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

Looking back onto our preliminary task, I believe that we have improved our final task and made it much better than before. After completing our preliminary we looked back and even gained feedback on what we could have done to improve and make even more appealing. One of the areas we chose to improve on was the storyline, as that storyline was okay for what we were doing at the time but what we didn’t do was think ahead to the rest of the film if we planned to carry on and film the rest. So this time we decided to create our opening sequence and give away enough of the storyline to keep the viewer s interested but not enough for us not to be able to carry on the storyline for the rest of our film. This is one of the elements that we have improved on from our preliminary task but it is also more gripping and interesting than before.

The second element that we decided to learn upon and change was the type of camera work. Looking back towards the preliminary task and how it was shot, the whole of the short film was shot in one room and only really one type of shot which was shot reverse shot. So this time we decided to have a change of scenery and have three different locations for our opening sequence and the three locations were the grounds of the block of flats, the stairwell and once again the living room of flat 111. Also this time we have used a variety of different shots and camera angles, Such as the shot where we see the girls looking out the window at the man starring up at them. This shows the use of the camera and angle positioning which is a lot different compared to our preliminary and the use of shots that were used in that.

Our final element that we have chosen to improve on was the amount of actors we had. Within our preliminary task we chose to have only two characters which were quite boring for the viewers to carry on seeing the same two faces. So we decided to add a few more characters to make the opening sequence a bit livelier and more interesting to watch.

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

How did you attract/address your audience?

One of the ways in which we attracted our audience was within our opening sequence of the film we used title screens to show our viewers the main characters/ stars as you can see in this screen shot. The reason we have chosen to do this is because it shows the audience our stars, in this case it is our upcoming stars. By having a certain star in a film it automatically brings a group of followers to the film already to a certain extent. This is why we chose to do this within our opening sequence to try and draw in more fans and followers of the film.

In order for us to receive feedback on our opening sequence we created a short questionnaire asking our audience about the mis-en-scene, the location, if the genre was established, and if they would carry on watching the film. The results came back mostly positive and helped us with what we could improve to our film. The results also gave us a feel in what our audiences first impressions were which help us see whether our film would be a hit or a flop.

We decided to go onto the BBFC official website to view the guidelines in which it suggested our film be a (15) and here are a few of the guidelines that suggest our ratings. Every film that is released to the world must be given a rating. The reason for this is so that the audience know what age you must be to see it and even what the film contains to a certain extent.

The reason that we decided it to be a (15) was because we believed our film fitted within all of sections under the 15 guide lines. We thought this because within our film there is, murder, horror and even sex scenes. None of this is shown within our opening sequence, but if we were to continue to film the rest this would be included.

15

Suitable only for 15 years and over.

No one younger than 15 may see a ‘15’ film in a cinema.

No one younger than 15 may rent or buy a ‘15’ rated video work.

Discrimination

The work as a whole must not endorse discriminatory language or behaviour. Does not contain any

Drugs

Drug taking may be shown but the film as a whole must not promote or encourage drug misuse. The misuse of easily accessible and highly dangerous substances (for example, aerosols or solvents) is unlikely to be acceptable. Does not contain any

Horror

Strong threat and menace are permitted unless sadistic or sexualised. Contains murder but horror which is acceptable for this certificate.

For the full guidlines of rating a film please click on the link below.

http://www.bbfc.co.uk/downloads/pub/Guidelines/BBFC%20Classification%20Guidelines%202009.pdf

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Target Audience

We constructed a questionnaire in the preliminary report and handed it out to mutual students and family. The results we received from that have showed us that older teenage girls, prefer to see these types of films as the young girls can relate to them to a certain extent. It is a realistic film which is believable and could actually happen. The girls like to go and see these sorts of films in groups because they like the thought of a jump and a scare. Another type of group that goes to see these films are still the girls but on a date.

Jasmine Price is a 17 year old girl who is currently working part time at a supermarket. She lives with her mother. She is currently seeing this boy called jack, and she likes it when he takes her out to the cinema. She enjoys a night out clubbing but likes a night in with a film and popcorn. She watches many types of film with her favourite being ‘The Strangers’ as it is exciting and gives her a scare every time. When going to the cinema she enjoys most films apart from action films such as ‘Green Zone’ as she just finds it boring. She particularly likes thriller and horror movies as they give you an adrenaline rush and usually keep you interested with many busy, jumpy scenes. However she also likes chick flick’s because they contain female dominance as well as attractive men.

