Evaluation Question Number 3 Answer

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

Evaluation Question Number 2 Answer

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

1.) The Ward

The postures of both characters seem similar in the sense that they are up right and shoulders are slumped and not tense. Both characters here are shown to have let down lengthy hair, meaning that they do not have the resources to tie it up which may be because they are in a situation where they cannot obtain this kind of thing. Neither of the characters wearing makeup and both have cuts/bruises which tell us that they are not in a situation where makeup matters and that they have previously been through one or many tough events which led them to become hurt. Their clothing is also similar, showing simple white tops which can give the assumption that they may have come from a place which demands white be warn, i.e. a mental hospital. The two shots used here are mid shots, used at a subtle angle to show the character along with important parts of the background. This has shaped the portrayal of our character by showing only the main aspects of her body, her face, and so provided information to suggest that she isn't in the correct frame of mind and is oblivious to her surroundings. We tried, to a certain extent, to conform to the conventions of a teenager in a horror film by keeping to the long hair, vulnerable character but in contrast tried not to make her the 'typical blonde'.

In terms of cinematography, we waned to present our character as delusional and to have a vivid imagination, leading to disruptive flashbacks as well as presenting her age, indicating what she is capable of. We showed this through editing, using a blurred effect which allowed an unreal sense to become of the image, pinpointing that fact that it was a delusion. The similarities between this and The Ward is that the character in it is also in the same state of mind as ours, showing her to also be having vivid, disruptive delusions.

In our task, we presented the normal conventions of a young adult - making her seen vulnerable and in need of help. Contrasting this to The Ward gives off similar results as the character also needs help, not only from the hospital itself but also from a patient that she befriends in it. Other conventions include the fact that both characters are presented to seem suspicious and wary of their surroundings, done by directing our character to walk at a slow pace whilst looking around her and then indecisively call her friend, made to sound suspicious and worrying, allowing it seem as though it is a question being asked rather than simply calling he friend with no thought behind it.

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2.) After.Life

The bruising of the face is present in both, settling around the eye area showing that they have both been in a situation where someone or something has impacted. They also share similar hair with both being down, brunette and close to the same length. Both have equivalent facial expressions, showing them to be looking at something even though one is straight ahead and the other is at an angle. Medium shots have been used in both, and shows how our character, Rosaline, is being portrayed - Wary and cautious with a skittish nature which could show the impact that previous events have had on her which  we have done to try and stick to the conventions of a horror movie teenager.

Both are presented to seem vulnerable, which can also relate to their age and how it is a common convention of the horror genre. Comparing our extract to After.Life with how conventions of a teenager have been presented, our product is very similar to that of After.Life and so conveys this point and shows that both have done this well. An example of this is when both are seen to emphasise their vulnerability and weakness, normally associated with the female gender in horror films.

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3.) Girl Interrupted

Both character facial expression here show that they are focusing on a certain point of the environment around them, whether this be an object or a person and, with their mouths being open, may indicate either convocation, deep thought or disbelief. Again, both of their hairs are let down, maybe showing that they are in a place or situation that does not allow them to be able to do this. It an also so a sense of insecurity - the hair being there to hide the face from reality and other individuals. A side close up on Rosaline's face we chosen so that it was clear what angle she is viewing instead of letting the audience decide. We have tried to conform to the conventions of a typical horror movie teenager by her reaction(s), personality and overall take on the event that she is witnessing.

Our character is also presented in a similar way to the one in this film through the use of the camera, as the angles and shots have been used in a way to remind the audience that they are still young adults, although this is not seen in their personalities since in The Girl Interrupted she is much more confident and cocky compared to our character. this then links to the presentation of our character, showing whether we have conformed or broken the conventions of a common teenager throughout our task. We began with her waking up on a children's climbing frame which could be associated with the point of teenagers often 'hanging out' in the part with friends, therefore giving the assumption that she may have chosen to sleep there due to it being somewhere she is familiar with.

