Evaluation Question 1 - In What Ways Does Your Product Use, Develop Or Challenge Forms And Conventions Of Real Media Products?

In What Ways Does Your Product Use, Develop Or Challenge Forms And Conventions Of Real Media Products?



THIS IS A WRITTEN VERSION OF MY ANSWER:


Tiny Terror has established a variety of different ways in which our opening uses, develops and challenges forms and conventions of real media products.

The general conventions of a slasher film are:

The Killer

Usually male, with a concealed identity such a mask or dim lighting and camera work (like Micheal Myres in Halloween). He is mute and seemingly unstoppable. He may have had experienced a trauma in his childhood which makes him like he is today, which also attracts some sort of sympathy of the viewer.

The Victims

Tend to be young and attractive. Typical teenagers who engage in activities such as sex, drinking, smoking, taking drugs and involving themselves in crime. The killer may pick these teenagers because there is an unwritten 'moral code' which depicts bad behaviour. The audience may somehow want to feel like the victims deserved their fate - death.

The Final Girl

Almost always a peer of the victims. She does not go against the 'moral code' in drinking, drug taking, and is almost always a virgin (e.g. Jamie Lee Curtis starred as the Final Girl in Halloween, where her friends tormented her for worrying about forgetting one of her school books, yet she is left to deal with the killer at the end of the film whilst all of her friends are dead)

Jamie Lee Curtis In Halloween

The Scream Queen

Typical blonde, busty, popular sexually active girl. One of the main reasons for the scream queen is for the male gaze. Typically, she will be one of the first characters to be murdered by the killer (e.g. the scream queen from A Nightmare On Elm Street, Nancy Thompson, played by Heather Lagenkamp. Tiny Terror Uses A Scream Queen

Scream Queens From Scream 4

Nancy Thompson In A Nightmare On Elm Street

The Violence

The weapon of choice for most if not all slasher films is a knife. This may be because of phallic reasons, when the knife stabs the (usually female) victim, it acts as a penis, therefore the killer is metaphorically raping his victims. Tiny Terror Uses A Knife

A False Scare

This is where the audience is tricked into thinking that violence will happen, but doesnt. It is aimed to make the audience more anxious and make their hearts beat at an irregular pace. However, when the violence is about to occur, the character included in the false scare may jump out at the "victim". Tiny Terror Uses A False Scare.

Our film uses conventions by providing idents at the beginning of our production, we have our seperate idents, and our production company ident, named Barncasarn (Because my last name is Barningham and Tom's last name is Cassani)

Tom Cassani's Ident

My Ident

These idents follow the conventions of any film, not just a slasher film.

Barncasarn Production Company

Our working title: Tiny Terror could be a real dolls name. It is also catchy and memorable. This convention has also been used by Maria Lease's: Dolly Dearest.





 Our opening uses a stereotypical social class convention. The location of the opening is in a medium sized detatched house. This has previously been used in many slasher films such as Halloween and Scream.

Tiny Terror House

Halloween House

we wanted to get the same effect of the house from Halloween by leaving a room light on which is visable from outside of the house.








Also, the rooms in the house are fairly normal, just like any other home. This brings forward the idea that that the situation that the characters are in, can happen in any home, which could add to the danger of the film which adds to the 'scare factor'for the audience. 
The teenage girls bedroom shown in the
opening follows the stereotypical conventions shown of
a teenage room. There is also alcohol next to the bed which
signifies that this girl is not a final girl as she goes against
moral code.

Tiny Terror Doll

Chuckie

Slasher movies often conceal the killers identity. Tiny Terror does this by not showing the full physical description of the doll killer until right at the end of the opening. Also, "chuckie" in childsplay looks physically disturbing with slashes on his face etc, Tiny terror have developed the conventions of this with the doll that is used. For example, there is blood stains on its top.





The weapon of choice for the doll is a knife, this is following slasher conventions as the killer almost always kills his victims with a knife. Tiny Terror holds a small knife in his hands which could be a comedic reference from his height. Also, Knifes are often used as phallic metaphors in which when the killer stabs his (usually female) victim, he is metaphorically raping her.




