1.
In what ways does your media product use,
develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Throughout the product, the aim we wanted to create was to
constantly develop the forms and conventions of a real horror/thriller opening
sequence. The way we tried to create this was by using as many different
conventions without making the product look silly. One of our focuses was to
make the audience scared of what they were about to see but however want to
watch the rest of the film because it was enticing them in! The main part of
the opening sequence which is also my favourite part is the fast cut montage of
horror/thriller shots, as this engages the audience and gets their heart racing
to what is going to happen next. This is very typical of this genre, so
therefore that is why we decided to try and include it in our own way within
the 2 minutes. We included it at the start as many other films we researched
also used this, where it is almost like a flash back and it shows you what will
happen at the end of the film.
There is also a rough storyline which replays throughout the
whole of the two minutes that the audience will be able to pick up on easily.
There are two main locations in the sequence, and this is the same since our
last improvement. We chose to stick to these two locations as they were totally
different to each other, the first part where it’s dark and outside and
isolated, makes the female character look very vulnerable as well as makes the
audience scared for her and want to help her which makes her seem weak. Whereas
in the second location it is meant to be seen as if it is in the teenage girl’s
bedroom, the colours are bright and girly and she is just minding her own
business, in casual clothes, listening to music, being chilled out! This is a
massive contrast from the other location but this helps the audience to see how
things have changed from scene to scene.
On our first final product we just instantly went from one
scene to another with just a transition that blurred from one to the other. This worked but for some of the audience may
not understand why the girl has gone from one place to the other without any
meaning. So therefore when editing the second time round, we looked and had to
try and improve it. We saw that in our research a lot of films used this method
of showing a flash back then text appearing on screen saying “one day later”, “one
year later”, “one week earlier” etc. We then included this just as the shots
changed from one to the other and when asking other students in our media
class, they said the improvement helped them to understand the storyline more and
gain more understanding of why the girl was from one location to another.
Another convention which was used within our media product was
the use of voiceovers which was used only one time in our first edit and twice
in our second. With the same quote of ‘Trust that the worst is yet to come,
Horrors and terrors and then yet some, Beware of the curses that await your
mind, for the master is coming, Turn and face behind’. This is scary in itself,
but the way we included it into our product was by whispering it over the fast
cut montage. This gave the effect that the female character was hearing the
voices in her head. When coming to edit again we then decided that because the
voice over worked so well at the beginning of the sequence we would then
include it again as it had such a good effect on the audience’s reaction. We
decided that when the girl receives the text from the ‘unknown’ that instead of
the audience having to read the text of screen the same spooky voice would be
there reading it out as the camera shots hover over the female characters shoulders.
This then gives the effect that she is being watched or she is still hearing
voices inside her head. This is scary and when asking random students from
around our school to watch it and give their opinion they agreed with us and
said that it was effective.
We also tried to include different conventions even through
the shots that we used, one of the main shots which was frequently used within
films that we watched during our research was a point of view shot. This makes
the audience believe they are seeing exactly what the character is seeing so
instead of just watching them on screen, it then starts to give you an incite of
how the character is feeling and how you may feel if you were to be put into
the same situation as her. This was used throughout the whole of the fast cut
montage of shots at the start of the sequence
The music used at the beginning of the sequence which is
used to build tension and to make the audience feel as though they do not know
what is going to happen next. This was also common in horror/thriller films
which we watched throughout our research. As well we also included the mysterious
unknown caller who was ringing the female character; this received a reaction
to the audience as they didn’t know who the caller was. This adds suspense as
it is a mystery.
A few things which are known as conventions of a horror/thriller
movie would be blood, weapons and violence. We decided against showing and
including any of these throughout our movie as we believed we could create the
same feelings of suspense without violence being included.
2.
How does your media product represent particular
social groups?
The media product that we created does not represent any particular
social groups, the audience does not really know much at all about the
character. We wanted to leave it this way as therefore as the audience carry on
to watch, they would then see the characters personality and then form a
connection of getting to know her story and who she is. That is part of getting
the audience hooked and wanting to watch more as they are not given to much or
too little of the story and the character at the start of the sequence. Also the girl is seen to be not what like
teenagers are shown today in the media. \she seems to be innocent and quite, as
like from the shot in her bedroom where she is getting on with everything
herself, doing work and listening to music. She is not out partying, getting
drunk or being disruptive or rude like many teenagers are shown to be like
today.
3.
What kind of media institution might distribute
your media product and why?
We looked into lots of different media distributors when
carrying out our research and then we started to look at different distributors
and institutions which we would use to distribute my own production. When looking
we decided to use New line Cinema which is the subsidiary of Warner Bros. The
reason for this was because they produce films of the same genre which we
looked into when filming and these films have been a massive success with the
public.
