Group opening sequence evaluation

1^st question: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Our films title ‘euphoria’ completely contrasts to our genre of film and our film itself, the meaning of the word is ‘bliss’, which is a state of being where one experiences happiness, humour or joy. We used it because in a way it can be related to a clown you would find in a circus and since our horror was based around a clown it made sense. As you can see on our group blog when we were planning we looked at many fonts for this title but chose this one, the white font on the black background gives a sort of evil or sinister feel to the title as well as the rest of the film. This is a very effective way of contrasting the film title and the graphology of the film; the black and white colours also contrast as they are opposites which could link show that our clown is different to others.

After discussion we decided that the best setting we could do this film in since we don’t have a circus was woodland as it’s deserted and is separated form any urban areas, also we believe the continuous view of trees give it a feeling that there is no escape for our character. The setting would hopefully let the audience know that this is a horror film and that they felt uneasy about what will happen within the film.

We thought of a few different costumes for our clown but finally settled on a basic normal looking clown, with the typical red nose and wig; I believe that this would give the audience the feeling of uncertainty as they would notice that there is something about the clown that doesn’t seem right. For the main character Jennifer stone however we had to think what a escaped psychiatric would be wearing so we got ragged and dirtied clothes for her costume so that she appeared homeless and alone, we only used one prop for our film and that was the noose, this is usually essential in a horror film as it is a weapon and shows the viewers of our film there will be violence and death within our film.

We made a few additions while editing the film, when it was starting we made it slowly zoom on the main characters psychiatric report while having quick flashes of the clown as if it was lightning, this would give the viewers the feeling that the film will be fast paced which will make them feel on edge and uneasy. Because it was the afternoon when we filmed the opening we had to use some of the effects available on Imovies to make it darker as if it was at night time which could give out a feeling of uncertainty about what may be hiding in the dark. Another effect we used on the film was that we changed the look of the psychiatric reports so they looked aged as if she had been locked away for a very long time, this could gain the character pity from the audience as she had been suffering her nightmare since she was young. The coloured tinting of the film sets the audience to be uneasy as people in modern society are wary and cautious when it comes to things that are strange or different compared to what they are used to. The same technique has been used in many horrors such as 28 weeks later and the paranormal activity series.

In some of the shots like when the main character is running we used a perspective camera as it allows the audience to feel as if they are the ones who are running away as it only allows them to see certain things. This way can make viewers terrified of a film; another film that does this is the paranormal activity and its sequel.

The plot for our film is about a girl called Jennifer stone who suffers a phobia of clowns after a experience that scarred her for life and is mentally terrorised by one clown, she believes that the clown had killed her family and was now after her to finish the job. The idea of the clown is that he was an imaginary friend gone awry, and even though she believes a clown killed her family it was in truth her and this is the reason she was put into the mental institution in the first place. However she has now escaped from the institution and is now on the run from the clown yet it is her imagination, this is where our opening begins. The opening sequence as I said earlier slowly zooms on the reports while there are quick flashes of the clown, the zooming magnifies three words "Psychiatric", "unstable" and "harm".  The flashes are also used as a hint that the clown is what she fears. For coming out of the opening titles and the opening we decided when the shot zoomed on the character’s face that the picture would become animated and as it zoomed out shows the viewers her now and that she is running away from something that terrifies her. When she is running away we see that the clown somehow seems to get closer to her, this shows that there is no escape for her away from her fear, we see the clown put a noose over her head and watch through her point of view as she fades out of consciousness and dies to the title.

The film shows itself to be a horror film due to the many conventions we tried to include within our scene e.g. the flashing images, the creepy music, the effects and the perspective shots.

2^nd question: How does your media product represent particular social groups?

For this question I’m using our films main character Jennifer and comparing her to Nina out of the film black swan. The two characters have a very similar role within the two films, they are both mentally unstable. Jennifer is afraid that a madman dressed as a clown is out to kill her as it apparently killed the rest of her family and Nina is driven crazy by the paranoia that someone who she had beaten to a part in a production is trying to kill her. In the end of both films the characters end their own lives to stop their misery. They both believe that they are been hunted by someone, however it is them that are causing all of the problems; they hallucinate causing them to mix fantasy and reality.

