Film evaluation !

#1 in what way does your film use develop or challenge forms & conventions of real films?

The theatrical poster for 'Jeepers Creepers'

Our horror film challenges horror conventions with the timing of the film, late evening on an august night. The fact that we filmed it during the light was firstly to show that the characters were entering the woods before it was night, showing that the majority of the film would be occurring during the evening. Secondly because the use of light can trick the audience into a false sense of safety , believing that the day time would make the characters safe. It also subverts the themes presented in normal 'teen horrors' due to the fact that it would not be a bloody massacre like films such as 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre' or 'Jeepers Creepers' but it would be a more subtle brand of horror.

'Texas Chainsaw Massacre'

The also film achieves this as well by not following certain typical character archetypes that other American horror films use. Many feature such characters as The 'comic relief', 'the nerdy one', 'the confident one' and as well as 'the one who is definitely going to die first'. My characters would have far more differential characters with complex story arch's and differing backgrounds and attitudes so as to create more believe ability within the characters. Further creating a better film experience for the viewer.





#2 How does your film represent particular social groups?

The film focuses on and only shows teenagers, making them the target social group. It shows them perhaps as inquisitive, in the fact that they want to  explore the woods. It also shows them as perhaps silly and unprepared. They are not dressed nor do the have the right equipment to spend a night in the woods.

The theatrical poster for 'Shrooms'

Other than the social group of  'Teenagers' The finished film could also dip into many various sub cultures associated to teenagers. It could take inspiration from such media texts like the 2007 psychological horror film 'Shrooms' In which the characters experiment with the use of 'magic mushrooms' as a drug. The whole reason given by the plot for the characters to be in the woods is to find and use the drugs. After this one of the characters has a 'bad trip' which leads to her murdering her companions without her knowing, and her to awake to her confusion of finding all her friends dead. This negative stereotype of youth and drugs use is one that could feature in 'Isolation' If the plot where to be advanced. It also featured a similar age group as the one present by 'Isolation'

The other example that could relate to the sub culture of drugs is in Season 3 Episode 8 of Skins. Entitled 'Effy' The characters set out to have a peaceful camping adventure in the woods, but a more troublesome member of the group turns up late and encourages the group to take the 'magic mushrooms' they found earlier. Immediately similar to 'Shrooms' Whilst the main character of the episode Effy is having a 'bad trip' she is confronted by another character Katie who orders Effy to stay away from her boyfriend, after this Kate attacks Effy . Effy acts out of self defence and beats her over the head with a rock. She then leaves Katie's body there leaving it unclear as to the fate of Katie. the cast is of the exact same age of 'Isolation'. The same element of drug use causing horror and confusion amongst the cast is one representation of social groups that 'Isolation' could conform too.

#3 What kind of media institution might distribute your product & why?

The theatrical poster for British horror 'Eden Lake'

I believe a small amount of cinemas would be the best way to start distributing the film. Only once it has had success could it be released more widely. I believe the company  'Rollercoaster films' (UK) would be inclined to distribute our film as it is similar to previous films they have distributed. Such as the film 'Eden Lake (2008)' is an independent, UK, low budget horror film . It was well received by critics and made a impressive box office of  £3,983,997 and was distributed in the US by 'The Weinstein Company' which would give the film a greater chance of reaching a wider international audience.

#4 who would be the audience for this kind of product?

The audience for most horror films would be the 15-25 year old market. So depending on the films age rating it would either be 15-25 or 18-25. The evidence I have to conclude this is the following graph :

As with the audiences for most horror films the audience is predominantly male. Due to the graphic or perhaps scenes of a shocking nature.Meaning the advertising campaign would be centred towards this market.

The theatrical poster for 'Harry Brown'

Due to the similarities between 'Isolation' and films such as 'Harry Brown' and 'Eden Lake' our film could potentially attract quite a wide audience from within the British cinema. But unfortunately for these films they had little success in the US, something I believe our film would suffer similarly with.








#5 How did you attract/address your audience?

The best way to attract the audience would be a combination of two different style of campaign.  Firstly it would be an Internet heavy campaign. With lots of trailers, interviews and behind the scenes footage on youtube. Secondly it would be a scare campaign, an attempt to convince the audience that the film was based on true events. Something that would work rather effectively with horror films.

Theatrical poster for 'The Blair Witch Project'

It would be a advertising campaign as that used by 'The Blair Witch'. An entire website crated around the myth and legends surrounding the Blair witch and then surrounding area. Blair Witch Home. It shows over 40 reported interviews with the towns folk, the sheriffs department as well as reports from national news corporations and the opinions from experts in their respective fields and from the anthropologists who discovered the footage.

It also shows supposed police evidence, such as photos of the abandoned car, missing person posters and bagged evidence. Such as the diary's of one of the film makers and the cans the film footage was stored in.

The sheer amount of pictures, videos and eye witness accounts help to create verisimilitude with the audience , as well as to help the film gain popularity and revenue. The Blair Witches advertising campaign is one that my movie would aspire to replicate.

Due to the age and gender of my target audience, if theoretically we had a budget from a production company another possible route for advertising would be select adverts in magazines that target younger men. Such as Zoo, FHM and Nuts. It would also benefit from theatrical trailers on select channels at certain times. Due to the fact it is a horror film, advertising any time before 8:30/ 9 would be a waste of money because television at these times is aimed towards a younger/ older audience than my film would target. Theatrical trailers, during half time adverts in football matches would be another way of reaching my target audience of males between 18-35.

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

The making of the film has taught me allot about camera and microphone recording technology. As well as the way editing software can be used to piece the film together. At the beginning of the film I knew very little about how editing actually worked but now I feel confident enough to edit a film by myself.

Theatrical poster for 'Submarine'

I also believe the best way to shoot the film in its entirety would be with digital cameras. The cost savings are significant for digital VS film as shown by ' Star wars : The Attack Of The Clones' which featured significant saving from the first film done with 35 mm print. I would also like to film in digital so that the film would be able to take advantage of the DSN (digital screen network) such as other British films like 'Submarine' and 'London to Brighton' to help the film be seen by a wider audience.


I learnt that it is incredibly important to check all the equipment is working before arriving at the shoot. If all the actors and props are ready to go but the camera equipment is faulty it would ruin the days filming.

From other members of my class I learnt that it is important to check the both the camera and the microphone are working. Many of them recorded the entire footage but when they came back to check it found that their audio recording hadn't recorded properly. This was also a worry with the fact that throughout filming I used 3 different microphones. One that attached to the top of the digital camera, to extend the distance to which audio could be recorded. One called a 'shot gun mic' because of the fact it only picks up what it is being pointed towards. I used this mic for recording sound effects such as breathing and twigs snapping. The 3rd microphone I used was a very advanced radio recording mic which I used for the voice recording session when I dubbed over the voices that had been recorded with the original footage.

#7 Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

 I learnt a large amount about sound editing and how to loop sound in a way to make it seem natural, as well as how to make editing effective and smooth. This is from where I had difficulty with editing the sound whilst the characters where walking over a large patch of fallen leaves. If the characters could be heard talking, but the sound of the leaves crunching would be a blatant accident.

I also learnt about how to film a scene, position actors as well as direct them and help them understand their purpose in the scene. Due to the fact that the characters in the film were not portrayed but professional actors, but by my friends and media studies colleagues. In some ways it could be referred to as an acting and directorial debut !

The amount of time and effort that goes into just one shot is something I learnt from the making of this and the preliminary task. Sometimes two or three takes are required to get the simplest things right. Once this is understood any film or television show can be looked at with a renewed respect.

Through learning all of this I believe I have a much larger knowledge of how filming works as well as a great appreciation for the film industry.