Preliminary Task compared to Film Opening

Preliminary Task


The Last Night

Question 1 and 2

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Question 3: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Question 4

4. Who would be the audience for your media product?


From previous planning for our opening, we chose a 12A certificate. We agreed on this because our target audience is for teenagers however we want as many people as possible to watch it so we had to choose a low age rating. A 12A rating was attainable because our film didn't contain anything too graphic to force it to have a higher rating. Although it does show some violence it is nowhere near enough to boost it to a 15. Based on a survey we found that the largest audience willing to pay to go and watch a horror film in the cinema is between 13 and 18 so this helped us to chose what our main target audience will be.

To make sure that our film is successful to our target audience we had to have our main character to have the personality of a stereotypical teenage boy. This is to make sure that our main character connects with most of the people watching and, therefore, can relate to the film. Our second media convention was that we had our film is that we set the film in an abandoned farm house. This also helps the target audience relate to the characters and their situation as teenagers are often seen as hanging out away from society and getting up to no good. Also after collecting more information from a survey, we gathered that more boys than girls would go to watch therefore our characters were male to get maximum connection between our audience and our film.

Question 5

Question 6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of construction this project?

Question 7: Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Planning: Mise en scene 2

In our filming for a new horror opening me made some changes. We decided to try and make the main character seem as 'teenagery' as possible. We decided to do this by sitting him in a room that looks like the typical teenagers room and filmed him playing FIFA 15. We also game him a can of energy drink to give extra effect. The choice of clothing was also very important. To make the teenager character believable he wore slim jeans and a Brooklyn t-shirt.

We kept the killers clothing the same. This was just a normal pair of jeans and a black hoodie. We felt this was appropriate because it seems very basic while also still keeping a sense of anonymity with his hood up.

The main character is also seen using an iPhone 4. This is the typical phone for a teenager. Also playing FIFA in his room is another stereotypical thing for a 16 year old to be doing.

Mise en scene is possibly the most important thing in films in general to make it more believable while also telling the audience what personality each character has without them even having to say a word.

Construction: Successful Re-Filming

After we re-filmed we did another rough edit and here is how it turned out:




We decided to put together a rough edit putting together our clips to give us a rough idea of how our movie opening will turn out.

The biggest problem with our initial filming was the dialogue throughout because you could not hear the actors without there being wind or background noise such as cars which do not help with the idea of the location being secluded.

We made sure to check our camera before we started this time to ensure that the camera lens did not have any dirt on it as last time we did not check until we had already done some of the shots.

This rough edit, I would say, is much better than the initial filming because it has absolutely no dialogue which means we can put some non-diegetic sound over the top to give the opening a better feel overall. We tried to also add more camera shots, angles and movements throughout the opening.

This time we really excelled in representing the stereotype of a teenager through the use of him playing on a game console at the start, the can of energy drink and overall a great representation of a  stereotypical teenager.

We found that instead of actually seeing the killer we went for a storyline where you don't see the killer at all other than their hand, this gives a feeling of uncertainty and really makes the audience wonder who the killer is and what he looks like.

Now that we are happy with our rough edit we will continue to cut it down to as good as possible with the clips, adding in sound and also titles over the top.

Planning: New Shot List

Planning: New Storyboard

Here is the first 10 storyboard shots for our new movie opening.

Construction: Filming

These pictures show where we filmed and how we filmed it. This first image shows how we set up the shot of Lewis helping Stephen through the door to the next scene. We felt this was a good angle because it made it clear to the audience what was happening.

During this we were helping Tom find a place to stand which was relevant to our shot. We had to make it so you can only partially see him so he still keeps a sense of anonymity. This was important for us because we felt that the killer's identity shouldn't be given away in the first couple of minutes of the film.

This image is when we were trying to get a sort of birds-eye-view shot facing down on Lewis and Stephen. We chose this shot to make it look as if both characters were in danger.

Construction: Problems With Initial Filming

After filming our opening of a horror movie we put together a rough edit:



Once we finished filming for the first time and we looked at our rough edit we realised that there was a lot wrong with it and that we could improve it massively.

Our biggest problem is the sound; in this plan we relied on diegetic sound (Lewis and Stephen) throughout and this is a huge problem because of the background noise and the wind causing the sound to be very bad; it was hard to hear them at points in the film and didn't build the tension we were looking for.

Another problem that we came across was that some of the clips had dirt on the camera meaning the shot didn't look clear or good meaning that all of these clips need to be re-filmed.

