Evaluation 1

Evaluation
In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge form, and conventions of real media products?
The things I have used for my media piece from other familiar horror slasher films are using non digetic sound to build tension for example the sound of the camera taking a picture. I found this to be very successful in Halloween so I thought I should include it in my work. I have also used the same camera work as the familiar horror films like Scream by using mainly mid shots to build tension because the audience don’t get to see a lot in the background. I used the way that most horror slasher films delay the revealing of the killers identity. This is used to engage the audience and create the desire to watch the rest of the film. I have also used the big knife that is a key generic convention used in horror slasher films like Halloween and scream. This is used as a generic convention because it is big and impractical but because it is big it is more scary. The setting I mainly used is the same with having them set in big dark rooms. I have done this because it highlights their vulnerability. My media piece challenges the conventions of other media products by having one of the settings in a big open area. I have done this because I feel that it works well because there are a lot of people walking around so you feel that Emily will not be able to pick out who his following her until it is too late. From research on Halloween I have had a lot of similar conventions such as the big knife but my media piece uses different camera angles so it feels faster paced and builds more tension.

Evaluation 2

What institution might distribute your media product?
I think that a British institution should distribute my film due to the fact that it was low budget production so won’t have the quality of some of the big American institutions such as Warner Brother or Paramount pictures. I also think that it should be distributed by a British institution because it is in British settings with British actors. The film institution that I have chosen to distribute my film is Hammer. It was launched in 1934 and made classics such as Dracula and the curse of Frankenstein.
‘Hammer films had low budgets, but none the less appeared lavish, making use of quality British actors and cleverly designed sets. During its most successful years, Hammer dominated the Horror film market, enjoying worldwide distribution and considerable financial success. This success was due, in part, to distribution partnerships with major United States studios, such as Warner Brothers’
As my film is a low budget British film I think it suits the Hammer films that they make. Also Hammer specialise in horror films so this is the genre that they will be looking for in films they are doing to distribute. With Hammer being so successful in horror genre already they will be able to help me make my film more effective with better to be able to add special effects. Therefore I think that Hammer films are the best institution to distribute my film because it is a British institution that specialises in horror films. As you can see from their web page it focuses a lot of the horror genre.

Evaluation 3

Who is your audience and how do you address this audience?
My target audience is teenagers and people in their early twenties who like gory horror films. By having my main characters as teenagers, the audience would be able to relate the characters more due to them being a similar age. They would also be able to relate to the problems they have for example being alone and vulnerable in a big city. Also by having a killing early on in the film we are grabbing the attention of the audience as the expectation of horror films have changed. Halloween was seen as a gory film and shocked it audiences but audiences are getting more used to seeing gory killing scene. The audience want to see faster paced action and this is how my media project fits in my target audience

This is the first person I am aiming my trailer towards because he will be part of my target market.

This is the second person that I am aiming my trailer to because although he is different to the first person he is still in my target audience.

This is another type of person that my gangster genre will apple to and it part of my traget audience. This is important that I know who my target audience is because if I know this then I can my my work more specific to there needs. I will use the generic conventions of gangster films to help me do this.

Evaluation 4

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing the product?
I have learned how to use the apple Mac computers to edit my media piece on the Imovie programme. This i a picture of Imovie on a Mac computer.
I thought the Mac computers were user friendly with it being easy to import and edit clips. I have learnt that not only can you cut the clip down to the size you want you can also add fades to make the clips run even smoother and keep the continuity in the shots. In my film I used both a fade in and a fade out to show that time had passed instead if it just skipping to the next scene because it would have looked unprofessional with having the person in one place at one shot and then in another on the next. You can also add effects onto the shots such as rain and lightning. I was able to add titles and credits to my film to make it look more professional using the text tool. I was able to adjust the font, size, speed, and colour of the text. I also changed the way the text came onto the screen. My credits were red writing with a yellow light going across the letters but you could have had the letters spinning bouncing etc.
The cameras were very user friendly as well. You could have a fade put on while filming and you could change the light and shutter speed of the shot using iris. I didn’t use the fade on the cameras because they would not have been used in every shot for my film so I thought it would be quicker to edit the fades in on the apple Mac’s. This is a picture of the camera used and the tripods which kept the camera still and flat.
I have also changed the way my background looks on blogger because instead of the normal templates I have found the really good Jason background. I found the background on a website called pyzam.
I think this background looks a lot better than the blogger templates because it fits in with the horror slasher film. I have changed the settings of the layout to what the origional Jason background because all the writing would be grey. I though that by adding different colours for different parts of the text would make it stand out more and look better.

