Evaluation Activity 4: What would be the audience of your media product?

Our target audience would be young adults.

As young adults, they could have a wide range of different tastes, but most young adults do tend to like horror films, as they are funny to watch and when watching them in big groups, creates something easy that everyone can do.

Ideally, they wouldn't be too scared of horror's otherwise the content of the film would lead them to think the film was a poor production.

They would listen to a wide range of music, the people in the photos above would like Heavy Metal, Rock, Pop and Musical Soundtracks.

They would probably shop at places like HMV, or clothes shops such as Topshop/Topman ETC.

 

They would watch out film as it is reminiscent of Scream, a well known horror film, only with a supernatural element added.

 

Evaluation Activity 2: How does your media product represent particular social groups?

 

 

Alessa (Silent Hill) VS The Killer (Our Film)

 

 

• In Silent Hill, Alessa pulls a mother and her daughter into the alternate dimension called Silent Hill, where there is a town of people who practive medieval style sacrifices. Our killer takes her victims to an alternate dimension and then kills them there, this is one of the similarities.
• Both are females and have a supernatural ability, which is something that you see quite a lot in horror films.
• Both kill their victims in unpleasant ways. Alessa kills her victime by wrapping them in barbed wire, and ours kills them by slitting their throat and throwing their corpse off of a high platform.
• Both look young.
• One of the differences between the characters is that Alessa pulled the mother and daughter there so that she could be freed from being a spirit, and get revenge on the people that sacrificed her when she was a little girl, but our Killer kills people because she wants to, and has the urge to do so.

 

The Victim (Our Film) VS Casey Becker (SCREAM)

 

• Both characters are home alone in the beginning scenes of their films.
• Both characters walk around their houses before meeting the killer.
• Both characters interact with a scary movie in some way or another.
• They are both killed in the oepning scenes of their films.
• The difference is that my character never truly interacts with the killer before he is killed, but Casey talks to the killer on the phone, who taunts her about murdering her boyfriend.
• And the difference in gender, usually it is a girl/woman who is killed in the opening scene's of a horror film. 



Evaluation Activity 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (i.e. of film openings)

 

 
1.  This shot helps to establish the location of our flim by showing the outside of the house, and that it's dark outside, this helps to emphasise the change in dimension that our film is supposed to have. As when we shoot the alternate dimension, the light was obstructed by clouds and it was beginning to get dark, which made a washed out pale effect.
2. We filmed this shot by putting the camera inside of the fridge and facing the victim, we wanted to build suspense by showing the victim acting normal and doing things that people do everyday, as this helped to build tension, as the audience didn't know when the victim was going to be attacked. The shot worked very as well, as it fit in with the stereotypical, conventional shots that you usually see in horror films.
3. We used a few props in out opening two minutes, but the only one that is actually seen properly on screen is a glass that the victim drinks from. Before this, we see the victim filling the glass with water. We used this close up to emphasise the normality of the characters action, helping the audience to relate to the character, and think that this could happen to anyone. We also hoped that this would help the audience to sympathise with the character, as everyone has been home alone and though they heard a noise in their house.
4.  We used this font for our title as we wanted to break the convention of using blood splatter fonts and other's like that as it made the film seem slightly cheesy. We put this at the end of the opening scene as then we could really create suspense and build an atmosphere without having to stop for the title
5. The opening sets up the story by creating a tense atmosphere, and slowly building up to where the victim is killed. Although the 'main character' of the opening scene is killed, it didn't give too much away with the actual plot of the film, as it is never explicitly mentioned that they are taken to an alternate dimension, it is only shown through the editing and colour of the death scene.
6.  The film starts off with me, the victim, asleep with a scary film on the tv. I get waken up by the loud scream in the film, the fact that my character was asleep suggests that he is bored by horror films, and that he knows they are completely fake. Which ironically, ends up with me being killed. Abbie's character, the killer, is introduced as she walks towards the victims house.
7. We decided to inlude the clip of our film institution's opening, as it made the film seem more authentic and real, it also helped to set up that the film is a horror, as Twisted Pictures are a well known horror film distributor.
8. We used special effects such as a crash zoom, which helped create the atmosphere of an alternate dimension. It also made the frame look unstable and as if you don't know if the victim is going to fall off the roof or not.
9. Our film fits in with the genre of horror films, as it meets the convention of having a character die in the first scene, which helps to set up the story and the rest of the film. We used things such as fake blood and special effects to help emphasise the supernatural side of horror's, whilst also using things like a glass and keys to show the normality of the film.

