Evaluation activity 6 - What have you learnt about technologies from the process of contructing this product?

Throughout the project my group and I used a variety of technologies such as iMovie, cameras, blogger and youtube to mp3 downloader.

I have gained many new skills whilst completing my project. Firstly, using Macs. Before this project my only experience using a Mac was having a quick 2 minute click in a shop, not being able to use many of the programmes mainly iTunes. But during my project I have developed my Mac skills now being able to fully utilize the Mac, using programmes such as iMovie.

I have also used Blogger, a blogging website in which anyone can set up their own blog for free. I hav developed my skills on this as at the beginning of my project I had never used it before, but as I have used it alot I have learnt how to use it. Adding multimedia to my posts as well as formatting my blog (background, colours etc). Without Blogger my work wouldn't of been as good as I can include multimedia also it puts all my work one place which is easily accesible.







I have also learnt how to work and use the video camera and corresponding equipment correctly and to my advantage. At the beggining of my project I already had some experience of using tripods as I used them with my camera before when taking pictures so this helped me utilize the tripod. I gained knowledge of using a video camera thorughout my porject as I had never used one before.

Activity 5 - How did you attract/address your audience?

An image of my target audience

My target audience is both boys and girls aged 15 and above. They are likely to have an interest in a variety of film genres but tend to watch the most popular and best looking films with their friends and boyfriend/girlfriend. They will want to watch films that keep them on the edge of their seats, not being able to guess what happens next or what each character will do or what events happen in the film.

We have attracted our target audience as the  main characters are based on our target audience making our film very relevant and easy to relate to. Our target audience may be able to relate our characters to people they know or even themselves. Also the situations and scenarios may be easy to relate to as it's based upon conflict between students in school, very easy to compare it to personal school expereince. Also the use of music in our film will attract our target audience, as our target audience is pretty much my group and I, we used music our target audience enjoy, upbeat hip hop which many teenagers listen to. Out unique selling point is that there aren't many horror films in which the main characters are British teenagers, the closest film to ours is Attack The Block which is a comedy-horror. Also, there are many American horror films that are based on teenagers such as Scream but none set in England.

Evaluation activity 3 - What kind of media institution might distribute your media product & why?

In this section of the evaluation I will be looking at where or how I can distribute my film to my target audience.

Firstly, my film is a low budget independent British film. I believe the way I would want my film to be shown in an independent cinema as they show smaller budget films. I would not want my film in a famous cinema such as the Odeon as they show bigger budget films. The films they show at the moment;

• Arthur Christmas 3D
• Happy Feet 2, 3D
• The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1
• Hugo 3D
• My Week With Marilyn
• Puss In Boots 3D
• New Year's Eve
• A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas
• Another Earth
• Ladies Vs Ricky Bahl

These are all big budget American films. Also as its near Christmas time it's mainly family, comedy, drama and films aimed at children, young people (18+) and the older market (parents) this is because mainly families and those with disposable income visit the cinema as they have more free time during the Christmas holidays. 

In terms of television I feel my film would be suited to channel such as the Horror Channel, again as this is a lower budget channel it would be more likely to show lower budget films. They do show American films but lower budget ones or slightly older ones; 

Horror Channel shows films from 2005 and 2008

I do not think my film would fit in on a high budget channel such as Sky Movies Horror as they show high budget new films;

Also I feel my film would also suit channels such as Film 4 as it often shows lower budget or older horror films such as Saw. 

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



Left: Saw Character                                                                                                                                             Right: My Character 

 This shows the similarities in my character from our opening sequence and a character from the first Saw film. There are many similarities, firstly, these are both victims in the film; they have both been taken to somewhere remote and isolated by an unknown villain. Slight difference is that my character is already dead where as the character in Saw is trapped. Another similarity is the clothes the two charcters are wearing, both in white t-shirts covered in blood. Also their faces are similar in which I mean they both have a pale complexion and and a black eye and they are also similar as they both have messy hair. Finally, the places they're in are very similar. You can see they are remote, all you can see behind them is tiles with blood.

In contrast to this, differences are; firstly, the character fom Saw is older than my character, I'm a teenager and teh character from Saw is in his 30's at least. Another main difference is that my character has been killed and the character from Saw is still alive. Finally, the character from Saw is in reach of a gun whereas mine isn't.

