Evaluation Question 7

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

I have learnt to use the camera better than I did in the preliminary task, even though as stated before we had technical difficulties with the camera and therefore had to result in using a hand-held camera, this made filming our opening sequence a lot easier than the preliminary this is because in our opening sequence all shots are point of view so the hand-held camera went well with what we are trying to create, whereas with our preliminary task the camera had to be stationery, this gave us the chance to change our range and style of shots we had originally chose.

When editing the preliminary task I found it a lost easier as it was a very basic quick sequence that we filmed which made it easy to do match-on-action shots and the camera was stable for every different scene we did. I believe that the preliminary task was a lot easier to edit because there were less screen shots and detail to it unlike the opening sequence. The music that we had chose for the preliminary task had no relevance what so ever to what was said in it, it was just to help us get used to editing and how to put a soundtrack in if we wanted one however with our opening sequence the background music that we had chose complimented the action in the sequence.

For the preliminary task there was no script, storyboard or planning it, where as our opening sequences had weeks of preparation, scripts were made, storyboards and planning, things were changed, ideas were moved around, got rid of, new ones were put in place or mixed with others, we even changed things on instinct as we was filming that we thought would look better through actually shooting it then and there, and knowing what the new idea and shot would show better than the previous one. Even at the final editing stage things were still changed, things were cut out and a scene we had filmed later on was moved to the beginning of the sequence as it looked better. This helped us get the final product that we have, the planning helped everything to run smoothly and it was also a structure so we knew exactly what we had to do step by step so we knew in our heads what it should look like and so that our sequence would plan out how we intended from the start.

Evaluation Question 6

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

I used all of the above to help me produce, film and edit our final opening sequence, I would like to add, when we did our first shoot of our opening sequence we DID use a proper filming camera with a tripod which had a tape in it that we would later on put onto the computer and edit, we also used a handheld light to highlight moments where we used close ups to really see the expression on the characters face. We made use of a abandoned trolley we found to use as a makeshift tracker (which worked very well I must say) when filming in front of the character and moving with them as they walked along, but unfortunately we had a faulty tape which meant our footage was ruined and not worthy of submitting, so to prevent this from happening again and to really get the effect of the camera being a point of view shot, we used one of our groups own handheld Canon cameras to give the effect of the uneasy human movements.

For our media coursework instead it being handwritten and paper based, we had to upload blog entrys onto Blogger, I had personally never used this website before but I had used similar websites (such as Piczo, Myspace etc). I learnt how to embed links onto a post, upload photos and by using another website called Scribd (a website where you are able to upload powerpoints embed the link and post it on your blog) I was able to put my script and screenshots onto the post. I personally used Paint to help me make the mood boards just for this evaluation such as when I annotated the screen shot in Question 5 of the girl walking down the alley, I was not recommended to do this, but I have always fount this an easy way to do things such as annotate and make collages so I used my benefit of knowing this to help me. We also used Final Cut Pro on the Apple Mac computers (neither of which I have ever used before) I found the Mac very hard to work out how to use as to me it is back-to-front of a laptop or computer I use at home, I found it very frustrating and had to constantly get help from our Technician and fellow classmates to help me work out how to use it properly, but once I had run through it a few times I was ok. As for Final Cut Pro, although I had also never used this before, I fount this a lot easier as it was very clear on the screen what each part was for and what it did, and the tools were obvious as to what they did, once I had learned how to get our actual footage onto the computer and Final Cut Pro I found it very easy to maneuver.

I had never used a camera like the sony HVR-V1U pro HDV 1080p but I found it quite easy to work out as the buttons were labelled as to what they did. During the editing stage we found that there were problems with what we had filmed it kept skipping and the sound wasn't working we later on found that we had a dysfunctional tape and therefore had to film all over again in a short space of time, we tried to book another camera for the day we wished to shoot however there was none available at that time so therefore we had to result in using my camera which is a canon, we was very upset as we had put a lot of time and effort into our first shooting of our first sequence and we tried to edit the tape but it was beyond working with or fixing and we was advised to film again, we was going to send off our first attempt to show how hard we had worked but the tape just got worse the more it was played, personally I feel our first attempt was so good and I'm gutted it couldn't be used, but I am glad we come across this technical fault as this problem would be something genuine film producers, editors and directors would come across and have to get on with and overcome. And I believe we did this the best way we could, and instead of trying to copy our first sequence bit by bit, we used this opportunity as a chance to change what we did wrong in the first sequence and to shoot the sequence with a different approach.

