EvaluationBy Harry Garside

Media AS Level

Q1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and

conventions of real media products?

I analysed the se7en film

opening and looked closely at

the use of fonts, titles and

animation. The animation of the

titles were extremely effective

as the font flashed around the

frame. However, we did not use

this as it would’ve been

extremely difficult to replicate.

Nonetheless, we looked closely

at the typography rather than

the animation and took some

ideas from this.

Our plot as a whole is rather unique and diverse in the way that a young man is hiking

and comes across a caravan where he seeks warmth. Despite this, the caravan is a

rather disconsolate place and the abandoned location is conventional of horror. This is

because there is a sense of eeriness, also, the vulnerability of the young boy creates a

character exposition. In addition to this, the non-verbal language is vital in the clip as

the audience can see Darren’s reactions first-hand as he picks up the objects.

One idea we took from this

opening is the white font on a

rather dark, gloomy

background featuring low-key

lighting making it look

obtrusive and outstanding. In

our clip, we have incorporated

the white prominent font with a

black outline creating a 3D

effect.

Se7en research

Analysis of Plot

From our audience research, we

discovered that a young boy would be

one of the more conventional

characters to play the main role, this

is because of the exposed, vulnerable

connotations. We revolved the plot

around our flashbacks, as I

mentioned previously, the flashbacks

are very effective as it shows that the

caravan has an unknown past,

creating an enigma and creating a

sense of uneasiness.

Our sound is evidence of non-diegetic

sound, it is a rather upbeat, happy,

country song which is contradictory to

the mood of the clip which is murder

and gore. Our sound is very much

unconventional in these terms.

Nevertheless, as soon as Darren is

closes the door on the inside of the

caravan this non-diegetic sound stops.

This is when the diegetic sound comes

in, which has a more realistic, eerie

tone creating a sense of verisimilitude

when the flashbacks appear.

Stock characters Sound

The wood location was very

beneficial for our team, this is

because the forest/wood has

connotations of isolation and

loneliness which is conventional

of horror as a whole.

Location

Q1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms

and conventions of real media products?

The lead up to the discovery of the

caravan is conventional as it creates an

audience enigma as both the audience

and Darren are unaware of what is going

to be inside, this build-up of tension is

very effective. Our horror genre is

psychological and our effective use of

flashbacks are conventional of this sub-

genre. Nevertheless, the flashbacks are

extremely gory and unpleasant which is

also conventional of a slasher horror

genre. Therefore, one could argue that

our horror clip is a cross-over between a

psychological and a slasher horror.

As a group we are very pleased

with the footage we captured

on the Canon DSLR camera,

our clip features an array of

tracking shots, POV shots and

high/low angle shots. The POV

shots are conventional of

horror as the audience view the

action through the eyes of the

protagonist. In terms of our

titles, we took positioning into

consideration as it is vital to

have the titles at the forefront

of the frame. Evidence of

effective positioning is evident

in the tracking shot alongside

the caravan.

The tracking shots we used are also

conventional of horror, and contribute

to the professionalism of the clip. Our

editing is fast-paced and there is

evidence of continuity editing where

the action seems to be happening

very quickly which is typical of horror.

Analysis of Plot II/ Genre

Filming/Shots

Editing/Shots

Initially, we used a font named

‘Cold Night For Alligators’.

However, we felt that this

particular font was more

conventional of a slasher

horror film rather than a

psychological. Because of this,

we then decided against this

font, and used a more

ordinary yet effective font

which is associated more with

a psychological horror genre.

Typography

It was not long before our

final cut was aired, that

we decided on the font

above. A serif font that

looks more ordinary yet

effective.

Camera Angles

Many of our shots were similar to those

found in various other horror films. A

good example would be the tracking shot

along the objects, which adds to the old

context and overall atmosphere, as well

as the canted angle shot of the

cupboards which appears to be

disjointed and uncomfortable. The

majority of our shots were straight

forward with film productions in general,

including a variety of stills, low angled

and high angled shots and a POV.

