Evaluation

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






"Psychological horror tends to be subtle compared to traditional horror and typically contains less physical harm, as it works it usually has something to do with sexual health and relationships with women and men mainly on the factors of mentally affecting the audience rather than the display of graphic imagery seen in the slasher and splatter sub-genres. It creates discomfort in the viewer by exposing common or universal psychological vulnerabilities and fears, most notably the shadowy parts of the human psyche which most people repress or deny." -wikipedia definition of Psychological horror
"Horror-of-personality is a specific sub-category of horror and thriller genres; as opposed to excessive violence or the presence of malevolent supernatural beings, such stories evoke horror and/or suspense through villains who are perfectly human, but possess horrific personalities. They usually focus on Freudian psychology, as well as the cause and effect of profound insanity. Each narrative will either document an unbalanced person's descent into madness, or else follow somebody on the trail of a murderous psychopath. The settings are often deceptively ordinary, such as cheerful suburban homes or shabby hotels." wikipedia definition of Horror-of-personality.

In the Horror genre,the films follow many conventions in the opening,through iconography,the narrative and shots and angles.
A typical horror film opening,takes place in an isolated setting,introducing a protagonist and antagonist. In order to create the necessary tension, the director will use a variety of quick cuts,with low-key or non-naturalistic lighting. An immoral teenager is always preyed upon by a monster,murderer or stalker,with a trademark appearance or way of killing, such as Freddy Krueger. The narrative will switch from the 'victim' and 'villain' point of view and the film is either left for closure or a sequel.


A title sequence/opening is to invoke the viewers interest,through telling them what genre the film will be,setting a location and background of the main characters. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tn_DjzN8410



A Nightmare On Elm Street,the story of infamous Freddy Kruger, an accused child murderer,killed by a mob of angry parents,is back. Stalking and killing the children of his murderers,in their dreams.

The opening of the film,is set in an abandoned industrial warehouse,something which already makes viewers uneasy, the place is old,run down and seemingly dangerous. By taking the audience out of there comfort zone of a safe place, through 'mise en scene', an uneasy atmosphere is created. The first character introduced is immediately the threat throughout the film, menacing,stalking an unknown victim and collecting everyday items throughout the warehouse to use as weapons,another iconography used in horror,is at ease and in control with the non-conformational setting. Contrasting with this character is the victim, portrayed as the innocent one,through age,costume-a white nightie,representing her innocence and also contradicting the situation she is currently in.
The camera angles also show the contrasting natures of the character,the isolation of the victim and the confident nature of the mysterious figure,stalking her,with establishing shots showing him preparing weapons and then cross cutting to the girl, using long shots,making her look small,vulnerable and isolated. The audience follow the girl running from her unknown stalker,yet as she is trying to get away,she runs towards the audience and as she turns around,facing away from us,an extreme close up/pov seems to put the audience in the assailants eyes,creating more suspense and tension,as the audience assume,this is when we/antagonist murder the girl,yet when she turns around  she is alone. This increased feeling of being watched and stalked adds to the turmoil of the scene.



The editing of the opening sequence,sets the pace,it starts slow and confident,as we watch the unknown pursuer,assemble his weapon. The easy nature of the way he does this,is reminiscent of a predator stalking its prey,which is what essentially happens in the opening sequence; the victim is out of their comfort zone and running for survival. As the climax of the scene approaches,the cross cuts get quicker and more frantic,as the chase scene commences



The sequence opens,with diegetic sound,of the weapon being assembled, the metal sound is harsh and chilling,matching not only the industrial environment but the atmosphere to be created in the oncoming events,later amphlified by the victims long screams. Through non-diegetic sound, the tension is sustained and increased, the out of place sheep bleating and childlike laughter,adds to the surreality of the scene,along with the composed music which, is high pitched yet almost gives the impression of the sounds of a child playing the xylophone; a potential foreshadow,to the background of the potential killer.



