Final Copy

Here is the final cut of our film opening:

Evaluation Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

For our film opening, the social group that is represented are teenagers/young adults that may have had difficulties in their lives or troubled upbringings.  This could include troubled families, criminals and people that are mentally unstable.  We chose this social group as the character of the serial killer is very mysterious, and it may therefore suggest that he had a troubled upbringing, or is a criminal that is being searched for.

Although our actor is older than the female, he is around twenty years old, you can see from the two pictures, we represented the boy in a way that is similar to how criminals or older youths would normally dress.  For example, the clothes and the colours of the clothes that are worn, and also their presence and how they act in the environment that they are in.  Normally for this sort of social group, they would be cautious to not give away their identity and cautious of what is happening around them.
As well as this, we thought that another social group could be people that are lonely and need comfort, in which they result to violence to satisfy their needs.  However when thinking about it, we thought the most appropriate social group would be young offenders or those from a troubled background.
The dark clothing and bowed head implies the character has a dark and mysterious nature. The colour black also has negative connotations, as said before. It could foreshadow the death by murder and even could serve to show that he is effectively a shadow.

As for the actress, she can be represented by a lot of social groups in the role that she plays in our opening sequence.  For example, she is a sweet and innocent girl, that likes to socialise with her friends as we can see when she is leaving her house in the opening sequence to meet a friend.  Therefore, she represents sixth form students or school students as well as working/middle class young adults in their everyday lives.

 

The role of women in movies is mostly lesser roles, she is most often seen as a sex object or a victim. This coincides with her clothing as she is portrayed as a pretty girl that comes to a horrible death from a boy who is slightly older than her. The colour white (or extremely light colours) symbolises purity, innocence and the "good". Our actress portrays the girl in lighter clothing for specifically this reason.
We looked into films that we thought were similar to the social groups of our film opening, and thought that "Bully" was fairly similar.  Despite it having a different storyline, there was a lot of violence included for the type of horror/drama genre that it was.  This could coincide with the social group of criminals and/or mentally unstable teenagers/young adults.  The film includes similarities with our film opening, which are:

• Teenage actors (characters)
• Plot to murder
• Targeted at similar audience

Bully is an independent drama film distributed in 2001 in which it is based on a true story.  The film concerns the plot to murder a friend of several young adults in revenge for his continual abuse and psychological taunts and torture of others.  Here from the taunt and torture, we can immediately relate it back to the social group represented in our film opening, as it may represent harmful teenagers that have the possibility of being a criminal.

Evaluation Question 3

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

Inward investment in the film industry is where a group of companies (in the film/media industry) help to invest their money and maybe services to a film that is going to be made.

For example, The Lovely Bones is a fine example of the type of film we wanted to create, despite one major difference. It is directed by Peter Jackson and stars Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz and Susan Sarandon, obviously we wouldn't have enough money to pay such well-known actors, which could be seen as a good thing as the unknown actors we used, had no typecast. The Lovely Bones is a film about a girl who is raped and killed, but returns as a ghost in order to make sure the man that killed her gets his comeuppance. When watching the film, you soon seem to forget the star actors and immerse yourself in the sensations of the movie, be them good or bad. As we wanted to create this effect with our movie, which we feel we have done, we believe Film4 would help distribute and maybe help produce our film.


The media product that we produced was an opening sequence to a horror film targeted at young adults and teenagers.  After finishing our project, we then thought about how and who we could distribute our film to.  As it is has unknown actors and location, and it was a low budget film, we would be unable to ask huge film companies such as Warner Bros or 20th Century Fox.  Therefore, we were interested to ask companies such as Film4 as they would immediately be linked to producing on TV's which would expand the viewing of our film.

 

Film4:

Film4 is a television channel available in the UK, Republic of Ireland and Switzerland that is owned and operate by Channel Four Television Corporation that screens films.  As well as Film4, the company has two 'spin-off' channels of Film4 +1 and Film4 HD which would also help with the distribution.  We decided that we wanted Film4 to distribute our film as a number of horror films that have been distributed by this company have had low budget films and fairly unknown actors, yet have become the most successful films of all time.

