Audience feedback

Evaluation question 7

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

Evaluation question 7 from Matt Lloyd

Evaluation question 6

Evaluation question 5

How did you attract/ address your audience?

My film holds the audience’s attention due to the fact that it is a very simple premise for a film and it seemingly has never been done before in another film, only such films are similar but not the same as seen in Scream as well as the Blair witch project. The audiences attention is held throughout the entirety of the opening sequence, due to the fact that from the beginning of the sequence we hear a suspense building non diagetic soundtrack, this is used up until the group start to talk and is resumed right after they start to walk away. It is effective, due to the fact that it keeps the audience on the edge of their seats and lets them know that something is happening right from the very beginning, making them stay on to watch the rest of it, in order to find out what that may be. We also didn’t identify the characters by name and decided to let them do that over the course of the conversations in order to let the audience piece together the information surrounding each character. To further attract people to our film we had an enigma at the start with the use of a typewriter sound effect, compiled with the text that is our title. This makes it seem as if someone is telling the story and or recalling events, so it leaves the enigma of who is doing so and why they might be doing it, further engrossing audiences into the film.

Many horror films start off in the stereotypical way, a group of teenagers doing something in an abandoned area. We got this idea from the target audience as we did a questionnaire on this and decided that it would attract more people if it was set in the woods as that what was seen on the questionnaire results. We challenged the stereotypical gender conventions by having Alice seen on screen as more boyish and less as a proppian princess who needs saving, while we see the main males as somewhat moronic and helpless which shows that the roles have reversed and the fact that Alice is the protagonist makes it push the boundaries and go into new depths with horror films. Another method of attraction that we did, was making the actors/ actresses similar ages to the target audience in order to create a rapport between the two making it more engaging for a younger audience.

During the planning stage we had a focus group, where we asked a select from the target audience about our film idea and they gave us critiques and ideas that we could have put in our film and we decided that it would be best to reach a wider  target audience by adding some of their ideas to our film.

I think overall we could have improved upon the fact that the start is a bit slow with the longer shot lengths and if we were to do it again, I would go back and change the length of them, in order to make it faster pace from the very start in order to keep the audience hooked from the beginning as it seemed to run a little slower than I intended but it still worked well in building suspense.

Evaluation question 4

Evaluation question 3

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

Due to the fact that our product was created by an independent smaller production company, we would have one of the big six distributors to distribute our film due to the fact that as an independent production company we would not be capable of affording the distribution costs. I think that it would be beneficial if we distributed with Universal due to the fact that another British company, (Working Title) are also using Universal as a distributor and contractually have a £35m budget with them. It would be beneficial for future projects if we had such a budget. As well as this, Universal have the largest market share in film distribution at 21.6% and in 2015 released 44 films which grossed $283.5m. This is a major distribution company, so may make a wider audience view it and watch it due to their wide fan base of their films.

We would also distribute it on DVD and Blu-ray with a delayed release on such Films streaming sites as Netflix and Amazon Prime video. Having it released on DVD and Blu Ray will give a wider platform for people to view it on as well as gaining a larger amount of income as home entertainment is a massive part of distribution as people want to watch films in the comfort of their own homes.

 Upon release the Universal logo/ animation would appear at the start of the film in order to recognise it as Universal pictures. It could be advertised on YouTube as well as the fact that Twitter could gain a wider audience due to the vast amount of people of our target audience, using that as a major platform so it would be a smart idea to place the film/ trailer there. The benefits of using a British company is the fact that it will get the name out of our company which will most likely be EON production for production, due to the fact that it had major successes with the Bond franchise and it would further advertise it due to the associations with the successful production company, more people would want to watch it as it in partnership with the company that made the Bond films. It would also be useful, due to the fact that the BFI would give a grant of money due to our company being the majority of British so it would get a large sum of money for further distribution with the amount of money given.

We would distribute our film in 3D as well as 2D due to the fact that Universal have the funding to be able to do both of these. We would put it in 3D due to the fact that the main two genres that use it are horror and action, due to the fact that it makes it seem like a more immersive experience, which will overall attract a wider audience to watch the film.

