Here is the final cut of our 2 minute opening to a feature length slasher film, Underground.
Wednesday, 4 April 2012
Evaluation Question 1
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Any film usually begins with company idents and ours does the same, starting with our four company idents.
We have titles on screen at the start of the film which is also often used. In old films full credits would usually play at the start of the film, however today's films usually only show a small selecting of credits at the start of the film and show the full credits at the end. We have followed this convention and only put the following credits in our opening:
Our soundtrack is also similar to other slasher films in that it combines long, slow notes with fast notes, and also varies tempo throughout depending on the mood that is trying to be conveyed.
The killers in slasher films are usually masked or not identified until a bit into the film, so we did the same and didn't show the killers face during the opening. This creates narrative enigma which in turn makes the film more interesting and will keep the audiences attention better because they will want to find out who the killer is and what there motives are. The most commonly used weapon in slasher films is a knife, and we have also used one.
Isolated locations are often used in slasher films because they connote that the victim is helpless. We thought that the best way to convey this isolation would be to have the killing in a basement.
Another way that we use the conventions of a slasher film is that the victim is drinking before being punished and killed. Characters in slasher films are usually killed after breaking the moral code, this mainly applies to Scream Queens.
Carol Clover's theory of the final girl is that these are characters who are usually shown in the opening, so we have challenged this convention by planning on introducing her further into the film.
Scream Queens are usually attractive, young, blonde women. This is a feminist theory.
We, however, have developed this convention to have a young blond male victim in our opening. We think that the main benefit to this is that the victim will be similar to our target audience, therefore the audience is more likely to associate with the character and feel as though they could be him.
Any film usually begins with company idents and ours does the same, starting with our four company idents.
We have titles on screen at the start of the film which is also often used. In old films full credits would usually play at the start of the film, however today's films usually only show a small selecting of credits at the start of the film and show the full credits at the end. We have followed this convention and only put the following credits in our opening:
- Company credits - '... present' and ''In association with...';
- 'Introducing Will Lennard'
- 'Sean Burke'
- 'Music by Andy King'
- 'Edited by...'
- 'An Andy King film'
Our soundtrack is also similar to other slasher films in that it combines long, slow notes with fast notes, and also varies tempo throughout depending on the mood that is trying to be conveyed.
Soundtrack from our film opening
The killers in slasher films are usually masked or not identified until a bit into the film, so we did the same and didn't show the killers face during the opening. This creates narrative enigma which in turn makes the film more interesting and will keep the audiences attention better because they will want to find out who the killer is and what there motives are. The most commonly used weapon in slasher films is a knife, and we have also used one.
Isolated locations are often used in slasher films because they connote that the victim is helpless. We thought that the best way to convey this isolation would be to have the killing in a basement.
Another way that we use the conventions of a slasher film is that the victim is drinking before being punished and killed. Characters in slasher films are usually killed after breaking the moral code, this mainly applies to Scream Queens.
Carol Clover's theory of the final girl is that these are characters who are usually shown in the opening, so we have challenged this convention by planning on introducing her further into the film.
Scream Queens are usually attractive, young, blonde women. This is a feminist theory.
We, however, have developed this convention to have a young blond male victim in our opening. We think that the main benefit to this is that the victim will be similar to our target audience, therefore the audience is more likely to associate with the character and feel as though they could be him.
Tuesday, 3 April 2012
Evaluation Question 2
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
There are only two characters introduced in our opening.
The Victim
The stereotypical victim in a slasher film is a Scream Queen. This is usually a blonde, attractive young woman who breaks the moral code and is therefore punished for it. We wanted to challenge this representation to associate it more with our target audience social group of 15-24 year old males. This target audience was the inspiration for this character which we felt would direct their preferred reading of the character to themselves or ordinary people that they know, therefore making them feel as though it could happen to them. This was mainly represented through the clothing - a dark hoodie and jeans. We were also aware that the majority of our target audience had seen Scream, in which Billy Loomis and Stu Macher appear to be ordinary male teenagers but turn out to be the killers. This will hopefully make the audience associate our character with them, creating false expectations.
The Killer
The audience only partly get to see the killer in our film opening to create narrative enigma. This was used in Saw and we thought it worked really well. What we did show of the killer was that he was:
There are only two characters introduced in our opening.
