My Evaluation

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

Our media product, which is a horror film, uses the codes and conventions of a horror film very well as we have included most of the conventions of a horror film and used them in an effective way which will hopefully interest the audience in our film and even more so when they see our title sequence. The main convention of a horror film that we use is that our killer has a unique trademark. Our killer, Damien, is a 16 year old boy who as a child was caught up in an extreme house fire thus leaving him with a horrible burn scar on the side of his face. This lead to Damien being extremly bullied throughout school, one for his scar and the other one being that his mum was killed in the house fire. This lead Damien to rebel against his bullies as he left school at the age of sixteen and then went on to burn and behead his bullies so they understood exactly how he felt.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

We have not really represented any certain social groups in our film because we wasnt really meant to. I believe that our film has steered clear of creating any kind of stereotyope that every person who is burnt of disfigured gets bullied. Although, our film could send out a moral message to any people who are bullies that watch our film as they may realise what they are doing and the potential consequences of their actions. Our killer is not meant to represent disfigure people as a group.He is just meant to be presented as a scared young man who has been bullied to the point that he cant take it anymore.

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

The institution that we decided would be the best to distribute our film is Hammer Films. The reason for this is that Hammer Films are a UK based company which is where our film would be set and filmed. Also, Hammer Films specialise in making low budget horror films and they would knbow the best way to distribute our film.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

We decided that the main audience for our film would be 18 year old's and over. We gave the film an 18 rating due to the fact that the film would be extremly graphic and potentially very disturbing for any younger audiences that may want to see it. We considered lowering the age rating to 15 but then we realised that just because a film has an age rating of 18, that does not mean that younger audiences would not be able to view it via online streaming or other sources. In the end we decided to keep the rating as 18 because we felt that anyone younger than this would not be able to handle the graphic imagery and horror of this film.

How did you attract/address your audience?

We attracted our audiences by casting famous actors such as Shia LaBeouf (Transformers), who would play older Damien, as he is a very popular and well respected figure within the film company. We also decided on casting Shia for the fact that he can play a bad character very well as he showed in the 2007 film, Disturbia. We also decided to cast Alan Rickman as Damien's father as he can play a dark and mysterious character very effectively which is shown when he played Snape in the Harry Potter franchise. We thought Rickman would be a good cast member  as he has the potential to play a bad father whilst still having a slight caring side. We also cast Freddie Highmore as Young Damien. Although he would only feature in a small part of the film, We felt this was a good choice as he looks very young and innocent which is the exact look we was going for when casting him as young Damien.

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

In this project i used Final Cut Pro which i have never used before. I enjoyed using this as, if used properly, it creates a very proffesional looking final piece. I helped with the final editing which i didnt find to challenging as i found Final Cut Pro quite simple to use. I also used Garage Band which i have used before but never completed a project on. We used Garage Band to create the song that would go in the background of our title sequence. I created a first draft of the film which we then edited at a later stage to give it a more dramatical effect when played over the footage of our title sequence. I also used blogger very in depth as i have never used blogger before. I found this an extremly good way to keep everybody, including myself, up to date on my coursework progress.

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
In the progression of this coursework project i feel like i have definately improved on my editing skills as i can now use Final Cut Pro effectively. I also feel like i have learnt quite alot about the process of creating a film and everything that is to be considered when making a film. Our title sequence was complicated in the sense that didnt give ourselves enough time to complete it to the standard that we would've preffered. If we created a title sequence again, i thinbk i would choose a more simple idea to focus on which would hopefully give us more time to focus on the final outcome of our product.

Our Titles

Below are the first draft of the titles that we wanted to use. We had to change these as Ryan left the group and we replaced Clint Eastwood as Damien's father with Alan Rickman due to the class feedback.

Our Distribution Company

This is the production company that we have chosen to distribute our film. The reason for this is that Hammer Films are a UK based production company that mainly produces and distributes low budget Horror films. So we believed that they would be the best company to distribute our film as they are experienced in this genre of films.

Our Company Logo

This is our company logo.We decided to name our company HARJ as is was not only the name of one of our group members but it was also the first letters of all our group members names. Harjinder, Aaaron, Ryan and James. This is no longer the case as Ryan has left the group.

Typography

here is an example of the typography that features in our title sequence. We have decided to use this particualr typography as our film is a horror film which has fire as the main theme. Also, this certain font looks very firery which is good for the audience to distiguish the films theme.

Possible filming Location 2

The second filming location that we considered was in Oxleas Woods. We then reconsidered this location as we would not be able to get permission from the Council to use the Woods. Also, we would probably need permission from homeowners whose houses back onto the woods which we would not be able to get.

Possible filming locations

Location 1:

The first filming location that we considered is Aaron's garden. This would be a good place to film as we have permission from Aaron's parents to start a fire in his garden which is an essential part of our filming process.

Feedback from the class

Of the 12 feedback sheets that were filled out for us the majority gave us 2 out of 3 stars, (it has potential). 9 of the 12 groups thought our work had potential. whilst the other 3 gave it only one star, (in need of serious work). No one gave us 3 stars, however we didn't expect any of these as our title sequence is still in need of some work.

A lot of people liked the camera angles that we used and the opening shot, a lot of people also liked the typography that we used and liked the idea of the paper and the titles however they feel that it could have been executed better. they liked the opening titles as it created an enigma for the audience as we showed an over the shoulder shortish Damien having his back to the camera.

The things that people feel that we need to work on are, smoother transitions between the shots, which is something hat we knew still needed work anyway. some people dislike the typography, that we have changed. some people also disliked the fact that we only used one location but we were always going to do this so this did not worry us o much. people are also saying that the casting was strange but we can easily rectify this if we really wanted to.

My contribution to the group as a whole

I believe that i contributed to the group by my acting in the first shoot of the title sequence. I didn't act in the second one because I wasn't available for the shoot. I also contributed by making the first demo of the song which we then editing later on in the process. I also edited the title sequence towards the end of the project.

Possible Damien Poster

 

Here is an example of a possible advertising poster that we could use for our film. We have incorporated the main theme of fire into the poster and also the child killer. It shows how the child is mysterious as the child's face cannot be seen and looks like a misty cloud. 

Lighting.

Due to our film being a horror movie, we need to film in the dark to create a eery mood and effect. This is going to be very hard to film as we are filming outside so we are going to have to film around the time of sunset which will be about 4.00pm. If this fails, then i need to get hold of some industrial lighting which are used on building sites at night which i am sure i can get my hands on.

Damien. Our Film

Damien]

View more presentations from James Mills

Here is our presentation pitch for our film idea Damien. Our film is inspired by the likes of Halloween, The Omen and the Omen Part 2. In our groups, we had top pitch our idea to the rest of the group via a presentation. From our pitch, the class had alot of questions to ask and we got mixed feedback. We did not spend enough time on the presentation and we could of thought things through alot more to give the class a better understanding of our film idea. Now we have improved the idea, we all know exactly where we are heading with it and so does Sean.

Importance of typography and design and audience profiling

Order of the titles:

• Studio
• (director)
• Stars (order of fame and status)
• Crew
• Editor
• Writer (Screenplay)
• Producer
• Director

Genre/Style and mood/possible narratives/production values/themes.

Audience Profiling:

• Age, gender, race and sexuality
• Education
• Occupation
• Annual Income
• Disposable Income
• Current lifestyle, aspirational lifestyle or desired lifestyle
• Culture
• Media Interests
• Buying Habits
• Loyalty to Brands

Demographics:
This defines the adult population largely by the work that they do

Physchographics:
Likes, dislikes, tastes
Behaviour and personality
Trates

Codes and Conventions of a title sequence

Titles are important because first impressions are everything

Codes and Conventions,
Sequence will contain:

• Details of cast and crew
• The film title
• An intro to the character/characters
• Indication of place
• Indication of historical period
• Information regarding mood and tone
• Introduction to the theme tune
• Information about the genre of the film
• Questions that the viewer finds intriguing which sets up an enigma for the audience
• Patterns and types of editing that will be echoed in the remainder of the film
• Mise - en - Scene and cinematography that will be echoed or ellaborated upon later in the film.

Enigma: A question that is posed to the audience. A mystery.

continuity sequence

This is our continuity sequence that we filmed and edited. We took into account all of the shots that are used between two people when they are having a conversation on screen.

What we did well:
I feel that the start of our sequence went very well when i was walking through the door. I also believe that the last bit of our sequence when i was walking out of the door went very well as we could tell the way both the characters were feeling from the shots that we used.

What we didn't do to well:
We got a major part of the filming wrong which was the 180 degree rule. We were supposed to film over my right shoulder and harjinders left shoulder to create a POV shot. We didn't realise until we were editing the piece that we actually got this wrong.

Overall i believe that it was a very good first attempt at fitting lots of shots into a short 2 minute sequence. Although we got a few things wrong, I feel that this will help us as we will be able to look back at this and learn from our mistakes to improve our future filmings.