The document provides an analysis of a student film project that used conventions of horror and spoof movies. It examines the representation of teenagers as criminals in media and how the film aims to attract a teenage audience. The student learned how to use iMovie for editing footage, adding sound effects, and organizing clips according to the storyboard to create an effective horror/spoof film.

1. Media Film Evaluation By Emily Cox 12PP

2. The use of forms and conventions of real media products We have used more conventions of horror movies than of spoofs. This is because we decided it was better if we focused more on creating the illusion that the film would be genuinely scary but then alter after the title appears and become very humorous which was why we decided to have the killer playing in the playground at the end for the closing clip to juxtapose with the rest of the film. Also we have the ‘killer’ playing the game ‘It’ with the victim, this is a code of a spoof, because the audience thinks the ‘killer’ is chasing her with a knife to kill her however we see that this is not the case and it is all a game. The location was very conventional as it was set in a forest, which is isolated and far from lots of people. It creates an eerie spine-chilling atmosphere. Another convention is that the ’killer’ was wearing black and not very visible, this highlighted that he was a character that the audience should be weary of and these are all conventions of the villain.

3. Representation of particular social groups The ‘killer’ is a teenager who is holding a knife and wearing a hood. This demonstrates the dominant representation of teenagers in the British media. The dominant representation of teenagers is that they are involved with crime and because of this teenagers can be judged due to the majority of media texts representing teenagers in a negative light this can cause the audience to have a negative opinion of teenagers. The fact that he is wearing a hood, portrays teenagers as “thugs” this can be quite frightening to other people because their faces are concealed this suggests that they have something hide and most are afraid of the unknown which make this more effective in horror movies.

4. Media institutions that are likely to distribute our media product Most media institutions would distribute our media product because ‘teenagers’ are a large demographic, this would mean that the media product might obtain a lot of profit because the larger the target audience the more people that will want to watch it.

5. The audience for our product Our product is aimed at teenagers because we feel that teenagers are the main age group that would be most likely to watch a horror/spoof. Also because we have a dominant representation that is close to a stereotype of teenagers, we feel that teenagers find it easier to accept the stereotype of themselves and not get offended by it as much as other people would. We can see this through certain media texts such as ‘skins’. Also our demographic is people who like horror/spoofs. As it is not only teenagers who watch them however the majority are, therefore it is easier to aim the product at a wider audience with similar likes than a small audience with different likes.

6. Addressing and attracting the audience We addressed the audience by incorporating a ‘scary story’ which let the audience know what was going on instead of skipping to a scene where a victim gets killed. We addressed the audiences expectations of horrors because they expected music that set the tone of the story and the atmosphere of the scene it is also used to create tension. We use the sound of a heartbeat during the chase scene which created the sense of panic of the victim this gives the audience an incite into how the character is feeling.

7. What have I learnt about technologies? I have learnt how to use Imovie because I have never used it before. In addition to this is discovered how to edit the media product so it had effective transitions and the right sounds for intance adding heartbeats and wind sounds. I learnt how to cut the clips so that we got the parts that we needed and organised them according to our storyboard. Also I learnt how to upload the clips from the camera. I felt that because I hadn’t used imovie before that it was a good chance for me to learn how to use and edit the camera. I felt that the film turned out really well. The ghost trails in the last clip of the film created a ghostly atmosphere and worked really well.

8. What have I learnt in the progression of the preliminary task to the full product? I have learnt how to edit and add sounds. The full product involved a lot of editing whereas we filmed the preliminary and hardly needed to edit it at all because we felt we used the camera shots effectively enough. We learnt how to plan our product and make full use of our time and efforts by creating a storyboard.