Feedback from target audience - 

 

Our own marking - 

Finished Film

Creating our Logo

After looking at our research into other films and production companies, we thought about what we wanted our own logo to look like. We wanted it to link to the genre but also look original, and connect to our title sequence. So, we therefore chose to base our logo on writing - e.g. finding a font that looked like that of a typewriter and having the background  tea-stained  paper, like an old book. We chose to keep it quite simple so that it would be recognizable and easily memorable for audiences. We used a font that was in-keeping with our theme and story but was also easy to read and stood out against the color of our background. We also chose to make the full stop red, to represent blood and make it more visually interesting.

Second Shoot

This is our edited 2nd shoot, we worked on the points raised by both ourselves as we watched our initial shots and the feedback we got from our target audience. We added canted angles for the shots using flickering lights in order to create a greater sense of confusion and fear. We also added a lot of footage to help make the film more credible and make more sense - for example, the linking shots between the titles and the opening shots, our character taking a mug into the kitchen to explain her moving rooms and the phonecall explaining the purpose of the typewriter. We re-shot any shots from our first shoot that were unsteady and jolty, and included more CU's and shot-reverse-shot to help make the plot clearer and align the audience with the character. 

After editing our 2nd shoot, we looked at our film so far and decided that the shot of her on the phone was much to long, and we needed to either re-shoot and cut it down into either more shots or just shorter length or split it up within the scene. We also needed an ending as it didn't make sense and ended very suddenly. We decided on a shot involving the typewriter to bring that element back into the storyline and help it become a key point in our plot. 

Audience Feedback

            

We showed our first shoot to a group of people from our chosen target audience and got feedback from them on what worked well and what to improve on further shoots. As our first shoot wasn't fully edited, some parts weren't in the correct order so this factor wasn't included in what to improve. However, we found the feedback really useful for planning our re-shoot. One of the main points we were given to improve was linking the typewriter into the story line more clearly as it wasn't obvious how it was involved. Most of our audience was interested in our plot and wanted to continue watching which was a very good sign! We showed it to a mixed gender audience and it was appealing to both. Most thought camera shots and angles were good - a good range of shot types and variety, however we could maybe use a canted angle or low angles to create confusion and power. They thought that we needed a few more interlinking shots to improve the continuity and some shots needed to be re-shot as some were unsteady and not quite focussed.

We have planned our res-hoot for next friday and are hoping to improve on all these points.

First Shoot

This is our initial shoot, we have not cut and edited all our clips but we have started to put together our title sequence. We thought the Close Up of the typewriter worked really well and so we wanted to use this to show our titles - e.g. director/producer etc. We plan to do this in our next shoot and so have put in blank shots between each of our clips to show where our title shots will go. This gave us some idea of the overall length of our title sequence and how much we needed to re-shoot.


Most of our shots were steady, however some showed slight movements of the camera and so will need to be re-shot using a tripod. We used the rule of thirds throughout, however certain shots showed her face more centrally placed rather than over one of the points of intersection, so this is something else to work on and improve.  Lead room and head room were generally fine, however some shots showed an object within the frame in the lead room that drew your attention - e.g. the shot of our character sat at the table with a large flower drawing attention in the right of the frame. This distracts from the action and so we couldn't use this clip. We tried to use a wide variety of shots and used both eye line and high angles to show power and the characters vulnerability. Close Ups were important in showing her reactions and so we included a lot of CU's which worked well.


We have not yet edited together our piece and so we cant yet comment on the editing, however we found that we didn't have enough angles and shots for the continuity to be as clean as we hoped, so we therefore need to shoot some further footage.  We wanted to create a lot of tension by using long duration shots, while still keeping it interesting.


We were really happy with both our costume and setting and are happy with the visual appearance of both. as they are appropriate for the sub genre and work well within the story. We chose to keep the lighting quite low as we wanted to create sharp shadows to make a more unnerving look. We chose a dark colored costume to be in-keeping with the feel and genre of the film and cast an actress to conform with the stereotypes of girls being vulnerable and seen as believable victims. We wanted her a similar age to our target audience (15-30) and think this was a really good choice for this kind of character. 