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

Production Company
A production company is a company responsible for the development and physical production of new media, performing arts, film, radio or a television program. The company may also be directly responsible for the raising of funding for the production or may do through an intermediary. The production company may be a small company, selling its product to a film studio or presenting it at a theatrical venue, or, in the case of film and television, it may be the studio itself. A co production is a theatrical presentation or film made by more than one company. It is common for actors to form their own production companies so that they can have more control over their own careers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Production_company

As our film is being produced by a British company, TCCA and is in association with Kings Langley Production, we will need to get our funding from a number of different sources. We will obviously need our individual money to begin but would not be able to afford the making by ourselves. This means that people must combine to get the product out. This can be done by sponsorship, Film London, the lottery and other funding schemes / opportunities / competitions. The best way of getting our film out there would be taking it to film festivals where hopefully it would be discovered by British distributors or even American.

A film festival is an organised, extended presentation of films in one or more movie theaters or screening venues, usually in a single locality. The films may be of recent date and, depending upon the focus of the individual festival, can include international releases as well as films produced by the organisers' domestic film industry. Sometimes there is a focus on a specific film-maker or genre, or subject matter.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_festival

Film London would be helpful to producing our film as it is the capital's film and media agency. We sustain, promote and develop London as a major international film-making and film cultural capital. This includes all the screen industries based in London - film, television, video, commercials and new interactive media.
http://www.filmlondon.org.uk/content.asp?CategoryID=737

Film London offers three funds in support of screen activity in the capital - the Cultural Film Exhibition Fund, the Outer Boroughs Pilot Fund and the Education 'Hubs' Fund. We also have a Digital Film Archive Fund for projects which encourage public engagement with archive and can demonstrate the public value of film archive material; this may offer funding to film festivals, venues or educational organisations for specific work.

‘The Cultural Film Exhibition Fund aims to support a rich film viewing culture for London. The fund has £40,000 for the financial year 2009/10 and will offer grants of £3,000 to £5,000 to screening projects that will reach large audiences through a strong mix of programming and marketing. We want to ensure London audiences have access to high quality viewing experiences which offer them the chance to discover new and unfamiliar non-mainstream film, which engage them more deeply in film culture, and which demonstrate the value and beauty of the medium.

I believe ‘The Cultural Film Exhibition Fund’ would be a good form of funding as it wants to discover new types of cinema. As there is not a great number of British horror films this would be very helpful for our product as with our results from the questionnaire we see that it is a very popular genre among people therefore would connect with a large audience.

Another major funding company is the UK Film Council. They fund script development, film production, short films, film export and distribution, cinemas, film education, culture and archives, festivals and audience support schemes.
http://www.ukfilmcouncil.org.uk/funding

Distribution and exhibition
This is the final stage, where the film is released to cinemas or, occasionally, to DVD, VCD, VHS (though VHS tapes are less common now that more people own DVD players), Blu-Ray, or direct download from a provider. The film is duplicated as required for distribution to cinemas. Press kits, posters, and other advertising materials are published and the film is advertised.
Film companies usually release a film with a launch party, press releases, interviews with the press, press preview screenings, and film festival screenings. Most films have a website. The film plays at selected cinemas and the DVD typically is released a few months later. The distribution rights for the film and DVD are also usually sold for worldwide distribution. The distributor and the production company share profits.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filmmaking#Distribution_and_exhibition

Since our film is British and the British industry really isn’t that big we thought that it would be appropriate if we had a association with a big American company which would fund us but also help our films be shown worldwide considering they are massive companies. If we were to try and promote our film ourselves we would take them to films festivals so we could gain useful feedback on a big scale such as paranormal activity did and hopefully it could help us improve our film so it becomes a hit within the genre of the horror industry.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The first screen grab is of our protagonist Laura (Charley) who is the one of the main characters who is there to fight off the antagonist. In this instance the protagonist is a girl which is the same in the grudge and the protagonist is the character in the film who is the hero or in this case the survivor of the film. We have set up Laura to be this type of character as she is the survivor as you would see through watching the rest of the film.

I have chosen to compare the antagonist that is the ‘HOODED MAN’ with Jason from Friday the 13^th who is also a character who has his face covered which we try and do but instead of a mask we use a hood. Also they are two very similar characters as they both have stories behind them. The story of Jason is that he died in the lake when he was a younger boy and he has come back every Friday the 13^th to murder innocent victims. This is very similar to our mass murder that preys on the innocent victims of ‘One Eleven’, he has no reason to he does just because he can. This is why I chose to compare him with Jason. In Friday the 13^th the character of Jason is constructed as a scary frightening character and this is how we have tried to construct our ‘HOODED MAN’.

