The document discusses how the author created a horror thriller film extract and evaluated it. They conducted surveys of their target age group to determine the genre. They created an online form for people to provide feedback after viewing the extract. The feedback was generally positive and provided suggestions for improvements. The author learned about using technologies like cameras, editing software, and adding sound effects to create the extract and represent the horror thriller genre.

1. MEDIA THRILLER
EVALUATION
QUESTION 5 - 6

2. How did you attract/address your audience?
In order to attract our audience, we made sure to do a survey with our
committed age group before we chose the theme and started filming.
From our survey, we found that teenagers wanted a new horror film
which they could go to the cinema to watch. This helped me to believe
that teenagers above the age of 15 would come to watch our film. We
also made sure to do a survey for both female and males, and therefore
we made sure that they would both be interested in this genre.
So, in order to fully evaluate our finished extract, it was important to gain as much feedback as possible. As part of the evaluation process, I
created a document on Google which everyone could fill in after watching our film. This had a range of different questions on, which
enabled me to find out peoples opinions on my film. After people watched our extract, they commented on it. One of our questions asked
what their favourite part was.
•‘The beginning of the film is the best because of the red room!’
•‘the end is my favourite because it is mysterious and I don’t know what’s happening next’
The feedback we got from the form was very complimentary and we found that many people enjoyed what we had done, although we did
ask what they thought could be improved.
•‘I think that the lighting could be improved as it changes. I also believe that the knife shots could be improved so you can actually see him
being stabbed, and perhaps a bit of a story behind why that happened.’
The people that watched our film were over the age of 16. This meant that we were able to identify that teenagers were watching our film
rather than younger children and older generations. From the feedback, we were able to see that all these people connected with the text.
However, I didn’t receive feedback from people 20+, and this meant that I was limited to which people enjoyed our extract. To get these
comments, I perhaps would have had to post it on ‘twitter’ or ‘facebook’.

3. From my research it was very apparent that a weapon and a killing happened within
every horror, and as our film was a horror thriller I was able to recognise that I needed to
have a killing within my film. The weapon we chose to use was a knife, one because this
was easier to get hold of, and also because we wanted something that everyone
recognises, and we also thought we could play around with the different shots of knifes
in order to make it look more mysterious, but also make it able to see what is going to
happen. It just seemed like it would make sense to have a knife apparent within the
opening sequence of ‘Till Death Do Us Part’. We decided to have a choice of different
knives on the table so that it was clear that the protagonist picked up the one that was
going to come across as the most painful. We had the lighting dark behind the knifes as
they can be related with horror and trouble and we decided if it was dark it would create
more of an effect on the audience of our horror thriller. Throughout the whole film, there
was reference to the knife, therefore making the audience anticipate what was going to
happen with the knife, and make them interested to find out when it was going to
happen, making them watch the rest of our film. It also kept the audience in knowledge
that it was a horror thriller.
This is a very specific shot, and is also one of the most important within our
film. The stop and zoom is used so that the audience knew that there was
something going to happen to the boy who was in the image. The picture
before hand the audience are able to see that there is a red cross through a
similar image, which could keep them guessing what happened or will
happen. We wanted to make sure that the audience knew that he was the
victim, and that the antagonist was victimising him, like she has to people in
the past. The shot could also reinforce the mental state of the women, as it is
mysterious as to why she has chosen these people in the past, or what they
have done or happened to her to make her do this within her everyday life.
We decided as a group to name our extract ‘Till Death Do Us Part’ as we thought it
didn’t fit in so much with the horror thriller genre, and would make people interested
as to why we decided this. We realise that this quote generally is said within a
wedding ceremony, and so it would help us to link the statement back to the killings
and why the women is acting in this way towards men. Weddings are also a very
well known thing in society, which would help the audience to raise questions and
ideas such as:
•Why does the women want to get revenge on just males?
•Is there going to be a romantic part in this film?
•Is there going to be fighting between individuals who once were in love?
We want to gain a reaction from this title, therefore reinforcing why we chose it, and
whether it fit into the film which we would have created if it was meant to be long.

4. In order to represent the horror thriller genre, we filmed the
same shot over again so that we were able to merge them
together and create one long continuous film.
The two shots on the right were cross dissolved together in the
editing stages. This was so that the audience understood that
it went into a different room, establishing the mise-en-scene in
the 2nd shot. We felt that this worked because it was like bring
the image to life, and therefore made the audience react
differently to if we had just switched the room in which we were
filming. The first shot is in the red room, where the protagonist
is hanging up images of her next victim. The 2nd shot is then
the victim in the room, which helps create a mise-en-scene.
The shot below is a shot of the radio in the red room. We
have this shot because it is different to the rest of the film
and also enables us to explain why the music is like that
during the beginning. It also gives a story behind the girl,
and maybe gives the audience an idea about her.

5. What have you learnt about technologies from the process
of constructing the product?
Throughout the preparation and filming stage, I engaged in editing processes, how to use a camera effectively so that I got the best shots
and how to upload different things onto the blog, such as slideshows, voice recordings, videos and music.
The horror thriller opening is completely different to the continuity task in which we created and planned before we started planning and
filming for the thriller opening. By doing the continuity task, I was able to familiarise myself with the camera and tripod, and also the
computer technology and software which we needed to use to edit the clips which we had filmed. I learnt how to use the camera
effectively in order to capture a range of shots, and I also learnt that lighting was a major part in the aesthetics of the image. Despite
this, we didn't have any expensive lighting equipment and therefore had to use lamps or natural light depending on the time of day.
During our planning process, we had to make an animatic. We drew a storyboard, and then took pictures of each section of the
storyboard with our digital camera. After doing this, we were able to put the images into Premier Pro and create them into a video
sequence. This enabled me to become familiar with Premier Pro and the editing technique which we would need to use. By doing this, we
were able to focus on other areas of the key concepts, such as camera shots and angles and the editing. At the time, I didn’t realise how
important it was to know exactly how long each shot was going to be, which I now realise after filming is more important that it looks. We
played around with the shots and the transactions, so that we knew what they looked like when it came to editing our final piece.

6. As well as using the digital camera to take images, I learnt how to
use the video camera and the tripod effectively for the actual filming
of our horror thriller. From the continuity task to the opening, I feel
that I have learnt how to use the video camera in a much more
effective way, therefore being able to create a variety of shots and
angles. Whilst filming the continuity task, I found I was unable to
hold a steady shot, which is why I am proud that whilst filming my
horror thriller, I was able to do this effectively for a significant period
of time. I was also able to recognise which would be the most
appropriate shots for the different actions which our actors were
doing.
Before taking filming our final piece, we decided that we needed to
play around with the camera in order to get the final shot that we
needed. We decided we wanted a zoom within the red room, and
although we did do this in our continuity task, we wanted to see if we
could achieve a cleaner shot. Therefore, we decided to do practise
shots within the red room before we filmed, so we could make
ourselves familiar with the camera uses.
During the filming for our thriller opening, we also decided to use voice recorders, both for
surveys so that we were able to have audience feedback, and also in our actual thriller
opening so that we could hear the males voice when the antagonist went to stab him.
This helped us to put diagetic sound into our piece, meaning that the audience would be
able to follow a bit more.
We also used the internet in order to get music. This meant that we were able to get
people to follow along to the extract more than if they were watching it. As our group
decided we didn’t want much sound, we wanted music in order to tell the story for
us, rather than having speaking. I felt this worked well, even though it was sometimes