How did you attract/address your audience?
For our film we decided as a group that we should keep the themes of the horror genre the same as other horror films such as suspense, death, blood etc the same because this is what the audience expect from horror films.
For our opening sequence we decided that we should give hints of what the genre of the film was about such as when Bianca has a nose bleed, the blood foresees that the film is going to be scary.
We decided to start the first shot of the opening sequence with a flashing light, this is effective because the light keeps flashing to show that scary things are going to keep happening in the film. This creates an uncomfortable feeling to the audience and they would want to see what will happen next and they know that it is not good, that is why we wanted to start the film with that because we knew that it would hook the audience from the beginning.
We then panned across the room to show each character. This is effective because it familiarises the audience with the characters in the film.
The first person that we panned the camera to was the geek girl, we decided to do this because in the film she is the main character who helps kill the rest of the characters, and we also did this because she would be the first character the audience see and at the end of the film she would be the last character they see.
We then carried on the pan to the basketball player, the Goth and the class clown, this was so that the audience could see all the characters in the film. We chose all different types of characters to be in the opening sequence because the audience who watch it are all different and by showing all different types of characters all different types of audience could relate to the film and therefore we would have attract a wide range of the audience.
After showing everyone, the last person the camera pans to is the popular girl, we decided to do this because she would be the first to get killed so for that scene, she was the main character. We see the popular girls legs first and then the camera pans up until we see some blood dripping on the table, this is effective because it scares the audience because they want to know where that blood is coming from, therefore it keeps them hooked. Then we carry on to see the popular girl getting a tissue from her bag because she has got a nose bleed, we show her bleeding at the start of the film because it hints that something will happen to her. Then she gets up to go to the toilet and whilst she is walking she touches the wall and because her fingers are with blood, she leaves a blood stain on the wall, and there is a close up of the wall to represent that something bad was about to happen, this is effective because the audience will be hooked wanting to know what will happen.
After that we see the girl coming out of the classroom door and walking towards the toilet. We follow her every step to the toilet, this is effective because it shows that someone is following her and something is going to happen.
We then see the girl walking in to the toilet and washing her face. She bends down and washes her face, she then looks in to the mirror at herself, then she bends down again, and this time the audience see a black figure behind her, when the figure appears there is a sudden loud music in the background, this attracts the target audience because it scares them and they would want to know what is going to happen next. Then the popular girl looks up again and she too sees him then she slowly turns around and that it when the credits come up and we see the name on the film. This attracts the target audience because it creates suspense and they would want to know what will happen to the popular girl and therefore they will want to see the rest of the film.
Tuesday, 16 March 2010
question 4
Who would be the audience for your media product?
Our primary target audience are both males and females aged between 16-25 year olds because they are normally interested in horror/thriller movies and they also go to the cinema often to watch these movies as they are young and they would want to find out who the killer in the movie is. At first we thought that our target audience would be males because normally males like horror movies more than females, but then we changed our minds because we also have females in the movie and therefore females would also watch it because they could relate to the characters in our film. The film will appeal to all ethnicities as in our film we have different types of ethnicities, and therefore they too can relate to the characters in the film.
Our target audience would have seen films such as Final Destination because all of the people there get killed , and similar to our film there are scary clues to predict what will happen but although they do not give too much of the film away. The target audience would have also seen films such as I Know What You Did Last Summer because that is a horror film and people get killed in it. They would have also watched films such as Halloween because a lot of people get killed and there are no reasons for the deaths but they just happen.
Another film that our target audience would have watched is Prom Night because it is a teen horror and similar to our film people get killed.
All of the films that our target audience would have watched are similar because they all share the theme of death and murder.
Our secondary target audience are people 25+ both genders. We chose them because we thought that anyone who likes horror films would like to see our film because it to is a horror film.
Our primary target audience are both males and females aged between 16-25 year olds because they are normally interested in horror/thriller movies and they also go to the cinema often to watch these movies as they are young and they would want to find out who the killer in the movie is. At first we thought that our target audience would be males because normally males like horror movies more than females, but then we changed our minds because we also have females in the movie and therefore females would also watch it because they could relate to the characters in our film. The film will appeal to all ethnicities as in our film we have different types of ethnicities, and therefore they too can relate to the characters in the film.
