How did you attract/address your audience?

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

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (i.e. of film openings)

Frame one - Title of the film
The title of our film was chosen so that it was very to the point and established the main character straight away for the audience. We chose the background to be black when the title in white shown so that people knew that the name and the title was very important and so it ooked singled out from the film opening so that it helped create the thriller aspect.We made it very oblivious to the audience about what the film is going to be about through the title so the audience is kept on its toes about the whole thing. This also creates interest and entises
people in to watch the rest of the film.

Frame two - Setting/location
The setting that we chose was remote, countryside paths for the main character, Alice, to bike through so that is helped set the era of the 1960's so that we didn't get any people in modern clothes in the scene or cars and houses. We then chose the location for the field that the two characters sit on to talk so that it was cute and went with the age that we was trying to portray through the characters so that the audience got that idea through the setting as well.

 

Frame three - Costume and props

The era and time that we set this film opening in meant that we had to be careful in the costumes and props that we used so we didn't break that code and make it look stupid. We had the main two girl characters wearing an old fashioned black and white dress an
d the other in an old fashioned floral blouse and skirt. This was all made look better through the main prop, being the bike, that Alice rode. The bike is old fashioned and it has a basket which made the 1960's feel come through in our film opening better to the audience.

Frame four - Camerawork and editing
The camerawork that we used had to create the right feel for our theme and the era we was trying to portray to our audience through this opening. We used close up shots between the characters as they was speaking of their mouths so that it created an uncertain and strange atmosphere because its not a usual shot that would be used as it is also off centre and almost looks handheld at this point in the shot. We made scenes fade into each other so that they looked almost like flashbacks or a dream, this helped create the right atmosphere and tension for the audience that we was aiming for in our theme. Our entire film opening is in black and white which helps set the time in which it was set and also make an eary feel and contrast, as the characters within it look happy and laughing whereas the actual film itself is blank and dull.

Frame five - Title font and style
The title font we chose looked almost like it had been written by a child, which we chose purposely so that it looked creepy and strange to go with our theme and help suggest it to the audience.




Frame six - Story and how the opening suggests it
 The story of our film opening suggests that Alice's friend that she goes to meet on her bike in a field is dead. However the voiceover suggests differently and make the audience think. The story line for the rest of the film would be that the main character, Alice, is actually dead. The audience can grasp this idea through the speech that Alice is saying over the top contrasting in the way the filming shows that her friend is dead. The black and white effect on the film opening does suggest that something dark has happened or is going to happen which also helps suggest the
main idea to the audience.

Frame seven - How characters are introduced
The main character is introduced to the audience on her bike coming from a far to the front of the shot quickly. She is also shown happy and smiling on the bike, this shows the audience for a start that she isn't worrying about anything and is happy about the destination she is going to reach.  The voiceover then appears throughout the film oepening as she is still biking and the audience realise that the girl speaking is infact her. This introduces the character to the audience nicely and makes them build a relationship to her as she is speaking to them about herself and her life. This helps the audience establish the main character and have an insite to her aswell as making them feel like they are a part of her life so that they are more invovled and curious about the rest of the film. The second character, Alice's friend, is shown sitting in a field waiting for her. We already see that the audience have been tied deliberately to Alice for a reason, which also hints to them that she is the amin character. They are shown sitting far apart rom eachother which shows the clear difference between the two to show the storyline more for the audience.

Frame eight - Creating that enigma

Our film openings theme is thriller so we had to incorporate that in our film opening in order for our audience to be made aware of it so that they want to watch the rest of the film after the opening, to entise them in. The black and white effect the we out on the whole of our film opening created an old, eary feel to it towards the audience and helped the thriller theme come through to them. We made our transactions fade so that it made our character dissappear slightly slower than the scene itself to create the feel of death to the audience. This, along with voiceover, the words that are said in it and the way in which things are portrayed through it, show that the theme of this film is going to be a thriller.

 

Frame nine - Genre and how the opening suggests

We represented our thriller genre throughout our film opening by the editing aspect of our film. For example, we have made it black and white so that it looks old and it looks eary to create a spooky atmosphere to the audience that is watching it and gets to grips with the fact that the film is going to be a thriller. The writing font for the titles are very angular and sharp, which makes a scary, strange vibe from it as their are children as the main characters and these titles contrast with that. The way in which the scenes fade from one to another creates the thought that something ad is going to happen or has happened because it fades and looks almost like a dream or a flashback from a different time. This also links in with the era in which it is set, being the 1960's and the way that the characters are dressed and the setting in which we have located it suggests this also. This is how our genre is shown and how the film opening suggests it.





