Question 4 & 5

This is the link to my Movely animation which is now on youtube. It answers question 4 and 5;

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

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

 

Question 3

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

 

This is my answer in the form of a podcast that plays over the Universal Studios logo. It listens in on my interview with Universal studios and below that is a script so you can follow what is being said. Yellow = me (producer of Inside) and black = Universal studios representative.

Following my recent research on distribution companies and also production companies I have been able to answer this question. I am going to an interview with Universal studios now and I will let you listen in...

 

Hello Universal studios, thankyou for taking the time today to discuss the potential distribution of my media product called Inside.

Hello, its my pleasure.

So you have distributed multiple horror films before including your most sucessful one; Jaws back in 1975.

Yes that grossed 260 million dollars!

Wow, thats impressive, however why should I choose you to distribute my media product rather than Lionsgate who has produced sucessful horror films that are much more recent, for example The Conjuring in 2013.

Well, we were founded back in 1912 which was way before Lionsgate who were founded in 1997 and so we have much more experience with distributing media products like Inside.

Thats true, however my horror film is not like Jaws and the majority of your most sucessful films are not aimed at the target audience I am looking to reach out to. And it is for that reason that I am going to choose Lionsgate to distribute my media product as they have simular products, for example Scream and The Conjuring and so they will have more useful experience with distrubuting horror films like Inside. They have also gone on to distribute sucessful series like the SAW series and so I could consider continuing my horror film by making it a franchise.

Ok, I understand and accept the choice you have made, thankyou for considering Universal Studios.

Question 2- Part two

Question 2- Part one

My Prezi Question 1

Question 1

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

 

I decided to answer this question by referring to the four micro-elements on Prezi. Here is a link to view my answer!
 

My target audience - demographics and psychographics

The majority of people who watch horror films are between 12 and 25 which I discovered from my secondary research. They tend to be more working class than middle class and more men tend to watch horror films than women. Our media product included female characters and so we aimed to encourage more women to watch our film as they could relate to the characters and their roles e.g mother. According to secondary research more parents watch horror films than not, this could be because the male in the relationship could encourage the female to watch horror films with them as they enjoy the thrill and gory side of the genre.

My target audience profile

Age: 15-25 - as this is the most popular age range for watching horror films.
Gender: Female - as they can relate to the mother and her situation.
Demographics: Social class C1 and C2 - as they can relate to our location (house); there is enough room for the mother to be oblivious to the actions going on elsewhere in the house as it is a two-storey house.
Marital status: Divorced or single - as they can relate to our characters situation of being a mum looking after her daughter on her own with no male to protect her.
Psychographics: They're  mainstreamers and aspirers. 

Note: Social class is now less obvious as we all seem to blend into a middle-class community according to a London Times article.  

Definitions:

Psychographics is the study of personality, values, opinions, attitudes, interests, and lifestyles. Because this area of research focuses on interests, attitudes, and opinions.

• Aspirers: people who want to appear rich and attractive.
• Reformers: people who want social change, are unimpressed by status and make decisions based on their values
• Explorers:  adventurous people who like taking risks
• Mainstreamers: people who follow the crowd
• Strugglers: people who find it hard to achieve (poverty)

Demographics are the study of a population based on factors such as age, race, sex, economic status, level of education, income level and employment, among others.

• Category A(Upper middle class – bankers, doctors)
• Category B(Middle class –  teachers, middle managers)
• Category C1(Lower middle class – office supervisors, nurses)
• Category C2(Skilled working class – tradespeople)
• Category D(working class – unskilled manual labour)
• Category E(People at the lowest level of income – unemployed, students, pensioners)

Paranormal acitivty case study

A perfect example of a successful low-budget horror film that made millions in profits is..

 Paranormal activity. It was a hit phenomena that went on to make 6 films including the most recent; Ghost dimension (2015).

 The film cost just $15,000 and was first shown at the Slamdance film festival where it caught the attention of Steven Spielberg, the well-known Hollywood film director. His initial plans were to make a big-budget remake of the film however he then decided to take the film to Paramount/DreamWorks, where it took off beyond imagined. The movie was marketed as a unique "experience" for its audience. The trailer was a bit far fetch as it did not reveal the scariest moments as the film was based upon a slow build up of terror. This worked particularly well and put it in high demand for the midnight viewings available. The high demand led to Paramount releasing the film in cinemas on a normal schedule rather than just the late showings. The film created an online buzz which meant marketing for the film was cheap! Social media was used for marketing as well as research when Facebook and Twitter accounts were set up purely to see peoples reactions to the film!

