Questions for our exam!!

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Use?
In terms of use, we decided to stick the common theme of a horror/thriller film. We use the input of the airy feel of the music and we also picked over dramatic music to compensate how short our teaser trailer was. We decided to make our teaser trailer short because this followed the normal convention of a horror film , as most horror film are very short, but have been done at a high standard. One main reason for keeping a teaser trailer so short is in order to build tension for the audience, and this makes them want to watch the film to find out the plot of the film is. We also followed key elements of a horror/thriller film by making the victim be a female. The convention of these films will usually have the female as a main character, who is the followed by a male. We also use the most alarming thing for a woman, which is been followed and not feeling safe in your own home. The lighting has a big impact as well, as we shot most of our scenes in night time lighting, so we could create an airy feeling, and it also connotes and suggests that something may happen the victim while she walks home alone. As most murders take place in the night time, in order to hide the identity of the murderer the scenes would have to be in the dark. In our film we decided to bring in a new character in, and made the audience question if her friend may have something to do with the victim disappearing. In terms of our film poster and our magazine front cover, we used to common theme of dark colours and simple writing to connote a horror film poster. In most film poster they made the title of the film, bold and in capital letters and also the writing was in white. We copied this, and place the title in the bottom centre on the poster. We also placed the main characters names in the film on the top of the poster, and made the writing smaller, so you didn’t draw your attention away from the impact of the image, of the girl being attacked.
In relation to the magazine front cover, we kept it simple by using three bold colours like blue, red and black. The reason for using these colours is we wanted it to match up the magazine with our film and our poster, so people realise that they all link. We also included common things such as a free cinema tickets and also the countdown of the best classic films.

Develop and Challenge?
Firstly we did this in the teaser trailer using a young black woman as the person for being attacked. In most of the horror/thriller we saw for out investigation for our research, we found that most of these had young white British or American females as their role; we decided to go against the convention, and at the same time send out a message as well. Another reason for having me play the role in the film is that due to my dark skin colour, it would be easier for me to mix in with the surroundings, making people unsure if the victim will get home safe in the end. Secondly we decided not to use a large amount of dialogue, in order to create the airy feeling, and made sure not even to show the sex of the murderer, this will therefore make the audience uneasy, it also makes the audience ask question to why this certain people is carrying out these attacks. In terms of the magazine front cover it wanted to connect with a different target audience. Therefore we made our front cover very feminist, to connote the increasing power women now are getting in the film industry, and to help them get recognised in society today. We also use the director on the front page instead of the main character. The reason for this, is that we got the idea from a lending magazine called ‘Sight and Sound’ who have been putting directors on their front cover for many years. Therefore we went against the normal conventions of a magazine.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?
Most of our feedback was positive. In terms of the teaser trailer that we done; the audience suggested that instead of having the phone ringing in the back when the teaser trailer is about to end, we should instead do the scream of the victim while there is a blackout. They also said that the teaser trailer starts up a bit too quick, and we will therefore to another blackout with writing on it, to create the build up of the film. Other things were some people found it was difficult to read the words that were popping on the screen because they were too focused on the images instead.
In relation to the film poster, some people suggested that we should move the words vulnerable further down, so that the writing isn’t touching the image of the hand. In the magazine front cover, people found a few spelling mistakes, which we have to change. People also said the magazine front cover did not include a barcode, and also that we need to fill up the gap on the right hand side were it says Mia-El-Kassir.

Evolution/Evilution

Evolution – Survival of the fittest, e.g. giraffes with long necks.
Development over years e.g. fish to ape – development happens
Mutation of cells (Guinness Advert – Evolution) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejNgK4GZ7OA

MEME - Richard Dawkins, a British scientist introduced the word "meme" as a basis for discussion of evolutionary principles in explaining the spread of ideas and cultural phenomena. Where an idea or creative item is passed on virally from person to person, to the point where lots of people know about it and are talking about it. There are two main sub groups for evolution. First is cellular – Biological and physical. Second is cultural evolution. E.g. 24 hour party people (2002), it can also be any film that has received a lot of attention.

Scream – Wes Craven (auteur)
Most of the films he does are hyper-real in that you as the audience are watching a film of the audience, this makes you unable to tell the difference between real life and what is the horror film. A scene such as the shower scene in Scream is making fun out of the original film Psycho. Also films like Scary Movie 3.5, is almost laughing at its self. These films also carry a lot of sterotypes, such as the typical blonde girl.

The Matrix - http://pr4hobel.phl.univie.ac.at/magazine/ozturk/simulation_reloaded.html
The Matrix tralier - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UM5yepZ21pI&feature=fvst

British Teaser Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5O_9oAdu3E = Between the Lines

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEZjPsmV-Gw = Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Empire Magazine
28 Days later
Bridget Jones
Harry potter
Bend it like Beckham

The Guardian Guide
Eden Lake
Hot Fuzz

Film Posters
The Descent
The Queen
Kinky Boots
Mojo
Becoming Jane
This is England
Pride and Prejudice

The Internet
http://www.imdb.com/
www.worldbest.com/movies.htm

The Start of A2

For our media homework, we was asked to pick three iconic images that represents britian. These are the images i came up with:

THE RED BUS

The red bus is also iconic due to the bus being around form since 1829, also because the majority of the buses are red; this is a big symbol for the city of London.

A CUP OF TEA

A cup of tea is iconic around the world, but if more so common in Britain, as where ever you go, you will come across it.

BIG BEN Big Ben, is one of the most iconic builds in the UK, as it is a range building and no other country has this kind of structure. The clock is one of the world's largest four-faced, chiming clock and the third largest free-standing clock tower in the world.

