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

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

despite our low budget and lack of tools such as mics, lighting rigs and sets, our horror film is undoubtedly mainstream. Our film would be considered mainstream for a variety of reasons. Firstly, it follows many of the conventions of a teen horror. One such example of this is our main character for our opening (Marie) being completely isolated from physical communication. While she does text someone near the beginning of our footage, we don’t know who it is to. She has no bonds with any developed characters in the footage, as she (other than the killer) is the only character. We portray her house as empty by having almost the entire upper floor of the house in our footage, providing visual evidence that she is alone. This is backed up by the fact she gets a phone call from her own home. This make the audience think something is wrong, as getting a phone call from your own house while you are in it is a strange occurrence. The victim of the killing in our opening is female, again, going by the conventions of the teen subgenre. She is stereotyped as a vulnerable defenceless female, unable to defend herself.

Another convention of mainstream teen horror is subtle foreshadowing to upcoming events. Mainstream films such as scream foreshadow Casey’s death by being stabbed in a shot where a knife block is what the shot is focused upon

scream also has foreshadowing for caseys death, where there is a shot that focuses on  a swing from a branch outside of her house. This indicates that Casey will be hanged from here.

scream opening
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsksjUVpWcg

For our horror opening we decided to utilize similar foreshadowing. On Maries computer there is an image of a waterfall, signifying she will be drowned. She also makes frequent trips into the bathroom, to add make up and to collect things for when she goes out. The third time she enters the bathroom, she is killed. 

On the other hand though, our film could be perceived as independent. This is due to complete lack of budget (we spent nothing), one HD camera, one tripod and some average editing software. We had no paid actors or anyone with actual experience; it was also set in one of our group members houses, using only 3 rooms. We also had to add a great deal of sound effects in editing, as we had no mic for recording. Overall, our film is very much mainstream due to the content of the footage, but the equipment we had would represent an independent film.


To gain interest from production companies, we could enter various film festivals to attract attention. As our film is a horror, the screamfest horror film festival would be an ideal festival to be able to show our film at. In its 10 year history, it has introduced some major horror films to the world. The most notable of these include paranormal activity, 28 days later and wrong turn. One of the positives about using the screamfest horror film festival is they are prepared to take on films that many other festivals turn down. The best example of this is paranormal activity, which only got accepted by the screamfest festival, as no one else would show it.

Another way to try and get our film recognised by potential production companies is to enter in a bigger named festival for example, the Cannes film festival. This festival is very popular and attracts a great amount of potential from production companies. Films that manage to win the coveted Palme d’Or always gain lots of hype and word of mouth about the film’s success has the potential to attract companies to our film. However, it would be more likely for us to win the Cinéfondation award (prizes for student films). This award fits our film and we would have a greater chance of winning. Just like winning the Palme d’Or, this would gain our film lots of hype and word of mouth would get it recognized.

There are multiple ways in which we could generate buzz or hype for our film. To do this we could post our 2 minute opening on a well known site such as YouTube or a social networking site such as facebook. The buzz that this would generate could be increased by using these sites to our films advantage. We could post a status that asks for a specific amount of likes or subscriptions (for YouTube) to unlock a full trailer with another minute or so of footage.  

We could also utilize viral marketing to gain buzz for our film. We could have an interactive ‘uncover the killer’ style Easter egg hunt, spread out over multiple websites. This not only fits with our theme of a serial killer, but could also be used to add backstory to our plot. This technique was successfully used by cloverfield, where information that could be linked to the monsters origins was available for those who looked into the various websites enough. This could successfully generate buzz for our film. 

Question 2 how does your media product represent particular groups?

Question 2 how does your media product represent particular groups?

For our horror film we decided to try and represent a normal teenager, as opposed to a specific social group. This is due to the fact that the audience would find it easier to relate to an average teenager, as that character would be very similar to them. This would then make the events that the characters endure much more horrifying, as they could relate and put themselves in their position. This was based on evidence I collected from other teen horror films such as scream, where the majority of the cast are just regular teenagers, going about doing what regular teenagers do ( go to parties, go to school etc). we have represented Marie as a generic teen by outfitting her in usual teen clothing. She is wearing sparkly top, tights and blue shoes, items of clothing that most teenagers would wear.

Despite being very black and white, the representations of good and evil in our film can appear to be quite deep. Despite the fact that she is now about to go to a party (which will involve drink and drugs) the protagonist in the opening scene Marie hasn’t actually done anything wrong. All she is doing is getting ready to go out, and isn't seen drinking, smoking or doing drugs while she is on screen. She is definitely the personification of the innocent victim. The killer and antagonist is represented as soulless and evil. He breaks into an innocent teenagers home and proceeds to kill her, with little motive shown at this point in the film. The killer wears black to symbolize his antagonistic role, which can also represent death. His cloak and hood make him very similar to the grim reaper in some ways, as both take lives with little remorse.

