1. In what ways does your opening film sequence of a new fiction film use 'Horror/Tom-com/Thriller ‘forms/Genre/ conventions?
The opening of our film uses both Horrors I like to play with my food Thriller conventions. The sole purpose of these genres is to scare the audience, whilst captivating I like to play with my food entertaining them. They include; murder, blood and gore, darkness, the supernatural, vulnerable women and the psycho killer. We were unable to add elements of a Rom-com as it is not suitable for this genre. Our antagonist fits into the stereotype as he comes across mysterious I like to play with my food turns out to be a serial killer. However, it does not use conventions such as living in a hidden house in the woods etc. But lives in an pen suburbia road.
ii) In what ways does your opening film sequence of a new fiction film develop or challenge from/genre/conventions?
Our horror film challenges conventions by incorporating the end of the film at the start. We have converted it to black and white so that the audience has an idea that this is a flash back. We have also converted it into slow motion to add emphasise. Our horror develops the genre by combining it with the thriller genre, by having conventions from both genres.
2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
The first social group the audience would run into from our opening sequence is class. The class difference is easily noticeable, as the protagonist’s role as a ‘direct sales promotional’ represents the lower end of the social class system. Whereas the antagonist’s household represents the upper end of the social class system. We have followed the ‘typical’ horror storyline as the Male has control over the female. Also, the female has the role of the protagonist, and the male has the role of the antagonist. This is known as conventional in many horror genres. In the opening scene, straight away you would be able to notice that the female role is played by a young girl, whereas the male role is played by an older boy. The age difference would attract audiences between 15-19.
3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
I think the main media institute that could distribute my media product would be News Corporation. News Corporation owns hundreds of media companies, including 20th Century Fox, Sky, the Sun, News of the world and many more. I think that 20th Century Fox would be an ideal distributor of my media product, as it is already well-known which would instantly increase the popularity and coverage of the film, but also it is a very commercial film producer and distributor, and I think ‘Would you remember me’ is a very mainstream commercial film, as opposed to an independent niche film, which could not be distributed with this company.
An alternate film distributor that could distribute my production is Icon Film Distribution UK. Icon Film Distribution UK distributes DVD’s and movies in the UK and Ireland. An example of a film distributed by Icon Film Distribution UK is ’Paranormal Activity’.
I have chosen Paranormal activity to talk about, because it has some of the same characteristics as my production. It was a low budget horror move, yet the film still managed to do exceeding well in Box Office and DVD sales, showing that you do not have to be a large production company with a high budget on a film to do well.
Therefore, I think Icon Film Distribution Uk could also be a good distribution of my media production, as ‘Do you remember me’ is also a low budget horror movie, and will definitely have a similar target audience, and therefore will need similar distribution tactics as Paranormal Activity.
4. Who would be the audience for your media product?
The target audience for our media product would be both male and female from the age of 15. This is because the film contains drug taking and dangerous behaviour, where our protagonist is shown to be covered in cuts and bruises tied up in a cellar. Our film is suitable for both the lower class and the middle class as both elements are shown. This film would attract all Horror and Thriller fans as the film contains both and explores in depth.
5. How did you attract/address your audience?
We addressed our audience by using young characters, both male and female, therefore attracting the younger generation. But also it would attract the older generation as the horror/thriller genre is very popular with both young and old people. It may also attract people who enjoy to play/listen to piano music. This is because both of our incidental pieces are explored with a piano. Those pieces may inspire piano players to produce similar pieces and maybe even produce a piece for another film Production.
If we had released a trailer for our film, it would have been reasonably long, such as the trailer for ‘the devil inside’. As it would give the audience a quite detailed explanation on what the film is about, but at the same time, it wouldn’t give away the storyline or plots. However, if we made our trailer short, not many people would go to watch it as the part they would have watched may not have been exciting or jaw thrilling.
6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
I have learnt that the use of technology has simplified the matter of producing a film. The use of a digital camera, a Mac Computer loaded with some professional software, such as Adobe. With software such as this, it becomes very easy to edit film clips. All you have to do is click and drag your selected shots into the right order. This greatly cuts down editing time, as even someone with very little experience in editing film can manage to accomplish their task, and to a reasonably professional standard.
I have also learnt how to use BlogSpot to publish my posts which are available to the public and available for people to comment on. I now feel very confident with the use of this site and have found it very useful to publish my posts. It also means that you can plan and show certain aspects of the project in great detail.
I have used YouTube to show trailers of movies in three genres, thriller, horror and rom-com. This allows the public to understand the elements which produce a particular genre. Using sites like YouTube means you can refer to a whole data base of other clips, which helps users to collect more research on their video, like we did, and will give help and tips on how to shape your own project
We used a website called ‘Incompetech’ which we got our soundtracks from. This website offers free music from any genre which you are able to download free! The only flaw is that anyone can use this site, meaning one of your classmates could have the same track as you on their film sequence. As well as Incompetech, we used garage band to edit the soundtrack to make it fit into out movie. This site allows you to slow down or speed up the track.
I had the responsibility of filming out movie, which meant I learnt how to use the Digital Video Camera. This may become useful in future projects. I believe it is very easy to use, making it very helpful and quick to film our movie.
7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the final product?
Doing a preliminary task before my production of my final product gave me greater awareness of how the consideration of the target audience determines the outcome of decisions made during the production process. For example the preliminary project was good for me as both the preliminary and my final product were aimed at roughly the same age group, my preliminary was aimed at college students and my main project was also aimed at college students and above, so i was able to use quite a lot of the things i found out for the preliminary in my main project. Without the preliminary project, i wouldn’t have been able to learn quite a few skills that i used a lot during my main project, for example BlogSpot.
During the preliminary task, i was just getting used to using BlogSpot, uploading and embedding things, but when it came to my final product i was quite confident using it which allowed me to use it quicker and it was obviously a lot easier. I was able to use it for my planning and preparation which was so important as i was able to create a well thought out plan of how i wanted to make my film which was a lot easier to do then when i made the plan for my preliminary project. I think the best preparation for my final project was the preliminary as, like i said, i learnt lots of key skills that i used a lot during my main project and so when the time came to start the main project i already knew the basics of how to create a magazine and just needed to learn the more advanced tips.
Also, since the preliminary task, I confidence has increased a lot about using the Sony camera. I believe I have gained more skills I like to play with my food knowledge about camera actions and movements, which I have incorporated into our film. The camera actions and movements play a very important role in a successful film, as without it, the film would be less entertaining and may lead to the audience disliking the movie.
As well as BlogSpot and the camera, I have also learnt to use adobe player to edit our film. This programme allows me to shorten the film, make some scenes in slow motion, change the colouring, add sound etc. As my preliminary task will show you, not a lot of those have been shown throughout the 0.53 seconds. However, in out opening sequence, I believe they have been shown clearly and very well.
