In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Firstly, we chose Dead Mans Alley as our title; this is because it lets the audience know the genre of the film from the get go. The title is always shown in bold lettering to make the title stand out and grab the viewer’s attention; therefore our media product has used conventions of a real media product as most films aim to grab your attention through big bold titles on trailers/opening sequences in a cinema to draw you in from the beginning.
The location that we have chosen actually came from the choice of title for our film, this is because one of my group members suggest the alley next to her house which is named ‘dead mans alley’, we thought that this would be a great location to film due to the surroundings that it had; for example a train station right next to it, over grown plants and parts of the alleyway which looked like a dungeon. This alleyway is quite dark and is the type of alley that someone wouldn’t want to walk down alone. The title of this film inspired us and made the perfect setting, therefore developing our media product into a whole idea and image in our minds setting the base for our opening sequence.
We also used modern day costumes/props as mentioned before such as the mobile phone and clothes that teenagers would wear everyday, however the costume that you see our protagonist wearing in our opening sequence was not an basic modern day clothing such as tracksuits or jeans, it was more of a individual look, some of the clothing that our protagonist had on had connotations of danger and death for example the red/burgundy socks that were worn, this shows a hidden message from the start. We challenged and developed on some real media conventions trying to make our film as modern as possible.
In our camerawork and editing we chose to film the whole sequence as a point of view shot from the murderer's perspective to build on that uneasy atmosphere. We also added a clip of heavy breathing to build up the tension, as well as a creepy soundtrack to build up the moment and set the scene/mood. While we were editing we found it hard to hear the dialogue of the character that was meant to be said, therefore we used a soundtrack over it so that no dialogue had to be used. This specific shot was to make the audience feel unsettled as well as get their attention to make them want to see what's going to happen and who this person is who's eyes we are seeing it through... But to make it a cliffhanger we don't reveal who this person is throughout our opening sequence, even at the end, too add to the mystery. The whole opening sequence being in a point of view shot perspective uses and develops on ideas from real media products as there are normally a few point of view shots in a sequence involving a psycho murderer scene, but we challenged this convention by making the whole of our opening sequence a range of point of view shots from one perspective.
When choosing our story-line and how to create the build up in our opening sequence, we imagined what would keep us on the edge of our seat if this was an actual film we was watching in the cinema, so we used the conventions a typical horror movie usually does and what you would usually see happen in them. We started by introducing the audience to our character straight away by showing her walking from a busy high street down a side road, it's very obvious who our protagonist character is as the camera follows there every movement, this distinguishes her from the rest of the people in the background, and by getting her to walk away from everybody else this automatically brings her away from the busy public place and brings her into a deserted location instead, separating her from the 'life' in the location, which is once again another hidden message, but purposefully making it very apparent that she is now alone. We did this as in typical horror movies you see either a lone person, or a group of friends get into a situation where they are often alone (or end up alone) in a deserted place with no other frequent form of life close by. Putting the protagonist character alone is the start of our build up and developing on the idea above, then having someone follow her closely adds to this. When the character is then in the alleyway we start building to the climax of the sequence, with the person behind (who's point of view we are seeing this from) getting closer to our protagonist character, and the two then finally coming face to face, however we only allow the audience to see this interaction between the two for a split second before the shot jump cuts to a black screen, building the suspense and mystery.
The genre definitely uses and develops on the usual conventions of a horror film by the using a young and attractive teenage female as the main character, the use of props such as a mobile phone and also the clothing that our protagonist was wearing shows that we have tried to make it as modern as possible. The soundtrack from the beginning of the sequence shows forms of conventions because from the creepy and slow music we sense that it Is a horror film also , the isolation of the character herself and the uneasy point of view shot from the murderer's point of view (even though it is not obvious who this person is)
Tuesday, 17 April 2012
(Question 7) Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in progression from it to the full product?
I have learnt to use the camera better than I did in the preliminary task, even though as stated before we had technical difficulties with the camera and therefore had to result in using a hand-held camera, this made filming our opening sequence a lot easier than the preliminary this is because in our opening sequence all shots are point of view so the hand-held camera went well with what we are trying to create, whereas with our preliminary task the camera had to be stationery.
With the preliminary task i had help editing, so therefore I didn't find it as hard as editing the opening sequence, I believe that the preliminary task was a lot easier to edit because there were less screen shots and detail to it unlike the opening sequence. The music that we had chose for the preliminary task had no relevance what so ever to what was said in it, however with my opening sequence the background music that we had chose complimented the action in the sequence.
For the preliminary task there was no script, storyboard or planning it was an idea that came right off of the top of our heads where as our opening sequences had weeks of preparation, scripts were made, storyboards and planning. This helped us get the final product that we have, the planning helped everything to run smoothly and it was also a structure so we knew exactly what we had to do.
With the preliminary task i had help editing, so therefore I didn't find it as hard as editing the opening sequence, I believe that the preliminary task was a lot easier to edit because there were less screen shots and detail to it unlike the opening sequence. The music that we had chose for the preliminary task had no relevance what so ever to what was said in it, however with my opening sequence the background music that we had chose complimented the action in the sequence.
