Final Film

 This is our final version of the opening of our horror film.

Evaluation

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

Shot 1

Shot 1 is a stereotypical shot of the horror genre as it uses low key lighting and uses curly handwritten style font which relates to our horror film as it based on a cursed book. This shot is our production company logo.

Shot 2

Shot 2 is a title screen showing the role of one of our group. This shot is stereotypical as it uses basic colours and sticks with the dark theme of a horror movie.

Black connotes fear, the unknown, evil and death. These are all common factors/elements in a horror movie, with white connoting pure, innocence and safety. This reflects on our film as the young couple may be seen as innocent and safe in their own home.

Shot 3

Shot 3 shows someone writing on a piece of paper by candlelight. This could be seen as stereotypical shot as it uses low key lighting casting shadows. This is sterotypical for a horror as it appears unpredictable and as if there is someone lurking in the background.

Shot 4

Shot 4 shows the title of the film in the similar format to the other text titles. This is therefore, stereotypical due to the colours. The font isn't very stereotypical as it is handwritten, where as horror titles usually use block, bold lettering to stand out. However, we felt that this font was more suitable as it is in a handwriting format linking to the idea of the cursed book being written in the title sequence before being used to haunt innocent victims. The effects on the title may also be seen as a countertype of the genre as it just fades in where normally they may jump out of the screen to create that initial feeling of things jumping out.

Shot 5

Shot 5 is stereotypical in the fact that the news reports similar events in which are going to happen to them. However, the news shot isn't very stereotypical as there is no news logo or banners which are common aspects to the news. They are also not wearing stereotypical outfits of news reporters as they appear rather casual.

Shot 6

Shot 6 is rather stereotypical as it shows a young couple arguing. This is stereotypical as couples always fight. The lightng is very natural which gives the sense of normality of the couple and their home. This contrasts the idea of the plot as things gradually begin to happen. The costumes are stereotypical as they are casual and modern which is the idea behind young couple being in a realistic environment and realistic characters to make the film appear scarier as it shows it can happen to anyone.

Shot 7

Shot 7 shows the main character's feet walking towards the book. This shot could be seen as stereotypical as it makes the male appear more powerful and dominant. The shot uses natural lighting to continue the idea of normality as the book hasn't yet been opened or spotted. The lighting also causes a light shadow on the floor which makes it appear more freaky as there may be someone else lurking around. The outfit is stereotypical as it is casual and relatively dull colored to show the darker plot that will begin to unfold.

Shot 8

Shot 8 shows the close-up of the book to show the importance it has and the initials that are engraved onto it. The close-up also enables them to make the link between the book being written in the title sequence to the one that is now in their posessions. The style of the initials is in block capitals to show their importance in the rest of the film.

Shot 9

Shot 9 shows the ghost-like figure being revealed in the mirror behind the main character. This sht is stereotypical as the ghost is being shown in the right hand side of the frame that is surrounded by darkness making it seem more mysterious and scarier for the audience. The ghost is also dressed in plain colours to make the feel of death more apparent and strikes against the darkness. The main character is seen in a shocked state and later jumps back against the wall as if hiding from what she has seen.

Evaluation Task 2 - How does your media product represent particular social groups?

There are similarities and differences between Claire in our horror film to the character of Cindy in Scary movie. They are both young women. In terms of appearance they are similar as they both have similar lengths in hair, although it is a different colour as Claire's is a light brown where as Cindy has blonde hair. The costumes are different, this could be because they are in different situations. For example, Claire is inside whereas Cindy is outside. However, they are both wearing casual, everyday outfits which hep them be related to by the audience. In terms of the roles they play, both characters are similar as they have a main role in the film. They both appear to play vulnerable women who are being terrorised in some way, as Cindy is getting chased and harrassed by Ghost face, and Claire is getting harassed by a ghost caused through the cursed book in which they are holding.

Evaluation task 3 -

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Evaluation task 4 - Who would be the audience for your media product?

Male Target audience

Female Target Audience

Our Target audience demographic is E. As our film is targeted at students, as they would be the most interested in this genre.

We felt in our group that the typical horror movie fan would be similar to this:

Typical male fan

Like: Sport, Comedy, Video Games
Dislike: Reading, Animals, Moaning, Work
Shops: Burton, Sports Shops, HMV, Game
Music: Heavy Metal, Rap, Rock
Clothes: Designer labels, Jeans, Hoodies, Shirts
Job: Paperround, Shop worker, Sports related, part time
Money: Medium wage
Class: Middle Class
Other Films: Comedy, Action/Adventure, Thriller
Education: GCSE's, A levels or at college. Average grades

Typical female fan

Like: Make-Up, Celebrity Gossip, Accessories
Dislike: Sport, Insects, Video games
Shops: Primark, New Look, Topshop, beauty.
Music: Pop, R&B, Boy bands
Clothes: Labels (Hollister, Jack Wills), Jeans
Job: Paperround, Hairdresser, Shop worker, waitress
Money: Medium wage
Class: Medium class
Other films: Rom-Coms, Comedy, Musicals
Education: GCSE's, A levels or at college. Good grades


Demographics

The demographic depends on a variety of factors such as Age, Gender, Class, Race and Geographical location.
The main age of our target audience that we are trying to aim our film at are 15-24years of age as they generally appear to be the most interested in this genre. However, in the questionnaire I carried out the most popular genre was Rom-Com and action with just one person preferring the thriller genre. This would mostly class them into the E demographic. Our film is aimed at both males and females, and those of different races. Chapter 4 is targeted at a working/middle class status, as they will have enough money to spend on going out to the cinema as part if a group to socialise. Our film is based on all Geographical areas, as it based on everyday families in their home, which can be related to by everyone.

Psychographics

Teenagers tend to have an interest in going out and socialising with friends. This may be through going to the cinema and may tend to watch a horror/thriller movie as they are not watching it alone, but within a big group of friends. They may also relate to our film as our main charcters are a young couple. We want our target audience to believe what is happening in the film, to add to the tension. If they believe what they are seeing is true, it automatically becomes more scarier as it could then happen to you. Our audience is likely to believe in our plot, as it is a young ordinary couple who have just moved into a house together, before everything begins to go wrong.

Target Audience research

For my target audience research, I created a questionnaire of 8 questions based on film and genre . This questionnaire was taken by a range of students of different gender and age. 11 people answered my questionnaire, with the majority of them being teenagers. The results of the questionnaire were useful as it meant we had more of an understanding of a variety of views on film.

The majority of the people who took my questionnaire was female. The favourite genre that appeared was Romantic Comedy and action films, with just 1 person choosing thriller. This doesn't fit with our general overview of thrillers/horrors being stereotypical for teenagers, however it doesn't mean that they don't watch or like horrors as I asked for their favourite genre only.

Evaluation Task 5 - How did you attract/address your audience?

We attracted our audience by using ordinary, everyday characters around the similar age of the targeted audience so that they could relate to them and causes fear amongst the audience as they realise it may happen to them.
I annotated the final version of our horror movie to show the conventions of the genre, the use of music, the similarities with other horror movies and identifying the USP of our opening.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOpEO5S2WnY

Evaluation Task 6 - What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Blogger
From using Blogger to create and organise my coursework, I have learnt how to write and edit posts, aswell as inserting images, videos and/or links from either my personal files or off of the internet.

Adobe Photoshop
From using Adobe Photoshop. I have learnt how to transform images to different sizes aswell as placing them appropriately to create an ordered image of shots. I have also learnt how to add text to the images and how to change the sizes of the canvas depending on how many photos you have to fit on.

Adobe Premiere Pro

From using Adobe premiere pro to edit both our Preliminary tasks and the opening of our horror film, I have learnt many editing techniques, such as how to capture footage from the camera onto the progamme. I have also learnt how to fade and add other effects to footage and audio to make it flow better. I have also learnt how to add titles to both blank screens and onto moving footage.


Youtube
I have used youtube throughout the coursework managing for many different purposes. I used youtube to research and watch trailers from other horror movies. We also used Youtube to upload our draft to see if we could get any feedback. We also annotated our final version of the film to show the horror genre conventions, the use of music, the similarities with other horror movies and the identification of the USP.

Camera

The image shows a member of our group using the camera used to film the openng to our horror film and our preliminary task. This camera enabled us to film our film before capturing it onto the computer to edit it. I learnt a lot when filming this task as I learnt how to focus it and how to zoom in and out, as it is different to other cameras I have previously used. I also learnt how to use the tripod to cause the camera to pan around the room steadily and how to cause the camera to tip towards a canted angle, even though we didn't use this shot in our film.



Computer

We used the computer for a variety of reasons as stated above to create our finished project. We used this to capture our footage before editing it using movie maker, adobe photoshop and adobe premiere pro. We also used it to create this blog and recieve feedback via facebook and youtube. Research was also done to get a basic understanding of stereotypical elements in a horror.  learnt a lot from using the programmes on the computer as previously stated.





Evaluation task 7 - Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

The Preliminary task of someone walking through a door and exchanging a couple of lines of dialogue, taught me a range of editing and camera techniques. From the task, I learnt what the 180 degree rule and match on action was and how to use it appropriately. We also used shot reverse shot when exhanging dialogue. These techniques allowed us to use them in our horror opening to enhance the quality and differ the amount of camerawork used.

Match on action was used in our prelimiary task when Adam was walking through the door before cutting to him the otherside about to sit on a chair. Match on Action was used in our horror opening when Ollie was picking up the box and then it cuts to him walking down the hallway with it. This technique is an example of continuity editing and allows the audience to see what is going on by filling in the small gaps of footage that is not in the film and make it quicker and snappier.

Shot reverse shot was used in our preliminary task during conversation between me and Adam. Shot reverse shot is used in conversation to show two people talking to each other. We didn't use shot reverse shot in our horror film as we had limited conversation in our opening, however, we did use cross cutting between the two main characters between the Kitchen and the Living room.

The 180 degree rule was obeyed in our horror opening as we didn't cross the "imaginary axis" as both the characters stayed on the same side of the screen at all times, keeping the left/right relationship.

Shot List

Title sequence: -

1) Mid shot of candle on table with the title 'Big Scream' appearing.
2) Title screen saying "Big Scream production presents.."
3) Mid shot of the book showing the initials 'EJH' beside a candle.
4) Title screen saying "from director, Darren Gilbert"
5) Over the shoulder shot of the author writing in candlelight, then the name Laura Browing appears
6) Title screen saying "Director of photography, Rebecca Riley-Brown"
7) Close up of a hand writing
8) Title screen saying "Visual effects, Adam Thompson"
9) Close up of writing and the name Oliver Roberts appears
10) Title screen saying Audio Director, Jonathon Hugget"
11) Mid shot of women writing in candlelight
12) Title screen saying "chapter 4"

Opening Sequence

13) Close up of news report on tv, zooms out and pans round to reveal mid shot of Ryan.
14) Mid shot of Claire making a cup of tea.
15) Long shot of Ryan eating on the chair, joined by Claire then Ryan leaves
16) Long shot of Ryan walking down the hallway.
17) Mid shot of Ryan putting book into box
18) Close up on the books initials
19) Long shot of Claire walking down hallway
20) Close up of Claire in the mirror and sees ghost figure.

Location shots

The photos below show the locations of the places involved in our opening of the horror film.

Dining Table - used in the title sequence

We chose the main location for our film to be an average house, as it can be related to by the target audience.

The dining room is used in the title sequence for when the book is being written.

Hallway

The hallway is where the scariest moment of the opening is, as the young girl spots the ghost figure in the mirror. This is an ideal place for this to happen as it is small and narrow and gives a sense of no escape.

Living room

The living room was used at the beginning of the film, when the young boy was watching the news and eventually ended up with the argument with the young girl. The living room suggests safety, so this causes fear for the audience. The idea of revealing the man in this way is stereotypical, as they are known for being rather lazy and eating, so we portrayed this stereotype by having the main character first revealed sitting on the chair watchng Tv and eating. 

Kitchen

The kitchen was used in the film to first reveal the female character. The main female in the film is stereotypically represented as she is shown making a cup of tea in the kitchen. This is an old fashioned representation of women. The kitchen is also used to show a close up of the book in the actual film making the first initial link from the book in the title sequence to the one found on their doorstep. The Kitchen doorway also reveals the ghost like figure.

Draft of film

This is our 2nd draft of our film. This shows the improvements that were made last time. We have recieved a couple more improvements from a fellow class. Some of the improvements they suggested was to add some music when the book comes onto the screen in the hallway, to show its importance and to build up the tension.

Typical lighting in horror movies

Horror movies typically use low key lighting. This might be because people tend to fear the unknown and by using low key lighting the distance is difficult or impossible to see, therefore are unsure if there is someone lurking in the darkness. This creates tension and fear amongst the audience, which is what you expect from a horror. Low key lighting also creates strong shadows, therefore adding to the tension as it makes it feel like there is an unsure presence.

Haunted in Connecticut still

This is a still from the horror movie Haunted in Connecticut. This shot uses low key lighting with a spotlight aimed at the man framed on the left hand side, leaving the right hand side of the shot to be unclearly seen. This creates suspense and tension as the audience is unsure if something will jump out or at least wonder what will happen to him.



All horror films use low-key lighting at some stage, as it helps the narrative to create a more effective and thrilling movie, as you cannot see everything that is occuring and it draws your eyes to the lit up section of the frame therefore creating more of a thrill when something from the dark happens. A good horror movie tends to give the audience goosebumps or have nightmares.

First horror opening

This is our first horror opening sequence.

As a class, we watched each of our horror films and recieved feedback before making some changes to improve it and make it clearer. Some of the changes we made were: -

- a fade where it cuts between the shouting scene of the two main characters, as we had to edit out some swearing.
- Edit out a small section of footage where a menu was flashing up.
- Cut out the last bit of footage where Claire walks into the Kitchen looking for the figure.
- On the 2nd title screen, change the 'scream' to a capital 'S' like in the first shot.
- Make the close up of the front of the book in the title sequence more visible.