Task 10 Evaluation- Question 7

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

question 7 from georgiawiley

Task 10 Evaluation- Question 6

Question 6 from georgiawiley

Task 10 Evaluation- Question 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

Task 10 Evaluation- Question 4

4) Who would be the audience for your media product?

Link to Prezi-
https://prezi.com/4w19m_dvwo9d/copy-of-question-4-who-would-the-audience/

Task 10 Evaluation- Question 3

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

Link to Prezi-

http://prezi.com/hpugoxnhco2y/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

Task 10 Evaluation- Question 2

2) How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Question 2 from georgiawiley

Task 10 Evaluation- Question 1

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

Our Final Film- How to Kill a Dead Girl Film Opening

Task 6 Storyboard- How to Kill a Dead Girl

Task 3 Target Audience- British Board of Film Class Research

The BBFC also known as the british board of film classification, was set up in 1912 and has been classifying films since. The BBFC is responsible for determining the age ratings to all films in the UK. They were invented for the purpose of giving a classification to all films however they was not always followed, local councils could overrule their ratings. This meant that, although the BBFC’s opinion was valued, it was not always listened too. By 1984, when videos were first coming out, the parliament made it a law that all films would have to be reviewed and rated by the BBFC before being release. 

When determining an age rating for a film the BBFC take many factors into consideration including Language, Horror, Drugs, Imitable behaviour, Nudity, Sex, Discrimination, Theme and Violence.
Below are the following logos which show the different age ratings BBFC give; 

We decided our film is best suited to a 15 certificate. We made this decision after looking at each of the factors below:

Discrimination

The work as a whole does not feature discriminatory language or behaviour.

- Our film does not contain any discrimination in either a physical or verbal manner.

Drugs

Drug taking may be shown but the film as a whole must not promote or encourage drug misuse. The misuse of easily accessible and highly dangerous substances (for example, aerosols or solvents) is unlikely to be acceptable.

- We are aware that drugs are allowed however there are no drugs in our film.

Horror

Strong threat and menace are permitted unless sadistic or sexualised.

- As our film is a thriller so it will not contain any elements of horror however it features some elements of threat.

Imitable behaviour

Dangerous behaviour (for example, hanging, suicide and self-harming) should not dwell on detail which could be copied. Easily accessible weapons should not be glamorised.

- The person shown in our film will not have any serious weapons, but there will be dangerous behaviour but non of it will be shown in detail. 

Language

There may be frequent use of strong language. The strongest term may be acceptable if justified by the context. Aggressive or repeated use of the strongest language is unlikely to be acceptable.

- There will be no use of strong language in our film.

Nudity

Nudity may be allowed in a sexual context but without strong detail. There are no constraints on nudity in a non-sexual or educational context.

- There will be no nudity in our film.

Sex

Sexual activity may be portrayed without strong detail. There may be strong verbal references to sexual behaviour, but the strongest references are unlikely to be acceptable unless justified by context. Works whose primary purpose is sexual arousal or stimulation are unlikely to be acceptable.

- There will not be any sexual scenes in our film.

Theme

No theme is prohibited, provided the treatment is appropriate for 15 year olds.

- As all themes are allowed our film will be suitable for our 15+ audience.

Task 4 The Pitch- Stage Makeup for How To Kill a Dead Girl

Here are some images we took when practising the "stage makeup" for our film. 

For our opening scene, we needed to include bruises and blood as it is about an abusive relationship, without the bruises the scene would be less effective. Our opening scene involves our character lying on the floor, inferring that she is hurt/injured meaning that we would need to make it visible she had been in a violent situation, this is when we decided to use stage makeup to create bruises.   The bruises were also used in a bathroom scene where the character had  bruised shoulders to look as though someone has grabbed her from behind with force. Before we created the bruises we planned a test patch to check that she is not allergic to the fake blood/products that we used.

To create the bruises we used purple, blue, black and green powdered shadow and stage makeup. We started by adding blue patches and blending them out so that they did not look too obvious, we then added a purple shimmer over them and added black parts to the more hollow parts of her body to add emphasis.  We decided to keep the makeup as simple and subtle as possible as our opening scene aims to be quite realistic and emotional so that it has an effect on the audience, we aimed to keep it looking realistic and subtle. The conventions of a thriller generally are very ambiguous and subtle, therefore if the bruises were too obvious it would be too much like a horror. 

