Unfinished Research PowerPoint for FMP

1. Research
Jack Hickman

2. Existing Product
Short Film 1

3. Existing Product
Short Film 1-Plot
The short film that I am analyzing is titled Roommates. It is a comedy/Horror Short film about a guy who moves into a
new house with two other people. The guy who is moving in to the house instantly gets suspicious of one of the
roommates who states that “I will murder your entire family”. Shocked at this, the newcomer is repelled by what he just
says and impulsively asks him to repeat himself but, the other roommate tells him that he wanted to take him too his
room. The second scene starts at night when the new Roommate, who I will now name the protagonist, is sleeping in his
bed but, is immediately awakened by the sound and then the view of his door closing which, scares him. The third scene
has the protagonist walking into the kitchen greeting his fellow roommates but, is shocked to see that the guy who had
supposedly threatened him earlier is eating spaghetti hoops at the table which he mistakes for blood. This causes the
protagonist to run off which grabs the attention of the other roommate who wonders what his problem is before adding
ketchup to his cereal. The next scene that follows is where the protagonist is coming home after a venture that hasn’t
being described in the short film and meets the guy that he is paranoid of carrying a bin bag out the front door. They
both greet each other and the guy asks the protagonist for some help with carrying the bin bag however, the protagonist
believes that the bin bag has a body in it and proceeds to run away stating “you got a body”. The guy is left standing
there on his own but, he takes the comment as a compliment and proceeds to take out some floats used in a swimming
pool and walks off with them. The next scene has the protagonist drag the other roommate into his room and they begin
to discuss how bad the suspicious roommate has gotten and the roommate agrees and is surprised that the protagonist
had noticed it too. The roommate tells the protagonist that they will discuss this more in the morning and that they
should get some rest. The protagonist agrees and falls in to bed. The following scene takes place later at night where the
protagonist is sleeping in bed and the roommate he is on friendly terms with is lying down next to his bed texting his
friend who calls ‘dibs’ on his kidney following up with the close up of the roommates creepy smile as he stares directly at
the viewer. The film ends with a shot of the side of the house and the same guys greeting a new roommate however, it is
unknown if the protagonist is there as the shot is to the side of the house where you can barely see the feet but, it is
made out to be a new victim for the duo.

