Final Product: LILY'S FOR THE DEAD

This is our final product.

Lily's for the Dead - By
Jade Goldie - candidate number: 4075,
Charlotte Magill - candidate number :4126
and Jade Cruise.

Evaluation - In What way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

The mise en scene incorporated in our media product helps create the sense of horror genre and conventions of real media products. The use of setting and location used in our media film is to help develop the sense of closed atmosphere, we have done this by making the location a closed, quiet setting and using the location of a small isolated house. This has connotation of being tapped and not being able to escape. The costume and use of make-up connotes the horror genre, the white mask and white clothes signifies the supernatural antagonist and the black dress significates funeral clothes for the protagonist which shows the sense of death.


Iconography was another aspects we took into consideration, the use of the main prop of the lilly's, the fake blood and the mask was all used to show the horror iconogrphy.


Our product uses the micro forms and conventions of horror quite well in some scenes, In our media video to create a scarier image we used a medium shot of a young girl in the mirror with a human in the background standing there. The young girl has just arrived home from a funeral so there is already some grief within the home. When the standing image of a supernatural antagonist, it tells the audience that the film is within the horror genre. This is shown from the use of the mask in the film, the mask is all white and the antagonist is dressed in a complete white gown, with dark black hair covering. This enables the features of the face to be covered and gives a sense of menace and an image of the unknown to the audience, leaving them on edge.

We considered the use Micro and Macro features in our product to develop the forms and conventions of real media products of the horror and comedy genre. The sound/music we incorporated into the product helped enhance the genres we are trying convey.
As a group we have challenged the forms and conventions of real media products with the use of micro and macro features. The non diagetic music we have used in the opening scene of our horror film is parrallel as it is a sad scene and slow emotional music is used to express feelings, however the protagonist is not able to hear this sound. This sound is to just run in contrast with the plot and main genre of horror. This sound portrays the conventions of a sad situation which is delievered as the funeral.

   

Audience Feedback

To gather audiences feedback i asked a few people to watch my main video of my opening to a horror film. I had got a boy and a girl to watch my clip to see how their thoughts differed. The feebback that I recieved was quite positive as they said I had included various different shots such as medium shot, match on action and high angle to gather a continuity effect on the film.

The male feedback was also positive, they said although I did not use a male cast member the girl used is still highly likely to attract the opposite sex as they are attracted to the female body. They also said that they are attracted to the blood and gore used in the film. they really enjoyed it and said the tension that was builded up was very exciting and effective as nobody knew if anyone was in the house.

The female feedback was also positive, as the storyline was emotional this can relate to many females as they express their feelings a lot differently to the males. They also emnjoyed the tension that was very effective and made them more excited.

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

Looking back at my preliminary task, I feel as though I have learnt many things in progression towards the full product.
The preliminary task allowed me to begin develop my skills using a video camera:

I have learnt how to obtain a steady fixed camera shot with the use of a tripod.
Developed my knowledge of a variety of different shots e.g. hand-held camera, medium shots, panning, long shots, close-ups and many more.
Consider which types of camera work look effective to convey the purpose of the shots being used e.g. match on action shots to convey the sense of continuity.
Experiencing with an editing programme, learning how to cut down shots, add in transitions and titles etc.

The practice with the preliminary task has helped me increase my ability to work with a video camera. We used similar camera techniques in the full media product, for example in the preliminary task, we used a zoom out and panning in the beginning shot. I believe that the panning technique looks very effective, therefore we used a medium panning shot for the beginning of our full media product.

Once producing my media product I used similar camera techniques in the full media product. For example in the preliminary task me used a match on action with someone walking in the door then see her walk in from the outside and we also used this shot in our final product. I believe that this shot is very effective hence the reason why we used it for a second time in a final piece.
Once this was finished we went onto editing and putting the clip together, because we had done this before I found it more easier to put clips into the right place which took us a lot faster and was able to cut the right parts of clips out to make it fit in more better. We added in the characters name when they were seen in a small clip in the movie on their own, this is to introduce the character. Then at the end of the sequenced clips we added the title of our film, which we decided to call 'Lillies for the dead' because it is a opening scene of a horror film and at the end of this opening scene one girl gets killed off. We looked at various different sounds that we thought would suit best in our opening scene, after listening to some and fitting them in we decided on one that best suited the storyline to our clip. We decided to use a slow emotional track as we thought this would be best suited.
The shot above shows the match on action shot we used in the premlininary task. This shot is slightly low angle and we improved our shots used in the final media product, this shows how we improved our camera techniques

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

During constructing my media product i have learnt a lot about media technologies, for example although i did not film the video I helped out with using the camera when a member in the group was struggling, this enabled me to gather knowledge about a video camera and how to use it more effectively to suit my purpose, also using computer programmes such as pinnacle to put my media film together and make it more appealing to the audience.


