evaluation

• In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
It very much takes from the horror genre of films. It uses similar openings to horror movies, using scenic shots and fades. The washed out, almost monotone colouring with silhouettes are typically 'scary' as are churches, faces in stone and the mysterious stranger. It challenges a contemporary audience however, as it isn't set in America with some teenage/young attractive hero. There are many films which don't conform to this norm but they do not reach a mass market. The Wickerman for instance uses a middle aged policeman as the hero, my film too wouldn't appeal to a mass market. The Shining another psychological horror, uses a young boy and his mother as the heroes, and uses the father as the villian, unusual heroes and antiheroes only add to the suspense and shock. The score also sounds like a classic horror soundtrack. It, like the music in say the shining, (which I think was fantastic musically) is used to increase tension. It also fits in well with the rural 'olde worlde' nature of the film. I have used the task of filming an opening sequence to attempt to create an atmoshpere of foreboding and impending horror without the use of CGI.

• How does your media product represent particular social groups?
The only character seen in the piece is a middle aged man dressed in black. This combined with slightly folky music woud drastically reduce appeal to a younger audience. The piece targets a more mature audience. Although I think many people all around Britain will be able to relate to the film, the characters and setting are far more tangeable to the average brit than a Monte Carlo casino or fantasy land. Everyone will have seen a shadowy figure at somepoint in their lives, and been intrigued by them. I also hope the piece gives a real sense of place, and fell that it would appeal to the residents of Eat Anglia, as well as to people who have spent time on the North Norfolk coast.

• What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
A small British film company, looking to promote British cinema might want to showcase new talent. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:British_film_studios that is a list of potential distributers however many are historical names and no longer exist. obviously hammer would be ideal (as they are famous for horror) but they don't really operate anymore, they are just a name. In 2007 new owners took over and announced £25 million would go into making new films, as far as I know nothing has been made yet. However, cheaper and perhaps more realistic, would be to use the internet as a tool to showcase the film. With millions of users, youtube can lead to videos being seen all across the world. Furthermore the BBC has websites promoting British short films, and this too would be an ideal location for the film's showing, however the site lacks the traffic that youtube receives. it is possible that this film is ideal for a late showing on film4 or BBC4 or other similar arty channels.

• Who would be the audience for your media product?
Mainly male people interested in horror films, who go to arthouse cinemas. The audience would be relatively old as the film isn't very pacey and doesn't feature young people. The film certainly isn't for teenagers who do not like things which are different from the usual dire films fed to young people by the media. Only people who activly seek out films like this would find it. I feel the natural audience would be film buffs and film students.

• How did you attract/address your audience?
I tried not to patronise them as I did in my very first piece of film that
I made at 6th form. I left a lot to be worked out by the viewer and a lot of interpretation and imagination can be used by the viewer. The sense of mystery I created would attract and intrigue my film enthusiast audience. I think visually my piece is good looking the scenery is beautiful and some of the shots are dynamic and interesting. The ability to relate to the setting and character more than in say Avatar, could also be a bonus. Though the pace of the film remains quite slow like European film, this could intrigue the audience as it may well be something they are not used to.

• What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
Well, I hadn't used a camera seriously before and never used editing software before, so I learnt how to use both in a slightly professional way. I also learnt about the difficulties in keeping continuity in mise en scene between shots, luckily I was able to edit the footage on imovie to make it all look the same. I learnt of the limitations of stabilisation, many of my shots which appeared stable and level while filming turned out not to be, many shot were also grainy I had possibly selected the wrong setting for the location.

• Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
The need for meticulous planning luckily it was only 2 minutes long so I was able to cobble together something that pleased me from my footage, but that is only because I had around 40 minutes of footage, and alot of that 40 mins was unusable for a variety of reasons. I feel I should have practiced with the camera more, focus panning et cetera. The need to shoot everything multiple time, having options in the editing suite was very useful, as many shots turned out to have issues which at the time I missed. I realised the importance of a full location scout. Much of my film owes a great deal to the two trips i made to find my locations as well as time psent trawling books and the net. I also discovered the importance of having simple shots, and plots in order not to distract from what I was trying to portray, and as not to be over ambitous and end up failing miserabley.