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

We used the same generic conventions as a horror film would normally use, for example using the same iconography as a horror film therefore including the profound fear within someone and acting on it and managing to be able to get people to feel insecure as the scenario could happen to them. However i feel our film has more niche quality's to it compared to a mainstream horror, as the main conventions of a mainstream horror being weapons, darkness, storms, chase sequences, gore, violence, screams, ghosts, blood, death, killing, antagonist, protagonist, isolated settings and evil. As we only filmed the first 2 minuets of the film you cannot see much, however in our narrative you can see it leads on to show darkness, chase sequences, violence, screams, blood, death, killing, evil and the much needed protagonists and antagonists therefore yes it does include a lot of mainstream conventions however the storyline makes it more niche as young children are the focus. Although we did alter the narrative as we ended up adding in another child to create more suspense when it came to the ending of the film but still had the main storyline and making sure the audience did not see what was going on however it was connoted for example, the gate is denoted but it is connoted that the opening and shutting of the gate that someone has been in and out of the part and taken the children however we do not see them.

The web definition of horror film clearly imply's you must to act on your target audiences emotions of fear, horror and terror. The plot frequently involves death, the supernatural or mental illness and include a central villain, therefore we have used this within our film to develop our ideas and made sure we have included the theme of death, acting on peoples personal fears and terrors and added a central villain being the child capturer and murderer to adapt to the typical 'horror film' scenario. We developed the film so there were hidden links to the ending which might not always be picked up upon, for example the antagonist in one of the first scenes is looking at the pictures of the park planning his abduction however the image of the swing is slightly blurred and could be hard to see and understand what is going on quite yet however we blurred it to create suspense and get the audience to question what was going on. 

We also created another link, sneakily using representation within the titles the children's names each fade away representing the order the antagonist is planning on them to die

We also managed to challenged the conventions of a typical horror film as we did not add any blood or gore as we saw it as inappropriate to use being in a horror film using children although however later on in the film blood could be applied but you do not see any aggressive violence acted on the children it is only connoted, I also thought it would be hard to make the blood look realistic as you can easily go wrong with fake blood and have it ruin your film as it could look really unrealistic. We also challenged the forms of typical target audiences within a horror as we have created a wider spectrum within the audience as it is for both woman and men, however this should make the target audience bigger but as I see the film as quite niche due to the forms and conventions within the film this could create a smaller audience. 

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The clothing of the mother and children shows there middle class status as the children are in school uniform however wearing coats, this shows they are not at the bottom end of the social group and cant afford coats but do not go to a posh enough private school when the school uniform is clearly upper class with added shirt and tie. The scenery of the kitchen also shows the middle class status as they do not have expensive, branded cutlery and utensils but still have fairly modern ones.

Stereotypical version of a middle class family kitchen.

Stereotypical version of middle class children in school uniform.

Children in my film.

The kitchen in my film.< V

These images show the obvious similarities from both the kitchens and children with all of the children you can clearly see the boys are both wearing the same sort of grey trousers and have covered the tops with jumpers therefore you cannot see the uniform underneath however it is the same to the stereotypical version however with a blue jumper. Although the kitchens do have some differences and you cannot see much of the kitchen however the tables are similar however in my film it seems empty as if the life has been sucked from it and should be like the the stereotypical kitchen however this comparison enhances the fact that there is something missing within the household creating a dark gloomy cloud over the house instead of the happy laughter of the children in the house. Overall it is clear the status of the family is middle classed and these pictures also show how the difference in what the table should look like as if the children were there and not 'captured'.

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

I believe the institution Lionsgate would distribute a media product like ours as the horror films they release seem to have certain similar quality's in the shape of our film as they release films such as the last exorcism which is a documentary style film about a girl who has what is believed to be as the devil and there is no blood or gore contained it is simply eerie, intriguing and disturbing, all of these aspects link into my film as I tried to communicate and portray across disturbing and eerie yet intriguing footage to the audience.

