CHOSEN EVALUATION

Question 1In what ways does your

media product use, develop or challenge

forms and conventions of real media products?

• The form is conventional- it starts in a graveyard which conforms to a typical horror atmosphere and setting,

• Then switches to a killers lair, this is a typical setting for a psychotic character to have.• Shows victim (Portia) in a flash back combined with a flash forward of the mother at

her gravestone this creates an enigma for the audience about who these women are.• Purposely put the victims frames in black and white to emphasis the narrative of her

being dead now, and that what is being shown is a past event • Another enigma is formed as we don't reveal much of the killer to the audience, trying

to use as many close ups of his hands and arms as we can • This was effective as the less the audience knew about the killers identity the more

horrific the whole narrative felt• We got this idea from an opening we analysed called Se7en.

PLOT:• The plot is thrilling

like the opening of a horror should be.

• It immediately gets the audience engaged in the storyline.

• The narrative is a typical sequence for our sub-genre where a male stalks and kills young girls.   

CHARACTERS:• Our characters conform to our sub-genre 'psychological' Horror

because the antagonist is a male. While the protagonist is a blonde white female, this conforms to stereotypical horrors.

• We were inspired by J. Clover’s piece on the final girl. The Final Girl is subtly pictured as a repressed teenager, a potentially weak, virginal young girl, therefore we ensured our victim was a blonde school girl. To emphasis her vulnerability and innocence.

• We also made a visual link of physical features between the mother and the daughter, such as hair colour and body shape.

SOUND:• We used non-diagetic sound throughout

the whole piece. The sound was a main part of our piece that made it very horrific due to the fact that we didn't have any gore or jumps due to our sub-genre.

• •Therefore the sounds we used were very important and we made sure they were the best they could be to match the environment they were in. 

• •We had no dialogue in our piece as we wanted to get the story across though the characters non verbal language and visual links, as we found this conformed more to our sub-genre. 

EDITING:• We intercutted the mother at the grave and the victim getting ready

for school to increase the enigmas made for the audiences. We used slow pace editing for this part to create the sadness and sorrow the mother felt as she mourned over her daughter. 

• •Similarly we used slow pace editing in the killers lair, to heighten the tension as to what this man is doing and who he is. Causing him to seem more psychotic as we watch his every move very slowly at a very close angle. 

• This is similar to The Devil Inside’s slow pace editing in its opening to emphasis meaning and create enigmas (link to technical analysis)

http://twgsbmedia15asgrou

p10.blogspot.co.uk/

2014/12/teegan-

harvey-technical-

analysis-of.html

MISE-EN-SCENE:• We used iconic weapons such as knives. We also kept

the killers hood up to show emphasis that criminal stereotypical look.

• Furthermore we put a dark tint effect over the top of this whole sequence to make it extra horrific to watch. 

• We ensured that the walls were covered in photos of young girls and that many were of Portia so that we could make a visual link from the stalkers lair, to the girl in the flash backs. 

MISE EN SCENE• We purposely put Portia in typical school girl

clothes to ensure she looked as innocent and vulnerable as possible. We needed to make sure her age and identity got across to audience clearly. •All of these key signifiers were to make the killers actions seem more psychotic as he picked on an innocent girl.

In a skirt and tights

We made her wear white shirt with a black

jumper

Wear a backpack and hold school books to emphasis she was

getting ready to go to school

MISE-EN-SCENE:• We worked very hard in making the mise-en-scene in the

killers den as powerful and psychotic as possible, we had to re-do this whole section of filming due to the fact that we weren't pleased with the mise-en-scene in it. 

• In our new filming we covered the table in a map and weapons, we made sure the killer was dressed in black and filmed in the evening to ensure the lighting for the exterior and interior shots were more forcible and convincing. 

• Similur to an opening I analysed called The Devil Inside, here they used mid shots and close ups of weapons and victims limbs.

CAMERA WORK:• We used a panning shot at the beginning

of the opening. • Pan up- to show the church• Pan across- to set the atmosphere and

setting of the graves and allow the first character to enter.

• Tracking Shot- In killers den to make our work look more professional as it showed the table and the images on the walls in solid smooth movement.

• Close ups- In killers den as we wanted to reveal as little as possible about his identity to scare the audience more and create more enigmas. 

 

This is similar to a film I analysed called The Devil Inside, where they used lots of close ups to reveal little of characters

We used a range of angles:• Overhead (birds

eye)- to give a sense of Portia being watched over

• POV shots- On the frames of the victim to show she is being stalked and followed. We did this by using handicam for these types of shots. 

TITLES:• We used a certain font that conformed to our

narrative, as it was scratchy and pixelated, similar to the killers photos as he scratches and touches them. It had slight spots around letters to connote blood and hint at the idea of death.

• •We put an animation on all of the titles that made them quickly shake upwards. We did this to make them stand out more and to create a more psychotic feel as they entered the screen. 

COLOUR:• We put a darker tint over the den to make this

scene more disturbing and to show he is more mysterious, as the killer works alone in the dark and a night. Immediately improving the atmosphere and verisimilitude for the audience.

