Audience Feedback - By Clare Bannister, Emma Mitchell, Charlotte Moreland and Giorgina Parker

This is a sample of our target audience giving feedback on our film:

Evaluation (Giorgina Parker)

1) In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of media products?

Our Chosen film Ellipsis is a horror movie, based on the typical stereotypical concepts of what we as a group felt was represented throughout the majority of horror movies made today.

As the more effective sub genre horror movies made today are "slasher horrors" we decided to go with this genre because the blood, guts and gore are expected by audiences of today. However, a small minority of films such as "Blair Witch Project" still manage to create fear and captivate the audience just by suggestions of horror with the audience never actually seeing any blood. As such, we tried to encompass both genres within our film Ellipsis to reach maximum audience enjoyment.

I feel our film challenges the typical use of characters in sub genre horror movies as we have tried to represent females as stronger characters. We do not have any of the typical male macho heroic characters who manage to save the day.

2) How does your media product represent particular social groups?

We filmed Ellipsis with a target audiences in mind of 15-30 year olds. To help us achieve this we used characters on our film aged 17-18 years old. This was to ensure our target audience would be able to emphasise with our characters more and understand where they were coming from. The older of our target group would still consider themselves young enough to remember what it was like to be a teenager/younger person.

The teenage age group are often viewed as those who would be more likely to participate in risk behaviours and putting themselves in risky situations without much thought about what they were doing. This is Probably why movies such as "Friday the 13th" and "Blair Witch Project" show teenagers going to places where they end up in danger.

In addition to this, we continued with the stereotypical approach of what is perceived by some as the typical "weaker sex" (female) being in danger. This image is quite often used in horror movies where the "stronger, macho sex" (male) is both the hero who saves the day and the "monster" who perpetrates the horror. Our first scene follows this stereotypical approach where a teenage girl is alone, and helpless in an old abandoned house in the woods.

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

I feel that using a distribution company such as Warner Brothers for our film would be the best way of ensuring our film hits the largest target group as possible. They are an extremely well known distributor for not only horror movies such as "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and "Friday the 13th", but have a reputation for delivering quality popular films in all genres of movies (for example the Harry Potter films).

They appear to work with a whole host of films with different budgets and work closely with independent companies. Over the years Warner Brothers has had distribution and/or co-production deals with a number of small companies such as ours. these have included Virtual Studios, Castle Rock Entertainment and Spyglass Entertainment. as such, I feel they have the appropriate contacts to take our film to a wide ranging audience.

4) Who would be the audience for your media product?

Our target audience is the age group 15-30 years old. To assist in ensuring we appeal to this group, we have used teenage characters to allow the audience to understand and empathise with the characters in our film. We have also tried to ensure our female characters are stronger than is normally portrayed so that they appeal more to the female population. The blood and gore aspect we felt would appeal to the male population.

We also produced a questionnaire which allowed us to gather the opinions of people in our target group, to ensure we were right to aim our film at their age group. All those we asked felt the film was appropriate to their age group, and they would watch it.

In helping us decide what certification our film should be, we examined the certification of other similar films. These included Blair Witch Project (15), Friday 13th (18) and Texas Chain saw Massacre (18). We felt our film should be certified as a 15, as we didn't include any images of torture, sexual activity or explicit images of violence.

5) How did you attract/address your audience?

We have attracted our audience by using characters from our target group. we feel this will allow the audience to emphasise and better understand our characters.

In addition, we have used typical sub genre horror themes of suspense, tension and the usual blood and gore to attract those of the audience who will watch our film just because they enjoy watching horror movies.

We have used the scenes of a dark room, where the camera slow pans to increase the feeling of suspense of what is to come.The sudden scream is intended to pierce the air and make the audience jump and thereby increasing their anticipation of what is to come also.

We have also chosen non diegetic music, because it allows us to create a further depth to the feeling of tension and suspense, especially as it becomes louder and louder. The audience are made to feel more is to come and encourage to carry on watching.

6) What have you learnt about technology from the process of constructing the product?

Before undertaking this project, I had very little knowledge of the technology used in making film productions. As the making of our film progressed, so did my understanding of the technology needed to ensure the end product was as professional and polished as possible.

I have learnt how to use the following equipment/technology;

• Sony HDV 1000 camera and tripod - specialist media filming equipment.
• Tungsten lights - to enhance the visual effects.
• Final cut express editing software - to assist in the final editing of our film.

From using this equipment I have developed my skills in;

• shooting different shots, for example smooth shots of different scenes and locations.
• techniques such as zooming in on characters and panning shots.
• how to edit films effectively.
• how to create simple visual effects such as shadowing with the tungsten lights.

The problems I encountered included;

• Ensuring the camera stayed in focus.
• Allowing time for filming when we were hit with bad weather.

7)Looking back to your preliminary task, what do you feel that you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Through undertaking the activity of producing a 2 minute film, I feel I have gone through a steep learning curve. Probably the biggest lesson learnt was the importance of team work, and how working effectively together produces better results.

I have also learnt how to effectively research my projects. It is important that this is undertaken thoroughly and commenced before you undertake the project to ensure it then runs smoothly and effectively.

My ability to understand how technology works and be able to implement it into any project, has also increased. I have improved my skills and confidence in handling a camera and tripod. I understand the different effects a camera can create to improve the overall effect of your film. in addition, I am now able to use programmes to edit and cut to create different visual effects.

Finally it has given me an understanding of how film making is hard work!

