Explain re-creation task and your first response to it.

In this assignment we had to recreate Britney Spears music video called "Hit me baby one more time". In our music video we tried to make it as similar as possible as the original. Although we decided to change it a little bit instead of coping every single detail, giving it its originality. When discussing with the people in our group we noticed that making the music video will have some complications. We noticed the making the dancing routine would be very hard because we had to find dancers that were available during school time or that would be able to stay after school. Finding a time and place where everyone is able to attend is really hard. Another thing that we thought would be hard was lipsyching. My first response to the task was that i knew this would be a big challenge.

Question 5

5.How did you attract/address your audience?

In my opinion I think my groups film had a lot of unique selling point. It was based on a real life story, which made the audience more attracted to the film. This is because it makes them feel as if it could happen to them. Another unique selling point is that it is not like the typical scary films with a maniac killer. Such as Saw, these type of films are very common. The ending is usually the same, everyone has a slow tragic death. Whereas in our film is completely different, the killer is a little innocent girl wearing white. This contradicts the typical villain but it makes it more interesting to the audience because they don't know how the film is actually going to finish or whats going to happen. This makes my film a bit similar to the film 'The Ring'. 

Another USP of our film is the chosen location .Choosing a isolated park creates more fear on the audience.This is because they know that the victims cant get help. Also the darkness created tension as they cant see well whats happening or whats about to happen. Something that will definitely appeal to the audience and catch their attention is the fact that, for the first time, theres a film that was filmed in the same place of the event. Since our film is based on a true story, we decided to film it in the same place the true story happened. 

Here is the voiceover commentary of our horror film:  ://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ms5vv8AEbyU&safe=active

Question 3

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

Our film ‘ November 23^RD ‘ is a British film with a very low budget. Due to the fact is low budget film it will start off by being shown at a film festival like the ‘Raindance film festival’. This kind of festivals promotes independent films in the UK. After succeeding, it will become mainstream and be shown in smaller screens at known cinemas such as Odeon, CineWorld and VUE. Our film will also shown in local cinemas such as ‘Ritzy’ in Brixton. After being shown on cinemas it would be released in DVD and Blu- Ray and sold in shops like WHSmith. After being released in DVD, it will be shown in legal websites such as Netflix.  Netflix, Inc. is an American provider of on-demand Internet streaming media available to viewers in North and South America, the Caribbean, and parts of Europe. This means our film could get watched all around the world.

Our production company ‘Bullet Proof Productions’ would seek to employ a good distributor such as ‘ Universal Pictures UK’. This is because they distribute films such as ‘Jaws’ and ‘ Jurassic Park’. Both of these films are horror / thriller which conforms to our film genre.

Our product demonstrates that characters (like the little girl from ‘The ring’’) are not the only thing that makes a film scary and our written script and sound chose provides this. Another thing that our film demonstrated is the filming type (similar with Paranormal Activity), which is filmed with a hand held camera, which makes the film seem more realistic. Even though our film is a British film, I think our film should not only be screened in small cinemas, instead it should be screened in big cinemas around the world as it appeals to a mass market.

I have researched the current horror/ thriller showing at cinemas. I think we could screen our film in either VUE, CineWorld or Odeon, since currently they are showing no horror/ thrillers films, therefore ours would capture all their customers wanting to watch that genre. We would chose these cinemas because they are common in the UK. Specially CineWorld's Cinemas are the 2nd largest multiplex cinema chain in the UK. 

To reach a global audience we could also put our film on a website such as http://www.firstlightonline.com/ that fund young film-makers and show their work. This will be an excellent way to let people know about our product. This is because word-of-mouth is the best form of marketing and is also the cheapest. We could also make our own website, which will allow the audience to access it and find out extra information.  Another form of advertising our product is by making a trailer and putting it in YouTube. We could also advertise our product via social networks such as Twitter, Facebook etc. This will gain attention to the audience. We could also have TV adverts, magazines, bill boards or buses posters but these will be very expensive and we have to have in mind that we have a low budget.

Question 2

How does you media product particular social groups?

Question 1

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

Before creating our horror opening, we done a lot of research into horror conventions. We researched the type of locations horror films usually have. This are usually in abandoned/ isolated places such as alleyways, old schools or somewhere that has a haunted past such as hospitals, parks. Having locations like these makes the audience feel as if the character is by themselves, this emphasis that there is no one around to help them. These type of locations can easily be portrayed as dark and mysterious in horror films. 

