Wednesday 31 March 2010
burning onto dvd
We finally got to burn our final sequence and continuity exercise onto disk yesterday, as the burner was fixed. We moved our work from our mac, via the portable hard drive, to the mac which allowed us to burn our work successfully :)
Saturday 27 March 2010
Evaluation Question 7
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
In the progression from our continuity task, to our final task, i feel that i have learnt many things. When planning and researching, i learnt that changes can always be made and that what we decided on when making our storyboard, will not necessarily match our final product. We adapted and changed things throughout the planning and researching stage, deciding what themes and ideas would make the film more effective.
When actually filming our final task, our group learnt 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 organised, 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.
Whilst filming our continuity exercise i learnt about the difficulties of continuity, having to make sure that all clothing is the same, as well as haircuts. We also had to be prepared that the weather would not be the same, as we discovered when filming our final piece, therefore you have to just work through it, because we did not have the time to wait for certain weather conditions.
When filming our continuity exercise, i learnt 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 charatcers, 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, even really simple things, like removing the clock on the wall, or at least making sure that the time it reads makes sense, so that the continuity in our filming is kept up continuously.
I learnt to use these skills in our final tasks, so that we could improve on our filming. For example, we also included a match on action shot in our final sequence, when the brother walks through the bedroom door. We also used an over the shoulder shot, to put these new ideas into different effect. We also kept up continuity throughout our title sequence, making sure that character's were dressed the same and stood in the correct places so that it didn't seem as if the character was 'jumping' from one place to another, unless we planned it this way i.e. when the main character walks up the hill.
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.
Overall, i learnt the importance of time keeping, team work, organisation and preperation.
In the progression from our continuity task, to our final task, i feel that i have learnt many things. When planning and researching, i learnt that changes can always be made and that what we decided on when making our storyboard, will not necessarily match our final product. We adapted and changed things throughout the planning and researching stage, deciding what themes and ideas would make the film more effective.
When actually filming our final task, our group learnt 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 organised, 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.
Whilst filming our continuity exercise i learnt about the difficulties of continuity, having to make sure that all clothing is the same, as well as haircuts. We also had to be prepared that the weather would not be the same, as we discovered when filming our final piece, therefore you have to just work through it, because we did not have the time to wait for certain weather conditions.
When filming our continuity exercise, i learnt 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 charatcers, 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, even really simple things, like removing the clock on the wall, or at least making sure that the time it reads makes sense, so that the continuity in our filming is kept up continuously.
I learnt to use these skills in our final tasks, so that we could improve on our filming. For example, we also included a match on action shot in our final sequence, when the brother walks through the bedroom door. We also used an over the shoulder shot, to put these new ideas into different effect. We also kept up continuity throughout our title sequence, making sure that character's were dressed the same and stood in the correct places so that it didn't seem as if the character was 'jumping' from one place to another, unless we planned it this way i.e. when the main character walks up the hill.
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.
Overall, i learnt the importance of time keeping, team work, organisation and preperation.
Friday 26 March 2010
evaluation question 6
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
We used the same camera and tripod throughout the filming of our final task, that way we learnt how to use
it effectively and easily.
These are some pictures of the camera and tripod we used throughout our filming.
The use of this tripod has been of great use to us throughout our filming, it means that we can film steadily and accurately, as well as being able to experiment with angles by adjusting the tripod's height, making our filming a better quality. However, although we can use the tripod for filming angles and shots, it cannot be used for camera movement, where we had to use handheld, which made our filming shakier, however this was not always a disadvantage. When using handheld camera for certain parts of our filming, it created a sense of realism, that the audience is there with the character, it also makes the film quite disorientating which is a good effect to have as our film is supposed to be psychological, and therefore confusing the audience to add to the fear we are trying to invoke. Many other low budget films have used handheld camera to their advantage, for example Shifty, where they are being chased. This puts the audience in the centre of the action.
This is the camera that we used throughout our filming process, the advantages of using this camera is that it is light, and therefore easy to carry around. However, this particular camera did have a low battery life, which could have been a problem if we did lots of filming at one time, to overcome this problem, we made sure that the camera was fully charged before we took it with us to film.
Although we did not have any problems with our camera or tripod, we did have a problem whilst burning our film onto DVD, we had to be prepared for things to go wrong. The burner was not allowing us to take our film off of the mac, we used other technology such as the portable hardrive to move our film around, but this did not help, hopefully we will be able to burn our film onto DVD as soon as possible.
When editing our film we used a mac on which all of our work was saved, this meant that all of our work was easy to access and all kept in one place. After uploading our work onto the mac, we then used imovie to edit it. Through the use of imovie, we have been able to use specific editing techniques to add to our film and its overall effectivenss. An example of one of these effects is the jump shot, where we could jump quickly from one shot to the next, so that we could cut out uneeded clips that did not contribute to our overall piece. Other effects we have used were the transitions movements which we used instead of jump cuts, for example the start of the titles. However, there were also some disadvantages of using imovie, for example when dragging clips into the correct places, other clips are often picked up alongside it so you have two clips you are holding, so you have to be specific with the clips you want to move so that only the correct clips are moved.
When putting certain images onto my blog, for example our hand drawn storyboards, we had to use a scanner, to scan the images onto the computer, where they could be saved and then uploaded onto our blogs.
Throughout our filming process we took many photos and stills to add to our blog through the use of a digital camera. We each had our own camera to take different pictures which we then uploaded onto our home computers and shared them with each other through the social networking site, facebook. This enabled us to share our photos with the other members of our group.
We used a firewire cable to attatch our camera to the mac, to make uploading our footage quick and easy.
When researching other film openings i used the website artofthetitle.com as well as youtube, so that I could copy the video clips onto my blog. We also used youtbue to find the music that we used as our incidental music in our final task.
We used the same camera and tripod throughout the filming of our final task, that way we learnt how to use
it effectively and easily.These are some pictures of the camera and tripod we used throughout our filming.
The use of this tripod has been of great use to us throughout our filming, it means that we can film steadily and accurately, as well as being able to experiment with angles by adjusting the tripod's height, making our filming a better quality. However, although we can use the tripod for filming angles and shots, it cannot be used for camera movement, where we had to use handheld, which made our filming shakier, however this was not always a disadvantage. When using handheld camera for certain parts of our filming, it created a sense of realism, that the audience is there with the character, it also makes the film quite disorientating which is a good effect to have as our film is supposed to be psychological, and therefore confusing the audience to add to the fear we are trying to invoke. Many other low budget films have used handheld camera to their advantage, for example Shifty, where they are being chased. This puts the audience in the centre of the action.
This is the camera that we used throughout our filming process, the advantages of using this camera is that it is light, and therefore easy to carry around. However, this particular camera did have a low battery life, which could have been a problem if we did lots of filming at one time, to overcome this problem, we made sure that the camera was fully charged before we took it with us to film.
Although we did not have any problems with our camera or tripod, we did have a problem whilst burning our film onto DVD, we had to be prepared for things to go wrong. The burner was not allowing us to take our film off of the mac, we used other technology such as the portable hardrive to move our film around, but this did not help, hopefully we will be able to burn our film onto DVD as soon as possible.
When editing our film we used a mac on which all of our work was saved, this meant that all of our work was easy to access and all kept in one place. After uploading our work onto the mac, we then used imovie to edit it. Through the use of imovie, we have been able to use specific editing techniques to add to our film and its overall effectivenss. An example of one of these effects is the jump shot, where we could jump quickly from one shot to the next, so that we could cut out uneeded clips that did not contribute to our overall piece. Other effects we have used were the transitions movements which we used instead of jump cuts, for example the start of the titles. However, there were also some disadvantages of using imovie, for example when dragging clips into the correct places, other clips are often picked up alongside it so you have two clips you are holding, so you have to be specific with the clips you want to move so that only the correct clips are moved.
When putting certain images onto my blog, for example our hand drawn storyboards, we had to use a scanner, to scan the images onto the computer, where they could be saved and then uploaded onto our blogs.
Throughout our filming process we took many photos and stills to add to our blog through the use of a digital camera. We each had our own camera to take different pictures which we then uploaded onto our home computers and shared them with each other through the social networking site, facebook. This enabled us to share our photos with the other members of our group.
We used a firewire cable to attatch our camera to the mac, to make uploading our footage quick and easy.
When researching other film openings i used the website artofthetitle.com as well as youtube, so that I could copy the video clips onto my blog. We also used youtbue to find the music that we used as our incidental music in our final task.
evaluation question 5
How did you attract/address your audience?
We attracted our target audience in many ways, one of these is by making a questionnaire to find out what our target audience likes, or would expect from a psychological horror, after gathering the results from our questionnaires we used them alongside our own ideas to create a film that was different to conventional horrors, but also contained key elements that would appeal to our audience, for example the theme of death, and the air of mystery.
Another way we addressed our audience was by showing our finished film to a selected few, and to listen to their opinions on it, here is the feedback we recieved from our audience.
Apart from this filming, we also interviewed 1 18 year old male and one 17 year old female asking for feedback on our film, this way we can compare the answers we recieved.
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
Our interview, although quite vague, provided us with the necessary information and feedback for our finished title sequence. This, along with our filmed interview showed us both the things that we did well and the things we could improve on. For example, our filming techniques were popular, as they were various and appropriate to our plotline and genre. They also provided us with ways to improve in the future, by making the lighting even darker, or by cutting certain long parts of our film such as when our character is walking up the hill.
We attracted our target audience in many ways, one of these is by making a questionnaire to find out what our target audience likes, or would expect from a psychological horror, after gathering the results from our questionnaires we used them alongside our own ideas to create a film that was different to conventional horrors, but also contained key elements that would appeal to our audience, for example the theme of death, and the air of mystery.
Another way we addressed our audience was by showing our finished film to a selected few, and to listen to their opinions on it, here is the feedback we recieved from our audience.
Apart from this filming, we also interviewed 1 18 year old male and one 17 year old female asking for feedback on our film, this way we can compare the answers we recieved.
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
Our interview, although quite vague, provided us with the necessary information and feedback for our finished title sequence. This, along with our filmed interview showed us both the things that we did well and the things we could improve on. For example, our filming techniques were popular, as they were various and appropriate to our plotline and genre. They also provided us with ways to improve in the future, by making the lighting even darker, or by cutting certain long parts of our film such as when our character is walking up the hill.
Thursday 25 March 2010
evaluation question 4
Who would be the audience for your media product?
The target audience we have chosen for our film is above the age of 15 because our film is slightly creepy and mysterious, therefore anyone younger than fifteen might not understand the plot, or may be too frightened by some of the scenes we would include, for example we emphasise the idea that people get murdered, which would not be suitable for anyone under that age. This age limit is conventional for typical horrors because horrors need to show these kind of scenes that would be unsuitable for certain ages so that the film would be effectve and believable. Very few horrors are created with a certificate lower than 15. The typical target audience for a conventional horror is male teenagers between 18 and 24. Our film challenges this stereotype as our main character is female, and also has the mind of a child, which means that our film appeals to both females and males. We have kept to the generic stereotype of having a female victim, but we have also challenged this stereotype by having a female aggressor rather than a male.
i think that our film would appeal to more females than males because the main character is a teenage girl and therefore females at this age would identify with the character and therefore understand the significance of her strange behaviour.
Our film can also link to The Orphanage in terms of target audience, for example the two main characters in The Orphanage are the young boy Simon and his mother. Again the child seems more threatening, which is similar to that of the child in our film. This is not conventional of a horror, because the child is normally vulnerable and unprotected, but in this case the child is to be feared. This theme makes both films more psychological rather than stereotypical horrors i.e. violence, blood and monsters. This would reach a wider target audience for both males and females. Being that our film is more pyschological rather than a slasher, could be stereotypically aimed at people of a higher education, to be able to understand our plot, however this theory is very generally stereotypical.
The idea that our film is open to both males and females means that we can reach a larger market and therefore a wider target audience. This is a stereotypical example of our target audience.
i do not think that our film identifies with any particular race or class, it is open to all people of any race or class, however our film has an urban setting, in a working class area so the audience may be able to identify with the film more if they are from this kind of background, but it is not a necessity for the plot to be percieved or realised. Our main character is white, however the Rag Doll is black, so i do not think that the race makes a difference, the fact that we have used different races in our film means that it is not aimed at any particular race.
The target audience we have chosen for our film is above the age of 15 because our film is slightly creepy and mysterious, therefore anyone younger than fifteen might not understand the plot, or may be too frightened by some of the scenes we would include, for example we emphasise the idea that people get murdered, which would not be suitable for anyone under that age. This age limit is conventional for typical horrors because horrors need to show these kind of scenes that would be unsuitable for certain ages so that the film would be effectve and believable. Very few horrors are created with a certificate lower than 15. The typical target audience for a conventional horror is male teenagers between 18 and 24. Our film challenges this stereotype as our main character is female, and also has the mind of a child, which means that our film appeals to both females and males. We have kept to the generic stereotype of having a female victim, but we have also challenged this stereotype by having a female aggressor rather than a male.
i think that our film would appeal to more females than males because the main character is a teenage girl and therefore females at this age would identify with the character and therefore understand the significance of her strange behaviour.
Our film can also link to The Orphanage in terms of target audience, for example the two main characters in The Orphanage are the young boy Simon and his mother. Again the child seems more threatening, which is similar to that of the child in our film. This is not conventional of a horror, because the child is normally vulnerable and unprotected, but in this case the child is to be feared. This theme makes both films more psychological rather than stereotypical horrors i.e. violence, blood and monsters. This would reach a wider target audience for both males and females. Being that our film is more pyschological rather than a slasher, could be stereotypically aimed at people of a higher education, to be able to understand our plot, however this theory is very generally stereotypical.
The idea that our film is open to both males and females means that we can reach a larger market and therefore a wider target audience. This is a stereotypical example of our target audience.
i do not think that our film identifies with any particular race or class, it is open to all people of any race or class, however our film has an urban setting, in a working class area so the audience may be able to identify with the film more if they are from this kind of background, but it is not a necessity for the plot to be percieved or realised. Our main character is white, however the Rag Doll is black, so i do not think that the race makes a difference, the fact that we have used different races in our film means that it is not aimed at any particular race.
Evaluation Question 3
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
We decided that our film would be really low budget, choosing our budget to be £100,000. We chose this because we don't think that our film would cost any more than this to make, we did not use many special effects because it makes our film seem more realistic. We also decided that our film would be Art house, and therefore exhibited in an Art house cinema because it challenges typical conventions, but also follows other generic conventions. However, if the film became a success, we would then show it in a Multiplex cinema. Our film is set in an
Urban Area, many of the scenes being in a child's bedroom and a park. An example of a film displayed in an Arthouse cinema is 'Shifty' which we watched in the Watershed cinema in Bristol. This film is similar to ours as it is low budget and is also set in an urban area. Although Shifty is a crime thriller, it has similar connections to our film, for example the lack of settings. In Shifty the setting is either in a house or on the street, just like in our film the setting is either in the girl's bedroom or in the park. Shifty is also similar to The Rag Doll because it does not use any CGI or special effects, this again is due to the low budget, and it also makes it more realistic making the audience feel that they too are on the street with the characters. We wanted our film to be realistic, because it gives a powerful portrayal of the issues behind our film, i.e. mental illness. It also makes it more scary, because it builds tension rather than shocking the audience through lots of gore and monsters.
The cast that we would choose for our film, would be new, up and coming actors, ones that would be unheard of, therefore our film would give new actors a chance to become successful. An example of a film that has also used less known actors is Slumdog Millionaire, which like our film is low budget. Slumdog is also like our film because it was not originally planned for mulitplex cinema.
We decided that the director of our film would be an up and coming director for example Tom Shankland, because he is known for directing the film 'The children' which like our film is a horror, based on the actions of children. Tom Shankland has directed films that our similar to ours in both narrative and genre and has won awards for his horror films, therefore he would be a good director for our film.
The distribution company we have chosen is Vertigo films because it is a British Film company. Vertigo films have also distributed the film, The Children, which also has a disturbed child as the main character, a child which is similar to ours as they act out of the typical conventions of a child.
Since our film is low budget, and British we would choose an institution such as Vertigo Films, because it is a British company and is known to have distributed films similar to ouyrs in both storyline and genre.
We would market our film, through the National schools Film week, free screenings and therefore word of mouth, this would be because our film is so low-budget. Our film would be more BAFTA's than Oscar's because it is a British made film, with British actors. If our film was nominated for a BAFTA, even if it doesn't win, that would still promote our film and evidently reach a large target audience. Again, this links our film to Slumdog Millionaire, which got its big break from being nominated for a BAFTA even though it did not win the award, this meant that it reached a larger target audience, and word spread about the film.
Other marketing strategies we would use would be 'win the Rag Doll competitions' and chances to meet the cast, which we would set up on a website for our film so that it would be easy to access. An example of a film with a useful website is The Boat That Rocked where information about the film is easy to access and competitions can be entered.
We decided that our film would be really low budget, choosing our budget to be £100,000. We chose this because we don't think that our film would cost any more than this to make, we did not use many special effects because it makes our film seem more realistic. We also decided that our film would be Art house, and therefore exhibited in an Art house cinema because it challenges typical conventions, but also follows other generic conventions. However, if the film became a success, we would then show it in a Multiplex cinema. Our film is set in an
Urban Area, many of the scenes being in a child's bedroom and a park. An example of a film displayed in an Arthouse cinema is 'Shifty' which we watched in the Watershed cinema in Bristol. This film is similar to ours as it is low budget and is also set in an urban area. Although Shifty is a crime thriller, it has similar connections to our film, for example the lack of settings. In Shifty the setting is either in a house or on the street, just like in our film the setting is either in the girl's bedroom or in the park. Shifty is also similar to The Rag Doll because it does not use any CGI or special effects, this again is due to the low budget, and it also makes it more realistic making the audience feel that they too are on the street with the characters. We wanted our film to be realistic, because it gives a powerful portrayal of the issues behind our film, i.e. mental illness. It also makes it more scary, because it builds tension rather than shocking the audience through lots of gore and monsters.
The cast that we would choose for our film, would be new, up and coming actors, ones that would be unheard of, therefore our film would give new actors a chance to become successful. An example of a film that has also used less known actors is Slumdog Millionaire, which like our film is low budget. Slumdog is also like our film because it was not originally planned for mulitplex cinema.
We decided that the director of our film would be an up and coming director for example Tom Shankland, because he is known for directing the film 'The children' which like our film is a horror, based on the actions of children. Tom Shankland has directed films that our similar to ours in both narrative and genre and has won awards for his horror films, therefore he would be a good director for our film.
The distribution company we have chosen is Vertigo films because it is a British Film company. Vertigo films have also distributed the film, The Children, which also has a disturbed child as the main character, a child which is similar to ours as they act out of the typical conventions of a child.
Since our film is low budget, and British we would choose an institution such as Vertigo Films, because it is a British company and is known to have distributed films similar to ouyrs in both storyline and genre.
We would market our film, through the National schools Film week, free screenings and therefore word of mouth, this would be because our film is so low-budget. Our film would be more BAFTA's than Oscar's because it is a British made film, with British actors. If our film was nominated for a BAFTA, even if it doesn't win, that would still promote our film and evidently reach a large target audience. Again, this links our film to Slumdog Millionaire, which got its big break from being nominated for a BAFTA even though it did not win the award, this meant that it reached a larger target audience, and word spread about the film.
Other marketing strategies we would use would be 'win the Rag Doll competitions' and chances to meet the cast, which we would set up on a website for our film so that it would be easy to access. An example of a film with a useful website is The Boat That Rocked where information about the film is easy to access and competitions can be entered.
Evaluation Question 2
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
When choosing our target audience, when at the researching and planning stage of our work, we decided that our film should be for people over the age of 15, as our film (as a psychological horror) may be inappropriate for anyone below that age, as our film wouild contain frightening scenes that may scare younger children. Our film is open to people of any race or class.
Our main character challenges the stereotype of a typical horror film by having a female aggressor, however we have conformed with the stereotypical conventions of horror by having a female victim, shown through the rag doll. However, the generic convention of a horror film is to have a male aggressor, which our film challenges, as our aggressor is not only female, but also a child.
Our main character has the mental age of a child, but has the body of a teenager. This breaks the stereotypical idea of a child's innocence.
We only show one other person in our film which is the older brother, the brother is shown cleaning the room, he looks after his younger sister but does not try to control her in any way. Here our film also shows a role reversal, because the older brother is seen tidying up the girl's room, which stereotypically is something a mother would do. Our character's break stereotypical conventions, of the older brother being dominant and powerful, becasue he is both a male and older than the girl. However, in our film the young girl is the powerful character, and the fact that her brother cleans up after her shows that she has the controlin their relationship.
We chose not to show the girl's parents, which adds mystery to our film, it also portrays the idea that the girl's parents had died, which is why she kills others.
The young girl is free to do as she pleases, left to her own devices, it breaks stereotypes of a child, because a child would not normally have that much freedom, e.g. the ability to just leave the house and go to the park.
Character comparisons
We have chosen to compare the main character in our film to the children in The Orphanage. The children in The Orphanage are threatening and misunderstood, even though they seem innocent from the outside, i.e. they wear childish clothes like dungarees and play masks, yet their role in the film is very important. We adapted our film from The Orphanage by having only one child, where The Orphanage had lots, and our main character was female whereas The Orphanage was male. This breaks the stereotypical preferred reading of how children should behave, they are percieved as innocent, which the character in our film contradicts.
When choosing our target audience, when at the researching and planning stage of our work, we decided that our film should be for people over the age of 15, as our film (as a psychological horror) may be inappropriate for anyone below that age, as our film wouild contain frightening scenes that may scare younger children. Our film is open to people of any race or class.
Our main character challenges the stereotype of a typical horror film by having a female aggressor, however we have conformed with the stereotypical conventions of horror by having a female victim, shown through the rag doll. However, the generic convention of a horror film is to have a male aggressor, which our film challenges, as our aggressor is not only female, but also a child.
Our main character has the mental age of a child, but has the body of a teenager. This breaks the stereotypical idea of a child's innocence.
We only show one other person in our film which is the older brother, the brother is shown cleaning the room, he looks after his younger sister but does not try to control her in any way. Here our film also shows a role reversal, because the older brother is seen tidying up the girl's room, which stereotypically is something a mother would do. Our character's break stereotypical conventions, of the older brother being dominant and powerful, becasue he is both a male and older than the girl. However, in our film the young girl is the powerful character, and the fact that her brother cleans up after her shows that she has the controlin their relationship.
We chose not to show the girl's parents, which adds mystery to our film, it also portrays the idea that the girl's parents had died, which is why she kills others.
The young girl is free to do as she pleases, left to her own devices, it breaks stereotypes of a child, because a child would not normally have that much freedom, e.g. the ability to just leave the house and go to the park.
Character comparisons
We have chosen to compare the main character in our film to the children in The Orphanage. The children in The Orphanage are threatening and misunderstood, even though they seem innocent from the outside, i.e. they wear childish clothes like dungarees and play masks, yet their role in the film is very important. We adapted our film from The Orphanage by having only one child, where The Orphanage had lots, and our main character was female whereas The Orphanage was male. This breaks the stereotypical preferred reading of how children should behave, they are percieved as innocent, which the character in our film contradicts.
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