After making our film we held a audience feedback session, which consisted of a sample of our target audience giving us feedback on our film. These are a few of their comments:

"Editing was continuous"

"Had a Dark Begining which showed it was a horror"

"Could have made it a bit longer"

Overall, i think the feedback was helpful as there was a mix of different opinions on what was good about the film and what we could have done better.

Here is the link for the rest of the feedback session:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxtww3RL69U

Evaluation (Charlotte Moreland)

1) In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of media products?
Our film Ellipsis is a sub genre horror film – slasher and incorporates a few of the generic conventions such as gore, mystery, horror, and friendship. An example of one of the conventions being used is in the first scene, mystery and horror are two of the main conventions that stand out as a girl is tied to a chair in a dark room, with blood on her face, which creates a good start, and makes the audience think about how this happened within the film. Some films that have the same generic conventions as ours are Wrong Turn, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Blair Witch Project. One film that is related to the whole “damsel in distress” stereotype is our character which is similar to the girl character in The Blair Witch Project.

The first scene in our film consists of the main character (Mary – Alice) toed up to a chair, injured, she wakes up regaining consciousness, and then screams and then fades to black. This fits in with the genre of horror as it conveys blood, gore and screaming. Our title scene is influenced by the film “Wrong turn” as we liked the idea of having shots of our main setting within the titles with non diagetic music and our titles over the top.

I also believe that our film challenges the forms and conventions of a horror film due to our film being dominated by the female gender, and there are no “heroic” males within our opening. This challenges other horror films, as they tend to have the stereotypical male who is heroic and a good survivor.

2) How does your media product represent particular social groups?
The social groups represented in our film in terms of gender are teenage, British college students who are female and males. The girls tend to be stereotyped as quite girly, quite smart, interested in boys and relationships, and enjoy a goodtime with friends and love to party for the weekend. The boys tend to be stereotyped as quite outgoing characters, who like to socialise with girls and wanting relationships or are already in relationships with some of the girls, quite intelligent, but can sometimes be quite selfish towards the girls.
This links into because the target audience that will watch this may understand because some parts may relate to their personalities, and they all understand how it is to be a teenager, as everyone goes through that phase of their lives. Also, we chose to stick to using the stereotype of the “weaker sex” (females) being in more danger compared to the stereotype of “stronger, macho sex” (males) in our film is both the hero that saves the day, and also the “monster” who creates the horror. Our first scene relates to this stereotypical approach where a teenage girl is alone, helpless and vulnerable in an old abandoned house in the woods.

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

I feel that a distribution company such as Summit Entertainment would distribute our film which would be classed as an art house budget film, as they have distributed films such as Sex Drive, The Twilight Saga, and Sorority Row. They appear to work with some different genres of films, including horrors with different ranges of budgets. I feel that our film has similar budgets and may attract similar types of audiences to our film, such as Sorority Row. Most of these films had a similar cinema release, expect for twilight which became more popular than expected, and I feel that our film may have the same opportunity. They also have a wide range of advertising such as TV adverts, posters and billboards which would give publicity for our film.

4) Who would be the audience of your media product?
The target audience for our media product would be aimed at teenage boys and girls, aged from 15 to 25 years, due to the fact that it’s a horror film that contains the conventions of gore, mystery and death, and people over the age of the target audience may not find it interesting, or too scary to handle.
Some films that are similar and related to our film are “Wrong Turn” and “The Blair Witch Project” and both of these films appeal to target audiences of ages 15 to 30 year old and men that like the genre of horror and conventions of mystery, death and gore.
From our audience research, we found out that 10 out of the 10 people that we asked would watch our film, from looking at our 25 word pitch, and that 9 out of 10 people thought that the film was long enough at the length of 90 minutes, but one person thought it would be too long. These questions were asked to 10 people in our aimed target range, so it means that our film would attract our target audience to it.
We classified our film as a 15 because;

• Certificate 15 films have the largest audience
• Our film does not involve or promote the use of drugs
• Our film does contain any footage of dangerous behaviour (E.g. Suicide, Self Harming)
• Our Film does contain moderate amounts of horror- but it is not sadistic or sexualised
• Our film contains only mild swear words
• Our film contains no scenes of extreme nudity
• Our film does not involve any sexual scenes containing strong detail- they will only be mild and extremely brief
• There are strong images of pain and violence in our film- however they do not focus on the infliction of pain and it is not sadistic or sexualised

http://http://www.bbfc.co.uk/downloads/pub/Guidelines/BBFC%20Classification%20Guidelines%202009.pdf

5) How did you attract/address your audience?

We have attracted out target audience by using characters in our opening that are from our target age range. We have also included the generic conventions of a horror film and used iconography that will attract “horror” fans to watching this film. I feel that our opening to the film does build up tension and puts the audience on an instant cliff hanger to make them think how did the film get to this point. Also because of the girl screaming right at the beginning of our film, that helps to add tension also. Another thing in our first scene that adds to the situation is the use of low lighting to make the establishing shot quite mysterious, confusing and slightly surreal to the audience. We use a lot of slow camera shots in the beginning to help establish the environment and build tension. Our editing overall is good quality, but not always as smooth as some of the other shots. I feel that our camera work was of a high standard as the majority of shots work together and we have useda variety of shows within the first 2 minutes such as medium shots, close ups and eye-line matches. We did encounter some problems with some of the locations chosen for filming, due to them either being too small or unavailable to use, and also weather problems affected filming too. I feel that we worked well to overcome those problems overall.

