My Evaluation AS Level Media Coursework

Evaluation
By Harry Garside
Media AS Level

Q1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products?
I analysed the se7en film
opening and looked closely at
the use of fonts, titles and
animation. The animation of the
titles were extremely effective
as the font flashed around the
frame. However, we did not use
this as it would’ve been
extremely difficult to replicate.
Nonetheless, we looked closely
at the typography rather than
the animation and took some
ideas from this.
Our plot as a whole is rather unique and diverse in the way that a young man is hiking
and comes across a caravan where he seeks warmth. Despite this, the caravan is a
rather disconsolate place and the abandoned location is conventional of horror. This is
because there is a sense of eeriness, also, the vulnerability of the young boy creates a
character exposition. In addition to this, the non-verbal language is vital in the clip as
the audience can see Darren’s reactions first-hand as he picks up the objects.
One idea we took from this
opening is the white font on a
rather dark, gloomy
background featuring low-key
lighting making it look
obtrusive and outstanding. In
our clip, we have incorporated
the white prominent font with a
black outline creating a 3D
effect.
Se7en research
Analysis of Plot

From our audience research, we
discovered that a young boy would be
one of the more conventional
characters to play the main role, this
is because of the exposed, vulnerable
connotations. We revolved the plot
around our flashbacks, as I
mentioned previously, the flashbacks
are very effective as it shows that the
caravan has an unknown past,
creating an enigma and creating a
sense of uneasiness.
Our sound is evidence of non-diegetic
sound, it is a rather upbeat, happy,
country song which is contradictory to
the mood of the clip which is murder
and gore. Our sound is very much
unconventional in these terms.
Nevertheless, as soon as Darren is
closes the door on the inside of the
caravan this non-diegetic sound stops.
This is when the diegetic sound comes
in, which has a more realistic, eerie
tone creating a sense of verisimilitude
when the flashbacks appear.
Stock characters Sound
The wood location was very
beneficial for our team, this is
because the forest/wood has
connotations of isolation and
loneliness which is conventional
of horror as a whole.
Location

Q1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms
and conventions of real media products?
The lead up to the discovery of the
caravan is conventional as it creates an
audience enigma as both the audience
and Darren are unaware of what is going
to be inside, this build-up of tension is
very effective. Our horror genre is
psychological and our effective use of
flashbacks are conventional of this sub-
genre. Nevertheless, the flashbacks are
extremely gory and unpleasant which is
also conventional of a slasher horror
genre. Therefore, one could argue that
our horror clip is a cross-over between a
psychological and a slasher horror.
As a group we are very pleased
with the footage we captured
on the Canon DSLR camera,
our clip features an array of
tracking shots, POV shots and
high/low angle shots. The POV
shots are conventional of
horror as the audience view the
action through the eyes of the
protagonist. In terms of our
titles, we took positioning into
consideration as it is vital to
have the titles at the forefront
of the frame. Evidence of
effective positioning is evident
in the tracking shot alongside
the caravan.
The tracking shots we used are also
conventional of horror, and contribute
to the professionalism of the clip. Our
editing is fast-paced and there is
evidence of continuity editing where
the action seems to be happening
very quickly which is typical of horror.
Analysis of Plot II/ Genre
Filming/Shots
Editing/Shots

Initially, we used a font named
‘Cold Night For Alligators’.
However, we felt that this
particular font was more
conventional of a slasher
horror film rather than a
psychological. Because of this,
we then decided against this
font, and used a more
ordinary yet effective font
which is associated more with
a psychological horror genre.
Typography
It was not long before our
final cut was aired, that
we decided on the font
above. A serif font that
looks more ordinary yet
effective.
Camera Angles
Many of our shots were similar to those
found in various other horror films. A
good example would be the tracking shot
along the objects, which adds to the old
context and overall atmosphere, as well
as the canted angle shot of the
cupboards which appears to be
disjointed and uncomfortable. The
majority of our shots were straight
forward with film productions in general,
including a variety of stills, low angled
and high angled shots and a POV.

