Evaluation- Finished Film

This is our finalised finished opening scene to our thriller/horror film.

Planning - Emily Preliminary CourseWork

Evaluation: Character Representation

Evaluation- What kind of media institution would distribute your film?

Evaluation- Who would be the target audience for your film?

As a group we decided that our exact target audience for our film would be British Urban White Teenage Males/Females. We chose this particular target audience after conducting our demographic research.

During research we found that statistics have shown that the most popular age group to watch horror movies was between 18-24. Therefore we have aimed our film at this particular age group, as we know the film will attract mainly that group.

For deciding what gender to attract we conducted secondary research that showed women where the most likely gender to watch horror movies. However, this was only slightly more than men. Therefore we felt it was necessary to target both women and men in our film.

For the region, the film would be suitable for people who live in the same area the film was set in, so East London. However, the film could also be watched by people in the UK as a whole.

Our film does not address race as after conducting research there is not one prominent race that watches horror films.

Evaluation- What I have learnt Emily Tufano

Evaluation- Target audience research summary

Overall through our Survey monkey questionnaire and interviews we have found what the audience liked and did not like, what we could have done better and changes that could have been made.

By looking at our research through Survey monkey and interviews we have found that more than half of people said that our opening scene was good/very good. With only one person saying our film was bad. By looking at the results most people stated the correct genre for our film, this indicates that we portrayed the aspects of a horror thriller correctly. The audience also liked the music we used in the opening scene with 50% agreeing that our music was acceptable for our film. We also asked the question 'Did you think the setting of our film was in the right area?' 40% of people agreed.

Through survey monkey we asked the question 'Do you think we could have made any improvements?' The majority of people said no however some of the audience said that our lighting could have been improved and that in some parts the music was too loud over the actors. Over all most people enjoyed our opening scene. Therefore in order to make our film better we could have had better lighting and made sure the actors voices could be heard clearer.

What the target audience research did for our group was it gave us an insight to what the viwers thought of our film and if we had made a good film. While looking back on our work and reflecting on the research we could see what the audience thought we could have improved therefore giving us advice for future projects.

If we were able to do the film over again we would make some changes with the continuity of our film and we may add more effects such as a split screen. We would also make sure the actors where speaking clearly. These are the changes that we discovered from the target audience research.

Evaluation- Podcast- Target audience

Evaluation- Emily Tufano Evaluation write up

 Who would be the target audience for your media product?

As a group we came to the decision that our horror film would be best suited for young adults (15-24). We came to this conclusion because after carrying out demographic research the age group which watched Horror films the most was among 18-24 with the ages of 15-17 coming in a close second.

Also our film contains scenes of violence therefore we felt it was appropriate to make the film a certificate 15. In addition felt it would be suited for young adults because they would be able to relate to some of the characters in our film. Such as most young adults like drinking and sex, for that reason we have incorporated this into our film as Donald tries to get Shelly drunk and he tries it on with her.  Our film is aimed at both genders.  After conducting secondary research we found that there is only a small gap between women and men who are more likely to watch a horror film. Therefore we thought it was best to aim our film at both genders as both men and women would enjoy the film. To attract men we added violence, shown in the murder scene between Shelly and Sandra. We also made Donald into the typical teenage boy obsessed with drinking and girls. This should attract men as statistics show they like violence and they may be able to relate to Donald’s character. On the contrary to attract women we used role reversal, shown where Sandra has power over Donald. This would empower women and make them feel like they are not always perceived as the typical naive girl.

There is not a specific region for our film, however we feel young adults from East London would benefit more as this is where the film was set, although any British young adult would enjoy the film. Lastly race, after conducting research there seemed to be no significant race that watched Horror films more. Therefore our film can be watched by any race.

How did you attract/ address your audience?

In order to attract/ address our audience we used a variety of research methods. By carrying out research we were able to find out what types of horror films people liked and what age group best liked horror films. We carried out a questionnaire in the local shopping centre to gather information about what types of horror films people like to watch and what age group watched them the most. By doing this we found out that thriller was the most favourite genre followed by romance. And the age group was 18-24. The research was very helpful as it gave us an insight to what types of horror films people where watching and what age group to aim our film at. By gathering this knowledge we were able to apply what viewers liked to our film.

Once our film was completed we uploaded it to Facebook, where our friends could watch the film and give feedback about their likes and dislikes. This is a non biased way on gathering feedback as there was a variety of people watching our film and they all gave their individual opinion. We also used YouTube to attract our audience as it is free and easy to upload videos. Using the information gathered we came up with the plot of our film. By having the first scene set by school lockers we hoped it would engage the young adults as school is a familiar place to them. We also used typical stereotypes that would be able to attract our specific audience such as the vulnerable naive girl and the typical teenage boy.