Using a tripod has enabled my shots to be viewed more steadily and abled us to use a variety of different angles to make our media product more attractive to the audience and relative to the chosen genre of horror. For example using the tripod in the opening of our film has enabled me to produce a steady long shot of the protagonist walking towards the graveyard which sets the scene to tyhe audience. Using these different angles helps establish the setting and introduce our character to the audience.


The begginging shot helps convey the emotion of the only character in the media product. A sad emotional scene is shown of a young girl at a graveyard and it is shown that she has been to a funeral from the clothes she wears, this is likely to be expected from the director. This was shown from different reaction shots we used, for example we used a long shot of the young girl walking towards the graveyard alone slowly, the pace she walks portrays how emotionnly sad the time is. When the girl arrives home we use a medium shot of the girl looking in the mirror, we used this shot to emphasize the emotion of love as she looks in the mirror with the look of loss in her face expressions. The reason we chose a medium shot instead of close up is because we thought including the location would give a better overview as a medium shot still shows the expressions and body language from the character. Moving on we use a high angle shot of the girl walking up the stairs, this enables the audience to see all body language as it shows how scared she is by how she walks up the stairs, (slowly and posture of her body). The reason we chose a high angle shot was to reinforce the vunerablility of the character as she is very scared but nothing is proved anything is in the house with her.


Using the editing programme pinnacle, i have learnt how to merge clips together so that they flow to create one final presentable media product. Whilst editing my product I have learnt how to merge clips together, add pictures, add videos and include transitions and different eniting techniwues to create meaning. To make a more effective media product I had to cut down clips and rearrange our clips so that they merge better and flows nicely.


The editing and music added to our clip I believe is significant to the genre chosen (horror), for example we used a slow emotional music track that is parrellel to our product as it is very emotional more so at the begginning.

How did you attract/address your audience?

I feel I have attracted my audience in a variety of ways. To attract our audience we aimed to complete a storyline which would relate to teenagers, and in order to do this the actor must be of this age group. Firstly, the protagonist in our film is a young attractive female who is likely to attract not onloy females but males too. Attractivness of characters to the audience is ver important, whether the female audience look up to this character for daily tips or whether it brings a male to watch the clip as he becomes atractted to the female lead image.


It is important that when planning a film you consider what the audience will expect to see in the film. It should be relevant that a audience can relate to the characters in the film, usually the protagonist as this character usually defeats the evil in the dead.
There are four main reasons for media according to Katz and Blumers study on the uses and gratification model. firstly, diversion, this means the audience would diverse themselves away from reality a diversion from their own lives to be entertained. The second one would be identification, when someone relates nthemselves to the plot or characters. Third would be socialisation and forth would be surveilance when someone is out to get information about something.


Another element that would attract an audience would be the location. If a location was a fair ground it is likely to attract young children whereas if it is a deserted home an older age group is likely to be attracted and young adults as they enjoy that sense of adrenaline. We chose a house as after a funeral that is usualy a place people want to go to escape from everything. I think that this location would attract both males and females becuase it is a place where everybody goes once completing their daily needs.

We have aimed our media product at all genders, both male and female. This is because although most of the casting of the film is based on the filming of girls, this is due to the fact in horror films girls are easy to target and are usually killed off.




We also decided on a bold film title, ‘lillies for the dead' we believe our film storyline is related back to this in many ways as it is not shown how the character is killed of and in one scene the protagonists sits on the bath side and smells the lillies.


We aimed to relate our story to teenagers by adding clips such as close up of a mobile which most teenagers carry around with them today, although out clip is not of a typical teenage girl, as she is not on her phone constantly and has just arrived home from a funeral our film is still aimed at this age group.


Moving on, the type of people we are aiming the film at are middle class people, this is shown from the body language in the media product and the setting of the clip too.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience for our media product is teenagers, possibly young adults. My reason for this would be when planning our film we took into consideration the image of the actors and who it is likely to attract. We also thought about what young adults would want to or expect to see in a horror film if they were to visit the cinemas or buy a DVD. By us making our films relate to a relatively large audience we took into consideration what a young audience would want to see to make it more relevant and fun as producing a horror film myself is convenient as I can share ideas from a younger perspective to make it more enjoyable. Although our cast only consists of one female actress and the antagonist i do tend to believe it is attracted to a larger audience than expected because the female is likely to attract a young female audience but the blood and gore however is likely to attract the males.
However there are some limitations about who our media product is aimed at. One being the pysical appearance of our cast is likely to reduce our audience. Due to only having one actor in the opening scene, we had to come to a decision what ethnic group we was going to use. We come to a decision that white British would attract a relatively large scale of the audience as the majority of people in the UK are white British. Having one actor that is white can have an effect on our audience because our cast is not a full representation of British Society as British Culture is diverse in ethnicity, which may mean other ethnic groups may not come to watch our product.
A second disadvantage would be the development of the characters. The character does not speak much in the film opening and mostly uses body language, this means that the audience may find it hard to relate to what the character is feeling, however you do know that the character has been to a funeral and returns home, this could relate to people in the audience as people may have lost friends or relatives not recently but even years before.
Stuart Hall, his approach outlines that he believes that an audience focuses on textual analysis for negotiation and opposition. This means that an audience does not passively accept a text and that an element of activity becomes involved. The audiences negotiates the meaning of the text, the meaning being the cultural background of the person. The background can explain how an audience can accept a given text whilst others may reject it.
Therefore an audience will scope for negotiation or opposition when analysing our media product. I believe that our textual analysis is not deleloped enough for an audience to decide whether they negotiate (accept) or oppose (reject) with the text.
I have chosen this age group as my target audience as they are more likely to want to go out to the cinemas or buy it on video to watch.

What kind of Media Institution might distribute your Media Product and why?

Vertigo Films is a UK Media company founded in 2002 to create and distribute commercially driven independent cinema. I believe that the media institution that would be best to release our horror film would be vertigo films. in 2007 vertigo films collaborated with film 4 and myspace to create mymoviemashup.

Mymoviemashup was released and straight away recieved great feedback from the industry, media and consuers alike and Myspace has been taken over by filmmakers to get in with the chance of winning the conpetition.

I personnaly believe that Mymoviemashup would be interested to release our media product. The reason I believe this is because our film is aimed at a young teenage audience of boys and girls and with the use of myspace being used often, a majority of the time it is used by the younger generation.

vertigo films has distributed many horror genres such as (the children) this film was a low budget horror movie and was successful after distributed making it to number 10.
http://www.vertigofilms.com/
My final overview from these two distributions, we decided that the media institution that would best suit our media product would be vertigo films. This is because it has the lowest budget to distribute a film and they have employed more movies of a horror genre.

Faintheart is one of the UK's successfull films vertigo films had produced. This encourages me to believe that Mymoviemashup will be attracted to the quality film we have produced. I believe that a multiplatform realease would be ideal for our horror film similarly to Faintheart as it is a very successfull media product that attracts a wide audience. Releasing the media product in various ways I believe would be successfull as it attracts a wider audience as not everybody enjoys watching a product in the same form, some enjoy cinemas and some enjoys staying at home watching it on DVD, this is why i believe that the multiplatform release was an advantage to the distributers as it gathers a wide range of different audiences.  MySpace, Vertigo Films, Screen West Midlands, UK Film Council and Film4 announced innovative plans for the release of Faintheart in 2009. The film, which was filmed on location in Ludlow in Shropshire, was the closing gala screening at the 2008 Edinburgh International Film Festival, will be released simultaneously and free of charge for one day only, in 150 cinemas and on MySpace on Tuesday 27th January. faintheart will then be available to buy on DVD from Monday 2nd February 2009.At the core of this ground-breaking plan, MySpace, together with developer Three Eyed Labs has created  the UK's first theatrical screening web application, which will allow the Faintheart MySpace community  to decide  in which towns the film is shown.

How does your media product represent different social groups?

Our media product represents different social groups. we have decided to aim our film towards young teenagers that consists of boys and girls. We have been able to be successful in this because a young teenage girl stars in it which means girls will be attracted to the actions she takes, boys however are atracted through the blood and gore being used in the clip. We are going against the sterotypical portrayal of teenagers as we use one of a characters (protagonist) as a sophisticated young lady who only returns home from a funeral. The mise en scene of her house shows she is not a sterotypical young teenagers as she does not experience posters up on the wall, mobiles phone out texting and reading girlie magazines, instead she returns home, has a few glances in the mirror and reads the newspaper. Our horror film gives the audience something to aspire too, because it represents a white middle class background. Instead of the young teenagers being chavvy, instead she is in a girlie dress and the state of the house indicates the micddle class background she comes from. We wanted to move away from the representation of screaming women in films and move towards a more self confident character.

Prop List and Mise en Scene

We have chose our props to use in this opening scene carefully, considering what the objects can iconography and represent for a character.

PROPS:

All in White & Mask - For the antagonist, we have chosen this costume as we thought it will reflect well on our horror genre and will hide the killers identity.

Lilly - The use of the lilly within the film reflects back to the storyline, it relates to death and the audience are able to sense the horror intensions within the opening scene.

Candles - The use of candles along the bath shows the silence and relaxation. Close up shots of the candles will reflect danger and when the candles go out we are hoping it will show the sense of death.

 

Mobile Phone - This choice of prop is used in the scene where the protagonist gets a strange phone call with noone on the other end. It shows the sense of lonliness in the film and is a typical prop used in horror films such as 'scream'. We have used a latest mobile phone to show realism within the film. 

Fake Blood - we will need to use fake blood in the scene of the bath to show that she is dead. We will create this affect by using red food colouring.

MISE-EN-SCENE:

Make-up - We are going to be using day to day make-up on the protagonist, she has just come back from a funeral so she will be wearing casual make-up. We are going to include loads of mascara on the protagonist so when it comes to her being dead in the bath her make-up can be smudged. The antagonist will not need any make up as they will be wearing a mask to cover up there face.

Costume - The antagonist will be wearing all white and the protagonist will be wearing a black dress and heals to show that she has just come back from a funeral.

Planning: Shooting Script

The camera techniques we used was to try and make sure we include every shot we could such as close ups, long sgots ect. In the first scene at the grave yard iot opens with a long shot of the protagonist walking across the grave yard. The second scene is where most of the action happens, she has just got into her house and we discover she is all alone in an isolated house. The protagonist was introduced in the first setting but both members of the cast were introduced in the second scene. There are more shots used in the second scene as alot more happens, we were able to use high angle and shots in the final scene were we see the protagonist dead in the bath and extreem close ups of the candles.

Planning: Call Sheet




I was the main director and head of camera person, this is because i am more experienced with the camera and Jade Cruise and Charlotte Magill was our actors in the film. However, we all helped eachother and in scene where they wasn't acting they help be director and helped me out with the camera to make our film as effective as possible. In our film we didn't need any extra's in the cast we just in case any of our actors couldn't make it on the day of filming we included Melissa Doyle and Sarah Lolley to be extra's. These are two students from our media class. The make-up used is dressy for the protagonist and was just a mask for the antagonist. The wardrobe for the cast was planned out the antagonist would where all white, so we would just used a bed sheet to cover them over and the protagonist would wear a black dress. There was only two people in our cast as thats all we need for our opening scene.

 

Planning: Shot Log

1. Tracking shot from inside a moving car looking out to the road.
2. The mask in a dark room lit up by a torch
3. A close up of the eye of the antagonist (person in mask).
4. Girl entering house
5. Key going into door , close up of key
6. Match on action of girl coming into the house, high angle shot of girl entering from inside.
7. Mid shot of her taking off shoes and close up of her shoes
8. Girl going into living area where she tries to relax- reads mag
9. Low angle Shot of mask peering through window
10. Girl walks towards window
11. Shot from outside of girls face at window between blinds.
12. Closes blinds
13. Close up at phone ringing on table/sofa
14. Girl answering phone- no one there
15. Throws phone on sofa - close up of phone
16. Close up of girls panic stricken face as she hears an unexpected noise.
17. Medium shot of hand on girls sholder
18. Close up again as girl turns around in shock.
19. Girl goes up the stairs
20. Dark landing. Light coming from bathroom
21. Enters bathroom- bath is full with lily’s and lit candles surrounding
22. Tracking shot of bath
23. Girls sits on side of bath and smells lily
24. Panning shot of mask- to extreme close up of eye
25. Close up of candle
26. Close up and zoom out of lilys
27. Girl dead in bath
28. Panning up medium shot of eye on the wall in blood
29. Candles start going out

Planning: Script

When planning the filming, our group never came up with a planned script, we decided as there is only two characters the victim and antagonist there will not be no dialogue needed. We did not plan any speech in the storyboad. However, in the scene of the protagonist (Jade) answering the mobile phone she will say "hello, hello" and also when the hand touches her back and she jumps up she will say "oh my god, what was that". There will be no other speech in the storyline.

Planning: Location Planning

We chose our first setting of our horror film to be based at a grave yard. We decided to film here because we thought it would be a great location for a horror setting, the grave yard is quiet and isolated and this is where the protagonist is first introduced. She has just come back from a funeral.

The second location we filmed was at Jade Cruise's house, this is set in Birmingham. We decided that this would be a good location because it is a isolated setting where the victim is alone with the antagonist. We came up with this idea from the film 'Scream' which I earlier researched.

Planning: Our Horror film

Conventions that could be used in our horror film

• Blood
• Death
• Innocence
• Evil
• Screams
• Victim
• Candles
• Church
• Lily’s
• Black
• Main character alone in a house
• Dark
• Mask
• Unexpected noise (jumpy)
• Awkward silence
• cold draft
• Antagonist mask and flesh completly covered with either white or black clothing.

Antagonist VS victim.

Locations: graveyard, house, car

Lighting: use of artificial lighting (candles)

Make up: smeared make up, blood.

Props: mask, lily’s, candles, fake blood/food colouring, phone, torch

Sound: little dialogue. Perhaps sound of phone ringing,

background music to create certain mood.

Costume: girl/victim: dress and heals.

Mise en scene:
Lighting- high key and low key lighting used.
Props- food colouring, lily’s, candles,
Costume: girl: black dress, make up, high shoes

Antagonist: white costume. White mask

Possible titles:

Innocence

Death becomes her

Lily’s

Lily’s for the dead.

Shots-close up, extreme close up, long shot mid shot, tracking shot, panning shot, match on action shot.

Planning: Cast List

Characters

Our opening sequence to our film, lily’s for the dead consists of 2 characters:

A girl who plays the innocent victim ( Jade Cruise)

And the antagonist (Charlotte)

Initial Planning

Horror Film Opening

Certificate and target audience

• Certificate we will be aiming for is 18+
  
• Both male and female targeted audience

Setting

• On the Evening, natural day light for outside and dim lighting for the house, relying on natural sources of lighting in the house hopefully it won't be too dark because we don't want the lighting to be affected.
• The locations for a horror film we have decided are, firstly a graveyard to introduce the film opening and the remainder of the opening will be set in a house, a normal everyday environment in which people should feel safe and secure.

Costumes and Props

• Mask and white clothing for the antagonist
• Black dress (funeral clothes) for the protagonist
• Lilly's
• Candles
• Mobile Phone

Storyline

We have put these conventions together and thought up numerous shots that follow a particular potential storyline for the opening sequence of our horror film. Lily’s, we thought would be a very good prop to use and convention for our horror film. This is because through research we have established that lily flowers are related to death and are a common flower present at funerals. The presence of this flower in our opening will be symbolic of death. We are going to use a young girl for a main character, coming in from a night out; she is alone in the house and very on edge and apprehensive and she’s hears noises, feels cold drafts and feels as though she is actually not alone. Takes off her heels and goes into the living area where she attempts to unwind and relax from her night out. Her attempt to do so fails as she begins to feel more scared and unsafe in her home. Little does she know she is being watched by a mysterious person wearing a mask who is peering through her window and then in her house. Her phone rings and she answers to find there is no one on the other end. She goes upstairs to discover a filled bath with candles and lily’s surrounding it. Shots of the antagonist are seen on numerous occasions in various locations around her house. We see her begin to undress and the camera is distracted when we hear her scream in the background; to then find the girl dead in the blood filled bath, fully clothed, smeared make up down her face, blood on the walls and a lily resting on her body.