The conventions associated with the horror genre are taken from the way the characters are both looking unfamiliar and questioning as to where they are and who they speak to, which is similar to that of other horror characters who are also commonly shown to seem displaced and uncomfortable with their surrounding. To show this we used the same technique as before, making the character call her friend in a suspicious, questioning way, making it seem that she is confused whether or not she is alone.  We also directed our character to walk slowly and look around the room whilst walking into the shot, creating suspense as to why she is is walking like this in an eery atmosphere, created by the non-diagetic sound which slowly builds up to a typical horror sound.

Evaluation Question Number 1 Answer

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

Still Photo Frame

The first screen shot, top left, I have chosen to use one section of the title which says "Demon" since we decided to have our title in three different sections as they each dramatically enter with a thud. We decided on the title "The Demon Human" because like the movie, it is confusing but then as it progresses, becomes easier to understand which is why we chose to put the title at the end of the sequence instead of starting with it. This is similar to typical horror films due to the fact that the font and colour used are what you would usually associate with and often seen in the genre horror.

Next, I chose the top right shot to represent the setting and location for our task. We chose an average-looking house to show that this situation can or could have occurred anywhere, and with the use of a mid shot we were able to emphasise this point. Our setting is much like those you would usually see in an actual horror movie, relating to everyday activities and can be an easy place to access and so could represent vulnerability, withholding many ways in which things can occur.

The third shot, second on the left, I chose for the fact that it is the best to show the outfit and props that we had used. As can be seen from this shot, it is clear that we have chosen a loose fit urban look. The reasons for this is that we thought that it best fit the characters situation, with the ripped jeans and hoodie, showing that she has been possibly sleeping rough or has been in a tough predicament. Later in this shot, it goes into a close up of a hospital tag, confirming that she has escaped form, in this case, a mental hospital. The outfit that we used can also be relatable due to the fact that in a typical movie, if a character has been 'on the run', they will get into situation that lead them to be wearing clothes such as this.

For the fourth picture, second to the right, I chose this specific shot to show camera work. I chose an extreme close up of the characters face due to the fact that it signifies that she is not in the right frame of mind and is drifting into a dream/flashback. As well as that, it also gives a glimpse of the bruise on her eye, showing specific information to be taken in by the audience. Cuts and bruises are a main feature which is usually seen in horror movies and used to represent the after math of an event that had taken place which is why we decided upon them.

The fifth frame captured, third on the left,was chosen to represent the story and how the opening sets it up. It does this by showing that she is looking at something specific in a weird and questioning manner and, with her stood in one set spot, tells us that she is possibly hesitant or reflecting on something important. This represent the story as a whole by showing that she is not in the right state of mind, something which stays throughout the whole of the film.

Frame six, third to the right, is of our production logo but is at the very start and is a good presentation of the genre of our film. The font shows a very typical horror theme and the colour of both the text and the image converts it form simple and average to something with more of a horror feel to it, for example, the water droplet would be just this but changing its colour to red, transforms it into a blood-like puddle.

The seventh frame, bottom left, I chose is to show how the character is introduced and the emotions that she carries. This is within the flashback that she has, showing that previous events led her to be sleeping in an abandoned park and so presents her as vulnerable and wary of human contact.

The last frame is there to show the special effects and editing skills that we have used in our task. I decided upon choosing a shot that provides a transition in our characters flash back which allows multiple scenes to flow together in order to make quick changes but still look presentable.

Second Edited Draft

This had previously been our finalised video for our main task but has now become another draft due to re-thinking certain aspects such as lighting, sound effects, music, etc. We have also decided, yet again, to edit some more until we agree that we are fully happy with our end result. The reasons as to why we have decided to change the sound is due to the fact that there were copyright regulations against the music that we had chosen and so to avoid this, changed it to a non copyright website. We also decided to change the lighting because when shown to a few people, their main criticism was that it was 'too dark' and they were unable to see what was going on to its full advantage, and so we lightened certain points enough to be able to figure out the movements, but kept it subtle so that it was still able to come across scary.