 

Marie, the protagonist and victim of our opening scene, is depicted very stereotypically as a vulnerable and unintelligent female. Despite being home alone, she fails to lock her doors, allowing the killer to enter easily and kill her. The killer is considerably stronger than her, as he manages to attack her and knock her to the ground with ease with so much force that she can’t get back up. She is ultimately defenceless and at the mercy of the clearly superior killer.
Overall I believe that we have created a positive representation of the general teenage social class. At no point while on screen does Marie drink, smoke, do drugs or break any of the rules of horror films.

Questionnaire analysis

Questionnaire analysis

I handed out my questionnaire to 20 people in order to collect data for analysis. I hope to use this data to create the best footage I can for my horror opening.

How old are you?

By learning the gender of the people doing my questionnaire, I can understand why they have chosen the answers that they have. Generally, males like lots of blood and gore in there horrors, while females like more psychological films which also make the audience think. For example, the gender of the victim was chosen to be female, with 18 people preferring this. This shows that the results being dominated by more males than females, as every one of the males who gave their opinions chose a female victim.
Do you prefer the victim of a horror to be male or female?

Based on the data collected, I have decided it would be best to have a female victim in our horror opening. If many females are killed throughout our film, and we utilize the final girl, it would make her look stronger; as she would be the only female overcome the antagonist and survive. This would allow the final girl to look strong, and make our victim in the opening suited to the audiences taste, as she would be female.

 Are you an internet user?

As our desired audience is between 16 and 18, using the internet to advertise our film would be a very strong idea, and an easy and cheap way to gain publicity. However if no one of that age range uses the internet then the whole idea would be pointless. Thankfully, everyone who took part in my questionnaire was in the age range and all used the internet. This would allow us to advertise and generate buzz for our film a lot more easily.
 What is you favourite horror film, if any?

While almost half of the people asked said that they didn’t have a favourite horror film, those that did provided excellent data for me. 3 people said nightmare on Elm Street and 5 said scream. As both of these are teen horrors, these results have given us 2 films to draw inspiration from. The majority of both of these films also take place in the common home, giving us a great setting to shoot our footage in. 3 people also chose independent hit film paranormal activity. This is useful for us as paranormal activity is also set in a house, and plays on a fear of what isn't seen, a technique our film could use to add to the fear.

Do you visit any of these websites on a daily basis?

Knowing what sites our age range visits most on a regular basis allows us to choose which sites we use our advertising. As the data shows, sites like MySpace and bebo would be pointless, as none of our participants use them. On the other hand, facebook and hotmail wound be excellent, as they are used by all of our participants and are often visited many times a day to check for status updates etc.

Do you own any of the following?

Knowing what items people own that are capable of video playback is very useful. It allows us to make trailers and advertising that the audience is able to watch at any time. This is especially apparent for mobile devices, as people can watch them on the go, as well as share them with their friends.
Which subgenre of horror do you prefer?

By understanding what subgenre our age range prefers, we can create a film which suits their tastes, resulting in a more enjoyable viewing experience. The most preferred subgenre was slasher; this is most likely due to the large amount of males who took part in this questionnaire. Second was psychological, due to its complex and involving narrative. Monster films were least preferred, which is useful, as making a costume for a monster would be difficult and time consuming. Apocalyptic was liked, but not enough for me to choose it as the subgenre for our footage. This is due to needing lots of extras to play zombies, as well as having to prepare all their costumes.
Identify the main conventions of horror films

When the questionnaire asked the participants to write down the conventions of horror, all of them wrote down blood gore, death and false scares. As this is what they perceive to be fundamental conventions of the genre, it would be best to include them in our film. Including a death would be good, as it allows our opening scene to build to the death of a character. Just over half of them said a villain who’s identity was concealed. This is something that we could also incorporate into our film, as it would make our antagonist stand out more, and add a layer of suspense. This could be used to tie into a psychological theme as well.

With the information collected, I have now decided that using a female victim, concealed killer, and elements of the slasher and psychological subgenres. This should help the film appeal to the audience that it is aimed at. Furthermore, the choices made are all easy enough to do, unlike making a monster horror, which involves making the costume and is time consuming and expensive.

