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

There was a great contrast in more way than one between the preliminary film and the final film.
Our preliminary film was quickly planned as we were keen to test the equipment and we found the first locating we could that we found suitable. All our shots were static and although it had good sequential shots with no gaps it was to “clinical”. In addition, we had no costumes, no fabricated personalities and the storyline was made up mostly whilst filming.

However, during our first task we did stick to our objective and with great ease produced an adequate scene. We learnt to look back through the last clip and re do it instantly if something was wrong, before light or background sound changed.

I felt our camera angles were potentially the best part of our short clip due to the different heights and angles we used including a shot right down low at the end.




In contrast, for our final film we spent a long time planning as we knew we would have to get it right or we would not be satisfied with our work, we scouted for areas to film and when the first was found to be inadequate we moved to a second area to hunt for an ideal location. We took pictures of every shot we were thinking of including to test the lighting and how effective that shot would be. Our second location was defiantly a better choice due to the contrast in lighting and also there was no background noise.

We also learnt how to use both the editing and the soundtrack software quite ably and also found what it meant to get a soundtrack to sync with the shots 100%. Despite the time certain parts took it was worth it for the outcome as all the editing, sound, choice of location, angles and characters were all fitting with the effect we were trying to make.

Finally, the whole group has learnt different techniques what to do and not what to do throughout the whole of the production. Technical skill has had a massive improvement and the group has seen a massive improvement both technically and imaginatively from our preliminary film to our final.

Evaluation: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Throughout the whole production of the film we were very happy with the equipment and the technology used to edit. The tripod helped us to create steady flat shots whilst the microphone picked up all the sound mad, the camera was also very good although initially we were unimpressed with the picture quality we had; we put this down to the poor lighting in the woods.

Final Cut Pro was flawless throughout the editing stages, we had all the desired effects and the only negative points would be that there was a limited amount of sounds that were available for our style of film. We would have used a scream instead of crying however, all the screams seemed almost comical.

Live Type was used for the credits and it had everything to meet our needs. No one found problems with any of the software and everyone seemed able to ably use it so everything could be shared around and everyone had an input into both the editing and the soundtrack.

Evaluation: How did you attract/address your audience?

Firstly, we conducted a questionnaire so we knew our most ideal target audience and also what they desired in a film like ours. We also showed people our short clips and they expressed excitement about the clip, we felt that this was down to the style of chase scene we chose along with the fast paced soundtrack. This changed our idea for the film completely, at the beginning we were planning on a slow creepy and very strange, however we were worried this might not hold the audiences attention and as we seemed to have a good idea of what the audience did enjoy then it would be safer to create a faster paced scene.

We felt that as we had chosen to film and edit in a style that seemed more favourable to the potential audience this was almost a full proof way of gaining audience appreciation and also to help attract them in initial stages.

Evaluation: Who would be the audience for your media product?

The target audience decided for “Bait” would be Male aged 18 – 35, we came to this conclusion after research into other thriller and horror film target audiences and what would be suitable for our film. There are sub-genres in horror/thriller films, for example, although most films of this genre contain violence, language, sex scenes and gore there are exceptions; these exceptions tend to lose the horror side of the film to allow it to be a lower rating. We looked at the Bourne series of films for inspiration and there is no way that that could be classed as horror, however, our setting and storyline would be much more conventional for a horror film. Therefore, we could use the ideas from the thriller we wanted although the setting of a horror. As we were not able to incorporate much of the 18+ horror film attributes we had to rely on the thriller side of the genre to create excitement and keep the audience entertained. We aimed to suggest that if the whole film was watched gore, violence and other conventions would all be included but without there actually being any in the short clip we produced. We also felt that, although it never became a problem, we should class it as 18 as a 15 classification may hold us back and stop our more “creative” ideas from forming.

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

Institutions similar to Lionsgate or Pathe might be interested in distributing a film like ours as they have been producers of horror films and have a large amount of experience in the distributing and the advertising side of things. Smaller more independent film institutions do not have the ability or the experience to match these two. Another advantage of using these would be that they could get the film into the cinema and from there onto DVD and then TV. Again, if we chose a smaller company, they might not be able to get it shown on TV as they have a very limited amount of influence.

Evaluation: How does your media product represent particular social groups?

In our film we created two types of characters which represented or could be related to two different social groups for the audience to recognise. The first character that you see is the man in a hood (Harry). His surroundings are dark and enclosed which connotes the image of the villain. Also the use of the hood to cover his face puts a dark shadow covering his features, making him unrecognisable and the audience find it hard to connect with him, this helps to connote that as a dark figure he is likely to be a villain. In relation to Mise-en-scene the characters dark clothing helped to anchor the image of an antagonist.

The second character that is shown is the protagonist and all the aspects contrast with the villain so that it is easy for the audience to make the connection and to separate them as different social groups. The hero is positioned in an open road with bright natural light which give the man an almost glow with his blonde hair; also the costume is brighter which contrasts with the villain and connotes him as good.

We did not use dialogue at all during our two minute film so we could not use it to anchor the type of person a character was so we relied heavily upon the images an connotation of Mise-en-scene to show character personalities and motives.

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

Our film was focused around the chase scene which only really excluded the first few parts and an end part of our film. Not a very convention challenging idea so far, we even used a similar style of camera work as the “Bourne Ultimatum” train station scene. In the Bourne film it is more of a case of get caught or escape, whereas in our film we feel the character has walked straight into something straight away, he has already been caught and he is being played with.

The Bourne film is very realistic, in terms of characters, effects and is made to be seen as a real event. This is where we felt our film challenged conventions, despite it seeming like a real chase the second character, or the hunter, was a mysterious character. Was he just a man with a saw or was he something more demon like, we left this unanswered as we used effects to have the second character flitting about the screen and jumping from position to position. This connotes that the man is in fact a something of a supernatural being, although appearing human. This anchors our chosen genre of horror and not thriller.