1. MEDIA AS
EVALUTION ON
OPENING SEQUENCE
By Fahad Nazor

2. Q1: HOW DOES YOUR FILM USE, DEVELOP AND
CHALLENGE THE CODES AND CONVENTIONS OF SIMILAR
MEDIA PRODUCTS?

3. Q2: HOW DOES YOUR OPENING SEQUENCE
REPRESENT PARTICULAR SOCIAL GROUPS?

In my opening sequence the cast consist of 4 characters. The
first and main character/protagonist is named Tyra chuck, who
is the girl that the house in my movie belongs to along with her
parents and she is also the character who organizes the sleep
over in which all the main action within the opening sequence
as well as the majority of the rest of the film will occur in. The
second and third of my characters are named Monika Solanki
and Ruksana Monnan, these two characters are not the main
ones but are as just as important and featured in the opening
sequence as Tyra is. Together they will all make up a group of
friends having the sleep over and the turning victim to a series
of unfortunate events within the film based on the storyline. The
last character featured in my opening sequence and throughout
the whole of the film is spiritual but also very vital, the
antagonist , this role will be edited to be played completely to
its typical codes and conventions with the antagonist being
every bit of evil and troublesome in order to suit its ‘ evil guy’
role.

4. QUESTION 2 CONTINUED:

The main Character, Tyra will at first is represented as the typical female
protagonist, very vulnerable and also very much linked danger. I will use
soft music, to show her daring personality increasing her vulnerability
and long timed camera shots while focused on her so the viewers can
get to know and understand her quickly by her body language, speech
and actions and easily through the extra emphasize on her showing her
to be the main character using those technical aspects. However I will
then show the other conventions of her typical protagonist like
characteristics by using quick slick camera shots and fast music
whenever she is involved either in dialogue or action to show her
transformation into a heroine throughout. This Character reminds me of
a character named ‘Stacey’ from a similar horror movie called ‘cabin in
the woods’ because both started off as very vulnerable but full of risk
taking, typical female representations in a horror movie but then ended
up to fulfil the full role of the protagonist they are aimed to be in similar
story line equally showing how the female can toughen up during the
hardest and most scariest of situations

5. QUESTION 2 CONTINUED:


The other two characters Ruksana and Monika’s representation will
be very similar and basic from the start. With extra technical aspects
of help I will show them to be innocent and normal with little
excitement and more cautiousness to their actions within their
personalities. Suspense building music will be a big factor when it
comes to dialogue between these characters as they will be inherit
the typical ‘better safe than sorry’ attitude throughout the film, from
start till finish which is very common in the genre film I am basing my
production on (Horror). These two characters both remind me of
Characters from the ‘final destination’ movie thriller and they have
been based exactly from the characters in that movie to ensure and
increase accuracy within their roles.
The representation of the antagonist in my production will involve a
large amount of common technical aspects throughout. Slow, scary
tension building music and fast paced horrific sound effects, dark
scenery and quick transitions through camera work will all be used in
order for this character to build as much suspense as possible
whenever involved and to also emphasize the evil, dark and
mysterious characteristics I intend for it to have so viewers easily
recognize its typical, common antagonist role.

6. Q2: CONTINUED AND FINALISED


Finally, right from watching the opening sequence you can
recognise our characters as having typical current teenage girl
personalities. The base of it all, the sleepover, shows what type
of girls they seem to be (active, modern day and the typical
teenage girls who love to spend time gossiping and trying new
things out together). I used these specific people in order to
create a bond with my intended target audience, mainly teenage
girls from 13-18, as it was a good pull factor to them because
they could relate to the characters in my film’s lifestyle due to
being the same age and having the same hobbies.
When in the process of recruiting my cast, I had to pick certain
people who not only fitted the character I wanted but also were
available on the day of filming. Thankfully I was able o find a
group of girls which was exactly what I wanted that were willing
to act and comply to my films need in terms of acting so there
was no difficulty or problems there however if we could have refilmed and improved anything from their contribution I would have
asked them to improve the quality and increase the confidence
within their acting.

7. QUESTION 3: WHAT KIND OF MEDIA INSTITUTION
MIGHT DISTRIBUTE YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT AND
WHY?