Evaluation 5

What have we learnt from the project?
I have learned how to use the equipment such as the cameras and the Mac computers successfully. this is a picture of the mac that I was using to make my film opening.
I have learned that it is important to use a tripod to keep the clips as still as possible unless I wanted the camera to be shaky. This is a picture of the camera and tripod that I was using to make my film opening. I have learned that to have a two minutes film opening you need to have lots of different shots to keep it fast paced and interesting. This means that you need to always shoot a lot more times in one scene that you think to have the verity of shots when you come to edit. I have learned how the different camera angles can portray different things such as I high angle makes the person look small and week where as a low angle makes them look big and powerful.
I have learnt how to work to a deadline even though I encountered a few set backs such as actors busy and losing light.
In addition I have learned that I have good leadership skills as I was able to organize a group of people to be in the same place at the same time on short notice. I also have learned that I have good communication skill because I was able to get out of the actors the things I needed them to do. By doing this it makes the opening seam more realistic and therefore more successful.
If I could have changed anything about my product I would have put more sound effects in my credits. I would also add more detail in my blog.

The film opening

I have finally been able to upload my film opeing to my blog after trying 4 different ways of saving it. The film opening that I have uploaded is isn't good quality but it was the only one which would upload. I the other formats I used were; quicktime player, DV format, avi format and VLC format. They all were better quality but they weren't able to be uploaded so I had to keep it as this one.

Editing

Editing
Today I added the pictures to my film opening and it works well but I found that there was no special effects of the sound of a camera taking a picture. I felt that this would really improve my work to have the sound effect so I had to film the sound of the camera taking a picture and then make it just have the sound so I could have the sound of the picture being taken at the same time as the action I happening. The boyfriend will not be a boyfriend to the girl but it will be a boy that the girl likes and the stalker is jealous of the fact that she likes the boy and not him. These are examples of the pictures that I have used in film opening. I thought the choice of actors was good because Emily has pink hair which stands out from the crowd so you know who the stalker is following. I also think that the way Emily has dressed is good because she looks like a normal teenage girl which I wanted to portray her as.

The film opening

I have been having trouble uploading my film opening to blogger because on numerous occasions I have tried to upload and it will say there has been an error and to contact blogger support. I haven't found this very helpful. I later found out that there is a size restriction of 100 mb and my film opening is 411 mb.

Music

I have been looking at more music and I have found a few other songs that I like. This song is called basment floor and I think it builds tension well. The part that I liked best in this song is the first 20 seconds
Basement Floor by user8855158
This song is called aftermath and I think this is a bit better then the frist song because it seems more creepy and scary. The part I liked most about this song was from 10 seconds to 40
Aftermath by user8855158
This song is my favourite because I think that it builds tension and keeps the tension where as the other songs will have parts of tension and parts without. The part I liked most in this part is from 8 seconds to 55 seconds.
Classic Horror 1 by user8855158

Editing

I have done some editing today and found that the filming I have done is good but I need to upload the pictures that the stalker takes while he is following Emily. Without the pictures it doesn't fully work and is a bit confusing but when I add the pictures it will look really good.

Filming

Filming
I thought the filming went well considering I filmed in the centre of Leicester at quite a busy time. I though the most effective scene of the film was with the killing equipment because the room was big so the sounds were louder and more effective. We did have to re film the dark room scene twice though because the first time we did it there was only one light that we used for the scene. If the action was very close to the light then it wasn’t too bad but if it got more than a few feet away then you could not make out anything. In the second time of filming I got two red bulbs and it seemed to give off just the right amount of light I wanted for the effect that I wanted the audience to feel.

this is a picture of me filming the stalker taking pictures of the girl. I am using a tripod to keep the filming still.

Filming

Today I filmed the scene with the killer setting up the tools. I thought the filming went really well. The sound was really good because it echoed intensifying the sound of the tools being moved. The camera angles that I used should look good because the close ups of the weapons being moved and the low angle shot of the killer should be affective.

killers identity

the scream mask has given me inspiration because it is a very simple mask yet it is very scary when used properly. The good thing about this mask is that you can't see anything of the persons face so it could be anyone.


Halloween mask has given me inspiration because it is a normal mask that you could get anywhere instead of the very specific mask off scream. The Halloween mask creates tension because it could be anyone who is wearing the mask because it is easy to get hold of.