Question 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

This is Christina Cunningham. She is 17 years living in south London.She loves wearing skinny jeans. She loves going shopping and cinema with her friends. She prefers buying her cloths in Top-shop, New look, River Island and H&M.  Her favorite film genre is mainly horror/thriller. Films like, The ring, Paranormal Activity, Mama, Insidious 2, Saw etc. But also they enjoy comedy/ romance teenage films. Films such as Step up, Little man, White chicks, Hot chick. She prefers watching films in cinema with a group of friends. Her favorite TV show will be The vampire diaries, My mad fat diary, CSI Miami and the X-Factor. She prefers listening to Rihanna, Beyonce and pop music. I think this girl would be the audience for my media product because it has to be someone that enjoys horror films and this girls favorite genre film is horror. Also because if our film comes out at cinemas then she will most likely go watch it since she prefers watching films in cinemas. Another reason our film will appeal to this girl would be because her favorite film has a lot of similarities with our film story line which includes a little girl 

Question 7

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

To start doing either the preliminary task or the final cut my group and I had to do research and planning for both. This made me improve my research and planning skills greatly. For the preliminary task we had to create a short film based on a given word, the word we got was surprise. In this short film we had to use different camera angles including close-up, long shot, shot-reverse shot ( using the 180 degree rule. When doing the preliminary task, we only took ideas from our heads, instead of using different research source. This caused us coming up with a simple story line. Which meant we missed an infinite amount of things we were also meant to research and plan. These things included a variety camera angles and the reason to use them, what location to use and why, costumes and makeup used by the characters and what it represents, the use of diegetic and non- diegetic used and effect does this give on the audience.For our full product we learned how to research and plan better. We looked at horror film conventions to help us with the story line. We also saw different horror film trailers to give us more ideas. Whilst doing this I learned that there is always a reason to use a certain camera shot, location, mise-en-scene and sound. After doing the research on horror conventions we decided to do our horror film opening in Kennington park since it’s an isolated place. We got the girl idea from a previous film ‘The ring’. Another thing I learned in the progression to the full product was the use of camera angles. In the preliminary task I used the basic camera angles. Whereas in my final product I use a lot of variety of different camera angles and also different editing techniques. Another thing I improved was time management. For my preliminary task time management was not a problem. This was because we had to film during school hours. Although when it came to filming the final product we came across to time management problem. This was because we had to meet after school and not everyone was free at a certain. I learnt I had to think about any problem that could occur. Such as weather, low battery etc.

 

Question 6

Rough cut feedback (2)

We presented our rough cut 2 of our horror opening to the class. We done our best to improve 
from last time based on the feedback we received from the first rough cut. The only thing we 
weren't able to improve on was the lights. This was because we needed to film the scene again 
and we hadn't been able. The class understood we hadn't had the opportunity film because of
 the bad weather. This scene will be filmed again will a brighter torch so the scene is not too 
dark. After presenting to the class the 2nd rough cut, we were given feedback on their opinions 
on what we have done so far.Most of the feedback was given based on the text , this included 
the size , the colour , the positioning and the animation of the text. The text included things
such as the title of the film , the name of the production company, the actors and the director. 
Here is the feedback we were given:

What went well
- "The colour chosen for the title was very good " 
The colour we chose for our title was white. This was because we wanted it to be visual
on the screen and because it matched with the story line , which is about a little girl wearing 
a white dress.

- "The synchonized sound with the production company"
- The red and white colour chosen for the names 
We chose these colours to represent different things. The red was to represent danger and 
blood, whereas the white was to represent the white dress and the innocence of the little girl.
These colours contradict to each other which created tension and suspicion. 
- The date written made it more realistic that it was a footage.

What needs improving
 - "When Fernanda talks is  too loud"
To improve this we are going to film the scene again making my voice lower.
 - "Need to put a transition between the company name and the beggining of the film"


Here is the link to our 2nd rough cut horror opening :http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A39uZBq1YX4

BBFC Classification

We had to decide which age rating will go with our horror film opening and say why. We went to the BBFC website to see all the age rating guidelines to help us pick the correct one.  In my group we decided that the best age rating for our horror opening should be 15. We concluded on this because we read all the guidelines and it was the one that fitted the best. Here are some things that the BBFC 15 age rating matched with our horror opening. 
- strong violence
- portrayals of sexual activity
- strong verbal references to sex
- sexual nudity
- brief scenes of sexual violence or verbal references to sexual violence

Timelines

 

 

Rough cut feedback (1)

After presenting the rough cut of our horror film to our classmates, we received feedback on what they thought went well and what will need to improve.

The feedback we were given on what went well was the good use of camera angles and shots. We used a variety of camera angles such as two shot, point of view shot etc. Another thing that went well was the use of synchronous sound , this means that the sound matched with the scene. Another thing that went well was the sound used, this was because it built a good tension. Here are other feedback on what went well;
- The breathing and the filming from behind the tree was very affective.
- The trees was very affective.
- Clear storyline.
- Felt tension when the music came on.
- When I was taking a picture the camera angle used was a good choice.
- Enjoyed the point of view shot. 
- Good use of close ups.
- Tension building music was successful.
- Good use of handheld camera.

We were also given feedback on the things that could have improved. The main thing we need to improve is the lighting, since we were filming in a dark park , we aren't able to see some since properly. To improve we will be using a big torch. Another thing we need to improve is change the transition used because the one we picked is normally used in comedy genre instead of horror.  
After receiving all the feedback , we will be adjusting and changing some things based on the things that need to improve. Hopefully it will make our horror opening better.

Here is the link to our rough cut:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-gnsacI_KE