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

 Throughout the process of making our film I have learnt numerous skills ranging from using the camera to adding non diegetic music to our film. Using the camera for the first time was quite tricky during the preliminary I picked up the skills for what each buttons function was. I also learnt how to use the tripod; this made my filming more stable. By the time we started filming I was confident in using different shots and angles using the tripod and the camera.

 Other technologies used by our group were YouTube; we frequently used YouTube to research thriller opening clips and sound tracks. We have also used programmes such as Premier, we used this to upload and edit our film, and we could also add music and graphics. I have never used premier before, however it was easy to pick up.  Celtx was another programme we used; this programme was used to create a script, story board and master catalogue. As I have never used this before it took time to use however I picked up the skills eventually. Microsoft and Facebook were technologies that I have already used so it was quick and convenient. Finally, Blogger was one of the main technologies we used during the construction it enabled us to upload our work and it was free for the public to look at our work. Blogger was easy to navigate so it was easy to use.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our film focused mainly on gender and age representation. We focused on these two particularly because we thought our audience would be able to relate to these the majority of our viewers where young adults. In our media product we showed gender representation through each of our characters. Liam who plays Donald was portrayed as the typical male. He had power over both of the other female characters and he had a higher authority. We showed this by Donald taking power and making Shelly drink alcohol even though she had refused. Gender representation was also shown through Shelly’s character as she fits the stereotype of the typical teenage girl. Shelly was subservient to Donald and let him take control of the situation. She was also very naive as she believed Donald had her round to revise. In contrast Emily’s character Sandra did not fit the usual stereotype this is known as role reversal.  Sandra has power over both Shelly and Donald. On the other hand she does conform slightly to the stereotype as she kills Shelly out of revenge because she fancies Donald and is jealous. All of the characters in our film are portrayed as teenagers and therefore representation of these characters are extremely important to the film. Youths are seen by society as being people who are violent, like to get drunk and have sex. We portrayed this stereotype in our film by having the characters drink and by adding a violent attack.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

As our film is an independent film it would not be shown in the big mainstream cinemas such as Vue and Oden as we would not have the finance. To start off I would put our film on YouTube as it is the cheapest and quickest way to get our film noticed.

The next step would be small independent cinemas which are usually found in areas such as Soho or film institutions such as Film 4, the UK film council and the BBC. The UK film association support upcoming directors’ by funding their film in order to attract a wider audience.  Film 4 shows and produce a large number of British films such as ‘This is England’. Finally, the BBC produces many feature films and is committed to finding new talents. However if the film was a great success with Film 4, I could consider going to big producers such as Vue or international producers, so the film could go international. This would be the best achievement for the film as it will gain a lot of popularity and money. For my film I would consider approaching all of these institutions, so that my budget would be covered. 

 

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 my preliminary task I feel as if I have improved immensely with regards to my time management, filming and editing. From the preliminary task up to the final film I have looked back at my work and realised I have made a vast improvement on filming. During the preliminary I was new to using the camera and tripod therefore some of my shots where rather unstable. However, after some practice by the time it came to film the final product I was much more confident and was able to film well using the camera and tripod. Secondly, while filming the preliminary I learnt that you cannot film directly into sunlight as you will not be able to see the actor’s faces. As a result, when filming our actual piece I made sure there was never direct sunlight.

Something else we learnt from our preliminary task was to always take more than one shot of a scene. While filming our preliminary we had a lot of continuity issues, which were very time consuming as we had to re film. Therefore, when filming the final product we made sure we took a few takes for each shot. By doing this we were not set back as we had other footage to rely on.

My editing has come a long way since the preliminary task. Looking back I was unsure about what tools where available on Adobe Premier; however by the editing of our final product I could add effects much more easily. Lastly, I have been able to manage my time more as I realised that a lot of time needs to go into the blog, to assure that I can get the best possible grade.

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

In many thriller films camera shots and angles are used to capture tense moments, reveal facial expressions and create suspense. In our film we used many camera shots and angles which are commonly used in thriller films. Such as Point of view, high angles, low angle, close up, extreme close up. 
 In our film we used non diegetic and diegetic sound. This is commonly used in thrillers as it can make a scene more suspenseful as non diegetic sound can add instant suspense. With a thriller genre its aim is to make people jump. Therefore by incorporating non diegetic music into our film it will build anticipation for the viewer. Diegetic sound is used in thrillers to emphasise and add effect it could be a punch or a slamming of a door. We have diegetic sound in our film for the same reason; to create effect.
 Mise en scene consists of lighting, costumes, props and space. This is very important as the audience will be able to tell through costume and props what type of film it is. In our film we used low key lighting, which is where the subject is not fully lit; this will add suspense and mystery. This can be shown in our film where Sandra is at the top of the stairs. Low key lighting is used to create tension. We used alcohol bottles and knife for props as well as others. We used these to live up to the stereotype of teenagers and alcohol. We used the knife to show the viewers how the victim was killed.
I believe our film challenges the conventions of a real media product because usually it is the men who have power over women. However our film Sandra has power over Donald and Shelly as Sandra is the one who is the killer. However, this is also challenging the genre because usually when a woman has power in a film it is due to sexual objectification, whereas in our film the villain is not sexually objectified. On the other hand we did follow the typical genre pattern as Donald is portrayed as a typical teenage boy who has the power over Shelly. We also followed the genre pattern by showing Shelly as the vulnerable, naive and weak as she ended up dead in the end.