The Victim
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| Victim from Underground |
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| Billy Loomis and Stu Macher from Scream |
The Killer
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| Jigsaw from Saw |
- wearing boots - this suggests that he had been out to get a victim and not for social reasons; also suggests it's a male, possibly an older man
- wearing a grey hoodie - this could make the audience think the killer is of the same age as the victim, possible wanting revenge for something
- using a large knife for stabbing - this is the most commonly used weapon in a slasher film and doesn't reveal anything specifically about the killers personality
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| Killer from Underground |
Class and status of the characters is slightly withheld, however it is clear by looking at the victim that he is not working class as his clothes are good quality and he is clean. Working class characters don't usually appeal to an American audience, so this will appeal to them. It is also a representation of our target audience's class and status.
It has become normative for characters to be physically able. This makes the film more commercial and it would have been extremely difficult to find an actor with a physical disability. One example of a character who is disabled is Franklin Hardesty from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, but we think that adding a disabled character to our opening would have been unnecessary.
We didn't want talking in the opening of our film so we couldn't use accents to connote regional identity. We instead used a rural location to connote the stereotypical British location to an American audience, creating a global appeal for the film. After the snow had melted we thought that we should have added a shot of a large detached house and an extreme long shot of a countryside, but these did not fit in with the footage we already had and like because of the snow.
Physical Ability/Disability
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| Franklin Hardesty from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre |
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| Location from Underground |
Monday, 2 April 2012
Evaluation Question 3
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
I think that it is first important to consider the budget that would be required. All of the actors in our film are new, so none would require high wages. This is one of the key factors that separates low budget slasher films with medium/high budget ones. The actors used wouldn't need to have no film/television acting experience, however, to be paid very little. There are many examples of unknown actors being used in successful low budget films. One example would be Leigh Whannell who played one of the leading roles in Saw. He began his career in television shows and short films and was relatively unknown before his role in Saw. Due to this, Saw managed to be produced on a budget of just $1.2m, and grossed $103m worldwide. The Woman in Black on the other hand, starred Daniel Radcliffe, and the film was produced on a budget of $17m. This large difference in budget is primarily due to the wages of the actors in the films.
Another important factor in deciding which distribution company to choose would be whether to go for a British or US company. It is likely that US distribution companies would rather go for higher budget, low risk film. British distribution companies however are often much more willing to take a risk, but don't have as much money. It would therefore make sense to choose a British company to distribute our film.
I think that StudioCanal UK (formally known as Optimum Releasing) would be the best for distributing our film as they are a successful company, having distributed over 200 films, and they often distribute low budget British films, such as Donkey Punch and Submarine and Wolf Creek.
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| Leigh Whannell in Saw |
Another important factor in deciding which distribution company to choose would be whether to go for a British or US company. It is likely that US distribution companies would rather go for higher budget, low risk film. British distribution companies however are often much more willing to take a risk, but don't have as much money. It would therefore make sense to choose a British company to distribute our film.
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| StudioCanal Logo |
Sunday, 1 April 2012
Evaluation Question 4
Who would be the audience for your media product?
Usually slasher films are aimed at either 15-24 year olds or 18-24 year olds depending on the film's certificate. Recently however, The Woman in Black was released and given a BBFC certificate of 12A. This has meant that it has been able to appeal to a much larger audience that previous slasher films have not addressed.
First I checked the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) website's classification guidelines section to see what rating our film would be most likely to receive.
To receive a rating of 12 or 12A, 'moderate physical and psychological threat may be permitted, provided disturbing sequences are not frequent or sustained.'. This unfortunately meant that our film would not be able to receive that rating as it would go onto include several murders and violent scenes. The 15 rating however allows 'strong threat and menace [...] unless sadistic or sexualised.'. This fitted best with our film.
Further looking through the 15 rating guidelines, our film met the criteria of everything, as it would contain occasional use of strong language and drinking of alcohol.
Only male characters were used in the film opening, which would suggest that the film should be aimed at a primarily male audience, which was originally what we wanted. I know think though that it would be best to make the film appeal to a female target audience as well. In our treatment, I said that all but one of the original victims friends are killed. I said this so that the film could lead to a sequel, however I also think that by making this character the original victim's girlfriend, she could become a final girl which would appeal to a female audience.
