What do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

After looking at our preliminary task i felt that our shots were very simple and didn't generate excitement within the audience. In order to improve this within our two minute opening we used lots of dramatic angles to make the film more appealing. This includes lots of close ups to give the audience detail of what is going.














We also felt that the editing was very boring and slow paced. In order to change this, we had fades in our film and used shorter takes to make the film more exciting and to build up the tension for the people watching it.  (fro 0.3 to 0.7)

We also added in titles to show what we have learned from our time using the editing software.

How did you attract/address your audience?

The horror genre is one that appeals to many people, making it something that would attract a wide audience. furthermore, the main characters being teenagers will make young people want to see it more as they will relate to the characters better and see them as being like themselves, making them want to go and watch the film. We use conventions that have been used before in horror films in order to make people want to come and see it because they know it will be a film they will enjoy if they've enjoyed similar ones previously.

However, out film age rating is a 15, meaning that the audience must be of a certain age to see it. This limits our audience as younger teenagers will not be able to see it. Furthermore, horror is a genre that only appeals to a certain amount of people as some people do not like being scared and so don't watch them. This means that our film will appeal to less people. We also found that our opening sequence was hard to follow, however people said they were interested in seeing the rest of it and the confusion would be cleared up later in the film.

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

Our film has aspects that both support and subvert horror conventions.

Firstly, our film strongly supports horror conventions. The masked figure represents the fear of the unknown, a fear that is strongly played on in horror films to make the viewer feel uneasy as they have no idea who their attacker is, meaning that if they escape, they have no way of identifying their attacker. It also means that there is the possibility that there is more than one killer, giving the film the opportunity to have sequels, even after the original attacker has been caught.

The beginning of the film is also set in a forest, which is an isolated location. This plays on the fear of being alone. It means that there is nobody there to help the victim as they try to escape their attacker. Autophobia is something that is in many horror films as there are many options for isolation that can be used, meaning they can keep this fear in without all films being the same.



The film then subverts horror conventions as Jess manages to escape her attacker and finds her friend who says she will take her home and look after her, making the audience believe that Jess is safe and has found a equilibrium.



Our film then supports horror conventions once more as there is a dramatic twist, putting the protagonist in danger again when her friend turns out to be the killer after getting out a knife. Many horror films have the killer as being somebody close to the victim as it builds up a fear of the people around the viewer, making them trust nobody.

Many films follow the same pattern as ours, for example Halloween uses a masked killer, eden lake uses fear of isolation and scary movie 1, a horror comedy, has the killer as being close to the victim.

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

While making our film, we used lots of different technologies and learned how to use them. One of these was blogger. This is an online blogging website on which we kept everything from the making of our film. We learned how to make posts and tag people, how to add photos and how to embed YouTube videos in order to make our blog more interactive.






Another thing we learned about is celtX. This is a website which can be used for writing scripts and making story boards. I used it for writing the script to our film, and learned about how to structure a script so it's approximately one minute per page.




We used final cut express to edit our film. this allowed us to make cute, edit shots together, add in fades and title sequences. By doing this, we made our films the best they could be as we learned the interesting aspects of final cut express and how to use it to make a good film.






We used YouTube to upload our film and hand tutorial. We also used this as a way to get feedback on our film as it meant that we could get people's opinions on our film without having to go out and see people.






we used a zoom recorder to record the diegetic scream and breathing. Although it took us a long time to work out how to use it, we managed to work it out and put the sound on our film.








We had to learn to use a camera and tripod. this didn't take long as both of these were easy to use and didn't take many people to use them. We used these to shoot the entire film as they were very good quality and helped to keep the camera steady.

Cinematography created in our film.

In the production process of making our film we decided to largely focus on the cinematography side.

Costume 

 

For Jess' costume we decided she needed something bright that would stand out but not too bright like pink. We decided on a dark blue colours that could be enhanced later on in the editing stages. However we also decided she needed black to portray her introverted characteristics.

 

For Chloe's costume we decided she needed to be in all black or just about that with only a little bit of colour. We decided on black jeans and a black top or black coat, with possibly some white it. This would display Chloe's depression and personality. It also would show how it didn't take her long to change from the clothes she wore with the gas mask (she changed her coat).