Sub genres of horror

Sub genres of horror

Like all genres, horror can be categorized into many different sub genres. Using research and our questionnaire results that I have analysed, I have found the most popular sub genres of horror. Using this data we have also decided on what subgenre our horror film will be.

Subgenres

Slasher

The slasher subgenre of horror is often defined by its killer. Ask a regular film watcher to name characters from a nightmare on Elm Street and chances are the first person they will mention will be Freddy Kruger. The same can be said for Friday the 13^th, Jason is iconically known, whereas his victims are often forgettable characters. They often appear as unstoppable and superior, making them a formidable foe. Their desire to kill what seems to be anything with a pulse is often associated with a childhood trauma or mental disability. The weapon of choice for the killer is often something that allows them to get up close and personal, such as a knife. This adds to the fear factor, as it forces the protagonists into situations where they are confronted and must escape imminent danger. The killer would be far less menacing if he used guns, as it would take away the need to confront his victims.

The killer’s victims are usually those who break the ‘rules’ of the horror convention. Drinking, smoking, doing drugs and having sex almost always results in death. The victims are also often young attractive teenagers, and the slasher subgenre often overlaps with the teen subgenre in this respect. Slasher films often star a heroine who becomes the ‘final girl’ who goes against her drinking smoking friends and doesn’t break the conventions ‘rules’ resulting in her survival. Plot and character development are rendered relatively meaningless, as characters are often killed quickly, sometimes within minutes of appearing. To counter this, deaths almost always contain lots of blood, gore and creativity.
Examples of the slasher genre

A nightmare on Elm Streetthe teenage victims drink and have sex, leading to their deaths. The killer is iconic (Freddy) kills with a glove of knives and is perceived as unstoppable. This is due to the fact that he kills in his victims dreams, effectively making him not real. His killings are to avenge his own death, and are very creative and bloody.


Psychodespite having elements of psychological horror, psycho is definitely a slasher film. Marion has sex at the beginning of the film with her boyfriend, foreshadowing her death. This is because she has broken one of the horror ‘rules’. The killer viciously stabs his victims with a knife. He performs these killings due to trauma when a child, where he flipped and killed his mother and her lover. Like most slashers, the killer gains for fame than the victims, and becomes iconic of that series, his victims are often forgettable.

Apocalyptic

The apocalyptic subgenre is defined by character development and unfavourable odds. Often, the virus comes about, with the protagonists unaware of what it does (eg turns people into zombies) how it does it and what the cure is.  Zombies are often the primary antagonists, and in contrast to slasher films, there are usually hordes of enemies opposing the protagonists. This puts the heroes in situations with unfavourable odds and, while often physically and mentally superior, they are almost always outnumbered by a vast degree. The objective is never to try to eradicate the opposition; it is to survive, often while waiting for a savior to their plight. These unfavourable odds are often coupled with lack of supplies (eg food) poor conditions for survival and a lack of ways to defend themselves. Almost always the protagonists are in a group which dwindles in numbers as the film progresses. The ‘leader’ of the group is often an average person (such as an office worker) who steps up to the challenges and hardships that they’re faced with. They are often more competent than those with actual training, such as police officers and soldiers.

Often in the post apocalyptic sub genre, the zombies aren’t the real antagonist. The real foes are the survivors, betraying each other for personal gain; the zombies are merely an allegory for humanities self conflict, even in times of desperate need.  

Examples of apocalyptic horror
28 days laterthe small group of 4 aim to travel to Manchester (there savior) the protagonist knows very little about the virus as he has awoken from a coma. After meeting the soldiers, they fight against them with the zombies as an allegory for self conflict. This is because the soldiers are the real antagonist.



 I am legenda man believes himself to be the only remaining survivor in the world after a cancer cure gone wrong kills or mutates everyone into creatures called dark seekers. Despite being a scientist, he is well trained and armed, but is focused on survival against unfavourable odds. Despite knowing what caused the virus, he doesn’t initially know that there are other with immunity too. The savior that he is waiting for is using his blood to find a cure to the virus. The mutants represent mans desire for control and try and play god.

Psychological

Psychological horror has a strong focus upon the protagonist’s mental state, with significantly less focus put upon gore or bloody killings. It can relate to the audience, due to the ability to play on common fears and phobias to great effect. Gore and cheap jump scares aren’t used, but genuinely disturbing fear of the unknown or something that the protagonist wishes to repress, such as bad memories and regrets. Supernatural elements can feature, but the majority of psychological horror takes the form of realistic locations, antagonists and scenarios. Realism is strived for, and locations like schools, warehouses, hospitals and the woods are all staples of the genre. This is due to their everyday use in society, they seem ordinary and normal which makes them scarier when negative events occur in them.

