Media studies

Pixx Productions
Mehak Hussain

Project Name
Length
Deadlines
Group members & Roles

Brief overview of content

Target audience

What comparable
products have you
researched?

The Basement
2 minutes
Christmas
Simran Hussain Director
Mehak Hussain Editor and Sound
Ayan Magudia Camera Person
Bad things had happened in The Old Banshee House, and constant
disappearances had occurred. Blair was just another victim of the
supernatural spirit that haunted the basement of that house. As Blair is
left home alone, she becomes a victim to the paranormal phenomena that
takes place around her to which she is completely oblivious. Eventually
she is lead by curiosity when she hears voices in the form of whispers
that lead her toward the basement, where she is driven to go into the
basement and is then encountered by the antagonist. The audience is left
with a cliff-hanger.
Target audience as a group we came to an agreement that our target
audience would be from 15 to 35 as we didnt want to aim for much too
young audience as they may not be able to understand the content and
idea of out production. We decided to target at teenagers fifteen years of
age at least as The Basement portrays scenarios to which teenagers are
able to relate themselves to, to help them to engage further with our
production and also meet a larger audience. In addition to that we didnt
want to aim for a much more old audience as it would be difficult to meet
contrasting expectations with the younger audience, as both would have
different outlooks on what a horror movie should be like. Although there
are clear demonstrations of family relationships, we wouldnt advise
children to watch The Basement as it may be too scary for them.
Gender our opening sequence would be targeted at both women and
men as women would easily be able to relate themselves to the narrative
of our movie and we figured that male viewers would be interested in
watching the film, as the scenarios in it are quite current and realist. There
arent many movies in the horror genre that are targeted at just one
gender, therefore we decided to take the same route and target our film
toward both genders. Also we thought this was the right decision to make
as we would be able to reach out to a larger audience which would help
our film to gain more successful and popular.
Socio-economic status the socio-economic group that we targeted out
production at are C2 and D, this would be the lower class and working
class individual. The reason we decided to aim toward this audience was
because during the production of our film we didnt spend much money on
the production and so it was a low budget movie. Thus targeting at the
lower and working class socio-economic group would seem fair.
To help us gain a better understanding of the techniques used in a good
and successful horror films. I researched and analysed two different
horror movies, which were both very popular and successful: The
Conjuring and The Woman In Black. From the research that I carried out I
discovered that the use of sound is very important for a horror movie.
Without sound there would not be enough impact created for the
audience to make them jump. It would also be important to be sure that

Media studies
Pixx Productions
Mehak Hussain

all elements of mise-en-scene are accurately and clearly shown.

What is the rationale
The rationale behind our film would mainly be to frighten the audience,
behind this text?
captivate and entertain them so much so that they become intrigued as to
what will happen next. However, to do this we would need to make sure
that our film contains the codes and conventions of a horror genre whilst
still maintaining a sense of realism for the audience. The codes and
conventions look at the general effect aspects of that make up a horror
film, i.e. the sounds used, mise-en-scene, cinematography and editing.
The sound effects should be able to cause panic and alarm to viewers.
Also the film should be able to frighten and create fears through the use
of mise-en-scene, close-up shots, and other factors that instantly catch
the viewers attention.
What representations will Representations that are demonstrated within our short film clip would be
be operating in our text? the typical stereotype that female characters are vulnerable and weak and
Are these justified?
are generally shown as the victims as well as playing the role of the
protagonist. The antagonist however goes against this stereotype as she
is also a young female.
How will you test whether Working in a group means that we are able to have three different
the product is
opinions on whether or not our product was successful. Also as we will be
successful? How will you uploading our short film clip on YouTube, this would allow us to determine
check that it
the success of it from the amount of views, comments and likes we
accomplishes the
receive. We would also be able to compare these statistics to other
intended effect?
groups in my class who have been working on the same project. We have
set a target of at least 200 views within the first month of uploading our
film clip. Another way in which we will be assessing the success of our
product is by gathering public feedback through the post questionnaire we
have designed for people so they can judge and give their opinions on
what they thought about our film production.
What genetic codes and
After conducting some research on the codes and conventions of the
conventions will be
horror genre, i learnt that simple details of sounds and mise-en-scene
operating in your text?
would enhance the quality of our film production. By this i mean that we
will need to take extra consideration into factors like using low-key lighting
to create a better atmosphere pulling the audience in more, having a
spooky or disturbingly scary antagonist, and using extreme close-up shots
which show details and expressions of the characters. We would need to
ensure that we use a lot of sinister and dramatic score music and sound
effects.
What are the overt
The overt message incorporated into the opening sequence is that people
messages incorporated
shouldnt let their curiosity lead their actions as there could be harsh
into the text?
consequences afterwards.
Are there any (hidden)
The hidden message incorporated into the text could be that teenagers
messages incorporated
are easily targeted as victims and in some cases are vulnerable, fearful
into the text?
and easily manipulated
Identify any resource
We would need to be able to manage our time efficiently, therefore we
constraints that might
would need to make a start on paperwork then begin filming as soon as
affect your production
possible as it would allow the editor to have enough time to edit and add
and your hopes for your
sounds, also we would be able to re-film any aspects that need to be
product?
done. There might be a few issues that occur during this process, i.e.
actors may not show up on time or may not be able to make on the day

Media studies
Pixx Productions
Mehak Hussain

of filming, equipment may not be available (if we do not pre-book in time

or,) when we need it as other groups will also be working on the same
project or the equipment may go faulty/missing during filming times. Lastly
it might be difficult for the group members to arrange dates at which they
all can attend including actors/actresses which may cause delay in the
overall production of our project which could affect the quality of our work.