Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

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I have downloaded our film to my phone, enabling me to easily upload it to Facebook and Twitter this can be done through apps that are downloaded and then the video can be uploaded via these, quicker than doing it through the internet. Also we can show it to the public to advertise it. We can also text the film to show our friends and email it quickly.

Evaluation Question 5 How did we attract/address our target audience?

Evaluation question 7 What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Evaluation Question 2 How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Evaluation Question 3 What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Warp Films, who work closely with Film 4, have produced some great british horror films, such as The Kill List and Dead Man's Shoes. This, combined with the multiple horror seasons Film 4 has featured on it's channel and promoted, shows Film 4 have a keen interest in horror films. The fact our film would be a british independent horror film means Film 4 would likely take interest in distributing it.

Evaluation Question 6 Looking back at your preliminary task (the continuity editing task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

Evaluation Question 4 Who is the main target audience for your product?

The text in the newspaper:

Our opening sequence is going to appeal to horror fans particularly. To be specific it would generally be appealing to thriller-horror fans. The age group that we would like our film to appeal to is 16 and above. Our main target audience are horror fans as our opening sequence is a horror. Our main aim was to film the opening sequence with as much suspense as possible so it will appeal to fans of suspenseful horrors. We wanted the film to have a sense of unknown and mystery about it, so the film is mainly directed at people that are interested by this also. 

In addition to this, our film may be appealing to thriller fans, that are not necessarily horror films biggest fans. The hazmat suit and gasmask of the unknown character may be what intrigues people into watching film, which is exactly what our aim was. 

In the bigger picture, our film could generally appeal to everyone, as we wanted to make it to a high quality and well written film.  

We spent a lot of time researching into our target audience; We used websites such as IMDB and we looked at the viewership of horror films. In general we found horror films to be very popular between all ages and genders. This means that the viewership for horrors is very broad, giving us a large target audience. We took these figures into account whilst creating our film. We also did our own research by asking fellow classmates and students and conducting a survey which would be answered by these people to. This is how we came to the conclusion that we would aim to target people of the ages 16+.  We used the website Survey Monkey to create our survey, we sent the survey through email to these people through out the school.

Another reason why we chose to target people of the age 16+ is because the film would be a 15 rated, we wanted to exclude as least amount of people as possible, but we felt as our film is a horror, that it would have violence etc. that it may not be suitable for anyone younger than this bracket. Furthermore, we felt that the film may be too confusing for younger viewers as they may not understand some of the themes involved. Also they would need to make links to different parts in the film, which we felt that younger viewers may not be able to do.

Final Film

Here is the final film mainly finished but come editing still needs to be done.

Unedited film sequence

Facebook Page

We have created a Facebook Page in order to promote our film and gain more fans. By doing this more people will see it and will want to go and watch it. There is also a system by which Facebook will promote your page so more and more people can see it.

Here is the link: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hazmat/660537270679787

The Treatment

This is the Treatment we have made, it is informing you about what would happen if we made the whole film.

Film Poster First Draft

We thought that that it would be essential to create a film poster to help promote our film, below is the first draft of a film poster we have created this is not the one will actually be using as it is too plain and won't catch peoples eyes. To improve it we will add more colour and it doesn't have enough depth to it, it needs more around the edges as the centre image isn't powerful enough to make the poster on its own. Another thing missing is credits at the bottom we will add these to make it look more professional and realistic.

Video Diary 4: Saturday

Here is the video diary from day 4, the last day of filming, here i have summarised the problems we have overcome and how the filming has gone overall.

Video Diary 3: Satuday

This is the video diary from day 3 of filming.

Video Diary 2: Tuesday

Here is the video diary for the second day of filming, Shay the actor in the film has turned up and sums up the days filming.

Video Diary 1: Monday

This is the video diary which was recorded on Tuesday, here Elliot talks about how the filming went and the problems that occurred.

Warp Films

We were initially putting Film 4 as our distributor, however, we have changed to Working Title. Working Title was formed in 1983, but didn't distribute until 1990 when they first produced Chicago Joe and the Show Girl. Working Title are based in the UK, Ireland and the US, distributing films from all three areas but they started off as a British Independent Film distributor. Working Title distribute higher budget films, and their British films include Shaun of the Dead, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and Love Actually, these are some of the most successful British films.

We decided to move to Working Title due to the quality of the films they distribute, and we wanted to make our film seem more professional and high budget. The fact Working Title have recently worked with some big names in the film industry such as the Coen Brothers, distributing most of their films and also Edgar Wright, he is a high profile British director, this shows they are a well profound company. We have added the working title opening credits to our opening sequence in place of the Film Four opening credits.

