Paranoia

Evaluation - Q1

Evaluation - Q2

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

We wanted our film to appeal to different races and ethnicity and so decided to use characters from different cultural backgrounds. In the opening scene though you cannot actually see the characters face which we wanted to leave as a mystery in front of the audience, they are from different backgrounds.

The girl in the scene is mixed-race coming from two backgrounds being half Jamaican and half Pakistani. The boy in the film comes from a Turkish background. We used this as an important factor in the film as this doesn’t exclude anyone from any race and we also wanted to use this to appeal to a wider audience. We did this by using different characters in the films so that they see this and feel included in it and because the film’s location will be London, it attracts different classes as well.

We also don’t want to exclude anyone because of their sexuality which is why we are also appealing to different types of couples. In our film, the only relation we show is between a girl and boy however this isn’t done to exclude or leave anyone out but because to show some sort of love friendship relationship between two people.

We didn’t want to use stereotype cases in the film and so we decided to use a female as a main character in the film with the second main character as a girl as well. This also shows to the audience with the females in particular that we are trying to include as many different factors in making sure that it isn’t stereotyped too much. However bearing this in mind, in the opening scene the boy is seen with more power where she is running from him and where he kills her at the end. This shows the contrast in the opening scene and the rest of the film where the balance of power swaps from the boy to the girl and again at the end when it happens again. This helps keep a balance between the two genders.

Evaluation - Q3

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

As my film is quite small, I would first start off by getting it distributed by a small institution in the U.K as this is where the film would be most relevant to because of the atmosphere and characters in the film. If it becomes successful and becomes wildly popular, it will then move up to a bigger firm. I would also like to distribute it in a small institution in the U.S.A which is because I feel that it will be more popular over there as well because of the storyline and may even become a global success which would boost the ratings of the film and also the production.

The reason to start showing it in the smaller screens is because my film is made from a low budget and will not be able to cover the costs of a bigger institution right at the start. However if it does become a success, I will be then be able to move to the more national screens. This will then give me knowledge on how well the film is doing and whether or not other countries should distribute it as well.

Once this has been done, I will then be able to move to getting the film being put on DVD and getting known stores such as HMV and even getting online stores selling the film. I am using online stores as well because of the increase of users shopping online which has increased rapidly over time.

Evaluation - Q4

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

My audience for the film will be in particular 18 – 30 year olds however my film will be certified by the BBFC to be a 15. This is because after some research, we found that 18 year olds in particular prefer to watch thriller/horror films and will most likely go to watch it at the cinemas where as some 15 year olds feel that they won’t be able to go to watch it due to studies and other reasons and so hesitate to go. I will also be appealing to both genders as research shows that females are more interested and feel intrigued to watch thriller/horror movies which is due to the films not having the stereo type characters in it anymore with now females playing the lead role and being the ‘hero’ in the end.

The audience that will be appealed to my film will most likely be the ones who take risks in life and not scared to do anything. They will find bloody gruesome stuff with dead bodies around entertaining to them and so will feel the urge to watch my film. The audience will like the suspense that is given to them at the start and would want to carry on ahead with blood shot scenes during the whole film which will satisfy them. Though at first they may dread watching it because of some certain terrifying shots and will try to shy away from looking at the images but will feel completely satisfied once seeing it as they have seen and got the thrills that they wanted from it.

I would want the film to leave a high impact on the audience as they should still be talking about it once they have left the cinema and would want to watch it again many times as a Saturday night at home with popcorn in their hands. Despite knowing that they will get scared and may not be able to sleep at night they still watch it because of the storyline and the end of the film satisfaction which leaves a smile on their face.

My film will be involving young characters so that they appeal to my audience and will also show serious issues such as drugs and alcohol which are a big influence on young people and they way they handle it. Because of these factors being involved in the film, the audience will feel the urge to watch this as they are able to relate this as to being their everyday life. Also this will widen my audience as older and more mature people will want to watch this so that they can gain knowledge on how they think the media uses these issues to either help those people who suffer from these issues or manipulate the situation in ways to benefit them.

Evaluation - Q5

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

 

One of the key factors in the film making process is whether you are able to attract your target audience. To do this, the film producers have to at every stage review on where they think they are doing this and what they can do to improve. In the film ‘Paranoia’ we wanted to catch the audience’s attention right from the start so that the audience will feel the urge to carry on watching through the whole film. To do this we wanted to create the name of the film so that the audience is intrigued when they first hear about it and know that it is going to be a horror film. We had several ideas for the names of the film but we wanted the name to be short and catchy and so decided to use ‘Paranoia’ as this is also relevant to the film in a more direct way.

We then tried to use different effects which will scare the audience and let them experience a horror movie which is what the audience looks forward to. The effects that we used such as the x-ray which is supposed to be a flashback in the scene is supposed to be the scary and the tense shots in the scene. Originally we wanted the flashback scenes to be in black and white which personally I didn’t think looked good because it was too light and could see the sun in the background. This is when we chose another effect to use which I think suited the scene and looked good and had the scary effect. According to some of the feedback we got, they preferred this effect better than the black and white and says that it looks scary and mysterious which is what the audience wants.