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I think that a media institutions that would be very suitable for my media
product in terms of distribution would be a company like ‘Brain Damage
Films’ (BDF0. BDF specialise in the exact same sub-genre my movie
falls under as it is a well known and successful company. Since
2001 Brain Damage Films has been one of the largest and most
respected independent horror film distributors worldwide. They have a
catalog of hundreds of horror and shock movies ranging from
reality/shock classics like Traces of Death to newer, high quality
independent features.
The reason I chose this company specifically is because it is already
very popular therefore meaning advertising my movie will by very easy
due to Bran Damage Film’s mass consumer audience meaning it can
quickly make my film known anywhere around the world. Also this
specific film distributor specializes in the same genre I have focused my
movie on, has experience of distributing similar movies that have
become a success and also focuses on the exact same target audience I
intend to reach with my movie making it therefore the perfect platform for
it to be invested in and become success like most of the other movies
BDF has been involved in.
http://braindamagefilms.com/about/

8. QUESTION 4: WHO WOULD BE THE AUDIENCE
FOR YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT?

The target audience of my media product (a horror movie) is a
small but venerable ( to my advantage) one of of teenagers who
are mostly curious and daring. This is because my horror film
itself involve unknowing, naive teenagers as the main
protagonists, which are normally the target of serial killers or
psychopaths. Young women especially aging from 13-19 would
be my main intended target audience due to the fact that, as
found out from audience re-search, they commonly enjoy horror
films that challeneg their emotions through suspense within the
films and many of the events that happen in the film not only
include conventions they would expect from a film like this but
also are things they can relate to and engage with (e.g the sleep
over scene at the beginning of the opening) this is the exact main
point and intension of the movie because the more engaged and
the more they can relate to it,t the more successful our re-search
and carried out actions will make our actual movie to be because
of the fact that the target audience targeted was hit successfully.

9. QUESTION 4: WHO WOULD BE THE AUDIENCE
FOR YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT?
Poster idea’s:
A large title which attracts the eye, bold colours which
stand out
from the background, intriguing picture of a main
character which would attract viewers to
the film, persuasive language which might
persuade the viewers to go
and see the film, using the main character's name
for promotion and a memorable scary slogan since
my film is of the horror genre to attract them even
further.


10. QUESTION 5: HOW DID YOU ATTRACT/ADDRESS
YOUR AUDIENCE?
We believed that the storyline to our film would attract
most young audiences. The storyline is based around a
few young
female characters full of mischief. The storyline is also
based around
the lives of young adults and their everyday lives. For
example, in the opening of our film we show an
introduction to the sleep over and a gossip
scene, a scene which represents problems between a
young couple, and even a scene which represents
jealously amongst friends, all things which will relate to
Most young audiences especially our target audience and
will then attract them to watch the film as they feel like it
is addressed and focused on their everyday similar
relatable experiences

11. QUESTION 5: HOW DID YOU ATTRACT/ADDRESS
YOUR AUDIENCE?...(CONTINUED)
The main filming location in the opening of our film is
inside one of the main character's
house which is used for a sleep over. We know
that sleep over's are extremely popular amongst
young people and therefore we believed that this
would be a perfect location for our filming, in order to
attract the younger audiences which were were
targeting.

12. QUESTION 6: WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNT ABOUT
TECHNOLOGIES FROM THE PROCESS OF
CONSTRUCTING THIS PRODUCT?
During the creation of my media product, a opening
sequence, I’ve learnt a great deal about technologies and they
have vastly helped, and improved, my media product.
We used a Canon XHAI camera in order to ensure our shots
were clear and technical aspects were to the fullest
capabilities we had possible.
We found the canon camera to be very successful as we were
able to record the footage in high definition and the quality of
sound was good. As our shots required the camera to be
extremely stable, used a tripod which I learn to safely
assemble the camera onto so we could have this stability. This
made our shots look more sleek and professional.


13. QUESTION 6: WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNT ABOUT
TECHNOLOGIES FROM THE PROCESS OF
CONSTRUCTING THIS PRODUCT?...(CONTINUED)


We used as a computer and a software called Adobe premier to
do all the editing and special effects for our opening sequence.
This enabled us to cut/crop the unneeded frames. This would
allow our sequence to flow smoothly just like a normal opening
film. As I had never used a Adobe before it was quite hard getting
used to the programme. However I overcome this by practicing in
school hours and getting help from other students. Furthermore
Adobe premier is a software we used to cut and edit our shots
and put the whole film opening together. Taking a lot of time this
was successful as the editing of the whole sequence with added
after affects such as fade in transitions and fade out affects was
good as the sequence flowed well. One of the main aspects that
was good with this programme was that it allowed us to edit our
soundtrack by enabling us to fade/ increase the tempo, so we
could create the ideal soundtrack for our opening.
In conclusion I have therefore learnt that technology is a very
important aspect when it comes to media production as it can
play a big factor in creating the realism and professionalism of it
all meaning it is the main and vital part of the jigsaw.

14. QUESTION 7: LOOKING BACK AT YOUR
PRELIMINARY TASK, WHAT DO YOU FEEL YOU HAVE
LEARNT IN THE PROGRESSION FROM IT TO THE
FULL PRODUCT?