Film Poster Research

Treatment

Risk Assessment

This is a risk assessment created to make sure we are aware of hazards that could cause us harm whilst we are filming our opening sequence.

Production Company Logo

Above is a compilation of a number of production company logos. We are going to be using these for inspiration when we are designing our own production company and logo. Personally we think the universal logo is the best as the logo over the world shows their dominance over other companies. It is also very simple but has a lot of meaning to it. All of the logos above are personal to the companies, we have decided to link our company more to the genre of the film we are making.

Budget

The gas mask and hazmat suit we bought for making our opening sequence specifically. The gun Elliot bought for his personal use as he is a professional airsoft player but we will be using it in our film. The camera and bipod were supplied by our media department. Catering costs will cover food and drink for the filming sessions. The total cost will be £40.00 without the gun.

Filming Schedule

This is a filming schedule I have created of the days we are going to be filming on this week. In total we will be filming for 6 and a half hours, on Tuesday and Wednesday we will be filming the establishing shots and on the Saturday and Sunday we will be filming the parts the characters are in. I think that in this schedule we will have over enough time to film our opening title sequence.

Script

This is the script I have written as to what will happen in our opening title sequence.

Pitch and location

Story Board 2

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Storyboard

Production Company

We have chosen our distribution company as Film 4 Productions, they are a British production company owned by Channel Four Television Cooperation. It has produced films such as Four Lions and most recently co-produced 12 Years a Slave.

If were actually to make a film we would contact them to distribute our film, they would be a very god company to work with as many of the films they produce/distribute are British Independent films. Film Four would enable our film to be screened across the UK and abroad easily as they are a big company. They also own a tv channel so could promote the film on this, their tv channel is on most peoples televisions in England. The Film Four titles will be at the start of our sequence to make our opening sequence seem more professional. We will be creating our own production company and titles which will go along side the Film Four titles.

Soundtrack Research

The soundtrack we will use for our opening sequence will differ from original horror opening sequence soundtracks, from my research i have found that they mostly use symbols and orchestra. They play this quietly over the top and it gradually gets louder, building tension. Although this is a good technique we want to be different. our music will play alongside the titles and will be more subtle and use real sounds within the music that is playing. A good example of this is Se7en they use music playing over their opening title sequence and within it you can hear sounds of what is going on such as the strings tightening.

Casting Shots

Below are some casting shots of who is taking part in the production of our opening sequence:

Fist we have Aaron he is an excellent camera man one of the most experienced and respected in the business. He is also the director of the project, this is his first film as a director but we're sure he will do a great job. He will not be appearing in the opening sequence as he is behind the camera.

Secondly we have Shay Devese, he will be the main character in our opening title sequence he will be hidden behind a hazmat suit and gas mask to create a mystery around him for the audience. He will also be carrying a gun to show that danger is surrounding him.

Last but not least we have Elliot he is an actor in our opening sequence and will be playing a dead body, he will be dressed in hiking boots, a jacket and walking trousers so he looks like he has just gone out for a walk and has died but the audience will not be able to tell the cause.

The Stepfather Opening sequence

The opening sequence to The Stepfather starts straight off with an establishing shot showing us a street which looks like it is in the American suburbs. There are only a few titles on screen and then it gets straight into the film. The camera switches to a view of the house it is fading into, which is a big house suggesting a well off family. We then meet the first character, his face and clothes covered in blood hinting at the fact a murder has already taken place, making the audience wonder as to what is happening straight away. This character then showers, shaves and changes his clothes showing us a different side to him, he looks like a sophisticated upstanding member of society, until he walks out the door and we see a gory mess that he leaves behind, there is a dead woman in the other room and as he closes the door we see a girl holding a teddy bear who is also dead. The fact he has committed a murder and walked away calmly seemingly with no worries suggests to the audience that he has done this before and maybe will do it again later on in the film.

Overall the opening sequence is very effective in setting the scene for the audience as to where the film is based and it also highlights who the main character may be for the rest of the film. The mood is set for the rest of the film, it is probably going to be about a serial killer and from the name of it he marries his victims and then kills them. Criticisms of the opening sequence would be that the titles are too short, some people prefer to see everyone who is involved in the production of the film.

