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

Plan...

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

Question 5: How did you attract/ address your audience?

Question 4: Who would be the audience for your media product?

The Audience that I have chosen for my horror film is people who enjoy the genre of horror, especially those who particularly enjoy psychological horror films that involve young children. I chose to give my film the age restriction of ‘15’, and aim specifically at teenagers and young adults. I chose not to set the age restriction at '12', because the film is too scary for such a young audience. I then decided that if I were to increase the rating to '18' then a majority of my potential audience members would not be able to go and see the film, I also do not believe that it was graphic enough or scary enough to qualify for a rating of ‘18’. 

The specific type of people that I am targeting my film specifically towards would be males aged 15- 24 and women aged 24-3. These people may like films, such as 'insidious'

Question 3: What kind of media institution might distribute your film?

The institution will be an important factor as to whether the film will be successful and how much money it will make. A good institution will be recognisable to the audience and may draw in viewers thus increasing the profit of the film. However, I had to be realistic when choosing my institution, this is because my film is only small budget, so I needed to choose a relatively small institution to distribute my film.

I will use be using 'Filmdistrict' Film company to distribute my horror film, because it is small and welcomes small films it has also distributed relatively big budget, well known films, such as; insidious - a horror film that gave me the ideas for my horror film. As 'Filmdistrict' distributed insidious it may be well known to potential viewers, they may see the institution and link it to insidious, instantly having high expectations for my film and potentially making them more likely to watch it. Alongside Insidious 'Filmdistrict' has distributed a couple of other big films, these include; 'olympus' has fallen' and 'dead man down', both films of the horror genre.

To produce and make my film I would apply for a BFI Film Fund..

http://www.bfi.org.uk/film-industry/lottery-funding-development-production

This would mean that I would be able to re-film with a higher budget and therefore draw in more customers and gain a higher profit.

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

Women are stereotypically represented as vulnerable, naive and powerless without men. Women are typically chosen as victims, as they are more dramatic, fit in with the damsel in distress idea and are feeble. This is seen as the man (husband/father) is out of town on a business trip and the woman is unable to look after her small child by herself. By using a female main character, especially a mother, I hope to attract more female viewers, as they may be able to relate to the mother.

A young female girl is used to represent the innocent nature of small children, especially little girls, it doesn't sound as though the girl was forced to leave the house and so represents them as naive and trusting of people that may not wish them well.

The family is middle class, this was a decision that was carefully made, as I wanted to show to the audience that although in real life it seems as though bad things only happen to the poor, middle class people are also affected. I wanted to show that no matter how much money you have you are never safe, you will never be secure, not even in your own house.

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

Planning:

Editing my film

This video describes how I edited my film clips and how I sequenced them together. I found final cut pro very difficult to operate, as I have no experience using the software or actually editing. I feel that due to my lack of experience with editing and short time period in which to edit my clips are not as finished and professional looking as they could do. 

Final film opening - Wheres Teddy?

Please watch my film opening in a small size, as the big size will show a blurry image:

Audience comments

Horror opening - first cut

This is the first copy of my film:

strengths:

• It is within the time limit - 2 mins
• Builds tension
• The colouring changes from dark to black and white

Weaknesses:

• The clips do not flow and so, need to be edited more
• Some audience members did not understand the use of the black and white
• You can hear wind in certain bits
• The little girl looks at the camera
• Institution logo needs 
• The music needs to be added properly
• The video quality of the video is low

New script

Jess: *Phone rings, answers phone* "Hello, oh hey Jon" *Pauses* "yeah, we're fine, Lily's just playing in the sitting room." *pauses* *takes pen and post it note and wrote down information* "So, two o'clock tomorrow at the airport. I'll see you then. I love you, bye."
*walks through the kitchen to the living room, looks shocked* "Lily?" *turns and worriedly looks around the kitchen, goes through the door and rushes to the garden* 

Lily: "Can Mummy come too?"

Jess: *just behind the child* "What are you doing out here little lamb, I thought you were going to..."