Editing

• Credits and titles
• Parallel and contrapuntal music
• Diagetic and non-diagetic sounds
• Jump cuts, match on action etc
• Transitions

Planning: Storyboard

Pictures on the left shows the storyboard that we have created. Our aim is to follow this story board when filming our opening scene. However, when filming we will film the shots in several different angles, shots and movement so when it comes to editing we have a wider range of shots that will make our film look more effective. Next to each shot we have drawn we have listed certain shots that we can use, we have tryed to incluse a variety of different shot so we can include abit of everything in the film. We made sure that we used shots such as: close ups, extreem close ups, long shots, mid-shots, match on action, shot reverse shot, low angle and high angle etc. When planning this storyboard we also thought about the amount of timing each shot could last for to make sure that our opening scene will only last up to 2 minutes. Although we have made this storyboard, we know that throughout the filming some of these shots will be changed to make the film look more effective. On our story board we also noted where we were going to include title pages and text. We wrote next to the story board in short detail on what the shot is showing and what the actor has to do.

Planning: Original Ideas

The first thing we done when planning our film was a mindmap of all of our ideas that we would like to follow up for our opening scene to a horror. As a group we all put forward our own ideas and agreed on ideas that we thought would be effective to the sequence. We didn't spend too much time on creating our mindmap as we knew things would change from our original idea's as the planning went on.

Planning: Group Roles

Within our group we all got allocated different roles and different things that we would each be responsible for.

Jade Cruise:

Jade's put forth useful idea for the film including horror conventions that we could use. She also suggested effective shots to use and possible storylines. Jade put forth ideas such as mise en scene (lighting, props etc) and sketched out the storyboard with helpful ideas from Jade and Charlotte. Also Jade carried out one of the acting roles as the victim girl and helped with filming when not on scene and ideas for the person filming when acting.

Charlotte Magill:

Charlotte helped with some ideas for our film such as a possible storyline and different camera shots that would look effective. She also put forward ideas such as mise en scene (costume, lighting etc).

Charlotte's main job role played the actor of the antagonist in the film. When not acting charlotte tryed her best by helping Jade Goldie with the filming of the opening when she could.

Jade Goldie:

I chose possible titles for the film after we all agreed on a chosen storyline. I listed shots that we could use in our opening and where and when they would look effective. Additionally, with help from Jade Cruise and Charlotte Magill I filmed the opening to our horror film and input on what I thought was and wasn’t working as the viewer so that we could make changes accordingly.






As a group we were all responsible when making sure that we analysed enough films and collected enough informatoin on other horror films and recognsed the micro and macro features. We will also all be responsible for editing the clips when it has all been filmed.

Producers and Distributors

Production companies:
A producation company is the company responsible for the development and physical production of the film. This involved hirring the cast, booking the setting and filming the scene for the film. In some cases, the company is also responsible for gathering the money to fund the film costs. However, they may not always do i through an intermediary.

The role of the distriution company is to market the film after it has been produced. There job is to attract the target audience to the film through various ways of advertising. Distribution methods used to advertise a film include posters, TV adverts, radio adverts, interviews, internet and film premieres. Certain films require certain advertising techniques to connect with their target audience. For example films such as James Bond are sterotypically targeted at males and the distribution companies may choose to advertise the film in a lads magazine. Horror films are narrowed down to the particular sub genre, for example, the film 'Prom Night' is centred around mainly female characters and has the setting and elements of a love story so would probably be targeted at mainly a femal audience leading to it being advertised in girl magazines.

A film distributer can be an independent company, a subsidiary company or an individual. It is their role to act as a final agent between the film production company or some in intermediart agent and a film exhibitor. Their aim is to ensure that the film is viewed by as many people as possible and reaches a wide desired target audience in an appropriate manner.

Target Audience

When producing a 2 minute opening of a film, the target audience needs to be considered.

Target audience is based on when a film is realise, they aim the film at a particular group of people. Such as gender groups, ethnic groups, and age range. The social groups are then attracted to the products because of film trailers, adverts, junkets, colours etc.

AGE RANGE - when targeting an audience you need to ask yourself which age range you are aiming it at and why? by chosing a specific age range we are then able to research what type of films that age group watch or what is the most popular genre watched by that age group? The age range that we will want to target will be teenagers from the age of 18+, the reason we have chosen this age range is because as teenagers ourselfs we have a good understanfing of what teenagers are interested in.

 GENDER GROUPS - we have to consider whether we want our film to be aimed at either male or female or both sex. A good example for this is high school musical, this is targeted at both genders because the two main characters in the film is a male and a female which both genders of the audience are able to relate with. The film includes sports which will interest the male gender and musical/singing which interest the females. In our opening scene we are aiming to relate our film to both genders, male and female.