Huge emphasis is placed on what isn't seen and what could be lurking in the shadows. Emotionally unstable protagonists build up suspense as their own perceptions and fears overcome them, as well as the audience who can relate in various ways. The killer is more often to be a child than other subgenres, destroying their stereotyped image of cute and harmless.Examples of psychological horror:
the Blair witch projectthe killer (whoever it may be) is never seen, no one gets stabbed, there are no jump scares or cheap tactics, just 3 students lost in the woods. The fear of what is in the dark is heavily played upon.

Paranormal activity

The demon that haunts Katie is invisible, as only torments them during the night, playing on the fear of darkness. The safety of the home and the bedroom is destroyed by the demons attacks.

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

In comparison to our horror product, our prelim task was a complete mess. For everyone is my group, this was the first time I had properly filmed something using a tripod and a plan. As a result of the prelim, I have learned how to do all of these things to a successful standard, which are all skills that I could use for the actual horror product As a result our footage looks disjointed, and there is no flow between shots. We also had very little planning, and we decided on what shots we were going to use moments before we shot them. Because we spoke over much of our footage, all but the conversation at the end, much of our footage was silent. Our editing was weak, this was because it was the first time I had ever used editing tools as well. Titles were all put at the beginning of the footage, and weren’t creatively placed in the footage like I did in the actual horror product. As our prelim had very limited brief (walk through a door and have a conversation) we couldn’t stamp an individual style on the footage that we shot, resulting in dull footage. I learn a great deal from the filming and editing of the prelim task. It showed me the importance of planning, using the correct shot types, and working successfully as a team. All of these things were lacking during the prelim, but were present for the horror production.

From creating our prelim I had learned a great deal about shot types. These helped me film shots in specific ways, which can add much more substance to a scene. For example, by having a low shot looking up from the victim to the killer can show his superiority and strength. The method behind using shots was lacking in the prelim, and shots were chosen due to add variety and to look good, whereas in the horror product they were used for a specific purpose.

This also links to the creation and importance of our storyboards. In our prelim storyboards were created, but they lacked detail and direction, and weren’t even finished before we started filming. For our horror production, my attitude was changed dramatically, and the importance of structuring our footage became obviously important. As a result, a great deal more time and effort was put in from the group and myself to plan our footage. By doing this, props we could decide what props we would need to collect and what costumes we would need to acquire. This was a factor that was severely lacking from the prelim, where costumes were the clothes the actors were wearing at the time and no props were utilized, as we had no time to collect them.  Filming the prelim has also shown me that lighting can have a great effect upon the mood of a shot. In our prelim, one of characters was walking down a hallway, which was brightly lit, representing his optimistic attitude. It became apparent to me from this point that lighting was important, so I planned to control lighting in our horror production. This was done crudely by using the light on a mobile phone in the shots that needed it. I also altered the colour of the bathroom in our prelim to a green tint, making it contrast with the rest of the house and its safe yellow and orange glow. Overall, the prelim has taught me that planning is absolutely vital in order to add creativity to our horror product. As our prelim proved, lack of planning results in footage that is cohesive and interesting.

Just like our prelim, we chose to cast actors who were members of our group. This was good for multiple reasons. Firstly, it made them care more about how the footage turned out, as it affected there grade. Secondly, casting members of the group would allow them to understand the group’s vision, allowing them to act on it and make a better product. Unlike our prelim, we had time to develop the characters, as well as give them costumes that could represent them in various ways (such as the killer who wears a cloak, something symbolic of the grim reaper).

As our prelim had a plot that was already given to us, we had no experience going into writing our own. This lead to some complications. While we originally had planned for Stacy to be insane and the entire films events take place inside her head, we tried to be smarter and made things too convoluted by adding children to the opening scene, as well as a boyfriend knocking round for Marie (the first victim). All of these seemed unneeded, so we cut them and focused upon just the killer and the victim (Marie) in the film’s opening scene. Luckily, our plot wasn’t too overcomplicated, and that allowed us to focus on the brutal death in our opening scene.

Finding the appropriate soundtrack for our footage was very difficult initially. I found some great tracks that would fit our footage very well, but they were copyrighted, and chances of being able to use them would be slim. Eventually some copyright free music was found, and it worked well when put with our footage. This was another skill that we had to acquire on this project, as we didn’t need a soundtrack for our prelim, so my skill at collecting the music was limited.