Our opening sequence conforms to the majority of psychological,horror and horror of personality film conventions. We open in a desolate setting and slowly introduce the protagonist and antagonist,shown through typical horror iconography,the contrasting colours of pastel whites and pinks and black, as well as switching from their point of view.
Through sound, we stated the genre of our film, it was tense,disturbing and the pitch was slightly off key to create an eerie atmosphere. However we didn't develop the back story of our characters that clearly,despite having Flo's school picture, I don't think it was that obvious I was a school teacher or male, although this could be developed later in the film. Also Flo was not an 'immoral teenager' being preyed on but in fact a moral,bright, intelligent teenager, not one usually portrayed in horror, such as Friday the 13th,in which, a group of sexually active,drug taking immoral teenagers are camping in a forest and brutally murdered by Jason.
However the pacing of our opening is slightly different from the typical quick cuts used in horror. Ours are,long and tense to draw out the suspense.



How does your media product represent particular social groups?



-the sexually promiscuous bimbo- blonde and busty,the one of the first to die, usually during sex and is girl that you would wish would die sooner. She is normally the one that gets the viewer shouting “Kill her!” She somehow escapes death on several occasions, but when she finally meets her maker, her death is graphic, with possible nudity and the viewer rejoicing.
-the sidekick/best friend-usually spared from death,due to the ability to make people laugh or dies in a comical,disgusting way.
-the Goth/emo-the misunderstood soul,who just wants to be loved and ends up ironically getting stabbed in the heart,trying to save the girl he's secretly loved since primary school OR the bitter girl,everyone is secretly scared and openly disgusted with, rumoured to worship the devil or be a witch-sometime trues. She is enemies with the 'popular' girl at school.
-the jock- Sportsman of the group,he is either arrogant and obnoxious and dies after selling out his group of friends,in an attempt to save himself or is the boyfriend of a character previously killed and after consuming large amounts of his fathers expensive alcohol,grasp a weapon to avenge her death, only to be murdered himself.
-the black guy-either a rapper, from the hood or the sane friend or best friend,who knows its a ridiculous idea to go out into the woods,intoxicated with a group of your friends,where there's a rumoured killer living there. The voice of reason,always the second or penultimate to die and if listened to is why the heroine survives and leads her to mutilate the killer,to avenge the death of her best friend.






The stereotypical horror film characters aren't used in the sequence.
The antagonist is black but typically creepy and male. After feedback from the focus group,we decided to make him a teacher,to add a twist to the story,as a a teacher, is usually a figure of authority or trust,white and typically middle aged,middle class and just wants his students to like him. He is however,wearing scruffy attire and had a casual,slightly dity,haunted persona. This contrast to the persona he presents in his 'everyday normal' life as a middle-class, smart,respected teacher. Yet our teacher,is a strange man with a fixation on the innocent protagonist of the film.



The protagonist of the film conforms to everyone 'heroine' stereotype used in the horror genre. This character almost always has these traits:she is a female,she has dark hair,she is tall and under stately pretty and its only after she has saved herself and possibly the rest of her street,town,students,does anybody take notice of her and she is virginal,innocent and has no reason to be murdered. The heroine is sexually pure and she uses her intelligence,wit and charm to defeat the monster/killer in the end,with help from the voice of reason,black or best friend, though, of course, the antagonist never really dies. She is the person that will undoubtedly last through the whole movie and potential sequels because she is probably the first character introduced and the only one with unabashedly perfect moral values and an immense force of will,e.g. Sydney in the Scream franchise.


By using an attractive,age appropiate,in relation to our demographic,actress, we hoped to pique the male interest and follow the horror convention as well. This also makes her more relatable to the audience and helpless.





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








New Line Cinema,founded in 1967 by Robert Shaye and Michael Lynne. New Line merged with larger sister studio Warner Bros and collaborates with independent company Platinum Dunes,on the horror remakes,they produce.
New Line, produces,markets and distributes all of its films and has units that are dedicated to home entertainment,TV,music,theatre,merchandise and an international sector.  Partnering with HBO to form Picturehouse,a new company releasing new independent films,this could make our film more likely to be considered as a contender to be financial backed by such a prestigious company,in a competitive industry.



In regards to genre specific films, New Line has produced such films as Final Destination, Texas Chainsaw Massacre and A Nightmare on Elm Street.