ETHNIC GROUPS - The range of enthnicity in the cast can reflect on ethnic group in which you target when producing a film. The race of the main character in the film can target people of the same race as they can relate to the character. Meaning the use of ethnicity can open a wide range of audiences. We hope to aim for a wide ethnicity group so that people from different ethnicity's will watch our opening film.

Target audience for a horror film
Typically horror films are targeted at male audience because of the violence, the gore an the way that females are seen as sex symbols, the age range will usually be from the age of 15-30. this is often reflected it the certificates that are given to horror films.

http://www.bbfc.co.uk/downloads/pub/Guidelines/BBFC%20Classification%20Guidelines%202009.pdf

The use of frightening elements which might scare or unsettle an audience is part of a long tradition of story telling and film making. Many children enjoy the excitement of scary sequences, but, where films are targeted at a younger audience, classification decisions will take into account such factors as the frequency, length and detail of scary scenes as well as horror effects, including music and sound, and whether there is a swift and reassuring outcome. Older audiences often pay to see horror films because they like being frightened or shocked and such works are classified at an appropriate category to ensure that the young and vulnerable are protected from too intense an experience.

Targeting an audience
The first horror film I looked at was 28 days later, this film targets the audience in several different ways, the first thing they look upon is the age range, gender groups and ethnic groups. The creators of the film have to aim the film at particular social groups.

This film was an 18 certificate the film makers were going for an 18 and 30 audience this is due to the excessive gore and violence in the film. The presentation of the zombies and blood is quit graphic and also the film opens with an establishing shot with a full frontal nude shot.

The social group the film is aimed at is attracted to this product because of the adverts, film trailers, junkets, colours and the layout etc. They film producers do this so that the audience want to keep watching the film and they are constantly interested.

The trailer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBZnuUZIbBQ) for example it shows a bit of each scene cut down to show what goes on watch day. The editor for this film has edited this trailer a lot to make it short and sharp, so that it will catch the audiences attention.

The Target Audience for our horror film
The target audience of a film can be restricted due to its content and an age requirment for viewers. This is decided by the Board of Film Certification in each country. If my film was to be given a certificate, it would have to be anayse by the British Board of Film Certification and then handed the suitable label.

Suitable for all, Parental Guidence, Age 12+, Age 15+, Age 18+

'Examiners look at issues such as discrimingation, drugs, horror, imitable behaviour, language, nudity, sex, sexual violence, theme and violence when making decision. They also take into consideration context, the tone and impact of a work (how it makes the audience feel) and release forat (as DVDs watched at home are at higher risk of underage viewing).

From taking note of all this, our film is based on a horror genre so we have decided to target audience would be 18+. We need to ensure that when creating this appeals to this particular age group.

What makes an EFFECTIVE OPENING of a Horror?

Micro features –
•Sound/Music, diagetic and non diagetic sounds to build up the mood, atmosphere, suspense and tension in the opening scene.
•Lighting, good use of lighting can make a horror opening very effective. It can represent many things, e.g. lots of dark shadows casting the victim to represent he/she is in danger.
•Camera angles, different series of shots can be used to help convey a horror opening sequence. Close up shots of the victims, over the shoulder shot can be used for the antagonist looking at the victim.
•Mise en scene, the setting of the scene, in an isolated area. Where props are placed, where the characters are in the room: where the antagonist is placed in the room etc.
•Editing, how the opening scene is edited to create an effective horror scene.


Macro features –
• Iconography, what in the mise en scene represents. For example a knife signifies a weapon, in a slasher film this would be the only weapon used for the series of killings. Music, eerie music represents that something bad is going to happen. Clothes, what the characters are wearing and why? Usually the antagonist/killer would hide their identity by wearing a mask. Setting, where and why would it be specifically set there.
•Characters. Who the characters are, if they are male or female. Usually in a horror genre film the antagonist is male and the victims consist of females/males. In a slasher film, it is usually a female character that survives. Also what the characters are wearing and why?
•Setting, where it has been set. If its in a open spaced setting or a closed space setting. Usually an open & isolated spaced setting for the horror genre.

