Who would be the audience for your media product?
The audience for our piece would definitely be late teens/early 20’s mainly. The film would appeal to fans of the horror genre and fans of the genre vary from young to old, but due to the conventions of the horror genre many fans are too young to watch the films in the cinema. Due to the gore later in the film it would possibly get an 18 certificate. The scenes are fairly gory with one person getting beheaded and another getting her throat slit, however depending on how the scenes are directed could result in the film ending up with a 15 certificate. The bbfc says that for a film to be a 15 it may use horror and gore but “The strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable.” I feel that if we were to film these scenes we would be able to decide on the level of gore without losing the effect of the film. Another issue raised about the certification would be the use of scissors as a weapon. This is an easily obtainable item and therefore the bbfc say “Dangerous techniques (eg combat, hanging, suicide and self-harming) should not dwell on imitable detail. Easily accessible weapons should not be glamorised.” This could also effect the final certification. With the film being set at a school the setting would still feel familiar to the above group, and for those older it could bring back memories.
How did you attract/address your audience?
We attracted the target audience by using the normal conventions of the horror genre from giving off connotations of fear to the squelch sound effects. We also set the piece in a school to relate to teenagers and to offer a small insight into a typical modern day school (the various personas of the pupils and staff.) The use of teenage actors and young staff not only enforce this insight but make the setting feel more familiar to the younger audience. The story also provides an escape from reality slightly by making the audience think that the school is haunted.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
As the main editor on the piece I feel that I have learnt a lot about how to film, edit and use the various pieces of equipment commonly used in filming. The first thing was learning how to use a camera and what effects can be gained from using certain shots and various features that a camera has, for example zoom. I also learnt how to use a tripod alongside the camera for a less shaky shot and to make panning smoother. I also learnt how to use Adobe premier to edit what we had recorded. I learnt how to make clips shorter or how to stretch them. I also learnt the importance of pasting clips into the right place to create continuity and a smooth final piece. With our film being a horror piece the use of sound was essential, for this I used Google to find some copyright free music. I then learnt how to cut and paste the track into the right place through premier to create the required atmosphere. However this created a further problem, sound levels, Because of this I learnt how to raise and lower them. This also helped balance out the levels as sometimes one clip was louder then the other due to the position of the camera during filming. I also learnt how to put text over the clips (okay I spelt school wrong, but hey the text appeared over the clip) this was vital to the project as the text was used to explain the scene and show that time had elapsed. The text, I learnt, was easily changeable to whatever font you wanted and to appear wherever on the screen. I also had to use Photoshop to make the FEAR-tre sign and through this learnt how to smudge and blur objects. Overall I feel that I have learnt a lot about the technologies used to create and edit films and feel that I have had a small insight into the world of filmmaking.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Most of the stuff I learnt I have already stated above. The skills I had I feel where basic when we filmed our preliminary task. However I now feel that I have learnt a lot, not just about the technologies used but the process as a whole. For example I learnt about camera maps and shooting schedules, something I never knew was involved. I also learnt that time keeping skills are vital, not just to meet deadlines but also for continuity. I also never realised before how much time and how structured a script had to be. For the preliminary task we just improvised the dialogue, whereas for the opening to the Fear-tre I wrote a script.
