Evaluation question 7

The third slide doesn't work on slide share, originally it was the prelim video, which I'll put underneath.

Evaluation question 6

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Evaluation question 5

I do believe we meet our target audience. When we produced our film we used a young cast because we thought this would appeal to a younger audience (the replies to the first questionnaire showed that most people was between the ages of 11-20 so we aimed it towards 15-20 year olds), each character was dressed in a different style too, to appeal to a larger audience (each fitted into a cliché that made that cliché want to want the film). We made sure no scenes were too disturbing, (another reason it’s aimed at 15 and above).

We used a young person’s room, with a lot of posters. All the posters may have attracted an audience, because they shared the same taste of music. The bedroom wasn’t too feminine or masculine, so we didn’t aim it at one gender. Although we made the antagonist female because we knew our target audience was slightly more female than male, because of our questionnaire results.

I believe we managed to attract horror/suspense lovers, as our two minute introduction had some suspense and shocks in it.

Our camera angles were successful, and looked professional, except for two shots where heads were cut off (looking at the gift instead).  Good camera angles help the audience feel like they’re part of the film, and in the scene, poor camera angles make the audience more aware of the fact they’re just watching a film.
'Good, but in one shot the characters heads were cut off'
'I think you have used a variety of different shots to make it more interesting, especially when the boy goes up the stairs.'
'Nice camera work! Expertly done!'
'Good but sometimes their heads were cut-off.'

What do you think of the editing?

63% said 5/5 while 38% said 4/5.

What do you think of the lighting?

19% said 5/5, 56% said 4/5 and 25% said 3/5.

What do you think of the music choices?

56% said 5/5, 31% said 4/5 and 13% said 3/5.

I believe the editing was very successful, and the replies show this. I believe the music choices were fairly successful, but might not have been to some peoples taste. I believe the lighting was the least successful thing, and would need to be changed in the future.

Next time we could ensure the lighting is better in rooms, and light up the characters faces better, and send out questionnaire about what music they’d like to hear in horror films. 

Evaluation question 4

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Evaluation question 3

Evaluation question two

Social groups from edenabbi

Evaluation question one

Our media product is a two minute introduction of a horror film. The majority of the film is dark and gloomy; the river is a dark scene, as it was a dark cloudy day. The dark shots follow the dark horror conventions.

We used a pan shot in our the opening sequence, we used this to establish the scene. In our opening credits we showed the necklace to hint that this had something to do with the rest of the story (the same necklace the girl is wearing). The film is linear and all the scenes happen in chronological order.

We used a pan for the first shot to establish the scene. We use a pan latter on when the girl first appears, this was to shock the audience.

We then used a tilt shot down the door, we also used this when Archer walked up the stairs.

The party scene uses a long shot, then uses close ups a medium shots to show the conversation. We used shot reverse shot, and didn’t cross the 180o line.

I used non-diagetic music in the opening credits, this build up the tension, and uses the conventions of horror.
I put diagetic rain over the entire clip, this was to help the continuity and built up the uneasiness. In my research I found that the film seven uses rain throughout the film to express loneliness (which the girl is feeling) and the end of the film is ironically sunny, something the gift could do.

All the props followed the horror conventions, the gift was black and red (horror colours, red- blood). The girl wears a torn dirty dress, and has white eyes, these are similar to the ring. Another film I researched, these are used to scare the audience, because the girl looks creepy.

The majority of locations are dark, expect the party scene, here we overexposed the light, this was to change the mood. This was meant to also have a sense of irony, as a supposedly happy time (party) leads to a devastating event in Archer’s life.

The typography uses a white font in the beginning to contrast against the dark background, it faids in and out to look mysterious. It's similar to the typography used in se7en, but doesn't flash as much.

The crucifix was the main iconography used, it has links to religion and suffering. Crucifixes are a popular prop in horror films, like the exorcist.

28th March 2013-Evaluation question four answer

Who Would Be The Target Audience For Your Product?

The target audience for our media product will be people aged between fifteen and forty, as we feel that because our product is supernatural horror film, it may contain images which are too disturbing for a younger audience. The people of the target audience will also have an interest in horror films or enjoy watching them, so they will be familiar with films similar to ours such as The Grudge or The Ring. As well as this, the target audience will be a niche, regional audience, as our film has been made in Barnsley, so we would expect people from this area to show an interest in viewing our product and they would also be people who enjoy going to the cinema to watch films.