4. Existing Product
Short Film 1-AnalysisNow I will break down a few scenes in this short film and study what it all means. The first scene starts off by using an establishing shot of the house which is used to set up the location for the short film and to
tell the audience where the short film will be taking place. This scene also classifies as a long shot as well due to the full character being in shot as well as his surroundings. The backing track is rather eerie which
gives the audience the impression that the house is not a safe place for the characters and instantly makes the audience feel a small amount of tension during the scene and this build up into the next scene. The
eerie music and the look of the house contrast each other as the house looks very welcoming and safe yet the music applies tension and a sense of paranoia. This is effective because it makes the audience
paranoid of an ordinary house and this can carry over as an after effect after the film has ended. The connotations of this scene are that the neighbourhood is boring in the sense that nothing interesting happens
here and the viewers wouldn’t see what was wrong from first glance which, seems to be a major part of the horror for this short film. The level of ‘normal’ here makes it seem impossible for anything strange or
horrifying to happen in these areas and it also makes the viewer intrigued as to how the events of the short film unfold and perhaps, how the community in the short film react to it if they are shown in the film at
all. The denotations of this scene is that it is just simply a middle class neighbourhood where people of average income live and an area that isn’t harsh or violent which contrasts the violent nature of the short
film. The denotations of the colour that this short film uses are light colours and these are white, beige and green colours which are especially bright and almost repel the idea of something bad happening in this
neighbourhood and gives a warm and welcoming impression to the audience whereas the connotations of the colour used in this scene show a pure and innocent neighbourhood due to the colour white which
represents purity and beige represents relaxation, calmness and neutrality however, according to Plutchicks wheel of emotion, green represents apprehension, terror and fear which foreshadows the horrible
occurrences that happen in this house. There is only one prop in this scene and it is the suitcase that the protagonist is carrying to the house which immediately suggests that the character is moving into this
house or is coming back from a trip which is later revealed to be him just moving in. The colour of the suitcase is red and the connotations of this colour are rage, strength, power, blood war and lust which don’t
really match the film other than blood which goes with the horror theme of the film and foreshadows possible danger. The colour also draws attention down to the suitcase and character as red is a danger colour
and stands out more than the other colours in the light spectrum. The Character is placed at the foot of the shot which makes him seem quite small in this mise-en scene as it tries to infer that the character is
weak and powerless which adds up when you take the plot of the film into account. It also makes the house look big as it covers a huge degree of the frame and it towers over the character. The clothing in this
scene is casual and light which shows the audience that the character is just an average guy and his lack of layers show that it must be fairly warm as he is walking around with just a T-shirt, trousers and shoes.
The colours on his clothing are red which again, represents blood which can foreshadow some of the things to come while also drawing attention to the character due to red being a colour that stands out from
the others. The lighting in this scene is also fairly light as it utilizes ambient light from the sun to lighten up the set and connotes to feelings of warmth and happiness even if this wasn’t the filmmakers intentions.
The composition in this scene is symmetrical as the buildings are relatively similar and have an equal amount of colour, depth and light. This is used to make the viewer feel comfortable and relaxed and adds to
the blandness of the scene as symmetrical composition is used for a more visually relaxing experience rather than an action oriented one. This type of composition does not attempt to get emotions from people
and treats itself as an ordinary and boring composition while also repeating colours and themes; these are blandness, warmth and innocence. The post-production to this scene include the addition of music and
a filter that has being placed over the part where the character is walking up the stairs to the front door as the edges of the shot are blurred over to draw more attention to the character. I find this particular edit
pointless as the red already draws the audience in and considering that he fills up quite a big part of the screen already, the director is already drawing in the attention to the character.
The second scene that I will talk about is the scene where the protagonist enters the kitchen during breakfast and mistakes the spaghetti hoops for blood. This scene again starts off with an establishing shot of
the house which I have already broken down. It follows with a medium shot of the protagonist and the roommate that he finds suspicious together after the protagonist enters the kitchen. The third shot is a
medium shot that zooms into a close up of the protagonists face followed by a close up of the spaghetti hoops that are being eaten. The rest of the subsequent shots are of close ups of the suspicious roommate
and the protagonists reaction but in slow motion which is being used to emphasize the horror of the scene that is unfolding before the protagonists eyes. The next shot is a medium shot of the other roommate
and the suspicious roommate entering the room wondering “what his problem is” and this is followed of a close up of him using ketchup in his cereal. The backing track for this scene is again, very eerie and tries
to create fear and suspense. This again contrasts the light colours and themes that are shown in the scene as, there a lot of light colours that this short film uses in this scene so, the music seems to mainly act as a
way to tell the audience that the film is a horror even though the scene is very comedic as if comedic music was used, the audience wouldn’t feel any tension or suspicion and just find the scene funny however, it
could also be said that the eerie music been used in this scene is actually being used for comedic effect as the scene itself doesn’t apply tension due to how the character reacts to something that is clearly a bowl
of spaghetti hoops so, the scene tries to use the contrast between the two to create comedy. The colours used in this scene are beige, brown, orange, white and red. The connotations of the colour beige are
again, relaxation, calmness and neutrality which represent how normal the neighbourhood/room is and tries to push a sense a sense of relaxation onto the audience. The connotation of the colour brown is
security, home, stability and honesty to list a few and this represents the plot very well because the house to the audience and the character appears to be secure and safe as well as stable but, the other
characters represent honesty as the unsuspicious roommate is unable to come forward and be honest about the work he does behind the protagonists back and this may count for the the character that the
protagonist finds suspicious as he also doesn't come forward about it either, if he is involved in it that is. The connotations of the colour orange is happiness, enthusiasm and creativity to name a few but, none of
them really go with the plot of the movie but, they can represent the emotions a comedy film tries to make its audience feel as orange is often shown to be a combination of reds energy and yellows happiness
which are all factors in a comedy film but, according to Plutchicks wheel of emotion, orange represents anticipation and vigilance which definitely connotes to the main character as he anticipates the worst in any
situation and is vigilant to prevent his own death which ironically, he is unable to prevent; possibly? Considering that the character is holding an orange toothbrush, this most certainly represents him. The
connotations of red are again rage, strength and power which represents