Initial storyboard

Titles

Titles
In my research I have found that the credits from scream was the most successful because it didn’t just have the normal white writing on a black background it had it had lots of non digetic sound being played and after a few seconds the white writing changed to red. Red has the connotation of blood and danger so it fitted in well with the horror slasher theme. I think I will base my credits on something like his. This is the titles from the opening of Scream.

sound

Sound
http://incompetech.com/m/c/royalty-free/index.html?keywords=Classic+Horror
This site is where I found some music that I think will fit in well with my horror film opening. I am planning to use the first song because I think it will have the best effect with my horror film. The saw music was like this so I think it will be successful to fit in with the horror feeling. I also added the sound of a camera taking a picture.


Aftermath by user8855158

tension

Tension
The ways to build tension are to have shorter faster clips. Have high pitched uncomfortable music that gradually gets louder. To be set in a dark place or at night because it limits what the audience can see so they feel more vulnerable. The more in danger the main person is the more tension is built. I have found all these techniques work from my research of the three films Halloween was set in a big, dark house to show isolation and this built tension. Saw had high pitch uncomfortable music being played to build tension. Another way to build tension is by using Barthes enigma codes. An enigma code is where a part of the story is not explained e.g. someone getting shot but we don’t know who or why. This builds tension because it keeps the audience guessing and they will not know exactly know what will happen.

camera shots

Camera shots
There will be a wide range of shots that I will use because horror slasher films are very fast paced with lots of different shots. By making the clips being shorter and faster paced makes it built tension because it creates a dramatic atmosphere and scene of panic.
I have used these shots in my filming;
Low angle- this will make Chris the stalker look bigger and more powerful
High angle- this will make Emily look smaller and less powerful
Close up – this will show reactions on faces and to show important objects
Mid shot- this show the main person but will also show a bit of the background
Long shot –this will show the background which I am use as an establishing shot
Pan- this will also be a good establishing shot but it will be quite a long shot to film so I probably will not use it because I would like to have short fast clips.

characters

Characters
The characters that I am going to have in my film are;
Chris Berk will play the stalker. The story is that he is obsessed with Emily but Emily doesn’t know him. Chris gets jealous of any person who Emily likes so he kills them in hope that Emily will like him. I will put this across in the 2 minutes by having the things that he does be abnormal such as following someone while they are shopping just to take pictures. Having all the pictures pinned up on the wall in his room and killing the boyfriend shows that he is obsessed with her.

Emily will play the girl that is being stalked. She will be walking around shopping normally and won’t notice that she is being stalked. This adds to the tension because if the stalker can get close to the girl without her knowing he will be able to hurt or kill her.

A theorist called Propp suggests that there are '8 spheres of action' or 8 character roles. This theory is based on fairy tails but is still relevent to most films. The eight character roles are,

1) hero - This would be someone who could be helping Emily

2) villain- This would be Chris

3) doner- this could be someone who helps Emily and the hero hide from chris

4) helper- this could be the heros friend

5) princess-the could be Emily

6) her father- this would be Emilys father

7) dispatcher- this could be the heros friend saying to go on a date with Emily

8) false hero-this could be

mise en scene

Mise en scene
The mise en scene for the room with the chair and the weapons on the table will be a big empty room. This will then show the vulnerability of the people how will be taken there and killed by the stalker. The mise en scene of the room with the pictures will be very dark with only one lamp lighting the pictures to shot that the stalker is obsessed with the girl because him is working on the pictures very late at night.

locations

Locations
This is the place that I am planning to do my filming for idea 1. I think that that pond and the wood so close will work well for my horror film because it keeps tension with the actors not having to run far before they are at the woods. I would do the filming in the evening just as the sun is starting to go down. This was it will get darker as we are filming which will build tension because it make the actors seem more isolated the darker it gets.

For idea 2 I will have a mix of locations. It will start with a girl shopping which could be done in Leicester city centre.



Then I will have one room as the stalkers bedroom. Instead of having the leaflets I will have the pictures of the girl pinned up. I may also change the light bulb to make it less powerful so it will be a darker room adding to the effect of the stalker being obsessed of the girl because he is staying up late at night to look at pictures of the girl.

One of the rooms will be a dark room to develop the pictures that the stalker has taken of the girl shopping

And one for the chair and table with all the unusual equipment.

killers identity

Killer’s identity
I have done some experimenting with the killer’s identity. This is the killer. I have had a look at different ways that I could hide the stalkers identity.

I thought this mask looks good because it looks a bit creepy but not to conspicuous that the person being stalked would straight away think that are being stalked. From my research I found that the mask worked well in scream and Halloween.