Platinum Dunes, a private company created in 2001, by Michael Bay,Brad Fuller and Andrew Form,specialises in horror remakes. Producing films such as The Amytville Horror,The Hitcher,The Unborn and Friday the 13th,with mainly teenage audience, I believe that this would be a good company to produce and distribute our film,with genre and audience specifications that match our own and its films grossing at least twice its annual budget. Michael Bay is a renound name in the industry and teen audiences,since his work on Transformers.  However due to it being a private company and its remakes getting generally negative reviews from critics despite commercial success, I think that marketing through this company would be a bad idea,due to the stigma received when Platinum Dunes release a film. http://www.brutalashell.com/2011/06/there-is-a-god-platinum-dunes-quit-horror/






Columbia Pictures Industries, a production and distribution company,renound worldwide as a member of 'The Big Six', formed part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group,owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment.
With genre specific films such as The Grudge,Panic Room,Single White Female and I Know What You Did Last Summer, Columbia,has the financial backing and prestigious name to market and distribute our film successfully,as the name would bring an automatic good stigma to any film,they release, as well as being able to be released in not only commercial cinemas such as the Odeon but as an independant film, in festivals such as Sundance or Film4.



Who would be the audience for your media product?






The  main target audience for 'Infatuation' would be both male and female,aged 15-24,which is also the common audience for Horror.
The demographics would be predominately E and D as well as C2, being in the correct age range and as well as having the right income and status for the genre of film. However some of the more sophisticated psychological elements of 'Infatuation',would perhaps be lost on the 'lower' bracket of demographic profession,so 'Infatuation' could perhaps draw a subdemographic of group A and B.
Psychological horrors,in the modern day,such as Paranormal Activity and The Ring,are not only genre specific to our sequence but to our intended,15-24 audience as well.
The psychographics would be explorers, as the psychological horror genre would be different,full of energy and adventure and action, the reformers-who have social awareness,attended higher education,would be interested again in the psychological elements and background of the antagonist.



As horror films typically have the 'spunky' female heroine,the only survivor, subtlingimplying female empowerment and films such as Jennifer's Body, having sub-plot undertones of the female hierarch y seen in female teenagers live,almost everyday,like 'The Plastics' in comedy 'Mean Girls'.



“I don’t see guys enjoying it that much, other than the fact that Megan Fox is in it,” Weiss said.
Horror plot lines, though, still seem to resolve with one reigning female character evading all danger and living through the terror.
“Historically the sole survivor … always tended to be this kind of pure, chaste, virginal character. Women who had sex in horror movies always died,” Campbell said, adding that even in older horror movies where this sexual stigma thrived, audiences saw a strong female character that beat out the odds to survive.
“Media seems to be giving women permission to take control of their own sexuality.”



I think the female audience will respond more positively to the psychological element in Infatuation,why Flo is being stalked,what is it about her character that attracts the antagonist and also exploring the antagonist's background and life,in an attempt to divulge what,has led to him having this unhealthy fixation, similar to Jason Voorhees, in the Friday The 13th franchise, who stalks and kills counsellors running Camp Crystal,after his murderous mother killed the campers,who failed to save her son from drowning,due to negligence; having sex,a typical narrative of a horror,the immoral teenagers are prayed upon.
Whereas the male audience will respond more to the pretty female lead,action  and gore scenes,we would use if we ever developed the sequence,into an full film.



The typical black stereotype in horror,isn't used,instead of dying near the beginning of the film and being the voice of reason,our character is the antagonist,with a chilling fixation on the pure protagonist.
As a twist on a typical horror, I think this will intrigue the audience more,as its a fresh and different perspective on race and antagonists in the Horror genre.

Taking inspiration from films such as Psycho, Scream and Silence of the Lambs, we attempted to bring in a different twist to the horror genre.
The antagonist has an obsession with a innocent girl, a teacher and pupil relationship,this would be relatable to our audience at one point in time or another. As a position of trust,a teacher brings a different prospective to the 'villain' of the film, not a typical disfigured man or creature out for revenge but a normal everyday person,you would expect to be able to trust,not fear or be wary of.



How did you attract/address your audience?

