Peephole Evaluation

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Overall ‘Peephole’ does not incorporate a lot of the generic conventions used in the genre
‘horror.’ The last scene in my film where Katie seems to have gone mad could be classed
as the only scene where generic horror conventions are used. This is mainly based on the
blood on her hands and the knife she is holding, as most horror’s include blood and death
into their films.

When the title is shown in my film, a flame appears, which is also a very common
generic convention of a horror film. The flame starts off the rest of the film, making
people want to watch more. Within the new upcoming film ‘The Crazies’ (2010), fire is
used within a scene to show a man setting a house alight. I feel that this title sequence
used in my film defies expectations of the audience, due to there not being any signs of
blood, or screaming. These are also generic conventions, but they were not used for the
title due to them being obviously typical and expected. Making our film controversial
overall.
Unlike other horrors my film uses stalking as it’s
main sub-genre. This is shown with Katie
following Mr Jones not too long into the film,
following could be classed as a generic
convention of horror. Although it’s not as typical
as blood and death which are generally seen in
most horror films, such as ‘The Crazies’ (2010).

The film develops into the sub genre of

stalking by using the generic conventions
of watching and following, as shown to the
left. We did this purposely to make it
easier for the audience to understand the
film itself.
 How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My film is told from the young girl Katie’s point of view, her love and feelings of
desperation towards Mr Jones are directly shown through her. I think this links
to the target audience as she is the same age as them, so the target audience
has a connection with her throughout the film. Katie is a lower class citizen who
goes to a public school, which many young people can relate to now-a-days.
Within the film different race is shown throughout both the main In my film, each group of characters are represented in a non-
characters, with Katie being British white and Mr Jones being British stereotypical manner when it comes to the generic conventions
Asian. I feel we have shown this well and in a suitable manner without of horror. More commonly, males are used as the dominant
any racial issues to either race. killers and women are the passive innocents. Katie is the
antagonist throughout the film which has been shown through
The particular social groups represented in this film consist of both genders certain scenes, such as her outburst in her room and the final
and mainly teenagers of any class. Young adults are represented through
scene just before the titles.
Mr Jones’ character, he is shown in a stereotypical way as a successful
This goes against typical horror antagonist and protagonists,
young teacher with a wife and family. He is shown as a ‘rugged
traditionalist’ within the film, a man with traditional male values and a love of due to Mr Jones being oblivious to being followed until the end,
outdoors. This is shown by him walking down a possible country trail. and him being the passive innocent instead of a woman.
The target audience in my film ranges from teenagers at the age of 13 to a much older
target of 30+. This gives the film a wide range of people that could possibly be
interested, I feel if we had cut down the target audience ages to anything younger/older
we would not have been able to make such a personalised film.
I feel making Katie the antagonist within the film gives a better effect
due to the fact that it goes against stereo-typical horror films. It gives
off a better effect because it gives the whole film more of a sense of
surprise which draws the target audience into the film more.
We have shown different classes within our film by making one of
our main characters, Katie, look much poorer. For example the fact
that she only has a mattress and a sheet for a bed shows a much
lower class than someone with a full bedroom.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

I feel that my film would only be appealing to a niche audience due to not many people liking horror
films all that much. Also because of the darkness often shown in this particular style of horror film. It
also does not show many generic conventions of a horror film which could displease people who
generally dislike horrors, as those conventions are why certain target audience’s love horror.
Although this film is not appealing to all horror lovers, it could gain a wide range of an audience due to
the mystery behind it. Quite a few scenes, such as the conversation between Mr Jones and friend,
could gain the attention of many. Making the audience want to watch the rest of the film.

Overall I think if a media institution were to distribute my media product, the film would most probably be a TV
movie or even an indie film. Due to the fact that the film is very dark and not as high class as a Hollywood film.
Although many horrors are based around teenagers and their fears my film is more of a winding path. Especially at
the end scene where Katie is holding the knife there could be many interpretations and in a way could not be
approved of when it comes to Hollywood distribution. Whereas an indie production team could find it interesting
and they may not be as wary as a very out, there controversial film.

Working Title Film Productions, I feel would be a good choice to distribute my film due to it being very British in
scenes and that is what they specialise in mostly. My film includes a violent nature and as WT films creates a range
of different genre films, this particular film could be pleasing to the production company. Due to it being a bit dark
and mysterious underneath in the beginning, willing the audience to carry on watching it to find out what
happens. As all our characters are British it would fit into their wants/needs as a company, as they mainly use
British actors within all their films.
Who would be the audience for your media product?