6) What have you learnt about technology from the process of constructing the product?

Before this course, I had very little filming and editing knowledge based on film making, and the technology and equipment used. As time progressed with our film making, my knowledge about editing, filming and the equipment used increased, to make sure our project was to a higher standard.
I have learnt how to use the following equipment;

- Sony HDV 1000 camera and tripod – specialist professional filming equipment
- Tungsten lights – for special lighting effects related to our genre
- Final Cut Express Pro – Film editing software

From using this equipment, I have developed skills in;

- shooting different filming shots, such as smoother shots of different locations in scenes
- Rules of filming, for example 180 degree rule etc.
- filming techniques, such as panning and zooming
- How to professionally edit film

The problems I encountered were;

- focusing the camera
- allowing time for filming in bad weather conditions

7) looking back to your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Since the preliminary task, I feel that I have gained a lot of skills from creating this 2 minute film. One of the biggest lessons I have learned in this process is team work and how it can be so difficult at times.
I have also improved my research skills for projects like this. It helps boost the understanding of a project to create ideas and make life in general easier.

My skills with use of technology have improved also, and it has given me a greater knowledge in film making in general, and the fact that it’s not as easy as it looks.

We asked a sample of our target audience to give feedback on our completed film, some of the comments made were:

"Dark Beginning set the right scene for horror"

"Overall a very good film"

Below is a link to the full feedback video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxtww3RL69U

Film Analysis - Friday The 13th (2009) : 15mins (Giorgina Parker)

Friday the 13th (2009) is a horror film about a serial killer called Jason, who kills young campers in the woods, in revenge for his mother's death. The first 5 minutes show how his mother is killed, by a young girl at Camp Crystal Lake.

The title sequence is mixed with the first scene, which is a flash back of what we discover to be the murder of Jason's mother. This title sequence and flashback in the first scene are all in black and white. This black and white content, assists in emphasising that the scene is from the past. However, the date of June 13th 1980 is also flashed onto the screen to confirm this.

The first shot shows a night scene in the middle of a wood, during a thunder storm. The non diagetic music is in a minor key, which creates suspense. It then cuts to an old wooden sign 'Camp Crystal Lake', which helps to set the scene for the whole film.

It is interesting that the whole of the background to the plot is inter spaced with the title sequence.

The tension & suspense is built during the first 5 minutes by jumping from the title credits to the plot. This is further emphasised by the non diagetic music. As the titles & plot progress, the music fades & sounds from the plot, for example, the girl screaming, the wind & rain. This emphasises the eerie atmosphere because the viewer is aware something is happening, but the screen is black to show the white credits.

Quite cleverly, the film switches from music effects to sound effects to help intensify the atmosphere. The sound & visual effects of thunder & lightening help to create the feeling of tension & fear, when the music stops. This continues throughout the opening scene.

Through out the first scene, long shots & panning are used to suggest that as the girl is running through the woods, she is being watched or followed. This makes the audience feel as though they are 'included' as though they are watching with the person who is watching. There are also 2 close ups included in the opening scenes.

As the audience becomes aware of the figure lurking in the shadows, the use of diagetic dialogue, emphasises the audience's feeling of dread. Although there is very little dialogue, what is said confirms to the audience that this girl is in dire trouble, 'you are the last one, I have killed all the others!'

The next scene is of the present day, approx 30 years later, of the same place as the title sequence. It is an establishing shot of the lake during the day. It is now in colour, & shows a calm, tranquil setting. The shot then zooms into the woods, which appear to be the same but are now much more colourful, tranquil & calm. This time the atmosphere is cheerful, as the shot zooms in further to a group of young people, walking a long a road in the middle of the woods. The viewer almost feels as though they are safe. The path suggests the idea of an easy escape. However, as they leave the path, & walk into the woods, the viewer becomes aware of a feeling of danger approaching. Subconsciously, the characters become more agitated & argue more, emphasising the calm & tranquil setting is drifting away.

The next scene shows a panoramic view of the lake, which then turns to a low angle shot of the moon in a pitch black sky. This leads to the build up of tension & suspense. The silence emphasises this tension further. The scene then zooms to a camp fire which contrasts sharply to the black sky. The redness of the fire emphasises blood & adds to the creepy atmosphere. It is also a filler scene of dramatic irony, as one of the characters, Ritchie, is telling the story of Jason & his mother, to try & frighten the other characters. The audience however, knows the story is true.

Through out this scene, a long shot is used, as though some one is watching them from the trees. As 2 of the characters, Whitney & Mike head into the woods for a romantic interlude, the music begins, but remains soft & gentle. The characters walk out of shot, which also suggests they have walked out of some ones vision. It then cuts to Ritchie walking away from Wade & Amanda, who are messing around the camp fire.

In the next scene, Ritchie is seen walking alone in the woods, singing to diagetic rock music, which contrasts sharply to the setting. It is shot in a long panning shot, as though some one is now following him. As the character turns & moves around, the camera stays in the same place, emphasising he is being watched.

The tension & suspense increases as the build up of music reaches a crescendo, as a figure suddenly appears. At this point, the visual picture fades to blackness and the music fades, whilst the sound effects take over. The viewer only hears a swishing sound as though a sword has been swung through the air. The blackness then cuts to the Camp Crystal Lake sign, which has moss growing over it. As Whitney & Mike walk back into shot, the viewer already knows that the killer is on the loose, & they are probably the next victims. The non diagetic music is soft & eerie to help create more tension.

