In our opening we tried to reflect
the conventions of a generic
horror by including typical
features such as; a death/death
scene, a weapon, isolated setting,
low key lighting etc.
Firstly, unlike most horrors we
strayed away from the typical
choice of weaponry, for example a
kitchen knife, to that of a shovel.
Although kitchen knives are used
because they’re easily accessible,
we felt using an unusual object
would not make the audience
instantly suspicious of the killer.
Soundtrack – We used
“Garageband” to create our
soundtrack which accompanies
the majority of our opening. The
music enabled us to replace any
unwanted background noise that
the camera may have picked up
on, therefore challenging the
typical use of diegetic sound,
commonly used in horror films to
make them more believable.
Originally we were to use heavy breathing of the victim as she was running to enhance the feeling of
helplessness to the audience, however we could not solely isolate this sound effectively so we discarded this
idea and muted all sound in the opening to maintain continuity.
Setting – We chose the setting of
the woods mainly due to its
isolated and claustrophobic
nature, this is also a place where
someone is most likely to get lost
and therefore feel utterly helpless.
Because we were filming during
the day, rather than at night, the
trees helped to block out most of
the natural light and make us appear
to have low-key lighting.
Effects - We placed a filter over the chosen shots to be used in our final opening, this was the only editing we did as it is usually action films that require a lot of editing. The filter involved removing a lot of colour from the shots without making it black and white, we did this to achieve a bleak setting and hence foreshadow a bleak ending to the victim. It was also to reflect a lot of horror films (in particular Shrooms) that use blue filters to remove emotion from the shots.
Todorov’s Theory –
1) An equilibrium (everything is calm, no disturbance)
2) A disruption of said equilibrium.
3) Recognition that the equilibrium has been disturbed.
4) An attempt to restore the equilibrium.
5) Restoration of the equilibrium resulting in a new equilibrium.
We reflect this theory in our opening through the narrative,
for example the beginning would be the
equilibrium where the female is walking along casually, noticing she is being followed would be the
disruption, recognition of the disruption would be the chase scene -
penultimately ending with the
suggested death scene. Much like horror films our
opening ends with and unresolved equilibrium,
creating an enigma so as the audience want to continue watching - curiousity provoking.
Propp’s Theory - This explains the structure of the
characters in a film, for example; the hero, the
Villain, the princess etc. In this instance, our victim
is classed as the “princess”, as she is the typical
female in distress.
The killer is classed as the “villain”, the character
whom usually is the main threat to the“princess”.
We enforced this idea through the use of costume,
gender representation, and camera shots/angles.
Uses and Gratification – Throughout our horror
opening we allow the audience to relate to our
characters, mainly because they are of similar age to
the target audience. Also, due to props and
costume, the opening reflects modern day society.
However, the audience is able to escape from their
everyday life as they are thrown into an unusual
situation that more often than not won’t ever
happen to them. On the other hand, although
unusual, the situation is highly realistic.
How does your media product represent particular
social groups?
In particular, our opening portrays a very
stereotypical view of gender as the female victim is
depicted playing a vulnerable role - this i
emphasised via the role of a dominant male killer.
Our representation of teenagers is reflected
through props and costume rather than narrative.
For example, the victim is wearing a “hoodie” and
jeans, these clothes are a very typical casual image
of this age group.
The killer is also wearing similar clothing to the
victim, however, the colours are darker and less
vibrant.
The killer also wears his hood up whereas the victim
does not, this makes him anonymous. This factor
greatly reflects modern society’s suspicions about
“hooded youths” and we are reflecting this as well
as creating realism from it.
What kind of Media Institution Might Distribute your Media Product?
The production company we chose for our opening
was 'New Line Cinema'. We chose this company
because of the types of horror films they have
produced, such as 'A Nightmare on Elm Street' and
'Friday 13th', both examples display a lead male
killer and usually female victims. We feel therefore
this company's experience in the horror genre will
effectively support our opening. Because they are
so successful they would easily be able to fund our
film if it were to be continued.
The New Line Cinema logo is displayed at the start of our horror opening so the expectations of the film are raised as the audience perceive the film to be as good as others released by the company. This also offers great publicity for our company to people who may not have heard of them.
