Wednesday 8 May 2013
Welcome
On this blog, you will find all the research and planning that I have done to put towards our final production - Camp Ivy.
Friday 3 May 2013
Thursday 2 May 2013
Evaluation Q1 - Conventions
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Here is a written version of my answer:
TITLES:
A common convention of slasher films is to have the production and distribution companies titles appear first. In our production, the first title that appears is 'Fireline presents'. We decided to put the titles this way after researching Madhouse (William Butler, 2004) where the first title was 'Lions Gate Productions'. Another title from our production is 'A Cupkate production', which was influenced by the title 'A Gina Matthews Production' appearing in Urban Legend (Jamie Blanks, 1998). Again like in Urban Legend, the titles for the lead actors appeared in pairs. In our opening, the title of the film 'Camp Ivy' appears after the killing of the scream queen. The title fades in over the last shot of blood dripping down off the scream queens hand into the stream, which provides intertextual references from Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho in 1960. The title is centered and fades to black at the end, similar to the title that appears in Scary Movie (Keenen Ivory Wayans, 2000) and Urban Legend.
IDENTS:
We created our idents using a software called LiveType. We each created an individual ident, then a group company ident which we called 'CI Productions'. We used different animations, effects and sounds in our idents to make them eye catching and effective. One example of simple idents, like ours, are from a slasher film called An American Warewolf in London (John Landis, 1981). Although these idents do appear rather dated, the simple animated lettering concept is extremely effective, and continues to be commonly used in modern slasher films today.
OPENING SHOTS:
Our first shot is an establishing shot. We decided upon this as it is a good way to anchor the mood, genre and location of the film. The establishing shot is of the wooden, derelict cabins at Linton Camp, which is the main location of the film. There are many establishing shots used in slasher openings, one example is 5ive Girls (Warren P. Sonoda, 2006).
GROUP SHOT:
There is a lot of dialogue in the film, which provides exposition. Because of this, we thought it was essential to include a group shot at the very start of the production to anchor the characters and their situation. This also allows the audience to question who the protagonist and antagonist is.
NARRATIVE ENIGMA:
Barthes' theory of narrative enigma is portrayed in our production when the killer is on screen. The killer is dressed in a black hooded jumper, which covers their face, so the audience are unable to identify who it is. The killers feet wearing heavy boots are also shown when chasing the scream queen, which help to portray to the audience the narrative enigma. This theory is used in many slasher films, both modern and old. A well known example is the Friday the 13th franchise, where Jason is always wearing a mask to hide his identity. The killer in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Marcus Nispel, 2003) is also hidden from the audience, by wearing a potato sack to cover their face.
SOUND:
The sound in the killing scene of our production was heavily influenced by slashers such as Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960). We included high pitched strings which creates tension and reflects the screams that would be heard from the scream queen. Throughout the opening there is diegetic and non diegetic sound. The ambient sound of the birds has the effect of making the audience feel calm and relaxed, until they stop chirping after the killer appears on screen which anchors the feeling that something is wrong. There is also a long low note held throughout the sequence, which creates a constant feeling of anxiousness and tension.
FINAL GIRL AND SCREAM QUEEN:
Carole Clover's theory of the final girl is portrayed in our opening. The final girl's name is Charley, which is a unisex name, and she is shown on screen as a sensible girl who follows positive morals. The final girl typically wears clothes which do not objectify her body, however despite wearing an over sized shirt, our final girl is wearing tight skinny jeans. By having the final girl wearing these jeans, we are part of the counter-hegemonic movement unfashion, meaning that we are going against the theory and are following modern day fashion trends. The binary opposite of Charley is Ashley, the scream queen. Her attitude is negative and lazy, and her clothes are more revealing. She is also portrayed as being immoral, as she has a boyfriend, unlike the final girl. Both these characters are stereotypes of female characters in slasher films. A famous example of a final girl is Sidney Prescott from Scream (Wes Craven, 1996) played by Neve Campbell and a famous example of a scream queen is Marion Crane played by Janet Leigh from Psycho.
CONCLUSION:
Our audience feedback was both positive and constructive. The intertextual references are clear to those who aren't extremely familiar with slasher films. As a group, we were most worried about our killing scene being unrealistic and not convincing, however no one picked up any major concern about this, and layering in the editing to signify psychosis and madness made the scene realistic which is what we wanted. Conventions from past examples have allowed us to achieve better verisimilatude.
