1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Our film, Vampire Tweed of the Heavenly Energiser, is, as the title clearly points out, a vampire film. We spent a lot of time researching vampire films - Dracula series, Twilight series etc.
Most vampire movies tend to start off with a person, or sometimes an animal, for example Twilight, being attacked by a vampire. I studied the opening for the first Twilight movie. It begins with a dear in the middle of a forest. The dear is suddenly attacked by an unknown creature, later revealed to be a vampire.

This is the opening clip from Twilight.
Our film is also a thriller. The main protagonist Gabriel finds himself in an extremely difficult position in which is forced to make some hard decisions. Like a lot of thrillers we create an opening that gets the audience wanting to continue watching the film to find out what is going on.
In our opening, a teenager boy named Jacob is walking out of a college building whilst looking at his mobile phones. He then puts his mobile in his pocket and walks down the street whilst the opening credits roll. The camera tracks him as walks.
This is designed to make the audience believe that it is perfectly normal day. This guy has just finished college and is heading home. Gentle guitar music plays on the soundtrack to help create this effect.
A shadowy figure passes behind him. The music comes to a sudden stop and is replaced by sudden instrumental noise which plays as the shadow passes. This gives the audience a thrill as it happens so suddenly. Jacob turns around to see who it is. The camera films his point of view as he looks around. Seeing things from the protagonists point of view is common in thrillers. Suspense music starts playing. This gives the audience the impression that something is about to happen. Jacob moves towards an alley and is suddenly grabbed a mysterious figure who pulls him into the alley.
Jacob is taken to a graveyard where he meets a vampire named Marcus. Marcus tells him to deliver a package. The contents of the package are left unknown. In thrillers some things are left unknown, such as the character’s motives. The motives of Marcus the vampire are left unknown (Why he wants Jacob to deliver the package. What’s in the package.)
Jacob meets the female vampire in an alley. He gives her the package. The vampire prepares to attack Jacob. The camera does a close up of Jacob.
He then screams in agony as the camera pans up into the trees. This idea was inspired by Twilight in which a man is attacked by three vampires. The camera pans towards the trees as his screams echo.
I feel that our film definitely falls in the category of a thriller. It has suspenseful music, intense atmosphere and a twist at the end in which Jacob is suddenly killed.
2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Vampire Tweed of the Heavenly Energiser does represent a few stereotypical characters. The first one is Jacob, the teenage boy we see right at the beginning of the film. Jacob represents a stereotypical English teenager. He wears a hooded jacket and jeans, which is what a lot of teenagers in England wear. When we first see him, he is leaving a college building, this sets him up as being a student. As he walks away, he is typing on his mobile phone. Teenagers are always carrying mobile phones with them and texting on them.
Another set of stereotypical characters wet introduce in the opening are vampires. For decades, throughout popular culture, vampires have always been portrayed in a stereotypical manner. They are usually pale, they wear black clothing (mostly black leather jackets), their hair is usually black (either long-hair or gelled hair). Because the vampire legend originated in the Balkans, which is located the region of Eastern Europe, vampires often speak in an East European accent (mostly Slavic).
We portray our vampires in this manner. Marcus the vampire speaks in a Slavic accent. He wears smart black clothes. He has long black hair.
The female vampire who kills Jacob at the end has black hair as well. She also wears black clothing.
We feel that our film will appeal to younger generation as it involves vampires, which a lot of teenagers are interested in. I think it will also appeal to the older generation, because it is a thriller as well as a vampire film. Thrillers are a popular genre amongst adults.
3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
Lionsgate UK is one of the film distribution companies that I have researched. It is the British division of Lions Gate Entertainment, which is one of the America’s most commercially successful independent film companies. Lionsgate usually deal with action and horror films.
http://www.lionsgate.com/
Summit Entertainment are a subsidiary of Lions Gate Entertainment. Summit is also responsible for the distribution of the Twilight Saga films, which focuses on vampires, just like our film.
Our film is not just a vampire film, it is also a thriller. Optimum Releasing has distributed several thriller movies - Kill List, Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, I Saw the Devil etc.
New Line Cinema were the distributors of the Blade film series. The Blade films revolve around a vampire named Blade. Our movie revolves around vampires. New Line Cinema have also distributed several other successful horror movie franchises - Final Destination, Nightmare on Elm Street.