My Full Evaluation

The way in which the film that I produced, challenges the conventions of real media products, is that most horror films are usually set late at night or not in an open spaced plan, in order to make it hard for the victim to escape. Whereas our film was filmed in the early afternoon, and is open planned, there are also members of the public in the background to make it look like a murder would not happen in these kinds of surroundings. Another thing that we challenged was the fact that most films contain a lot of blood and show the graphic content. In our film we decided to let the audience create a picture of what happened to the young woman at the beginning of the film. The reason for this is that giving too much away ruins the plot.

The media institution that could support my film is The New line Cinema (the ‘Company’). The Company produced big fantasy films such as Nightmare on Elms Street, Friday the 13th, Final Destination and Freddie vs. Jason. This Company also produced the most famous film out of all the above mentioned and that is Lord of the Rings. The reason why I would wish this Company to distribute my film is that the Company caters for productions such as mine and there is also a market for such films. The Company is also a subsidiary of Warner Brothers (‘Warner Bros’). Warner Bros have produced major box office hits such as Harry Potter which became a huge British hit. The New Line Cinema I believe, have been in existence since 1967. For me there is a clear indication of reliability in terms of production of films and is supported by a mega bucks industry namely Warner Bros.

The target audience that I had in mind are the sort of people who enjoy a gripping feature length modern day fantasy horror story. This film will also engage the mind of people who take pleasure in not knowing what will happen next i.e. uncertainty/unpredictability. I strongly feel that my film will be suitable for people over the age of 15, appealing more to the young teens and young adults. The way in which I attracted my target audience was by observing other films and this is where I received my inspiration from e.g. ‘Psycho’ and ‘The Shinning’. I admire Alfred Hitchcock for the use of his music which created an impact of violence. Such as in Psycho’s shower scene where the woman is being stabbed and the music emphasises the woman’s life being drained away. I tried to create a film that will draw in the viewer’s attention. We used different lighting and it was important to shoot the film at dusk and winter. The long camera shot at the beginning of the film shows the shot of the park, the close up of the woman’s face and the scene of the woman using the phone makes the viewer question who she is talking to. The whistling howling sound of the music and black outs helps create a sense of suspense, anticipation and insecurity. The woman looking behind her and the sound gradually getting louder dictates that something dreadful is about to happen. There is no focus on the watcher or his identity but purely on what is about to happen to the woman.

I have learnt that the process in creating this film takes time and needs a lot of dedication and patience. We devised a plan to shoot loads of scenes, when editing the film we took out scenes we were not happy with. We put the scenes together and used music to create an airy feel. I also felt that I have learnt how to operate a video camera, and what effects to make my scenes better, which was a great help as I have never used this equipment before. I also got better knowledge in using the iMovie program, which I was unable to use due to not being able to up load my preliminary task, another think I have learnt was being able to adjust the Apple Macs, as I am so used to using Windows. I have now learnt how to upload the film from the camera to the Apple Mac, and then when I finished editing, to then upload the film on to YouTube. I have tried to keep my blog updated.
Looking back form when I first joined Media Studies, and done my preliminary task, I have seen a big improvement, in that I have learnt different camera shots, and the different techniques, I have also learnt that the use of lighting can changes the whole concept of my film, in that dark lighting can give an airy feel to the film. I Also now know it taking up a lot of time, to film a whole two and a half hour film, and also that there is a lot to think about, in terms of what camera angles to use, what appeals to the audience, setting and the whole storyline and what the plot will be about.




My Own Evaluation
The aim of our media project, was to produce a short two minute film introduction, we also had to include some important aspects such as different camera shots, write a pitch and synopsis. The film also had to contain our film title, credits and include a Cherwell introduction. Over all looking back on the project I did, I felt it didn’t go as how I planned it would. The reason for this it that we did well in pitching, and was therefore able to proceed to the next level which was filming, but the first time we tried filming the tripod was broken, and was unable to film for this reason because then the camera shots would be wobbly. The second time we tried to film was when we both finished school, but as we got to the scene where we wanted to shot, it become darker, due the clocks going back, and was unable to continue. Thereafter, there was plenty of times for us to start filming, but because both Jos and I was busy in the Christmas break, and lived far away from each other, we left it to the last minute, and then only had two more days to finish shooting, as we had missed our deadline numerous times . After all those problems we had, we were able to finish our film in just two hours.

We decided that we would take a number of different shots of me walking but in different camera angles, so that we didn’t have to re-shot. We found filming and being able to use the camera very easy, as Jos was used to using video cameras, and had had experience. When it came to editing, that was also easy, because Jos and I would both discuss what we should cut out, in order to make the film have an airy feel. So we had no problem when it came to uploading and editing the film. The only problem we had, and what we just noticed when re looking at our film, was that there was a blurry mark on the bottom of the camera shots, throughout the film, which we was unable to remove

Looking back on my film, what works well, was the image of the young women walking, and the camera focused on her feet, as she moves closer to the camera, we done this because we wanted this image to connote how gradually the person watching the women, is closing in on her. Other shots that really works well, is the shot where the girl is on the phone. This helps the audience question who she is talking to, and the use of music, in order to build up an atmosphere.
Feel I was able to redo my film; there are quite a few things I would change. I would start filming early, leaving me with enough time to edit, and re-shot, if there was any shots I was un-happy with. Another thing I would change, is try and get more involved with the technique stuff, in which I mean in editing the film, as I didn’t get a chance because Jos wanted to do it. One last thing I would change, is that I would want to be in a different group, because my partner Jos and I are good friends, and therefore it was very easy for me to get distracted.