Our target audience would have seen films such as Final Destination because all of the people there get killed , and similar to our film there are scary clues to predict what will happen but although they do not give too much of the film away. The target audience would have also seen films such as I Know What You Did Last Summer because that is a horror film and people get killed in it. They would have also watched films such as Halloween because a lot of people get killed and there are no reasons for the deaths but they just happen.
Another film that our target audience would have watched is Prom Night because it is a teen horror and similar to our film people get killed.
All of the films that our target audience would have watched are similar because they all share the theme of death and murder.
Our secondary target audience are people 25+ both genders. We chose them because we thought that anyone who likes horror films would like to see our film because it to is a horror film.
question 3
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
We have a low budget and therefore we realise that our film will not be shown in big cinemas and it will not be well known by the audience.
Our Production Company-
A distribution company that might be interested in distributing our film is GUERRILA FILMS. http://www.guerilla-films.com/
In this company’s website it says ‘We are happy to consider any completed film looking for UK distribution, especially British or Irish ones’ this shows that they would be interested in distributing our film.
To make a film a distributor is very important because they are the ones that try to promote your film, and without them our film will not be as successful as we hope for it to be. Once the film has been sent to the distributor, the distributor decides how many copies will be made. Then the distributor holds a screening to buyers representing theatres. The buyers negotiate with the distributor on the terms of the lease agreement. Then the prints of the film get sent to the cinemas a few days before the release date and the cinemas show the movie for a specified number of weeks for audience engagement. After the film has been shown on cinemas, the buyers send the prints back and then they make payments on the lease agreement.
Another way in which we could show our film would be through the internet, as it is a lot cheaper and it could achieve popularity quickly as people would tell their friends and it carries on getting popular. An example of this is www.youtube.com because this website is a major website and millions of people go on it every day.
In addition, another distribution company is Metrodome. In their website it says “acquiring and releasing quality independent films that challenge our audiences and provoke the critics” this shows that they would be interested in distributing our film because our film is an independent film and therefore they would be interested in distributing our film. Our film is a horror film, this is also useful to Metrodome because they have also got other horror films such as ‘Thirst’ ’Darkness’ etc.
We have a low budget and therefore we realise that our film will not be shown in big cinemas and it will not be well known by the audience.
Our Production Company-
A distribution company that might be interested in distributing our film is GUERRILA FILMS. http://www.guerilla-films.com/
In this company’s website it says ‘We are happy to consider any completed film looking for UK distribution, especially British or Irish ones’ this shows that they would be interested in distributing our film.
To make a film a distributor is very important because they are the ones that try to promote your film, and without them our film will not be as successful as we hope for it to be. Once the film has been sent to the distributor, the distributor decides how many copies will be made. Then the distributor holds a screening to buyers representing theatres. The buyers negotiate with the distributor on the terms of the lease agreement. Then the prints of the film get sent to the cinemas a few days before the release date and the cinemas show the movie for a specified number of weeks for audience engagement. After the film has been shown on cinemas, the buyers send the prints back and then they make payments on the lease agreement.
Another way in which we could show our film would be through the internet, as it is a lot cheaper and it could achieve popularity quickly as people would tell their friends and it carries on getting popular. An example of this is www.youtube.com because this website is a major website and millions of people go on it every day.
In addition, another distribution company is Metrodome. In their website it says “acquiring and releasing quality independent films that challenge our audiences and provoke the critics” this shows that they would be interested in distributing our film because our film is an independent film and therefore they would be interested in distributing our film. Our film is a horror film, this is also useful to Metrodome because they have also got other horror films such as ‘Thirst’ ’Darkness’ etc.
question 2
How does your opening sequence represent particular social groups?
