Evaluation Question 4

Gender: Males   Ages: 18-20
 
Favourite Films: Blow (2001), the Italian Job (2003), Avatar (2009), Swingers (1996), Kill Bill (2003-2004), Edward Scissorhands (1990)

Favourite TV Shows: heroes, inbetweeners, skins, Simpsons, family guy, American dad, naruto, bleach, inu yasha

What They Do on Weekends: goes to arcades,bowling, concerts, work, movies and parties.

Mode of Transport: VW Camper/ mini cooper

Favourite Drink: tequila, vodka, beer

Breakfast Cereal: coco pops

Holiday Destination: NEW YORK

Favourite Vegetable: the potato

We think our target group would be of younger ages as they would be able to see the similarities to between them and the characters we have created. This is due to the fact that we kept our target audience in mind throughout the production of the film. The characters in our movie should appeal to our target audience as we used characters that are around the same age. This means that we had the characters lead a normal teenage lifestyle with elements that all teenagers and young adults should have. The mise-en-scene throughout the film especially indicates that our film is targeted to a teenage audience. We used headphones as a prop as we know that most teenagers have some kind of music device. We also showed how dependant the teenager character is when she is searching for her mother and how easily teenagers and young people can be distracted easily when she forgets about her search and goes towards her iPod. Having the characters be of a similar age means that the audience may feel even more anxious or set on-edge by our movie because of these similarities.

Our target audience would enjoys shows and movies such as: Dexter, Friday the 13^th, Scream, the Blair witch project, let the right one in, dawn of the dead, a nightmare on elm street, The ring, Halloween, The Texas chainsaw massacre, the shining, Alien and The Exorcist.

The shows and films that our target audience watch tell us that they enjoy watching horror, physiological thrillers and anything with mystery in it. This means that our film would fit their criteria as our film includes all of these, especially the horror as we have included a lot of gore.

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

 

Prezi
This source allowed us to present all the ideas we had in an organised format. i learned that i could add pictures, videos and links into our presentation in order to support our ideas. This tool was helpful as we could present our research in a more imaginative way, such as placing videos in pictures and placing things into groups.

Blogger
Using blogger taught me new ways of showing others my work and the process of producing our opening. I was able to experiment with all the tools blogger provides its users to make my blog more appealing. This included being able to upload pictures, videos and links onto my blog.

YouTube
I used YouTube to research similar horror movies and openings to compare with our movie opening.

Google
I used google as a tool to research film distribution and things related to our film opening. I also used it to find answers to any problems i came across.

thefreesoundproject
we used this to search for any sounds we needed, or wanted to enhance, in our film opening.


PremierPro

we used this software to upload the shots we took and edit the material. Throughout editing the opening shots we learnt how to cut clips, add sound, upload the clips, add effects, change the volume of the sound, take screenshots, adding titles etc

PhotoShop

We used this tool to connect sceenshots from our movie and others so it was easier to make comparisons. By using this tool i leant how to connect pictures and change their file types in order to upload them onto my blog.

Evaluation Question 5

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

As Balham Butcher is a low budget film, it is unlikely that big name distributors will take it seriously at start. This is why we would like to start screening it at festivals around the UK, such as, “the British horror film festival”, and “Raindance Film Festival”. Both of these festivals promotes independant filmsHaving our movie screened at these festivals would mean that our film would gain more exposure to our main target audience and spread across to other audiences. 

After the movie has gained positive feedback from the audience we would be able to move on to screening it at cinemas such as Cineworld and Odeon. If the film has been able to attract a large audience whom enjoyed it we would go on to selling the film as a DVD, blue-ray disk, online or to download.

We would like our film to be distributed by a leading and well known film distributor such as “20^th century fox”. The company has built up a good reputation by distributing horror films such as Jennifer’s body but has recently distributed the major film “Avatar”.

At Odeon they are currently lacking horror movies at the moment; this means there is space for our movie’s genre. Our target audience would distinguish it from the rest of the movies screening at present and in the near future.

As our film is of a low-budget, we could make use of free or charge sites, such as, youtube, facebook, blogger, tumblr, etc.

If we were to make any profit from the movie we could use a small percentage to increase advertisement gradually. 

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

THE VICTIM

 

This shot depicts the victim of our horror movie opening. We think this character represents female teenagers of today. She is shown to be doing her hair and makeup which could tell the audience that she cares about her image like any ordinary teen. as she hears footsteps and begins to look for her mother, she is easily distracted from her search when she sees her iPod. this could be seen as common behaviour of a normal teenager.

The victim is shown to be dressed up and a shot shows her putting fake blood makeup. This could suggest that she is accustomed  to going out to party's like most teenagers.

We also avoided the typical stereotype of a blond always being a victim by selecting someone with a different hair color, this contrast from most horror movies, like "Sream".Our main character is also slightly younger than someone who is usually victimised in a horror movie. this gives our horror movie an edge due to the fact that most movie makers refrain from killing younger, more innocently portrayed characters. the fact that the girl looks, and calls out for her mother shows that she is still dependant upon her parents and gives her a sort of innocents.