 

The gas mask person needed to be in all black to show they are a villain. We also decided on the Gas mask from Millie's original story, we also added gloves to show how Chloe had planned the escapade.

 

 

Lighting

 

We decided on almost all natural lighting to suggest realism throughout our film. We felt like this would transfer to our audience as they would notice the verisimilitude. However in the kitchen scene we use un-naturalistic lighting to symbolize how homely it is, but also this symbolizes the falseness of Chloe's character.

 

Camera Shots 

 

We used a lot of medium shots and long Shots. However we also used a crane shot to show the chase scene. These gave us variation in our shots and also makes the audience more aware of what is happening, furthermore making them enjoy it more.   

How does your media product represent particular social groups? (To illustrate)

Our film presents middle class teenage girls.

In the above picture, it shows that the girl has got lost in the forest. This portrays her as acting older than she is because she thinks that she is old enough to wander through a forest alone, but it has gone wrong and she has got herself lost.





The above picture shows That the girl is acting young as she has had to call her mother for help. This shows the middle class stereotype as she has had to rely on her parents for help in everything. It shows that she doesn't know how to cope with difficult situations, making her a very stereotypical horror teenage girl, as they often act dumb and that makes them vulnerable to the people trying to get them.

The above screenshot shows the teenagers as being close friends, making people from tight friendship groups relate to it as they will understand the things that girls go through together during teenage years.

Who would the audience be for your media product?

We gave our film a BBFC rating of 15. We chose this age rating because our film stars teenagers who go to school and do usual teenage things. This will make the film very appealing to teenagers who can relate to some of the characters. Unfortunately, the violence and use of the knife in the film means that we can't have the film at an age rating of 12, so we went for the next one up, as 15 means that teenagers can still watch it, but they will all be old enough top see the violence.

Furthermore, when asking people about the idea for our film, the people who said they would like to watch it were 16 and 17, proving to us that it appeals to older teenagers, making the age rating suitable. When asking people for feedback on the final product, 15 and 16 year olds were the most common people for saying how much they enjoyed it and thought the storyline was good.

I think our film would be easy to advertise as a poster for our film wouldn't have to show the violence and would display the age rating to ensure that people who came to se
e it were old enough to. A trailer for our film would be shown after the time of nine o'clock, so it was only seen by the appropriate audience and in cinemas it would be shown before other films with an age rating of 15.

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

Our film fits into the genre of horror. this means that it will appeal greatly to certain production companies who have made horror films previously, or specialise in horror films. It also means that some companies may not want out film as they do not produce horror films, or may specialise mostly in films for younger children, such as Disney.

One production company that may be interested in our film is Amicus productions. Firstly, despite it's founders being American, Amicus is a British film company. This would make our film appealing as it is a completely British film. Furthermore, Amicus specialises in Horror films, having made such films as "Dr. Terror's House Of Horrors", "Torture Garden" and "The House That Dripped Blood". Having been made successful from the production of horror films, they would want to make more films from the horror genre.

Dark Castle Entertainment is another company that could be a possible production company for our film. They specialise in horror films, which is the genre of our film. The main producer of the company, Joel Silver, has many years of experience behind him, meaning he could make our film the best it could possibly by, which would be good for our film as it would make it more scary to people watching it. They have produced such films as "House Of Wax", "Orphan" and "I Saw What You Did" making them very popular in the world of horror.

Ghost House Pictures is another company which specialises in horror films, making them perfect for our film. The people in charge came to fame for their horror films, meaning that they have plenty of experience in the genre of horror and know how to make a good horror film, meaning that they would work well on our film.

Feedback on our film

Matthew Lister
Very nicely done. The shot at 0:39 sent a shiver down my spine.

Ross Walker
It fits with the genre. I like the fast editing during the chase. I like the hand held shot from behind. Kettle shot. The abrupt cut off at the end fits the genre.

Emily Spawton
Awesome short film, really well acted and filmed.

