Final Copy

Here is the final cut of our film opening:

Evaluation Question 1

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
 

We feel that our media film opening product uses, develops and challenges forms and conventions of real media products. We have done this in a variety of different ways. I have explained below how we have done this.

In order for us to create a horror film, we had to include the most common horror film conventions. We successfully did this by using a weapon. The first way our film uses a convention from a real media product, is a weapon. A weapon is commonly used in films for the villain to kill his/her victim. We used a knife in our opening, this can first be seen in the very first scene, when the villain is choosing which knife to take from the draw. We used this form of convention, because the villain in our opening, is shown to have an obsession with women, as he is seen stalking his victim and killing her, so the weapon used is a common household item that everyone can easily get hold of.  We also used this convention because we wanted the audience to feel threatened, as they can see what a common household item can do, when placed in the wrong hands. Weapons can be seen in many horror films, such as The Shining, which used an axe and Friday the 13th which used a sword. 

Another very stereotypical form and convention, we used in our film opening was an alley.  We used an alleyway because it was an isolated area which creates a build up of tension for the audience, as the they do not know what will happen at any time. Even though the alleyway can be seen coming from a main road a  well populated area, we can only see the main two characters throughout the opening.We did this to make the alley more tense and bring a the audience a sense of fear, as there is only two people being shown, so no one is around to help if anything happens. The alley is also shown to be very long and curvy with large trees and bushes running along both sides, this helps to make the location feel eerie and a sense of tension, as it also shows how alone they are down the alleyway. 

  

Another way we have successfully used forms and conventions of real media products, is through non-diegetic sound (music). We used a piece of uncopyrighted music called "The House on the Hill", from a website Purple-Planet, which provides uncopyrighted music. We used this music from the start to the end, using sound effects during the opening to enhance some scenes. This music creates added tension and suspense to the film opening throughout, as the music speeds up and suddenly stops when they are walking up the alleyway. This is also creating a sense of fear for the audience as they know that something is going to happen. It is also important to create suspense and using eerie music, as it captures the audience's attention within the first few minutes of the film. One of the most famous pieces of music used in a horror film, to create tension and suspense is Jaws.

Another way we successfully used forms and conventions of real media products, is through using narrative theory, especially Vladimir Propp. According to Propp, each character has a narrative function that provides a structure for the text.   Propp also states that each film has a Villain, the teenage Boy in our opening and a Victim the teenage girl.
Propp also stated that there were 31 narrative functions that are commonly used in films, in our film opening we used some of them, however we haven't included some of them as they have been missed out.  

1.  Absentation - A member of a family leaves the security of the home environment. (The teenage girl leaves home to go out).
2. Violation of interdiction - The interdiction is violated (villain enters the tale). This generally proves to be a bad move and the villain enters the story, although not necessarily confronting the hero. Perhaps they are just a lurking presence or perhaps they attack the family whilst the hero is away. (The villain can be seen getting ready to go out and kill someone as we can see a knife and him pulling up his hood).
3. Reconnaissance - The villain (often in disguise) makes an active attempt at seeking information trying to actively capture someone. (Villain is on his phone outside her house).
4. Villainy or Lack - Villain causes harm/injury to family member. The villain causes some kind of harm, for example carrying away a victim. (Villain kills the teenage girl).

A way that we can see that we have used Vladimir Propp in our opening is by looking at previous horror trailers. So I looked at 'Cabin in the Woods'. Here we can see the seven different characters

One way we have challenged forms and conventions of real media products, is that our film opening is based during the day, instead of at night. Most horror film killings take place at night, this is because it brings it brings a more sense of fear to the audience and that it is also easier to create a more tense atmosphere. One reason why we filmed during the day, was because we didn't think that young teenage girl would walk down a dark alleyway at night on her own, as she would properly walk the long the way and miss out the alleyway or she would get a lift. This made our film opening more realistic to the audience and also more relate able to our target audience. Another reason why we filmed during the day, was because we knew that the quality of our film would be greater during the day as the lighting would be more suited to our camera, and the footage would not show up. 

Evaluation Question 6

What have we learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

 

http://prezi.com/ovnpcdfvh7xl/untitled-prezi/

 

Final Storyboard

Evaluation of New Credits in Film Opening

Due to some of the feedback from the viewing of our opening, we noticed that our credits got most of the negative points from our film, because of this we have now changed and put more credits in to make it look like a more professional film opening. Below I have added the new credits that I have inserted into our credits, I have also analysed them to show why we chose them and what we have changed from the original credits. 