Lily: "Teddy says I'm waiting here for him to get back, he says that it's cold where we are going and that I should get my things ready." *packed bad beside here*

Jess: "Darling, we aren't going anywhere, you're thinking of tomorrow when we pick up Daddy up from the airport."

Lily: *yells* "No, not you, you're not coming Mummy. Teddy says that you can't come, it's just me and him! Teddy says we aren't coming back Mummy, he says we're going forever and there's nothing you can do about it."

Jess: "That's enough! Go inside, right this minute young lady."
*Lily runs inside* *Jess walks through the door to go to the living room, the front door slams shut.* *woman screams: "Lily!"* Jess walks through the door to go to the living room. The front door slams shut.* *worriedly says: "Lily" *

Missing leaflet

Here is the missing leaflet that I have used at the end of my opening. I will be filming this section on the Knights Templar School field. And will stick it onto roughly five trees.

Institution

Ideas for institution:

Final institutions:

I will use Lionsgate as the first institution..

Lionsgate has done 478 horror films. They even have their own horror film institution page:

I chose Lionsgate because it is a well known institution and has a lot of money backing it, meaning that the budget of the film would be high. Due to the good reputation and high amount of funding available the film can have star actors/actresses to bring in a wider amount of viewers. The funding also means that high tech camera's and editing software can be used.

Hide and Seek Productions:

I am using my friend bethan bird and filming in school. She will close her eyes and place her hands in front of her face, then open her hands and eyes and the name of the production company (Hide and seek productions) will flash on screen. 

Re-evalution

New prop and idea

Since the new child actress will be a girl I have decided to change the prop of the teddy. I feel that this 'Teddy' will have a more significant meaning for the piece and will fit in better than just a regular teddy.

Inspiration: Monsters INC.

Seen above is the toy of Boo that I have at home. I will use this teddy in my opening.

Tea party 

The child will be having a tea party on a pink blanket outside with plastic cups.

Change of characters

I have decided to change the child actor, as the boy will be unable to attend shooting at such late time. I will; also need to change the mother and Teddy, as the actors I used will no longer be available.

Qualities that will build a strong character for the child:

playing the role of Lily will be:

Olivia Sim

Here is the actress that will play the mother:

Jessica O'Shea:

Horror Opening: New shooting schedule

Weather for Saturday:

Fear

Its dark out and you're home alone. The house is quiet other than the sound of the show you're watching on TV. You see it and hear it at the same time: The front door is suddenly thrown against the door frame.

Your breathing speeds up. Your heart races. Your muscles tighten.

A split second later, you know it's the wind. No one is trying to get into your home.

For a split second, you were so afraid that you reacted as if your life were in danger, your body initiating the fight-or-flight response that is critical to any animal's survival. But really, there was no danger at all. What happened to cause such an intense reaction? What exactly is fear? In this article, we'll examine the psychological and physical properties of fear, find out what causes a fear response and look at some ways you can defeat it.

What is Fear?

Fear is a chain reaction in the brain that starts with a stressful stimulus and ends with the release of chemicals that cause a racing heart, fast breathing and energized muscles, among other things, also known as the fight-or-flight response. The stimulus could be a spider, a knife at your throat, an auditorium full of people waiting for you to speak or the sudden thud of your front door against the door frame.

The brain is a profoundly complex organ. More than 100 billion nerve cells comprise an intricate network of communications that is the starting point of everything we sense, think and do. Some of these communications lead to conscious thought and action, while others produce autonomic responses. The fear response is almost entirely autonomic: We don't consciously trigger it or even know what's going on until it has run its course.

Because cells in the brain are constantly transferring information and triggering responses, there are dozens of areas of the brain at least peripherally involved in fear. But research has discovered that certain parts of the brain play central roles in the process:

·         Thalamus - decides where to send incoming sensory data (from eyes, ears, mouth, skin)

·         Sensory cortex - interprets sensory data

·         Hippocampus - stores and retrieves conscious memories; processes sets of stimuli to establish context

·         Amygdala - decodes emotions; determines possible threat; stores fear memories

·         Hypothalamus - activates "fight or flight" response

With this information I will understand how to truly terrify my audience, I need to use people's hidden fears to create a suspense filled realistic horror film.