Preliminary task

Media Evaluation task 7

Media Evaluation task 6

. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

First of all we reached our target audience and shared our film by sharing the link to it on social network sites such as my Facebook and Twitter accounts, this immediately gets the film out to more than five thousand people instantly with around ninety nine percent of those people being between fifteen and twenty which is the age of our intended audience. To get feedback we used Google feedback forms meaning we could gather all information online without having to hand out any sheets and mess about with paper. It is also more convenient for who is filling it in therefore we are more likely to get responses. To film we used a DV camera because these are what we have in college and they are small and simple and we can easily move the camera around. It is also HD meaning the filming is good quality. After filming we used Final Cut express to edit. We had never used this software before meaning it took a while to get used to and we had a few problems along the way, however we always managed to find a way to fix the problem and we eventually finished our product. Once finished we uploaded to Youtube because this is such a massive website used my millions daily, it meant our film can be seen by anyone, anywhere in the world.

Media Evaluation Task 5

Media Evaluation Task 4

Media Evaluation Task 3

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

I believe the ideal distributor for our product would be Warp this is because it is an independent company and our film is based in a local environment which is more suited to a smaller company. Another reason I think a smaller company like Warp is more suitable for our film is because we didn’t have a budget therefore it is extremely unlikely that a media conglomerate such as Warner would ever be willing to distribute our film. Another benefitting factor of an independent company is the genre we have done. Many Horror and psychological thrillers are done by independent companies and have often been very successful, such as films like The Grudge and The Ring for example. The cast is also very small and all one age group meaning the audience may not be as big, this again shows why an independent company would be better.

Media Evaluation task 2

  How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Throughout our product we almost always conform to stereotypes and I don’t believe there are any points where the stereotypes are subversed. Robyn is a teenage girl who has been to a friend’s house and his walking home. Harry (Jordan) is the kidnapper in the film and the first time the two meet is when Harry is walking behind Jenna without her notices, he overpowers her and knocks her to the ground, again conforming to the stereotype. When Robyn then wakes in a strange dark room she begins to cry for help in a typically girlish manner, the reply she gets from Harry is a deep manly voice. Whilst filming Harry is never actually seen on camera which leaves an air of mystery to his character, however during the second seen, Robyn is always looked down on by the camera, lowering her status which is what would be expected. The editing is slow paced in order to intensify suspense and gives Robyn a “damsel in distress” quality. The sound used is the same original music as before which makes Harry to be a more powerful, dark character, enhancing his masculinity. We also used a belt to tie Robyn to the wall making her appear even less powerful than she was already portrayed. The lighting is dark which just a light glow on her face to ensure the audience focus’ on her, everything is almost pitch black. Another key factor is the depth of Harry’s voice, it is very manly making him appear older and as we see, Robyn is much younger, therefore it doesn’t only conform to gender stereotypes, but age as well. The iconography is still what is expected, a dark room and a girl tied up, this is conventionally what is used in a horror as the audience will clearly know and be able to decipher the genre immediately.

Media Evaluation Task 1

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

The first thing that is seen during our 2 minutes is Jenna walking a long, poorly lit road all by herself, the shot is made to look blurry in order to visually aid the audience in understanding the genre of the plot. Immediately it becomes obvious that the film is most likely going to be a horror/psychological thriller. This is emphasised by the choice of music. The music is creepy and slow paced and used to create an air of suspense. Robyn (Jenna) then walks further along the dark road and her phone rings, she answers the phone and tells her mother that everything will be okay. We used dialogue like this as it is typical of horrors as everyone knows that something is most likely going to happen. Throughout the entire 2 minutes we always follow the 180 degree rule. The sounds that are used in the film are both diegetic and non-diegetic as we use music which is non-diegetic and also dialogue which is diegetic. To make sure the continuity was done well we used a number or either fast or slow paced shots, all shot from different angles, this allows the product to run smoothly whilst the different angles and shots such as high angle shot when Robyn is laid unconscious and tracking shot when Robyn is on the phone (which we learned whilst doing our preliminary task) helped to create a more realistic viewing for our intended audience. The iconography is what is expected in a horror. Despite there being few props which help with conventions the location makes up for it as the first scene takes on a lonely dark road and the second scene in a dark room where Robyn is tied to a railing on her own. Finally the typography is used in a way that would be expected in a horror, the background for the credits are black to create a sense of darkness and the writing is red, as the connotations of the colour red are usually danger and blood.