Task 8 Casting for "How to Kill a Dead Girl"

Our film is indifferent as it only actually features one character, therefore whoever we cast to play this particular character had to give an interesting and convincing performance in order for our film to appear intense. As we are producing this film in a group of two, the sensible conclusion was that ideally we need both of us behind the camera to help ensure the clarity of the shots as well as ensuring the correct shots are used and the rules are followed e.g. 180 degree rule was maintained. So this meant that we needed to cast someone outside of our group, we decided to use a mutual friend Erin Kellyman to play our character. Our reasoning for this is that Erin is experienced when acting, she currently studies at a performing arts school and has been in the popular channel 4 series "Raised by Wolves". Erin played a young girl in Raised by Wolves therefore our character perfectly suited her, she was able to deliver the intense facial expressions we wanted in our film in order to give it the "thriller" factor.

Task 9 Filming- Production Schedule

Production Schedule for Filming-

1) WHEN- We plan to start filming our opening scene on Wednesday 6th January. 

WHO-We will film our main character (Lucy). Our aim is to complete the first three scenes, these include pans on our characters arms & legs as well as filming scenes as she wakes up and scenes within the bathroom. 

HOW-We plan to use a pan, a close up, a long shot, medium shot, P.O.V shot, medium long shot and then a over the shoulder shot. We will use these shots over the course of the first three scenes. 

WHICH- The equipment which we will need will include a HD camera, a tripod for panning shots as well as the mise-en-scene elements of the film such as stage make-up/latex/body paint to recreate the bruises and marks on the characters body. 

Health and Safety Issues- When filming these scenes before applying the special effects we need to do a "test patch" to check that our actress will not have any reactions to the products we plan to use. 

Permission for location- Our location is an ordinary house, therefore it can be any particular house with a good amount of space and lighting. As the house we plan to use is owned by a member of our group we will not need permission to film there, but to be sure that we avoid having any background noise we will make the other members of the household aware of our filming to ensure they do not appear in any shots. 

2) WHEN- We plan to continue our filming on Friday 8th January.

WHO- We plan to film our last scenes of the film, this involves our character Lucy conducting her morning routine, we will carry on filming from the bathroom scene up to the final ending scene. 

HOW-We will use worm-eye view shots, medium shots, long shots, POV shots and several zooms and tracking shots.

WHICH- We will need to use a HD camera and tripod as well as using props such as a glass (for drinking water), a key for the locking of the door scene as well as using more make-up/latex/body paint to create bruises when needed.

Health and Safety Issues- There are no health or safety issues within our film. 

Permission for location- The remaining scenes of the film will continue in the location we used previously, this means that we will not need permission to use the location. 

Task 5- ScreenPlay for Film (How to Kill a Deadgirl)

For our final film we created two storylines that shared the same narrative but had slight differences. Our first screenplay focused on flashbacks and highlighting that the flashbacks the audience see have already happened to our character, therefore creating a hook where the audience want to find out how and why it happened. 

TRANSITION IN
STUDIO LOGO FADES IN/OUT
INT. House/living room. The room is dark but the lighting is natural. Camera pans on to features of a dead body (lucy) -covered in blood. [Title screen begins]
Her arms are bruised and her legs are cut. 
Camera then pans to her face and slowly gets closer until it is just focusing on her eyes - they are closed.

Transitions to her opening her eyes, but she is in a different room - appears to be waking up. (rewind to before she was dead.) 
She puts her feet over the side of her bed, turns off her alarm and puts on some slippers. (shows normality - how her morning routine is the same as anyone else. She appears to be a normal, average girl.) 

Forward tracking on camera - follows her into bathroom. She plays with her hair and turns around so that she can see that she is not bruised to then transition into a filtered shot which appears as a flashback. We see the character covered in bruises and clearly upset, SAME FILTER AS OPENING. [title sequences here]

Filter returns to normal, signifying back to normality. 