Activity 4 – Who would be the audience for your media product?

Our target audience would be mid teens and upwards (15+) this is because our film would be able to include slightly gore filled scenes and make our film more graphic. I did not specify a gender because at that age it is very common for couples to go see a horror film together. Also younger teens tend to go to the cinema sometimes on a weekly basis so a horror film for this age group could be very popular.

Our target audience typically go to secondary school. They also enjoy going out with friends on the weekend whether it be to a party or to watch a film at the cinema. They enjoy all types of films but ensure they only watch the best films, getting a good laugh out of a comedy or a good scare out of a horror. There is no specific music our ideal target audience would listen as its pretty much open but they would mainly enjoy contemporary music.  

I believe our film would be classified as a 15 as it does not violate the criteria set by the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification).

The specific horror section of the BBFC’s classification of 15 films states; “Strong threat and menace are permitted unless sadistic or sexualised”Our film has a menace but is not shown to be sexualised or sadistic. The BBFC also state;“Violence may be strong but should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury. The strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable. Strong sadistic or sexualised violence is also unlikely to be acceptable. There may be detailed verbal references to sexual violence but any portrayal of sexual violence must be discreet and have a strong contextual justification”Our film meets these criteria as it does not show how the characters die but only shown when they are already dead and not in a gruesome way.

It would be good to aim for this certification, this is because many in our target audience watch 18 certificated films when under 18 but not in the cinema, so ensuring our film is a 15 which enable them to watch it in the cinema.

Activity 1 – In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Activity 1 – In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

 

1) This is the title of the film; it uses the convention of horror films. The conventions of a horror title are that they are normally short, one or two words, to the point and give a clue to the story. In comparison to another horror film, Psycho. This is a classic horror film and the title is short, to the point similar to our title. This title lives up to all the normal horror conventions in terms of a title, its short, to the point, gives away what the story is about and gives a menacing feel to the film. The title “Revenge” gives a menacing feel to the film, gives away roughly what the film is about, short and to the point making it a convention of horror.

2) This frame shows the setting of where the film is. In an abandoned warehouse. The normal convention of horror films is that it is set somewhere remote or isolated. This can be seen in the numerous Saw films. These are normally set in some sort of building which tends to be abandoned. Our film lives up to the conventions of horror as it’s mainly set somewhere remote and isolated, an abandoned warehouse.

3) This frame shows one of the costumes we used. This is the character seen after the establishing shot of the group in the warehouse so this character is seen as the kidnapper. He is seen from behind in just a coat and a hood. This fits in with the horror genre as most villains are hidden until the end of the film, in films such as Scream and Saw, both popular horror films, the villain is seen in a hood without being revealed until the end of the film.

4) This frame highlights the camera work we did. This shot show how my character, Roman, was introduced. We used a piece of acrylic (plastic) in front of the camera lens to make it look like I was looking into a mirror.

5) Frame 5 shows the title font and style we used in our opening sequence. The style of font we used was bold and it was red on a black background. This ensures our opening sequence fits in with the conventions of real horror films, this can be seen in another horror film; Dawn of The Dead. This film in the horror genre also uses big bold red writing ensuring our film fits in with horror conventions.

6) This frame shows how the opening helps set up the story. This shows Molly getting ready for a party and the party is where the group end up being captured. This is a convention of horror films and can be seen in Scream 4, as there are two friends getting ready to go out to where they’re murdered. This is a convention as many horror films mislead the audience into a false sense of security before something bad happens, and we have done this as we used upbeat music as well as us getting ready for a party giving off a positive vibe.

7) This frame shows how our opening sequence suggests a genre; this frame shows the genre of horror as we have used a rather graphic way to portray that my character has been brutally murdered. This uses the convention of real horror films as the first character to die is never shown how they die they are normally found dead which is what we have done in our opening sequence.

8) Frame 8 shows how our characters are introduced. We decided to introduce our characters by placing their names somewhere in the shot for example on Molly’s back, Roman’s mirror & Bart’s rolling paper.

9) Frame 9 shows the special effects we used. In this shot we used slot motion of Bart’s cigarette hitting the floor. This use a convention of horror films, many horror films use slow motion to show something significant. We decided to show the cigarette dropping in slow motion because smoking can connote death and as a character was going to die we thought to use the cigarette as a clue.