As the camera pans around the woods, the music becomes louder. When the music hits it climax, an old abandoned house is in shot. The viewer knows more terror is to come.

Through out these first scenes the characters are all stereo typical. The teenagers are taking drugs, drinking alcohol, swearing & indulging in sexual behaviour. The first teenager in the opening scene is hysterical & screaming. This is typical of a horror movie characters behaviour. In addition, Jason as the villain is hidden with glimpses of some one who doesn't appear quite normal.

The setting of the film also lends itself well to a horror movie. It is in the middle of the woods, creating a feeling of isolation & darkness. In fact, all the action takes place at night to emphasise this feeling of loneliness, isolation & fear. Everything always appears worse at night, as any one can hide in the shadows.

Overall, the opening of this film is very effective, as it sets the scene for the rest of the film. It grips the audience with it's use of visual & musical effects. It is unusual that despite people being murdered viciously, there is no show of blood or gore. It is almost too clean to be a true horror movie.

Film Analysis; The Blair Witch Project (10 minutes) (Posted By Charlotte Moreland

As part of my research for our movie, I have decided to make a detailed analysis on the film The Blair Witch Project, as it is a movie that is similar to the one we are creating, because it is a horror, it involves teenage students of both genders, and the teenagers go missing, which is similar to our film “Ellipsis”.

The Blair Witch Project is an American horror film that was released in 1999. It’s presented as a documentary by the narrative pieced together from amateur footage. The film relates to three young student filmmakers who travel into the Black Hills near Burkittsville, Maryland to create a documentary on the local legend that is known as the Blair Witch, but eventually the students end up going missing. The audience is told that the three students were never found, but their video and sound equipment was found a year later, and the recovered footage is what is presented to the audience.

The movie starts off with quite a simplistic title scheme with the black background, and just the title in a white simple font.
It then has another establishing title which informs the audience of how it became a film in general, and gives the audience an insight to what is occurring at the beginning of the film.

The first shot after this consists of an establishing shot of one of the first characters, which is the teenage girl, and the camera shots used throughout is mainly handheld cam to show the audience that it’s not completely serious, and to give that feel that it’s more of a moving documentary type of film and that it’s not taken extremely seriously by the characters that are using the camera. The girl establishes the environment by her dialogue and she talks about what they will be doing for the weekend, for their documentary and what it’s based on.

The next shot consists of a close up of the items being taken on the trip, which is symbolic to the audience, as it gives them a gist as to what the film may lead to, tells the story a little bit more. Also, some of the dialogue is kind of ironic to what may happen later in the film also to the audience.

This next shot introduces another one of the main characters in the film, starting from a medium shot to establish the new character and the car, and handheld cam is used to show the audience that they walking out to start on their journey to find out about the Blair Witch. It also shows the audience the other items of equipment that are being taken, such as another video camera for the main documentary filming. It also shows the audience the characters relations between each other which is obviously a strong friendship.

The shot after this cuts to a close up of one of the male characters having a conversation with the girl filming about details of setting off times with the trip, which once again shows the audience the bond between the two characters.
It then cuts to a medium shot of one of the other new male characters, to establish who he is to the audience, to give the audience a flavour of his character and to also show that he’s leaving for the trip from his house. There is also non diagetic music playing from the car radio. Its major tone, and is a genre for teenagers mainly.

The next shot that is cuts to is a close up using handheld camera in the car of the new male character having a conversation with the female, and then it cuts to a shot of the other male having a conversation. This shows the audience their relationships with each other and their general stereotypes.

The next shot that it cuts to is in a new environment, in the supermarket with a close up handheld cam shot of one the male characters, with conversations occurring at this point. The camera then pans down onto the food that they are going to purchase for their trip, and cuts between both characters, then the camera moves in towards the marshmallows, with the female talking at the same time.

After this, there’s an establishing shot of the new environment as they have arrived at Burkittsville, Maryland, using handheld camera, and the camera goes in towards a picture of a ghost, which is symbolic as its one of the generic conventions that may occur in a horror film, and the dialogue that she uses questions those conventions of the supernatural type, which also fits in with the genre.

The next shot cuts to a series of interviews that they take out with a series of spontaneous people to ask about the Blair Witch for their documentary, and medium camera shots are used for present this to the audience, to show the different genders, and stereotypes of the people that are interviewed on their first day. The first person that is interviewed has a very vague knowledge about the subject.

The shot is then cut to the female character in a medium shot handheld cam, which becomes a close up, as she is having a conversation with the two males, as she talks about what she wants out of this documentary and what she’s trying to avoid from it all. This shot tends to show her dominance and confidence that sort of breaks the average female stereotype to the audience.

The next shot then cuts to a medium shot using handheld cam on one of the main male characters and his equipment, but they are using the black and white film camera, which gives the film a more eerie sense to it to the audience.
It also cuts back to the female doing her lipstick within the car mirror, which shows to the audience her typical girl stereotype.

The next shot then cuts to a closing up handheld camera of one of the male characters filling in the clapperboard to prepare for their next shooting of their documentary.
It then cuts to their first documentary shot, which is a medium shot of the new location, Burkittsville, with the female doing the narrative as diagetic sound, but speaking in monologue form. the narrative gives the audience an insight about this new location and its brief history. This shot is also filmed in black and white which links in the generic conventions of a horror movie (looking quite Gothic, dark colours.)

