In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
For our media product, ‘Mind the Gap’, we wanted to use and develop conventions of horror. This would allow use to produce a good opening and let the audience instantly know that the genre is horror, but wanting to carry on watching it. In class we had watched and presented horror film openings and did presentations on them. My group did ‘Silence of the Lambs’, I liked this horror film as it was realistic, it didn’t exaggerate things, others ones I liked were ‘Hide and Seek’ and ‘The Grudge’ Both these film openings use code and conventions of horror and draw the audience in. These gave us all a platform to look at the for elements Mise en scene, Camera angles, Sounds and editing.
For our characters we used a young, innocent girl (Amber), this idea has been used in recent horror films we researched such as Scream and Paranormal activity. Both these films use vulnerable females, around their teens. They both use conventions of horror films, Scream use a masked killer, and Paranormal Activity use a ghost in a new house. The other character (our Villian) was a mysterious, blacked out, hooded man known as the Follower (Me). The mysterious blacked out man connotes fear, death and the unknown. We wanted to keep his identify hidden, again keeping with the horror, I was him in black with a hood that covered his face. We took this ides from the film we recently watched ‘Psycho’. In ‘Psycho’ the killers faced is blacked out, so it keeps the unknown element in the film. The setting of our film challenges the conventions of horror as it is partly set at deserted villages or haunted houses. We went against the these stereotypical locations used in films such as Silent hill and Dracula, we went for a modern train station where we added a train announcement so it felt more like a typical train station. We added the convention of her being alone by filming when the train station was empty. At the train station the Follower disappears, this makes us uncomfortable. So we have contrasted ideas to maximise fear.
We looked at adding the codes and conventions of darkness and the unknown, as normally the killer is in the dark, the Follower is always masked but always under a light which is going against the stereotypical killer. The light makes the follower stand out and always seen by the audience. We had hidden messages in within the mise-en-scene such as warning signs that at once we didn’t notice but there were two danger signs at the train station. We didn’t use any words in our opening, we believed this added more tension and once again the convention of the unknown. We also used a flash back as our opening starts with the killing then shows ‘one hour earlier’ and leads to the train station showing us how it happening, this keeps the audience on the edge of their seat, wanting to know what and how it is going to happen. At the start of film we used a POV shot from the Follower, first chasing Amber and then closing in on Amber. This was set in a forest, we used the trees and darkness to connotes being trapped. Music wise we used a typical eerie and uncomfortable sound with high and low pitches like used in Psycho. We used this because when we watched Psycho it made us feel uncomfortable so we wanted to recreate it.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Our film would represent middle class and maybe upper class, we have done this by using specific clothing and props. Many middle class girls could relate Amber’s position, as she has a nice phone, many girls can relate to this as girls phones are a big part of there life, and like many teenage girls has her hair straightened and make up on. These things show her class and give the stereotypical young blonde girl who dies. Amber plays the role of a typical teenage girl, she is an ‘easy’ target for a killer as she is innocent, young and alone. We also showed a working class through the mud covered white vest she is wearing when being chased, this could make the audience feel sympathy and acknowledge her position and feelings, the colour white represents Amber is innocent and pure. On the other hand the Follower is wearing a black hoodie, which blocks out his face, this clothing could relate to people who were in the riot. The Train station shows a could represent a working class back ground, as she is using public transport and can relate to every ones fear of an empty dark train station. So we have mixed many classes so many people can relate to scenes in the film.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
I believe our film would be an Art house production, as it is smaller production company and hasn’t done any mainstream films. Our film does not really use Hollywood conventions; also it is a small scale production company set in Britain, which may nor appeal to a widespread market. Another British film company is ‘Film Four Productions’ they would be a good choice to distribute our film as they have done many British films which had been huge hits with the public such as ‘Slumdog Millionarie’ and ‘127 hours’, which could be a factor in them coming to see our film. They have also made some horror/thriller films including ‘Dead set’ and ‘Dead Man’s Shoes’, they have also made some comedy horror e.g. ‘ Shaun of the Dead’ and ‘Kill list’. Therefore I think they could be a good production company to produce and distribute our film.
Who would be the audience for your media product?
Our film is certificated with a fifteen age restriction, so we will aim it at an audience of teenagers and young adults above 15 any gender who is interested in horror films. We believe as our film stars a teenager, it will attract other teenagers in and out of education, also we expect the film to attract people from an middle class social back ground to watch the film.
