Evaluation - Question 1

Question 1

The theme of my film was Mock Horror, aimed at children. In order to target my audience and make my film enjoyable I used codes and conventions similar to other children’s film of the same genre. One of the films I used was ‘Home Alone’. I chose to use parts of the little boy’s character for my own main character ‘Rodney’ as he seemed very appealing and loveable, yet mischievous and portrayed the image of a typical young boy. Although I new these characteristics alone would appeal to a young audience, I developed Rodney’s character by making him very clumsy and appearing to his classmates as a laughing stock. Not only do I feel this added humour to the film but it also made Rodney more realistic and easy to relate to. I also spent time observing the children’s T.V series ‘Mona the Vampire’. From this I used the typical setting for a film aimed at children and set my film in a school. This allows the audience to relate more to the storyline despite it being quite unrealistic as it is a familiar environment to them. I noticed from ‘Mona the Vampire’ that props were a vital part of representing the genre of Mock horror to the audience, therefore made using typical props relating to Halloween an important part of the film. I understood that some things needed to be made obvious for children and by using Halloween decorations in the classroom scene; it was much clearer and easier for them to understand the genre and the plot. From watching T.V series such as ‘Grange Hill’ I observed the attitudes and personalities of younger characters and I noticed they all had a very modern, up to date approach. I decided to make my characters very modern in order to make them easy to relate to. I developed this however, by including slang in some of the dialogue, something all young people are aware of. For example in the scene where Rodney is thrown into a bush the other characters chant ‘Bang out Rodney’ meaning ‘Beat up Rodney’. By using this slang I have developed the typical modern attitudes of young people appearing on T.V and gone one step further in trying to connect with my audience. I do feel that the representation of social groups was quite typical in my film. There were typical characters you would usually find in a children’s mock horror film including the bully, the followers and the class clown. I felt this suited the film despite the stereotypical characters as it provided pleasures of predictability. Bearing in mind my target audience are children I did not want to complicate my film too much. It was simply a light, comical film for children and I believe that some of the main enjoyment in the film the film came from these stereotypical character, therefore chose to include them. After creating s plot for my film, I realised through researching that it was very similar to the recent film “son of Rambo”. Again, I made my character “Rodney” very similar to the main character in this film, especially the “I can over come anything and take on anyone” nature of this boy which applied perfectly in my film. This created humour and trigged emotion in the audience as Rodney was petrified as a lovable character. I challenged Mock horrors and children’s films in the ending of my film by giving the implication that what the audience though was fantasy could in fact be reality. I felt that his left my audience leaving shocked at the twist, however satisfied too as this is not what they were expecting.