Bitter Revenge Final Movie

Evaluation

EVALUATION:

Question 1- in what ways your media product use does, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products (MUST REFER TO FILM, POSTER AND RADIO TRAILER)

FILM
HORROR GENRE CONVENTIONS WE USED:
        We incorporated a scary location to set an intense mood and atmosphere in our horror film by setting the scene in a graveyard where the area is surrounded by trees, forest and nature. We used a typical setting of a forestry area for a horror film as this is what immediately sets the scene and lets the audience know it is a scary movie and they are in for a fright. We also changed the camera settings by changing the colour of the picture in order to make it mistier and grungy looking.
        We also incorporate bathes enigma code in our horror film towards the end where our film ends in a surprising twist. This is because at the end the innocent girl “Inayah” is arrested for the plotted murder of the villain “Nailah” created. This makes Inayah look like the murderer to the police, and this surprising twist drives suspense, tension and excitement for the audience as they are keen to find out what will happen and if the truth will come out. We also used an enigma code when Inayah leaves her friends to investigate where the unknown non diegetic sounds are coming from. She disappears into the darkness, not returning making the audience full of anxiety and intrigued to find out what will happen to her. An enigma code is a vital convention used in horror movies in order to create an active audience where the audience become excited and react to what is happening as well as excite them into watching further.
        We used the horror convention of having a clear villain and victim in or film (Levi Strauss binary opposition theory) as having a clear villain and victim in a horror film drives the film to make it more problematic as we see how the villain always is out to get the victim which is causes the audience to become panicky and full of suspense.
        From analysing existing products such as Annabelle we decided to use the horror film convention of incorporating a scary prop into our film. The film Anabelle gave us the idea to use a creepy doll to connote death and danger. Moreover, because our film is in the sub-genre of child horror a doll used would fit perfectly as young girls are associated with dolls as creepy and weird things start happening with dolls.
        Moreover, by analysing the film Annabelle, we realised that the film plays concentrates largely on portraying constant focus on the doll as they used a deep focus when filming the doll so the audience realise how the doll is dangerous. This is when we discovered the idea of using the doll as key message and motif in our film to illustrate revenge. This is why we filmed bits where it looked like the doll was getting closer and closer to attack. We placed the doll in different positions in the tree in the forest and edited it to make it look like its emerging giving it a fearful effect.
        By analysing existing products such as the child horror film called Orphan, we saw how this movie focused on the young girl called “Esther” who ends up killing anyone and everyone that got in her way. The character was portrayed as very evil and devil like as she used weapons to murder each character. We wanted to incorporate the theme of order in our storyline so we decided to use a young girl called Nailah to be the villain in our movie where she ends up killing the girls at the end by stabbing them getting her revenge she wanted since they used to bully her at school.
        From analysing existing child horror movies such as Chucky, we found that again using a doll and a child in the film can show contradictory and contrasting views, as the audience get fooled into thinking that everything is innocent such as the child or the doll, when really they turn out to be the big criminals and danger. In chucky, the unknown and mystery doll suddenly turns alive and ends up killing the characters. This shows how freaky dolls can be and how they can play with young children’s minds as a way of tricking the children that they need love and care. Moreover, in some cases freaky dolls are the reason for why children turn evil or have mental health issues. We wanted to incorporate this type of issue in our film as we wanted to show how the villain carries a doll around with her which symbolises her evil character and this is the doll from the past which shows that she is back to haunt the characters.
        From analysing existing child horror movies such as “The Women In Black” we incorporated some use of technical codes from this movie such as the camera shots and angles used. For example, by analysing this film we found that they used a point of view shot of the villain staring out of the window giving it the appearance how the villain is watching every move. Similarly, we incorporated this in our movie as we have camera shots of Nailah peering over the teenage girls, showing how she is the sneaky villain watching over them.
        Moreover, from analysing this horror film, we discovered that throughout the movie we didn’t really see the “Woman in Blacks” face as she was kept hidden as a mystery and all we saw was her body and face covered. However, at the ending of the narrative the audience was shocked as they used a close up shot of the women’s scary face and her screaming. This is how we discovered the idea to do the same, as we got a shot of Nailah on the swings, swinging and singing a lullaby but all we could see is the back of her, suddenly the camera moved to a close up shot of her face as she started screaming in the camera. This gave the audience a fright as they was able to see a close up of Nailahs face.
        Moreover, by analysing “The Women in Black” we discovered that the use of editing in the film such as using blue toned lighting gave the film a scarier vibe and atmosphere as it looked more olden timed and old fashioned. This is why we suggested to change and alter the lighting of our film in final cut pro by increasing the darkness, and adding more blue toned tones as it will match our scary narrative of being in a graveyard and make it look like we shot the footage when it was darker.
        By analysing existing child horror films such as “Chucky” we found that they incorporated man child horror sound effects such as giggles, laughter and smuggles from the scary doll. Similarly, in our film we incorporated many child horror sound effects such as scary cry noises from little girls which triggers the girls attention whilst they are having their campfire, influencing one of the girls to get up and check where this mysterious and unknown sound is coming from.


