AS Media Evaluation: Question Seven

Looking back at your pre-lim task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

AS Media Evaluation: Question Six

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

When making the product, I had to use different pieces of technology for the making and documenting of my work towards the product.

 

AS Media Evaluation: Question Five

How did you attract/address your audience?

My group and I had a clear idea for what genre our media product (a movie title sequence) was going to be. We decided to choose the horror genre. When coming up with ideas for the horror opening, we had to think about what would draw people in and the reason for watching a horror movie.
 


Here are some elements that were included in the media product which would attract an audience and potential viewer into watching the horror film.

By doing a questionnaire, My group and I had more confirmation for the age group that we aimed to cater for in out Film (18-25 year olds). By doing this questionnaire, we had ideas of what interests people in this age gap, so we took on board the answers we were given and then they the ideas were either taken on board and used in the final product or were in the pre filming stages as ideas for the product.

Here is the vox pop from my questionnaire for my media product, it provided my group and I with useful information with regards to their opinion on cliches in the genre and the genre itself. It also gave my group and I new viewpoints and ideas to pursue when making my media product.

AS Media Evaluation: Question Four

Who would be the audience for your media product?

In the pre production stage of making my media product, a horror movie, my group and I had to think about who the target audience would be and who would most likely watch my movie. There are many different factors that can make up a person and by using these factors it can help my group and I attract a certain type of a person that then fits inside a bigger 'target audience' which would then be the overall type of person that would watch my movie. However, by designing and catering certain marketing techniques  such as trailers and posters for a certain group of people to be drawn into viewing my product, it's aim isn't then to exclude people who may not fit into the target audience. People who don't fit into the target audience can obviously still watch my movie, but the marketing, promotion and the overall 'look' of the film just may not appeal to them as much as it would to someone in the target audience.

There are many different reasons to watch a Horror movie and they can appeal to a wide variety of people. Here are some factors that my group and I took into account when thinking about a target audience and which ones we chose for the target audience and why. 

The main age and gender that we would appealing to would be male teenagers/young adults aged between 18 and 25. One reason is that due to the amount of violence and gore that is associated with the Horror genre and also with my movie, this would ultimately be more tailored to a male audience. Another reason is that  people in this age range like to do activities with their friends, so they would go out to the cinema with their friends. They'd do because this to try and get a thrill out of life without necessarily being guided to it, and a Horror film can give this fairly young audience a thrill predominantly from watching the horror films and also from being out with friends and having a good time. Another reason that the movie is appealing to this genre is that the characters in the movie are the same age as people in the target audience. This could mean that the viewer can possibly  see themselves in the characters. Another factor that could possibly draw people in is the fact that the protagonists are two policemen. This could potentially attract a an audience who share this job role, as they could relate to the characters on a working level as well as on a personal level.

The ultimate aim for a Horror film is to scare the viewer. When making these points in regards to a target audience, I had to give examples for how other films could possibly appeal to a certain audience just as my movie could.

For example I talked about the Blair witch project and how the age of the characters and the story itself would be more likely to draw in a younger crowd because of their overall acceptance to the story being about the investigation of an urban legend. 

AS Media Evaluation: Question Three

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

AS Media Evaluation: Question Two

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Dante's Harpie would qualify as an 18 rate film due to scenes of violence and gore, which ultimately makes the audience for Dante's Harpie marketed at 18 and above target audience. With regards to gender, the products audience would be catered more to a predominantly male audience. This is due to the violence and gore that is present in the product, although this does not limit or restrict females in my products target audience. The idea of the product is to give the audience a thrill from the fear gained from watching a horror movie. This idea again appeals to a predominantly male audience, targeting at an age range up to 25. This is because this age bracket is more likely to fit into the stereotypical 'thrill seeker' which is usually portrayed by a male. However this does again not exclude females from the target audience.


