1 - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
The images below show the typical conventions of the psychological sub-genre (e.g lighting, use of mise en scene, colours). They have helped to get ideas for our own film, logo and title sequence.
This is the DDLC Film logo from the opening sequence of the film. The logo is used on a dark background to go with the general horror conventions, to create a dark atmosphere. I think that the picture of the lion surrounded by clouds does not go with the rest of this image although it is part of the logo, and it in fact challenges the conventions.
This is the logo from the opening sequence of our film. To follow the conventions of a horror film, we have used red text to back up the connotations of blood or evil, and a dark background to create a dark atmosphere. I think that this reinforces the conventions.
I think that this image uses conventions from the psychological sub-genre as it is text based on a dark background, which suggests that the film is dark itself and can help to create a feeling of fear. The title is bold and outstanding and has blood running down the letters, which suggests there will be terrible events in the film. The dark background, bold title and blood on the letters helps to support the psychological sub-genre as it does not make it very obvious as to what the film is about, and simply leaves you to guess and make your own assumptions and ideas. It can also make you fear the unknown as you are unsure as to what is going to happen from the titles.
This image from our titles shows how we have used conventions of a psychological horror film as we have not made it very obvious what the film is about. We used a lot of old photographs in the title sequence and film itself to leave you guessing what they are for. The title sequence is dark to create a dark feeling, with plain text to again keep you guessing and not reveal anything.
In this image, Hannibal shows the conventions of a psychological horror film. You can see this through the use of mise en scene in the image, the rope, which has obvious negative connotations. At this part in the film he has tied a man to a tree with the rope (as seen below) and attaches the rope to a horse, therefore strangling the man. You can also see this through the emotions Hannibal expresses in his face. He has a strange smirk on his face and his eyes look intense, and his general expression along with the mise en scene and events at this time suggest mental instability.
I think that this image shows conventions of a horror film as you can see the use of mise en scene to create story (the photo in her hand). The character is also hunched over on the floor in the dark, showing a dark atmosphere, negative connotations and possible mental instability, as she does not know what is going on.
This image uses existing conventions from the sub-genre to create character as we see that Hannibal is like a typical main character from a psychological film. He is mentally unstable, as shown from the fact that he has a man tied to a tree (and horse which you can not see in the shot) at this point in the film. This shows how Hannibal is trying to get his revenge on people who turned to cannibalism and ate his younger sister as a child. The need for revenge and mental instability are typical traits of a main character in a psychological film. However, this image also challenges conventions as it shows the scene is very bright in comparison to the events in the scene, whereas usually the scene would also be dark to show fear.
This image shows conventions from the psychological sub-genre creating character as we see signs of possible instability from her body language and expression. This is because at this point, there are paranormal happenings which scare her and she does not know what is going on. Fear of the unknown is shown through this. Fear of the unknown and mental instability due to this are common conventions of a psychological horror.
This image shows a Soviet authority holding a dog tag, as circled. In 'Hannibal Rising', Hannibal uses the dog tags of each person who cannibalised his sister to track them down and kill them. Therefore, this piece of mise en scene in the film and in this scene in particular uses and develops the existing conventions of a psychological horror film because Hannibal uses the mise en scene to get his revenge. Revenge is a commonly used convention of a psychological horror film.
This image shows mise en scene being used in the film. These are the same photos that were used in the title sequence, and throughout that sequence and the film itself they help to create a story. It uses existing conventions as the mise en scene helps to create fear of the unknown as the photos suggest that the paranormal happenings have something to do with the people in the photos.
This is a key image from the film, and is also used as one of the film posters. It uses and develops existing conventions of the psychological horror sub-genre. This is shown firstly by the use of lighting is the scene, as it is incredibly dark, as well as in the use of colours. The darkness shows fear, and this is a main convention. We also see Hannibal's character in this scene, as he continues to show his desperate need for revenge and his mental instability through the trapping of one of his sister's killers in a water tank. We can see his power as he is looking down on the man. These again are main conventions, and are used constantly throughout this film.
This is a key image from the film as it uses and develops existing conventions from the psychological horror sub-genre. There is an incredibly dark atmosphere as the room is completely blacked out, there are shadows surrounding the character, and the character has collapsed onto the floor, showing instability. As well as the dark shadows, there is a light shadow seen coming from the girl, as if she is being possessed. This image is taken from the ending of the film, which also makes it a key image.
This is another key image from the film. This is from the beginning of the film, which shows Hannibal and his younger sister Mischa playing outside, before a Nazi army tank attack and kill Hannibal's family. This is a key image as it shows the relationship between Hannibal and his sister, which is evidently a strong one, and shows why he is so desperate to avenge her death. It challenges conventions of the psychological sub-genre as the scene is very light, whereas horror films are usually consistently dark. The light scene and the strong relationship between the characters challenge these conventions as they are not dark at all.
