Evaluation 1

Evaluation
In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge form, and conventions of real media products?
The things I have used for my media piece from other familiar horror slasher films are using non digetic sound to build tension for example the sound of the camera taking a picture. I found this to be very successful in Halloween so I thought I should include it in my work. I have also used the same camera work as the familiar horror films like Scream by using mainly mid shots to build tension because the audience don’t get to see a lot in the background. I used the way that most horror slasher films delay the revealing of the killers identity. This is used to engage the audience and create the desire to watch the rest of the film. I have also used the big knife that is a key generic convention used in horror slasher films like Halloween and scream. This is used as a generic convention because it is big and impractical but because it is big it is more scary. The setting I mainly used is the same with having them set in big dark rooms. I have done this because it highlights their vulnerability. My media piece challenges the conventions of other media products by having one of the settings in a big open area. I have done this because I feel that it works well because there are a lot of people walking around so you feel that Emily will not be able to pick out who his following her until it is too late. From research on Halloween I have had a lot of similar conventions such as the big knife but my media piece uses different camera angles so it feels faster paced and builds more tension.

Evaluation 2

What institution might distribute your media product?
I think that a British institution should distribute my film due to the fact that it was low budget production so won’t have the quality of some of the big American institutions such as Warner Brother or Paramount pictures. I also think that it should be distributed by a British institution because it is in British settings with British actors. The film institution that I have chosen to distribute my film is Hammer. It was launched in 1934 and made classics such as Dracula and the curse of Frankenstein.
‘Hammer films had low budgets, but none the less appeared lavish, making use of quality British actors and cleverly designed sets. During its most successful years, Hammer dominated the Horror film market, enjoying worldwide distribution and considerable financial success. This success was due, in part, to distribution partnerships with major United States studios, such as Warner Brothers’
As my film is a low budget British film I think it suits the Hammer films that they make. Also Hammer specialise in horror films so this is the genre that they will be looking for in films they are doing to distribute. With Hammer being so successful in horror genre already they will be able to help me make my film more effective with better to be able to add special effects. Therefore I think that Hammer films are the best institution to distribute my film because it is a British institution that specialises in horror films. As you can see from their web page it focuses a lot of the horror genre.

Evaluation 3

Who is your audience and how do you address this audience?
My target audience is teenagers and people in their early twenties who like gory horror films. By having my main characters as teenagers, the audience would be able to relate the characters more due to them being a similar age. They would also be able to relate to the problems they have for example being alone and vulnerable in a big city. Also by having a killing early on in the film we are grabbing the attention of the audience as the expectation of horror films have changed. Halloween was seen as a gory film and shocked it audiences but audiences are getting more used to seeing gory killing scene. The audience want to see faster paced action and this is how my media project fits in my target audience

This is the first person I am aiming my trailer towards because he will be part of my target market.

This is the second person that I am aiming my trailer to because although he is different to the first person he is still in my target audience.

This is another type of person that my gangster genre will apple to and it part of my traget audience. This is important that I know who my target audience is because if I know this then I can my my work more specific to there needs. I will use the generic conventions of gangster films to help me do this.

Evaluation 4

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing the product?
I have learned how to use the apple Mac computers to edit my media piece on the Imovie programme. This i a picture of Imovie on a Mac computer.
I thought the Mac computers were user friendly with it being easy to import and edit clips. I have learnt that not only can you cut the clip down to the size you want you can also add fades to make the clips run even smoother and keep the continuity in the shots. In my film I used both a fade in and a fade out to show that time had passed instead if it just skipping to the next scene because it would have looked unprofessional with having the person in one place at one shot and then in another on the next. You can also add effects onto the shots such as rain and lightning. I was able to add titles and credits to my film to make it look more professional using the text tool. I was able to adjust the font, size, speed, and colour of the text. I also changed the way the text came onto the screen. My credits were red writing with a yellow light going across the letters but you could have had the letters spinning bouncing etc.
The cameras were very user friendly as well. You could have a fade put on while filming and you could change the light and shutter speed of the shot using iris. I didn’t use the fade on the cameras because they would not have been used in every shot for my film so I thought it would be quicker to edit the fades in on the apple Mac’s. This is a picture of the camera used and the tripods which kept the camera still and flat.
I have also changed the way my background looks on blogger because instead of the normal templates I have found the really good Jason background. I found the background on a website called pyzam.
I think this background looks a lot better than the blogger templates because it fits in with the horror slasher film. I have changed the settings of the layout to what the origional Jason background because all the writing would be grey. I though that by adding different colours for different parts of the text would make it stand out more and look better.

Evaluation 5

What have we learnt from the project?
I have learned how to use the equipment such as the cameras and the Mac computers successfully. this is a picture of the mac that I was using to make my film opening.
I have learned that it is important to use a tripod to keep the clips as still as possible unless I wanted the camera to be shaky. This is a picture of the camera and tripod that I was using to make my film opening. I have learned that to have a two minutes film opening you need to have lots of different shots to keep it fast paced and interesting. This means that you need to always shoot a lot more times in one scene that you think to have the verity of shots when you come to edit. I have learned how the different camera angles can portray different things such as I high angle makes the person look small and week where as a low angle makes them look big and powerful.
I have learnt how to work to a deadline even though I encountered a few set backs such as actors busy and losing light.
In addition I have learned that I have good leadership skills as I was able to organize a group of people to be in the same place at the same time on short notice. I also have learned that I have good communication skill because I was able to get out of the actors the things I needed them to do. By doing this it makes the opening seam more realistic and therefore more successful.
If I could have changed anything about my product I would have put more sound effects in my credits. I would also add more detail in my blog.

The film opening

I have finally been able to upload my film opeing to my blog after trying 4 different ways of saving it. The film opening that I have uploaded is isn't good quality but it was the only one which would upload. I the other formats I used were; quicktime player, DV format, avi format and VLC format. They all were better quality but they weren't able to be uploaded so I had to keep it as this one.

Editing

Editing
Today I added the pictures to my film opening and it works well but I found that there was no special effects of the sound of a camera taking a picture. I felt that this would really improve my work to have the sound effect so I had to film the sound of the camera taking a picture and then make it just have the sound so I could have the sound of the picture being taken at the same time as the action I happening. The boyfriend will not be a boyfriend to the girl but it will be a boy that the girl likes and the stalker is jealous of the fact that she likes the boy and not him. These are examples of the pictures that I have used in film opening. I thought the choice of actors was good because Emily has pink hair which stands out from the crowd so you know who the stalker is following. I also think that the way Emily has dressed is good because she looks like a normal teenage girl which I wanted to portray her as.