Evaluation - Q5.

 Q5. How did you attract/address your audience?

We attracted our audience through many different factors, such as:

Our Production Company: By naming our production company ‘Slaughterhouse Productions’ the genre of film produced by our company is immediately established to be horror. Therefore, our company appeals to a particular market of people who share a specific interest in the horror genre, and will attract them to our film. 

Our character: By making our main protagonist a similar age to the audience our film is aimed at, empathy is created, as many teenagers have had to spend the night in their own houses alone, which involves the viewers in the film. Also, by making her a stereotypical young female who dresses in typical teenage clothing, female viewers will be attracted to our film as they feel they can relate to her character, maintaining their interest by making them wonder “what would I do in that situation?”.  

Our setting: Through choosing to use the setting of a house, audiences will feel that they can relate to the situation, as some of the mise-en-scene in our film includes objects which would be similar to things typical teenagers will possess in their own homes, which lulls them into a false sense of security. 

Marketing: 

• We decided we will attract our audience by placing posters on different modes of transport, as well as bus and train stations; as we know that many teenagers use public transport on a regular basis, and so they are more likely to notice our film advertisements.  

• We will also place an advertisement on the sidebar of Facebook, to get the attention of large portion of young adults who use these social networking sites. 

• We would also advertise our film by placing trailers for it before popular videos on YouTube, such as songs in the UK top 20 and other popular film trailers, as we know that our target audience has an interest in current music and films. 

We chose to make these marketing decisions for our product in order to maximise our potential audience, and will be taking advantage of the power that social networking sites have to get our film noticed among teenagers.  

Evaluation - Q4.

Q4. Who would be the audience for your media product and why?

Audiences for our film would be people who enjoy the genre of horror, especially those who particularly enjoy supernatural or paranormal horror films, as that is the sub-genre of horror our film is categorised in. We chose to give our film the age restriction of ‘15’, and therefore we could be aiming at a specific audience of teenagers and young adults who are mature enough to enjoy the genre of horror. We chose to keep our age restriction at ‘15’ as we felt that we would lose a large chunk of our potential audience if we increased it to ‘18’ instead. Also, our film does not contain large amounts of gore, and so audiences around the age of 15 will not be put off of watching our film. Due to our main audience group being students, who tend to have more free time than working adults, they are more likely to regularly visit the cinema as a group for a social outing, meaning our ticket sales will be increased. 

The specific type of teenager our film would be aimed at would be between the ages of 15 and 18, who usually enjoys films such as ‘The Ring’, ‘Paranormal Activity’ and ‘The Haunting in Connecticut’, as they are all films that focus more on the psychological aspects of horror rather than over-emphasising the gore factor. They would partake in stereotypically teenage activities, such as hanging out with their friends, going shopping and listening to music. They would also need to have an interest in films, and would enjoy going to the cinema and also renting or buying DVDs. They would also use public transport quite regularly for them to get around. In addition, the stereotypical teenager would be a frequent user of social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and YouTube, and would use these online sites to share their opinions of the films they have watched to their friends from all across the globe; therefore widening our audience even further.

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Evaluation - Q3.

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

 Lionsgate Studios:

After researching the film distribution industry, a media institution that we feel would be suitable to distribute our film would be Lionsgate Studios. Lionsgate has already produced many horror films of a similar genre to ours, such as ‘The Last Exorcism’ and ‘The Haunting in Connecticut’, along with other popular horror titles including the ‘Saw’ series, ‘The Cabin in the Woods’ and ‘The Descent’. 

This vast knowledge and understanding of the genre means that we know they would most likely distribute a film similar to our own. Lionsgate is also a very popular and well-known company, as being the sixth most profitable movie studio ever, it has a large audience of fans who are interested in the company and therefore trust it to produce good quality films. 
We would hope that if our film was distributed by Lionsgate then these fans would want to see our film, as the company has a reputation for releasing good horror films. Our film would also be released worldwide, due to Lionsgate being a global company, meaning we would have a much larger audience than if we were to choose a smaller distribution company. Also, many horror films released in recent years have taken advantage of the new technologies becoming available, including 3d cinema. Lionsgate films such as ‘Saw 3D’ and ‘My Bloody Valentine’ use this; and due to both films achieving box office success and receiving positive responses from fans and critics alike, 3d could be a potential marketing choice for our film. 

