Evaluation Pt 2, Question 7 - Daniel Greatorex

To construct this product we used various technologies such as iMovie and Garageband. We used iMovie to make the video for our product. It allowed us to organise the shots to the desired order and also let us split shots for a shot-reverse shot effect. We also used it to put the titles in. 


We used Garageband to make the sound for our film, including music and sound effects. 

The internet site Blogger is used to present our work.

IMovie allowed us to be more creative as we used the effects to put in the titles. Another use of the effects was to make the transition between the shot when the female is at her front door and when she finds herself trapped in the killer’s realm. We used the slow and fade effect to show that something had happened, rather than just a jump from one place to another.

IMovie gave us more control as it meant that we could shoot more material than we needed and only use what was necessary, giving us the option to choose shots which fitted better with others. Also we did not necessarily have to shoot everything in the correct order, we could organise it later as we wished. Also we did not have to wait until it was dark to shoot, as it is possible to darken the video.

Garageband gave us more control as we did not have to rely on the sound from the camera. We could shoot the video and make the soundtrack later. This meant that if we found that the sound was not up to scratch then we could put in sound effects to improve it, or record our own sounds to use, such as whispering.

Construction - Shot List plus Changes

We made a shot list so that whilst filming we could make sure we got the material we needed, and didn't leave anything out. This also made it easier to organise our time by splitting the piece up into small parts, instead of thinking of it as a whole.

Construction - Storyboard

We made a storyboard so that we could visualize our shots and find the correct composition, so that we were not making it up whilst filming it.

Construction - Sound Step Outline

We produced a step outline for the sound to plan the sounds that would come with each section of the piece. Each section will have different sounds, depending on the atmosphere it is supposed to make.

Planning - Release Form

It was necessary to have the actors fill out a release form so that they fully understood for what purpose their image would be used for, and so they cannot complain when the video is used the named purposes, as they have given their prior consent for this to be done.

Planning - Opening Brainstom

This brainstorm was used to come up with our initial possible ideas for our opening, including ideas for how to present the titles. We wrote all our ideas and from this chose what we thought would be the best and used it in our opening

Planning - Make-up Design Sheet

Here we aimed to design make up which would be scary. We wanted a disguise which would mask the identity of the killer, without making him look like a guy in a 'hoody'. We wanted to achieve a disguise similar to the one used in Scream, which is significantly strange enough to show that this is not an ordinary person and scare the audience. We chose to vary from this by having the killer wear a long coat and a scarf type face covering.

Planning - Pitch Sheets

We did a pitch to other students in our class to get feedback on our ideas. The feedback was mostly positive, with some suggestion for improvement which we took on board.

Health and Safety Certificate

The health and safety certificate was very important as it was necessary to ensure that by filming in our planned locations we would not be putting ourselves, our actors or anyone else in danger. As our locations were both houses there were few dangers involved. As they were not public places we did not need to contact anyone for permission to film, however we did get permission from the people who live in the houses.

Planning - Conventions Brainstorm

Planning - Recee Sheet

The recee sheet was necessary to ensure that the location was suitable for filming, and to preempt any problems we might encounter whilst filming there. There were few problems with our chosen location, other than a lack of lighting. We brought our own lights to solve this problem.

Planning - Textual Analysis (Narrative)

Planning - Audience and Certificate Research

We needed to research certificates to ensure that our film would be deemed suitable for our audience, and not be too violent or contain content inappropriate for the age of our target audience.

Evaluation Questions Pt 1, Question 2 - Dan Greatorex

Question 2: In what days does your media product use, develop or change forms and conventions of real media products?

The Slasher sub-genre has conventions which we tried to follow. The killer is usually male. He wears a mask or disguise, something more sinister than a hooligan's hoodie, for example the killer in Scream wears his instantly recognizable mask.



The killer has a preferred weapon, usually a knife but not always as we see in Nightmare on Elm Street where Freddy uses his claws that he makes for himself at the start of the film. Also the killer never kills for the sake of it, and there is always a deeper reason for it, in Friday the 13th Freddy kills because he was killed. Overall the killer is mysterious and by the use of restricting shots the audience is prevented from seeing the killer properly until the desired climax.
The setting is always domestic, in Halloween the first victim is murdered in her own bedroom. The victims are generally female.



