Semiotic analysis

The First shot starts off with a few of Emily's feet. There is non diegetic music over the top which helps to create tension. The music we made on garage band is influenced by the slow spooky music from Halloween. The next shot we used was a long shot, we used this so you could see that Emily was being followed as she walks home late at night. Then there is an over the shoulder shot which shows the view the stalker has on Emily, This builds the tension even more because it makes you wonder when he's gonna strike.

Then there is a shot of Emily opening the door (using match on action) this looks like a useless part to the film but it starts to show that Emily is not just a young child but sh and has responsibilities and is grown up enough to be left at home alone. When Emily gets inside the house and begins too walk upstairs their is a point of view shot (POV) which gives you an insight to what the stalker is looking at and also he conservative movement as he shields himself with the edge of the door, Also there is a very screechy sound which is quite long and drawn out, long drawn out sounds are used in lots of horror films like Halloween as it increases tension by making you unconsciously hold your breath.
Then we used a tracking shot which shows Emily walking into her bedroom. As she gets to her window you can see the stalker waiting outside under the lamp post, this is an inter textual link of the famous cover shot from the exorcist when the priest stands under the street light. There is also a spooky sound effect over the top to increase the audiences tension. Emily doesn't actually notice that the stalker is there, she then walks in front of the camera and when she moves back the stalker has disappeared. This gives a feeling of superiority to the stalker because it almost supernatural that he just disappears out of shot very quickly. This can only increase the fear the audience feels for Emily.

Next there is a low angle shot of Emily which helps to portray our preferred reading that she's is not quite as vulnerable as you think. The light flicker a few times and then fully fuses out. A loss of light is very common in horror films because it's something we signify with fear from a young age. There is then another shot of Emily as she walks down into the cellar with a flash light. both common iconography of horror films. Then there is a mid shot of the electrical box and the fuse to show the audience exactly what the problem is, it's not just fused out but someone has cut it. Then Emily turns the electricity back on which again is a signifier that she is not the typical ditsy blond but more of a final girl. When the light switches on it switches to another point of view shot as someone walks towards Emily, we made this shot seem more realistic walking with the handheld camera so it shakes. When the stalker reaches Emily there is a close up of her face to show her shocked expression. The next shot we have is a two shot which is generally used to show two characters in conversation. The final shot is another close up of Emily face as she's told by Mark that he didn't mess about with the lights. This is another twist which leaves the audience on a cliffhanger and will hopefully make them want to continue watching the rest of the film.

Rough cut

This is the first cut of Emily opening the door. We 

didn't edit it very well so it ended up looking like

she opened the door twice from both sides.

This is the edited version which is  much better

because it is just one smooth action of Emily 

opening the door.

Evaluation

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

Our film has developed conventions of real media projects because in real horror films, like us they slowly build up the tension at the start of the film . I think we managed to build the tension well because it starts off with the scary music and a closeup of Emily's feet, then you see she is being followed and immediately this creates tension. Then when she gets inside the house and walks upstairs there is a point of view shot of someone watching Emily. We continued to use various camera shots and sound to build the tension until the end climax. Also even though the audience knows what's coming they don't know when and this is what we tried to incorporate into our film.

Another common convention of horror films that we used was using Music to build the tension and set the scene, the inspiration for our music was from the Halloween film because we did research into horror films and we found that the music they used in halloween was really good at creating tension because it uses long drawn out notes that are used in horror films to unconsiously make you hold you breathe to increase the tension.

In our film we also challenged forms of convention because we have the Protagonist (Emily) as a final girl. She isn't the typicall busty, ditsy blonde that you find in most horror films. We wanted her to look more like she is respectable looking and intelligent. Also unlike the typical blonde Emily won't die early on in the film because the final girl last to the end of the film. Halloween also had an influence in this because they use Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) as the final girl.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

We have represented age and social class well in our film. For age the film is rated 15 and aimed at ages 15-24. I think we have represented this age group well because everyone involved in the production and filming of the film was within the ages 15-24 so we know what people of that age want to see in a horror. I think we represented a good range of social class because we used a location which would appeal to upper middle class (C1) and lower middle class (C2). We also represented a working class with the language and accent Emily has used.