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Evaluation - Q2.

Question 2: How does your media product represent different social groups?

For our film, we decided to use a female character to play our victim. 

We found that many other horror films follow this convention and use female characters as their victims; including 'Sorority Row', 'Black Christmas', 'Scream', 'Psycho' and 'A Nightmare on Elm Street'. These female victims are usually dressed in white, and the connotations of this colour are innocence, purity, and goodness, which make them seem vulnerable.
We therefore chose to follow convention by dressing our main victim, Alice, in a mostly white costume. We did not feel it would be realistic, however, for her to be wearing a completely full white outfit, considering the time and place in which our film is set. Instead, we dressed her in a casual top and jeans, along with a white jumper over the top, to represent the middle-class background and teenage age group in which she is a part of. 

Through placing these victims in horror in isolated environments alone, the audience is made to sympathise with them, perhaps even relating with their characters. They are often presented to the audience in close-ups or high-angle shots, which emphasise their fear and vulnerability, and it could be said that through these elements, the young female social group are represented in the media as being vulnerable, helpless, and unable to defend themselves; which is reflected throughout many different films of the genre.  

Evaluation - Q1.

Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (ie. of film openings)

Production company name:

We decided to create our own production company, titled 'Slaughterhouse Productions'. We chose this title as we felt that it directly ties in with the genre of horror, which is the style of film our company would produce. The name suggests that films produced by this company would contain themes of murder or 'slaughter', and the use of the red shadow behind our logo reinforces this. We chose to keep our logo fairly simple, emphasizing the harsh contrasts between the red and white font and the black background. We chose to use a colour scheme that linked with the genre of horror, and so we chose red (which can symbolise blood or murder), along with black (which has connotations of death and mystery) to juxtapose with the white font - which connotes purity, innocence and vulnerability, linking with the 'victim' role found in horror films. 

Lighting: 

After watching many horror films, we found that ‘The Descent’ had excellently used lighting to maximise fear and anxiety in the audience. The story focuses around six women who are trapped in a cave with only their torches to guide them, and this is similar to our film with the fact that our female victim’s only source of light is her torch.  Through hiding most of the setting from the audience due to the film’s restricted view, ‘The Descent’ focuses on building tension by tapping into the audience’s fear of the unknown. In our film, we chose to incorporate these aspects into our opening, and kept the lighting minimal in order to keep tension running high. 

Camerawork:

• P.O.V. Shot: We decided to take ideas from the film 'Quarantine' and incorporate a point of view shot into our own opening. We felt it would not only vary the shot types used, but help to include the viewers in the film. This shot type is known to add to the sense of unease and tension found in real horror films, and we hoped to create a sense of claustrophobia as our camera moves towards the small staircase in our film. 
• Long Shots: Long shots are used frequently in horror films to emphasise a character's vulnerability by making them seen small and insignificant.  We decided to use several long shots in our film to make our victim seem small whilst inside the imposing house. One film which uses this shot type is 'A Nightmare on Elm Street'. 

Credits: 

After researching many different font styles online, we decided on a font called ‘cracked’ that was already available on our editing software to use in our film. This style of font is very harsh and eerie, and has sharp edges which link with the genre of horror. We believed the style of font we used would be typical for a horror film, and in fact many different horror films use fonts which are similar in style to ours, including the film ‘Seven’. As you can see, both fonts seem creepy and are written in an irregular way, which unnerves the audience. 

Mise-en-scene: 

• Paintings: chose to use several props in our opening. We decided to open our film with a shot of a painting of a naked woman embracing a white swan. Alfred Hitchcock used similar paintings in his film ‘Psycho’ and these paintings could symbolise being trapped or confined, and could therefore imply that women are seen as a form of trophy. We felt that including this painting in our film would achieve an effective result, perhaps foreshadowing our victim’s eventual confinement within the house.

• Other props: We decided to make use of the other props that were already available within the house we filmed in, including a sculpture of Shakespeare’s face. Shakespeare commonly wrote plays focusing around tragedies, often including or resulting in death. This could symbolically link with our own film, as our character eventually falls victim to tragedy and dies. Other props which convey the theme of death are the red candles shown in various places around the house and the Titanic monument on the wall in one of the rooms. Candles are significant for time and time running out which, along with the colour red (which connotes danger and blood), could symbolise the victim’s time running out before she is killed. Similarly the Titanic, which was known to kill over 1,500 people upon its sinking, could perhaps foreshadow the victim’s descent towards her death.