Mise-en-scene
The props we used were very conventional in
psychological horror films. An example of this is
the mask we used. We took this idea from ‘The
Strangers’ (Bertino, 2008). Also, our choice of
iconography consisted of harmful objects which
are associated with a slow, painful death rather
than a quick death (i.e a shooting conventional
in a thriller genre). Below is an example of the
pliers that we utilized which are conventional of
horror.
Editing
Our editing contained several transition
sequences that are typical of horror. For
example, at the beginning, everything
seems to be normal and therefore the clip
does not contain any horror element. At
this point it is very slow-paced, yet as the
horror element is introduced mid-way
through, the fast-paced editing seems to
occur which is conventional of horror as it
has connotations of panic building up
tension and hysteria.
The use of our shot reverse shot is also vital in showing the
reaction shot, as in every horror movie the reaction shot provides
a basis for the way in which the audience follow the mood.

Q2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
In this clip, all that the audience can
see is a white young British male
(Darren) and an antagonist whom is
masked and anonymous in terms of
age, race and ethnicity. Despite this,
the audience can assume that this
antagonist is male due to the fact that
a male antagonist is typical of horror.
Because of this assumption, a binary
opposition is evident between Darren
and the antagonist, this binary is
sanity/insanity. I say this because
Darren is seen hiking through the
woods which shows him to be healthy
and very much sane, this is culturally
marked in society as it is what people
would expect/like to see.
On the other hand, through the
flashbacks, the audience can see the
disgusting nature of the antagonist’s
actions and the audience can infer that
the antagonist has mental health issues
and receives some sort of thrill from it.
The fact that the antagonist obtrusively
has problems in terms of his mental
health is conventional of horror. This is
because the antagonists in several
horror films have to be insane to murder
in that malice. Therefore, because of this
evaluation, a binary opposition of mental
health is present between Darren and
the antagonist.
Representation
Binary Opposition
Representation II

The young boy is shown
progressively in the text as he is
shown to be brave amidst the
severity of the situation. Despite
this, his reaction to the flashbacks
can be interpreted in one of two
ways. One of these ways is purely
shock, and one of which is
vulnerability, which is regressive in
the context of the situation.
Darren is depicted as being
simply a common, regular
young boy around the age of
16/17. He is also shown to be
hiking through the woods, on
a normal morning intimating
that he is again an ordinary
young man which has very
positive connotations.
Representation III
Representation IV

On the whole, if the view is taken that Darren is being brave considering
the situation, the connotations of bravery associated with Darren’s
character is a dominant ideology in terms of patriarchy as it shows men
to be less vulnerable than females, not only this, but the audience
expectation is for men to be unafraid in horror clips as a whole.
On the other hand, the antagonist (whom is
masked to create effectiveness in the
characters anonymity) has a powerful
weapon which is used at the end of the clip
to kill Darren, again showing his dominance
in the clip. Also, in the flashbacks, several
different, powerful weapons were used by
the antagonist to kill his victims which again
shows his power and authority.
At times in the clip, there are some shots that
depict Darren regressively in terms of status. This
includes the angle used to unveil the antagonist,
which shows him as having a larger presence and
more power. Furthermore, in terms of mise-en-
scene, the iconography is important when
discussing representation. Evidence of this is the
fact that Darren uses very few props if any, which
intimate that he is vulnerable in the situation.
Representation/Mise-en-scene
Representation V
Representation VI

Despite the negative connotations of females in terms of
the dominant ideology of male power in horror films, I
researched the final girl which counteracted this ideology.
The final girl was:
• smarter and more cautious than her friends; Clover
describes her as ‘intelligent, watchful, level-headed.
• morally pure and therefore does not get involved in
drinking, drug-taking or sexual activity.
• the first to recognize both the lack of morals in her peer
group and the potential threat of danger.
Females have a negative absence in this clip,
this is rather unconventional of horror as they
are shown to be stereotypically vulnerable.
There is no evidence of disability in this clip,
despite this, the insanity of the antagonist
could present a disability as the villain is in
many ways unable to normalise in society.
Female Absence The Final Girl