For this film, I researched other films that used the sub-genre of stalking for their horror films. I researched two films, ‘Scream’ (1996)
and ‘Taxi Driver’ (1976), these two films were based around stalking but also had generic horror conventions, including blood and death.
The reason behind this research was to get a better idea for the overall target audience for the film.
The age of our target audience for the film ‘Peephole’ is 15-year-olds and over, whereas the gender we have aimed our film at is both male
and female. This is because of the narrative of our film being set in a high school environment, which most people can relate with, but the
reason for it being aged 15 and over is due to the style of horror and some of the scenes throughout the film. We have scenes that
suggest a violent nature but do not show the full violent scene, therefore not making the film eligible for a higher age rating. Within our
target audience we researched into film ratings and found out that a15 rating states that horror and violence may be strong but “strong
sadistic or sexualised violence is also unlikely to be acceptable”.
As said above, similar films to mine include ‘Scream’ (1996) and ‘Taxi Driver’ (1976) although there are years between all three,
they all have common elements. For example in ‘Taxi Driver’ (1976) the main character and Katie in my film both fall in love and
feel that the feeling is mutual, unfortunately it’s not, both characters have similar attitudes and slowly their mind takes over. For all
three of these films, the target audience is around the same, being 15-years-old and over, as well as the films being appealing to
both genders of sex.
Unlike in my film, the two films above both have male antagonists which is a generic
convention of any horror film. This could make the target audience differ a bit due to the fact
that it may interest males more than females. When asked, the target audience for my film
seem to be both male and female as we had asked a number of both and they all had similar
answers. Overall my film appeals to similar young ages, yet
‘Scream’ (1996) mainly 16 year olds, who were the main targets in
the groups target audience planning. Within our film
we also made sure that it fitted to the film
classifications, this affected our choice on the target
audience as there were things we could and
couldn’t include in our film. We had to be careful, ‘Taxi Driver’ (1976)
but also wanted to include the things we had
planned, such as bad language.
How did you attract/address your audience?
We attracted our audience by making
them able to put themselves into both
Katie and Mr Jones’ shoes to an extent
where they can see how they may feel.
In Mr Jones’ position the audience are
able to witness the feeling of possibly
being followed and also being oblivious
to what is happening. With Katie the
audience are allowed to witness what
is happening to her mind, what
characters in the film are not allowed to
see. The audience get to witness her
desperation and adoration for Mr Jones
and how it slowly gets out of control.
This gives a major impact of fear and
possibly a feel of need for Mr Jones to
realise. After creating a questionnaire
for our target audience to fill in, we
found out that Katie really has a huge
impact on the audience at the end of
the two minutes. We found that a lot of
the comments wanted to know what
would happen to Mr Jones and in turn
Katie. These comments were mainly
linked to Katie’s last scene, which
included the generic horror conventions
of blood, knives and death.
Katie’s final scene of the two minutes Audience Feedback
where she is holding the knife seems to
attract the audience to the film the Camera
Techniques
most. This would mainly be due to the Music & Credits
fact that it is the most terrifying scene Acting
General
out of the entire two minutes. When the
target audience reviewed the film for
our group, the key scene which
interested the 15+ year olds was the Following a survey after testing our film, the
last scene due to the generic above graph showed the general feedback
conventions. from our target audience was good. The
The film attracted both genders and all main thing that let us down was acting etc
which was commented to have been a bit
the ages that had reviewed, which is confusing at times. The audience surveyed
what we had predicted in our target sometimes did not know what was going on.
audience planning. Continuing this we changed the film a little
bit to create a better storyline for our
Another scene which would seem appealing audience.
to the target audience would be the Most camera shots used within my
beginning scene with the nursery rhyme film are personal and the audience
music. This is appealing to the target
are able to read what is happening.
audience because they do not know what to For example the scene where Katie
expect after this first scene. Anything is
holds onto Mr Jones’ hand for a little
possible and anything could happen. bit longer than she should. The
audience can clearly see what is
happening and it could appeal to
them and make them want to know
more. Due to the fact that not all is
being shared just yet within the film.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing the product?
The camera’s used to create ‘Peephole’ were Although a Dolly had been borrowed from school for our
the one’s borrowed from school. They had following scene in the beginning of my film, it was not
their strengths and weaknesses, their used. Unfortunately, where we’d chosen to film this
weaknesses being the low battery life and scene, the ground was not suitable for the Dolly to move