We next see her in the kitchen, she is fully dressed with her hair tied in a tight ponytail and has make up on. She proceeds to get a glass out of the cupboard but puts it down onto the counter with a thud. 
[Sound effect of glass banging].

[FILTERED SHOT] - flashback
She falls to the floor - a loud bang (the same as the sound of the glass). she tried to get up but is disorientated - Slow motion for added tension.
[Sound effects - sound of a hearbeat in the background with a buzzing noise to show that she is frail and in pain.]

Camera fades to black. FADE IN - she grabs the key off the side but hesitates/pauses before she picks it up. Another flashback [FILTERED] Character is being strangled and her throat is being cut with the same key - clearly a male strangling her. Blood is pouring down her throat.

Black screen

[Back to reality] character grabs key and locks door

Mother/Unkown Voice shouts "Be back before 5"  - as the door closes the shot ends. 

Our second story focuses more on the reality of how the abuse happened and the lead up to it through the declining of calls, voicemails etc.

TRANSITION IN

STUDIO LOGO FADE IN / FADE OUT.

INT. House/room with laminate flooring. Natural lighting. Camera pans to features of a dead girl (lucy) who is covered in bruises and appears to have very pale skin.

Camera pans to her legs and then individual shots of each of her arms and hands the camera then zooms in to a close up shot of her closed eyes. 

TITLE SCREEN SHOWS

Next shot shows her in a bed – phone alarm sounds. Two separate shots, one from above her and one to show her exiting the bed. Close up shot of her putting slippers on. (Her morning routine is the same as any other person – shows how she appears to be just like anyone else). Next, she is sat on a dressing table – she is putting on makeup. - Her phone rings but she sighs an irritated sigh and ignores it.

One shot from over the shoulder so that it is from her perspective and also a medium long shot. Forward tracking on camera – follows her into the bathroom where she brushes her teeth and puts on a jumper. Forward tracking of camera again, follows her downstairs (Camera is handheld to show it from her perspective) - She stops midway on the stairs as her phone rings again but she ignores it.

She walks towards the door and her phone rings again - this time she answers it: 

'What now?' - she says with an agitated tone. 'You better not mess this up, BOTH of our careers on the line and you know what i'm capable of' 

Mumbling sounds from a male voice from down the phone

'OK i'm leaving now, just get this done and you're of the hook'. 

She hangs up the phone and leaves the house.

Close up shot of her opening the door, Long shot of her behind glass closing the door.

She then walks out of the door and the shot slows down as she walks past the camera.

FADE TO BLACK 

Task 4 The Pitch-" How to Kill a Dead Girl" Synopsis

'To kill a dead girl' is a thriller following the life of a young woman around her 20's. She has followed a life of abuse and physical harm from a mystery figure who she never thought she would be able to escape from. 5 years on from her torture, she lives an average life, she owns her own house, runs her own business, she is her own woman...but she can never escape the torment and distress that she was put through, it haunts her every day. 

'It's over.' - She would tell herself every day, but as the police soon discover when she is found dead in her house one afternoon, it was far from it.

Task 4 The Pitch- Headlight Productions Title Sequence

  

How to Kill a Dead Girl 

This is the title sequence for our film featuring our original GIF and our orignal studio logo. It features the appropriate codes and conventions for a Thriller title sequence and follows typical codes and conventions of a Hollywood title sequence. 

This meant that first we inserted our  company logo followed by the title of the film. For the title of our film we used the colours Red, white and black as white symbolises innocence and the word 'Kill' was highlighted in red to symbolise violence/blood. The font that we used suggests it would possibly be found in a book or be written using a typewriter, this shows that the storyline of the film is about Lucy (the main character)'s life as it is almost as though it is an autobiography about herself and what she has been through.

Task 4 The Pitch- Studio Logo

We made a title sequence of which would be appropriate for our film. The title sequence featured a GIF which was our studio logo. 

To create our studio logo, we used an app called 'Hyperlapse' and filmed a busy main road at night. We then slowed down the hyperlapse so it created a slow motion effect on the video which made the lights appear as though they are blurred. We then used movie maker on IPad to add the 'headline productions' title.