We have decided to completely change our storyline quite a lot and during the next filming we are going to make sure that we include a lot more camera shots, camera angles and camera movements throughout and also make sure that we remove all of the diegetic sound because it is too difficult to do that without the background noise and wind making the quality very bad, we are also going to include music to create the tension that we are looking for.

Research: Titles in horror films

Titles in horror films can give a huge impression and create an atmosphere before a film even starts. An example of this is the film 'Se7en'.

 

The editing of the title sequence is very unsettling because of the quick cuts, scratchy fonts, extreme close ups and disordered music.
Another thing about the titles is the order of the actors in which they appear. Brad Pitt comes up first because of the high profile he has. He is first to attract the audience and pull them in straight away because he is a well known, brilliant actor. Second is Morgan Freeman, again a well known fantastic actor who appears in some of the best films to ever hit the cinema screens. Having these two actors first lets the audience know how much of a great film it is going to be, and how enjoyable it is going to be to watch.
The quick cuts makes it very hard for the people watching to keep track of whats going on and can create a very uncomfortable feeling because of what they're being shown. At 0:17 a razor blade is shown for around one and a half seconds and it is being used to cut skin off the finger of an unidentified character. This is not usually what comes up unexpectedly on our TV screen so it can be discomforting for some viewers. Also at 1:38 a needle flashes up for a split second and a fear of needles is very common.
The music doesn't seem to have any order and you don't know what it is going to do next, just like the killer in the actual film.


Another title i looked at is the opening to 'The Last Of Us'. These are very good titles because it gives you an idea what it is going to be about while also not giving too much away.



The black and white filter makes it seem very eerie and can make it feel old. The constant switching in fast and slow motion can make you feel quite uncomfortable because it is impossible to see what is going to happen next and it is sometimes difficult to see what it going on. The voice over in the background is also very powerful because of what they are saying. 'The number of confirmed deaths is past 200'. This isn't something that everyone likes to hear and can make you feel in real danger. 'Hundreds of bodies laying in the streets' at 0:14 is another example. One more example is at 0:17 'Panic spread worldwide after a leaked report from the World Health Organisation showed the latest vaccination has failed'. This makes a really uncomfortable feeling because it gives a feeling that everyone is doomed while still not telling the audience what has happened. In my opinion the music what helps it most. The acoustic guitar on its own gives it an isolated feeling which can be quite uncomfortable for the audience.

Planning: Casting

For our casting we are talking to people to see if they are good for the role or not, we are looking for confidence and for them to not be shy when asked to take a photo of them so we know if they are comfortable to be recorded or not. We are looking for one killer and two victims for our film opening - this is the only cast we need.

This is Lewis Swannell. Lewis would be a very appropriate choice for staring in our film. He is a confident and loud person which would be very good for our film. He is also available for our filming schedule so he is a very strong candidate to get the part.

This is Kofi Amponsah. Kofi is free during out filming schedule however his downfall is that he is very shy and awkward around people and in front of the camera especially and this would not be very good for our film because he would not translate well with the audience.

This is Tom Kelly. Tom is a very strong candidate for one of the starring roles. He is loud and confident which are the characteristics we are looking for in the star for our film. He is also available during our filming schedule so he is the ideal candidate overall.

This is Matthew Hope. Matthew is a very loud and confident person who would translate well with our audience and he would be a great candidate for the role. The problem is that he is not available during our filming schedule.

This is Stephen Olatunbosun. Stephen is very hard to work with however when he starts to do what he is asked to do he can do it well, he is very loud and confident therefore this would translate well with our audience. He is also available for all days of our filming schedule which makes him overall a great candidate.

Whilst we were trying to find the right cast for our film we looked at a range of different things that would be good for our characters to have. Some of the things we looked at were; character confidence, personality, characteristics and of course if they were available on the filming schedule. Not all of the people above had the right attributes to be given the part in our film but some of them did and the cast we have gone with is the following: Tom Kelly (as the main killer, probably not seen much during the film), Lewis Swannell (One main character) and Stephen Olatunbosun (The other main character).

Planning: Props and equipment

 
The first piece of equipment that we need for our film is a phone. This is for the scene in the woods when Lewis checks for signal after Stephen gets injured. This shows the audience that they are in a stressful situation in a secluded setting.



The second piece of equipment is a camera. This will allow us to shoot our movie. In the simplest way possible.