The key characters in my film are a popular girl, who is stuck up and only cares about the way she looks, she is wearing a pink top and a skirt the colour pink represents that she is very girly and this is also shown because she is wearing a short skirt which represents her as an attention seeker, she is similar to Rexhina in the movie mean girls, as she too only cares about the way she looks and she always wants to stay skinny and she is seen putting make up on as she really cares about the way she looks. In our opening sequence we also see a girl reading and writing, this girl is a geek and she represents the people who study hard and are not really interested in the way they look, as the geek looks very scruffy with her hair tied back, this is similar to Sam in the movie A Cinderella Story because she is a geek and she is not really noticed in school. We also have a class clown who has a chewing gum in his mouth and he is distracting the person sitting next to him, the class clown represents the social group who are naughty and don’t really care about studying. In our opening sequence we also have boy who is a Goth and he has got black make up on, is wearing all black clothes, has got black hair and is listening to music, this is a stereotypical Goth as they all wear black and they like their own space because as we can see in the opening sequence, when the class clown keeps poking him he doesn’t just moves his body, and his body language shows that he does not like people annoying him and this is because he wants his own space and does not like talking to people. In the opening sequence we have also got a boy reading the newspaper and rolling a basketball around the table, this represents him as a basketball player, and he loves basketball so much that he even takes it to detention, this is similar to John in the film John Tucker Must Die because he also loves basketball and we see John Tucker often with a basketball to show that he loves basketball.
For our cast we had to take people out of the other media sixth form class as we couldn’t take any other students from other year group out of lessons because exams were approaching. Form the other class we chose the people we thought would suit best with our characters.
We directed all our cast to what they had to wear and how they had to act in before the shooting of the film, and showed them how to act during the rehearsals one week before the filming, however we changed some minor parts of the film by the time it came to the shooting day, so we showed them how to act the role on set.
During filming we had some small issues with our cast because we would tell them how to act however they would try to do it the way they thought was right but it didn’t look right on the camera, after this problem was reoccurring we decided that we should actually do the actions ourselves by taking the actors role and physically showing them how we wanted them to act. We also had an issue with the basketball player because we wanted him to wear a basketball uniform to make him look more like a basketball player for our film, however the actor did not feel comfortable to wear the uniform and therefore we agreed as a group that it would be fine for him to wear his normal clothing and just roll a basketball around in a table because the ball would show that he was a basketball player , we did this as we didn’t want our actors to feel uncomfortable at any point as we wanted them to enjoy actually making the film as well as doing the job.
The key characters in my film are a popular girl, who is stuck up and only cares about the way she looks, she is wearing a pink top and a skirt the colour pink represents that she is very girly and this is also shown because she is wearing a short skirt which represents her as an attention seeker, she is similar to Rexhina in the movie mean girls, as she too only cares about the way she looks and she always wants to stay skinny and she is seen putting make up on as she really cares about the way she looks. In our opening sequence we also see a girl reading and writing, this girl is a geek and she represents the people who study hard and are not really interested in the way they look, as the geek looks very scruffy with her hair tied back, this is similar to Sam in the movie A Cinderella Story because she is a geek and she is not really noticed in school. We also have a class clown who has a chewing gum in his mouth and he is distracting the person sitting next to him, the class clown represents the social group who are naughty and don’t really care about studying. In our opening sequence we also have boy who is a Goth and he has got black make up on, is wearing all black clothes, has got black hair and is listening to music, this is a stereotypical Goth as they all wear black and they like their own space because as we can see in the opening sequence, when the class clown keeps poking him he doesn’t just moves his body, and his body language shows that he does not like people annoying him and this is because he wants his own space and does not like talking to people. In the opening sequence we have also got a boy reading the newspaper and rolling a basketball around the table, this represents him as a basketball player, and he loves basketball so much that he even takes it to detention, this is similar to John in the film John Tucker Must Die because he also loves basketball and we see John Tucker often with a basketball to show that he loves basketball.
For our cast we had to take people out of the other media sixth form class as we couldn’t take any other students from other year group out of lessons because exams were approaching. Form the other class we chose the people we thought would suit best with our characters.
We directed all our cast to what they had to wear and how they had to act in before the shooting of the film, and showed them how to act during the rehearsals one week before the filming, however we changed some minor parts of the film by the time it came to the shooting day, so we showed them how to act the role on set.
During filming we had some small issues with our cast because we would tell them how to act however they would try to do it the way they thought was right but it didn’t look right on the camera, after this problem was reoccurring we decided that we should actually do the actions ourselves by taking the actors role and physically showing them how we wanted them to act. We also had an issue with the basketball player because we wanted him to wear a basketball uniform to make him look more like a basketball player for our film, however the actor did not feel comfortable to wear the uniform and therefore we agreed as a group that it would be fine for him to wear his normal clothing and just roll a basketball around in a table because the ball would show that he was a basketball player , we did this as we didn’t want our actors to feel uncomfortable at any point as we wanted them to enjoy actually making the film as well as doing the job.
evaluation question 1
In what ways does your media product USE, DEVELOP or CHALLENGE forms and conventions of real media products?
