Once all of our film opening was finished we all produced a questionnaire to ask an audience of 10 people what they though of our media product and if they understood it.
Here is the feedback we had:
4 out of 10 people didnt think that the genre of our produuct was horror and thought it was either sci-fi or comedy.
All of the 10 people thought that our film was well constructed and would want to watch more of it as it was left on a cliff hanger.
6 out of 10 said that the continuity of our film could be improved and touched up to make it flow better as in some places it was a bit rough and jerky
We also asked the question " Can you suggest anything that can be improved within our film?"
All of the audience members noticed that on our sub heading we spelt school wrong so we were able to change this to make sure our fiolm was perfect.
Overall i feel i had a posotive feedback from my audience members and if i was to re do the film i woulkd think of ways to make the genre a lot clearer at the beginningof the film and perhaps get straight into the film. I wiuld also make the continuity and editing a lot better as i also feel that this is the one thing that lets our film down.
Wednesday, 22 April 2009
Wednesday, 25 March 2009
Evaluation
EVALUATION:
• In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real Media products?
Within our film we used some of the main conventions of a horror film. We used things such as; Non diegetic music over the dialogue to give an atmosphere to the film at that certain point. We also used simple things such as screams, sharp cuts to make the pace of the film quicken and also quite a few blackouts. ‘The Decent’ which was a film we watched in our research process, used sharp quick cuts throughout the whole first section, and as a group we all liked this so decided to use it in our film opening to create a faster pace to the film and to also build up the tension. We also use the iconography of blood on our film titles, we see the title appear normally and the slide across to one with blood on. I feel that as a group we didn’t really challenge the normal everyday conventions of a horror movie, we just stuck to a strict normal horror film with the typical conventions.
• How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Our film represents 2 types of social groups, teenage school children and also teachers. The predominant social group that is represented in our film is teenagers. The two groups of different teenagers are from a different time period, the caption stating ’10 years later’ helps to show the difference in time between the two groups. The location and mise en scene also tell us as an audience that we are in a school. The teenagers unlike normally aren’t portrayed as sexual, drunken and immature but are portrayed the completely opposite. They are portrayed as theatrical, career minded but also at the same time a little bit bitchy. The teenage girl from the past is portrayed in a completely different way to the ones of today; she is very nervous, quiet and shy and doesn’t really present herself as a very outgoing person. This is shown by the use of the high angle shot of the girl when she looks up, it makes her look small and weak and is then followed by her being squished. When the girl from the past is performing her ‘solo bit’ as she calls it, it is very minimalist and simple there isn’t any music or dancing involved in it this helps portray the difference in time and shows how times have changed and that there is a lot more dancing and dramatic skills used in theatre today . In comparison to this the performance by the girls of today is very modern, original and lively, it involves music and everyday modern moves. The teenage social group is portrayed as very artistic and dramatic; on the other hand, the teenage girls of today are portrayed as bitchy and gang up on the new girl just because she looks or acts different to them. The over the shoulder shot used from the perspective of the new girl, shows that there is a clear division between the 3 girls and also enigma is triggered that something is going to happen to the new girl. The dialogue between the two girls makes them seem very nasty and joker like as though they are going to start to play tricks on this new girl, the diegetic music that joins in also adds to this effect and starts to build up tension of what’s going to happen and also between the 2 groups of people.
• What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
After doing some research into horror distributions I found out the following things. Similarly themed school horror films were very popular with audiences. BoxOfficeMojo.com (a website that deals with how much money movies make) was a useful to show the popularity of the genre.
Signs: $227,966,634 Buena Vista
The village: $114,197,520 Buena Vista
The Grudge: $110,359,362 Sony
Scream: $103,046,663 Dimension Films
Prom Night: $43,869,360 Sony
I still know what you did last summer: $40,112,002 Sony
If we were to choose media institution to distribute our film we would want Sony to distribute our film as they seem the company who are mostly producing films based on the idea of a school horror. We would also choose Sony as they are one of the biggest companies to distribute films and also have a lot of money to be able to advertise and push our film to the maximum.
• Who would be the audience for your media product?
The audience for our media product would be aimed at teenagers and students between the ages of 15 to 19. I think this is a suitable age range to produce our film for as they are going to either be students or have recently just left education and will be bale to relate to the film and say well if that happened in our school I would act like that or would do that. The certificate rating for the film would be a 15 but it would hopefully attract the attention of older ages as well.
• How did you attract/address your audience?
To attract the attention of our target audience we involved teenagers in our film and had those playing main characters, we also had a young teacher playing the male teacher lead to also attract the attention of our audience. We also used enigma codes at the beginning as the audience do not know what the noises are that are being made. We also had a big dramatic piece of drama at the beginning with the young girl dying, this will attract the attention of the audience and hopefully make hem want to watch more of it and engage them to watch the rest. Enigma also played a huge part in helping us attract and hopefully keep our audience. By using non diegetic music that is weird and also tension building, this helped us to create enigma that something was going to happen, or leading up to something that is going to happen this would hopefully make our audience engaged and make them want to keep watching to find out what is going to happen.
• What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
From this task I have learnt the basics on premier and how to edit things, as I didn’t really do a lot of pure editing to our film and only mostly gave my view on the editing I haven’t really had chance to put this to the test and see whether I am actually any good at it or not. I have also learnt a bit about filming and how to use the camera and tripod and also how to do the shot reverse shot correctly so that the continuity is good. On premier I again have learnt how to change and adapt the sound levels, and also how to add effects like fades in and out to our film.
• Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
I have learnt many things from producing this film opening form what I already knew when we did our preliminary task. Firstly one of the main this being how to use Premier to edit all of our work to a good standard including things such as; how to change sound levels, how to insert fade ins and outs and also just simple editing techniques like deleting and closing gaps. I have also learnt a lot about time keeping, as we are a group of 4 A level students we obviously have a lot of other things to be doing as well as this so I had to make sure I stretched my time evenly over all of my subjects so that all of my coursework was done. All of our group managed to keep to rehearsal dates and filming dates which was good, we did have a problem of some people turning up to lessons though, but in the end we have a finished product hat we are all happy with.
