Evaluation; Amy Mcmahon

‘No escape’

My contributions
My media practical assignment was a 2 minute opening sequence to a film. I joined with Hayley Stanley to create this product. My contributions to the project start with thinking of the ideas of genre’s we could use. Hayley and I wrote down a few of our ideas and then finally decided on a hybrid of teen horror/ thriller. Before making a story board we had to first do some research. This enabled us to make the product as realistic to a real product as possible. I did some research on a blog to find out whether our film genre generated money or not in real life. I findings suggested that it did. I also did research on props, popular settings and then looked at some film openings and noted some interesting shots. Once we had done enough research Hayley and I practiced using the camera and completed a preliminary task. Hayley and I made the story board for this and also filmed it. I then evaluated this and found a couple of things wrong with it.

We then came to write our story board. We decided that doing the film in our college was the best option, as we both live far apart and my research suggested that this was a good idea. We then thought of some good shots. I filmed our film opening and also took the film home to shoot a scene. After we had filmed most of the shots I decided that some of them we’re not professional looking as it was quite difficult to film in a canteen and busy corridors. We tried to make the most out of the shots we had and came up with the idea of the beginning of the film being from the perspective of a stalkers still camera. I took some photographs of the screen and printed them out at home in order to shoot the final shot. Hayley and I picked some suitable music to enhance the tension of our product. I then edited our film to fit in with the music.


Genre and Key conventions
The genre of our film is a teen horror/thriller. To make this obvious to the viewer we used a few conventions. I think one of the main conventions is the music as it is quite dramatic. Music in an opening sequence is one of the main techniques used to set the mood of the shot. It helped add tension of our film and helped foreshadow the girls well being later on in the film. If we didn't use dramatic music, the genre of the film and the reaction of the audience would be very different from what we were aiming for.

I think another convention is the ‘venerable college girl’. This is very typical of a horror movie and therefore it helps the audience, again, identify the film as being a thriller/horror hybrid. I think one of the main reasons why most horror films use a young college girl is because of the vunerability that comes with them. As a female, this character is automaticly seen as more likely to be victimized. Being old enough to attract men, who are usually used as the evil character, but still young also increases the likelyhood of victimization.






The titles used in our film add to the key conventions. The black background and white text is a typical convention often used. It adds to the synister feel of our film as it looks very dark. The formal font tells the audience that the film is not happy and light hearted.

However the main convention throughout this opening is the black clothing and knife at the end. The colour black on its own is a convention of horror, and somebody dressed in black in a film is usually used to represent a 'bad' character. Another convention of black clothing is crime. Robbers and other criminals are seen as often wearing black. When showing the knife, I tried to make the shot a short one in order for the audience to question it a little more. The shot of a knife straight away gives away one of the enigma's and so making the shot short makes the audience question what they have just seen.

Uniqueness and Enigma's of our film

Although my film still has the conventions in order not to confuse the audience, it is very different from all the horror movies I have watched. I think the idea of the photographs has never been used before. Two 17 year old girls said that they had never seen the ‘Black and white effect/pictures’ used like that before. This is vital in a real production to keep audience interested in the films. If all the films in a horror genre were similar and without twists, enigmas would not build and so neither would tension. Personally I think the uniqueness of our opening sequence is quite intriguing, however some of our shots could have been made to look more effective. My feedback backs this up. One 17 year old female made a comment saying ‘the idea of this film is excellent; however a few of the shots could have been better’.

I think our film does keep to the rules of an opening sequence by introducing the protagonists and setting up a few enigmas. I think we did reveal the enigma of who was taking photo’s, as it could have been the police, a bit too early but the tension would have been held for too long otherwise. Other enigma's set up were; who's taking photo's of the girl?, why are they taking photo's of her?, what is their intension?, is the photographer dangerous?.

Audience and Representations
In terms of representation our film is aimed at the age range of 15 – 25. Using Hayley was a good idea. People would be able to relate to her as an ordinary college girl. We tried to make her seem like an ordinary college girl mainly through her appearance. Each shot we did, we tried to make sure she was dressed ‘ordinarily’. I tried to make it so that it looked like just an typical and believable day for her. I did this by filming during college and in different places such as the toilets and outside the shop. This would help add to the realism of the film, and show her in her everyday life. Showing her in her everyday life makes it so the audience would relate and sympaphise with the character so that they show concern when something goes wrong for her.

I think either males or females would enjoy this film. I think females especially as they can relate to the girl in the film, but I think males also as they are known to prefer horror films. I think age’s 16 – 25 age range would particularly like this film as most of them will be able to relate to the girls college life. This is a great audience to aim for as the average 16 – 24 year old goes to the cinema’s once a fortnight and so there is a wider target market. I think any socio-economic group would enjoy this film, however I think mainly group E as most of the people who would go to see this movie would be students.

Lighting and Camera shots

We did do a shot of Hayley with her friends however we couldn’t do this because the lighting was wrong. We tried to make the lighting high key and natural to add to the realism of the shots. However when the photos were taken, the pictures were shown in a dark black and white which showed maybe her day wasn’t quite so typical. We created this effect by making the shot a still image, then adding 'black and white effect' to it on the mac.

We made it so that the shot looked as if it was a handheld camera. This gave the illusion of somebody taking a photo. We filmed hayley and then made it freeze when the photo was to be taken. Seeing the shot from the camera's point of view, shows the audience that somebody is taking a photo of the girl without having to reveal who it is. This adds to the mystery and tension of the film.

When I then moved on to film the stalker character, I tried to make the lighting change. I tried to make it very low key to show he was a bad character. I achieved this by filming on a cold, winters night. I first did a long distance shot to set the scene and then did a long shot of the house, with a light on in the porch to show that the man is about to leave the house. The next shot is pictures of the girl that the audience have seen being taken and then a close up of the stalker putting gloves on. Finally a shot of the stalker picking up a knife. All this suggests he is about to leave the house to visit the girl. I made sure that the clothes the stalker dressed in were all black. My dad acted in this for me as I thought the film would be less effective if a more petite person posed as a stalker. A more built figure seems more threatening and therefore more concern for the girl is felt from the audience. The way the stalker put the gloves on was to crunch his hands. This worked out to be quite effective as it helped reveal some of his bad intentions. My feedback agreed as a 16 year old male said that ‘the most effective part of the film was the man at the end. He looked quite scary’.

Distribution

I think a film company such as vertigo entertainment would be likely to back our film. I think this as they have produced films like ours. For example; the grudge 1, 2 and 3, the uninvited, the eye and the ring 3. This shows that they have experiance in this type of film and so would know whether the film would be popular. They would also have a good idea of how to effectively produce and market the film.

Continuity
In terms of chronology we could have improved our film a little more. I did however try and set the place by showing the girl dressed in different clothing in order for it to show that it is a different day. I also think putting titles helped as it wasn’t just skipping straight on to the next scene.

I think I have built up enough tension and suspense. The music in particular has helped this. I think also the black and white effect creates suspense. The last scene, in my opinion, is the tensest. As we have viewed this girl in her everyday life the audience would become concerned for her wellbeing and therefore the end scene would be especially tense.

Technology
I have learnt a lot from doing this project. I have learnt to use the editing programme better and also how to use a camera. I have learnt which shots work and which don’t. However, I do think that I could have improved a few of the shots I did. For example, the one in the toilet was a bit shaky. I wasn’t too bothered at the time as it is supposed to be from the stalkers camera’s point of view, but when watching it I do think I could have improved this as it does look unprofessional.

Looking back I my preliminary task I have improved my filming a lot. Things such as using more shots help the film run more continuously. In my preliminary the character goes out of the shot at the end. This taught me about how I have to take time filming and redoing things.

Conclusion
I think the best part about my film is defiantly the uniqueness. I have never seen this done before in another film. I also think the last scene is the best out of the whole film. In my opinion the film opening looks almost the same as a real product. I do, however, feel that it is quite confusing to the audience in some places. Overall I am happy with this project.