2. WHAT THE FORM/CONVENTION IS.. EXPLANATION.. EVIDENCE..
Introduction to the main character U
In this mid shot, you see the main protagonist fully for
the first time. I used the rule of third, I thought it would
make the shot look more interesting and draw the
audiences attention to the main protagonist.
Mood D
The mood of my film opening is scary and mysterious.
The film opening would straight away put the audience
on edge, wondering what’s going to happen next. I
think that the mood does develop as the scene goes on
as more tension builds up.
Establishing The Setting U
For example, I have an establishing shot of the house.
Its dark outside with little lighting, this automatically
put the audience on edge with a feeling of being
unsafe.
Music D
The music fits in with my thriller genre as the sound of
the piece is dark and mysterious. It makes the audience
feel uneasy, leaving them knowing something is going
to go wrong. Viewers can automatically tell that the
opening of this film will be a scary film. For my film
opening I got my music piece off of a non copyright
website called LGFL audio network. My music is very
typical of my genre as its quite mysterious and scary.
Use Of Titles U
The use of titles within my film opening constantly are
fading in and our at relevant points within the film
opening. The fade in and out could also represent the
genre as it can come across creepy.
In what ways does your Media product use, develop or challenge forms
and conventions of the real media product?
3. How Does Your Media Product Represent Particular Social Group?
The main protagonist is a young
attractive woman. She’s dressed
quite glamorous so this may attract
the young adult audiences.
She lives in a house by herself, telling
the audience she’s working, and not
staying at home with her parents.
You can tell by the surroundings that she is a middle class
woman. This may make her more of a target to become a
victim. The middle class connotation is clearly shown
through Mise En Scene. For example, the table with the
fruit and the big kitchen looks very middle class.
An attractive woman is normally a
target in any typical horror/thriller
movie. This represents my genre.
Carol Clover wrote a book called ‘Men,
Woman and Chainsaws’ in which took the
negative the portrayal of women as victims
and saw a positive aspect as at the end, the
single female is often the survivor (i.e. Final
Girl Theory)
When I was thinking of the storyline for my film, I would want
my female character to survive at the end of the movie.
I think that my film opening would
attract teenagers and young adults.
4. What Kind Of Media Institution Might Distribute Your Media Product And
Why?
River Road Entertainment is a very popular well know distribution company, which was founded by Mr. Pohlad in
1987. He wrote, directed, and co-produced his first feature film, Old Explorers which was then followed up with
numerous commercial, corporate, and documentary film and video projects. Hammer Films is a UK film production
company. Founded in 1934, Hammer Films is best known for the amount of ‘Hammer Horrors” they bring out.
Hammer also produces other genres for example science fiction and thrillers within later years. During Hammer’s
most successful time period, they dominated the horror film market, distributing different horror films world wide.
This success was partly due to the partnership made with major US studios, such as Warner Bros.
I chose to use River Road Entertainment as it’s a well know distribution company with many successful pieces. I
chose to use Hammer Film Productions as I was making a Horror film, I thought that this production company was
best suited for my film.
5. Who Would Be The Audience For Your Media Product?
The audience I would want my film to appeal to is teenagers and anybody older
of both male and female. My film is a thriller so I feel that anybody watching
under that age of 15 years old would be unsuitable as it may be too scary.
I think my film would be watched by students the most as I think that the ‘thrill’
of watching a scary movie would appeal to them. I don’t think that very elderly
people would enjoy watching this type of movie as it would make any viewer
constantly on edge throughout the whole movie.
When I showed and asked people what they thought of my film opening, the
general feedback I gathered back was that they could see straight away what
type of film genre it would be. They said that this was due to the type of music
as it very tense and the setting also showed that the film may be a horror or a
thriller as the setting is very dark and quiet.
6. How Did Your Attract/Address Your Audience?
Within my film opening, I only used one character. The
character shown in the film opening is a young woman,
mid 20’s. She comes across as very attractive and
glamorous.
This may attract my target audience (mainly
teenagers/young adults) as they might feel as though
they can relate to the main protagonist within the film.
The young woman looks like she’s feeling very
vulnerable and scared as any woman would on their
own in this situation. This would also help attract
viewers and audiences as it’s a scenario that could
happen to anybody.
The expectation of the film due to the genre is also a major factor of how my audiences are attracted and
addressed. The music plays a big part in the identification of my genre as by hearing the music you can tell
that the film is going to be scary as the music builds tension between the viewers and the screen.
The setting of my film is in a house, the house seems to look like a nice, calm house but because we know
that somebody has been in the house, this make the audience unsettled. I set the scene in a house as this is
a place everyone can relate to, the comfort of your own home.
7. What Have You Learnt About Technologies Form The Process Of Constructing
This Product?
Whilst producing my film opening, I learnt many new skills about
different technologies in order to construct a film opening piece.
The programme I used throughout the making of my film opening
was Final Cut Express. This programme allowed me to put
different shots together and add music and a title sequence etc.
I was also able to take a piece of non copyright music off of a
website on the internet called LGFL Audio Network and embed it
into my film opening. I was also able to turn the music volume
higher and lower at different points within the scene. For example
when there was dialogue I turned the music down so the main
protagonist could be heard clearly and once she stopped talking I
turned the music volume up higher, to bring back a sense of
tension again.
Whilst adding in titles to my film, I used the wire frame on Final
Cut Express to make sure that the text would be seen on the
screen and also the colour of the text may be affected by the
colour of the background. Foe example, my text was white so I
needed to be careful about where on the screen I was placing the
text incase the text was over powered by the background.
8. Looking Back At The Preliminary Task, What Do You Feel You Have Learnt In
The Progression Form It To The Full Product?
Through out the task, I was constantly learning new techniques.
For example, camera shots, editing, planning etc. Looking back at
other tasks I did like my continuity exercise, I found that planning
was very important as it makes your work more structured and
organized. If your work is planned, it makes it easier to be able to
go back and re-shoot something where as if its not it’ll be more of
a struggle.
Whilst making my film opening I used lots of different skills when it
came to editing my footage. The equipment and software, I was
using allowed me to create a film of a high quality standard. Whilst
shooting my film I learnt the 180 degree rule. This rule is put in
place as when your filming, you need to create a line as to where
you would not film from, like a half way point. One side used for
the filming and another used for the acting. Therefore all my
filming was done from one side of this line.
I found that when shooting the shots, you should always leave a
few seconds at both the start and end of the shot as when you
come to edit it all together, you have space to cut it down etc.
incase the shot jumps form one to the other. Also you need to
make sure you keep the camera in the same position at all times
otherwise its noticeable when you come to editing your film.