Question 7 - Looking back at your preliminary task what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

The brief for the preliminary task was:

‘A continuity task involving film and editing

• character opens door

• walks across the room

• sits opposite to other character and exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue
it should include different continuity techniques’

The brief for main task was:

‘To produce a 2 minute opening sequence for a fiction film it must include:

• titles throughout

• some form of copyright free soundtrack

• evidence of understanding of continuity editing’


Pre-production –

There were many things that we learnt due to our preliminary task, for the main task we made sure that we planned our location well, we decided to take recies and to make sure that we would be able to shoot there, and we had authority to shoot there. Another thing we learnt is that we needed to be organised, this meant that we decided to have a lot of group meetings and make sure we all knew what we needed to do individually leading up to the production stage.

Production –

The preliminary task helped us a lot when it came to the production stage of the main task, we already knew how to use the equipment and were comfortable using it so we didn’t need to spend a lot of time learning how to work it properly and we were able to try more exploring things with the equipment which before we wouldn’t of had the confidence to do. Also we worked on the use of the mastershot in the preliminary task, this helped us as it was essential for the main task so using our experience we could decide on a suitable angle to do it from.

Post-production-

When it came to editing we already knew about the programme we needed to use, this meant we didn’t waste time trying to learn how to use it but we could spending our time experimenting with it and trying different effects. Also we knew what we were good at so we could assign roles and work to our strengths.

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

e used a lot of different technology throughout the production of this piece of media. During the production stage we used all the shooting equipment and during the and during the editing stage we used computer technology.

The Camera we used was Sony mini DV camera it was very easy to use and came with a shotgun mic we could attach to the top. This mic was good enough quality for shooting the scenes we wanting to shoot but if our actors were further away or we were shooting outside we would of had to use a broom mic.

We used a paglight to light the shed, we didn’t need any extra lighting for the house scene. We used the shutters on the paglight to create a beam of light and we put on the UV filter to make the light more natural looking.

We used the tripod to keep our camera steady when needed, however in some shots we changed the legs on the tripod to get a different angle and in some we didn’t use it at all, for example the point of view shot in the shed.

The programme we used on the computer during the editing stage was ‘adobe premier pro’ and we use art effects on the Mac to do our titles. I had previously used this programme when editing in earlier years so i was comfortable when using it, we took it in turns to edit our media product however during the later stages of our production the most confident member of the group when it came to editing did a higher percentage of the editing as we wanted to finish the product in time. During this process I learnt about the effects i was able to use on the computer to add to the atmosphere, the effect we chose to use in our final product was the echoing effect in the shed, this made it sound a lot more spooky and a bit like there was more then one girl, which ties in well with the multiple victims.

The advantages of using the technology that we used is that it makes our final product look a lot more professional, the tripod and high quality camera help to bring out the quality in the picture which is important in making a serious film. The disadvantages however are that it takes more time to learn how to use them, when it came to the editing stage we had to learn about the different things we could achieve as it is a complex programme, also during the production stage as the equipment we used was high quality it was expensive so we had to be careful of health and safety and make sure we look after the equipment properly.

Questin 5 - How did you attract/adress your audience?

For FIXATION to be popular with the public we had to make sure that there was a lot of things in our film that attracted our target audience of young adults. For this we needed to know our target audience extremely well.

We knew that teenagers and young adults can be very sadistic and like to prove that they are ‘hard’. This attracts them to horrors and they try and prove that they won’t be scared and it is one genre of film that doesn’t patronise theme, they hate to be patronised. Our imprisonment scene with the attractive girl being tied up will appeal to young adults as it comforts there sadistic side. Our film is a horror the aim of a horror is to scar the audience, young adults can go with their partners or friends to the cinema and show that they are not scared.

                       

We made sure to give our audience what they would expect from a horror film, female captured, lots of blood lots of silent moments in the dark that make you jump and a scary villain.

                                 

 As you can see here we decided to make sure alex's face was blank at all time, this lack of expression and emotion gives him a spooky persona

We also added a twist to our film, the captured became the hunter, when she escapes and hunts down the killer, This twist makes our film different to other horror films and adds to the entertainment>

In the opening scene we used a lot of tension and a build of suspense to what the man was looking at final we get to find out at the end of the film, this tempts the audience in and makes them want to watch the rest of the film.

Question 4 - Who would be the audience for your media product?

