Evaluation Question 7...

Evaluation Question 7
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
For the preliminary task we were to film someone walking down  a corridor, opening a door and having a short conversation with someone else in the room, we were then to edit it into a short clip. We learnt many things during the preliminary task such as how to string and edit a series of smaller clips into one longer one, how to use different camera shots and angles, and also how to use a microphone (dead cat). Some of the camera shots and angles were very important to master in order to be able to achieve continuity, the most important were: shot reverse shot; used for the conversation part of the sequence to help the sequence flow best, match on action; used for the door opening and the person walking through to make sure the 'action' made sense we also used it when the person pulled out the chair and sat down on it, 180 degree rule; we kept this in mind throughout to make sure the clip could be followed easily without confusion, we made sure to use this from the corridor to the person walking into the room and also in the conversation part.

Here is my preliminary task:-

By doing the preliminary task we were able to learn these important things which would come in very handy for when we created our media product. I feel that by doing the preliminary task we saw that at all times of filming you had to keep continuity in mind otherwise your production wouldn't run smoothly.

During the preliminary task there were things that went well; the filming of the scenes, the editing, the continuity and transitions. However there were a couple of things which didn't run as smoothly; the wobbling of the camera when panning and directing the actors. But becuase we did the preliminary task we have managed to find out what the strenghts were and what was struggled with, therefore when it came to the filming of our final media product things would be able to run smootly.

I feel that the preliminary task has given me lots of ideas for my two minute opening such as the different transitions for the opening at the begining. It aslo gave a sence of match on action, so when filming i will know to film it in a way where continuety can be achieved easily through editing. The preliminary task also helped me be more confident when doing the filming which lead to being able to use more creative ideas than what i would of been able to do if i hadn't known the different shots, how to use the technology or use different sound effects. This meant when coming up with ideas for my main task i was able to see a wider picture of how it would look and if it would be effective or not.

Evaluation Question 6...

Evaluation Question 6
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

During our project we went through three stages; Planning and Research, Construction and then finally Evaluation. Throughout these different stages we used many different technologies.

Through the first stage (Planning&Research) we used the macs to research about our genre; horror. First we looked at what our target audience was going to be through the UK Film Council website, we then also looked at the box office figures to see how popular our genre was and if there was a market to aim our media product at. After this we also looked at the BBFC website to see what age that we should be aiming the classification of our film at. 

Uk Film Council Logo

Box Office Mojo Logo.

BBFC logo

I also used blogger to start noting down what i had found out from the numerous number of websites we had looked at. Using blogger meant that i could also put hiperlinks onto a post whereas on paper you can't do that, this made it easier and quicker to build up my portfolio of work.

Blogger Logo

I also decided to watch and then analyse a number of horror movie beginnings, one of the websites we used was 'youtube', two more were '1channel.ch' and 'let me watch this'. I used 'google' as my main Internet browser, this is becuase i was use to using google so i didn't have to learn how to use a different internet browser, this meant that i could get straight on with the work.

Youtube Logo

Let me watch this Logo

Google Logo

I gathered a great amount of information about different job roles within a media industry and also about different types of media industries and how they work. I found some of this information from 'wikipedia' among with other websites.

Wikipedia Logo

For the production stages of my media product i used a number of things, including the camera and microphone (which was fitted with the dead cat). The camera that we used was a SD Panasonic, to start with the camera was fiddly and quite hard to get the exact shot that i wanted, however when time passed and i had got to use it more i found it easier to use and get the shots that i wanted.

Microphone and Dead Cat

For the construction part of putting the shorter clips into a longer one we used Adobe Premier Pro, and also Adobe Photo shop. To start with Adobe Premier Pro was difficult to use, this was becuase it had a lot of new gadgets which i hadn't used before, yet once i had got use to the softwere my confidence grew when using it so i experimented with it to get the effects that i was looking for.

Adobe Premier Pro Logo (Left), Adobe Photoshop Logo (Right).

For the evaluation part of my media product i mainly used Blogger, Google, Microsoft Word and Powerpoint. The powerpoint i created was then uploaded to slideshare and posted on blogger. I enjoyed using blogger as it made it easier to change things as you went along rather than having to make a new set of notes you could simply edit a post, this made it quicker too.

 Microsoft Word Logo (Top), Microsoft Powerpoint Logo (Bottom).

Evaluation Question 5...

Question 5.

How did you attract/address your audience?

During research and planning we decided to do many questionnaires, surveys and interviews. We did these to make sure our film would include things which interest and appeal to the target audience.