The next shot cuts to the female stood next to a graveyard, once again being filmed in black and white at a medium, hand-held camera shot, which gives it more eerie feel to the audience. She once again narrates to the audience more history of the town and about the dead bodies in this graveyard and how it is linked to the Blair Witch.

The next shot is a medium shot of gravestones, filmed again in black and white, hand-held, with the female speaking diagetic narrative monologue about these gravestones. The gravestones are generic to the conventions of a horror film representing death and fear. its cuts to a close-up of an infants gravestone, as that is related to the females narrative, and linked in with the myths of the Blair Witch, so its very symbolic. it also cuts to a number f other infants gravestones with close up shots.

It then cuts back to the female, filmed in black and white, medium shot, hand-held camera. She is still talking diagetic narrative, and giving the audience a history and information about the Blair Witch. It then cuts back to some more gravestones, medium shot, which is symbolic to the audience representing death once again.

The next shot is a long shot, back in colour again, of the road with the female using diagetic sound of talking to inform the audience that they have managed to capture the opening cemetery scene.

It then cuts to i close up shot of an old man being interviewed by them about the Blair Witch, using hand-held camera in colour. There is diagetic dialogue from the man and the female character asking about the Blair Witch. It then cuts to a close up, black and white hand-held camera shot of the older man using diagetic dialogue telling the audience his view of the Blair Witch myth.

The next shot cuts to a new middle aged female, with her younger child, close up shot in colour. The main female character uses diagetic dialogue to ask the middle aged woman about the Blair Witch. The middle aged woman then uses diagetic narrative to answer the question with her opinion on the whole myth.

It then cuts to a new middle aged male character, close up shot in colour. He uses diagetic narrative to explain his opinion on the myth.

The next shot is back to the older aged male, close up shot, hand-held camera, filming in black and white. He uses diagetic narrative to talk more in depth about the myth of the Blair Witch.

It then cuts back to the middle aged woman and her younger child, close up, hand-held camera back in colour again. She uses diagetic narrative to carry on talking about the myth of the Blair Witch.

The next shot cuts back to the older aged male, close up, hand-held camera, back in black and white again. He uses diagetic narrative to carry on telling his opinion of the myth.

It then cuts back to the middle aged male, close up, hand-held camera, in colour. He uses diagetic narrative to carry on telling the audience his opinion and stories he's heard about the myth of the Blair Witch.

The next shot cuts back to the older aged male, close up, hand-held camera, filmed in black and white again. He uses diagetic narrative to continue telling his stories to the audience about the Blair Witch.

It then cuts back to the middle aged man, close up, hand-held camera, shot in colour. He uses diagetic narrative to continue telling the audience his views on the Blair Witch.

The next shot cuts to a new middle aged female in a cafe, medium shot, hand-held camera, filmed in colour. She uses diagetic narrative to start telling her opinion and stories on the Blair Witch myth. The main female character uses diagetic narrative also to ask the person being interviewed questions.

It then cuts to a new older aged male character, wearing glasses and a hat in the street, close up, hand-held camera, filmed in colour. The main female starts off using diagetic narrative to ask him questions about witchcraft and religion, but the man doesn't because he's a religious man. Also witchcraft and religion are generic conventions for the genre of horror.

The next shot is back to the middle aged woman ad her younger child, close up, hand-held camera, filmed in colour. She uses diagetic narrative to continue telling her stories and rumours on the Blair Witch. The main female character also uses diagetic narrative to ask her questions.

It then cuts back to the older aged male, close up, hand-held camera, filmed in black and white. He uses diagetic narrative to continue telling the tales about the Blair Witch. The main female also uses diagetic narrative to ask questions and prompt the male.

The next shot cuts to a medium shot of a new location with a house and car to establish a new place to the audience. There is also diagetic narrative of the characters talking to each other, and also establishing they they have arrived at "Mary's" house, so its introducing a new character, that is going to probably be very important and symbolic at this point to the story.

It then cuts to the characters at Mary's house trying to find her, medium shot, hand-held camera in colour. There is then a close up of her gate made of twigs, which is quite an unusual thing to see to the audience, and gives an idea of the new characters mad personality. The main female character uses diagetic narrative to talk about the gate and to show her confusion of how to actually open it.

It then cuts to the new female character known as Mary, who is holding a book, medium shot, hand-held camera, filmed in black and white. The main female character uses diagetic narrative to ask Mary relevant questions about the Blair Witch and how she had an encounter with her. Mary the replies about her encounter to the audience and goes into depth and detail about what it was like. It also cuts to another medium shot from a a different angle to show her talking. There is also a close up shot to her face, so show the audience what she properly looked like and to give the audience more of an idea about who she is actually is and to begin trying to decipher her personality as a character. It then cuts back to a medium shot to show her movements as she describes what she felt when it happened.

The next shot is back in the car with a close up shot of one of the main male characters, hand - held camera, in colour. He uses diagetic narrative and starts talking about the character of Mary and her personality and uses hints of sarcasm about her, which gives the audience more of an idea about her character. The female also uses diagetic narrative to respond to his conversation, to also talk about Mary to show more about her mad character and to show that she's not all there in the head. Both of the characters use diagetic narrative to talk about things related to the camera and filming.

It then cuts to a medium shot of one of the male characters laid on the bed in their new location, so it establishes it to the audience that they have arrived at a place to stay for the night. The female character uses diagetic narrative to ask the males how they both felt about how successful the day was. The males reply to her question with diagetic narrative.

