Monday 10 May 2010
Friday 30 April 2010
Evaluation questions - the ones ashlee answered (1,2,3,4)
1) We decided to create the opening sequence of a Horror for our media product. We first began to research the typical conventions of a horror film by watching films such as The Strangers and Wrong Turn, analysing their use of cinematography, mise en scene, sound and editing. We also looked at the opening sequences of more renowned, classic horror films such as Halloween and Friday the 13th. It is from these films that we identified the more typical conventions such as blood, murder and the antagonist’s anonymity until the conclusion to the more subtle conventions, which are generally identified and portrayed to the audience through the use of mise en scene. In our opening sequence, we tried to incorporate as many horror conventions as possible without decreasing the tension and atmosphere.
Our opening sequence develops typical horror conventions by successfully including them throughout. One of the main conventions in our film is that it is set at night, which is generally the time which these bad events occur. This is used in conjunction with the external setting, which conveys an ‘open space’ atmosphere to show that many bad things are possible. Another convention used in our opening sequence is the use of both diegetic and non-diegetic sound. Diegetic sound was used coming from the anonymous antagonist, which suited the theme of the sequence. The creepy moans and groans coming from what seems to be behind the camera add to the suspicion and allow the audience to become on edge. It also encourages the viewer to continue watching because they will want to know who the antagonist is, and find out his motive.
Non-diegetic sound is used as Miranda, the dominant character, is walking alone down the path. The quiet, eerie music builds up in pace which suggests that Miranda could be walking into some trouble. It also creates tension for the viewer, as they are also aware that something bad will probably happen but they are not aware exactly what it will be.
The use of conventions in our sequence such as the dark exterior setting, the pillow case with the distorted smiley face, the synchronous diegetic screams coming from the victim and the blood surrounding the still body are all suggestions as to the subgenre we intended our horror to fit into, which is a horror/thriller. We felt a thriller subgenre would be suitable to the topic of the sequence, as the purpose was to frighten the viewer in a psychological way aswell as an adrenaline thrill.
From first viewing of our sequence, there are no clear indications to the audience as to any influences used in our work. However, under closer scrutiny, an influence from ‘The Strangers’ can be seen in the form of mise en scene. The paper bags used in ‘The Strangers’ was an influence for the mask put over the victims face in our sequence, as we felt this gave the sequence a more weird and sadistic feel. It also creates quite an unsettled tension as the audience will feel uneasy at the thought of someone getting a thrill from murdering a helpless, naïve girl and leaving a pillow case over her head.
2) Our media product doesn’t represent any particular social group or stereotype as there is only one character throughout the sequence who is clearly a white female approximately 16-17 year old.
The fact that the female is the victim and the male is the antagonist is ironic as females are generally stereotyped as the weaker sex, while men are portrayed as the more dominant sex. The main character Miranda is representative of a typical girl of her age, who is very naïve and wouldn’t have a second thought about meeting up with someone on the internet.
This links to target audience because females of this age, younger and older may be able to relate what is happening on screen. The topic of the sequence and the consequences faced by Miranda as result of her careless actions also acts as a warning to the viewers that things may not always be what they seem, and people aren’t always fully truthful.
3) Our opening sequence would more than likely not be something that would be produced in a Hollywood studio. This is because the content of the sequence would not be suitable to a large budget Hollywood film, as there are no special effects required and such film would not be as effective with more popular actors and actresses such as Megan Fox or Brad Pitt.
A trailer for the film would be advertised before other films that also fit into the horror/thriller genre to appeal to the mass audience, and the film would then be released firstly into cinemas. To ensure that interest in the film doesn’t decrease over time, the film would be released on DVD and Blu-Ray to cater for all viewing preferences at least 2 weeks after the film has stopped being shown at cinema’s.
The visual style of our horror would feature the typical conventions again to immediately portray the genre. This would be blood, darkness and murder.
