Task 4 - Target Audience For 'The Hostage'

I would target my film towards the ages of 15 - 24, as I think the rating of the film would most probably be a 15, due to its thriller content.  This age group would like my film because it has a beautiful young woman in it, therefore attracting the male audience and a good narrative attracting the female audience. Also some of the women may be able to relate to the narrative of having a stepmum alot younger than there original mother.

15 to 24 years olds would be interested as they tend to have quite a disposable income, as they normally dont have to worry about paying for anything too expenisive, as they are still studying. Therefore they are more likely to be spending lots of time at the cinema or out socialising. Therefore making a film that will appeal to this age group will help with your marketing as they will be able to advertise through word of mouth whilst they are socialising. Therefore, this film should be released on a friday or have an opening weekend to be able to ensure that students will be the first to see it.

'The Hostage' may appeal to a secondary audience of ages 25/34 as this is the age group of the couple in the film. Therefore some of these peope may even be in a relationship like this or know someone who is.
Men would be more interested due to its content and lead actress, whereas women may go to watch the glamorous lifestyle as they are unable to relate to this themselves.

Task 3 - What Institution Would Make 'The Hostage'?

I would like to ask Lionsgate Films to make my film as they already specialise in Thirller and Horror Films.



Lionsgate ahve also made other films in the similar genre and narrative to The Hostage, such as, Hostel and The Eye.





Lionsgate also make low budget films, by first time directors, which is the criteria that my film fits exactly. Lionsgate have made films like that such as, My Little Eye made in 2002.



My film could be marketed really easily, as it is aimed at a mass mainstream market. I believe that i would be able to make money from cinema viewings and DVD. As people may go for a cinema experience to be able to really feel all the emotions of a thriller. Although some people nmay prefer to watch films in the comfortability of their own homes, therefore they will choose the DVD option. It will later be released onto Pay Per View. This will all depend on the cinema sales and total grossing.

This could be aimed at a particular audience of men around the ages of 15 to 25, who drag along their girlfriends to the cinema or make them watch it at home. This film would also make the perfect 'date' movie as it covers all genres, thriller, suspense, drama and some comedy. Therefore making it quite appealling.

Task 2 - How does your film represent particular social groups?

In my film I have tried to portray a social group, or specific type of person known as a 'goldigger' or 'trophy wife' image. Who follow the life motto of 'No Rolex, No sex.' I have shown this by having a very glamorous woman dressed in sexy red clothes, symbolising her dangerous temper and character, highlighting how she is a user and manipulater to acheive her shameful goals of marrying for money. Some women in the audience may be able to relate to this situation. Whether it be marrying for money, or perhaps even an arranged marriage due to money. Therefore using the Ferrari in the establishing shot, will help portray this image, supporting the narrative. Some audience members may even have a stepmother who is a goldigger or who is alot younger than their father. Showing how we can all relate to this. The media also gives off poor and bad representations of these types of women, by having shows such as 'Girls of the Playboy Mansion' and 'Married to Rock', both reality shows portraying women who are in relationships souly for money. Therefore we used this as inspiration, by going for the goldigger stereotype of blonde, thin, big busted and gorgeous. This helped our casting choices. Our actress also helped represent the typical, 'mail order' and 'trophy wife' due to her accent. This was again represented when we showed a picture of the couple, as her alot younger and her husband much older. Although sometimes the age difference is quite extreme, we made the gap alot smaller to be able to make the narratvie seem more realistic. Below are some images for our inspiration.

               

Task 1 - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms or conventions of real media products?

In the first picture on the left hand corner, we used Lionsgate as our institution. This shows that the film is of a Thriller/Horror genre as Lionsgate specialise in this. Also, the large house in the background symbolises the wealth of the owner as well as creating an eerie atmosphere.

In the second picture going clockwise, using a Ferrari really helps portray more, the expensive lifestyle as well as showing that the subject has style. The black also conveys sexuality and danger.

The third picture clockwise, shows how the woman is linked to the car and that it belongs to her. It also highlights that she is going into the house, so she is the owner.

The first picture on the second row, is focusing on the background of the picture. The homely and cosy surroudings juxtappose to such a cold character. It also highlights the family life going on around her, which she doesnt exactly fit into.

 Second row, second picture in, is of our main actress, Helena Lageder. We used her due to her outstanding beauty and fantastic acting skills. She really fitted the role and was perfect to be casted as the stereotype of foreign/goldigging/young wife.

Second row, third picture along is a wide shot of Helena walking towadrs the camera. This shot shows off her outfit beautifully. The red dress conforms to the convention of danger and sex. Also, highlighting her beauty.

Third row, first picture, background again highlights the use of family things to portray a family lifestyle. It also shows the door in the background which is key later in the film.

Third row, second picture is of a picture we took to portray the type of cvouple living in the house. It is meant to show an older man, with a younger woman. Again confomring to a stereotype of a goldigger. It also teaches the audience about who 'Teddy' is, her husband.

Third row, last picture, is a shot showing the 'point-of-view' of our killer. We used this so that the audience would think she was being watched. Again adding to the eerie atmosphere and to create a tense atmosphere for our audience.

