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

The preliminary task really helped us to engage skills and then enhance on them skills for our final opening title sequence. I camera skills improved majorly which really helped us gain an insight when filming our opening horror title sequence. We had a better insight into pre production, production and post production process. 

Although we had a better insight we did however come across some issues where we had to reshoot twice. This is was because we wanted to ensure we had the correct camera angles.  Our post production process included using the editing software. Due to our preliminary task we were able to make a better quality film than previously. 

An advantage from the preliminary task was to help us perform our new skills at a quicker rate, we knew the software and we able to edit at a slightly quicker rate. 

These are examples of camera shots that we used in our first task, these helped us to gain a better insight once shooting our horror sequence. 



 

This is what we are first introduced to, using a hand help camera effect. 

 
This is medium and an establishing shot showing the surroundings as we follow Sam into the room.

This is a close up of Sams hands as he opens the door, we did however face a problem with this shot as there was an issue with continuity however we learnt from our mistakes. 

 


We then have a continuity shot as we film Sam from inside the room through the door he has just opened.
 
We also looked at using a tracking shot of our character as he came into the room, we believe that this had a good effect as you could see him every move.


This shot show the facial expression of when the character is walking into the room, it is a medium shot.
 

This shot used is establishing not only does it show our characters but it also shows the surrounding area.
 
Here is an over the shoulder shot using match on action of our characters Sam and Ruby talking.  
 
A shot reverse shot has been used here in order to show our characters. 
 

This is a medium shot showing Sam leaving the room. 


 

This shot is an example of continuity as we show a shot of him in the corridor, outside of the room. It is continuously filming Sam. 

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

I have learnt many new factors when creating this product. Although the preliminary task helped widely with this we did however spend more time editing and closely refining our final opening credit therefore I learnt such effects such as ghosting and even researched similar effects on you tube to get a step by step guide. Although these skills were on the computer these however were not the only skills used and I even further improved my knowledge on the camera. I learnt such things of continuity and trying to keep filming in one day and a certain film slot, this is due to the natural lighting that we had in our opening title. 

On our first filming day we did find difficulties in setting up the tripod and camera again having to result in using a 'male do' one. However, we were no happy and resulted in re filming we though out knowledge and ideas had also progressed due to our first experience. 

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

In order to make sure that we fully addresses and attracted our audience we chose a child was of a young age. Due to our certificate being 12 we then thought that there was a connection in ages as parents would also have to watch this film and the 12 year old may know someone of that age. Therefore the audience can relate to the age thus making the story line more realistic. The use of 'Ring a ring a Rosie' also linked to out target audience this was because this is a well know nursery rhythm I grew up with it an I still hear it being used today. There are hidden meanings behind this nursery rhyme which is similar to the dark nature of our male character, linking to our story line it is closely linked with children. We reference the toys which is typical of a 12 certificate however we do not do it through the use of objects however through the use of our non diegetic sound, the music box this sound is also used in 'The Woman in Black' which is both a successful film and successful in building tension and suspense. The toy box sound is widely recognised from the audience because this is a part of growing up, this particular music box however is not of a typical nature it has a dark sinister feel it therefore becomes very peculiar and haunting. There is also a child crying in our soundtrack this could link to the audience because they have all heard this sound many would believe that this is the cry of Rosie. However, deeper meanings could suggest that it is the cry for the male during his child hood. 

Due to all of these points I feel that we have addresses the audience successfully due to these elements. 

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

We completed a wide range of research when deciding upon our age group. We looked at each certificate and thoroughly looked at the meanings and the level of violence that would be allowed in specific genres. Those of a 15 certificate included:

• Stronge violence

• Frequently stronger language

• Portrayals of sexual activity                            

• Strong verbal references to sex

• Brief scenes of sexual violence

• Discriminatory language and behaviour

• Drug taking

• Some horror films are passed at this category. Moderate physical and psychological threat is permitted at 12 or 12A as long as disturbing sequences are not too frequent or sustained.

Although our opening conveyed horror conventions we did not think it was suitable of a 15 certificate. The film 'The Strangers' had reference to violence and therefore it was suitable of a 15 certificate. In our film we are only introduced to an opening title and we wanted to get into the story first focussing on portraying Rosie as vulnerable. 

Our film did not have many of the horror conventions in our opening therefore we completed research that linked in with our ideas and our target audience. Due to this we then went back to look at the opening of 'The Lovely Bones'.  Typically, 'The Lovely Bones' is not a horror film however is does convey some horror conventions. It shares a similar story line with our in the fact that a mysterious man follows a young girl who also appears vulnerable making the audience aware of their positions and of how she is unable to protect herself. This helps to build suspense and tension that is built in a horror film. This film has reference to childhood through the use of toys although we do not do this we looked at the effects that this craetes :

Due to our film not including some things such as 'Stronge violence' of a 15 certificate therefore we believe that our film would be 12a and then would later progress on to be a 15. We then thought it would be best to go back to our previous research finding out that

Dangerous behaviour (for example hanging, suicide and self-harming) may be present in 12or 12A works but will not dwell on detail which could be copied or present those activities as pain or harm free. Discriminatory behaviour should not be endorsed by the film as a whole.There may be infrequent sight of drugs misuse in a 12 or a 12A but the portrayal should not be glamorised or provide instructional details.

Our media did not consist of violence or drugs as well as the rest of the certificate qualifications we therefore decided on giving our film the certificate of a 12a. Our horror conventions are created through our soundtrack and the use of diegetic and non diegetic sounds that create suspense. The lightening we used is also a major part of our film with the change in contrast of colours as well as the camera angles used, being able to show the characters costume as well as keeping the face hidden this allows the audience to imagine the appearance for them self thus creating more suspense and suspicion.

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

I think a distribution company such as WARP films would be ideal for our opening title. I think that this would be a perfect way to introduce us to the film industry and see how our film would compare against the big blockbusters. It would be hard for a such a low budget film to gain advertsing so an alternative is to do self promotion horizontal integration would have to be used in order to find distributors. Advertising  independently creating facebook pages in order to help us, releasing trailers and quizzes. WARP X is a part of WARP focussing thoroughly on digital film, the same as ours. They often allow the free downloading of films in order to gain attention, this is something that we could try. We did not use any money when making our opening title so therefore our budget would not be as high as big conglomerates. 

We could also try entering this film into a film festivals such as the ‘Student Film Festival Awards’ to get funding. There is also the opportunity of entering into short film competitions. These would also help to distribute our film. Funding can be gained from this will the addition of the film getting recognised to enable future funidng as well as a wider audience. 

We didn't use film when making our opening title this is un common for a blockbuster, film is expensive and we had a very low budget. Many films do not get into cinemas and are not recognised this is because the film industry is very competitive. 

With the increase of digital downloding through dcdc ( Digital Cinema Distribution Coalition) our film would be easier to send to audiences and to cinemas. This would not be the same for film created with 34mm film. 

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

In order to attract specific social groups we wanted our characters in our opening title to share a close relationship. As you can see our main character is a little girl, we believe the audience will share a bond with her because they have once been that age or they know someone who is, they are aware of the innocence and vulnerability that that age group has. This is a stereotypical view. 

Our character presents her social group in that way that she plays on her role of being vulnerable and naive, she is playing; which is typical or her age group. However she is walking alone and the trees further illustrate and emphasis her age with the trees towering over her. We researched and watched many clips of young girls, many of them have pedophilia elements. As stereotypical as it is more typical for a man to be stalking a young girl, rather than the other way around. When young girls are put in this position it makes the audience feel very uneasy as it is creepy and not heard of very often thus being unusual. 

In our storyline Rosie is not put in this position she is of a stereotypical nature a conventional 'little girl ghost' the audience feel fear and are threatened by the digital film. From a first glance it is easy to assume that the young girl is the the one who the trouble however the progression of the film is that this is not true, she is the victim. A first a assumption from the film Orphan we feel sorry for the girl, balancing out the stereotypical however we are then appear of her past. The audience first feel pity and protective of her this however does not last for long. The roles reverse. 