They have very different appearances at the start of the film, Jennifer is dressed in ragged and dirty clothes meanwhile Nina is dressed formally and is quite presentable, however as the film goes on Nina’s appearance gradually becomes more like Jennifer’s which is the typical appearance of someone who is insane. So within this aspect of the film the two characters are similar to each other. If our group had been able to make the complete film we would have started the main body of the film with Jennifer dressed like a normal person as it shows that the character is normal on the outside but unstable inside. This way allows the audience to know what is going on inside the film but not the other characters within the film.

3^rd question: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

The horror genre is a very popular genre in the film entertainment industry, since 1995 only 320 horror films were released in the cinemas in America yet it still came 7^th most grossing genre with over 9 billion dollars in gross income, I think that if Euphoria was released it would be on lower end screenings such as less successful cinemas and on channels such as film4 and horror channel as it doesn’t really strike me as a high grossing film.

4^th question: Who would be the audience for your media product?

For our films target audience I’d range it between mid teens and young adults who enjoy films of the horror genre, and they would be both genders and all races as this film does not contain sexist or racist insults. Though when marketing our film we would aim towards more towards the male side of the market as research has shown that males enjoy horror films more than females. But mainly the people who would come to watch our film would be people that enjoy getting thrills and shocks.

5^th question: How did you attract/address your audience?

The unique selling point of our film would be the mysteriousness of the clown been the supposed villain when actually it was the main character herself. The use of clowns in horror films is very low as clown are not really characters that would by believed to be evil or sinister. When researching, we only found three films that contained clowns that were the evil characters, these were IT, House of 1000 corpses and The devils rejects. We tried to use the music as our signature music like the film Jaws does so that the music starts and ends when the clown appears and disappears.

Although we used an unusual character we used a few conventions that went well with horror films such as the dark setting, the flashes of something and the use of perspective camera shots as well as the storyline. We tried to make the film in accordance to the results of the questionnaires and surveys we had conducted, we had eerie music to add a tense feeling, we also had the main character as the victim but also made her have a hidden dark side, we used a humanoid figure also we used a perspective camera because it makes the audience feel that they are experiencing it in first person as if it was them.

6^th question: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Digital camera: we had to use a camera to film the product and it had digital so we could transfer the video onto the Mac’s, doing this I learned how to use digital cameras as I had had little experience with them beforehand, here is the camera we had used

Excel 2007: we used this to record all of our results from our questionnaires and surveys as it is a very efficient program, i already had a good knowledge of this program and how to use it.

YouTube: we used this website as it contains thing that helped us with research and developing our ideas, I have used this website a lot before so I have a good knowledge of it.

The Macs and I movie: I had to learn how to use these as I have never used these types of computers and programs before yet I managed to get the hang of it quite quickly even though I was used to using a pc.

We all also used blogger: blogger is something none of us had used until we started this course yet it was simple to understand and everybody got the hang of it quickly.

7^th question:

Preliminary task evaluation

Introduction and planning:

We were put into small groups and told that we were to create a short clip, how ever this clip would be specific; we had to include a number of techniques into the film. To help us get an idea of the clip we would be making we were shown a clip made as a typical example of what we had to do so that we would have a clear understanding of what we had to do. The clip we had to make did not have to be complex; it just needed to include all the criteria. My group consisted of four of us; this included me, Jade, Charlotte and Connor. We begun planning initial ideas from ideas we had already thought of during the sessions previous, finally we decided that we would attempt a romance theme to our clip. Now that we had a genre we cast out ideas that could not be made relevant to our genre and began developing the ideas that could still fit within the romance genre. Although our genre was different to any of our original ideas we developed a idea that had one character accidentally bumping into another and making her drop her books and them both reaching to pick up the books, as it is a classic and well known way of putting romance into a scene. We then started thinking of the location it would be set, since we were already in a school environment we decided to use the area outside the science block, we chose this because there is a blind corner where we would be able to stage the accident without making the film too cheesy. Another reason is that there were a lot of areas around where we would be able to place the camera so filming would be easier. The group then set out on preparing the story board for our clip, while doing this we had to consider how we would include the camera angles/shots and the techniques into our film, once we were done we were ready to film.

