Audience feedback

Own spin on the horror."

Before we showcased our film we explained a little of the narrative and the effect we were trying to convey, conversing our strengths and weaknesses of our project, to express to the audience the difficulties which we encountered which included the following :

• Problems with filming schedules due to illnesses
• Filming early but not going back to it straight after, which would of perhaps got us a higher mark
• The basics of editing and camera work we found especially hard as it was completely new to us, which meant we had to take risks and challenges which sometimes didn't pay off but shows that we can learn from our mistakes next year.
• We took alot of risks but should have been more organised and sufficient e.g. created a timetable to aid us in our task completion

Once we had done this we presented our final film in which the audience had to prepare notes on what to say. We began with the positives which included the following factors:

• It was clearly noted that we as a group had developed an increasingly challenging narrative through the use of a hybrid genre; elements of a phycological thriller, fantasy and horror as we wanted to create something unique.The audience was said to be, "Throughly freaked out before lunch!" which effectively shows that our genre evoked the purpose which we aspired it to convey. A fundamental comment was the audiences realization of the black and white European horror film style which they felt ' Portrayed the narrative' as well as being something 'different'.

• The musical choice for the film was said to be very 'fitting with the genre', as well as being described as 'creepy' . Our original ideal was that of a nursery rhyme, beingg slowed down in the process to invoke the childish youth of my character primarily but secondarily the slow pace increases the audiences tension and engagement. For an added effect we lowered the pitch which subverts traditional movie horror soundtrack.

• The camera work was praised with the audience especially enjoying the use of juxtaposition between mine and Zoe's character, as it demonstrated the innocence of my character against the sinister persona of Zoe's. This was constructed with  ( as the audience said) "Really Good Editing."
• The Voice over  to express a combination of  differential skills as well as coveying our narrative through the combination of synchronization through voices as well as the breathy pitch entailed which "Worked very well."

When people where asked to make negative comments no feedback was given so I have decided to contain my own personal comments:

• Despite us wanting to provide a challenging interpretation  of a hybrid genre I feel  that the footage was quite basic in some areas particularly in shot variation, which would have conveyed our narrrative more effectively as we had a complicated storyline. 
• This is the same for the editing techniques which should have been researched and experimented in full depth
• To include a proficient filming schedule for each of our participants which includes their functions within the group to maintain clarity.

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



Our distribution company



An example of an independent film which aimed to convey realism with a minority of props like ours



A good example of a film which has used handheld cameras with jolty footage similuar to what we have done



Long time dead film- has sequences which expresses elements of a phycological thriller



My little eye-contains elements of our film



Working title logo

Taking our narrative, theme and genre into consideration we adjucated that Working Titles would be the appropriate choice in terms of our production company. This is because:
It holds particular emphasis on films institutionally which entails the same genre as us such as My Little eye ( hybrid genre) released in 2002 the synospis being that five adults agree to spend six months together in an isolated mansion while being filmed at all times.This film was also distributed by Universal studios and cost only $3 million dollars to make. The idea for the film came from reality television shows such as Big Brother with the  title refering to the guessing game I spy.
 Another similuar film is Long time dead also filmed in 2002 where a group of students hold an ouija boad to hold a seance triggering a chain of violent deaths containing elements of  a phycological thriller as well as horror again conforming to tradtional stereotypical conventions.Both these films subvert against tradtionally genred working titles as they usually produce chick flicks such as 4 weddings and a funeral. However we desired that our film came across as typically english conventionalised through the use of realisim and characterisation instead of conforming to the typical american horror such as the exorcist which over exagerates characters in terms of Mise-en scene( though we did have elements of surrealism but contrasted it against realism to balance the film out).
It also contains elements of a low budget film such as amatuer camera work/ shots which enable the useage of both still and jolty shots. The best example would be the 1999 American horror Blair Witch Project which shows clear evidence of the previous statement.
   The fundamental job of the Working Titles production company is to decide on the set budget for the film 
as well as providing the financial income that they need for the film in terms of the following factors:

