Q3: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

 

It is very important in film distribution that you pick the right company to distribute your film, in our case we were looking for a distribution company that has already got a good reputation for distributing films of the horror/mystery genre. For example, Lionsgate or Twisted Pictures would both be first in line to distribute our media product for the pure reason that these companies have sufficient investors behind them which means they are a reliable distribution company and also because of their track record for distributing previous horror/mystery films such as for Lionsgate they have recently released Texas Chainsaw which is being viewed in cinemas in the UK and the USA which opens up the potential audience to a larger population over in America which means our profits would more than certainly be increased. 

However, we as a group we decided to use Twisted Pictures Distribution Company to feature in our film opening as the main film distribution company as we think Twisted Pictures appeals more to a young audience of older teenagers as well as adults of up to around their 30's. The Unrated Director's Cut was released on January 22, 2008 in America and March 3, 2008 in the UK, on DVD and Blu-ray which is exactly the release strategy our group were going for, just before Christmas when it’s the optimum time to buy the DVD for our target audiences Christmas presents.

Q2: How does your media product represent particular social groups?



Our Georgie Holtby playing the victim



Drew Barrymore starring in Scream when the phone rings










In our media product we represent the social group of teenagers. We do this by having a typical teenage girl sitting in on a weekend night and babysitting a younger sibling. We used props such as a mobile phone and the television to emphasise the typically social activities of a teenagers as teenagers in this day and age usually always have their mobile phones on them. We decided to use a young adult/teenager to play the victim as teenagers are usually the most vulnerable and at danger then some of the other social groups we could have picked for this part. The inspiriation for his social group came from the film 'Scream' where Drew Barrymore plays a role of a typical teenager sitting a night in when her phone rings however in our media product we have challenged the stereotype of the teenage girl being glamorous and sexy as the costume, hair and make-up of our actor is used to show shes a 'plain-Jane' sort of teenager and we wanted this image for our actor to emphasis the innocence of the victim.

Q1: In what ways our media product uses, develops or challenges forms and convention of real media products?

EVALUATION!

Paranormal Activity Handheld Shot

One of our handheld shots

One way in which we found our production uses the forms and conventions of a film with the horror/mystery genre is that we included a handheld shot of the mysterious man walking up the stairs and into the bathroom. The handheld shot in a horror film is usually used to create tension and atmosphere and that’s why we have decided to include it. It also helps create a sense of foreboding. One real media product that we can compare our handheld shots to is 'Paranormal Activity', this is because paranormal activity is film full of a families own footage of the mysterious happenings in the house and therefore filled with handheld shots which we can compare to our handheld shots.

Scream Costuming

Our Costuming of the Mysterious Man

We found by looking at the Mise En Scene that our costumes were conventional and challenging to the normal forms of a horror film. This is because we have one scene where the babysitting girl wears quite casual clothes with leggings and a baggy top and typically what you’d expect in a horror film if someone is going about their daily lives however in the second scene the girl is obviously wearing sportswear such as trainers, tight top, leggings etc... As she is jogging and you wouldn’t usually see this sort of scene and therefore costume in a typical horror film. Also, the mysterious man is dressed all in black with his face covered which uses the conventions of a film of our genre such as in the film 'Scream' the man that nobody knows the identity of is covered with a mask and the one of the victims is at home dressed in her causal/everyday clothes.

The last thing we evaluated in detail was the sound and in particular dialogue. We thought the dialogue challenge the normal conventions of a horror film as throughout the whole opening we have virtually no dialogue and this was done purposefully. The reason why this was done on purpose was because we were fully aware of the fact we aren’t very good actors within our group and therefore didn’t want to risk the quality of actors performance. The only times we have dialogue is the screaming in the bathroom which works well and at the end of the running scene when the girl casually meets her mate however we do not like this element of our opening and plan to cut that scene out. 'Sinister' is a film that we believe has challenged the convention of dialogue as there is lack of flowing dialogue.

We believe that for our film opening it would be quite risky as a horror/mystery for us to challenge too many conventions and forms of a horror film as if we did then the film would lose impact of tension and atmosphere. This is why most of the elements in our film opening have used the popular conventions such as handheld shots, creepy music, a news report in background sound and a title sequence that fits into the film genre.

Final Cut Feedback

After a long discussion over the February halfterm we decided that most of our shots aren't to the standard that we want them to be for example, the shot of our victim on the sofa babysitting had backlighting behind her head and therefore we are going to re shot many of our shots with a better quality camera and think through all of our shots to perfection.

On the 25th of February we got our final cut feedback. This consisted of our teacher giving us a feedback sheet of all the things that have gone well and things that we may need to touch up.




The camera we will be using is: Cannon G15. We need a better camera so that it will allow us to capture better images. For example for our new ideas we wanted to capture the murderers feet but capture the detail on the ground as well so by having this better camera will allow us to shoot better clips.