While I did have some experience editing from doing final product in the prelim, I had used little in the way of dissolves and sound editing. I had learnt to make titles and put together shots in a basic fashion from my prelim though, so I had some experience. I developed my skills and learned to add music to the footage, adding greatly to the final product. I also learned to put titles in the footage, and to put them in areas that wouldn’t obstruct the events that were unfolding. I also developed my use of fades so I could fade into scenes as well as out. I also applied these skills to the products audio. Overall I felt that I have taken the basic skills I’d learned from prelim and developed them into something more advanced, which added greatly to the footage.

Easily one of the biggest problems that was faced during the horror product was lighting. We had shots that were too dark for anything to be seen, so they had to either be lightened up or reshot completely. The same could be said for shots that we taken during the day (due to us missing 1 shot from our schedule), which were too bright and also had to be refilmed. This wasn’t an issue during the prelim, as we filmed during the day, but our horror production was done at night, so lighting had to be taken into consideration. Every member of the group has a job, so we had to arrange to film late on days where we were all free.

Overall since the prelim I have gained and developed many skills.  The most obvious being able to use a camera and tripod to shoot the footage. The other was learning to use editing software in more advanced and complex ways. I have also improved my planning since the prelim, and learned the importance of planning via storyboards and then sticking (roughly) to that plan. My group work has improved dramatically, and I have become far more capable at helping in the development of group ideas.  I have also recognised the significance of the correct use of shot types, as well as the importance of using the correct lighting to set an appropriate mood for the footage.

location shots for the deluge

Location shots
for the filming of our horror opening, we decided on shooting our footage in a house. This links very well with the conventions of teen horrors, where characters are often killed in their own homes. An example of this in actual media products is the film scream, where Casey (Drew Barrymore) gets killed in her own home in the film’s opening.

A laptop links to the idea of a teen horror, as many teenagers own laptops for activities such as social networking. The laptop also can suggest a fear of current technology like in the film Scream, where most characters die after some form of recent technology is present. For our horror, we are playing on the fear of the internet, as it is far more modern than mobile phones. This allows the audience in our film to associate with the fear in more of a personal way.

the bathroom is where we are planning to shoot most of our footage. Much like the bedroom, it is an area of the home where people feel most comfortable. For one of our characters to be attacked and murdered in her own bathroom allows the audience to relate to the invasion of a safe place, further adding to the fear of the scene.

This shot foreshadows the drowning of our character Marie which happens towards the end of our footage. The aim is to have this shot tell the audience that something to do with water is going to happen and its going to be something negative. However, it doesn’t say when this will happen, adding further suspense to the footage. 

As stated by our plot synopsis, it turns out the character of Stacy

 is insane, and the films events have taken place inside her mind. Using lots of shots that involve mirrors and reflections, we are going to try to use them to represent 2 worlds; reality and the world inside of Stacy’s head. We also plan to put in a shot of Marie putting mascara on. This interaction with her eyes could represent that people’s perceptions are fake, and everything the characters in our footage isn't actually real.

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Using a shot of the shower railing could be used as subtle foreshadowing to later events in our footage ends with Marie drowning in her bath. It could also be a slight reference to Alfred hitchcocks film psycho, as their lead character also dies in the bathroom.

A shot focusing on the loft could be very effective as it represents the unknown. It also represents things above the character literally and figuratively, as the killer in Maries house is smarter and stronger than her. Like the basement, lofts are areas where things hide or go wrong.

overview of the rest of the film

Overview of the rest of the film: 
Because we decided on a broad opening that could lead into any type of sub-genre the rest of the film is going to be a psychological slasher based around water, the killer will have a signifier to do with water on each death. The final girl will actually be insane and will have witnessed a death as a child this is what leads her to be in the hospital. To establish that she is in a insane asylum after or whilst each killing is happening an item is in the background which is significant of a hospital e.g. a hospital band, hand sanitiser, medical certificate, room number or a doctors plaque because of this new idea of a item being in the background. The first death in the opening will have to have an item left Jonjo put the idea forward that we should have a room number on the bathroom so this is Stacey’s number in the hospital. 

After first killing a series of deaths happen all witnessed by Stacey and all having an element of hospital and water. 
She tries to find the killer this gives a factor of thriller. 
The opening has blood left in the bath and a signifier of the room number on the bathroom door. 
The killer will carve a number into each 4 of his victims these eventually add up to the room number that was the same on the bathroom and is the number of the room that Stacey is staying in. 
The film will end with Stacey reading a newspaper of the killings, showing her the numbers carved into the bodies to create her room number, making her realize that the world she inhabits is all in her head. This is followed by a shot Stacey in a mental hospital flashbacking to the clues e.g. the plaque, the hospital band etc.