5. Existing Product
Short Film 2

6. Existing Product

7. Existing Product

8. Existing Product

9. Existing Product

10. Existing Product

11. Existing Product

12. Research Analysis
• What common features do the researched
products have?
• What aspects of the research will you include
within your own production work?

13. Questionnaire Analysis

14. Audience research
• Observation:
• What this says about my audience:
• How will your product appeal to this audience:

15. Audience research
• Observation:
• What this says about my audience:
• How will your product appeal to this audience:

16. Audience research
• Observation:
• What this says about my audience:
• How will your product appeal to this audience:

17. Audience research
• Observation:
• What this says about my audience:
• How will your product appeal to this audience:

18. Audience research
• Observation:
• What this says about my audience:
• How will your product appeal to this audience:

19. Audience research
• Observation:
• What this says about my audience:
• How will your product appeal to this audience:

20. Audience research
• Observation:
• What this says about my audience:
• How will your product appeal to this audience:

21. Audience research
• Observation:
• What this says about my audience:
• How will your product appeal to this audience:

22. Audience research
• Observation:
• What this says about my audience:
• How will your product appeal to this audience:

23. Audience research
• Observation:
• What this says about my audience:
• How will your product appeal to this audience:

24. Interviews

25. Interview 1
• Do you think short films can use two genres and still be effective at teaching their meaning. Why?
- Definitely, if you are creative enough even though this will need a lot of planning. If you are combining two basic
genres like for instance a romantic comedy. Those genres fit well together and have some relation making it easier to
combine however making a sci-fi western, it would be very difficult since a western is mostly related to the past
contrasting with the science fiction.
• What comedy/horror film do you enjoy the most and why?
- I enjoy Shaun of the dead as its more of an adapted zombie film rather than a parody. They still have well developed
characters as well as having emotional scenes. The comedy on the other hand is perfect as its always pulled off at the
right moments such as the clumsy action sequences and relatable stupid questions about zombies.
• Do you prefer basic and easy to understand slasher films or do you prefer slasher films that are more mysterious
and require more thinking and why?
- I think having a mix of both would be perfect as it’s a call back to classics while adding your own mysterious twist
would make it unique.
• How do you feel about plot twists and why?
- I think plot twist should be done right to make the audience genuinely surprised. One good way of an effective twist is
to foreshadow the twist before hand but with as much subtlety as possible.
• Do you think that the short film needs to have loads of blood and gore or do you think that it should be more
strict with the blood and why?
- Many people would say gore isn't necessary however there are many uses of gore. A first basic reason is that it would
be realistic and can be genuinely scary however you make gore artistic. For example in kill bill they have the blood
exaggeratedly squirt making an entertaining scene.

26. Interview 1
• Observation:
• What this says about my audience:
• How will your product appeal to this
audience:

27. Interview 2
• Do you think short films can use two genres and still be effective at teaching their meaning. Why?
- Yes I think that short films can include two genres and still be effective at putting their meaning across
because as the two genres merge together the film will become more in depth in its meaning which will
make the viewer think about what he is watching and why something is happening
• What comedy/horror film do you enjoy the most and why?
-Zombieland, because the characters fit in well with the post apocalyptic world. They all have their
personal stories involved throughout the film and they are so different in their personality that the film
becomes funny. Also, ZOMBIES!
• Do you prefer basic and easy to understand slasher films or do you prefer slasher films that are
more mysterious and require more thinking and why?
-More mysterious slasher films because I like to have that thought process about what’s going on and
what is about to happen as it creates suspense which stimulates the brain.
• How do you feel about plot twists and why?
- I hate most plot twists, because usually it turns out to be stupid and pointless and contradicts the
obvious.
• Do you think that the short film needs to have loads of blood and gore or do you think that it
should be more strict with the blood and why?
-it depends on the type of short film, if it is a horror where people are murdered then yes it should have
a lot of blood and a scene where people are getting killed. However if it is a horror that is full of jump
scares and no deaths then no, I don’t think it is necessary to have a lot of blood involved as it wouldn’t
be a part of the main story at all.

