Final Export

This is the final version of our film opening 'The Watcher'.

First Export

This is the first exported version of our film opening. We showed it to a group of people from our target audience and asked them to give us feedback on what looks good and what needs to be improved.

Feedback Sheets

These are exmaples of some of the feedback we were given after our first screening. We then took the advice, went back to our opening and improved it. We re-recorded Will's voice on the opening as a majority of our viewers agreed that his accent didn't fit with the theme, we cut the length of certain shots and added in a title for the name of the film as well as making the names bigger and more obvious.

Evaluation

Who would be the audience for your media product? How did you attract/address your audience?
Our target audience for our film are teenagers of both men and women aged between 15-20 years old. We felt teenagers would be the best choice as our target audience as we would have a better idea of what kind of storylines and conventions they would like and enjoy and we were able to find this out by asking our peers questions about what kind of horror films they liked and why. We did this by making a questionnaire and passing it around a group of our peers. The horror genre is very popular with teenagers and young adults so we decided to match our characters to that age bracket so that our audience would find it easier to relate to them and their situation.
Below is a link to a few people watching our opening and then giving us feedback on what they liked about it and what could be improved.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78UYXTBRY_o&feature=youtu.be

Evaluation

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

Evaluation

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
Haxan films are a production/distribution company that mainly produce low budget horror films. Their most successful film was 'The Blair Witch Project' which used the technique of hand held filming. Due to their filming techniques and low budget ways I feel that this company will be a suitable choice for our film opening.
All the films they have produced or distributed are hand-held documentary films like ours. A low budget company is more likely to distribute our film as it is a low budget (no budget) horror. With more money we would be able to improve our filming quality, location, costumes and props.

Evaluation

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

Evaluation

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

Media evaluation

Evaluation

How does your media product represent gender?
Our character Serena -played by Cait Humphrey- is represented in a traditional manner throughout our film opening. She is shown to be weak and scared and very girly and this is emphasized by her costume of spotted boots, jeans and a leopard print hat. This is a traditional representation of women as they are usually shown to be girly, weak and rely on others for help. She always looks to the others of her group for help and is always near her best friend Maria as she does not like being in the woods alone. When Will mentions the "suspicious deaths" she becomes scared and panicked, but is slightly reassured by Maria. This emphasizes her traditional representation, as girls are usually easily scared by a mention something and then hard to reassure later on.


Our character Maria -played by Shakira Rawlins- is represented in a modern manner throughout our opening. She is shown to be brave and independent and is usually the one who comforts Serena when she is worried. This is a modern representation of women as they are not usually shown to be strong or independent but it is also a traditional representation as she comforts her friend Serena and women are usually shown to comfort each other when they are upset. Maria's modern representation is emphasized by her costume as she is dressed slightly like the boys by wearing boots, a jumper and body warmer. Shots of Maria are mainly mid shots or medium close ups to show her emotions and these shots are also used on the boys emphasizing her equality to them and her modern representation of her.


Our character Will -who is played by Will Humphrey- is represented in a traditional manner throughout our film opening. He is light hearted and full of banter meaning that the audience are more likely to relate him and this means he represented in a traditional manner as audiences are usually able to relate to the protagonist of the film. His costume is tracksuit bottoms and a rain coat hinting that he has experience in the outdoors. This emphasizes his traditional representation as boys are traditionally sporty and enjoy outdoor activities such as camping and hiking, like Will does. He is the leader of the group and this is shown by how he leads the group in to the forest and this portrays him as a traditional male as they are usually brave and natural leaders.


Our character Simon -who is played by Tyler Garland- is represented in a traditional manner throughout our opening. He is cocky and outspoken and his outfit is fashionable but impractical for a night in the woods and this shows that he mainly cares about how he looks and what others think of him instead of being practical. This emphasizes his traditional portrayal in our film opening as males usually care about their appearance.


Overall our film opening represents our characters in a traditional way, which is a convention of many horror films of any genre.

Logo and Font Ideas

These are our ideas for possible fonts and logos for our production company. We also have a poll on a team mates blog so people can vote for their best ones.Poll LinkBy Shakira Rawlins

Storyboard

 

By Shakira Rawlins

Shot List

By Will Humphrey

Draft Script

Tyler-You lot are so slow hurry up.
Cait- Give us a chance this hill is steep.
Will- Look guys they have installed CCTV because of all those mysterious deaths.
Cait- Seriously will what deaths.
Shakira- I don’t believe in that supernatural shit.
Will- My sneakers are muddy.
Shakira- So guys did anyone bring the hot chocolate.
Will-psssh who needs hot chocolate we will be up on adrenaline all night.
Tyler- Set up camp next to me, we can star gaze together
Cait- Seriously Will what deaths.
Will- I’m just saying when six girls die with no explanation, you become to get suspicious
Shakira- Don’t worry Serena.

