The document summarizes a student's short horror film project. Some key points: - The film fits into the horror genre with a storyline involving a killer reflecting on past murders and approaching a homeless person to kill. - The killer is portrayed as a woman, challenging the typical male killer stereotype. - Represented social groups include young people shown through modern clothing, homeless people shown stereotypically, and both female victims and killers. - The intended audience is young adults aged 15-25, attracted through a young cast addressing modern issues.

1. Media Evaluation By Emily Lee

2. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? My film fits into the genres of Horror. One way this is shown is through the storyline, in the film a killer is shown reflecting on themselves and revealing themselves as a psychopath through flashbacks to a killing. They are then shown approaching a homeless person, which it is insinuated that they will murder. I have challenged the horror genre as I have female playing the killer character, However I purposely haven’t put her in a dress or skirt as she has a masculine trait of aggression which links to the killing. One way to improve my film would be to include some music to build suspense when finding out what the killer character actually did.

3. How does your media product represent particular social groups? One social group that is shown in the film is young people. They are shown as being modern through their clothing and hair styles. Another social group shown in the film is homeless people. In the outside scenes the homeless character is shown in a sleeping bag with a hat and fingerless gloves on. This quite stereotypical of homeless people. Another social group in the film is females. For one female character I have kept to the stereotypical idea of the girl being a victim by having them as the murdered character, however her killer is also a girl.

4. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why? My movie fits into the genre of Horror. A Horror distributor is Hammer films. They have released films such as Let Me In and The Resident which are both horror films. The companies first film was released in 1935 and the company has evolved with genre. Recently it released a film online titled Beyond The Rave, it was released on social networking site My Space which is popular with you people who was it’s target audience.

5. Peoples opinions of the film Click on each image to view the video The three people fit into the age demographic of my audience of young adults from 15- 25. They are giving their opinions on the film, how it can be improved and if they would watch it However these opinions aren’t completely representative as there is no male interviewee on the film.

6. Who would be the audience for your media product? In the past couple of decades the audience for Horror films have changed from Adults 20+ to young adults 15-25 of both genders. I have aimed the film at this age audience. This film would have a rating of 15, mainly for the violence. One way I have aimed this at young adults is through characters; all my characters are quite young which would appeal to the audience. Also the outfit of the main character shows her as physically being in touch with society whilst mentally she isn’t.

7. How did you attract/address your audience? One way I have attracted my audience is through having a young cast, this would appeal to the audience as they could relate to the characters. The film is set in modern times which would also be relatable to the audience. Also as the institution that would distribute this film released a film called Beyond The Rave on My Space which is a social networking site popular amongst teenagers, The film would be released there as it would be accessible by a teenage audience.

8. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product? From making this product I have learnt how to effectively use editing tools such as Windows Movie Maker. I have found out how to shorten and move clips around, how to add voiceovers/music and how to overlap clips to create a fading transition. I have also found out how to create different lighting effects as in my final film I have used a strobe light. For my filming I used a standard camera instead of a camcorder, on a tripod, by this I found it more difficult as I had to change lots of settings to get into a normal filming mode.

9. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product? An aspect I have kept from my preliminary task is continuity scenes involving moving through doors, as this links indoor and outdoor scenes which vary the locations in the film. From my preliminary task I found that everything was much easier if it was planned in more detail. I have also learnt that planning scenes around lighting is important to make sure that you can see what’s going on and that it reflects what is happening. I have done this in mine by using a strobe light during the killing scene.

10. Summary Lighting: In the film I used varied lighting effects. In the self revelation scenes I had bright lighting to illuminate the killers face so that all the emotion, or lack of emotion could be seen. During the killing scenes I used a strobe light. The flashes of the strobe made the video look distorted which was used to represent the mental state of the killer. In the outside scenes I used outside lighting in the form of street lights. The street lights didn’t allow much light which was intended to make the scene seem more eerie. Sound: One way I could improve my film is by adding more music, I did include music during the titles which was found from: http://freeplaymusic.com/ However I could have included music where there was no dialogue or voiceover so the scenes weren’t silent. Characters The main character challenged the normal idea of a male being the killer. This is effective because the female character is still as convincing as a male would have been. The secondary character of the homeless person is physically stereotypes, as they are shown in a sleeping bag with fingerless gloves and a hat. Effects An effect I used was Fake blood. I used it so that it was clear that the killing had taken place in case the audience were confused.

11. Editing In the film I have used different transitions. The main one I used was fade which I used to give continuity to my scenes. I have used some music at the beginning of the film in the titles, I used it to give an immediate sinister vibe which would carry on through the whole film. I have also included a voiceover in the self reflection scenes to give a voice to the character. I have put snippets of the killing scene in the film to break up the self reflection scene so that it didn’t drag on and become boring. I have put titles at the beginning of the film to introduce the actress and the name of the film. I have used a black background with white writing in a solid font to give a sinister feel, The title of the film; The Silsoe Slasher, flashes in the titles to make it seem chilling. Storyline The storyline for the film was typical of a Horror as it involved killing. However it had aspects of a thriller as the self reflection scene was included to make the audience understand the psychopath or how they justify their actions. The killing scene isn’t graphically shown so that the film would be given an 15 rating and could be seen by a 15+ audience.