• How much gross revenue they feel they can accumulate on estimation ( in terms of the Box office)
• What is their target audience? For example Somers Town directed by Shane Meadows was an independent film which decided to be realistic and just appeal to a british audience as worldwide a documentary style film will not generate much profit

They are also responsible for making the decisons that include choosing the cast, directors, editors and photographers which they feel will convey the films elements most effectively as well as their own indiviual repitoire.In terms of our distributor we chose Universal studios as they are a large American company who would be willing to fund low budget british films such as ours and have done on numerous occasions increasing in dependability. It also allows better recognition of the film as well as being able to have enough financial income for advertising purposes such as trailers and posters.

 During our opening scene most of our film titles make an appearance, typically against the characters themselves as a form of identification.Traditionally films follow a particular discourse convention of : Producer, Distributor,Director and then the list of the cast which we have subverted against as we started with actors names, camera person followed by the title at the end of the sequence.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

 

We have taken two pictures of our group with the equipment. Here in these two pictures you can see that we have included the tripod and the camera.
Note
In our film we have minimal props to display the isolation of my character in contrast to Zoe's. This is the same for minimal dialogue and the music usage is the same throughout.

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These two pieces of paper contain a symbolisation of certain frames which we were going to include but didn't as a form of a premonition. However we did contain shots which Incorporated these papers on an easel which Hannah was drawing on.They were especially handy when it came to setting the pervading atmosphere of the film. We used charcoal pencils to give a rough sketchy feel to the image as though it was done hurriedly.



This was used to film our opening sequence-the sleeping scene

Camera and Tripod

 These were the most significant types of equipment for our film due to being our predominant aid to complete our final project in the basic stages. The camera aided the primary footage( actually capturing the footage) whereas the Tripod( which we only used in later stages) was used to steady the camera in appropriation to which frames we wanted still.

We learnt how to:

• film
• upload footage 
•  adjust the camera setting,e.g colour
• transitioning camera to  tripod allowing the unrestricted freedom of movements between the shots as well as increasing fluidity of the final piece

Camera/Tripod bags

This is to carry our equipment in to ensure that the property does not get damaged or lost

YouTube

Youtube was extremely fundamental because it  proved beneficial software for showing our film. This is because it was easily accessible by anyone as well as being simple to function.Another positive of using Youtube is the oppurtunity it allows to share films with other youtube veiwers/members/family/friends which makes it easier to recieve feedback.

We have discovered the following

• learnt how to create and maintain a YouTube account
•  how to upload and publish the videos we made.
• the addition of the process of adding speech bubbles/annotations

Blogger
We  used Blogger as a form of an online diary. Here we completed our blogger tasks split into 5 sections: Preliminary task( starting out), Research and planning, filming,Editing and evaluation, which we grouped together to give the examiner a clear view as to where everything is. I  have also discovered that Blogger is an extremely effective website as it is easy to use as well as being able to export pictures/videos fairly simply. Conclusively I have found out many differential methods to use when constructing, researching and planning a film.

 From using Blogger we have learnt the following:

• How to provide a detailed analysis of our constructions of all the media element in regards to the context within our film e.g camera composition
• to accurately write a 'diary' which talks in depth about what we have done in this particular moment

Adobe premier 


By using Adobe Premier  it has made the footage look effective due to the variation of effects/transitions/frames/sequencings ect available
We have learnt the following:

•  to perform a variating mixture of basic and complex editing which I had no prior knowledge of beforehand and is a skill which can be used consistently
• how the enablement of sound and video can be layered and blended 
•  how to perform transitions and effect to improve the quality of what we filmed.

Paint

•  used the Crop option in paint to modify the particular screen grabs to the correct size.