My media product is a horror film.
The main themes in my film are:
Death
Thriller
The movie is about five students who are in detention. All five students represent one sin, the popular girl represents Vanity, the Goth boy represents Anger, the geek girl represents Jealousy, the class clown represents Selfishness and the basketball player represents Greed. Each character is killed one by one except for the geek girl, and at the end we realise that she actually helped to kill the rest of the students.
The theme thriller is seen in the opening sequence of the film when Bianca is in the toilet and then a figure appears behind her. This is also used in the film SCREAM when the man in the mask appears just when he is going to kill his victims.
In the Deadly Sins the characters suffer horrific deaths as each of them get killed one by one except for the geek girl. This is similar to the film SAW where the characters that are killed, are killed in a very horrific and brutal way. In the horror films that I have watched the narrative is about death and victims who have no control of their lives, this is shown in SAW because the victims have to do what they are told and it only leads them to their deaths, so most of the victims die in the film. We have used this idea in our narrative as in our film there are also many deaths on which the victims have no control over, as they to, get killed.
Also in the horror films that I have seen they use low key lighting to set the mood of the film. In the movie HALLOWEEN they use low key lighting when someone is about to die. We used this in the opening sequence of our film, in the toilet scene because in that scene Bianca sees the man in the mirror and she is killed therefore we used low key lighting to show to the audience that something bad was going to happen.
My media product develops the forms and conventions of real media products because in the horror films that I have seen such as I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER has Julie James (Jennifer Love Hewitt) as the protagonist. We have also used this idea but we have developed it as in our film there are five protagonists instead of one.
We also decided that in our opening sequence we should show each character with in object or doing something that represents their personality, for example, the Goth has got make up on and is dressed in black, the geek is reading and writing, the basketball player is playing with his basketball etc.
My media project challenges the forms and conventions of real media products because in the horror films that I have seen the protagonists are the good people and they are the hero. However in my film the protagonists are evil as they all represent one of the seven sins, and we realise that their sins kill them in the end, so our protagonists die because of their sins and they can’t change that because that is the way they feel, therefore they die because of it.
We have also challenged real media films because in horror films the victims are the good people, however in my film the geek girl is a victim, however at the end we realise that she actually helped kill all the students.
However different to the horror movies that I have seen, our movie is set in a classroom. In other films such as Halloween, their setting is mainly the victims’ houses, where our film is set in a school.
In our movie we use a close up of the killers figure, but are careful not to show his face, as we don’t want the audience to know the identity of the killer. This is similar to the movie SCREAM because they too also show a close up of the killer, but not to show the face of the killer because they wanted to keep the audience in suspense about the killers identity.
In our film the music shows that the gen re is horror, because at the start of the film we use theme music, and then when we show Bianca in the toilet scene, the music goes very loud, we used this to scare the audience and in this way they would be hooked to the film as they know that something bad is going to happen, so they would carry on watching to see what will happen, this is similar to the movie Halloween because when someone is getting killed they music is always loud and scary, to show the audience that something bad is going to happen.
My media product is a horror film.
The main themes in my film are:
Death
Thriller
The movie is about five students who are in detention. All five students represent one sin, the popular girl represents Vanity, the Goth boy represents Anger, the geek girl represents Jealousy, the class clown represents Selfishness and the basketball player represents Greed. Each character is killed one by one except for the geek girl, and at the end we realise that she actually helped to kill the rest of the students.
The theme thriller is seen in the opening sequence of the film when Bianca is in the toilet and then a figure appears behind her. This is also used in the film SCREAM when the man in the mask appears just when he is going to kill his victims.
In the Deadly Sins the characters suffer horrific deaths as each of them get killed one by one except for the geek girl. This is similar to the film SAW where the characters that are killed, are killed in a very horrific and brutal way. In the horror films that I have watched the narrative is about death and victims who have no control of their lives, this is shown in SAW because the victims have to do what they are told and it only leads them to their deaths, so most of the victims die in the film. We have used this idea in our narrative as in our film there are also many deaths on which the victims have no control over, as they to, get killed.
