4- Evaluation and reflection of the creative process and your experience

EVALUATION

My opening sequence, ‘Dance of the Dead’ uses conventions of real media products. Based on the two openings, ‘Scary Movie’ and ‘Shaun of the Dead’ which I analysed, I found that there were many similarities between them. My ‘horror-comedy’ begins with a news report similar to a scene in ‘Shaun of the Dead’ where the protagonist sees the reports of a zombie attack whilst watching television. However, my take on the situation was rather more serious to build up tension/fear whilst ‘Shaun of the Dead’ immediately sets out humorous elements. I think ‘Scary Movie’ also played a part in developing the final outcome of my opening sequence as the movie has been familiarized for containing elements of ‘parody’

<---- news report from 'Dance of the Dead'.

zombies in film 'Shaun of the Dead'


Both images do not present the stereotypical image of zombies and are therefore for the purpose of comedy rather than horror.

I think my opening sequence presents particular social groups in an ordinary way. As my sequence did not intend to present specific stereotypes of the teenagers involved, I think I achieved what I set out in terms of representation. In the light of this comment, there were not many characters involved in my opening sequence and if I were to improve on this, I would have presented a rather more 'close up and personal' approach to a particular social group in order for the audience to become more involved within the film as well as allowing them to familiarise themselves with the characters also.

Based on the content of my opening sequence, I did however intend to present specific elements which only teenagers would understand and may relate to, in terms of parodies. For example, the judging table is represented in the style of ‘X Factor’.


The X factor judges. I took this as an inspiration for the judging scene in my film.

<------ my presentation of the judges x factor parody.

Given more time, I would have liked to have presented this clip in a more professional standard so as to present it in a more 'X factor' manner. The lighting in this particula scene is also rather dark and so this could have also been improved on.

I think my target audience, which was originally for teenagers remains the same, although after observing my final opening sequence, it could appear to also focus on a younger audience, (12+) as the content is not rude and does not use language better suited to older viewers, although I think that the comic elements are better suited towards teenagers/young adults.

I think the type of media institution that may distribute my media product would be a local institution which will focus on rather more low budget type films as my film does not present particularly types of special effects which would classify it as a 'Hollywood type' film. After completing my film, it appears to still fit in with the majority of my original methods (3.3 synopsis of opening sequence).

I attracted my targeted audience by involving teenage characters. The location of my film, the common room is also a place familiar to those who attend college/sixth form whilst presenting an ordinary, everyday scenario. Looking at some of the results from my questionnaire, a few people did not feel as though the portrayal of teenagers was adequate enough in order to make the opening sequence appeal to them so this could be an issue of improvement.

<------------- common roon scene prior to news report announcing zombie attack. (on final cut pro)

From constructing my opening sequence, I have improved on my knowledge of a range of technology. Whilst filming, not only was I able to further develop my understanding of particular camera angles in order to achieve the effects I intended. Final cut pro played a major role in the way we managed to edit our film, allowing us to present particular clips in a humorous manner.

'Dance- off' as seen on final cut pro.

In order to attract my audience, I attempted to present elements of comedy as much as possible within my film. As the questionnaire results feedback showed, that the majority of my targeted audience could see my attempt of this in my film. Although many of my targeted audience stated that they felt as though my film was more 'low budget', many of them suggested that it increased the elements of comedy and so I was satisfied with this. There were no specific portrayals of social class or groups of society and the feedback was able to tell me that the portrayal of teenagers were not offensive or stereotyped. Going back on the synopsis of my film, I had intended on creating elements which would convey particular stereotypes although I think this did not affect the outcome of the film.

The internet on the whole was a major advantage in terms of been able to research on particular methods used, for example, youtube allowed me to research on the two opening sequences, ‘Scary Movie’ and ‘Shaun of the Dead’ which further enabled me to convey particular stereotypes within the ‘horror-comedy’ genre. As well as youtube, websites such as google and ask aided my research. Blogger.com allowed me to keep a track of methods I had previously used, as well as playing the part of a ‘notebook’ in the sense that I was able to keep a record of the progression of my opening sequence.

<--------- scene from 'Scary Movie'. I was able to make an in-depth research on the film so as to use it as one of the films I chose to analyse before making my 'horror-comedy' based film.

<------- Scene from 'Shaun of the Dead'.

The internet allowed me also to research on this particular film so as to compare it with the film i created. I think my film is based more on 'Shaun of the Dead' rather than 'Scary Movie' as it follows the zombie plot storyline as well as having the name 'Dance of the Dead' as an inspiration from the name.

Looking back at my preliminary task, I feel as though it helped me to produce this task. Although the scenes we filmed were not at all linked with my final product, we experimented with lighting whilst presenting the 180 degree rule and we also used the green screen in a news report scene which allowed us to understand how it works so as to incorporate the method in our opening sequence. It was also very necessary to have done the preliminary task as it was my first major attempt at presenting 'professional type' methods of filming whilst further expanding my knowledge of specific technology, for example, final cut pro.

I felt as though there were however many flaws in my film which giving the chance I would make changes to. For instance, some of my green screening did not appear to my expected standard. Also, there were many parts in the film I would have liked to include which would have made the opening sequence to appeal to a more 'horror' standard. The zombie in my film could have had certain make up which would have made him appear to be more 'zombie-like'.