evaluation - todd sweeney

1) In what way does your product, use develop or challenge forms of conventions of media products?
The film I decided to do is in the horror genre and is a cliché horror film with the main characters all being teenagers. It is based upon previous horror flicks where teens are lost in the woods and face problems from a local demon or ghost which haunts or hunts in that particular territory. The film is very similar to other films in its genre this is due to it being a cliché horror and has all the typical values of a horror film: death, screaming and a bad guy.
2) How does your media product represent particular social groups?
The main social group represented in my film is the typical teenage subculture of college friends. These are in the typical age range of 16 to 19. They will be all easy to relate to as they will consist of college students that are from a range of varying subcultures e.g. jock, Goth, geek and prep. As usual there will be friendships, relationships, love triangles and rifts. This will result in the teenage category being represented well.
3) What kind of media institution might distribute your media and product?
Lionsgate entertainment may distribute my movie as they are the lead company in the horror film category and have had a string of successful horror films e.g. hostel, the saw franchise, the descent, captivity, catacombs, Rambo, my bloody valentine, kick-ass and daybreakers. Lionsgate also range from small budget to larger budget films and this is probably the key factor to them being successful as they appeal to a wide range of customers Lionsgate entertainment would be ideal in the distribution of my film as they are an established company and will already have a loyal fan base, meaning our film may already have paying customers before marketing has started. Lionsgate will also distribute our film worldwide with TV adverts and billboards; because of this our gross revenue should surpass our budget.
4) Who would be the audience for your media product?
My target audience for my horror film would be 2 separate categories: one of them being horror followers (people that are interested in the genre) and also teenagers (this is because they are usually interested in the genre and can relate to the film). The teenagers will obviously be college students as these are portrayed in the film, also due to the age restriction of 18. Also horror fans will be attracted to the film due to its cliché horror style script and storyline. Due to the film being aimed at two markets gross revenue should be pretty reasonable.
5) How do you attract/address your audience?
The films release will be preceded by a heavy promotional campaign. This will consist of a small red carpet premiere, this will give our film media attention should as newspaper articles and online showbiz news spots, this will automatically give the film coverage and market the film as people will start to notice it. Promotional posters will be put on buses as this will be a crucial move in targeting the teen audience; this is because students are usually struggling financially and swill use buses for transport. A TV advertisement will also be used to promote my horror film, this will be aired during the advertisement breaks of typical teenage programmes this means it will be addressed to our target audience and hopefully will attract them to the cinema. Our film will also be addressed with internet adverts and an official website this will give the film more public notice. Also because Lionsgate will be distributing our film ‘from the makers of ....’ slogan will be used this will address our film to an already achieved audience, this could boost viewing figures.

as part of my evaluation i received audience feedback for my film.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olzjJSwFc3U
6) What have you learnt about technology from the process of constructing the product?
From making my film I have learned how to use a video camera, before my participation in this film I had never used one before so this was a huge learning curve for me. I have also discovered how to use blogger and the process of updating and editing blogs. Another piece of technology I have learned is how to edit a film before hand I had never done this and struggled to start with when learning the process of editing a clip of footage. I also leaned about films and how they are distributed I did this through research and looking for information regarding my film.
7) Looking back to your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
I have learnt that every factor has to be taken into consideration when making a film:
· Location – this can be crucial due to lighting and hazards such as mud and wet surfaces, also that it matches the script you have written.
· Choice of actors – making sure you cast the right people to take part in the film, bad actors can be unprofessional time consuming and result in an unsuccessful film.
· Script – the script has to be written to high standards in order to achieve full success for a film.
Other factors I have learnt is that time is spent to all possible advantages and is not wasted , for example if a scene is set in daylight the clip must be file d before the sun sets.
The most vital thing I have learned is to work with people are negotiable and give you full support, from early conflicts I have learned that working with stubborn people will not lead to success as someone will always ruin your contributions with their own . The best thing to do is to take a lead role and negotiate plans with a group that can be trusted.

STORYBOARD

Group walking through the wood someone is following them.

Group talking and settling down for the night, Jenny is worried.


POV shot someone is watching and sneaking up on jenny.

Jenny is angry at Jason, he was the one sneaking up on her.


Kat notices the pair argueing and interupts.

She takes Jason away leaving Jenny on her own.

Jenny sits down.

She hears a noise.