Narrative Enigma is used when somebody knocks on the door and the scream queen goes down to answer, yet when she gets there, there is nobody at the door, so she goes outside to see who it may have been. There are POV shots used which face the scream queen, yet the audience do not know who is looking at the scream queen. This then leads to a false scare.




False scares are often used in slasher movies. Tiny Terror used this genre convention. Somebody knocks on the door, and their identity isnt revealed until a POV shot where said person walks up to Jodi (scream queen character) and scares her. She replies 'Damien you little devil!' The false scare can be used to play with the heartbeat of the audience, and put them "on edge" for the rest of the movie.

The music also plays a big part in putting the audience "on edge" it easily plays with the heartbeat of the audience. The more fast beated the non diegetic music is, the faster the heart rate will go. Tiny Terror have played around with the music too. Especially at the end when the colouring of the shot goes an orange colour and the diegetic laugh of the doll gets louder, this intensifies the scare factor for the audience.







We used intertextuality in the false scare scene with the scream queen Jodi saying "Damien you little Devil" From Omen film. Intertextuality is becoming more popular in recent years with films such as Scary Movie, a spoof film reflected from the Scream films which uses a lot of intertextuality from Scream. Intertextuality has not only been used in horror films. For example, Down With Love is a rom-com which provides a lot of intertextuality from the Doris Day and Rock Hudson romance.

"Damien You Little Devil" provides exposition of the boyfriend characters name.

The character we used for a scream queen goes against the typical representation of a scream queen, 'Jodi' has brown hair, is mixed race and is not necessarily wearing revealing clothing, yet she is obviously sexually active and doesnt appear to have any books in the mise en scene of her bedroom, connoting that she is not a 'final girl'. We decided to challenge the media conventions of a scream queen to add variety into the slasher opening, and also alot of companies are also beginning to challenge stereotypical representations.

Scream Queen in Scream 4

Tiny Terror scream queen

 

However, Luke (or Damien in the film) follows the conventional jock like character, with his clothing in the opening and his physical appearance. This has also been used in the first "Scream" film when the scream queen's boyfriend "Steve" ends up being tied up and killed by ghostface. However, before this, the scream queen describes him to be "big and he plays football" She then says "and he'll kick the shit out of you!" which would stereotypically make him a threatening character. But his fate is death, which could mean that in Tiny Terror, the fate of the boyfriend could also be death, later on in the film. 

"Damien" Tiny Terror Boyfriend

"Steve" Scream Boyfriend

Evaluation Question 2 - How Does Your Media Product Represent Particular Social Groups

How Does Your Media Product Represent Particular Social Groups



THIS IS A WRITTEN VERSION OF MY VODCAST:

Our opening 2 minutes of a slasher film has many different aspects to represent particular social groups.

Jodi challenges stereotype

First of all, like alot of slasher films, BarnCasarn uses different stereotypes of character in the opening Of Tiny Terror. A general scream queen character would have blonde hair, busty physique, be sexually active, physically attractive and popular. We decided to challenge the stereotypce of a scream queen by using jodi, a teenage girl with brown curly hair (which is typical of a final girl, the countertype of what we were going for), mixed race, and in the opening, is not wearing any revealing clothing. We decided to do this to spice the slasher genre up and go against conventions. We thought that Jodi best fit the criteria for this. Jodi appears as a middle class girl, this is not denoted by her clothing, but by the setting of the house, as it is a middle class secluded looking house which reflects on her wealth.
Jodi does not have any real regional accent meaning it is unclear of where she is from, which can benefit us in a way that the audience will find it easy to relate to her as she can fit the form of any teenage girl. As Jodi is the first character that the audience sees, and is in most of the shots, she becomes the protagonist of the film. We did this to shock the audience when they see that she has been stabbed several times which will lead to death.

In Pyscho, Janet Leigh plays a scream queen named Marion. She was already a well known star, so the marketisation of the film was placed on her a lot to attract an audience to go and watch the film. However, they got a shock when, who they thought was the protagonist of the film, Marion, was killed off quite early on in the film. This was a very early start of the scream queen which was rarely heard of in the early 1960's. 
With Tiny Terror, we have tried to aim for this, by making Jodi out to be the protagonist of the film, who the audience will think that she will survive and become the heroine, yet is actually the first to be murdered. 

stereotypical scream queen

unstereotypical scream queen

In the opening, Jodi is not particularly dressed in the stereotypical scream queen attire, contrasting with scream queens, she has her body covered up (wearing a cardigan and leggings). This does not follow the conventions of a scream queen (wearing boob tubes and short skirts). Which would have made her appear to be more of a final girl, which we know is the opposite of what she is.

