In our media product we have used, developed and challenged forms and conventions of real media products. Our research showed us that in the openings scenes of slasher films there is always Narrative enigma. This is used to grab the audiences attention and get them engrossed in the film. This then makes the audience want to carry on watching in order to know more about the film, therefore answering the questions that the opening sequence has aroused. For example, in Scream where Drew Barrymoore is on the phone to an unidentified man, the audience wants to know who he is and why she is talking to him. We demonstrated this as we only showed the killers face at the end of the opening sequence and then the picture of the protagonist and antagonist comes up, explaining why he killed her.
We decided to have a quick killing, as it is something that happens a lot in slasher films such as Scream.There is also an aspect of sexual tension/references. For example, in Halloween when Micheal Myers sees his sister in her underwear. This was also included in our production when you see the protagonist in bed with another man. The protagonist has to hold the duvet across her chest to give the illusion she is naked, you can also see the mans bare chest. We decided to do this as the sexual characters in films are typically the ones which are killed first. These strong sexual references also appeal to the target audience which is a youth audience.
We decided the location of the house should be in a middle class area with a large detached house. This is what is expected in the slasher genre as it gives the illusion the no neighbours or passers by can hear the action or anybody scream.
We stuck to these common codes and conventions as we didn't want to confuse the audience to which genre the film was. We could have made the film more original as we used lots of inter-textual references but even if we planned not to use inter-textual references this would have been virtually impossible from the amount of horror films there is. Therefore we used the post-modernism idea that all media products are recycled to create new ones.
In our film we have mainly focused on one social group which is a ‘youth’ audience as all the characters are of a youth age (17-20). We decided to target a youth audience because we are youths ourselves, so we know what factors youths enjoy watching in the media. We decided to have the main protagonist a brunette to give the impression to the audience that she wont die as its usually blonde characters which are killed first. We also did this to stop the audience from being bored and sick of seeing the same stereotypes. We thought a brunette character might also bring in an ABC1 audience by a brunette protagonist as its going against the stereotypical blonde character which is typically seen in horrors. The protagonist represents typical females as she is interested in fashion by what she's wearing and takes care with the way she looks. An ABC1 audience is also brought in by the location of the house. We chose to have Will, the character who the protagonist is cheating on, because he is older then Mandy and Matt (shown by his hairy chest) therefore younger audiences may aspire to be like him as he is moral by telling Mandy he wants to end there affair. We decided to delete the school scene where Mandy dumps Theo as it wasn’t creating the right impression to the audience as some people found his character humorous when we wanted them to find him ’cute’ and ’geeky’.
We had initially chose to have his character portrayed that way to bring in the pink pound audience even though it is know deleted, the pink pound audience may like just as much seeing Will topless.
Our media product also represents Northern England, signified by the accents, and when Mandy is caught cheating on the antagonist, when she is leaning against the window sill you can see out of the window which is fields. Stereotypically, characters in Northern films are portrayed as being Working class, thick and common (through aspects of nudity). Our film doesn’t fit with the majority of Northern films such as Full Monty (Pete Cattaneo, 1997) and This is England (Shane Meadows, 2006) due to the middle class location. We decided not to exaggerate the Yorkshire setting, even though it may have worked in our favour with our potential Yorkshire audience, as we have noticed in other slasher films that the State (as they are normally set in America) of the film is not an important factor as it is typically just a town in America. We did this because we didn’t want this to harm our potential prospects with a national or international audience or go against typically codes and conventions.
Although, This is England only featured northern characters and focused on the mass unemployment in the north of England, it still was highly received at the international film festival. Our primary target audience for our film would be teenage boys as there are 2 character personality types in our film which they can relate to. The prop of the knife was used as it helps bring in a male audience as it is seen like a phallic object. Also, boys tend to dominate horror films.
Even though our film has a narrow representation, it doesn't mean film wont have a wide appeal across a socio-economic spectrum.