Regarding our actress, some shots show her too aware of the camera and perhaps not staying in character so this is another thing to improve on our next shoot. 


Reshoot Plan - 


- Further Cu's for title sequence
- Linking shots between titles and opening scenes
- Remember rule of thirds
- Shot Reverse Shot
- Actress needs to be unaware of camera 
- Control the speed of typing

Question 2

I looked into some clips from films in our sub genre to assess how they use representation of social groups, to further their plot. This was to see how they could influence my own choices when devising my own clip. I focussed on films that used females, noting that female characters in horror movies are often stereotyped as weak and vulnerable

[The Shining]

In this clip of "The Shining", the female character is recognised as the victim. fitting the common conventions of horrors in general. The female character is portrayed as helpless and weak. This representation is shown through the character facial expression (mise en scene), and frequently through the characters petrified screams. The female character is also portrayed as potential unstable (mentally), her facial expression, particularly her eyes, evidencing this representation.

The male character on the other hand, is represented as aggressive and violent, a trait and stereotype that is commonly accepted as "masculine". The male character is given a lot of screen time showing him being aggressive and sadistic, encouraging the audience to focus on this aspect of the character, as opposed to the female character who has a split second of assertiveness.

This clip focusses more on following stereotypes of gender, and uses these stereotypes to develop both the characters and the story. Sadly, because they follow the stereotypes of gender, it makes the film as a whole someone predictable at times

[The Ring]

In this sequence, the only character that is present is the female victim. Initially, the most effective technical aspects that set the female as the victim, are the uses of sound (or lack thereof) and camerawork. CS are the common shots we see used to focus on the agitation and anxiety of the character, but the combined use of silence and LS isolates the character, and sets them in a hopeless state and helpless position.

This shot uses a high angle shot, to set the character in a vulnerable position. It is a very conventional technique to use, but is still very much effective.

The sequence of "The Ring" follows the stereotypes of gender, by having the female character portrayed as helpless and weak. The character is portrayed as innocent in some respect, again supporting the ideology of how women 'should' behave, demonstrated by the belittling camera angles.

We chose a female character to be our victim, in order to fit the general conventions of our sub-genre. Bedclothes were selected for her costume to highlight the characters vulnerability. The comfort of bedclothes juxtaposes the anxious atmosphere we intend to develop in our piece. The storyline sets the character in isolation, further emphasising the characters vulnerability. The basic jist of what we were aiming to achieve in terms of social group representation, is the show the female character as vulnerable, not necessarily weak, but hopeless. The choice of actor was solely based on this. We realised that psychological horrors tend to involve a female protagonist, and have a tendency to open with a female character as a victim, primarily because society would view them as the weaker and more vulnerable of the two genders. The female character is more suitable particularly for our piece because we are limited in time to develop the character, so using a female character allow the assumptions of female characters to immediately take precedence in our own character.

According to Wikipedia (believe it or not, it comes in handy sometimes), Psychological horrors rely on the fears and emotional instability of the main character to further the plot and essentially, develop the story. Our storyline reflects this, as we focus on the fears and anxiety of the female protagonist. However, whilst doing this, we focus on manipulating the audience’s expectations to further the plot. We have been led to understand that vulnerability and defenselessness. Because of this, we decided that the victim in our opening scene would be female. This choice was also influenced by watching the opening sequence of “The Ring”. I understand I have mentioned this clip various times already, but that is simply to emphasize the influence it had while we were constructing our piece. We understood that we were working within a pretty tight time limit, so in order to create the atmosphere and effect we were aiming for we would have to rely on the audience’s ability to stereotype characters and develop expectations of them. It is also notable, that a lot of times when horror movies are viewed, the audience will attempt to anticipate the following occurrences, making assumptions that are usually based on stereotypes. It is these stereotypes and expectations of the ‘weak and defenseless female’ that will create an anxious atmosphere, upon which we will develop our story