Michael White
well filmed and acted

Danny Gruff

Awesome! Well shot as well :-) 

Mark Pestell

Excellent short scary film, I will never look at a gas mask in the same way again.

Hand Tutorial

We decided to make a tutorial of how we created the dead look for the hand in our film.

Gasmask Final Film

Pre-Raphaelite Effect

By putting on this effect we can  make it look like some parts are more fairytale than other. This not only enhances the colour but also brings out the colours of the woodland.
This will also engage the audience as they want to know why some parts look different.
By enhancing the woodland features it also gives a sense of foreboading and danger as an audience wont know what is round the corner.

Saturday shooting pack

For Saturday we need:

Script

Gasmask

Camera

Tripod

Rucksack

Phone

Jeans (For both)

Girly top

Band top

Hoodie

Boots (For both)

Coat

Umbrella 

Location Photos

 These are the photographs of the location we're going to use. We will use different parts of the location for different scenes in the film.


Scene one: This is the scene in which the first girl to be murdered is walking down a footpath before getting lost in the woods. We will use these parts of the location for this scene to resemble a footpath, but with it being quiet we will not have to worry about getting in people's way.

These parts of the location will be used to show Jess getting lost in the woods. This is because there is a large woodland are and it will be easy to make her look isolated and scared.

This part of the location will be used to show how close the masked character is. Jess will run up the stairs past the camera and the masked character and the masked person will be stood at the other end of the bridge.

Opening titles

The Simpsons, Season 26, Episode 1 (2014) — Art of the Title In this opening title, there is a moment where the screen glitches for a second or two. I think this would look very good in our opening titles as it gives the audience the idea that everything is not normal and something is wrong. It makes the audience feel uncomfortable which prepares them for the film ahead.

This uses very grainy footage. I like this idea for our opening titles as it makes it feel much more eerie. This also makes the audience feel scared and makes them want to watch further to see if the whole film is like that.

In this opening title, the music is very quiet and eerie. I like this idea for our opening title as it builds up tension throughout the title. It makes the audience feel scared and jumpy, preparing them for the horror film that they're about to watch.

In this opening title, the music takes quite a long time to start. I like this as it makes the audience feel scared and vulnerable as there is no sound there to comfort them. This is a good effect to have so I would consider putting this in our film.

Preliminary Exercise

costumes from another perspective

Costume 2.0

Jess

Questionnaire

Questionnaire 

(1) What genre do you think it is?

(2) Who do you think it's aimed at?

(3) Do you understand the story line?

(4) where do you watch films the most?

(5) where do you expect to see such a film?

(6) What kind of music would you expect to see in the film?

(7) What would you call our film?

(8) How often do you watch horror films?

Psycho - first 15 minute analysis

Psycho

plot
The first fifteen minutes of psycho let us see into the life of Marion Crane. She is on office worker meeting Sam, her lover, in lunch brakes. They cannot get married as most of his money goes to alimony. One day, Marion's boss trusts her with £40,000 to be put in a bank and taken to the bank. Desperate to make a change to her life, Marion steals the money and heads out of town to meet Sam. After a long drive, Marion is very tired and decides to stop for the night in Bates' Motel. She meets the quiet owner, Norman Bates, who appears to be dominated hugely by his mother. After a long and stressful day, Marion decides to take a shower. However, she is soon brutally murdered by what we later find out to be Norman.

Characters
The only important characters that we meet in this section are Marion Crane and Norman Bates.

Norman Bates is a quiet young man who appears to be hugely dominated by his mother. He is a strange young man and is largely interested in taxidermy. This death obsession foreshadows what we later find out. He appears as a generally nice boy and helps Marion find her room and makes her feel at home.

Marion Crane is a young and attractive woman who has to meet her lover, Sam, in secret.
She steals money from her job to run away and marry him. On the way she stops for the night at Bates Motel, but never manages to leave alive.





How it links to Mobile Phone
Psycho links to mobile phone because it starts off as if everything is normal and nobody has any suspicion of anything going wrong. Furthermore, the first character that the one we are following meets appears to be a kind and sympathetic character and later turns out to be the murderer and the one to fear.

Risk assesment