Here is a written version of my answer:
TITLES:
A common convention of slasher films is to have the production and distribution companies titles appear first. In our production, the first title that appears is 'Fireline presents'. We decided to put the titles this way after researching Madhouse (William Butler, 2004) where the first title was 'Lions Gate Productions'. Another title from our production is 'A Cupkate production', which was influenced by the title 'A Gina Matthews Production' appearing in Urban Legend (Jamie Blanks, 1998). Again like in Urban Legend, the titles for the lead actors appeared in pairs. In our opening, the title of the film 'Camp Ivy' appears after the killing of the scream queen. The title fades in over the last shot of blood dripping down off the scream queens hand into the stream, which provides intertextual references from Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho in 1960. The title is centered and fades to black at the end, similar to the title that appears in Scary Movie (Keenen Ivory Wayans, 2000) and Urban Legend.
IDENTS:
We created our idents using a software called LiveType. We each created an individual ident, then a group company ident which we called 'CI Productions'. We used different animations, effects and sounds in our idents to make them eye catching and effective. One example of simple idents, like ours, are from a slasher film called An American Warewolf in London (John Landis, 1981). Although these idents do appear rather dated, the simple animated lettering concept is extremely effective, and continues to be commonly used in modern slasher films today.
OPENING SHOTS:
Our first shot is an establishing shot. We decided upon this as it is a good way to anchor the mood, genre and location of the film. The establishing shot is of the wooden, derelict cabins at Linton Camp, which is the main location of the film. There are many establishing shots used in slasher openings, one example is 5ive Girls (Warren P. Sonoda, 2006).
GROUP SHOT:
There is a lot of dialogue in the film, which provides exposition. Because of this, we thought it was essential to include a group shot at the very start of the production to anchor the characters and their situation. This also allows the audience to question who the protagonist and antagonist is.
NARRATIVE ENIGMA:
Barthes' theory of narrative enigma is portrayed in our production when the killer is on screen. The killer is dressed in a black hooded jumper, which covers their face, so the audience are unable to identify who it is. The killers feet wearing heavy boots are also shown when chasing the scream queen, which help to portray to the audience the narrative enigma. This theory is used in many slasher films, both modern and old. A well known example is the Friday the 13th franchise, where Jason is always wearing a mask to hide his identity. The killer in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Marcus Nispel, 2003) is also hidden from the audience, by wearing a potato sack to cover their face.
SOUND:
The sound in the killing scene of our production was heavily influenced by slashers such as Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960). We included high pitched strings which creates tension and reflects the screams that would be heard from the scream queen. Throughout the opening there is diegetic and non diegetic sound. The ambient sound of the birds has the effect of making the audience feel calm and relaxed, until they stop chirping after the killer appears on screen which anchors the feeling that something is wrong. There is also a long low note held throughout the sequence, which creates a constant feeling of anxiousness and tension.
FINAL GIRL AND SCREAM QUEEN:
Carole Clover's theory of the final girl is portrayed in our opening. The final girl's name is Charley, which is a unisex name, and she is shown on screen as a sensible girl who follows positive morals. The final girl typically wears clothes which do not objectify her body, however despite wearing an over sized shirt, our final girl is wearing tight skinny jeans. By having the final girl wearing these jeans, we are part of the counter-hegemonic movement unfashion, meaning that we are going against the theory and are following modern day fashion trends. The binary opposite of Charley is Ashley, the scream queen. Her attitude is negative and lazy, and her clothes are more revealing. She is also portrayed as being immoral, as she has a boyfriend, unlike the final girl. Both these characters are stereotypes of female characters in slasher films. A famous example of a final girl is Sidney Prescott from Scream (Wes Craven, 1996) played by Neve Campbell and a famous example of a scream queen is Marion Crane played by Janet Leigh from Psycho.
CONCLUSION:
Our audience feedback was both positive and constructive. The intertextual references are clear to those who aren't extremely familiar with slasher films. As a group, we were most worried about our killing scene being unrealistic and not convincing, however no one picked up any major concern about this, and layering in the editing to signify psychosis and madness made the scene realistic which is what we wanted. Conventions from past examples have allowed us to achieve better verisimilatude.
Evaluation Q2 - Representations
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
In media, there are 7 key areas of representation which can be analysed and applied to productions.
Here is a written version of my answer:
GENDER:
Gender comes across strongly using binary opposites in our production. The scream queen and killer are binary opposites. The scream queen fits the stereotype of her role, as she is wearing a low cut vest top, and has long blonde hair. As well as this, she is emotional and weak which is signified by being the first victim out of the group. The killer is the binary opposite of this, because they portray no emotion. Although narrative enigma is used, it is still clear that there is an element of psychopathy revolving around the killer. The killer also portrays strength and power as he succeeds at killing the scream queen. As well as the killer, there are binary opposites between the scream queen and final girl. Carole Clover's theory of the final girl and feminism in slasher films explains how the final girl takes the lead role as she has more masculine attributes which are signified by her body being covered up. Our final girl follows this theory.