This is a rough idea of what we will be saying throughout the opening of our clips as our actual dialogue may differ from this.
By Will Humphrey

Production Companies

This is information on different high and low budget production companies that produce horror films.

By Tyler Garland

Music and Soundtracks

Films like ours, which are mostly filmed using the hand held technique, do not use music or sound effects in their films. This is mostly done to add realism to the events appearing on screen and to reduce costs as they are usually low budget films. Throughout our opening we will not add any non-diegetic music as we will not need to create any suspense and it would take away the realism of our opening. We may use music during our opening credits but that will be all.
By Cait Humphrey

Film Name Ideas

These are a few ideas for names for our film opening.
By Cait Humphrey and Tyler Garland

Initial Filming

Today we went out and filmed a majority of the footage we needed for our film opening. We will upload the footage on to our editing machines and begin to edit as soon as possible. As this was only our first time filming we may need to go back later on for more filming but this is fine.

Shot Types

Shot types

By Tyler Garland

Horror Actors

High budget horror films such as ‘28 Weeks Later’ will use famous actors and actresses in their films as they can afford to pay their high wages. Low budget films, such as ‘Monsterz’ however; prefer to use unknown actors as it means they do not have to pay them and it makes their films seem more realistic to the public. By using unknown actors it means the public could actually believe the events occurring in the film have or can occur in reality.
By Cait Humphrey

Costume Mood Board

This is a mood board of possible outfits for each our characters in our film opening.
By Will Humphrey

Character Shoot - Tyler (Simon)

Tyler - Simon
By Will Humphrey, Cait Humphrey, Shakira Rawlins and Tyler Garland 

Character Shoot - Shakira (Maria)

By Will Humphrey, Cait Humphrey, Shakira Rawlins and Tyler Garland

Character Shoot - Will (Will)

Will - Will
By Will Humphrey, Cait Humphrey, Shakira Rawlins and Tyler Garland 

Character Shoot - Cait (Serena)

Cait Humphrey - Serena
By Will Humphrey, Cait Humphrey, Shakira Rawlins and Tyler Garland

Props and Costume

Prop List
- Tent(s)
- Ready packed BBQ
- Camera
- Backpacks
- Weapon?
- Food and water
Costume
Cait
- Pink mac
- Jeans
- Wellington boots
- Jumper
- Hat, gloves, scarf

Will

- Jeans

- Shirt
- Jacket
- Boots

Shakira

- Jumper

- Coat

- Wellington boots

- Scarf, gloves

- Jeans

Tyler- Army clothing

- Vest top

- Cargo jeans
- Boots
- Heavy coat

We chose these costumes as they fit with the convential costumes of actors that usually appear in films like ours. As our actors will be camping they need warm and waterproof things which is why we chose wellington boots, jumpers and coats.
By Cait Humphrey

Group roles - Storyboarding

Shot list - Cait Humphrey
Storyboard - Shakira Rawlins
Script - Will Humphrey
Music Research - Tyler Garland


All
upload images of actors that work conventionally in horror genre
upload images of our own actors
prop design

Character Profile - Simon

Simon will be played by Tyler in our film opening. He is the sporty/jock character of the group. He is immoral and stupid and will constantly try to get with the other two girl characters. Characters such as him usually die first.
By Tyler Garland

Character Profile - Will

Will will be playing Will in our film opening. He is the protagonist of the group and will be the bravest and save the group from the monster in the end. Characters such as him rarely die.
By Tyler Garland

Character Profile - Maria

Shakira will be playing Maria in our film opening. She will be the cynical one of the group who does not believe that there is anything in the woods. Throughout the opening she will seem brave and try to rationalize everything that happens. Characters such as her usually die towards the end of a horror film or not at all.

By Cait Humphrey

Character Profile - Serena

I will be playing Serena in our film opening. She will the one in the group who was forced in to coming as she does not like scary films or the dark. Throughout the opening she will be freaked and paranoid. Characters such as her are usually one of the first few to die in horror films.
By Cait Humphrey

Location Shoot - Brislington

 These are the photos we have taken at Arnos Vale Park, which is a potential filming location for our opening. We needed a full, foresty environment to film in and Arnos was the best choice for this. The pictures show the various, foresty areas that are available for us to film without showing the park or the cemetery giving the impression of being deep in a forest. We were able to find a large open space to set up camp in with lots of trees and foliage around which will be good our point of view shots of the monster lurking in the woods.
By Will Humphrey, Cait Humphrey and Shakira Rawlins