1) In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Starting with the basics, our product utilises company logos and title sequences with a deep red font and, especially the opening titles with a scratched in effect on the words that appear on the screen. This was done as it utilised older conventions seen in horrors such as those made by Hammer Films and is not dissimilar from the opening tiles found in Halloween (1978).
Essentially, the idea was to make a horror sequence in a classic 1970’s style, with two characters doing the exact opposite of what two average people in a similar situation would do (going into the woodland). Conventions such as these can also be found in horror movies made by Hammer Films and in typical zombie films such as those made by George A. Romero.
We developed conventions in our film by NOT showing explicitly on screen the dead body return from the dead as a zombie. While initially, we planned to show one of his eyes sparking back to life we decided against it shortly before filming commenced. This helped us to develop conventions as it made the sequenced appear more shocking when the body jumped out of the trees to attack the female lead.
Challenging forms and conventions came easily to us as an initial plan was to have a teenage female zombie. Most horror films utilise at least one male main antagonist while we decided to use a female only. Men appear weaker in our production, while females are empowered. This can be seen by the fact that it is a dead boy the main antagonist is devouring on, and it is the main male who is killed first by the main antagonist, leaving the female lead to die later on.
During editing, we decided to manipulate the colour found in the woodland sequences to a much darker, and in some cases a red tinted hue. This helped to signify that these woodlands were dark, mysterious and evil and that innocent people should not be entering.
Music used was from Buffy The Vampire Slayer, as the incidental music found in several episodes was eerie and had a similar effect to what we had in mind. Eerie music is a typical convention found in horror films, especially in the opening scenes.
Typical conventions of horrors also include blood and gore, which we used a great deal of in our production, even going as far as to show a zombie harvesting on a corpses blood and guts. This was done to give a shocking and disturbing effect very early on in the movie, allowing the viewer a peak into what to expect from the rest of the movie. These conventions cam be found in films such as The Ring, The Ring 2, The Grudge and The Grudge Two. All of which show disturbing opening scenes that feature a slightly different cast to the rest of the movie, even though the rest of these movies are centered around the opening sequence.
A young cast was also used to challenge conventions, as typically a young Hollywood cast in a horror film are late teens/early 20’s. We decided that our film would be much more shocking if we showed teens who were around 15-18 fighting for their lives as they are much younger than the typical modern day horror cast.
2) How does your media product represent particular social groups?
The romantic couple in the production are average middle class teenagers taking a romantic stroll in the park. They are Caucasian and are dressed casually in a style that does not conform to any particular stereotype (tracksuits = ‘chav’ & black clothing = ‘emo/goth’). The characters were dressed in average simple clothing to take away from typical teenage stereotypes and to encourage the viewer to see this couple as a representation of teenagers as a whole.
It can be seen that the couple are of a middle class background because not only are they taking a romantic stroll, which socially is seen as unusual for young teenagers, but also the male lead has an Apple iPhone, indicating that he, or his parents have the money to spend on such devices.
Women are also empowered in this sequence, as not only does the female lead outlive the male lead, it is a female antagonist who appears to kill the male lead after harvesting on a male corpse.
Age is the same across the board in our production, as the four characters presented to the audience are all young actors. We chose not to include older characters to show that age had no advantage in this situation and that having younger actors meant that as the film was aimed at a young (18-25) audience, they would be able to relate to them more.
3) What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
The product was specifically made to appeal to institutions such as Hammer Films. We achieved this by having a solely British cast and having few special effects so that audience could concentrate on the story and acting.
Also, our production appears (deliberately) small budget as many early Hammer films also had a similar feel. Films like The Blair Witch Project and Saw had low budgets, therefore having a raw feel that was able to focus on the movie itself.
Hammer Films would probably be inclined to distribute our product as it mirrors back to their earlier films and in some respects has a nostalgic feel through the storyline and acting styles which harkens an Enid Blyton scenario (‘what is that strange sound in the woods?’ ‘lets go and look’).
4) How did you attract/address your audience?
With the opening titles and music we were able to attract the audience by building suspense with the evolving images that made up our company logos and the loud eerie music that helped build the suspense.
Also, shown straight away as the camera pans to the ground is a couple preparing to sit down, showing that the action is happening straight away, even in the establishing shots.
The audience is also quickly introduced to the location of the couple (Birmingham Birmingham
A fade to black then shows a new sequence in an unknown woodland location, with a zombie eating away at a corpse. Initially, the viewer may think that this is the area in which the virus previously mentioned is, however after a direct cut back to the couple, the audience learns that this event is happening metres away from the couple.
The audience are now aware that the couple are walking into the danger zone and perhaps feel that the female lead will die first as she has entered before the male. However, in a unique twist of events, the audience is surprised and shocked to find that the zombie has mysteriously disappeared and that it is the boy who is killed first.
We also attracted the audience by using the dead corpse as the final zombie to kill the female lead, in a similar fashion to the original Saw film which saw a dead body get up at the end and be revealed to be the main enemy.
5) What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
Before taking on this task, I had never used a tripod or a DV camera before, so was quite surprised when I found them easy to handle and use. I was able to grasp the basic features and requirements of this equipment, while keeping in mind filming methods such as the 180 degree rule. I was able to use my newfound knowledge in a preliminary task which required full use of the tripod, camera and 180 degree rule in order to film a person entering a room, sitting down and passing another person a prop, which required match on action.
Furthermore, as my home PC equipment is solely Windows, I was new to Apple OS software, especially Final Cut Pro. After several starter activities, including constructing a Star Wars Episode III trailer, I found Final Cut Pro easy to handle and was therefore capable of editing the hours of footage filmed for our production down to just under 3 minutes into a fast paced horror sequence.
Similarly, I had never used BlogSpot before as I had never kept a blog previously. While I found blogging difficult at first I soon adapted but was never really able to get the hang of putting photos on there which appear to move around on their own. However, using this website for my production has encouraged me to begin keeping a personal blog in future as towards the end I began to find blogging an exciting part of my course.
6) Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
I found that in the preliminary task I was able to work fluently in a group with my peers; Laura Sheasby and Faye Slater. Together, we were able to film a preliminary sequence using two shots, match on action, close ups, medium shots and establishing shots while keeping in mind the 180 degree rule.
The three of us found that from this short exercise we would be able to work together in a group in order to film our final product. Also, we had similar ideas on the type of film that we would make and were able to compromise on differences in regards to production and creativity.
Filming was also easy for us as a group. Faye and Laura took it upon themselves to create the blood and props for the production, while I wrote out the storyline, scripts and directed the filming. We were also able to work together in a coordinated attempt to film the sequence as smoothly and as quickly as possible by taking it in turns to film and to act in the horror sequence.
I found that during the time span from the preliminary task to the finished product that the three of us would be able to work together in a group for future tasks and have already discussed the possibility of extending our task by filming the full movie in the summer of 2011. This is a direct result of what we have learnt over the last few months in regards to music, editing, mise-en-scene and camera angles, as well as the full production of a movie product from shooting on location, to editing it on a Mac in the college editing suite.