This character could also be interpreted as belonging to a middle to high class due to the fact that she has enough money to go to parties and spend money on cosmetics and an ipod. She also speaks in a higher pitched voice which could suggest that she is of a high class and has a dressing table in her room.

THE KILLER

Our tormentor, like most, remains anonymous throughout the opening. However, an audience can still pull out characteristics from what kind of social group we intended this character to belong in from his outfit, surroundings and actions. It is visible that he is of a working class as he is wearing an apron and wielding an axe at the end shot (this may or may no be visible). The speed at which he swings his various weapons could also suggest that he is accustomed to physical labour.

We have supported the stereotype of most killers being  males as they are usually seen as the most violent gender. We chose a male character to be a killer a a female character would be unlikely ably to go through all the physical labour of killing someone, such as, dragging the body  to different locations, carrying weapons and holding the victim captive in the first place.

The surroundings the killer takes the girl in the second set also shows the audience that he is of a low or middle to low class as the shed is small, dusty and crowded with old things. The surroundings could also tell the audience that he is uneducated and unprepared to commit homicide as he would be unable to clear up the evidence appropriately.

  

Question 1: n what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Our film "Balham Butcher" both challenges and conforms to actual horror movie openings in a number a way. Two movies which are similar to our film are "Scream" and "Halloween". This is due to the fact that the all the killers wear masks and taunt and kill their victims in the comfort of their own homes.

These frames show the masked killers in homes of their victims, looking down on them. The second shot also shows that the killer is looking upon the victim and creeping around the house without them knowing.

Frame 1

Frame 1 shows that we have looked at the time of day we wanted the movie to start with. It shows the street light being on which tells the audience it is fairly late. This time of day conforms with the conventions of a horror movie as the villains usually strike when they are hidden by the darkness. the darkness would provoke a sense of uneasiness as the audience wouldn't see what's coming.We also have the silhouette of a creepy tree which hints to the audience that the film will be twisted like the branches. 

This shot also contains heavy raining and lightning sounds. these sounds are associated with unpleasant things because they bring about negative moods. 

Frame 2

frame two was a point of view shot of the girl collapsing after being hit.We used a special effect which made the shot blurry as she falls. This gives the audience the idea that she is disorientated after being hit by the bat. It also makes the audience feel some uneasiness, as they cannot see what the villain is doing, this makes them question where he is and what he is doing. This challenges the usual conventions of a horror movie as they usually show the villain attacking the victim. 

Frame 3

This shot depicts a close up shot of a clock ticking time down. We used this shot to further show the time of day and time of the year. The time is going onto 6 o'clock, which tell us that it is not too late but if it was shown to be dark outside on the first shot, it must be around winter time. This tells the audince that it is probably cold. It could hint that the victim will become cold when she is killed. the number 6 is also assocaited will evill as 666 is said to be the devils number and is often used in movie to suggest the presence of evil. The time going down could aslo suggest that her life is about to run out.

Frame 4

This is a point of view shot of the killer. We used the back of the mask to show that it is the killed inside the mask. This shot corresponds with the conventions of a horror movie as they usually show point of view shot of the villain looking upon the victim without their knowledge before killing them.

Frame 5

This shot shows the killer behind the girl. As he swings the camera doesn’t show the part that was hit. We did this to encourage the viewers to use their imagination of how badly she was hit. This goes against conventions of a horror movie as they are more likely to show the damage that is caused in order to be gruesome and disturb their audience.

The headphones were used as a symbol of a normal teenager. It gives our audience and victim some kind of connection that they can relate to. This makes the audience more anxious when they see her being hit, due to the feeling of being targeted as she was.

Frame 6

This shot corresponds with the conventions of a horror movie as the surroundings are black. The shot is at a low angle which makes the audience feel as though they are watching something horrific happening. It could also symbolise that the victim has fallen and there is no getting back up for her. The villain is also seen standing tall above her at the end which shows the audience who is in power.

Frame 7

Frame 7 shows the hallway with the girl standing by the light. Her surroundings are all dark which conforms with horror movies as the audince doesn't know what could come out of the darkness.

Frame 8

The villain is surrounded by darkness in this shot. The background shows a dark shed full of old things. This place was used because of it’s dustiness, and creepy feeling. The surrounding changes from when she is regains her consciousness it feels as though the audience is transported with her, like they are in her shoes. At this point the audience should feel the same kind of confusion and unease as she does.

Frame 9

This shot is in fast motion. For the villains costume we used a white apron and a white mask. We used the white mask to show that the villain has no facial expressions, therefore no feelings, which is why he kills. He gives a final blow with his butchers knife to kill her in this shot. Again, we chose not to show any gore and leave it to the audiences imagination to how she was killed.