The type of distributor that would distribute our film would be a small budget company because we are unknown and it is our first production. They should also have previously distributed horror's before so they know advertising techniques etc. Production companies such as, Warp x as they did Donkey punch which is similar to our film. Warp x also focuses on producing and distributing British films. ‘Screen Yorkshire’ May also distribute our film as it normally funds regional films. It would then be likely for it to get shown at ‘Leeds young people’s film festival’. Studio Canal is another option we could use as they typically distribute British films.
“This year's festival will present the very best new and unseen films made for and by young people from all corners of the globe. A range of free hands-on workshops and master classes will also enable young people to find out more about film making and the industry.”
www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/features/The-Knowledge-Young-People39s-Film.5117219.jp
We decided to have a quick killing, as it is something that happens a lot in slasher films such as Scream.There is also an aspect of sexual tension/references. For example, in Halloween when Micheal Myers sees his sister in her underwear. This was also included in our production when you see the protagonist in bed with another man. The protagonist has to hold the duvet across her chest to give the illusion she is naked, you can also see the mans bare chest. We decided to do this as the sexual characters in films are typically the ones which are killed first. These strong sexual references also appeal to the target audience which is a youth audience.
We decided the location of the house should be in a middle class area with a large detached house. This is what is expected in the slasher genre as it gives the illusion the no neighbours or passers by can hear the action or anybody scream.
We stuck to these common codes and conventions as we didn't want to confuse the audience to which genre the film was. We could have made the film more original as we used lots of inter-textual references but even if we planned not to use inter-textual references this would have been virtually impossible from the amount of horror films there is. Therefore we used the post-modernism idea that all media products are recycled to create new ones.
In our film we have mainly focused on one social group which is a ‘youth’ audience as all the characters are of a youth age (17-20). We decided to target a youth audience because we are youths ourselves, so we know what factors youths enjoy watching in the media. We decided to have the main protagonist a brunette to give the impression to the audience that she wont die as its usually blonde characters which are killed first. We also did this to stop the audience from being bored and sick of seeing the same stereotypes. We thought a brunette character might also bring in an ABC1 audience by a brunette protagonist as its going against the stereotypical blonde character which is typically seen in horrors. The protagonist represents typical females as she is interested in fashion by what she's wearing and takes care with the way she looks. An ABC1 audience is also brought in by the location of the house. We chose to have Will, the character who the protagonist is cheating on, because he is older then Mandy and Matt (shown by his hairy chest) therefore younger audiences may aspire to be like him as he is moral by telling Mandy he wants to end there affair. We decided to delete the school scene where Mandy dumps Theo as it wasn’t creating the right impression to the audience as some people found his character humorous when we wanted them to find him ’cute’ and ’geeky’.
We had initially chose to have his character portrayed that way to bring in the pink pound audience even though it is know deleted, the pink pound audience may like just as much seeing Will topless.
Our media product also represents Northern England, signified by the accents, and when Mandy is caught cheating on the antagonist, when she is leaning against the window sill you can see out of the window which is fields. Stereotypically, characters in Northern films are portrayed as being Working class, thick and common (through aspects of nudity). Our film doesn’t fit with the majority of Northern films such as Full Monty (Pete Cattaneo, 1997) and This is England (Shane Meadows, 2006) due to the middle class location. We decided not to exaggerate the Yorkshire setting, even though it may have worked in our favour with our potential Yorkshire audience, as we have noticed in other slasher films that the State (as they are normally set in America) of the film is not an important factor as it is typically just a town in America. We did this because we didn’t want this to harm our potential prospects with a national or international audience or go against typically codes and conventions.
Although, This is England only featured northern characters and focused on the mass unemployment in the north of England, it still was highly received at the international film festival. Our primary target audience for our film would be teenage boys as there are 2 character personality types in our film which they can relate to. The prop of the knife was used as it helps bring in a male audience as it is seen like a phallic object. Also, boys tend to dominate horror films.
Even though our film has a narrow representation, it doesn't mean film wont have a wide appeal across a socio-economic spectrum.