28. Interview 2
• Observation:
• What this says about my audience:
• How will your product appeal to this
audience:

29. Interview 3
• Do you think short films can use two genres and still be effective at teaching their meaning. Why?
-I agree that a film can use multiple genres to convey a message while also being subtle and progress
the story. I enjoy films that combine elements of horror and comedy to make a witty and engaging film.
• What comedy/horror film do you enjoy the most and why?
-my favourite comedy of all time is between the cornetto trilogy of Shawn of the dead, Hot Fuzz and at
worlds end. They blend horror and comedy together so that neither overpower each other with clever
use of timing and cinematography.
• Do you prefer basic and easy to understand slasher films or do you prefer slasher films that are
more mysterious and require more thinking and why?
-I enjoy both types of films on different occasions however I tend to prefer more mysterious films as
they leave more up to be interpreted and keep me engaged.
• How do you feel about plot twists and why?
-I like a film to have a plot twist that is not obvious but is not too obscene to break the tension. If there
are too many plot twists or the script is too confusing it will damage the overall film.
• Do you think that the short film needs to have loads of blood and gore or do you think that it
should be more strict with the blood and why?
-I think that more blood and gore is good for a short film because it adds an element of shock to the film
that a short film cannot build up like in a full feature film with character progression and tension as
much.

30. Interview 3
• Observation:
• What this says about my audience:
• How will your product appeal to this
audience:

31. Interview 4
• Do you think short films can use two genres and still be effective at teaching their meaning. Why?
- Absolutely, I think often times short films benefit from utilizing multiple genres as they can draw in a
bigger audience and convey more meaning through different devices.
• What comedy/horror film do you enjoy the most and why?
-I enjoy ’Shaun of the dead’ as the overall horror theme is well designed however the underlying
humour used makes for good entertainment.
• Do you prefer basic and easy to understand slasher films or do you prefer slasher films that are
more mysterious and require more thinking and why?
-I prefer movies that require a bit more thinking as you get to figure out why certain things happened
making it more of a fun experience and also much more memorable.
• How do you feel about plot twists and why?
- I like plot twists, spending time to give the audience one idea of something and then at the last minute
changing the whole dynamic of the film is difficult to do, but when it is done well it makes the viewer
remember the film more and often adds to the enjoyment and entertainment of the film.
• Do you think that the short film needs to have loads of blood and gore or do you think that it
should be more strict with the blood and why?
-I think it is down to the person making the film, personally I don’t think you need to be strict with
blood, however the film shouldn’t be gory for the sake of being gory. But rather have a valid reason to
be gory.

32. Interview 4
• Observation:
• What this says about my audience:
• How will your product appeal to this
audience:

33. Interview 5
• Do you think short films can use two genres and still be effective at
teaching their meaning. Why?
-
• What comedy/horror film do you enjoy the most and why?
-
• Do you prefer basic and easy to understand slasher films or do you prefer
slasher films that are more mysterious and require more thinking and
why?
-
• How do you feel about plot twists and why?
-
• Do you think that the short film needs to have loads of blood and gore or
do you think that it should be more strict with the blood and why?
-

34. Interview 5
• Observation:
• What this says about my audience:
• How will your product appeal to this
audience:

35. Product Development Based on
Interviews

36. Bibliography

37. Bibliography
1. Your, Name. (2018) Target Audience Research Survey (conducted on
DATE)
2. Interviewees, Name. (2018) Target Audience Interviews (conducted on
DATE)