4) Our main target audience is males and females between the age of 14 and 20. We chose this particular target audience as the narrative and style are suited to this particular band of people. The sequence would be suited mainly to a female audience, as the main message inside our film is sent out particularly to that gender. The use of technology within the sequence such as mobiles, Facebook and messengers also appeals to an audience of this age, as this is the age group who are more involved and concerned with these modern technologies.
Other films that are similar to ours are horrors that focus and exaggerate issues in everyday life. Films such as The Strangers, Wrong Turn, Eden Lake and The Fourth Kind are all based around true stories and focus on genuine frightening issues that have occurred in peoples lives. The messages sent out in these films are advising people to be more aware and not make the same mistakes these people have, however bizarre the circumstances are. Similarly, our film sends out a message about the attraction of social networking sites and messengers but also a warning that however these sites may be fun, they can also be extremely dangerous if these sites are abused.
Our opening sequence develops typical horror conventions by successfully including them throughout. One of the main conventions in our film is that it is set at night, which is generally the time which these bad events occur. This is used in conjunction with the external setting, which conveys an ‘open space’ atmosphere to show that many bad things are possible. Another convention used in our opening sequence is the use of both diegetic and non-diegetic sound. Diegetic sound was used coming from the anonymous antagonist, which suited the theme of the sequence. The creepy moans and groans coming from what seems to be behind the camera add to the suspicion and allow the audience to become on edge. It also encourages the viewer to continue watching because they will want to know who the antagonist is, and find out his motive.
Non-diegetic sound is used as Miranda, the dominant character, is walking alone down the path. The quiet, eerie music builds up in pace which suggests that Miranda could be walking into some trouble. It also creates tension for the viewer, as they are also aware that something bad will probably happen but they are not aware exactly what it will be.
The use of conventions in our sequence such as the dark exterior setting, the pillow case with the distorted smiley face, the synchronous diegetic screams coming from the victim and the blood surrounding the still body are all suggestions as to the subgenre we intended our horror to fit into, which is a horror/thriller. We felt a thriller subgenre would be suitable to the topic of the sequence, as the purpose was to frighten the viewer in a psychological way aswell as an adrenaline thrill.
From first viewing of our sequence, there are no clear indications to the audience as to any influences used in our work. However, under closer scrutiny, an influence from ‘The Strangers’ can be seen in the form of mise en scene. The paper bags used in ‘The Strangers’ was an influence for the mask put over the victims face in our sequence, as we felt this gave the sequence a more weird and sadistic feel. It also creates quite an unsettled tension as the audience will feel uneasy at the thought of someone getting a thrill from murdering a helpless, naïve girl and leaving a pillow case over her head.
2) Our media product doesn’t represent any particular social group or stereotype as there is only one character throughout the sequence who is clearly a white female approximately 16-17 year old.
The fact that the female is the victim and the male is the antagonist is ironic as females are generally stereotyped as the weaker sex, while men are portrayed as the more dominant sex. The main character Miranda is representative of a typical girl of her age, who is very naïve and wouldn’t have a second thought about meeting up with someone on the internet.
This links to target audience because females of this age, younger and older may be able to relate what is happening on screen. The topic of the sequence and the consequences faced by Miranda as result of her careless actions also acts as a warning to the viewers that things may not always be what they seem, and people aren’t always fully truthful.
3) Our opening sequence would more than likely not be something that would be produced in a Hollywood studio. This is because the content of the sequence would not be suitable to a large budget Hollywood film, as there are no special effects required and such film would not be as effective with more popular actors and actresses such as Megan Fox or Brad Pitt.
A trailer for the film would be advertised before other films that also fit into the horror/thriller genre to appeal to the mass audience, and the film would then be released firstly into cinemas. To ensure that interest in the film doesn’t decrease over time, the film would be released on DVD and Blu-Ray to cater for all viewing preferences at least 2 weeks after the film has stopped being shown at cinema’s.
The visual style of our horror would feature the typical conventions again to immediately portray the genre. This would be blood, darkness and murder.
4) Our main target audience is males and females between the age of 14 and 20. We chose this particular target audience as the narrative and style are suited to this particular band of people. The sequence would be suited mainly to a female audience, as the main message inside our film is sent out particularly to that gender. The use of technology within the sequence such as mobiles, Facebook and messengers also appeals to an audience of this age, as this is the age group who are more involved and concerned with these modern technologies.