HORROR GENRE CONVENTIONS WE DEVLOPED:
        We developed many conventions of horror such as firstly, by starting off with using the subgenre of “child horror” and basing our storyline on “revenge”. This convention is developed as it is a unique theme and not many child horror films incorporate revenge from a sly and young child. We have developed the convention of making the killer a young, and unexpected character. For example, in existing horror films such as “The women in Black”, in this movie the murderer and villain in the film is an old women who takes children’s lives and kills young children. The children are young, naïve and innocent in which they are targeted and victims of the women in black. However, in our film we developed this convention and instead we made the young character the killer who is the villain that plants revenge on the victims (8 Prop theory)
        We also developed the convention of a horror film flowing in a linear narrative, instead our movie runs in a nonlinear narrative and doesn’t proceed in a straight line and order. This is because our film is interrupted by a series of flashbacks which remise the past. This past is shown an indicated by changing the camera settings to a different colour to a more hue tone colour to indicate the past tense.  For example, in the film “The Possession” the film goes in a linear narrative, where the start of it is all happy and fine where there is nothing wrong with the family, in the middle the problem occurs such as the young girls gets possessed from the mysterious box she bought In a yard sale and at the end the problem gets resolved. However, due to our flash backs and our unknown and unhappy ending, this disrupts the normal flow and pattern of how a horror film should flow in and makes it more surprising and different.

HORROR GENRE CONVENTIONS WE CHALLANGED:
        -We challenged the convention of having an older villain who is attacking a younger victim, where in our movie it is the opposite and incorporated Levi-Strauss binary opposition through having the villain as the girl who is much younger than the teenage victims. This challenges conventional horror as in most horror movies it is the other way around where the older person is the villain and the younger person is the young, naïve and innocent victim.
        -We challenged Todrov’s equilibrium theory as our narrative does not end in a state of equilibrium but ends in a surprising and unexpected twist. Our problem is not resolved at the end of our movie like how every other horror film ends in with the problem resolved. Instead, in our story there is a further problem and miss accusation created as one of the girls is set up for murder making her look like the villain.
        -We also challenged the 8 stock prop theory as in many horror films there is a hero who ends up saving the day at the end of the narrative, whereas in our film there is no hero who resolves the problem instead we are left with a unhappy ending of the teenage girls left dead and murdered.
        By analysing existing child horror movies we found that many of them was set in either a house, school or some type of hospital. For example, in the film “Orphan”, the film was mainly set in the house, school and hospital, similarly with the film “Chucky”. However, we challenged this convention as our mise en scene was in a graveyard where not many child horror movies are set making our film more unique.



FILM TRAILOR
HORROR GENRE CONVENTIONS WE USED:
        We used the convention of using a deep voice to present our radio trailer, as a deep toned voice sets the atmosphere and is good for presenting a horror movie. It also gives off a scary vibe as it immediately lures the audience in and captures their attention.
        We also used the typical sound effects of screaming coming from a girl in the background to connote danger as screaming signifies that there is trouble emerging and links to our theme of horror. We used one scream during the end of the trailer and there was a use of silence at the end of it to show how everything is coming to an end and creates suspense so the audience are intrigued to find out what happened. For example, we analysed existing trailers to hear out for the type of sounds used as in the trailer “Insidious” the sound effects of a baby crying in the background was used to indicate danger approaching suggesting the demon is out to get the baby’s soul. This is why we recorded a spooky voice of Nailah whispering “Where are you” and changed the pitch and tone of the voice to make it sound very horror like and to freak the audience out. In the insidious trailer, the sound of baby lullabies was used to emphasise the theme of child horror, we incorporated the sound of the teenage girls laughing in the background to connote to the sound that they are all having fun but the sound of the violins played at the background also indicates how their fun and laughter will come to an end due to the death.
        We also used the sound effect of police sirens in the background when one of the character shouts “what’s that sound”. The police sirens in the back detect that there is danger approaching them and that they are in trouble and something has gone wrong leaving it a mystery as they don’t know what happened. Moreover, the sound of the police sirens fade out as it gets closer towards the ending.
        Moreover, we incorporated really terrifying and scary music into our radio trailer and the type of music we used was really loud which would attract the audience as scary sound effects emerge from nowhere when it’s unexpected. From analysing existing radio trailers such as paranormal activity, we found that they used very eary loud music to capture the audience’s attention and scare them. Moreover, because radio trailers consist of only sound, this is having the music loud is important.
        By analysing existing radio trailers such as “the possession” we found that many loud music was used and overlapped to create a loud and emerging sound of danger. Similarly, we incorporated the layering of music so the sound from our radio trailer is prominent and makes the audience jump as we altered the sound of the music, starting off with the music being quieter and building up to make it loud and make the audience jump by merging sound effects and music.
        By analysing existing radio trailers such as “Insidious” we found that they incorporate many child horror sound effects such as noises from a baby monitor. We wanted to incorporate sound of child horror so we inserted a voice of Nailah speaking in a creepy and croaky voice comes in the middle of our trailer. Moreover, we found that in this trailer, they incorporated the use of silence in the middle of the trailer and we also used a small amount of silence after a speech, this silence was used to build up tension and terror and make the audience become anxious and builds suspense making them wait and discover what will happen.