The way I would like my product to be distributed would be
through many different ways including the cinema at first. The reason for this
is that these days people wait to watch something in the cinema and then
through word of mouth and advertising it get spread and more people go to pay
to watch the film at the cinema. This would increase the publicity of my movie
as well as add to sales through the sales of tickets. It would then eventually
go to DVD and this therefore allows the film to be watched whenever, even if it
is years after the film has been released. Also I would distribute my movie
through legal film sites and TV as this is a cheap and easy access way of the
audience being able to view the movie.
As well as it being easier for the audience as they can access it in the
comfort of their own home, without having to leave their house, It also makes
it available to a wider audience as then more people will be able to get access
to the movie through download and TV.
4.
What would be the audience for your media product?
Target audiences were the main focus of my product and the decisions
that were made in order to create the product. We needed to grasp a great
understanding of who the target audience was in order to be able to market the
product properly and what to include within the product. The target audience
that was chosen was both males and females through an age range of mid-teens at
15 to mid-twenties of 26. I was aware that the movie was more likely to be
watched by more females than males are they are more sensitive and would be
more sympathetic and more emotional to the feelings of the character. However most
males would be more interested in blood, weapons and violence which are not at
all included.
The age rating of my production was to be at 15 and the
reason for this was so that therefore it would not be too explicit but may
still contain some strong language and some scenes of violence.
5.
How did you attract/address your audience?
One of the main ways in which I tried to attract my target
audience was trying to build a relationship between the main character and the
audience throughout the whole of the movie; we tried to do this by having the
main characters roughly the same age as the target audience. This would
therefore make the viewer have an attachment to the characters as they can relate
to them.
Also I used the technique of the fast cut montage at the beginning
of the sequence which when asking random students from my school within the
target audience they said that it got them sitting on the edge of their seat as
they didn’t know what was going to happen next. This is including the fast shot
changes as well as the suspense of the music and the whispering voice over
which adds to the tension. This therefore leaves the viewer’s wanting to see
more and know what happens next. This is the way we tried to keep the audience
interested throughout the whole of the sequence as not everything was every
given away which keeps them wanting to watch as they want to know what happens,
as well as allowing their imagination to build whilst watching.
Another way in which I attached the audience was by
including point of view shots which showed the audience how the it would feel
to be in the main characters view as the victim and this may help to build a
relationship between the audience and character as they can see how they would
feel if they were in that position.
6.
What have you learnt about technologies from the
process of constructing the product?
We have learnt lots about the different technologies
throughout the whole of the product as well as from improving the product from
the last final production. Some of the different technologies that I used were
a HD camera, an IMac and IMovie.
The reason I used a HD camera would so therefore the
production would be at a better quality as well as it being more reliable than
other cameras as it is newer and has better functions. With the HD camera I made
sure that I used a tripod when needed so therefore the shots were steady as
well as being of good quality. The reason why I used an IMac was because it had
the software I needed in order to do the main part of creating my product which
was editing. I did this through IMovie which is advanced software which helped
us to edit to our best possible ability and make the product look as good as
possible.
I have learnt from using the technology that you cannot
always rely on it and should always have a backup plan and save your work
elsewhere in order to not have lost your work completely. We learnt this the
hard way as everything on our computer got lost after our first edit so
therefore the only way we did get it back was by going onto YouTube and
downloading the video through that way. Yes, we had got our work back but it
meant that it was extremely hard when going to edit again. IMovie was our favourite
technology throughout the whole of the production s it allowed us to be able to
use all the available features such as text, sounds, voice overs, effects, transitions
to help to make our product look more professional.
Technology has had a massive advantage on our work in order
to get it to the best and we were lucky to have the range of technology available
to us otherwise it could have been very expensive.
7.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do
you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
From the preliminary task we did before our first main task
we learnt different techniques which gave us a good idea on how to use the camera
and use a different range of shots which we didn’t necessarily use in the
production, such as shot reverse shot , match on action and 180 degree rule. It
was good for us to get use to the technology and the software we were going to
use on the IMac so therefore when it came down to the main task we were
prepared to just get on and complete it. We got to play around and look at all
of the features on IMovie and see what they all did, and because it was a preliminary
task it didn’t matter whether it didn’t work as we were testing it all out. I
believe that the prelim was a good idea when it then came to doing my final
task as I felt more in control and knew how to use the equipment available. It
would have made it very hard for me if I had not learnt what I had done through
doing the preliminary task. Comparing the preliminary task and my final product
together you can see the difference in quality as we had gone from a normal
video recording camera to a HD one and the quality difference is significantly noticeable,
as well as the improvements of use in the software such as IMovie, these
improvements were better due to the practice I received on the equipment due to
the preliminary task.
