Evaluation: Question 7

Looking back to your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

To ensure we would be successful in our final project we had to do a preliminary task to ensure we would know all the basic rules of creating a media production. During the preliminary task we learnt many different camera shots and camera movements, learning what match on action was and how to apply it. Learning about continuity and shot reverse shot - the 180 degrees rule - and then applying it to our preliminary test, this was something we found quite easy and it worked quite successfully in our preliminary task.

We also learnt crucial knowledge on editing. For our preliminary task we edited on iMovie and in our final project we progressed to the more professional Premiere Pro. However the skill we learnt on iMove we could transfer across , like use of transitions, titles, sound and continuity.

Camera shots : We learnt many different shots and angles were used in the film industry and the preliminary task helped show us how to use them efficiently, where to use them and which would work best for the horror genre. We were taught how to convey feelings and emotions with camera shots and angles - for example close-ups show tension and allow the audience to see what the character is feeling, low angles give power and status to the character, compared to a high angle that gives a sense of vulnerability and weakness to a character - stripping them of all previous power they had.

We found one of the most successful shots we filmed was the close up of the bloodied newspapers, we think this because it tells a previous story and foreshadows the future plot in just one shot, creating tension.

Also with the cameras we evolved from the cameras on iPads to a Canon Legria HD camera and tripod, progressing from shaky poor quality footage to semi-professional footage.

Planning:

While doing the preliminary task we also learnt how to plan everything properly and how to show sufficient evidence of our planning, so story boarding, pen portraits, doing screen shots of our work and posting it as evidence - we used all of the planning ideas and evidence posting for our final project, so we would work efficiently and well.

Team Work:

Also from doing the preliminary task we learnt how to work efficiently in a team, sharing our ideas and helping others to evolve there ideas which is what we did to come up with the plot for our final project, I came up with the idea of a demon possession, Agne added the fact it should be a girl who gets possessed and John adding in about we could used subliminal messages to get across that she was possessed we used this and our final project came out good and effective as a teen horror movie. Sticking to our original plot almost flawlessly, we only excluded the eyes turning black, due to an after effects error.

 

We as a group believe what we learnt most from our preliminary task and what we most progressed from is our editing, we say this because compared, there is a clear difference between our preliminary task and final project. Our final project being up to a higher standard, with more effects in it, colour balancing, sound editing, transitions, ect. There is also more clear and precise footage that fits better together, but you can see how the preliminary task has progressed to be our final piece and how what we learnt while doing our preliminary task was applied to our final project.

Evaluation: Question 6

Evaluation: Question 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

Firstly, we addressed our audience; we produced a pen portrait by decoding our typical viewer of our film including as much detail as possible, like his/hers demographic information (age, gender, location, ethnic etc.), and psychographic information (interests, hobbies, values etc.). Once we had our typical viewer in our minds, we were able to use this information to work towards that type of identification.

We created a 60-second pitch as part of our production, which summarises the entire storyline of our movie. As well as convincing many production companies to fund our movie, we also, in attempt, attracted audiences by revealing some of the plot within our media production. The mentioning of twisted plots was aimed towards those who think abnormally to attract our audiences with an interesting storyline. We thought that by matching our audience’s minds with our plot would help our audiences relate more with the movie, and with this effect, they would become closer to the story and receive a greater experience.  

Furthermore, we created a survey where publics get to participate in a survey, which lets the user select their favourite opening amongst the three options. We used SurveyMonkey, because it is a free online service where you get the ability to create your own questions and generate results in tables so you get straightforward outcomes. I think that because we struggled to choose our opening titles, it was a good idea to hand it over to our audiences because by producing a film according to our audiences’ feedback will promise more views from their selected opening in comparison with other ideas. As a result, our first option from the three collected most votes (85.71%), and knowing from the results that the people who actually participated in our survey were within our target audience age group, we were able to collect important information we could use in our project in order to make it successful and appeal to our aimed audiences. This method also allowed us to provide valuable insight into what our audience’s needs are and prevent mistakes when we listened to and assured the requirements from our audiences.

 

Evaluation: Question 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

We have targeted our media product at teenagers aging above 15 (due to our age restriction forced on our movie’s graphical contents). During the stage of a teenager, there are many social groups dividing one from another, and we believe that our targeted audience isn’t exactly a socialist. Because of their likings towards exorcism, and things alike, these types of interests don’t appeal as much to those of other social groups, and because we have exorcism as voiceover within our movie, we believe that it will pull in audiences as they’re able to relate their interest being participated in our media product.

By being isolated from most social groups, we believe that our targeted teenagers enjoy privacy, which can make them relate to our main character. Evangeline is also in her teenage years, and is mostly secluded due to her differences when in comparison to other social groups showed within the movie. She also carries a twisted soul in line for the possession by the devil, which can relate to the audiences’ abnormal interests.