The characters in the introduction are also middle class, which would appeal to a middle class audience. To increase the target audience, the characters who are introduced later could be lower middle class or working class.
From researching the ten different horror film openings I noticed several ways in which the film was intended to appeal to their target audience. An example of this is that the majority of these slasher films feature either young adults or teenagers.
We only featured two characters in our slasher opening but we made sure to make these both aged 16, therefore helping our film to appeal to people aged 15-24. From what we had been planning on our production we wanted a taller character to play the killer as it would look more menacing and make the main character look weaker, also knowing the killer would be masked or either the identity hidden.
Another feature we noticed in how these films appealed to their target audience was the editing. Both the pace and the shot variety were carefully controlled. In our case, we aimed for fast paced editing and lots of shot variety to appeal to our younger target audience. We wouldn't a slow opening as this may put off our core target audience and make them bored, which would lead to them not wanting to watch the rest of the film. We knew we would have to have a lot of shot selection to use when editing to keep the audience attracted. We also thought that we could have an event going on all the time, even when the person wasn't being kidnapped or murdered, but we soon deciding not to do this as it may overcomplicate the opening of the film and again put the audience off viewing any more of it.
We received audience feedback on penultimate cut via Twitter from two different sources. Paul is a 16 year old male who regularly watches slasher films and has a broad knowledge of a wide range of these films. LostZombies are a company who are 'creating the first ever crowd-sourced zombie scrap book and film'. They have over 35,000 followers on Twitter.
Usually slasher films are aimed at either 15-24 year olds or 18-24 year olds depending on the film's certificate. Recently however, The Woman in Black was released and given a BBFC certificate of 12A. This has meant that it has been able to appeal to a much larger audience that previous slasher films have not addressed.
 |
| BBFC logo |
First I checked the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) website's classification guidelines section to see what rating our film would be most likely to receive.
To receive a rating of 12 or 12A, 'moderate physical and psychological threat may be permitted, provided disturbing sequences are not frequent or sustained.'. This unfortunately meant that our film would not be able to receive that rating as it would go onto include several murders and violent scenes. The 15 rating however allows 'strong threat and menace [...] unless sadistic or sexualised.'. This fitted best with our film.
 |
| 15 Rating |
Only male characters were used in the film opening, which would suggest that the film should be aimed at a primarily male audience, which was originally what we wanted. I know think though that it would be best to make the film appeal to a female target audience as well. In our treatment, I said that all but one of the original victims friends are killed. I said this so that the film could lead to a sequel, however I also think that by making this character the original victim's girlfriend, she could become a final girl which would appeal to a female audience.
The characters in the introduction are also middle class, which would appeal to a middle class audience. To increase the target audience, the characters who are introduced later could be lower middle class or working class.
From researching the ten different horror film openings I noticed several ways in which the film was intended to appeal to their target audience. An example of this is that the majority of these slasher films feature either young adults or teenagers.
We only featured two characters in our slasher opening but we made sure to make these both aged 16, therefore helping our film to appeal to people aged 15-24. From what we had been planning on our production we wanted a taller character to play the killer as it would look more menacing and make the main character look weaker, also knowing the killer would be masked or either the identity hidden.
Another feature we noticed in how these films appealed to their target audience was the editing. Both the pace and the shot variety were carefully controlled. In our case, we aimed for fast paced editing and lots of shot variety to appeal to our younger target audience. We wouldn't a slow opening as this may put off our core target audience and make them bored, which would lead to them not wanting to watch the rest of the film. We knew we would have to have a lot of shot selection to use when editing to keep the audience attracted. We also thought that we could have an event going on all the time, even when the person wasn't being kidnapped or murdered, but we soon deciding not to do this as it may overcomplicate the opening of the film and again put the audience off viewing any more of it.
We received audience feedback on penultimate cut via Twitter from two different sources. Paul is a 16 year old male who regularly watches slasher films and has a broad knowledge of a wide range of these films. LostZombies are a company who are 'creating the first ever crowd-sourced zombie scrap book and film'. They have over 35,000 followers on Twitter.
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| Audience Feedback from Paul |
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| Audience Feedback from LostZombies |
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