Evaluation Q7

Looking back at your prelim task what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Since the prelim task i have been alot more aware of the different rules of film e.g in the prelim we broke the 180 degree rule which made me alot more aware of it when we came to doing our filming for our film. I also learnt how to time things better and to take more than one shot as there is more than likely going to be something your not happy with so if you got more than one then it is going to be a higher chance of one being one you like. Also timing after shots, you can take bits off if the shots too long but you cant add anything on if you didnt film for long enough. This also helped with the match on action shot we did where the girl falls to the floor by the boy, another tecnique iv learnt to use better since the prelim task. We also did some shot reverse shot but didnt use it as it made the opening to long and it wasnt needed but i was already pretty confident with that way of shooting.

Evaluation Q6

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of creating this product?

Id had some practice working with a camera before and in our prelim tasks i made my skills alot more better like i learnt about different shots and i learnt the different rules that you have to abied by to make a film (180 degree rule) we also made sure we used a tripod everytime whist filming so there are no shakey shots in our film. I also had no idea how to use iMovie HD but after a while we learnt the basic funtions of it and could use the effects and audio funtions confidently. We would of liked to use the narrations but we didnt need them for our film and i think it would of been a bit much if we had used them on our film. The proram was on the apple Macs which we were both confident in using (even though we dont enjoy using them) but we knew how to use them. We used youtube and youtube converter to get the song we wanted onto MP3 so we could put it on our film, we were both alreay confident with youtube as we had used it many times before, but i had never used the converter before so that was something else i learnt about how to use.

Evaluation Q5

How did you attract/address your audience?

We attracted our taret audience by using actors and storys that could relate to our age group (16-25) we used male and females so it would appeal to both genders, girls will feel sorry for the girl in our filma nd men will want to relate to the man in our film as he is confident. Our audience will be familiar with the red font in the titles which will imedietly help them reaslise what genre it is within the first 2 mins and make them want to watch the rest of the film. Somethin they might not be familiar with is the music as we dont have the typical type of music associated with this genre, we used an acustic song love song and chose it because it contrasts with the mood of the film and the theme is love so it does fit in with the story line.

Evaluation Q4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Our target audience is teenagers as they are mostly into films that are quite dark and want to scare themselves, stereotyping- Emo. We did a questionare to see what people of our agegroup wanted from a horror film and using this we put together our film. We dont really have a target gender as when it comes to this age group ad genre there is very little differences between genders about what they are expecting from a horror film.

Evaluation Q3

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

For our Institution company we chose Lionsgate as they have distributed films of the similar genre before.

A production company is a company that makes the psyical production of media, i.e Radio T.V, Films ect ect the company can in most cases also be responsable for the funding of the production.

A Distributor is a company that releases the film to the public for eaither cinima or home veiwing.

Funding for our film would of come from lionsgate as they have funded films like this before and they are well known in the genre.

In the opening of our film we have only featured actors, music and mine and nyashas name as on films we looked at if they listed all of the people that helped make it it would take too long so they only put the most important people at the start and then everyone was listed in the credits at the end. Also the people we we noticed at the start were the poeple that can sometimes infulence whether people see the film or not, so it is important to have them at the beggining.

Our film is similar to the fim 'Sorority Row' the story line closely match and the muders take place in the same sort of place (woody forest area)

Evaluation Q2

How does your media product represent particular social groups? The girl in our film can be compared to Ellie in Soroity Row as they both are quiet and dont like arguing but as the film goes on they both stand up for themselves alot more (in our film, i break up the relationship, in sorority row she stands up to the other charaters more and more as the film oes on) the difference is in sorority row the charater goes from weak to strong but in our film she doesnt have the chance to do that as she is killed in the first 2 mins. Our charater links to Laura Mulveys , Male Gaze as she is seen as the weaker charater compared to the men as he kills her but she is not portrayed as a maddona or a whore, so is only very loosely linked to this theory. According to Stuart Halls theory people who are the same sexuality and have shared a background with the charater interpret text in different ways. People who are quiet or have had the same experiences as our charater would be able to ecept the meaning of our film easily.

Evaluation Q1

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (i.e. film openings) Before editing.

After editing.

Most horror films use editing to show a difference between flash backs and real time.

We used a editing to keep with the conventions of horror using light to show what scenes are 'happy' and flash backs, we also slowed it down to make it look different to the reality scenes which are moving in normal time which also helps with suspence.

