1) In what ways does your media project use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of media products?
The film i have created incorporates generic conventions by adapting certain techniques used in horror films and creating a comical version of the standard film such as Scream was transformed into a spoof called Scary Movie. I chose to do the exact same thing and create a spoof version of Paranormal Activity. By choosing to do a spoof film this enable me to venture into the horror side of a film and the comical side to bring two elements together and form a horror spoof. The film can still be related to professional media conventions as shots such as close up, extreme close up and even medium shots are used. Creating a spoof film defines exaggeration as being the best tool possible to make a film humorous, this can be easily identified by the Ghost which is used in my film, the ghost is just a white bed cover thrown over someone this easily generates a comical side to it originally being scary. All the comical parts of the film were easily highlighted by either using music or sounds. For example, the scene in which Jade picks up a blow up hammer the comedy element has already been spotted as the hammer is going to be used as a weapon as people know it’s a Childs blow up toy and the short comical sound that is played when the ghost has been hit with the hammer emphasises the comedy value.
2) How does your media project represent particular social groups?
I believe the two social groups identified in my film are just represented as average individuals, two of the cast being male and the other two female. Although the ghost isn’t really represented as being female or male we soon learn at the end of the clip the ghost is in face female. The two main characters Tom and Jade just represent two normal living beings who live their day to day life as any human would stereotyping them as a normal individual no different then any other person.
3) What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
I believe that this film could be produced as a high budget film if adventured deeper, the film relates to such films as the many Scary Movie films that have been produced and Epic Movie. I believe this film would appeal to many different audiences and would be a good hit at the cinemas. People enjoy films that are sarcastic against others making the film a mockery version; this is what people enjoy to see. Although it could be great hit merchandise wouldn’t really be something to consider, a good film company would be Dimension Films who also produced the Scary Movie collection this would be ideal for my film as a younger aged audience may not understand the comedy elements of the film.
4) Who would be the audience for your media product?
There wouldn’t really be a restriction for the target audience the film is for, the film is based on horror and comedy but no violence, explicit content or indecent exposure is used. However, it would be ideal to have watched the original scary version of the film to understand the spoof version. I think a good target audience would be over the ages of 15 to understand some elements of the film.
5) How did you attract/address your audience?
I firstly created a questionnaire to hand out to the public to analyse what type of people would want to watch the film that i was creating, gender, age and sex was took into consideration. The final film was broadcasted on to the youtube channel on www.youtube.com to see how many hits it would get, showing how many people would actually like to watch the film. If the film was created properly and longer than two minutes, flyers, banners, magazines and television or radio broadcasts could be used to sell out the film to the public.
6) What have you learnt about technology from constructing the product?
I have learnt many things about technology when filming my media product, there are many things to consider some harder than others such things as creating the script, editing, filming the certain shots, music over certain parts of the film, sound effectiveness, corresponding scenes. This film was challenging in parts but would be even harder if it was actually created fully. There were some problems that we ran into due to the fact we didn’t have all the kinds of technology we needed such as the ghost could have been a lot better if we could have used special affects. The camera wasn’t as good as what we expected as it was a small digital camera that is not really something you would use for a film, having a small camera means the microphone won’t be able to pick up noise and sounds like speech between two characters as a professional camera would. If i was able to film again i would use a better camera and use far better editing software, to create a far better version of the film.
7) Looking back to your preliminary task, what do you feel that you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
In the progression to the full product i have learnt how to use editing software to produce the whole film, however a better software would have been good to create a more successful film, i used imovie but the software wasn't as good as expected. Editing is essential as many things can be changed after videoing the parts that are needed in your film, parts can be cut and others parts can be used in later or earlier scenes from when you filmed. I also learnt the different styles of shots that i could use in my film to make it more professional. Creating a film takes a lot of thinking and good ideas; you need the correct types of shots to make a film run smoothly and efficiently. You also need to understand what the audience would like to see you have to think like them to know what they would actually like to see to make your film a big hit.
By Mark Allen