It finally cuts to a medium shot of all the characters having a beer, hand-held camera, in colour. There is also more diagetic narrative from all the characters.

1. In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of media products?
Our film, Ellipsis, is a sub genre horror film - slasher, and uses quite a few of the generic horror conventions; we include several pieces of iconography and key themes commonly seen in horror films. When watching horror films, including “Wrong turn”, “Last house on the left” and “The Texas chainsaw massacre” I noticed that in the openings of these films stereotypical themes or iconic images are used. Most of these films involve blood and gore in their openings and had a stereotypical “damsel in distress” figure, this is like our opening. Our film opening was influenced greatly by these horror films, mainly “The Texas chainsaw massacre”, like our film they have a female figure that seems to be severely injured.

(Texas Chainsaw massacre)

(Ellipsis)

Our first scene consists of the main character (Mary-Alice) bound to a chair and obviously injured, she then screams and the screen cuts to black. This connotes the horror genre as blood & screaming are both icons of horror films. Our title sequence is influenced by the film “wrong turn”; we have used the idea of having shots of our setting, forest/woods, run with non diegetic music and out titles over the top.



I feel that our film also challenges the forms and conventions of a horror film due to the fact that our film is dominated by females- there are no dominant “heroic” male figures in the opening, I feel this challenges the conventional horror films as all of the films that I have watched seem to involve a stereotypically strong, brave and dominant male character.


2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Ellipsis does represent the stereotypical female character, due to the fact that the first character seen on screen is a girl, who is in the typical “damsel in distress” situation. This image is commonly scene in nearly all horror films, women are always placed in dangerous places where the “heroic” and “dominant” male figure has to come and save them. For this scene we were greatly influenced by films like “Wrong turn” and “Texas Chainsaw massacre” as they too include women in their opening scenes. In the film “Wrong turn” the female character is left alone after the male character is killed. This ultimately leaves her abandoned, alone and helpless which is the idea that we wanted to connote with our first scene.



Wrong Turn

Ellipsis

I believe that our film will be attractive to our target audience (aged 15-30) as we include characters of a similar age. Our characters are aged between 17 and 18 years old and are also college students so are therefore part of our target audience. We are confident that our film would appeal to both men and women, we think women due to the fact that our main cast (involved in the opening scene) are all female and to the film is dominated by females which is unusual for a horror film. However we do feel that it would appeal to men due to the fact that our film involves blood/gore.
Our character Mary- Alice Jones is based loosely on the character Kristy Earl from the film “wolf creek”. She looks very similar to our character- with stereotypical long hair, and also both characters wear white clothes- which are then stained with blood. Suggesting the loss of innocence and also emphasizing the idea of torture and death.

3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
I feel that a distribution company such as Rogue pictures would distribute our film as they have distributed films such as “Last house on the Left”, “White Noise” and “The Strangers”. They appear to work with a wide range of horror films, with different budgets and genres. I feel that our film is fairly similar in budget and would have a similar reaction from audiences to films such as “Last house on the Left”. Also all of these example films had a moderately sized cinema release and I feel that our film would do also. They also had a wide range of simple adverts such as TV adverts/trailers and billboards, which again I feel would be used to advertise our film.

4. Who would be the audience for your media product?
Our target audience is men and women aged from 15 to 30+. I feel that our film would be successful to this audience as we include characters of the similar ages. Also from our Questionnaire – from the people we asked (within our age range) 10 out of 10 said they would watch our film. We have a significantly younger age rating on our film, compared to the films we are influenced by- however we didn’t feel that our film was an 18 rating as we don’t include any serious images of Violence, torture or sexual activity.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?
We have attracted out target audience by involving characters in our opening that are from our target audience age range. We have also included generic conventions of horror films and used iconography so that we attract horror movie fans. I feel that our opening builds up enough tension, but could have been longer. In the first scene with Mary-Alice tied to the chair I believe that suspense begins to build- but the scene is too short for it to peak. However I feel the “scream” will make the audience jump- a key target with horror films.
In the first scene we have quite low lighting, which creates shadows and therefore confusion and mystery. You can’t really see everything in the room which again gives the idea of mystery. We use a lot of slow shots that establish the environment and build suspense/tension. The sudden close-up of the character and scream will make the audience jump.

I feel that our editing is good quality; some shots don’t flow as fluently as others. I feel that our strongest area of editing is in the title sequence where the shots flow fluently and smoothly. I feel that our camera work is of a high quality- the majority of shots link together and we have used a wide range of shots including medium shots, close-ups and an eye-line match - Again some of our shots are not of as high a standard as others. I feel that our strongest area with camera shots is the last scene; I feel that it flows together smoothly and our continuity is of a high standard. While filming our opening we did encounter quite a few problems. We had several problems with locations for the scenes- the locations where we had planned to shoot were either too small or unavailable. We also encountered weather problems when trying to shoot outside. These I feel are quite common problems and that we worked well to overcome them. Our main problem while filming was bad weather which resulted in us being unable to film our last scene.

6. What have you learnt about technology from the process of constructing the product?
I have learnt a lot from this project, I have learnt how to use the Sony HDV 1000 camera and tri-pod and the editing software Final Cut Express. I have also learnt how to use other equipment such as tungsten lights to gain a better quality film.

