Question 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

We have now uploaded our movie to Youtube to allow for some quick feedback and also to see whether it has successfully appealed to our target audience.  Our video can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RtH0oiBerk

The Youtube annotations highlight the conventions of the genre and explain the characters, plot and setting.  By sticking to these forms and conventions of popular films of the genre; we have hopefully appealed to audiences that enjoy horror movies, especially those mentioned to be most influential.



The characters in our movie (teenagers) are suited to audiences of similar ages as they will relate to them.  The conventions we followed have resulted in our movie fitting the horror genre very well which has drawn attention from audiences fond of the thrills of a good horror movie.  Our soundtrack is arguably our strongest device and is best appreciated with good sound-system. For these reasons I think our movie would make a very good 'date movie' (mainly teenagers) for cinemas and even home cinemas.

After having our sequence on the YouTube for 2 days, these demographics show that it is very popular with male audiences and of ages 18 - 24, successfully reaching our target audience.

Evaluation question 1

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

Conventions that our product follows and where they were sourced:

• Ominous soundtrack - Halloween/The Thing (John Carpenter)
• The titles - The Thing (John Carpenter)
• The enigma - Jaws (Steven Spielberg)
• The antagonist - Halloween
• The Setting - Eden Lake (James Watkins)
• The 'Final girl' - Halloween

The Soundtrack

The soundtrack we created for the sequence was very much inspired by John Carpenter's work; simplistic and repetitive.  For this we used GarageBand's on-screen keyboard feature to compose a grand piano score inspired by a soundtrack of Halloween. This was accompanied by a very deep 'throb' soundeffect similar to The Thing's opening sequence.  This made for a ominous, disturbing theme which indicates to the audience that something is about to happen; a popular device of horror movies to build suspense and tension.  Below are the soundtracks mentioned above in descending order: Halloween and The Thing.

The Titles

The titles were designed to be very plain; white on black, to conform to the conventions of a horror film; examplified in the opening of The Thing shown above.  The titles needed to be in capitals, fade-in and fade-out smoothly and the order of appearance was based on those of The Thing and Jaws.  The opening sequenceto Jaws can be found here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8SnZmUjhAA (embedding disabled)

The Enigma

The enigma we decided was going to be 'who is the man in the forest?' But after getting some early feedback from audiences the most common question was actually 'what happened to the couple?'.  By choosing to cut the murder scene from the sequence we have unintentionally altered the enigma, but an enigma nonetheless.  This has therefore challenged the form of the enigma as the fate of the characters' are of greater importance to the audience than the motives of the killer.

The Antagonist

The 'killer' we designed was based on Michael Myres of Halloween.  As you can see below the similarities are quite remarkable.

• Costume: plain; black/grey
• Props: A white mask - to hide his identity
• Weapon of choice: a kitchen knife - convention of the slasher sub-genre

The noteale differences between the two are obvious age/height; our actor was younger and shorter than Michael Myres; played by Tony Moran.  The mask we used was semi-transparent, had blackened eyes and drops of blood instead of Michael's plain white, full face mask - this was because we didn't want him to be mistaken as a copy-cat killer of Michael; we wanted something slightly original.

The Setting


The setting we chose was a secluded country park with a lake.  This was inspired by the setting of Eden Lake as well as one scene from Zodiac.  The lake is used as a point of interest for the couple and is associated with relaxed, calm and romantic emotions making the nature of the murder scene more dramatic and shocking.  A comparison between these examples and our own setting is that it had snowed the night before our shoot, giving our sequence a unique look.  Below is a shot from our sequence (top) and from Eden Lake (below) showing the similarities and differences of the settings.

The Final Girl

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_girl

The final girl is a trope in thriller and horror films (particularly slasher films) that specifically refers to the last woman or girl alive to confront the killer, ostensibly the one left to tell the story. The final girl has been observed in dozens of films, including Halloween, Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Scream, Final Destination, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and its remake, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Hellraiser, Alien, The Strangers, The Ring, The Grudge, and Terror Train. The term was coined by Carol J. Clover in her 1992 book Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film. Clover suggests that in these films, the viewer begins by sharing the perspective of the killer, but experiences a shift in identification to the final girl partway through the film.


A common plotline in many horror films, particularly prior to the 1990s, is one in which a series of victims is killed one by one by a killer amid increasing terror, culminating in a climax in which the last surviving member of the group, a girl or woman, either vanquishes the killer or gets away. According to Clover, the final girl in many of these works shares common characteristics: she is typically sexually unavailable or virginal, avoiding the vices of the victims (sex, illegal drug use, hedonistic lifestyle, etc.). She sometimes has a unisex name (e.g., Teddy, Billie, Georgie, Sidney). Occasionally the final girl will have a shared history with the killer. For example, in Halloween II, Michael Myers is revealed to be the brother of Laurie Strode and in Scream 3 the killer is revealed to be Roman Bridger, half-brother of sole survivor Sidney Prescott. The final girl is the "investigating consciousness" of the film, moving the narrative forward and as such, she exhibits intelligence, curiosity, and vigilance.


Studying the above, it is clear that the female character in our sequence is suitable to be the final girl for the whole film; to face the antagonist in the climax.  Below is a screen-grab of our intended 'final girl' (above) and a shot of Jamie Lee Curtis becoming the final girl of Halloween (below).  These images show that the emotional development of the character would alter the audiences interpretation of them.  Jamie's character Laurie Strode, would likely be used as a mould for our potential final girl.

Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The characters in the sequence were designed to encourage a wide range of audiences to associate with them, not a specific stereotype or social group.  The costume for both characters was designed to look very casual and quite fashionable; note the snoods which are popular amongst teenagers at the moment.  A comparison for my couple is observed in Eden Lake (2008) and Zodiac (2007).  Below are the couples mentioned in descending order: Zodiac, Fear and Eden Lake.

You'll notice how all three couples are quite intimate in these scenes as for the audiences to recognise them as a loving couple.  The killer becomes threatening when those in danger are observed as innocent people.  This makes the crisis even more effective and poignant for audiences who sympathise with the characters affected.  No props were used for these characters and only a small amount of make-up was used for the female character, no more than the actress would usually wear as to give her credibility.

Question 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Below is a presentation I created using Prezi online zoom editing software to illustrate our potential target audience and what other products might be of their interrest.

Target Audience on Prezi

Question 3

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

(Left) our production logo
(Right) proposed suitable distributor

Sourced from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/StudioCanal_UK

StudioCanal UK (formerly Optimum Releasing/Home Entertainment/Classics) is a film distributor company working in the UK andIreland. The company releases many films, including foreign language films, anime releases such as Studio Ghibli's films and independent British, Irish and American films in the UK and sometimes Ireland.

Optimum was acquired by StudioCanal, a subsidiary of Vivendi SA, in 2006. Since StudioCanal bought Optimum, the French company distribute their large back catalogue of classic British films (many from the Cannon and EMI catalogues) through Optimum releasing under the strand 'Optimum Classic'.

Optimum Releasing (also known as StudioCanal UK) are an ideal distributor for our film.  They have recently distributed numerous low-budget, British horror movies such as:

• The Awakening (2011)
• Attack the Block (2011)
• Kill List (2011)
• The Silent House (2010)

What does the distributor actually do?

Helpful information on film distribution: http://www.skillset.org/film/jobs/distribution/article_4958_1.asp

Film distribution involves launching and sustaining films in the marketplace.  Because the film business is product driven, Film Distributors must connect each film they release with the widest possible audience.  As every new title is distinctive and different, Distributors must be strategic and knowledgeable about promotion and publicity in order to entice audiences to see their films, utilising successful film release plans, created in collaboration with film production and/or studio company personnel, marketing teams, publicity departments and exhibitors (cinema operators).

Some film distribution companies are affiliated with Hollywood studios, and release studio products in tandem worldwide.  Unaffiliated film Distributors (Independents) primarily handle films financed outside the Hollywood system, which are usually country specific, i.e. they oversee films only in their home country.  Regardless of affiliation, all Distributors are allowed to compete for films with available rights in such areas as theatrical, television, satellite, DVD, etc. 

Ideally, a film's distribution plan is taken into consideration during the scripting stage.  The more Distributors know about a production, the more informed are their choices when deciding how to publicise the film, and about its marketing campaign, release strategy, promotional tie-ins, etc.  However, in the independent sector, Distributors often become involved only after films premiere at film markets or festivals such as Sundance, Cannes or the American Film Market.   Film Sales Agents represent such films when they are seeking distribution, and broker deals between filmmakers and Distributors.