Filming:

Preliminary screenshot 1

Preliminary screenshot 2

Preliminary screenshot 3

My role within the filming part of the preliminary task was to be an actor, I would have to be the character that causes the collision and would help the girl who was jade. In the first part of the filming I was not needed as we were just setting the scene, we chose that we would have an establishing shot of jade sat at a table getting on with some work, we used a long shot of her doing this then we had a shot of her picking up her books and leaving the scene towards the point where the collision happens. Then it was my turn, we used a panning long shot to show me rushing to get out of the science building and rushing past the camera, then in the first screenshot we used match on action to show me going through the door while texting and been completely oblivious to my surroundings. We then used another long shot to show me heading round the corner still texting and jade coming down the ramp, we then collided and the camera shot changed to a bird’s eye shot of me and jade going down and picking up the books that had fallen to the floor. In the second and third screenshots we decided to use the techniques shot reverse shot and the 180 degree rule, we used these techniques to try and simulate a sort of convocation between the two characters, then me and jade been the charters walked away from the scene of the collision together and went inside another of the school buildings. When making the film we had to consider how we would be framing the clip, and using the camera angles and shot in a way that added a greater effect to the film. Before we started each set of filming we made sure there were the least distractions in our filming as possible as well as trying different positions for the camera so we could get the best shot we could me and jade also were positioned in a way that made us the main focus of the film, we also made sure that me and jade were either in the centre of the shot or slightly off centre. When we did the match on action shot we had to have me and jade on opposite sides of the shot so that the audience would be able to guess what was going to happen next before it had even happened.

Editing:

As a group we decided that we were happy with the result of our time filming, as it went nearly perfectly with what we had originally planned, we also felt that the positioning and angles of the camera well fluently with the film. Even though the group believed we had done a good film, there were some concerns about a few things that happened while filming. One of the first things we noticed weren’t quite right was that the camera flow from scene to scene wasn’t as fluent as we would have hoped, with the filming there wasn’t too much of a problem with keeping the camera steady while filming but we did notice one point where Connor had accidentally shaken the camera slightly. Another point was that I and jade weren’t experienced actors so Connor had made us repeat shots over and over until he was satisfied we had the right shot, the main problem was that me and jade weren’t able to show the emotions that were needed to represent what the characters would have been feeling at that point. The editor for our film was charlotte although the rest of the group contributed to the editing as well, the main part of editing we had to do was shortening our film as it was originally a few minutes long and it was meant to be around half a minute long. As a group I believe that we worked well together, however there were points where there was a slight bit of annoyance, this was when Connor had made me and jade repeat a single scene numerous times but apart from that there were no major problem or disruptions within the group. Even though I have only just started to use video cameras I am quickly gaining confidence when I need to use them and am learning the many functions and settings on the camera. For Imovie it has taken me longer to get used to the Mac as everyday I usually use a pc, so it has taken me a while to get to know the many functions that are on Imovie and how to use it effectively.

The comparison of the openings and the use of horror conventions within two horror films:

For this post in my blog I will be comparing the opening and horror conventions in the film 28 day later to the opening and conventions used in an American werewolf in London.

In the opening of the film 28 days later we are shown a animal research area, with a monkey strapped down watching certain things, this gives an idea of a test been in progress, then a small group of animal activists break into the area where the animal that have been tested on are kept. A scientist warns the activists not to release the animals as they have a virus known as ‘rage’. However the young female activist ignores the forewarnings of the scientist and opens the cage to one of the infected animals and is the first to get attacked and infected by the rabid monkey, this is a typical convention in a horror film, it is known as “damsel in distress” it is where a female character is in trouble and needs to be saved. After this we see the locked up animals get excited as the woman mutates due to the ‘rage’ virus into a zombie and fatally attacks the scientist and her companions ending the scene and showing how the situation within the main body of the film was first started. In this scene there was a great use of suspense that appears to the audience as horrific and terrifying. From the opening scene the viewers know that the scenes ahead in the film will be a number of things such as gruesome, gory, upsetting and violent. There is also a more discreet convention within the opening sequence, earlier I said that there was a monkey that was been experimented on, the televisions show conflicts, violence and emotions such as anger and jealousy. These negative emotions give the audience a taste of what is to come further in the film, this is also very common convention used in horror films.