Case Study 2: Scream

Micro features -
Scream opens with the title of the movie which is shown on a blank screen, running parallel with the sound of the phone ringing and a female voice. You hear and scream and then there is a special effects sound of a knife being pulled out this represents the narrative of the film and shows how the antagonists kills. The first shot is a medium show of a telephone, this is an important prop used in this horror film as its the signifier of the killings which are to beggin. Throughout the conversation of the mystery caller and the female character the camera movement are slow and steady. The shots last long to show the atmosphere and to build up tension in the isolated house. The lighting is very dull to set the scene of the night time, there are shadows and close up shots over the victim to bring all the attention on her. Non-diagetic sounds are used to build up suspense and tension, this is used to the lead up to the kill, there is also diagetic sounds used that only the victim can hear. The editing of the film shots get quicker when tension arises, this is so the audience can feel something is about to happen. There is slow movement used with the camera angles and shots of the scene so you get a good idea of the location and the amound of space around the victim.

Macro features -

The victim in this opening scene is a female. This shows vunerability and signifies the final girl theory which is used in many horror films. The iconography used is the scream mask, knife and the telephone. The phone is used throughout the film hearing the antagonists voice through the phone. The ringing of the phone in silence connotates the emptyness of the house. The characteristics of the girl played in the opening scene  sterotypically suggests that she will the first victim from her physical appearance and personality. She is a young attractive blonde female, representing innocence and vunerability. This is a typical traditional horror victim. Her personality is shown to be dumb as she doesn't get scared and is unaware of any dangers when a stranger keeps calling her and she keeps having a conversation with him on the phone. She also plays with a kitchen knife when talking on the phone which phyisically connects the antagonist killing the female by stabbing her to death. The location used in the film is a isolated house in a small village, this is the perfect setting for the killer. The Scream mask used is to hide the identity of the antagonist who is usually sterotypically male.

Case Study 1: 28 Days Later

I have conducted research on two different opening to horror films in order to find the macro and micro conventions that are most effective.

Micro features -
The opening shot shows an extreme close up of a man's eye who has just woken up from a comba. There is a high angle shot in the crash room to show that the place is isolated. The man then walks through the hosiptal to find out it is deserted, there is equiptment all over the place and the pepsi machine is everywhere. We hear a non diagetic sound in the form of music, this created more tension just as we are getting into the film. The cuts get quicker as the music gets more frantic. There are loads of close up shots of the man to show that he is confused and alone. An establisging shot of London city is shown so the audience can relate to the setting and see how deserted the streets are, we can see this by phones handing off the hooks, over turned chairs, souvenirs over the floor and no person about. A high angle shot is used here to show how isolated the protagonist is. The lighting is natural because it is taken place in the day. The streets are silent but is interrupted when an on screen diagetic sound is used when a car alarm goes off. The scene moves on to the protagonist entering a chursh, we hear a diagetic sound of the man talking and his voice echoing, showing how empty and quiet the church is. There is a long shot used when we descover zombies rising of the grounds, who then chase the protagonist out of the church.

Macro features -
Normal life has been disrupted because there has been a virus outbreak and everyone has been turned into zombies. The part of the narrative hook is to find out how he is going to survive in a world full of zombies. Throughout the scene we only see one main character who is introduced by coming out of a comba in a isolated hospital in London, he is clueless of what is going on and he walks the deserted streets until the scene where he enters a church full of zambies. We link this scene up as being a horror scene, from when we see the zombies and the deserted streets on London. The iconography in this horror film is thered gurgling eyes of the zombies looking for salvation. The horror really begings when the protagonist enters the church and we realise the theme of the film is good vs evil and normal vs adnormal. The place is full of virsue and illness, this links back to the apocalypse sub-genre.

Research: Sub-Genres & Hybrids

Sub-genres of horror:

Haunting and Demonic Possessions: These types of horror films play on the audience's mind of unknown, superstition and evil forces such as ghosts. These are usually portrayed in spiritual horror films involving witches, spirits, ghosts or demons.

An example for this is shown in a recent horror film 'paranormal
activity' involving demons.

Apocalypse: This sub gente is threatened with extinction of the human race by inhuman creatures or monsters. The antagonists may consist of creatures out of space of a threat of a plagye or virus that threatens to wipe out madkind. An example of this is the film 'Resident Evil' ending with mankind dying out.

The Human Monster: This type of sub genre involves horror or abnormality of the personality. For example murder and psychopathology or psychosis and insanity. This involves the minds of the killer who appears to be insane with no sense of morality leading them to with intensions to become a killer.

Final Girl Theory

The final girl theory in a horror film refers to the last female alive to confront the antagonist/killer. The final girl is usually the last victim left out of a group of victims to tell the story. This theory has been used in loads of horror films such as 'Scream','Last house on the left' and 'A Nightmare on Elm Street' and many more.