Fans of the Horror movie genre can also be linked to fans of Heavy Metal and its many sub genres. This is due to Heavy metal bands and musicians incorporating a dark and 'heavier' tone into their music. The fans of one of these entertainment options can easily become a fan of the other as they both share a lot of elements between them such as the atmosphere evoked in the music. Horror films have also inspired many musicians in different elements of Heavy metal, such as the sound, lyrics, presentation of band

Examples of Bands which  have incorporated the Horror genre.

Code Orange - I am king

The music video is influenced by horror movies as the content of the video lends itself to something that may be featured in a horror film.

The genre of the band is mainly Hardcore Punk, but with this song lends itself to Doom metal, which is influenced by Horror films and religious ideas such as pentagrams and the devil.

 Electric Wizard - Dopethrone

This band creates music in the Doom metal genre, and as a band are influenced by Horror films and H.P Lovecraft, a noted author of horror fiction. The sound is very slow, heavy and aggressive, which conjures up feelings similar to a Horror film.

The imagery of the album cover, is also influenced by the Horror genre as it features a horned male which is suggested as being the devil.

Although through our product we're not trying to cater for a specific group of people, it's important to see how our genre can affect other types of entertainment, and can be useful in appealing to as many people as possible, by taking influence from things such as music, which we focused on in the making of the product

The characters in the film do not represent a certain group of people, the focus is more at the age of the characters, as their age is in the age range of my product.

The victim in my product is based off of the target audience age, as to draw parallels between the victim and the viewer. Also, to follow conventions of the Horror genre, the victim is a teenager/young adult , which is a common convention in the sub genre of Slasher Horror, one which was an influence in the making of my Product.






The two policemen's characters are influenced by Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman's characters in the movie Se7en. Se7en serves as big influence in more than one way for my product. The characters served as inspiration in the way they dealt with one another and how they worked together when solving the crime. For my product, my group and I applied their character mould almost directly to our own policemen, with the exception that they had the same amount of experience.

AS Media Evaluation: Question One.

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

When I was creating my media product, Dante’s Harpie, I made sure that I was following and using the conventions of horror films. I am especially pleased with my opening shot and the point of view shot on the ‘dead body’ as I feel that these shots are the ones that use the conventions in the way that they should be. My audience research meant I had a lot of information to utilise, in which I reflected throughout the film.

Whilst creating my media product, I thought about the different conventions that are present in horror films, more specifically in the sub genres of Slasher and Psychological horror. A convention that our product matches is the killer and his background. A convention of Slasher villains is that in their past they have suffered either great abuse or trauma, which is the fuel and incentive to commit the murders and horrific acts to gain revenge and also a sick satisfaction in doing so. In my Media product when constructing the character of the killer, the idea was that he had constantly been on the receiving end of bad treatment from female figures in his life, giving him a psychotic mindset and a negative view of females, this paired with the reading of Inferno by Dante and the connection to a specific part of the book then further fuels his psychosis and cements the idea in his twisted mind that all females are evil and must be killed to rid them from the world, giving him revenge on his mistreated youth and the satisfaction that he is doing a 'good' thing for the world. Another way that my media product conforms to conventions is the overall setting of the product. In the two minute title sequence, the entirety of it takes place in the same location, A outdoor woodland area. This location is a common one for the Horror genre as well as the sub genres Slasher and Psychological which the product is focused on. Another convention used is the use of a jump-scare, taken from both sub genres of Horror. This is an almost guaranteed way to get a reaction from a viewer and is more common place used in Psychological horror as the antagonist/s are usually supernatural or have a supernatural element among them, like with my media products villain whose psychotic state is shown with through the camera and editing in the product.

Water colour based on passage in Inferno, which fuels the Killers psychosis.

Woodland setting of my product.

One way that my product does not conform to conventions is that the protagonists are not in a group and are not in danger from the murderer. The two main protagonists are two young male policemen, and the story is that they are a part of the investigation team trying to find the murderer. In my media product, they are introduced after the death of the girl in the movie, but overall this the third murder to have taken place. Another way that my product does not form to conventions is the storyline isn't one which is common place used for a Slasher horror. A general basis for a Slasher film is that there is a group of teenagers or young adults who are hunted down by a Killer. My media product whilst incorporating elements from this sub genre, doesn't follow this generic storyline. For my product, we took inspiration from Se7en as a storyline, especially with the characters, the villain and the element of literature used.

The two policemen.

Video Brief: Final Product

This is my group's finished title sequence.

Video Brief: First draft

This is the first draft of the two minute title sequence for the Video brief.

After finishing and watching this first version of the title sequence, the group and I felt that we should re shoot the 2nd scene of the title sequence. This section contains the 2 policemen (Dan and Brandon) inspecting the body.

1. One big improvement was to show that the dead girl (Beth) was in the shot with the policemen. In this version, there is no indication that she is there, aside from a POV shot from the girl and the policemen talking about her. To improve on this, we included a low angle shot with the girl's shoulder and arm in frame, showing that she is there visually.

2. Another improvement to be made was the framing of the shots. The main conversation part between the two policemen had a lot of blank space featuring sky, and when the other policeman is on the phone towards the end, there is a lot of blank space around him. To improve, we needed to reshoot this scene and feature closer camera shots, as to include the two characters, and lessen the blank space and sky that featured in this first version.

3. Another improvement was to have more of a variety of camera shots in the 2nd section. In the first version in the conversation section, it only features 3 shots, with one of them being a POV shot of the dead girl. Meaning the conversation just cut from shot A to shot B and back again. To improve on this, we reshot the scene and included many more camera shots in different places as to have variety and make the title sequence a more interesting watch.

4. A small improvement which we made was to include the witness (James) more into the story. We did this by including as shot and dialogue of the policeman (Dan) walking over to him and asking to interview him. In this first version, James was only featured in one shot, and then the policeman was told to interview him. The new shot gives the character more importance to the story.

Storyboard

This is the storyboard for my 2 minute title sequence.

To make things easier to plan, the storyboard was split into two halves. The first part of the storyboard was focused from the beginning to the murder and the black screen with the name of the movie. The second part was from the policemen inspecting the body till a fade to black after one of the policemen is on the phone and says "There's been another murder".

The 5 boxes are numbered 1-5 going from the top to the bottom and will be explained as to what part of the title sequence is being talked about in it.

1. The first box talks about the first shot/s which are establishing shots of the scene.
2. This box talks about the Victim (Beth) walking through the forest.
3. This box talks about the final walking shot of the Victim.
4. This box talks about another establishing shot, and the introduction of the Killer and the Victim being knocked out.
5. This box talks about the Victim being tied up and then being stabbed by the Killer.

The 5 boxes are numbered 1-5 going from the top to the bottom and will be explained as to what part of the title sequence is being talked about in it.

 1. The first box talks about A POV shot from the Victim (now dead) showing the two policemen having a conversation.
2. This box talks about SRS from both sides of the policemen continuing to talk.
3. This box talks about a shot showing the Victim's arm showing the two policemen at ground level.
4. This box talks about the policemen's conversation and their separation as they do different things. It also features a jump cut to a shot of the victims hand on the muddy ground.
5. This box talks about one of the Policemen (Brandon) walking away and calling his boss to report on the murder.

Script.

This a script/notes that we'll follow whilst we film the movie. it's written in note form so we can change things if necessary.

Exterior/Day/wooded area

Production company, producer and director

Establishing shot of woods, showing isolation. Teenage girl walking through woods, medium shots and close ups. showing actors and actresses names

She stops walking. Then gets ambushed and knocked out, cuts to black screen.

Girl wakes up tied up with tape over her mouth. emotions running high

Music builds up tension, shot ends with name of movie.

Shot of two men (policemen) looking down to ground.

Policeman 1: Can't believe this, it's disgusting!

Policeman 2: I know.

Shot reverse shots between the two men

1: Looks at it's face!

2: It's face?! 

1: *Quick gasp laugh* It's disgusting. Definitely the work of a serial killer

2: *sigh* No shit Sherlock?!