 

For example, The Shining has similar conventions to our film, unknown actors and a small budget and was distributed by Film4 to encourage it becoming one of the greatest horror movies of all time. It is intimate and you almost forget the star actors are in the film, which is sort of the effect we wanted to create. A film where the story and characters seem more important than the actors, themselves. We therefore felt it was appropriate that this distributor would do justice to our film. 

 

More recently, Paranormal Activity 4 has been distributed by Film4 which shows that a similar film has been successful through the film company whilst having unknown actors, setting and a small budget to work with.  This encouraged us to choose Film4 as a distributor for our film.

 

 

 

Evaluation Question 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

For our film opening, we felt that the most appropriate audience would be teenagers and young adults between the ages of 15-25.  We have therefore decided to give our film a 15 certificate as it contains strong language, strong violence and scenes that some viewers may find distressing. We felt like it was too explicit to be a 12 or 12A, and also we would be limiting our intended audience if we made it an 18. As well as this, we think it would appeal to both genders, as there is a possibility to sympathise with the victims but also to find out the story behind the serial killer that is revealed in the opening sequence.

 

 

With this audience that we have chosen, they usually use watching films as a sense of escapism from their lives of being a student, university graduate or in full time employment.  From the opening sequence that we created, we feel that this audience would be encouraged to watch the entire film, and enjoy it.

 

With the characters, we chose the actors for several reasons whilst baring in mind the audience that we have chosen to aim our media product at. From the research that we did, we saw that a lot of the victims in horror films were females and that the attackers were males.  Below I have included some examples of females that have played the role of the victim in a horror film.

 

 

Therefore we decided to stick with the trend and produce the same actors so that we could ensure the same audience.  By sticking with the pattern, it would be hopeful that the same audience would be targeted and attracted due to the likely characters and also the situation that they are in.  Below I have talked about the characters we have used and why we have used them for our opening sequence in relation to our target audience.

 

Actress:

 

For the victim, we chose a female actress to play this role as females are very vulnerable in this situation.  As you can see, throughout the duration of our opening sequence, all the victims were females which shows a pattern of the serial killer.  We felt this would also be of interest to the target audience that we have chosen.  One of the feelings that we wanted to portray throughout the film was sympathy for the victims that have been killed, as well as trying to work out why the serial killer is the way he is.  

Actor:

 

We chose the serial killer to be a teenage boy, as it is unusual to have a female in this situation.  Also, a male would be much more cunning in the way they handle this situation, and we felt that a male would be much more efficient at this role than a female.  Due to this, we felt like the age group of our audience would be interested in the storyline of a male turning into a serial killer, as they would be interested to see how the story plans out and possibly the individual story behind the male as to why he may be like this.

Evaluation Question 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

We attracted our audience by doing target research on what they liked to see in a horror film and then we thought how we could incorporate that into our film opening.  The feedback that we got from our target audience was very useful and it helped us a lot to decide what to put in our film opening.  We also had an idea from the research to see what films they liked and disliked so that we could use features from these films in our sequence to make it effective.  Furthermore, we also noted the films that were unsuccessful and what to avoid in order to make our film sequence believable.  Below are some examples of films that were mentioned in our research by the audience.

 

Production:
When starting production, we knew what we had to do to make our opening sequence effective and to entice the audience.  At first, our production was not going well and we knew we had to make changes otherwise our sequence would be unsuccessful.  In our first sessions of filming, we had a storyline that consisted of a couple in which the girlfriend ended the relationship.  Then, the boyfriend would become a villain and attack/kill the girl.  When filming, time was wasted of recording the girl putting on make-up to go out, and we got nowhere with filming terms.  We then realised it was not good enough, and that it would not attract our audience with this type of storyline or filming.  We realised that no conventions of horror were in our sequence, and that too much time and focus had been wasted on the girl.
We therefore came together as a group and changed the story and base of our film so it was more interesting and well-equipped to being the beginning of a horror movie.  We changed actors of which we felt would be better suited for the film and also reliable to be there whenever we needed to film.  At the end of filming, we feel that we included conventions of horror that were necessary in a film to attract the audience.

 

As well as the characters, we tried to incorporate different scenes into the opening sequence of which would normally be seen in a horror movie.  This would therefore attract the audience because they would be getting the same feeling as they would from another horror film.  In the scenes, we would include elements that would normally be in a horror movie and also how they are produced into the storyline.