Q3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and
why?
Our film is most likely to secure a
deal with Vertigo UK Films. This is
because our film is extremely low-
budget; our equipment was
available to us, no A-Listers
featured and we had a very small
cast. As well as this, our location
was very accessible and the
majority of our costume/props were
previously owned. As well as this, our film could be shown at festivals, this would be an
effective promotional technique as obtrusively it will be presented to our
target demographic of 15-24. Furthermore, web 2.0 is another
determining factor in terms of adverting any film product.
Our film also utilized pro-filmic effects and contained no
animation. Vertigo UK Films are an independent film distributing
company whom have proved to be extremely successful in
terms of publicising and distributing low-budget films like ours.
Some of this success has transpired due to synergy with other
institutions creating and maximising audience exposure which
intrinsically creates a mass buzz, pre-release.
Distributing our film Vertigo UK Films

In terms of our film, we should take advantage
of social media sites such as twitter and
Facebook to maximise audience exposure. An
advantage of this is that our film would meet
our target demographic as they are the most
likely to be on social media sites. As well as
this, we can create a teaser campaign, which
will feature a 48 page printed advertisement
and a large poster. This is evidence of a
traditional ad campaign creating excitement
before the film is released.
Our film would be a platform release rather than
a blanket release. I say this because we could
therefore distribute our film in urban areas such
as Manchester to see if it initially creates interest.
If it is consequently creating media interest then
we could use this to present our film at cinemas
such as vue cinema and odeon. This has been
utilized by many other independent films to
maximise audience exposure and to create a
mass buzz pre-release.
Publicising our film
Distributing our film II

.
In my institutional context study of an
independent film, I researched
paranormal activity: an
American Supernatural Horror
Film written, co-produced,
photographed, edited, and directed
by Oren Peli. The film focuses on a Katie
and Micah, a young couple whom are
troubled by a ghostly existence in their
home. It is shown in the style of "Found
Footage", from cameras placed by Katie
and Micah whom try to document what
it is that is distressing them.
Furthermore, there were midnight
screenings pre-release in Los
Angeles and select college towns,
this generated unprecedented
amounts of demand at the studio
and at local theatres. Also, it took
advantage of social media sites,
including Twitter where the target
audience would tweet
@TweetYourScream.
Institutional Context Study Institutional Context
Study II

One of the most effective promotional techniques that
Paranormal Activity utilized was the idea of letting consumers
be the distribution chief. Therefore, fans nationwide were
able to literally demand by hitting a "Demand" button on its
website –so that the movie screen in their area.
The "Demand" ticker had
surpassed 860,000 by mid-
afternoon on the Friday, nearly
triple the amount of demands
logged 72 hours before, with
"Paranormal Activity" becoming a
constant trending topic on Twitter
during the midnight hour for many
consecutive weeknights. It reached
1 million demands not long after.
Institutional Context Study III
Institutional Context Study IV

Q4/Q5. Who would be the audience for your media product? How did you
attract/address your audience?
Throughout the process, we tested
our concept on our audience. This
featured our initial research in which
we tested our audience using a
questionnaire which featured a
series of closed and open questions.
From this initial research, we
discovered that an abandoned
location would be very effective, as
the majority of our audience stated
that it would be the most
conventional of horror.
We also used a 1-10 scale styled
question, in which the audience
circle the number they feel most
appropriate. For example:
This particular question was very useful as it gave us an idea as to the most conventional stock
character for our clip. From this question, we discovered that the character would definitely have to be
young and vulnerable, though the sex was a less important matter. Therefore, we came up with
Darren, a young, vulnerable male, conventional of horror. We also tested possible names in a fixed
question format.
Initial Audience Questionnaire
Initial Audience Questionnaire II