*Shot of Victims hand*

2: Right, you go get a witness statement, I'll head back 

1: Okay (turns to person who discovered body) Excuse me can i talk to you?

(Policeman 1 walks away from scene .Policeman 2 making a phonecall)

2: Gaffer... There's been another murder

Equipment List.

Here is the equipment. 

This will feature a list of equipment that will help the making of the film.

Equipment List

Camera

Tripod

Font research for titles.

As our film is based on a painting of a medieval text, we wanted font that would mostly match this description and give it a historical feel.

I looked on the font website Dafont to get some ideas and here are 3 that are shortlisted for our film title sequence.

Deutsch Gothic. http://www.dafont.com/deutsch-gothic.font

Seagram TFB.http://www.dafont.com/seagram-tfb.font

Augusta.http://www.dafont.com/augusta.font

All of these fonts would be effective as they are clear and easy to read. They are all designed in a classic gothic style. They all fit with the story and the plot of the story as it has a big focus on classic literature. They are all also quite bold and eye catching which would help in making them memorable for the audience.

For my movie I would chose the Seagram TFB font as in my opinion it is the easiest to read whilst still being bold and eye catching.

Filming schedule

For the filming of our film, we will film on Wednesday the 28th at period 3 and 4, from 10:50 to 12:20, and again on Friday the 30th, from 8:45-12:20.

The columns highlighted in red show the days that filming will take place.

This is a more detailed filming schedule, which as well as stating what days we are filming on, also show specific things, such as camera shots and what is being filmed in the scene, and items that we will we need on the day of filming, such as specific policemen costume and a tripod to aid with the filming.

Name of film.

The name of the film is going to be called Dante's Harpie.

The reason the film will have this name is because it's based on a watercolour by the English printmaker William Blake. This illustrates a passage from the inferno canticle( hymn, song, or psalms taken from biblical texts other than the psalms)  Dante Alighieri's Divine comedy.

The painting features harpies on treetops. Harpies are mythological winged fat bellied death spirits who have features of female heads and breasts.

In context to the film, the murderer, who is already psychotic, read this text in his past. This mixed in with females giving him bad treatment lead these psychotic ideas to form and he starts to murder women to rid them from the world as he sees them as evil harpies and he tries 'to protect' himself from death that they bring.

The idea for the film shares some links to the 1995 psychological thriller Seven. One way is the killers shared motives. Seven's serial killer John Doe wants to rid the world of people who represent sin due to the reading of fictional texts which ideas are based on sin. Whilst in my movie the killer reads a specific text, which when mixed him with bad treatment from females, gives him the motivation to commit murder. Another link is the feature of the Divine comedy by Dante Alighieri. In Seven, it features when the detectives are researching the seven deadly sins in hope to find the killer. In my movie, one of the killers motivation stems from a passage in the first canticle, Inferno, where Dante and the Roman poet Virgil, travel through woods haunted by Harpies.

It will appeal to the audience as it has a historical background to it, and the title is not of common place so the audience will want to find out the meaning behind it.

Synopsis.

Here is the synopsis of my film. I researched synopsis' on Imdb to see how they were written.

Dante's Harpie:

Two rookie detectives are pulled in to help on a case of the murder of a young woman. Upon investigation and receiving further information, they find that they and the whole department are on the hunt for a seemingly untraceable killer whose brutal and violent murders of young women shock the village and police force. The killers brutality and torturous methods are like nothing they or anyone else have ever seen before.                                                                                                                                                          

This is an effective synopsis as it tells the audience who the main protagonists are and also the degree of violence that the murderer unleashes yet also doesn't give away too much of the story.

Vox Pops and results.

For our vox pops, we interviewed 7 college students aged from 16-17. Not all participants answered the questions.

We undertook these vox pops to get an idea as to what our target audience would like to see in a horror film and what their favourite conventions of a horror movie are.

In the answers we got from participants, here is an outline of what they liked in a slasher film.