 3 main reasons for Paranormal Activities success;

1. It let the consumers dictate the demand, once demand hit 100,000 the film was distributed within a radius of everyone's home who wanted to see it.
2. They did not require a high budget for marketing as they let the fans market on their behalf.
3. The film did not have high expectations and so there was no false-hype, viewers expectations were exceeded.
4. As the film was low-budget, distributers could play around with marketing and experiment different ways to advertise the film for example by portraying the true aspects of the slow building film within the trailer rather than giving the audience everything by jumping to the climax.

 

Evaluation of my media product

Okay so before you see Esme and I's final horror opening for Inside I want to make you aware of some changes we have made to the storyline and also identify why these changes have been made...

• The doll was abandoned. We filmed the scene where Alice was possessed by the doll however when editing this scene it proved difficult to communicate our idea to our audience. We asked various people to watch it and provide us with feedback which resulted in us abandoned the doll as a prop. As an alternative we had her possessed by a spirit that lives in the house.
• The park scene as featured in our initial storyboard was also abandoned as the location proved too difficult to get to and it was also a public area which meant that we could not anticipate whether people would try to get in the shot and ruin it. Also, on the days we allocated to filming, the weather was not as pleasant as we would have wanted it to be and so it would not portray the idea of 'happy family in the sun'.
• We changed the characters featured. Olivia Martin and Zac Levin who were featured in our character profiles to play the parent roles were often busy and so it proved difficult to arrange a date we could all do and so to fit to our short filming schedule we just had a mother who I played the role as. This idea added to the idea of vulnerability as there was not the typical macho man father to protect his daughter or wife.

To further present the changes made to our horror opening I am going to post a picture of the final storyboard.

Audience pleasures

After watching multiple horror films in order to gather inspiration, ideas and what not it suddenly dawned on me... why do people actually enjoy being scared? When people watch horrific images, their heartbeat increases by as much as 15 beats per minute. Their palms sweat, their skin temperature drops several degrees, their muscles tense, and their blood pressure spikes. So why do people pay to watch horror films if they are just going to get themselves worked up?

Well, personally I enjoy the sense of achievement once you have lasted the duration of a horror film and I also enjoy the thrill and suspense created before a scary scene. I love experiencing the different fears; jump-scare and the gradual fear from a prolonged build up like in Paranormal activity.

Some people may see the trailer of a film and will go to see it in order to know how it ends, audiences enjoy walking away from films with the knowledge that any disruption has been settled, the 'happy ever after' ending always leaves an audience happy after.

Teenagers tend to watch horror films because they feel they are mature for being able to watch them, some adults feel they do not need this adrenaline rush and frown upon horror films which makes teens want to watch them more. This could be why horror films are usually aimed at teenagers with an age rating of 15 on average.

Some theories say people are merely seeking violent entertainment in order to cope with their own feeling of fear or violence. Adults tend to frown upon horror films as they believe it will cause their children to act in a violent manner however the average horror film thrill seeker won’t have had their personalities altered. Horror films spark fears, I honestly panic when swimming in the ocean depths as a result of JAWS! But some viewers enjoy conquering their fears by facing them head on in a film where they can walk away after, knowing that there is a solution for example in the end, Jaws dies and so he does not exist therefore you cannot fear him. There are many different reasons that lead to people watching and enjoying horror films, if you like them, is it because of any of these reasons or is it because of something else? Please comment your thoughts and opinions!

Finished editing!

This week Esme and I have been trying to do as much editing as possible during our frees and at lunch in order to get it finished by this weekend so that as of tomorrow we can start focusing on the 7 evaluation questions. It has been hard work but it has paid off as now all our filming and editing is finished! Below I have attached a picture of the Media sign in sheet which we have had to use for this months editing as many students are having to spend extra time out of lessons as deadlines are fast approaching!

Final storyboard

Esme and I had to draw out a new storyboard after changing some of our initial ideas for example we were now starting with an establishing shot of the house as appose to a scene in the local park. This storyboard gives an accurate representation of the final media product.

 

Time management

Horror institutions

Production companies usually go to distribution companies in order to successfully reach out to their target audience.

Twisted pictures is an American independent production company, mainly creating films of the horror genre. They are best known for producing the SAW series which made the company over half a million dollars. After the success of SAW in 2004, the production company made a nine-picture distribution deal with Lionsgate.

 

Other distribution companies such as Universal studios however are not best known for horror films however they have distributed films from the horror genre.  

Universal Studios was founded in 1912 and it is currently the 4th oldest operational movie studio in the world. Over the past century Universal have been in business, the studio has won a record 149 Academy Awards and its success has obviously come with many box office hits and classic films. Universal's top 5 films (based on gross profits) are

1. Bruce Almighty

2. How the Grinch stole Christmas

3. Jaws

4. Meet the Fockers

5. Despicable me

And so only one of their big earning films was from the horror genre however it was very successful!