The type of distributor that would distribute our film would be a small budget company because we are unknown and it is our first production. They should also have previously distributed horror's before so they know advertising techniques etc. Production companies such as, Warp x as they did Donkey punch which is similar to our film. Warp x also focuses on producing and distributing British films. ‘Screen Yorkshire’ May also distribute our film as it normally funds regional films. It would then be likely for it to get shown at ‘Leeds young people’s film festival’. Studio Canal is another option we could use as they typically distribute British films.
“This year's festival will present the very best new and unseen films made for and by young people from all corners of the globe. A range of free hands-on workshops and master classes will also enable young people to find out more about film making and the industry.”
www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/features/The-Knowledge-Young-People39s-Film.5117219.jp
During the construction of my micro-drama, preliminary task and film opening I have learnt how to cut, edit, add sounds, transitions and titles. All of which have been used in all 3 projects I feel that I have been able to progress on the skills needed for this throughout the tasks. An example is in the micro-drama the camera was unsteady and shaky and the framing of characters was off but through re-filming and the preliminary task, by the time it got to the film opening we knew how to keep the camera still and frame properly.
During the micro-drama we didn’t use a storyboard or screenplay or production plan and to then use one in the film opening showed us how much easier and quicker it is then to make it up on the spot. I have also learnt how to use the camcorders. I feel I have progressed in filming point of view shots as there was a tricky sequence in our film where it was a point of view shot of me walking up the stairs. We had to re film this a number of times as the camera was to shaky but in our final piece its not very shaky and you can tell its supposed to be someone walking up the stairs. Although, a steadi cam, like the one used in Halloween, would have been a lot better to use.
During the filming process I felt I didn’t film as much as I would have liked to, due to the fact that I was the protagonist. But whenever I wasn’t in the shot I did film them scenes as shown in the production plan.
From doing the preliminary task I have learnt that planning is essential. In terms of location being adequate, the shots being set out and planned. Also, that ideas may seem good in your head but when you come to try set it out and plan filming it, it is to confusing.
During the micro-drama we didn’t use a storyboard or screenplay or production plan and to then use one in the film opening showed us how much easier and quicker it is then to make it up on the spot. I have also learnt how to use the camcorders. I feel I have progressed in filming point of view shots as there was a tricky sequence in our film where it was a point of view shot of me walking up the stairs. We had to re film this a number of times as the camera was to shaky but in our final piece its not very shaky and you can tell its supposed to be someone walking up the stairs. Although, a steadi cam, like the one used in Halloween, would have been a lot better to use.
During the filming process I felt I didn’t film as much as I would have liked to, due to the fact that I was the protagonist. But whenever I wasn’t in the shot I did film them scenes as shown in the production plan.
From doing the preliminary task I have learnt that planning is essential. In terms of location being adequate, the shots being set out and planned. Also, that ideas may seem good in your head but when you come to try set it out and plan filming it, it is to confusing.
We also decided to design a advertising poster to show how we would target our audience. We put a knife going into a bra as the knife is a phallic object and represents a penis. The bra emphasises the aspects of sex within the film.
Deconstruction of media film:
The establishing shot is of a tap being turned on then followed by a knife being placed down. This is the set up for the fake suicide.
You see a mans hand writing “I’m sorry” on the mirror in lipstick. This automatically gives a narrative enigma to the audience as they wonder what he’s done and what he’s going to do. ( Although there is one spelling mistake here as he writes “im sorry” not “I’m sorry” but this was only realized after we had filmed and edited so had no time to re-film)
It then goes to a flashback, shown by being in black and white, of someone walking into a room and seeing a boy and girl kissing in bed with the illusion that there naked. The girl then leaps up and says “Oh my god Matt, I thought you where going to call first?” This dialogue shows she knows who the man is but the audience doesn’t see him. “I thought you where going to call first?” shows how she doesn’t really care that she’s hurt him. We decided to use a point of view shot here as it looks like this is an insight to his memory and how he recalls things.
We then decided there to be a cut here as this is supposed to be where Matt leaves the room but the conversation still carries on.