For the preliminary task there was no script, storyboard or planning it was an idea that came right off of the top of our heads where as our opening sequences had weeks of preparation, scripts were made, storyboards and planning. This helped us get the final product that we have, the planning helped everything to run smoothly and it was also a structure so we knew exactly what we had to do.
(Question 6) What have you learnt about the technologies from the process of constructing this product?
For our media coursework instead it being paper based, we had to upload blog entrys onto blogger, I had never used this website before but as time went on I gradually found it easier to handle and work with. I learnt how to embed links onto a post, upload photos and by using another website called scribd I was able to put my script and screenshots onto the post.
Scribd is website where you are able to upload powerpoints embed the link and post it on your blog.
I Had never used a camera like the sony HVR-V1U pro HDV 1080p and I found it quite hard at first because of all the different buttons and equipment that it came with, during the editing stage we found that there were problems with what we had filmed it kept skipping and the sound wasn't working we later on found that we had a dysfunctional tape and therefore had to film all over again in a short space of time, we tried to book another camera for the day we wished to shoot however there was none available at that time so therefore we had to result in using my camera which is a canon.
To edit the footage in postproduction, Final Cut Pro was used, at the beginning Georgia and Lisandra began to edit as I updated my blog, towards the end I began to take part in the editing adding music and credits at first I found it quite hard and confusing. However I began to find it easier the more times that I went onto it.
I used You Tube to uploaded videos so that I could embed the codes and use them for my blog.
Scribd is website where you are able to upload powerpoints embed the link and post it on your blog.
I Had never used a camera like the sony HVR-V1U pro HDV 1080p and I found it quite hard at first because of all the different buttons and equipment that it came with, during the editing stage we found that there were problems with what we had filmed it kept skipping and the sound wasn't working we later on found that we had a dysfunctional tape and therefore had to film all over again in a short space of time, we tried to book another camera for the day we wished to shoot however there was none available at that time so therefore we had to result in using my camera which is a canon.
To edit the footage in postproduction, Final Cut Pro was used, at the beginning Georgia and Lisandra began to edit as I updated my blog, towards the end I began to take part in the editing adding music and credits at first I found it quite hard and confusing. However I began to find it easier the more times that I went onto it.
I used You Tube to uploaded videos so that I could embed the codes and use them for my blog.
(Question 5) How did you attract/adress your audience?
The setting of this opening sequence would appeal to our target audience because it is set in an alley way, everybody walks through an alley once in a while or maybe everyday, at night and even in the day time alley ways may seem scary, therefore the audience may know the emotions that the character is feeling and they can relate.
The main character is female, this would attract the audience(mainly boys) because she is quite attractive since out target audience is of an age from 15-21, an attractive girl on screen may be appealing therefore more people would watch it, having a female as the main character may also allow girls to relate to her.
The backing track used for this opening sequence builds tension and suspense, it is also a typical convention of a horror film, if the audience like horror films then this would be appealing to them and they would expect music like this throughout the film.
The main character is female, this would attract the audience(mainly boys) because she is quite attractive since out target audience is of an age from 15-21, an attractive girl on screen may be appealing therefore more people would watch it, having a female as the main character may also allow girls to relate to her.
The backing track used for this opening sequence builds tension and suspense, it is also a typical convention of a horror film, if the audience like horror films then this would be appealing to them and they would expect music like this throughout the film.
(Question 5) What have you learnt about the technologies from the process of constructing this product?
For our media coursework instead it being paper based, we had to upload blog entrys onto blogger, I had never used this website before but as time went on I gradually found it easier to handle and work with. I learnt how to embed links onto a post, upload photos and by using another website called scribd I was able to put my script and screenshots onto the post.
Scribd is website where you are able to upload powerpoints embed the link and post it on your blog.
I Had never used a camera like the sony HVR-V1U pro HDV 1080p and I found it quite hard at first because of all the different buttons and equipment that it came with, during the editing stage we found that there were problems with what we had filmed it kept skipping and the sound wasn't working we later on found that we had a dysfunctional tape and therefore had to film all over again in a short space of time, we tried to book another camera for the day we wished to shoot however there was none available at that time so therefore we had to result in using my camera which is a canon.
To edit the footage in postproduction, Final Cut Pro was used, at the beginning Georgia and Lisandra began to edit as I updated my blog, towards the end I began to take part in the editing adding music and credits at first I found it quite hard and confusing. However I began to find it easier the more times that I went onto it.
I used You Tube to uploaded videos so that I could embed the codes and use them for my blog.
Scribd is website where you are able to upload powerpoints embed the link and post it on your blog.
I Had never used a camera like the sony HVR-V1U pro HDV 1080p and I found it quite hard at first because of all the different buttons and equipment that it came with, during the editing stage we found that there were problems with what we had filmed it kept skipping and the sound wasn't working we later on found that we had a dysfunctional tape and therefore had to film all over again in a short space of time, we tried to book another camera for the day we wished to shoot however there was none available at that time so therefore we had to result in using my camera which is a canon.