"Oh, it’s [music is] vital. If it’s right, it can do so many things for a film. And, and if it’s wrong, it can absolutely destroy a film. I’m sure we’ve all seen films where the music just kept you out of the movie, and—or made you feel that you were being manipulated so obviously that you refused to respond. And, and if that happens, you’re dead. Music...it’s a very...there really are no rules, in fact. But—and you can make up your use of music as you go along, or film by film. Even scene by scene, you know. Is the music there to accentuate something that’s already in the scene, or is it there to work in counterpoint against that? Or is it there to suggest something that’s going to happen that you wouldn’t know just from what’s on the screen? I mean, there are many, many things that you can do with music." - David Cronenberg






Sound was an important factor,in creating the right atmosphere and establishing the mood for our sequence,as it also drives the narrative and as well as the producers having a way to control and manipulate the audience.

Music and sound is always used to portray the nature of a character; Flo as the innocent,pure heroine has light,pure,strings and piano, whereas the antagonist has the darker harsher and off pitch tones of the music.

Through diegetic and non-diegetic sounds, we have created and upheld the necessary tension, non-diegetic,the dramatic sections whenever the antagonist appears,also an acknowledgement to the audience; they will realise the menance and apprehension of what will happen whenever the antagonist is near/on screen. The diegetic music,such as when the twig was trodden and snapped,began to introduce the protangonist's paranoia and dread, accompanied by the silence of the music,always began to increase the audience's more.

I think that although the primary audience of 'Infatuation' will appreciate the added suspense the music will bring, I believe that the secondary audience of higher demographics; A and B will fully appreciate the music and sound included,especially in group B, containing creative and media people,who potentially have the experience in that area.

The title, though ironic as the connotations of ‘Infatuation’ are ones of sweetness and young love and the antagonist’s obsession is anything but that, will attract our predominately female demographic, through the themes of love, romance and drama.

Explorers –seek discovery, individualism and are of a younger demographic. They will be attracted to the opening, with the frantic music and edits and cuts.

Strugglers-into drugs, junk food and alcohol, meaning that their after instant gratification, which is what our film offers, as a psychological, personality horror.

The narrative 'Infatuation' uses is different from the usual horror convention; immoral teenagers are prayed upon, by a killer or monster, with a traumatic childhood past or medical condition. We have however, decided that there could be room for a sequel.

By using a young, attractive protagonist, this would sustain the audience- particularly male interest. This tactic is used in such films as Jennifer’s Body, starring Megan Fox and Amanda Seyfried, who at one point, more than just friends. “I don’t see guys enjoying it that much, other than the fact that Megan Fox is in it,” Jamie Weiss, a café manager from Ambler, Pa. A real audience demographic opinion.

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

-Sony Video Camera
-iMovie
-GarageBand






As a previous GCSE media student, the concept of iMovie and editing was a familiar one. I have a good knowledege of how to upload and edit clips and usage of transitions and special effects. I did however manage to develop my iMovie skills, in editing,learning how to split clips. In splitting clips, the continuity and transition of our sequence was made much more smooth and less amateur looking.
Blogging and uploading footage etc. wasnt a new experience, from school and social work, I had a very knowledgable expertise on what to do on Blogger.com



The technology was relatively understandable and not a new concept for me, except when it came to making the music.
Having never experienced GarageBand, I had to understand the programme and produce a fitting piece of music as well. Despite not having a wide variety of instruments to choose from, I had a lot of strings and piano in the piece, to match the hauntingness,isolation and eerieness of our opening sequence.
In developing the music to match the visuals I had to crop,cut and move sections of the music to match the developement of our scene, as well as lowering and changing the pitch and tone of certain strings,to make the music slightly off kilter, a subtle indictation to the audience of the tone and genre of the film.
My first piece of music was purely piano and string instruments yet when put to visuals and after a group discussion, the tone was generally too light and not dark enough for our pyschological element.



After more research into different types of music, I explored the other instruments on GarageBand, as well as programmes on the internet and evolved the piece,into a slightly more 'techno' region. The third and final music, I 'composed', not only matched the visuals of 'Infatuation' but had the right amount of innocence to represent Flo and tense,eerieness to represent the antagonist.
From the Preliminary task and full product, I realise how important music is in sustaining audience interest and setting a tone for a film.