Other films that are similar to ours are horrors that focus and exaggerate issues in everyday life. Films such as The Strangers, Wrong Turn, Eden Lake and The Fourth Kind are all based around true stories and focus on genuine frightening issues that have occurred in peoples lives. The messages sent out in these films are advising people to be more aware and not make the same mistakes these people have, however bizarre the circumstances are. Similarly, our film sends out a message about the attraction of social networking sites and messengers but also a warning that however these sites may be fun, they can also be extremely dangerous if these sites are abused.
Thursday 8 April 2010
Evaluation Questions - The ones i answered. (5,6,7)
5) We set our target age to be 15 which is a usual target age for most films within the horror genre. This included both males and females as our film doesn’t just target a specific gender but rather has horror elements that can attract both. There are different points in our film that appeal to this audience of both males and females over the age of 15. One of these points is the initial friendship at the beginning of the scene and the elements of concern one of the friends has and the elements of naivety, innocence and stupidity the other one has. Most males and females of ages 15 or over can connect with this and put into their own life situation which makes the film become more personal to themselves. Another point in the film that the audience can put into their own life situation is the use of technology which interlinks with the time we are in now. Recent problems that parents have highlighted is the lack of control they have over technology and their children. Being who they are talking too and what they are doing. This is a significant real life problem that is at the centre of the structure of our film as without these problems our plot would never have worked.
Other conventions such as the camera shots used at particular suspending points, helps to let the audience become part of the film, which then allows us to play with their suspension of belief meaning how much of this film they will believe is true and how much of it they will take away with them and worry about within their own lives. The shots that allow this to happen are the more darker shots such as the point of view shot when the rapist is walking towards his victim and looking over her shoulder and the point of view shot when the rapist is looking down over at his victims body laughing about what he has just done.
Although, the story is often seen from the rapists point of view through these camera shots our main intention was to put the audience in the position of the victim, which wasn’t hard as the plot is relatable to anybody who uses these sorts of technology and social networking sites. They are being allowed to witness everything they don’t want to be able to witness. They get to see the stupidity of the girl, the grooming of the rapist, the rapist catching his victim and the aftermath of what the rapist has achieved. The only thing they are never permitted to see is the actual rape and murder of the victim. We chose not to show this for one reason and that was because we needed a way of keeping the audience thinking about what was going on. If they were given every aspect of the film to watch they wouldn’t have to go away and think about what they had just seen. This isn’t so much of an enigma as it’s obvious what has happened to the victim and also the victims screams can be heard. However, never showing this rape and murder plays with the audiences mind even after the film has ended making them wonder if this could happen to themselves. We then want this to impact the way the audience then goes away and lives their life, in the hope that if ever the put themselves into a similar situation they would remember our film and get themselves out of that situation before it was too late. This shows that sound sometimes can be more powerful than any images that are used.
We have had audience feedback from many of the people who have viewed our opening sequence, some that were involved in the making of it and some that weren’t. We have found there is one reoccurring theme throughout all of this feedback and that is how creeped out and dirty they feel as a viewer. And to prove the point made above, every person who has viewed this sequence has said it was the sounds used that had this affect on them. Taking these sounds away the film would never be able to hit the audience as hard as it has with them in place. They each also just want to watch more and want to know what will happen next.
6)We have learnt various different things about how technologies work and which technologies are essentially needed to construct our final product. We used different technologies in making our opening sequence including the Sony camera, the Apple Macs including Imovie and other programs and the music studio and the programs in their to record our soundtrack.
When using the camera equipment there were both strengths and weaknesses of the camera we were given. The main strengths were obviously the being able to film our sequence with clarity and it was easy to use the handy cam both on its own and in the tripod. Being easy to film with made it a lot quicker for us to get our filming done and the size of the camera meant we could move from location to location very easily. The main weaknesses with the camera was the professionalism of the picture meaning it was obvious that the sequence wasn’t filmed on a professional camera like in typical horror films. Also if a shot was needed that couldn’t be done with the camera on the tripod we had to hold the camera which made the picture quite shaky and made the film lose quality. Another was being given only the one camera as it meant we had to film the same scene multiple times to get each shot which could have effected the continuity of our sequence.
