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?

Question 1 - In what way does your media project use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

[The text below is what I say in the video]

The forms and conventions of horror films are of night/darkness, blood, being chased, creepy children, screams, vampires, zombies and other paranormal evil and is set in deserted houses and woods to play on the themes of being alone and isolated. Horror films are made to scare the audience and play on their fears for example clowns (IT), Claustrophobia (Saw) and death (Most horror films deal with this). The horror films openings I have studied are of Scream, which opens with a character that dies before the main film starts which is what happens in ours, The Ring, which follows a person unknowing of what is to happen and The Grudge, which shows a man commit suicide due to unknown reasons. We have developed the characters from scratch as it were, choosing to make the characters separate from the story, and show how they would react to the situation rather than create characters for the specific characters. We have changed the main horror genre by having two of the main characters die in the opening scene, instead of having the four characters die one after the other over the whole film. We put the audience straight into this terrifying scenario with the characters to make it seem more realistic and let them get to know the remaining characters as it goes along, with no time to stop and relax  as the story doesn’t have a break.  

The Ring - Opening Scene

The scene opens with medium shot of a woman in a kitchen; the TV gets turned on in the other room where the audience cannot see anything else through the glass. The tension is increased as they follow the woman into the empty room that contains the TV. This is further raised as the TV is turned on again after being turned off. An ominous non diegetic sound is used as a glimmer of something passes the screen to startle the audience. The scene then follows the woman around the house hiding anything she can’t see from the audience, such as what’s behind the fridge door. When it comes to the upstairs landing the camera is at a low angle, causing an enigma code for the water and highlighting the fact that the television is on behind the door. The audience do not know what the TV being on means, but they do know that it is not normal and there is something evil about it, and are scared for the woman to open the door. She does, and high pitched sound and varies of images on the screen, along with the zoom in on the woman’s face turning into horrific image. The colour schemes throughout are of dark colours and grey which foreshadow something bad, and the tension is kept as there is no diegetic sound so it feels more real.

Meeting about filming times

Music for our horror opening

Music:  

We chose to have modern rock style song open the scene as it fits the protagonist’s character as well as the target audience. We will do this by using acid, a music creating piece of software that you use by adding loops together. This is the track I made using acid, it's called Upcoming Shadow

When the tension of the scene gets higher, as the protagonist is running home we shall incorporate a fast tempo'd song to work as a parallel sound. This song was also created by us on acid, and it's called Chase.

To finish the opening scene we have used a pre-made song called Movement Proposition, which really picks up the tension and makes the viewers excited and unknowing of what is going to happen.

Opening sequence in pictures

This is the story of our horror opening scene done in images:

Actors

Here is a list of the characters that we will be using in the film:

Daniel Biggs (Played by Scott Mcpherson-Davis)
Daniel is the youngest of the group, and acts naive and carefree, unaware of the dangers of the world. Because of this he is ready to do anything without fear. (Walking alone through the woods for example.)

Michael Thomas (Played by Philip Newsham)
Michael is the most dependant friend, as his father left him when he was younger. He is paranoid that his friends will leave him and is afraid of being alone.

John Macintosh (Played by Matthew Kerry)
John is the clever one of the group, and will think about what the group is doing and will try and make sure they won't get into trouble. He is afraid of doing anything that he might not be allowed to do but he can't say no to his friends.

James Murdoch (Played by Joe Glover)
James is the joker of the group, and the oldest. He is always trying to make his friends laugh but can act seriously when the situation needs it and act as the leader of the group.