Q6 What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Camera Cannon MD101 Pal and camera stand

The camera was easy to co operate as all of us had handled a phone recorder or other devices that may be used for recording. The scenes from the shots can be previewed from the little screen to see if anything has gone wrong but also the fact that it can easily rewrite over things that have already been recorded on. The tripod had helped to create steady panning shots or just any still shots as we could change the height we wanted the view to be at. 

Macbook

We had used a mac to upload and edit the video using a programme called iMovie we had edited our movie and i had learnt from it how to add special effects such as slow motion. It was not clear how to use it at first but once I got the hang of it I was able to make the shots seem less rough by adding effects such as 'fade black' so the opening seemed more professional. We also had to cut scenes, add music and thanks to iMovie we were able to make our opening sequence look the way we wanted it to.

Q5 How did you attract your audience?

In our video we have described how different scenes make the audience want to watch the rest. Have a look at the video on full screen and it will explain how we attracted the audience to watch the rest in the opening.

Q4 Who would be the audience for your media product?

Our target audience for our media product is teenagers similar age to us as most of the people that had answered our questionnaire who were over our age by more than 10 years did not like the product as much as people of our age. I think the appropriate age group should be from about 15 to 25 as that would fit the age rate which is 15 as it does have some violence.


As our age group is within the target audience we were able to ask people on their opinions and ways they thought would be better. Thanks to this we were able to find out that if we are aiming it at both male and female they would much rather prefer a horror rather then thriller as guys prefer it more. As we are aiming it at both males and females we had to use the psychological sub genre as it was most oftenly used and liked.

The target audience usually listens to all the popular bands and they prefer fairly new music rather than old music. In our opening we had used a song that was also made quite recently. It is quite a known band (All american rejects) therefor it might bring the viewer to watch more of the movie as well as the other features that create secrets and mysteries and the music builds it up. Also the lyrics talk about dad's acceptance and how he didn't get it which is a part of the movie however our opening has a more dark meaning as it was far worse.

Q3 What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

All of the famous horror movies are usually exhibited in cinemas and have movie premieres. After a certain time they are shown on tv through various channels for example Channel 4, Film 4 and ITV channels as well as channels globally. However it isn't realistic to think that our movie will be exhibited in such places as it does not use the right equipment and we do not have the same budget the big film industries have.

One of the places that this opening could be exhibited at is anther blog, sent of to a channel that gives young film makers the chance to develop their dreams and make their movies well known. Many places do this with art such as CBBC channel in which they get children's drawings and show them to the audience which is of similar age to the artist.

I think the best way to advertise the movie opening is through using YouTube as it is one of the most oftenly used websites worldwide to look at videos of all types. If the channel has a lot of followers and likes it will mean that the product is well advertised and of good quality which would mean it would be popular and could have potential of being well known/popular.

Another way to exhibit it is to put a link to the opening on Facebook as that would mean people worldwide could join and tell us what our next steps could be and what they like about it. It would mean more people have seen our video meaning it would be better known. As well as this it would meant that this plan is realistic as it is cost free and could eventually lead up to someone that could help us spreading videos like it and making more for money.

Lastly we could hire a local town hall and showing the video to people and asking them what they think. The money for hiring the hall could be raised in the school from other students as well as teachers. Through giving the leaflets to the event it brings an even bigger range of people looking at our video on YouTube as it would mean people talking and sharing what they have seen bringing the popularity of the video up.

Q2 How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our movie was similar to the movie called 'The Ring' as the main person from the movie is a killer and it shows a rewind in time in the movie just like in our movie however our's is at the start and their's halfway through.. The main character in this movie seems a bit more scary and actually look more like a psychopath or a killer where as our group has made the killer seem impossible to actually kill anyone as she is so young and innocent just like the Ring's main character was like before hand. In the ring movie the girl had both of her parents not fully accepting her and she took revenge on anyone where as our character only chooses the bad fathers there for our movie has explained better why the main person became a killer. 

In our movie Steph played by Martyna is a character know to others as the sweet and innocent child that is usually alone and is known for being troubled because of her family life.

The neighbour Zoe played by Charity is a sweet yet nosy and a bit rude. She seems to have a relationship with the main character as seen in the opening suggesting they are friends and we might learn about the character of Steph from Zoe and vice versa.
There is always friendship across different genres such as 'Final Destination' movies and 'Mean girls'. They always show how friendship helps them through tough times and when Zoe comes over in the opening of the movie to ask if Steph is okay it shows how she cares if she is okay as she must know the situation she is in. She offered her comfort and a talk at her house if she needs it however Steph is too shaken up to speak to her as the experience of her killing her dad was traumatising.

Q1 In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

The title of the film was chosen at the end of the opening sequence as that would mean the viewers will get a chance to see why the title might be chosen and create a suspense and more of a thrill before the title as it is a horror. In a way it is at the end to bring shock and outrage of what the girl did and who she is as you do not see her face throughout the first couple of minutes.

The setting/location was shown through the first shot of the movie opening which is an establishing shot of the neighbourhood in which the scene happens. It is good to show this shot as it creates a sense of knowing what the character's life surrounding are like. As it isn't a posh or very poor are the viewers do not know what to expect.

This shot shows the sort of costumes and props we had used throughout the movie. As I was in charge of costumes and props I thought that the teenage girl should wear a hoodie as it is a very commonly worn piece of clothing for teenagers. I had figured that the mum and dad should wear still quite stylish and modern clothes as they are still quite young as the girl had her child at around the age of 18.

One of the shots that we had edited was the extreme close up shot where the girl takes her family picture of her wall and rips her dad out of the picture to fit the music playing in the background. This shot uses slow motion and music in the background. We had to cut the parts of the song to fit well with the end bit. We had also used this effect with the mid panning shot where we see the living room as it makes sure we see each bit of the room properly as well as hearing the dialogue between her mum and dad in her head where it had happened.

We had used this font style as we thought it was oftenly used in the horror/thriller genre. It is simple and bold and up to the point which might confuse people as they can't figure anything out from the font for example it isn't covered in blood however as it is modern we know the movie will take place in the current time which also fits in with the character as she is young and modern.

The story is set up through the scene where the girl washes the blood of her hands. In this scene we learn she isn't a typical teenager as she had either been at the scene of crime but most likely killed someone. As we do not see her face in the shots the movie has a sense of mystery. We see that there was a loud discussion between a couple about a child so the viewers can suspect it is either the child or the mum. The viewers have a sense of the plot yet as it has some mysteries/secrets behind it the viewers want to watch more to find out what that is.
The genre is suggested in the opening through this scene also as we see the blood on the sink and the colour of red and blood both represent danger/relationships and death. As well as this many characters in other movies such as Sinister where the children's faces and the monster's face (boogalu) is the main feature that strikes fear in the viewer.

Characters are introduced through the subtitles passing through as we meet a new character for example in this case the neighbour Zoe is starred by Charity Tapambwa. We only see what she is like to this character and we see her as a bit of a nosy and yet friendly person.

We had used special effects by adding music in appropriate times (simple plan, , lowering or making the sound louder at certain points, using slow motion (make scenes more dramatic) in scenes and making the transaction between shots either fade in or fade into black and going onto the next scene (so the movie doesn't look choppy).