Lionsgate also released the film 'Haute tension', 'high tension' in english, a french film about a woman who kills her lovers family to get closer to her, however she is disturbed and is after the killer herself as she is not aware it is her until the end when she watches back from footage from CCTV. I believe this film relates back to my film in the sense of how disturbed and messed up the storyline is, I was also intrigued to find they also had a shot of a swing swinging in their film much like ours.

                                
'High tension'
Swing shot.










'Captured'
Swing shot.






I believe both scenes are scary as the 'high tension' shot is a close up and in the dark and dark scenes can be seen as having a lot of tension in them as you cannot see whats going on properly therefore it scares you, however I believe our scene is also intense as its bright light and you don't expect anything bad to happen in the bright light as people could probable see which makes it so creepy, as well as the added toy the girl has left on the swing which shows that she has not walked away intentionally without it as children are usually attached to their toys.      

Lastly Lionsgate have also disrupted the film 'Buried', although it is not a horror it still has some key aspects to the movie which link in to my 'captured' film. 'buried' create suspense by only having 90 minuets to rescue him in a wooden box underground in which he has been buried in, they have you on edge wondering weather he is going to get out and survive or not, a bit like in 'Captured' when you should be sitting on edge wondering weather the children are going to get out alive or not.  Again they also have a shot similar to ours...

< 'Buried', light scene

                   'Captured', light scene >




By Lionsgate distributing films with similar representations, forms and conventions to our 'Captured' i believe it would therefore be the best distributor for our film as i know they would be interested in the film as i have already made links to its previous films.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The web definition of target audiences within a horror film states that a lot more men watch horrors more than women, I believe this is down to masculinity and wanting to show how brave and tough they are as the whole point is of horrors is to play on your fears and they want to show they have none therefore they can watch a horror without being scared or over powered by it, this shows me that therefore institutions plan there films to be aimed at men more over women as they have are a more stronger and reliable audience.

This is a chart which shows the stereotypical main target audiences within horror films which clearly shows 18 - 24 being the target audience.

Here is another chart in which should the vast majority of people that watch horror films are male. Therefore the main target audience is 18-24 year old males.



As well linking back to my survey it is clear that it is the younger male adult that would seem to be the main target audience as they watched them the most often as girls of any age do. However within our horror film I believe the target audience is both young adults (men and women) as it is a horror in which all the generic conventions occur in a horror film but also plays on women's heart strings as they have that maternal instinct to protect children as they are so innocent which is what I believe makes the film so horrible and appeal to both genders, by challenging the main forms and conventions within a horror we are sticking to the main guidelines but are playing with the definition of a 'horror' as it is verging on not being a mainstream film as we added and subtracted certain conventions of a stereotypical horror film to create something new and exciting. 

I asked 2 girls and 3 boys what they thought of my film and this was the outcome...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZ07sFSgfL0  (unfortunately I had some technical difficulties embedding the film however I did manage to create the link)
I decided to ask more boys than girls as they are seen as the stereotypical target audience within horrors.

The outcome tells me that as the girls explained they both really enjoyed the film and would like to see the outcome to see what happens to the children again i believe this is linked back to the material instinct,  one of them also admitted to not understanding the fading out of the children's names, this is not necessary this early on in the film, the link is being that this is the order the children should die in, however it is a discreet hint and can become clear later on in the film when what has happened to the children becomes clear.

Two of the males picked up on the fact that the genre can be seen as unclear and could be classed as a thriller, however I see the film as a horror which is not got such a mainstream audience as others making it different however I also see this as a plus as our target audience is also male and female making the range watching the film larger as i believe both genders would enjoy it.

how did you attract/address your audience? (insert graphs off blog and questionairres aswell as normal statstics)

Firstly I asked 8 people to fill out a questionnaire and then developed our film according to the outcome, this way we had the best possible chances for catering to our audience.

