Evaluation Q7 .. x

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

We chose a location that represented a horror atmosphere to bring a sense of realism to the product. The location, Kingswood House, was my idea, as i've lived near the house for several years and always pictured a horror movie being based around it. As soon as we had decided what genre we was going to use, i knew straight away this would be the ideal place for the product.

In most horror movies, they always begin with an introduction to the location alongside a creepy, spine chilling soundtrack. They may do this to make the audience aware of where the movie takes place. Also, to keep the audience wondering about what may have happened there, what is going to happen, etc. We tried to replicate this idea and make it genuine, but to our personal style.

The silhouette effect created here is the perfect example of some of the effects the audience may see in a horror movie.

Evaluation Q6 .. x

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

I used a variety of diffferent technologies in order to create my final product. These included the use of internet, use of cameras, laptop and editing software.

The use of internet allowed me to access a range of different music materials, and also to find films of a similar genre to the one i created. One site which gave free copyright material that i looked through was http://www.royaltyfreetunes.co.uk/.

The use of the digital cameras made it much more easier for my group and i to film our product. This was because the digital cameras were much more easier to work with. It contained zoom in which we could work well with, because we could use the zoom to add tension to certain scenes. For example, we used zoom at the beginning to show the location and create a horror atmosphere.

The use of editing allowed my group and i to remove any glitches and unwanted scenes. I used editing to create the credits and title, and also to add fades in areas which it was needed. There was one scene in which my group and i needed to add a voiceover, so editing was used to help us do this. We also used it to add background tracks, we also had to cut some of the track down to size so it fits in with the movement. It was also used to sequence our final product.

Evaluation Q5 .. x

How does your media product represent different social groups?

My media product represented different social groups in a number of ways. One way in which it did this was through the casting that was presented. Our media product contained a multi cultural cast which could be used to our advantage as it branches out to more than one ethnical group.

The whole cast were grouped to a similar age. Being teenagers, this has a wide similarity to what most people would see in other horror movies, as the cast in most horror movies are usually of similar age, and teenagers.

All the characters that are shown throughout the media product are perceived in a positive way. They all help each other out, and stick together. They are represented positively through the narrative and their actions.

Evaluation Q4 .. x

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

Looking back at my preliminary task, i feel that i have shown a major pregression in my use of technical and practical terms. From my full product, i can see that i have gained a wider knowledge in many aspects in the progression from it to the full media product, these all including camerawork, editing, use of equipment and team work.

When we made the preliminary task, i found that the hardest tenchinque we used was editing. However, during my time on the course, and with the help of my peers and my teachers, editing became a simpler task as i realised we were doing it more regularly. I have learnt many different editing techniques now, including how and where to add fades, how to cut unwanted parts of the video and adding titles and credits.

I also feel that i have learnt many new media terms and how to create them on a video recorder. For example, i now know how to create a shot reverse shot during a conversation, and i know that continuity plays a major role in media production.

Evaluation Q3 .. x

How did your media product attract/address your audience?

From the feedback that was given by our audience, we could see that there were a number of things that we used that attracted and addressed our audience. For example, the use of mise en scene helped us to create a sense of empathy from the audience, through the setting.




The image represents a multicultural cast, which shows that we were aiming to create a product for a multicultural audience. I think that this would have been successful, if our product were to actually be distributed.

The storyline of our media product attracts the typical horror movie fans, as from our research we took many ideas and made them our own by personalising them.

We aimed to choose a musical background that had an eery, spine chilling effect to it, in which our audience would find in most horror movies. In order to satisfy our audience, we looked through a number of free copyright music, eventually settling to one which we all agreed with.

All of these ideas are typical conventions of horror films, and personally i feel my group and i reached our target to successfully create a horror film that would attract a wide audience.

Evaluation Q2 .. x

Who would be the audience for your media product?

During our planning process, we concluded that our main target audience aim would be for teenagers aged 15-25. We looked at the different elements that could determine what kind of audience our product would attract, and finally decided that we would be aiming for a working class, multi cultural audience.

We decided this through the type of materials we used in our media product. The mise en scene that were used were modern, which created a more youthful atmosphere that targeted this age group.

We presented our work to a number of teenagers in order to see if our aim was met, and to our success it had.

Their were both positive and negative feedback from a few of our audience which i have listed below.

Positive - The gloomy, dim scenery at the opening scene was an ideal match for the type of film we aimed to create.

Negative - There were a few scenes in which we could have improved by changing a few camera techniques. For example, more close ups in order to show emotions of the characters (e.g when they are scared).

Evaluation Q1 .. x

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

I think media institutions such as DNA films and Archangel filmworks will distribute our media production, as they all specialise in recent British Horror movies.

DNA films have produced films such as 28 days later and a sequel, 28 weeks later, which both use the British horror genre and theme. The use of a British cast and a British setting also relates to the type of movie we have created, as we also use a British lifeystyle.

Archangel films have produced films such as Spirit Trap which relates to our film
http://horror.about.com/od/foreignhorrormovies/a/britishhorror_2.htm