This is a key image from our film as it shows and establishes both location and character. It shows/establishes the location as it is a wide shot, and the location uses existing conventions as it is a fairly old, dark building. It shows/establishes character using the wide shot as we can see the character properly. We used existing conventions with character as all types of horrors commonly use young girls for the main character.
This is an image from another key point in the film. This image is from the end of the film, when Hannibal tracks down one of the last of his sister's killers. This man reveals that Hannibal also was involved in the cannibalism of his sister, as she was part of a broth that was given to him. This is Hannibal's breaking point, and he carves 'M' into the man's chest, representing his sister, Mischa. This uses and develops the conventions of a psychological horror film as it clearly shows mental instability and a desire for revenge, and also shows a lot of blood.
This is an image from the part of the film where paranormal happenings are taking place, and so our character is trying to escape but both doors are locked. It is a key image as this is a turning point for the character, as she gets more worried than she was before, when the events first started taking place. This uses conventions from the psychological sub-genre as it shows fear of the unknown and instability as she is trying frantically to escape.
This is a key image from the film because of the mise en scene in this scene. The mise en scene uses conventions from the sub-genre, and from horror films in general. We see Hannibal in a dark costume with blood all over his face. The lighting of the room is also dark. Hannibal is also holding a gun. These things all help to create a dark atmosphere within this scene, and to build up tension. They are all commonly used in horror films.
This is a key image from the film as it shows location and use of mise en scene. It shows use of existing conventions as the lights are flickering on and off, which makes the character uncomfortable and uneasy, thus causing her breakdown. It is also another shot that shows the location, as we can see the old paintings and walls, which is an existing convention as old locations are commonly used.
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How does your media product represent particular social groups?
A representation is how something is shown or portrayed. In this question, I have used ratings from imdb.com and horror film trailers to show which social groups have been represented, and therefore who would watch the film. This was to help set a particular target audience for our own film and to help us decide on a character to use. It also made it easier for us to represent the target audience accurately in our film.
The victim of this film, Paranormal Activity 2, is a typical family made up of a couple and their two children, a boy (baby) and a young girl, and so these are the social groups that are represented. In psychological horror films and in horror films in general, families are often used because they are typically seen as being easily manipulated and worried due to the children. Because it is a family and there is a range of ages, this shows the differences in social groups that are represented in this film.
The threat is not actually known, but it is possibly some form of poltergeist or ghost, and so it is difficult to place them into a particular social group. This is typical of a psychological/ghost horror film, as the threat often comes from the victim's mind, which is often implied.
In 'The Grudge', the victim is the character 'Karen Davis'. She is a young American nurse that moves to Tokyo and looks after an elderly woman. She is a stereotypical victim of a ghost/psychological horror film, as a lot of them have a young female as their victim, and these are the social groups that are often represented in horrors. The threat in this film is the ghost of a young Japanese girl called Yoko, who used to live in the house that Karen nurses in. Threats in horror films are often young people, and so this film follows stereotypes.
This is a test shot of the actor that we have chosen for our film, Katie. She is our actor as she follows the conventions of a psychological horror film, as the victim is often a young girl. She is also dressed in dark clothing, to follow the convention of a dark atmosphere. I believe that she will make the film more relatable to our target audience because of her age, and will help us to properly follow the conventions of a horror film.
The basic plot of our film is that a young girl is visiting a hall/castle, which is actually haunted by supernatural beings. She explores the castle, and ends up in a room full of old newspapers and photos. The film ends with the threat taking over her by possessing her as she collapses. Our story will follow the conventions of a psychological horror film as throughout it, we will have things like lights flickering, doors slamming, diegetic sounds (screeching doors, heartbeat sounds and weather sounds such as wind or rain) and non-diegetic sound (the background music).
This target audience research sheet shows how 'The Grudge' uses conventions of psychological/ghost horror films in order to attract its audience. We looked at the IMDB website and found that according to the ratings of this film, there was not a specific gender that watched the film, it was very equal. From this we also discovered that the film's main audience was 18-29 year olds. This can be helpful when making and planning our own film, as we can use this research to see what we need to do in order to follow the conventions in order to get a wide-spread audience in terms of race, gender and age, although we are aiming the film at under 18s due to the certificates.
These are the videos of our two films:
Both of our films could be compared to 'The Grudge', as the social group represented is young females due to the main character being one. In our films and 'The Grudge' the main character is a young female being targeted by some form of ghost/paranormal happening.
This is a Wordle showing the feedback from our audience, showing their comments on how effectively we represented age, gender and race. The feedback that we got from our audience was fairly positive, as you can see from the previous post on the blog showing the feedback sheets. On the sheets, people said that we represented gender and age well as they circled 'positive', but the response for the representation of race was neutral.
