Question 5: Audience feedback vox pops

This is the vox pop made which shows our audience feedback once they had seen our opening sequence for 'Final Warning'.

Question 5: Director's Commentary

This is the director's commentary for my final product of Final Warning.

Question 7: Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

There are many similarities and differences between the preliminary task and the final product of the opening sequence of 'Final Warning' as we progressed through the year. One of the differences is the development of sound between shots. In the preliminary task, the first shot has quiet diegetic sound, whereas in the second shot, there is the loud diegetic sound of people talking.

This is different in the final product where the sound has been lowered in most of the shots. There are a very small number of shots where the sound is very different in volume.

Both the preliminary task and the final product use match on action. In the preliminary task, this is seen when Libby is walking through the common room and into the study room. The match on action flows smoothly and the audience are clearly able to see the setting and where Libby is going.
In the final product, match on action is used when the girl is running through the forest. The cuts between the shots of her running are smooth and make the forest seem larger and more daunting than it actually was.

Finally, both the preliminary task and the final product of 'Final Warning' follow the 180 degree rule. In the preliminary task, this is seen when Libby is walking into the room and around the table. The camera stays on the same side as her. This is also seen when me and Libby are talking. When shot/reverse shot is being used, the 180 degree rule is being followed.

The 180 degree rule is used in the final product of 'Final Warning' when George runs towards the body of the dead girl, takes the note then runs back to me. The camera stays on the same line from one shot to another.
 
My leadership and creativity has developed from the start of the year as I have improved on putting my ideas across to the rest of the group. It has improved from when I did the preliminary task because I did not put many ideas across about how we should do the preliminary task, whereas in the final product, I came up with the initial idea of a couple finding the body and being next to be attacked and I had a lot of input about how we should film and edit the final product.

Final Warning Final Draft

This is the final draft of our opening sequence for 'Final Warning'.

Question 5 - How did you attract/address the audience Part 1

This is a screencast to explain how we researched and attracted our target audience through a survey.

Preliminary Task

This is the preliminary task made by me and Libby

Question 6 - What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Technologies used when creating our product by cute.pup on GoAnimate

Video Maker - Powered by GoAnimate.

The technologies featured in the animation above that were new to me include:

• Blogger to present my research and planning in a creative way;
• Prezi, Bubbl and Screencast O'Matic to present my research and planning on my blog supervisually;
• Fig-rig whilst out filming to enable us to shoot a tracking shot.

Technologies that have allowed me to produce something creative:


Technologies that have allowed me to display my work in a creative way:


We needed to refilm this part of our opening sequence because we needed more close-ups of Lucinda on the ground and close-ups of the two characters' reactions.
I needed to do some of my blog posts again as they only contained screenshots at the start of the year. I redid the posts by adding more supervisual material to them such as prezis, bubbls and screencast O' Matics.

Question 4 - Who would be the audience for your media product?

We asked mostly 16 17 year olds with a questionnaire to see what they expected to see in a horror or a thriller film. We made vox pops by filming people's responses to questions that we asked about horror films. We then put the answers in a pie chart.

Our target audience would consist of teenagers and young adults between the ages of 15 and 25. In our target audience, there would be both males and females. They live in urban areas and attend public schools and universities. They may have a part time Saturday job. Members of our target audience would be part of the working to the lower middle classes.

The psychographic of our target audience would be that they like the thrill of scary thriller or horror films. They would be esteem seekers because they would be materialistic and confident. In their spare time, they enjoy socialising. The girls would be into shopping and fashion, they would like to have the newest clothes. They listen to a variety of music genres such as pop, rock and alternative rock music. They would visit social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr as well as Youtube. They have some money, enough to go to see films at the cinema.

Teacher feedback

Our groups feedback:

Final Warning draft 2

Question 3 - What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

The title of our film is 'Final Warning' because the characters that are about to be killed by the murderer always see a note warning them that they will be next before they are attacked. The genre of our film is a thriller. The target audience of our film is young adults, both male and female between the ages of 15 and 25. They are a niche audience of people who enjoy being thrilled with adrenaline and tension from films.