HORROR GENRE CONVENTIONS WE DEVELOPED:
        We developed the convention of using ambient sound in our radio trailer in the middle of our trailer. This is indicated when our trailer starts off with loud sound effects and heavy music, then when it talks about the teenage girls and them laughing in the background, the tune of music changes to become more sad with violin sound music at the background indicating sadness. This was done to add emotion in our trailer and to tell a story and show how everything started off happy (equilibrium theory) but turned dangerous and ended in terror.
HORROR GENRE CONVENTIONS THAT WE CHALLENGED:
        We challenged the convention of not telling the audience the date that our film is out, instead it says “coming soon” which leaves the audience more excited and leaves them waiting in suspense to watch it when it comes out.
        We also challenged the convention of using silence for a long time, this is because we have continuous sound throughout our radio trailer and silence is only used for around 3 second’s unlike other horror films there is a huge gap of silence. We thought it didn’t go best with our film trailer as there is allot of mayhem going on in our trailer and we thought it sounded best with lots going on the background to portray a tense atmosphere.



FILM POSTER
HORROR GENRE CONVENTIONS WE USED:
        We used the convention on having dark colours used in our poster to signify to the audience that it is a horror film poster. This is because the background of our film poster is black and we used dark colours for the main image to make it look scary and horror like.
        We also aspired to the convention of having gruesome lettering and font styles as other posters we examined, they had scary styled lettering in their film tittle. This is because we used blood dripping down our letters to indicate how death in the film and murder.
        By analysing existing horror film posters such as the movie poster “Annabelle” we found that this poster shows a close up of the dolls face, and we can only see half of the dolls face. This further gave us the idea of using half the villains face close up in our poster as well giving a spooky close up look of what our film consists of. Moreover, the colours used are dramatic and bold such as having a black background this is why similarly we used a pop of colour for our main image but kept the rest of the poster background very dark and black so the main image stands out and is in focus more.

        By also analysing the film poster called “Oculus” gave us ideas on what type of colours to use and the where to apply the film title. For example, in this film poster most of the colours at the background was dull and dusky and there was a stray of yellow lighting on the main image. This illustrates how the attention should be on the main image where everything else blanks out making it scarier. The film title was not in the centre or top of the poster, and instead it was close to the bottom of the picture, similarly we decided to put the film title towards the bottom of our poster as the imagery of horror film titles seems to be the main element that should stand out more than the film title as this is what the audience get attracted to immediately when they see a horror film poster.


HORROR GENRE CONVENTIONS WE DEVLOPED:
        We developed the convention on the type of imagery we used. For example, conventionally a film poster will have two main images instead we incorporated on main focus the image which is a close up image of half of a face. There is no second image in the background as the rest is completely dark allowing the audience to stay focus on the main imagery.

HORROR GENRE CONVENTIONS WE CHALLENGED:
Typically in a horror film poster the main image in normally very gruesome or deadly and extremely scary. We challenged this convention and kept It mysterious looking by only having half of Maliah’s face close up towards the screen with the reflection of the doll inside her eye. We kept our poster be more meaningful than frightening as we felt like that it had a better chance of attracting and engaging our audience towards what the plot of our film so they are eager to watch it.