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Who would be the audience for your media product? How did you attract/address your audience?
It is important to know who the audience is for your product so that you know how to make the film so that it is aimed at them and represents them. For example, if you were making a horror film for 15 year olds and over, you would have to ensure that the film applied the criteria from the 15 certificate from the BBFC.
We are going to aim our own psychological horror film at an audience of under 18 year olds. We are representing this age group by using an actor of this age. We are also aiming to attract an audience of all genders and races, as we would like to have a widespread audience. We are aiming for it to be of a '15' certificate, due to its content and threats.
Target Audience Research:
1 - Paranormal Activity 2
The certificate for Paranormal Activity 2 is a 15. From the user ratings from the IMDB website, we can see that this film has quite a widespread audience in terms of age, as there are ratings from people of the ages under 18 up to 45+. The category with the highest rating is Females under 18. From this we can see that Paranormal Activity 2 does not have a very specific audience, as an equal amount of men and women from all ages have watched and rated this film.
2 - Hannibal Rising
The certificate for Hannibal Rising is '18', which shows that there is more explicit content than in Paranormal Activity 2. However, from the user ratings from IMDB we can see that the highest average votes are from females under 18. Overall, it appears to be more females that have watched this film, as in every age category apart from 45+, they have an average of 6.2 or more.
3 - The Ring
The Ring has a certificate of 15. From this diagram we can see that the group with the most ratings is females under 18. The majority of the votes are quite equal, with under 18s to aged 30-44 being over 7.0. This shows that the audience for this film is not restrictive. There is a fairly equal amount of ratings from males and females, although females have a slight edge of 0.1%.
4 - The Last House on the Left
The rating for the film The Last House on the Left is '18'. This is due to more explicit content from the threats, mainly because of the violence involved in the film. The group with the highest average is again females under 18, and the age group with the highest average is the under 18s, but we can see that the audience of this film is quite widespread as the averages are fairly equal. Again, altogether, females have a slight edge of 0.2, but the ratio of men to women is fairly equal.
5 - Orphan
Orphan is rated as a '15'. Again, the highest rated group is females under 18, and the under 18s are the highest rated age group. People from the ages of under 18-29 all have ratings of above 7.0, and so this must be the target audience. People aged from 30-45+ have lower ratings. Females again have an edge of 0.2.
BBFC
For a film to be classified as having a '15' certifcate, it must have certain content. We can see what kind of content a '15' film must have by looking at the BBFC website (http://www.bbfc.co.uk/).
No one younger than 15 can see a '15' rated film in a cinema, or can rent or buy a '15' rated film.
Discrimination:
The film as a whole can not endorse discriminatory language or behaviour.
Drugs:
The use of drugs can be shown but as a whole, the film can not promote or endorse drug misuse. The misuse of easily accessible and highly dangerous substances (e.g. aerosols or solvents) is unlikely to be acceptable.
Horror:
Strong threats and menace are acceptable unless sadistic or sexualised.
Imitable Behaviour:
Dangerous behaviour (e.g. hanging, suicide and self-harming) are acceptable but details that can be copied can not be dwelled on. Easily accessible weapons should not be glamorised.
Language:
There may be frequent use of strong language. The strongest terms may be acceptable if justified by the context. Aggressive or repeated use of the strongest language is unlikely to be acceptable.
Nudity:
Nudity may be allowed in a sexual context but without strong detail. There are no constraints on nudity in a non-sexual or educational context.
Sex:
Sexual activity may be portrayed without strong detail. There may be strong verbal references to sexual behaviour, but the strongest references are unlikely to be acceptable unless justified by context. Works whose primary purpose is sexual arousal or stimulation are unlikely to be acceptable.
Theme:
No theme is prohibited, provided the treatment is appropriate for 15 year olds.
Violence:
Violence may be strong but should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury. The strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable. Strong, sadistic or sexualised violence is also unlikely to be acceptable. There may be detailed verbal references to sexual violence but any portrayal of sexual violence must be discreet and have a strong contextual justification.
We are aiming for a '15' certificate as our threats are not too strong and this would enable use to gain a wider audience.
How did you attract/address the audience?
We planned our film to engage our target audience by using an actress of around the same age as our audience, and we believe that this would attract this particular age and gender. We also followed the criteria given for the 15 certificate by making sure the film did not involve threats that were too strong and there was no detail of the threats that could be copied, and so we believed that this would help us get a wider audience. They could enjoy the suspense made in our film and they would be looking out to see the paranormal happenings involving the character.
The location we used was Wollaton Hall, and the props we used included old photos, curtains and lights. We thought that this would engage the target audience as the location is an old building and with the props we could use these to create a lot of suspense.
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What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
Distribution is where you get your film seen by promoting and advertising it, with things like posters, trailers, the internet and film festivals. You could distribute your films through independent or major distributors, depending on what film you are making and who you are working with.