Originally we had Enigma and Flash Productions Presents all on three different shots. The text was in a white bold writing in Helvectia Neue in size 24. It was also in the middle of our film opening, after the names of the people starring in our opening and just before the title. From the research I could see that these production companies and distribution companies are the first credits shown at the beginning of a film. I also changed the credits by merging them into one credit instead of having three different ones.

In our original credits we didn't have a production name, this is a commonly used credit in film openings. So because of this we included it in our film opening. We choose the name Toby Lerone, because we wanted a name that was very original and people would remember. The credit appears suddenly into the shot and then disappear again once the frame is over. We used a pull focus, this brings the attention of the audience to the credit, however we can still the boy pull over his hood in the background. 

This is another new credit that we didn't have in the original credits. I also found in the research that most films have the name of the person who the film is by to tell the audience and to keep them interacted. This is because they also have someone to read as well as watching the opening. I choose to put this credit in this shot, because there was space, as the girl was mainly focused on the right hand side of the screen. 

We kept the girls name in our credits, however we moved it to being the fourth credit shown in the opening instead of the first. This is because most films have their starring actors names after who the film is by and the production companies. I thought that this was a good place to put this credit, as this shot showed the girl coming out of the house, because of this there was space on the bottom right hand corner for the name, so it wasn't covering up any important details in the opening. 

We also kept the boys name in the credits, however we changed it so it wasn't over his face. I thought that this was a good place to put to the credit, because we moved it to when photos of his future and past victims appeared. This is the fifth credit that appears in the opening, after the girls name. It also appears in the gap between the photos, so it's covering up the gap and not hiding any important details.




For our opening to look like a professional film opening, we added more actors names into the film. We also did this because, in this shot it was quite lengthy and not very much happening in it, so I decided to put two actors names in it, to make it more interesting for the audience to watch. I put the credits on the bottom right hand corner, as this was  the place on the shot that had the less amount of information shown. 

This was the most difficult credit to do, as it was the main title of our film opening. We put it over the shot of the girl walking past the wall, as we felt this was the best place to put it as it was just a long shot. We used a pull focus for the main title, so this brings the attention of the audience to the title, however you can still see the girl walking past behind the title. It also fades in wen she just comes in shot and fades out when she is about to walk out of the shot.

From watching example film openings, I could see that they 
included other actors and actresses names that were also in 
the film. However as ours is only an opening not a full film, 
I made up names to include in our credits. This was to make 
the opening looking more professional and also to fill up
space in the shots. In the first credit shown on the right,
we added the name Scarlet Jones, this is shown as a single                                     credit, however the second credit on the right is shown with two names. This is because many films show more than one actors 
name in the same shot. 

We also added the credit Director of Photography into our credits, as we didn't have this credit in the original one. We choose director of photography because it is commonly used in film openings and also because it is an important credit to have. We choose to have it over this shot as there is space on the left hand corner of the shot, as it's not covering up anyones face or important details in the shot.

In our film opening, we also added Music by. This is because it is commonly used in film openings and we have music in our opening, so we thought that it would appropriate for us to use Music By. We choose to put it in this shot, as it was a long shot with not much happening in it. It was also best place to put it, as there was a lot of space to put as the shot is a medium to long shot. 

                                                        

When watching example film openings, we noticed as a group, that the credit Casting By, appeared in almost all of them, because of this we decided to put it in our film opening, to make it look more professional. We choose to put it in this shot, as there was enough room in the bottom right hand corner of the shot to do so. 

                                                         

In our original credits, we had all our names under the credit directed and edited by with our names each on a different shot afterwards. However as we changed our credits, we just put one of our names, under Edited by. This was because we put the other three names in different credits, and also to make it look more professional and more like a film opening. We also moved the directors credit to the end. 

                                                            

The last credit we added into our film opening, that we didn't have in our original one is, Written By. We added this as we thought this was an important credit to have in our opening, as its one of the main credits in a film opening. As we had already used our own names in the film opening, we created a name which we could include. Its's in this shot because it's the last shot, in our film opening before the end, where we were able to fit in a credit. We also choose this because it's not covering up anything, that needs to be seen. 

This is the very last credit in our film opening, it is also the last shot as well. From looking at examples of film openings, we found that the directors name goes at the end. We wanted people to notice the directors name, so we put the credit on a black screen, that would make the credit stand out. We faded out the credit, one it was finished to make it look like it was going onto the next scene. We also choose to put his credit last, as the director has big influence on the type of audience that watch the films, so we wanted to draw people in, with this credit. 


We have used the same font throughout our film opening, Helvectia Neue. This was because we wanted to make the film opening more professional and presentable. We also have the names of the production/distribution companies and names of the actors or crew in red, to make it stand out from the background. The job description is in white but in a smaller size than the names, because we wanted to make it stand out also, but differently to the names. Overall we have used 15 credits in our film opening. 