Our title meets the codes and conventions of typical film logos such as Lionsgate. This is because it has motion and moves, the Lionsgate logo is similar to this as it conveys the idea of the gates opening therefore by using motion in our logo we was meeting the codes and conventions of the film industry logos. 

Task 3 Research into Genres- The Christian Metz model of genre development

The Christian Metz model of genre development 

Christian Metz formed the ‘model of genre development’ which was later named the ‘Metz theory’. The theory involved the idea that films of the horror genre have four ‘phases’ of horror. These include phase 1- the experimental phase,  phase 2- the classic, phase 3- the parody and finally phase 4- the deconstruction.

Phase 1 is the experimental phase, this is when it is determined whether the film will be popular in the film industry and whether it will make a profit for the studio. An example off experimental phase films would be ‘The cabinet of Dr Caligari’. The cabinet of Dr Caligari is a silent horror film made in the 1920's, the film mirrors the book 'Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde' as it was about a lawyer who underwent an investigation of the two murderers of both Jekyll and Hyde.

Phase 2 is known as the classic phase. The classic phase uses the codes and conventions of the genre specific genre the film falls into, for example Horror. An example of a classic horror film would be 'Dracula'. Dracula formed an iconic image which then continued to created a lot of stereotypes for the typical antagonist in a horror film. Dracula is typically represented as a male with a mild European accent. Typically wears a long black cape, has fangs, drinks blood and cannot walk in sunlight. This stereotype is now used throughout TV and within the horror film genre. 

Phase 3 is known as the parody phase. This is when a remake is made of a classic film. An example of a parody would be "Sean of The Dead" which is based on the classic "Dawn of the Dead". The parody had humours effects which acted as an ironic pun as well as the humorous twist on the name (Sean rhyming with Dawn).

The deconstruction is phase 4. The deconstruction phase combines the generic themes of a genre and combines it with another genre. An example of a deconstruction is 'scream'. Scream is a deconstruction as it combines the two genres; thriller and horror. Scream was a film which had the purpose to scare the audience yet also have a realistic aspect due to it involving relatable situations and relatable setting (young girl who is home alone who continuously and gets phone calls from a mystery person). 

Task 3 Research into Genres- Stereotypical Representations

  Stereotypical representations in the Horror and Thriller genre

Representations have been pre-established in genre films such as Horror and Thrillers. Certain representations used in the Horror and Thriller genres have now become stereotypes or an archetype (typical example of a certain person/thing). Some of these include, 

Count Dracula- Bran Stoker the original creator of Dracula formed Dracula with typical features of which is still used in relation to Dracula nowadays. Bran Stoker gave Dracula very specific qualities to meet his overall character some of these include his age, gender and social class. Dracula's social class is something that has remained part of his character despite the modern remakes. Dracula's character is given an upper class aspect through his name 'Count Dracula'. Count being a term assosiated with Aristocracy. Dracula is typically presented as a white male often with a Eastern-Europeon/Broken English accent. There are certain dennotations Stoker formed upon his creation of Dracula these include his abandoned caste, bat like features and cape. These features continued to be part of Dracula's imagine despite the beginning of remakes during 1931 Hollywood. 

Another typical representation within the Horror and Thriller genre includes the stereotypical antagonist  middle aged male, within this genre this representation is generally the dominant representation, many horror films feature the typically middle aged male some of these include...

-Freddie Krueger from Nightmare On Elm Street

-Mike Myres from Halloween 

-Norman Bates from Physco

Horror Movie Heroines are generally typically single, white virginal females, they are typically the archetypal victim in the film. However the 'femme fetale' roles have evolved from being the typical damsil in distress victime to the aggressor. Examples of this modern day envolvment in films include,

Tomb Raider and Resident Evil. 

The representation of Gender/Ethnicity in the genre

Hollywood is culturally bias as generally the actors have always been male. In the thriller genre it has always been common to have a white male protagonists, yet the 1990's Thriller 'Se7en' broke this typicality through the casting of Morgan Freeman (well known black actor) playing the detective of which was typically a 'white' actors role. Similarly to being culturally bias Hollywood is also heterosexual bias due to Homosexual/Lesbians being rare within Hollywood films. 