We had two main problems with the technology during our filming. The first was the lack of battery power the cameras had which meant we had to get all of the shots done within a set time period for each day as we constantly outdoors and away from being able to charge the cameras. It meant we had to rush our filming a little bit which could in turn have effected the quality of our finished product. We resolved this by extended the amount of days we would film and setting more of our own personal time aside to get each individual shot perfect for us. The second was the soundtrack as when we recorded our soundtrack the format it saved itself in was not compatible with Imovie. This meant the whole format of the track had to be converted to a suitable format for Imovie. This was resolved by the technicians and although this wasn’t a major problem for them to convert the track, it did just slightly effect the quality of the sound of the soundtrack so became just a small problem with our finished product.
……..
In making the soundtrack we chose to not opt for the easy option of using garage band to help create it but instead chose to go into the recording studio and use vocals only to create the soundtrack. This process meant coming up with a pattern that created suspense and fitted in with the horror genre and conventions, and then actually getting it rehearsed and recorded with help from Dave Swales, Kevin Ghassemi and Stephanie Old. I think this choice helps to make the film not only more appealing to our audience but helps to create the suspense and terror that makes our horror sequence stand out. I feel that the soundtrack is not only a perfect fit with our sequence and the ideas behind it but also puts it in the league with actual horror movies that are in the cinemas today.
7)In the preliminary task, a match on action shot and a shot reverse shot had to be used. The knowledge gained from camera shots in the preliminary task came in useful in our rough cut and final cut as it allowed us to create a more professional appearing sequence. Our shared knowledge of camera shots allowed us to choose a suitable, successful shot for the scene and also ensured continuity was retained throughout the whole sequence.
At first, using the equipment was difficult as neither of us was used to handling such technology. Keeping the camera steady proved quite difficult but with the use of a tripod, the framing of the scene was always kept straight. Also, the use of editing software such as iMovie and Garage Band were unfamiliar to us both at the start of the project, but learning how to use these programmes to create a successful sequence was not much of a challenge once the software became more familiar.
We feel our finished product was successful in fulfilling the brief as we included all the criteria needed. After receiving both positive and negative feedback from viewers of our opening sequence, it was pleasing to know that our sequence successfully portrayed the important message to viewers and that they would take the warning seriously.
Other conventions such as the camera shots used at particular suspending points, helps to let the audience become part of the film, which then allows us to play with their suspension of belief meaning how much of this film they will believe is true and how much of it they will take away with them and worry about within their own lives. The shots that allow this to happen are the more darker shots such as the point of view shot when the rapist is walking towards his victim and looking over her shoulder and the point of view shot when the rapist is looking down over at his victims body laughing about what he has just done.
Although, the story is often seen from the rapists point of view through these camera shots our main intention was to put the audience in the position of the victim, which wasn’t hard as the plot is relatable to anybody who uses these sorts of technology and social networking sites. They are being allowed to witness everything they don’t want to be able to witness. They get to see the stupidity of the girl, the grooming of the rapist, the rapist catching his victim and the aftermath of what the rapist has achieved. The only thing they are never permitted to see is the actual rape and murder of the victim. We chose not to show this for one reason and that was because we needed a way of keeping the audience thinking about what was going on. If they were given every aspect of the film to watch they wouldn’t have to go away and think about what they had just seen. This isn’t so much of an enigma as it’s obvious what has happened to the victim and also the victims screams can be heard. However, never showing this rape and murder plays with the audiences mind even after the film has ended making them wonder if this could happen to themselves. We then want this to impact the way the audience then goes away and lives their life, in the hope that if ever the put themselves into a similar situation they would remember our film and get themselves out of that situation before it was too late. This shows that sound sometimes can be more powerful than any images that are used.
