Film Opening

Here is my film opening. Hopefully it covers the generic conventions of a horror style film.

Evaluation Q7

Looking Back At Your Preliminary Task, What Do You Feel You Have Learnt In The Progression Of It To Full Product? 

Shot-Reverse-Shot
I have learnt, that from doing my preliminary task the "shot reverse shot" is the best way of showing a conversation that is happening between two people. I didnt use this in my film opening, however, because there aren't any conversations in it.

Match On Action
The match on action shot is the best shot for when you are filming somebody walking around or through a door. When filming a Match On Action shot, you have to use a tripod or have the ability to keep the camera really still, otherwise the shot doesn't fit together very well. I have used this shot in my film opening, to show that i can use many different camera shots.

The 180 Degree Rule

The 180 degree rule is used to show the conversation that is happening or to establish setting from a different angle. I have learnt that when doing this shot it is best to use a tripod or rest the camera on something stationary, as it is very difficult to maintain a steady camera with a free hand. In my film opening, I didn't use a 180 degree shot, as there wasn't a situation where I had two people talking to each other. The location was established via a panning shot, so a 180 degree shot was purposely not used.

Evaluation Q6

What Have You Learnt About Technologies From The Process Of Constructing The Product?

Whilst creating my horror film opening, i had to use a numerous amount of equipment and programmes to attain a decent final grade. I mainly used iMovie, as it was easy to use and I have used it before in a previous project. I obviously had to use a camera and a tripod to enable me to film my opening, and used my apple mac to edit my footage to make it suitable for my target audience. 

Evaluation Q5

How Did You Attract/Address Your Audience?

Here is my film opening again. This time i have added annotations to it, so it answers the question:
"How did you attract/address your audience?"

Evaluation Q4

 

Who Would Be The Audience For Your Media Product?

This is 17 year old James Stanley from Bedford. He dresses fairly straight forwardly - usually just a polo top and jeans. He enjoys playing football in the park with his mates and loves going to the cinema on a Sunday night. His favourite place to shop is Milton Keynes shopping centre, as he loves going into shops like Foot Locker and Republic. James enjoys watching horror films like the Saw films, The Exorcist, The Shining and End Of Days.
The music James would listen to would be more underground music, varying from hip-hop and r 'n' b music - he doesn't like to listen to classical music and tries to avoid listening to country music (although his mother plays it all the time at home). He likes to listen to Radio 1extra as he likes listening to Greg James' chart show.


I think our film would appeal to this boy as he is a typical lad who enjoys typical boyish things, therefore, if this film was shown at his local cinema, this would probably appeal to him, as it's similar to other films he likes, such as 'Saw' and 'The Shining'.

Evaluation Q3

What Kind Of Media Institution Might Distribute Your Media Product And Why?

Why have you chosen your production company logo?  I have chosen my production company logo because the image of the evil clown on the front, instantly tells the audience that the film is going to be a little sinister and scary. 

1. What is a production company? What do they do?  A production company manages the filming of a movie from screenplay to release. Its main concerns involve managing the budget and supervising all legal concerns.
2. What is the job of a film distributor? A film distributor is a company or individual responsible for the marketing of a film. The distributor may set the release date of a film and the method by which a film is to be exhibited or made available for viewing.    
   
3. Which film distributor would you choose for your film and why? What other films have they distributed that are similar to yours? If I was to distribute my film, I would use "Brain Damage Films", as they are known for distributing films with the lowest budget. They have distributed films such as; "Nazi Zombies", "Lost Woods" and "The Afflicted"   
4. How would your film be funded? Lottery? My film will be funded by making adverts and posters to help promote my film. 
5. Titles - Why do you need them? How have you presented them? I need the titles in my film because they give my audience a much clearer understanding of the people who are involved in my film opening. I have presented them by making the titles have different animations and different effects, making the text more exciting to read.         
6. What films have influenced you from the industry and why? Films with just pure blood and gore didn't inspire me to recreate a film opening. I preferred films that were a little supernatural and made the viewer ask themselves questions, questioning their own eyes. Films such as "The Sixth Sense", "The Shining" and "Paranormal Activity" helped inspire me to create my film opening.     

Evaluation Q2

How Does Your Media Product Represent Particular Social Groups?

My protagonist is a 16 year old boy, who belongs in the teenager social group. He has been represented as a curious boy who is desperate to know what the sound was that woke him up. Other films such as, Saw III has a protagonist who does the similar movements as the main character in my film opening. The man is curious to know what the sound was that alarmed him. A comparison of my protagonis is the boy from "The Blair Witch Poject" in which he is a curious boy who wants to find out some more information. In my case, my protagonist wants to find out more information about what awoke him from his sleep, and the boy from The Blair Witch Project wants to find out more information about Witches.
In my film opening we can see my character is looking petrified at what he is about to see, and by the look on the boy's face from "The Blair With Project", he looks rather similar. The setting of the two pictures do differ however, my film opening is set within a house and consists of my character moving around the house, whereas in the Blair Witch Project, it is set in a forest/woods.

Evaluation Q1

In What Ways Does Your Media Product Use, Develop Or Challenge Forms And Conventions Of Real Media Products? (i.e. Of Film Openings)

This is the contact sheet for my film opening, and here are the 9 frames i have chosen to evaluate on:

• The title of the film
• Setting/location
• Costumes and props
• Camerawork and editing
• Title font and style
• Story and how the opening sets it up
• Genre and how the opening suggests it
• How characters are introduced
• Text Effects

The first frame i have chose to show, is the main title of my film. This does actually come right at the end of the film opening, because i didn't want to give away exactly what was going to happen. I wanted the viewers to feel a little uneasy when watching this opening as they never see the antagonist until the very end of the opening. This is one way in which a horror film opening can be interpreted.

The second frame is one in which the location is established. We can see that the location is only a living room/lounge. The intentions i wanted to get across was that even in your own living room, you are being watched and you are not safe from evil.

In the third scene, i have tried to display costumes and props. I chose to keep the characters in very simple clothing, so the viewers are more focused on the storyline and camera shots. If the characters were wearing bright colours, it would be very suitable for the horror genre, so i tried to stick to white, black and grey throughout the whole film opening.

In the fourth frame I am showing the use of camerawork and editing. We can see it says: "A Danny Newell Film", which was a case of cropping a layer of text over the footage itself. It was quite a simple task to do, but once edited into the film opening, looks very professional and creative.

The fifth frame consists of my protagonist getting out of bed and walking downstairs. I have used a first person camera for this scene because it really makes the audience feel involved and it feels as though they are getting out of bed and walking down the stairs. Here i have used typical conventions for a horror as i have put some sinister music in the background to help build up some more dramatic tension. In this shot, i have also used the same title font and style through out the opening. Viewers like to see the same font throughout as it makes it easier for them to interpret, so that is why i have chosen to achieve this.

The sixth frame includes how my opening is set up. I chose to use some text to set my scene up because the writing was sinister and it fitted the horror genre. The writing consists of: "It hears everything..." and will leave the viewer asking themselves; "What hears everything?" or "Who hears everything?" This leaves the reader asking themselves rhetorical questions.

The seventh frame is when we finally see the antagonist. This immediately shows an example of what things should be included in the genre. The heavy make up on the face and the white wig are two typical generic costumes used to portray the horror genre. That is why i decided to create my film using these factors.  

The eighth frame is the one of my protagonists eyes. The music comes to a climax as he hears something wake him from his sleep. I used this dramatic device because it added much suspense to the opening scene. The crescendo of music builds up and then comes to an end when his eyes open. This scene is the scene that introduces my protagonist. He is introduced very quickly as he is the first human thing we see a the start of the opening.

The ninth frame consists of the effects I included in the title sequences. I used a few transitions to make the writing seem as though it is moving and this gives the viewer something to look at when watching the opening sequence of my film opening. I thought it would be a good idea for the words "Sound By" to start on the left, and travel to the right, and the words "David Crow" to start on the right and travel towards the left, meeting in the middle for a brief moment.

Audience Feedback - Editing

Do you feel as though the editing of my film opening fits the horror genre?
Yes, I think that the editing did fit the genre because there were times where the cuts were just the right length so the pace of the film was fast and that was what made it scary and sinister.


Has the editing created a 'scary' atmosphere and mood?
Yes the editing has created a scary atmosphere because the camera pans around a lot and we can tell, as the viewers, that the monster or antagonist in the film opening was hiding from the protagonist.

Has the editing targeted my audience of people aged 15 and over?
I think the editing did target the audience because the ways in which the antagonist was portrayed would not be suitable for anyone under the age of 15.

Has the editing reflected the genre that was intended?
The editing has reflected the genre because by changing the contrast and the brightness of each shot, really made the horror genre come to life.

Here is a screen shot of my film screen while mid way through editing my video. 

Audience Feedback - Mise en Scene

Do you think the mise en scene fits my genre of horror?
I think the mise en scene fits the genre because there are the typical conventions you expect to see in a horror film and they consist of: a monster or antagonist, the victim, and the scary surroundings.

Do you feel as though the mise en scene creates a sinister mood?
Yes i think the mise en scene creates a sinister mood because the pace of the film opening speeds up and the character shows he is scared. This is what you expect to see form a horror film.

Do you think that the mise en scene suits my target audience of 15 year olds and over?
I think the mise en scene suits the target audience because anyone over the age of 15 should find this opening very exciting to watch, and anyone under the age of 15 may find it difficult to watch at times.

Do you feel like the mise en scene reflects the atmosphere of horror?
I do think the mise en scene creates a scary atmosphere. I like the way the scenes are really fast towards the end because i feel like they create the scary mood and atmosphere.

Audience Feedback - Costumes

Do you think the costume of my protagonist fits the genre?
I think the costume of the protagonist fits the film because he is wearing white and grey. Two simple colours that attract our attention to his face and not what he is wearing.

Do you think the costume of my antagonist fits the genre?
Yes, I think the costumes for the antagonist fits the film genre because she is all dressed in black and because you can see no flesh, it gives the impression that the antagonist isn't human.

Do you feel as though the costumes used for my characters create meaning for my genre?
I think the costumes used do create some meaning for the genre because the genre was Horror, and the costumes were very basic and simple which drew viewers away from the clothes and towards the camera shots and the mise en scene.

Do you think the costumes used targets my target audience?

I think it does because the protagonist wore grey jogging bottoms, something everyone has at home and so it is almost saying that this situation could happen to anyone. 

Production Log - Sound

Sound:

Where have you got your music from?

I got my music from a royalty free website. I am using a track called "Bent & Broken". I got it from this website:  http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/

Why could you not use copyright music?

I have not got money to pay to use it, and I have no rights to use it as it is not my music. 

Production Log - Editing

Editing:

Are you in schedule?

I am on schedule at this moment in time as i have started editing my final footage. I am still editing at the moment and will be submitting my work on time with the deadline. 

How is it going?

Editing on a whole is going quite well. It has taken me a shorter time than what i expected to edit my film as i thought it was going to take a few weeks. It has only taken me a couple of days to do this and i am surprised that iMovie has been so easy to use. I have had some problems with the actual programme itself. It keeps freezing and i have lost all my work on a couple of separate occasions but have managed to start again and re-do it before the deadline. 

What programme am i using?

I am using iMovie and it has been surprisingly co-operative. As i mentioned earlier, it has sometimes unexpectedly quit and has deleted my editing but i haven't ever lost footage because i kept it on my camera.  

What are the advantages and disadvantages of this programme?

The advantages of this programme is that it is very simple but also effective to use. I like the fact that there are a few different transitions to chose from, but the disadvantages are the fact that there are lots of tricks and editing techniques i have wanted to use but have not been able to because the programme is quite basic, and doesn't have the effects i wanted to use.

Production Log Filming

Production Log Filming

Filming:

How did it go?
I think my filming went well. I had to re-film it because i wasn't happy with my first version.

Did you change anything from your planning?
I originally intended to use fake blood and knives in my film opening, but i eventually decided against it because i feel that the blood and knives were not apropriate to the genre. I wanted it to be more of a psychological and sinister film, raher than just blood and gore.


What were the difficulties?
The only difficulties i came across was finding an effective way to film. I originally filmed why whole film with just a freehand camera, but i then went and got a tripod and i have found it so much easier to film now as I don't have to have someone filming me all the time. 

Are you on schedule? 

I am currently on schedule as I have re-filmed all of my work and have now made it a better version. Because i used a tripod, all the footage is much more still and there are no shaking hand shots unless i want there to be, for example: When my character is looking around the room when he is scared, i want there to be a little bit of a shake to make it show the fear inside my character.