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?

As a group we learnt a lot from filming the preliminary task. Our camera skills improved and editing, helping us a lot when it came to producing our horror opening sequence. Getting used to the equipment during the preliminary task made us familiar and ready to do our first filming, however, we had to reshoot twice to ensure we had the camera angles precisely right when working with the camera. Editing and cutting on the software we used for both filmings was also much simpler helping us to produce to a higher standard of editing as well from previous experimentations. Practicing a variety of different camera angles and shots in the preliminary task made sure we could perform our new skills in the opening sequence.

Here are some examples of Camera angles we used during the preliminary task that helped us when shooting our opening sequence.





 
Here we have a over the shoulder camera angle.



 We then have a establishing shot as we follow Sam into the room.

Here is Sam opening the door.


We then have a continuity shot as we film Sam from inside the room through the door he has just opened.

 We then have a tracking shot following him into the room.

Then a mid/close up shot of me looking up as Sam walks into the room.

We now have a establishing shot showing Sam about to sit down and the location.

We then have a over shoulder shot of match on action as me and Sam are talking.

Then a shot reverse shot.

A camera shot of Sam leaving the room.

Then a camera shot from outside the room filming Sam as he has walked out showing continuity.

Evaluation Question 6

6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product? 

As a group we have learnt a lot in the making of our horror opening. New skills when using the editing software and cameras. We had some difficulties with editing the clip as we filmed in natural daylight which we tried to make darker. Although we thought filming in daylight worked well as no children would be playing in the woods at night, so we edited it to make it have a eerie atmosphere. 

Working on the editing software for the  preliminary task helped us gain the skills we needed to edit the opening sequence well and correctly. 

Using the camera and camera tripod was an issue at first with not being able to mount the camera onto the tripod and using a 'make do' tripod, but we decided to re-film the clips that we used when we couldn't mount the camera correctly and made it a lot better with stable and steady camera shots. 

Evaluation question 5

Evaluation: Question 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

Our certificate was a 12 so we chose a young child around the age of the target audience so it was more personal for them and they could relate to it making it more realistic. A nursery rhyme was used as it is associated with children and links to our idea of the hidden and dark meanings making a eerie and haunting atmosphere. The sound of a music box and a child crying is used to show the innocence and vulnerability of the child and is also a reference to the mans childhood and his cry for help when he was young but it firstly is thought to be the cry of Rosie. The sound of the music box is very haunting because it is not the usual sound that comes from one which our audience would know as it sounds very peculiar and disturbing. 

Evaluation question 4

Evaluation: Question 4

Who would be the audience for your media product? 


We looked to aim our opening titles as a certificate 15 which can include 

• Stronge violence

• Frequently stronger language

• Portrayals of sexual activity                            

• Strong verbal references to sex

• Brief scenes of sexual violence

• Discriminatory language and behaviour

• Drug taking

• Some horror films are passed at this category. Moderate physical and psychological threat is permitted at 12 or 12A as long as disturbing sequences are not too frequent or sustained.

Although after looking at our opening titles we felt our opening sequence was not catergorised as a 15 we also looked at other films that are catergrosied as 15 like 'The Strangers' and in it had references to violence:

In our opening sequence had no violence we looked at other similar films like 'The Lovely Bones' even thought this film is not classed as a horror it has a similar story line to our opening with the sinister man stalking a young girl. This creates suspense and it is a known horror codes and conventions with the vunerable character in a position of not being able to protect themselves. It also had similar things to our  opening which the use of props relating to childhood like toys:

I feel our opening sequence fits into the 12a criteria a lot more than the certificate15 due to further research when we found a fact:

Dangerous behaviour (for example hanging, suicide and self-harming) may be present in 12

 or 12A works but will not dwell on detail which could be copied or present those activities as

 pain or harm free.

Discriminatory behaviour should not be endorsed by the film as a whole.

There may be infrequent sight of drugs misuse in a 12 or a 12A but the portrayal should not be glamorised or provide instructional details.

As our media did not have any drugs, violence, bad language or sexual references/scenes we decided that it will fit a 12a certificate. This is because the music is a the main thing that makes our horror opening have that eerie feel putting the audience at ease and creating suspense. The edits darken the scenes and create a dark atmosphere. Also the dark clothing makes the opening much more dramatic and stereotypically scary and horror related. The way you never see the mans face creates mystery and suspense as it makes him more of a threat. 

Evaluation question 3

A distribution company such as WARP and WARP X would be ideal for our horror opening title this is because I think it would be a great way to introduce our product into the industry. Due to our film being really low budget it would be hard for our film to compare against big blockbusters. In order to come across this we could complete self-promotion. This would consist of creating Facebook pages where trailers and spoilers alerts would be added in order to gain our audience.WARP X is a part of WARP who focuses on digital film, the same as ours.
We could also enter this film into a film festival such as the ‘Student Film Festival Awards’ in order to get funding. These would also help to distribute our film. Funding can be gained from this will the addition of the film getting recognized which will also help with funding and advertising.
We didn't use film when making our opening title this is un common for a blockbuster, film is expensive and we had a very low budget.Many films do not get into cinemas and are not recognized this is because the film industry is very competitive. DCDC would also help this.

Evaluation question 2

Post by me (Ruby Cooper)

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

                                                      Firstly looking at the characters in our opening sequence. 

As you can see our main character featuring in our opening sequence is a young girl. She is stereotypically a vulnerable girl in danger. This character represents her social group by portraying the idea of  young girls being innocent and naive. In a lot of films when the storyline is about a pedophile, its stereotypically known for a man to be stalking a young girl. Young girls are also shown a lot in horror movies as it is seen as creepy and unusual for a girl to act in abnormal ways. In our storyline Rosie is stereotypically your horror conventional 'little girl ghost' who the audience will feel threatened and put on edge by but later on discover that she is the innocent one who was actually the victim. This balances out both stereotypes in horror movies like the Orphan we still wanted to use a young girl as it helps the audience to feel pity and protective over the girl but also make the audience feel scared by her. At the same time a good example of our character Rosie that we want to show towards the end of the storyline is similar to the girl who plays Suzie Salmon in the film The Lovely Bones, this also shows how the use of a young actor is used a lot, helping show it is a well known social group to target when wanting to show youth and naivety. There is also 2 other young girls shown in the opening sequence relating to the same horror conventions as Rosie.

Here is the other main character shown in our opening sequence. Unfortunately our male actor dropped out at short notice so we had to use our editer of the film Mollie Knapp. Although she is not male she played the male role of Rosies stalker. Stereotypically stalkers are male. The sinister old male social group is shown well in this opening with a variety of camera angles never showing his face keeping a low secretive profile at all times like men who act like this would do. This over the shoulder shot shows how he is bent over creeping up behind her like a stereotypical pedophile would. 

Question 1

 Question 1 

I think that our opening sequence links closely to other horror movies that we have researched. Normally horror movies don’t start off as scary and progressively build up suspense and create a enigma. I think we have created this affect well. The use of horror conventions has helped us to achieve this. I think our highlighting skill in our opening is the lighting, when we came to edit the clip we made the lighting black and white which futher pushed the horror film stereotype. As young girls wouldn’t been seen playing out in the woods at night we decided to film them in the early evening but still in daylight to make it believable. When we were editing we decided to change the contrast to give the daylight a unusual eerie atmosphere. We didn’t want it to look like a bright day and realistic as it wouldn’t then be typically horror stylized. I also feel our location fits well for these conventions, the natural surrounding with the big trees creating shadows with the sun. This all helps Rosie look that bit more vunerable, making the audience feel even more sorry for her. We think the opening to the film the Shinning linked well with our opening and how it is in a isolated area and filmed in daylight. The use of slow motion in the opening of the girls skipping in a circle helped to build tention making the audience alert for what may or is about to happen. We have focused on the idea of gender representation a lot, we have done this by making the three girls appear vunderable and and innocent. The clothing they were dressed in helped with the main character Rosie who was wearing a white frilly dress. This is a typical outfit for a girl of her age. Her shoes are silver which also portrays her purity linking her to a angel.

The titles in our film are presented in a different way to most opening titles. This helps to focus the audience on the filming rather than just the text, this also gives the audience time to react on the footage they have just seen. At the end of our opening sequence we run a list of credits with a black background behind the font. We choose to do this to carry on the horror conventions with the colour black been accociated with horror. Although, Our production name and title ‘Rosie’ and ‘MMR productions’ is edited in a professional format similar to the opening titles we have researched. We also looked at a variety of colours that we could use in our font titles and the signifiers from these. In our opening sequence we have sections were the sun is shining through the tree branches we decided to do this to resemble how Rosie is shining through him. Giving the audience a glimpse of hope. But also a there as a constant reminder. The soundtrack used in our opening sequence is still a clear relation to the codes and conventions of a horror film. I believe that the soundtrack is good for creating the eerie uncomfortable atmosphere that we wanted it also helps build up the tension. The soundtrack also fits the storyline well with the use of a nursery rhyme – ‘Ring a ring a Rosie’ but also with the baby laughing and the music box relating to children. The soundtrack is heavily adapted to the situation with the use of unnerving sounds putting the audience at edge. We wanted to keep our audience captivated to keep the suspense continuously endering our audience. I believe we have managed to achieve this with the use of the nursery rhyme – ‘ring a ring a Rosie’ relating to the little girl. This also creates the enigma and further enhances her youth.

The pace of our editing was chosen to be slow to make it appear that  this is a story being told. The slow edit of our clip was used to build tension as this made the audience unsure when something bad was about to arise. This slow editing technique will affect the audience making them gain insight of what is happening as you can clearly see what is happening in each scene. If we were to continue making our film the pace of editing would pick up in the scene when the kidnapping would occur. The soundtrack makes a contrast reminder of the danger Rosie is in using digetic and non digetic sounds. The slow edit also helps the children have even more of a ghostly appearance. This affects the audience by creating suspense and a enigma as it questions the audience to wonder what are these children doing alone and what is about to happen next helping make the opening more dramatic.

Our opening sequence doesn’t strictly follow Todorov’s theory, as we start with a flashback not at the beginning therefore our film does not have a stable equilibrium.

The use of close ups shots follow the horror conventions and codes showing all signs of danger up close to alert the audience.