We have tried to apply some of these conventions to our film. We have chosen a domestic setting and a female victim for our film. Also the killer does not appear until the murder itself takes place. It is important to follow conventions so you do not alienate the audience, otherwise they might think that your film is 'cheesy' or just not very scary at all.

We have challenged certain conventions, as our film does not have a stalking scene. In a sense it is like the victim comes to our killer instead of the other way around. We did this because we felt it would create a greater sense of desperation if it felt that by running the victim would bringing themselves closer to their own death.

Halloween 1978 Opening

Scream 1996

Evaluation Questions Pt 1, Question 1 - Tom Cording

In this project we will be making a 3-minute introduction to a horror film complete with a short scene and titles. To effectively choose our target audience we had to research previous horror films and compare similar films and see who rated them the highest. Due to our research we decided our target audience was males from 16-25.  Our initial idea came from watching and doing research into horror films, we then sought out to find a supernatural element within our film, as every film we did research on the villain had a supernatural element for example in “A Nightmare on Elm Street” Freddie Kruger was able to attack within the dreams of the victims making him more frightening and therefore induce more emotions within the audience. We thought it would be good if the villain could bring the victim to him rather than just chasing them through a park.  This helps to give the feeling that heir is no turning back and that they are trapped which could help to captivate the audience but also make them feel uneasy themselves by making them feel trapped themselves. Our production was slow to start but once we got the ball rolling we became an effective threesome, tackling each problem at the same time individually to save time and improve efficiency. Our group got on well and we had very few issues with each other but one main issue being workload per person. But we managed to overcome this particular problem and once again get on well eventually completing our first shoot, with some very stable footage.

Evaluation Pt 1, Question 3 - Kyran Deakin

3.Who Is The Audience For The Media Product

Our horror film is aimed mainly at the over 15 males we reference this to the common ideology that it is mainly males who enjoy the idea of Slasher films as well as this we looked at figures on the imdb database that confirm the main audience of these films are males of the age 15-18 by a larger amount than the rest.

The reason why the under 18s focus on these films more than the older is for the gore element of the films as where the older generation become more into the storyline and plot of the film as well as the characters in the film where as the younger view the gore as a much scarier phenomenon the perception of this usually changes with age as the older just begin to see the “blood and guts” as what they are merely the props of the films no longer “a magic carpet” in a sense,

We plan to make this work in our favour by focusing purely on the area of the audience that enjoy this the most we are doing this by a few important ways firstly there is the characters that are in the same age group and seem to be in the same boat as the girl in the film, we also made sure that was nothing really over the top about her she was a “Blank Canvas” for everyone to relate to and also we set the location in a place all teens that age know, there own home adding to the fear and making the film more popular amongst the target audience.

Evaluation Pt 1, Question 4 - Kyran Deakin

4.How Does Your Media Project Represent Particular Social Groups

Our horror film reflects the common stereotypes through out the film for starters our victim reflects the dominant character for this a teenage girl who is alone we chose this as It really worked by the fact she appears more vulnerable than the men in a film also it made the murderer look much stronger as a male, the common ideology being that the males are the stronger in terms of both hero and villain as they are usually portrayed stronger, also the age was of the characters was important the girl we wanted to look teenage as the audience can become more on the wave length of victim to make the villain look a lot stronger in both size and age as it is a common idea in society let alone films that a young girl couldn’t out power a man,

Our casting we chose just an average girl which anyone can really relate to however she also had pink hair this was her only outlandish feature this helped us connect with an every growing social group of people as well as the killer being almost un Identifiable by light and dressed and in black also the mise-en-scene of the film was very simple which I think made it effective it was just a regular room this reflects any other in just an other house hold this I was used so we could reflect the realism of the horror film and how this could be any house and so you become scared in your own house.

First Shoot Evaluation

Our opening to our film at the moment lacks the fear factor that we wanted from the opening we this was mainly to do with the fact there is no music on it yet the shots we feel will become very good when the tension music is added over the top.

Our first location, in the house, does not create fear when it is lit up, but when the lights are turned off and the setting is dark it does create fear. The basement setting creates fear as it is dark and looks uncomfortable.

We have used a range of shots, including a lot of reverse shots and a lot of close ups from various angles

Our shots were always focused and clear, and the moving shots are almost always smooth.