We wanted to make sure that our film kept to the horror codes and conventions that we saw earlier when studying other texts. Our film uses slow high pitched music which I feel sets a good scene to the film. The music used on other horror films is similar to this so we felt it kept to the horror codes and conventions. When selecting the appropriate typography we chose to use a black background and a red text. This is what is used in many of the horror films we have seen before and I feel that it fits in well with the overall film. The characters we used are young girls because this fits a stereotype created that women are vulnerable and using younger girls makes them very vulnerable. We had planned to use just one girl but we made slight changes to the script so that we could take hold of the opportunity presented to us. We kept the camera on the tripod for most of the film because we wanted to keep the film smooth and not too jerky. When the girls enter the room they are playing with dolls which they are controlling and we wanted to give the effect that the killer was like a ‘puppet master’. The film then fades out to give the effect that time has passed. There a couple of cuts where we see a point-of-view shot from the killer in the wardrobe. We used match on action which we had learned to do in our preliminary task. We then use an effect of cross-cutting which creates distortion and confusion like there is alot of action happening quickly. We used this for the exact purpose of what it is and also we saw an effective use of cross cutting in one of the films we watched in our research. We later used an earthquake effect which gives confusion again to the audience. We used a short film within our film which one of the girls watch which shows the killer. We obviously had to film this short film ourselves which was quiet easy to do. We found a good  location which we felt fitted the horror codes and conventions because it was dark and it seemed quite scary. We filmed at our location and after seeing what it looked like we were unhappy with some of the filming and there were also many errors with people getting in the shots that weren’t supposed to be. We filmed it again and we made certain changes to the script and we got the final result. 

I feel that any production would be distributed by any production company because it is a product that is like many horror films that have been released. I feel that we have addressed our audience well and an audience that would be interested are 15+ and either genders. We screened our film to people of 15+ and the feedback we got was fantastic. All of the audience thought that it was scary and that it was a quality product. From the feedback we received we were told that we should change the opening credits because they interfered with what was happening in the film. The survey results we got back rated the film highly with not too many things that we needed to change. We took the information on board and adjusted our film. 

When producing this media I learned many things when using the new technologies involved in creating it. I learned how to use the editing program because it is different to the one we used in our preliminary task. We decided that the older version of the editing program was better and offered us more in terms of effects.

The type of institution to distribute my film would be any organization that has experience in distributing horror films. I feel that a distribution company that would distribute our film would also have experience in working with low budget production companies. 

This is our questionnaire and results after we had a viewing of our film.

Overall I think that our product is a quality product and it works with the horror codes and conventions. I feel that the opening 2 minutes sets up a interesting start to a film. I thought that as a group we worked together well and everyone expressed their opinion on everything.

When watching the horror films we noticed a number of things that were similar  throughout the films that we watched which were the horror codes and conventions. This then gave us some idea what we ned to put into the opening 2 minutes of our film. 

When watching the opening the opening of ‘The Descent’, we noticed that the typography used in the film was a black background with with what seemed like a torch light effect lighting up the text. We felt this would be something we should maybe look at using in our film because it was effective in showing the text in a scary way and it is something that we feel we could do on our film with the technology we have. We also took note of the music that was used in the films because we feel this is one of the most important aspects of any film because it sets the scene. In ‘The Descent’ the music is very slow and has high pitched notes often. This immediately sets the scene for the audience because we associate that type of music with horror. This is something that we would definitely consider when planning our product. In the opening of ‘The Descent’, one of the characters dies within a few minutes. This has been done to set the scene and to give the audience an idea of what is going to happen. Again this links back to the codes and conventions for horror films. We felt after watching this that we should definitely consider a character dying in the opening of our film when we plan our product.

We also analyzed the film ’The Hole’. We noticed that there are some similarities with the ‘The Descent’ which shows that both of these films are sticking to the horror codes and conventions which we would have to use in our film. Just like ‘The Descent’ the typography in ‘The Hole’ is the same, using the torch light effect. Although know body dies in the opening of ‘The Hole’ we see a woman that looks dirty and beaten almost like she is living death.    

Overall we learnt many things from the horror films we watched such as the horror codes and conventions. Also we learnt alot about things such as lighting, music and dialogue.

This is the pitch that we produced to our teachers to show our research into other products how we planned our own film.

Our film is teen drama. It is similar to any other film in which we use good camera shots, a believable script and it has been edited reasonably well using good sound effects. We used shot reverse, the 180 degree rule and match on action. All of these techniques are used by any real media products. The way in which we decided to structure is good by showing the ending first but from a different perspective. The only problem with our film is the quality of the tape we used. In the first half of the tape, there are parts where it stutters and it begins to blur. Also the sound is effected because it goes very quiet and you miss some of the speech.

Our premilinary task is aimed at teenagers because it is a teen drama. I think that some adults would watch it because it is a similar genre to Hollyoaks. Teen drama’s cover particular issues that teenagers may go through and our media product is trying to fit into it and make it believable.

To get to the target audience we attempted to create a sense of realism. We made a script that could be realted to by some teenagers. Also we looked at other peoples preliminary tasks and looked what made there’s good. We did have difficulty on deciding what genre we wanted at first but then we agreed on teen drama. Also we had many ideas on what to do for the script but we didn’t want to over-complicate things.

I think that during filming we had several problems. We filmed part of our video before the end of the term, and when we got back we discovered that our location of filming was being decorated which limited what we could film. Also we had a problem with one of the people in my group became ill and missed several weeks and also another member of the group was missing when trying to film leaving just me and somebodyelse to film and act at the same time which was very difficult. We also had a problem with the tape so the quality wasn’t very good.

Over the course I have learnt how to use the different cameras and how to set up to the tri-pod to where the required position. Also I have learned differnet techniques about how to make your movie look proffesional like the 180 degree rule. After learning these I can notice them in movies and t.v programmes and I can now appreciate the affect they have on the viewer. I have also got know the computers and the way they work alot better from the editing of the film.

If we were to do this task then I think we need to pick a better location and to keep it simple. For my main task I think that we will be quicker on setting up the equipment and editing because we know how evrything works. I think we can produce work that is better than our preliminary task in our main task. I think that the preliminary task was good due to the circumstances. I was happy in how we worked together in the way we made our media product.