Question 2- how effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts? (MUST REFFER TO FILM, POSTER AND RADIO TRAILER)
        Our film relates well to our radio trailer as it explores the theme of danger. This is because we have incorporated lots of music and sound effects like screaming, giggling and loud banging noises in our radio trailer that builds up tension, excitement and thrill that was portrayed in our film. For example, we used ambient sound in our radio trailer to reflect the narrative of our film. This is because our film starts off with everything all happy and fun and then   the danger emerges, where similarly in our radio trailer the music builds up tension towards the end where everything becomes full of havoc.  This relates to uses of gratification theory into our film as this suggests how there is a highly active audience. “The audience use the media text for their own pleasure” as the audience react to these sounds and music by getting a reaction of them being scared.
        Our film also relates well to our film poster as it illustrates the sub-genre of our film “Child Horror”. This is because our film is based on a child horror and the colours in our title on the poster reflects well to this as we used pastel coloured and bubbly font but made it more horror like by adding blood dripping down the lettering. We decided to use this as we wanted to provide a gruesome and horror like feel as well as keeping it to the theme of child horror by sticking with a pastel coloured theme of lettering and the bubbly writing connotes children.
        Moreover, the poster in our film also reflects well to the theme revenge as mystery as in our film it turns out to be a mystery killer that the characters are not aware of, and similarly our poster is left a mystery as we have a close up Maliah’s face but it only reveals half of her face so it is not revealing too much of the film so the audience are left wondering on what the film is about. Barthes Enigma code was incorporated towards the ending of our film as our narrative ends in a surprising twist.
        Our radio trailer relates well to our film as our radio trailer tells the story in the order of our film narrative. We also have the sound of sad music playing in the background of our radio trailer as it illustrates the death of the teenage girls and similarly, in our film we have sad music during the scene of the funeral where Nailahs death is announced. 
        Our poster relates to our film as we used blood dripping down the lettering from the font which suggests death and the theme of death is illustrated in our film as the girl plotting revenge ends up murdering the girls at the end and then framing one of them too.
        We would release our film during the winter season such as Halloween time as this is the time where horror movies usually come out as it relates well to the weather and atmosphere of the spooky horror film. Moreover, our film is set during the winter time and we are dressed in winter clothing so it will make sense if the film is released during the cold season.
        There is a clear narrative through all our 3 products as our film tells a story of a horror film, starting in a state of equilibrium but ending in a cliff hanger, our radio trailer tells the audience a story though the use of sound. For example, our trailer starts off with lighter music, and emerging towards the end the sound intensifies and becomes more significant reflecting back to our narrative as our start is happy, but towards the middle it becomes dangerous and the problems emerge. Our film poster reflects well to the genre of child horror due to the title dripping blood and the pastel coloured lettering.
        From our audience feedback, the audience thought that our three products relate well with each other as they all relate well to the theme of “child horror” as they all transmit the element of horror and the audience was able to understand our key theme of “revenge”.
        Our marketing campaign would be through social media, as we believe this is the right platform to get our audience involved with spreading news about our film, trailer and poster and is an easy and faster way for teenagers to communicate during this century.
        We would release our film online and through YouTube as our target audience are teenagers who are familiar with and use the internet all the time so they are most probably going to view it this way. Moreover, whatever becomes popular in social media is able to spread like wildfire so more people can get involved and view our products this way as people can share and like our distributions.
        Online sites are also an easy way to view films as people can watch the film from their own comfort of the home with their friends and family.
        We will use many distribution methods in order to get the film become well known and spread like wildfire using the net through linking it through social media sites and using hashtags to spread the word of it through twitter so teenagers become aware of the film and want to find out more.
        Another way of getting the film to be recognised is through releasing the radio trailer through YouTube so there is more of a chance to get views from the wider public and attract people into watching the film.
        We could also attach an advertisement and teaser of out film thought he adverts that lead onto a YouTube video, this way the user is made to watch at least 5 seconds of this advert before they are able to press skip, and will engage the audience to find out what our film is about.
        Our film, radio trailer and poster all relate well and connect to create a strong campaign for our film as they all connect to the theme of child horror, revenge and provide thrills and horror at the same time. For example our film shows child horror elements such as portraying a doll in our film, our poster also reflects well of this as we have the doll peering in the reflection of the villains eye, and our radio trailer incorporates sounds of child horror such as giggles, laughter and a scary sound of element of a small child giving out a horrifying message.
        Our film is attractive and informative as it tells the audience a story about the effects of bullying and the narrative of how revenge works so it entertains and engages the audience into the storyline and plot of our film. Our film poster captures the attention of our audience by the use of dull colours, imagery and blood. The audience are intrigued and want to find out more when they see the image of the reflection of a doll in the girls eye, raiding further questions such as why is the doll so important in this movie, capturing their attention to go and watch the film. Moreover, the blood dripping down the letters of our film poster can show how the theme of our movie may be got to do with murder to the audience will be intrigued to find out more about what will happen. Lastly, our radio trailer plays a key element of engaging and persuading the audience to go and watch our film as it provides a quick look into what our film will be featuring such as happiness turning to danger, as the radio trailer builds up tension from the really deep sounding music and the sudden sound effects.




Q3- What have you learned from audience feedback> (MUST REFFER TO FILM, POSTER AND RADIO TRAILER)

AUDIENCE FEEDBACK FOR OUR FILM:

