Evaluation for my main task
1)
In what ways does your media product use,
develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
My media product uses codes and conventions
of real media products by having those elements within the product. For my
media product, the codes and conventions are of the horror slasher genre which
my media product contains eerie music, sustained horror, isolation,
protagonists being inferior and vulnerable to the antagonist, the antagonist
being relentless and almost invincible, the antagonist wearing a scary mask,
the antagonist having a signature weapon and the location having elements of
isolation.
The
codes and conventions of camera shots – high and low angle shots, point of view
shots, camera movements- hand held, static, and tracking.
The codes and conventions for editing is
slow editing, pacing and lighting (dark).
These codes and conventions match horror
slasher conventions as you will find these codes and conventions on horror
slasher films such as Halloween (1978) as in the film of Halloween there is a
point of view shot of Michael holding a knife at the beginning. The lighting
was dark, as at the beginning of Halloween, the inside of the dining room had a
dark purple lighting. The props/ iconography were a knife and white mask which
was the signature weapon and similar mask in my film. The code and convention
of isolation matches the same convention found in the horror slasher The Texas
Chainsaw Massacre (1974), as the protagonists were stranded on a massive
countryside farm which was way out of any civilization. The code and convention
of eerie music is a code and convention used in my film which matches the same
code and convention of eerie sinister music on Halloween when Michael takes a
knife from the cutlery draw. The code
and convention of the antagonist being unstoppable and almost invincible was
used in my film which matches the same code and convention used in the scene
Halloween when Michael confronts Laurie (the babysitter) which she fought him
on several occasions and Michael kept getting up, being persistent after being
stabbed, hit, shot and even falling out of a three story house landing on is
back.
2)
How does your media product represent particular
social groups?
The characters within the product represent
college students of modern society. This is evident due to their costume which
is of casual clothing which typical college students wear and by their age of
the actors being between the ages of 16 – 17, it makes it more believable for
the audience that these characters are college students.
The antagonist of the film, which
represents a killer, possessed characteristics of relentlessness, intelligence
and superiority upon the protagonists, which is evident within the film as the
antagonist hunts and chases the protagonists expressing the characteristic of
relentlessness, hides and waits for the protagonists to come near him and is
expecting them to come nearby which he jumps out and stabs one of the
protagonists, expressing the characteristic of intelligence and superiority as
the antagonist outsmarts the protagonists and appears to be more stronger.
My inspiration for my characters came from
the horror slasher film Halloween especially the antagonist, as the antagonist
within Halloween appears to be relentless, unstoppable, invincible and tries to
outsmart the protagonists, which these characteristics make a powerful
antagonist which creates a strong vulnerability upon the protagonists making
them look weak in comparison, thus making a gripping and engaging encounter
when the antagonist confronts the protagonists making the audience feel tensed
and keep them engaged with the film.
3)
What kind of media institution might distribute
your media product and why?
The type of media institution might distribute
my media product is Dimensional films due to the type of genre that they
distribute which is the same genre as my product as the films have the same
ideologies and codes and conventions as the films they have distributed which
include eerie music, usually a masked killer, almost unstoppable killer, gore,
sudden appearances of the killer to startle the audiences, Final girl,
masculine males are killed, the props used are usually knifes or any other type
of blade to inflict a slow painful death and to reinforce the fear of gore,
lighting is normally dim which is supported with eerie music to create an eerie
atmosphere, point of view shots, low angle shots, slow editing, the colours of
red, black, and white is used within the film especially in the title sequence.
4)
Who would be the audience for your media
product?
The audience for my media product is based
upon my research which was researched through my questionnaire and by looking
at what types of people watch the existing films that share the same genre as
my film.
My questionnaire asked people what their
age is and what gender they are, if they enjoy watching my genre and how often
they watch the genre. The majority of
people are female (57%) who answered my questionnaire and the majority of my
target audience enjoy watching my genre.
As mentioned before, I have researched
similar products that the audience watches and it matches the same target
audience I have for my product as the genre is mainly based on characters that
are young adults or teenagers that attend college or school and it creates more
of a connection between the audience and the characters within the film and
also creates more of a connection between the audience and the film as they
have recent or past experiences of those educational establishments which can
make the audience more engaged with the film.
So overall, my target audience is aged between 15 –
25 years old as mentioned earlier due to that the characters within the films
are young adults that attend college or university which the audience can
connect with the characters with their previous experiences with college and
university on the film which will make the audience more engaged within the
film. The majority of the gender is that of females than males according to my
questionnaire results. The background of
my target audience will moderately be middle class which is the most common
consumers/audience due to the accessibility of cinemas and purchasing the
product and the price of how much the product costs.
5)
How did you attract/address your audience?