Evaluation- Podcast- Reflection of our film

Construction- Adding Non Diegetic Music

Adding non diegetic music from eleaas1

Construction- Reflection

After school we went back to Liams house to refilm some of the film. It did not take as long as last time as we knew what needed to be filmed. We filmed the following scenes again:

• Drinking scene with Donald and Shelly  
• Sandra entering the house
• The killing scene

We had to film these again so we could get different types of shots and angles. Such as close ups of the drink and POV shots of Sandra entering the house.

The filming has all be finished now and all that is left is to edit.

Construction- Reflection

In today lesson we finished the slideshares on adding non diegetic music and on adding title graphics. These tasks were fairly easy once we recalled all the steps and put them in order.

 

Construction - Adding Title Graphic

Construction - Adding title Graphics

Construction - Podcast - Working with camera

Constructions - Reflections

Tuesday 29th January, was our second day of filming. We filmed the beginning section of our thriller. This was set by the lockers in the school common room. We chose this destination as school lockers are associated with school and is a common meeting point for students.

It took us around 45 minuets to film this section. It started with Shelly opening her locker and donald going over and asking if Shelly wanted to revise with him that following evening at his house. At first Shelly was hesitant but after reassurance she agreed. This was filmed within a few takes. We decided to take a close up of Donald speaking and of Shelly as well as a medium shot of the conversation.

We then filmed Sandra standing across the common room looking intently at Shelly and Donald. We could not film this whole section because we needed people to be in the common room. Therefore later during this week we plan to film during lunch or break.

Construction- Making use of theory

Todorov Theory states that all films should have a narrative. A narrative is where there is a connection between events, such as a beginning, middle and end. There are five stages the narrative can progress through.

Firstly, a state of equilibrium (all is as it should be). In our film we can see a state of equilibrium because the first few scenes show Donald and Shelly talking by the lockers about their plans for that following evening. However, we can also see Sandra (Donald’s stalker) looking in on the conversation distressed, as she clearly wants to be the one going to Donald’s house. The next few scenes of Shelly entering Donald’s house keeps the state of equilibrium.

However a disruption starts to occur, as the viewers see Shelly entering Donald’s house, in the back of the shot we can see Sandra standing outside the house. This is the second stage of the narrative process. The following disruption that occurs in the middle of the film is where Sandra kills Shelly in the bathroom.

The third stage of the theory is where there is a recognition that the disorder has occurred. This can be shown when Donald goes to the bottom of the stairs looking for Shelly and instead sees Sandra at the top of the stairs with a knife; covered in Shelly’s blood. This shows that Donald has realised what has happened and that there has been a disruption in the equilibrium.

As this is only the opening sequence we cannot reach the full five stages. However if we continued the film the stages would have been completed because in an attempt to restore the damage of the disruption caused by Sandra. Sandra would have to pay for what she did to Shelly. Therefore there would be a slow restoration to a new equilibrium which could have been Donald moving on with his life.

Construction - Reflections

 Saturday 26^th January, was our groups first day of filming. We started by filming the second scene set at Donald’s house. Throughout the day we took numerous shots covering different angles of each scene. We filmed Shelly entering Donald’s house and the events following up to Shelly being killed, which where Donald pressuring Shelly to drink, instead of revising.

We filmed each section around 3 times to make sure we had the best camera angle and shot. Some scenes took longer to film such as the killing scene in the bathroom as we had to make it look as realistic as possible also we had to use fake blood which took time to put on Shelly, the knife and the walls.

We all took turns in filming specific scenes. Shelly approaching Donald’s house was filmed by Liam. Shelly entering Donald’s house and the drinking scene was filmed by Emily. Shelly going entering the bathroom was filmed by Liam as was the killing scene. And finally Donald at the bottom of the stairs was filmed by Louise.

Over the next week we plan to complete filming. We have two more scenes to complete. Our opening scene which will be set in school, by the lockers and secondly, the flash back of Donald rejecting Sandra, which we plan to film in the drama studio.

Planning - Story Board