Alternatively, due to the fact our opening is such
low budget, we do not see it as a “blockbuster” film
because it lacks the effects. However, it is still
entertaining enough to be shown on TV on channels
such as “Film 4” whom play every genre of film
regardless of their popularity. If it were to be shown
on TV, because of its BBFC age rating it would have
to be shown after the watershed as the content is
not suitable for underage children, therefore it may
be played as a late night horror film.
To keep up with modern society, internet media
institutions could also distribute our film as from
there it would reach our target audience easier and
would be cheaper, the main example being
“YouTube”.
Who Would be the Audience for your Media Product?
Our product would be aimed at 15-30 year old
males, we chose this gender in particular because
they are the most likely to watch horror films.
However nowadays, girls are equally as likely to
watch horror films too as they enjoy the thrill of
being frightened. We also chose this age range because teenagers and young adults dominate the cinema world, in particular horrors, and would offer a higher income on our film than the older generation and especially children younger than 15.
We assumed our film to be an age rating of “15”
due to it containing a level of violence and horror unsuitable for
anyone below this age. However, we feel it will not
be gory enough to receive an 18 age rating
from the BBFC, because as shown in our opening
the killing was hinted at and not shown.
There is also a level of underlying fear produced in
our opening that may affect or influence younger viewers,
again reinforcing our beliefs that the film will
receive an age certificate of “15”.
How did you attract/address your audience?
Our title "Reminiscence" does not instantly give away that the film is of the horror genre, however a mysterious title such as that would provoke curiousity as to what the film entails.
The production company we used would attract the target audience for our film as New Line Cinema are popular for the production of horror films, their reliable nature as a company foer producing successful films would also be an attracting factor.
After researching into horrors we found
the target audience is attracted to watch them
because of the feeling of being scared yet still
remaining safe (adrenaline rush). We tried to reestablish this by
starting our opening with an everyday setting and
then progressing towards a more
isolated area. Using the editing
features on “Imovie”
we attempted to replicate the
blue filter that is commonly used
for this genre of film, for example
“Pulse”.
After showing the opening to our
peers for criticism , we received
positive comments involving
the filter, fast paced editing, a
clear storyline and a good variety
of camera shots. So from this we
continued much in the same
direction as it seemed to create
the right effect upon our
audience. Although our peers
liked the rough cut, we
experimented further with the
soundtrack and the order of our
shots. This was mainly due to the
negative feedback that our
opening was too short.
The female victim, being an attractive young girl, will attract male audiences as she will be voyeuristically pleasing for them to watch, girls of a similar age will also be able to relate to this character and feel more scared with the events that happen to said character.
Our narrative is also instantly engaging as the fast paced shots and rhythmic soundtrack add tension to the scene and throws the audience straight into the action of it all.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing the product?
During my GCSE media studies we
used;
-A video camera & tape
-Video Studio 8 to edit our film
clips
-Copyrighted songs as our
soundtrack.
At A-Level we used;
-A video camera & SD card
-A tripod
-”I-Movie” to edit our film clips
-”Garageband” to create our
soundtrack
I found the transition from GCSE
to A-level very easy to adjust to
because I knew what to expect
having done the subject before,
this is also because the new
software was easy to adapt to
(although a little tricky at times).
This time round being given a
tripod helped to film steady shots
and give a sharper more
controlled clip. The SD card
stored a lot more film which we
could delete off if we were not
happy with it. Using a tape
limited how long we could film
for and we had to often get the
filming right first time round so as
not to waste the tape’s storage.
However the layout of the Apple
Mac computers I found hard to
navigate as the lack of a right
click on the mouse made
everything long winded.
Looking back to your preliminary task, what do you feel that you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
In our opening the 180 degree
rule is maintained easily as the
victim is obviously in
front of the killer for most of the
opening. The only part where this
is changed is when the killer
overtakes the victim and hides,
however the 180 degree rule is
reinstated once the victim runs
past and the chase starts again.
We also used match on match
shots to establish continuity, this
helped prevent the audience
from becoming confused as they
knew exactly where each
character was running from and
to.