        From the audience feedback we gathered that the main reason our audience watch horror film is for the escapism it creates from reality and entertainment reasons. This is why we made our film extremely entertaining and fun to watch by keeping the atmosphere interesting and creepy leaving the audience at the edge of their seats. We also made our film relatable to our target audience so they are able to relate with the storyline and plot and escape from reality.
        We asked our target audience what type of day they like to watch horror films and most voted they enjoy watching horror films in the evening and night. This is why we decided to set our scene of our movie during the evening time where the lighting is blue is it is able to relate to the theme of horror and it sets the scene and atmosphere of a horrific storyline. Moreover, our setting of our film is in the graveyard area so it will be recommended to watch the film when it’s dark outside as they are able to relate to the narrative.
        From our audience feedback, the audience responded that the aspect that makes a horror film most scary for them to watch is the hair and makeup of the scary characters. From this we gathered that the hair and makeup of the villain in our from Nailah must be horrific and scary looking. This is why we added scars, scratches and blood on her face and clothes as well as having her hair messy and her dressed in all white making her look devil like and deceiving as well as innocent in the same time.
Audience feedback for our film from our teacher:
        We need to incorporate more shots of the teddy bear in our film, we could do this by showing the bear on the gravestones coming and emerging closer and closer to show how the doll is used as a creepy symbol.
        We need to make the lighting of our scenes match, as our lighting gets brighter towards the ending where in fact it should have been getting darker.
        From the feedback we received in the class and from the teachers we needed to fix out lighting so the scenes match. Moreover, we needed to incorporate the teddy bear in our film more to portray to the audience that it is a key motif and is a sub minimal message in our film which has a meaning behind.
        From the audience feedback we received from Raj, on the Friday 13th March, we received feedback saying there is a “hiss” sound in our film that needs to be removed in order to make the sound more clear. He also thought our film was missing some sound elements such as sound effects and music. For example, we needed to add sound effects like twigs breaking, sound of crying etc. We also had some issues on lighting that needed to be fixed, so he played around in final cut pro to make our scenes match the lighting in the other scenes by making it darker in colour and tone.
        From the feedback we received from our focus group of 3 students, they told us that our flashback was too long and needs to be cut down. This is why we cut down our flashback from the girls as each of the characters had a line where they spoke, but we cut it down to them just running around her teasing her which gets to straight to the point of her getting bullied. However, they did say that they liked that the flashbacks gave the audience a clear understanding on why Nailah is taking revenge as it provides a little more information on why she is the villain.

How we applied narrative theories into our film:
        Barthes Enigma code was incorporated towards the ending of our film as our narrative ends in a surprising twist. “Narratives in the strong create and enigma code raising further questions that demand explanations”. This suggests how enigma codes are used to illustrate suspense and build up tension that demand explanation. This is because at the end, the innocent girl “Inayah” is arrested from the plotted murder of the villain “Nailah” created making Inayah look like the Murderer to the police. This surprise twist delivers suspense, tension and excitement for the audience as they are keen to find out what will happen and if the truth will come out.
        We also used an enigma code when inayah leaves her friends to investigate where the unknown non diegetic sounds are coming from as she leaves her group of friend’s behind and ventures out by herself. This will make our audience wait in anxiety as they are also scared for what will happen next.
        We incorporated Todrovs Equilibrium Theory in our narrative, as he describes “that every narrative must be driven by constrict which is caused by opposing forces”. We have a state of equilibrium in the start of our narrative as our film starts happy with no drama or tension as the girls are excited about the camping trip, then there is a disequilibrium where the girls start hearing the non-diegetic sound that is the root of the problem. Then there is meant to be a new equilibrium where the problem gets solved, however in our film there isn’t a new equilibrium as the problem is not solved. This is because our film ends surprisingly in a twist. This will appeal to our target audience as it will leave them full of suspense and will probably be waiting for a part 2 to find out what will happen to Nailah. It will also leave the audience confused raising further questions and it will remain a unsolved mystery and a cliff hanger which will hook them further into the film.
        We incorporated in a non-linear narrative in our film as our film does not run in a smooth and ordered line, but has disruptions. “Without narrative, film genre is not recognisable and therefore cannot break with predictability”. This indicates how all films need to incorporate a linear, non-linear or multi stranded narrative in order to make the audience predict the narrative and storyline. We have incorporated a non-linear narrative in our film as we have a disruption of a flashback which is in a different colour from the rest of our film in order to indicate the past tense. This flashback was used to indicate how Nailah the villain (8 stock prop theory) was getting bullied.  The non linear narrative will appeal to our target audience as they will be surprised and interested as our narrative doesn’t flow normally and the disruptions will help them make understanding of our film better.

How we applied audience theories into our work:
        We applied Stuart Halls Encoding & decoding, preferred and negotiable oppositional readings theory into our film as the audience was able to decode that the flashbacks used in the middle of our film was used to portray back in time during the past and they was able to decode this due to the colour change to more blue tone lighting showing the characters when they was younger. Moreover, we incorporated the negotiable theory as the audience was able to negotiate and understand with our character Inayah for when she was set up by the villain. This is evident when the police are mistakenly arresting Inayah for the murder of the teenage girls and she is struggling to explain that she wasn’t part of the murder so the audience are able to relate with her difficult situation and feel sympathy towards her.
        We incorporated the hypodermic needle theory into our film which is a powerful, syringe like needle that causes the audience to have subtle influences. “The audience is drugged, addicted and doped causing them to passively take everything in”. The message that our film injected to our audience is that bullying is wrong and can have serious effects and consequences to the victim causing them to become emotionally hurt and damaged as they can express their anger and hurt in different ways.
        We also incorporated the uses of gratification theory into our film as this suggests how there is a highly active audience. “The audience use the media text for their own pleasure”. This was evident in our horror film as when the villain Nailah was peering over the girls, hiding behind the tree in the darkness, the audience immediately gasped and shrieked as they started asking further questions such as “is she the villain?” “What is she out to do?” It also raised further questions causing them to become active members of media. This was also evident as we used an enigma code for when Inayah disappeared into the darkness to discover where the unknown non diegetic sound was coming from. The audience felt tense and full of anxiety as they covered their faces and was nervous.
        We also incorporated the cultivation theory into our work as “cultivation states how the more the audience are exposed to the media, the more they are able to act upon the messages.” This is evident in our film as our main narrative t our film is “revenge”. The audience are able to perceive the world differently when they watch our film as we portray the consequences of bullying. This is because they will treat peers better and with more respect as they will be aware of the serious effects on what bullying can lead to. Moreover, our film educates our audience (uses of gratification theory) so they are aware of the possible dangers of bullying. Cultivation theory is similar to hypodermic needle theory but the information is absorbed over a period of time causing the audience to take in the information.

