Our Final Sequence!

Our Final Sequence!

CCR Task 4

 "How did you integrate technologies - software,

hardware and online - in this project?" - Click on picture 

CCR Task 4

 "How did you integrate technologies - software,

hardware and online - in this project?" - Click on picture 

CCR Task 3

"How did your production skills improve 

throughout this project" (Click on picture)

CCR Task 3

"How did your production skills improve 

throughout this project" (Click on picture)

CCR Task 2

"How does your product engage with audiences and

 how would it be distributed as a real media text?"

Target Audience
Our main target audience that we wanted to pitch to for our film was mainly teenagers to young adults, possibly ages 15-30. Both men and women could easily watch it and enjoy it the same. We would mainly be pitching it to people who enjoy adrenaline and the rush that comes with horror movies and slashers, as well as younger children who are in school/high school in western cultures so they can relate to the main characters in the movie, as they would be teenagers as well. Our target audience now has a slightly less age range than I had previously thought before, but I feel it is more realistic. Overall though we have mainly kept to this previous idea of the target audience, which I think is good.

Link to blog post about target audience

6 moments that would appeal to our target audience:

One moment I think appeals to the audience is right at the start from the first shot of the boy sitting on the sofa alone. There is darkness around him which conveys the fact he is alone, meaning there is isolation of the boy so no-one would be able to help the boy. Isolation is a key convention of horror films that adds the sense of no help from others, therefore more vulnerability for both the character and the audience. The fact we also used a young, teenage actor as the character helps amplify this idea of vulnerability compared to an older, and stronger killer. This sort of idea happens in a lot of other popular horror movies, such as scream. 

By using the ghost TV show, this already sets up the type of horror film that we are producing. This moment, therefore, introduces the "haunted" house that is going to be a recurring feature in the overall film. The TV presenters add a slight comedic relief to the film, which gives the sense that everything will be ok, and therefore creates a false sense of security for the audience that causes them to watch further and question whether everything really is safe. 

One other moment of our sequence I think is when we first see the boy from behind him, which resembles someone watching him from behind. because the camera is made to be so close to him this indicates a very close space that he is in, creating a claustrophobic element to the scene which adds to the horror conventions. I think the audience would enjoy this because this moment is the moment we realise there is something else happening that is not so innocent. This then helps strengthen the idea of isolation for the boy because we can also see the rest of the room, and see that there is no-one else there with him to help him from the danger he is in. 

In addition to this, I think another moment would be when there is pleonastic diegetic, sinister music that starts playing halfway through the sequence. We made sure this music starts playing at the same time as when the TV presenters going down into the basement of the house on the TV show. This then shows a link and connection from the TV show where there is tension starting in both the show and outside of it. The music helps create tension and an ominous atmosphere, which then builds adrenaline in the audience which they should enjoy. This then also causes the audience to want to watch further to see what is going to happen to the boy, even though they can already guess that it won't be good. 

I would say the TV going static is also another good moment. We do not see the character do anything to the TV himself, so therefore something else must have done it instead, adding more sense of mystery with the audience wondering what and where is the person or thing that has done this. The music carries on playing through this ending scene of the sequence, meaning the music was not just apart of the TV show, showing something sinister is about to occur, leaving the audience wondering what that would be. The TV going static then causes the boy to get up and kneel in front of the TV, leaving him in a vulnerable position because he cannot see what is behind him, and also nowhere to run to because of how small and claustrophobic the room this scene is set in is. This was also seen in opening scene in Friday the 13th, of which we took some inspiration from. 

One final moment I think appeals is the ending, where it is left on a cliffhanger, especially with leaving the mystery of who the murderer is. We cut off the video before we see the boy being stabbed, however we can tell it has happened from the action of the mysterious figure lunging towards the boy with the knife in his hand. especially through the silence at the end with only the TV static shows the boy did not have time to think about what was happening and so we did not hear the scream from him. 

I think we were quite successful in engaging our target audience, however I think we could have possibly have made it slightly shorter to add more tension, and therefore have the music starting quieter and then having it creep in by making the music get louder over time more gradually, to create more of a sinister atmosphere and the idea that the killer was slowly creeping into the house. 

POSTER:

Poster explanation:

The main image of the poster is a knife and a hand holding it, we cannot see the person's face, referencing to the mystery of the killer in the opening sequence. We chose the age certificate 15, although people who are young could also watch it. This is because we felt the themes of the movie would fit the criteria, for example violence and gore however not many sexual scenes, therefore a 15 would be appropriate. There is the main cast of the movie at the top of the poster and the title of the film, with the director and studio, at the bottom to separate the two, and a quote from the movie at the bottom as a tag line, and to also further indicate the type of movie this will be, which is horror slasher with some paranormal attributes, much like Friday the 13th. 

Annotation:

I would want Warner bros. to distribute our film because they have distributed some of the most famous horror films to date, such as Friday 13th, the shining, IT and the conjuring. Therefore the studio could help and give us more of a chance to get our movie out there into the world and give it a big name.

We could send our film to shudder because it is a horror specific streaming platform meaning we can get that niche target audience that we are aiming for watching our film. We could also maybe try to get in touch with ITV and film 4 because they both include independent films and include horror films and try to show them on their channels, and they are also two of Britain's most popular free streaming channels. Netflix is also a possibility, as they include quite a few horror films on their platform such as the nun, the conjuring, and many other well known films that have done very well, as well as having a whole horror genre that is very popular on their platform. One other company which is not as well known but could be a possibility I believe is ghost house pictures. they released poltergeist, one of the most well known horror movies to date.