4. Who would be the target audience for your media project?
The rating for our film is a 15.
Our target audience is for teenage boys and girls and also male and female adults. I feel that this film will appeal to teenagers and young adults because it involves vampires and vampires is a subject that a lot of teenagers enjoy. Especially after the success of the Twilight Saga films.
As our film is also a thriller, I feel that that would appeal to adults and the older generation because thrillers are a popular genre.
Thrillers enable members of the audience to relate to the characters they see, because thrillers take you deep into the characters mind - what they’re thinking, how they feel. The audience can literally identify with other peoples problems through thrillers.
Our films protagonist is a vampire named Gabriel. Gabriel has abandoned his clan in favour of starting a new life. But, unfortunately, his actions have resulted in his daughter being kidnapped by his old clan. Gabriel is forced to make some tough decisions and has to face up to the consequences of his actions. His emotional situation will allow the audience to relate to him and therefore enjoy watching film.
I believe that we have met the standards of our rating.
5. How did you attract/address your audience?
We have attracted our target audience by involving characters that are roughly the same age as our target audience.
Jacob is a teenager, so that makes him appeal to our younger audience members. He dresses up like a stereotypical English teenager. He is first seen using his mobile phone. Teenagers are always using mobile phones, so this will enable some of the younger audience members to relate to him.
The gentle guitar music that plays on the soundtrack whilst Jacob is walking down the street helps to create a relaxing atmosphere for the audience members.
They will be so fixated on this sound that when the sudden instrumental music plays after the vampire passes the camera it will cause them to jump out of their seats.
This will appeal to the older generation of audience members who have come to see the film because of its thriller aspects. I believe they will also enjoy suspenseful atmosphere that follows after the vampire passes the camera.
The music we use on the soundtrack helps to create an intense, suspenseful atmosphere which will deeply affect the audience. The fact that the camera films things from Jacob’s point of view whilst he’s looking for the figure that passed the camera gives the audience a feeling of connecting with him by seeing what he’s seeing.
6. What have you learnt about technology from the process of constructing the product?
I have learnt quite a few new things by doing this project. I have learnt how to set up a blog using Google Blogger. I had never used Google Blogger before. In fact, I had never even heard of it. I had set up a social account before. I don’t have a Facebook, MSN, Twitter or even YouTube account. So it was creating a blog was something completely brand new for me.
I have also learnt some things about editing. For the editing part, we had to use a software called Final Cut Express. I have learnt how to attach shots and clips together and how to edit music and sound effects over the clips.
I remember doing a lot of this in Level 2 Creative Media last year when we made a music video about the tsunami in Japan and we had edited clips from a documentary about the tsunami and we placed a Justin Bieber song over it.
Last year in Level 2 Media we were taught how to use cameras and tripods. I remembered how to set up tripods from last year, so there was no problem there.
I also remembered how to attach and detach cameras from the tripod without causing any damage.
The cameras we used this year were different to the ones we used last year. It took a while for me to get used to using these cameras. But after observing our cameraman, Jake, using them, I soon got used to them.
7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product? For our two minute film opening we have used some of the things that we had learnt during our preliminary film.
Our preliminary film opens with a character walking down a corridor. The camera tracks the character as he walks down the corridor. In our two minute film opening, we begin with our main protagonist, Jacob walking down a street. The camera tracks Jacob as he walks down the street. Although, the angles and camera positions are slightly different.
During the making of our preliminary film, we learnt how to do shot-reverse-shot, a technique which is used when two characters are sat opposite each other having a conversation. This was actually the basis behind our preliminary film.
We also learnt how to do the 180 degree rule. The 180 degree rule states that an imaginary line must be drawn and the camera is not allowed to cross that line otherwise it might cause the audience members to become confused. We incorporated these into our two minute videos.
We used the shot-reverse-shot during a scene in which Jacob and the vampire Marcus are having a conversation. We abided by the 180 degree rule during this scene.
One of the issues that we looked at during the preliminary task was that of lighting. This something we had consider for our two minute film, especially since we were filming outside. We had to take into consideration the position of this sun in terms of where we were filming.
I think believe that after our two minute film project I have gotten better at writing scripts for the video and also at directing where the camera should be positioned and what kind of shots should be used. I would definitely try and improve on creating storyboards and also try work a bit more on my communication skills with my group members.
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