Therefore using the answers to my questionnaire I used footage at the start of the film that doesn't let you know fully what is going on (as thats what most people said they wanted in the questionnaire) therefore you are intrigued as to what happens next therefore it pulls you in and makes you want to know the ending to see wether the children live or die. I turned my most important questions which contributed to the film the most into pie charts to make it easier to read the statistics of what we needed to focus on within the film. Half of the questioned people stated they wanted to find out the ending at the end of the film therefore it was not predictable as to what would happen therefore we tried to co-operate that into our film therefore the meaning of the film came out as late into the film as possible, as well as including a twist that people don't see therefore it creates a exciting and tense atmosphere. I also included the question 'What do people prefer about horrors?' I believed all answers available should of been included in the film however some more than others. The pie chart showed that 4 people said scary, 1 said tension, 2 people said jumpy and lastly 1 person said mysterious killer, using these answers i tried to incorporate all of the above however i found it hard to create something jumpy so early on however, later on it can be easily picked up upon. I believe we should try to include as much as the audience's wants and needs therefore to please our client.

I also researched on the internet into graphs and statistics about what to include into a good successful horror film and i found successful films such as Saw V brought in $56,729,973 just in 7 weeks into its release and 'The last exorism' (a movie i looked at linking in with my film) gross revenue was $66,981,335 which is a significant earning even compared to 'Saw V' therefore it meant i should include more in my film to be more like the last exorcism in order to be able to make me film a success. 

I also did brief research into how often people watch horrors compared to other genres, as you can see above they are second most watched, missing out to thrillers, however this means the industry is a huge one and therefore there was more pressure on to make it a original and to include different ideas people had never thought of before, I believe the more research done the most successful you will be in keeping your customers happy.

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

I haven't ever done much filming before and the first time I experimented with filming was in my preliminary task in which i learnt how to use long shoots, middle shots, close-up's, 180 degree rule and how just a shot can show your perception of someone for example and birds eye view shot making them small and powerless compared to a shot from below making the person look tall and in control. As well as how to try and make everything flow right and most importantly to never have the camera bag in the shot.

I also learnt how to use final cut on the macs and learn how to cut shots using i and o and how to add music over the top and to dim down or create louder diagetic or non-diagetic noise, overall I learnt a lot to do with editing and sound especially when it comes to using titles as i believe I grasped how to use them best of all. I was also shocked to learn how much construction of a film came from the editing process and how much it can change a film as well as the amount of film we filmed but never used.

The most important thing i believe i learnt was when it comes to positioning the tripod you either need to do all the shots at once or if your going to go back to it you need to be 100% sure you have put it back in the right place or it could ruin the scene as the camera suddenly jumps forward. As well as filming on the same day as different days could be brighter or lighter as no day is the same and no amount of messing about with the contrast you will never get it exactly right therefore its best to get certain scenes done on the same day overall getting the mise-en-scene perfect can be crucial, including a steady camera.

looking back at your preliminary task what do you think you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

I learnt how to use final cut properly by adding titles appropriately and interestingly and editing it so it flows smoothly as well as having to position the camera correctly. One of the most important progression lessons I have learnt is getting the right actors as it could ruin everything if they cannot act and look at the camera constantly therefore you would have to get new actors and it could therefore be rushed and ruin your film.

I also learn the importance of sound and how wind can easily ruin non-diagetic or diagetic sound as you could be over powered by the wind and not be able to understand what they are saying however in our film we mostly turned off most of the background noise and added a song over it including twinkle twinkle little star at the end and 'Childhood memories of winter' for the pan around at the beginning to add suspense and tension. I also learnt the importance of having to plan what days we are going to film and make sure we have everything as well as having our narrative structure and story boards with us at all times as the slightest mishap could ruin the film as if we forgot any of these we might not be able to film or could forget to film a shot which could ruin the whole thing.
I also think I have learnt alot about how lighting can affect a lot as lighting is never the same on two days, every day is different therefore if you are going to film outside you need to get that whole scene done within one day as we tried to re-shot our pan around and the lighting was completely different and even playing around with the contrast of the lighting didn't help.

Screen Shots from both my preliminary task and 'Captured':
Preliminary task:

Here is one of the basics I learnt of a close up shot of someone reaching into a bag.

Here is another one of the techniques I learnt which was a tilted up shot showing them are superior (by making them look taller than they actually are) we also didn't show the face as we wanted to create a mini story line making the person seem mysterious.