Mise-en-scene

The props we used were very conventional in

psychological horror films. An example of this is

the mask we used. We took this idea from ‘The

Strangers’ (Bertino, 2008). Also, our choice of

iconography consisted of harmful objects which

are associated with a slow, painful death rather

than a quick death (i.e a shooting conventional

in a thriller genre). Below is an example of the

pliers that we utilized which are conventional of

horror.

Editing

Our editing contained several transition

sequences that are typical of horror. For

example, at the beginning, everything

seems to be normal and therefore the clip

does not contain any horror element. At

this point it is very slow-paced, yet as the

horror element is introduced mid-way

through, the fast-paced editing seems to

occur which is conventional of horror as it

has connotations of panic building up

tension and hysteria.

The use of our shot reverse shot is also vital in showing the

reaction shot, as in every horror movie the reaction shot provides

a basis for the way in which the audience follow the mood.

Q2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

In this clip, all that the audience can

see is a white young British male

(Darren) and an antagonist whom is

masked and anonymous in terms of

age, race and ethnicity. Despite this,

the audience can assume that this

antagonist is male due to the fact that

a male antagonist is typical of horror.

Because of this assumption, a binary

opposition is evident between Darren

and the antagonist, this binary is

sanity/insanity. I say this because

Darren is seen hiking through the

woods which shows him to be healthy

and very much sane, this is culturally

marked in society as it is what people

would expect/like to see.

On the other hand, through the

flashbacks, the audience can see the

disgusting nature of the antagonist’s

actions and the audience can infer that

the antagonist has mental health issues

and receives some sort of thrill from it.

The fact that the antagonist obtrusively

has problems in terms of his mental

health is conventional of horror. This is

because the antagonists in several

horror films have to be insane to murder

in that malice. Therefore, because of this

evaluation, a binary opposition of mental

health is present between Darren and

the antagonist.

Representation

Binary Opposition

Representation II

The young boy is shown

progressively in the text as he is

shown to be brave amidst the

severity of the situation. Despite

this, his reaction to the flashbacks

can be interpreted in one of two

ways. One of these ways is purely

shock, and one of which is

vulnerability, which is regressive in

the context of the situation.

Darren is depicted as being

simply a common, regular

young boy around the age of

16/17. He is also shown to be

hiking through the woods, on

a normal morning intimating

that he is again an ordinary

young man which has very

positive connotations.

Representation III

Representation IV

On the whole, if the view is taken that Darren is being brave considering

the situation, the connotations of bravery associated with Darren’s

character is a dominant ideology in terms of patriarchy as it shows men

to be less vulnerable than females, not only this, but the audience

expectation is for men to be unafraid in horror clips as a whole.

On the other hand, the antagonist (whom is

masked to create effectiveness in the

characters anonymity) has a powerful

weapon which is used at the end of the clip

to kill Darren, again showing his dominance

in the clip. Also, in the flashbacks, several

different, powerful weapons were used by

the antagonist to kill his victims which again

shows his power and authority.

At times in the clip, there are some shots that

depict Darren regressively in terms of status. This

includes the angle used to unveil the antagonist,

which shows him as having a larger presence and

more power. Furthermore, in terms of mise-en-

scene, the iconography is important when

discussing representation. Evidence of this is the

fact that Darren uses very few props if any, which

intimate that he is vulnerable in the situation.

Representation/Mise-en-scene

Representation V

Representation VI

Despite the negative connotations of females in terms of

the dominant ideology of male power in horror films, I

researched the final girl which counteracted this ideology.

The final girl was:

• smarter and more cautious than her friends; Clover

describes her as ‘intelligent, watchful, level-headed.

• morally pure and therefore does not get involved in

drinking, drug-taking or sexual activity.

• the first to recognize both the lack of morals in her peer

group and the potential threat of danger.

Females have a negative absence in this clip,

this is rather unconventional of horror as they

are shown to be stereotypically vulnerable.