• We changed the scenes of Portia to black and white to make it more obvious that it was a flash back and that she had died

TITLES:• We also put in a time frame in a plane

white font in the bottom corner of a black screen to inform the audience that the time had changed.

• Similar to The Devil Inside's timeframe as they had simple white writing on a black front 

Question 2 How does your media product

represent particular social

groups?

• When applying binary opposition to our opening we see that the pair is male/female and that the male is marked with a negative absence and the female is marked with the positive presence.

• Due to the male being psychotic and killing and innocent female, while the female is innocent and doesn't do any wrong-doing. 

Teenage school girl- •Represented as vulnerable and helpless this conforms to dominant views of this social group, as school girls are seen as innocent. We showed this through her school uniform costume.•She is represented positively so the audience feel sorry for her when she they realise she has been killed•This is similar to a film opening I analysed called The Unborn, here they used a young woman as the protagonist and a male as the antagonist who stalked her. Here is a shot of the woman in this opening sequence 

• He is represented negatively as he stalks young girls. His character conforms to the residual ideology that all men are violent predators and cannot have an emotional side as only women can do that. It also pushes towards the belief in a patriarchy society and the male over the female holds the power in the situation.

•However it does depict the dominant ideology that men are more likely to assault and stalk girls rather than women, also that stereotypically middle aged/older men are more likely to be paedophiles compared to young men in modem society. This conforms to our expectations of the horror genre as this character is seen as the most likely to performs these sadistic acts compared to any other type of person.

•He has a mental disability because he is represented as if he is psychotic and obsessed with stalking and killing young girls. Through signifiers such as the mise-en-scene of covering the walls in pictures of girls, and him stroking their faces with knives

QUESTION 3 Who might your film secure a distribution deal with?• Our film would be a British independent film due to us having a small

cast of only 3 characters (mother, school girl, stalker).• We had no A-Listers in our piece• Our locations were at my house, Charlie’s house and at a grave yard

close by (10 mins drive away). • All of these aspects would be used in an independent distribution due to

the low budget production values.

What kind of media

institution might distribute your media product

and why?

• However our film does have some industrial aspects as we tried to make the killers scenes similar to the opening ‘Seven’.

• We did this by using scratchy fonts, lots of close ups of the killers hands and a discordant sound in the background

• An independent production I analysed was Strangers. • The movie was filmed in a summer house similar to our piece-

showing its low budget.• This film is similar to ours as the victim is a female

QUESTION 3What might we the strategy in connecting your film to an audience?• Being an independent production we would have to use traditional forms of

marketing such as trailers, going to film festivals, teaser posters and billboards to create a ‘buzz’ for our movie.

• Due to our film being vertically integrated we want to maximise publicity as much as possible. So we would use synergistic promotional activity to link up with another company such as a TV programme, to show our film in a slot in during breaks if possible.

• On top of that we would increase our viral marketing campaign through web 2.0, here we would distribute our film across all social media sites to increase word-of-mouth as much as possible.

Where might your distributor try and exhibit your film?• Our distributor is likely to be an independent

company like Vertigo Films, that has released films such as Monsters.

• Being an independent film we would have a platform release.

• Our core audience is ages 15-24 which is a niche audience due to the sub-genre of the film as it is a preferred taste.

• We would release it in a few cinemas in certain regions at the beginning to see how well the opening weekend is, and if it is a hit then we would expand our film across other cinemas.

• We would also release the film on DVD and Blu-ray to maximise revenue streams in case the film doesn’t do well in the box offices.

QUESTION 6What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Blogger:• We used the blog collaboratively

through peer assessment e.g. commenting on each other's work, to give each other feedback.

• It was easy for us to go back and edit and amend our work for any errors.

• It was a great way for us to access each other's work

Prezi and YouTube:• We used prezi for our pitch

presentation• We used YouTube to upload drafts

and any filming we did e.g. rough cuts, preliminary task and wilderness woods

• It was easy to share our videos on YouTube to test drafts on audiences, to get feedback for our final piece

FILMING:• We filmed using a SHD60 camera and tripod• The tripod was good when doing steady and still

shots, also it was easy to change the height of the camera when adjusting the tripods leg lengths.

• We used the track and dolly for certain moving shots

• The limitations we found with the SHD60 camera, is that it couldn’t film well in very dark lighting, as it became unclear on the camera.

• Therefore we had to solve this problem by filming in lighting that produced good quality footage and then we edited the lighting in post-production to make the atmosphere scarier with a dark tint.

Free sound and 1000 Free Fonts:• We used free sound for all of the

sounds we used as all of our sounds were non-diagetic

• We also used 1000 Free Fonts for both our credits and main title.

EDITING:• We edited our piece using a software called Premier • We used continuity techniques as you can see• Filters- Black&White on scenes of the victim to express how

this is a past event because she is dead. We also put a dark tint over the killers den scenes to create a more mysterious atmosphere

• We did many practices to improve our filming and editing skills before making our final piece. These were wilderness woods and our preliminary task.

• Both tasks taught us that we needed to storyboard our ideas and shots for each frame before filming to save time and that we needed to go to the different locations first so that we knew where and how we would film on location.

Screenshot of the Premier interface during editing our

final piece

http://twgsbmedia15asgroup10.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/group-wilderness-woods-production-film.html