One of the things we did was a survey to see if our film idea would appeal to them. We decided to have a 3:1 ratio (females: males) because our main target audience is females but it also includes males within it, just in a smaller market. We didn’t survey anyone under the age of 15 as they were under the BBFC certificate we had given our film. We decided to survey a large quantity of under 35’s but split this into two segments; 15-21 and 22-35. We also decided to survey a small number of over 35’s just to gain wider knowledge of our possible target audience. These are the questions that we asked:-

Is horror your favourite genre?

Would you pay to see a horror at the cinema?

Would you buy a new horror DVD?

And How many hours of TV do you watch a day?

-1 Hour of TV

-2 Hours of TV

-3 Hours of TV

-4 Hours of TV

-5 Hours of TV

From this we found out that the majority of people watch between 1 to 2 hours of TV a day. We also found out that many of them would buy a new horror DVD or go to watch a horror at the cinema, this made us realise that we would be able to promote our film before a film at the cinema and on DVD’s before the film began. Due to the fact that they only watched between 1 to 2 hours of TV a day on average it would be harder to find the right time slot to advertise on TV.

We also decided to ask people questionnaires to find out what content they would like to see within the film, we managed to find out if our location and storyline would be suitable or not. We made sure that the people we asked were from our target audience so we knew what was appealing to them. Questions that we asked:- 

Gender, Age & Occupation.

What is your favourite film genre and why?

What is your favourite horror movie and why?

What is your least favourite horror movie and why?

Where do you think a good place for a horror movie to be set and why?

Where’s a not so good place for a movie to be set and why?

Do you think a pub cellar would be a good place to set a horror and why?

From the answers we gathered we realised people liked the idea of the film being set in a pub cellar as they liked the idea of it being in or near a public place so that they could relate to it and it made it scarier.

We decided to include things within our storyline which we had gathered from our target audience, we also decided to cut out bits which a number of them had said they didn’t like the idea of in horrors.

…pictures of people from our target audience… 

Evaluation Question 4...

Evaluation Question 4.

Who would be the audience of your media product?

Before deciding our target audience we decided to consult the UK Film Council, we found that there is a potentially large market for us to target. Just under a third of cinema goers enjoy Horror films, with 15% saying it's their all time favourite genre. We then looked at the demographic data and it showed that we should mainly be aiming our product at females under the age of 35; however it is also rather popular with males around the same age as well.

This meant that our main target audience is females, under the age of 35 which we narrowed down to 25, in the C2 social class and of any ethnicity. We also decided upon this audience because they are of people our age meaning we had a better chance of knowing what they like in a horror movie.

The classification which we gave our film was a 15.

It would get this certificate because it does not contain any discrimination, drugs, nudity or sex. It also does not contain much language; if it did contain any of these things then the certificate would have to be an 18. The reason we made it 15 is because it contains violence which may not be suitable for under 15's. We also based our classification on films like ours which are the same genre so we knew what age range they were targeting their film at, such as:-

The Omen (2006) - 15

The Exorcism of Emily Rose - 15

Wolf Creek - 18

The Ring Two (2005) – 15

The majority of these were 15’s so we decided to make ours a 15 too as we thought that some people under the age of 18 would still want to watch our film. The rating does help establish who our audience will be as we can’t have an audience which are under the age of 15 as they wouldn’t be allowed to watch it; also we had to keep in mind that we would have to leave parts of our film out because they were from a higher certificate band.

It’s likely that our film is to be released in a big multiplex cinema instead of a smaller independent one. This is because the film targets a mainstream audience rather than a niche market.

Target audience member profile:-

Name:- Danielle Burns.
Age:- 16/17.
Gender:- Female.
General Interests:- Watching films, Horse-riding.
Why they would watch our film:- She likes watching films especially horror movies.

Name:- Emily Merrygold-Smith.
Age:- 15
Gender:- Female.
General Interests:- Hockey and Netball.
Why they would watch our film:- Finds horror movies funny to watch with friends.

Name:- Shioban Bilcliffe.
Age:- 27
Gender:- Female.
General Interests:- Working in the Police Force.
Why they would watch our film:- Enjoys the thrill of watching horror movies.

Evaluation Question 3...

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

A film distributor is a company which releases a movie to the public either through getting the film into cinemas or for home viewing on DVD’s, Blu-ray’s and Internet etc. They also plan when and where the film will be shown when it reaches the TV.
Our film would need an independent film distributor because it is a small budget feature film. A real life distributor which we might have used if we had the choice would have been ‘Entertainment in Video’ as they have distributed many films like ours, such as ‘Halloween 2’, ‘The Forth Kind’ and ‘Scream 4’.

Distributors which specialise in our genre, horror are: - Hammer film productions which are a legendary British horror film company. Some examples of small budget films which have become major successes are ‘Paranormal Activity’, ‘Night of the Living Dead’ and ‘The Blair Witch Project’. We would expect our film to go to a multiplex cinema as our film is for a mainstream audience rather than a niche market.