 

Feedback

R&P = 7
Production = 32
Evaluation = 0

Total = 39 F

Targets:
Complete evaluation activities
Audience profiling posts are needed - ensure you explain how you intend to appeal to the target audience in your opening 2 minutes.
Storyboard
Photos of locations, costumes and props. along with explanations as to why they are appropriate.

There is a lot to do George. You must work hard to get this all completed as you are in real danger of not passing this side of the course.

Opening Two Minutes

Opening Two Minutes Script

Sound Effect []-camera movement ()-stage directions {}-other directions not involving a character

 

No Sympathy for the Dead

[George sits in an arm chair; the TV is on and of a violent film]

George: *gasps*

(He sits up and composes himself)

*breaths heavily out*

(Slump’s back in his chair, He tries to turn the TV off)

*groans*

(He stands up, and moves towards the TV and throws himself to the floor)

*mumble*

“How to turn this thing off?”

(He rides his hand along the edges of the TV to turn it off, he turns presses the button)

Click Click Click

{TV scene is getting louder and quicker}

“Turn off….”

(Pressing the button numerous times He sits back up; gritting his teeth he crawls behind the TV)

“ piece of sh(TV switches off)”

{We see the image on the TV disappear}

(He lifts himself off the floor moves into the next room towards the kitchen)

[Living room is dimly lighted]

(He turns on the kitchen lights)

[Camera from inside the fridge films him]

(He glances through the fridge moving items, he settles on a drink)

[He moves toward the hallway so his face is up close with the camera]

(He appears suspicious, he goes upstairs)

*Creak* (staircase)

[Camera follows him upstairs past his sister bedroom, the light is on]

(He goes to the bathroom and brushes his teeth; there is no toothpaste so he goes through the shelves, with no success he go to his sister)

Our house is falling apart seriously, first the TV no

(He stops talking and goes to back out the room unaware that she is dead)

[The camera shows an over the shoulder shot of the body showing George in the back ground]

(He turns of her light)

Or not

(He goes back to the bathroom)

{The tap is dripping}

[Facing him as if the camera is the mirror]

(He walks out and goes to his room)

[Shows him from the end of the corridor walking towards his room]

{Door creeks behind him}

Creek

(He gets changed into his P.J’s and turns the lights off; as he turns to walk towards his bed he can hear someone on the other side of the door)

{A shadow under door}

(He presses his ear up to the door, then pulls the door open)

[From the end on the corridor at a high-angel shot making him look venerable]

* Laughs at himself *

(he walks towards the bed and is dragged, when he reaches the step he crawls back but is yet again dragged back)

(He sits up and is kicked backwards so he falls backwards so he’s leaning on the door)

[Over the shoulder shot]

(Abbie grabs George by the neck and lifts him up; George grabs her hands in attempt to release himself)

(George scratches Abbie’s faces, to which she drops him)

Abbie: * scream *

(Abbie grabs her face)

[George crawl out his bedroom and escapes down the hall]

(George throws boxes on the floor to block the path)

[George is now in his sister’s room, its dark so you cannot see anything]

George: * panting *

(George turns on the light, he has his back to the door, and he takes a moment to breath, and then quickly moves to wake up his sister)

George: you need to wake up there someone

(He rolls her body towards him to find out she’s dead, he falls back in shock)

* Abbie’s foots steps show she’s getting closer *

(George wipes his face to wake himself up and runs to the books case to retrieve a torch)

George: ok, just move.

