During the initial planning process of our 2 minute film we researched into many potential genres and themes, whilst researching, as a group we found we were most interested in producing a film with a horror/thriller theme to it. Once decided on this, we started to research further into the idea and looked at films to gain ideas on everything from sets and lighting to acting and make up. Films that influenced us hugely were; the 'Saw' films and 'Sixth Sense'. The 'Saw' films include a lot of mise en scene displaying pain and fear in dark confined spaces which is what our film is sets off to be about and the 'Sixth Sense' is perfect to use in regards to lighting and mystery, in the 'Sixth Sense' there is a huge twist and 'Massacre 31' shares this secret!
Examples of the above are here;
2)How does your media product represent different social groups?
Throughout 'Massacre 31' we have one significantly main character who is played by Alex Lay. The film is very mysterious and never gives too much away which is why it is hard for the audience to relate to Alex's character, they never get to witness his background or class. In this aspect the film doesn't relate to any class in particular however i feel that by enlarge it is appealing to all, especially those who are in to their horror/thriller. In some films it is very apparent and arguably more appealing to certain classes down to personal relation with the characters, for instance 'Snatch' is a film with pikeys, lower class people and gangsters in which could arguably be aimed at the lower class male.
The films we researched such as 'Saw' and 'Sixth Sense' are both films that aren't aimed at any particular class or audience, they are released in the hope they will appeal to a vast range of people.
3) What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
I feel that 'Film 4' would be the perfect distributor for 'Massacre 31'. I feel this as MaxAl Productions are a new up and coming production team and bigger Hollywood distributors may not want to take a chance on us e.g. Universal and MGM. It may be too risky for them, especially because we are starting out as a British based company too! 'Film4' are a British based distributor and have distributed such films as 'Slumdog Millionaire' and 'In Bruges'. 'Film4' are a lot more aimed at the up and coming producers, especially the Brits! Although 'Film4' is arguably a fraction as wealthy as the big Hollywood names, they still produce some huge hits.
4) Who would be the audience for your media product?
This question is slightly relevant to my answer in question 2. As previously stated, it is hard to give a specific target audience as the main character is so myterious and doesn't relate to any specific person or class in particular. However, even though there are no characters that tie in with typical classes, the genre has a specific audience. The genre is horror/thriller and therefore it is aimed at the older audience. I would say the movie would have a rating of 15+ so therefore it's target audience is anyone over 15 who isn't faint hearted!
5) How did you attract/address your audience?
When looking at the different types of film and settling for the horror genre, we had to take into account the things we needed to include to make our first film a hit, we looked at a variety of different films and took note of what made them scary and succesful! Examples of what we looked at are; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoJWIXj1VvM, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5CvZGv8yNs.
To attract the audience, we also used posters which is something that i specifically fronted. I made the posters using Adobe Photoshop CS4. The purpose of this is to raise the film's profile. The posters can be seen on a link in this blog.
Once we knew what people wanted from a horror film we set out to create it, we wanted to create a horror film that had a slot in the market, something new and different and let's hope it works!
6) What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
I have learnt endless amount about technology during the process of this product, especially being very privilleged in that i have the oppurtunity to try all of the latest equipment and software.
Digital Camcorders (HD) - i found these really good to use and easy to get the hang of. The quality of the Sony HD camera was outstanding and i felt it was perfect to use in order to get that professional finish on the product.
Apple Macs - The Apple Macs were hard to get used to at first as i've always been a PC man, however after some early effort with them i began to find the interface is extremely user friendly and in fact, a lot better concerning the different types of creative software.
Final Cut Express - This program is very impressive and pretty straightforward in regards to being able to make a film. It takes a bit of getting used to but if you're willing to put the hours in then you reap the rewards at the end with a very polished final product.
Garageband - We used Garageband briefly when making a track for our extras. Myself and Alex Lay made this and found it good fun and straight forward to use. We wanted to create a track on this as it meant we had then used all the main programmes a Mac has to offer.
LiveType - This programme is used to create text on screen and we got along with it well. We used it right at the very end and after quick instruction we got to grips with it. There is a whole variety of fonts and movements on here and it really can acommodate to a lot of producers needs.
Photoshop - I used Photoshop CS4 (latest version) to create the posters for 'Massacre 31', my skills grew throughout the course of the project however i knew a little before hand as i am a Photography A-level student.
7) Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
I feel that i have learnt huge amounts when i look back to my preliminary task to now, you only have to watch each one to see for yourself! All of my technology handling is much better, the variety in my filming shots is better, my creativity is more energised and my use concerning programmes is miles better.
I feel that my theory has incorporated nicely alongside my practical too and i now feel confident when writing media related posts, this has been helped largely down to my frequent blog posts. This year has been a huge learning curve but it has ended on a high with a finished piece that me and my other 2 crew members are very proud of! I also feel that my team skills have got even better, we formed a very tight crew which helped with the whole process a lot!
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