We used shot-reverse-shot to show the dialogue between the 2 characters and because it is a common code of convention. Will then says “I didn’t know you had a boyfriend” which is anchorage to the audience that the protagonist has been caught cheating on her boyfriend. Her reply gives more exposition to how she really doesn’t care about her boyfriends feelings. The way that she is getting dressed in front of him shows how she is sexually available. We then used the 180 degree rule to show the conversation between the 2 characters. We used inter cutting of scenes as it is similar to The Warriors, it helps get the film straight into the action and introduce the protagonist and antagonist.
There is then a shot of someone going through a handbag and finding condoms, again exaggerating the fact that the protagonist is sexually available, and finding the lipstick.
The flashback has then ended and there’s a tracking shot of the protagonist walking down her street and into her house. We used jump cuts here as its more fast pace editing which appeals to a youth audience.
Then as the protagonist walks through the door we should have used a variety of shots to emphasis the door was already open.
Deconstruction of media film:
The establishing shot is of a tap being turned on then followed by a knife being placed down. This is the set up for the fake suicide.
You see a mans hand writing “I’m sorry” on the mirror in lipstick. This automatically gives a narrative enigma to the audience as they wonder what he’s done and what he’s going to do. ( Although there is one spelling mistake here as he writes “im sorry” not “I’m sorry” but this was only realized after we had filmed and edited so had no time to re-film)
It then goes to a flashback, shown by being in black and white, of someone walking into a room and seeing a boy and girl kissing in bed with the illusion that there naked. The girl then leaps up and says “Oh my god Matt, I thought you where going to call first?” This dialogue shows she knows who the man is but the audience doesn’t see him. “I thought you where going to call first?” shows how she doesn’t really care that she’s hurt him. We decided to use a point of view shot here as it looks like this is an insight to his memory and how he recalls things.
We then decided there to be a cut here as this is supposed to be where Matt leaves the room but the conversation still carries on.
We used shot-reverse-shot to show the dialogue between the 2 characters and because it is a common code of convention. Will then says “I didn’t know you had a boyfriend” which is anchorage to the audience that the protagonist has been caught cheating on her boyfriend. Her reply gives more exposition to how she really doesn’t care about her boyfriends feelings. The way that she is getting dressed in front of him shows how she is sexually available. We then used the 180 degree rule to show the conversation between the 2 characters. We used inter cutting of scenes as it is similar to The Warriors, it helps get the film straight into the action and introduce the protagonist and antagonist.
There is then a shot of someone going through a handbag and finding condoms, again exaggerating the fact that the protagonist is sexually available, and finding the lipstick.
The flashback has then ended and there’s a tracking shot of the protagonist walking down her street and into her house. We used jump cuts here as its more fast pace editing which appeals to a youth audience.
Then as the protagonist walks through the door we should have used a variety of shots to emphasis the door was already open.
There is then a point of view shot from the protagonist walking up the stairs. It would have been better if we had used a steadi cam like the one used in Halloween see link.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKLlcI0cWI0
The music, long drawn out strings, comes in louder as you see the antagonist come out from the other room and follow the protagonist down the corridor. We dressed the character in dark clothes, similar to Micheal Myers in Halloween.
The protagonist is then knocked out with a baseball bat and dragged to the bathroom and placed in the bath. In hindsight, it would have been better to see some pieces of clothing being removed.
We shot the slitting the wrists scene from a variety of angles to create tension. The protagonist is then left in the bath, while the antagonist leaves and as he walks past the camera, smiles as if to say he’s done nothing wrong.
There is then a picture of the protagonist and antagonist together, which shows the audience that they were in a relationship and it was him who caught her cheating on him.
The protagonist is then knocked out with a baseball bat and dragged to the bathroom and placed in the bath. In hindsight, it would have been better to see some pieces of clothing being removed.
We shot the slitting the wrists scene from a variety of angles to create tension. The protagonist is then left in the bath, while the antagonist leaves and as he walks past the camera, smiles as if to say he’s done nothing wrong.
There is then a picture of the protagonist and antagonist together, which shows the audience that they were in a relationship and it was him who caught her cheating on him.
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