In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of media products?
Our media product uses various stereotypical forms. The main stereotypical form within our project is the dominant males that take control over the defenceless females. Our product also uses two less important stereotypical forms; the classic hostage situation, men overpowering the women with the male group being larger than that of the females and the stereotype of males only seeing females as an object rather than an actual human being. If our media project was to progress into a full film our male characters would become weak and less confident about what they are doing, and realising that what they're doing is wrong. The dominant male is a prominent aspect of our film, the male characters are not only dominant over the females, and in some cases they are dominant over the weaker males within the group. The main scene within the first two minutes of our film is that of the males dominating the females whilst they are being held captive and restrained in the loft of the male’s house.
Our media product uses various stereotypical forms. The main stereotypical form within our project is the dominant males that take control over the defenceless females. Our product also uses two less important stereotypical forms; the classic hostage situation, men overpowering the women with the male group being larger than that of the females and the stereotype of males only seeing females as an object rather than an actual human being. If our media project was to progress into a full film our male characters would become weak and less confident about what they are doing, and realising that what they're doing is wrong. The dominant male is a prominent aspect of our film, the male characters are not only dominant over the females, and in some cases they are dominant over the weaker males within the group. The main scene within the first two minutes of our film is that of the males dominating the females whilst they are being held captive and restrained in the loft of the male’s house.
The fact that we have used dominant males that overpower and terrify the young females they have kidnapped indicates that our film is both a horror and a thriller, although the film is more horror, it does have a side of it that is slightly thriller. You are wondering why the boys are like this, and what will happen to the girls next. The fact that we have made our film have the males as the dominant characters and the females as the weak, helpless characters, it indicates that films such as ‘Captivity’ have influenced our product and how we portray the characters within each scene. ‘Captivity’ is a young woman who has been drugged and taken by a man, and held captive in an isolated room with no way out. The opening sequence of our film is slightly different to that of the ones researched. The film ‘Captivity’ starts off with a black background title sequence, where as ours is merged into one, so the titles run as the film starts. The film did help us with ideas on how to make the text look distorted and unusual, so that you are aware that this film isn’t a rom-com by far.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Our media product is based around the life of three male students and the girls they have kidnapped. The social group is that of a student; young, outgoing and unexpected. The male characters are stereotyped as dominant, since they have power over the female characters and like the fact that they have this power. I think that the fact that we have used young characters links in well with our target audience since our minimum age is 15, the younger generation prefer films to have younger actors in, as they feel like the film is focusing on their age group.
What kind of media Institution might distribute your media product and why?
I don’t think that our film is something that would be produced by a major Hollywood Studio company, since it has a niche audience, something a major Hollywood company tend to stay away from. If our product was aimed at a more generalised audience there would be more change of it being distributed by a big company. Rather our film would be distributed by ‘Momentum Pictures’ it’s neither a small or large company, perfect for distributing to a niche audience, that could potentially be a wider audience. I believe that our product would originally be released in cinemas, and if there was a high interest in the film, would then be released onto DVD, and later TV, once been released a few years. If there wasn’t much interest in the film, it would be released as a TV movie merely one year later, to gain more interest, and release on DVD at a later date. I don’t think our film offers many opportunities for merchandising; however our film does use other products such as an iPod and a flip camera.
Who would be the audience for your media product?
Our media product is aimed at a variety of people, mainly those interested in horror films between the ages 15-30. However the film may also appeal to other people above the age group, and people who don’t usually watch horror films. The film ‘Captivity’ is similar to our media product, it is aimed at people ages 18 and over, and mainly those interested in horror films. When doing out audience research, we realised that many people liked to see horror films that keep you in suspense and have a good storyline more than the usual blood and guts. The classification criteria for our media product would be a 15 certificate, since our film doesn’t use a lot of swearing or visual violence, however the threat of the violence is why it is a 15 rather than a 12, and the fact that it is only a threat, and nothing that you will actually see is why it isn’t an 18. http://www.bbfc.co.uk/
How did you attract/address your audience?
I think we attracted our audience, since our media product focuses around students and the student life, and in some case how the student life can make you act. I think that the whole idea of the film being about the life of three male students and their dark secret of holding these females captive in the loft of their house would appeal to an audience as it creates suspense and intrigues the audience for wanting to see more. Throughout our media product the audience gets the experience things from the point of view of both the vulnerable females and the dominant males. The audience is able to see how close the males get to the females, when in the loft and the camera is placed behind the female looking over her shoulder. The shot is a close up of the most dominant male leaning in to talk to one of the girls. This allows the audience to feel like they are the one that is sat in the chair with the male so close to them.
What have you learnt about technology from the process of constructing the product?
I’ve learnt that the cameras provided are suitable for basic camera shots, however when used with a tri-pod, trying to pan the camera wasn’t as easy. The tri-pod was too stiff to allow a smooth pan. When in the filming process, we faced many problems; we had to change our entire film due to the unreliability of our actors. This meant that we were running out of time to film and edit our product. We spent a full day filming and made sure we had extra time to do more filming if necessary, and then we spend a full day editing our project together to ensure that everything was sorted within the time limit we had left. Rather than using the small hand held cameras we used to film our preliminary task, we were able to use the big cameras which allowed us to do a pulling focus shot, something that the hand held cameras can’t do. For the editing of our film we used final cut express, the software made it easy to cut our shots down to the size we felt necessary, and allowed us to make further changes to the project at a later date. The uses of the dissolve effect allowed us to crop our project to the extent where we were able crop the shots and use the dissolve to show the change in time. To create our title sequences we used LiveType to allow our title sequence to have distorted text running over the original clip. For our music we used the sounds provided in the college’s copyright free collection, rather than using garageband.