AUDIENCE FEEDBACK FOR OUR POSTER:
        From the audience feedback from our poster survey, we found that our audience chose to have dark colours for a horror poster as that is what makes the poster scary and horror like. This is why we incorporated dark colours into our poster as we chose to have the background of our poster all black and interpret red colours to show illustrate the theme of murder. We also added soft pastel colours to relate back to our sub-genre of child horror by making the title have soft pastel colours such as pinks, blues and yellows, but we made it more horror like by adding blood dripping down the lettering making it look gruesome.
        Most people voted for our film poster to be “full size” as they may prefer to look at something big as it catches their attention. This is why we made our horror film poster full size as they are able to focus deeply on the image which interests them. By making the poster full size it will ensure there is more to look at that’s engages the audience.
        From the audience the feedback was that the image in the film poster attracts the audience more than the colours and font of the poster. This is why we made the image of our poster the main attention and focus in as we made the image take up most of the space of the poster as it is a close up of a girls face and reflection of the doll in the eye.

AUDIENCE FEEDBACK FROM OUR TRAILER:
        From our audience feedback from our radio trailer, we gathered that our target audience want to hear lots of sound effects in our radio trailer such as giggles, footsteps as well as creepy music to engage them. We used a mixture and variety of sound effects and scary music to lure the audience in and attract their attention. For example, we added a creepy tone voice of Nailah saying “I will come for you” in a devilish and witchy way to make the audience freaked out. Moreover, we used the sounds of violins playing when it was talking about the teenage girls to show sadness and portrays death and something coming to an end. We also used sudden sound effects to make the audience jump and grab their attention.




QUESTION 4- How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

TECHNOLOGY USED IN RESEARCH ON FILM, POSTER AND RADIO TRAILER.
        To research into horror films, I used the internet such as apps like Showbox,  to gain insight information by researching into the film reviews on the film and analysing why people enjoyed the film and what they found scary about it.
        I also used film websites in the internet such as www.letmewatchthisnow.com to watch many horror films as well as Netflix so I got to watch the film and looked out for the camera shots and angles as well as writing a review of the film later and posting it on my blog.
        We also used Survey Monkey for our research we conducting in handing out our surveys to our target audience so they were able to fill in the questions and we recurved feedback on the elements, sound and type of characters to add in our horror film.
        We also used Sound Cloud when receiving feedback for what to include in or radio trailer and we recorded a girls thoughts using the video recorder in then uploaded it into sound cloud.
        We also used our phones for when we was interviewing our film practitioner to get some inside ideas on some information on producing a good horror film, we used our phones to record him then uploaded the clip as a YouTube clip.
        We also used google images to see existing horror film posters and analyse them to see what looks engaging in the poster so we could add the same such as the type of colours incorporated that caught our attention and the type of imagery used.
        We used YouTube to listen to different sound effects so we can incorporate scary sounds and mysterious music into our radio trailer. We also listened to existing film trailers and heard out for the type of sounds that was present even when silence is used to portray something is gone wrong.
        We also used Survey Monkey to construct three surveys, one for our film, one for our poster and one for our radio trailer. We was able to receive feedback and opinions from our target audience on what they expect in these sectors. For example, from the feedback on our horror film, the audience wanted the film to be set in a scary location. This is why we chose to shoot our film in the graveyard as it is very quiet, full of trees and gives off a scary vibe. We also received feedback on what sort of colours to incorporate in our film poster, suggesting to use a mixture of dark colours and red to symbolise danger.
        We used Blogger throughout the whole year to blog our work such as the research and planning stage into producing our short horror film. We uploaded our audience feedback using blogger, used different technologies to write up our research and planning as well as typing up on blogger and creating posts. For example, for blogging our audience feedback from the results shown in the graphs, I used Prezi to upload the feedback as in this technology it engages the audience as each slide moves, alters and zooms in which makes it more interesting to read. Moreover, there isn’t too much information on the page so the reader doesn’t get bored as well as it being informative in the same time.