There is no evidence of disability in this clip,

despite this, the insanity of the antagonist

could present a disability as the villain is in

many ways unable to normalise in society.

Female Absence The Final Girl

Q3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and

why?

Our film is most likely to secure a

deal with Vertigo UK Films. This is

because our film is extremely low-

budget; our equipment was

available to us, no A-Listers

featured and we had a very small

cast. As well as this, our location

was very accessible and the

majority of our costume/props were

previously owned. As well as this, our film could be shown at festivals, this would be an

effective promotional technique as obtrusively it will be presented to our

target demographic of 15-24. Furthermore, web 2.0 is another

determining factor in terms of adverting any film product.

Our film also utilized pro-filmic effects and contained no

animation. Vertigo UK Films are an independent film distributing

company whom have proved to be extremely successful in

terms of publicising and distributing low-budget films like ours.

Some of this success has transpired due to synergy with other

institutions creating and maximising audience exposure which

intrinsically creates a mass buzz, pre-release.

Distributing our film Vertigo UK Films

In terms of our film, we should take advantage

of social media sites such as twitter and

Facebook to maximise audience exposure. An

advantage of this is that our film would meet

our target demographic as they are the most

likely to be on social media sites. As well as

this, we can create a teaser campaign, which

will feature a 48 page printed advertisement

and a large poster. This is evidence of a

traditional ad campaign creating excitement

before the film is released.

Our film would be a platform release rather than

a blanket release. I say this because we could

therefore distribute our film in urban areas such

as Manchester to see if it initially creates interest.

If it is consequently creating media interest then

we could use this to present our film at cinemas

such as vue cinema and odeon. This has been

utilized by many other independent films to

maximise audience exposure and to create a

mass buzz pre-release.

Publicising our film

Distributing our film II

.

In my institutional context study of an

independent film, I researched

paranormal activity: an

American Supernatural Horror

Film written, co-produced,

photographed, edited, and directed

by Oren Peli. The film focuses on a Katie

and Micah, a young couple whom are

troubled by a ghostly existence in their

home. It is shown in the style of "Found

Footage", from cameras placed by Katie

and Micah whom try to document what

it is that is distressing them.

Furthermore, there were midnight

screenings pre-release in Los

Angeles and select college towns,

this generated unprecedented

amounts of demand at the studio

and at local theatres. Also, it took

advantage of social media sites,

including Twitter where the target

audience would tweet

@TweetYourScream.

Institutional Context Study Institutional Context

Study II

One of the most effective promotional techniques that

Paranormal Activity utilized was the idea of letting consumers

be the distribution chief. Therefore, fans nationwide were

able to literally demand by hitting a "Demand" button on its

website –so that the movie screen in their area.

The "Demand" ticker had

surpassed 860,000 by mid-

afternoon on the Friday, nearly

triple the amount of demands

logged 72 hours before, with

"Paranormal Activity" becoming a

constant trending topic on Twitter

during the midnight hour for many

consecutive weeknights. It reached

1 million demands not long after.

Institutional Context Study III

Institutional Context Study IV

Q4/Q5. Who would be the audience for your media product? How did you

attract/address your audience?

Throughout the process, we tested

our concept on our audience. This

featured our initial research in which

we tested our audience using a

questionnaire which featured a

series of closed and open questions.

From this initial research, we

discovered that an abandoned

location would be very effective, as

the majority of our audience stated

that it would be the most

conventional of horror.

We also used a 1-10 scale styled

question, in which the audience

circle the number they feel most

appropriate. For example:

This particular question was very useful as it gave us an idea as to the most conventional stock

character for our clip. From this question, we discovered that the character would definitely have to be

young and vulnerable, though the sex was a less important matter. Therefore, we came up with

Darren, a young, vulnerable male, conventional of horror. We also tested possible names in a fixed

question format.