Additionally, teenagers with twisted minds are also suitable for our film because perhaps their way of thinking dark and sinister can reflect in our movie’s storyline. As for the psychotic thinking amongst some of our audiences, the opening will most likely grab their attention because they constantly seek for information, and our movie is just that; burdened with subliminal messages, slowly unravelling the secrets within the storyline.

We believe that our audiences shouldn’t be religious as there are many uses of religion-related content, which may actually upset our audiences since some areas of our movie abuses bad beliefs of the devil, and so on.

Evaluation: Question 3

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

Originally, we had agreed on having our media product distributed by Lions Gate only to find out after our production was complete that Lions Gate, in fact, doesn’t distribute independent films, which became a problem for us, as our media product cannot cooperate with a company dissimilar to our standards. Though on July 26 2007, the company bought a partial stake in independent film distribution company Roadside Attractions, we believe that Momentum would be more likely to distribute our film as they have already distributed numerous independent films.

Additionally, The Woman in Black being one of Momentum’s most successful distributed film, can we relate our media product with their case. Our film covers similar genres to those focused in The Woman in Black, and also being produced as an independent film we think that having Momentum also distribute our film is more likely than in comparison with other companies such as Alliance Films.

posting other two tomorrow 8:15am

Evaluation: Question 2

Evaluation: Question 1

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

One way that our final product uses the general conventions in a horror production is through the use of symbolism i.e. white. We have used white for the dress of Evangeline as she is a young girl. 

However, she is possessed by a demon and this challenges the convention at the same time as using it. This is because there is a juxtaposition through the symbolism of white; youth, purity and innocence whilst the child is possessed. This is then supported by the blood that is shown on her dress, face and hands which shows danger and death. Furthermore the black around her eyes contrasts the white even further as it shows the darkness within Evangeline. Moreover, there is no specific angle to this shot which means that Evangeline is composed in the centre rather than being shown as vulnerable through the use of a high angle. This adds to her demonic behaviour as she is portrayed as a powerful character.

In this shot also, we get to see her emotions. This is another convention that is used within horror films, so that we can see a characters fear, joy etc. In this shot we can see that Evangeline is almost emotionless, she has no remorse. Her eyes are vacant and there is no expression on her face which is how we, as a group, have developed this convention.

As well as this we challenge the conventions further as we have used a female as a killer instead of male. The majority of horror films show a female ,who is vulnerable and feeble, in the opening. This female character is suddenly disposed of, due to her vulnerability which is shown through the miss-en-scene, camera, editing etc. but we have challenged this by the female character being the most powerful in our product. In addition, as Evangeline is young and a killer it challenges on the symbolism of innocence.

Another way that our product uses the conventions is by the use of blood. We have used blood on almost every shot for our product, in some ways we have challenged it. So for example when we see a hand, covered in blood, next to a white teddy.

The two contrast each other and the shot is quite striking due to this. This is seen in quite a few shots, including those with Evangeline. She is plastered with blood and this challenges the convention as she is a youth. The audience can also see this in our titles as we have produced a white text that contrasts with the blood splatters and black background that surround it. 

We then developed this idea by using a normal girls laughter, from FreeSound, and changing the pitch and making the sound reverberate. This made the laughter sound disorientated and sinister as it created an eerie echo and the pitch contributed to the youth being portrayed. Along with this, the music box added to this further as it challenged the visuals as it sounded sweet and child-like, but the shots are vivid and quite malevolent.

A third way that we used conventions was through the use of black and white.

This created a mysterious atmosphere to our final outcome as not all of the image could be seen properly, which was intended, to add to the possession of Evangeline. Although she appears to be innocent, she has a darker side which is what we needed to work with.

Through the use of sound, we have developed the convention as we have used samples from freesound.org which enabled us to create our opening. 

I have already looked at this sound before, in my research, but it is relevant to our work as it also combines  samples. You can hear, in our opening, a music box, laughter and an exorcism. We then distorted the clips by reverberating and changing the pitch so that it sounded sinister. We developed the convention by using a music box, which conveys a child's possession, quite literally. This added to our project effectively as it allowed us to challenge innocence of a youth further. To summarise, the laughter also added to this concept as it sounded child-like, but at the points where it can be heard the project appeared to be more of a horror. 

Looking back at our research and planning, when we looked at the openings of Dead Wood, Dead Mary and Wrong Turn, I feel that we have challenged more conventions than developed or used them. This is because we based the whole project on the innocence of Evangeline rather than anything else. However, the main point is that she is a youth but also a killer, which is unexpected and this is the major impact of how we challenges the conventions.