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

From the Preliminary task to the final product, I have learnt alot about organisation and time management.

In order to effectively have enough time to film and edit and add ample changes, a planning schedule is a good idea. As a group,we quickly decided that the horror genre was the best option to explore,with the previous research in lessons,on Saul Bass and Pyscho,we decided to do a Psychological or Horror-of-Personality. Researching into similar media products,we had to take inspiration without directly copying the plot,which was hard,as most we decided to follow the most common narrative convention, of a teenage girl being preyed upon in an isolated area,however, we decided to add some changes,in order to maintain  'Infatuation' being original and not just a carbon copy. The protagonist was a innocent,moral teenage girl and the antagonist,a black male, in a position of trust and seemingly normal exterior.

As a group,we had efficient discussion and ideas for the storyboard, before actually drawing it,making sure every shot and movement was achievable in the situation we were going to film in. During our filming,we stuck to the storyboard,incredibly closely and i believe because of this effective planning,thats the reason,minimal reshoots were needed. This contrasts with our work on the preliminary task, in which the storyboard, was followed in the opening shots but when it came to dialogue was ignored; partly due to unfocused actors and an unsuitable background.

Organisation in the group,during filming was impressive,everybody knew their roles,shots,angles and movements being made. Comparing this to the Preliminary, we were unprepared and had an unfocused group and didnt always follow the storyboard, leading to more changes to the storyboard,wasting more time.
The group work,was shared out mostly equally,everybody playing to their strengths in order to achieve a good video and grade. As Loren felt more comfortable  filming,she filmed and as I knew what direction, to go in,regarding sound, I produced the music. As previous media students, we both edited footage but with more original editing ideas, the majority of Lorens sequence was included in the final sequence.



Research into similar films, was used in, what shots and edits were used, what type of music was used and how the tension was created and sustained. As our film conformed to most of the Horror conventions,I  believe that was a positive and negative attribute.






In the preliminary task, music was not used but as a horror that had psychological elements,music was a key part in our film opening.  Using music for effect was my task and after research into similar films, such as Prom Night and Drag Me To Hell, a piece,that progressed as the action did.
Music not only tells the audience,the killer is being stalked or just around the corner but to expose a characters feelings,actions and tensions. The music,whether a contempary song, or an orginal composed piece,is placed in a certain section of a film because the lyrics or sound,portray something in the film.



In order to emphasis Flo's innocent character, I decided to use piano and string instruments. The connotations of those instruments, are innocence,emotion and purity, all the feelings, i wanted to represent Flo and the audience to feel those things for her as well.
The technical side of GarageBand, was although new, a easy task to pick up. I rearranged the strings to match the visuals of Flo for our footage and changed the pitch  of them,whenever the antagonist was present and leading up to them.
Having just those innocent instruments, the tone of the piece wasnt dark enough and so to develop it,to truly match the sequence, I added more bass and techno bass,to lower the tone.
From making the music, I feel I have a good knowledge of how important music is to the tone of a character and film, the different types of genres of music that are compatible with different genres of film and how to build and uphold tension through music.



The camera shots and angles were important in our piece, in showing the character dynamics; As the stalker, a lot of 'point of view' and tracking shots were used, to put the audience in the antagonists 'shoes'.
From the tracking shots of Flo and point of view for the adversary, this was to create fear from the audience for Flo, as she is unaware that she is being followed.
The preliminary task consisted mainly of long and medium shots,with no variation on the angles and movements,this made the sequence, very static and uninteresting to the audience. Learning fromt this,the final product,used long,mid and close up shots as well as tracking movements and low and high angles.


Overall the use of a preliminary task was a good experience to recap knowledge of the software and perfect film rules,such as the 180 degree rule.
As well as, helping us to prepare for group work and plan areas such as; planning,camera movements/angles and shots,lighting and sound and how to construct in an appealing way to an audience.
The final product showed a better amendment process from the preliminary, with an advanced use of angles,edits and movements as well as the added music,increasing suspense and tension.