Initial Audience Questionnaire

Initial Audience Questionnaire II

Our core audience is the 15-24 demographic, this

is because the horror genre is intrinsically aimed

at a younger audience as this age group enjoy the

gore and scares which are evident throughout. The

characters appeal to this target audience as

Darren fits in with the age demographic due to

being a young male around the age of 16/17. This

creates verisimilitude for the audience as they feel

that this could happen to them which creates an

enigma and a social currency.

Despite this, after choosing hysteria, we thought that

the name ‘the premonition’ was much more suited to

our piece. This is because the word premonition

means to see something before your eyes. Below you

can see the question we originally asked, however,

nearer the time, we realized hysteria didn’t really fit

with our piece, and premonition is far more suitable.

Target Audience Initial Audience Questionnaire III

From our audience testing many people

liked the use of our soundtrack, saying it

fits well with the visuals and the high

pitched, discordant sounds of the

flashbacks were very effective in creating

a sinister, scary feeling about the piece

which shocked audiences (this was the

effect we wanted to create).

Some people thought that a couple of

the shots looked a little bit shaky,

which did not fit as well with the piece

as it should. As soon as we received

this feedback, we tried very hard to

alter the graininess of the image and

change the colour to create a

contrasting look to the normal shots.

Audiences also thought our camera work

was excellent, especially the frequent short

and long tracking shots which revealed

various props as well as our protagonist in

the sequence. They also liked the use of

pull focus shots and canted angle shots,

saying it made the piece more professional

and more fitting to our thriller/horror genre.

One person thought that the

edited effects and composition of

the flashbacks did not look very

effective, that our group should

improve the look of these

flashbacks to make it more clear

and sinister.

Additionally, people thought our

location was perfect, saying the

caravans dingy, dull and abandoned

look created a more visceral

experience for most people and

believed that its small, confined

space actually contributed to build

enigma.

A few people thought the

continuity of our sequence could

be improved, saying that

providing more shots with

movement of our protagonist

should be added to make our

sequence just that little bit

better.

Another strength included the high

quality resolution of the picture and

audiences believed that this made

the sequence seem like an actual

film.

Also, some of our audience stated

that they were unsure as to

whether Darren should been killed

or whether we should have left it

as a mystery to build up a further

suspense.

They both felt that our flashbacks were extremely effective yet felt that we may have done more with the

sound in terms of a sound mix to build tension and create a sense of eeriness which is typical of horror

films. Overall, we were pleased with this response, though, as a group we were pleased with the

soundtrack we used. This is because we deliberately used the soundtrack to pose a contrast to the

general mood of the clip.

In this short video,

features two people

inside our age

demographic (15-24)

whom are

commenting on the

strengths and

weaknesses of our

clip after seeing our

final cut at the

advanced screening.

Vox-pop clip

Summary of Clip

Q4/Q5. Audience Final Cut Questionnaire Results

1. Did you understand

what was going on in the

opening?

In terms of our results for this first question,

we are very happy. I say this because out of

our 10 respondents, 6 said they understood

the plot completely and 4 said they

understood the plot mostly. This shows that

our plot is very coherent.

2. What genre would

you class this film as?

Again, we are very pleased with

these results. This is because 70%

of our respondents thought that it

was clearly a horror genre, which

shows that on the whole we have

succeeded creating a horror

opening.

4. Do you think that in the opening

the protagonist should’ve died?

6. On a scale of 1-10 how tense did you

find the opening? (1- being not tense

10- being very tense)

This chart shows that the majority of our

respondents thought that the protagonist

should’ve been killed, this is good for us as

we were unsure whether to not kill the

protagonist and leave a cliff-hanger.

We are pleased with the results from this

question as 60% felt that our clip was an 8+

out of 10 in terms of tension which shows

that our clip was effective in terms of building

up suspense.

9. How many flashbacks were there?

This question was more to see if our

audience were paying attention. As

there were indeed 5 flashbacks, it

shows that on the most-part, our

audience were paying attention

meaning the other answers will be

valid.

11. Do you think our use of font was

suitable?