This mask is good because it completely hides the stalker identity but by doing this it makes it a bit conspicuous so it will be a bit obvious that they don’t want to be seen and the girl will then know that something is wrong.




This is the way that I will hide my killer’s identity. I have decided to have just the hood on because the audience get to see little bits of the killer but won’t get to see enough to distinguish who it is. I think it also adds more tension because having a hood up is quite common now so it is harder to know he is a killer than having a mask on because it doesn’t stand out as much. The camera angles that I will use will be mid shots and side on shots. I won’t have any close up shots of the face because it will reveal the stalker and I don’t want the audience to know who the killer is until the end of the film.

inital ideas

My initial plans are to either;
1. To have a boyfriend and girlfriend by a pond with the mood of being romance. There could then be a stalker follow then and then the stalker chase after them with a big knife. The stalker could then chase them into the wood and then the girl trips over a log and the stalker stabs her. The motive would be that the stalker would be jealous of the girl.
Or
2. A girl could be out shopping and a stalker follows her and takes pictures. Then you see the stalker in a black room developing the pictures. The stalker then adds the pictures to his wall of all the pictures of the girl and one stands out of the girl and her boyfriend. The stalker then goes into a big room with a chair and table with strange tools like a knife, pliers and a saw. The stalker then comes back to room with pictures and draws a line through picture of girl with the boy. The stalker then cleans the knife that was in the room on the table. The motive for killing the boyfriend would be obsession of the girl

research of different films

My ideas for my practical work are to make the opening two minutes of a horror film. I have decided to analyse three different horror films to get inspiration on what my film opening could be like. The film openings I will analyse are all from different times the oldest is Halloween which was made in 1978, scream which was made in 1996 and then saw which was made in 2004. I will analyse films from different times to see how horror has changed over time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFILFAaE39U

http://www.blogger.com/%3Cobject" width="425" height="344">25 best horror movies
The website that rated 25 of the best slasher films rated Halloween to be the best saying ‘the film that started it all exquisitely executed, from the direction to the acting to the creepy score that Halloween has become legend.’

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFCStOMqpfk&feature=related

Scream once again made slasher popular after it had lost popularity by the end of the 80’s. Scream built upon the generic conventions that other productions had made before it. The first thing you hear is none digetic noise of a gunshot noise and then the title SCREAM comes up in big bold white letters that stand out from the black background. There is non digetic sound of a phone ringing and a heartbeat. There is a red fade on the back of the white writing which comes on in sequence to the heartbeat noise to show that is supposed to be the heartbeat. There is then a scream and a gunshot noise like the noise when the words came up. The letters then turn red to represent blood. We then see the phone with digetic sound of the ringing but still none digetic sound of the heartbeat until the girl picks the phone up to show the importance of the phone call. The girl is very relaxed on the phone even though the person that she is talking to asks strange questions. The phone then rings again straight after she puts the phone down and the camera zooms in on she face to show her reaction. The girl also pauses for a second before she gets the phone to show that this is not normal so it builds tension. The person asks strange questions again and she hangs up again this builds tension because the person seems so weird. The camera goes to a long shot of the house but in front of the house is a swing that is still moving to show that someone has just been on it this builds tension because it is dark so people don’t normally go on the swing when it is dark. The phone goes off again and she picks up. Half way through the conversation the person the girl is on the phone to says ‘I want to know who I am looking at’ and the camera zooms in on the girls face to show that she is scared by this builds tension and the audience now know why they swing was still moving. A digetic sound of dogs in the background can be herd to show that someone is trespassing on their land. The girl puts the porch lights on but can’t see anything and then puts the phone down again this builds tension because she doesn’t know where the person is so the audience don’t think the girl will be able to stop him. The camera zooms in on the girl locking the doors to show that she is scared. The phone then rings again and she puts the phone down after a few seconds to show that she is scared now and doesn’t want to speak to the person now. The phone then rings again and the person says ‘if you hang up on me again I will cut you like a fish’ which adds tension because you now feel that he will actually kill he now whereas before you just thought that he was just a bit strange. The person then says it’s more of a game than a joke and then not digetic music of low pitched thud noise is added to build tension. Then the person says the colour of her hair and the music becomes a lot louder and the camera follows her as she runs to lock the doors to show that she is really panicking and this makes the audience feel uncomfortable and tense. She then looks through the windows of the front door and the person says ‘can you see me’ to show that he can see everything she is doing. This adds tension because you feel like the person could attack her at any time he likes. The person then says that the cops will never make it we are in the middle of nowhere. This also builds tension because the audience feel like the girl can do nothing to stop the person. The girl then asks what the person wants and he replies the he wants to see what her insides look like. The girl starts crying and puts the phone down again. This adds tension because audience feel that the person is going to attack her now that he has told her the reason he is there. The door bell rings and she screams to show how scared she now is. The person rings again and says the name of the girl’s boyfriend and a loud non digetic thud sound is played to show that he knows a lot about her and builds tension because the girl was relying on her boyfriend to protect her but now he knows about the boyfriend. The girl is then told to turn on the porch light and she sees her boyfriend strapped to a chair with blood on his head which adds tension because the audience now knows that the person will kill try and kill her because he has already hurt her boyfriend.
The website that rated 25 of the best slasher films rated Scream to be the second best saying ‘perhaps the ultimate slasher’

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Opz1kxZSk10

Saw made horror even more gory and gruesome to scare and shock an audience that is rapidly getting used to seeing killing in horror to be normal so the new films have to find new ways to make it shock. The first thing you hear is very loud thunder and then a very metallic sound such as a knife being sharpened when the words LGF are brought up. You then hear the metallic sound again for twisted pictures when the barb wire is coming into the picture. The first thing you see is a small light going underwater and everything else is black. The light pauses on something red which looks like blood. You then hear non digetic sound of a high pitched distorted sound which gives the feeling that something wrong. The title then comes up in bright white writing to stand out from the white background. The words are also distorted to emphasis this feeling of something is wrong. You then see the small light. There is then a close up of someone’s face under water. This builds tension because the audience first think that the person is dead due to the nature of the genre. The person wakes up and gets out of the water choking which shock the audience and make them jump because it is very fast from him having his eyes closed to him jumping out the water. The light goes down the drain so the man is left in the dark. This builds tension because the audience feel that there could be anything ready to hurt or kill him in the dark. There is a low pitcher non digetic sound in the background to build tension. The man starts shouting and there is no answer for a few seconds this builds tension because he is alone in the dark so there is no way of defending himself if someone was trying to kill him. In the background you can hear chains which adds tension because the audience don’t know why there is a chain sound. There is then an answer so the audience doesn’t feel as bad because they aren’t alone. The lights then get turned on and they are too bright for comfort. As they are turned on there is non digetic sound that is high pitched and an irritating noise to show that turning the lights on isn’t what they wanted to do. There is then a P.O.V. shot from the man who was in the water and his camera is fuzzy to show that the lights are really bright. This builds tension because the still can’t see very well so they could be easily attacked. We then see a mid shot of the person that answered to the man who was in the water. The other person looks scared and doesn’t know what is going on this builds tension because neither of them knows what is going on. The camera then has a tracking shot where it goes back from the man who had got out of the water so then we can see a person laying dead on the flour. This builds tension because the audience now feel that they are going to get killed whereas before the audience only felt that there is a possibility that they could get killed. The irritating noise then gets louder and we see close up shots of the dead persons head with the blood and a gun this adds tension because the person had a gun so and he still died so the audience feel that there is now way of protecting them protecting their selves. The men try and walk over to the dead person but they are chained up which adds tension because the audience feel that there is definitely no way of protecting their selves because they are in chains. The non digetic noise then gets gradually louder and the people start shouting and pulling their chains.
Overview
The things I can take from analysing these films are the importance of non digetic music in the background to build tension. I could also use some of the camera work that they used such as in scream they mainly used mid shots to build tension because the audience don’t get to see a lot in the background so they couldn’t see where the killer was. The three films I studied mainly used mid shots and close ups so the audience didn’t get to see much of the background this built tension because the audience couldn’t see much so they feel that the killer could be anywhere. The settings that these film openings use are big dark rooms and houses. The mise en scene is quite empty or has normal things you would find in a home so it keeps the audiences attention on the main things. I could also use the way the opening films show their trailers. The credits from scream are in bold white letters with non digetic heartbeat sound and a red background to the words flashing in sequence to the heart beat sound. There is also a non digetic sound of a phone ringing and screaming. The words then quickly change to red as a gunshot sound appears and the screaming gets louder. The heart beat in the background gets faster. These are all very fast paced and they all help build tension. The credits shown in the saw opening has a very loud thunder and then a very metallic sound such as a knife being sharpened when the words LGF are brought up. You then hear the metallic sound again for twisted pictures when the barb wire is coming into the picture. The actual credits for the film have no sound and are just white writing on a black background. The words fade in and out and stand out from the background.
My target audience is aged between late teens to mid twenties. This is because this age group mainly watch horror slasher films and they go to the cinema more often than people of an older age