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

The film that I am going to compare my media product to is the opening of The Hills Have Eyes (Wes Craven 1977) the reason for this is that it is also a horror film and has similar camera shots.

As you can see from the screenshots below comparing The Hills Have Eyes and my media product, both use fading to make transitions between scenes.

The titles are different as The Hills Have Eyes the actual text with the name of the film is laid over a silhouette of some hills this reinforces the idea of the hills. However, our product simply has ‘Venagance of the Abused’ over a black background.

The long shot from The Hills Have Eyes shows the character coming out of the building, in Vengance of the Abused there is a similar shot but mine is a mid shot. The reason that a mid shot was used it to introduce the audience to the character a bit better and introduce his home.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Vengance of the abused represents teenagers but more specifically the more gothic teenager. The opening sequence is quite male orientated however I feel it would probably attract both a male and a female audience but probably mostly male because of the horror genre.

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

There are a number of different institutions that might be willing to distribute Vengance of the abused. The bigger companies such as 20^th Century Fox I feel will not distribute it as they tend to support big Hollywood film makers. However, smaller organisations such as Lionsgate, Summit entertainment or FilmFour might do as they are willing to support smaller less well known film makers. With the support of these institutions films from new directors and actors have become hugely successful, they have also allowed new upcoming directors and actors start to make a name for themselves.




Please note:


I would of added images of the institutions logos but this is not possible for copyright reasons

Who would your audience be?

The audience for vengeance of the abused the target audience is both men and women between the age of 13 and 40. (However, a 12A rated film could be achieved so that an even wider audience is reached but the children will have to go with a parent). The reason for this is that both men and women can enjoy watching a horror film. For the age range I feel that you do not get many people that are under the age of 13 that watch horror films, over the age of 40 I think that people might start to lose interest in horrors; however, I acknowledge that this is not true in every case.

How did you attract your audience?

I have attracted the audience by using the opening sequence effectively; the way in which I feel that I have achieved this is thought the use of both camera shots and editing. The fade walking I feel is especially good as it keeps the audiences attention and is not just a person walking but it is different from what you would usually see. After the two or so minutes the audience is left wondering what has happened and if the person I really dead and why did you see him at the end of the film if he is supposed to be dead.

What have you learnt about technologies in the process of constructing your product?

I have learnt a number of things about technologies from making the opening sequence, these been how to edit using Final Cut Express and use an Apple Mac other things that include how to use equipment for example tripods. Another new experience for me is blogging. Before the media product I have never done a blog before but with putting my work on a blog I found that it is much better as you can access it from anywhere and do some of the project.

What have you learnt progressing from the Preliminary task to the main task?

I have learnt from about different camera shots and what effect they can have for example if you use a high angle shot it makes the character seem smaller and if you use a low angle it makes them look bigger. I am now able to use different camera shots like these to my advantage to enhance the viewing experience for the audience and also make the scene more believable.

First impressions

As an evaluation for the film I think that it is to a high standard and that it was completed to the best of my ability. To improve I think that I could of had some more dialogue. I also feel that research into the audience could of been better.

Length of film

Now that we have finished the editing we have discovered that the film is slightly longer than the 2 minutes but only by 13 seconds. This is the shortest that I feel that we can get the film.

Name of Film

We went through a number of different possible films titles that would work with the opening sequence and we have decided on 'Vengance of the abused'. I feel that this is a good title as there are no films that I am aware of that have this title. I feel that it also captures the audiences attention as they would want to know what the film is about when they hear the title.

Confirmation for use of soundtrack

I have received confirmation from Monotreme Records to use Drive through ghost, here is a copy of the message that I received in reply to my request:


Hello Joshua.

You may use the song for your Media studies project. If you wish to use it for any other purpose, you will need to contact us again.

Best of luck with the project.

cheers,

Kim

Email sent to record label

Here is a copy of the email that I sent to Monotreme records Ltd:

Dear Sir/Madam

We are students from a Sixth Form College near Cambridge and we are seeking permission from your organization to use Drove through ghost to get here by 65 days of static for the use of our AS level Media Studies project. The track will only be used for educational purposes and no money will be made from the song.

Your cooperation is much appreciated


Yours Sincerely


Josh Leek and Charlie Canty

Soundtrack

I have decided on the soundtrack and have chosen Drive through ghost by 65 days of static. I will now email the record label and request their permission to use their song in the opening sequence.