Our core audience is the 15-24 demographic, this
is because the horror genre is intrinsically aimed
at a younger audience as this age group enjoy the
gore and scares which are evident throughout. The
characters appeal to this target audience as
Darren fits in with the age demographic due to
being a young male around the age of 16/17. This
creates verisimilitude for the audience as they feel
that this could happen to them which creates an
enigma and a social currency.
Despite this, after choosing hysteria, we thought that
the name ‘the premonition’ was much more suited to
our piece. This is because the word premonition
means to see something before your eyes. Below you
can see the question we originally asked, however,
nearer the time, we realized hysteria didn’t really fit
with our piece, and premonition is far more suitable.
Target Audience Initial Audience Questionnaire III

From our audience testing many people
liked the use of our soundtrack, saying it
fits well with the visuals and the high
pitched, discordant sounds of the
flashbacks were very effective in creating
a sinister, scary feeling about the piece
which shocked audiences (this was the
effect we wanted to create).
Some people thought that a couple of
the shots looked a little bit shaky,
which did not fit as well with the piece
as it should. As soon as we received
this feedback, we tried very hard to
alter the graininess of the image and
change the colour to create a
contrasting look to the normal shots.
Audiences also thought our camera work
was excellent, especially the frequent short
and long tracking shots which revealed
various props as well as our protagonist in
the sequence. They also liked the use of
pull focus shots and canted angle shots,
saying it made the piece more professional
and more fitting to our thriller/horror genre.
One person thought that the
edited effects and composition of
the flashbacks did not look very
effective, that our group should
improve the look of these
flashbacks to make it more clear
and sinister.

Additionally, people thought our
location was perfect, saying the
caravans dingy, dull and abandoned
look created a more visceral
experience for most people and
believed that its small, confined
space actually contributed to build
enigma.
A few people thought the
continuity of our sequence could
be improved, saying that
providing more shots with
movement of our protagonist
should be added to make our
sequence just that little bit
better.
Another strength included the high
quality resolution of the picture and
audiences believed that this made
the sequence seem like an actual
film.
Also, some of our audience stated
that they were unsure as to
whether Darren should been killed
or whether we should have left it
as a mystery to build up a further
suspense.

They both felt that our flashbacks were extremely effective yet felt that we may have done more with the
sound in terms of a sound mix to build tension and create a sense of eeriness which is typical of horror
films. Overall, we were pleased with this response, though, as a group we were pleased with the
soundtrack we used. This is because we deliberately used the soundtrack to pose a contrast to the
general mood of the clip.
In this short video,
features two people
inside our age
demographic (15-24)
whom are
commenting on the
strengths and
weaknesses of our
clip after seeing our
final cut at the
advanced screening.
Vox-pop clip
Summary of Clip

Q4/Q5. Audience Final Cut Questionnaire Results
1. Did you understand
what was going on in the
opening?
In terms of our results for this first question,
we are very happy. I say this because out of
our 10 respondents, 6 said they understood
the plot completely and 4 said they
understood the plot mostly. This shows that
our plot is very coherent.
2. What genre would
you class this film as?
Again, we are very pleased with
these results. This is because 70%
of our respondents thought that it
was clearly a horror genre, which
shows that on the whole we have
succeeded creating a horror
opening.

4. Do you think that in the opening
the protagonist should’ve died?
6. On a scale of 1-10 how tense did you
find the opening? (1- being not tense
10- being very tense)
This chart shows that the majority of our
respondents thought that the protagonist
should’ve been killed, this is good for us as
we were unsure whether to not kill the
protagonist and leave a cliff-hanger.
We are pleased with the results from this
question as 60% felt that our clip was an 8+
out of 10 in terms of tension which shows
that our clip was effective in terms of building
up suspense.

9. How many flashbacks were there?
This question was more to see if our
audience were paying attention. As
there were indeed 5 flashbacks, it
shows that on the most-part, our
audience were paying attention
meaning the other answers will be
valid.
11. Do you think our use of font was
suitable?
This another encouraging result. I say this
because 80% of our respondents felt that
our font was suitable. Considering we
changed our font rather close to the
deadline, it was very pleasing to see this.

