EVALUATION

1) In what way does your media project use, develop, or challenge forms and conventions of media products?
In our film we incorporate genetic conventions such as blood and screaming for example in the first scene, Kate is screaming and panicking and there’s blood from where Scarlett scratches the symbol into Kate’s back. Darkness is a particular generic convention for the Horror genre we chose therefore that’s why we decided to make the room as dark as we could.
I think our film challenges a few of the generic conventions of a horror film as in the way the victim and villain are established straight away in the first scene. We decided to put the scene where Kate gets attacked first and our ‘normal day’ scene afterwards to challenge the regular structure of horror films. We did this to get the audience interested straight away and to keep them watching to find out why it had happened. Our film also challenges the blood and gore usually associated with horror films, although there is blood, there isn’t a lot as we didn’t want to overdo it and make it look too unrealistic.
I think the conventions we have used do indicate that our film is a psychological horror film. This is because of the mysterious mood created in the bedroom by the restlessness of Kate and the darkness and fear created within the scene. Also the fact that the kitchen scene seems like such a normal day makes it less likely to be a vampire or monster horror.
Other films that have influenced our film are films like stigmata. In Stigmata an ordinary young woman is affected by mysterious wounds called Stigmata. A Catholic Priest investigates and discovers this woman may be possessed by someone, or something and a message originating from the time of Jesus Christ. In our film we decided we would have Kate branded with some kind of symbol and also Scarlett, her sister, would be possessed and would be the one that brands her.
In stigmata and our film, blood is seen in both of the opening sequences and this shows that it is a horror film straight away.
The difference is that in stigmata the blood is coming from a statue and in our film the blood is on a real person.

Also in both films, slow motion is used to add to the mysteriousness of what is going on. In Stigmata the slowmotion is happening with the people around the town before anything violent has happened. In our film the possesed person and the branded symbol are in slow motion after the attack.


2) How does your media product represent particular social groups?
In our film there are no males in it however in the scene where Kate is attacked Scarlett takes on a role more suited for a male. She is aggressive and violent and that’s not a way in which females are usually portrayed, therefore challenging the female stereotype. The three girls used as actors in the film are all white working/middle class girls and are portrayed in the way they would be in real life. In the scene in the kitchen the mum seems like a friendly, loving mother and both the girls like normal sisters would be. However when Scarlett snatches the book off Kate that’s when we start to see a different side to her character, the more angry, violent personality portrayed in the bedroom scene.
Our target audience is 15-35 year olds both male and female, Because it is a horror males will want to watch it but I think because it’s female characters it will appeal more to a female viewer.
In the film seven the two characters in the opening sequence are males, which is a similarity to our film as the two characters in out film are of the same sex. One difference is that in seven the two men only know each other through work where as in ours they are sisters.



3) What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
I think out film could be produced by a major Hollywood studio because horror films are loved by many, however some don’t like horror film because they find them too scary. I think our film could be a blockbuster because it isn’t too scary so I think it will appeal to people who have before been too scared to watch some horror films and will appeal to pervious horror film lovers as well so it would get lots of viewers wanting to see it. Our film is similar to the exorcist as it is a psychopath horror that has lots of quick cuts and screaming.
Our film would be shown in cinema chains such as vue or cineworld because I believe it would have lots of people wanting to watch it and there are these cinema chains all over the world. After it would be shown as a TV movie and released on DVD to give people another opportunity to view our film.
I think out film does offer a lot of opportunity for merchandise as do a lot of other horror films such as the exorcist and many others. The villain is the main target for merchandise within out film and lots of posters could be made of our villain and little figures.

4) Who would be the audience for your media product?
The target audiences for our film are male and female aged 15-35. Because it is a horror film and there is blood in it and it is scary, as people get older they don’t like to watch films that will scare them or that are bloody and gory so we put aged up to 35. People that are older than this can watch the film but we put 35 as a recommendation. We also put it as a 35 because the main actors are teenagers so will appeal more to a younger audience.
Stigmata is rated a 15 like our film and because the content of the film is similar with the branding then it will attract a similar audience of both males and females because of the violent nature of the films and also the same age range. Stigmata would attract people who are interested in religion and demons.
Our film wouldn’t be suitable from anyone under 15 because it could be too scary and disturbing for them and could mentally affect them.
http://www.bbfc.co.uk/downloads/pub/Guidelines/BBFC%20Classification%20Guidelines%202009.pdfco.uk/downloads/pub/Guidelines/BBFC%20Classification%20Guidelines%202009.pdf
5) How did you attract/address your audience?
By having teenagers as the main focus of the film, other teenagers watching will be able to relate to them and make them want to watch it. Because the actors in the film are girls then girls will be able to identify more with the characters but also male viewers of a similar age will recognize the actions that are typical of all teenagers.
The part where Scarlett is attacking her sister could terrify younger female viewers because sisters are supposed to have a loving relationship. This could fright some of the less mature viewers, especially with sisters.
This will appeal to families that are watching it as they will understand what a regular family life is like.


There are a lot of shots from Kate’s point of view and this allows the audience to get inside Kate’s head and see what she is seeing.
In this shot the audience are forced to put themselves in the position of Kate as she realises that her sister has been possessed. This automatically makes the audience scared for Kate’s sake and they are terrified of what’s going to happen next because it feels like it’s happening to whoever is watching.
This clip is a hand held shot of Kate looking round her room after she has heard scratching at her door and allows the audience to look at exactly what she is looking at so they can identify with Kate’s feelings. This creates suspense for the audience because they can’t see the rest of the room leaving the viewer in suspense of what else they could possibly see if it was a normal shot

6) What have you learnt about technology from the process of constructing the product?
One weakness on the camera equipment was how big and heavy it was, it was difficult to carry back to my house because it was big and heavy and it was hard not to bang it or damage it.
One strength of the equipment we used was that it was easy to use and it was good quality which made it feel professional.
During the filming process, the tripod caused a problem because it had got stuck so we couldn’t get the leg down and it took a long time to fix it so while one person was doing that we were getting the set ready and make-up etc. so that we weren’t time wasting. Also, we found that in the rooms we were filming, there wasn’t enough room for the camera to get some of the shots we would have liked.
The editing software we used was final cut express because it was be tter than imovie. We uploaded all the shots off a DV player onto the software and made rough cuts and put the shots in order then all we had to do was edit it properly. We used this software to be able to change the colour of the shots so that there was more continuity.
7) Looking back to your preliminary task, what do you feel that you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Firstly we decided we wanted to do a horror, After looking through some books we found of horror films that have been story boarded it helped us realise what kind of shots we needed to create the most tension for example medium shots on facial expressions.
By looking at similar films to ours it also helped us decided which would be the best order to our film to make it run smoothly and also create the most tension for the viewer to stay interested throughout.
From doing our preliminary task it helped us get used to the camera for example how we needed to position it to get everything we needed into one shot. It also helped us get used to doing the same thing over and over again to allow us to get shots from different angles that would cut together properly.
By having practiced shot-reverse-shot.

and match on action,

it made us better at it the second time round and I think we did a good job in our film. I think our end project does

fulfill the task we set out to achieve

We got a sample of our target audience to comment on our film and these are some of the thing they had to say:

We had intriguing music because it linked with horror but it was a little confusing until the end when they realised it was a flashback.

Camera angles were good and showed who was in power and also the slow motion and the text on the title sequence was good.

The title sequence was intruging and the film was scary and intruguing and liked that it ended on a cliffhanger. Heres a link to our audience feedback

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