Scream opening sequence

This opening sequence is for the original scream film in 1996, it took Alfred Htchcock's idea in killing off the main character quickly, this time it took under 15 minutes for Drew Barrymore to be killed off. The opening sequence itself is very good at setting the mood for the audience for the rest of the film.When the film title appears on screen we hear screams and loud noises, hinting at death and that jumpiness may be a theme throughout. A sense of mystery is created immediately when a person rings her phone but she doesn't know who it is so hangs up, he then continues to call her persistently until she starts talking to him. Then the caller 'accidentally' announces he is watching her when she asks why he is asking for her name, this causes her to hang up and then he starts to threaten to kill her "You hang up on me again and I'll cut you like a fish". Music is playing quietly in the background and then when he starts to threaten her it gets louder this helps to build tension and suspension, also when it peaks it gets really loud so could make some viewers jump.

Overall I think that this is a very good opening sequence, although doesn't have titles which I will be using and is a bit longer than I need to make my opening title sequence. I could use some ideas from this such as the use of music to create tension. It is also good as it doesn't reveal to much about the film itself.

Saw opening sequence

This opening sequence is for the first saw film, which was released in 2004. It is very effective for the audience as it sets the mood for the rest of the film. The lighting is dark creating a sense of mystery about what is happening as we can't see where the characters are or what is happening to them, this also means that the scene is likely to be jumpy as in most horror films traditionally when it is dark and you can't see much something jumps out the screen and scares the audience. The camera focuses on the key with the light falling down the plug hole highlighting the importance of it and that it could've been used by the prisoners to help them escape. When the man wakes up and gets out of he bath a voice can be heard talking to him, but the audience cannot see who it is, again creating a mysterious feeling around what is going on. When the lights flash on the camera changes to the characters view and it goes out of focus and back into focus to show that he is adapting to the light, suggesting he has been in the dark for a long time and his kidnapping happened some time earlier.  

Only four titles are shown in this opening sequence, these are the two production companies (Twisted pictures and Burg/Koules/Hoffman) after these it shows the directors title (James Wan) and finally it shows the film name (Saw). By just showing these titles it makes it short and sweet and then breaks straight into the film, for some audiences this would be better as they prefer just watching the film rather than seeing who is in it, but some audiences like to see who is playing the characters. So only having some titles has benefits and positives.

Props

A list or props for our opening title sequence:

Gas mask - this to create a mystery around a character as you can't identify them and it also provokes a sense of danger as the audience won't know why he is wearing it, keeping them guessing about what the film is about.

Hazmat suit - Also makes the audience aware that danger is present as well as shrouding the character in mystery by covering his body, not allowing the people watching to see his/hers features.

Gun - Again highlighting the fact that danger is present, showing the character needs to protect him/her self. In combination with the two props above shows extreme danger.

Hitchcock

I have just watched a film called Hitchcock, it is based on Alfred Hitchcock who was an English Film director. The film is about how he made one of the first ever horror films, Psycho. He had to fund the film himself due to the production companies disbelief in that horror films would be a hit, they also only let him screen it in 2 cinemas but he hyped the film up so much, using speakers outside the cinema warning people about the film, how scary it was. He also hired security guards to stand around the screenings just to intimidate people and make them want to go and watch it, in the end people were queuing down the streets to go and see his film even though they didn't know what it was going to be about. Psycho has one of the most iconic moments in horror film history where the actress is stabbed in the shower, this scene caused the whole audience in the cinema to jump and scream.

Preliminary task

To complete our preliminary task we had to use three different camera shots; match on action, shot reverse shot and 180 degree rule.

The first technique is match on action you can see this as the actor opens the door and walks through, it then cuts and you see him walking through into the room and shutting the door. This is a good techniques as it helps the film to flow better and keep its consistency throughout.

The next technique is shot reverse shot, this is generally used when a conversation is happening, it shows the reactions and emotions of characters well and allows a conversation in a film to flow better. It also allows the audience to feel they are more involved with the film.

A technique used throughout the task is the 180 degree rule. This means that cameras should stay on one side of a line, the line is perpendicular o the cameras viewpoint in the establishing shot of the scene. Breaking this rule would cause confusion in the audience.

Target Audience

A target audience is the specific group of people within a target market that a product is aimed at. They can be formed using age and gender e.g. teen horrors are aimed at teenagers and certain toys like Barbie dolls will be aimed at young girls.

Audiences for horror films vary due to what type of horror it is, modern horror films have started to veer towards the teen horror category in which a group of teens are subject to a serial killer or they do something to the wrong person and they come and get revenge. The young cast means that the target audience (teenagers) can relate to them and therefore they are more intrigued to watch it. Previous horror films have generally been aimed at adults, they were certified 18 so teenagers couldn't watch them, these are films like Saw, Wolf Creek. Halloween's audience had most viewers from the age group of 18 and under (46,493) so this is the main audience for the film, it was one of the first slasher horrors and was just aimed at horror film fans.