You could distribute your films online via Youtube and social networking sites like Facebook to advertise your film and get more people to watch it by using advertisements on sidebars and getting Youtube to play trailers before videos. Here is an example of our own film being distributed on Youtube:
Posters and trailers are also useful as they help to spread the word of your film as people would have seen them.
Here is the poster for our own film, "The Presence":
We believe that this promotional poster for our own film would be successful. This is because it gives ideas as to what the film is about as we can see both location, character and the title itself on the poster. It also reinforces conventions from typical horror films, due to it being in black and white to show darkness and fear. The clouds and lightning above the location make it seem sinister and haunted, as does the fact that the character fades into the poster.
Film festivals are also helpful to promote your film. A film festival in Nottingham that does this is Mayhem Festival at Broadway Cinema. It is a festival that shows horror films. They often have special guests to talk at these events, like in 2009 they had the cast of the drama/horror TV show 'Being Human'. These film festivals help to promote your film as they are seen by a large group of people, as well as professionals, and so your film would be talked about by many people, therefore gaining a lot of attention and so more people would watch it.
Here is a trailer for the 2010 festival:
There is also a poster for the festival to promote and advertise it:
Independent production companies:
Black and Blue films: one of Britain's lead independent film companies, it was founded in 2007.
Film 1 - Elfie Hopkins
We can see that from both the trailer and poster of 'Elfie Hopkins' that it is obviously a production from an independent film company. This is because both things look clearly low-budget compared to bigger companies such as Lionsgate or Miramax. Neither the trailer or poster grab your attention and are quite boring in comparison to the work of the more major companies, as they do not have as much money to put into it. They also do not follow conventions of typical horror/thriller crossovers, as both the trailer and poster look too light and do not create a dark atmosphere. The text on the poster also does not help to suggest that this film is a horror/thriller. It looks more like a fantasy film that families would watch.
2 - Dead Cert
The poster and trailer of 'Dead Cert' are not obvious examples of work by an independent company. They do not look low-budget and I believe that they could compete with films from major film companies. They look much more professional, interesting and higher budget than the trailer and poster of 'Elfie Hopkins', and it is more obvious that this film is a horror film, unlike 'Elfie Hopkins'. This is due to the use of dark backgrounds, music, and text on the poster, as they all use typical conventions of a horror film. The bold red writing represents blood and the lack of colour shows dark atmosphere and gives off the impression that something bad is going to happen, leaving viewers guessing.
Hammer Films: this is an independent film company that was established in 1934, and has a reputation known as 'Hammer House of Horror' after a successful run of Gothic monster movies. It specialises in horror films.
1 - Wake Wood
Although Hammer Films is an independent film company, I think that the trailer and promotional poster for 'Wake Wood' does not look like it is from an independent company. It looks like it could easily compete against films from major companies. The trailer and poster are eye-catching and intriguing, and make it obvious that it is a horror film. They are interesting and engage the audience. The poster is intriguing due to the image and lack of colour. These leave you guessing and I believe that it would make more people want to watch it.
2 - Beyond The Rave
However, 'Beyond The Rave' is an opposite example. Although the trailer is engaging and shows that it is a horror film, the poster does not do this. Both the poster and trailer look like an obvious example of a typical British independent horror film, as they are fairly low budget. Even though it looks an interesting film, I do not think it could compete with a horror film from a major film company due to the distribution.
Major media institutions:
Miramax Films: this is an American entertainment company founded in 1979 by Harvey and Bob Weinstein.
1 - Don't Be Afraid of the Dark
2 - Scream 2
We can tell that this is a film from a major company from many things. Firstly, we can tell because of the actors. In this film, we have actors that are considered to be better, higher or more seen than those starring in a film by an independent company. These include Sarah Michelle Gellar (who is also in 'The Grudge'), Courtney Cox and David Arquette, who are all well known actors and household names. For its time, it is much more high quality than a film from an independent company, and we can tell that it is high budget due to the actors and effects. The film poster also gives this effect, as it looks like a typical poster from a major company that clearly shows it is a horror film. The poster is well done due to the image of two of the characters showing fear, and the lack of colours which reinforces this.
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What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
When we create a product, we use many different types of technologies to make it. For example, our product, a film, is made up using different kinds of equipment such as the camera, editing software and so on. Technology is also used during the distribution of our film, using things such as the internet and television.
This is a Prezi Presentation showing what we have learnt about technology, and how we have used it.
When we create a product, we use many different types of technologies to make it. For example, our product, a film, is made up using different kinds of equipment such as the camera, editing software and so on. Technology is also used during the distribution of our film, using things such as the internet and television.
This is a Prezi Presentation showing what we have learnt about technology, and how we have used it.
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