At the end of our film we want Rosie to be of a similar nature to the girl who plays Suzie Salmon in The Lovely Bones. Not only does this shown how often young actors are used in films but also because it is a perfect example of how the social group have been targeted successfully. It helps to show youth and naivety throughout out the extract. 

Our opening title also includes two other girls, these share the same horror conventions of Rose and remain being stereotypical by portraying their vulnerability. 

This screen shot, which was taken from our opening title also shows the male character, who is also a main character as well as Rosie. Unfortunatly we faced complications when filming and our male actor dropped out at short notice. We then had to use one of our editors Mollie Knapp. Although she is not male she played the male role of Rosies stalker. Stereotypically stalkers are male. I believe that the sinister old male social group is shown well in this opening with a variety of camera angles, we never reveal the face with also builds and creates suspense this also provides a low secretive profile at all times, similar to how men would act. The over the shoulder shot used shoes how our actor is bent over, slouching her shoulders. This shows the stalking nature because she is behind and is a similar position that a stereotypical role of a male would play. 

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

I believe that our opening titles links closely to other horror movies, this is because most horror movies don't start off scary first of all just building suspense (juxtaposition). I believe we have created this through the use of the different conventions. I think the most successful area of our opening title is the lighting that we used, changing the effect when we came to edit it giving it a dark black and white feel, we contrasted the colours- this is typical of a horror movie. Young girls do not play out a night therefore filming in the day time was a must, then later with editing we created an eerie feel. I also think that our chosen location was also very typical of a horror genre the natural surrounding and the use of dark tall trees help Rosie to look vulnerable and the audience can't help but feel sorry for her. This is closely link to the Shinning, a film that we looked at when completing our research we like the use of lighting and we believe that we have created a similar effect. The Shining also opens showing the surrounding isolated area by using an establishing shot. I think the affect of using slow motion helped to build tension from the audience creating enigma as to what is going to happen next helping the scene to appear more dramatic. We play on the idea of gender representation a lot, making young girls appear vulnerable and pure, the use of the surroundings and clothing help to create this. The dress she is wearing is white and frilly, typical of a young girl. The shows are also silver which signifies purity too and linking to an angel. 

The titles that we have used in our film are slightly different to most opening titles, this helps the audience to focus on the footage rather than the text, giving the audience time to react to what they have just seen. We run a list of credits at the end on a black background we chose to do this because it helps to the story to flow maintaing the audiences attention.  However our title and 'MMR Productions' is run in a professional order similar to the opening titles that we have watched. We also looked at all of the different colours that could be used and the signifiers from these. A way in which we have challenged the conventions is with the sun shining through the trees even though there is danger however this signifies Rosie shining through him, she is always there a constant reminder.

The use of sounds that we used closely conforms to the codes and conventions of a typical horror film. I believe that the sounds used help to create tension and closely link to the story line of the film especially by using the nursery rhyme 'ring a ring a Rosie' that heavily adapted depending on the situation using a particularly unnerving soundtrack and was played in order to scare our audience. We wanted to captivate our audience remaining to building suspense throughout. I believe that we achieved this The use of the soundtrack 'ring a ring a Rosie' also helps to captivate our audience due to the little girl. This will also help to create enigma and enchases the youth of Rosie. 

I believe that the pace of our editing was fairly slow telling a story. The pace of our editing was used to build tension effecting our audience in order for them to gain an insight of what is happening before the pace grew faster, which would lead to the horror of a kidnapping.  T he soundtrack links in with this, it is a constant reminder of the danger using both diegetic and non diegetic sounds. The use of slow pace editing helps the young children playing appear ghostly which affects the audience dramatically by building more suspense and enigma as they wonder what are these children doing alone and what is going to happen next thus making the opening more dramatic.

Our film does not link to Todorov's theory this is because we start our film on a flashback not at the beginning therefore our film does not have stable equilibrium. 

The shots that we have used link closely to horror conventions, using close up when possible to show danger.