In general, the more money Film Distributors spend on a release, the more interest is generated, which should also heighten what every Distributor wants from the public - publicity by word of mouth.  Distributors position films, making the decisions when and where to release a new film, this is decided through a combination of market knowledge, experience and judgment to gauge the target audience for each film.   Roughly 350 feature films are launched each year in the UK, and most don't make any money during their theatrical runs.   P&A (prints and advertising) represent the largest expenditure items for Distributors, often amounting to the equivalent of between a third and half of the film's original production budget.  Risks are high.  A film's opening weekend revenue often brings in as much as 25-30% of its entire box office earnings, and is vitally important to its long-term fiscal profitability and sustainability.   

The Film Distributor's Association (FDA) is the trade body that represents UK Theatrical Film Distributors.  It seeks to promote cinema going in preference to other leisure activities.  It is also involved with such important issues as anti-piracy laws, stopping the production and sale of counterfeit DVDs, and planning for the future when digital projection replaces 35mm film.

Eden Lake (2008, James Watkins) has some notable similarities to our film (a British horror with a similar protagonist in a similar setting) and was distributed by Optimum Realsing.  The movie was shown at 184 screen in the UK and made £192,000 on it's opening weekend.  I think would be a realistic target for our film.  Below is an example poster I made to promote our film (left) with influences from the Eden Lake Poster (above) and from the horror classic The Thing Poster (1982, John Carpenter) (right).

 

Question 6

I have answered this question on a PowerPoint Presentation, uploaded it to Scripd and then embedded it to this blog -incorrectly titled Question 4.Question 4

Above is a screen grab taken during the creation of our soundtrack on the program GarageBand. Below is a screen grab of our final edit of our opening sequence. The bottom section is the 'Timeline' and the green bars are the audio tracks used in the sequence.

Question 7

Preliminary Task

The 2nd shot in our preliminary task technically breaks 180 degree rule, but the match-on-action edit makes it unnoticeable. We should have kept the camera on the same side of our actor, unless shown crossing the 180 degree line in the edit. Below is a video I found on YouTube which helps explain the 180 degree rule. Despite this minor error, the task was very successful and taught me the basics of production and editing.



Opening Sequence

Once I had logged the footage onto the computer I realised we had some serious problems with the footage:

• Our footage had no audio
• Some shots were not level
• We needed a reaction shot from a character
• We broke 180 degree rule (again)

We were advised to re-shoot the film but because of prior commitments we were forced to make do with what we had.  

No Audio

To solve the issue of having no audio I returned to the location with a camera and recorded a wild track.  Doing this gave me more control over what sounds we have during each scene; giving me the opportunity to avoid unwanted sounds e.g. aeroplanes, dogs barking and also allowed me time ambient sounds that would subtly help the dramatic structure of the film e.g. ducks, birds.

To accompany the wild track, I wanted to add some folly sounds to give the diegesis credibility.  For this, I used a bag of cornflower to imitate the sound of footsteps on snow.  It proved very hard time the audio with the images but after getting some feedback apparently it is fine.  After adding the soundtrack, we have 6 layers of sound during the majority of the sequence which has taught me a lot about audio construction in films and for that I am grateful we made the error in the first place.

Wonky shots

The 'wonky' shots in the sequence were corrected during the edit by altering the radius of the frame.  Working out how to do this lead me to discover other modifications that can be made such as 'zoom' which came in handy for the ambiguous shot of the killer which I felt should have been shot at a medium shot instead of a long shot.

Reaction Shot

To get the reaction shot I had to contact the actor and schedule a quick shoot with her wearing the same costume as to keep with continuity.  The shot was used in the draft which can be seen below but ultimately we decided it wasn't good enough and the whole ending to the sequence was cut from the edit.



180 degree rule


Having broke the rule already in our preliminary task and still getting by with the footage, we decided to us a match-on-action edit to help the mistake go unnoticed.  The shots from the sequence below show the of the rule; where the characters appear to swap sides momentarily because of the camera placement.  If both character would have been standing the footage would have been unusable as it would be too disorientating for the audience and the film would lose credibility.