Evaluation Question 2- How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My media sequence represents social gender and age. The opening of my sequence shows a teenage girl sitting in her home at Christmas time, shown by a point of view. In the terms of using age, I wanted to use a teenage girl to play the most important role of my sequence to create stereotypical characteristics and also use her to focus on my films target audience. The point of view shot I used was to emphasise that this girl is being watched, but I did not want to give away who or what is watching her. Through the use of the point of view shots, I wanted to show the stereotypical view of the ‘Stalker’ watching a ‘Teenage Girl’, therefore the teenage girl is always the target of a horror film. My sequence shows that the girl being watched is in her later teens showing that my media product is showing representation of gender of a stereotypical character. My sequence also shows realism within the society, because girls are always the targets of stalkers in our society and I believe my sequence is a reflection of how society is today.

My horror sequence is a representation of a young woman being oblivious to her surroundings and unable to look after her well being because of being oblivious. The girl in my sequence portrays a stereotypical young innocent girl becoming the victim of a growing attack from a more dominant character, this creating appeal for the young audience as they may have recalled representations of the girl being dominated by another stronger person in society.

The shots in my sequence show the girl characters modern house, showing her social appearance in modern society. First of all, through camera shots they show the time of year of the film, Christmas. Christmas time being a time of happiness for families, our shots show the girl is alone, giving indication she has no family, or they are not home at this time. When filming i did not take into consideration of the costumes therefore I believe I could of made this better enabling me to portray the girls life, time of year a bit better. The location we used was also very good but i began to question if it was in fact too big to use, but I feel this is worked in favour now reviewing it.

Another aspect to represent dominance over the girl through another character is through editing. Throughout the sequence the girl is unaware of being watched therefore showing an indication of dominance already, as the stalker is always one step ahead. The point of view shots from the stalker last longer than shots of the girl showing another aspect of dominance as although the main focus is the girl in the shot, the main objective of the audience is wondering who this stalker actually is and why is he watching her. As the stalker gets closer to the girl frequent cuts are made to make the sequence jumpy, therefore showing how his dominance will come apparent once the girl realises she is being stalked, this showing more stereotypical views of the woman being weaker and helpless to the dominant stalker.

Evaluation Question 1- In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

My opening title sequence consists of many conventions of a typical Horror genre, one being my titles. My Titles have a smartly ragged look to them, this to reflect the film being edgy. My sequence opens with a title and therefore I wanted it to set the tone for the rest of the sequence. The font is red with a black background; the red giving indication that there will be danger in the film, also sign of blood, and the black to resemble my horror sequence being dark and not giving too much away to the audience, thus raising questions. Following the first title, the opening begins with point of view shots, focusing on a teenage girl (17 years old), in her home, being watched. Engaging with the audience is common throughout Horror sequences to draw their attention; I wanted to follow this in my sequence by putting my titles in places to break up the shots of the girl, indicating to the audience that they are missing certain scenes, which may be key to understanding the film more. The Idea and technique of using point of view shots for an opening came from the 1978 film Halloween, I believe the point f view shots engages and intrigues the audience to wanting to know who is watching, and why? The point of view shots also show the setting for most of the film, a big house. This also follows another convention as a young teenager living in a big house alone, the perfect setting for a horror to be set.

I then developed the conventions with the point of view shots, as I wanted to emphasise the fact this teenage is being watch very closely (stalking) by this person, who we do not know anything about. The points of views are to draw the audience more and more into the sequence, beginning to feel worried for the girl, who is completely oblivious to it. The girl is another convention of a horror sequence because the girl is always is the target of an attack and this is reflected through the point of view. This used in Halloween also.

Most conventions of a horror sequence begin their sequences very eerie and slow, with my sequence I wanted to show this in numerous ways, one being through my titles. When my titles appear they move ever so slightly every half a second to create a shaky movement, suddenly getting quicker, therefore showing how my titles control the pace of my sequence. From this platform I then complemented the music pace by the shots I used, especially for the point of view shots that I wanted to be jumpy and twisted, giving indication to the audience about this something watching the girl.

Through another convention of a typical horror sequence I chose not to have dialogue, this allowing my mise en scene to tell the story, also I didn’t want the dialogue to take the suspense away from the sequence therefore leaving it out as I felt it would take the edgy feel away and I didn’t want that. I also chose not to have any dialogue because I wanted the audience to focus on the setting of my sequence giving the audience various shots of where the film would be set and also focus on the main character, showing through her body language what is happening.

Another common convention of horror is the use of editing, editing of a horror sequence has various amount of shots been cut together to produce a sharp, quick pace sequence, one example of this being the opening of saw two, where lots of shots were produced and cut together so the sequence flows, but with lots of cuts of the various shots making the sequence fast paced. From watching I decided to do a similar technique by using various amounts of shots in my own sequence, I cut the shots together so they’re not lingering on the same shot for too long giving the sequence its pace to go with the music. I also used frequent cutting of the point of views to create a jumpy feel to the sequence, by cutting every half a second out and then placing the rest together created a jumpy, edgy feel to the sequence, also to engage the audience into the sequence and raising question to who or what it is watching this girl.

Scrooge- The finished Title sequence :)

This is my finished sequence which i am very happy with. i it couldn't of went and turned out better. i really enjoy all the different shots i used and angles, p.o.v's. So it is :).

Titles that shake and move....?

Over the last few days i've been arranging the titles into the mise enscene and making them break the shots up whilst also placing them in the places i think the titles are able to be showed off....... when putting in the title my teacher asked if i was doing anythink with them, itthen made me think of what to do to them and then a teacher suggested trying to make the titles jolt ever so slighty to give them an edgy uncertain feel to the audience. It got me experimenting and with in hours i got the hang of it and now i'm just in the process of finishing it but as the dealine ain't till a few weeks or so i might just keep tweaking it..... :)

Adding Titles

Titles are ready :) and i'm just adding them in now so i'm quite excited as the sequence will be close to the finish ..... the title are just the last bit and then everythings there to make the sequence complete..... :) Here are a few

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Titles...Make or Break.....

Today i'm just trying to make the titles fit into my sequence. When critiqued earlier last month i decided from then i needed to break up the shots and show less but enough for the audience to understand what is happening. Therefore i began to add the still titles. They looked really nice with my shots and i really was happy with them..... Everything is going to plan i just hope i can make it as good as i imagine it.................. HAPPY DAYS :)

Critique- Screening

Today our films were all screened to the class and we watch, critiqued and then gave advice on how to make them better. When it came to my sequence, all of the comments were very positive and most of the student said they was very impressed and enjoyed it. They enjoyed watching and said the sequence showed of the titles well and theywas used to break up the different shots.

Overall my sequence was a success through the classes views and comments and i was very pleased and it gave me the confidence to try and achieve more with the write up, it was a good day for me :)