TECHNOLOGY USED ON PLANNING FOR FILM, POSTER AND RADIO TRAILER.
        We used the internet and a software called “DA FONT” to pick our font title for planning our poster and what type of font styles should be used.
        We used our phone to take pictures of our permission contract letters and location letters to show that we got evidence that we are allowed to use our chosen locations and letters from our actors that they will be taking part.
        We also used Mr Makintosh recording studio in order to record our radio trailer and add sound effects and music to our radio trailer. We also used a mic in the recording studio to record the voices in our characters and we altered the pitch and tone of the voices to make it sound more horror like. 
        We used an animatic storyboard to help us with deciding the transitions needed for our film and by placing our camera shots together we was able to see how the scenes and camera shots will all look altogether. This was useful as it helped us plan out each scene and action and gave us ideas on how we should improve a shot in ways of making it better. Moreover, it helped us understand the ways our film will flow and which key scenes were placed.
        We used the technology called “Celltext” to type up our script, this technology allowed us to have a good layout for our script so it also looked professional and neat with it being very easy to understand as it had all the camera shots, angles, and facial expressions for each characters written down.


TECHNOLOGY USED ON PRODUCTION:
        We used the DSL Canon Camera to record our movie with and we changed the camera settings throughout the film when shooting in the graveyard and adjusted it to the setting called “tungston” to give it a more horror film and grungy appearance.
        We used a Mic that was connected onto our camera so we have clear sound recorded and so the voices of our characters are heard properly and loud and understandable. We used a mic so that the sound quality for our film was loud, clear and understandable as without the mic our characters voices would sound mumble.
        We also used lighting to film the bedroom scene in Lana’s bedroom to make the imagery brighter and clear as the lighting in the bedroom was not as bright as we wanted it to be.
        For creating our radio newscast, we used the recording studio equipment to record our voices for the radio trailer. For example, we recorded our voices into a microphone which then got transformed and altered the tone of our voice by making it sound very scary and different. We also used a recorder for the voice to record our feedback from our audience when creating our Voxpop, outside broadcasts and we used our phone camera to record interviews with our audience. We used a variety of technologies and different ways to receive our feedback in order to make our newscast interesting and engaging.
        We took photos of our images using the canon camera and got different shots and angles of our main image for our image in our poster. We then exported these photos onto the ma, following to iphoto to select which picture we should use.
        To create our poster, we used Photoshop to import our images onto and then edit our pictures to suit the taste of our actual poster. For example, with the photo our teddy bear we changed the colours of the bear to make it look more dark and evil by increasing the amount of shadows in the picture.
        To create our title for our film, we used photoshop to create the blood dripping from the letters. We had to do each blood dripping one at a time so it was quiet time consuming.

TECHNOLOGY USED ON POST PRODUCTION: EDITING
        To edit our film we used Final Cut Pro where we put all our recorded footage onto and edited out any errors, used the blading tool to separate clip from clip. We also put voice overs from previous clips to ensure that our sound was well matched and we got edit out any errors by applying sound layering on top of it. This technology also allowed us to use slow motion in the point of the flashback and also we changed the colour picture to indicate the past.
        We used Photoshop to create our poster by adding the photos we took for out poster onto Photoshop, changing the tone and lighting of the poster as well as print on the text with the font styles we chose.
        To edit our film trailer we used the device called garage band to edit the sound effects, music and characters voices.
        When we was editing, we had the choice of a variety of footage to choose from such as the same shot in different angles and different ways so when we was selecting which ones to use we would select the ones that looked the best. It was good that we had a selection to choose from as it allowed us to see what looks good from different viewpoints.
        We also tried fixing our lighting by looking at the different filters used in final cut, we tried out different filters to make the lighting match to each scene. Moreover, we used a different filter for the flashback scene to indicate the past tense. We also decided to put the rest of the film in black and white to make it intertexual to a 1920's horror cinema film.
- To record our evaluation, we used a dictor phone to record all the informaiton from our questions that we typed up using microsoft word then printed it out and recorded it onto the device. We then, exported the recording from the device onto Audacity then edited it by using the cutting tool to remove and cut out any errors made to that it flowed better without any stuttering or mistakes as well as cutting down some of the length and duration of the recording. Moreover, after that we then saved this clip onto our desktop of the mac and further uploaded it into final cut pro. This device enabled our evaluation to come to life as we incorporated images and video clips from our actual film to support what we was saying. We also added sounds and music in final cut pro from our radio trailer so you are able to to get an idea of what the radio trailer sounds like when we was talking about the sound elements and sound effects in our radio trailer and film.

final film poster

This is our completed and final poster. We tried to apply all possible changes suggested by our target audience. The colour on the title and the reflection of the doll suggests to the audience that the film is a child horror without even watching it. We've added a tagline as we've seen it in many other child horror posters for example on the 'Insidious' poster, the tagline reads "It's not the house that's haunted". We have added all the production information with the font used in nearly all film posters so it looks professional and realistic. We have also included our BBFC classification to let the audience know who can watch the film.

