The opening scene to our film includes and develops many of the conventions of a typical horror film. Firstly, the bulk of the opening scene is a chase scene through some dark woods, which is quite common for a horror film. Films such as 'The Blair Witch Project' and 'Severance' use such a setting. The use of woods means that there's is more for the characters to interact with, such as tress, rocks and even bridges, and adds realism to the film because it shows there is no escape for the victim and even in the day it's dark. If the chase was through a city or down a street in the middle of the day, there would be plenty of places for the victim to get help, and just wouldn't scary or realistic. Also, woods are generally seen as scary because of the dark, mysterious feel to them, which is exactly what we wanted to capture. The use of the dark colours and abstract shots delivered it just how we wanted.
The chase scene is quite common in horror films as it captures both the insanity of the villain and the fear of the victim, and provides a chance for a fast paced scene. The characters in this scene apply to the stereotypical villain and victim too. The victim is fast, but in a panic and full of fear - which is captured and shown by the use of handheld and point of view shots - whereas the villain is calm, swift yet slower and reserved. The use of this type of victim is used in most horror films, and the use of the slow villain is also common, used in films such as 'See No Evil' which was one of our main influences for the villain. The use of this allows us to emphasise his strength and power, and actually make him look like something to fear. Also, the our villain fits the conventions of a typical villain as his identity is coevered by the use of wearing a hood and keeping his head down, which is very common to happen in horror films, as it adds mystery to who the villain is or what he looks like, whilst also making the villain seem scarier.
A way in which our film challenges the conventions of a typical horror is with the use of camera shots and angles. We tried to use the most different and as many different shots as possible to capture the chase scene in many different ways. For example, the use of hand held point of view shots whilst the victim is running down a path shows and emphasises the fear he has, and gives the real feeling of panic as it shakes around quickly making it hard to comfortably watch, and give the viewer the feeling that they are being chased or make them worry for the victim. On a few occasions we used a 'match on action' to give a more creative and technical side to the film. For example, as the victim runs and falls onto a bench, the shot changes to a different and closer angle to show the fall in more detail and for the viewer to understand the panic in the character.
Another way in which our opening 2 minutes challenge the conventions of a typical horror film is that it cuts straight into the chase scene without any introduction to the plot at all, which fits in more with the conventions of an action or thriller film. Usually a horror film starts off with a small happy or safe scene, for example a party, romantic late night walk, teenage campout etc so that when the horror kicks in it is unexpected. Whereas our film straight away cuts into the chase. This makes the viewer think what's happening and why, and keeps them on the edge waiting to see what happens. Then at the end of the chase scene it cuts to a college classroom conversation, when usually in a horror film it would be the other way round.
2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?All the characters in our film are young white males. The villain fits the stereotype of the young male been strong, powerful and masculine. But on the other hand, the victim is shown as weak, scared and inferior. The characters in the next scene represent males in different ways too. One is angry and couragious, whereas the other is sad and respectful. This represents young males in many different ways. The film would mainly attract young males and there are no female characters for females to relate to, but our target audience is of both genders aged 15-40 years old.
3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
Our film wouldn't suit a major hollywood production, promotion or distribution as it's not completely original or doesn't have a large enough target audience. Dimension Films would be a suitable company to distribute our film as they distribute most horrors including 'Planet Terror' and 'Halloween'. In terms of cinema release, it would be released around winter when it's colder and darker to create the perfect atmosphere for the film showing, in contrast to a light, hot summers day. The film could also be released on rental sevices both in-shop and on TV/internet, if the demand was high enough. The opportunity for merchandising would be harder than that of a hollywood family film, but t-shirts, posters, comic books and even action figures could be sold as their is a high interest in merchandise and
4. Who would be the audience for your media product?
Our film would be watched by most horror film fans, but specifically the target audience would be 15-40 year olds, mainly male. This is because all the characters are young males. However, the thick and complex plot would draw in older people. Films such as 'Saw' use very complex plot lines to add something more than just gore to horror films, and it gains the films a lot of fans, which is what would happen with our film. The age certificate would be 15 years old, this is because the plot line is unsuitable for anyone under 15, but not violent/gorey enough to have a certificate of 18 years old. We chose to make our film as a 15 certificate and not 18, as making it an 18 would throw off a lot of fans due to too much gore etc.
5. How did you attract/address your audience?We attracted a young male audience in several ways. Firstly, the cast for our film are all young male characters that the audience can relate to. Secondly, the second scene takes part in a college and one of the main characters is a 17 year old student, adding a sense of realism to the film and showing the everyday life of a young male at times. Also the use of point of view camera shots makes it easy for the viewer to feel drawn in and understand the characters position and thoughts, making it more enjoyable to watch, especially in the horror genre where films need to be as scary and realistic as possible.
6. What have you learnt about technology from the process of constructing the product?We learnt how to use the camera in terms of filming and playing back, how to white balance (in different environments and types of lighting) and how to set up the tripod. We found that when filming outside, it's best to film away from wind as it ruins the audio in the scene you're filming, and to take spare batteries as the battery life on the camera we were using was quite short. However, it was easy to use and easy to take to wherever we needed to film. Not many problems were faced when filming and it was easy to overcome any problems we did encounter, such as lack on continuity between two shots. We used Final Cut Pro to edit our footage, and found it quite simple and easy to use. We were able to add sound and use effects to make the film flow and add tension to it. We faced a few problems with editing but overcame them with the use of different effects such as fading. Our main problem was that the opening scene was too long and so we had to cut a minute or so out, which was really simple.
7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
We have learnt quite a lot from this task. First, we research the horror genre and found out all the conventions of the genre, and incorporated them into our own film. This includes setting, mise en scene, plotlines, sound, camera work and loads more. For example, horror films generally have dark settings with tense music and tend to look up at the villain to show their power. We noticed this and used low angle shots on the villain and high angle shots on the victim to show a difference in strength. We also used lots of creative shots such as point of view shots and complex editing like match on action edits to add a proffessional side to the film. I have also learnt how to use the equipment confidentally and wouldn't have to worry about being told how to next time. The same goes for the editing software, and can now use Final Cut Pro to put footage together and edit it, without the help of a tutor.
In my opinion, our project was a success as by the end we had produced what we wanted to, in the right style with the right type of shots and acting. Obviously improvements could have been made like more back-up shots as some of the shots don't flow into eachother as perfect as possible, but other than that I'm happy with what we've done.
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