This is the first time I have used the Sony HDV 1000 camera and I feel that it went very well; I have learnt how to control the camera in order to capture high quality shots.
On Final Cut Express I have learnt how to effectively edit by following these steps:
1. Capture and Log Footage
2. Name Shots
3. Rough Edit/Cut
4. Fine tune
5. Add effects/filters
6. Fine tune and improve sound
7. Add Music and titles
I have also learnt how to use the tools to reframe shots, add titles, effects and to manipulate images with filters.

7. Looking back to your preliminary task, what do you feel that you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Since our preliminary task I feel that I have learnt how to produce a film of an overall higher quality. I know how to do this now by planning thoroughly threw storyboards and shot lists so I am fully organised when it comes to actually filming. I now know that it is easier to film when everyone in the group is assigned a specific role. Overall I feel that I have improved greatly since the preliminary task, with our current film we have followed the 180 degree rule and produced an effective eye line match. I also feel that my confidence with the camera and other equipment has increased now, I believe we have produced a successful opening and have achieved what we set out to do. If I could do this project again I would maybe try to use a wider range of shots, including a match on action. I would also try to make our title sequence longer as I feel that it isn’t long enough for a film opening. I would also try to make sure that all the camera shots are of a high quality standard.

(On any images please click to enlarge)

We asked a sample of our target audience to give feedback on our completed film, some of the comments made were:

"Dark Beginning set the right scene for horror"

"Overall a very good film"

Below is a link to the full feedback video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxtww3RL69U

Our Final Film Clare Bannister, Emma Mitchell, Charlotte Moreland & Giorgina Parker

This is our final film, which we have uploaded to YouTube, enabling more people to view it, and make their own reviews of our film:

Location Shots - By Emma Mitchell and Clare Bannister

These are shots of our locations for each scene consisted in our 2 minute opening.

SCENE ONE - PHOTOGRAPHY STUDIO.

SCENE TWO - DODWORTH FOREST

SCENE THREE - HONEYWELL CANTEEN

Animated Storyboard By Clare Bannister and Emma Mitchell

This is the animated version of our storyboard, which is played in chronological order, with the type of shot, and the actual shot behind the image:

Ellipsis Evaluation - By Emma Mitchell

In what ways does your media product use, develop, or challenge forms and conventions of media products?
For our chosen film Ellipsis, we decided to create a horror film, and therefore we have followed the conventions of existing horror films, in particular quite recent ones. We further developed our genre, and chose to create the sub-genre slasher horror, as this in particular portrays scenes of physical torture, which we would be able to create realistically, as fake blood is easily accessible. Furthermore, the Gothic setting featured in the opening of the film, denotes the genre horror, as it presents a dark setting, simply lit, and shows the audience an unconscious character that is tied to a chair, stained with blood.












Our short film was shot in the North of England, which was efficient for the locations in which we needed to film; outdoor, open scenes. Another example of a Gothic setting also featured during the opening of our film, is during the second scene, where panning and tracking shots are used to establish an eerie forest, creating suspicion and mystery for the audience. The smooth panning of the forest is in synchronization with the non dietetic orchestral music, which is an added element to the scene, to evoke the genre horror.
Scene Two in our film is influenced upon the film “The Wrong Turn”, as the opening of this particular film presents panning and tracking shots of a forest to establish the scene. This can be shown in this image,shown from both films. Therefore, we have used intertextuality, in order for the two films to be linked.
















Another film associated with the opening of "Ellipsis", is "The Blaire Witch Project", which portrays amateur footage, filmed in the present time. The way in which they have produced a film in which the audience believe is a true story, is very effective, and heightens the realism. Furthermore, our film can be linked to this through the narrative, as a group of teenagers slowly disappear. This compares to ours, with the mysterious and suspicious element.
Although our film is influenced by existing horror films such as The Blare Witch Project, and The Wrong Turn, is also challenges some idealist generic conventions such as the storyline. It is not a normal feature for all of the characters to be teenagers, as many horror films consist of at least one adult character, in contrast to this, ours does not. The characters in our film however, can be related to the characters in both “The Blaire Witch Project”, as a it is a group of teenagers who disappear whilst hiking, and the film consists of many close ups from a hand held camera, to show the actors clear facial expressions.This can be linked to in our film, when a close up of the character Mary-Alice is shown, to show her horrified facial expressions, and her state of torture, therefore both films evoke the genre horror.














How does your media product represent particular social groups?
In contrast to many horror films where the female sex is presented as passive, Ellipsis breaks that natural convention of woman, and their stereotypes, as the females presented as quite dominant over the male characters. This is exposed to the audience through the use of acting and facial expressions, as during the first two minutes, the male characters have not appeared in the film, therefore this shows the audience, that the narrative of the film is dominated by females, and this should link well with our target audience of 15-30 ages. However in contrast to this, our film also uses a stereotypical convention of the main female character being defeated by the monster of the film, in which case is the male kidnapper. This is efficient, because in the
opening of the film, a soundscape of Mary-Alice commences, and this would not be as effective if it was a male character screaming.










Although the film consists of teenage characters, therefore engaging the age range of teenagers, the film can also be aimed at the adults, up to the age of 30. This is because the film as a whole presents many gore, and slasher scenes, which can be aimed at both sexes, but also is not overdone, and unrealistic.












