Evaluation for OCS

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

Our media product uses forms and conventions similar to most horror movies. We had watched opening sequences such as ginger snaps, insidious and the ring and each one gave us similar ideas in the best way to present our Opening Sequence as a thriller. For example, we used the slow motion filming to create a creepy and disturbing atmosphere similar to that of insidious' opening credit sequence as well. Another thing we did similar to insidious' opening sequence was the slow and suspenseful music. We felt this best created the 'eerie' feel we wanted to present. Another similar form and convention we did was that we introduced clips of different objects just for a short period of time, to suggest they meant some meaning. This also happens in the opening credits of 'the ring'. For example we used the tree, the candles, and the dripping knife, to symbolise each one had a different meaning in the film and it would make the audience want to find out more.

What we developed and challenged in forms and conventions is that the 'death' scene at the end was quite different from death scenes in typical thriller movie openings for example in the first scene of 'the posession'. Even though it wasn't an opening credit sequence we liked the idea of how it opened up the movie and make the audience wonder. It had a death scene during the end which was loud and very disturbing. We also involved a death scene but to develop and challenge this we treated it as if it was dream-like and unrealistic. Instead of the loud music and sped-up footage, we did the complete opposite. We kept the music eerie and mysterical, and we continued to use slow-motion. Just to create this unrealistic but at the same time disturbing vibe.

2) How does your media product represent particular social groups?

For age, we believe that mostly teenagers and young adults would enjoy our film the best. The reason being is because during this age, you're most likely to want to feel a thrill or a buzz out of something and something to keep you on your feet. This is why our thriller would be suitable for the age range of 16-25 as it does just that.

For gender we believe it would most appeal to female audiences as females are portrayed in most thriller films as innocent and vulnerable, and this could relate to our opening sequence involving the possessed girl who is walking disturbingly around the house and she portrays innocence. Men would also enjoy this film as the girl is also portrayed as a sexual object for example the towel dropping round her ankles and the slow scene where shes massaging her hair in the shower men may find this enjoyable to watch. Not only that, but men also may enjoy the thrill of watching our film because the male gender is stereotyped to be more attracted to this genre of film.

For ethnicity, we believe that this is a typical film to attract a white middle class audience because it involves white middle class actors so therefore this could possibly give them something to connect with because it's similar to themselves. Other ethnicity's would probably like this just as much but the white ethnicity may be able to get more involved with the film.

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

We were very interested in the Paranormal Activity movies however these movies don't have any opening sequences so we were unable to analyse them. The media institution that distributed the Paranormal Activity films was 'Paramount'. We feel that Paramount would distribute our movie because it is very similar with Paranormal Activity like how it is filmed for example the hand-held cameras and tripods and it was only made for $15,000. Paramount would distribute our movie because it has the same feel as the paranormal activity successes and we feel they would be interested in distributing it because it is a good home-filmed thriller. Another media institution that might consider distributing our product is Lions Gate. Lions Gate has distributed a lot of films similar to our chosen thriller genre such as Saw, Night of a thousand screams, the descent, and serial killer. We feel Lions gate would distribute our film because it is a thriller and because it has a different identity to the other films distributed by this media institution. It has it's own uniqueness that lions gate may be interested in.

4) Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience for our media product would be both male and female audiences of the ages ranged from 16-25. Possibly also up to the age of 30 years. The reason why we target at this audience is because it is stereotypically known and researched that this age is most interested in thrillers as they are most up for the idea to feel scared and tense over a film and are less likely to get psychologically scarred from it afterward.

5) How did you attract/address your audience?

We used facebook to attract and address our audience. When our Opening Sequence was complete, we posted it on facebook to see which of our facebook audiences were most likely to 'like' and 'comment' on our production. Within hours we recieved many likes and comments stating that it looked 'really good' and 'really professional' and that they 'wanted to watch more of it'. For further research, we went through each comment and like and came to the conclusion that it was mostly all teenagers and young adults who liked our opening sequence and wanted to see more. Some even said that they 'watched it more than once'.

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

Every piece of technological equiptment we have used in the process of constructing our final opening credit sequence we have learnt from. From the start when we begun to use the nokia camera we were given we learnt how to do the simple things like zoom in and out, we learnt how to get the best outcome when using a tripod and we learnt how it all works in order to actually get the footage. By the time we were editing the opening sequence we went through a lot of technological progams such as Adobe after effects, lightworks, windows movie maker, and muvee reveal 11. Only 3 became successful in using for our end product which were adobe after effects, windows movie maker and lightworks. The muvee reveal 11 was too complicated for us to be able to learn in such a short period of time. Windows movie maker was easy to control however lightworks was a bit more difficult and adobe after effects seemed almost impossible to navigate through. However after watching many youtube videos on how each program worked, we were able to pick up the techniques very quickly and were able to make the opening sequence outcome we have now.

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

My preliminary task was not in the same group as Sophiyahs so we might have different views on this question. But for me, our preliminary task had very little skill in editing, the shots were basic and shaky and there was a very little variety of them. The music wasn't taken very carefully into consideration so it didn't go well with the overall feel of the preliminary task. A lot about our preliminary task suggested that it was just basic and rushed and looked messy. All of these negatives about our preliminary task i feel we completed and took into consideration when creating our opening sequence. Now everything looks more mature and more movie-standard. I feel i have learnt a lot about how important the different shots are, the editing and cuts into different scenes. Also the music choice can make or break a film so this needs to be taken into serious consideration as well. However, the most i've learnt about is the skill of editing and all the different effects and techniques you could use in editing footage to make it look professional.

FINAL OPENING CREDITS SEQUENCE

OUR FINAL OPENING CREDIT SEQUENCE

 

 

Our Opening Sequence is called 'The Hidden Ones', and is based on a story about the possession the hidden ones have on whoever chooses to enter the house. It starts off with a girl in the shower. The music was produced by Kevin Macleod and we found this on this site https://archive.org/details/EerieCreepyAndScaryMusicForYourScoresDvds . It stated on the website that they were 'free music files' and we had the permission to use it in our own movies. There were two different soundtracks by Kevin Macleod used in this sequence. When the girl is taking the shower, the slow sad-like sound contrasts with the girl in the shower to portray her own feelings. We never see the identity of the girl to create suspision. Everything is in slow motion to connect this with the depressing atmosphere. During the middle of this sequence, there is a flashback of the same girl pushing another into a cupboard, this is sped up to show panic. After this flashback everything goes back into slow-motion and the same girl in the towel walks out the house and into the middle of the road to them be run over by a car, she is clearly possessed because of the way she walks. The reason why we chose to kill this character wasn't because we wanted it to come across as if that was the end, but the complete opposite. We wanted to audience to become suspicious about why the girl was possessed, what and who was pushed into the cupboard, what do the characters look like, whats going to happen next? We decided it was a thriller/mystery genre, and our intentions were to get the audience questioning.



 

Exam question on representation of gender & feedback & graded

Summary Paragraph on Gender Comparison Homework & Feedback

 

Feedback from representation of ethicity Essay

Representation of Ethnicity - Essay

How ethnicity is represented in the TV Drama 'Hotel Babylon'

 

   In both the mise-en-scene and camera work ethnicity is presented to show higher and lower status for different cultures. It also shows change in some characters personalities and how they use their ethnicity as an advantage.

A higher status for the black man in the suit is denoted in an over-the-shoulder shot when he is in dialogue with an old friend. Although, despite him doing well for himself it does show the change in his character going from a confident business man to the body language of an embarrassed person. The costume, voice and hair of his friend suggest that this is who he surrounded himself with therefore how he possibly used to act. The difference is that he is now dressed more formally than the other, suggesting he is doing well for himself but may be embarrassed in the eyes of the other, as his ethnicity is not stereotyped to a particular job like this, therefore he may have been afraid of what his friend would think of him.

Another representation of higher and lower status in ethnicity is shown from another over-the-head shot of the Chinese man in his hotel room sitting down, with two white maids standing up in front of him. This shot allows us to see the Chinese man’s point of view of the situation and signifies to the audience that he has control over the two white women, implying he has a higher status. Mise-en-scene also visualises representation in ethnicity of higher status in the Chinese man’s bedroom also, although instead it shows the setting. The man has an animal printed throw on the bed, signifying that he may be getting ready to be involved with sexual intercourses in the bed telling us the maids are there for a different reason. His positioning on the bed also implies to the audience that he is again in control over the whole situation.

In the first scene of the short clip, we see the black man who works in the hotel serving the white man resting in a deckchair by the poolside. The costumes and lighting connotes a large implication of higher and lower status. The lighting is directly focused on just the white man in this long-shot and we can see just his facial features and not the black man. Also, the white man is surrounded by the setting of white furniture, white walls and his costume is also white. Comparing this to the black man in his black suit costume, this shows the white man has the higher status due to the focus being all on him.

The use of lighting on hierarchy characters is used in another scene of when the white man and woman are having a conversation with the chef in the kitchen. We can see the white characters are presented with lighting shone directly onto their heads, whereas the Mexican man is not suggesting the white characters have the higher status.



Preliminary investigation into TV Drama

Investigating ethnicity in the TV Drama 'Hotel Babylon'

 

 

Camera work for representation of ethnicity in Hotel Babylon

 

1.

 

Camera shot or movement name:

     - Over-the-shoulder shot by the swimming pool

 

 

How ethnicity is represented:

     - Makes the black man in the suit seem embarrassed because he may not be stereotypically judged by his other black friend to work in such a formal job, his expression also points out he seems worried how his friend is going to visualise him now he has seen him in a more formal light

 

2.

Camera shot or movement name:
     - Point of view shot of the Chinese man in the bedroom

How ethnicity is represented:
     - Signifies the intimidation of the girls being forced into doing something for money, shows the chinese man has power over the two white females


 

 Mise-en-scene for representation of ethnicity in Hotel Babylon

 

1.

Mise-en-scene key term:
     - The black guys costume when he is wearing his suit standing next to the swimming pool, compared to the man lying down with his dressing gown on (body positioned lazily)

How ethnicity is represented:
     - Signifies the black guy is doing well for himself but stereotyping the black man is waiting upon the white man, possibly giving the impression white people are very snobby


2.

Mise-en-scene key term:
     - The setting of the bedroom the chinese person is staying

How ethnicity is represented:
     - Suggesting it is clean and well looked after, showing the white maids aren’t in there to clean but for another purpose, they break the rules to satisfy the chinese man so they can have some money. Viewing white women maids as having little respect for themselves and being controlled by the chinese man.

3.

Mise-en-scene key term:
     - Lighting spotlights the white female as she enters the kitchen

 
How ethnicity is represented:
     - Showing she have more power and control over the kitchen manager who is in the black outfit and is of a different ethnicity lower status in the hotel.