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

The kind of media institution that might distribute our product would be a small indie company or a company which encourages young film makers such as screen Yorkshire. Screen Yorkshire would be most likely to distribute our product because they like to encourage young local talent, Screen Yorkshire is also funded by the UK film council.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience for our film are aged 15-24 this is our recommended rating from the BBFC website. The audience would be people who are fans of horror films and like films that are no straight forward they have a bit of a twist. Also i think the type of audience who like teen dramas such as Hollyoaks and skins would like this film because of the use of teenage actors. A horror film also appeals to both male and female audiences

How did you attract/address your audience?

We attracted our target audience of 15-24 by using actors within the age range, this makes it easier for the audience to relate when it's people of a similar age to them. We also have addressed our social grouping audience of upper middle class and middle class simply because of the location because Ilkley is an upper class, and middle class area . We have also managed to appeal to a lower class audience because horror films are typically liked by a lower class audience.

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

I have learnt how to correctly edit material through i movie hd which is something i wouldn't of being able to do without making this product. i learnt how to get the film of the digital camera and load it on to i movie, then select the necessary clips and cut them to fit into the overall film. I have also learnt how to use digital cameras better, i new briefly how to use them at first but now i can quickly and easily use them including special lighting effects like sepia. The final thing i learnt about the software was how to burn the final copy of my movie onto a dvd using (iDVD)and also what settings i need to select to get it to work.

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

From the preliminary task to the the final cut i feel like i have a much better understanding of how to make a film work. The main thing I've learnt is how the different camera shots and angles completely transform the film and make it look much more impressive e.g. match on action shots make a very boring shot like opening a door into something which looks much more professional . Another thing i feel i progressed at from my prelim task is how to keep track of things better because this time we used a storyboard as a rough guide to keep us in track while we filmed and to make sure we got all of the shots we planned to take. The storyboard was very simple to make, it was just rough sketches of shots we though would be important in our production.

Storyboard

Target Audience & BBFC

Age

The age rating in our film is a 15. We chose this because later on in our film it will become gorier and there would be some strong language. Under the BBFC ratings its says that a film with strong language and scenes of a moderate violence should be rated at a 15. Also the actors in the film are within the age range, they are both 17 so it helps appeal to an audience of 15-24.

Ethnicity

In the opening 2 minutes of our film both of the actors are Caucasian, but our film is not designed to just target a Caucasian audience, but in England it doesn't have too much of an effect on the audience because its more stereotypical of the genre, Although later on in the film we would cast some non Caucasian actors to widen the appeal of the film to all ethnicity groups.

Gender

Generally a common convention of horror films is to have a male as the protagonist who comes through the evil and ends up victorious but our film will appeal to a wider audience because our protagonist is a female called Emily and she will be our 'final girl'. This doesn't mean that it won't appeal to a male audience as well because we still have a male playing the role of the antagonist.

Economic groupings

I think our film will appeal will appeal to upper middle class (C1) and lower middle class (C2) and working class (DE) groupings because horror films are not usually aimed at upper class, they normally watch period drama or films of a higher intellectual level.

Nationality/Region

Our film will appeal to an English audience because the actors and settings are English. Horror movies usually have a heavy American influence and are generally high budget if they do. The lower budget British horrors will appeal to a more niche audience primarily because they don't have any American actors.

Fans of

Fans of our horror films will probably also be fans of films like Halloween because the well known horrors were a big influence on the making of our film, we studied their shots as they have obviously been very successful in hope that incorporating their camera techniques will help us to get a better finished product on our horror film.

Sexuality

Our opening part of the film has heterosexual actors in and would probably not appeal to a 'pink pound' audience. Generally horror films have a primarily heterosexual cast but we would consider going against this common convention to maximize the appeal of the film to a 'pink pound' audience.

Phychographic profile

Someone i would expect to be interested in this film would be someone who's is a fan of stalker/slasher movies such as Halloween and also someone who doesn't mind seeing a bit of gore and hearing some bad language

Final synopsis

A dark horror guaranteed to get your heart pulsing.

A chilling tale about a young girl who is followed home late at night by a hooded man. She doesn't notice the man and treats it as any other day. Until the lights in the house flicker out. Then she starts to worry. To make matters worse she must go down to the basement on her own because no one else is home, or are they?

Hardware

The camera we used was a canon md101 30x optical zoom.

This was a good camera to use because it is a very basic camera which made it simple for everyone in the group to use, even for people who haven't used a camera much before.
Another plus point is that all you have to do to get the footage from the camera to the mac is open i movie 6, plug the camera into the computer and wait until you see import icon pop up and then press it and wait for it to load.

We also used a tri-pod to help us get a smoothers, more steady

picture.