REGIONAL IDENTITY:
Because our film is set in West Yorkshire, all the characters have a Yorkshire accent. They use typical teenage 'slang' language which attracts the target young adult audience. Because the production is set in Yorkshire, it is set in a very rural area to anchor the region.
SOCIAL CLASS AND STATUS:
All the characters in our production are of a working/middle class. They speak the same, and do not dress outrageously different to each other, so they do not look different enough to class them as a different social status. The target audience is also middle and working class, which helps the audience easily realte to the characters.
ETHNICITY:
All the characters are white British, so there is no cultural diversity. There are very few slasher films with a culturally diverse cast, however Prom Night (Nelson McCormick, 2008) challenges this.
In media, there are 7 key areas of representation which can be analysed and applied to productions.
Here is a written version of my answer:
AGE:
All the characters in our media production are teenagers, including the killer. The age of the characters attracts the target audience of 15-24 year old's, as they can relate to the emotions and feelings expressed by the teenagers on screen. The clothes they are wearing also anchor their age, as they're typical trendy clothes that you would expect a teenager of their age to wear. A typical slasher film convention is that the adults and authority figures are useless and do not help in any of the situations that arise. This convention is portrayed in our film, when the scream queens father does not answer his phone, signifying he is useless. The final girl is portrayed as the innocent and sensible character of the group, which signifies she is the leader of the group, and that, like the stereotypical final girl, she will eventually defeat the killer using her intelligence and intuition. The jock of the group comes across as the one who has a lazy and rude attitude towards his peers, especially his girlfriend (the scream queen). Similar to the jock, the scream queen also has a negative attitude towards the situation, and ends up being separated from the group as she decides to leave before they reach their destination. The jock and scream queen are both binary opposites of the final girls attitude, which is positive and enthusiastic.
GENDER:
Gender comes across strongly using binary opposites in our production. The scream queen and killer are binary opposites. The scream queen fits the stereotype of her role, as she is wearing a low cut vest top, and has long blonde hair. As well as this, she is emotional and weak which is signified by being the first victim out of the group. The killer is the binary opposite of this, because they portray no emotion. Although narrative enigma is used, it is still clear that there is an element of psychopathy revolving around the killer. The killer also portrays strength and power as he succeeds at killing the scream queen. As well as the killer, there are binary opposites between the scream queen and final girl. Carole Clover's theory of the final girl and feminism in slasher films explains how the final girl takes the lead role as she has more masculine attributes which are signified by her body being covered up. Our final girl follows this theory.
SEXUALITY:
To reinforce a normative representation to the audience, we chose for all the characters to be heterosexual. This is signified in our production with the scream queen and jock, by having them walk together at the back of the group and by having a photo of the couple on the background of the scream queens phone.
PHYSICAL ABILITY/DISABILITY:
In our production, again we are reinforcing a normative representation to the audience as all the characters are physically able. This was done because the group are walking in woods, so having a disabled character would have made the situation less realistic.
To reinforce a normative representation to the audience, we chose for all the characters to be heterosexual. This is signified in our production with the scream queen and jock, by having them walk together at the back of the group and by having a photo of the couple on the background of the scream queens phone.
PHYSICAL ABILITY/DISABILITY:
In our production, again we are reinforcing a normative representation to the audience as all the characters are physically able. This was done because the group are walking in woods, so having a disabled character would have made the situation less realistic.
REGIONAL IDENTITY:
Because our film is set in West Yorkshire, all the characters have a Yorkshire accent. They use typical teenage 'slang' language which attracts the target young adult audience. Because the production is set in Yorkshire, it is set in a very rural area to anchor the region.
SOCIAL CLASS AND STATUS:
All the characters in our production are of a working/middle class. They speak the same, and do not dress outrageously different to each other, so they do not look different enough to class them as a different social status. The target audience is also middle and working class, which helps the audience easily realte to the characters.
ETHNICITY:
All the characters are white British, so there is no cultural diversity. There are very few slasher films with a culturally diverse cast, however Prom Night (Nelson McCormick, 2008) challenges this.
Evaluation Q3 - Distribution
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
An indie, low-budget distributor would be ideal to distribute my film, as I myself am an indie low-budget filmmaker.
An indie, low-budget distributor would be ideal to distribute my film, as I myself am an indie low-budget filmmaker.
