Evaluation

1. In what way does your media project use, develop, or challenge forms and conventions of media products?
I think our project uses generic conventions for a horror movie, like darkness. In the scene where Kate is attacked by Scarlett the lighting is very dim. This scene also makes it easy to tell who is the victim and the villain. Again in the first scene like a horror movie, there is blood and screaming.
It challenge generic conventions because it tones the horror genre slightly down, so to not be as scary and gory as and certificate 18 would be, because it’s a 15. Also horror movies normally go straight into a normal setting and atmosphere whereas ours shows you the main idea and plot of the film within the first minute.
The theme of psychological horror shows through in the way that Scarlett reads her books and has the old symbol paper. To learn a little about this, I watched films such as the Exorcist, Rosemary’s Baby and The Omen. Also, because the scene of the family in the kitchen is such a normal day to day thing, it couldn’t be a vampire or monster genre because that wouldn’t happen; the setting wouldn’t be like that.

The title sequence to Se7en was an inspiration, as that has quick cuts of different things. It is quite fast and shaky, as we intended ours to be.

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
All the characters and actors in our film are female, therefore there is no stereotypical dominant male but there is a passive female, Kate. Our film challenges stereotypes in the way that Scarlett is an aggressive girl, possessed and going ahead to hurt her own family. However Kate and the mother are represented stereotypically. For example the mother making breakfast, and Kate being passive and sweet throughout.
Our target audience is from 15 to 35 year olds of both sexes. Because it is a horror, both sexes will want to see and enjoy the film, although with an all female cast, it may appeal to females in other ways.

3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
I think our film could be produced by a major Hollywood studio because it is slightly similar to other existing products, this way you know there is a market for our genre. I also think it has a little bit of originality that would make it appealing, like something fresh on the market. A lot of people enjoy horror movies, however there are people that find them too scary, and others that say there is not enough horror in the movie. Our film is similar to the Exorcist, due to quick cuts and lots of screaming and noise.
It would be shown in well known cinema chains such as Vue and Cineworld because lots of people would want to watch it. After it could go onto DVD and Blu-Ray, then after a couple of years be shown on television.
There is an opportunity for merchandising and other products, maybe figurines of Scarlett as the villain. Also posters and soundtracks could be sold as a way of promoting and distributing.

4. Who would be the audience for your media product?
Our target audience is 15-35 year olds of both sexes. There is no particular gender target as horror films appeal to lots of people. The age target is set as it is because people younger than fifteen and older than 35 may not wish to see blood and violence, as this could emotionally upset or disturb them. Another reason for the 35 year old recommendation is the fact that the actors are teenagers, therefore may attract a younger audience, and may not appeal as much as middle aged actors would.
Stigmata is a film also rated with a 15 certificate. The content in Stigmata is similar to our film because of the branding, therefore attracting a similar sort of audience along with it. Both films would attract people interested in demons, and the possession transformation.
http://www.bbfc.co.uk/downloads/pub/Guidelines/BBFC%20Classification%20Guidelines%202009.pdf







5. How did you attract/address your audience?
As the two main characters of the film are teenagers, I think this would attract a younger audience. Along with the point of view shots we have during all the scenes, the younger audience will find it easy to address the more simple situations of the film. Also, older people with the interest in demons and possession, as I have earlier mentioned will be attracted to our film. Overall the audience are pushed to feel for Kate because of the things she is going through and the situation she is in. Especially when she sees the symbols in the book and realizes the truth. With Scarlett being her sister, Kate is stuck in between her safety and well-being and her family. The audience should be scared for Kate as it is unknown what will happen to her. This creates suspense and gets the audience thinking about the plot and further events, and hopefully some understanding.

6. What have you learnt about technology from the process of constructing the product?
To make our film we used a piece of equipment new to us, the Sony HDV 1000. The camera has its own microphone, auto function and brilliant battery life. The microphone made the editing process a lot smoother as we didn’t have to use a separate tape for sound. The auto function meant it was more or less already in perfect focus, and battery life meant we had no annoying interruptions.
The fact we had to carry the heavy camera equipment a long way from college and on public transport was a little bit of an issue. Also because it was rather large along with the tripod, we had trouble fitting it in rooms to get a shot of the entire room.
We also encountered a problem in which we thought one of the tripod legs was broke. This was because before we used the tripod; it had not been put away properly, causing the poles to be out of place. We quickly solved this with a bit of team effort, it also taught us to always check we’d put things away properly.
The programme we used to edit was ‘Final Cut Express’. This seemed overwhelming at first, but when we got used to it it was rather simple. The features and effects we were able to put on certainly added to create mystery and set the scene of our film. For instance, the white and black fading used throughout. Also, when we filmed during the day and the rooms were too bright, we were able to change the contrast and lighting through this programme. We also used this to create our title sequence, as it had lots of options in order for us to be able to create exactly what we wanted. Like the shakiness, and the font, and colours that tied in with our film. The title sequence to Se7en was an inspiration, as that has quick cuts of different things. It is quite fast and shaky, as we intended ours to be.

7. Looking back to your preliminary task, what do you feel that you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
We began planning our film by research into genres. As a group we decided on horror because it sounded like an exciting and interesting thing to go into, especially the research and filming aspects. We also liked the fact we’d be able to play around with it in ways such as themes, setting and lighting. We decided on a theme of psychological horror, and from there planned story lines and script. We looked into the generic conventions and a lot of this was done on the internet. We did a list of shots we planned to use and this came in very handy when we doing the shots, as it made things run a lot smoother, and also saved us a lot of time. Compared to the planning of our preliminary task, this time we went into more detail with things.
Compared to our shot list, in the preliminary task the shots were very limited. It was one of the first filming tasks in our Media lesson and we had a much smaller camera on which to do so. In particular the point of view shots, which helps the audience connect and get into the film a lot more. Like Scarlett looking at the branding on Kate’s back and Kate finding the symbols. Overall I think we had come a long way from our preliminary task, as our actual film was much more planned out, and definitely more professional.












We asked a sample of our target audience to comment on our film. They gave answers such as; intriguing music that linked to the genre of the film because it was a horror, quite confusing at the beginning because you couldn't tell that it was a flash back. Overall intriguing and left quite a good cliffhanger. Good opening sequence, music added to the atmosphere. Camera angles showed which characters were in power. Slow motion text sequence was good. Shaky start, but adds to mystery of horror genre. Non digetic sound was good but digetic sound needed improving. Faded in on moments of tension.
The link to our audience feedback is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUHRidOdyMI