Audience feedback

When have posted the video on youtube and it has already recieved comments from media students logged into the shared account and outside people. These are the comments we recieved:

stephaniemareen: i really like the pace of editing and the titles. Great thriller.

LegasyOleg: Very creepy opening. I've jumped on the chair when heard this knock-knock sound! Awesome and really thrilling piece

hurtwoodhousemedia: that's so creepy!! I really like it!!

hurtwoodhousemedia: the doll hanging is my favorite part...well planned and thought out video love it!

I also posted the link of the video on youtube to the my facebook account. This got alot of positive feedback and some helpful constructive critisism. Fourteen people liked the link with another three comments saying how people enjoyed it.

Frankie Rooney: Babesss this video is soooo goooood!! it should be made into a real film....loved it!

Chris Murphy: wish my school could make a media video as good as this, it's really scary haha, but you probably could have lit the begining track better to make it less dark. But overall really sick vid :)

Poppy Perrin: The picture of the doll on the wall creeped me out so much lmao! LOVE IT!

Task 1

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


The media product we created did use the conventions of real media products such as horror films but did develop and challenge these to suit the overall image we wanted to create for our film.




We used the simple media convention at the start of the film by using 'Paranoid Production' presents which is the production company we create which would produce and distribute our media product. This is always done in Hollywood as they are the most important people in the film, as without the production company the film could not have been made. Therefore they are shown at the beginning of the film to show they are the most important. Also it attracts people to the film, as the audience may have seen other films that the production company have made and enjoyed them and they hope that the film will be as much of a success.

After this we also used the simple media convention of using 'A Davina Thorne film' after the production company. This is to communicate to the audience who's idea the film was and who wrote it. This is important because as it was Davina's idea without her the film would not have been thought of, so if the film is a success or a failure it is down to her decisions. However, we challenged this idea by using a black background with white writing. We used this idea because we felt white on black is a very simple yet effective convention. The white writing stands out on the black background, which makes the words easier to read. I researched the opening title sequences films and this idea was not used in all the films I had come across. In 'Panic Room' the titles of the film are shown over different shots of a city skyline in typography.

We also used the media convention of an establishing shot at the beginning of the film. This is also used in the example of Panic Room. We used an establishing shot of the diary, to set the tone of the film as it is about the diary. However; we challenged this idea because in most media products such as Panic Room the establishing shot is of a landscape to show location. We did this because the location is not important in the film but the diary is the most important, therefore we thought it was more appropriate to begin with this.

This is to show the conventions we used of the set, lighting and properties in our film. We decided to use a brick wall as the backdrop to our scene, we also used low key lighting and used dolls, toys and pictures cut up and covered in blood. This develops the horror genre convention as stereotypically darkness, blood and mutilation.

We put up a burned and ripped picture of a doll's face on the back wall of our set. this was because doll's faces are stereotypically seen as terrifying for some human;s as it looks as if they are staring at just you. This develops the idea of the 'Chucky' doll in the film 'The seed of Chucky', a film about a killer doll.

We used the media convention of text in order to describe to the audience the mental state of the teenager in our film and to show that she thinks she has murdered other teenagers as it is written in blood. We wrote 'Kill' on the wall using masking tape and fake blood. Another media product that uses this idea is 'Gothika'. The writing in this film is used when a possessed woman kills her husband and this also shows the mental state of the woman and shows she has murdered her husband as it is written in his blood.

We developed the media convention of not showing what happened but hinting what may have happened to the audience. This is because an audience's imagination is much more graphic and realistic that what we could have shown in our sequence. 'The Blair Witch Project' uses this idea because the murders are not shown on screen but the film still creates tension and scares the audience because it lets them image what happened which is much more frightening than showing it on screen. We used this through the stool rocking and falling down and feet twitching. This communicates to the audience that she has hung herself but does not show her face which would not be realistic.

We used the convention of showing the title of the film at the end of the opening sequence. However, we challenged this convention by not using the same font as the credits before the sequence. Panic Room is an example of this; it uses the same font, size colour and background idea as the rest of the shots in the opening credits. We challenged this convention by using a more stylised, 'curly' font for 'Elizabeth's Diary'. We did this because we wanted the font to look as if Elizabeth had wrote it at the front of her diary, therefore we used an italic handwritten style font. We also used images used in the diary by making them opaque and putting them behind the text. We then made the text bigger to make it stand out about other text.

Task 2

How does your product represent particular social groups?

The product we created- 'Elizabeth's Diary' is a film about a mentally unstable teenager who believes she murders people with the aid of her secret diary. Two different social groups are represented in 'Elizabeth's Diary', these are teenagers and people with mental health issues. We have represented teenagers in our product using imagery in the mise-en-scene such as the teddy bears, dolls and the stilettos. The paraphernalia scattered around the room represents the torchered mind of a teenage girl's angst ridden mind.

'Precious'

Precious is a 2009 American drama film about an obese illiterate 16 year old- Clarise, growing up in Harlem in 1987. She has been impregnated twice by her father and suffers from long term physical and mental abuse from her mother. Through Clarise, teenagers are represented as lonely victims who take out their problems on themselves, in her case comfort eating. This can be compared to Elizabeth in 'Elizabeth's Diary'. she is shown through her 'den' as a lonely teenager who does not have any friends and is bullied by her peers. This could be the reason for her mental state and her fear that she has murdered people through her diary- the way she can only get her feelings across. This compares to Precious; Clarise is given a journal by her new English teacher to write her feelings down about her family in. At the beginning of the film she is shown as an aggressive friendless teen and through this journal and help from others she becomes a more confident teenager.














'Girl, interrupted.'

'Girl, interrupted.' is a 2000 American drama film featuring Angelina Jolie, about a teenager's 18th month stay at a mental institution. It explores themes of drugs, suicide, self-harm and teenage life. This relates to the themes of 'Elizabeth's Diary' as Elizabeth's commits suicide because of her mental state. Susanna the main character from Girl, interrupted is admitted to the mental institution because she attempts suicide. Both media products represent how mentally unstable people cope with their disorder through relationships, self-harm and aggression.

'Skins'

The social groups of teenagers and mentally unstable people are represented in other media products such as television programmes and the news. 'Skins' a British television series about a group of teenage friends in Bristol. It communicates themes of drugs, alcohol, lust, bullying, dysfunctional families, personal disorders and sexuality in a modern society. Cassie Ainsworth, a character in the first and second series of 'Skins' is admitted to a mental institution because of many disorders; the main one being anorexia due to a suicide attempt near the beginning of the series. Later on in the series, she overdoses because she is stood up by Sid, who she wants to start a relationship with. Here teenagers are represented in a way like 'Elizabeth's Diary'.

Teenagers are represented as corrupt who would rather focus on drugs and parties than studies and family. This relates to our product because Elizabeth is bullied by teenage popular girls who are into the drinking and partying scene, whereas Elizabeth who is seen as 'uncool' to them would rather stay at home and write in her diary. People with mental problems are represented in different ways in both media products. Cassie does not get the help and support she needs from her peers, family and hospital which results in her getting more unstable. In 'Elizabeth's Diary' people are unaware of her problems because her family and school peers do not pay any attention to her as she keeps herself to herself. With help from her family and professional help from a hospital she may not have committed suicide.

Bridgend suicides

Stories in the news also represented people in a certain way. In 2008 over 20 teenagers in small town in Wales committed suicide during the course of just over a year. This story represented teenagers and people with mental health problems in a certain way. People are still not sure whether the people who killed themselves were linked or whether it was a coincidence. This represents teenagers as being depressed, with a hard life and little to live for. This relates to our product because it shows that suicide and unstable teenagers are not fictional in film and television but this does happen in the normal world.

Task 3

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

The group decided that 'Elizabeth's Diary' would be a small budget American film. This is because we would not need a big budget to create the image, effect and genre we want for 'Elizabeth's Diary'. We did not want it to be a British film set in Britain because British filmed produced and distributed by British and European media institutions have not made films with a horror/thriller genre. British institutions generally make films such as biopics and period dramas. For example 'The Queen' is a 2006 British drama focusing on the death of Princess Diana in 1997. The budget for the film was £9.8 million and this would be the sort of budget for 'Elizabeth's Diary' ; English production companies do not have as much experience as an American production company would.



For 'Elizabeth's Diary' we would want to use a widely known, however small budget American studio. Therefore, I feel that Lionsgate would be a very appropriate American film studio to distribute our film. This is because it does not focus on high budget box office smashing high concept action films like 'Avatar' ect but focus on lower budget independent films. It has distributed films such as 'Saw', 'Hostel' and 'My Bloody Valentine'. This is relevant because 'Elizabeth's Diary' has the same themes as these films for example; murder, gore, blood and self-harm. The studio has then had previous experience in making low budget gorey horrors/thrillers and would understand fully the idea we wanted to create for our product.

I feel Lionsgate would be interested in our media product. This is because they have been very successful with the production and distribution of horror films, especially the 'Saw' series and I feel that 'Elizabeth's Diary' would be as successful. This is because the media product is very relevant to today's modern society and focuses on themes that are well known by people today. Teenagers are constantly in the media and Lionsgate are well known for producing films that are relevant to what is going on around us, rather like British films.Lionsgate have also got their own television channel which would enable us to recoup possible costs through the selling and advertising of our film on their channel this would be mutually beneficial to both the institution and us as a way of making money.

Task 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?



This would be the image of our ideal target audience for 'Elizabeth's Diary'. Our media product is designed to be attract 15-24 year old boys mostly, but also appeal to their girlfriend and some groups of girls. This is because teenage boys are stereotypically excited and attracted to blood, murder and horror themes. This would make them want to see our product because our film features these themes throughout the film. Even though the protagonist is made to look 'emo' and 'weird', she is an attractive girl and this would attract teenage boys to the film. She would especially attract teenage boys who dress and look like the boy in the photo, this is because they would relate to the way she dresses and acts and would be attracted to a girl that is in the same stereotypical group as them. This is would be a positive age group to attract as the group of people that goes to the cinema most often and therefore makes the most money for films are 15-24 year old boys. This age bracket has the most disposable income, free time and would be the most likely to go to the cinema on the weekend with friends.

We would also appeal our product to 15-24 year old girls as well. This is because teenagers stereotypically watch horror films on a date with a girlfriend or boyfriend. The other themes in our media product would relate to them, such as the loneliness of Elizabeth, bullying and family life. Stereotypically the girl in our photo would be able to relate to the film more than a 'normal' dressing girl because they may experience the same problems at school as Elizabeth because of the way she would dress, self-harm and emotional disposition.

Our target audience would be either a person in school, college higher education or starting their first job. They would be a stereotypical 'emo' with black hair and heavy eye makeup. They stick to their group of friends, who dress similarly and have the same interests. they do not tend to talk to their other peers outside their group of friends as others may find them 'strange'. They would listen to post-hardcore and metal music for example, 'The Used', 'Dashboard confessions' and 'Bring me the horizon'. They would wear mostly black with band t-shirts and colourful jeans. This is the niche audience that would stereotypically like our film, however our film would appeal to a mass audience because generally people like horror films, featuring blood, teenagers and murder- like Saw's mass audience.

Task 5

How did you attract/adress your audience?

http://www.slideshare.net/hurtwoodhousemedia5/acestudents11alexandra-hallmy-documentsmediaattract-audience1

View more presentations from hurtwoodhousemedia5.

Task 6

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
This is the video of our finished media product on youtube. The annotations show the editing process of our film and the technologies we used to construct the finished product.

Task 7

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

I feel that I have progressed a vast amount from the preliminary task to the full product I created. I worked with the same people for the preliminary task and I feel as a group we have achieved and progressed a lot during the course of the year from the preliminary task to the horror sequence.

The main task required far more planning and preparation than the preliminary task. For the preliminary task we had were given a storyboard, dialogue and the set. However, for the main task we had to come up with a concept ourselves, produce two storyboards and plan and prepare the set ourselves. For the preliminary task we had to find two actors the day before the shoot just so they could practice the dialogue. They did not have to be a certain gender, have a certain look or be a certain age. However, for the horror sequence we had to choose a cast member months in advance. they had to be a girl, with pale skin and dark hair, be a certain height a certain age and be available for a whole day rather than an hour for the preliminary task.

We did not have to plan the set for the preliminary task as it was an old classroom with two lights set up at the front of the room. However, the final product required a lot of planning for the set. We had to plan where was most appropriate to shoot the sequence. At first we planed to shoot it in an old barn 10 minutes from school; however we didn't think this was appropriate because it wouldn't look like Elizabeth's secret den so we decided to shoot it in the film studio instead. This was a challenging idea because it meant we had to build the set for our idea which took planning and preparation. We decided we would use the set of another thriller, which was originally the set of a theatre production. This took planning to make sure that it would available for our day of filming.

We didn't have to plan costume and props for the preliminary task. The actors wore their own clothes and the only prop was the camera case made to look like a case of money. However, a lot of planning and preparation was needed to decide what costume and props were to be used in the film. The main prop was the diary, which was very time consuming to plan and prepare. To plan what it would look like, we looked looked at different photographs on the Internet of people with blood and disturbing drawing around them. This gave us a stimulus for the diary. To prepare the diary, we bought an art book from the schools book shop, then we decided what we wanted to do for each page, what photographs we were going to include and what the running theme throughout the diary. During practical lessons we made the diary and took it home and did a few pages each. We decided that we would have a theme running through the diary, which would be crosses, so all the eyes of the people in the diary would have a cross over them and all the letter i's would be crossed.

There were many other props in the film and this took time to plan and prepare as well. We had to decide what else we would track in the scene to make it seem interesting. This was a long and time consuming process because each group member had many conflicting ideas. We first thought we could track scatted the pages of the diary around the room, however we decided against this because it would not be very exciting. We used spider diagrams and discussions to decide our final idea of what we wanted to achieve. So, we decided that we could involve Elizabeth's painful past as well as the hardship of her teenage years. We came up with the idea as a group that we could use dolls, toys and stuffed toy animals to scatter around the room. However, to make it seem as though she is not mentally stable we would cover them in blood and rip them as she would. This took weeks of preparation to do this task, we had to find/buy the toys, separate them evenly within the group and make them look ripped apart. We had to go into the nearest town as a group and visit the charity shops and ask other people from our school to bring in old dolls and toys of their own. The we had to plan what we were going to do with the toys so they didn't all look the same. Then we had to prepare the toys by cutting them, burning them, putting fake blood on them and crossing out their eyes. We then had to plan what photos we would put on the wall. We found portraits of families and people and wrote on them in blood. We had to plan where we would place these on the wall and where we would put the dolls and toys on the floor.

We had to plan where we would put the tracks and we had to prepare the tracks to suit the image we wanted to achieve. to do this I went round the room with the camera, to see where what I wanted to film and then we placed the tracks to suit where we wanted to film.

We also had to plan the costume for Elizabeth and look we wanted to achieve for her. We were not sure whether we were going to show her entire body or just her feet so to be sure we bought a costume for her, did her make-up and her hair. We chose a black smock dress from Peacocks that we had to prepare the week before the shoot day. We then had to prepare the dress my cutting and ripping the bottom of the dress and the sleeves to give it a more emo/horror look. However, for the preliminary task they wore their own clothes.

We also had to cleverly plan the shoot day, to do this we used a shooting schedule which highlighted the exact times we would shoot different parts of the film and how long we would take to set up. This took planning but also organisation because we had to try to stick to the schedule for the shoot day. However, for the preliminary task we didn't have to plan what to do in the hour we had to film because it was all set out in the storyboard of what to film first ect.

My film making skills were developed from the preliminary task to the horror sequence a great deal. In the preliminary task, the shots we had to perform were on the sheet and the storyboard was drawn for us. However, in our final product we had to produce a working storyboard and a final storyboard. We had to decide the shot types we were going to use to make the the audience interested for two minutes instead of a thirty second clip. We decided that we would use on shot in the horror sequence to show the room that Elizabeth hangs herself in. This was a challenging decision to make because we had to make one shot stay exiting for the audience. Also doing one long tracking shot is much more challenging to perform than a simple sequence of a wide shot then a medium shot ect. In the preliminary task I filmed the shots that were on the storyboard which were medium shots, close ups, wide shots and over the shoulder shots. We then added in a few of our own shots for example, an extreme close up, a bird's eye view shot, a worm's eye shot, a high angle shot and a low angle shot. I found this slightly challenging as it was my first time doing these type of shots, however we could do as many takes as necessary of each individual shot. We did not use tracking in our preliminary task so it was a new skill for me to do when it came to the shoot day. I found it challenging to move the camera in the direction of the tracks and also tilt the camera to cover the walls and floor to show the wall in an exciting way. I had to make sure that I was moving the camera in a slow and steady way to last two minutes but not make the camera jerky and stoppable but keep the motion smooth. I was proud of what I ac hived using the camera on the shoot day because it is very challenging for any one to do that kind of tracking shot and I think the overall camera work was smooth.

