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?

                I feel that I have realised that you can never have enough takes of the same subject. This is because in our preliminary task, we did not have enough shots, so the film looked repetitive.  Also, this was the same in our full production, as we were limited to the days we could film on.  This provided problems later on in the editing, where we realised that we needed to film more footage to add to the film. 

                I also found it was easier to plan everything in advance, which allowed us to know what we were doing and when, whereas in the preliminary task, we did not have enough time to plan and film, we just went straight into production.

                

Evaluation Question 6

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this film?

Technology is very important to film creation.  We have used;

• Blogs, provided by Blogger, to document our film in all stages of its creation.
• YouTube to upload the film to receive feedback
• Facebook to allow us to collect feedback
• Adobe Premiere Pro to edit and create our film
• Digital video cameras to film the footage, as well as digital cameras to take photos for locations
• Digital SLRs on a slow shutter speed to take our light-art letters for the text at the start of the film
• Adobe Photoshop to edit photos for use in the film and blog.
• Adobe Flash to create the production company logo

I believe that I have learnt quite a lot about these technologies, and also believe that these can strongly influence on how the film is shot, as well as the final outcome.  

Evaluation Question 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

To address our audience, we used actors of the same age as them.  This allowed the audience to relate to the film, and add to the realism of the production.  I believe that it is also allows them to relate, as they could believe that they are in the same situation, or could be in the future.  This adds a different take on the horror genre, whereas, for example in ‘The Thing’ or ‘Dreamcatcher’ is more unrealistic with a ‘monster’ being the main feature of the film. 

Evaluation Question 4

Who would be the audience for your film and why?

The films we have looked at such as ‘Blair Witch Project’ and ‘REC’ were rated 15 and 18 respectively, so this is who we decided to target the film at.  The teen horror audience, aged 15 to 25, is a very large audience.  This audience is the most avid cinema-goers, which gives the film more chance of being watched in cinemas, if it is marketed correctly.    The film does not target any specific gender or demographic.  This also allows the audience to be widened, again making the film have more chance of being watched.  

Evaluation Question 3

What kind of media institution would distribute your film and why?

As a no budget film, we are more likely to get an independent film distributor to help us, rather than a multi-national company such as Liongate.  This is because these companies care for profits, rather than the art of the production.

I believe that the film would be best distributed online, via YouTube and film blogs and forums.  This will allow the film to build a hype online for a minimum fee, which is useful as there is no budget for advertising and marketing the film. I would also distribute it through art houses and maybe the cinemas in the local area, as they will have an interest as it is set in their area.

If the film reached so many views, and had a following, I would go to national distributors such as Optimum Releasing.  Optimum Releasing have released many low budget UK films such as 'Attack the Block'.  They also work closely with Film4 and are a subsidiary of StudioCanal.  Film4 may provide the film advertising on their TV channel, as well as showing the film as a whole.  StudioCanal is a multi-national company that could possibly distribute overseas.

Paranormal Activity would be my aspiration for distribution.  They followed the same process, before being bought by Paramount Pictures.   The film went on to make over $575,000,000 over 3 films, with a very low budget for each film.

Evaluation Question 2

How does your film represent particular social groups?

Evaluation Question 1.

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

Our film uses many conventions of the shaky found footage sub-genre of horror.  For example, some shots are almost identical to the Blair Witch project and [REC].  For example, we have a close up or Rachael's eye that pans out, which is developed from the Blair Witch projects out of focus close-up in the opening scenes.  This gives the audience an idea of our inability to use the camera and naivety on how easy it is to produce a film.

However, we did not challenge any of the main aspects of the genre, as we wanted the film to look as realistic as possible to add to the realism of the footage.  We also wanted to get across the point that it was a shaky camera piece quickly and by using classic, well-known conventions of the genre, we believe this was achieved.