                                                

  

                                                        Google maps






We used google maps to give a birds eye  of Therfields school field



The numbers was a very important website  for my research and planning where I derived my horror statistics from. 

Google search engine

• primarily used to find out website engines which relate to media conventions



Within this film we have included some brief summarising annotations which entails links to similar films so that the examiner can see the comparisons that can be made between them- both similarities and differences. We also speak about the use of mise-en-scene, sound, horror stereotypes and cliches to make it clear what the basis of our film was derived from fundamentally.
notes:

• For our production company we chose to use an exsisting one as we felt that a low budget film like ours would benefit from a clongomerate like Working Title which is owned by Vivendi ,as although it is traditionally associated with chick flicks like four weddings and a funeral we felt that it would be the most appropriate.
• As we have a british production company we felt that to effectively advertise our film , Universal pictures ( a large American company) would distribute our film, to ensure that it got credibility and financial credit.
• Our film could be sponsered by film 4 ( like Slumdog Millionaire, who was also sponsered by Pathe and celledor) as despite having a huge distributor like Universal, we would still need a basis to fall back on if anything went wrong.
• Our film subverts traditional film discourse as it immediately introduces suspense by the use of the ellipictical phrase' It's coming' instead of introducing character names. This is similuar with the use of the title 'puppet strings' which appears at the end of the sequence instead of the beginning.
• Our film would be released in the U.K due to the improbablity of the film doing well worldwide as it is only a low budget film which would compare poorly to the big budget american films such as drag me to hell- this is full of big special effects. However should the film do well then we could release it gradually worldwide and advertise by word of mouth as this is the most effective method. Word of mouth has been used by two successful british films( slumdog millionaire and the king's speech) both of whivh won films of the year as well as numerous other awards.

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

 

 

Film  screenshot





Preliminary task screen grabs in  comparison to our final composition screen shots



 In regards to the editing techniques I have discovered a great deal since the succession of the preliminary task as before I had no real experience within Adobe software through the use of transitions, cutting footage, conversions etc .My primarily dominant role within the group was essentially to provide a detailed analysis of the work which we had completed within the lesson, taking down the notes of what we did. Through the detailed analysis I learnt a great deal about the progression of piecing together a film as well as the application of editing effects in regards to which would fit our pervading mood/atmosphere/ genre. I also increased my overall comprehension of  how to load and download videos in appropriation to our opening two minutes such as company titles, Working Title and Universal. 

Another particular skill was the layering of  non-diegetic sound  such as the use of the singular dialogue Im watching you' where we tweaked the volume audio levels , allowing the filtering of sound to be particularly loud at this point to display the breathiness which increases tension and suspension. This was also particularly evident through the use of  the non-diegetic soundtrack which faded into the succession of the dream sequence and  slowly faded out as the dialogue became apparent. Another significant element of editing comprehension was the importance of looking at the type of shot we entailed the usage of  to provide clear viewing for the audience as well as having a variation of shot experimentation's. 

 In terms of camera work it was important to determine camera movements of a particular frame. For example some shots were filmed unsteadily ( evidential basis for this can be seen in several of the last dream sequence shots) to express the vulnerability of my character as I try to escape, contrasting against the still shots which slows the pace of the film down, allowing the audience time to think and determine as to what is about to happen. This also can give the frame a particular depiction of the situation that is occurring. For example there is a shot where Zoe is leaning out of the tree and the significance of the shot lies in the position of her hands, clenched barbarically( mid shot).Within this shot you get a real sense of her sinisterness which is not as apparent in other shots.A particular shot which evokes meaning is a canted angle shot which makes the audience feel uneasy particularly when used in the context of  horror genre movies, as essentially it frames the intensity of their eyes which is often layered with heavy make-up to express the dominance which they hold over others. Long shots, brief shots and the rule of thirds have been applied to our filming and are techniques which are used effectively within our final piece.

