Nathan93's Blog

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?

nathan93 — Fri, 14 May 2010 08:08:44 +0000

Firstly we have learnt to be more organised when it comes to filming, we learnt to have everything ready from settings to props. We also learnt how to use the equipment better from the camera and the editing. I also think that our general filming has improved for example we shot a task with a point of view shot at the start of the year because we knew we would need it for our film and you can see the improvement on the actual shot in the film opening. With filming a lot, we have also become more familiar with technical terms. From our preliminary tasks, we have used some of the same shots in our film opening, but the ones in our film opening are better as we have improved our filming skills.

What have you learnt about technology from the process of constructing the product?

nathan93 — Fri, 14 May 2010 08:08:08 +0000

The software adobe premier elements was at first hard to use and confusing but we soon got used to it and found it was quite easy and very good. We also had to find music via the internet and import it which was quite hard. The software we used is the following:

Adobe premier elements
Digital video Camera and cables etc
www.Audio jungle.com
www.Copyrightfreemusic.com
www.flickr.com
Mobile phone
www.wordpress.com
DVD player
www.google.com

How do you attract/address your audience?

nathan93 — Fri, 14 May 2010 08:07:33 +0000

One way in which we attract our audience is by using characters of the same age so that they can empathise with them. Our target audience will want to watch the film because that age group like to be scared and find it fun to watch horrors with their friends. We attract a young audience by making the film scary and building tension, which in ways excites the teenagers and makes them want to watch on. By having typical teenage values such as pop music and magazines means that teenagers can relate to the vulnerable girl, this may want them to watch on as they may put themselves in Natasha’s shoes and will become very scared. By showing that Natasha is vulnerable will make the other teenage girls watching think that the same thing could happen to them. The sound and point add view shots will also add to scaring the audience

Who would be the audience for you media product?

nathan93 — Fri, 14 May 2010 08:06:53 +0000

Our main target audience is teenagers around 18 – 20; this is because that is the rating for our film and they tend to watch horrors. We know this from our audience research and guest questionnaires. Obviously our film will appeal to other groups but it will mainly appeal to teenagers. Obviously young children are not our target audience as they do not like horrors and will be scared.

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

nathan93 — Fri, 14 May 2010 08:05:27 +0000

An institution that might distribute our film is ‘Dimension Films’. This is because they have made various horror films such as: Children of the corn, Dracula, Hellraiser, Halloween, From dusk till dawn and the scream sequel and many more. ‘Dimension Films’ specialise in horrors and ours would fit in well as it has graphic images like the films above. If our film was a success then we know that Dimension Films do a lot of sequels so that might be a possibility.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

nathan93 — Fri, 14 May 2010 08:04:29 +0000

Our media product represents the girl in the house as being vulnerable and this is a stereotypical opinion of girls. However it works in our film as if the girl is more vulnerable then it makes the film scarier as she is more likely to be murdered. We have represented this social group as they are our target audience and we want them to empathise with the character. We do many things to show that Natasha is a normal teenage girl, we sow her reading a typical magazine that a teenage girl would read, she is listening to pop music, and she is wearing teenage clothes. The camera angle is slightly above her so it is looking down on her which also makes her seem even more vulnerable.

Special FX:

nathan93 — Fri, 14 May 2010 08:03:45 +0000

We did not use any special FX for our film, not only because we didn’t have the technology, but also because we dint really need it. We didn’t need it for any killings as we didn’t want any killings in the opening; we just wanted to build tension.

How the characters are introduced:

nathan93 — Fri, 14 May 2010 08:03:01 +0000

The first character we see is the killer, we only see his hand but we know he is there. By only showing is hand, there is an uncertainty about him and when he is walking up the drive, looking at the vulnerable girl, we know he is up to no good. We use a teenage girl as they are stereotypically vulnerable and teenage girls are a big part of our target audience, so we are trying to engage them. The vulnerable girl is first shown reading a magazine like an ordinary girl, she is alone which makes her seem even more vulnerable and we have her in dull clothing to convey horror even more.

Genre and how the opening suggests it:

nathan93 — Fri, 14 May 2010 08:02:19 +0000

The opening of our film conveys the genre of horror in many ways. Firstly there is the spooky music, then the typical setting of creepy trees, a long winding road, the dull weather, the isolated house, the vulnerable victim, and the killer. There is also a point of view shot and the white on black style for the titles which are typical in horror films. Again an example of this is scream, where the girl is alone in the isolated house being watched by the killer.

Story and how the opening sets it up:

nathan93 — Fri, 14 May 2010 08:01:38 +0000

The opening sets up the story so that you are scared, and wondering what is going to happen. It does this by cutting between the killer and the girl, by the point of view shots the black screens for the titles and the spooky music. The plot of the story is a killer who is murdering in the area and targets a specific household, the Springfield house. Like Jaws, people will know when watching the film that when we see a point of view shot approaching the house with the scary music that someone is probably going to be killed.