Looking back to your preliminary task, what do you feel that you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
When we did our preliminary task, we simply created a simple script, then a few simply shots, we didn’t go into much detail of how to actually do the product. Whereas when we created our actual media product, we were able to create a complete script, with stage directions and separate scenes. We were also able to create a detailed shooting script that allowed us to be one step ahead when filming, knowing where the next shot would be and how it would be shot. With the amount of research we did, we were able to get an idea of how the usual horror film would be created and how the actors would be portrayed through camera shots, clothes and general reactions and expressions. I think that we were able to use a wide range of shots within our product, allowing us to get an understanding of certain shots and in some ways specific shot types that we originally struggled with, such as the pulling focus shot, something that we only learnt how to do close to the time of actual filming. I do feel as if I am able to use the equipment better, and I don’t have any problems with using the equipment and feel like I have become more confident when using it. I believe that our end project has proved that we have progressed from our original preliminary task, and that with the use of well planned research and information, we were able to create the product to the best of our ability.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Our media product is based around the life of three male students and the girls they have kidnapped. The social group is that of a student; young, outgoing and unexpected. The male characters are stereotyped as dominant, since they have power over the female characters and like the fact that they have this power. I think that the fact that we have used young characters links in well with our target audience since our minimum age is 15, the younger generation prefer films to have younger actors in, as they feel like the film is focusing on their age group.
What kind of media Institution might distribute your media product and why?
I don’t think that our film is something that would be produced by a major Hollywood Studio company, since it has a niche audience, something a major Hollywood company tend to stay away from. If our product was aimed at a more generalised audience there would be more change of it being distributed by a big company. Rather our film would be distributed by ‘Momentum Pictures’ it’s neither a small or large company, perfect for distributing to a niche audience, that could potentially be a wider audience. I believe that our product would originally be released in cinemas, and if there was a high interest in the film, would then be released onto DVD, and later TV, once been released a few years. If there wasn’t much interest in the film, it would be released as a TV movie merely one year later, to gain more interest, and release on DVD at a later date. I don’t think our film offers many opportunities for merchandising; however our film does use other products such as an iPod and a flip camera.
Who would be the audience for your media product?
Our media product is aimed at a variety of people, mainly those interested in horror films between the ages 15-30. However the film may also appeal to other people above the age group, and people who don’t usually watch horror films. The film ‘Captivity’ is similar to our media product, it is aimed at people ages 18 and over, and mainly those interested in horror films. When doing out audience research, we realised that many people liked to see horror films that keep you in suspense and have a good storyline more than the usual blood and guts. The classification criteria for our media product would be a 15 certificate, since our film doesn’t use a lot of swearing or visual violence, however the threat of the violence is why it is a 15 rather than a 12, and the fact that it is only a threat, and nothing that you will actually see is why it isn’t an 18. http://www.bbfc.co.uk/
How did you attract/address your audience?
I think we attracted our audience, since our media product focuses around students and the student life, and in some case how the student life can make you act. I think that the whole idea of the film being about the life of three male students and their dark secret of holding these females captive in the loft of their house would appeal to an audience as it creates suspense and intrigues the audience for wanting to see more. Throughout our media product the audience gets the experience things from the point of view of both the vulnerable females and the dominant males. The audience is able to see how close the males get to the females, when in the loft and the camera is placed behind the female looking over her shoulder. The shot is a close up of the most dominant male leaning in to talk to one of the girls. This allows the audience to feel like they are the one that is sat in the chair with the male so close to them.
What have you learnt about technology from the process of constructing the product?
I’ve learnt that the cameras provided are suitable for basic camera shots, however when used with a tri-pod, trying to pan the camera wasn’t as easy. The tri-pod was too stiff to allow a smooth pan. When in the filming process, we faced many problems; we had to change our entire film due to the unreliability of our actors. This meant that we were running out of time to film and edit our product. We spent a full day filming and made sure we had extra time to do more filming if necessary, and then we spend a full day editing our project together to ensure that everything was sorted within the time limit we had left. Rather than using the small hand held cameras we used to film our preliminary task, we were able to use the big cameras which allowed us to do a pulling focus shot, something that the hand held cameras can’t do. For the editing of our film we used final cut express, the software made it easy to cut our shots down to the size we felt necessary, and allowed us to make further changes to the project at a later date. The uses of the dissolve effect allowed us to crop our project to the extent where we were able crop the shots and use the dissolve to show the change in time. To create our title sequences we used LiveType to allow our title sequence to have distorted text running over the original clip. For our music we used the sounds provided in the college’s copyright free collection, rather than using garageband.
Looking back to your preliminary task, what do you feel that you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
When we did our preliminary task, we simply created a simple script, then a few simply shots, we didn’t go into much detail of how to actually do the product. Whereas when we created our actual media product, we were able to create a complete script, with stage directions and separate scenes. We were also able to create a detailed shooting script that allowed us to be one step ahead when filming, knowing where the next shot would be and how it would be shot. With the amount of research we did, we were able to get an idea of how the usual horror film would be created and how the actors would be portrayed through camera shots, clothes and general reactions and expressions. I think that we were able to use a wide range of shots within our product, allowing us to get an understanding of certain shots and in some ways specific shot types that we originally struggled with, such as the pulling focus shot, something that we only learnt how to do close to the time of actual filming. I do feel as if I am able to use the equipment better, and I don’t have any problems with using the equipment and feel like I have become more confident when using it. I believe that our end project has proved that we have progressed from our original preliminary task, and that with the use of well planned research and information, we were able to create the product to the best of our ability.
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