The 180 degree rule is also another significant factor which you have to take into consideration otherwise it will incorporate a violation of continuity, making the frames seem out of sync and the audience may feel distant in terms of the positioning of the characters. Shot/reverse shot are traditionally  used in conversations , although we did not enable this method to our horror( due to to the absence of sound)but we did use this in our preliminary task so at least we can now have the knowledge of this, so that we may use it again .

 Match on action we felt was one of the most complex elements to take into consideration when filming as we had to ensure that the characters were always in the right place at the right time. This was especially difficult when cutting footage as sometimes the frames would become out out of sync, with a differential position to the latter frame.

As a conclusive opinion I feel that our preliminary task was a good use of practice as it allowed us to have our first shot at filming as well as understanding how to build a narrative within a mixture of variating shots. It also gave us the opportunity to think about how we can improve on our year 13 task as we made alot of mistakes, some of which we cannot change at this present moment.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

 



Our target audience as a whole



Pearl and dean the website we used to find our statistics





Target Audience

Our target audience is predominantly male taking up 55% of the overall figure whereas females is 10% less with 45%. These statistics are derived from figures from the film-The Grudge a horror genre with similar stylistic conventions in regards of Zoe one of our key main characters ( alongside me). Fundamentally our audience profiling caters from an estimation of 17 years to middle aged, again  predictably male . This may be due to the stereotypes which suggests that chick flicks are typically feminine whereas Horror/action is targeted towards masculine identities. Horror is a genre whom attracts a vast type of audience, often the people who watch and enjoy horrors may surprise you, perhaps subverting against traditional expectations. In regards to shopping and music i feel that this is severely dependent on the gender that they hold.

For example male citizens will as an estimated guess shop in  the menswear section of superdry, Topman and Next  whereas Females may shop in the same places but perhaps ( particularly  if there in the early 20's) in New look and other feminine associatiated shops.

shops that females would shop in

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Places where the male audience would shop at



In terms of  the music which they listen to this again dependent on both age and gender thus differentiating.For  males ( 17-25) i feel that the music will essentially be rap/urban/ chart music with artists such as Eminem/Tinie Tempah/ Professor Green as these are typically associated with musical masculine identities.

Male associated music (youth)

Tinie tempah -Rap artist

 

 

Proffessor green-grime artist

 

Eminem-rap artist



For the upper age range( 25-40) i feel the music will perhaps be either more subcultured ( e.g. Rock/emo as they do not feel the need to keep in with the latest music) or more subdued with music from the likes of Westlife/Take That/ Micheal Jackson.           

                                                 Male associated music (older) 

                                                  

 

Micheal Jackson- pop legend

 

Take That- pop group

 

 

Westlife- ballad style pop music

                                                           Female youths  

 

    For  the earlier age range of females the music will usually be chart/ Pop/Rnb with artists such as Rhianna/Adele/  although mainly pop music would suit this target audience.

Jessie J-electronic pop/ballads

Rhianna-edgy pop

Adele-pop ballads

For the upper range of the audience profiling music may be outdated or again subcultured , following the same artists as the upper ranged males. Another assumption is that hard core horror genre lovers will listen to rock music such as My chemical Romance/ Muse with channels such as kerrang and mtv rocks
Hardcore genre lovers

My Chemical Romance- rock/heavy metal band  

Muse-slow rock ballad group

hardcore rock channels

Kerrang
 

Mtv Rocks

The younger audience will essentially listen to music on Youtube/ MTV Dance/Kiss/MTV Base/4 Music.

Mtv dance

4 Music

Mtv Base

The older audience may listen to Channels such as Magic.

In regards to our film it effectively attracts its target audience as it contains many stylistic horror stereotypes which  include the following:

•  an innocent girl whom posesses purity with such good characteristaion that the audience knows that she will either die or become possessed
• The monster who strikes slyly but some how always seems to be just out of the picture.
• lastly  eerie suspending music that gets you through all the jumps and jolts from start to finish.