The use of storyboards were very different from the preliminary task to the horror sequence. Storyboarding was challenging for the group because it was very time consuming and had to be detailed. In the preliminary task the pictures were drawn for us, however in the horror task we had to draw these ourselves, ink them and scan them into the computer which was very time consuming. We had to write out the shots and input them into the storyboard. Our first idea had many different shot types which meant our storyboard was very long. However, when we changed idea to the one shot the storyboard was not as long, but the process was tedious and long because it was the same shot type and picture for most of the storyboard.

The final product of the horror sequence has developed and improved from the final product of the preliminary task. The transitions of the beginning and the end of the horror sequence were a lot more smooth and professional compared to the sharp, static cuts in the preliminary task. We tried to stick to the 180 degree rule in the preliminary task. Even though we had taken a enough shots in order to make the sequence abide by the 180 degree rule, there were some shots in the sequence that broke it. However, after we realised that we had and changed position in order to make the shot work. In the final media product we did not break the 180 degree rule once. I had learned from the preliminary task how not to break it, and with careful planning and preparation of the rubber tracks we could not break the rule.

Our use of sound has developed during the course of the year from each tasks. In the preliminary task we used simple digetic sound from the dialogue between the two people, the case banging on the floor and the door opening and closing. These were picked up from the small mic on the camera and were not altered during the editing process. Although these sounds were picked up quite clearly, our use of sound had improved in the final thriller sequence. In our final product we used many sources of sound in order to create tension and suspense. We used sound from the room, sourced sound from sound cut pro and a soundtrack. After we had shot the sequence, we recorded sound from our set with a boom mic. This is picks up a clearer sound than that of the normal mic on a camera. We first recorded sound of the room in general, the sound of Petrie walking, the sound of the chair rocking, falling and her feet twitching. On final cut pro we then deleted all the sound on the film and started the sound from scratch to make it more professional and clearer. We used the sound the room we had recorded to make the sound seem realised under a soundtrack we would make. We then sourced sounds from sound cut pro of pages turning, a door opening and closing and a tension building soundtrack. We used these sounds and matched them on final cut pro to the image on the screen. This made the sound seem heightened but still realistic to build up tension and suspense throughout the sequence. We then used a short sound track on sound cut pro and extending it on final cut pro to make it last for the entire sequence. We decided we would not use any digetic dialogue in the sequence. We were going to use a non-digetic voice over of Elizabeth reading out her final page in her diary. However, we decided against both of these ideas because we felt that this wouldn't build as much tension and suspense as what we created. Without any dialogue, the audience would be left questioning what action is happening in the sequence therefore being left in suspense.

I also improved my ability to master final cut pro to edit and add after effects to the sequence. Our product was one long tracking shot so we did not edit the sequence very much as there were no cuts. However, we learned how to make the sequence shot less sharp and more smooth. We faded in the sequence at the beginning at at the end of the product, after the credits. This was to make it more professional and also because the diary appears on the screen slowly it draws the audience's attention to it thus making it seem an important factor in the film. We then faded the film out onto the title of 'Elizabeth's Diary' in final cut pro. We also used after effects in final cut pro; we used a glow tool in order to make the objects on the wall stand out clearer on the wall but keep the lighting low key. We also used final cut pro to make the credits that appear before and after the main sequence. We used a black card to not distract from the main sequence and wrote the credits in white so they stood out. We used two layers of writing so to make the fonts different sizes and make the important text stand out. We used photoshop to make the 'Elizabeth's Diary' text at the end of the film. We found the text we wanted from dafont, which looked as if it was writing in a diary. We then imported it to photoshop and changed the text to negative so it was white. We then included images from the diary by uploading them to photoshop. We then changed them to the multiply level so they became opaque. We then placed them in the text, to give it a more interesting and creepy look.