We have finally burnt our final sequence and continuity exercise onto disk yesterday, as the burner on another computer was fixed. We moved our work from our mac to the portable hard drive, to another mac which allowed us to burn our work successfully.
i am very happy with our final product and i am proud of the way we worked as a team.
Lovee
Kelly
xxxx
Wednesday, 31 March 2010
Evaluation Question 1
Q1) In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media projects?
Our Media project challenges the stereotypical horror film by having a little girl as the main character and having her as the killer. We have chosen certain Camera Angles, editing techniques and Mise on scene to help us with making a successful horror. One thing we have chosen to do is to never show the main female character, Zoe's, eyes. We believe this adds a slight creepy feel to the character because when you look at someone, usually you would look at their eyes but you cant do that with her.
This shot is the ending of a dolly shot going into an over the shoulder shot. This shows our character Zoe colouring, she is drawing death pictures. This shot creates a kind of innocent feel as colouring can be seen as innocent and a small child would do this for fun, is helps create an innocent feel to our character as it is unclear what she is doing, when you figure it out you then realise she is not so innocent. The lighting in this shot is quite dark, this helps create a mysterious feel as the drawings are not very visible but it also creates a creep feel as the dark can be quite deceptive. We have placed scissors in the shot as scissors are classed as dangerous and a child wouldn't normally play with them, Yet they are in her room. This adds to the twisted feel of the opening.
This shot shows are character playing with the Ragdoll, but this is no normal playing with a doll as this is actually the bit where she is acting out a death with her doll. This shot her face is hidden we did this purposely to add to the deception of not seeing what she looks like. We did this shot by having Charlotte sit under my sisters bed with a camera. The eye level angle makes the filming seem more natural and adds realism to the film. The dolls makes the child seem innocent but as the film continues you find out she isn't as innocent as she looks. The dark lighting adds the creepy feel, and helps keep the film mysterious.
The next shot is a high angle shot looking down on the female character as she breaks the arm of the rag doll then throws it away. She is surrounded by the pictures around her, Which shows she draws alot, the drawings are quite twisted so it helps add to the feel of her twistedness. This is also crucial to the plot line linking to the newspaper story later on.
The next shot is of her swinging on a swing. This is a long shot showing her own body. This shows her freedom to do as she pleases. The swing creates a creaking noise as she swings adding a good sound effect. She then leaves as the swings carry's on creaking. She walks away. we also had the natural sound of the park playing We chose to have no children at the park to show herself being alone. Here it is at a canted Angle, this can help show uneasiness as she is in the park on her own and you don't really know what she is going to do next. The face is still never shown.
The next shot is Zoe walking up the hill. This goes into a long shot as the camera stays stationary and she walks away from it. We chose to use many Jump shots as she walks up the hill. We chose to do this because it is a generic convention of an editing technique of a horror film but also allows her to walk up the hill a lot quicker. She also starts to fade out at the top of the hill. This is because of her wearing light colors that reflect off the sun. This adds to the effect and makes it look better, it adds a slightly mystical feel to the character. once again no one is around showing how alone she is. We still had the natural sound here as we feel the natural sound helped create realism and made the little girl seem lonelier. Her face is never shown when she is walking, as we feel it would give to much away.
Our Media project challenges the stereotypical horror film by having a little girl as the main character and having her as the killer. We have chosen certain Camera Angles, editing techniques and Mise on scene to help us with making a successful horror. One thing we have chosen to do is to never show the main female character, Zoe's, eyes. We believe this adds a slight creepy feel to the character because when you look at someone, usually you would look at their eyes but you cant do that with her.
This shot is the ending of a dolly shot going into an over the shoulder shot. This shows our character Zoe colouring, she is drawing death pictures. This shot creates a kind of innocent feel as colouring can be seen as innocent and a small child would do this for fun, is helps create an innocent feel to our character as it is unclear what she is doing, when you figure it out you then realise she is not so innocent. The lighting in this shot is quite dark, this helps create a mysterious feel as the drawings are not very visible but it also creates a creep feel as the dark can be quite deceptive. We have placed scissors in the shot as scissors are classed as dangerous and a child wouldn't normally play with them, Yet they are in her room. This adds to the twisted feel of the opening. This shot shows are character playing with the Ragdoll, but this is no normal playing with a doll as this is actually the bit where she is acting out a death with her doll. This shot her face is hidden we did this purposely to add to the deception of not seeing what she looks like. We did this shot by having Charlotte sit under my sisters bed with a camera. The eye level angle makes the filming seem more natural and adds realism to the film. The dolls makes the child seem innocent but as the film continues you find out she isn't as innocent as she looks. The dark lighting adds the creepy feel, and helps keep the film mysterious.
The next shot is a high angle shot looking down on the female character as she breaks the arm of the rag doll then throws it away. She is surrounded by the pictures around her, Which shows she draws alot, the drawings are quite twisted so it helps add to the feel of her twistedness. This is also crucial to the plot line linking to the newspaper story later on.
The next shot is of her swinging on a swing. This is a long shot showing her own body. This shows her freedom to do as she pleases. The swing creates a creaking noise as she swings adding a good sound effect. She then leaves as the swings carry's on creaking. She walks away. we also had the natural sound of the park playing We chose to have no children at the park to show herself being alone. Here it is at a canted Angle, this can help show uneasiness as she is in the park on her own and you don't really know what she is going to do next. The face is still never shown.
The next shot is Zoe walking up the hill. This goes into a long shot as the camera stays stationary and she walks away from it. We chose to use many Jump shots as she walks up the hill. We chose to do this because it is a generic convention of an editing technique of a horror film but also allows her to walk up the hill a lot quicker. She also starts to fade out at the top of the hill. This is because of her wearing light colors that reflect off the sun. This adds to the effect and makes it look better, it adds a slightly mystical feel to the character. once again no one is around showing how alone she is. We still had the natural sound here as we feel the natural sound helped create realism and made the little girl seem lonelier. Her face is never shown when she is walking, as we feel it would give to much away.
This shot shows where we chose to do a match on action shot. The older male character starts walking down hall way and walks into a room, the next shot is him walking into the bedroom. We chose to do this because we think it looks good and because we have added more editing and filming techniques. Here you see the older character walking in with a piece of parer, this piece of paper then becomes relevant later on in the film. The lighting is still very dark here and this adds to the creepy feel of the room. The piece of parer in his hand also adds to the deception of the film as you don't actually know what it is, until the end.
He then clears up the bedroom. This is him pretending that what she is doing isn't happening and he is trying to clear it up. He then turns off the artificial light, opens the curtains and puts the rag doll back on the bed before leaving the room. When he opens the curtain it brings in light which makes the room seem more normal and gives it its childlike innocents back. You can see the Ragdoll on the bed, we purposely did this to show that its the same room and it links to the title of our film. The rooms colours are properly shown here, the color purple con-notates a small innocent girl, which is quite the opposite to our character but it implys that she could be normal.
After the actions of the male character, the shot pans down to the newspaper on the bed which is a close up shot. This hovers showing the viewer the newspaper, Reveling to the watcher what that piece of paper was in the older persons hand. It shows that the actions the female character carry's out onto the rag doll has happened in real life. This shows that what she is doing isn't innocent child's play but has serious consequences. It adds questions into the characters mind. Here the music starts playing helping it seem creepier. We made sure this shot wasn't to long as we wanted to keep the mystery into the film.
We then went to the opening credits . We show our names on colored paper linking back to the child theme. We cut our names out and attached them to areas in the park which we filmed one of our scenes. We chose different places in the park to put our names. We chose to do a transition of a fade in on the first title to show that the titles are not apart of the story line and are different. We used different filming techniques to film them including Zoom and Dolly/Hand Held camera work. We also edited Charlotte's name by adding jump shots in.
We then continued with the colored paper and cut out the words "The Rag doll" we chose to create a hopscotch for our film title and put the colored letters in instead of writing numbers. We then but the chalk at the top of the hopscotch, to show the hopscotch had been drawn, the doll halfway down as the name of this film is based on that rag doll and the shoes at the bottom, we chose the shoes are character wore, this links the character into the film openings.
He then clears up the bedroom. This is him pretending that what she is doing isn't happening and he is trying to clear it up. He then turns off the artificial light, opens the curtains and puts the rag doll back on the bed before leaving the room. When he opens the curtain it brings in light which makes the room seem more normal and gives it its childlike innocents back. You can see the Ragdoll on the bed, we purposely did this to show that its the same room and it links to the title of our film. The rooms colours are properly shown here, the color purple con-notates a small innocent girl, which is quite the opposite to our character but it implys that she could be normal.
After the actions of the male character, the shot pans down to the newspaper on the bed which is a close up shot. This hovers showing the viewer the newspaper, Reveling to the watcher what that piece of paper was in the older persons hand. It shows that the actions the female character carry's out onto the rag doll has happened in real life. This shows that what she is doing isn't innocent child's play but has serious consequences. It adds questions into the characters mind. Here the music starts playing helping it seem creepier. We made sure this shot wasn't to long as we wanted to keep the mystery into the film.
We then went to the opening credits . We show our names on colored paper linking back to the child theme. We cut our names out and attached them to areas in the park which we filmed one of our scenes. We chose different places in the park to put our names. We chose to do a transition of a fade in on the first title to show that the titles are not apart of the story line and are different. We used different filming techniques to film them including Zoom and Dolly/Hand Held camera work. We also edited Charlotte's name by adding jump shots in.
We then continued with the colored paper and cut out the words "The Rag doll" we chose to create a hopscotch for our film title and put the colored letters in instead of writing numbers. We then but the chalk at the top of the hopscotch, to show the hopscotch had been drawn, the doll halfway down as the name of this film is based on that rag doll and the shoes at the bottom, we chose the shoes are character wore, this links the character into the film openings.Sunday, 28 March 2010
Evaluation Question 7
7) Looking Back at Your Preliminary Task, What Do You Feel You Have Learnt in the Progression From it to the Full Product?
Our continuity exercise helped us in learning camera techniques, editing techniques and how to use continuity correctly. The two errors of continuity within our work we noticed was the clock in the background. Over the shoulder of the female character is a clock which jumps between different times, we had only noticed this when editing. When shooting our main task we made sure that there were no clocks in sight of the camera so that we couldn't make the same mistake again. We also noticed the globe on the desk was at different positions throughout the task. In between filming, it was spun so the part facing the camera changes as the clip goes on. When shooting our main task we made sure that we did not touch any thing that we didn't need to so it wouldn't be out of continuity, meaning when we had the pictures on the floor we were sure not to use them. When filming our continuity exercise, we learn t about the 180 degree rule and its use in our filming, i also learnt about the match on action shot, and how it can contribute to the relationship between characters, as well as including an over the shoulder shot, which is effective at showing one character's emotion's whilst hiding the other, to give a different viewpoint. Many things need to be taken into account when we were filming our continuity exercise, so that the continuity in our filming is kept up continuously.Shooting the continuity task also helped us to understand how to use sound. We learnt how load we had to talk so the microphones would pick it up and that the sound will be at different volumes when the camera is at different distances away from the action. we learnt this cause in the continuity task i was heard better than Joe cause i was closer to the microphone. Are Main task has no actually talking sound, but when filming the park scene we have natural sounds because it was outside.
When actually filming our final task, our group learn t not to be too reliant on each other, because many things could get in the way and prevent people turning up, or having the right equipment. For this reason, we made sure that every person in our group had a copy of the script and knew exactly what needed to be done, if a problem should arise, and one of the group members be missing, that way the others could still continue.
However, there is still a large amount of the project, where we needed to work as a group and rely on each other, be it some one bringing the camera or the tripod, or using some one's house to film. We had to be organized, to plan the time we had in and out of lessons to make the most use out of it. Often, we would use our double media lessons to go and film in the park, which was not far from our sixth form, or to go to one of the group member's houses to film the child in the bedroom.
I have also learnt that technology will let you down at some point, but we had to be prepared to carry on without it, rather than let it slow down our progress in some way. For example, when our work was prolonged because the burner did not work, we had to be patient, and wait for it to be fixed.
Our continuity exercise helped us in learning camera techniques, editing techniques and how to use continuity correctly. The two errors of continuity within our work we noticed was the clock in the background. Over the shoulder of the female character is a clock which jumps between different times, we had only noticed this when editing. When shooting our main task we made sure that there were no clocks in sight of the camera so that we couldn't make the same mistake again. We also noticed the globe on the desk was at different positions throughout the task. In between filming, it was spun so the part facing the camera changes as the clip goes on. When shooting our main task we made sure that we did not touch any thing that we didn't need to so it wouldn't be out of continuity, meaning when we had the pictures on the floor we were sure not to use them. When filming our continuity exercise, we learn t about the 180 degree rule and its use in our filming, i also learnt about the match on action shot, and how it can contribute to the relationship between characters, as well as including an over the shoulder shot, which is effective at showing one character's emotion's whilst hiding the other, to give a different viewpoint. Many things need to be taken into account when we were filming our continuity exercise, so that the continuity in our filming is kept up continuously.Shooting the continuity task also helped us to understand how to use sound. We learnt how load we had to talk so the microphones would pick it up and that the sound will be at different volumes when the camera is at different distances away from the action. we learnt this cause in the continuity task i was heard better than Joe cause i was closer to the microphone. Are Main task has no actually talking sound, but when filming the park scene we have natural sounds because it was outside.
When actually filming our final task, our group learn t not to be too reliant on each other, because many things could get in the way and prevent people turning up, or having the right equipment. For this reason, we made sure that every person in our group had a copy of the script and knew exactly what needed to be done, if a problem should arise, and one of the group members be missing, that way the others could still continue.
However, there is still a large amount of the project, where we needed to work as a group and rely on each other, be it some one bringing the camera or the tripod, or using some one's house to film. We had to be organized, to plan the time we had in and out of lessons to make the most use out of it. Often, we would use our double media lessons to go and film in the park, which was not far from our sixth form, or to go to one of the group member's houses to film the child in the bedroom.
I have also learnt that technology will let you down at some point, but we had to be prepared to carry on without it, rather than let it slow down our progress in some way. For example, when our work was prolonged because the burner did not work, we had to be patient, and wait for it to be fixed.
Saturday, 27 March 2010
Evaluation Question 6
6)What have you learnt about technologies from the process of Constructing this product?
Here is a picture of our tripod
We used a scanner when scanning in our story boards. To put the story boards onto my blog, we had to scan them into the computer because we had hand drawn them.
We used Youtube and Artofthetitle.com for our research. We researched similar films and analyzed the openings of these films. We have put both our preliminary and our main task onto YouTube. This has allowed us to put these clips onto our blogs. We have also put the clips from our audience feedback onto Youtube. Youtube was useful in this way because we could find any clip but it can have its faults. Because there are so many clips, it can be hard to find the particular clip you are looking for. We also used YouTube to find our music for our work. We then used a song from Youtube and put it in our film.
Once we had found our music on Youtube, we downloaded it to itunes. This is software on the Mac computer that allowed us to put our music onto our work. This was useful because it allowed us to put it directly on with no problems.
The Main piece of equipment we used is a digital camcorder. This is what we used to film our whole project. It was a good equipment because it allowed us to film using a light weight camera meaning we can film easier. We can move around easily whilst filming meaning we can potentially get more hard to reach shots. The main problem with using this camcorder is it does run out of battery quickly. This means that we were unable to shot for long periods in places where we can not charge the battery, for example in the park. A way we overcame this was to fully charge before use and if possible to charge between filming.
Here is pictures of our camera that we used to film ;]
We used a tripod for most of our filming. This was a useful piece of equipment because it allowed us to film a steady shot. We used the tripod when we felt hand held camera work would make the footage be shaky in the wrong places making the film seem unprofessional. We can adjust the height of the camera and we can move the camera whilst on the tripod allowing us to do tilt and pan shots whilst using the tripod.
Here is a picture of our tripodWe used a Mac computer for uploading and editing our footage. This computer has a programe called iMovie which allows us to edit footage easier. We used it to edit both our Preliminary task and our Main task. This allowed us to cut the clips and put them together in the prefered order. We have included different editing techniques in both tasks. One of the techniques we used in our main task was jump shots. We used this especially when the main character is walking up the hill, out of the park. This was created using the programme iMovie. iMovie also allowed us to add sound onto the film, and then edit the sound accordingly making it quite or loud, this was particually useful as we needed to cut sound out for a small section of our film opening. One problem we encountered when using the Mac's is that we have not been able to burn our work onto DVD. We have attempted burning our work many times and on many different Mac's using the portable hard drive to transfer it.
We used a scanner when scanning in our story boards. To put the story boards onto my blog, we had to scan them into the computer because we had hand drawn them.
This is a picture of a scanner.
I used my digital camera to take pictures of us filming and other things that would come of use when evaluating, Joe also took pictures using his digital camera. This was done for evidence to prove that we did do every thing we filmed.
This is a picture of Joes digital still camera.
We used Google for research. We used this search engine to research our target audience and to research films of a similar genre.
Once we had found our music on Youtube, we downloaded it to itunes. This is software on the Mac computer that allowed us to put our music onto our work. This was useful because it allowed us to put it directly on with no problems.For the evaluation, we have used an online blog, www.blogger.com. We have used this through out all the stages of our coursework. We got all the information we needed and put it here because then we will not forget any of it, as opposed to if we did it all at the end. It is useful that it is online because it means that we can use it anywhere we have a computer, but this can be limiting because we need internet access to get onto it. It also allows us to put pictures and videos on it which is useful when in the planning and research stage and also as evidence. This also allows us to put both of our pieces on our blogs.
Evaluation Question's 4 & 5
4) Who Would Be the Audience For Your Media Product?
5) How did you Attract/Address your target audience?
Our target audience is aged 15 and above. We set this because this is the UK certification that we believe our film will have. We think this because our plot line may be too complicated for a person under the age of 15 but also the content of the film and the narrative may be too Horrific for a person under the age of 15 years, for example the lady being murdered may be too scary and may frighten them. We think our target audience Multiplex as it is a differnet to normal films, but if the film does well it my appeal to a mainstream as well.
From our primary and secondary research, we found that typically it is more males that enjoy horror films, rather that females, but we believe that our film will appeal to both genders. This is because we have chosen to challenge the stereotype of having a male and the aggressor and the female as the victim but to have a female aggressor. We chose to stick to having a female victim so it still stuck to the generic convention of this genre film but so that it would appeal to a larger target audience.
The main character is a teenager so the younger people may be more specifically our target audience. This is because they may be able to relate to the characters because they are of a similar age, even if the teenager has a child's mind.
We don't believe our film is exclusively to any race. Both the character within the film are of a white British race and the rag doll is of a black origin. We believe that our film is open for all races to enjoy. People who are white British may relate to it more because they are of the same race as the characters, but it defiantly doesn't dis include any other race.
We don't believe our film in exclusive to any class as we didnt really show any pecific classin are short film opening. We believe that our film is open to all classes and that no particular class may be able to relate to our film over the other classes.
A stereotypical person who enjoys horror film is a male aged 18-24. We believe that our film goes beyond this because it is a sub genre of horror and includes other elements that may be attractive to other groups of people in society out side of this category.
To figure out who are target audience could be we did some primary and secondary research. We searched the Internet finding out who would stereotypically be within our target audience based upon whether they liked films within our genre like The Hills Have Eyes, Saw Films, but we also made a questionnaire which helped us find our target audience. We found our target audience to be males ages 15-30 but we decided that this would change as we began filming and editing our film because of its plot line.
5) How did you Attract/Address your target audience?
Our target audience is aged 15 and above. We set this because this is the UK certification that we believe our film will have. We think this because our plot line may be too complicated for a person under the age of 15 but also the content of the film and the narrative may be too Horrific for a person under the age of 15 years, for example the lady being murdered may be too scary and may frighten them. We think our target audience Multiplex as it is a differnet to normal films, but if the film does well it my appeal to a mainstream as well.
From our primary and secondary research, we found that typically it is more males that enjoy horror films, rather that females, but we believe that our film will appeal to both genders. This is because we have chosen to challenge the stereotype of having a male and the aggressor and the female as the victim but to have a female aggressor. We chose to stick to having a female victim so it still stuck to the generic convention of this genre film but so that it would appeal to a larger target audience.
The main character is a teenager so the younger people may be more specifically our target audience. This is because they may be able to relate to the characters because they are of a similar age, even if the teenager has a child's mind.
We don't believe our film is exclusively to any race. Both the character within the film are of a white British race and the rag doll is of a black origin. We believe that our film is open for all races to enjoy. People who are white British may relate to it more because they are of the same race as the characters, but it defiantly doesn't dis include any other race.
We don't believe our film in exclusive to any class as we didnt really show any pecific classin are short film opening. We believe that our film is open to all classes and that no particular class may be able to relate to our film over the other classes.
A stereotypical person who enjoys horror film is a male aged 18-24. We believe that our film goes beyond this because it is a sub genre of horror and includes other elements that may be attractive to other groups of people in society out side of this category.
To figure out who are target audience could be we did some primary and secondary research. We searched the Internet finding out who would stereotypically be within our target audience based upon whether they liked films within our genre like The Hills Have Eyes, Saw Films, but we also made a questionnaire which helped us find our target audience. We found our target audience to be males ages 15-30 but we decided that this would change as we began filming and editing our film because of its plot line.
Thursday, 25 March 2010
Evaluation Question 3
Q3) what kind of media institution might distribute your media project and why?
We believe our film will be a low budget film. Our film is set in an Urban environment by using a children's bedroom and a children's play area in a park. We predict out film will cost £100, 000 to produce. We decided this because we believe that it would not take any more money than this to do. We have not got many special effects within it because we believe it will add more mystery and realism. We believe this because of our primary research questionnaire. We may also apply to the UKFC for extra funding as they could help with a low budget film.
We have decided that our film will exhibited within an Art House cinema. This is because our film is more experimental, if its a successful film we would exhibit it in a multiplex. The film could do well as we do challenge some of the generic conventions of genre.
We decided our distribution company could be Optimum releasing. Optimum releasing. is a British company this is involved with more experimental as well as more generic British films.Optimum releasing was involved in This is England which is a British film with a child as the main character.
The cast we are going to have will be new and up coming actors because we feel it would be cheaper and it would be quite experimental. We are going to have the director Tom Shankland as he specialises in experimental films such as The Children.
We believe our film will be a low budget film. Our film is set in an Urban environment by using a children's bedroom and a children's play area in a park. We predict out film will cost £100, 000 to produce. We decided this because we believe that it would not take any more money than this to do. We have not got many special effects within it because we believe it will add more mystery and realism. We believe this because of our primary research questionnaire. We may also apply to the UKFC for extra funding as they could help with a low budget film.
We have decided that our film will exhibited within an Art House cinema. This is because our film is more experimental, if its a successful film we would exhibit it in a multiplex. The film could do well as we do challenge some of the generic conventions of genre.
We decided our distribution company could be Optimum releasing. Optimum releasing. is a British company this is involved with more experimental as well as more generic British films.Optimum releasing was involved in This is England which is a British film with a child as the main character.
The cast we are going to have will be new and up coming actors because we feel it would be cheaper and it would be quite experimental. We are going to have the director Tom Shankland as he specialises in experimental films such as The Children.
We are going to market our film by doing free screenings and using word of mouth. we will also use national schools film week and show the film to sixth form students. we believe that are film is more BAFTA'S than Academy Awards. We will have competitions to win the ragdoll and to meet he cast of our film, this should hopefully bring more interest to the film.
Evaluation Question 2
2) How does your Media Product represent particular social groups?
When we researched and planned our coursework we decided to make our target audience 15 and above as the film may scare people younger than that age. We have opened the film to all race and class. We created a psychological horror because our primary research questionnaire told us it was the most popular type of horror.
We have chosen an atypical representation of gender, we have a female aggressor this challenges the stereotypical horror film. But we have also stuck to the typical horror film by having a female victim. Women are not often seen as killers so by making are female character the killer it makes the crime seem worse as females are mainly seen as kind and nurturing.
We have broken the typical innocent child mould by making are main character a teenager with a young child's mind. Children are seen innocent so by making our child un innocent is can be seen as disturbing and wrong.
We have chosen to have our characters in a family set up (half a nuclear family). we have an older brother which looks after her (he is seen cleaning the room and he doesnt control the sister). we have chosen not to show the parents because it adds to the mystery of the character. we have broken the stereotypical child because she is aloud to do what she pleases for example in the film she is seen walking off to no where.
The setting to are place is a typical suburban area, which could create a sense of normality so when something bad happens its not normal, adding to the horror.
Key character comparing
We are comparing the main character Zoe in our film, to the children in The Orphanage.
The Orphange children seen threatening, not as innocent as they look like our small children. They wear childish clothes and there role is also as important in the film. They also never seem to show the persons face as they wear a bag over one of the characters face.
The difference is that out character is just one female where as in The Orphange there were lots of small children boys and girls.
When we researched and planned our coursework we decided to make our target audience 15 and above as the film may scare people younger than that age. We have opened the film to all race and class. We created a psychological horror because our primary research questionnaire told us it was the most popular type of horror.
We have chosen an atypical representation of gender, we have a female aggressor this challenges the stereotypical horror film. But we have also stuck to the typical horror film by having a female victim. Women are not often seen as killers so by making are female character the killer it makes the crime seem worse as females are mainly seen as kind and nurturing.
We have broken the typical innocent child mould by making are main character a teenager with a young child's mind. Children are seen innocent so by making our child un innocent is can be seen as disturbing and wrong.
We have chosen to have our characters in a family set up (half a nuclear family). we have an older brother which looks after her (he is seen cleaning the room and he doesnt control the sister). we have chosen not to show the parents because it adds to the mystery of the character. we have broken the stereotypical child because she is aloud to do what she pleases for example in the film she is seen walking off to no where.
The setting to are place is a typical suburban area, which could create a sense of normality so when something bad happens its not normal, adding to the horror.
Key character comparing
We are comparing the main character Zoe in our film, to the children in The Orphanage.
The Orphange children seen threatening, not as innocent as they look like our small children. They wear childish clothes and there role is also as important in the film. They also never seem to show the persons face as they wear a bag over one of the characters face.
The difference is that out character is just one female where as in The Orphange there were lots of small children boys and girls.
Wednesday, 24 March 2010
Audience Feedback - 2 Minute film :]
This is The Audience feedback to the questions we asked about our film :D
Audience Feedback
I interviewed two males one being 18 years of age and the other being 17 years old. These are both apart of my target audience so their responsesmay determine the success of our film.
Person A
Person B
1) Did you understand the relevance of the newspaper?
Yes
Yes
2) What was your favourite part of our film introduction?
The titles, it worked well with the coloured paper in the run down park
The swing, made an effective creaking noise
3) Were their any improvements you would make to it?
Maybe darker lighting in the bedroom
A bit long when she is walking up the hill
4) Would this make you want to watch the rest of the film?
Yes, I like films of the same genre
Yes, I want to find out what happens
5) Did you understand the importance of the female character?
Yes, it was clear she was the main character
Not really, slightly confusing
6) Did you think the setting works with the narrative?
Yes, its creepy
Yes
7) Did you think the music and sound were effective?
Yes
Yes
8) Were there any questions raised in your mind whilst watching it?
No
What is the significance of the male character?
9) Did you like the editing techniques? Any Errors?
Yes, No
Yes, No
10) Did you like the filming techniques?
Yes, They were varied and appropriate
Yes, Worked well with the narrative and the genre
Person A
Person B
1) Did you understand the relevance of the newspaper?
Yes
Yes
2) What was your favourite part of our film introduction?
The titles, it worked well with the coloured paper in the run down park
The swing, made an effective creaking noise
3) Were their any improvements you would make to it?
Maybe darker lighting in the bedroom
A bit long when she is walking up the hill
4) Would this make you want to watch the rest of the film?
Yes, I like films of the same genre
Yes, I want to find out what happens
5) Did you understand the importance of the female character?
Yes, it was clear she was the main character
Not really, slightly confusing
6) Did you think the setting works with the narrative?
Yes, its creepy
Yes
7) Did you think the music and sound were effective?
Yes
Yes
8) Were there any questions raised in your mind whilst watching it?
No
What is the significance of the male character?
9) Did you like the editing techniques? Any Errors?
Yes, No
Yes, No
10) Did you like the filming techniques?
Yes, They were varied and appropriate
Yes, Worked well with the narrative and the genre
Wednesday, 17 March 2010
Tuesday, 16 March 2010
Typical Openings of a horror film
Introduction
Horror films are movies that strive to elicit the emotions of fear, horror and terror from viewers. Their plots frequently involve themes of death, the supernatural or mental illness. Many horror movies also include a central villain.
Early horror movies are largely based on classic literature of the gothic/horror genre, such as Dracula, Frankenstein, The Phantom of the Opera, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. More recent horror films continue to exploit the monsters of literature, and also draw inspiration from the insecurities of modern life.
Horror films have been dismissed as violent, low budget B movies and exploitation films. Nonetheless, all the major studios and many respected directors, including Alfred Hitchcock, Roman Polanski, Stanley Kubrick, Martin Scorsese, and Francis Ford Coppola, have made forays into the genre. Serious critics have analyzed horror films through the prisms of genre theory and the auteur theory.
Some horror films incorporate elements of other genres such as science fiction, fantasy, mockumentary, black comedy, and thrillers.
Horror films are movies that strive to elicit the emotions of fear, horror and terror from viewers. Their plots frequently involve themes of death, the supernatural or mental illness. Many horror movies also include a central villain.
Early horror movies are largely based on classic literature of the gothic/horror genre, such as Dracula, Frankenstein, The Phantom of the Opera, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. More recent horror films continue to exploit the monsters of literature, and also draw inspiration from the insecurities of modern life.
Horror films have been dismissed as violent, low budget B movies and exploitation films. Nonetheless, all the major studios and many respected directors, including Alfred Hitchcock, Roman Polanski, Stanley Kubrick, Martin Scorsese, and Francis Ford Coppola, have made forays into the genre. Serious critics have analyzed horror films through the prisms of genre theory and the auteur theory.
Some horror films incorporate elements of other genres such as science fiction, fantasy, mockumentary, black comedy, and thrillers.
Quiz Results
These are the results from our primary research questionnaire presented in graphs. We decided to leave out the last question because it was too much of an open question and we could potentially get 20 different answers. We kept the other questions because they are all closed questions which makes them easy to analyse.
It is useful to put this quantitative data into graphs because it is a clear way of showing the results. The results can be easily compared and the views of the respondents can be shown easily.
These results will heavily influence our final product. This is because they were filled out by the target audience and so will be likely to want to watch the same and enjoy films of similar nature. This is why their responses are important because if we are to use this as a commodity, they will be the one buying it and so will want something they will like.
It is useful to put this quantitative data into graphs because it is a clear way of showing the results. The results can be easily compared and the views of the respondents can be shown easily.
These results will heavily influence our final product. This is because they were filled out by the target audience and so will be likely to want to watch the same and enjoy films of similar nature. This is why their responses are important because if we are to use this as a commodity, they will be the one buying it and so will want something they will like.
Monday, 8 March 2010
Music
The music on are two minute film is called creepy music box and we found it on youtube.
I feel this music is good as it sounds quite childlike and it creates a creepy feel to the film. We search for creepy childlike music and this came up :]
I feel this music is good as it sounds quite childlike and it creates a creepy feel to the film. We search for creepy childlike music and this came up :]
we feel it is really effective
Zoe
Although her name is not mentioned in the film opening we have decided to name are main character Zoe . The door we used to film has a sign saying Zoe's room.This sign is shown on two shots of filming that we have done as the camera goes into the room and the male character goes into the room. Because the sign was glued on, we could not take it off so we have just decided to name the character Zoe.
This is a picture of the sign, as you can see its quite childlike and helps show that this girl really does think she is a small child
This is a picture of the sign, as you can see its quite childlike and helps show that this girl really does think she is a small child
Saturday, 6 March 2010
filming the park footage
We decided to have some footage of our character Zoe on the swings, then walking up the hill.
When filming we decided to go for the swing which made the most noise, as the creaking swing made it sound more frightening than if she was swinging on a silent swing. we tried filming it from two different angles, we chose the uneven angle as that angle created more uncertainty than the straight angle.
When filming our character walk up the hill, we had a choice between a straight hill or a curved one. we filmed using both and when we edit are film we will decide which one looks more effective and which one we can work with.
We had to overcome the fact that the park was being used by other people not just us, so when i was walking up the hill people were kind enough to wait for Joe to stop filming before they walked pass, just incase they got into shot.
We then decided to film are title sequence. we cut out are names from colored paper and stuck them around the park, i put mine on some graffiti and it stuck out really well, Joe put his on the swings and Charlotte put hers on the climbing frame.
We then filmed the title of are Film, we decided to name are film 'The Ragdoll' We drew a small hopscotch on the ground and in the boxes instead of writing the numbers we stuck the letter in. we then placed the doll by the hopscotch my shoes and the bottom and the chalk used to draw the hopscotch at the top. We put my shoes at the bottom to make it look like someone was there about to use the hopscotch, we used my shoes because i wore them while filming the park scene.
When filming we decided to go for the swing which made the most noise, as the creaking swing made it sound more frightening than if she was swinging on a silent swing. we tried filming it from two different angles, we chose the uneven angle as that angle created more uncertainty than the straight angle.
When filming our character walk up the hill, we had a choice between a straight hill or a curved one. we filmed using both and when we edit are film we will decide which one looks more effective and which one we can work with.
We had to overcome the fact that the park was being used by other people not just us, so when i was walking up the hill people were kind enough to wait for Joe to stop filming before they walked pass, just incase they got into shot.
We then decided to film are title sequence. we cut out are names from colored paper and stuck them around the park, i put mine on some graffiti and it stuck out really well, Joe put his on the swings and Charlotte put hers on the climbing frame.
We then filmed the title of are Film, we decided to name are film 'The Ragdoll' We drew a small hopscotch on the ground and in the boxes instead of writing the numbers we stuck the letter in. we then placed the doll by the hopscotch my shoes and the bottom and the chalk used to draw the hopscotch at the top. We put my shoes at the bottom to make it look like someone was there about to use the hopscotch, we used my shoes because i wore them while filming the park scene.
Uploading the footage
we uploaded the footage we filmed in my sisters room onto the Macs and we are going to edit it accordingly.
You can see one of the shots here and the doll which was used in the film. We are going to use the Mac to edit are stuff. :]
You can see one of the shots here and the doll which was used in the film. We are going to use the Mac to edit are stuff. :]
Friday, 5 March 2010
Horror Title Sequence - The Orphanage
Film: The Orphanage
Director: Juan Antonio Bayona
Distributors: Warner Bros. Pictures and Picturehouse
Country: Spain
Plot: The Orphanage is based on a woman's return to the orphanage where she grew up and she plans on reopening the orphanage as a home for disabled children. Whilst their her adopted son Simon claims to see other children with whom he will run away, later on in the film Simon goes missing, he women stays behind to try to find her son, she then follows the clues her son has left.
Camerawork: The camera often zooms in quickly to shock the audience and to bring their focus onto certian things such as a dark doorway. Handheld camera is also used to be able to turn corners abruptly to create a feeling of unease and anxiety, it can also create the feeling that you are in the film yourself, it makes the audience feel more connected to the film.
Mise en scene: The entire of this title sequence is animated, which therefore removes the idea of realism and also makes the film seem more creepy because it is unrealistic and therefore unpredictable, it also means you cant tell whats coming. The colours used in the title sequence are only yellow and black, these are quite plain colours and it adds to the feel of not knowing what is going to happen.
Narrative: The shots are often shown walking down a long corridor, which creates fear and tension because you don't know what to expect. Another shot is of the shadow of a child on the staircase, the fact that it is a shadow adds to the mood because we cannot see their face and so don't know them as a character, it is kept a secret, also because it is in the shadows you dont know what they are going to do. They are also shown alone, which could mean that there is something wrong with them and they are being avoided or punished, or it could be that something has happened to the other children, all of which are worrying circumstances.
Director: Juan Antonio Bayona
Distributors: Warner Bros. Pictures and Picturehouse
Country: Spain
Plot: The Orphanage is based on a woman's return to the orphanage where she grew up and she plans on reopening the orphanage as a home for disabled children. Whilst their her adopted son Simon claims to see other children with whom he will run away, later on in the film Simon goes missing, he women stays behind to try to find her son, she then follows the clues her son has left.
Camerawork: The camera often zooms in quickly to shock the audience and to bring their focus onto certian things such as a dark doorway. Handheld camera is also used to be able to turn corners abruptly to create a feeling of unease and anxiety, it can also create the feeling that you are in the film yourself, it makes the audience feel more connected to the film.
Mise en scene: The entire of this title sequence is animated, which therefore removes the idea of realism and also makes the film seem more creepy because it is unrealistic and therefore unpredictable, it also means you cant tell whats coming. The colours used in the title sequence are only yellow and black, these are quite plain colours and it adds to the feel of not knowing what is going to happen.
Narrative: The shots are often shown walking down a long corridor, which creates fear and tension because you don't know what to expect. Another shot is of the shadow of a child on the staircase, the fact that it is a shadow adds to the mood because we cannot see their face and so don't know them as a character, it is kept a secret, also because it is in the shadows you dont know what they are going to do. They are also shown alone, which could mean that there is something wrong with them and they are being avoided or punished, or it could be that something has happened to the other children, all of which are worrying circumstances.
Continuity Video
This is are first attempt at making a video....
we learnt that when filming we need to take the clock of the wall as the clock gives away continuity. We made a few mistakes while filming as somethings are in a slightly wrong angle.
during the filming i played with the globe, this meant the globe was in a different place when next filming. Which was my mistake and i have learnt from it :]
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
