Question 4

Question 4. Who Would Be The Audience For Your Media Product?

At the beginning, before we had started any filming, we planned out what genre we would like to do. We decided,

through research, looking at films like 'The Possession' and 'Sinister' that you could take horror and thriller anyway you wanted to. We looked at the common age certificate on various horror films and these were usually 15 or 18. Therefore, due to this research that we have found, we decided to aim our film at an audience between

16-25. This would mean our certificate would have to be 15, allowing our audience to drop a year, but this will not effect them as it is still suitable for the to watch.      

We decided that not only was this specific target audience the ideal age for horror films, but as a group we are in the middle of this age range therefore our input and opinion is vital. We can chose what we want and what we enjoy as we are the majority. We can also ask our friends what they enjoy so that we can make this aimed at our target audience in the best possible way.                                                                                              Our film does not have specific gender that we are aiming it at, but it is known that males tend to watch more horror films. We produced our film so that it would appeal to both genders using various techniques. Our female and male characters are both attractive therefore this will appeal to both genders. The male audience will be attracted to Poppy, our main female character as she is very pretty and tiny. The female audience will be attracted to David, our main male character as he is very manly and attractive.

We chose our film to be high budget as lots of special effects will be needed. This is a common convention of a horror film. It will be shown in all cinemas for example Vue, Empire and Odeon, all over the country and even internationally. This will widen our audience to a larger amount of people, and maybe even older people. 

Our specific target audience will most commonly watch Hollywood movies such as Spider-man or Captain America as these are high budgeted. These films include well known actors and actresses and this is what intrigues the audience as they will favouritise their well loved actor over a film with low status actors involved.

Question 6

Question 6. What Have You Learnt About Technologies From The Process of Constructing This Product?

Researching
We looked into two genres, Horror and Romance. By looking further into each genrewe became aware that Romance would be too hard to do and has been done far too many times. We realised that you pretty much can go anywhere with a horror film, giving it is scary.

We attended a BMI Conference on the Art of Film Making. This showed us exactly what the examiners were looking for and what not to do. Art of the Titles was shown to us so that we could study and understand the use of titles and where they was needed.

Storyboard

As a group, we made a storyboard at the beginning of our planning so that we could easily see shot by shot what we would have to film. Our storyboard was a draft as we had everything thought through so well in our heads. This meant that we did not write much information down on the sheet because we was sure some little things might change. Although we knew what we wanted to, it probably would of been easier if everything was written down. This is something that I have learnt from with this project.

Making Our Film

Camera

We started off our media project by completing a Preliminary Task. This benefited us in various ways as this allowed us to get a feel for the camera. We discovered that the sound was very delicate as it picked up noise happening in the next room. This helped us as when we go to film our opening scene, we now know that it needs to be silent.

When we shot our first scene of Poppy being in the mental institute, we practiced numerous amounts of shots. This was to ensure that our film was the best it could be. These shots included 'Close Up', 'Mid Shot', 'Long Shot', 'Wide Shot' and zooming in and out. This helped us massively as when we made our storyboard, we wrote down something completely different to what we ended up using in our final piece. The camera shots that we used were all relatively easy to film as they was either a close up or a long shot. This was easy as there was no movement involved like tracking would be therefore we could not make any errors. When it came to filming each shot, we came to terms with the fact that not everything was possible. For example we wanted to zoom into Poppy's mouth as she screamed but this became a struggle as we could not line it up exactly and you could still see the light.

We used a tripod the majority of the time as this would ensure that the shot was always straight. This was our first time in using a tripod so everything was new to us. We picked up straight away how to use it as it was very easy.

I have learnt a large amount completing this media project just by experimenting with different shots or buttons. I feel that the Preliminary Task helped us a lot as we got a feel for the camera and how it works.

We had some slight trouble with the shot in the loft as David has to pick up the camera and take in downstairs. This was quite hard as we wanted it to be obvious that the camera was moving but not to the extreme where it was making the picture go blurry due to the fact the camera was moving too much. This was overcome by David walking slower and then we sped up the footage when we edited it.

We also had trouble with finding a place to put our title in. We thought that it would look good at the end of the footage but then this made our opening scene look like a trailer, something we did not want.

Editing

When it came to editing our footage, none of us knew how to work the software. This was new to all of us, which was pretty scary. We had to experiment a lot and complete 'Trial and Error' with pretty much every button. We used this software when editing our preliminary task so we did briefly know the basics of the it for example importing the footage. This helped only a small amount as we wanted to add much bigger techniques but we struggled as we was unsure how to work it. I am now familiar with it as we taught ourselves how to use it by experimenting. Our editing time was long therefore we had enough time to practice different edits to the footage. The hardest part when editing was trying to make each shot flow into each other as certain shots we had to cut parts out due to bad editing. This was important that this worked otherwise it would be jumpy and not look professional at all.

The most frequent bit of technology I have used is the internet. This is because I have been on my blog updating all of my work. Every bit of research which I completed was uploaded to my blog

Question 5

 Question 5. How Did You Address/Attract Your Audience?

Our media product, being a two minute thriller/horror "She Told Me Too" had various different techniques involved to ensure that we attracted our chosen target audience. Our target audience was very easy to appeal to as we are trying to attract ages 16-25 of both genders. We feel that our opening scene will attract people much over 25 as it is not specifically for young adults.

                                                                                                   


The setting for our film takes place mainly within Demi's house. This is a modern house and has been decorated recently therefore this will attract the younger audience as they will see this house as being expensive and will desire it. The loft was Katie's as there was problems in Demi's. In the video you can see clearly that it is very packed and messy, which most of the older audience will relate to as theirs may be  the same.

 The room where the main character is in the mental institute will attract our audience as whomever usually watches thriller or horror films will most probably be used to seeing these therefore they will enjoy it.

The props included a fairly minimum but when the two main characters get out of the car, we can see that it is a nice car and people will enjoy seeing this. All ages will desire this car but mainly the younger audience will comment on the car and notice it.

The costumes included in our film attracted our audience as the two main characters wore clothes which are fashionable. This attracts our younger audience as this age (16-25) will be keeping up with the latest trends. Our male character is dressed smartly; trousers, shirt and tie. Whereas our female character is also dressed smartly but smarter casual; skirt and top. Other outfits in the film include the nightdress worn in the mental institute; this will attract our audience as it is creepy and reminds you of the mental hospital.

 The sound in our film is very minimal as we thought this would make it creepier. In the opening sequence we chose a song that we found of someone singing a dolls lullaby. This linked in well with our film as it involves dolls. It attracted our target audience as this made it clear at the very beginning that it was a horror film therefore everyone would become more intrigued as to why we picked that song choice. The use of dialect in the next scene (in the mental hospital) was Demi's voice as she sounded the most grown up. This was made out to be the therapist interviewing the patient. This attracted our audience as this then showed them that something was wrong with this woman, leading it to a thriller/horror. The actors which are included in our film are both attractive and the audience will find them attractive also. Poppy is very little and cute, but also very pretty. This will attract the male audience between 16-25 as it is unclear what age she is. Dave is very manly and attractive therefore this will attract the female audience between 16-25.

Question 7

Question 7. Looking Back At Your Preliminary Task - What Do You Feel You Have Learnt In The Progression From It To Full Product ?

As a group, we made our preliminary task based around no camera or editing skills. This meant that the task was a practice so that we could get a feel for the equipment we was about to use. The hardest part of our preliminary task was trying to use tracking. This was when our actor was walking from door to door and we wanted to film his feet. This became a struggle as doing it hand-held caused the camera to wobble too much but fixing it onto a tripod made the camera stationary. When editing the footage, it was incredibly difficult to meet the exam criteria. As first time users of the software we had to use 'Trial and Error'. When it came to researching, this was proven to be easy. We knew what we wanted to do and how to do so we just got on with it. We completed a story board but this was very rushed and was not very helpful as there was not much writing on there.

This made our film opening much more easier to film as we had already had a brief practice. We had had a feel for the cameras and knew what shots were easy or hard to complete. The planning became easier as we learnt that we needed to plan more to ensure that we was 100% sure on what we was doing all of the time. When it came to editing, it was so much easier. This was because we knew the basics of the software but not the more advanced techniques. This wasn't very hard to work out how to use them but some you just needed to experiment with and see what happened. We did struggle with the titles as we was unsure where to put them. We realised as a group that when watching films, you rarely take any notice of the titles scrolling past. Due to this we had to research and look into various films as to where they would be positioned. Adobe After-Effects was very hard to use, this is what we used to make our production logo. We watched a few tutorials on YouTube to learn the basics of the software.

genre planning

Question 3

3: What Kind of Media Institution Might Distribute Your Media Product and Why?

An institution is a company that disperses a media product for audience consumption.
A film would go to cinemas either nationally or internationally. however after being at the cinema for a while it would then get dispersed shops to sell merchandise either DVD or soundtrack etc.
Before making the film, the directors or producers can go to a institution to pitch their idea for the film and could also ask if the institution would fund the project.
After looking in depth at 'The Possession, The Devil Inside and  The Unborn' i discovered what institutions distributed them.
The popular Institutions include:
Film Four
Paramount Pictures
Rogue Pictures
As these are such popular institutions i decided to research further about them. i did this to find out if they would be suitable to ask if they would back my film opening.
The most suitable that i would love to go with would be film 4.
film four showcases a wide range of british made films and international films that comes from all over the world. they dont just show films they also produce many films too. film four partnered with Warp X Films where they challenge british and international films, creating new ones for a lower budget, with the intention of expanding the niche audience.
For my film i would consider aproaching all of these institutions, so that my budget issues would be covered. these institutions are well known throughout the UK, i would hope that my film would attract the interest of many UK film audience members and help to widen the niche group of a social horror film

film pitch