Our target audience for FIXATION would be young adults around the age of 22-23. This is the typical kind of person of our target audience, say hello to Ryan.

• This is Ryan Mathews, he is 23 and male
• He is half Egyptian and half English
• He enjoys cars
• He likes to get his hands dirty and un-do and then re-build them
• He is a student at the moment thinking about going into law
• He has once made his own mini movie when he was a child and sent it into Blue Peter
• His favourite type of film is horror and Thrillers
• He goes to the cinema once or twice a month depending on whether there is a good film out
• He has a girlfriend so takes her with him when he goes to the cinema
• They rent a lot of films thought usually horror and watch them at home
• He is a big Facebook user admitting ‘i think i have a Facebook addiction’

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

Our production company is Greentree Productions, this production company specialises in indie films, it is a UK base company and works on a low budget.

Our distributing company is DBD, this is also a UK based company and specialises in horror films. Horror films are popular with young adults so they were perfect for our film.

These two company have a partnership, Greentree pays DBB to distribute their films and DBD uses its reputation to secure many cinemas for showing. This type of bond is common in the media industry, when different platforms come together. A real example of this is Dreamworks and paramount. They worked together to distribute the film ‘Paranormal Activity’ this film like ours was also a horror film on a low budget and they used their experience and reputation to sell the film.

As our film is aimed at young adults we had to think hard about how it will be distributed. We decided as it is a low budget we would use Facebook and Twitter and count on word of mouth, we also put some film trailers on TV channels popular with teenagers and young adults, these were MTV and E4. This is similar to paranormal activity who also decided to put trailers on these channels.

Question 2 - How does your media product represent particular groups?

The first group our media product represnts i gender groups, it has a very strong represntation of both males and females. The male group is represnted by the villain, he is a very conventional man, he shows sign of dominance as he is the one who has imprisoned the girl and he is the one who is clearly in charge. Also he shows signes of being a normal man, he has a normal job as though he is working for his family, this may be a clue of how he sees his victims, he could think that he needs to look after the girls.

this is the type of image we were looking for with our girl:

Our girl is also a conventional female, she has no power in her relationship with her capturer and she reacts like a typical girl. She is very emotional with her screaming and crying. Also her make-up and hair and clothes choice is very girly, this is because we wanted to try and make it look like she was an average girl.

Our opening sequence also focuses on OCD, it represents OCD in a bad way, this is abnormal for the media to represent a mental disability in a bad light. It is clear that the villain in our sequence has OCD, he does everything by fours and if he makes a mistake he does it again, it is represented badly as he comes across as very weird, he walks around with a blank look in his face and he doesn’t seem to think twice about keeping a girl locked in his shed.

this is the type of image we went for with our man:

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

Genre

The genre of our film is horror, in our film we have a male capturer and a female slave. This is a typical convention used in horror films, this is because females are much better suited to the role of the prisoner as they are physically weaker and males are more suited to the role of the capturer as they are physically dominant and can be scary.

A film that also uses this convention is ‘Kiss for girls’. Starring Morgan Freeman. In this film several females get captured and raped. There are male capturers who keep the girls in poor conditions, similar to our film ‘FIXATION’

Another typical convention for the horror genre is keeping people imprisoned in dark, gloomy and poor conditions, for example a prison, cellar well and in our case a shed. So for the area where our events take place we have kept to the conventions.

However we have chosen the capturers house to be a very average, clean, bright place with everything very tidy. This is because our capturer has OCD, this is different to most films as the capturer normally lives in a dark scary place which is not tidy or clean.

When it comes to themes of the genre we have kept to the normal forms and conventions. Although we see no sexual content in the opening sequence there are clues that sex or rape may be included in the film somewhere. This is due to the girl who is attractive to be wearing a short dress with her make up still on, and her being tied up showing if anything sexual happens it would be without her content.

Rape is a common theme in horror films as it is a good way to show that the male has the domination over the female. A horror film that uses rape in the storyline is ‘Gothika’ a film about a lady finding out her husband is a rapist.

As rape is an act that only a mentally disturbed person would commit it is a good way to show that a person is mentally ill, and many villains in horror films are mentally ill as they carry a scary and intimidation persona.

The Costume that the female is wearing in our opening scene is keeping with the normal conventions of a horror film. She is dressed up in a short black dress and make up done. She represents the average teenage girl that is badly behaved, and has no respect for herself or others. Female characters that are partiers who take drugs, drink a lot and have a lot of sexual intercourse are commonly used in horror films as their imprisonment is a type of karma. An example of this type of girl is Paris Hilton in the 'House of Wax'.

The male villain's costume however breaks the normal conventions of horror films. He is wearing a suit and has a briefcase showing he is off to work. This is abnormal in a horror film as most villains are clearly mentally disturbed and unable to live normally in the world and carry out a normal desk job. We made our villain look like a normal man as it adds to the suspense and we need to find out a lot more about him and so does the world he lives in.

Narrative Structure

When it comes to narrative structure in some ways FIXATION keeps to the normal conventions and in some ways it doesn’t. At the start of the film is does, we have a male capturer who is mentally ill and female victim who is kept in a dark cellar with little clothes on. This is very simular to silence of the lambs when the mentally ill man imprisons a girl in his cellar.

However towards the end of the film this changes, the female victim who we all thought was helpless manages to escapes and in turn goes to warn the next victim of this crazy serial killer, After being not taken seriously when warning the fourth victim the girl goes in search of the killer on her own, changing from a victim to a heroine.

This is very rare in horror films, there is normally a third party who acts as a hero and saves the helpless girl. The two storylines of the man going to work and the girl in the shed are happening at the same time, however we don’t show them at the same time as a parallel structure we show the man first and the girl second.

We used alot of binary codes in our opening sequence, these are commonly used in films to make differences clear and make the story-line obvious.

Form

There are different purposes to an opening sequence. Here are the main ones:

• Introduce characters

• Introduce setting

• Gives clues to what might happen in the rest of the film

• Introduce genre

• Introduce narrative

Our sequence ticks all the boxers when it comes to an opening sequence’s job. Firstly it introduces the main characters in the film. We see the villain who plays a major part and we also see the main character, the girl who is trapped in the shed.

Also it introduces the setting, there is about two minutes of footage in the house this is the main setting for the film it is the setting for the beginning and the end of the film the two most important parts.

Thirdly our opening sequence gives us clues as to what happens later in the film, the purpose of this is to tempt people into watching the whole film and make them involved and interested. The clues our opening sequence gives is that the girl is captured at the beginning this must mean that she either escapes or is killed, also the girl is wearing a short black dress and is attractive, this might mean that something of a sexual nature could happen at some point in the film. Also we see the man have a relationship with the number four, this could play a part in the rest of the film.

Our opening sequence has all the typical features that you would expect to see if watching a real horror film. This is represented using a spider diagram:

Style

The music plays a big part in our opening sequence, music is commonly used in horror films as it adds to the atmosphere, the type of music you use is able to influence the mood of the whole scene. For example slow, acoustic music can great a sad atmosphere.

This is demonstrated in scrubs, even though this is a TV programme it carries the same effect, the sad music adds to the already sad atmosphere of a funeral.

The music we used is slow and eerie this made a very spooky atmosphere which was perfect for our shed scene. We didn’t use the music when the man was in the house as it wouldn’t of had the same effect. The most important dialogue we used was the screaming of the girl in the shed, this made us know straight away her emotions, of fear, panic and pain. We also knew she was the victim in the film.

The colours in the shed was very dark, this is for two reason the first is that it adds to the atmosphere and theme of prison, if it was really light it would be as spooky as it was in the dark, the other reason is that we didn’t want to give her away straight away we didn’t want the audience to see her whole body straight away we wanted to build it up.

As you can see in this picture if the room was light we woldn't have the same atmosphere as is needed for a horror film, we would give the girl's body away straight away and we would know everything we needed to know in the first shot.

As well as making the shed dark to not give the victim away straight away the first shot used in the shed was a slow moving pan across the room, we used a scate board to create the movement. This was done to let us know the was a person in the shed but to not give away too much information initially.

We decided to show the whole of the house scene first and then the whole of the shed scene second because we wanted to make people think about the clues we gave them in the house scene, we wanted to make them think so they were interested in the film, examples of these clues are the crossed out numbers on the calendar, also the man repeating 1,2,3,4 when he talked, the man looking at the shed and finally the dialogue on the radio. The fact that we did the whole house scene first meant that the audience could link the two scenes together, which let’s them get involved and get’s them thinking.

Evaluation

Above is my evaluation for the whole project, the preliminary task and also the main task, here is the brief i was given:

‘To produce a 2 minute opening sequence for a fiction film it must include:


• titles throughout
• some form of copyright free soundtrack
• evidence of understanding of continuity editing’