1. EVALUATION AISLINN, AS MEDIA

2. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? Firstly one way in which we challenged horror media conventions was through our use of the protagonist within the narrative. Normally with productions, the protagonist is the one driving character who survives all they are challenged with. This is simply not the case within our production, instead we have spun the protagonist's narrative to die- albeit a martyr for his sibling. This is unconventional and used for shock factor, to disturb the audience further when watching, since they are so unused to the novelty of the main character being murdered. Another convention that we manipulated to serve us well within the film was the lighting, whilst yes-we used dark emotive light sources and tones to express the mood of the film, we did not feel the need to try and synthesise all other horror movies completely by only having darkness forbode the story. Within the scenes you can find bright lighting which acts to confuse the audience to further the tension when it does grow dark. Another way the film challenges conventions, is by changing the familiar relationships of the characters from the usual happy/unhappy family of four with the parents together and two children. By excluding the mention of a father within the family when the 2 main characters talk, the audience can ascertain that the characters do not have a father figure within their family- causing the assumption that the parents are divorced. As well as being ‘new age’ by having family issues, it also creates a slight background story, so that the audience will connect and invest within the characters. This investment also means that for the rest of the film the audience is more likely to care and be scared by the events because they are concerned for the welfare of the characters. Lastly, we challenge the convention of general horror themes by setting some of the conflict to happen within a non-secluded house. Usually, horror films use abandoned, decaying or isolated houses to set the scenes of tension to the audience. This is usually done because it is rather aesthetically obvious to the audience the suspense surrounding the characters- because of the conventional way in which they show horror. By using a standard family house in an obviously suburban area it deflates some tension initially- but because of the unusual situation of the characters it only adds to it later. This is because it is so unusual and out of character for that sort of area it reflects the bizarreness of the situation the characters have to face.

3. How does your media represent particular social groups? Ultimately within our production, the characters are represented as overwhelmingly middle class. And it is represented in many different ways throughout. Firstly the setting in which they are at home suggests they are middle class in many different ways. The suburban area in which they are surrounded by is of other middle class, fair sized houses which in no way show signs of decay or a poor standard of living in the area. The house also being shown as that also adds to that effect, showing to the audience that the characters do not live in a council estate, social housing, or at the other end of the spectrum, a large rich house. The characters are shown to fall between the lines of the two; fairly well off. On the inside of the house the middle class stereotype can seen to be portrayed to the audience by a wealth of aspects. The introduction of another character who is obviously a sibling to the main character immediately displays the stereotype of middle class. This is because middle class families are seen to have around only 2 or 3 children typically, whereas lower class are presented to have more, and the rich less. The items that are seen inside the house are indicative of a middle class family because there is an abundance of objects, however they are not lavish or shown to be antiquated or extremely expensive- just the amount and look of them would suggest a regular amount of wealth. Not only does the setting indicate to middle class, but the dialogue as well. The sibling Ralph says ‘media homework’ which suggests that the family has invested in a school education- which they realise is important to fulfillment in life- by doing extra work set out for them. Whereas lower class would be expected to ignore school and any extra work it provides, and upper class would probably be more enthused by the work, rather than the passive way in which the character says it. The costume which the characters wear also indicate towards a fairly well off standard lifestyle. The clothing they wear is simple, but in good taste and casual. If they were of a lower income, then it would be presumed that they wore ill-fitting clothes, dirty, ragged clothes, or more sportwear i.e shell suits stereotypically. And if they were upper class, they would perhaps have a designer label, or more expensive seeming clothes. The mention of only a mother within the dialogue also suggests they are a middle class family, and although it is slightly irregular of a horror film, a ‘broken’ family is not that irregular, and a divorce can be commonly found to coincide with middle class families. Another particular social group encountered within our film is the ‘teenage boy’. Many horror films utilise the social group of teenage boys because they provide a very easy personality for the audience to follow and relate to. We present him as such, in many different conventions. The lighting of the opening scenes convey how he is able to stay up late, outside whereas his younger brother is confined indoors. He is slightly standoffish- as per with some teenagers, and also is technologically savvy- since the dialogue shows how the sibling Ralph defers to him for computer guidance. To further this convention, we have also established another popular stereotype of teenage boys, which is that they are interested in girls of their own age- which is showcased when he talks to the girl who dies later on.

