnt how to import videos, green screen shots, music and pictures on the programme, this was very quick and easy to do. I also learnt how to Razor a clip so that it would cut in between the middle of it, and I also learnt how to add video effects and transactions, from the dissolve at the beginning of the film to the Fast Colour change in the middle of the film, to the Fade into black at the very end of the opening scene.

7-Looking back at your prelianary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

By doing the preliminary task we were only able to use the building as our setting this restricted us in doing a lot of our ideas. However, I have learnt by working in a group making a film, everybody has their own separate ideas which then everybody comes together and agrees with one and build on it. When actually going in to making the film, everyone in the group picks the job they want to do and then this is their role in the film throughout. Then at the end of film making all the jobs come together to make a successful film. In terms of operating the video camera we learnt all the basic skills required to use the camera e.g. On/Off, Zoom, Delete, Watch. It was easy enough to figure out how to use the video camera as the buttons had pictures on indicating what they do. When filming we always made sure that we remembered the 180 degree rule, however as the setting was inside an office it wasn’t always easy to follow the rule, so therefore for our final film, we made sure that we could apply the 180 degree rule. We applied all the knowledge to the major production so that it is successful.