The distributor of our film is 'Paramount Pictures'. We have chosen 'Paramount Pictures' because they have distributed many successful films from all kinds of genres, including thrillers. 'Paramount Pictures' distributes high-budget films which have a range of target audiences so we know that our target audience would be reached if 'Paramount Pictures' distributed our film. Similar films that 'Paramount Pictures' have distributed are 'Paranormal Activity 4' in October 2012, 'The Devil Inside' in January 2012 and 'Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters' in January 2013.

Our production company name is 'Clockwork Productions'. We chose this name because it would give the audience the impression that the characters would only have a small amount of time to catch the killer otherwise something eventful and tragic would happen to the main characters. This is because it would only be a certain amount of time until the killer reached the main characters or people important to them such as friends and family.

Question 2 - How does your media product represent particular social groups?

 

Question 1 - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

There are eight conventions of an opening sequence. These conventions include an establishing shot, equilibrium and disequilibrium, titles, giving the audience clues, prompting them to ask questions, establishing the mood or theme, soundtrack and using a Distributer Logo and a Production Company Logo. These conventions are used to set the mood for the film and to encourage them to carry on watching the film to find out answers to the questions that they are asking themselves about the film. An example of a film which uses these conventions is 'The Exorcism of Emily Rose' to set the theme for the film and to make the audience worried about the characters due to the fact that it is a horror film so there is a likely chance that they are in danger. The mood is set by the use of titles written in a red colour which represents blood and danger. Our opening sequence also uses titles with a red font to show that the first two characters that the audience see are in danger.



Our opening sequence is part of a horror film. The conventions that we use are titles, disequilibrium, establishing the mood or theme with a soundtrack, giving the audience clues and prompting them to ask questions. These conventions were used to make the audience continue watching the film to find out what happens and to make them nervous about what is going to happen to the characters seen in the opening sequence and characters seen later on in the film. The convention of prompting the audience to ask questions is also seen in the opening sequence of 'Brick' where they are prompted to ask questions about how the girl died and what the boy had to do with her death. The convention of prompting the audience to ask questions was seen in our opening sequence when the body of the dead girl was seen. This shot would have prompted the audience to ask how she died and what the two characters would do.




















We have developed the convention of using equilibrium or disequilibrium by making a bad event happen at the beginning of the film. The disequilibrium in the opening sequence was that the body of a girl was found and the couple also ended up getting attacked. This also develops the convention of the horror genre because at the beginning of a horror, there is disequilibrium instead of equilibrium. This is seen in the opening sequence of 'Resident Evil: Afterlife' where the man was attacked by the demon at the beginning during the opening sequence. This shocks the audience and encourages them to watch more of the film to find out how or if equilibrium is restored in the end. We chose to develop this convention because the disequilibrium would set a dark, dangerous and scary mood to the film which will encourage the audience to worry about the characters and hope that nothing will happen to them. It also sets them up for the horror film where there will be a lot of danger and death.

Final Warning first draft

This is the first draft of the opening sequence of 'Final Warning'.

Storyboards

These are the storyboards that we have created for our opening sequence of a horror film. They show an image of the shot, what sound or dialogue will be in the shot and the camera movement of the shot.

Character Descriptions

These are the descriptions for the characters seen in the opening sequence of our horror film. They show a profile of what the character looks like, what they will be wearing during the opening sequence and a description of the character's personality.

Shooting Schedule

This is the shooting schedule that we are using to plan what shots we are doing, when and what characters and props are needed.

Titles

We have thought about using these fonts for our opening sequence because they would create a horrifying atmosphere that would be suitable for horror films. The fonts would look like someone had written them in blood.

We would place the titles in the bottom corners of the shots so that they would be noticeable to the audience but would not interfere with the image in the shots.

The order that the titles would appear would begin with the Distributer Company Logo and the Production Company Logo. The name of the Director would appear, followed by the main two actors. The main title then appears in front of a black background. The names of other actors and then the other crew names appear in the order of most important to least important.

The fonts are called:

Crimes Times Six

Feast of Flesh

Face Your Fears

Casting

This is a Bubbl to show why we chose each actor to play each character. George is playing both the murderer and the male character walking in the woods because he would be able to fit with both characters and would be able to play someone who is a dangerous killer and someone who is a victim of the killer. Lucie is playing the role of the dead girl because although she is only playing a minor role, she will be playing a big part in the directing of the opening sequence and the editing. Lindsay is playing the role of the woman walking in the woods because she would fit the character of someone who is fragile and vulnerable, who is an easy target for the killer.

The Script

(Tom and Katie are walking their dog through Nonsuch Park. Their dog begins to pull away from them as he smells something unusual. Tom and Katie follow the dog and find the dead body)

Katie: Oh my God!
Tom: Call the police!

(Katie begins to panic but gets out her phone and calls '999')

Katie: Hello?! Police?!

(Phone cuts out)

Katie: Hello? Hello?! Tom, it's not working!
          Tom?

(Katie turns around. Tom has disappeared)

Katie: Tom?!

Location Permission

These show the permission form that we filled out to ask the Sutton Council for permission to use Nonsuch Park to film. This is so that the council know that we are filming there which means that they do not find any activity that we are doing there suspicious.

This is the permit that we have received which has given us permission to film in Nonsuch Park on 25th January and 27th January.

Storyboard Animatic

This is an animatic that we made to show how our shots would look in our opening sequence with the music that we are planning to use.

Props, Costumes and Locations Lists

Props

Dog

The dog would be used with the two characters walking through the park. The dog is significant because it will find the body of the dead girl .

Phone

 The phone is going to be used by one of the characters who would call for help when they find the body of the dead girl.

Threatening note 

 The note with the threatening message on it to the two characters will be held by the dead girl. This is significant because it will tell the audience and the two characters that they are next because they found the body. This will create a sinister atmosphere for the opening sequence. 

Costume

The two characters walking through the park will be wearing warm, winter clothes such as coats, jumpers, jeans or leggings and then hats, scarves and gloves. This shows that it is very cold in the park, possibly early in the morning. The cold weather would give the opening sequence a chilling, eerie atmosphere because the setting may be darker than if this took place in the summer. The clothes that they would be wearing would look relatively normal showing that walking the dog would be an everyday activity and they do not expect anything unusual to come out of it.

The dead girl would also be wearing normal clothes such as jeans or leggings and a jumper which shows that she was caught by surprise when she died as she was having a normal day just as the two characters who find her were. Her clothes however, would be a bit older and have a lot of dirt on them to show that she had been in the clearing for a long time.

The killer would be wearing all black or dark clothing to show the representation that he is evil and dangerous. The dark colours would also show that he would not want to be seen, especially in the dark.

Locations:

Our opening sequence will be set in a park that looks very remote and isolated. This will create the sense of danger for the two characters walking through the park and puts the audience on edge because the two characters are alone in the park and anything can happen to them. The location would be quite a woody area in the park so that there is a place for the body of the dead girl to be hidden.



Horror Film Opening Sequence Possible Soundtrack Ideas

This could be a possible soundtrack for our opening sequence because it builds up and then gets quieter. This would create tension for the audience and would make them nervous about what may happen to the characters that are first seen in our opening sequence. A soundtrack like this could be used at the beginning of our opening sequence when the main title appears and the first shot of the couple walking through the park comes on. However, the sound effects in this soundtrack may not be suitable for our opening sequence theme so we would need to find a soundtrack without the sound effects and noises.



This could also be a possible soundtrack for our horror film opening sequence because it is quite slow-paced which would build up suspense in the audience and connotes that there is something evil and sinister going on in the park where we see the two characters walking the dog. A soundtrack like this could be used in the opening sequence when the dog finds the body because it would show the transition from the equilibrium of the couple walking their dog on a normal day to disequilibrium when they find the body.



A soundtrack similar to this could also be used in our opening sequence because it is very slow and quiet with a constant pace. This could be used to build up the tension and put the audience on edge as they wonder what will happen to the two characters walking in the park after they have found the dead body. The soundtrack also makes the characters seem more isolated because it is very quiet which makes itfeel as if the characters are in a remote place where no one can find them. The soundtrack could be used throughout the sequence, especially when the audience first see the characters walking through the park with the dog. By using the soundtrack here, a dark and sinister atmosphere is set and the audience begin to guess that something will happen to them.