Shooting Day

On the 17th of January, we began shooting. I went to collect costume at props which had previously been arranged the previous Friday from the backstage crew. Then we left for out first location, Cornhill Manor to shoot in the kitchen of the family home. When we got to our location we discovered that the house was very child friendly, which wasnt the look we wanted. As our inspiration was from the film 'The Collector' and 'Scream'. Therefore we had to change our story line slightly and have our 'couple' as perhaps a man who remarried, but with children to a previous woman. Therefore we had lots of shots with childrens drawings, and photographs with the children in. Fortunately we didnt have to make any drastic changes to our setting, as we only used a few props. This was surprising as we hadnt previously visited the set. We were well prepared for the day, but there were a several hiccups, which were dealt with accordingly. Our storyboards we drew completely differtent to our finishing piece. But I believe that this shows how we were able to deal with change effectively and still capture some briliant shots.



The types of shots that were chosen were used specifically to deliberately hide things or to show things. In our establishing shot, when we arrived to our location, there were several cars in the driveway. Which didnt fit with the narrative of our sequence. Therefore we had to place the camera in a high angle shot to show the brickwork and side of the house. Then we panned down and showed a Ferrari pulling into the driveway. Later, we had a shot of the actress getting out of the car, but we noticed there was a reflection on the side on the car of a transit van. Therefore we had to move the car over to a more open area and shot her getting out of the car there. Thererfore we were still able to create an interesting shot and work around the problem. This could have been unnecessary if we had arranged for the people visiting the location that day to park elsewhere. But we were able to move around the issue therefore we succeeded in the end.



We were very happy with our location choices. Our establishing shot fitted perfectly. I believe it was one of our best shots. It worked well as it really helped to extend this image of the woman being a goldigger as the house was so large and the car helped portray this image as well. Later, the kitchen scene, although it wasnt what we orginially wanted, it continued showing the image that she is a lot younger and she is only with 'Teddy' for his money and that she doesnt like his children. Although what made some of theses scenes difficult were that we had to move some of the items around the house and due to filming in a boarding house, we had lots of fire exit signs, no smoking and fire door symbols on the doors, which we had to cover subtly. Although the shots ended up looking excellent and I was really happy with them as they encapsulated the narrative beautifully.




The use of costume and props worked very well. We used a red dress, high heels, red designer handbag and a big fur coat. This helped to portray her image as a goldigger and that she had a lot of money. It also juxtapposed to the scenery in the background of the shots. As the house looked very warm and family orientated, and her dressing and attitude contrasts to that. Therefore maybe showing how she is an outsider. The red clothing symbolises how she is dangerous. Therefore we can leave all these links for the viewers imagination, and let them develop their own opinions. We found it very hard to cast for our film. As we were uncertain of the type of person who was reliable, fitted the casting and was available for filming. But in the end we found Helena, who was a superb actress. The first problem we were worried about was her accent as she is originally from Italy. Therefore we thought her accent may get in the way. But in fact it was her accent that really made the whole trophy wife, goldigging image. She would most definately appeal to the target audience, as she was gorgeous, which would draw more men in to watch. She brought a lot to our film and for that we were most grateful! The pictures below are the props and costume used.

 


The lighting aspect of our shoot, was based mostly on daylight. We had several lights on in the house, over the family pictures. This created a sepia, warm feeling to the house. But when we did the shots of the subject, the lighting was a bit darker and could be described as a blue light. This symbolises how the character could be of a 'cooler' nature. This helped create tension and added to the mise en scene of the shots. I think the lighting worked very well. I did want to shoot them in the dark, but now looking at it, if we had shot it in the dark it would have made matters comlicated slightly. Especially with our establishing, as we would not have been able to show the details of the character or of the car.
In terms of sound, we wanted to add music over the top of our shots. But then after watching the shots back, we think that highlighting the sounds of the phone ringing, doors slamming and engine revving, makes the scenes bursting with suspense, which is the idea which we were aiming for. Therefore when we come to editing the shots, we will have a higher volume specifically on some of the sounds rather than others.



I was working as director on the set. We all took turns on the camera, which was really exciting. It was my first experience of directing and working on a set as professional as a Hurtwood one. Which is something I'm really proud to be a part of. I decided to make myself Director as I fitted that role best and I have great leaderships skills. I am also a good listener who is willing to listen to everyone elses opinions and ideas, whether they be positive or negative. I also really enjoyed being able to take control and be responsible for the decisions made. Although some were tough and we did not all agree on the same thing, we still were able to produce some excellent shots.



We all worked together as a team, despite being such strong outspoken characters! We divided up the tasks by taking it in turns in pairs to call 'action' and 'start rolling'. Which got us all very excited and made us feel very professional! We created the perfect mise en scene as a team as we are all very imaginative and were able to really exploit our talents. Someone would have an idea and we would vote on who agreed and who disagreed and would follow by a majority vote on whether to make the decision or not. We had to work as a team to be able to create the perfect atmosphere on camera. Therefore we had to create suspense and thrill between us for our actress to feel this for it to be shown on camera and look realistic.



Overall despite the few hiccups we had whilst filming, based on our preparation, I thought we handled everything really well and I'm really happy with how well everything went. It didnt meet my expections and I believe that the mise en scene encaspulated our final idea. Despite being the very opposite of our original plan.