1. Would you prefer to see a 12A or an 18 Rated slasher film?

4 participants said 18 rated.
2 participants said 12 rated.

Most participants would prefer an 18 rating because it would contain more blood and gore and violence.

2. What is key to a good slasher villain?

3 participants said the killers identity should be revealed later.
3 participants said the killer should be intimidating.

The Villain needs to be intimidating and psychotic and also has to be mysterious.

3. Is a good narrative key to a slasher film?

6 participants said yes.
1 participants said no.

A good narrative isn't key but is required to make the audience understand the film.

4. What do you dislike about slasher films?

4 participants disliked clichés of horror movies.
1 participant disliked a police presence
1 participant disliked the amount of violence in a horror movie

They dislike clichés, such as the blonde girl dying first, they want something different and new, one participant didn't like a slasher that was 'too' violent, so a control of the violence would be needed.

5. How do you expect a slasher film to start?

3 participants said there should be a death straight away.
1 participant said it should start in silence and build tension.

They expect a slasher film to start with tension and foreshadowing and a death.

6. What is your ideal slasher victim?

Each participant gave a different answer, which included, Girl, Nerd, Police Officer, Weakest member of the group and someone who can be seen strong but actually isn't.

 An ideal victim would be someone who is morally weak or weak minded but they present themselves as strong, or someone in authoritative power, for example a police officer.

7. Do you think the murderer should wear a mask?

3 participants said yes.
3 participants said no.

This was evenly split, some thought no as the murderer should be confident and as the only witness to the crime he has killed is dead there is no need, however the others thought they should to conceal their identity and remained mysterious and hidden to the audience.

When filming our title sequence, we will take on board the ideas that the participants said and their ideas will influence the choices we make in the film. One example being what they don't like in horror movies, as we want our audience to like the content we've made, another being how it should start as we are filming the start of a movie, so their answers  for how they expect it to start will help our decisions in what is featured.

Locations.

For the 2 minute opening sequence, we will only require a wooded area as it is where the murder takes place and also where the policemen will investigate the murder.

When thinking of areas to film, one location that was most prominent was a wooded area by the College.

 I took some pictures of the location to see what it looked like and to see what it'd look like on screen and to get a feel of the location.

The wooded area fits in with Slasher conventions as a typical setting of a Slasher film tends to be in the woods or a wooded area will be featured in the film

If the filming was for a full length film, the more locations would be included. For example Main characters house, place from killers past and general locations, for example a mental hospital or graveyard or school or abandoned house which are staple locations in a horror movie.

Actors and Actresses

Actors & Actresses

These are the actors and actresses that we have considered to play the roles in our film.

Policemen- Brandon Chan (Left) and Dan Grayer (Right)



For the role of the young detectives, we both fit the part as we are both young and look fresh/new on the job . For the character, Brandon had to remove an earring he has, as it didn't fit the look of a detective. As a character, Brandon is more authoritative over Dan as he is taller and also has more facial hair. The more masculine appearance gives a visual representation of authority among the two characters.



Murderer/Killer- Ben Leckey

For the role of the murderer, his facial features did not matter as his face would not be featured in shot. His height and masculine body frame was the main reason he was chosen as the killer as he would be more menacing and looks more powerful than the victim (Beth).

Witness- James Nolan

To fit the role of a witness, there is no specific look to be had. Plus as he is not featured in the film for that long and there is no close up on his face, what he looks like isn't a important a factor in choosing who to play the witness.

Victim- Beth Street

For the role of a victim, we chose Beth as she looks like a typical teenage girl, plus at college she studies drama and performing arts, which gives her more experience over others in acting. No extra make up had to be used, as the make up Beth was wearing suited the role of 'typical teenage girl'.

Makeup

Make up 

Fake Blood- Fake blood could be used to show that the victim has been stabbed and is bleeding.

Examples of Fake Blood.


If victim is female, they would wear makeup as to appear feminine and look like the typical victim of a slasher film.