Retake

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

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

I have used a wide range of technologies throughout this project, some I had used before so I was familiar with them and others I had never used before so developed new skills.

In research and planning I used a variety of technologies to present data and information I had found:

-Youtube 
--helped me as I was able to easily access examples to visually support my point.

-Power Director and Tube Chop
--helped me as I was able to cut down videos into short clips to support a point I had made.

-Prezi and emaze

--helped me as I could present the information I had found in a visual way so it could be understood more easily.

-Wix
--helped me as I was able to make a visual display but could perosnalise it more to the topic I was discussing.

-Survey Monkey
--helped me as I could carry out a survey to a number of people efficiently and get results instantly and display them in the most suitable way.

-GIFs and images/screenshots
--helped me as they are the most simple way to clearly show an example  to support a point which does require sound or movement.

-Internet
--helped me as it allowed me to acces of the above resources and tools in order to create a variety of visual ways to present my information and data found from research amd how we as a group were going to execute our sequence in planning.

During the filming and production of the opening sequence I used:

-DSLR Camera

--helped me because it is better quality than a camera such as a camcorder as it allows for manual and more acuurate setting up so the opening sequence will be of better quality.

--helped me to create meaning as the quality of the shots were very high so the audience could easily see what was happening and it is relatively compact so could be set up in quite small spaces and produce quite effective shots. The fact it could be set up in tight spots means that the audience felt closed in, uneasy and as though they did not have much room to move during that shot.

-Tripod

--helped me because it allows the camera to stay in a static position and higher quality shots.
--helped me to create meaning as sometimes a static shot was required in order to get the most effect and response from the audience and the tripod could hold the camera stable.

-Fig Rig
--helped me because it enabled me to shoot a smooth tracking shot of good quality.
--helped me to create meaning as it allowed me to shoot smooth trecking shots without a dolly and up stairs and go from low to high which is a very unique shot. The shot follows the character and makes the audience think someone is following him, which builds tension as the audience cannot see the whole of the charcater's surroundings and are unsure when the killer will make his move. However this is misleading as the killer is upstairs so it is in fact just the audience who is following him.

Example here

-Go Pro
--helped me to create menaing as it could be used where most cameras would get damaged such as in water, we did use the go pro in our first draft however cut it out for our second sequence.

-Adobe Premiere Pro
--helped me as it has more technical qualities so will make my end product of higher quality.
--helped me to create meaning as there were multiple tools I could use such as ligthing effects and sound levels to really get the most out of the stock footage we had shot. For example, I made the overall lighting darker in order to create an eerie atmosphere for the audience. I was also able to add titles during the sequence due to using Premiere Pro and I could use a variety of fonts and colours. The font and colour I used had the conventions of a home-invasion horror film so set up the feel of the film for the audience straight away.

Example here

-Adobe After Effects
--helped me to create menaing as I used it to remove the background from some stock greenscreen footage for our production company ident which meant it oculd have more of a smooth finish and look to be more professional.

 

 

Question 5 - How did you attract/address the audience?

Screencast Video:

In this video George explains what we found in our research towards our sequence and what we did in order to cater to our target audience, based on what we found out.

Director's Commentary:

In this video Sam discusses our sequence and comments on why we used particular shots, editing techniques etc to create and effect for our audience and how we targeted our audience.

 

 

From this, the general scenario of hanging out with friends with appeal to our target audience as it is something they are familiar with and will generally do in their free time.

 

We also appealed to our target audience through setting as our sequence is set in an urban middle-class house with a relaxed atmosphere around it. This appeals to our target audience as a large population of our audience will be in or will have grown up in middle-class families and so a relaxed and urban home will be a familiar setting so they are able to relate.

 

Linking to this, we decided to leave the home as naturally appearing as possible so the audience feel the house has been lived in and the characters are comfortable in their surroundings, so the audience may be at ease for a moment, however this is a false sense of security as the characters are still in danger which will unease the audience.

