Evaluation – I will be evaluating the final product up against the research

carried out on our blogs “ http://www.charleymillardmedia.blogspot.com ”

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to
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Charley Millard Media Studies

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

Lighting Make–up
One of the most important conventions in We used make up to help us follow our
a horror film is getting the lighting correct. conventions of blood being involved. This
Our research told us that we had to have made the opening look much more
low level lighting. effective as well as improving the suspense
built. It also allowed the audience to see
On these scenes we used
that something was happening to this
natural lighting however
person rather than having to simply make
used a editing effect an assumption. Also as well as using the
around the edges to give
makeup we included the knife to simply
a dark and dingy effect.
ensure that the audience recognise this
opening as a Horror not a thriller so this
was very important to our project.
Shrooms comparison
We used not only low
level lighting but also a
black and white effect to
give the impressions that
these scenes are
happening in the past.

Shrooms comparison
Charley Millard Media Studies
We used general clothing with no
branding on our actors. This was to
show that the events happening in
our opening could happen to
anyone giving a sense of realism, it
also helps to get the audience
engaged is they believe that there is
some link between them and the
actors.
It was very important to our project that we got the music right as
this could either make or break our opening. We chose a piece that
was very obvious that it was a horror track and would add tension
to our opening. The music draws you into certain parts of the
credits that are very important bits of information. For example
when the first clip moves from the girl on the newspaper into her
running there is a change in music which supports this. Also when
the tension needs to be built for when the boy is clearly in distress
the music again speeds up and draws the viewer in to become
intrigued and drawn into the clip.

Click to play soundtrack!

We challenged the convention of a typical horror in the way of the

order that people have dies. In our opening the boy dies first and it is
the girl that is still alive. However the typical horror consists of a girl
dying first. I believe that this works very well for our opening as it is
still the girl that is in distress which makes the film much more realistic
and also creates much more tension.

Charley Millard Media Studies

How does your media product represent particular social groups?
I used my questionnaire in my research stage to get an idea of my social groups and what I will have to be taking
into consideration
Horror movies have a very wide audience so we had to compress a set of very broad results into the
conventions we had to use.

Our media product represents out social group in a very negative way. Our particular
. social group is teenagers and for a opening it is a teenage girl.

As soon as the clip opens we see how a boy has been murdered by some unknown character, this
gives the impression that teenagers are the prime victims and are therefore in the most danger.
By the way the clips have been edited to move from the newspaper clipping to the boy on the
floor shows how the story has been portrayed exactly how it looks and makes the story very hard
hitting.
We next see of a missing girl, she is looking very innocent in the missing poster which makes her
look much more vulnerable. This is giving the impression that if someone can kill a teenage boy then
this girl is in a lot of danger. This is followed by a picture of the girl running which then moves into a
clip of her running, the music also speeds up drawing your attention to it. This makes it clear that
this girl is in a lot of danger. This is representing the girl as being very vulnerable and susceptible to
danger.
As the clip goes on we see more and more of what the killer is capable off by seeing what he has
done to the teenage boy. This helps to build up the tension as well as getting an idea of what the
killer is like. This represents teenagers as the main victims and the ones in the most danger.
Showing that young people are prone to danger and more likely to be involved in this kind of
incident,

Charley Millard Media Studies

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

When distributing your film you can use either a small mainstream company or big international company.
The difference is that a small company will only distribute certain films, most often small budget. Whereas
big distribution companies often distribute a wide range of films which are often high budget films. For the
type of opening and film we have worked with I think it would be most likely that we would be distributed
by a large company. This is because our story line follows the horror genre and not as such a social
realism. You will more often than not need a big budget to be distributed by a large company so although
our project follows the theme of a large distributing company it doesn’t necessarily have the funding. I
have looked into a few different distribution companies and still believe that our project would be
distributed by a large company as it is impossible to use our budget as a downfall when this is simply a
school project.

After researching into many different media distributions

we came to the conclusion that Lionsgate would be the
most appropriate distribution company for our film. This is
because they distribute many horror films so it would hit
there genre specification.

They have distributed a wide range of films and as of 2007

is became the most successful independent film company in
North America. Lions gate webpage

Charley Millard Media Studies

Who would be the audience for your media product and how would out attract them?
Our audience covered a wide range of people as the horror genre dates back for many years so allows it
to be a popular choice of film. However we decided to base our product on the age range of 18-25

During our opening scene we changed the music and edited it at many points
throughout our editing process to make it fit as best as it possibly could.