The third piece of equipment is a tripod. This will help us perform a controlled shot without the camera moving about when we don't want it to.



The last piece of equipment is a baseball bat. This is going to be used as the murderers weapon. He needs to weapon to show he is the most powerful character.

Planning: Mise-En-Scene

Black Hoodie

This is a black hoodie. This is a good thing to have for a killer. When this is first seen in the scene all you will see is the hoodie. you won't be able to see any of the killers face.  This would be used for the killer because it makes them look like a mysterous character in the background of the scene.

Blue Jeans

These would also be worn by the killer so we would be able to see what type of age he is. By this type of jeans you can tell that they are teenager jeans. This could mean that the killer is a teenager. 

Other characters

The other characters in the scene can wear whatever clothes they would normally wear. This is because they are themselves and they dont have to pretented to be other people. The other characters have to make themselves look like a victim though. We will not need make-up for the other characters as they are both male.

Planning: Location

This is the location that we will be using as a group to film in. It looks like a location that is isolated and that would be good for the filming. It is a good location because we need an abandoned location to be able to film this filming properly.

This is what the location actually looks like. This isn't actually an abandoned location as you can clearly see something is being built. When you zoom into the building it makes it look like a secluded location. This is what we need for our filming.

Here is the next place, it is a good place to film because we could make it look like a secluded location for filming giving the audience the sense of no one around to help.

However its not a good option because you would hear cars going past throughout filming as there is a main road, this would probably be the perfect location if the main road was not nearby.  With the cars going past during clips of the film it would be bad because the audience would realise that actually this is not a secluded location meaning they wouldn't get the same fear as if they thought it was secluded and no one around to help.

Next place, like the others, looks very good as a location for our film opening with a feeling of a secluded location with a lot of trees around for the audience to imagine the killer hiding.

For this location there is however a lot of houses nearby meaning in the background of the shots you could maybe hear people or lawnmowers etc, making this a bad location overall.

Overall, the best location would be the first location as we can make it feel like a secluded location and it is also far enough away from the road so that you can not hear cars going past during the shots, giving it the feeling of it being secluded and there is no help around for the victims.

Planning: Shot List

This is our shot list showing what camera angle and movement we will be executing when filming each scene, We have also added a brief description of what will be happening during that scene. This is important so we know beforehand what angle and movement we will be doing which we all thought was best.

Planning: Storyboard

The next thing we had to do was create a storyboard showing each shot and movement in our film opening. When we start filming we will refer back to the storyboard to make sure that we are following our plan so it looks exactly how we want it to look. Creating a storyboard shows us a rough idea what our storyboard will look like before we even start filming. This is vital so we don't run into many problems when it comes to filming. 

Research: The importance of sound in Horror Films

Sound can be the most effective way to create mood or tension in a film. Any mood can be created ranging from romance to fear depending on the sound/music. A good example is the 'Jaws' theme above. It starts off slow with helps build tension and progressively gains speed making the audience feel increasingly uncomfortable while waiting for something to go wrong. During the piece of music there are trumpets with don't seem to play in order which would give the audience an idea that something is wrong, this can mess with their head a bit.

Another example is the garden fence scene in the zom-com film 'Shaun of the Dead'. In the background we can hear a car alarm and a dog barking. Although we may not hear this unless listening carefully, our minds hear it and make us feel as if we are in an uncomfortable situation because whenever a car alarm goes off we automatically think something has gone wrong. As well as the uncontrollable bark of a dog.
   

Sound is one of the most important factors as it helps create the mood and tension. Although there is a range of sounds and music that is used in horror films they mostly consist of the same instruments and rhythms. These include isolated instruments before a key moment which gives the idea of vulnerability. Long suspenseful notes often contrasted with quick, sharp notes to give a sense of shock. Also extreme changes of pitch tones to make an intense atmosphere.


The sound of characters voices in films have a huge impact in a horror film. An example is Jigsaw from the SAW series. His voice has a distinctive voice compared to the other characters which effectively creates fear, tension and intimidation with its deep strong tone with a husky filter.

Coursework Timetable

This timetable shows the schedule for the coming months from when our exam is to when our coursework has to be done.

Planning: Initial ideas

We wrote down our initial ideas for the movie onto a planning sheet. To do this we thought of the best horror movies and our favorite story lines. In the end we used the idea of a abandoned house in the woods and called it 'The Last Night'