Evaluation Question 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

The main character is female, this would attract the audience (mainly boys) because she is quite attractive. Since out target audience is of an age from 15-21, an attractive girl on screen may be appealing therefore more people would watch it, having a female as the main character may also allow girls to relate to her.

The backing track used for this opening sequence builds tension and suspense, it is also a typical convention of a horror film, if the audience like horror films then this would be appealing to them and they would expect music like this throughout the film and would recognize the similar conventions that shows it is a horror film.

Evaluation Question 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

 Our media product is aimed towards the middle to lower class citizens (the average social working class that is a majority of the population); as our setting is filmed in a dark alley way, which would be based near train stations and restaurants which is associated with the everyday life of our target audience, if we were aiming for the higher class citizens then we would have set our film within a high class estate or a posh well known hotel or club. We felt that we could relate to a wider range of audience if we set our media product within a place that a majority of people can relate to, that are similar to ourselves, to make it easier to reach out and connect with our target audience.

Our target audience for this film would range from the age 15-21. Throughout the sequence the point of view shot is always focused on the protagonist character which is a female, so therefore the main audience would be males, but with horror films being known as the ideal 'date movie' with girlfriends either dragging their boyfriend along to hide behind or with an attractive female for the males to look at it would broach a wider audience and be appealing to both sexes likewise. 

We had asked some of our target audience to name a few of their favourite films, out of all the films that were named we found that these were the most popular.

In no particular order

1) Harry Potter

2) X-men - The Last Stand

3) Scream

4) The Fast And Furious

5) Saw

There is a wide range of favourite films, but most of them are 'thrillers'. We chose this target audience because they are at the age in which they can watch the film and relate to it, since this could happen to anybody at any time.

Evaluation Question 3

What kind of media institution might distribute

your media product and why? 

The production company that you chose would be the ones responsible for raising the money to create the film and also fund your film (or may have connections with a larger company who could fund the film) A Production company is the company who makes the physical production of a film.. Our film, Dead Mans Alley has been made by myself and my group; 2012 Productions - our own production company. If we were to distribute our film, we would need to create a link with a distribution company who are for releasing films to the public.

Our media product, Dead Mans Alley is a Independent British Film, it would be distributed by a small distribution company like Big Talk productions, who have distributed British films such as 'Attack The Block' and 'Paul' (known for their black comedy), this would be the perfect distributor for our film due to having contacts in the film industry based in London, United Kingdom. And it would also benefit us as the films Big Talk have produced in the past have been similar to what our film is and aimed at the same audience usually associated with the films they produce.

Other ways that we could distribute our film is buy film festivals, an example of a film festival that could be used is Zero Film Festival. Zero Film Festival is the first and only festival exclusive to self-financed film-makers, this would be good due to the fact that our film has no budget and not known actors. A large distribution company would be Paramount, however paramount is a large budget production and distribution company with a lot of links with large cinema groups, distributing on DVD and TV on demand. Smaller distributors cannot afford the same things that the bigger distributors have to offer hence the reason they do not have links and are unable to return the huge cash return upon a distribution of a film, this is why they have smaller budgets. Paramount distribute films such as 'along came a spider' and 'van helsing', they would be unsuitable to distribute my film due to the fact as stated before that there is no budget and also not known actors/actresses.

New ways in which films are being distributed are through a wider range of Media more popular and associated in the modern day, such as on websites when browsing the internet there will be advertisements in the corners or on the top of websites promoting new films out, or when updating your iPod on the iTunes store there will be a list of the new films out available to watch or download, as well as the option of being able to order films that are in cinemas now to watch from the comfort of your own home just by ordering them off of your home broadband e.g Sky Box Office, Virgin Media etc

Evaluation Question 1

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

First of all, we chose Dead Mans Alley as our title, as this makes the film genre obvious from the start, we used bold bright red letters to make the title stand out and grab the viewers attention, therefore our media product has used conventions of a real media product as most films aim to grab your attention through big bold titles on trailers/opening sequences in a cinema to draw you in from the beginning. 

Our choice of location is what the whole of our film is based around, when we was thinking of ideas for our horror movie and what would be a good place to shoot our opening sequence, one member of our group suggested the alley that she lives by which is nicknamed 'Dead Mans Alley' the reason being is it is an alleyway next to a busy train station with railings and overgrown plants everywhere, it's very gloomy and is the kind of place you wouldn't walk down by yourself at night, the nickname inspired our film title and made the perfect setting, therefore developing our media product into a whole idea and image in our minds setting the base for our opening sequence.