As this is a horror film, to attract the audience we want we have to make sure that there is some sort of action, death or/and blood type of shot to show the genre but to also produce a production which will give the audience a chilling but satisfied feeling towards it. We have tried to create this by building up the tension such as when the girl is running; this makes the audience wonder to why she is running, from whom is she running from and whether or not she will reach her destination. Its subconsciously places these questions in their minds and so they want to carry on watching it. The mystery bit starts to show when the boy’s hand is on the girls shoulder which is where we decided to play the heartbeat sound clip as this really captures the audience’s eye as its shocking to why the boy’s hand is there and where did he come from and so builds up the suspense to something happening. We have to show some sort of horror clip which will show to the audience that its scary but also to show the genre of the film and so we decided that we will get the boy to hit the girl in the end which is shocking but also sort of a cliff-hanger as the audience don’t know whether or not she has survived. We wanted to do this because this would attract the audience more towards the films storyline and they will feel eager to watch ahead which is our purpose and so by leaving the audience puzzled and shocked at the start, it leads them to actually wanting to find out what happens next.

We wanted to capture the audience’s attention from the start of the scene and so decided to play the tense music in the background from the start. We also use camera shots to start the tension by doing a low angle on the floor where you see a leaf turning over which gives the real life effect; though we didn’t initially know that it would happen. Nevertheless its showing to the audience that its chilling and with the x-ray effect at the start it looks really creepy which is what the audience would want to see. During the opening scene, we use different angle shots to keep the audience occupied and interested in the film where as if we used the same shot the whole time it will bore them as they are seeing everything from one angle and so after a while, they will feel bored and won’t want to watch more.

To appeal to our audience, we decided to use young actors/actresses. This is because the purpose of our film reflects back on many young people’s live who have been affected by serious issues such as murder and rape in their childhood and how some try to overcome their sadness in dangerous ways such as using drugs. In our film, though its also involving some fiction characters such as the ghost of the mother, it also involved and goes through how the real life issues such as drugs. This is because in the film, the main character will use different techniques to overcome her sadness which are also use by teenagers today because of serious problems. In this film, we want to show to not on young people but also those who are older and mature the problems which come by taking drugs and by also how they get over their addictions. We wanted to do this as our audience in this time and age are more frequently in contact with drugs and alcohol and so will feel attracted to watch the film and so we try to help them by exploring the issues and giving them a way out through this film.

Evaluation - Q6

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

I think that since the project has started, I have gained a lot more knowledge on the technologies that we have used and have also developed some new skills during this time. With the help of my group member, I have been able to learn how to use the iMac and edit my film which was new for me and quite difficult at the start. However once playing around with the different features that were on there and using some practise shots which we didn’t need, I was able to feel more confident in using the Mac. Before doing this project, I didn’t know much about how films are created apart from the basics however after starting this and having to use the different technologies at different stages, I gained a good understanding on how these work and what their jobs do and felt more confident in using them. I think that this task has reflected back on me in a positive way and will help me in the future as I got to know more about different software’s and for what purposed they are used.  Doing this project has been interesting and fun as it’s new to me which motivated me once I got into it.

During this project, I have learnt how films are made. Firstly by recording the shots that are needed which sometime are quite time consuming and to do so properly, a tripod is needed. At first I didn’t know that we could extend and shorten the height of the tripod as I never had to use one before. This was quite helpful for me to know as then I was able to use the different heights in my film.  I then learned about how Macs are used and what you are able to do on them. Because of the Mac I was able to edit my film to a high standard and have that professional look in it due this. This helped me understand why Macs are quite expensive and popular within so many people which is due to the fact that the Mac allows you to do so much with the different software’s that it enables you to use and the quality work it produces. After a while, I became more confident on how editing works which is due to us editing all the time frequently for long hours which boosts my motivation so I can do more so that my work is the best of my ability. It was interesting to see our much our film has changed from the start to the end due to how editing we were allowed to do. I think that the main difficulty in editing was when we had to get all the clips consistent with one another as it was extremely hard to get one clips ending at the right time of when one clip was starting but it was quite exciting to learn how to overcome these problems when fiddling about with the different features. It’s quite exciting to see how a film is made especially when you look back at the start when the filming process started. Though professional film makers would have the most expensive and highest quality equipments, I think that with the equipment we used bearing in mind the schools budget on these we have been able to make our film to the best ability it could be and have the sense of professionalism in it.

We also used Garage Band to create the music in the background which was a very exciting and new experience for us. Me and my group member both took turns to play around and create our own music trying to make it a scary background music which would fit in with our film. Though it was interesting, it was difficult as well. This is because at first I didn’t actually know how it works and how you can create the music so that it would suit the atmosphere of the film. We had to go through each sound that are on there so that we know what they sound like and it’s hard to do this as even though some of the genres had names such as ‘dark’ which I thought would be intense and scary sounds but this wasn’t the case and so we had to go through each genre to find the music we wanted. During this stage of the production, I learnt on how to create different types of music using different instruments without having to know the features of the actual instrument.

Also during this project, I have learnt how to use and how a blogger works. This was also a new experience for me as I have never used one before. I think that having a blog as been quite useful in ways such as being able to save my work that I have done so far on to the blog and putting it as draft so that I can add stuff onto it if I want to. The only problems that I had with the blog was that once you post the work you couldn’t move it around and put another post before it. However after some time, I found a way to overcome this problem.