Audience feedback

Here is some feedback that we have had from our audience:

grreesbutt- over all i think there is a good use of camera shots and movement e.g. long shots medium shots tacking and canted angle shots. The things that could be improved could be that when the evil guy slits Matt's throat he should have done it with the sharp edge of the knife instead of the blunt side to give a better sense of verisimilitude (authenticity).

Chris olney- I really liked this film, i felt that the music went well with the scene and also the flickering lights was also really good. If there was one thing that you could improve on would be by using more fake blood as there was only a little bit but other than that, AWESOME!!

Tony- really liked the film, i liked the high angle which shows that the character is vulnerable also it seems like he is being watched by someone.

Tom- nice lads i like it.

Jamie- pretty good, i enjoyed the scene when the lights are flickering and the killer is slowly moving towards Shaun. I thought that the killing scene was good but maybe you should of used a fake knife so that you would be to use the right side of the knife, but still looks good.

Max- good film, not to sure about the end where the killer gently drops Shaun on the film also using the wrong side of the knife, but other than that i think you used good camera shots and movements throughout the film. The music also worked well i thought.

We feel that we could improve a couple of things such as the knifing scene. This was a hard scene to act out as we had to use a real knife to make it look authentic and appeal to the audience. The audience seemed to enjoy the music that we used. They also thought the camera shots were good and made the film better.

The final piece!!!

This is our final piece for our film:

Looking back at your preliminary task (the continuity editing task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Preliminary conversation task

In this quick conversation scene we tried out different types of shots. We have included over the shoulder shots when me ans Matt are having the conversation. It then changes to an establishing shot of the conversation, this shows the audience the location and the surroundings. We have then used a close up of the phone showing the audience what is happening and who is calling. We have then edited together Matt walking through the door. We felt that it was a smooth transaction. Then finally we used a long shot of Matt walking down the stairs, this shows the audience where he is going. We tried different techniques during our preliminary task such as the black and white setting, we also added some sound to it but for some reason it hasn't been able to work on YouTube.

Detainment (coursework)






Detainment has got some comparisons with our preliminary task. First of all we have used continuity editing when Matt walks through the door, this is very similar to the preliminary task when he leave the scene. We have then included an over the shoulder when Ben the teacher walks in. This shows the conversation between the two characters. This shot was also included in the first task we produced. We have then used a close up of the handle when Matt tries to escape from the room this is also like when Matt answers his phone in the preliminary task. We have then used amplified sound of the overhead board being lifted; this adds a good effect to the scene. Also we have used non-diegetic sound during the scene to add tension to the film. Finally there is a mid shot of Matt just before he attacks the board; this is a good shot because it shows his emotion.

Overall we are proud as a group by how we have improved from our first task to now. Looking at the shots and editing we have used in the final task it has a lot better continuity compared to the first task.

Here are some of the comparisons between the two films:

close up

Over the shoulder shot

Continuity editing

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

We have used different technologies and media products to help us produce this film.

We have used:

School and Home computers - To edit and upload the film, also updating new features onto our blogs

School supplied camera and tape - We used the tape and camera to record our opening 2 minutes of the film.

Tripod - We relied on the tripod to produce steady shots which improved the quality of the footage.

Adobe - We used Adobe Premiere 8 to edit and construct our opening two minutes.

kitchen knife - We used a kitchen knife which the school provided for us for our last scene.

school premises - We have used the school premises to produce our film. We used one of the old science blocks to make it.

How did you attract/address your audience?

Who would be the audience for your media product?

From research of other films and our questionnaires that we have produced we have been able to find out who we are going to target our film at. I have used the business.pearlanddean.com/filmplanner website to get an idea on what ages other films target audience is. For example here are a couple of films that are the same genre as ours, they are also films that we have researched throughout this year. Firstly there is "Halloween" which is focusing on the ages between 15-24. A statistic that they have used is that 59% is male and 41% female are most likely to be interested in the film. Another Film is "The unborn" which focuses on the audience that is aged between 15-24. Once again this is the same statistic as "Halloween" which is what it tends to be with most of the films that are within this genre.

From questionnaires we found out that people who enjoy horror films are aged between 15 and 40. The older audience tend to prefer comedy's because they are light hearted and easy to watch. Also the younger audience are going to tend to go and watch the film at the cinema whereas the older audience may not. We have targeted our film at the ages of 15-24 because this is what other films have done and they have enjoyed success. We have put the age certificate at 15 because then we can target a wider audience, this means we can get a bigger box office.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

A media institution that might distribute our film would be rogue pictures. The reason why we feel they would be the best institution to distribute our film would be because they have distributed a lot of other horror films such as all of the saw films, Shaun of the dead, the strangers, the last house on the left and recently the unborn. Their main genre that they operate in is horror which is suitable for us. They are a well known company within the media institution. Rogue are a well known brand which will also help us when we need to advertise the film to our audience. Also our film is a low budget film so rogue would be able to fund the film without getting any other main production company's to help with finance. Rogue can also create conditions for making the movie, hiring the personnel such as cast, directors and others and finally they can distribute the film out to their target audience.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

In our film we only have two main characters Shaun McGee and the killer. Shaun is a normal character that doesn't have much influence in whole film only the opening scene because this scene sets up the rest of the film. The killer has a much bigger role in the film as he or she will be playing throughout the entire film. An example of our killer is the killers from the film "the strangers". This is because they keep their identity hidden throughout the film which is also what happens with our film. It was hard to relate the killer to anyone because you don't find much out about him because he tries to keep a low profile. The strangers keep a low profile by wearing masks which hides their identity. Our killer hides his identity by wearing a science cloak and a hoodie which cover most of his face, he also attacks when it is dark which means his suspects never get to see his face or any of his features.

The killer also represents the killer from scream, they both try to keep their identity hidden. Also people don't really know anything about him which is what we have tried to emulate when producing our film and creating the character. The killer is shown to make the audience scared and worried. "The strangers", "Scream" and our own film "Detainment" all have a lot in common when it comes to the killer. The similarities between all three films are that all the killers faces are hidden. In scream he is wearing a mask, in the strangers they are also wearing a mask and in detainment he is wearing a hood that covers most of his face.