This another encouraging result. I say this

because 80% of our respondents felt that

our font was suitable. Considering we

changed our font rather close to the

deadline, it was very pleasing to see this.

3. Which part of the opening could’ve been

improved?

For this question, we had a varied response.

Some stated that the sound could’ve been

improved in terms of a sound mix and others

stated that the build-up of tension could’ve been

enhanced. In our own opinion, we thought the

soundtrack was very effective as it created a

contrast to the general mood of the clip.

5. Was the opening generally entertaining? If

so..why?

Again, for this question, there were a wide

array of answers, some stated the soundtrack

made it entertaining, some said it was so

because of the diegetic sound. On the whole,

the most popular answer for this question was

the flashbacks.

7. Would you recommend the

film to others?

For this question, we was

looking for a fixed answer of

yes or no. Encouragingly,

100% of our respondents

stated that they would

recommend the film.

8. Did you understand the use

of flashbacks?

This was also a very

promising result, 90% of our

respondents understood the

use of flashbacks in our clip,

which was to evidently show

the caravan to have a past in

terms of murder and torture,

therefore this was a very

heartening result for us.

Q6.What have you learnt about technologies from the process of

constructing this product?

Using blogger for our

coursework is advantageous in

comparison with an A4

handwritten folder in many

ways. This includes the fact

that I can edit my work without

any difficulty, also, I can

suggest and share ideas with

my team to improve the quality

of our work. Also, it means that

we can have a more creative,

collaborative approach and it is

accessible for the whole group.

I have learnt how to use blogger successfully through this

process. I know how to import video, pictures and make

the post look generally attractive. The easiest way to

import videos onto the blog is from YouTube via the

button and search the video you would like to include.

Pictures can be included in a similar way using the

button and inserting the image from the file. Below is an

example of an imported video on our blog.

What have I learnt? Blogger

I have learnt to use various online software such

as freesound, blogger and premiere elements.

With freesound, it is extremely easy to import

into premiere. The main steps is downloading

the sound, saving it to the Data Disk, clicking

GetMedia in premiere and inserting the sound.

Once this has been imported, you can drag the

sound into the timeline in the soundtrack

section. Here are a few of the sounds we liked:

We had very few difficulties in terms of lighting

limitations. This is because in our shoots, we were very

fortunate that the weather was indistinguishable. Also,

inside the caravan, it is extremely dark anyway and

therefore, lighting was not a problem. The bigger problem

was the size of the caravan as it was extremely small and

therefore it was a challenge to manoeuvre the camera

around the scene successfully.

What have I learnt? II

Did we have any lighting limitations?

Some sounds we liked:

In our filming process, we was fortunate enough to

use a Canon DSLR camera. Because of this, the

quality of our shots looked much better than the

other cameras available to us. Also, we could utilize

the pull-focus to improve the quality of our shots, this

is evident in the shot where the focus is on the nail

and then switches focus to Darren as he walks closer.

The image above is the camera we

were fortunate enough to use. This

therefore meant that it had a higher

resolution and contributed further to

the professionalism of the clip. The

shot next to this is my favourite shot of

our piece as we utilized the pull-focus

successfully.

Filming Process

We faced another

challenge when

completing a

tracking shot inside

the caravan

because of the

small amount of

space we had to

position and move

the dolly along the

track. In my

opinion, we shot

really well inside

the caravan as it

was very difficult to

use the equipment

in a cramped space.

In previous shoots,

we had difficulty with

the track and dolly in

terms of the

steadiness of the

shot. This time

around, it was a

bigger challenge as

for two of the camera

shots, the track was

placed on uneven

grass. Therefore,

before we took the

shots, we removed

any woodland or

debris that would

cause a jolt in the

shot and managed to

shoot successfully.

Challenges IIChallenges I

Q7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel

you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

This is a short clip where we as a group discuss our progress from our original preliminary task to our

final product. We converse about these improvements in terms of planning, narrative, mise-en-scene,

plot and filming. We also talk about the strengths and weaknesses of our final piece.