having to have very bright lighting all the time. on. In the end we used a tripod and had the actors walk
This became a struggle due to some scenes past it. I feel this gave a better effect than the Dolly
being shot in a dark area. For example we would have done, as if it had of been used the scene
had to re-film our scene of Mr Jones and would be very wobbly and unrecognisable.
friend due to the lighting being poor and not To enhance the film we used more props instead of
as sharp as other scenes. equipment, for example the fake blood, knife and photo
The strengths of these particular camera’s wall.
include when in a bright place the filming is
very clear and stands out. This helped when The editing software all the group used was ‘Adobe Premier Elements 7’ which we often seemed
filming because the whole group wanted the to have problems with. Some of these problems include how slow the programme itself actually is.
scenes to be as clear as possible. Overall I have learnt different ways of editing on this programme, including how to cut sound from
a scene to play over another, this particular skill was useful in many scenes we created.
As said before, when filming we mainly A particular transition we used often within the film was a fade to white, I feel this was very
had issues with the light and sometimes effective, especially when the scene it went into was a bright environment. For example the
the timing when filming, as the actors had classroom scenes with the star pupils. This effect also gives off an eerie feel making the entire film
other places to be. This caused a struggle more like a typical horror.
as we had to re-film and try to keep the
continuity flowing.
These issues were resolved by a better If I had the chance to re-do this project I would maybe choose a better film sub-genre, which
film schedule that was clear on what we’d would be easier to include more generic conventions of a typical horror. As a group I feel we
be filming, when and also where. For worked well together and easily listened to each others opinions. Next time I would suggest a
example, again, the scene with Mr Jones list of things to do so we could share them out equally so not only one person had all the work
and friend, we had to re-film so we set a under their name or vice versa.
time and date and chose a better location.
I used ‘www.blogger.com‘ to log all my work, I found this programme helpful throughout the course of making my film. It was useful as I could
keep all my work in one place and also show my impact on different parts of the film and the planning/research behind it. Without this
programme I feel there wouldn’t be a suitable way of showing who contributed what to each part of the film and the work that came with it.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have
learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
The differences between my preliminary task and my main task
within this project include the quality of work put into it. From the
preliminary task, you can see that the quality of planning and
filming differs when you compare the two. With the preliminary task
the group had to act themselves and could not get others in to do
so, this made it harder to make a better quality film due to the rush
between acting and filming. Whereas with my main task, we were
able to use actors so we could focus entirely on the filming itself.
My use of specific shots has improved throughout the making of
both my preliminary task and my main task. I feel I have improved
on specifically holding a steady shot. Within my preliminary task I
found it hard to keep the camera angle consistent and I also found
it hard to move without ruining the entire shot. Whilst filming my
main task I have improved on this.
Throughout my main task, continuous planning and research into the
genre of horror had occurred. This detailed planning and research
helped to produce a horror and a better quality of work when
compared to my preliminary task. Planning helped us to know what
scene to shoot when. It also helped us to create a better quality
script which helped us to be more organised throughout filming.
Planning also helped us to create a schedule of editing, including
details of what scene will go where and whether or not we’d use a
transition, this ended up being a big help. From my preliminary task
and main task, it is easily noticed that more effort and thought has
gone into the overall main task. Research was mainly on generic
horrors and the sub-genre of ‘stalking’ which helped us to decide on
our target audience and other elements of our film, including titles
and actors.
I feel my end product is a success due to the response and
feedback received from the tested target audience. Although we
had to change our final product one last time after the first set of
questionnaire’s being filled in. The response we received was that
the film’s plot was not understood, so we changed the scenes
around a little bit. With Mr Jones and friend having their
conversation at the beginning of the film instead of the end.
After this final edit I feel the product is successful and would be
understandable to the target audience as the opening two minutes
of a horror film.
Overall I feel more confident with the equipment used within both
my preliminary task and my main task. To begin with, whilst
filming my preliminary task, I was unsure of the equipment and a
bit wary. Now after using the equipment for both tasks, I have
more than a basic knowledge of how to use them. If I had the
chance to use the equipment again to gain more experience, I
would.