Final Product: 'The Enemy'

                       

Directors Commentary

 As well as our final product, we also edited our film and added in a directors commentary to discuss hidden messages within our film that may not be immediately clear to the audience. During our commentary we speak about why we used certain shots, angles and editing techniques and what they represent in our film. For example, we speak about the way taht the majority of teh shot of 'Shell' are from a high angle, and this is to make Michelle look more vulnerable. This suits the storyline as Michelle is persuaded to do the 'Ouija Board'.

In addition to this, when showing the actors name in our opening, we edited it to make sure that they are parallel and in time with the beat of the music. This is to make the opening appear more professional.

We have also used a panning shot at the beginning of the clip to fully introduce the setting and to build up a suspense, it is a slow panning to allow the audience to get a full view of certain aspects of the location, for example, important things such as the red hand prints across the wall.

During the commentary we also speak about the lighting that is used in the shed, the shed is blacked out and only candles are used. We used limited lighting to foreshadow the limited hope for the characters.

Looking Back At Your Preliminary Task..

Looking back at your Preliminary Task what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
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 Looking back at my preliminary task i feel that i have learnt a lot and made big improvements in many aspects of the complete project. I think that i have developed many skills and improved on certain techniques that we used. I feel that my knowledge of the subject has increased massively both practically and also theoretically. I feel that I have learnt a lot about different theories and that i am able to put these theories into practice and into my planning and my final project. 

When planning our preliminary task, what is was going to be about, setting, and when we would film it i think that it was very unorganized and we struggled to come up with an appropriate and simple storyline. In addition to this, my preliminary task didn't have a real and suitable genre. As well as this we wasn't sure on any of the shots or angles we were going to use and therefore we wasn't able to create a realistic storyboard of what we would like to follow. 

I think that I have learnt a lot during the planning progress as we spent a lot of time doing research on what shots and angles would be used in a horror opening sequence. Therefore this also helped us to create a realistic storyboard that we were able to follow to make the filming process quicker and more efficient.

Storyboard for our Final Product
As well as this i also researched narrative structures that can be used in horror films. For example the classical three act structure. Therefore we chose to use this within our film, by introducing the main characters during the opening.

As well as this we were also well organised and planned as shared out jobs and group roles and therefore were able to work at many things at once. For example, Josh was responsible for completing The Script, I was responsible for putting together all of our original ideas and Sam was responsible for creating our original opening of which we were going to use.

I also think that i have improved my knowledge alot when having to consider the target audience for my film. I was able to think about the appropriate audience for my film and how it would have to be advertised using theories from different theorists such as Stuart Hall and Richard Coe

 

Another way in which I feel I have developed my knowledge since my preliminary task is that i have realised how important the mise-en-scene, characters, location etc. are when filming and when targetting a specific audience. During my preliminary task the setting had no relevance to the storyline, and if anything, a school classroom was an unrealistic place to film a couple arguing. However, in our final product, we thought alot about how important the location would need to be to assure that it fully portrayed the genre of our film.

                                                                                                         

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Who would be the audience for your media product?
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The audience for our media product would be for teenagers and young adults. I think this because when casting the characters in our film we had to take into consideration what kind of characters the audience would like to see. As well as this, after doing research it also shown us that teenagers and young adults would prefer to watch a horror film with a cast of around the same age so that they would be able to relate to what was going on in the film. As well as this, as it would be a modern film set in modern times, the audience would be able to feel more involved with what is going on, the costume, set, make up and the characters attitude.  

Our media product would be targeted for both genders male and female, this is because our cast has a balance between both of the genders and it also allows us to reach out to a wider audience, rather than just targetting a female or male audience.

As well as this, our product also attracts a variety of ethnicities. The cast in our product are not all of White Caucasian but also Mixed White/Black Caribbean. This again widens our target audience as we have wider ethicities featured in our film. This may be seen as closer to a full reprsentation of British Society as British Culture is diverse in ethnicity.

As well as this, I think that an audience who are teenagers and young adults would be the best suited audience for our media product is because the ouija board that is used, would be a game that is most likelly to be 'played with' by people of this age and therefore this will put more fear into the audience.

Tranny of genre – Richard Coe

He wrote that the tyranny of genre is normally taken to signify how common structures constrain individual creativity. Genre is a negative force, constraining creativity. Although Coe suggested this, we have to be able to pick out our target audience to make the film, easier to market, because we know where and how to advertise the film to get in with our target audience. It is easier to make and easier to get a guaranteed audience because we will already know who our target audience is and it will be easier to choose and market the star of the film because we can cast the characters so that our target audience can relate to them.

Criticisms that may affect our target audience is that Vertigo films usually target male characters, for example in the film Football Factory.

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

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
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The sound and music used in our media product helps to develop the forms and conventions of real media products, the sound and the music that we chose to use in our product was to help enhance the genres that we were tyring to portray. We used non-diegetic to represent the chosen genre in the product that we have produced. The slow tense single beat music builds up the fear and suspense of what is going to happen in the product.
'Research shows that music running parallel to the action in the horror genre, has a genuine affect on the audience and amplifies the build up of tension and suspense.' http://davidsonnews.net/2010/06/28/neil-lerner-looks-at-the-music-of-horror-movies/

The mise en scene that we used within our media product helps to develop the forms and conventions of real media products, especially the use of our setting and our location, this is very similar to one that would be seen in a real media product. For example the first setting shown in the opening is a very large garden with one character, this signifies the isolation of the character and automatically introduces the main girl. Our media product then moves on to being located in a shed. The shed helps to connote the genre, horror and also the confined space also represents that certain characters were scared and therefore want to feel close to each other. Other mise-en-scene that we also used was things that are around the shed, for example, a fish tank with a skulls head in their and also red hand prints across the wall.

One of the main props that we used in our media product to develop the forms and conventions of real media products was a 'Ouija Board'
The camera shots and angles that we used also helps to develop the forms and conventions of real media products as we used many close ups and extreme close up shots to present to the audience how the characters were feeling, this is like in many other horror films.

Within our media product we also tried to follow other traditional horror conventions that we had found out in our research. Within our film we developed the trait of it being a female character that is posessed by a demon. This is found very often within the demonic possession sub genre.

However, in our media product we also challenged the forms and conventions of real media products, as research shows that the antagonist is typically a male, however we chose to use our main female charatcer as our antagonist. This challenges many stereotype about males usually being the stronger character.

We chose a cast of teenagers for our media product so that the it attracts a wider audience and also the youth can symbolise the innocence and purity of mankind.

Media Institution

Sam also answered two of the questions to support the evaluation of our final project; What Kind of Media Institution Might Distribute Your Media Product and Why? and also What Have you Learnt about Technologies from the Process of Constructing this Product?

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Josh answered two of the questions for the evaluation. These were: How does your media product represent particular social groups? and How did you attract/address your audience?