How did you attract/address your audience?

We attracted our audience by using the 4 technical codes effectively.
In the dark room scene we edited our film to make it black and white so it would be creepy and intense. This defines the genre of our production and grabs the attention of our audience straight away.
The sound within this scene is non-diagetic. The string instruments create a muffled piercing sound which is effective because it builds tension and mystery which makes the audience intrigued and attentive and want to understand the reason behind the pictures.
We have used a range of shots within the dark room but one particular camera movement we have used was a close-up pan across the photographs. The pan starts off slow so the audience can see what the photographs are of, but builds up speed to emphasise the amount of photographs, which the audience later realise are victims. This makes the audience anxious and keeps them in suspense.
James’s costume consists of all black clothing and a balaclava, making his character intimidating and stereotypical for the genre. The audience are grabbed because the glimpse of him suggests something bad is about to happen later in the film.
In the park night club scene we begin with a fast pan which we sped up using the editing software, final cut pro. We did this to create a freaky atmosphere, as it gives the inclination that time has been messed with and could symbolise the lack of control in the scene. This makes the audience excited, but also weary of what to expect.
The lighting in this scene is limited, as we filmed most of the production at night time. The club lights in the scene are colourful and create a spotlight upon the two female characters, which highlights them to the audience, and makes them question why they have been focused upon. The audience wonders if the photograph seen in the opening sequence was the two girls, which makes them speculate what is going to happen to them.
Sound in this scene is non-diagetic but made to think it is coming from the club. We created a soundtrack on the software garage band of club music and played it alongside the footage of the two girls coming out of the club. We think this targeted our chosen audience because it is modern and similar to what they listen to as individuals.
In this scene we also showed that the camera doesn’t always have to be moving to be effective. We set the tripod up with the camera, and let the two female characters walk on and off camera. This was effective because it makes the characters look small and distant, as if they are being watched, creating vulnerability and uncertainty.
As the film progresses to the alleyway scene, the lighting becomes more frightening as we use the effect of shadows. As the girls walk behind the camera, the audience see two shadows projected onto the wall, which is in a spotlight. This shot looks professional and also makes the audience paranoid for the girls.
In this scene we also use a point of view shot of Gabi when she is running to find Gemma. The camera is shaking and symbolises a loss of control in the situation, and the audience get a sense of involvement in the action.
Finally, in the car park scene there is an over the shoulder shot of Gabi looking up towards where the noise of the killer was coming from. The audience see the back of Gabi’s head looking up at a dark and mysterious background but the killer has gone. The wind in the scene is blowing Gabi’s hair making it eerie as that is the only movement. This creates a sense of loneliness and paranoia.
The lighting and sound in this scene effectively work together at the end of our production. As the phone lights up in the darkness, the non-diagetic sound which we created on garage band, kicks in at the same time with a phone ring. The spotlight then comes on and the audience see a hand next to the phone, not moving. As the third ring stops, the screen goes black. Then the fourth ring plays in complete darkness. This is effective because the audience are shocked to see the hand, and the dark screen at the end is powerful and makes the audience want to continue watching.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience for our media product would be 16-24, therefore it would have the certificate 15. Our plot relates more to that age group because it involves student life and the characters themselves are of this age range.
We think our audience could relate to the two female characters as they are of the same age, fashionable and sociable.
Females could relate to the two girls because of similar interests and behaviour, and males could enjoy watching our production because of the attraction to the girls and the thrillers characteristics.
We think our production would be for a mass audience because the genre is thriller and for our target audience thrillers are a popular film choice.

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

Film distributors such as:
Working title – ‘Sorority Row’
Warner Brothers- ‘Batman Begins’
Rogue Pictures- ‘The Unborn’, ‘The Strangers’
Orion Pictures Corporation- ‘The Silence of the Lambs’
Regency Enterprises- ‘Mirrors’

British Independent film companies: Working Title 2, Film 4 and BBC films.
We think the best one to distribute our film would be Film4 because it is a popular, modern film company that’s main audience is the younger generation. Film 4 also makes a lot of Thriller films which is relevant to our genre. Film 4 develops and finances film productions and is known for working with the most innovative talent in the UK.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our production represents females as vulnerable, inferior and weak.
The costumes of short dresses and heels makes the girls look appealing and therefore more likely to be approached.
The plot of our production upholds the stereotype of student life, being fun, young and risky, showing a realistic drunken night out of two student girls. It also makes males out to be superior, dominant and violent, as he doesn’t hesitate in attacking two student girls.
Our production also highlights the stereotype of the working class people from the city, as heavy drinkers and irresponsible.

Sorority Row (2009) Part 1

Foundation portfolio evaluation- Evaluation of finished film

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

Our film is a Thriller called ‘Shadow’. We think our production relates to a few films, for example ‘Batman Begins’ and ‘The Dark Knight’. It relates to these two films because of the way light and dark is explored to create effects, such as shadows.
In terms of structure our production relates to ‘Sorority Row’ because the film begins with a tracking shot that establishes the setting and characters. It also immediately focuses on the characters that will later become victims, so we incorporated this into our production by highlighting the victims in the main sequence.
The camerawork in our production is similar to the film ‘One Hour Photo’ as there is a scene where they use a medium shot from behind Robin Williams, who plays a paedophile looking at a wall of photographs of the family he is stalking. Therefore we recreated this scene on a smaller scale by filming James stood facing a wall of photographs of Gemma and Gabi amongst other girls.
Also in the film ‘Sorority Row’ the first sounds we hear are non-diagetic glass breaking and an eerie whistling sound played whilst the camera tracks forward through a dark exterior, then the camera tracks in through a door to a party scene with further non-diagetic sound of party music. In a similar way, in our production we began with creepy string instruments played within a dark opening scene. We then created our own soundtrack using garage band for the club music.
Mise en scene- Costume: For the girls costumes we wanted to make them look believable, but also vulnerable by wearing dresses and heels, so they looked typically appealing to a male villain.
For James’s costume we dressed him in dark clothes and a black balaclava to hide his identity and keep his character mysterious and intimidating, like the killer in ‘Sorority Row’ called ‘Andy’.
When editing we used a fast cut rate which continues up until Gemma goes missing, then it slows down to show Gabi’s emotion. The cut rate then builds up speed again when there is a glimpse of the killer, to build up the tension, which is a similar technique used in typical Thrillers.

We think our product offers something original because we have produced a 2 minute opening which challenges the typical structure of a film. We have included the main action of the film within the first 2 minutes and this engages the audience immediately and makes our production even more mysterious as they want to watch further, and uncover what happens next.

Friday the 30th April 2010

Today we watched over our production and checked it for any mistakes.
We altered some of the digetic sound and made it louder :-)
Mr Fennel also watched our production and found nothing that needed changing.
Mr Lewis also watched our production and he was also pleased with it :-)
Now we are just waiting for our video to be exported to a quicktime file.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Friday the 30th April 2010

This is our animatic.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx