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.
Wednesday 24 March 2010
our questionnaire results
These are the results that we gathered from our genre questionnaire:
We put this data into graphs because this makes it clear and easy to read and understand. We are able to compare the different results quickly. These results were a strong influence on our final sequence for example, the majority of our respondents said that they preferred psychological horrors over fantasy, which is therefore the kind of horror we chose to create. These results are very important because these respondents will be the ones who buy our final product, so we should therefore take their opinions onto account and try to appeal to their tastes.
Wednesday 17 March 2010
Evaluation Question 1
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
This picture portrays our character walking up a large hill into the distance. This is unconventional of a horror film, because often, when a character is depicted 'walking off into the sunset' it means that they are going to live 'happily ever after.' So by including this clip so close to the beginning of our film, it automatically means that things are different, and it seems confusing for the viewer. As she is seen walking up the hill, she walks purposefully, which proves that she has an agenda, but the audience doesn't know what. After viewing the way she handled the doll and the drawings she created it becomes apparent to the viewers that she is not a regular child, and is not in any way the generic stereotype of a young girl. The fact that the hill is so long, also emphasises the idea that she has a purpose, there is something that she is going to do, and the audience worries about what it is. The camera does not move along with her at this point, instead it stays still as the girl walks away from us, this creates suspense and mystery because we don't know what she is about to do, or how she will come back, the lack of information the audience is given is frightening.
At a first glance, this second character seems quite sinister, because they walk into the room as if they do it all the time, and again they are silent which seems suspicious. The use of low key lighting here also casts their shadow on the wall. They are also holding something, which the audience does not know of. Again the personality of this character is hidden, and the automatic assumption is that they are some kind of relation to the girl, because they are in the same house and do not seem fazed by their surroundings, as if the are used to it, or have accepted it. This can also make a different assuption that they are a naive character, because they do not fear the girl. Here the audience knows something the character doesn't, they have previously seen the girl walking away, and so she could walk through the door at any point, which invokes fear at this point. This is conventional because characters personalities are normally hidden until later on in the film to create tension and suspense. The fact that they are holding a piece of paper could make the audience think that it is another one of the girl's death drawings, or something that could give an idea of who she is, so the audience keeps viewing to see if they are correct.
This is a photo of the name of our film 'The Rag Doll' we chose to use coloured paper for the letters because it is something that a child would often play with, as well as drawing a hopscotch on the ground in chalk. We chose to do these things because they are very childlike and emphasise the innocence of the child, which is ironic because the child in our film does not seem innocent in any way. Although it cannot be seen in this screen grab, we also placed the girl's shoes at the foot of the hopscotch, which gives the impression that she had previously been playing on the hopscotch another childish element, we also placed the Rag Doll at the side of the hopscotch, which defines that this particular Rag Doll is key in the film and has a direct purpose. This is similar to the title of The Wolfman, where the wolf is portrayed in the picture, because it is a key element in the film. We also picked the colour red for the title because red has connotations of anger, blood, danger and fire.
This screen grab shows my name in the title sequence, each of the people in my group used a different colour and placed our names on different parts of the park. i placed my name on the climbing frame, which is rusty and worn in this picture, which could resemble lack of use, it also echoes the urban setting, as does the graffitti and the broken swings we used for the other memebers of my group. Surrounding the climbing frame is weeds and a broken fence, this reflects the isolation of the main character, in the park, that it is not taken care of, like the girl who is also neglected in this way. When filming this part of the titles we zoomed in, but also used jump cuts so that it wouldn't take so long. This makes this particular part quite abrupt and 'in your face', there is also no sound effects at this point, which adds to the eerie effect created from the creaky swings and the sound of the wind. This all adds realism to our film, which also makes it scary because it doesn't seem fake, when things seem real, people think that it might happen to them in real life.
This picture depicts our main character drawing murderous pictures, on the floor of her bedroom. We have used low key lighting to create sharp contrasts between the character's shadow and the one single light, which makes the paper and the character stand out. This is typical of the horror genre, because the use of shadows creates an air of mystery and suspense, that things are being hidden from the audience. We chose to do this because normally, children are afraid of the dark, so it makes our character seem quite creepy if they are quite happy to sit in the dark. The fact that the paper is scattered around shows that she is continuously drawing more, which means that our character has many evil thoughts, which scares the audience, because this character is not normal, and because there are so many pictures, it means that they must have some kind of emphasis in the film, which the audience doesn't yet know. The camera angle we have used here is a bird's eye view which is also an over the shoulder shot. This means that the audience cannot see the face of the character, which invokes fear because a lot can be received from facial expressions, such as how a character is feeling or even what they are thinking, but this is all kept from the audience, which would be a scary viewpoint.
This screen grab shows our main character sitting cross-legged on the floor of her room, holding the Rag Doll. Again at this point we have used low key lighting, which shows that something is still not right, as the lighting is not natural. The fact that it is dark either shows that it is night time, which is not a normal time for a child to be up and playing, or she is deliberately keeping the light out, which gives the impression that she is neglected, or wants to shut herself away from everything. This kind of isolation is typical of the horror genre, because many characters from horror films are alone which means that they are vulnerable and may get attacked. However, in our film we have used a role reversal because the character that is alone, is not really vulnerable, but instead a character to be feared, because she is different and misunderstood. This is portrayed through her childlike positioning, i.e. sitting cross-legged like they would in school and holding a doll, yet there is an underlying theme that something isn't right, as she is surrounded by frightening pictures, and she is not smiling, like a normal child, which creates an eerie situation. The camera angle is low angle, here which gives the character power, making them seem 'above' the audience, which again lessens her vulnerability and instead invokes fear.
This screen grab shows a high angle viewpoint of our main character. This contrasts with the angles often used in a typical horror film, because usually this angle makes a character seem powerless and weak. Whereas in this case, our character is gripping a doll, and again the face is hidden, so the audience still feels like the character has some kind of power, something that they do not know about. The drawings are placed in a circle around the character which creates the themes of isolation and claustrophobia which are popular themes in typical horror films because they make the audience feel that there is no escape. We have created this theme by making the room so small, and the circle of drawings is only just big enough to surround the child, no room for anything else. Our child is wearing a flowery dress and plain white socks, which resemble innocence, yet our character is not innocent, the iconography we use makes her seem young and innocent, i.e. a young girl playing with her doll on her bedroom floor, but the darkness and the drawings represent another theme that is not made obvious, that there is something about our character that is suspicious, and the rest of the film may explain this further.
This screen grab shows a high angle viewpoint of our main character. This contrasts with the angles often used in a typical horror film, because usually this angle makes a character seem powerless and weak. Whereas in this case, our character is gripping a doll, and again the face is hidden, so the audience still feels like the character has some kind of power, something that they do not know about. The drawings are placed in a circle around the character which creates the themes of isolation and claustrophobia which are popular themes in typical horror films because they make the audience feel that there is no escape. We have created this theme by making the room so small, and the circle of drawings is only just big enough to surround the child, no room for anything else. Our child is wearing a flowery dress and plain white socks, which resemble innocence, yet our character is not innocent, the iconography we use makes her seem young and innocent, i.e. a young girl playing with her doll on her bedroom floor, but the darkness and the drawings represent another theme that is not made obvious, that there is something about our character that is suspicious, and the rest of the film may explain this further.
This screen grab shows our main character sitting on a swing in a park. She is not moving, and again her face is hidden, which creates an air of mystery. She is wearing the same clothes, which depicts that this is the same day, which creates continuity in our film. We have used a slight canted/oblique angle here to create confusion and disillusionment, which also adds to the tense atmosphere. The fact that her face is hidden signifies the lack of contact with the audience, we never see her face, which emphasises that there is something wrong with her, it hides part of her personality from us. This is typical of conventional horrors, because they frighten the viewer by hiding things from them, and making them believe that something is there, but they don't know what. However, this screen grab is also unconventional because very often, horrors will use pathetic fallacy to reflect the story, but in this case the weather is sunny, yet there is an underlying theme of danger, the idea that the character cannot be predicted and the audience does not trust her. In other films when showing something scary it will often be night time because the shadows can be used to hide things, yet here we have done the opposite, where everything is in broad sunlight, which means that if anything happens, it will be seen, so the audience fears what they will see.
This picture portrays our character walking up a large hill into the distance. This is unconventional of a horror film, because often, when a character is depicted 'walking off into the sunset' it means that they are going to live 'happily ever after.' So by including this clip so close to the beginning of our film, it automatically means that things are different, and it seems confusing for the viewer. As she is seen walking up the hill, she walks purposefully, which proves that she has an agenda, but the audience doesn't know what. After viewing the way she handled the doll and the drawings she created it becomes apparent to the viewers that she is not a regular child, and is not in any way the generic stereotype of a young girl. The fact that the hill is so long, also emphasises the idea that she has a purpose, there is something that she is going to do, and the audience worries about what it is. The camera does not move along with her at this point, instead it stays still as the girl walks away from us, this creates suspense and mystery because we don't know what she is about to do, or how she will come back, the lack of information the audience is given is frightening.
At a first glance, this second character seems quite sinister, because they walk into the room as if they do it all the time, and again they are silent which seems suspicious. The use of low key lighting here also casts their shadow on the wall. They are also holding something, which the audience does not know of. Again the personality of this character is hidden, and the automatic assumption is that they are some kind of relation to the girl, because they are in the same house and do not seem fazed by their surroundings, as if the are used to it, or have accepted it. This can also make a different assuption that they are a naive character, because they do not fear the girl. Here the audience knows something the character doesn't, they have previously seen the girl walking away, and so she could walk through the door at any point, which invokes fear at this point. This is conventional because characters personalities are normally hidden until later on in the film to create tension and suspense. The fact that they are holding a piece of paper could make the audience think that it is another one of the girl's death drawings, or something that could give an idea of who she is, so the audience keeps viewing to see if they are correct.
This is a photo of the name of our film 'The Rag Doll' we chose to use coloured paper for the letters because it is something that a child would often play with, as well as drawing a hopscotch on the ground in chalk. We chose to do these things because they are very childlike and emphasise the innocence of the child, which is ironic because the child in our film does not seem innocent in any way. Although it cannot be seen in this screen grab, we also placed the girl's shoes at the foot of the hopscotch, which gives the impression that she had previously been playing on the hopscotch another childish element, we also placed the Rag Doll at the side of the hopscotch, which defines that this particular Rag Doll is key in the film and has a direct purpose. This is similar to the title of The Wolfman, where the wolf is portrayed in the picture, because it is a key element in the film. We also picked the colour red for the title because red has connotations of anger, blood, danger and fire.
This screen grab shows my name in the title sequence, each of the people in my group used a different colour and placed our names on different parts of the park. i placed my name on the climbing frame, which is rusty and worn in this picture, which could resemble lack of use, it also echoes the urban setting, as does the graffitti and the broken swings we used for the other memebers of my group. Surrounding the climbing frame is weeds and a broken fence, this reflects the isolation of the main character, in the park, that it is not taken care of, like the girl who is also neglected in this way. When filming this part of the titles we zoomed in, but also used jump cuts so that it wouldn't take so long. This makes this particular part quite abrupt and 'in your face', there is also no sound effects at this point, which adds to the eerie effect created from the creaky swings and the sound of the wind. This all adds realism to our film, which also makes it scary because it doesn't seem fake, when things seem real, people think that it might happen to them in real life.
Applying sound
The sound we used as incidental music in our piece is called, 'creepy music box' which we found on youtube. The sound is played throughout our final sequence, except when our main character is seen on the swings. Here the music stops and we just rely on the diagetic sound of the squeaking of the swing, this creates a creepy atmosphere and is conventional of the horror genre.
Here is the music we used:
Here is the music we used:
Problems whilst editing
When we attempted to burn our final sequence onto DVD the mac we had used for all our work was stating that 'no disc had been inserted'. First we tried using different macs, moving our work around on a portable hard drive, but when that didn't work we tried using different discs from the same pack as well as other discs from different packs, but none of these changes made a difference.