STORYBOARD

Anematic Storyboard

focus group feedback

Today we worked on our poster on Photoshop. We managed to fit the picture of the teddy on to Naila's eyes to make it look like a reflection of the teddy she is looking at. We added a photoshop texture to make Naila's skin look tarnished. We added the rating to let our viewers know that there is a rating of 12A for our film.

Bitter Revenge Radio Trailer (Final)

After recieving all the feedback from our target audience we went back into the studio to fix up our trailer to their preference. This is the updated and final version.

Audience Feedback

Professional Feedback

teacher feedback

Choosing font styles and effects for our titles!

• We chose the font style "double feature" as our horror title.  
• Adobe Casino pro as our little titles to show our production name, producers name, directors and cast members. We decided to keep the font style of these little titles simple as we wanted the main focus and attention to be drawn to the our film title BITTER REVENGE and to make it stand out. 
• We will use live effects and make our film title flip into the screen to give it a big entrance. We decided the colour of our film title will portray the theme of child horror so we used soft pastels colours such as pinks and blue and yellow colours to reflect the child horror theme. However, to make it look more horror like, we added blood dripping down the lettering of the font to make it look more gruesome and deadly. 

• We will use the fade out from the titles to make it flow better 
• We decided to add a picture of blowing church candles in the background to set the scene of a horror film and connote death and sadness, it will also give and idea on what the film will be about. 

Taking the poster pictures of the bear

Today, we took pictures for our poster in our location with our main prop which will be used on our poster. We decided to get a close up shot of the teddy bear on the tree to make the bear look lost and abandoned, We also had the perfect lighting to it makes the area look more spooky and haunted as the lighting was very blue toned which contrasted with the colour of the bright baby doll teddy bear which again relates well to the theme of child horror. We made the bear look scruffy, not well kept and slightly sad looking as we made the bear sit slouchy to suggest how it is not an ordinary doll but a doll that is associated with threat and danger. 

Audience feedback for radio trailer

Updated film poster idea 1

From the feedback I received from my poster draft, I decided to make the colours i used for the poster darker in order for it to look more horror film like ans scary. I made the edges of the main image glow so it attracts the audience and stands out so their focus is drawn towards the image. I kept the title the same using soft pastel colours to transmit the child horror theme and adding pinks and blues. In this poster i added the tag line "I play with you, you play with me" to give a little of what the film is about to the audience.

FILM POSTER IDEA 2


FILM POSTER IDEA 3:

Bitter Revenge Radio Trailer

Audience Feedback!
What the audience liked:
The audience liked how our radio trailer told a story and how it quickly introduced what was going to happen in the movie without giving too much away. Moreover, they enjoyed the sudden sound effects such as the heat beat sounds, the scream and the witch voice which really creep them out. 
What we need to improve:
The audience suggested to add a line from the police officer to tell the audience that our film ends in a murder scene so a line from the police officer should inform us about what will happen. Moreover, they suggested to make the sound of us laughing in the background flow better so it can start off by being quiet and build up to become louder as they thought the laughter sounds was quiet sudden and interrupted the flow of our radio trailer. 

POSTER FEEDBACK FOR IMPROVEMENT

 From the feedback I revived for the improvement for my poster, I need to change my background colour to black to make it more scary looking and so that the main image is the main focus and main colour in the poster. Moreover, I need to add a glowing effect around my main image in order for the audience to grab attention to the poster and make it look deadly and the glow/flashing light around the image of the poster will indicate how the main image of the girl connotes danger and threat! I also kept the writing and font of my title, but will change the position of the title and put it right at the top of the poster. This is because the title should be noticeable to the audience and it is more likely to grab their attention if it is at the top of the poster.

POSTER DRAFT 1

recording our radio trailer!

 Date: 12/1/15
Today, we recorded our radio trailer by using a deep voice of a man with an American accent to narrate our trailer as we thought a man's voice would be best to present our horror movie. We also recorded ourselves laughing in the background as in the trailer it states how "it all started off with teenagers living in an ordinary world." We used ambient sound to portray how everything went from happy and exciting to terribly dangerous and when things started to kick off we changed the music to a more dramatically fast pace and added many creepy sound effects like screams, heavy metal clashing etc. in order to engage the audience and let them know how frightening it was. We also got the little girl who played Naila to record herself giggling in a spiteful and vengeful way in order to portray her character from the film. We changed the pitch of our voices to record a scary, deep witch-like voice saying "Where are you" and added an echo to it to make it sound more dramatically and spooky.

audience feedback

Today we presented our offline edit so far to our target audience they thoroughly enjoyed watching it and gave us some improvements these include.

1. Lana will press play so the music starts so we know where the music is coming from

2. Music ends when Lana’s phone rings

3. Close up shot of Lana putting on lipstick so we have a range of camera shots 

4. Point of view shop of the bullies running around Naila in a circle to show how irritating it is for her to be bullied in this constant circle 

5. Flashback colour change, so it would represent an unhappy time, the colour red which will be used links back to the horror genre 

These improvements will be added on to ensure our target audience are satisfied with what they are watching.