The main credits are very slow and the music is slowly building up tension to
draw the viewer in, it also doesn't give too much away and allows the audience
to watch the credits to get an idea of what's going on.

One of the major parts of the music edit is where it first cuts from the picture of
the girl running to the girl actually running. It draws the audience in with a
“whoosh” sounds which gives away the idea that something involving this girl
or scene is going to happen after the opening.

The music then continues at this pace until it enters back into the running scene
where the music starts to slow as there isn't much tension going on at this point
it is just building suspense subconsciously to allow a shock factor when
something is actually going to happen.

One the scene where it cuts to the boy waking up the music goes a lot faster as
it is to fit with the speed that the boy is moving and the panic in his head. This
draws the audience in and gives them a sense of panic to fit with the emotion
on the screen.

At the end of the clip the music fades to show that the opening is now over and
allows the bang of the window to show through for dramatic effect.

Charley Millard Media Studies

We have used our knowledge of knowing how horrors make people feel to make sure the viewers are drawn
in and attracted towards the opening of our film.

By knowing that people like horrors because it shows them the hard hitting danger of the films whilst they
know they are safe in there own environment. We played on this by putting the actors in danger so building
tension within the clip. This allows the audience to feel on edge but safe as there not in this danger.

Many people enjoy watching horror films as its exciting and gets the heart racing. It is therefore important
that the opening builds tension quickly and allows the viewer to get drawn in and not get bored.

Another reason people watch horror films is because it allows people to be aware of dangers that happen to
other people and can actually happen in life. Although this is very unlucky it again lets people feel safe and
lucky whilst also understanding events that may happen.

Charley Millard Media Studies

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Throughout the process of constructing our product I learnt about the filming equipment and editing equipment.
I learnt how to do use different features on the camera such as how to slow down editing, on camera editing
and also how to overwrite something on the tape.

I also learnt a lot about how to use Imovie. This was a very important stage of our production as we used it for
editing so was essential that we used it to the best of our ability. I learnt how to add in effects to the clips like
the black and white effect and circular effect around the girl running scenes. I also learn how to add in extra
sound above the clip which was very effective for the music as it allowed us to move around the clip as much as
we needed until it fitted perfectly. Finally the most important thing I learnt was how to trim clips, without this it
would have been impossible to make the clips work perfectly and ensure that they all run smoothly so using this
made a huge improvement to our product.

Technology has improved dramatically over the years, it is now easy for students to use editing equipment with
having to spend hours learning how to do so. Its very simple to edit clips by shortening them and also adding
effecting and seeing which clips fit together very well. This allows media students to produce much better
results in the long run whilst also learning how to use the software. Imovie is very simple to use and allows you
to add in clip effects and also put clips together whilst trimming the timings to ensure they fit as best as they
can. You can also add in extra music and change sounds and effects within the software without problem.

As I was using the software I learnt how to trim and sequence the clips well. This allowed my opening to run
smoothly and not have any jumps or jerky bits. It also allowed me to spot continuity errors which will also make
the viewer feel very uncomfortable and may cause the audience to atop watching which would be a very
negative point.

Charley Millard Media Studies

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the
progression from it to the full project?
As you can see our preliminary task was very basic and simple. It applied all
the points needed to fit the specification however it wasn’t the best bit of
filming.

Whilst developing our product I learnt more and more about what shots work
well with what and how they fit together well. This drastically improved the
quality of our filming and made everything run a lot more smoothly.

I also learnt that the way a clip is edited can make or break the way it looks.
This was therefore a very big improvement from our preliminary to our final
product as again this helps it all run much more smoothly. Preliminary – click to play

I found that it is very important to use drama students as although bad acting
doesn't effect the way a film is edited or shot it makes the whole clip look
much more professional and puts the audience in a better mood and stops
them getting bored.

Using a appropriate setting allows the clip to look much more professional
and more like a film. It also means that you can edit the clip in many ways
without effecting the way the setting looks if you choose the location wisely. I
found again that this was a massive improvement from our preliminary task.

By taking out extra filming to do a rough run through it allowed us to receive Rough run through – click to play
the best possible results and also allowed us to develop the storyboard to
help improve our final clip.

Charley Millard Media Studies