Our teacher has so far been unable to get help for this problem, but as soon as we do we will be able to burn our work onto DVD
Our teacher has so far been unable to get help for this problem, but as soon as we do we will be able to burn our work onto DVD
The Rag Doll is completed
This is our final, completed title sequence. We named it the Rag Doll, because the doll is significant in our piece and the name emphasises this.
Friday 12 March 2010
our questionnaire and generic conventions of horror films
we created a questionnaire to hand out, so that we could get an idea of what our target audience you most prefer in our film. These were our questions:
Q1. Do you like horror?
Q2. What type of horror films do you like? E.g. psychological thriller (paranormal activity)
Q3. Do you prefer more complicated plot lines or simple ones?
Q4. Do you prefer the character to be killed at the end, or escape?
Q5. Do you prefer main stream films or more experimental films?
Q6. Do you prefer horror films to be more realistic of more fantasy based?
Q7. What sort of setting do you prefer? Urban or rural?
Q8. Do you like having background music over the film?
Q9. Would you like the main character to be male or female?
Q10. Would you like the character to be courageous or sensitive?
Q11. Favorite horror film? Why?
we asked these questions to see what it most popular, within the horror genre and why, so that we could take these conventions and either use them in our film or oppose them.
Throughout my research and analysis of horror films, i have found that the main generic conventions of a horror film are:
- themes of death, the supernatural or mental illness
- many horror films contain a central villain
- often contain some form of violence
- can create fear through use of suspense
- can often incorporate aspects from other genres i.e. thrillers, science fiction and fantasy
Q1. Do you like horror?
Q2. What type of horror films do you like? E.g. psychological thriller (paranormal activity)
Q3. Do you prefer more complicated plot lines or simple ones?
Q4. Do you prefer the character to be killed at the end, or escape?
Q5. Do you prefer main stream films or more experimental films?
Q6. Do you prefer horror films to be more realistic of more fantasy based?
Q7. What sort of setting do you prefer? Urban or rural?
Q8. Do you like having background music over the film?
Q9. Would you like the main character to be male or female?
Q10. Would you like the character to be courageous or sensitive?
Q11. Favorite horror film? Why?
we asked these questions to see what it most popular, within the horror genre and why, so that we could take these conventions and either use them in our film or oppose them.
Throughout my research and analysis of horror films, i have found that the main generic conventions of a horror film are:
- themes of death, the supernatural or mental illness
- many horror films contain a central villain
- often contain some form of violence
- can create fear through use of suspense
- can often incorporate aspects from other genres i.e. thrillers, science fiction and fantasy
Thursday 11 March 2010
Editing our final sequence
we used imovie on the mac to edit our final sequence, whilst editing we used many different techniques and effects. One of these is the jump shot, which we used to disorientate the viewer and make them question what is happening. The use of the jump shot also saves time, by showing key parts of our film, but not the entire thing. An example of our jump shot, is the main character walking up the hill in the park, instead of watching the whole thing, of her simply walking up the hill, we cut it so that it shows the character at different points on the hill, to show her progress, without wasting time on irrelevances.
We used the same mac for all our work so that it was all in one place, and easily accessible.
Monday 8 March 2010
Filming the titles
when creating our name titles, we decided to place our names on different parts of the park, because a park is somewhere a child would normally be and it is also the same park used in our actual film.
First we cut our names out of brightly coloured, child like paper and blu-tacked them to different areas in the park.
i placed my name on the climbing frame, this reminds the viewer that the film is from the perspective of a child...
Joe put his name on the swings, we used the swings because the absent squeaking that the swings make is creepy because it does it on its own, creating a creepy atmosphere, swings are also very conventional in horror films...
And kelly placed her's on some graffitti we found in the park, which shows that our film in set in recent times in a more urban, and therefore enclosed atmosphere...
Then we decided on where to place the name of our film: The Rag Doll
we decided to create a hopscotch, as a child may have drawn, with the letters spelling The Rag Doll in each of the sections. We also left the chalk there, to give the impression that it had just been drawn, with the rag doll itself next to the name, and the shoes of the child at the very end of the hopscotch, which makes it seem that she had been playing...
First we cut our names out of brightly coloured, child like paper and blu-tacked them to different areas in the park.
i placed my name on the climbing frame, this reminds the viewer that the film is from the perspective of a child...
Joe put his name on the swings, we used the swings because the absent squeaking that the swings make is creepy because it does it on its own, creating a creepy atmosphere, swings are also very conventional in horror films...
And kelly placed her's on some graffitti we found in the park, which shows that our film in set in recent times in a more urban, and therefore enclosed atmosphere...
Then we decided on where to place the name of our film: The Rag Doll
we decided to create a hopscotch, as a child may have drawn, with the letters spelling The Rag Doll in each of the sections. We also left the chalk there, to give the impression that it had just been drawn, with the rag doll itself next to the name, and the shoes of the child at the very end of the hopscotch, which makes it seem that she had been playing...
2nd stage of filming
our second stage of filming was held in Victoria Park, where the child is next seen after leaving her bedroom.
first we filming our main character on the swings staring blankly into space, seeming quite mysterious and creepy...
we filmed from behind so that the face of the main character is never seen...
then we filmed the character walking away purposefully, as she seems to 'fade' into the distance...
whilst filming this part of our sequence, we had to hope that the weather did not change, for continuity purposes, and we also had to make sure that there were no noises or obstructions in certain shots, i.e. the train or some one walking through the shot.
first we filming our main character on the swings staring blankly into space, seeming quite mysterious and creepy...
we filmed from behind so that the face of the main character is never seen...
then we filmed the character walking away purposefully, as she seems to 'fade' into the distance...
whilst filming this part of our sequence, we had to hope that the weather did not change, for continuity purposes, and we also had to make sure that there were no noises or obstructions in certain shots, i.e. the train or some one walking through the shot.
First filming
Our first day of filming was held at Kelly's house, where we used her sister's room to 'pose' as our character's bedroom. We had to empty the room before we could set it up as we would like it during our title sequence.
This is what it looked like before...
and after...
First we had to make props for our filming. In these particular scenes the child is supposed to have drawn lots of disturbing, child like pictures of death, such as drowning, poisoning and more. So we had to draw these pictures as if they were drawn by a child and then set them up around the room.
Once we had finished setting up, the room looked like this... we set it up in a circle to create the illusion of being enclosed and claustrophobia.
We had chosen this particular Rag Doll, because it seemed more likely that a young girl would play with a female doll rather than male. The Doll is also black, we chose this to show that there is no discrimination in our film. This goes against stereotypical conventions, that the colour of the doll does not make any difference to the storyline or plot of our film.
We were able to create lots of different angles whilst filming, through not only using the tripod to create a steady shot, but also handheld to be able to 'swoop' over the action. At one point, to get a close up to the character's face, i sat under the bed with the camera to get a different and more intimate persepctive.
Finally, whilst we were filming, we were able to overcome a problem we faced. The loft in the hallway was broken and therefore in our shot, which ruined the effect of a long, blank hallway. So to overcome this, i held the loft up, whilst Joe walked down the corridor filming, managing to keep both me and the loft out of the shot, and therefore keep the mood and atmosphere we had created.
This is what it looked like before...
and after...
First we had to make props for our filming. In these particular scenes the child is supposed to have drawn lots of disturbing, child like pictures of death, such as drowning, poisoning and more. So we had to draw these pictures as if they were drawn by a child and then set them up around the room.
Once we had finished setting up, the room looked like this... we set it up in a circle to create the illusion of being enclosed and claustrophobia.
We had chosen this particular Rag Doll, because it seemed more likely that a young girl would play with a female doll rather than male. The Doll is also black, we chose this to show that there is no discrimination in our film. This goes against stereotypical conventions, that the colour of the doll does not make any difference to the storyline or plot of our film.
We were able to create lots of different angles whilst filming, through not only using the tripod to create a steady shot, but also handheld to be able to 'swoop' over the action. At one point, to get a close up to the character's face, i sat under the bed with the camera to get a different and more intimate persepctive.
Finally, whilst we were filming, we were able to overcome a problem we faced. The loft in the hallway was broken and therefore in our shot, which ruined the effect of a long, blank hallway. So to overcome this, i held the loft up, whilst Joe walked down the corridor filming, managing to keep both me and the loft out of the shot, and therefore keep the mood and atmosphere we had created.
Finished continuity and planning final sequence
we finished our continuity exercise which now includes a shot reverse shot and a match on action. i feel that our overall exercise went well and we used a range of camera angles and shots to create variation and different perspectives throughout our exercise. One problem we noticed when filming our continuity exercise however is the clock seen in the background, it shows different timings depending on when we filmed each shot, therefore disrupting its continuity, we will work on this problem when filming our final sequence.
Here is our completed continuity exercise
Using the research we gathered from viewing other films, we decided that our final sequence would be of the horror genre. We used ideas from title sequences of films we'd watched, as well as our own ideas. Our final idea has many links to the film the orphanage. Our final idea is based on a teenager with the mind of a child, who uses a Rag Doll as a 'voodoo doll' which ends up killing people. Like the Orphanage, our sequence focuses on the mind of a child, and therefore includes main places a child would be found, such as in a park, and a child's bedroom.
Once we had chosen our genre we researched it, here is what we found:
Genre: Horror
History: First made in 1890's including mainly supernatural events. The earliest horror films were created by german film makers. In early 1930's American film producers i.e. universal popularised horror films. In 1970's the devil represented evil and in 2000's zombies returned to horror
Institutions: (companies) distributors - universal pictures, columbia pictures, new line cinema and fox searchlight pictures
Target audeinces: mainly males under 25, the most popular age range is 18-24
Examples of films: The Exorcist, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Phantom of the opera, the grudge, Dracula, the mummy, the curse of Frankenstein and Dr Terror's house of horrors
Sub genres and examples: horror of personality e.g. Pyscho, horror of armageddon and horror of demonic e.g. the turn of the screw
Conventions: main chracter usually dies, antagonist is normally a man, some one definately dies
representation: women: either dansel in distress or evil character
male: evil or heroic character
Here is our completed continuity exercise
Using the research we gathered from viewing other films, we decided that our final sequence would be of the horror genre. We used ideas from title sequences of films we'd watched, as well as our own ideas. Our final idea has many links to the film the orphanage. Our final idea is based on a teenager with the mind of a child, who uses a Rag Doll as a 'voodoo doll' which ends up killing people. Like the Orphanage, our sequence focuses on the mind of a child, and therefore includes main places a child would be found, such as in a park, and a child's bedroom.
Once we had chosen our genre we researched it, here is what we found:
Genre: Horror
History: First made in 1890's including mainly supernatural events. The earliest horror films were created by german film makers. In early 1930's American film producers i.e. universal popularised horror films. In 1970's the devil represented evil and in 2000's zombies returned to horror
Institutions: (companies) distributors - universal pictures, columbia pictures, new line cinema and fox searchlight pictures
Target audeinces: mainly males under 25, the most popular age range is 18-24
Examples of films: The Exorcist, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Phantom of the opera, the grudge, Dracula, the mummy, the curse of Frankenstein and Dr Terror's house of horrors
Sub genres and examples: horror of personality e.g. Pyscho, horror of armageddon and horror of demonic e.g. the turn of the screw
Conventions: main chracter usually dies, antagonist is normally a man, some one definately dies
representation: women: either dansel in distress or evil character
male: evil or heroic character
Tuesday 2 March 2010
horror analysis- 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.
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.
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. The colours used in the title sequence are only yellow and black, which have conotations of being old and therefore mysterious.
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. 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.
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.
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. The colours used in the title sequence are only yellow and black, which have conotations of being old and therefore mysterious.
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. 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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