There is someone there in the distance.

Group return.

Kat runs over to jenny who is now in shock as they look off into the distance where there was once someone stood.

SYNOPSIS, CAMERA ANGLES OF TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE

The movie starts by telling you the date it set august, 1939. It then shows you an extreme long shot of a mud hill with a weather shot, a long shot of farm fences, a pathway (that all zooms in a little on each shot). There then is a close up of cows going into a slaughter house, then the door to the slaughter house closes and the transition to the next scene is a fade in to the next scene. The camera tilts to show a man chopping up meat and then another person packing it and a close up on the "inspected" stamp that is on the packaging. The music at this part changes more dramtically to set the mood and tone of the movie. The camera then focus out and its a woman in labour, she shouts her boss for help then a close up and cut in as she grabs her prayer beads and shows a close up of her leg as her water breaks. A mid shot of her boss as he stands watching her and she asks god to help her, it then shows you her water again and it turns to blood, she then falls to the floor people now suddenly rush over to help. The boss tells a employee to get the hell out of here and shows a two shot of the couple as he whispers into her ear thats what you get for drinking on the job son. The woman suddenly screams out in pain and shows a point of view shot as if the womans if looking at the man and her eyesight is going, grabbing hold of the boss, blood rushing all over the floor. The woman stops screaming the boss looks down and the camera cuts to a point of view shot where he's looking down on the deformed baby. The camera then cuts away to a completely new subject. It shows a woman scavenging through the trash trying to find food, she then hears a baby crying and finds the baby that was born wrapped up in news paper. She wipes some of the blood off the baby, it then changes to the next scene with her carrying the baby up a deserted road in a wide shot and then shows you a house and her walking to it.

RISK ASSESSMENT

EVALUATION - LUCINDA CONNELLY

1. In what way does your product use, develop or challenge forms of conventions of media products?

My film is a horror film and I have tryed to keep it generally like a classic horror, for example, a group of teenagers in a wood is a common story line and is used quite often in a horror movie. Horror also usually includes some mystery,suspense and a monster/bad guy. I have tryed to use all of these conventions in my movie.

I didn't challenge forms of former products of the same genre because people usually expect some form of monster and suspense so I gave my audience what they'd expect from a horror movie. I also just wanted a simple story that isn't too complex so my product would be easy to produce.

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My product represents particular social groups by having all the actors between 18 and 21, this is because the audience i'm aiming for is around this age and will appeal to our audience if there is people in the film of a similar age. My actors were all pretty casual and normal which represents students as a social group, they're pretty laid back. Which makes sense because most horrors are 18+ which is the age of students. The characters are not really from any particular "click" eg. Goth, punk, plastic, emo this makes the movie more open to a wider audience and if it was full of goths for example it may put some people off because they don't like them.


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

For the UK I would try to get distributed by Blue Dolphin and in USA, New line cinema. This is because "The texas chainsaw massacre " was distributed by these and it was an independant film and had a small budget, I chose this as an example because my film would be an independent film as it is shot in the UK and also had a small budget so we couldn't include things that take masses of money like famous actors and locations that are far away. It's also a good example because they had a tiny budget and made loads from it.


4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience would be for those 18 years and over, especially to younger adults. This is because the horror genre is usually too scary for those younger than 18 and most are rated 18. Also those who are older may not be used to watching movie full of realistic blood and gore and slasher movies usually excite those who are younger.


5. How do you attract/address your audience?

My film is for 18 years and older, so to attract this young adult audience I would use flashy posters and trailers with gorey images that look scary. I would also advertise on things like facebook and myspace.com because younger people use alot of social networking sites.
It is also for both genders and not really for any perticular social group. This opens up opportunities to do alot with the film because you don't have to keep it pg. 13 for children, you don't have to keep it butch and manly for male audiences and you don't have to have a soppy romance story line for the women. I have attracted my audience by producing a classic horror story, which should keep old fans of horror movies happy and the actors who are young are relatable to people who havn't been a fan of horrors that long.