Jodi, The Scream Queen In Tiny Terror

Luke follows stereotype

When it came to the male in the opening, Barncasarn decided to live up to the stereotype of a jock like character. We used Luke Kenna who can be represented as physically attractive, tall, muscley and sporty. This portrays the stereotype of the jock like character well. 


We decided to use a stereotype of a jock because it contrasted with the fact that we went against the general conventions of a scream queen when picking Jodi. 

Some ways in which we made Lukes character Damien look a lot more jock like, is his clothing, for example his jogging bottoms, jumper and snapback hat all show representation of a sporty character. 

Steve Jock Character Scream

Another film which follows the convenitons of a jock like character is Steve from Scream, the scream queens boyfriend. He has a very small part, with no words, and only features in the opening, with his girlfriend. Damien is similar to him in that he only features in the opening, but different in that he has a speaking part, and he is not killed by the murderer in the opening, although he may be later on in the 90 minute film. But Steve is murdered before his scream queen girlfriend. In the film, Steve is wearing jock like attire like his jacket, and the scream queen provides exposition that he plays football, as she says "hes big and he plays football and he'll kick your ass!" 



In the opening of Tiny Terror, BarnCasarn used a binary opposite (in using one male and one female). Slasher movies usually have strong gender stereotypes (Final Girl and Scream Queen etc) With help of the mise en scene (teenage girls bedroom) we have made Jodi look like a typical Scream Queen and girly girl, and made Luke look like a sport loving social jock.




 BarnCasarn have put the bbfc rating of Tiny Terror at 15-24. 

BBFC's definition for a 15 rating is, to select a few different topics: 

Drugs

Drug taking may be shown but the film as a whole must not promote or encourage drug misuse. The misuse of easily accessible and highly dangerous substances (for example, aerosols or solvents) is unlikely to be acceptable.

Horror

Strong threat and menace are permitted unless sadistic or sexualised.

Imitable behaviour

Dangerous behaviour (for example, hanging, suicide and self-harming) should not dwell on detail which could be copied. Easily accessible weapons should not be glamorised.

Language

There may be frequent use of strong language (for example, ‘fuck’). The strongest  terms (for example, ‘cunt’) may be acceptable if justified by the context. Aggressive or repeated use of the strongest language is unlikely to be acceptable.

Nudity

Nudity may be allowed in a sexual context but without strong detail. There are no constraints on nudity in a non-sexual or educational context.

Sex

Sexual activity may be portrayed without strong detail. There may be strong verbal references to sexual behaviour, but the strongest references are unlikely to be acceptable unless justified by context. Works whose primary purpose is sexual arousal or stimulation are unlikely to be acceptable.

Violence

Violence may be strong but should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury. The strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable. Strong sadistic or sexualised violence is also unlikely to be acceptable. There may be detailed verbal references to sexual violence but any portrayal of sexual violence must be discreet and have a strong contextual justification.

I have specifically chosen these topics from the rated 15 BBFC, because the rest of film adding from Tiny Terror would most likely have most of these topics included. However, the opening does portray violence, connotations of sex, and horror. 

We decided not to rate the film an 18 (click here to see the definitions for BBFC rating 18) because we thought that Tiny Terror did not reflect on most of the bans from anybody under the age of under 18 (e.g. "any detailed portrayal of violent or dangerous acts, or of illegal drug use, which may cause harm to public health or morals. This may include portrayals of sexual or sexualised violence which might, for example, eroticise or endorse sexual assault"

We also thought that if the rating of the film was an 18, our primary target audience would be too young to watch the film. 


We researched films that we thought were closest to Tiny Terror, these films being Childs Play, rated a 15 by BBFC, and Scream, also rated by BBFC at 15. This inspired us more to rate Tiny Terror a BBFC rating of 15. 

Cast members of the opening of Tiny Terror are aged 15 and 16, which goes along with the BBFC rating of 15, we thought that the age of the characters may attract the audience as they can relate to the teenagers as they are at the same stage in life. Which they could then perhaps put themselves in the teenagers shoes, and experience what the characters in the film are experiencing. 

Luke Kenna (Damien) is White Brittish and Jodi Harrison is mixed race. This makes the opening of Tiny Terror culturally diverse. This is a convention that is rarely seen in openings of slasher movies, however another horror/slasher film that challenges this convention is Nelson McCormicks Prom Night.

Both Characters (and cast) are boyfriend and girlfriend, meaning they are heterosexual. Homosexuals rarely appear in slasher movies, however, male killers are often gay, or are fascinated with homosexuality. there are very negative representations on homosexuality in horror movies. They are portrayed as being literally monstrous. One way in which the killer could be portrayed as being a homosexual in horror movies, is the phallic theory. When a killer stabs his victim who is male with a knife, he could be metaphorically raping him, which is almost a fantasy of a homosexual act. Also, the cast are not proffessional actors so putting them in any situation in which they are uncomfortable would be extremely demanding.

Social class and status are not well stated in the opening of Tiny Terror, however, the detatched house and the different rooms are shown which signify a middle class status, which is a general, well used convention in slasher movies (eg Psycho, Scream, Halloween)

All of the footage for Tiny Terror was shot in Yorkshire, and both cast members live in Yorkshire, however there is little regional identity shown for a number of reasons, some of them being: little outdoor scenery was shot, and the characters are not shown to have broad Yorkshire accents.

Evaluation Question 3 - What Type Of Media Institution Might Distribute Your Media Product And Why?

What Type Of Media Institution Might Distribute Your Media Product And Why?






THIS IS A WRITTEN VERSION OF MY ANSWER:

BarnCasarn are a virtually no budget film company, and compared to big film distributors such as Walt Disney or 20th Century Fox, BarnCasarn thought that we would be distributed through an indie company.
Our film, Tiny Terror is very low budget and does not have professional actors, high quality props, or a 100% ideal location, so no large or famous distributor would be interested in Tiny Terror for various reasons, but mainly because they would not make a profit from the film.

However, indie companies would be more suited to Tiny Terror as they have a specific target audience and, seeing as the films have low budgets, it is easier for them to make a larger profit.
After doing some research on low budget films, I found the director Shane Meadows, who directed films such as such as Dead Mans Shoes (2004) which had a budget of £723,000 and was distributed by optimum releasing, an indie film company. The film went to box office, avoiding "straight-to-DVD" and got a 7.7 imdb rating. We felt like this film was a good example of Tiny Terror, in that it is a very low budget slasher, and a british film, which was distributed by an indie film company. Our second film that we found that fits around the same criteria as Tiny Terror, is This Is England (2006) which had a budget of £1.5M Also directed by Shane Meadows and distributed by optimum releasing. The film has a 7.8 IMDB rating.

Evaluation Question 4 - Who Would Be The Audience Of Your Media Product?

Who Would Be The Audience Of Your Media Product?




THIS IS A WRITTEN VERSION OF THE EVALUATION:

Our target audience would be 15-24 (our chosen BFCC rating). This is because, after researching the definitions for a bbfc rating of 15, we found that our opening included violence, horror and connotations of sex. We also felt that later on in the film, it would make use of other topics which would fit the criteria to be a bbfc 15 rated film, such as drugs, language and nudity, as well as the topics already mentioned.
Some existing horror films which we thought may fit the same criteria as Tiny Terror when it came to the evidence of topic in the film opening were:

• Stewart Hendler's 2009 film Sorority Row - where a group of sorority girls accidentally kill their friend. - I have already done a blog post on analysing the opening: Sorority Row Film Analysis.
• Geoffrey Wright's 2008 film Cherry Falls - where a 'final girl' type character and her boyfriend are murdered after kissing in a car in a secluded rural type area. I have also done a film Analysis on this: Cherry Falls Film Analysis

Barncasarn used these film analysis' to inspire us when creating Tiny Terror.