We have had audience feedback from many of the people who have viewed our opening sequence, some that were involved in the making of it and some that weren’t. We have found there is one reoccurring theme throughout all of this feedback and that is how creeped out and dirty they feel as a viewer. And to prove the point made above, every person who has viewed this sequence has said it was the sounds used that had this affect on them. Taking these sounds away the film would never be able to hit the audience as hard as it has with them in place. They each also just want to watch more and want to know what will happen next.
6)We have learnt various different things about how technologies work and which technologies are essentially needed to construct our final product. We used different technologies in making our opening sequence including the Sony camera, the Apple Macs including Imovie and other programs and the music studio and the programs in their to record our soundtrack.
When using the camera equipment there were both strengths and weaknesses of the camera we were given. The main strengths were obviously the being able to film our sequence with clarity and it was easy to use the handy cam both on its own and in the tripod. Being easy to film with made it a lot quicker for us to get our filming done and the size of the camera meant we could move from location to location very easily. The main weaknesses with the camera was the professionalism of the picture meaning it was obvious that the sequence wasn’t filmed on a professional camera like in typical horror films. Also if a shot was needed that couldn’t be done with the camera on the tripod we had to hold the camera which made the picture quite shaky and made the film lose quality. Another was being given only the one camera as it meant we had to film the same scene multiple times to get each shot which could have effected the continuity of our sequence.
We had two main problems with the technology during our filming. The first was the lack of battery power the cameras had which meant we had to get all of the shots done within a set time period for each day as we constantly outdoors and away from being able to charge the cameras. It meant we had to rush our filming a little bit which could in turn have effected the quality of our finished product. We resolved this by extended the amount of days we would film and setting more of our own personal time aside to get each individual shot perfect for us. The second was the soundtrack as when we recorded our soundtrack the format it saved itself in was not compatible with Imovie. This meant the whole format of the track had to be converted to a suitable format for Imovie. This was resolved by the technicians and although this wasn’t a major problem for them to convert the track, it did just slightly effect the quality of the sound of the soundtrack so became just a small problem with our finished product.
……..
In making the soundtrack we chose to not opt for the easy option of using garage band to help create it but instead chose to go into the recording studio and use vocals only to create the soundtrack. This process meant coming up with a pattern that created suspense and fitted in with the horror genre and conventions, and then actually getting it rehearsed and recorded with help from Dave Swales, Kevin Ghassemi and Stephanie Old. I think this choice helps to make the film not only more appealing to our audience but helps to create the suspense and terror that makes our horror sequence stand out. I feel that the soundtrack is not only a perfect fit with our sequence and the ideas behind it but also puts it in the league with actual horror movies that are in the cinemas today.
7)In the preliminary task, a match on action shot and a shot reverse shot had to be used. The knowledge gained from camera shots in the preliminary task came in useful in our rough cut and final cut as it allowed us to create a more professional appearing sequence. Our shared knowledge of camera shots allowed us to choose a suitable, successful shot for the scene and also ensured continuity was retained throughout the whole sequence.
At first, using the equipment was difficult as neither of us was used to handling such technology. Keeping the camera steady proved quite difficult but with the use of a tripod, the framing of the scene was always kept straight. Also, the use of editing software such as iMovie and Garage Band were unfamiliar to us both at the start of the project, but learning how to use these programmes to create a successful sequence was not much of a challenge once the software became more familiar.
We feel our finished product was successful in fulfilling the brief as we included all the criteria needed. After receiving both positive and negative feedback from viewers of our opening sequence, it was pleasing to know that our sequence successfully portrayed the important message to viewers and that they would take the warning seriously.
Monday 5 April 2010
Thursday 11 March 2010
Rough cut.
Our rough cut includes:
· Our main filming of our sequence.
· The sequence in running order.
· And a few transitions to help it run smoother.
We have yet to add:
· Our overall sound (ambient, diagetic and non diagetic) and sound effects
· The soundtrack.
· The main transitions to help it run smoother.
· To film the credits.
· The credits adding in at both the beginning and at the end to include the company logo.
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