Another reason the film would attract teenagers is our film also uses props such an I phone which is something they can relate to their own lives. Our film could also be related to a thriller as it has suspense and you never know what’s going to happen, It is also a psychological film rather than explicit so a lot is left to the imagination. The person in my character is 16 and likes psychological horrors, so I feel this would be the age of the audience for our film.
Teenagers also have a lot of time on their hands compared to others, and many have part-time jobs so they will have money. Teenagers visit the cinema a lot more than adults so they would be the best market to target bring in more profit, they are also likely to talk about the film was are more likely to tell school peers and friends. Teenagers also use social network sites such as Facebook and Twitter so if the film was a success it would be like free advertising. Another reason for our decision is teenagers have a lot of free time so going to see our film could be a social out going. So I think if the film is a success, teenagers will be the main viewers.
How did you attract/address your audience?
We attracted our audience by using a character of around the same age as the certificate we set, 15. We used mise-en-scene things that represent teenagers, such as nice clothes, phones and public transport. By having these things in the film it attracts the audience as they can relate to these things, this will keep them interested in the film. We use the technique of a flash back, so the killing is at the start and the next part explains the leading up to it, this makes the audience instantly want to know what happened to lead to this point, we don’t use any language this adds the unknown effect and draws in their interest and attention. By targeting teenagers, who most use some sort of social network, could talk about the film making free viral advertising, assuming the film is a success We made Amber’s character easy to feel empathy for, by dressing her in light clothing suggesting her innocence and also to highlight her vulnerability, this would attract the viewer by creating a bond between the character and the audience. In my survey of the horror genre, people said they liked the how horror films can give you an adrenaline rush and the unknown factor of them, i believe our film has both of these factors. In my character profile, Lewis said he hears and see’s about most films is through TV adverts, this shows how we could attract our audience.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
This product has taught me a lot about the technologies needed when making a film. I have now got a larger depth of knowledge of how to edit using final cut on the Macs. We added sound effects, and cut out puts that went wrong .It was a lot more then editing that was needed, we had to find the shots that would be most effective.
We used many shots to add suspense such as low shot, extreme close up and a tracking shot. A key part of our film was the train announcement, we had to add it to the film, by adding it, it made it more realistic. The scene I was most please about was the forest scen, the reason behind this is as we only had a certain time to film it, it was slightly rushed but I felt it came out brilliantly. The scenes I wasn’t as happy with was when ‘The Follower’ gets closer and closer I feel the tension could have been added more with blackouts, and sound effects, but overall I am happy with the piece. We had a few technological problems such as when filming our main piece the camera ran out of battery, so we had to take practice shot with our phones. Another problem we came across was wen filming it become to dark, so we had to use flash lights and street lights, fortunately this work and the street light looked red which is the colour of blood and danger. I enjoyed framing the train shot where ‘The Follower disappears, I believe it was the most effective I am proud of the fact that we overcome problems, and overcoming these by using our initiative and using what we had. Overall I think I have improved my technological skills in editing and would feel confidant to edit another film.
Looking back at your preliminary task what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Looking back at our preliminary task I believe we have learnt a lot. We filmed our preliminary task in just over an hour, and didn’t take it as serious, so we would settle for an average shot. We also filmed it in school and didn’t expand our ideas to outside of school hours. We also used the standard school editing software, so we did take the time to learn final cut and use it. There were a few techniques we used , we made our piece black and white, to add to the romance. We also used a lot of effects such as dissolves, and sound effects, we used a lot of shots e.g. jump cuts, establishing shots and quick cuts.
Our preliminary task was very short compared to our final piece, so we need to progress our knowledge of editing so we learnt how to use the Mac’s which allowed us to add better effects sounds. We didn’t integrate our prelim into our main as our prelim was more of a ‘comedy’ put what we did use from our preliminary was no language and only having two characters. We used some similar shots in our final piece such as closes up of faces to show emotion. We also developed this idea and did extreme close ups of facial features e.g. fear in the victims eyes. We felt this was a good idea as we did not won’t to over complicate it for the audience. As our final piece was a lot long we created twice as many story boards, we did this as it gave us more detail and more shots. We become more interactive as group, and had better attitude and were more determinate. We also researched a lot more into horror films openings which allowed us to use examples of shots and effects in films.