 

 

 

In this example, I have shown what weapons are used from our opening sequence compared to films such as Friday the 13th, The Shining and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre  By having this contrast, we can see the types of weapons used and if it is a successful film, it could be used as an element to attract the audience.

 

• Friday the 13th - Knife
• The Texas Chain Saw Massacre - Chainsaw
• The Shining - Knife (victim) and Axe (attacker)

Looking at different films, we thought that using and involving a knife in our opening sequence would be the most appropriate and therefore attract the audience.  Commonly, the knife is used as a weapon as they are easy to get hold of at any age, and therefore we applied this to our opening sequence.

 

I researched Final Destination as a comparison to our film opening as it is similar in the sense of the characters and the brutality of the attacks involved in both films.  Despite the storylines being very different, they are both horror movies in which the main characters are teenagers/young adults, which is therefore appropriate to attract our audience into watching our film.  As well as comparing the two film openings/trailors, this was a film that we received in our target audience research in films that they enjoyed watching or liked conventions out of.  Therefore we felt that we should take this research and include elements that both ourselves and the target audience enjoyed.

 

An example of a convention that we include was the use of blood, which was used in our opening sequence upon the victim, and which would also be used throughout the film with the other victims.

In the end, the elements that we included and effect we made worked well with our target audience as they enjoyed our film opening.  By doing the research of other films and incorporating elements and conventions into our film opening, we were able to attract our target audience we were aiming for, and therefore our product was enjoyed by our aimed audience.



Evaluation Question 6

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

 

http://prezi.com/ovnpcdfvh7xl/untitled-prezi/

 

Final Storyboard

Credit Research

Some of the feedback that we got from our questionnaires was about credits.  Despite most of it being positive, we still felt that we needed to make it look more professional and relevant our opening sequence.  We have therefore been trying to add different credits so that it looks more realistic and be classed as a professional film opening.  Previously we have researched into horror film opening credits, but I decided to do some research into general film openings to see what the common credits were. I have done some research to also see if we could apply any of the common credits to our to our opening sequence.

ParaNorman (2012)

Despite this being an animated film, it still gives us ideas of what to expect generally on a film opening.  For example:

• Directed by...
• Produced by...
• Music by...

Signs (2002)

This film has very clear credits which display all the roles involved with the film.  A lot of these can be related to our media piece in the way in which they read and are presented, for example:

• Music by...
• Edited by...
• Director of Photography
• Written, Produced and Directed by...

21 Jump Street (2012)

21 Jump Street has some really useful credits that we could apply to our opening sequence. The way in which they are written also helps us to think about how we could present our credits in our film opening. For example:

• Screenplay by...
• Music by...
• Director of Photography
• Directed by...

From my research, the other credits that we could use are:

• Casting by... (Se7en - 1995)
• A Film by... (Se7en - 1995)
• Costume Designer
• Based upon the novel by... (The Shining - 1980)
• Starring... (Bunny Lake is Missing - 1965)
• In Association With... (I, Robot - 2004)

Film Opening Credits

Below I have print screened the credits from our opening sequence. I have then analysed them to show why we chose these particular credits and in the shots we used them for.

1st Credit:

The opening credits show the name of a male actor who will play the part of the killer. The credits appear suddenly into the shot and then disappear again once the frame is over.  We chose the font to be simple because we didn't want to over-complicate the shot.






2nd Credit:

These credits show the name of the female actor who will featuring in our film.  We placed the credit in a clear area of the shot where it can be seen easily.  Like the other credit, it appears quickly and then disappears before she walks out. Again, we made the font simple.







3rd Credit:

The 3rd set of credits appear when she is walking down the road, and again appear suddenly in a clear area of the shot.  We chose to call the credits 'Enigma Films' because it is the name of our media group.








4th Credit:

These credits are very similar to the previous ones as it is a film company that we decided to feature, and they are in the same position as the previous credits were.  It appears in them shot because we wanted 'the hunter' to follow the girl.








5th Credit:

In the same shot again we have another credit, which says 'Present'.  This shows that the name of the film is about to appear.  From the past 3 credits, all of them have appeared suddenly and move across the screen until they disappear.