Finnished Editing

Today we have finnished editing our opeining sequence. It is slightly longer than two minuites this is nessercerry but it is not too long, and I feel it to a high standard.

Editing

We have spent a lot of time editing the opening scene and as the deadline looms we are very close to finishing the whole film. However, the film is slightly longer than the allotted 2 minutes and at present is about 2:15 but it shouldn't be much longer than this when the whole thing is finished. We have been spending lots of time out of lessons editing as well because time is tight. We have had to reshoot a few things at last minute as when the clips were put in the sequence they did not look right so had to be improved.

Equipment used

Here are some photos of the equipment that we used...

re-filming

Today I am going to re-film a couple of scenes, this is going to be that last time I do any filming for this project as I now need to concentrate on the editing. The scenes that I have so far are edited and are ready for the final film once the new scenes are completed.

Special effects

The Fake blood was put on top of the Vaseline, this was used to put onto the skin of the actor so that the fake blood did not stain the skin, the fake blood makes the scene look more realistic and looks good on camera.

• Fake Blood

• Vaseline

Filming

We have started filming for the opening sequence. Here are some photos of me filming.

New Location Photos

The reason that we used this as our back-up location is that it is still a wooded area but it has large clearings in places and thick vegetation it others, this enables me to get the best possible camera shots. We will still be using the other location at the end of the opening sequence.

Problem filming

When we decided that the original film that we shot needed improvement we went to re-film, However,due to the fact that the location that we wanted to film at was there were some people that had started a fire near-by and soon the Police and Fire services were on scene so we could not film in the original location, because of this we had to change location, but the final product still looks to a high standard.

Actors

We did not need lots of actors for our opening sequence, the people that we used as actors were the following:


Tom Walker

James Lilley

Wesley Gilkes

Props

To enhance the viewing experience we are going to use some props that will make the sequence more believable. The props that we used are the following:

• Knife

• Laptop

                      

• Chair

What the Questionnaire tells me

From the responses that I had from the questionnaire I now that people both male and female do watch horror films. Some of the comments that we received when I asked what they would expect from a horror film most people said something scary. This enables Charlie and I to produce an opening sequence to a horror film that will get the audiences attention and get them interested in what is going to happen next.

Another thing that was also mentioned by the test group were that there needs to be a sense of mystery, and that the audience does not know what is going on and it eventually becomes clear towards the end of the film.

Questionnaire responces

Before we start our filming we did a questinnaire to research into what diffrent people like about horror films and what their age and gender was to give us a better indication to what diffrent people like.

Location for filming

Before we start filming, we went out and found a ally way that we could use to film in. We took photos of the location to enable us to plan how we are going to use the area.

Storyboard

For the opening of the film  we also created a storyboard of the different elements that we wanted to include so that we do not improvise when we come to filming the task.

Narrative structure for main task

 We created a narrative structure for our main task to give us a breif plan as to how the film would get to its ending.

Opening credits for the film Taxi Driver

Here is a timeline for the text that is displayed on-screen

00:02 - Colombia pictures
00:09 - Robert De Niro in
00:15 - music starts
00:36 - Taxi Driver
00:41 - A bill / phillips production of a martin seconses film
00:44 - staring Jodie Foster
00:47 - Albert Broooks as tom
00:48 - Harvy Keitel
00:50 - Leanardo Harris
00:52 - Peter Boyle as wizard
00:55 - and Cybill Shepard as Betsy
01:08 - music by Bernaro Hermann
01:14 - supervising film editor Meria Licas
film editors Tom Rolface
Melvin Shapiro
01:19 - special make up Dick Smith
01:23 - visual consultant David Nicholas
creative consultant Sandra Weintraub
01:26 - director of photography Michael chapmen
01:30 - written by Paul Schrader
01:34 - produced by Michael Phillips and Julia phillips
01:42 - directed by Martin Scorsese

The reason that we used Taxi Driver to look at opening credits is that it is a thriller but it overlaps with horror, it combined the use of cinematography and the on-screen graphics to create gripping opening titles that give you a clue to the storyline before the main film starts.

Decision made!!!

Today me and charlie decided to use horror as our genre.

Date: 4/1/2011