What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
The kind of media institution which might distribute our film would be likely to appeal to a moderate budget distributor. This would be because it is a working class film, with a small budget, which doesn’t enable the film to involve special effects such as 3D to heighten the success of the film; therefore it would not appeal to big blockbuster distributors such as Walt Disney, or Warner Brothers. Because of this, the film could not be advertised using premiers, and other elaborate events.
However, I believe our film could be quite successful, if placed with the right distributor, as the story line is captivating, and the acting is quite professional, therefore it should be distributed by a moderate budget distributor such as Artisan Entertainment, who also distributed “The Blair Witch Project”, making ours a cinema release type of film. As our film is on quite a low budget, there wouldn’t be many opportunities to advertise, using merchandising. However, the film could be communicated to eager audiences, by using billboards, trailers, and posters. Internet advertising could be used for our film, in as much as pop-ups, and suggested websites. The key iconography consisted in our film, which would be the most effective to use for merchandising, would be the image of the main character in the opening of the film, tied to the chair screaming. This is a key special element in our film, as it sets the genre horror right from the beginning of the film, instantly engaging the audience.










Who would be the audience for your media product?
Our target is aimed at the 15 – 30 generation. This is because the film consists of teenage characters; therefore it will appeal to these age ranged people. However, the characters act maturely, and the mystery element of the film will also attract people up to the age of 30, as the narrative is realistic, and scary. Although the film is not target at a niche audience, the film may be target more towards females than males, as the film presents dominant female characters. However, it could attract some male attention, as it involves blood and gore. The films which have inspired our film, such as “The Blair Witch Project” and “The Wrong Turn”, have certifications of 15, and 18. This is because the film may contain explicit scenes, which are not suitable for an audience lower than this age range. Furthermore, the certification 15 films, have the largest audiences. We decided that the certification for our film should be 15, as it does contain quite a lot of gore, and horror, but not so many extreme explicit scenes. This fits well with our target audience, as the results featured questionnaire, filled in by teenagers age 15+, said that they would watch our film.
This is a link to the BBFC website for information on film certification policies.
http://www.bbfc.co.uk/

















How did you attract/address your audience?
Although our film consists of dominant female characters, the film may aim towards the male audience because the theme of the film is camping/hiking, which is stereotypically a male activity. Furthermore, the non-dietetic orchestral music which is featured in scene two sounds daunting, and featured in a lower register tone, therefore this could also appeal more to the male audience than female. To add tension to the film, like in every film, the music is essential; therefore the music we have chosen is a crescendo, which builds up the tension for the following scene. The intention that we have for the audience is to involve them into the film, therefore by making the character scream directly at the camera, focused in a close up, we have included a scene which will make the audience jump, and scare them, but also add suspicion. This is featured in the opening scene, where the mysterious black setting is presented, with slow pans, and tilts of the dark room, which keeps the audience in suspense. Following this is where the main character Mary-Alice screams, and then the title sequence commences. This is engage the audience, and to invoke the genre horror. Therefore the generic conventions in the opening scene are shadows and screaming.

















What have you learnt about technology from the process of constructing the product?
Before creating a 2 minute opening of a film, I knew very little about media technology, however, from the beginning of the creation of the film, to the final draft of the film, I have learnt how to use a range of technology. I have used a Sony HDV 1000 camera and tri-pod and the editing software Final Cut Express, which are specialist media filming equipment. The other equipment which I have learnt of is the tungsten lights, which were used to enhance the shadows of setting, and of the actors.
















From using the HDV Sony 1000 camera, I have learned how to skilfully shoot smooth location shots, such as panning, and tracking. However, the sound recording isn’t very high quality, but as we were only using conversation shots, that wasn’t essential. Also, although the camera was manageable, there were some focus problems, during the filming of the second scene. Also, we had problems with our filming schedule due to bad weather, which caused us to cut out scene four of our film, as we did not have the time to film. We resolved this by making the first scene the one which would create the cliffhanger, therefore it was not a major problem.
However, to enhance the film, we have used new technology such as the tungsten lights, which were used to enhance the shadows of the setting, and of the actors. From using this technology, I have learned how to edit the film proficiently;
• Using final cut express, first capture and log the images
• Create a rough cut of the 2 minute opening
• Fine tune the sound quality, by making sure the sound is in clear synchronization with the image
• Add music and titles (we also learned how to manipulate the title, by using special effects)
• Reframe by using filters, and effects to manipulate the images.


Looking back to your preliminary task, what do you feel that you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Throughout the process, I have tried my very best, to create a successful 2 minute opening, which will appeal to our target audience. Although it was a group effort, I have contributed a great deal, into the planning, and preparation for the shooting of the film, but also the editing, and final procedure. Before filming, I researched the genre horror, and the sub genre’s which follow, in order for us, as a production team, create an efficient film. By researching we gained a greater knowledge of the genre, and what it consists of.
Then, in order for the shooting procedure to run smoothly, I created a call sheet, shot list, and also costume design, so that the days ran without problem, as we knew which shots to film, and what order to edit them. I believe that my shots have improved, such as the match on action, as this is cut with quite good continuity. From the preliminary shoots, which we shot before the creation of the film, I believe i have improved a great deal with the technology, as I feel more confident, especially with editing, but also more confident with technology in general.

We conducted a audience feedback session, in which a sample of our target audience gave feedback on our film.

Here are a few of the comments which they gave:

"It was stereotypical, as the female victim at the beginning showed horror"

"Obeyed the 180 degree rule"

I am quite pleased with the feedback which we received, as it showed a mixture of both positive comments, and also constructive criticism.

Here is a link to the full feedback video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxtww3RL69U