(George exits the room and onto the roof)

{Lighting from room lights up the roof, its windy}

(After closing the window George backs away from the window and realizes he will have to get off the roof)

[Panning, following George pacing back and forth contemplating jumping off the roof whilst muttering to himself]

George: no, I’m not doing it, no, no

[George paces towards the camera into a close up]

(he’s on the floor lowering himself down muttering to himself)

[close up on Abbie’s hand grabbing Georges leg]

[showing George from the side]

(George gets dragged off the roof)

sounds of George bodying falling off the roof

{everything goes silent, apart from the sounds of the wind and the tree’s}

(Abbie’s exit)

Casino Royale Opening Analysis

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJubOZLpp4A

 

Casino Royale

 

The opening of Casino Royale immediately captures the audience with the action sequence that kicks off the beginning of the film. The exotic setting confirms that this bond film will be just as international and big budget as the others, with the crowd of extra's and fighting of the animals adding to the appalling conditions of the setting. As the chase goes on, we then see Heavy machinery operating as Bond is chasing after a villain, after a few seconds, he knocks through a building and a fence riding one of the vehicles. Attractive cast members in the beginning make the women slightly morelikely to take notice of the film. It wouldn't be a bond film without the bond themem playing in the opening scene, and this film is no different, but the music builds until the climax, with the all too familiar tune playing loudly.  The scenes move fast and the action get's more and more hyped up until the climax, ensuring that the audience are captivated from start to finish. The death's of minor characters like policeman enhance the feel of danger, making the audience think that Bond might not survive this encounter. The villain in the film is black, and the hero is white, attracting the causcasian audience without repelling the black audience, as the opening is set in a country where mostly black people live. The c

Feedback

Research and Planning: Level 1 7/20
There is basic research into similar products
There is basic organisation of actors
There is a good level of care in the presentation of research and planning

To progress, you must update your blog. There is a lot missing:
Storyboard
Photos of your locations, costumes and props
Audience profiling posts examining who goes to see similar films to yours.
You MUST complete this as a matter of urgency

Music - Garage Band

 

When we create the music for our film, we are going to use the music software Garage Band. This software will help us to compose our won music, with the use of virtual instruments and non copyright track loops giving us the perfect way to create the tracks.

 

 

We don't want to use too many different sounds in our film, as that will take away from what is happening on screen. We hope to create an ambient feel to build suspense, such as the ones used in the Scream franchise, and Paranormal Activity.

 

 

The project type we will create our soundtrack under will be Songwriting, as we are composing a brand new piece of music to go with the film. We will then set the tempo, and start to decide what components we will be using to build the soundtrack, and try and set it up with the rest of the film.

Filming Practice "What are you doing here?"

We were given the task of taking three different shots in three different locations using the phrase "What are you doing here?".

Our first location was outside using a bench and a table, I said to Abbie "What are you doing here?" with Abbie walking into each of our shots, we also used two over the shoulder shots.

Our second location was in the library, with me hiding behind a display board and Abbie saying "What are you doing here? and me then disappearing back behind the board. Our next shot was a high angle shot of the same scenario. We then had a panning shot from Abbie to myself, and a close up shot of me hiding behind a bookshelf.

Our third location was a set of the stairs and we had the camera following abbie before she said "What are you doing here?" we also had me comning up behind her and whispering it in her ear.

We found this excercise helpful, as it helped us to think about the different camera angles we are going to use for our opening.

Actors:

Everyone in our group will be taking part in our Media, with me taking the lead role and Abbie playing the killer. Jasmine will be playing my family member, and Hannah will be another family member.

We will be using prosthetics (designed by Abbie) to show that Jasmine is dead.

Editing Software - iMovie

We've decided to edit our opening two minutes with iMovie as we all have experience with using the software. Our preliminary task was created using iMovie, and it worked succesfully with the footage we had. It can easily insert captions and opening credits as well, and we can apply music and effects very easily.

Camera

 

The camera we are going to use for filming is the Nikon D3100, the main reason is because the camera has a HD setting, which means our opening two minutes will look clearer, and will make for a more efficient film. With 14 Megapixel and 1080p HD we hope the camera will produce the same amount of good quality images that we used in our preliminary task.

 

The camera is easy to use, so everyone involved will be able to take part in the filming process. The camera comes with a remote, which means that all four of us can appear in the opening.