My group and I attracted the audience by
including the codes and conventions of a horror slasher which we included:
suspense, sustained horror, masked killer, isolation and minimal gore (due to
questionnaires’ response of disliking gore), but keeping some elements of gore
in line with traditional aspects of a horror slasher. All these codes and
conventions would be found within a horror slasher, which our target audience
would expect to see in horror slasher. Due to the responses from the questionnaires,
we targeted our audience with particular conventions which we tried to improve upon
and make those conventions better. The responses for what makes a horror
slasher scary were the unpredictability, size and scariness of the antagonist
(the masked killer). The antagonist was wearing a white mask which can
represent the colour of death as the colour white can be associated with ghosts
and also the colour white stands out better than red or black which those
colours also represents death. The costume the killer was wearing was black
clothing, wearing a black hood to emphasize the mask that the killer was
wearing to make it look more scary as if the darkness is enveloping the soul
(which the mask could represent the soul of the killer as the colour white can
represent a soul or a ghost) of the killer which makes the killer more sinister
and fearful. The prop used for the killer is a knife which a knife is a type of
blade which connotes the convention of a horror slasher of inflicting a slow
painful death as the audience can assume that the killer is going to use their
knife on their victims which makes the audience tense as they do not want the
victims within the film being hurt as they have an understanding of what the
victims may feel when they are stabbed by a blade. The killer is bigger in size than the
protagonists/victims to further emphasize the power, strength and dominance of
the killer making the killer more superior and making the victims/protagonists
more inferior making them more vulnerable which makes the audience tense as it
subliminally tells the audience that the killer has a higher chance in
succeeding in killing the victims than the victims overpowering the killer. The
costumes for the students are casual wear, which represents what a student
would wear, modern fashion. We chose students as our target audience for horror
slashers are teenagers and young adults which are students themselves which
makes them more immersed within the film, have more of a connection with the
characters, thus making the audience more scared and tensed when the characters
face danger when confronted with the killer. The setting is at late afternoon
drawing into the evening as it can connote that darkness is drawing as it is
lurking in the horizon and is soon approaching which builds up the anticipation
of danger approaching which sets the tone for the film at the start. The
location is at an empty college with just two students (the protagonists within
the film) and is set within the woods as well. This was chosen as it creates
isolation for the victims and makes them more vulnerable as no one can help
them, as a result of this, the audience will be more tensed as they do not want
the victims hurt or killed when they are confronted with the killer which no one
will be able to help the victims.The sound used was ominous sinister music
which creates and sets a dark eerie tone to the film which enables the audience
to get an understanding of what genre the film as well.
6)
What have you learnt about technologies from the
process of constructing this product?
I have learnt how to use different
technologies for different techniques for constructing my product. I have learnt how to use iMovie which is the
software on the apple mac. I learnt how to use the camera for our recording of
our product and what type of shots you can use by using the camera which makes
the product look more professional. I used the website YouTube to research
different title sequences to use and also how they portray the codes and
conventions of my genre for my product which improves my product as I have a
better understanding of how to present and represent the codes and conventions
of my which overall improves my product.
What I found difficult was editing the film
by using the software program iMovie as it can be hard deciding what parts to
edit, what needs improving and to make it look impressive and be able to
understand what each function on the software does and what it is.
I also found difficult to film the shots
during different days as the weather varied on different days as some of the
days it was overcast, sunny and some spells of rain. So there were some days we
had to reschedule as there were interruptions with the weather and some people
in the background of our shots. I and my group edited the background by using
IMovie and used editing of the background changing the background of our shots
from day to night which created an sinister eerie feel as my film follows the
codes and conventions of a horror slasher which are set at night as that is
where sins and crimes are committed.
Also, I and my group found it difficult to
implement eerie non-diegetic music in the background of our film at first but
we found it quite simple to use after a while and we were able to implement the
non-diegetic music with our film.
7)
Looking back out your preliminary task, what do
you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
From when I and my group made our film in
our preliminary task, we learnt that planning particular shots, camera angles
and camera movements is vital as the film will look more professional and look
more aesthetically pleasing. It will also have a better flow which will make
the audience more engaged with the film and enjoy the film more.
I feel that I have a better understanding of
how to use the hardware and software now than when I was producing my
preliminary task as I know how to use different software programs and how to
use different hardware such as the camera. I feel that I am more confident on how to use
an Apple mac and iMovie which is the software which I used on the Apple mac. I
also learnt different shooting techniques (in terms of camera work) and different
editing techniques. By developing new editing skills, it will make our film
look more professional and because our film is horror slasher, it will create
more tension through the use of slow editing being implemented within our film
which will keep the audience engaged and gripped to the film. The pacing of the
film is well balanced as tension starts at the beginning of the film drawing
the audience in, creating anticipation, and then the use of use fast editing of
the antagonist chasing the protagonists, making the audience gripped. Then
after the chase scene has finished it reverts back to slow editing making the
audience feel relaxed but at the same time feel tensed and the longer slow
editing persists, the more tension builds keeping the audience gripped. The use
of stings and the jump scare startles the audience through the use of slow
editing which overall gives the film a good balance of pacing.
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