 

The prop especially of the mobile phone appeals to our target audience as they tend to spend a lot of time on their mobile phones and so will be familiar with it, however the characters in the sequence do not use their phones as much as regular people of that age would.

 



Audience Feedback Video:

In this video we received some feedback regarding our sequence from a small group of our target audience, explaining what they liked/disliked and agreed/disagreed with in our product.

audience feedback from Sam Blake on Vimeo.


In this video Eden responds to the feedback we recieved by a small audience who previewed our sequence and gave the examples to which they were referring to.

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

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

Our production company is called "Sandman Studios" and our logo is below:
A production company's role is to help to create the film by assisting in the
-Budgeting
-Scheduling
-Scripting
-Casting

A distributor is a company that will buy the film that has been made and as they
then own it, they will sell it for screening, DVD releases, VoD releases etc.
We have chosen Lionsgate to distribute our film as they have distributed a 
variety of films with the same genre as ours (horror) and has also distributed 
small indie films such as "You're Next".

For a small indie horror film like ours, the money might have been funded by the
BFI as one of their aims is to "Encourage the development of the arts of film,
television and the moving image throughout the United Kingdom" which means that 
small, low budget films in the UK, such as ours would fit their criteria for
this goal.

In our titles we have these names listed in the following order:
-Lionsgate (Distribution)
-Sandman Studios(Production)
-Eden McClymont (Actor)
-George Burgess (Actor)
-Sam Blake (Actor)
-Hilda Goodman (Casting)
-Paul Byrd (Titles)
-Jeffrey Warner (Music)
-Gladys Griffith (Costume Design)
-Mica Gale (Editor)
-Phyllis Robertson (Production Designer)
-Jacqueline Holmes (Director of Photography)
-Willis Stevenson (Co-executive producer)
-Arturo Sherman (Executive Producer)
-Woodrow Barton (Producer)
-Loren Wood (Screenplay)
-Adolfo Anaya (Director)

We have put the titles in this order as Eden, George and Sam are starring in the 
film and I am editing it. We have reflected this by putting the titles over the 
sequence in our chosen font to also keep consistency and match our genre.

We decided to use the name "Sandman" for our production company as the Sandman is a
horror urban legend who steals children's eyes when they are asleep, a
truly eerie story which we wanted the name to represent our film.



Our film is institutionally similar to the following films:

-It Follows - It was premiered at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival and was first 
given limited release in order to get audiences to watch it through word of 

mouth before it was widely released later on.

-You're Next - It was premiered at the 2011 Toronto International 
Film Festival and released in cinemas in 2013.

-The Blair Witch Project - It was premiered at the 1999 Sundance 
Film Festival and was later released in cinemas due to large 
amounts of publicity with fake information to make the "found 
footage" more realistic. Although it became a huge success and 
gained the largest box office amount for an indie film, the release 
would be similar to our film.

Our film would be screened at a film festival such as Sundance or 
perhaps a small indie cinema due to it being a low budget UK film.
From this I think the film would mainly be released for online 
viewing such as on BFI player or Netflix/Amazon Prime to be the 
main ways it can be viewed. Although it could be released onto a 
DVD format I do not think it would be as successful as online 
viewing due to the low budget there will be no/limited advertising 
with no publicity whereas online advertising on social network 
sites or its own website will be noticed more.


Our film would receive certificate 15 from the BBFC because their certificate 15 
guidelines for horror works state:

"At 15 there can be strong threat and horror as long as there is no sustained 
focus on sadistic or sexualised threat." 

A 15 certificate will limit the population of our audience as only people ages 15
and up would be able to see it however our target audience is between 15 and 24
which is quite broad. Our audience could have been expanded if we targeted for
12/12A rating but we would not have been able to include the same impact as we
would want to due to the BBFC 12/12A guidelines which state:

"Moderate physical and psychological threat is permitted at 12 or 12A as long as
horror sequences are not too frequent or sustained and the overall tone is not
disturbing."

This would then mean that we wouldn't be able to include as many moments of
horror, such as the jump-scares as we would like, resulting in not gaining the
same impact on the audience as we were aiming to.

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