Production logo draft

This was my first attempt at creating a logo, although I liked the design I found the colours to be quite dull and boring.
 

Character profile Harry Lewis

Name- Harry Lewis

Age- 44

Marital status- divorced

Occupation- unemployed

About- harry is a character he has been convicted for the double murder of a man and women and was serving his time in prison and was coming up to his parole appeal when he got rejected he decided to escape from prison. Harry broke out of prison about four years ago by force and is still on the run hiding from the law in an derelict  house at the minute he never stays in one location for more than about a month he is always moving about cautious that the police will find him. Harry has a daughter with his ex-wife but his wife never let him meet his daughter which has been an emotional blow to harry for the whole time he has known. 

Character profile Robyn Lewis

Name- Robyn Lewis

Age-17

Marital status- single

Studies- college

About- Robyn is not any old average teenage girl she is different to most girls she doesn’t like shopping etc… she likes playing sports hanging out with friends. When Robyn gets an idea in her head she cant just leave it, she has to keep going about it till she gets right to the bottom of it. Robyn doesn’t like been wrong and does anything she can to prove shes right. Robyn isn’t scared of confrontation she will defend herself and not take anything off anybody. Robyn is a down to earth teenage girl who doesn’t like causing any trouble she quietly goes about her life and is grateful for everything even if she doesn’t like it! 

Location description

Location description

Our first two minutes of our film has two main locations in it both very different. One of them is in an outhouse and the other outside on a dark road.

Outside (road)

Firstly the first minute or so will be shot entirely outside on a dark road in Great Houghton with fields surrounding it. There are bushes either side in certain parts and lots of gaps in these bushes where somebody or something could be hiding.

Inside (outhouse)

The remainder of our two minutes will be shot inside an outhouse. The outhouse has minimal lighting at most times and gives the impression that it will be cold inside. By having minimal lighting it will suggest fear and unpleasant things may happen here.

Audience feedback

Group 10 final film

Audience feedback results

Click here for audience feedback

Audience feedback questionare

temporary link to audience feedback

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1OGjL9X7vqP16KWf8xsALwgP7oO0i0sin9GiBs38PR38/viewform

Rough Plan for filming

We are planning to film the opening two minutes of our film tomorrow night ( 8th march) and if needed on monday night as well (11th march). The opening part of the scene will take place in the woods in Great Houghton as it is near Jenna's house. We will be filming at night, probably around 7/8 o'clock as it needs to be dark in order for the scene to be as realistic as possible (nobody kidnaps people in the day), minimal props will be required as it is a simple scene where Jordan (Harry Lewis) will stalk and then proceed to chase Jenna (Robyn Lewis) through the woods. All that's needed is dark clothing for Jordan and Jenna will just be wear ordinary clothes.

The second part of the scene is where most props will be needed. It will be filmed in my outhouse where it is dark and (sort of) creepy. We will put a table in there which Jenna will wake up tied to. Which is when we'll need probs such as rope etc... it will again need to be filmed late at night as the outhouse does has windows and if it's light outside it would decrease the "scare factor" of the scene.

Hopefully it should not take too long to film and each scene should be recorded in about 2 hours at most, the first scene (in the woods) will most likely take longer (depending on how annoying Jordan is feeling that day).

 

Official logo

This is my final and official draft of the logo and the one that the group are going to use, I used the same 'JMJ productions' name as that is the name of our group. JMJ meaning Jenna, Mitch, Jordan. Although it doesn't have the camera like I used in the last one it is much more colourful which in my opinion looks a lot better.

Roles

We have decided who will play each role in the film. Jenna is going to play the teenage girl robyn who is walking through the woods before being kidnapped. She is going to be a regular teenage girl that leads a pretty ordinary lifestyle, or so she thinks. Jordan is going to play the killer who is, unbeknownst to Jenna, her father. Throughout the film he appears to be an ordinary guy who loves his daughter very much. However towards the end of the film secrets begin to unravel and the dark truth is eventually revealed. Throughout the filming process I will be the cameraman and take care of the majority of the filming.