Friday 26 April 2013

Evaluation of my media product


Evaluation



Our media product follows the conventions of a thriller as the normal protagonist is an innocent, young female and the antagonist is an older male, my product follows this it also follows the convention that the antagonist is stronger than the protagonist, we also incorporated information of the antagonist as in some thrillers the antagonist is a stalker we used that in our product by creating a miniature shrine of the protagonist and placed different snap shots of pictures of the protagonist during the chase scene to shed some light on the antagonist like in ‘Cape Fear’ (1962) in which the antagonist starts stalking his victim. We also used suspenseful, unnerving and intense music during the title sequence this is to build up the tension before seeing any action. In our product we have a chase scene which is a common scene in the thriller genre as the protagonist is on a mission of escape which is almost impossible for the protagonist to do for this scene we have incorporated a dark and slightly aggressive piece of music to match the pace and feel of the chase and to add tension  the chase. For the conventions of a thriller there is normally a murder shown which is what we incorporated within our product with our protagonist getting murdered. Another convention we followed was that thrillers take place in dark, remote and unpopulated areas so we used a walkway by a canal under a bridge also for our media prodcut our opening there is no dialogue we only hear a little of ambient sound which is the protagonists and the antagonists footsteps and the birds and the opening ends at the scream of the protagonist. In some thriller openings a murder is shown which in our media product we have included. We challenge conventions by showing our antagonist in the opening sequence as in the thriller film genre you either see the antagonist later in the move or not at all. In our media product represents young, white females as that is our protagonist which is conventional for the thriller genre and our media product also represents an older white male which is conventional for the antagonist in the thriller genre stereotypical stalker/murderer wearing hoodies, jeans. In our product we did not include another ethnicity group as our protagonist or antagonist just like in ‘The Haunting in Connecticut’ (2009) which is a Horror/thriller film where the main roles of the cast are all white.
 
Our media product is a smaller independent film so for our media product we will need a media institution that has released successful British thriller films so the media institution that might distribute our media product would be e.g. Momentum Pictures which is one of the leading independent motion picture distributers in the UK and has distributed films like ‘Dead Man Down’ (2013) which was released early America this year, ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ (2009) and ‘Insidious’ (2010). This would be an institution that could distribute our product as it is both British and a Thriller. Another media institution that could distribute our film is LionsGate as it is the most commercially successful independent film and television distribution company in North America and the seventh most profitable movie studio, they have released thriller films like ‘American Psycho’ (2000) and Saw The audience for our media product would be people over the age of 12 as the film the film rating for our film would be a 12 as it contains moderate violence. Many thriller films are rated either 15 or over e.g. ‘Along Came a Spider’ (2001) which is rated 15 and also ‘Below’ (2002) which is also rated 15. To be rated as a 15 it could include strong violence, frequent strong language, portrayals of sexual activity, strong verbal references to sex, sexual nudity, brief scenes of sexual violence or verbal references to sexual violence, discriminatory language or behaviour and drug taking. We aimed for any gender as it’s a thriller film mainly males they may be the majority of the audience, we aimed for any ethnicity group even though we only have one ethnic group involved in our product. The social classes our product would be mainly aimed for middle class and those below it as our product is a small independent film and person in upper class would mostly be expected to watch a big budget film with A-list actors involved.
To attract the audience would be from the music and the titles of our opening, as our music is unnerving and suspenseful it would draw the attention of the audience also the title of our film is in a different language and straight to the point of what the film will consist of. Also to attract the audience for our film we could do viral marketing getting inspiration from the viral marketing campaign of ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ (2012) where they had bat drawings around the world, we could have little pictures of our protagonist around the world and then posting where the pictures are on a website and when people find them send a picture into the website also we could have the trailer pop-up when you go on a website such as Yahoo also we could put teaser trailers and the official trailers online. With inspiration of 'The Dark Knight Rises' we could have a product such as they did with Moutain Dew help distribute our product, this would help attract the teenage audince. We could also put on websites fake police reports talking about the killer and the murder to get people interested in the plot of the film. Another way of attracting the audience would be to use QR’s which would normally be on a poster and using a phone app scan in the QR and it would direct you to a website which could consist of the trailer of the film and advertisements for the film. Also we could do traditional marketing where we could have the premiere in London and other big cities, radio interviews with the cast, the actors or directors going on chat shows or interviews in hotels, magazine/newspaper articles on the film, also advertisements on bus stops. If Momentum Pictures did distribute the film they could have their owner Entertainment One help promote the film.
 Using Adobe Premiere for the editing of our media product we learnt how to darken the shots we filmed to make it look like it was filmed in the evening also using the audio transitions when we faded the music also turning the ambient sound down during our chase scene and adding in music, also the best transition to use when fading (Cross Dissolve) in and out of our titles. When looking through the filming we did, using Adobe Premiere we learnt the best transitions for our shots by splicing and putting together shots to see how they looked. Using BlogSpot we learnt how to input videos from YouTube and pictures and screen grabs into our blog. We used a Sony HD camera 1080p and we learned what camera angles and what movements looked best for our scenes, and if to zoom in and out of shots.
Looking back at my preliminary task in which we didn't really know how to operate a camera or which shots would look best for our task, for our media product operating the camera was much easier than before and we applied that in our media project by knowing what camera angles and movements looked most effective for our genre of film. With a good knowledge on the 180-degree rule was very good so we could not confuse the audience if we didn't stick to the rule we applied that to our media product by when filming the side view of the actors running we only filmed on one side and we did not switch to filming on the other side of the actors. From using Adobe Premiere for our preliminary task we had a good idea on what effects and transitions to use for our scenes and importing the music to see what different effects and transitions sounded best.

Wednesday 6 March 2013

Cast

The cast for our media product.
 
Anthony: Antagonist, Killer, Brother. - No props needed
Emma: Protagonist, Sister. - No props needed

Tuesday 5 March 2013

Role Allocation


Role Allocation

Director: Emma Percival & Danielle Elliott

Producer: Danielle Elliott & Emma Percival

Writer: Emma Percival

Cameraperson: Danielle Elliott

Actors:

Protagonist: Emma Percival

Antagonist: Anthony Percival

Sunday 3 March 2013

Script for our media product

The script for our media product (Interfectorem)

Emma will run across the walk path of the canal while Anthony as the killer will chase after her.
In between the shots of the running there will be shots of pictures of Emma during her childhood that the antagonsit (Anothony) has collected for his personal collection.
Once Emma & Anthony have ran under the bridge that is when Anthony catches Emma.
As soon as he's grabbed Emma, Emma wil scream.
The shot will then go straight to the pictures of Emma with the tiltle of them film over the shot.

The plot for our media product

The plot for our media product (Interfectorem)

 
 
A young teenage girls brother holds his sister close to his heart, collecting pictures of her during their childhood he has created a miniture shrine for her. Following her on her way back home, seeing the look on his face, it scares the girl and a chase starts between the two the brother soon catches his sister and results in killing her. Is this the end to his killings or is this just the begining?

Friday 1 March 2013

Mind-map for a thriller

 
A mind-map for a thriller, with inspiration from a newspaper article.
 
 

Friday 22 February 2013

Questionnaire Results

Results from questionnaire.

I created 10 questionnaires of the horror genre. I then asked 10 people to fill in my questionnaire, after I had collected all of them in, I then made a tally chart for my results, then proceeded to make pie charts for the answers. The reasons for creating a questionnaire were so that i could get different preferences of what people like to see in a horror film. The results are shown below:

 Question 6 is not in a pie chart as there was no other answers given on this question.


Friday 15 February 2013

Research into the Thriller Genre


Research on the Thriller Genre


Thriller and suspense films: These are types of films known to promote intense excitement, suspense, a high level of anticipation, ultra-heightened expectation, uncertainty, and nerve wracking tension. Thriller and suspense films are virtually synonymous and interchangeable categorizations, with similar characteristics and features.
A Genuine thriller is a film that relentlessly pursues a single-minded goal- to provide thrills and keep the audience cliff-hanging at the ‘edge of their seats’ as the plot builds to a climax. The tension usually arises when the main character(s) is placed in a menacing situation or mystery, or an escape or dangerous mission from which escape seems impossible. Life itself is threatened, usually because the principle character is unsuspecting or unknowingly involved in a dangerous or potentially deadly situation. Plots of thrillers involve characters which come into conflict with each other or with outside forces – the menace is sometimes abstract or shadowy.
Thrillers are often Hybrids – there are lots of varieties of suspense-thrillers:
  • ·         Action or adventure thrillers
  • ·         Sci-fi thrillers (Alien 1979)
  • ·         Crime–caper thriller (The French Connection 1971)
  • ·         Western thrillers (High Noon 1952)
  • ·         Film Noir thrillers (Double Indemnity 1994)
  • ·         Romantic Comedy thrillers (Safety Last 1923)

Another closely-related genre is the horror film genre (E.g. Halloween 1978), also designed to elicit tension and suspense, taking the viewer through agony and fear. Suspense-thrillers come in all shapes and forms: there are murder mysteries, private eye tales, chase thrillers, women-in-danger films, courtroom and legal thrillers, erotic thrillers surreal cult-film soap operas, and atmospheric, plot-twisting psychodramas. Thrillers keep the emphasis away from the gangster, crime, or the detective in the crime related plot, focusing more on the suspense and danger that is generated.
Characters in thrillers include convicts, criminals, stalkers, assassins, down-on-their-luck losers, innocent victims (often on the run), prison inmates, menaced women, characters with dark pasts, psychotic individuals, terrorists, cops and escaped cons, fugitives, private eyes, drifters, duplicitous individuals, people involved in twisted relationships, world-weary men and women, psycho-fiends, and more. The themes of thrillers frequently include terrorism, political conspiracy, pursuit, or romantic triangles leading to murder.

Reference: http://www.filmsite.org/thrillerfilms.html 

Research into the Horror Genre


Research for the Horror Genre



Horror films go back as far as the onset films themselves. From the earliest days people use their vivid imaginations to see ghosts in shadowy shapes, to be emotionally connected to the unknown and to fear things that are improbable. Watching a horror film gives an opening into scary world, into an outlet for the essence of fear itself, without actually being in danger. There is a very real thrill and fun factor in being scared or watching disturbing, horrific images.
Horror films, when well done and with less reliance on horrifying special effects, can be extremely potent film forums, tapping into peoples dream states and the horror of the irrational and unknown, and the horror within man himself. In horror films, the irrational forces of chaos or horror invariably need to be defeated, and often these films end with a return to normalcy and victory over the monstrous.
The earliest horror films were Gothic in style- meaning that they were usually set in spooky old mansions, castles, or fog-shrouded, dark and shadowy locales. Their main characters have included “unknown” human, supernatural or grotesque creatures, ranging from vampires, demented madmen, devils, unfriendly ghosts, monsters, mad scientists, “Frankensteins” “Jekyll/Hyde” dualities (good against evil), demons, zombies, evil spirits, arch fiends, Satanic , villains, the “possessed”, werewolves and freaks to even the unseen, diabolical presence of evil.
Horror films developed out of a number or sources: folktales with devil characters, witchcraft, fables, myths, ghost stories, melodramas, and Gothic or Victorian novels. In many ways, the expressionistic German silent camera led the world in films or horror and the supernatural, the established its cinematic vocabulary and style. Many of the early silent classics would be remade during the talkies era.

Reference: http://www.filmsite.org/horrorfilms.html

Wednesday 30 January 2013

Research Into Excisting Products

Christian Metz's Model Of Genre Development.
  
Experimental - Early films which explored and experimented with horror films.
Classic - The phase of films which established the narrative conventions of the horror genre in its most succesful and defining period.
Parody - Films that have mimiked the horror genre in some comical way.
Deconstruction - Taken generic elements of the horror genre amalganated them into varifying sub genre.

Experimental films:
The Cabinet Of Dr Caligari (1919)

 
 German silent horror film directed by Robert Wiene. One of the most influential of German Expressionist
films.








Nosferatu (1922)
German Expressionist horror film directed by F.W Murau. An unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula with the name and other details changed.






Classic Films:
Dracular (1931)
Vampire-horror film directed by Tod Browning starring Bela Lugosi. Produced by Universal. Based on the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker.






Frankenstein (1931)
 Horror monster film from Universal Pictures directed by James Whale and adaoted from the play by Peggy Edbling which is based on the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.








Parody Films:
Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein (1948)
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein.jpg
 American comedy horror film directed by Charles Burton. Distributed by Universal Studios.







Carry On Screaming (1969)
 The twelth Carry On film. Last of the series made by Anglo-Amalgamated before the series moved to The Rank Organisation.









Scary movie (1999)
 Horror comedy spoof film directed by Keenen Ivory Wayans. It is an American dark comedy which heaviy parodies the horror, slasher and mystery genres.
Deconstrution Films:





Se7en (1995)
 American thriller film directed by David Fincher and distributed by New Line Cinema.










Scream (1996)
 American slasher film directed by Was Craven, distributed by Dimension Films.










Blair Witch Project (1998)

American psychological horror film written and directed by Daniel Myrick & Eduardo Sánches. Produced by Haxan Films.








The Sixth Sense (1999)
American psychological horror/drama written and directed by M. Knight Shyamalan. Distributed by Hollywood Pictures.

Monday 28 January 2013

Analysis of the opening of Just Like Heaven

Analysis of the opening of Just Like Heaven.



The story line for just Like Heaven is Elizabeth Masterson (Reese Witherspoon), a dedicated doctor in San Francisco, has almost no time for anything. When her sister with 2 children sets her up on a date, she gets into a tragic car crash and gets put into a coma. Meanwhile, a landscape architect named David Abbott (Mark Ruffalo) moves into San Francisco and coincidentally, into Elizabeth's apartment while its for rent. While at the apartment, Elizabeth's spirit haunts him. She doesn't remember who she is, who her family is and what she did - All that she remembered was her apartment and where everything was. To settle the arguments, David agrees to figure out who Elizabeth really is. when they get close to figuring out who she is, they eventually find love with one another and as they finally know who she really is, they learn that fate really has put them both together.


The opening of Just Like Heaven starts off with a background of clouds and backing music which is song called Just Like Heaven sang by Katie Melua. The text and titles of the actors and the film title were pink,blue,yellow,green these colours fit with the genre of romantic comedy but it would not fit the genre of horror or thriller. 


In the first scene the setting we see is a variation of heaven with flowers everywhere with warm colours, there is a woman sitting there (Reese Witherspoon) she looks like a girl out of a fairy tale as she is looking wistful. When we here 'Just Like A Dream' from the song there is a jump cut to a girl day dreaming who we can tell from her clothing that she is a doctor, the girl is a pretty white blond girl, which is conventional to the romantic comedy type of actress.


As she is working there is light and airy music, she is not the stereotypical blond as she is very smart, you can tell she really cares about her patients, this states that she does not have a social life and that gets confirmed when she's in the bathroom with the other women who are either married or have children, and they state that she has neither, this is represented as a bad thing and that all the other women have moved on apart from herself. 


We then see who Elizabeth (Reese Witherspoon) is talking to on the phone who we find to be her sister Abby (Dina Waters) who's character is completely different compared to Elizabeth as she is a stay home mom with a husband.   

Friday 25 January 2013

Analysis: Opening of Halloween

Opening of Halloween



The film Halloween was made in 1978 directed by John Carpenter and its genre is horror.
It is set in the fictional suburban town of Haddonfield, Illinois USA on Halloween.
The plot is a psychotic murderer institutionalized since childhood escapes on a mindless rampage while his doctor chases him through the streets.
The film was made on a budget of $320,000 and grossed $47 million at the box office.
Critics credit the film as the first in a long line of slasher films inspired by Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960).
Halloween the film contains little graphic violence and gore.

The Title colours are red with a black background, still on the title they start to change colour from red to orange to yellow that shows fire and that represents pain, suffering and because its Halloween pumpkins.
Still with a black background the titles continue but are now on the right side of the screen and they are fading in and then fading out. On the left side of the screen there is a pumpkin then the camera starts to forward track into the pumpkin until you can just see the right side of the pumpkin. the last title to come up is 'Directed by John Carpenter' on its own as he was the director. The music fades out as we move onto a caption screen of Haddonfield, Illinois and then shows another caption shot of Halloween night 1963.
During the caption screens there is a sound bridge of children singing a Halloween song. As that finishes there is an extreme long shot of a white house. The camera angle is a POV shot of somebody looking through the  window of the house watching the sister and her boyfriend inside as they head upstairs. During this time the sound is ambient with the sound of crickets. When the POV shot goes back to the front of the house and looks up at the bedroom window as the lights turn of there is a non-diegetic constant high pitch sound. The POV of the person we see goes into the house by the back door and get a knife out of the kitchen draw and then carries on to the stars but hides when the boyfriend comes back downstairs, after he leaves, the person carries on upstairs, finds a discarded clown mask he puts this on so all we can see now it what is through the 2 eye holes in the mask. As the person is walking up the stairs a clock starts to chime which could represent that someones time is running out. As the person walks into the bedroom where the sister is he turns to look at the bed which has ruffled bed sheets also that the sister is naked which shows that her and the boyfriend had sex. The person then goes up to the sister and repeatedly stabs her with the knife. The person then heads down the stairs and out the door to the car that pulls up to the drive and stop as they reach the people getting out the car. The man that gets out the car is the father of the girl, he walks up to the person with the knife and says the name Michael which we find to be the persons name, as the father takes of Michael's clown mask we find him to be a young boy about 10 years old and that also he is the brother of the girl he killed. There is a crane shot of the boy and his parents as its a twist as we think its a grown man that is the killer but we find that its not to finish the opening it cuts to black. 

Friday 11 January 2013

Analysis: Opening of The Dark Knight Rises.


The Dark Knight Rises opening analysis:


At the start of the Dark Knight Rises the Warner Bros, DC Comics, Legendary Pictures and Syncopy Films logo's appear the style of the logo's match the theme of the movie as the texture is metallic and stone-like. The colours they use are black and dark blue as they are atmospheric and eerie and are also keeping with the theme and mood of the film, the non-diegetic music they use is dark and sets the tone of the mood. There is a shot of ice cracking and becoming the shape of a bat and this shows that batman is coming back to life. There is also a sound bridge of commissioner Gordon and this is the fist time we hear him speak in the movie, and this is also a scene from the Dark Knight so its showing a flashback so this is linking the two movies together. The director Christopher Nolan has shown arrogance when making the film as he has not shown the title of the film which is the Dark Knight Rises which could show that it is a big enough film so everyone should know what the title is and who is staring in it as is the 3rd in the Batman trilogy. During the plane scene as the CIA agent is taking off Banes hood, he is at a lower angle than Bane, showing that Bane has more dominance over him in this situation. The non-diegetic music that plays all through out the scene on the plane comes to a stop just before Bane presses the button the release the CIA plane.

Analysis: Opening of Seven

Se7en opening analysis:

In the opening of Se7en the first thing we see is a man getting ready for work we find out later he is Detective Somerset (Morgan Freeman). While he is getting ready for work he is standing in darkness this could represent that he is bad. There is a chess table which shows that he is patient and methodical. He's standing in a room that has no colour which is a stereotype that there are no women and children living with him. The sound is diegetic so you can here is people loudly talking. The setting is urban, everything the detective carries around with him is placed out in order, this shows that the detective may have OCD. We can see that he may have had an army background as the bed is made perfectly like it should be if you were in the army. Colours are all neutral. iconography of a classic detective. When we see Detective Mills (Brad Pitt) his character is scruffy, normal white shirt but creased and a leather jacket which could represent that he's rebellious. The sound effect is a thunderstorm which could mean that something is going to happen so its the calm before the storm.