To edit the footage in postproduction, Final Cut Pro was used, at the beginning Georgia and Lisandra began to edit as I updated my blog, towards the end I began to take part in the editing adding music and credits at first I found it quite hard and confusing. However I began to find it easier the more times that I went onto it.
I used You Tube to uploaded videos so that I could embed the codes and use them for my blog.
(Question 4) Who would be the audience for your media product?
Above I have posted a picture of my target audience. My target audience for this film would range from the age 15-21. Throughout the sequence the point of view shot is always focused on the protagonist which is a female, so therefore the main audience would be males, however females could be part of this target audience because they may relate to the situation that the protagonist is in or the choice of costume.
Our media product is aimed towards the middle to lower class citizens; as our setting is filmed in a dark alley way, which would be based near train stations and restaurants, if we were aiming for the higher class citizens then we would have set our film within a high class estate or a road which had lots of shops along it. We felt that we could relate to a wide range of audience if we set our media product within a place that everybody can relate to.
We had asked some of our target audience to name a few of their favourite films, out of all the films that were named we found that these were the most popular.
In no particular order
1.) Harry Potter
2.) X-men - the last stand
3.)Scream
4.) The Fast And Furious
There is a wide range of favourite films, but most of them are 'thrillers'. We chose this target audience because they are at the age in which they can watch the film and relate to it, since this could happen to anybody at any time.
Our media product is aimed towards the middle to lower class citizens; as our setting is filmed in a dark alley way, which would be based near train stations and restaurants, if we were aiming for the higher class citizens then we would have set our film within a high class estate or a road which had lots of shops along it. We felt that we could relate to a wide range of audience if we set our media product within a place that everybody can relate to.
We had asked some of our target audience to name a few of their favourite films, out of all the films that were named we found that these were the most popular.
In no particular order
1.) Harry Potter
2.) X-men - the last stand
3.)Scream
4.) The Fast And Furious
There is a wide range of favourite films, but most of them are 'thrillers'. We chose this target audience because they are at the age in which they can watch the film and relate to it, since this could happen to anybody at any time.
(Question 3) What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
As the film is not made to capture a mainstream , but rather to submit a message about typical british criminal occurance or horror alike 'attack the block' besides that involving animation and sci-fi features.
A Production company is the company who makes the physical production of a film. The production company that you have chosen would be the ones responsible for raising the money to create the film. funding or may have a link with a larger company whom funds the film. Our film, Dead mans alley has been made by myself and my group; 2012 Productions - our own production company. If we were to distribute our film, we would need to create a link with a distribution company who are for releasing films to the public.
our media product,dead mans alley is a Independent British Film, it would be distributed by a small distribution company like Big talk productions, who have distributed British films such as 'attack the block' and 'Paul', this would be the perfect distributor for our film due to having contacts in the film industry based in London, United Kingdom and accept film submissions over the internet, also Comedy and horror provide the beating heart of Big Talk’s slate, this is good because our film is a horror film.
Other ways that we could distribute our film is buy film festivals, an example of a film festival that could be used is Zero film festival .Zero Film Festival is the first and only festival exclusive to self-financed film-makers, this would be good due to the fact that our film has no budget and not known actors. A large distribution company would be Paramount, however paramount is a large budget production and distribution company with a lot of links with large cinema groups, distributing on DVD and TV on demand. Smaller distributors cannot afford the same things that the bigger distributors have to offer hence the reason they do not have links and are unable to return the huge cash return upon a distribution of a film, this is why they have smaller budgets. Paramount distribute films such as 'along came a spider' and 'van helsing', they would be unsuitable to distribute my film due to the fact as stated before that there is no budget and also not known actors/actresses.
A Production company is the company who makes the physical production of a film. The production company that you have chosen would be the ones responsible for raising the money to create the film. funding or may have a link with a larger company whom funds the film. Our film, Dead mans alley has been made by myself and my group; 2012 Productions - our own production company. If we were to distribute our film, we would need to create a link with a distribution company who are for releasing films to the public.
our media product,dead mans alley is a Independent British Film, it would be distributed by a small distribution company like Big talk productions, who have distributed British films such as 'attack the block' and 'Paul', this would be the perfect distributor for our film due to having contacts in the film industry based in London, United Kingdom and accept film submissions over the internet, also Comedy and horror provide the beating heart of Big Talk’s slate, this is good because our film is a horror film.
Other ways that we could distribute our film is buy film festivals, an example of a film festival that could be used is Zero film festival .Zero Film Festival is the first and only festival exclusive to self-financed film-makers, this would be good due to the fact that our film has no budget and not known actors. A large distribution company would be Paramount, however paramount is a large budget production and distribution company with a lot of links with large cinema groups, distributing on DVD and TV on demand. Smaller distributors cannot afford the same things that the bigger distributors have to offer hence the reason they do not have links and are unable to return the huge cash return upon a distribution of a film, this is why they have smaller budgets. Paramount distribute films such as 'along came a spider' and 'van helsing', they would be unsuitable to distribute my film due to the fact as stated before that there is no budget and also not known actors/actresses.
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