We also used modern day costumes/props as mentioned before such as the mobile phone and clothes that teenagers would wear everyday, so in a way we used conventions here that a real media product would use to fit their genre and target audience, but I believe we also challenged and developed on some real media conventions as our characters costume was not basic modern such as jeans and a jacket etc but an edgy individual look, to really bring our sequence to modern day time, our character is also wearing long dark red/burgundy socks as red is seen as a symbol of danger and death, so there is a hidden message from the start.

In our camerawork and editing, we changed the contrast of the film to make it darker and gloomier to really add to the uneasy and mysterious atmosphere, and we chose to film the whole sequence as a point of view shot from the murderer's perspective to build on that uneasy atmosphere. We also added a clip of heavy breathing over the sequence to make it weird and scary, as well as a creepy soundtrack to build up the moment and set the scene/mood. Also, when filming the diegetic sound of our character talking, it wasn't very clear or loud which made it difficult to understand, so in editing we re-recorded our characters dialogue and put the clips of audio over where the character originally spoke to make it easier to hear and understand. This specific shot was to make the audience feel uncomfortable as well as get their attention to make them want to see what's going to happen and who this person is who's eyes we are seeing it through... But to make it a cliffhanger we don't reveal who this person is throughout our opening sequence, even at the end, too add to the mystery. The whole opening sequence being in a point of view shot perspective uses and develops on ideas from real media products as there are normally a few point of view shots in a sequence involving a psycho murderer scene, but we challenged this convention by making the whole of our opening sequence a range of point of view shots from one perspective.

When choosing our story-line and how to create the build up in our opening sequence, we imagined what would keep us on the edge of our seat if this was an actual film we was watching in the cinema, so we used the conventions a typical horror movie usually does and what you would usually see happen in them. We started by introducing the audience to our character straight away by showing her walking from a busy high street down a side road, it's very obvious who our protagonist character is as the camera follows there every movement, this distinguishes her from the rest of the people in the background, and by getting her to walk away from everybody else this automatically brings her away from the busy public place and brings her into a deserted location instead, separating her from the 'life' in the location, which is once again another hidden message, but purposefully making it very apparent that she is now alone. We did this as in typical horror movies you see either a lone person, or a group of friends get into a situation where they are often alone (or end up alone) in a deserted place with no other frequent form of life close by. Putting the protagonist character alone is the start of our build up and developing on the idea above, then having someone follow her closely adds to this. When the character is then in the alleyway we start building to the climax of the sequence, with the person behind (who's point of view we are seeing this from) getting closer to our protagonist character, and the two then finally coming face to face, however we only allow the audience to see this interaction between the two for a split second before the shot jump cuts to a black screen, building the suspense and mystery.

The genre definitely uses and develops on the usual conventions of a horror film by using a young attractive teenage girl as the protagonist character, the use of modern day everyday teenage clothing, the mobile phone prop etc, our opening has forms and conventions to suggest that it is a horror film with the use of the creepy slow soundtrack, the isolation of the character herself and the uneasy point of view shot from the murderer's point of view (even though it is not obvious who this person is)

Evaluation Question 2

Question 2:

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Between the two screen shots of Georgia and Brittany Snow the first obvious similarity is that they are both blonde teenage girls, and even though both shots are mid shots of the girls we can see they are in modern casual clothing. Even though the film Brittany Snow stars in (Nelson McCormik and J.S. Cardone's 2008 film 'Prom Night') is an American film and ours is British, we can see that the conventions are similar. The producers for horror films aimed at a young audience usually use young attractive girls as the protagonist character to attract a male audience which widens the audience base as young girls would usually see a horror film with their boyfriends or in a group of friends.


From the chosen shots of the two characters we can see that both of the characters body language and facial expressions are confused and scared and that there is a mysterious silhouette behind them causing this. As for the characters roles in the two films, Georgia and Brittany play very similar parts, where they are both the main characters that the film is based around who in which is the psycho murderer's prime victim. 


The dialogue in the two films are similar in the sense they are both common language that is often associated with and used between young adults and teenagers in both America and England, but the obvious difference being that Prom Night is American dialogue with language or words that you wouldn't find in English films, and Dead Mans Alley is British dialogue with the use of teenage slang usually associated with teenagers in London and Essex where our film is set.


The props we used in our film Dead Mans Alley is a mobile phone, which once again is often associated with teenagers, we had our protagonist character use the mobile phone the whole way through our opening sequence and this played a huge part in the series of events that led up to the climax/main event. 


All of these conventions identifies that particular chosen characters are associated with a certain audience, in our films case as well as Prom Night's a young attractive girl is usually associated with a horror film aimed at a target audience of teenagers/young adults and with our main character being from Essex this would identify with a young audience in the UK.