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

Our Media Project is the opening of a horror film, so as it was developed into a full film it would be distributed by a Film production company specializing in horror films, either an independent film company as it is only a small film with a minimal budget, or a film distributor with an interest in British film such as Film4 Productions.

Evaluation - How does your media product represent particular social groups?

There are a few ways that social groups are represented within 'The Possession', the main hero character of Sam is wearing a smart suit and has a short haircut, showing he is a clean-cut effective character. The use of suit is similar to that of James Bond or Doctor Who in showing that the character has authority and is effective in portraying the dominant male role. The two teenagers, Luke and Jack, are wearing scruffy hoodies and jeans, showing them as less able, incompetent youths. This is reflected in the storyline as they both end up in trouble and having to rely on Sam, making the costumes fitting and representative of roles.
 During the later scenes we see Sam relaxing in normal clothes, jeans and a t-shirt, showing that he is not authorative and proffesional all the time, he is more of a three dimensional character who has weaknesses. This is played out in the phone scene, when he suddenly looks very nervous and we know he is not as tough and bulletproof as he looks.

Evaluation - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

'The Possession' encompasses many of the forms and conventions of the horror genre in real media products, such as the slow, tense, creeping soundtrack to emphasize  scary moments and the building fear in the finished project. We also used quick cutting and fast music to speed up fast paced elements of the film, such as the running scene towards the graveyard, and we used establishing shots of the fire to set the scene in a dark and frightening environment. All of these are conventions often used effectively in the horror genre, but we also added our own touches to the film to make it stand out and be more individualistic.This included the hand held shakycam shots that circled around and around the actual exorcism, building a disorientating atmosphere that brings the audience out of their comfort zone. Also, the opening sequence with the Ouija board is very individualistic and I have not come across anything like it before in the horror genre.

The Director's Cut!

Here is the link to the extended edit of our movie, comments and criticisms are welcome!
Evaluation will be up soon.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orl6_SGV6zQ

Horror Effect Screen Test

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z25aUciukJo

Update on the editing process: This is a quick screen test for an effect we are planning to use in the final movie. It is done by cutting the video into small segments and alternating them. I think it has been quite successful.

Screenshots

 These are some screenshots of the editing process. We are using Corel VideoStudio Pro X3

Filming Progress

We are now 2/3 of the way through our filming and editing. We have filmed all of the street and inside house scenes, and some graveyard shots to intercut with the possesion scene. We have edited down all the video for these scenes to make it look snappy, professional and creepy. We have also edited the audio so it flows well, and avoids it sounding like the audio is coming from different directions. We have added some royalty free music to enhance the scenes, 'The House of Leaves' and 'Tropic of Capri'. The former is an eerie string based soundrack song, used so far as a motif when Sam answers his phone, and the latter is a fast paced dance track used when Sam is running through the streets to make the video more fast-paced and action-packed.
   All we need to do now is film the opening scenes and the possesion scene and edit it down. The only problem is that it is set outside and thus we need to wait for an ideal time as the weather can be rather changeable at this time of year.