As well as this, Universal have been credited as being a successful distributor with it being a household name which funds majorly successful films. There are many successful films by Universal, some of them being Jurassic World as well as Fast and Furious 7. They have also had experience with horror films as they distributed Psycho II as well as The Watchers which are both credited horror films.

Evaluation question 2

 How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The product features: middle class, white males who are portrayed as dim witted as well as useless in social situations, this is seen when Alice asks Callum for the fake blood and the tripod as he seems lost for words as well as rather slow/ forgetful, as well as this, all 3 males within the product are seen as inferior to Alice which breaks a stereotype. This is not stereotypical due to the fact that in many media texts we see them being the key protagonist as well as more powerful than any other representation, so we challenged this by having them as the background characters to a more intellectual female lead which breaks conventions, but also represents women in a more positive light, where in other horror films, they are secondary characters.

 Our media product overall represents particular social groups in both a positive and negative way. This is see with the men within it who are seen being rather intellectually incapable as well as on the contrary being independent as seen with Alfie being left on his own to be independent. Alice is a white, middle class female who is represented well through The Final Girl theory as she is seen as asserting dominance from the very start as well as being more intellectual than the males by having more dialogue and having further character development compared to her male counterparts who aren’t given the dialogue, making her seem more powerful as well as smart. We put the audience in a position where they felt sympathy for the males in the film as they seem to be secondary characters which do as they’re told and the feelings towards Alice being one of trust as well as safety due to her being of a stronger and more confident nature as the character. We based the representation upon the main protagonist in Split due to the fact that she is seen as strong and independent and it represents her in a positive way. We built the representation of Alice by having her character have more confident and forward body movements, this represents her eagerness and she was seen as more dominant in her movements.

We used a normal style of clothing for the characters which is worn by a middle class person, this presents them as stylish as well as linked in socially. We can see this through the up to date fashion style of the characters which also makes them seem like they are popular as there are more than 3 of them and they all seem to get along quite well which gives the representation of the middle class as happy and seemingly socially content. This can be challenged as the murderer could make it seem as though the middle class lifestyle is dangerous, which challenges normal representations of the class.

Evaluation question 1

Cast feedback

"I really liked the fact that you edited the "recording" box when the video was taken from the murderer's point of view and the fluency of the shots, especially when you pointed where you were pointing to where the characters needed to go, i think that it's really good editing and develops a sense of excitement and anticipation for the viewer"- Alice Buckton-Perkins

"The editing was intelligent and well done, with a clear sense of style being shown via the directors input. Each shot was clearly crafted to look the way it does and the music is used at the perfect times., evoking feelings of panic, stress and oxymoronically claustrophobic which creates antithesis with the idea of being in a vast forest yet feeling like there is nowhere to run. The use of multiple different camera angles helps to back this idea up with the many close ups of actors and the aftermath of the murderer, and yet they are balanced perfectly with long shots and other shot types that give the impression that the group of young film makers are being watched. The only criticism that i would have is the continuity errors when matching up shots, for example different levels of background noise and the position of the actors, various props and surroundings between takes."-Alfie Bryce-Clegg

Audience feedback

"I thought that the opening sequence was very entertaining and gripping. I really liked the use of different camera angles and the effect that it had on the sequence. I thought the best bit was the close up of the blood dripping from the tree and the clips of the characters walking towards the scene of the murder in between each blood drop and the tension that it created. I could easily tell it was a horror film from the soundtrack and the eerie camera angles such as looking down from up on a tree, following behind  and through a gap in a tree creating the sense that the characters are being watched."- Dan Campin

" I like the way it's filmed mainly using a hand held camera because it makes the viewer feel in the action. The use of lots of different angles (especially those taken from above) makes the characters seem more vulnerable which is good. You can tell it is a horror film because of the music used, use of what i mentioned (Handheld camera and lots of angles) and how the shots are quite short to build tension. Also, the use of blood shocks the viewer and is a telltale sign that the film is horror."- Joseph Cardoza

"I think the sequence is really effective and leaves you feeling suspenseful and is effective because it makes me want to watch on and find out what happens. I really liked the creative shots and felt the music really fits well and makes us feel tense"-Leah Robinson

Final opening sequence