First Editing Draft

 This is the first draft of our main task meaning that it was our first attempt at editing our clips. The reason for calling this a 'draft' are for reasons such as we felt as though there is more that we could do to improve on its outcome, changing aspects such as including more footage and the way that we went about editing.

We decided upon posting this draft to physically show what we had originally produced and so can explain in more depth the reasons as to why we chose to change it. We also feel that posting it upon or blogs gives us something keep referring back and compare to. It is also here to remind us of the pros of which can help us in knowing that only certain aspects need changing and not the entire footage.

What we have researched and obtained back from others, including our practical media teacher, is that we need to make our story line much clearer as this proved to be the main criticism. We plan on solving this by focusing more on her mental state and try to emphasise previous medical history in the hope that the audience will be able to have more of a clear understanding of the character and the reasons as to why she is in this situation.

Production Logo Designs

Below are the various designs that we have created for the logo of our production, one of which will be used in our final main task. We all agreed on what aspects we wanted to include such as font, angle, image and effects to give it a distinct and unique look.

To create all of these designs, I used a programme called Gimp which is a free picture editing software very similar to Photoshop and a drawing tablet made by Wacom.

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1.) R.A.N.K Compass

This was the first design that we produced which started out as a trial run to test out techniques but resulted in a possibility for a final logo. We all thought that the font and placement of the letters worked well with the image, representing how an average compass would look with its North, East, South, West points.

The reasons for not using this design came from the fact that it is not an easy thing to explain why we had chose a compass and so could cause complications in the future.

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2.) R.A.N.K Main Font

This is a simple design to show off the font that we decided as a definite use in the rest of our results. We chose this specific type of font not only because it shows a similar resemblance to many horror movie fonts but also because it fits well with how we originally pictured it to be Incorporated within our task. We also believed that the font and colour would appeal to our audience, contrasting against the black background, giving it even more of a horror effect.

Reasons as to why we didn't use this design was for the fact that it was used as a template and so was too plain for our expectations of a final logo.

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3.) R.A.N.K Smoke

Sticking with our base layout, this logo was created with the choice of a smokey/misty effect that illuminates against the black background and seems to surpass the text. The reason for this effect was based on horror in general by resembling the uncertainty, as in the uncertainty of characters in a movie or likewise the uncertainty you may face if in a situation where fog is involved.

We chose not to use this design for reason such as the smoke may be mistaken as a cloud, defeating the concept of why we chose to use it to begin with.

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4.) R.A.N.K Barbed Wire

This particular logo was inspired by a logo shown at the beginning of all SAW movies, where it shows wire rapping and being tightened around a production company's name, Twisted Pictures. We also felt that it could be easily relatable since it fits into many horror films and may have been seen before and so is recognisable.

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5.) R.A.N.K Blood Drip

The effect that we used on this design consisted of a water droplet underneath our main text, creating the illusion of blood. We thought that this worked well with the genre of our film and felt like it captured the horror aspect without it having to be limited to one specific sub genre.

After reviewing all of the designs created, we all agreed on this to be our final logo and so is the one that will be used in our main task.

Filming Timetable

Filming Timetable

11.50: Arrive at the set. (Klodianas house).
12:00: Roughly run through draft of each scene.
12:20: Prep character and gear (Clothing, Makeup, script, tripod etc).
12.50: Take character outside for short scene next to the house.
13:20: Start inside filming of character walking in the house and upstairs
14:00: Lunch break (approx 30 minutes).
14:30: Prep second character for shoulder scene (Costume).
14:40: Film grabbing scene.
15:10: Prep character for shower scene (Change of costume and props such as blood).
15:40: Film various shower scenes.
16:30: After finishing filming, run through camera to check any unsteady hand work or mistakes, then have time to correct it.
17:10: Pack equipment and change into normal clothes and leave. Wait until school to edit.