Part of our distribution would be through different types of marketing. Our main target audience is females under the age of 35, closely followed by males under 35 years old. Through this we were able to work out that it would benefit us most if we advertise on TV after 9pm as this is when they typically watch TV and also through YouTube.

Evaluation Question 2...

Question 2
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
My media product includes a number of people which are all represented as individuals in groups in certain ways. This is through their age, ethnicity, gender and physical ability.


The first character we see is 'Eve' played by Danielle Guichard who is a seventeen year old female who is British and a fully 'able being'. She wears casual clothes and walks talks and behaves in a slightly reserved manner. The second and third characters which are seen next are the two boys (Kane Guichard and Blayze White) which are in the cellar scene, they are both seventeen year old males, who are British and fully 'abled beings'. They both wear casual clothes and walk, talk and behave in a 'normal' manner. The forth and final character which we see in the opening is the ghost, she is a seventeen year old females who was British but is technically not alive so not an 'abled being'. She is represented in a negative fashion becuase she is brutal and violent to innoccent people, this is not sterotypical for females.
All of our characters in the opening are from the working class, we showed this by the location which they are seen in; a town where the residents are typically working class. We also emphasised this by showing the main character 'Eve' working in a pub which is the D social group, an slightly skilled job. The rest of the characters; the ghost and the two boys are all from the socual class E. This is becuase they are all unemployed, as the ghost is dead and the two boys are students.


More about the ways of our characters...

In our film there are only two main characters, ‘Eve’ played by Danielle Guichard and the Ghost played by Danielle Burns. They are both females of white ethnicity, we decided to have both of the main characters white because it is stereotypical in horror movies and it was easier finding two white people to act from the area we chose from. We also chose them to be British to show that it is a British film for the British people, so that they would be easily understood. (Accent wise!). When planning how the characters would act we thought that ‘Eve’ must seem likeable and the Ghost must seem more menacing, we chose these personifications as we thought this may split the audience into two sides of who they wanted to ‘win’. Within the first two minutes you only really see one side of the protagonist ‘Eve’, this is to keep the audience guessing on what her personality is really like, within the opening she seems reserved from other people. Also throughout the film you see parts of the ghosts past which help people to understand why she acts in the way she does, almost feeling sorry for her until she ‘snaps’ back to her evil ways.

In our film there are many extras, such as the two people seen in the first scene ‘Eric’ and ‘Jim’ played by Kane Guichard and Blayze White. These extras are very important to the film as they are the beloved friends and family of the protagonist ‘Eve’. In order for the emotional side of the film to work the family and friends must be likeable to the audience otherwise they will not mind them been brutally murdered.

All of our character are either from the social class E or D, this is due to their age so they are still students at school, or they have lowly skilled jobs. We chose to have characters from this social group because the majority of our target audience are from these, therefore they are able to relate to the film more.

Evaluation Question 1...

Evaluation question 1.

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Filming...

The first day we filmed the actor which we was going to use didn't turn up, therefore we had to improvise and decided that Danielle Guichard would have to act the graveyard scene as we hadn't many available slots to film left. It was very windy on this day which added to the sounds quality, it was quite bright in the sky. We managed to get the majority of the graveyard scene filmed on this day.

The second day of which we decided to film, we used Kane Guichard, Blayze White and Sara Hirstwood; this is when we filmed the first part of the cellar scene when the death's took place. Due to the setting being indoors with no windows we didn't have to worry about the weather or time of day when we filmed.

The third day of filming was when we decided that we wanted more of the graveyard within the two minutes this is because we felt as though it is a very important setting as part of the main bit happens here. The weather was very similar to the first day of filming which was good as it would make continuity easier to achieve. We also made sure that the character was wearing the same clothes as she was on the first day of filming.

The fourth day of shooting we used the actor who we was going to use for the graveyard scene but for the cellar scene instead, Danielle Burns was now the ghost instead of Sara Hirstwood due to available times for acting. Danielle Guichard was also in this scene at the same time as the ghost so we had all the needed people.

The fith and final day of shooting was in the cellar once again, this time only Danielle Guichard was needed to act, we were just getting some shots of working down in the cellar which were to be added to the film before the attack of the ghost.

Title:- BLACK INK REVENGE

This is the title of our film 'Black Ink Revenge', there are many reasons for choosing this title the majority to do with the storyline. We decided that through editing we would have the title slashed of the screen, we thought this looked like someone scratching it which the ghost does to her victims like her murder did.

Hammered Cinema Productions

For the begining of our film we decided that it would look better if we had a production company logo. We used photoshop to make the background and came up with the name 'Hammered Cinema Productions', we later discovered that there is in fact a real production company with the name 'Hammer Film Productions'.