We were orrignially going to make the flash backs black and white as that is what most horror films use but the effect wasnt working properly so we had to use something different, although i think it worked out better because it shows its a 'happy' scene more as the better lit it is generally shows happyness.

Our titles of our film keep to the conventions of horror as well as some of the posters for films we looked at used red lettering which represents blood for gorey films and anger and dangour for other scary films so it fits well as in our film there isnt too much gore but there is a little bit and there is certainly lots of anger. We used american type writer which suits what we are trying to show as its simple and slightly old fastioned as its in the past.

This is the main killin scene for our horror film, it is very fitting within our genre as in most horror films there is the main murder in a feild or somewhere secluded and quiet where there is no witnesses!! In the horror genre this is usally the most stuck to convention and we followed it as it is one of the most important ways to tell if the film is horror or not, e.g if the victim died soundly in their bed it would be more of a drama sad film rather than a horror film.

This shot it a dutch angle shot and we used it to show Alison is dead, we also zoomed out from her face on this shot to show her surroundings and to create movement so the audience feels even less easy because dutch angles are used to create uneasyness.

Finally finished!!!

Editing again

We did more editing today and we put in the transactions to make it split up the reality shots from the flash backs and we also used some effects to make the flash backs look different to the reality shots because it looked a bit confusing for the audience as it wasnt clear enough which shots were reality and which were flash backs.

Editing

We have now finished filming our film and have moved onto editing, we didnt need a script for our film as we are dubbing over it with music, we have found the song we are going to use on youtube and we dont have to get copyright permission as it states that it is free to use if you credit the band which we will do:

This track has been legally confirmed as Free. You may insert it into your youtube videos as long as you credit the band verbally or in the description bar.download link http://tinyurl.com/thevarsityyoungerMSRSong title: "Younger" Band Name: The VarsityGenre: Rock/PopLinks:

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/thevarsitymusic

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/thevarsityvision

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/music.thevarsity

I think that this song is good to use as the music for horror films is one of the most important parts for setting the scene and creating a mood, we choose a happy song and not an earry one because it makes the audience feel less comfortable and puts them on edge. It also ties in with our film as it has elements of love in it and its a song about love. So it fits both ways.

Filming finished

The actor we were now using wasnt relaible enough and wouldnt film aymore scenes so we had to re film the whole film, we used a new actor (Jack) and we got it all done on the tuesday after school so now we can focus on editing.

Production Diary

We filmed a bit today we did the killing scene and did a few of the happy scenes, looking over it we need to refilm the killing scene as it doesnt look realistic enough and we need to film a few more happy scenes for the flash back parts. We plan to do this on monmday and hope to finish it then.

Problems

We planned to film on the thursday of the holidays, however due to personal problems with the actors, they had to pull out. Leaving us to rush to find someone else.
In the end we found a boy to film for us (James) and i was the girl as we couldnt find anyone to be in it that was trustworthy enough.

Production Plan

We are planning to film in the holidays on the thursday as that is the only day i have free and we will the the whole day to film. We have everything ready and thats the last thing we have to do.

Intitutions

For our film production we could use eaither Twisted Pictures as they are well known for producing the saw films which is the genre we are making our film they also produced ghost films too such as Dead Silence and The Tortured. Production compaines are responsable for making physical film, and are in most cases responsable for the funding of the film.

For the distribution of our film we could use Lionsgate as in the UK it is distributed by Momentum Pictures which is one of the leading distributors for the country. Distribution compaines are responsable for getting the film to the public, eaither by cinema or for home veiwing (DVD).

Presentation to Class

We did a presentaion to the class and told them about our plans and what our film is about.

Music

Music in horror films is eery and very slow paced, usally when its played there is no or very little dialogue over it, the music it not usally ment to be obvious but is used to compliment the visuals and to make a tense scene or to add suspence.
It is usally fast in the action parts and the diogetic sound of the film is louder than it and in the other 'slower' parts of the film it is slowr music with no sound over the top.
In our film we have decided to use a song that contrasts with whats happening in our film, its a sort of happy sounding song at the bit of our film we are making when the main character kills his lover.

Actors Locations and Props

These are the two main actors we will use in our film, we chose them because they are a couple in real life and we need them to be a couple in the film and we didnt want to have to ask anyone to kiss anyone or d0 anything like that if they are not already together.

This is the Location we will use for the killing scene for our film, it is the common just opposite the school and we chose it because in the reserch we did all the good muder and gorey scenes take place in a field or somewhere quite remote with not many people and we thought this location fitted that the best.

We are going to use the sixth form common room for some of the flash back scenes to them being happy and a nice couple.

Filming

We filmed the first two scenes today where the two main charaters meet and some of the scenes in school, it was good because the weather was nice and sunny which makes the scene look happy. We are going to film more shots in the future to make it easyer while editing as we didnt film many of each shot today. We next plan to film in the half term the rest of our shots.

BBFC 15

British Bored of Film Classifacation says that for a 15 (which we thought our film would be closest to) means that for the murder scene we would need to use a wepan that is not 'easily accessible' e.g we couldnt use a kitchen knife but we could use the wepan from 'Sorority Row' which was a tire iron. We also are thinking about sexual content in our film, we were going to keep it subtle and only insinuate sexual contact, which for a 15 is fine. We dont have drugs in our film but if we did the certification would let us as long as it didnt promote or encourage misuse of drugs.

Film research again

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16y8C86N9TA In this opening to The Wrong Turn and im looking mainly at the flash backs in this opening. You can tell they are flash backs because they are clearly different from the 'real time' shots. They are edited to blck and white and are split up with titles which add to susspence as it speads the shots out. It also has some close ups of other medias linked to the story (newpaper headlines) which help expxlin whats going on more. We have decided to use flash backs in our film and using this film know we need to do something to them to make them different to 'real time' e.g. black and white.

Story board (my amazing art)

We drew a very artisic story board to show how we are going to put the story together

Final Treatment for our film

10 Years Ago: February the 14th 4pm: Four friends Chad, Alison, Jenny and John go to a cabin by a lake for the weekend. After a year of abuse Alison is brutally murdered by her boyfriend Chad after she suggests they break up. The three quickly return home and report Alison as missing. The police recieve an anonymous call and her body is found later that night. Present Day: February the 14th 4pm: On the front page of a newspaper is an article about Alison's memorial, inside halfway through the newspaper is a column that reads "Wedding of the year: Today's the day" Chad is getting married to Sara a spoilt rich girl at a hotel. With best man John at his side and Jenny as the maid of honour, Chad is sure that nothing could go wrong. So far everything seems to be going according to plan. The bride and groom are only moments away to getting married. 5pm: Then Jenny discovers a body of one of the wedding guests in the bathroom and on the wall the words "Fiat justitia ruat caelum" (May justice be done though the heavens fall) She runs to tell John, who has also found a dead body with the same message. They both start freaking out 5,25 pm: All of a sudden the power goes out in the hotel, and now surrounded by darkness they discover a few more bodies and with the same message again. They realise that all of the victims they had discovered were somehow connected or knew Alison. And they were all killed the same way Alison was. 5,58pm:They are now both forced to relive the day their best friend killed someone and how they had to spend the last 10 years keeping this secret. They go to find Chad and tell him what has been going on. 6,26pm: Jenna suspects that Alison has come back from the dead to kill them and get her revenge, to which both John and Chad think is absurd. Upset that the two are mocking and making fun of her she runs away. 7,37pm:Moments later they hear a scream and its Jenna, they run to where they heard the scream to discover that she has been killed the same way as the other victims, except the message now says "One down; two to go" 7,50pm:The guys still trapped in the hotel try to call the police, but there is no network. The guests are getting scared and wondering what is going on. 8,00pm:Then Chad decides that he needs to go check on his fiancee and see if she's alright. He finds her dead and covered in blood. And there is a message saying "she didn't deserve this" 8,07pm:Horrified and shocked he starts to think that maybe Jenna was right. Maybe Alison was back to get her revenge. 8,14pm:He goes to look for John, but he can't find him. When he does finally find his best friend, John has been brutally killed. But this time there is no message. 8,16pm:Then Chad starts to feel like someone is watching him. He thinks its Alison, so he starts screaming her name in anger to come and kill him. 8,23pm:Then he discovers that newspaper article about Alison's memorial "Ten Years Gone but Never Forgotten" He starts to feel the guilt and remorse that he should've been feeling for all these years. 8,37pm:On the next page is another article that says "Alison's murderer acquitted" In the article is a name he recognises Jason Wen from his old high school, but back then he was known as "The comic book kid" 8,47pm:He turns around to be confronted with someone wearing a Kabuki mask. "And then there was one" a voice that Chad recognises as Jason's says. 9pm: Jason kills Chad. 10 Years Ago February the 14th 9pm: After the call the police arrive at the cabin where they find Alison's body, with someone stood next to it covered in blood. Sixteen year old Jason is arrested for the murder of Alison. In his satchel they find drawings and pictures of Alison and they suspect he had been stalking her for months.

Questionaire

We conducted a questionaire to see what our target audience would most like to see in a horror film so we could use it in our film. We didnt want to use yes, no awnsers as it doesnt provide much detail.

We asked 13 people:

When watching a horror film do you like flashbacks? If not what would you prefer?
2 out of 13 people said they didn't like flashbacks
11 out 13 like them

Do you like suspense?
1 out 13 said they didn't like them
12 out 13 said they like them

Do you like the problem being resolved at the end or a cliff-hanger?
9 out of 13 people we asked said they wanted the problem resolved
2 out of 13 said they preferred both
2 out 13 said they like cliffhangers if there is going to be another film

What is your favourite horror film? And why is this favourite?

What would you like to be featured in the first two minutes of a horror film?
Most people said a murder or characters being established

These reults told us that the most well received horror films would be something quite gorey with s lot of suspence

More film research

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwicLgOGJOI
We looked at the killing scene from American Psyco and saw that it didnt fit with the main coventions of horror.
A well known happy song is playing with lirics and it is a well lit light hearted scene, if you just put it on you wouldnt guess something was about to happen.
We like the idea of not tence music and might use that in our film however i dont think we will make it as light hearted as it is in this scene as it makes it a bit more comady like and thats not what we are going for, we will also follow most other convections of horror but we really like the music idea.

Research on the horror genre

I looked at the opening secquence for the film Sorority Row as it is close to the story line we wanted and the killing scene and the regret is what we need to look at. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXhea0Y1pQ8&feature=related It starts off at a party and the opening shot is a shot to show the enviroment, it slowly moves towards the house where they are having a party (which is an unexpected scene for a horror film) it is dark but thats only becasue its at night (a generic convetion for a horror film) and the hous is well lit and loud. There are small titles and the bottom of the screen that come and go which dont destract you to much from the main action as nothing is really happening at that point its just setting the scene. In my opinion the establishing scene is too long and drags a bit so in our film we wont do it for that long. It then goes onto intodce the characters which is just them stood in a room bitching about each other so you get an idea they are not very nice. They are then watching a webcam of someone making out with a girl who they have drugged and she is then sick in his mouth, tence music starts to play to make the scene seem more on edge and it seems like the horror has begun, which is quite quick for a horror film. We then find out she is faking it and its a trick to scare the boy, they all then go out in a bus to a remote clear area in the middle of the woods (the boy still thinks its real however the other girls and the audience know its not) it is still dark and remote which is another convention of horror with very tence quite loud music playing and you know something bad is about to happen.

Horror film poster

Most horror movie posters follow the same type of style or layout, usally dark background whith some kind of related picture to the film in the middle, has the title at the bottom and sometimes has a tag line near it.

The red writing could be representing blood and the white gives a 'chilling' feeling, in this case the two posters work well as the one with red writing 'Friday the 13th' is a gorey horror film (hence the representation of blood) and the other 'One Missed Call' is more of a scary thriller kind of horror (aka 'chilling') so the colour of the title could give a hint at what the film is going to be like.

Both the backgrounds are dark which looks like some kind of mystery setting, 'Friday the 13th' has some woods in the background which could mean the film is set there and also a common setting used in horror films takes place in a wood as it is quite and you never know what is lurking in the trees.

Actors and actresses in horror

Jamie Lee Curtis

Halloween: Resurrection (2002)
Virus (1999)
Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998)
Halloween II (1981)
Road Games (1981)
Terror Train (1980)
Prom Night (1980)
The Fog (1980)
Halloween (1978)

Tony Todd

The Absence of Light (2006)
Hatchet (2006)
Minotaur (2006)
Final Destination 3 (2006)
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (2006)
Shadow: Dead Riot (2006)
Night Stalker: "Malum" (2005) TV episode
I.O.U (2005)
The Prophecy: Forsaken (2005)
House of Grimm (2005)
Murder-Set-Pieces (2004)
Final Destination 2 (2003)
Scarecrow Slayer (2003)
Angel: "The Shroud of Rahmon" (2000) TV episode
Final Destination (2000)
Candyman: Day of the Dead (1999)
Shadow Builder (1998)
Wishmaster (1997)
Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh (1995)
The X-Files: "Sleepless" (1994) TV episode
Candyman (1992)
Night of the Living Dead (1990)
Voodoo Dawn (1990)