Before we began the production of our film, we created an audience profile on a treatment blog post stating who we think our target audience is and also sent out an online questionnaire with a summary of our film plot and questions on what the participants think of the film. The questions included “where would you expect to watch it” and “what certificate should it have.” In response to the questions, 59% of the participants thought that the film should have a 15 certificate and 64% answered that they would expect to watch it in the cinema. Also, 86% of the participants answered that they were aged 11-20. As a result of these answers, we developed our film so it appeared more appealing to the teenage target audience by using actors of a similar age, using a teenager’s bedroom as a location and filming the end of a birthday party as the scene which introduces the characters.

26th March 2013-Evaluation question three

25th March 2013-Evaluation Question Two

 

24th March 2013-Evaluation question one answer

Evaluation Question One: In What Ways Does Your Media Product Use, Develop Or Challenge Forms and Conventions Of Real Media Products?

Our media product is the first two minutes of a horror film and in the first shot, we have used a pan shot of a river in order to establish the scene and also build up tension. I understand from my research that establishing the scene and building up tension should be done in an opening sequence in order to hook the audience and make them want to carry on watching the film.

The location where we filmed this pan shot is quite gloomy, seen as we were filming on a cloudy day, which symbolises that this film has a morbid theme. In order to establish a significant event that has taken place before the opening credits of our film, we have used a close up on a necklace charm in the water to imply to the audience that this prop is of great importance to the plot and will be linear to the film as it will be central to the main characters situation.

However, the close up is non-linear as it does not flash to the before event, which is done to keep the audience in suspense and keep them guessing where the charm comes from. I found in my research that this was done similarly in the opening sequence of the film Seven, which uses a close up of a book to show this items significance to the plot. All the way through these two shots, we have inserted non-diegetic, suspenseful music to make the audience wonder what is about to happen.  

In terms of the typography, we have used a white font colour and kept it to a small size in order to contrast with the dark background at the beginning and also to create a sense of mystery, something which is also done similar in the opening sequence of Seven, as the title font colour is white to contrast with the dark background and appears as though it has been scratched into the shot in order to create an uneasy feeling. A tilt shot shows two different props, a happy birthday banner and a gift box, which is the most important prop of our film and the tilt shot shows the change in location from the river to the house.

 Another way that we showed contrast was through the use of over-exposed lighting when filming the ending of the main character’s birthday party when the last two party-goers are leaving, which we decided to do in order to create a change of mood, as the end of party scene looked bright and happy compared to the first shot. However, we have inserted the sound of pouring rain and thunder to convey that something is about to happen and also used a high-angle/over the shoulder shot in order to focus on the gift box and emphasise its importance.

We used a continuity cut to show the boy walking up to his room with the gift box to keep the action going, which I found in my research was done quite similar in The Grudge, which I analysed the first ten to fifteen minutes of, as the beginning cuts from the titles to a shot of a girl travelling on her bike to keep the action going. Our tilt shot of the boy walking up the stairs to his room shows him walking into darkness, which we believe signifies danger is looming. The location we used for his bedroom is full of band posters, which implies that he is a normal teenager and once he is in his room, the only sound that can be heard is the ambience of the rain and thunder, building up the tension as a non-diegetic screech is heard, which we have used to indicate that he is not alone. A pan shot follows him look out of his window to investigate the screech, something we believe an audience of a horror film would expect to see.

A medium long shot then shows that the ghost of a girl has appeared in the corner of his room and a close up of her shows her terrifying features as the thunder increases to strike fear in the audience, similar to The Grudge when the ghost of the Japanese woman is seen for the first time. A close up shows her drop the necklace charm onto his bed, explaining its significance to the plot so the audience can make a connection between the first shot and the event taking place now and the girl’s dialogue of “five days” can be heard, which will create dread as it sounds like a warning and implies to the audience that the boy is now in danger, something that is often done in an opening sequence.

First questionnaire results

1. What’s your name?

Luke, Chelsea, Ashleigh, Diviya, Ann, Honor, Siobhan, Bethany Gregory, Kayleigh, Megan,  Wilson, Trisha, John, Amy, Emily, Joseph Derek Paul, Louise, Robert Downey Jr, Emma, Keely

 

2. What’s your age?

0-10 0 0% 11-20 19 86% 21-30 3 14% 31-40 0 0% 41-50 0 0% 51+ 0

 

3. What’s your gender?
	Female 17 74% Male 6 26%

 

4. What region are you from?

Manchester, South Yorkshire, England London, south yorkshire, South Yorkshire, BarnsleyEngland, East Anglia, South Yorkshire, London, South yorkshire, Ireland, South yorkshire, Doncaster, South Yorkshire, London, South Yorkshire, Yorkshire, North Lanarkshire, Barnsley, Christian

5. What genre is your favourite?
	Comedy 7 32% Horror 4 18% Sci fi 3 14% Romance 4 18% Action 1 5% Crime 1 5% Fantasy 1 5% Thriller 1 5% Other 0 0%

6. What genre do you think our movie is?
	comedy 0 0% horror 21 70% romance 1 3% crime 1 3% thriller 7 23% anime 0 0% Other 0 0%

7. Would you watch the rest of our movie?
	Yes 16 73% No 3 14% Other 3 14%

8. What age do you think it's aimed at?

teenagers and adults, 12, 15+, Teenagers and older, 12+ or 15+, 12+15, -25, 15+, 15, 15-30, 14+15, 16-18, 18+, teenagers, 15+, 20+, 15+, Over 15, fifteen year olds to adults, not children16

9. What certificate should it have?
	U 0 0% PG 0 0% 12 1 5% 12a 6 27% 15 13 59% 18 1 5% 18R 1 5%

10. Where would you expect to watch it?
	Cinema 14 64% TV 3 14% Online 3 14% Other 2 9%

11. What do you think about the start of the storyline?

its really cool!, Seems interesting ., Scary Really cool I like the idea of a mysterious “gift”. The way the story is unfolding seems interesting and would make me want to read/watch the rest to find out how the story ends. I sounds like it would be good to watch Sounds interesting I would watch it, I think it's interesting, but the '5 days' part is very similar to other horror films, I think she should just hold 5 fingers and remain silent, it would make her a little more frightening. Good, but I don't like horror, ok, amazing, Good! I think it is very interesting and makes me want to see it, Good and it drew me in...it sounds intresting, Good. ScaryIt sounds awesome and I can't wait to watch it! It sounds like a good start to a horror film, i think it is a good starting point for a film, its nice, Very good

12. Does it make sense?
	Yes 20 91% no 0 0% Other 2 9%

13. What do you not like about it?

its totally amazing, It hasnt got Daniel in. Nothing The fact that its scary cos I don't like scary movies but I think I would watch this. Too much happens too fast. We don’t know anything about the history of the characters or the gift although that might be something that’s explained later in the story. it's fine as it is :) NothingJust the '5 days' part. Everything else is really good! Horror bit long n/a Nothing There is nothing that I dislike The Storylinen/aN/AI don't like it, it sounds too scary It seems very scary!Nothing really, sounds good it seems to go straight into the main action and not start with, for example, a suspicious death followed by some scene setting and equilibrium then building tension as the main disequilibrium section startsthat there is not another character to join in, in this stort. There's just the boy and the ghost person as the main peerson.That it doesn't continue

practise pan of the river

Behind the scenes- filming the river

Risk Assessment

Audience feedback responces

audience feedback 'click here'

The questionnaire about the gift

Audience feedback questionnaire

Tempory link to feedback questionnaire

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1FePNPllnXXO_xMC_gRU_c_QiR-q5NufauZ2JpLkh30I/viewform

Further research into Alien

Extra film research: alien

There is a low humming throughout the scene, this is ambient. It creates a tension, and adds to the idea of being on a space ship. It is an environmental factor, and diegetic.

Later in the actual chest bursting scene, there’s a sound like a heartbeat, which seems to get a bit louder when the alien is about the burst from Kane’s chest, this adds a sense of fear, and because you don’t actually listen to it or pick the sound up when you’re watching it for the first time, it makes you scared, and manages to do it in a subconscious way. It seems to mirror the characters pulse, and gives you a insight of what they’re feeling, as well as allowing you to feel like your there too.

The characters tone changes throughout the scene, at first their relieved, then become happy. This happiness, over the speeding heartbeat gives the audience an idea that something’s not right, you know the film is building up to something. On the other hand, the fact that the characters are happy could put some viewers in a false sense of security, making the following scenes shocking and terrifying.

There is some non-diegetic music over the scene later on just before Kane’s body is released into space (like a funeral). It gets louder as the camera pans around the room ,its fairly quite, and down beat, this could represent the characters feeling. Just as the body is about to be released it gets louder, and seems to sound a bit triumphant, maybe implying that he’s the likely one. Slowly it fades away, just like his body into space.

Most of the characters have a similar accent, with two of the men having slightly different ones. All of them have some type of American accent.

This scene could represent gender; it appears to put men above women, as men speak louder and more assertive. The men are always in the middle of the screen, and directly address the other characters. In this scene the women rarely speak, so this could imply that men are more powerful than women. 