For the beginning of the opening scene in the film American werewolf in London we are given an oversight of the area where the main event happens, we are shown the Yorkshire moors. A van comes into view and stops to drop off a couple of young American men, the first convention in this horror film is the bad weather, in this case we could see that the moors were foggy, there was a strong wind and judging by the clothes worn by the characters it was cold. Bad weather is a very common convention for horror film as it gives a warning that the film is a reflection of that weather, the next convention in this scene is the music that comes on as they make their way to the pub, the music in a piece played using a piano with a minor key, this gives the audience a sort of sad feeling as if something sad will happen, music is a good convention in a horror film as it sets the mood and prepares the audience for what is to come. When the pair reach the pub we see the sign on the pub, this is the next convention in this scene as the name of the pub is the slaughtered lamb, lamb could be otherwise known as young so gives us a clue that one of the young Americans will be killed, it could also be seen that the lamb/American is sacrificed. The logo is also a convention as it shows a head of a werewolf on a pike/spear, this could be seen as a clue as to what happens in the end of the film.

I believe that due to its use of horror conventions and its slow paced and mysteriously intriguing opening, which leads me to the conclusion that the opening of an American werewolf in London is a better representation of what a horror should be than 28 days later is. Even though I do prefer horrors that are more fast paced and understandable such as 28 days later, I still say that an American werewolf in London is more suited to horror.

The director’s intentions within the films memento and insomnia:

For this task I have been asked to evaluate the intentions of the directors in the opening scene of the films memento and insomnia. All directors though share on main intention, that is to make conventions otherwise known as signs or hints about what the film is about and what the audience can expect. After watching both of these films it is in opinion that both directors do this very well.

When the opening scene in memento starts the viewers see a murder, this hints to the audience of the film main events and that there will be further murders within the later parts of the film. The title ‘memento’ can also be easily linked to the word memory, when the viewers know this and see the mans arms were covered in writing it gives away that the film has something to do with the main characters memory and what kind of person he is. This could also justify why he has pictures of those he has killed. Music is an important convention within film as it sets the mood for the film; the piece of music in memento is a very slow tune which leaves the viewers confused yet intrigued by what might happen next. The music also uses a minor key which when used in films gives a sad or lost feeling to the film, and also hints to the profile or personality of the character. A thriller such as memento uses such music to build suspense within the audience, to build the suspense and make the viewers tense and unsure of what happens next the director will start the music slowly from a quiet volume to a louder volume. In memento they use a string instrument which is well known for use in thriller music because of the effect a stringed instrument has when played on a minor key as it can create a greater suspense within the audience and without suspense a thriller would not be a thriller.

The opening scene for insomnia I found to be more confusing due to its complexity and randomness, and I’m sure an audience would agree. There are sheets of fabric that slowly soak in blood which give clues to murder or violence. But then it shows something that would confuse the audience about the setting of the thriller as it shows us an icy wasteland or tundra, this leaves the audience thinking what is the connection between the blood soaked fabric and the icy tundra. The director uses this to his/her advantage as confusion can be used as a key aspect in films within the horror genre as it excites the audiences mind with suspense as to what will happen next and to discovering the link between the tundra and the fabric so the viewers will be on the edge of their seats. The music in insomnia is a sort of dark piece of music that gives off a mysterious feel to it, it was made by using stringed instruments in a minor key as usual but the director also added base in a minor key. The director does this to make the audience/viewers uneasy and unsettled as if they had insomnia themselves, the director does all this to create and odd and out of place environment to make the viewers suspense and wary.

 Psyco Stills.

In this post I am annotating a few stills from the film 'Psycho' made in 1960 to show an understanding of the signifiers within it.  

The first two stills show the shower is clean and white. this shows innocence and a sense of purity, this make us think of a normal everyday scene, it gives us a feeling safety and security, so it makes us feel like nothing could ever go wrong. The second still shows us that the women is enjoying her time in the shower, she seems to be happy and content, this makes us feel convinced that nothing bad could happen as it is such an innocent scene.

The next couple of stills show a dark image approaching in the background, this gives a feeling of insecurity and intrusion and as it contrast's with the white shower room, just as the white symbolizes innocence and purity, the darkness symbolizes evil, it also symbolizes something wrong or not right, it makes us feel scared and worried for the girl in the shower. Darkness also has an association with death, this makes us really worried for the girl as we feel she be hurt in this next scene. the fact that we can see the dark figure and we can tell that something bad is going to happen, this causes suspense and that makes the audience really intrested to the point where they are on the edges of their seats, because the murderer knows what will happen, the audience knows what will happen but the victum doesn't and it drives the audience crazy but they love it because it is so intresting. 

