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

Lighting One of the most important conventions in a horror film is getting the lighting correct. Our research told us that we had to have low level lighting when producing a horror film this gives a chilling effect throughout. Rosie film opening We not only used low level lighting through our opening but a black and white effect on the CCTV footage, we chose to do this to create a different effect from the rest of the film, so it would illustrate what the security guard was watching, creating a sense of realism. Also so the audience would recognise the difference between watching the CCTV footage and not. Rosie film opening

Paranormal activity comparison On these scenes we filmed at night to ensure that certain shots had a dark and low level lighting effect. Unfortunately due to the location we were filming in there were some complications because the main lights to the school were on, meaning we had to use editing effects on both the camera and computer to create that dark and dingy look. The Grudge comparison

Mise-en-scene Makeup We used makeup in our film opening to follow the horror conventions. This made the supernatural, ghost girl look much more effective and realistic. It also creates an alarming, terrifying effect improving the suspense built throughout. We used white face paint to create that lifeless, ghost, look and smudged black eye makeup to highlight her eyes, making her look more creepy. Rosie film opening

Sound

The Grudge comparison

It was very important to our project that we got the sound right as it could either make or break our film opening. We chose a piece of non-diegetic sound that we repeatedly played throughout the opening, we used a horror track which would create tension and suspense for our audience. We created a sound clip which Ella who performed as Rosie sang and recorded. We chose to record the nursery rhyme Ring a ring a Rosies which we were then able to use within our opening to create the feeling and indicate when Rosie was near. We chose the children's nursery rhyme because as a group we thought it related perfectly with our film title Rosie and is stereotypical for children. The sound clip was mainly a non-diegetic sound to draw the audience into the thrilling atmosphere, but towards the end we used it as diegetic sound so that the teacher could hear it. We also recorded Ella screaming to illustrate the teachers death and fright. We edited allot of sound to represent the CCTV footage, we used a crackling sound and increased the volume when Rosie was shown to create the feeling that she is on the move.

Costume

When deciding on our costumes, we chose to use smart but casual clothing for the young woman this was to support the conventions of a school teacher. She wore a sophisticated dress with small heeled boots to portray her generation.

When planning our film opening we first decided the security guard would wear a suit, smart shoes and would carry a torch, walkie talkie and keys around with him. This idea soon changed when we realised he wouldnt have such a big part in the opening scene. We chose to use a simpler costume to indicate that he is a less important character with little knowledge in the film. His high visibility vest and black jacket portrayed his role as a security guard well.

We stuck to our original planning of Rosie's costume, she wore a pink dress, knee high socks and a head band with a bow. Her costume as a whole including her pale makeup created escapism and entertainment for our target audience, and portrayed that lifeless ghost girl we wanted, meeting all the conventions for a young girl. Rosie film opening Rosie film opening

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

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

Columbia Pictures Industries, is an American film production and distribution company. It is one of the leading film companies in the world, a member of the so-called Big Six. They have produced many high budget films such as 30 days of night, The Messengers and The Grudge all relating to the horror genre of our film opening. We have chosen to use Columbia Pictures as our media institution as they have produced similar horror films to our film opening for example The Grudge. Columbia Pictures distribution logo The Grudge is about an American nurse who has come to work in Tokyo. Following a series of horrifying and mysterious deaths, she encounters the vengeful supernatural spirit, that possesses its victims. This is similar to our film opening, as our story line is about a young, supernatural, ghost girl haunting innocent staff from her childhood school.

The Grudge (American distributor) Big blockbuster horror film

As a group we have chosen to use Columbia Pictures rather than a British distribution company, as British films are not main stream, they are more alternative, hard hitting dramas and tend to reflect on your own life (personal identity) rather than unrealistic and supernatural experiences. The intentions of our film were to create escapism and entertainment for out target audience, Big blockbuster horror films achieve this feel.
Shifty (British distributor) hard hitting drama

When starting our project I felt very comfortable with the filming equipment and editing equipment, as I have had past experiences with both the cameras and adobe premier pro, from GCSE media studies. Imovie was a new editing software which I was unfamiliar with but soon felt comfortable in using it. Editing was a very important stage of our project so it was essential as a group we were able to use it to the best of our ability, to achieve the best outcome. On Imovie I developed allot of new skills, I learnt how to add in effects to the clips such as black and white effect and inserting titles to the film, this included the change of fonts and colour. Imovie has a bank of sounds you can use to create realism we used several of these sounds in our opening this was very effective for the music and gave the opening a chilling feel. We also added a crackling sound for the CCTV to indicate thats what was happening. For the scream sound, that was used when the teacher was killed, we were able to record and insert it on imovie which was very useful to learn. Finally the most important things I learnt were how to trim and add our clips to the final project and also cutting out sound and changing the lighting. Without this it would have been impossible to make the clips run smoothly so using this made a huge improvement to our project. New technology allows better special effects, cameras, lighting, editing and more to be used which leads to more realistic and well made films, which can bring more profit. Because technology is so cheap and easily accessible it makes it allot easier for unknown people/ companies to make and produce films, this is bad for big companies as it takes away revenue from there films, but is positive for the smaller companies as it is easier for them to get themselves recognised.