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

We have learnt about a lot new technologies that we had to use in order to make our film opening media product. In order to put our film opening together, we used Premiere Pro on the computers which we had to learn about before we started exporting our clips into it as we didn't know the ins and outs of the programme that we needed to know. Once we got the hang of it we started being able to import the clips to make our film opening and start editing it and creating titles which we then fit into place. This process took a long time and was Premiere Pro was the programme that we used to most for our media product as it held all our project together and we had to  make sure this was done correctly.

In order to film our media project we used one of my group members cameras' so that we knew how to work it and we had someone that knew everything that we could do on it in terms of filming. On some of the scenes we did, we had to make sure that the camera was held steady and in position. For this we also used a tripod that my other group member brought along to the location of our filming which helped us greatly. This helped us position the camera in places that we couldn't hold, for example the sitting positions of the main characters that are low to the floor which we wouldn't have been able to keep still being handheld.

The other part of our film opening that was a big part was the voice over of the main character throughout the whole of the film opening. For this we had to record my voice in the recording room into a microphone. For this we had to learn about the programme that we had to use in order to record our voiceover effectively, which was Audacity. A music teacher helped teach us about this before we began to record that day. The whole of my group had to help at the voiceover for the volumes and to start and end the recording as we did it in sections so that we got each line correct. After the recording was complete, we then imported the file onto Premiere Pro and began to fit it in place with the clips of our film opening and titles.

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

A production company such as Film 4 would possibly distribute our media product as it is a low budget film company so it doesn't broadcast huge blockbusters on their screen, which is good for our media product because it won't look out of place against the other films that would be shown along side it. A film distributor such as Film 4 would be more inclined to distribute our media product than any other film company because others are large companies that are very picky about the types of films that are distributed through them, whereas Film 4 distribute low budget films happily. If Film 4 was to show our media product on air, they would introduce our production with our film logo and name to their viewers before the film, of which we have created.

We have a logo and name for our production and looks professional for the film company Film 4 and it won't put them off distributing our media product when we have thought about the ins and outs of the distribution of our film opening.
We would have to tell a distributor from the Film 4 company about our story outline and show them a clip from it so that they can see whether they want distribute it through their company. This is usually a group of people that we would have to introduce our film to, in order for it to be agreed upon in order for it to distributed.
Our film idea and genre is similar to films such as 'The Lovely Bones' as it is a fantasy thriller where the main character is dead and shows that have previously been on TV such as 'Marshlands' which is a thriller also.

This is the Film 4 opening logo that comes up at the start of the films that they have distributed. The other company logo's after Film 4 are companies that have calibirated with them in order to help distribute the film in subject because Film 4 isn't a large scale company with a lot of money in order to do it themselves.



The Film 4 website lists the films they have made and we got a general idea of the types of films that they produce by this as a group. We found out that the film of which we based our film opening idea on was actually made by Film 4 itself, The Lovely Bones. This supports our assumption that we believe that Film 4 is the company that would help produce and publicise our film as our film is the same genre and feel as The Lovely Bones.

The Lovely Bones on the Film 4 website.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The target audience that we have chosen for our film opening at 13 to 25 year old's. We have agreed that the media product will be mostly targeted at girls because of the theme and the characters within it being young girls. We have chosen this age range because we have based our film opening around the film 'The Lovely Bones' which has this targeted range for audience.

We think that this will be a good age group for our film opening as they will be able to relate to the characters within it as well as old enough to work out the twist about the main character being dead instead of her friend so the story line is sutable for the age group that we have targeted it at. This is also why we have chosen girls to be a more suited audience because they will be able to relate to the two characters more as they are girls also.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

We have related our main Character look to the girl in 'The Lovely Bones' called Susie Salmon. She also, is based in the 60's with her clothing and her hair style. The age of our main character is the same as this character's as it creates the eary thriller atmosphere and genre that we are aiming for in our film that is used in the same predicable as 'The Lovely Bones' follows.
We have shown our characters within our film opening to be sweet and innocent so that they create the illusion that they are young  girls and add to the thriller genre of our film opening because they are unexpected characters in a film that is portrayed as scary and shocking. We thought this to be a good idea because it helps add to the scary feel of the film and creates an attachment between the audience and the characters so that the twists towards the end are more shocking, thought provoking and creates emotion if we was going to do the entire film.