Question 7

Question 6

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)

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.

Storyboard evaluation

Esme and I decided to start our piece in the park because it reveals an equilibrium (Todorov's narrative structure) as the family are all happy, united in the park. The parents watch Alice happily as she swings on the swing with her new doll. Credits will be continuously fading in and out during this section until the title appears; Inside. We then go back to the park where we see a long shot of the family leaving the park, we plan to include credits on each tree as they walk out of the park. This is the last time the audience are presented with the united, happy family. We feel this is effective because they are walking away from the camera, into the distance where we can no longer keep an eye on them. This shot will then fade out and fade into the girl's bedroom. During the fading out of the shot we will hear a voiceover of the mum reading a bedtime story "and they lived happily ever after". We will then see the mum close the book and kiss her daughter goodnight. We feel an over the shoulder shot of the mum reading is the best shot to use as we are presented with the girls innocence as she reacts to the story as it is told.

The diegetic sound used also foreshadows that this will not be a happy ending. Once the mother has said goodnight to Alice, she leaves the room and switches the light off on her way out. Alice then lifts the covers over her head and switches on a torch. The camera is placed under the cover so the audience feel involved. Alice then sings the nursery rhyme 'ring a ring a roses' to her doll, once she sings the line and they all fall down, the torch light stitches off leaving the screen black. At this point the audience may think nothing of it and will not expect what's about to happen. Alice then switches the torch back on however the camera is now placed over Alice's shoulder (or a POV shot, which ever works best), her doll is then positioned directly in front of her face. She then screams and  struggles to escape from the covers. At this point we plan to use fast paced editing to enhance the panic expressed by Alice. The camera then becomes still, using a mid shot fixed on Alice who is looking at something out of the cameras view. We then pan to what she is looking at, out of the window is another version of Alice; her eyes are one colour (black out or white out, again whatever looks best), her face is dirty, her hair is messy and she looks possessed. We then zoom to the desk in front of the window where we see some crayons and a family picture. Alice's parents have a noose around their necks drawn on by the crayons. The screen goes black and the opening is over leaving the audience wanting to know the significance however we have laid out the puzzle pieces but you will only see the full picture right at then end when the final piece is put in place and it all comes together.

Our narrative

This is how we have used Todorov's narrative structure

to assist us with our own narrative. It explains what part of the stroyline we plan to show within our opening.

My mini brief evaluation

Pros…

ü  We met and understood the requirements; match-on-action, shot-reverse-shot and the 180 degree rule.

ü  We included non-diegetic and diegetic sound.

ü  We used a variety of camera shots including long-shots and close-ups.

ü  Our storyboard proved very useful as it assisted our filming by keeping us on track.

ü  Our character profiles helped us to understand the character when acting.

ü  Our research into the drama genre introduced us to the generic conventions required in order to capture our target audience. We tried to film a realistic situation to which the audience could potentially relate to however, it would have been more realistic to have had a middle-age woman act as the mother figure.

Cons…

Ø  Our pan shot should’ve been filmed using a tripod as it was a bit shaky. The quality of the film when uploaded into Adobe Premiere Pro was also poor which led us to render our work multiple times. To avoid this for our final piece we will use one of our own personal cameras which will produce a better quality film.  

Ø  We could’ve used more props to enhance the film e.g costumes.

Ø  Our location let in a lot of light which did not set the scene of a girl coming back in the early hours of the morning. If I was to do it again I would film in a darker area or film at a later time of the day but due to the limited time allocated to filming and editing for our mini brief I think we made the best of the situation.

Ø  Our initial storyboard was altered in order to suit the changes required to get the filming finished in time. This meant we had to improvise some shots and so to better this for our final piece I would take the recces and organise our time before drawing up the storyboard.

Ø  Our initial script was also altered as when it came to editing, some shots were just not needed and so as a result; some dialogue was cut. The mini brief involved exchanging dialogue and so extended convocation was not needed however it was initially planned.


Strengths…

ü  My strength would be organising and directing the filming period. I drew out the storyboard and wrote the script, both of which are essential to making the film possible.

ü  Jake’s strength would be in editing and filming as he is experienced with Adobe Premiere Pro however I am more experienced with IMovie which we plan to use next time.

ü  Esme’s strength would be in assisting the piece; she takes drama and so is skilled with acting and knowing where the characters are best positioned. She thought about the reactions of the situations.

  Weaknesses'…

Ø  Our editing was poor when using Adobe Premiere Pro and so to better our chances of creating a more advanced final piece we will use IMovie.  This is quicker and easier to use and so it will provide us with more time to plan and film.

Ø  Our acting skills were poor and so next time we will try to make the most of our resources by using friends and family with experience in acting. We must use those who best suited to the role of the character which could be achieved through auditions.