However, we thought that Tiny Terror did not fit the criteria for most of the topics on the definition for the bbfc 18 rating. Definitions for the 18 rating were:

"where the material is in breach of the criminal law, or has been created through the commission of a criminal offence"

"where material or treatment appears to the BBFC to risk harm to individuals or, through their behaviour, to society – for example, any detailed portrayal of violent or dangerous acts, or of illegal drug use, which may cause harm to public health or morals. This may include portrayals of sexual or sexualised violence which might, for example, eroticise or endorse sexual assault"

A bbfc 18 rated film in which we thought was similar to Tiny Terror in that explored horror, mild sex references and violence was John Carpenter's 1978 film Halloween - where six year old Michael Myres stabs his 15 year old female sibling and her boyfriend after she has had sex with her boyfriend.
Our secondary target audience age range would be alot wider concidering teenagers who have heard of films such as Tom Holland's 1988 film Childs Play, and older viewers who enjoyed Childs Play when they were teenagers/young adults and want to compare with Tiny Terror. However the age range would possibly stop around late 30's as we have found that adults may prefer psychological thrillers such as Richard Kelly's 2001 film Donnie Darko or Martin Scorsese's 1991 film Cape Fear.

"Horror is most popular with teenagers and twenty-something’s, and this seems to go against the genre with a lot of critics, as if these age groups aren’t capable of making an intelligent film choice. This, of course, can be true; if at any time in the horror genre, we are being shown it now, with the surge of the re-make, where teenagers are unaware of the far superior (in most cases) films that are being regurgitated. While some horror movies do target the unknowing teenage audience, most horror fans can spot these a mile away. Sequels and re-makes have unfortunately given the horror genre a bad name; but even some of these are extremely well made films"

A quote from Bella Online which supported our choice of primary audience.

signifying gore

The age range for our cast is within the 15-24 mark (with Luke Kenna being 16 and Jodi Harrison being 15) So Tiny Terror should attract an audience of a similar age to the actors because the audience may feel that they can relate to the cast as they are in the same stage of life which could then also allow them to find it easier to put themselves in the characters position, adding to the scare factor and the reality of the film. Also, the sexual references that are in the opening would be more appealing to a male audience as stereotypically, they prefer a scream queen character as part of the male gaze, and gore/violence. On average, boys prefer horror films to any other genre of film. Females may prefer romcoms, this is because most rom-coms follow the plot of a single lady finding love, it is a more light hearted and comedic genre of film which is not so intense when it comes to violence, gore and horror. An example of a rom-com is Richard LaGravenese's 2007 film P.S I Love You. However, recently, more films are beginning to add Final Girl type characters whom portray a girl who is left to destroy the killer at the end of the film, and survive. More girls may be interested in the horror genre as they may look up to the Final Girl as a role model, and enjoy watching other females be powerful, strong and successful. All though in Tiny Terror, we did not use this, it is definitely an aspect which we would revise when creating the plot for the rest of the film. I have blogged on the final girl previously, quoting from Teenage Wasteland - The Slasher Movie Uncut on the Final Girl.

Some horror films which portray a final girl are:

• John Carpenter's 1978 film Halloween - with final girl "Laurie Strode"
• Wes Craven's 1984 film A Nightmare On Elm Street - with final girl "Nancy Thompson"

Nancy Thompson Final Girl In Nightmare On Elm Street

Laurie Strode Final Girl In Halloween

To support my argument, i found a quote from Science Daily explaining why individuals may prefer horror movies:
"The person is not actually afraid, but excited by the movie. The second explanation is that they are willing to endure the terror in order to enjoy a euphoric sense of relief at the end"


Tiny Terror uses slang in the opening, appealing to a youth type audience, for example the word "babe" is a colloquial term regularly used by youths.
Tiny Terror, at one point, also signifies that the couple are going to have sexual intercourse, which goes against an unspoken moral and also religion of no sex before marriage. This may appeal to a large audience who may be interested in the conciquences of these wrong doings.

We hope that our film will attract an audience, due to previous success in films which can relate to Tiny Terror, such as Childs Play (1988), which had a budget of $9 Million, and as of March 1989, made around $33 Million in the USA only.  Also, other evidence of this is Scream (1996), which had a budget of $15 Million and as of July 1997made $103 Million in the USA and £8.2 Million in the UK.

Evaluation Question 5 - How Do You Attract/Address Your Audience?

How Do You Attract/Address Your Audience?