Also in the horror films that I have seen they use low key lighting to set the mood of the film. In the movie HALLOWEEN they use low key lighting when someone is about to die. We used this in the opening sequence of our film, in the toilet scene because in that scene Bianca sees the man in the mirror and she is killed therefore we used low key lighting to show to the audience that something bad was going to happen.
My media product develops the forms and conventions of real media products because in the horror films that I have seen such as I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER has Julie James (Jennifer Love Hewitt) as the protagonist. We have also used this idea but we have developed it as in our film there are five protagonists instead of one.
We also decided that in our opening sequence we should show each character with in object or doing something that represents their personality, for example, the Goth has got make up on and is dressed in black, the geek is reading and writing, the basketball player is playing with his basketball etc.
My media project challenges the forms and conventions of real media products because in the horror films that I have seen the protagonists are the good people and they are the hero. However in my film the protagonists are evil as they all represent one of the seven sins, and we realise that their sins kill them in the end, so our protagonists die because of their sins and they can’t change that because that is the way they feel, therefore they die because of it.
We have also challenged real media films because in horror films the victims are the good people, however in my film the geek girl is a victim, however at the end we realise that she actually helped kill all the students.
However different to the horror movies that I have seen, our movie is set in a classroom. In other films such as Halloween, their setting is mainly the victims’ houses, where our film is set in a school.
In our movie we use a close up of the killers figure, but are careful not to show his face, as we don’t want the audience to know the identity of the killer. This is similar to the movie SCREAM because they too also show a close up of the killer, but not to show the face of the killer because they wanted to keep the audience in suspense about the killers identity.
In our film the music shows that the gen re is horror, because at the start of the film we use theme music, and then when we show Bianca in the toilet scene, the music goes very loud, we used this to scare the audience and in this way they would be hooked to the film as they know that something bad is going to happen, so they would carry on watching to see what will happen, this is similar to the movie Halloween because when someone is getting killed they music is always loud and scary, to show the audience that something bad is going to happen.
Monday, 7 December 2009
Final draft of Script
Sound of school bell. Black screen
Fades into the whiteboard where it says silence, to show that it is a detention room
Dark atmosphere
Camera pans across classroom showing 5 students at their desks looking extremely bored. Showing their individual character through various actions e.g.: basketball player in his uniform playing with a ball. Geek reading, whilst the geek flips the page of the book. Goth listening to loud music with his eyes closed, class clown lying back trying to distract others. A camera pan, until BIANCA’S legs are in the frame, tilts up onto the table and we see a drop of blood on the table, then camera carries on tilting up and we see her face and she is hesitating and she gets up and she leaves the room.
Subtle music
Long shot of her walking out the door, shot turns to a point of view shot, of her walking down the corridors to the toilets then a title comes up and it turns to a birds eye view shot.
She opens the toilet door (close up of her hand) and walks towards the sink. She looks down holding a tissue to her nose and she turns on the tap. She then puts her head up and looks at herself in the mirror, she puts her head down again and when she does so the figure in black comes up behind her, she looks up and sees the figure in the mirror, she then turns slowly around looking shocked towards the camera. After that the titles come up.
Fades into the whiteboard where it says silence, to show that it is a detention room
Dark atmosphere
Camera pans across classroom showing 5 students at their desks looking extremely bored. Showing their individual character through various actions e.g.: basketball player in his uniform playing with a ball. Geek reading, whilst the geek flips the page of the book. Goth listening to loud music with his eyes closed, class clown lying back trying to distract others. A camera pan, until BIANCA’S legs are in the frame, tilts up onto the table and we see a drop of blood on the table, then camera carries on tilting up and we see her face and she is hesitating and she gets up and she leaves the room.
Subtle music
Long shot of her walking out the door, shot turns to a point of view shot, of her walking down the corridors to the toilets then a title comes up and it turns to a birds eye view shot.
She opens the toilet door (close up of her hand) and walks towards the sink. She looks down holding a tissue to her nose and she turns on the tap. She then puts her head up and looks at herself in the mirror, she puts her head down again and when she does so the figure in black comes up behind her, she looks up and sees the figure in the mirror, she then turns slowly around looking shocked towards the camera. After that the titles come up.
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