Props: Costume-Archer's Friends

Costume-Archer's Friends

In the start of the film, we see two minor characters, one of whom is played by Diviya and the other is played by me and are both friends of Archer who are the last to leave his birthday party. Both of the girls wear casual clothing, one of the girls wears a bluejumper/hoodie and a pair of jeans and pumps and the other wears a band hoodie, shorts and tights and a pair of converse pumps. These costumes imply that these two girls are just average teenagers and because they are not in the shot for very long, they do not play an important role in the film, only to contrast the party setting with the first shot of the eerie river and the event yet to take place.

Party props (photo to follow)

This scene is made to look like the end of a party or social gathering. In this section of the film archers friends are just leaving after having celebrated his birthday. In order to allow the audience to make the connection between the characters and understand what’s happening, some simple party props were scattered about the set. Balloons, sweets, cans, bottles, sweet rappers and confetti from party poppers were placed within the shot to set the scene.

Lounge room – Chosen setting location

The scene where archer first receives the gift was filmed in the health and beauty reception area within collage. This location was chosenbecause we needed a room that represented a front room interior and this wasthe best available place. We were hoping to film in someone’s home but unfortunatelywe were unable to do so. So it was decided to film this scene within collage. Out of the list of possible rooms we gathered this was the one that bestrepresented the scene we were trying to create. However there we some notedproblems with filming in this location, one of the problems we encountered withfilming in this location was we had students walking through the set often whichmade it difficult to film. Another problem with this location was we wanted tobe respectful to the people in the reception area which meant we couldn’t betoo loud or take up too much room this meant that there was very little room inthe camera shot giving the characters less room to move.

List of possible filming locations for the living room scene

Before filming this scene we discussed as a group thepossible rooms we could use in collage. Below is a list of possible rooms andthe pros and cons for why each room would work as a possible filming location.

1.      Study base library within collage (photo tofollow)

Pros: the seats could be arranged to give the impression it’sa living room

Cons: the room is open plan making it obvious that it’s notthe inside of someone’s house. The chairs don’t look like what you’d typicallyhave in a living room.

2.      Seating area within collage (photo to follow)

Pros: the seating area uses sofas and coffeetables which could perfectly represent a living room.

Cons: the room is not enclosed and verybusy which means you would likely get unwanted sound feedback from the diningarea.

3.      Social area in Eastgate collage building (phototo follow)

Pros: there’s a seating area that couldrepresent a lounge area

Cons: there is a large window on the wallthat would have to be part of the shot, this could be a problem as the settingout side shows the location has changed and we want to make it look as though it’sbeen filmed in the same setting.

4.      Health and beauty reception area (photo tofollow)

Pros: the area is quieter than the previousrooms. Also the waiting area looks very ‘homley’ because of the plants andpicture frame.

Cons: the room is filled with cabinets displayingbeauty products and health magazines it’s important we don’t have these areas ofthe room in the shot, this gives use less room to film in.

Prop photo-Party drinks

Party Drinks Photos

This image shows the two cans of Diet Coke we intended to use as props in the first part of our two minute film which characters could be drinking, as Archer's birthday party has just finished. The drinks set the scene as they show it is just a normal birthday party and everything is fine until Archer receives the gift.

Character profile of the sister ( May require amendments )

In the original story this character is played by Archer’s mom but the script was altered so that this character could be played by someone younger. We decided as a group to change the character from a single mum to an older sister. Rose still plays the same role as the mother would have so this amendment made no difference to the film plot.

Character Profile: Rose (archer’s older sister)

Name: Rose
Age: 18
Date of birth: 14th August 1999
Occupation: First year university Student
Family: Archer (younger brother)
Mother and father (not present in the first two minutes of the film)
Character status in film: this character only plays a small part in the film and is not significant in the overall plot.
Description: long blonde /brown hair, blue eyes,
Hobbies: backing, shopping, watching movies, socialising with friends.
Clothing: Casual clothing: jeans, top, jacket, converse

About this character: Rose fits the stereo-type of a typical girl her age. She spends her time working, out socialising with friends or at home watching over her younger brother. She bickers with her brother archer because she’s usually responsible for watching over him whilst their parents are out. Although she is generally a good role model because she works hard she’s too self-obsessed with her own life to notice what’s taking place in archer’s life. Prior to the films events, both Rose and her brother had a normal life. In the film they are both celebrating Archers birthday although there is a slight sense of disappointment as their parents could not be at the party, leaving archer feeling slightly let down and rose a little annoyed that she’s homeward bound and has to stay home to watch over her brother. Although she’s more mature she’s a little naive as she is the one who hands her brother the cursed gift, probable thinking it’s a prank from one of his troublesome friends. For the most part she has little to do with her brother and when he retires to his room she stays down stairs to tidy up.

2 minute story board

This is the rough story board for our 2 minute film. I included illustrations of the scenes as well as shot types, audio and the character's script.