Task 3 Target Audience- Analysis of BFI Data Genre and Classification

• As part of research into films in order to look at  different genres of film and to gain an idea of their popularity in terms off number of releases, % of all releases, gross box office (£ million) and % of total box office, we looked into the BFI statistical yearbook. Animation was the most popular genre among the UK cinema within 2013, with action second and comedy third. Animation was also the highest earning genre of 2013, accounted for only 5% off releases but took 21% off the total box office. This figure shows us how profitable the Animation genre is. Moreover within 2013 the six top performing films by genre were UK films. 

We focused on table 4.1 which showed us the relative popularity of different genres at the box office in the UK and Republic of Ireland. The popularity of the genre is usually determined by the number of high grossing releases.

Table 4.1 Films released in the UK and Republic of Ireland by genre 

• From looking at the table we can draw the conclusion that the Thriller Genre is more popular in terms of the number of films released in comparison to the Horror Genre. There were 64 Thrillers realised in 2013 whereas there was only 37 Horror Films released. In terms of profitability the Horror genre actually earns more money. The Horror films made £57.5 million, where as the Thriller genre only made £29.1 million. This shows that the Horror genre is considerably more popular in comparison to the Thriller genre, meaning that it is more profitable. Moreover the Romance genre gained both less releases with a smaller total of 34 films being released within 2013 and a considerably less profit of £13.9 million. 

When considering what genre of film we wish to use when creating our own films we must consider there popularity and profitability however must also consider that although the Horror genre made more profit, the Thriller genre had more releases this may be because the storyline and conventions are more versatile, leaving more opportunity to create and use original ideas. 

•  We also looked into table 4.2 about the films released in the UK and Republic of Ireland by genre, 2013 (ranked by average widest point of release). This table allowed us to identify the average number of sites which showed the film at the widest point of release, in other words the amount of cinemas which showed the genre. From the table we was able to conclude that the Horror genre had more cinemas showing that genre of film during the widest point of release with a total off 145 sites, this helped contribute to the high profit of the genre. Whereas the Thriller genre had less cinema's showing the genre with a lower total of 89, during the widest point of release, this would then cause a lack off profit. 

Table 4.2 Films released in the UK and Republic of Ireland by genre 2013 (ranked by average widest point of release)

• Moreover we then looked at table 4.3 of which showed us the films released in the UK and Republic of Ireland by genre, 2013 (ranked by average box office gross per site) in other words shows us the profit the films make for the sites which show the film e.g. the cinemas. The Horror genre had a high average box office per site with a total off 10,708 in comparison to the Thriller genre of which generated a lower total of 5,127 on average box office per site.

Table 4.3 Films released in the UK and Republic of Ireland by genre, 2013 (ranked by average box office gross per site)

• Table 4.4 shows us the UK films released in the UK and Republic of Ireland by genre 2013 (ranked by gross box office) from the chart I can gather the information that there are more UK film releases of Horror films (17) in comparison to the Horror genre (7). However despite the UK horror film releases being fewer than Thriller they Horror genre manages to be more profitable with a £14.8 million gross box office whereas the Thriller genre having only a lower total off £4.1 million gross box office.

Table 4.4 UK films released in the UK and Republic of Ireland by genre, 2013 (ranked by gross box office)

• Table 4.1 show us the proportion of box office by genre for all films, UK films and UK independent films, 2013. From the table I can draw the conclusion that the Horror genre makes up more of the proportion of box office in comparison to the Thriller genre. Horror films make up 5.2% off the Box Office whereas the Thriller films take up a smaller figure off 7.6%. This means that the Horror films provide more profit in comparison to the Thriller genre. However as shown in table 4.2 proportion of releases by genre for all films, UK films and UK independent films, 2013 we are able to see that despite the Horror genres providing more box office profit the Horror genre has less proportions of release than the Thriller films. Horror films are 1.3% of releases whereas the Thriller genre is 1.3%. From this we can conclude that although less Horror films are released they are more profitable than the Thriller films despite the Thriller genre having more releases.