3. Which part of the opening could’ve been
improved?
For this question, we had a varied response.
Some stated that the sound could’ve been
improved in terms of a sound mix and others
stated that the build-up of tension could’ve been
enhanced. In our own opinion, we thought the
soundtrack was very effective as it created a
contrast to the general mood of the clip.
5. Was the opening generally entertaining? If
so..why?
Again, for this question, there were a wide
array of answers, some stated the soundtrack
made it entertaining, some said it was so
because of the diegetic sound. On the whole,
the most popular answer for this question was
the flashbacks.

7. Would you recommend the
film to others?
For this question, we was
looking for a fixed answer of
yes or no. Encouragingly,
100% of our respondents
stated that they would
recommend the film.
8. Did you understand the use
of flashbacks?
This was also a very
promising result, 90% of our
respondents understood the
use of flashbacks in our clip,
which was to evidently show
the caravan to have a past in
terms of murder and torture,
therefore this was a very
heartening result for us.

Q6.What have you learnt about technologies from the process of
constructing this product?
Using blogger for our
coursework is advantageous in
comparison with an A4
handwritten folder in many
ways. This includes the fact
that I can edit my work without
any difficulty, also, I can
suggest and share ideas with
my team to improve the quality
of our work. Also, it means that
we can have a more creative,
collaborative approach and it is
accessible for the whole group.
I have learnt how to use blogger successfully through this
process. I know how to import video, pictures and make
the post look generally attractive. The easiest way to
import videos onto the blog is from YouTube via the
button and search the video you would like to include.
Pictures can be included in a similar way using the
button and inserting the image from the file. Below is an
example of an imported video on our blog.
What have I learnt? Blogger

I have learnt to use various online software such
as freesound, blogger and premiere elements.
With freesound, it is extremely easy to import
into premiere. The main steps is downloading
the sound, saving it to the Data Disk, clicking
GetMedia in premiere and inserting the sound.
Once this has been imported, you can drag the
sound into the timeline in the soundtrack
section. Here are a few of the sounds we liked:
We had very few difficulties in terms of lighting
limitations. This is because in our shoots, we were very
fortunate that the weather was indistinguishable. Also,
inside the caravan, it is extremely dark anyway and
therefore, lighting was not a problem. The bigger problem
was the size of the caravan as it was extremely small and
therefore it was a challenge to manoeuvre the camera
around the scene successfully.
What have I learnt? II
Did we have any lighting limitations?
Some sounds we liked:

In our filming process, we was fortunate enough to
use a Canon DSLR camera. Because of this, the
quality of our shots looked much better than the
other cameras available to us. Also, we could utilize
the pull-focus to improve the quality of our shots, this
is evident in the shot where the focus is on the nail
and then switches focus to Darren as he walks closer.
The image above is the camera we
were fortunate enough to use. This
therefore meant that it had a higher
resolution and contributed further to
the professionalism of the clip. The
shot next to this is my favourite shot of
our piece as we utilized the pull-focus
successfully.
Filming Process

We faced another
challenge when
completing a
tracking shot inside
the caravan
because of the
small amount of
space we had to
position and move
the dolly along the
track. In my
opinion, we shot
really well inside
the caravan as it
was very difficult to
use the equipment
in a cramped space.
In previous shoots,
we had difficulty with
the track and dolly in
terms of the
steadiness of the
shot. This time
around, it was a
bigger challenge as
for two of the camera
shots, the track was
placed on uneven
grass. Therefore,
before we took the
shots, we removed
any woodland or
debris that would
cause a jolt in the
shot and managed to
shoot successfully.
Challenges IIChallenges I

Q7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel
you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
This is a short clip where we as a group discuss our progress from our original preliminary task to our
final product. We converse about these improvements in terms of planning, narrative, mise-en-scene,
plot and filming. We also talk about the strengths and weaknesses of our final piece.

My Evaluation AS Level Media Coursework

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