Film Title:

We decided we would choose a name for our film that linked in some way with real estate or the process of moving into a new house, as our film revolves around this process. We eventually settled on ‘The Occupant’ as it directly links to the plot of our film, and sounds quite sinister. After researching and trying out different font styles that would be regarded typically scary, with irregular shaped letters and blood-like patterns, we found that in fact numerous real horror films actually use simple and bold font styles instead. This creates a more sophisticated look, and avoids running the risk of looking cheesy. Therefore, we made our title font very basic, bold, and in capitals – making it stand out.  

Setting:

We chose to keep most of the setting hidden from the audience in the opening to create a sense of mystery, as although the audience can see it is a house, it is unknown where or whose house it is until later on in the film. Houses are used as settings in many different horror films such as ‘Paranormal Activity’ and ‘The Ring’, and these homely locations place the audience into a false sense of security. Through choosing a location that is familiar to most audiences, the sense of realism is increased, and we followed this convention in the hope that audiences will be able to relate to the setting and thus will be more involved in the story.

Characters: 

In terms of characters, our victim is introduced in this scene, and the audience can tell that she is worried and scared due to her facial expressions. We chose to use dark shadowy lighting with the torch being the only source of light in the room to make her character seem vulnerable, like most victims in horror. The juxtaposition between the bright light coming from the torch and the dark lighting all around the house could suggest that our main character is typically ‘good’, whereas the house is ‘evil’; making the audience feel more sympathetic towards our victim.
A film which shares similarities to our own in regards to its characters is ‘Scream’. In the opening scene, Drew Barrymore is introduced to the audience as she wanders through her house whilst being terrorised by a villain. The low-key lighting, whilst not being as dark as our film, still makes the victim seem vulnerable. The setting is also very similar to our own, and the victim is of a similar age group and social class to our victim. Her clothing is white and casual, suggesting she is innocent and is the ‘good’ character of the story, which is another similarity to our film. Therefore, the way in which both ‘Scream’ and ‘The Occupant’ introduce their characters is effective, as the audience’s sympathy is maximised due to the familiar setting, vulnerability of the young female, and portrayal that she is ‘good’ when compared to the ‘evil’ villains of the story. 

Bloopers, Outtakes & Behind the scenes

After two days of filming, we ended up with lots of extra footage - including messed-up lines, laughing fits and broken torches. Here is a quick video showing some of the extra bits we attained.

Film Feedback

After showing our film to our class, we recieved the following feedback from our classmates:

Mise-en-scene:

• Props were carefully considered and linked with the conventions of horror
• Red candle - significant for time/time running out, red - connotations of danger and blood. Builds anxiety.
• Painting of naked woman - relates to Hitchcock's works, and could symbolise being trapped or confined.
• Titanic monument - symbolises death 
• Shakespeare mask - Shakespeare wrote tragedies focusing around death - symbolic for plot and events in the film. 
• Ironic use of light: Lighting is dark throughout, and yet once the victim reaches the basement and climbs stairs the lighting becomes brighter. This is ironic as the lighting suggests a sense of hope, however the victim is about to meet her death - which means the bright light could symbolise the stairway to heaven. 
• Restricted view - torch works well to instil 'fear of the unknown' by placing the audience in the victims position. 
• Banisters on stairs - can symbolise being trapped. 

Camerawork:

• Good range of shots - canted angles create a sense of disorientation. 
• Shots change as the victim descends further into the house: the victim is introduced in a low angle - suggesting she is in control of the situation, however she is then presented in medium shots - making her seem more vulnerable, and then finally a high angle - making her seem weak and defenseless before she is killed.
• P.O.V. shot was very effective in increasing tension and involving audience. 

Editing:

• Smooth and continuous editing 
• match on action shots used when opening doors
• Creepy font suits genre

Sound:

• Silence was effective - helped build anxiety/suspense
• Loud footsteps - created an anti-climax as they scared the audience, only to find out it was just the girl. 
• Good sound effects - little girl laughing

We also shared our film on social networking sites such as Facebook, and here are some of the comments we recieved: