Monday, May 11, 2009
1b danny
1b danny
Also we have made it similar to other films by using black and white for the shots based in the past. Although the shots were in black and white, the majority of the lighting is natural lighting in the park and on the open plain.
We have tried to create mise en scene by giving the characters simply identities used a lot in horror films. Both the female victims are alone and scared (basically full of emotions), while the killers are calm and expressionless as if they have no emotions at all. Even if the second killer is killing for revenge.
1b danny
1b danny
1B Leam
1B Leam
Personally I think we should target groups A-C1 because this group has the largest amount of disposable income to use of cinema tickets, merchandise etc. Also as this is an artistic and independent film with physiological undertones it takes someone of high taste and the will to value realism over escapism.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
1B Leam Evaluation: AS Media: Foundation Portfolio
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
The conventions used were the eerie non diegetic soundtrack, isolated and derelict settings such as the forest and the shack on the moor, low key lighting, restrictive close-ups, a general gloomy undertone, a victim and a killer who’s face is not revealed.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
The killer is represented as the stereotypical “criminal”. We dressed him in dark clothing with his hood up concealing his face, an average height Caucasian male who preys on females in secluded locations.
The victim is also represented in the classic way, a young blonde woman. The mise en scene shows that’s she is a teenager as she is dressed in converse, skinny jeans and eyeliner, the typical attire of today’s youth.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
Who would be the audience for your media product?
How did you attract/address your audience?
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Conclusion
1b danny
I decided to work in a group and so our project was a two minute opening to a film. The person whom I worked with was Leam Burfield. I made several contributions to the project by directing half of the film also I starred in it (the scenes in black and white). I have also edited parts of the film using the technology of the program imovie. I also made contributions to blogger.com.
We decided to use the genre of horror since it had a wide audience, plus it makes the narrative much simpler to create. The conventions we have used are elements like black and white shots mixed with coloured shots to show the past and the present. We have also added little shots of slow motion which helps raise suspense for the audience. We made the horror film a little different from all the others by showing two points of time repeatedly switching to show the past and the presence it also helps to tell the story quicker. I believe that it is vital to change elements and conventions in genre’s, especially horror because although the audience enjoy seeing repeating conventions they do get bored and demand something new or changing and want to see the films that are different from all others but with the same genre. I believe that the innovations were likely to prove successful they are idea’s that have been tweaked to a point were they are old ideas but they are shown in a new way which makes the film look good. The choices here did work effectively for the audience because as the video feedback shows, they could definitely tell it was of a horror/thriller narrative. I also believe that it has the requirements of an opening sequence, especially a horror sequence with the use of a running girl. The actor’s names staring in the film are shown plus there is a narration which is quite common in film openings. The narration sets the seen and explains what is going on in the shots.
The shot below is the best shot to show and prove it is a horror/thriller film (by using a stereotypical weapon, an axe).
We have also picked a stereotypical setting for our film. We used a wood and a broken down hut in an open barren plain. This demonstrates the idea and sense of no chance of escape. It also leaves an enigma ‘why are they in a forest’?
We used different shots, from high to low shots and point of view shots we also have some canted angle shots to add distortion and confusion, which clearly shows the victim’s state of mind. We also wanted the shots to look like they are set in the past and so we added the black and white effects to the shots that show the first victim being killed. Then for the shots set in the present, we left in colour to make them more atmospheric and relate to the mood and theme of the film. This also represents social ideas that being young is not all fun and colourful.
I believe that the characters in the film are adhering to stereotypes that we commonly see in the media. The killer is wearing mostly black with his hood up which is stereotypical to society’s youth of today. Plus he first victim’s clothing is stereotypically seen everyday. It might not be a well known brand of clothing like ‘Nike’ but is still common for teenagers to wear. We have represented the victim and the other characters in this way because the audience can relate to the victim and then they will fear the killer because they might dress or act like the victim. I believe the audience has responded to the representation since some of the audience dress like the victim.
I believe that this film could have a realistic chance of being made and it could be funded by the film council, however I only think it could make it as a British film. I believe the film ‘Dead man’s shoes’ directed by ‘Shane Meadows’ (2004) is a good example of similarity of our film. It is about a revenge attack, the main character who is a soldier comes home and finds that a group of thugs have brutalised his mentally challenged brother and so he goes to kill each and every member, resulting in making the final member of the group kill him. The production companies that helped the film to be made were ‘Warped films’, ‘Film4’ also ‘Big arty productions’ and finally ‘EM Media’ who were the executive producers. Hopefully one of these production companies would help get our film ‘An Eye for an Eye’ underway. The production companies would consider backing up our film because of the hybridity used in the film which films like ‘Dead man’s shoes’ have used. Genres like thriller, horror and revenge. Also the film would be a class A film and so it is a more of a reason for all four British production companies to get involved.


Because two minutes is such a small amount of time we did not set an equilibrium to the opening to the film. We wanted to show the audience a proper horror sequence and we do not give away how the narrator or brother finds the killer’s sister. We used the narration to tell the story and introduce the characters. Also the narration helped with the chronology part of the film because we used the narration to create a sense of time, i.e. the the narrator says ‘on the 23rd of August 2003 around 7:30’. The narrator also sets the location for the film as he says ‘in the woods surrounding Highgrate Cemetery’. We use the pictures and the narration to create enigmas, because as the narrator speaks of the shots in the past (the ones in black and white), both them and the shots showing the present are merged together and the story flips between them. Then the narrator starts to talk about finding the killer’s sister and that is when the coloured or present shots are clear. We created binary opposition with the characters because the killer is obviously the bad guy in the film and the victim’s brother or the narrator is a good guy but this is twisted and turned when the brother or narrator goes off and does the same thing to the killer’s sister for revenge. So using binary opposition we also created similarities with the characters. We used the idea of becoming what you were fighting and against. We used the narration to create atmosphere and tension and to also tell the story to the audience as simply as possible. We used the soundtrack or score to build up suspense and tension the best part is when the score kicks in at the end just before the brother kills the killer’s sister. As shown below.
We did not use stars to appeal to the audience because it seems less realistic we wanted and we did use average teenagers as our actors because then the audience can relate to them and then feel fear, thus the film is fulfilling its duty and expectancy of its genre.
The pace of the editing is quite quick in our film this is to create tension and show how quickly the victim was murdered. Also the transitions between the past and the present shots are quick; this shows that the narrator or brother wanted to kill his victim quickly.
I have learnt how to use the ‘Mac’ program ‘imovie’, I learnt how to import files, edit, add effects and also add sound. We used a program called ‘cool edit pro’ which records sounds from speech to songs, to create our narration. We did have limitations like the fact that we did not have as much shots or clips that we wanted; the film was shorter than expected. The Mac’s programs allowed us to slow down the pace of the picture and put the shots in black and white which was key to our film. We had to re-shoot a shot of the killer running so that the film starts with a less confusing plot. As shown below.
Below you can see we used the technology of video cameras to film the audience feedback, this way we cannot miss anything said.
In conclusion I believe that the final product is a success, it’s key strengths are the use of narration and the use of black and white shots to show the past. However when the film switches between past and present it can be a little confusing, if the narration was not in the film it would probably have no sense at all, for an audience member. However I do think it is as close to the real article as it comes and we have used all of our film knowledge to portray this.
1B Leam
- The protagonists sister is killed whilst out walking in the woods surrounding a cemetery. The killer flees the scene and is never found. Twisted by vengeance and hell-bent on revenge the protagonist starts to conduct his own investigation and manages to track down the killers sister. He decides to even the score by taking her life in the hope that this will draw the killer out. -
This is what we plan to shoot as our opening sequence. We think it works well and will set up many enigmas for the rest of the film. As we went for more of a psychological horror we want to create lots of enigmas which will confuse the audience and make them want to keep watching to find out what is happening.
The rest of the film will continue on from here becoming chronologically edited from this point. The film will follow the protagonist quest to find the killer and showing him becoming more and more akin to the man who killed his sister as vengeance consumes him. The climax will show him finally finding the killer and murdering him in cold blood, showing the total change in his character. The whole film will have a very cold horror fell to it.
Friday, May 8, 2009
1B Danny & Leam
Some of the positive points were:
# Good non-diegetic soundtrack
# The pace of the editing fitted well with the pace of the soundtrack
# The locations used worked well and our location scouting skills were good
# Good horror conventions
Some of the nagative points were:
# Unclear that the change in location also brought a change in character
1b danny and leam
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
1b Danny
1b dannyandleam
This is our final Prelim Task which has been fully edited and copyright music added to it to create more atmosphere. We have used various shots like 'match on action' shots, we did this by having the character walk through the door on one shot and then a shot of him on the other side of the door closing it. However there is a problem with the shots because the editing makes the shots look less continues but this is only because it had to be changed since the character used different hands while opening and closing the door in the first and second shot.
We have also used the 180 degree rule or the 'shot reverse shot' idea. When both characters are sat down talking to each other we used these ideas and rules to make sure they looked like they were sat across from each other and not next to each other.
We have added copyrighted music into the task to make it more atmospheric and interesting the music or score was originally from 'the matrix' film.
Finally the project could be better if there were less background noise and interverence but we used the cinematic score to drowned most of that out and if we could re-shoot the sequence we would propably find a different and more appropiate location and setting.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
1b danny
A Squater sleeps in a abandoned house, until he heres noises and it turns out that the house is not abandoned, the current tenants have come back. The previous tenants hear the squater and go to investigate. The squater gets frightened by the tenants and in self defence kills the tenants.
After a day or two (after burrying the bodies in the garden) the squater hears noises again and realises that the tenants ghost or spirit had come back to haunt him. It is their turn for revenge.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
1b danny and leam
This can be found HERE
The part of the clip in question is from the start until 2:32. The reason why this is a good horror opening is that it establishes location and characters breifly as being in an isolated and scary place (a forest). This puts the viewer n a relaxed state of mind and lets them absorb the equilibrium. The lighting then becomes low key and day turns to night, a gothic horror trait signifying the oncoming dangers which the couple in the tent are about to meet. Even the death is a good example of a horro opening. The violence is implied by sound and acting but the act isn't actually seen and nor is the monster, this creates enigmas and keeps the audience watching.
1bdanny and leam
The link can be found HERE (The link was to the scene from 28 Weeks Later where Robert Carlile runs away from the house leaving his wife behind but unfortunatelly the video was removed due to copyright claims)
Instead we will analyse the clip found HERE
This is a great piece and displays many conventions of horror and gothic horror which are crucial for a good horror opening sequence. The low key lighting immediately defines the genre as horror and the candlelit close ups of peoples faces gives the scene a gothic flair. The opening establishes the equilibrium of the characters and lets us know what their current position and way of life is. When the disruption of the equilibrium comes it catches the characters off guard and the audience with them and it is presented in the form of a young boy to further throw us. Children have connotations of innocence and are unthreatening, but what the little boy brings with him is far from that. The conversations abruptly halted by a rage victim smashing through the window and causing the audience to jump in visceral shock. A perfect horror opening.
1b leam
1b danny
With no gig to go to they try to ring their other band members on their mobiles but they do not work so they decide to try to find somewhere to stop the night. They get to their car but it will not start and the day is drawing to an end. All they can do is wait the night out.
They start to hear noises in the near by forest and the trees begin to move.