Target Audience

We constructed a questionnaire in the preliminary report and handed it out to mutual students and family. The results we received from that have showed us that older teenage girls, prefer to see these types of films as the young girls can relate to them to a certain extent. It is a realistic film which is believable and could actually happen. The girls like to go and see these sorts of films in groups because they like the thought of a jump and a scare. Another type of group that goes to see these films is still the girls but on a date.

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

Within the opening sequence we decided to use our titles as they do in horror films which we have researched such as the strangers. We decided to keep to the way in which titles are shown in horror films. The way we did this was to keep plain black screens to set the mood and style of the film. We also used the titles in certain places to cover up our problems with continuity; however it is still suitable for our style of film. One of our titles shows the viewers that our film is in association with someone, this shows that we are a low budget British film company.

As the film comes to a start, the first shot establishes the main character and the location as is conventional of opening sequences and the Horror genre. Our second shot establishes our hooded man who is the antagonist.

We have also followed the conventions by structuring the narrative chronologically and setting up the enigma of what happened in flat 111 and what might happen to the girls. Our opening sequence follows the story as it would if we were to produce the whole film.

As in the beginning we are under the illusion that the ‘Hooded’ man is out to get the girls and we are confirmed with that by another shot of him staring at them through a window. The opening sequence comes to an end as the audience fears for the girls, as they appear missing. Yet they appear unharmed momentarily resolving any fears the audience had; although the ‘Hooded man’ is still stalking the girls waiting for any opportunity to strike.

So far this should be starting to create fear within the audience for the characters and their well being. We have tried to create this feeling within the views as this is what the horror films we analysed did.

We have chosen to use an eerie style of music as we feel that it is suitable to our opening sequence as it sets the scene for the rest of our film as without the music it could be seen as unclear what the type of genre is. The only problem with the music is that it could mislead a viewer to believe that it is only a trailer, this is not the case as this is how the conventions of all our horror genre films we have researched begin.

Audience Feedback

Questionnaire Feedback

1. Can you identify the genre the film would be?
Most people showed they recognize it was from the horror genre, however some thought it was slightly unclear. Yet I believe from adapting the sequence since the viewing- for example adding the sound- the genre has become more apparent.

2. Do you think our titles (i.e. font, size) fitted the genre?
The titles were positive to the viewer as were said to be clear, and easy to read, however some could have been kept on for a longer period of time. We have understood this point and changed them to stay on the screen longer, which adds to the intensity making it easier the read.

3. Can you explain the significance of the flat? Explain what has happened here before?
There were mixed views from this question as some people were not entirely sure of the significance. However more people than not new that there had been murders before hand involving the HOODED MAN.

4. How did you feel the costume, location and props contributed to the narrative?
The costume was good as it portrayed everyday life, except from the HOODED MAN which showed him to be mysterious and creepy. The props worked well as thy helped with the understanding of the girls moving into a new home. The location gave a realistic sense and the surroundings made it seem spooky and secluded. Combined, the mise-en-scene helped build suspense and intensity and fitted well with the genre.

5. If you had the chance would you continue watching the rest of the film?
Unfortunately a few people declined the offer to continue watching the rest of the film. This was down, in most cases, to them not enjoying the horror genre as a whole, but some believed it to be slightly amateur. Yet these people are outsiders who did not realise we had little funds and a single camera and were more understanding when informed of this. Luckily on the whole most people wanted to continue watching to find out what happens in the flat and to the girls, as the opening sequence grabbed there attention and did not give to much away.

6. Where the superimposed images effective? How do they help show you what has happened?
Some people did not think they were that noticeable so we extended the overlap of the superimposed shots and darkened the opacity to make it more visible. But the main contentious was that they added something different to the piece, which mad the sequence easier to understand as it gave an insight of what happened in the past, and worked with the rest of the footage to predict the future.

7. Any other comments?
Not many people added extra comments, but the ones who did said they enjoyed our sequence and would want to continue watching to see the outcome.

The overall feedback was positive in many places which is good for our sequence and the criticism was constructive and helped us improve sections which needed work. Also form the feedback I know which parts I would change if filmed again and parts that need to be adapted and improved.

DUE TO TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES WITH THE SCHOOL WE WERE UNABLE TO POST OUR FINAL FILMS ONTO OUR BLOGS.