4. What would be the audience for your media product? From my research I have found that the target audience for our film would be 15-25 year old males. And I have chosen this for a variety of reasons. One being that because of the ages of the characters within the film, it transpires that audiences tend to empathise and agree with someone of a similar age to themselves- as they can imagine such a scenario easier than if the characters were polar opposite to the audience. Also, to the older watchers, who would theoretically have seen more horror films, and therefore be able to spot conventions easier, would see the iconic parallels the age of the characters have to general horror films. They would perhaps see it as comforting, as they could expect a similar amount of understanding to that character as they have to other characters within the past. The audience are most likely to be A1/B1 because they have expendable money to spend on merchandising related to films. Also the age group (at least in the teenage years) have more expendable income, as they still live at home and may have some sort of job.

5. What kind of media institution might release your product and why? I believe that Dimension perhaps would release my production because they are a horror and thriller based studio- which is in essence what my product is. They have produced many high profile productions, such as Sin City and Scream. Scream bear the most resemblance to our own production, and considering Screams commercial success, I believe that since they are not too dissimilar that would mean that it perhaps has a higher probability of being successful when engaging with the audience. However, as well as Scream being a rather niche film, the originality of Sin City, adapting from the comic shows how Dimension is very well adjusted to making rather peculiar films available for mass audiences. As well as Dimension itself being a conglomerate institution, I believe that most Conglomerate institutions would perhaps release it because it is a fairly commercially conventional horror- it is not so Indie that it would be a risk to release for success. As most conglomerates had at least dabbled in horror films.

6. What have you learned about technologies from the process of constructing your product? Using the blogging site Wordpress: Wordpress initially was rather difficult to use, it is not set up in an easy way to design the layout of how I wanted my work presented. However I did learn a multitude of different things that did help present my work better. I learned how to add Youtube clips to it, so that it was easily available to watch my Preliminary and Final Production. I also learned to- such as this evaluation- learn how to add entire powerpoint documents and photos to blog posts. It has helped a lot in organising my works because you can save them in drafts so that you can work on them more and improve them gradually. Sony Vegas Pro: The editing software was a learning curve, but it immensely helped with finishing the final product. I learned how to use this specific editing software, which was immensely different to the previous software I used which was MoviePlus. The effects that can be used on the software were hard to learn, but it did help establish mood and theme throughout the production. It also allowed me to create a mixture of diagetic and non-diagetic elements to the production that I was not able to do as easily before.

7. How did you attract/address your audience Within our film there are many different recurring themes which attract about the film opening. Violence- for a horror movie is not always essential, but there is a reason there is so many slasher horrors, so to have a certain amount, it can attract the audience that do like to see some violence in films. However, we have counteracted the ‘slasher’ by making the killings and violence to be rather subtle and hidden- so both audiences can see some violence, but not so much as that they cannot stand it. Action- Action is a prevalent theme towards the end of the film, and whilst at the beginning we have made it so it is more a supernatural/ psychological based, towards the ending we have build the dramatic tension enough to create a realistic scene in which the characters are being chased and there is more action. This will appeal to a massive audience, especially for horror because in almost every single genre except purely psychological based horror, there is some form of action. Without any action we would be severely restricting our audience and lessen the attraction by a large degree. Romance- Although romance in this particular film is not that apparent, there are however elements of it shown within it, and they are conventionally found in a large majority of horrors. An average proportion of audiences who watch horrors enjoys this aspect to it, as it can create character development and show the natures and relationships of the characters together.

8. Firstly my use of the interactions between characters has improved from the preliminary film. The 2 shots that we used in the preliminary did not match with the change in atmosphere or mood, or relate any significant dialogue or feeling within the film. I have learnt that to make the audience engage more with the conversation and feel more emotionally understanding of the character, the different sorts of 2 shots that we’ve used convey must fit the changes. I think by editing it we have successfully achieved this and created emotive scenes by which the audience can establish character relationships. The lighting in the preliminary was very artificial and did little to create an atmosphere or relate the mood. I feel that I have progressed in terms of lighting appropriation. Since I use both natural and artificial light to create different effects on mood, it also creates a sense of realism to the settings in which they are placed. For example we used strobe lighting in the scene which the girl dies to create an effect of disorientation and tension. But we also used light warm colours in the kitchen of the main house to show that the scene was a normal one. The settings also from the preliminary improved vastly to the main film. Whereas we were only able to really set the preliminary in one room. For the main film we were able to use a multitude of different places to film. We used not only outside area but indoor locations as well to create a realistic world. This helped create a more diverse film where scenes periodically changed and the audience could experience the change. Sound played a very important part of the main film. It helped create a sense of tension and atmosphere, create pace and tension. It also informed the audience as to what effect different events had upon the characters. In the preliminary film there was not so much use of sound, and it would have helped create more of an atmosphere if it had music earlier in the preliminary. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product