Main Feedback Points:

• Too many wide angle shots and backlighting needs to change
• Costuming of the mysterious man (apron over his head isnt efficient enough)
• Editing skills, too many bumpy jump cuts from outside to inside
• The struggle of the victim in the bathroom needs to be more dramatic
• Mainly cuts and could be more experimental
• Empty spaces of sound

Things we are going to change:

• Change some angles of our shots for a more dramatic climax
• Change Dan's costuming so the mysterious man has a scary disguise instead of humorous
• Use ambience sound to fill the empty spaces
• Use cross fade transitions in between the shots of outside to inside the house
• Re shoot the babysitting scene for a more dramatic struggle in the bathroom (change of actor)

SFX Sounds

As our SFX guy, Dan is in charge of choosing the sounds what he thinks will fit best for our opening scene, however we have all looked for ideas for different non-copyright music which we can use for different parts of our opening. Below is some links to some non-copyright soundtracks we could possibly use for our opening, either for our titles, or for effect in teh background:

 

 

 

 

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pc2X688RwYY (Dark Horror Intrumental)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OH-AU9ykCbY (Scary Creepy Piano)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K31iEpq5cwQ (Engulfing Shadows)http://www.dievantile.com/tag/horror-background-music/ (In Readiness)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbIVpL1bPU8 (Creepy Song)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQhYMRsU7TI (Creeping In The Woods)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmVlq0LjcOM (Serial Killer)

Changes

 

Before Tuesday 15th there are a number of adaptions we need to make to our production piece, some which we can do individually and some we may want to do as a group.

• Add Titles - At the moment we have added our 'BDCM' production logo into our piece but we still need to add in our 'Twisted Pictures' logo to come after, and also the names of the directors need to be added in.

• Delete Running Scene - We found that this part of our production makes it almost unrealistic as we have seen the killer once already so it is unlikely that we would see him again so quickly. We have decided to crop most of the running scenes out of our production but will perhaps keep a small section to show where the story is going after the opening.

• Adapt Sound - At the start of our opening we hear a news report playing in the background explaining how a murder had taken place. In one section the reporter says 'the killer is still out there'. To develop our ideas further we are going to try and take this line from the report and put it towards the end of this scene where our girl has been killed, this will amplify the importance of the killer still being out there.

• Re-Shooting - We have some re-shooting to do from our piece, all in our scenes with Ellie. We found that in our piece at the moment, Ellie gets up and goes upstairs with no motive behind it, to add to the horror theme of our production we are going to re-film this and instead have a noise come from upstairs so that Ellie has a reason to go upstairs. As well as this, we though it looked a bit unrealistic when she see's the man at the window and walks out still calm. We are going to change this by re-shooting Dans sections and instead of him standing directly outside her window, maybe have him lurking ni the shadows, or walking across, so that it builds suspense but isn't too artificial.

• Recording Sounds - We don't have much recording to do, but to bring our idea together in the re-shooting we will need to record a loud bang or noise which will sound like its coming from upstairs so that Ellie has a motive to get up and check outside.

• Film Establishing Shots - As well as re-filming we also have to film new shots to establish the setting of our film opening, Mollie has planned to take the camera home and film outside her house and walking towards it, this will create a sense of location for viewers.

We have already made some changes to our production piece since our first final cut and feedback, including:

• Production Logo - In our first final cut we didn't have any titles in our piece, we started off by adding in our BDCM production logo which we have put at the start of our opening.

• 'Reprisal' - Another title which we didnt have in our production piece yet was our main title of the film, we decided to put this at the end of our first section where the girl dies so it shows that that part was an insight in what is to come. We downloaded a font which the group decided on from a website that Mollie found, we then put this into Premier and used the graadient tool to edit the title so that the bottom half of the word was a deep red, making it appear as though blood was dripping from the word, we found this looked effect with our filming and music.

• Cropping The Music - In our feedback we were told our music was to full on, however it was only the strong start to the music that made it unrealistic and to much, after this strong start the music fitted well with the rest of our opening. To fix this, Dan and I worked on cropping the beginning of the music so that the strong bell sound from our piece has now been taken out, leaving the rest of the music to build the suspense. We then found that as previously the music had fitted nicely with out title, going to a different tone when it came on screen, it was now a bit off time, we changed this by changing the lengths of the clips to make the music fit again.

First Cut and Feedback

 

First Cut

This is the first cut we showed to the class on Thursday 14th of December 2012. As it is our first cut we hadn't got around to including the opening production logos and sponsor logos and therefore will still need to add them in and this was explain to classmates and the teacher on presentation. Also, we hadn't started adding in the title sequence yet however this is scheduled for first thing next production editing lesson. On presentation to the class we recorded feedback from our teacher and also a small number of individuals who are doing the Media AS as well.

 

 

 

 

 

Feedback

From the feedback we were given we found that from our teacher she thought that the rule of thirds was slightly ignored however she added that it works and looks good. Also she mentioned that despite the lack of titles there is a clear plot building and tension being created. Apart from one of the shots at the end the lighting looks good and consistent the whole way through. The music links in with the mysterious hooded man. Use of P.O.V to emphasize character. Very good use of sound to build up tension. No titles present.

From the feedback we were given from a group in our class we found that even when the shot was handheld the shots were filmed well. There are a few wonky shots. The shots were all good and consistent to the theme. The mysterious man’s hat was peculiar. All shots make sense however could be improved. Only one transition used. The sound was average, maybe repeat the sound of the news report. No titles present.

Changes to make:

Change music to a less intense and more mysteriosu sound

Add titles to shots

Cut down Point of View shots

Add in establishing shots

Build up more tension in first scene

Cut out some of the river shots