Questionnaire Feedback

On Thursday 14th March, Year 12 + 13 media groups gathered together to watch the film openings of Year 12 groups.  As posted before, we made questionnaires for everyone to fill in so we could see what we needed to improve and also what they liked.  The feedback that we received was very helpful, and we also got some ideas as to what we could improve.  Coincidently, the feedback of improvements was similar which showed consistency throughout our film opening.  Below we have included some of the feedback:

From this feedback, we are able to make any changes to our opening sequence that we feel will improve it.  A lot of the improvements mentioned are of the same action or in the same frame, which therefore makes it easier for us to edit.  To have this sort of feedback is very useful, and we will be aiming to try and change it before our deadline on Wednesday 20th March.

Character Profile

In our film opening we choose to have two characters in it. One is a teenage girl and the other is a teenage boy who is a serial killer and stalks his victim before he kills. The teenage girl we used in film opening is called, Georgia Read-Smith. As a group we felt that Georgia was the correct person for the role, because she did drama for GCSE where she gained an A* for her performance. This shows that she is a dedicated and reliable person to use for our media.

Georgia plays a teenage girl who is leaving the house and is about to meet up her friends. However she is unaware that she is being stalked until the last moment before her death, when she is walking through the alleyway. 

Also in our opening we have a teenage boy who turns out to be serial killer who stalks all his victims before he kills them. During the film opening we can see that he stalks his victims by standing outside their house and also keeping tabs on them by creating a map and posting photos of his victims on it. For this we chose to use Gareth Austin. This is because we felt that Gareth would be reliable and would always be available to use as he is part of Enigma.

 

Improved Cut

This is our improved cut of our opening sequence.

Characters Costumes

Characters Costumes in film Opening

For the girls clothes, we took some time in thinking what would be appropriate for her to wear. This is because we wanted the character to be smart casual, as she is on her way to meet up with friends in the evening.

• She is wearing a blue and white stripped blazer for two reasons. The first is that its cold outside so she is wearing one instead of a coat and second it also smartens up her casual jeans and t-shirt style. This makes her look presentable, yet fashionable.
• She is also wearing ankle boots instead of pumps or trainers. This is because black ankle boots can smarten or make an outfit look casual. However in this case we choose it to make it look more formal. 
• The girl is also wearing light grey jeans. This is because are a casual item of clothing and they work well for this outfit. 
• Her scarf symbolises that it is a cold and windy afternoon. Therefore she is wearing to keep herself warm and not get a cold. 
• Finally she is wearing a plain blue t-shirt. This is because we wanted her outfit to also be casual and thought that a t-shirt is the beast casual item of clothing. It is also blue to go with the rest of her outfit. 
• The lighter colours are to show her innocence and to make the blood show up well on screen, on her clothing.

For the males clothing in the film opening, it was a lot easier to decide what he should wear than the girl. This is because we wanted the character to wear all black. This is because stereotypically stalkers wear head to foot in black, with a black hood or mask. However if the character wore a mask it would bring to much attention to him, causing someone to notice and blow his cover. We show his face so that his angered or blank expression makes him seem like he has killed before.

• The character is wearing a black coat with a hood and a grey jumper with a hood on as well. He is also wearing black jeans and trainers. This represents two things. The first is that it shows the weather is cold and windy outside so he has to layer up and the second that he doesn't want to be seen, so he covers most of himself up. 
• Black is thought of being evil, scary and mysterious. This is another reason why he is wearing the colour. he also seems like a shadow.

Examples of opening credits in Horror Films

From our first cut, we noticed that we had to change our credits in our opening, this is because we felt that they didn't fit in with our opening. We also felt didn't know what credits to include and how to position them in our opening, because of this I did some research into opening credits in horror films. I researched into Se7en, which is about homicide detectives who become deeply involved in the case of a sadistic serial killer whose meticulously planned murders correspond to the seven deadly sins: gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, pride, lust, and envy. 
I have broken down the film opening into thirteen screenshots to show the different credits that are used in film openings. 

1) The name of the distribution company  that distributes the film 

2) The name of the production company

3) Who the film is by

4) The main actor in the film

5) The supporting actor of the film

6) Title of the film

7) The supporting actors

8) The casting director

9) Head of music for the film

10) The costumer designer for the film

11) The editor of the film

12) Who wrote the film 

13) The last credit is the director of the film

From this I can clearly see what credits go into a film opening and the directors always the last credit of the opening. I can also see that we have to include many credits into our own opening to make it look more professional one. We can include Edited by, written by, costume designer, casting and music into our own.