 

Hammer Pictures is a British film production company based in London. Founded in 1934, the company is best known for a series of Gothic "Hammer Horror" films made from the mid-1950s until the 1970s.

 

Blumhouse Productions is an American horror movie production company founded in 2000, producing big name yet low-budget films such as Paranormal Activity, Insidious, The Purge, and Sinister franchises. They too focus specifically on the horror genre.

 

The horror film market has continued to grow over the years and so more production companies are creating the films as there are big profits to be made. Also, many successful distribution companies have also dipped into the market.

Filming finished!

Esme and I have now finished filming and so we can focus on editing over the next week. We spent 4 hours afterschool retaking some shots using different camera angles using the tripod for assistance. We tried to recreate a CCTV type camera angle to give the impression that someone was watching Alice. My sister was the actress and we often had to take multiple shots as her drama skills are minimal. But it is a big relief now all our filming is completed!

Extra editing time

Following our recent feedback, Esme and I decided to go to the media room at lunchtime to edit and to decide what final shots we needed to re-film if any or any new shots we could try that may have been suggested in yesterday's lesson. This extra editing time was important as we had no more lessons dedicated to editing.
Between now and the last time we edited out of lesson we have tried to get all our filming done however filming on different days has adjusted the lighting and so some shots need to be re-filmed, trying to match the lighting the same as before.

Video blog regarding our recent feedback recieved

We received some good, useful feedback from our fellow classmates.

We received more positive feedback regarding how the white flashes worked although one person

recommended changing the colour of the flashes to red which would represent danger. However we did try this prior to showing our classmates the video and we felt this did not work as it did not create a horrifying effect like we were aiming for. This video discusses our responses to the feedback... 

Feedback

We presented 43seconds of edited film to our classmates in order to receive both positive and negative feedback to which we would act upon and improve our opening. This is the feedback we received...

Extra editing!

Esme and I have been focusing on editing this week. As the location for our horror opening is in my home I have been trying to film as much as I can whenever my sister (paying the role of Alice) is free. I have tested some shots out and during our lunchtimes Esme and I have been looking through them assessing what works and what doesn't. Over the weekend Esme is planning on coming over so we can get some of the filming done together.

Horror film opening credits

Film: The eye (2008)
Synopsis: The violinist Sydney Wells has been blind since she was five years old due to an accident. She submits to a surgery of cornea transplantation to recover her vision, and while recovering from the operation, she realizes that she's having strange visions. With the support of Dr. Paul Faulkner, Sidney finds who the donor of her eyes and begins a journey to find out the truth behind her visions.

Notes on the opening (first 4 minutes)

• We first see what appears to be flashbacks of boys running through a field at night however it is unclear as the montage editing it blurred and fast paced. We hear diegetic sound which could be in a foreign language. The boys appear to be repeating what could be a gang name (as it is spray painted on scrap mental- 'Bruja') whilst throwing rocks at an isolated and derelict house. The woman inside the house appears to be nervous and panicked as she ties a noose for herself and stands upon a chair. We see a close up of the chair as it wobbles; if the chair falls she will die and so at this point the audience are on edge. We then see a distorted figure appear from the shadows, followed by a reaction shot of the lady crying because she is scared. The figure then runs at the lady, making a screeching sound. We do not see what it does to her however we are presented with a low angle shot of the chair flying across the room, followed by her legs dangling as she is strangled and killed by the noose.  As you see the production synagy  names come up on a black screen, you can hear the sound effects of the rope swinging to which she is hanging from.
• We then see a jump cut to a sunny day, where we hear positive atmospheric sound. At this point we assume the character is wearing sunglasses like various other characters in the background however we later discover she is in fact blind.  
  
• This is how the credits are given to us as an audience, they appear where there is no real important events occurring, this enables the audience to focus on the names featured as they are often well-known actors. The credits appear when there is no diegetic sound however the location does change from the street to the theatre. The credits then stop when diegetic sound occurs.
• The camera often switches to various shots of a boy skateboarding, we then are given a close up shot of the traffic light going red warning people to stop (colour representation as red symbolises danger). This foreshadows that she may not stop however the skateboarder comes along and nearly skates into the path of a moving train. The lady stops him and inevitably saves his life, the skateboarder uses diegetic sound in "thanks, I didn't see that" where our main character then replies "me either". We then switch to a long shot of the lady and with the use of props we are now aware she is blind however fully aware of her environment. Blind people are stereotypically vulnerable however she goes against this. 
• We then see an establishing shot of the theatre where an orchestra are playing. Our main character is playing with them which shows how she has adapted to being blind and is not at a disadvantage. This is the equilibrium as everyone appears to be happy.  This positive environment contradicts the previous scene.

Credits include;

• costume designer
• edited by
• music supervisor
• casting by
• music by
• production designer
• line producer
• executive producer