Our film is aimed at teenagers in general because of the fact that they're going through a large change in there lives and that the dawn of adulthood is just around the corner. Changing from a rebellious teenager to a mature adult can be hard and the murderer reflects of this period in our lives this is because a murderer breaks the law quite severely and as teenagers they normally break the law in quite minor ways with very few consequences but as soon as you become a adult no matter what you do it will effect your life in a drastic way. Although there is a specific ethnicity in the opening clip it doesn't matter what background or ethnicity the audience is/comes from though it is apparent that in many films/t.v dramas especially in the early years there wasn't a range of ethnicities apart from perhaps a black victim that dies at the start. However, our film goes against them odds and putting a white male victim although the detectives are both white males so there is a specific gender in the film as well. The last gender and ethnicity point to go onto is the killer behind the mask which like the rest of the horror genre classics are all middle aged Caucasians males which we couldn't get rid off because of the fact that many horror fanatics that would agree are irreplaceable to change and doing so will attract the attention from the older generations as well as the young. Keeping it to its roots; some may seem like the perfect role for a viscous cold hearted killer is a middle aged Caucasian male because they tend to be going through tough mental states in their lives such as divorce. Going on to the rating of the film I would put a rating of a 15 to 18 bracket because there is graphic imagery and horror violence which for anyone under that specific age rating may be inappropriate as it's for a more mature age.
How did you attract the audience/address your audience?
We would use the likes of social media to attract the audience because more and more people are getting connected to the web and over 1 billion people use Facebook so there is a large audience that you we will be able to advertise to. They would be interested in the film because of storyline being fairly complex yet because of the plot twist we would through in to the audience at the last minutes of the film. Marketing for the film would be mainly online and hardly spend any money in using the old methods of advertising such as billboards/newspapers this is because it can be very expensive no one reads the newspaper anymore and especially the audience we are trying to attract. Spending money on creating an advert then having to buy into a 30 second slot on a prime time spot would be greatly expensive for instance adverts during an X factor final cost around £200,000. However, adverts in America when the Super bowl is on range from $2million to $3million per 30 seconds. These prices would be to high for a low budget film.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
From the prelim task we have learnt the various different codes and conducts which are shown at the beginning in films such as what order the title sequence goes through; starting with the studio logo, the studio presents, the cast, cameraperson, editors, music, writers, producers and finally the director. These 9 stages were not used correctly in our preliminary task some not even being used and others placed in an irrelevant order. We have also learned many new camera angles which we used to create effect in our film opening that we didn't use in the prelim task. These certain camera angles include over the shoulder shot, the hand held camera effect, establishing shot with use of reverse zoom, close up, long shot, pan shot and many more.
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
From the beginning of the film eerie quiet music is heard which immediately makes the audience uncomfortable. This sort of music can often be heard in horror films as the suspense rises in certain situations. This music then gets louder and louder until the climax. This also happens in our film as the music progressively gets louder until the end of the opening. This builds tension up to the point where the screen goes black. This is also a convention of horror/thriller films. When the screen abruptly turns black it usually signifies something bad has happened or something bad will happen. Having this at the end of out opening would make the audience want to watch on to see what happens.
Another convention we used was the flickering titles. This is also used in David Finchers thriller film Se7en. This is a very effective feature as it associates with our title: Mayhem. The flickering screen signifies an unhinged and dangerous feel which is exactly what the title suggests.
In our film, during the opening titles, we used a black and white effect on the video parts. This made the scenes seem dark and twisted which adds fear and tension to the scene. This is appropriate because the scenes are following a teenage boy getting chased and murdered.
During the title sequence of the film, we used creepy black and white pictures of empty places. These kinds of pictures are common in horror/thriller films as it makes the audience feel uneasy setting them up for the rest of the film which should increase that feeling as its a thriller. These pictures portray loneliness and could reflect the murderers state of mind giving the audience a peek inside the mind of the murderer. These images also could give clues to what would happen in the rest of the narrative. This again is used in Se7en. In that case, pictures of the murderer are used showing him scrapbooking which shows you his state of mind. In our film though we used pictures such as a bloody knife and a bloody handprint as well as the lonely pictures. This lets the audience know that there will be blood and death in the film which supports the genre conventions of thrillers and horrors.
Our film also developed the genre in several instances. Firstly we had a flashback at the beginning of the film in-between the title sequences. This is unusual for thrillers as they are usually made so that the audience doesn't know what happens in the film until it is discovered at the end but in our film the audience already know what has happened and what the murderer is capable of. We also challenge the genre conventions. The norm in a thriller or horror is to have the murderer chase and kill a young woman victim. This is shown in many horror films such as scary movie and scream. In our film, however, we used a young boy. This was to show that its not just women that can be the targets of hate crime and that men are just as vulnerable to murder.
How does you media product represent particular social groups?
The very first victim in the film is a male teenager. This shows people of that age and gender as adventurous as they want to discover things but that these things also may get them in danger. This is shown in the opening of the film as the boy is seen in an alleyway being chased by someone who wishes to cause him harm. This shows that despite their tough outer shell, teenagers can be as vulnerable as anyone, even if they are male. This is unusual because the norm in horror/thriller films is that the victims are usually young women not men. This is evident in horrors such as scream. By using a young male victim, we are showing that anyone is vulnerable to harm, not just women. We used a teenager for the victim because they would most likely be the majority of the audience as it would most likely be rated as a 15+.
The detectives in the film are shown as sophisticated and smart. This is shown by their costume as they are wearing suits. This makes the characters seem professional and formal which represents detectives as such. However, despite this depiction, from previous TV shows and films, we know that not all detectives are formal and professional. For example, John Luther from the TV show Luther, is an ideal example of an unprofessional and informal detective.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
Our film would probably fit best in the Universal Studios or New Line Cinema as they have helped make many films like ours such as Se7en. Universal studios is the more well known film studio which means they would be able to fund the movie with more money which would make it a multi million dollar film. However, if a studio like New Line Cinema took on the project of our film it would still be well funded just not at the extent of Universals films. This may make our film a million dollar film compared to a hundred million dollar film. Many thriller films these days are independent. This means that they are not massive box office hits but they can still be very good films. These types of film, however, usually only appeal to a certain audience who like small budget films. It would also make our film a lot less technical and flashy as the effects used would more likely be practical and cheap.
What have you learned about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
From using Premier Elements software i have learned many different techniques. These include adding effects to the videos to change the colour and speed. I also learned how to cut up pieces of film and change the order in which they appear. This also helped when making certain scenes appear like they are flickering. This also allowed me to place the pieces of video in the most effective order.
Using the Sony HD cameras for filming helped me learn how to operate a camera steadily while using many different shots and styles. For most of the production, I was the camera man so I had to operate the tripod. I got the hang of moving and manoeuvring the tripod effectively to make the scene immersive and make the audience feel like they are in the scene. I have also learned how to get royalty free music and put it in the production. I altered this music to make it fit with the action in the scene. The software allowed me to edit the titles font and size to make it seem chaotic to fit with our title: Mayhem. This makes the title sequence seem unhinged and puts the audience on edge which is the purpose of our film. After putting together the titles, I added some green screen videos. I had to key out the green part of the video so it would blend in with the background. Unfortunately this didn't look as effective as we thought so instead I overlapped typical horror pictures like blood and knives and put the titles on top. I did this with the lonely atmosphere pictures like the alleyway. This again would make the audience nervy about what's to come.
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