Finished Product

Question 5 - How did you attract/address your audience?

We set up a questionnaire that told us about people’s thoughts about horror films as well as films in general and we found out that 16 – 18 year olds don’t usually watch horror films on their own but will watch them in groups of friends which makes them good as a target audience as the main characters in the film are a group of teenagers which will make the audience empathise with them better. The group of friends in the film will be characters that the audience will be able to relate to; either because they are friends with someone like them or just that they know someone like them. This will make the danger feel even more real as the threat is against people of that age, making it practically aimed towards the audience, thus making it a good horror film for them.

Question 7 - Looking back at your preliminary task , what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

Lighting

When creating a piece of film you have to take every part of the scene into account. One of the most vital pieces that we needed to have was the right lighting, as having the right lighting was the key to creating the atmosphere that we wanted, which was of isolation and paranoia. Also the lighting was needed to create the verisimilitude of the scene, as it was about a teenager walking home from his friend’s house – if it was filmed in the day it would not be believed.

Unfortunately, due to the limiting time of filming in the perfect light it was hard to have continuity of the lighting, so there are some parts that will be brighter, later on when in reality it should be getting darker.

 

Sound

Sound is also key to create a piece of film, either using it diegetically or non- diegetically. We had to add a soundtrack that would encompass the feelings of the protagonist, as well as what we wanted the audience to feel. Diegetic sound was included to keep the verisimilitude of the scene, and to add tension with sounds such as the twig snapping, the protagonist’s heart beat and laboured breathing  along with the footsteps walking through the house. We also added effects to the sound in the flashbacks to give it a feeling of it being a pushed back memory.

Emotional Journey

As our horror opening focuses primarily on Michael Thomas we needed to make the audience be able to empathise with him. We did this by having a close up reaction shots throughout, showing his emotion to the audience at key moments in the scene. We also made it so the audience would never know more than Michael would, which makes them feel like they are in his shoes, and will share his feelings.

Question 2 - How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our horror film mainly represents male teenagers in a variety of ways, but ultimately their goal is to have fun. Each of the four main characters is unique in personality, from James who is the joker of the group to john who is scared of getting into trouble. When the protagonists know they are in trouble they can act serious and keep their heads, which represents them as mature when the time calls for it.

 Compared to a modern mainstream film like “I know what you did last summer” the characters do seem similar, with the way they have a laugh together and do not act seriously until they have to, when there is a threat upon them.

Question 3 - What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Question 4 - Who would be the audience for your media product?

I have personified my target audience into one person, this video shows what that person's likes are, and why they would watch this film.

Question 6 - . What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?