• In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real Media products?
Within our film we used some of the main conventions of a horror film. We used things such as; Non diegetic music over the dialogue to give an atmosphere to the film at that certain point. We also used simple things such as screams, sharp cuts to make the pace of the film quicken and also quite a few blackouts. ‘The Decent’ which was a film we watched in our research process, used sharp quick cuts throughout the whole first section, and as a group we all liked this so decided to use it in our film opening to create a faster pace to the film and to also build up the tension. We also use the iconography of blood on our film titles, we see the title appear normally and the slide across to one with blood on. I feel that as a group we didn’t really challenge the normal everyday conventions of a horror movie, we just stuck to a strict normal horror film with the typical conventions.
• How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Our film represents 2 types of social groups, teenage school children and also teachers. The predominant social group that is represented in our film is teenagers. The two groups of different teenagers are from a different time period, the caption stating ’10 years later’ helps to show the difference in time between the two groups. The location and mise en scene also tell us as an audience that we are in a school. The teenagers unlike normally aren’t portrayed as sexual, drunken and immature but are portrayed the completely opposite. They are portrayed as theatrical, career minded but also at the same time a little bit bitchy. The teenage girl from the past is portrayed in a completely different way to the ones of today; she is very nervous, quiet and shy and doesn’t really present herself as a very outgoing person. This is shown by the use of the high angle shot of the girl when she looks up, it makes her look small and weak and is then followed by her being squished. When the girl from the past is performing her ‘solo bit’ as she calls it, it is very minimalist and simple there isn’t any music or dancing involved in it this helps portray the difference in time and shows how times have changed and that there is a lot more dancing and dramatic skills used in theatre today . In comparison to this the performance by the girls of today is very modern, original and lively, it involves music and everyday modern moves. The teenage social group is portrayed as very artistic and dramatic; on the other hand, the teenage girls of today are portrayed as bitchy and gang up on the new girl just because she looks or acts different to them. The over the shoulder shot used from the perspective of the new girl, shows that there is a clear division between the 3 girls and also enigma is triggered that something is going to happen to the new girl. The dialogue between the two girls makes them seem very nasty and joker like as though they are going to start to play tricks on this new girl, the diegetic music that joins in also adds to this effect and starts to build up tension of what’s going to happen and also between the 2 groups of people.
• What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
After doing some research into horror distributions I found out the following things. Similarly themed school horror films were very popular with audiences. BoxOfficeMojo.com (a website that deals with how much money movies make) was a useful to show the popularity of the genre.
Signs: $227,966,634 Buena Vista
The village: $114,197,520 Buena Vista
The Grudge: $110,359,362 Sony
Scream: $103,046,663 Dimension Films
Prom Night: $43,869,360 Sony
I still know what you did last summer: $40,112,002 Sony
If we were to choose media institution to distribute our film we would want Sony to distribute our film as they seem the company who are mostly producing films based on the idea of a school horror. We would also choose Sony as they are one of the biggest companies to distribute films and also have a lot of money to be able to advertise and push our film to the maximum.
• Who would be the audience for your media product?
The audience for our media product would be aimed at teenagers and students between the ages of 15 to 19. I think this is a suitable age range to produce our film for as they are going to either be students or have recently just left education and will be bale to relate to the film and say well if that happened in our school I would act like that or would do that. The certificate rating for the film would be a 15 but it would hopefully attract the attention of older ages as well.
• How did you attract/address your audience?
To attract the attention of our target audience we involved teenagers in our film and had those playing main characters, we also had a young teacher playing the male teacher lead to also attract the attention of our audience. We also used enigma codes at the beginning as the audience do not know what the noises are that are being made. We also had a big dramatic piece of drama at the beginning with the young girl dying, this will attract the attention of the audience and hopefully make hem want to watch more of it and engage them to watch the rest. Enigma also played a huge part in helping us attract and hopefully keep our audience. By using non diegetic music that is weird and also tension building, this helped us to create enigma that something was going to happen, or leading up to something that is going to happen this would hopefully make our audience engaged and make them want to keep watching to find out what is going to happen.
• What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
From this task I have learnt the basics on premier and how to edit things, as I didn’t really do a lot of pure editing to our film and only mostly gave my view on the editing I haven’t really had chance to put this to the test and see whether I am actually any good at it or not. I have also learnt a bit about filming and how to use the camera and tripod and also how to do the shot reverse shot correctly so that the continuity is good. On premier I again have learnt how to change and adapt the sound levels, and also how to add effects like fades in and out to our film.
• Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
I have learnt many things from producing this film opening form what I already knew when we did our preliminary task. Firstly one of the main this being how to use Premier to edit all of our work to a good standard including things such as; how to change sound levels, how to insert fade ins and outs and also just simple editing techniques like deleting and closing gaps. I have also learnt a lot about time keeping, as we are a group of 4 A level students we obviously have a lot of other things to be doing as well as this so I had to make sure I stretched my time evenly over all of my subjects so that all of my coursework was done. All of our group managed to keep to rehearsal dates and filming dates which was good, we did have a problem of some people turning up to lessons though, but in the end we have a finished product hat we are all happy with.
Wednesday, 18 March 2009
the final script.
The FEAR-tre.
Int. Location 1- day.
Mike:
Okay we’ve still got some scenes left to run through.
Barbara:
Okay which scene first?
Mike:
How about the scene starting with Charley, “Everything all right?”
James:
Okay ill take charley. Barbara you take Happy and mike you can have Willy.
( Barbara and Mike nod)
(pause)
Everything all right?
Barbara: Mike:
Yeah, Charley, everything’s… What’s the matter?
James:
I heard some noise. I thought something happened. Can’t we do something about these walls? You sneeze in here, in my house hats blow off!
Mike:
That’s seems to be coming along nicely, how about a scene with Linda and Willy. Barbara you play Linda.
(James leaves the stage)
Barbara:
Willy, dear? Willy?
Mike:
I was right!
Barbara:
Did you have some cheese? It's very late, darling. Come to bed, heh?
Mike:
(Looking up)
Gotta break your neck to see a star in this yard.
Barbara:
Do you mind if I try my scene now? You know my little solo bit?
Mike:
Go ahead, we’ll watch from the auditorium.
Barbara:
(clears throat) Good evening ladies and gentlemen. Tonight we are going to present to you our rendition of “a death of a salesmen.”
(A creak is heard)
(Barbara pauses)
Our cast may be small but we hope you enjoy tonight.
(Another creak)
(Barbara looks up)
Now I hope your sitting comfortably, in our newly built theatre. And so without…
(creak)
(looks up)
(screams loudly)
End of scene.
Int. Location 2- day
(Funky music is playing, and the two girls are dancing. The teacher walks in and sits down but says nothing. The third girl joins the routine.)
Mr. Gibb:
(Clapping)
Well done girls that was brilliant. A couple more hours practice and you’ll be… Nah I’m kidding, it’s looking great.
Ashley:
Cheers sir
Jessica:
yeah, cheers sir.
Sarah:
(Smiles)
(Mr Gibb leaves the theatre)
Ashley:
Hey jess, that’s the new girl isn’t it?
Jessica:
I dunno; don’t think I’ve seen her before.
Ashley:
Im sure she is, she looks so pathetic and helpless.
Jessica:
(laughs)
Ashley:
Hmm maybe we can have some fun jess. Hey you, new girl!
Sarah:
Who me?
Ashley:
Yeah, come here we wanna chat.
(Sarah walks over)
So we’re Ashley (points at self) and Jessica (points at Jessica)
So you’re new right? You know this theatre is haunted?
Sarah:
Err no it isn’t don’t be ridiculous.
Ashley:
It is honestly, a girl was killed in here 50 years ago! She fell down a trap door, lost her legs and then her head got cut off!
Sarah:
(Shocked) R..r..really?
Ashley:
No (Her and Jessica laugh) But there’s an old rumour that someone…(the lights go off) What the…(A door slams shut)
End scene
(The next scene shows the title and a black screen with the sound of a school bell being heard.)
Int. Location 1- day.
Mike:
Okay we’ve still got some scenes left to run through.
Barbara:
Okay which scene first?
Mike:
How about the scene starting with Charley, “Everything all right?”
James:
Okay ill take charley. Barbara you take Happy and mike you can have Willy.
( Barbara and Mike nod)
(pause)
Everything all right?
Barbara: Mike:
Yeah, Charley, everything’s… What’s the matter?
James:
I heard some noise. I thought something happened. Can’t we do something about these walls? You sneeze in here, in my house hats blow off!
Mike:
That’s seems to be coming along nicely, how about a scene with Linda and Willy. Barbara you play Linda.
(James leaves the stage)
Barbara:
Willy, dear? Willy?
Mike:
I was right!
Barbara:
Did you have some cheese? It's very late, darling. Come to bed, heh?
Mike:
(Looking up)
Gotta break your neck to see a star in this yard.
Barbara:
Do you mind if I try my scene now? You know my little solo bit?
Mike:
Go ahead, we’ll watch from the auditorium.
Barbara:
(clears throat) Good evening ladies and gentlemen. Tonight we are going to present to you our rendition of “a death of a salesmen.”
(A creak is heard)
(Barbara pauses)
Our cast may be small but we hope you enjoy tonight.
(Another creak)
(Barbara looks up)
Now I hope your sitting comfortably, in our newly built theatre. And so without…
(creak)
(looks up)
(screams loudly)
End of scene.
Int. Location 2- day
(Funky music is playing, and the two girls are dancing. The teacher walks in and sits down but says nothing. The third girl joins the routine.)
Mr. Gibb:
(Clapping)
Well done girls that was brilliant. A couple more hours practice and you’ll be… Nah I’m kidding, it’s looking great.
Ashley:
Cheers sir
Jessica:
yeah, cheers sir.
Sarah:
(Smiles)
(Mr Gibb leaves the theatre)
Ashley:
Hey jess, that’s the new girl isn’t it?
Jessica:
I dunno; don’t think I’ve seen her before.
Ashley:
Im sure she is, she looks so pathetic and helpless.
Jessica:
(laughs)
Ashley:
Hmm maybe we can have some fun jess. Hey you, new girl!
Sarah:
Who me?
Ashley:
Yeah, come here we wanna chat.
(Sarah walks over)
So we’re Ashley (points at self) and Jessica (points at Jessica)
So you’re new right? You know this theatre is haunted?
Sarah:
Err no it isn’t don’t be ridiculous.
Ashley:
It is honestly, a girl was killed in here 50 years ago! She fell down a trap door, lost her legs and then her head got cut off!
Sarah:
(Shocked) R..r..really?
Ashley:
No (Her and Jessica laugh) But there’s an old rumour that someone…(the lights go off) What the…(A door slams shut)
End scene
(The next scene shows the title and a black screen with the sound of a school bell being heard.)
Thursday, 5 March 2009
camera Map
Here is the camera map that tom made.it is for the first half of our film opening,
happens in the past.
Thursday, 26 February 2009
What people have done in our coursework filiming task so far.
Here is a list of waht everyone in our group has done so far...
Kendall leaper
Acted in the film
Chose music for our film.
Helped daniel do editing gave ideas and suggestions.
Recorede the school bell.
Thomas Fox
Acted in the film
Searched for copyright free music
Created shooting schedule
Liam Thomson
Acted in the film
Created shot list for filiming
Helped daniel editing
created shooting schedule
Daniel Carnell
Filming
Director
Creted storyboards
Editing
made the titles.
Kendall leaper
Acted in the film
Chose music for our film.
Helped daniel do editing gave ideas and suggestions.
Recorede the school bell.
Thomas Fox
Acted in the film
Searched for copyright free music
Created shooting schedule
Liam Thomson
Acted in the film
Created shot list for filiming
Helped daniel editing
created shooting schedule
Daniel Carnell
Filming
Director
Creted storyboards
Editing
made the titles.
the filming process.
Firstly, before we could even start filming we had to go down to our school theatre and check what days the theatre was free and what lessons we could use it. The theatre was only free 2 lessons during our media lessons, so we ended up coming to the conclusion that we was going to have to film some of it after school if we wanted to use the theatre. Our actual filming started around 3 weeks ago. On the Tuesday in our double media lesson we spent the first lesson going over the script and printing it all of, and also making sure everyone in our group knew exactly what jobs they had to do.
The second lesson was when we went down to the theatre to film. We filmed all our first section up to the part where the story jumps into the future. Me Liam and Tom were all performing in the film and Daniel was given the job of filming and directing as he was one of the better group members when it came to using a camera. Whilst we were filming this section we encountered a few problems, one of them being that we were meant to be in the 1950's and we were wearing very fashionable clothes from today and it didn’t look right, so we all tried to find clothes to go with the date of our film but we couldn’t find anything of our own and the school theatre would not let us borrow any of theirs, so we had to change our ideas and move the dates from (50 to present day) to (1998 to 2008).We also had the problem of the theatre looking up to date and it having all new seating and curtains which didn’t go with our dates so again this was another reason why we had to change our dates of the film.
When it came to editing I didn’t really play a huge part in it, I just gave my opinion as to what I thought should be done and what was good and what was bad. Also in our editing process we had the problem of finding some copyright free music that was free for us to use in our film, we spent lots of lesson time surfing the internet to find some music. Eventually we found a great website that had all different moods of music, after looking on this website we found some awesome music that fitted the theme of our film. We have also had a few problems with continuity, as the lighting went weird when in some of our filming when it came to use editing it so we have to record it again this Friday after school. There was also the fact that recently there had been several school productions and performance exams taking place so the back drop and set in the theatre changed all the time, we were having to find the correct time to go when the correct scenery was around. On Friday we asked 3 girls in our year to take part on the film to play the parts of the 3 girls, they were fine at the fact that they had to dance but when they were told they were going to have to talk as well they weren’t too happy, so we changed the script a little bit so that there wasn’t so much to say. Whilst filming we had to film the section about a girl dying around 4 or 5 times as eve and jess kept on laughing whilst they were saying their lines.
Today (11/3/09) we came to do the final editing of our film and a major problem occurred that our film was 3 minutes long when it can only be up to 2 minutes, we had to watch it over and over again to work out a easy way of taking some sections out to make the film opening the right length. Eventually we took the first section of the film out where me, Liam and Tom are all talking, as this was the longest section of the film and also it wasn’t really necessarily important to the film. Therefore this means that Liam and tom do not perform in our film, hopefully this will not effect their grades. Today we also took a microphone and a mp3 recorder to main school and recorded the school bell going off to use at the end of our opening which symbolises a normal school day.
The second lesson was when we went down to the theatre to film. We filmed all our first section up to the part where the story jumps into the future. Me Liam and Tom were all performing in the film and Daniel was given the job of filming and directing as he was one of the better group members when it came to using a camera. Whilst we were filming this section we encountered a few problems, one of them being that we were meant to be in the 1950's and we were wearing very fashionable clothes from today and it didn’t look right, so we all tried to find clothes to go with the date of our film but we couldn’t find anything of our own and the school theatre would not let us borrow any of theirs, so we had to change our ideas and move the dates from (50 to present day) to (1998 to 2008).We also had the problem of the theatre looking up to date and it having all new seating and curtains which didn’t go with our dates so again this was another reason why we had to change our dates of the film.
When it came to editing I didn’t really play a huge part in it, I just gave my opinion as to what I thought should be done and what was good and what was bad. Also in our editing process we had the problem of finding some copyright free music that was free for us to use in our film, we spent lots of lesson time surfing the internet to find some music. Eventually we found a great website that had all different moods of music, after looking on this website we found some awesome music that fitted the theme of our film. We have also had a few problems with continuity, as the lighting went weird when in some of our filming when it came to use editing it so we have to record it again this Friday after school. There was also the fact that recently there had been several school productions and performance exams taking place so the back drop and set in the theatre changed all the time, we were having to find the correct time to go when the correct scenery was around. On Friday we asked 3 girls in our year to take part on the film to play the parts of the 3 girls, they were fine at the fact that they had to dance but when they were told they were going to have to talk as well they weren’t too happy, so we changed the script a little bit so that there wasn’t so much to say. Whilst filming we had to film the section about a girl dying around 4 or 5 times as eve and jess kept on laughing whilst they were saying their lines.
Today (11/3/09) we came to do the final editing of our film and a major problem occurred that our film was 3 minutes long when it can only be up to 2 minutes, we had to watch it over and over again to work out a easy way of taking some sections out to make the film opening the right length. Eventually we took the first section of the film out where me, Liam and Tom are all talking, as this was the longest section of the film and also it wasn’t really necessarily important to the film. Therefore this means that Liam and tom do not perform in our film, hopefully this will not effect their grades. Today we also took a microphone and a mp3 recorder to main school and recorded the school bell going off to use at the end of our opening which symbolises a normal school day.
Thursday, 29 January 2009
Wednesday, 28 January 2009
women in black analysis (titles) & Stormbreaker analysis (titles)
Women in black analysis(titles)
The film opening begins directly with the titles. The media language immediately tells the audience they are watching a thriller. The titles are very simplec and have a black background and simple block font, in a an mucky white colour.
The letters appear to have little chunks missing out of them. Sometimes on some of the letters there is also a faint blsck shadow along the back of some of the letters. The imperfect font connotes imperfection; something wrong, as does the off-white colour. The black background together with the shadows connote fear.
This will be immediately recognisable to the audience as iconography associated with the thriller genre.
Stormbreaker Analysis(titles)
Tis film opening starts with some action of a man on a motorbike, coming out of an explosion with a group of men following him. immediatley when the film begins we know what sort of film we are going to be watching and as the men are all riding very flash bikes and are wearing sort of a uniform, this connoes that they re perhaps secret agents or of a group that are meant to be similar. the titles to this film aree very differetn to that of women in black. These titles flash up on scrren in a simple white colour, they appear on screen next to the character they are playing. the fact that the beginning of the story starrts with an explosion triggers to the audience the iconography of a family action movie and this iconography carries on throughout the film.
Our film(titles)
After watching several films in order to research how titles are used in opening sequences, we decided on a way to open our own film. we liked the idea of stormbreaker incorporating there titles into the story,because if we go staright into our story we will engage our target teenage audience immediatle. Our media class found the opening titles to women in black boring and we loast interest before the film had even started. In our film when the door slams in the theatre the screen will go black and the title "FEARtre" will appear in writing and slide off the scrren like blood dripping, this iconography of blood helps inform the audience of the genre of the film and creates a sinister atmosphere. once the story starts from here onwards we are going to have our titles flashing up on screen whilst we see a still shot of the theatre in dim light.
The film opening begins directly with the titles. The media language immediately tells the audience they are watching a thriller. The titles are very simplec and have a black background and simple block font, in a an mucky white colour.
The letters appear to have little chunks missing out of them. Sometimes on some of the letters there is also a faint blsck shadow along the back of some of the letters. The imperfect font connotes imperfection; something wrong, as does the off-white colour. The black background together with the shadows connote fear.
This will be immediately recognisable to the audience as iconography associated with the thriller genre.
Stormbreaker Analysis(titles)
Tis film opening starts with some action of a man on a motorbike, coming out of an explosion with a group of men following him. immediatley when the film begins we know what sort of film we are going to be watching and as the men are all riding very flash bikes and are wearing sort of a uniform, this connoes that they re perhaps secret agents or of a group that are meant to be similar. the titles to this film aree very differetn to that of women in black. These titles flash up on scrren in a simple white colour, they appear on screen next to the character they are playing. the fact that the beginning of the story starrts with an explosion triggers to the audience the iconography of a family action movie and this iconography carries on throughout the film.
Our film(titles)
After watching several films in order to research how titles are used in opening sequences, we decided on a way to open our own film. we liked the idea of stormbreaker incorporating there titles into the story,because if we go staright into our story we will engage our target teenage audience immediatle. Our media class found the opening titles to women in black boring and we loast interest before the film had even started. In our film when the door slams in the theatre the screen will go black and the title "FEARtre" will appear in writing and slide off the scrren like blood dripping, this iconography of blood helps inform the audience of the genre of the film and creates a sinister atmosphere. once the story starts from here onwards we are going to have our titles flashing up on screen whilst we see a still shot of the theatre in dim light.
Tuesday, 27 January 2009
Treatment of our film for coursework
We have chosen to do a horror film. The plot to our story starts 50 years ago when a group of students are rehersing for a play in the theatre and a girl gets killed by a mysterious person that inherits the name of the theatre ghost. we then revert to today and the story continues when a new girls starts the school and the ghost comes back to get revnege.
Note:The film begins with the name of the production companies and distributors etc fading up onto a black screen.
The film starts with a slow fade in to show some students rehearsing a play.we also at this time see the words theatre and 1959 flash up over the action before a slow fade away. A teacher supervising asks to see the next scene. The girl remains on stage to do her solo piece. the girl whilst performing hears a creaking sound and looks up. The camera follows her vision up to show the roof where nothing appears to be wrong. The girls face turns to a look of horror as we hear a loud crack. We then have a quick cut to a black screen as she shuts her eyes and we hear a squish sound,alongside a scream.
The next scene begins with the camera zoomed in on the theatre lights. The camera then zooms out and pans out to reveal some girls dancing with their back to the camera. The words " 50 years later" flash up on screen. We then see a teacher enter the room. The camera then takes on a point of view of the teacher and we see the girls from the front as another one enters the stage, the three girls run through a routine together, happy with the progress the girls have made the teacher congratulates them and tells them to stop for the day and that they can go home. The two original girls on stage begin to talk about the third girl, who is new to the school and is taking part in her first school production. The two girls call her over and introduce themselves. They tell Jane (new girl) that the theatre is haunted as a girl died in it. Jane believes everything they say and immediately begins to think about whether to do the show or not. Alice begins to laugh and Amy goes along as they are just like twins and copy everything each other do. Alice tells her that it was all a joke and it was just a rumour that was going around. The 2 girls find it hilarious that Jane has believed them. Suddenly the lights go out into pure darkness, it stays like this for a couple of seconds and then there is the sound of a door slamming.
The screen remains black and the title fades up onto the screen before turning red and sliding off, portraying blood dropping. We hear a school bell and the new scene fades in. It shows a typical school day in the life of Jane at her new school. We then see Alice (the popular girl) and Amy (her dim-witted loyal follower) throughout the day, doing what they normally do. We also see little hints to the fact that Alice and Amy keep referring back to the ghost "RUMOUR" and start to pick on Jane for it.
After the school day is over the girls go back to the theatre to rehearse for the play again. Three boys then join them (James, Dan and Liam) are introduced to Jane; the boys are also in the play. As they go to leave James notices that the rope for the curtains is broke. He tells the other students to go ahead. James tries the curtains but they won’t shut. He tries to fix the rope but finds that there is too much of it so he raps some around his neck and body. We see the curtains move slightly before they are quickly pulled shut, hanging Shortcut who is left dangling in the middle of the theatre. The scene fades out to darkness.
The next day the cast of the school play join the rest of the school in an assembly. Here the head teacher informs all the students of the accidental death of James and informs them that there is nothing to worry about. Rumours begin to stir about the ghost wanting revenge, started again by Alice and Amy. The groups in the show (which is now 5) don’t feel in danger from what’s happened so organise a rehearsal after school. We see Dan doing an experiment in the science lab, there is a creak outside and he goes out to see if anyone is there. Once he is back inside the lab, he grabs a can of spray that he needs to use which the top comes off, covering him in it. Before he has chance to do anything he is set on fire.
Amy arrives at the rehearsal and tells the others that Dan should be along shortly, Liam suggests starting anyway as she has to be going soon. The group take their positions and as they begin to rehearse the camera fades out. It fades back into to show the group tired and Amy ready to go home.Amy leaves the remaining three to practice and picks some things up from her locker. Just like the others, she hears a noise around the corner from her locker. She leaves her locker undone and goes to check what’s around there. When she got back the noise came again, it sounds like wind rattling the locker doors, so she ignores it and continues. We then hear a loud bang; she moves her head out of the locker and looks at the camera.
Seeing nothing she places her head back inside to find the item she's after. Next we see the locker door slam, beheading Amy. As her body gradually sinks to the floor the blood creates a puddle on the floor. The other friends hear the bang as well and again go to investigate only to find their friend dead on the floor Alice, Amys best friend falls to the floor in shock. Jane takes a closer look and notices that there is a footprint in the blood. They all come to the conclusion that the killer has missed that and forgot to clean it up in his rush, they talk about what to do and think that they could be next so immediately go and find a teacher.
The next day; its dinner time and Alice is taking some time out from the entire trauma and has gone to the beauty salon to go on the sum bed and have her nails done. whilst on the sun bed she also hears a noise just like the rest but she has her music on so thinks nothing of it, when she finishes the lights flicker on and off but she thinks nothing of it and reassures herself that nothing bad can happen in her favourite place. She closes her eyes to hope that everything is ok. When she opens her eyes, she sees a hooded figure stood right in her face she screams and tries to run away but he grabs her hair and yanks a clump out of her head. She backs away but trips over another chair. The killer looks down at her and pauses for a moment. He then slices her throat.
Meanwhile Jane and Liam are on there way down to the beauty room to meet Alice, when they arrive they are greeted by the killer trying to clean up his mess. They both panic and start to run, they end up in the theatre and the killer has caught up with them. The killer stabs Liam with a knife and he falls to the floor, whilst this is happening Jane has trapped herself in the corner. The killer slowly walks up to Jane, the lights are flickering in and off and there is silence at this point. The hooded killer takes off his hood and reveals that it is the teacher that has been helping them all along(MR Gibb) Jane and the killer have a quick discussion as to why he did it. Teacher tries to kill Jane but Liam manages to find enough energy to use an extinguisher to hit Mr Gibb over the head and kill him.
The film ends with Liam and Jane walking down a dimly lit corridor we have a long shot of them walking down, when they reach near to the end they disappear and the screen goes black and the credits come up again in the same font idea as the beginning.
Note:The film begins with the name of the production companies and distributors etc fading up onto a black screen.
The film starts with a slow fade in to show some students rehearsing a play.we also at this time see the words theatre and 1959 flash up over the action before a slow fade away. A teacher supervising asks to see the next scene. The girl remains on stage to do her solo piece. the girl whilst performing hears a creaking sound and looks up. The camera follows her vision up to show the roof where nothing appears to be wrong. The girls face turns to a look of horror as we hear a loud crack. We then have a quick cut to a black screen as she shuts her eyes and we hear a squish sound,alongside a scream.
The next scene begins with the camera zoomed in on the theatre lights. The camera then zooms out and pans out to reveal some girls dancing with their back to the camera. The words " 50 years later" flash up on screen. We then see a teacher enter the room. The camera then takes on a point of view of the teacher and we see the girls from the front as another one enters the stage, the three girls run through a routine together, happy with the progress the girls have made the teacher congratulates them and tells them to stop for the day and that they can go home. The two original girls on stage begin to talk about the third girl, who is new to the school and is taking part in her first school production. The two girls call her over and introduce themselves. They tell Jane (new girl) that the theatre is haunted as a girl died in it. Jane believes everything they say and immediately begins to think about whether to do the show or not. Alice begins to laugh and Amy goes along as they are just like twins and copy everything each other do. Alice tells her that it was all a joke and it was just a rumour that was going around. The 2 girls find it hilarious that Jane has believed them. Suddenly the lights go out into pure darkness, it stays like this for a couple of seconds and then there is the sound of a door slamming.
The screen remains black and the title fades up onto the screen before turning red and sliding off, portraying blood dropping. We hear a school bell and the new scene fades in. It shows a typical school day in the life of Jane at her new school. We then see Alice (the popular girl) and Amy (her dim-witted loyal follower) throughout the day, doing what they normally do. We also see little hints to the fact that Alice and Amy keep referring back to the ghost "RUMOUR" and start to pick on Jane for it.
After the school day is over the girls go back to the theatre to rehearse for the play again. Three boys then join them (James, Dan and Liam) are introduced to Jane; the boys are also in the play. As they go to leave James notices that the rope for the curtains is broke. He tells the other students to go ahead. James tries the curtains but they won’t shut. He tries to fix the rope but finds that there is too much of it so he raps some around his neck and body. We see the curtains move slightly before they are quickly pulled shut, hanging Shortcut who is left dangling in the middle of the theatre. The scene fades out to darkness.
The next day the cast of the school play join the rest of the school in an assembly. Here the head teacher informs all the students of the accidental death of James and informs them that there is nothing to worry about. Rumours begin to stir about the ghost wanting revenge, started again by Alice and Amy. The groups in the show (which is now 5) don’t feel in danger from what’s happened so organise a rehearsal after school. We see Dan doing an experiment in the science lab, there is a creak outside and he goes out to see if anyone is there. Once he is back inside the lab, he grabs a can of spray that he needs to use which the top comes off, covering him in it. Before he has chance to do anything he is set on fire.
Amy arrives at the rehearsal and tells the others that Dan should be along shortly, Liam suggests starting anyway as she has to be going soon. The group take their positions and as they begin to rehearse the camera fades out. It fades back into to show the group tired and Amy ready to go home.Amy leaves the remaining three to practice and picks some things up from her locker. Just like the others, she hears a noise around the corner from her locker. She leaves her locker undone and goes to check what’s around there. When she got back the noise came again, it sounds like wind rattling the locker doors, so she ignores it and continues. We then hear a loud bang; she moves her head out of the locker and looks at the camera.
Seeing nothing she places her head back inside to find the item she's after. Next we see the locker door slam, beheading Amy. As her body gradually sinks to the floor the blood creates a puddle on the floor. The other friends hear the bang as well and again go to investigate only to find their friend dead on the floor Alice, Amys best friend falls to the floor in shock. Jane takes a closer look and notices that there is a footprint in the blood. They all come to the conclusion that the killer has missed that and forgot to clean it up in his rush, they talk about what to do and think that they could be next so immediately go and find a teacher.
The next day; its dinner time and Alice is taking some time out from the entire trauma and has gone to the beauty salon to go on the sum bed and have her nails done. whilst on the sun bed she also hears a noise just like the rest but she has her music on so thinks nothing of it, when she finishes the lights flicker on and off but she thinks nothing of it and reassures herself that nothing bad can happen in her favourite place. She closes her eyes to hope that everything is ok. When she opens her eyes, she sees a hooded figure stood right in her face she screams and tries to run away but he grabs her hair and yanks a clump out of her head. She backs away but trips over another chair. The killer looks down at her and pauses for a moment. He then slices her throat.
Meanwhile Jane and Liam are on there way down to the beauty room to meet Alice, when they arrive they are greeted by the killer trying to clean up his mess. They both panic and start to run, they end up in the theatre and the killer has caught up with them. The killer stabs Liam with a knife and he falls to the floor, whilst this is happening Jane has trapped herself in the corner. The killer slowly walks up to Jane, the lights are flickering in and off and there is silence at this point. The hooded killer takes off his hood and reveals that it is the teacher that has been helping them all along(MR Gibb) Jane and the killer have a quick discussion as to why he did it. Teacher tries to kill Jane but Liam manages to find enough energy to use an extinguisher to hit Mr Gibb over the head and kill him.
The film ends with Liam and Jane walking down a dimly lit corridor we have a long shot of them walking down, when they reach near to the end they disappear and the screen goes black and the credits come up again in the same font idea as the beginning.
Wednesday, 21 January 2009
Analysing a film of chosen genre.
I chose to watch the film The Descent which is in the genre of horror which is what we have chosen to do in our coursework. It starts by us hearing a muffled humming sound which is non diegetic. we then see a moving spotlight effect appear reading the name of the production and distribution company as the woprds appear they sloly dissappear as the next set com up. this creates a very scary effect alongside the non diegetic music. we then cut into a high angle shot showing a clear blue sky with the surroundings of trees. at the same time we can hear the diegetic sound of laughing and shouting, we then have a midshot showing a group of women in a boat going through somw rapids. afterwards we have low angle pannig to show the rapids that are next, these look very firece which immediatley tmakes us think that something is going to happen here. whilst the women are moving down to the next set of rapids we cut to a mid shot agin showing a man and a little girl stood on a rock, the little girl then goes on to ionform us that she is the daughter to one of the women. we know this as she shouts down ',ummy.. mummy!' and waves to her.
After we have been introduced into all the characters we then see another low angle shot of the women in the boat getting closer and closer towrds the rough rapids, by using a high angle shot it makes the father and daughter look as though they are stood on a very high rock. throughout the whole of this first section we have the diegetic sound of the waves constantly running. following tjhis we have a very quick cut to a close up and panning of all the womens faces as they look very scared but also excited and are screaming as the go through the rapids. after this we have a midshot from the side of the boat showing them as they have reached the end of the rapids and the close up is ther for us to estinguish the fact that they are relieved its over. we then again have a mid shot as the girls paddle the boat back into where the father and daughter is, at this point we have the titles of all the main actors within the film come up again using theme format of a spotlight effect that dissappears. we then have another midshot but this time showing the girls getting back and also the father getting the girl down off of the rock. at this point we have the non diegetic music playing which is quite calm and relaxing, over the top of this we have the diegetic sound of the women laughing and chatting to eachother. after the women have got out of the boat and are on the rocks we see a close up of the little girl and her mum hugging whilst the dad is helping one of the other women take her helmet off. the mother of the girl looks over and sees him doing this and lloks very worried. this immediatley triggers enigma codes to the audience that something is happening between them and that their marraige is unstable.
We then cut to a mid shot from a fade showing a car travelling down a windy road, as the car moves the camera starys in the same spot to give the effect that the car is moving further away. we then have a cut to inside the car where the mother and daughter are tlaking about planning a birthday oarty, whilst this is ahppening there are sharp cuts to show the fathers face, we get the idea that he is anooyed or fed up just by looking at the expressions he uses. at the same time we still have all the titles appearing but now they are just plain white writing with a fade in and out. whilst the parents are talking we have a over the shoulder shot showing the sides of their faces but also the road in front and as they approach the top of a hill we see a van coming towards them. we theh have a midshot showing the 2 cars colliding and some metal poles coming from the van, these poles shoot towards the car and go straight through the windscreen and through the head of the husband and little girl. There is a lot of blood and screaming in this short sectionm which is typical iconography of the horror genre. we then have a close up of the 2 cars which leads into a slow fade out showing a birds eye ve=iew of the accident. at this point there is no sound apart from a buzzig noise.
we then have a slow cut to a black screen which leads to a muffled picture and a zoom in of a little girl blowing out candles on a cake, which triggers enigma as to who this girl is and what its all about. we then have a cut to the moter lying ion a hospital bed waking from a nightmare, which reveals that the girl was her daughter. we also hear the sound of the hospital machines beeping, as we see the women removing her canulars from her wrists. we then see a long shot of the women in her nighgown in a very little lit corridoor, it doesnt look a very nice place to be in the night and just by looking at it you know that something is going to happen. again there is the buzzing sound still being use and around the outside of the frame there is a thin black outline bloacking out some of the shot, this balck outline is fuzzy and flashes on and off very slightly throughout the next scene, this adds to the horror effect as it is very mysterious and disturbing. the next section happens very quickly which helps quicken the pace of the story and reflects the state that the women is in and alsmost shows what her heart will be doing at this point. we start to see lights going off at the bottom end of the corridoor and as the women starts to run away the lights start to go out quickler and catch up with her, as she is running we can hear the diegetic sound of her panting and also the non diegetic sound of screeches and buzzing which makes the atmosphere for the audience very uncomfortable. as the women is running we revert to a over the shoulder long shot to see her getting towards the end of the corridor where eventually it goes pitch black. we then her a very high pitched scream as she gets to the other end of the corridoor and looks like she is still running, but runs into the arms of one of her friends, we then have thre non diegetic music being played which is very sad and emotional as the women and her friend sink to the floor both crying. we then have a fade out into a black screen where the title of the film 'The Descent' appears in very odd writing and the spotlight effect is also used again
After we have been introduced into all the characters we then see another low angle shot of the women in the boat getting closer and closer towrds the rough rapids, by using a high angle shot it makes the father and daughter look as though they are stood on a very high rock. throughout the whole of this first section we have the diegetic sound of the waves constantly running. following tjhis we have a very quick cut to a close up and panning of all the womens faces as they look very scared but also excited and are screaming as the go through the rapids. after this we have a midshot from the side of the boat showing them as they have reached the end of the rapids and the close up is ther for us to estinguish the fact that they are relieved its over. we then again have a mid shot as the girls paddle the boat back into where the father and daughter is, at this point we have the titles of all the main actors within the film come up again using theme format of a spotlight effect that dissappears. we then have another midshot but this time showing the girls getting back and also the father getting the girl down off of the rock. at this point we have the non diegetic music playing which is quite calm and relaxing, over the top of this we have the diegetic sound of the women laughing and chatting to eachother. after the women have got out of the boat and are on the rocks we see a close up of the little girl and her mum hugging whilst the dad is helping one of the other women take her helmet off. the mother of the girl looks over and sees him doing this and lloks very worried. this immediatley triggers enigma codes to the audience that something is happening between them and that their marraige is unstable.
We then cut to a mid shot from a fade showing a car travelling down a windy road, as the car moves the camera starys in the same spot to give the effect that the car is moving further away. we then have a cut to inside the car where the mother and daughter are tlaking about planning a birthday oarty, whilst this is ahppening there are sharp cuts to show the fathers face, we get the idea that he is anooyed or fed up just by looking at the expressions he uses. at the same time we still have all the titles appearing but now they are just plain white writing with a fade in and out. whilst the parents are talking we have a over the shoulder shot showing the sides of their faces but also the road in front and as they approach the top of a hill we see a van coming towards them. we theh have a midshot showing the 2 cars colliding and some metal poles coming from the van, these poles shoot towards the car and go straight through the windscreen and through the head of the husband and little girl. There is a lot of blood and screaming in this short sectionm which is typical iconography of the horror genre. we then have a close up of the 2 cars which leads into a slow fade out showing a birds eye ve=iew of the accident. at this point there is no sound apart from a buzzig noise.
we then have a slow cut to a black screen which leads to a muffled picture and a zoom in of a little girl blowing out candles on a cake, which triggers enigma as to who this girl is and what its all about. we then have a cut to the moter lying ion a hospital bed waking from a nightmare, which reveals that the girl was her daughter. we also hear the sound of the hospital machines beeping, as we see the women removing her canulars from her wrists. we then see a long shot of the women in her nighgown in a very little lit corridoor, it doesnt look a very nice place to be in the night and just by looking at it you know that something is going to happen. again there is the buzzing sound still being use and around the outside of the frame there is a thin black outline bloacking out some of the shot, this balck outline is fuzzy and flashes on and off very slightly throughout the next scene, this adds to the horror effect as it is very mysterious and disturbing. the next section happens very quickly which helps quicken the pace of the story and reflects the state that the women is in and alsmost shows what her heart will be doing at this point. we start to see lights going off at the bottom end of the corridoor and as the women starts to run away the lights start to go out quickler and catch up with her, as she is running we can hear the diegetic sound of her panting and also the non diegetic sound of screeches and buzzing which makes the atmosphere for the audience very uncomfortable. as the women is running we revert to a over the shoulder long shot to see her getting towards the end of the corridor where eventually it goes pitch black. we then her a very high pitched scream as she gets to the other end of the corridoor and looks like she is still running, but runs into the arms of one of her friends, we then have thre non diegetic music being played which is very sad and emotional as the women and her friend sink to the floor both crying. we then have a fade out into a black screen where the title of the film 'The Descent' appears in very odd writing and the spotlight effect is also used again
Thursday, 15 January 2009
research 14th january
In todays media lesson we researched the genre of horror and typical things you find in a horror film as this is the genre we are creating our 2 minute film opening on for our coursework. I focused on the following areas:
Stock characters:
killer
innocent girl
couple
group of friends
scardy cat
Settings:
woods
campsite
abandoned forest,house,village,castle
Iconography
Knives
screaming
masks
guns
weapons
blood
colour black/red
scary music
Stock characters:
killer
innocent girl
couple
group of friends
scardy cat
Settings:
woods
campsite
abandoned forest,house,village,castle
Iconography
Knives
screaming
masks
guns
weapons
blood
colour black/red
scary music
Wednesday, 14 January 2009
storm breaker film opening research
Coursework Task:
research film openings: StormBreaker.
Conventions:
Enigma Codes
Explosions
Chase
Goodies and baddies
Action sequence- Attention grabbing
Flash cars
Secret identity
weapons
Cool,calm main character
setting: dangerous, big wide open space, cliff edges.
gadgets
stunts
Titles:
Traditional title sequence
sound bridge to link to fade in of classroom
Representations:
Alex different social class to his class mates
middle class-accent and housekeepr shows this
smarter appearence
other upils resent him maybe bit of jelousy
dress codes nonverbal codes and body langage
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