The next still show the women in the shower seeing the dark figure and screaming, this is not a good sign, it releases any doubts we had that the dark figure could possibly been something harmless now we know she is in danger. 

 

The next still is of the dark figure holding a knife, this shows us she is going to get hurt and the dark figure intends to hurt her. this scares us as we don't know who the dark figure is, it makes us feel insecure as it could be anybody this frightens us.

The next still is of the women in the shower reaching out, this shows her last hope as she reaches out to grab on to anything or anyone to help her. telling by her facial expression this shows the fight is over and shes dying and she knows she has no hope but she reaches out anyway just encase it could help her. 

The last still image from the movie psycho i will be annotating today is of the drain in the shower, this is flushing the blood down and symbolizes the loss of life or waste of life, as she was a very young women who could of done anything with her life and all of her personality and talents have just disappeared as she dies and the drain symbolizes it all going down the drain. This gives the audience a feeling of despair and makes us feel sad for the women and angry at the dark figure, this makes him the villain.

great expectations and pleasantville poster and annotations

Great expectations

This is the first scene in the opening, this picture shows a copy of the great expectations novel by charles dickins. This scene shows the audience that this film is based on a novel, the camera shot is over the shoulder as its looking at the book from the side of someone. The voice gives the idea of someone telling the story to us, and the way the narrator speaks is that of a first person veiw as if it was getting told from a diary or from the very person who is the boy in the novel.

 

this shows the setting of the film in the moors, at the time this film is set, there were alot of prison islands out to sea around briton, the moors were near the ocean. this area of the moors shows the area to be desolate and that there is no one around. There are also hanging posts in this part where the boy runs across, this gives us the idea that there will be criminals involved within the story. the wind is quite strong and coastal areas usually are windy.

This shows the boy walking into the graveyard, the camera shot is a medium shot and it looks as if its like someone is watching the boy walk into the graveyard. The setting is gloomy and the graveyard give the inclination that the boy is in the company of dead men, the gravestone that has the boys parents name on it shows the boy is alone.

ths shot is a close up of the boy as he is getting shaken by the criminal, the criminal is doing this to try to steal what the boy has and gets an apple. the close up of the boy shows his reaction when he is getting shaken up and down. the chains on the criminals legs act as proof that the man is a criminal and the ragged prision clothing shows that he has been in prison for a very long time.

this scene shows the aged face of the criminal as he quickly eats the apple he stole from the boy. the face of the criminal could show the fact that he has been locked up for a very long time. the manner in which he eats the apple shows that the man either the man hasnt had much more than prison food for a very long time or that he is starving after escaping prison.

key media concepts:

• Audiences:
  Mass media organisations exist to attract audiences and make money. We need to consider the way the audience interprets a text, this may depend upon race, gender, age or the class of the individual. 
  Another factor is the context in which the individual consumes the text (e.g. at home or school). Media industries may construct texts, control their circulation and target certain groups but the audience also constructs the text as they take their own meanings and control their own consumption.
• Representation:
  When we look at media texts we will consider the way in which individuals, groups and ideas are presented by the mass media.  Attitudes and beliefs might be reinforced or challenged by representations.  The mass media have a powerful influence on the way a society thinks about particular groups or issues because they present over and over again certain images and assumptions while excluding others.
• Ideology:
  An ideology is an often unconscious set of ideas, which influence the way we think about the world.  We often describe them as common sense ideas that make life workable but this should not disguise their ideological function: the formation of limits on ideas.  When we look at texts we will consider the dominant ideologies that are conveyed and identify where a dominant ideology is being challenged.
• Institutions:
  Institutions that create media texts must be considered.  A film produced by Warner Brothers will have different opportunities and resources to a small film company.  A local newspaper will have a different focus to a national newspaper.  It is important to consider the social, political and cultural context in which the organisation operates.

Forms and Conventions:

• Language:
  When we deconstruct a text we look at the language: the codes and conventions through which the various media texts convey their meaning.
• Narrative:
  Different media texts tell stories in different ways.  The study of narrative is concerned with how the story gets told.  Who is telling the story, to whom, for what reason and with what techniques?  We will be looking at patterns of narrative.
• Genre:
  The concept of genre is concerned with an audience’s expectations and understanding of the construction, style and content of a particular media text.