6. What have you learnt about technology from the process of constructing the product?

I have learnt alot about technology from the process of constructing my product. I had to learn how to use the equipment, which i've never really properly used before.
I have learnt to not rely on one copy of something, as it could be erased/deleted. As our previous blog work was and we had to re-start it all over again. I have also learnt that when using a camera you should keep checking the footage to see if it has actually recorded something so that you're not left with nothing at the end, like what happened with me. I also know now that you should make plenty attempts at a shot because something could go wrong when editing. I also should have used a white balance because some shots in my product had different lighting.
I used imovie to edit the film. I cut the film up into separate shots and put the into order to create the film. I learnt how to change the volume of the different shots to make the wind noise lower and the voices louder. I also learnt how to add music to it and cut that up and fade it in and out between the shots.
I have learnt from editing with imovie is to save work every couple of minutes as technology, as great as it is, can be unreliable.


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

I have learnt alot about filming by working on my product. I knew what I wanted to get out of doing this film and tryed to shoot as much as I possibly could in the short time limit we had left after complications (having to start again, not enough actors, tripod broke and camera not working properly). I have learnt that working independently can be difficult but it has it's benefits including freedom to shoot when I want and what I want. I have learnt how to use a camera, which I didn't know anything about before this project. I have learnt that making out a big plan at the beginning and going into fine detail was a wrong way to go as it wasted alot of time and just lead to conflict between the group, from this I learnt to adjust and change as the project went along and to keep adding details to make the film better and to suit the needs of my cast. I learnt how to edit a film and where to add music to create atmosphere, I also learnt that you need to research into the chosen genre in order to know how to fulfill my audiences needs.
I have also learnt that it is important to think about location more into detail as there could be different hazards and complications, for example I kept tripping over branches in the woods, to rectify this I would choose a location that is a little safer where there are less hazards.

UPDATE

Shooting & editing is complete.
First day was a failure due to a broken tripod.
Second attempt was a failure also, due to some complication I had with the camera, where all it shot were the out-takes. However, I managed to extract some worthy shots from it but there were massive gaps in the movie.
Third attempt was more of a success, I managed to get most of the shot we needed, however there weren't as many actors as the second day.
Editing went well. I struggled with the lack of shots, but managed to get it done.

Shot List

1. POV shot - someone walking in the woods watching the group behind trees. Gets closer to the group as they're talking.
2. Long shot - kat as she speaks and places down her things.
3. Mid-close up - Jenny as she panics at what Kat said.
4. Long shot - of group laughing at Jenny. Lizzie speaks.
5. Mid shot - Jenny as she looks around.
6. Long shot - Jenny hangs back a few metres as the group place down there things.
7. Camera cuts away to POV shot. Watching only Jenny this time.
8. Camera moves closer and closer to jenny as arm reachs out from the POV character.
9. Midshot of Jenny
10. Two shot of Jenny and Jason argueing.
11. Close up on Kat knelt on the floor unpackign ehr things, looks up at the two argueing.
12. Long shot of Jenny and Jason as they're still argueing and Kat comes into shot and says her line.
13. Long shot of Jason who looks at Jenny then walks away with Kat. Jenny goes and sits down on a nearby object. (Log, chair etc.)
14. Long shot of everyone walking away to get wood.
15. Mid close up of Jenny as she's sat staring at the floor, poking around dirt with a stick.[Silence].
16. [cracking noise] Close up - Jenny looks at direction of noise. [Another cracking noise from opposite direction.]
17. Mid shot - Jenny looks to the new direction of noise whilst getting up.
18. Long shot as Jenny looks around quickly and picks up a large stick that is on the floor. Jenny is stood in the middle of the camp, woods surrounding her every direction.
19. Extreme close up – Jennys eyes, wide with fear. A little back-ground can be seen behind her face. A dark shadow rushes past in the distance and Jenny turns again.
20. Over shoulder shot – Jenny, nothing in the background.
21. Camera pans to look at Jennys face.
22. Close up - fixes on Jenny faces [Girl giggling] Jenny freezes. Her eyes look slightly to the left of her. She takes a deep breathe and turns slowly.
23. Over shoulder shot – On woods. A shadowed girl is stood in the distance peering from behind a tree.
24. Mid shot – Jenny from a side/front angle stood frozen.
25. [Noise in background] Long shot - friends returning.
26. Kat looks over at Jenny, Pan shot as she runs over to jenny and places her hand on her. [lines]
27. mid shot - Others looking concerned at each other.
28. Close up of Kat staring into Jennys eyes trying to snap her out of it. [Lines].
29. Over shoulder shot – Jenny looks behind kat. [lines]. Kat turns too.
30. Long shot – Empty woods.