Content
In my research and development for my project called ‘The Scarlett Massacre’ I researched into multiple layers surrounding my idea. I looked into the social media platform of YouTube and the different types of videos that are available on YouTube, further looking in to ‘Daily Vlogging’ which is used regular to document the daily lives of a YouTuber. Research and development aided me by experimenting with different forms of media allowing me to define my Final Major Project. Specifically with in my artefacts I put together three different styles of video and audio, all of which related to the story of ‘The Scarlett Massacre’ in some way. My first artefact was looking into the world of youtube from ‘The viewers’ perspective which allowed me to shape the identity of the killer of my film. The killer in my film is an obsessed fan of Scarlett Radcliffe the main character in my film, the style of the film is as though looking in to the video was as if it was looking through his eyes.
The killer will be observing Scarlett’s life on the internet and isn’t just looking for a partner in crime, he’s looking to make history, to become famous in his own sadistic way, picking a young promising ‘YouTuber” who wants to become famous then starting his murder spree on film.
Looking into films such as Paranormal Activity (2007), The Blair Witch Project (1999) I was able to shape my second artefact. The Blair Witch Project specifically holds many elements in production value including it’s viral marketing campaign which fooled the public in believing that the film was the real events of what happened to three filmmakers. The Blair Witch Project used a website to produce the idea of the Blair Witch Project incident. A website that’s still active today: http://www.blairwitch.com
The following article talks about how viral marketing can work and how The Blair Witch Project was so unique with its Campaign.
“In today’s technological world, a message can go viral within minutes thanks to a host of networking sites such as YouTube, Twitter and Facebook. Naturally, viral marketing has become a popular business strategy to spread ideas and information between people in much the same way as a virus, creating the potential for exponential growth as the message rapidly multiplies – creating a huge buzz along the way. So perhaps you’d be surprised to learn the most successful viral marketing campaign of all time took place before YouTube, Twitter and Facebook existed. Even before mainstream use of the internet. The most successful viral marketing campaign of all time centred on a small, low-budget indie flick in 1999 called The Blair Witch Project.” (Davidson, 2013)
Much like this viral campaign, I will create a fake YouTube Profile for a woman called Scarlett Radcliffe. She will appear to be living an ordinary life through her videos. Scarlett’s every day videos of her life will turn in to a story in its self, with the final videos of her last few days before her kidnapping turns in to the film The Scarlett Massacre with additional footage from the killers camera. This also led to me looking in to the process of Transmedia which with in this specific story can be beneficial in to spreading the story of the Scarlett Massacre allowing it to become better known with in the eye of the public. I will use Facebook, twitter, Instagram, YouTube, podcasts and online articles to tell the evolving story that I want to tell. The first step is to make simple YouTube videos of Scarlett on her YouTube channel.
Artefact three allowed me to experiment with the podcast genre, something that has interested me but until now I never really took the time to research in to it. My research and development allowed me to look in to these areas and create a podcast that would show elements of the overall story that I’m making. I took a comedy approach to the podcast at first but then after showing an audience it was pointed out that with the subject matter I should approach a serious content allowing for the story to be told in a more realistic way.
The podcast is an element that I will be continuing in my free time but will also use the style of media in the lead up to the release of my film ‘The Scarlett Massacre’ and possibly to report on the events as they appear to unfold in the story.
The main focus of my Final Major Project is to Produce the film ‘The Scarlett Massacre’ which will be the last few days of Scarlett’s life as a YouTuber, her Kidnapping, the kidnappers house and environment, the event which leads to the deaths of people around the city. I believe that this will raise awareness of internet security and show an audience and other YouTube users that they need to be aware of certain viewers and internet saftey.
Other influences that have helped shape my project.
I have been watching YouTube for about just over a year and as my research has shown in CW1 I have looked in to videos from different YouTube accounts. My original idea of making a horror / thriller was missing something crucial to give it the edge I needed. While watching specific YouTube users talk about the safety of their families from the general public it gave me the idea that this could make a great movie. I thought that the ideas of subscribers on YouTube going too far and trying to force themselves into the lives of YouTubers that are just trying to make a living or doing it for a hobby, a bit disgraceful and scary. This just as an idea can scare someone and the internet has always its safety issues such as cyber bullying, paedophiles, sex offenders and other non-seneschal offensive nature. So the thought that an anonymous stranger is to actually g a step further then just watching videos on the internet and enter someone else’s world, I believe is terrifying and will make a good suspense film while raising awareness about internet safety and obsession.
Reference list
Davidson, N. (2013). The Blair Witch Project: The best viral marketing campaign of all time. [online] MWP – Results Driven Video | Blog. Available at: http://mwpdigitalmedia.com/blog/the-blair-witch-project-the-best-viral-marketing-campaign-of-all-time/ [Accessed 4 Jan. 2015].
Karcher, D. (1999). The Blair Witch Project. [online] Blairwitch.com. Available at: http://www.blairwitch.com [Accessed 4 Jan. 2015].
Paranormal Activity. (2007). [film] United States Of America: Oren Peli.
The Blair Witch Project. (1999). [film] United States of America: Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sánchez.
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