Firstly, we attempted to attract our audience by the use of characters. Jodi plays the scream queen in the film. She is represented as a sexually active, popular, attractive girl who is sexually active. The scream queen character is often admired by males, which is part of the "male gaze" theory. Also, a female audience may find Jodi appealing as she could possibly be an inspiration to their appearance. Luke, who plays a jock like character named "Damien" in the film may attract the potential audience as, in the film, he is portrayed as a good looking, athletic, humorous type of character in which the audience may be able to relate to, or for females, be attracted to. Both of the characters are around the same age group as our primary target audience, which is one way in which we have addressed our audience. The dialogue in which the characters use are appropriate for a teenage audience, in which they can relate to. For example, at one point "Damien" says "Babe".
We have attempted to address our audience by their costume, for example, Jodi is wearing leggings and a pink top, which may be typical of a teenage girl to wear. Also, Damien wears jogging bottoms, a jumper and a snapback hat, all which are "trendy" for modern day youths.


Another way in which we attempted to attract the audience, was by keeping the killer's identity a secret until the very end of the opening. This way, we were using narrative enigma, yet we were adding hints at various bits of the opening, for example showing the hair off the doll coming through the door. This added suspense to the opening as the audience were given hints about this strange figure.

 

We hope that our film will attract an audience, due to previous success in films which can relate to Tiny Terror, such as Childs Play (1988), which had a budget of $9 Million, and as of March 1989, made around $33 Million in the USA only. Also, other evidence of this is Scream (1996), which had a budget of $15 Million and as of July 1997made $103 Million in the USA and £8.2 Million in the UK.

In order to attract our audience, Barncasarn needed to produce what the audience WANTED. So feedback was very important for us. Here is an example of some feedback we got about a rough cut involving the bathroom scene with the doll.



In this, Dillon says "When it first came in, it looked real, it looked scary, but the way it was handled didnt work because both of its feet came off the floor"

So when we re shot another rough cut of tiny terror, we made sure we changed the shot types of the doll. Here is the rough cut we made after receiving the previous feedback:


I also made links to the Tiny Terror rough cuts on social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook to gain more knowledge of what the potential audience may want to see in Tiny Terror, what they thought worked well, and what they thought did not work so well. I found that promoting Tiny Terror on social networking sites was very useful in order to gain feedback and allow the potential audience to become interested in Tiny Terror, already forming a fan base.

Also, the 'scare factor' of the doll was very important to us, as the doll was the biggest part of the opening. We made sure that the doll was scary physically by adding modifications, which are stated in this blog post: Killer Doll - Modifications Made

Barncasarn advertised our videos on youtube, this is my youtube channel: georgiabarningham, which has various videos from throughout the filming process, also, these videos are on the IGSMEDIASTUDIES youtube account, which attracts a large audience and has over 21 Thousand video views.
 As we promoted Tiny Terror on social networking sites to receive more of an audience. This worked well, as one week, were were in the top 3 of most viewed videos.

We attempted to appeal to our potential audience by creating a company blog: Barncasarn, which regularly posted blogs about what the company was doing, what stage of production we were with the opening, how the filming was going, what changes we may have made, information on the location, the whole editing process and how we have grown from using different ideas and then testing them etc so throughout the whole process, they were kept up to date with the construction of Tiny Terror. The Barncasarn blog holds most of the updates to the filming of Tiny Terror, the roughcuts, the vodcasts and podcasts and the call sheets etc to show our potential audience what changes we were making in order to better our product and show that we were listening to the feedback. Barncasarn feel that a blog was the best way to update our potential audience regularly on what was happening in terms of the production of Tiny Terror, so they could feel more involved in the final product.



A way to try and appeal to our audience was by using intertextual reference. At the beginning of Tiny Terror, Barncasarn used a false scare. When the girl turned around, she said "Damien you little devil!", this is intertextual reference from The Omen (directed by Richard Donnor 1976). We thought that this would be a good intertextual reference to use, because with the false scare, we used narrative enigma in that we did not show the boy until he scared his girlfriend, so he could have been a dangerous figure, the way she says "little devil" suggests that she is joking, however this could have been ironic as before revealing identity, the audience may have thought that he was infact a dangerous character.