6th Credit:

This is the credit where the name of the film is presented.  We decided to have the girl walking as if she is in sync with the title.  This shows that there is something following her, like 'the hunter' behind her which she is unaware of.







7th Credit:

This credit leads to who directed and edited to opening sequence.  We chose to put it in this section of the shot because it is visible to see and is clear.  As well as this, we wanted to see the two characters together in the same shot with the credit.







8th Credit:

The first name of our group appears suddenly in this shot and then disappears after two seconds.  We didn't want the credits to last too long, as we didn't want the focus taken off the characters.  The font of the credit is the same throughout.  We placed the credit on the left hand side so that there is a continuous pattern with the rest of the credits in this section.

9th Credit:

The second name of the group is revealed here and we have designed it so it lasts the same amount of time as the other credit, and also that it is in the same place.  The credit can be easily seen.  It disappears when the camera starts to move.








10th Credit:

The third name of the group is revealed and the credits have changed places from the previous shot.  This is because this is the area where it can be seen the best, and the shot is still from where the girl has moved.  Likewise with the other credits, the duration is the same.







11th Credit:

Our final credit includes the last name of our group, in the same position as the previous credit so that the pattern continues.  At first, we placed it on the opposite side of the shot, yet it was not visible to see, so we changed it.  It is again the same font and is in the shot for the same duration as the rest of the names.






We have produced these credits so that they fit well with our film opening and when needing to, give a purpose to the action happening in the shot, for example 'The Hunted'.  The font throughout the credits are the same, and we have altered and thought about the time duration for each of them carefully.  We wanted some to last more than others depending on what was happening in the shot.  

As our deadline is not for a couple more days, there may be changes to the credits to make them more professional and in depth.  For example using 'Casting by' or 'Costumes by' to make it look more realistic.  If these changes are done, this post will be altered as soon as possible.

Final Music

In the end, we decided to choose 'The House On the Hill' because we felt it fitted our film opening well, and build up a sense of tension and caused dramatic effect.  This is played throughout the opening sequence and on the feedback we received good comments about the music.  The music was found on 'purpleplanet.com', and the link is below that takes you to the page.

http://www.purple-planet.com/#/free-horror-music/4534205059

Questionnaire Feedback

On Thursday 14th March, Year 12 + 13 media groups gathered together to watch the film openings of Year 12 groups.  As posted before, we made questionnaires for everyone to fill in so we could see what we needed to improve and also what they liked.  The feedback that we received was very helpful, and we also got some ideas as to what we could improve.  Coincidently, the feedback of improvements was similar which showed consistency throughout our film opening.  Below we have included some of the feedback:

From this feedback, we are able to make any changes to our opening sequence that we feel will improve it.  A lot of the improvements mentioned are of the same action or in the same frame, which therefore makes it easier for us to edit.  To have this sort of feedback is very useful, and we will be aiming to try and change it before our deadline on Wednesday 20th March.

The Hunted Questionnaire

I have designed a questionnaire to hand out to anyone who watches our opening sequence, in order to get feedback on what we could improve but also what they enjoyed.  The 4 of us thought of some questions that we could put on the questionnaire that we feel would benefit us when the feedback is given back.  Also, we are planning to hand out these questionnaires when viewing our film opening with the two year 12 media groups and also the year 13 media class.  It would be great opportunity to get the feedback we need to make any last minute changes before handing in our final piece.  Below I have attached the questionnaire to show what the questions are:

Improved Cut

This is our improved cut of our opening sequence.

Film Opening First Draft

Here is our first draft of our film opening.  When we showed it to the class, we got a lot of useful feedback that will help us to improve it before our final deadline.  These will be uploaded soon.  We have also uploaded it to YouTube and will be shared on Facebook to get as much feedback as possible.

The Hunted:

Opening Sequence Pictures

When editing for our first draft, we realised that our opening sequence didn't have any evidence of a story behind why the girl was being attacked and killed, and we wanted to change this.  Our initial idea was to have a stalker theme, yet we changed this to a complication in a relationship.  However, this didn't seem to work and unnecessary time was taken up, so we decided to change it.  

Now, we have changed it back to a stalker genre and edited pictures into the opening sequence.  We did this because we felt like it gave more purpose to the opening sequence and that there would be more information in the film to follow. Below are the photo's that we took, and some of which we used.