The UK's current leading independent film distributor is Entertainment Film, who are famous for their box-office hits of Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Saw, The Final Destination Franchise, Sex and the City and many more. Although this company does not specialize in the slasher genre, they are a good example of a British independent company who have had a huge impact and a great success rate in the industry.
Our film 'Camp Ivy' is an extremely low-budget film, in fact the budget is almost non-existent. By having an independent film company distribute our film, it would be affordable for both the company and ourselves. Many films fail to even come out of production, so having a large company distribute our film would simply fail, as the company would not be able to make a profit. Donkey Punch (Oliver Blackburn, 2008) was a low-budget film (£750,000) and took $18,000 in the US and £295,000 in the UK whilst in cinematic release. The distribution company for this film was Optimum Releasing. The company distributed over 200 films a year and were one of the most striking independent UK film distributors. In 2011, the French company StudioCanal bought Optimum and the company was renamed StudioCanalUK.
StudioCanalUK/Optimum Releasing would be an ideal distributor for our film, as they're used to working with low-budget films and often succeed in getting cinematic releases for fairly low-budget films, some examples that have had cinematic releases are Attack The Block (Joe Cornish, 2011) and The Awakening (Nick Murphy, 2011). Kill List (Ben Wheatley, 2011) is one of the most recent films distributed. The budget for this film was only £500,000, the total gross was $26,000 and most of the actors were un-known. This is similar to our production, in the sense we're using un-known actors on an extremely low budget.
Warp X is a distribution company based locally in Sheffield. They were also involved in the production and distribution of Donkey Punch. This company would also be an ideal distribution company for our film, as they distribute low-budget productions and help turn them into movies which gain cinematic releases throughout the world.
Warp X is a distribution company based locally in Sheffield. They were also involved in the production and distribution of Donkey Punch. This company would also be an ideal distribution company for our film, as they distribute low-budget productions and help turn them into movies which gain cinematic releases throughout the world.
Evaluation Q4 - Audience
Who would be the audience for your media product?
We researched the BBFC guidelines, which helped us to decide which audience would be easier to attract to our slasher. Because there are scenes of a violent nature in the opening, we decided that our target audience for Camp Ivy would be 15-24 year olds. We also chose to target our production towards a British audience. This is because the film is set in the North, and all the characters have a Yorkshire accent, so international audiences will be unlikely to understand some of the language used and will struggle to understand the accent. Global audiences tend to be attracted to British films set in the South of England, as the accent is clearer for them to understand and it is a more stereotypical representation of Britain. We expect our production would be more popular with an audience in the North of England, as they can relate to the accent and characters easier.
Many slasher films are known for being popular with teenage audiences, although many other age groups are interested in the genre too, and this genre is a popular genre throughout the world. Camping in rural areas is a popular activity amongst teenagers around the world, as there are no adults so they're effectively free to do what ever they like. Because of this, we feel the synopsis of a group of teenagers going out into some rural woods may attract a wider audience despite the accent barrier.
The secondary audience would be 18-34 year olds. Our production could be well recieved with this age group, as it is a popular genre amongst this age group too.
We researched the BBFC guidelines, which helped us to decide which audience would be easier to attract to our slasher. Because there are scenes of a violent nature in the opening, we decided that our target audience for Camp Ivy would be 15-24 year olds. We also chose to target our production towards a British audience. This is because the film is set in the North, and all the characters have a Yorkshire accent, so international audiences will be unlikely to understand some of the language used and will struggle to understand the accent. Global audiences tend to be attracted to British films set in the South of England, as the accent is clearer for them to understand and it is a more stereotypical representation of Britain. We expect our production would be more popular with an audience in the North of England, as they can relate to the accent and characters easier.
Many slasher films are known for being popular with teenage audiences, although many other age groups are interested in the genre too, and this genre is a popular genre throughout the world. Camping in rural areas is a popular activity amongst teenagers around the world, as there are no adults so they're effectively free to do what ever they like. Because of this, we feel the synopsis of a group of teenagers going out into some rural woods may attract a wider audience despite the accent barrier.
The secondary audience would be 18-34 year olds. Our production could be well recieved with this age group, as it is a popular genre amongst this age group too.
Wednesday 1 May 2013
Evaluation Q5 - Mode of Address
Mode of address: How did you attract/address your audience?
We used many techniques in our production to attract our audience:
Here is a link to my answer, completed using www.prezi.com.
http://prezi.com/lkyedrksgqrv/edit/#8_1237878
We used many techniques in our production to attract our audience:
Here is a link to my answer, completed using www.prezi.com.
http://prezi.com/lkyedrksgqrv/edit/#8_1237878
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