Who would be the audience for your media product? When researching and comparing other horror films to our final product we found that most films were rated 15 or 18. As a group we felt our film would be rated a 15 as it contains graphic killing scenes, violence and mild language. We made a strong comparison to the Grudge to make this decision and felt they were very similar by there supernatural killings. In the opening of our film death is portrayed upon the female teacher in a supernatural way, not graphic or gory illustrating the sorts of deaths which will be displayed throughout the film. If we were able to complete the film, to keep the audience engaged we would make some of the scenes more graphic and eye catching. We feel that people watch horror films for the sheer gripping experience of feeling scared and tense. As these are the main aims for horror we feel our opening offers a good range of tense moments, gripping sound and death. How did you attract/address your audience?

We carried out a questionnaire and done some market research on our target audience to make sure we could attract our audience to our film opening the best way possible. The questionnaire included questions on props, sound, effects and setting which bought us to our final decision. We used allot of non-diegetic sound throughout our project as we found it was very popular to our audience through our questionnaire. We used a low drone sound to create tension and to make the audience feel something was about to happen. We decided there should be a killing in our opening scene; the reason being is to catch the audiences attention within the first 2 minutes making them want to watch more. We made some scenes slower and longer to build up tension to draw the viewer in allowing the audience to get an idea of what's going on. Our storyline is unrevealed to some extent in the opening scenes; this is to attract the audience to make them want to watch more. The audience at this point dont know who the girl is, why she is doing this and whats going to happen next, making the opening very edgy and appealing. The use of CCTV is very eye catching and is showing the audience another view of the situation.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My questionnaire became very useful when researching into which social groups would fit best with my media product and what things i will have to consider when planning and making the film opening. I learnt that horror movies have a very wide range of audiences so we had to narrow down our results into the conventions we were going to use. The sequence opens with moving titles, this is joined with non diegetic sound of eerie music setting the scene for our horror genre. This is followed by a pan, mid shot of a young female teacher working in her office. She is wearing a red dress which connotes blood and danger, her hair is curled portraying a very modern and sophisticated character. A women is usually the protagonist in horror film, this is a modern representation of women. The lack of natural light suggests its late at night indicating that she is working after hours. The high angle shot of the security guard indicates that he is a vulnerable character, his vulnerability within this shot portrays he isn't going to survive. Although his appearance represents a modern representation of men. The same shot is used of the school teacher again portraying the same feel that she is a vulnerable character and the use of low level lighting indicates that something might happen to her. This is a very traditional representation of women, as in horror films women are seen as being worthless and vulnerable .

The arc, mid shot of the school teacher leaving her office shows the reaction of the character at this point. She looks slightly tense as its late at night and nobody else is in the school, these feelings represent a traditional women.

As the women stops to look around, this is the first introduction of the antagonist in the film. The jump cuts used, portray the supernatural elements of the ghost girl. Her pink dress, dolly etc all suggest a traditional representation of a young girl. Normally the antagonist is a male Character but having a young girl play the role gives a bigger and different effect to the film. It also challenges the conventions for many films. From our research into horror films young girls are used mainly in representing supernatural people. The non-diegetic sound of Ring a ring a Rosie introduces Rosie into he scene perfectly and is stereotypical for children.

The cordant sound of the non-diegetic, eerie music and the diegetic sound of the teachers footsteps creates an edgy and tense feeling for the audience, indicating something is going to happen. The long shot of the teacher slowly walking towards the camera, glancing to the left of herself portrays her edgy feeling about the surroundings she's in. Again this is a traditional representation for women. There are several two shots within the opening and the positioning of the characters portrays their contrast in power. Firstly the two shot used within the CCTV, where the supernatural ghost is standing over her dead victim, shows that she has more power than the teacher. You wouldnt expect a female to kill a female traditionally so this is a modern representation of women. Secondly the high angle shot in the security guards office, where we see the ghost girl appear behind him, portrays her power as she is stood higher than him. This is not a traditional representation of men as a traditional man would tend to have more power over women and children. Also his lack of awareness suggests he's not bothered about his job.

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full project? As you can see our preliminary task was very basic, although it contains all the required elements in the task set. When filming our preliminary task as a group little thought and planning was needed as it was a very simple and easy piece to film. Remembering the process of how we filmed the match on action shot, the shot reverse shot and the dialogue between two people helped us to produce a high quality film opening and to ensure we consider the harder factors. Whilst developing our product I learnt more and more about what shots worked well and how they would fit together. We filmed several of the same shots slightly differently, this was to ensure we had enough shots to work with. This became very beneficial and improved the quality of our filming, making everything run a lot more smoothly. The editing machine had a huge impact on our film opening and as we didnt have full use of the editing machine for our preliminary, we were able to see just how beneficial it was in making something of a substantial quality. For our product we did have to consider the actors which would be playing a part in the opening this was an important aspect as it makes the whole clip look much more professional and sets a better mood upon the audience. Looking back at our preliminary task the setting was a clear aspect we had to really consider when planning our film opening, although we still filmed in our collage we had to consider which areas were best suited for different scenes and filmed at night to ensure no staff or children would be around. Allowing the clip to look much more professional and more like a film. In every way our final product was a massive improvement to our preliminary task, filming a practise run through of the opening allowed us to receive the best possible results. Allowing us to develop on our storyboard and shot list to help improve our final clip and feel more prepared and organised on the first day of film.