Here is a example of a over the shoulder shot which is on the basics we learnt again showing people having a conversation and hopefully making it flow as best as we could.







'Captured':

Here I have used a close-up of a match and matchstick to show the fire glowing at first it goes blurry then gets more defined and then added the production at the top to add in titles.

Here is another close-up of the girl child which we cut in and out of to show she was humming whilst the boys were running around playing as you could not hear it from the long distance shot we had.











Here is the long distance shot of the girl humming and swinging whilst the boys run around playing happily showing they are like any other ordinary children.

Here is another close up of the round-about, the dirt on the round-about I believe could show there class and the area they live in as its obviously old and runned down therefore they are seen as living in a more middle class area where something like this would not be fixed quickly and would normally be left.



Here is the shot of the pan around we did of the deserted park which emphasises something bad as gone wrong as it is unusual to see the park so empty without children running around having fun.





Here is an over the shoulder shot of the mother as she boils the kettle, getting adgitated, checking here clock wondering where the children could be. We added in time to show the difference throughout the day and did the typing in a american typewriter font and added clicks for each of the numbers or letters as if it was a police style report.




Here is the ending of our close up and zooming out of the kettle boiling i believe this was effective as you could see the kettle really close up at first and are unsure as to what is going on with the bright blue screen then it zoom out to reveal the title as the kettle clicks to say it is boiled. All these little noises create tension as I believe when someone is scared they pick up every little noise and usually think the worst and turn it into something which it is not which is what i was trying to achieve here.


This is the final shot of the police knocking on the door as the blue light flashes outside and we tried to use little lighting to show how the light is removed without the children there as they create life and happiness within a home however without them there it can be too quite and tense. 

These screen grabs shows me how much ive learnt within filming with all the different shots and ideas and titles and editing which have been added in to create the whole sequence flow and work well. I have realised the slightest thing can connote something so easily for example the association of a blue light with police, as the police are not outside however it is made so it reflects the thoughts that they are as peoples immediate assumptions is to the police.

I have also learnt the vital lesson of how much an audience can affect your work as in the preliminary task you were just working towards the quota however now we are working towards a target audience therefore we need to cater to there needs and wants if we want it to be a successful film and I hope our film included as much as 'horrors' target audiences wants and needs as much as we could.

Finished result!

We have now completed and handed in our film. I am really pleased with the result of it as i believe we spent a lot of time on researching titles and getting the editing perfect as we had to place each sound at the exact right place and using our questionnaires to help us which has therefore allowed us to have such a brilliant outcome. The only thing i regret is having to re-film the pan around of the playground then having to keep the jolty shots in as we were unable to re-film, due to different light tones, as well as adding in the jolty birds eye view version of the dinner table however i hope that due to our amount of time spent on the titles and making them perfect the viewers can oversee the unsteady camera. If i had more time i would defiantly spend it reshooting the whole of the park scene so as to fix the unsteady camera shot therefore the whole light would be the same as it is meant to be seen as shot on the same day and reshoot the birds eye view shot of the dinner table to also cancel out the unsteady camera. Excluding the few unsteady camera shots im extremely pleased with how the outcome has transformed.

Final touches.

We have now managed to get a 2 minuet opening and added in the titles. We chose to add in times of the day at the bottom left hand corner to show the time difference and how the antagonist plans it and to link it to being in the style of a police report. We used the font 'american typewriter' for each title and when it came to the times for example 5:00 PM as each number or letter comes up at the bottom of the screen a clicking sound is played which is the same as a keyboard to build tension and again relating back to a police report. we then added in titles on top of the matchstick at the beginning and on the roundabout on the close up of it going sideways as it flashes up the relate to the roundabout itself being quick, as well as titles added onto the wooden gate fitting in with the wooden planks and popping up as the gate shuts and finally the mothers name whilst she looks at her watch. I believe we incorporated the most appropriate titles we believe we should of used including actors, starring, production, directed by...
Titles included:
Times:

Matchstick (Production makers):

Roundabout:

Gate:

Starring...: