Final Evaluation To Summarise My AS Media Project

To begin with my groups brief was to to come up with a two minute opening scene for an established genre of our choice. We began to look into different genres and how we could make them effective to our intended target audience viewing the film opening.  Through further research we established are genre which we would like to proceed with to create and produce are final two minute film opening. As a group we chose genre and straight away looked at the category of action horror films. We then decided to get a further insight to what are film opening could be like. We conducted five textual analysis on various different  film openings all related to a action horror genre. This allowed us to analyse in depth key shots and mise en scene locations we could interpret into are final film opening.  We then later surveyed a number of people a detailed questionnaire in order so we can take out the key requirements the target audience of are film would like in order to make are opening a success.


We began to first look into mise en scene of are characters and locations. The first thought we had as a group was to take the typical costume props which all great action horror films include. This included some forms of weaponry and typical clothes are representation of characters'teenagers' would dress up in day to day. We
then decided that are character features had to really establish the genre. Are group made some fake blood after further research on the internet to make are film opening slightly gory, and straight away establish to the target audience viewing its a horror genre category. The blood was a great a sect to are production of are filming as we learnt from textual analysis this is what most horror films included in the opening scenes, for example the intro to'Dawn Of the Dead'.  Now that we had a  of making are characters features as real as
possible to reality we began to research suitable locations to suit a genre. Are group began looking on Google
maps , and specifically acknowledged we wanted a filming location local to us, so it would be practical for us to get too. We found an area location not far from our school in Hannham which had scenery which really established are action horror genre well. At first glance of this place are group went to investigate the site. It had perfect a perfect half knocked down rural building isolated in the middle of the woods, fairly similar to all top horror genre film locations. The building created a spooky atmosphere, and emphasized are genre very well. The detailed photos of the location showed how much it had to offer to us as a group, and the exceptional rustic features of uncut grass and open fields really enhanced are filming setting up, with out need for us to replaced or move any of the mise en scene offered to us as a group. This saved us a lot of time for other prospectus of the production of are film opening , such as editing.

The three characters in are film opening showed a typical modern representation of teenagers. This is because we've established the mise en scene aspects of a teenager through the typical everyday clothing, and fake blood make up. The short film opening also establishes the teenagers are getting up to trouble and mischief through their dialogue and weaponry props.

The filming turned out to be success, as my group was able to capture multiple scenes, over and over again so we had most of it correct, just only a few tweaks now and there for editing.  Unfortunately I was enable to attend the filming procedure due to limitations to me making the filming location. However I cooperated a lot in the editing section of are film opening to make up my role on the production team. When filming inside the building my groups footage was very dark. We wanted a dark tint to the videos to establish the tension in the scenes and establish suspicion of some expected horror event to happening, however the original footing as i mentioned was too dark so we brightened it up a little, and still managed to keep it dark enough for the audience to view and easily and to establish are genre.  The lighting outside of the building by the opening fields was quite bright. However this bright light help to enhance the eeriness and creepiness, and isolation of the building and emphasized the characters position in the film. The bright light also emphasized a sense of confusion for the target audience viewing the film. This is because we expect a horror film to have dark lighting and shadows through out the film, however are film brightness outside creates an innocent and positive atmosphere, which we would not at all expect fro a usual action horror film so we have created a suspense for the viewing audience.


For movements of a re characters in the film opening we have exaggerated the sound effects, and emphasized synchronous sound. This is because we have made a simple walking through the forest much louder and exaggerated in order to create that eery suspense especially in silent environments. This also enables the characters in are film to tell the story better as the synchronous sound effects enable the viewing audience to have a feel for the characters view of the scenario.



If we were going to market are film, we would have to think outside the box and create a poster which doesn't give too much of a film scenario away, but gives the target audience a slight insight into what are film is about. The poster below shows a good representation of this.  The poster to the right doesn't give to much away about the film but gives a slight insight to the audience the film is about zombies, this is what we as a group would hope to achieve. To get are film distributed into Media Institution we would have advertising banners and trailers on social networking sites such as 'YouTube' and 'Facebook. This enables a wider target audience range to preview are film to possibly watch it if it were to be produced for the cinemas.


To conclude, through out the making of my groups film I have been able to have more opportunities to
develop my skills with the editing equipment. We have also came across a lot of errors especially when producing are film. For example forgetting the tape when arriving at the filming location or resetting props from the characters in exactly the same positions to avoid continuity errors in the final cut of are film.
I believe I had good time management overall as i stuck to my intial time plan. To finish, all the errors as a group we've encountered can now be taken as a lesson learnt, we can then compromise all the successful procedures we have taken from are first As Media Task and create a very successful film opening in the future.

Initial Title Sequence - The Passing

This is our Film Title Sequence name as shown above. The image above shows the initial format of the title
and credits which we will include in the film.  The title has been produced using a specific font in a PowerPoint
Program. The title font type is quite unique then any other films that have been released. The font is quite
smartly presented and a mysterious yellow colour. This is quite unexpected as we would think a horror genre
having a red font to symbolize blood and gory features, and quite messily presented. A clever way of looking at are tile sequence is the black background as death , and isolation, and the neutral yellow font as, positive, in
a way someone has been victorious.  The two features on are film sequence yellow font, and black background
relates similarly to are film scenario. The black colour represents a negative insight into the film story, such as loads of deaths and isolation. However the yellow colour shows a postive aspect, in a victorious or possible hopeful turnaround. The survivors still remain alive  but need to be victorious and find help.


The title design took a lot of hours of decision making from are group as a hole. However incisive and correct decisions allowed us to complete an initial idea of are Title Sequence.

Textual Analysis Opening Scene Video

Final Rough Cut Film Of' 'The Passing'

Further Research into Mise en Scene of Characters Costume

On my blog I have placed the three different prop and costume designs for each character in different section. The mise en scene element for are characters, mainly the fake blood make up, and costumes including props, enabled us us to get a traditional representation of a teenager. This is becuase my group used typical everday clothing a teenager woulsd wear day to day when filming. The fake blood on our characters in the filming would also enable to create a traditional representation of teenagers aswell. The teenagers will have blood on their faces and over body parts. This will really emphasise are established genre of action horror through the blood gory features on the characters. The blood on the characters also shows the teenagers to be getting up to mischief, and trouble and shows a destuctive side to the teenagers when we film. This is a traditinal representation as we put across a negative point towards teenagers intodays society.

Character Costume - (Jack)

                          

Film Raitings - Ours contains scenes some viewers may find disturbing. For this reason of the opening of are film being gory with blood and containing upsetting scenes are viewing rating is 18.

Or groups company log ' Revolver Productions' - Esablishes are action Horror Genre for the use of a gun design in the title and name of Production Company - Designed By Richard Morelli

                            

Textual Analysis of Opening Scene - By Richard Morelli

The clip opens ups on some minor keyed music playing with a heavy single note bass line creating a suspenseful intro immediately. As soon as the graphic of the umbrella logo enters the screen with a computer generated looking red background we know as an audience we are supposed to be concentrating on a computer. The sound effect of steam being, heavy spiralling and petite electronic squeaks we are introduced to what the film may surround. The narrator’s dialogue plays as the words he says appear as graphics on the screen, he’s describing how the infection started; we know to listen to him as he seems to know the facts and details. There is still a kind of drained warp synth sound layering the background, this gives the illusion that order has been lost; the structuring of the music has been broken, as has Raccoon city. The film title zooms out to the mid-right of the screen with decrescendo bass giving it power and build, giving it more than just a two dimensional feel. The title is introduced quite early which is conforming to the codes and conventions of the modern horror film. For around 10 seconds directly after this we see a blue filmed image zooming in to us very slowly – it’s of a man in a lab moving tubes around with the T virus inside, and the antidote. We identify with this character, and watch as he carefully manoeuvres the dangerous substances from their sockets to his brief case; we are as an audience anticipating disaster (via him dropping one or something) by the use of close ups, slow motion and vast attention to the tubes themselves. As we do not see the character’s face, our assumption is that he is a protagonist working for the Umbrella Corporation – when in fact, he is the main antagonist when we see him smash the T virus and let the fumes go through the ventilation system.

In conclusion, the introductory two minutes is focussing entirely on how the infection started and informing the audience of what Umbrella Corporation is; we can only imagine this company will be the centre of the plot’s drive. This differs from most horror films who want to identify who the supernatural creature or creatures are/is almost immediately, yet still creating suspense and nervousness within the audience. 

How are Group Made fake Blood - Mise en Scene

Textual Analysis of Opening Scene - By Member Of Group

Youtube Short Textual Analyses - Zombieland - The opening shot immediately indicates that the film is on a high budget because of the sheer caliber of the stunt which Zombieland used which immediately helped captivate the audience straight away. There's not many film's that manage to pull off an opening shot so high standard of which Zombieland produced and the establishing shot they used  of the women sliding along the road, leaving a trail of bloods help Zombielands cause even more. Another first indication from the opening scenes is that the film is taking the mick because of the slow motion shots they used, where as most zombie film don't use slow motion shots, they tend to film it at a normal pace because it's a horror. Therefore this suggests that Zombieland is under the comedy genre. The opening two minutes also show a sense of being rebellious after the voice over ended which is about 0.15 seconds in, then the music starts to kick in which has an rebellious edge towards it. Although this film indicates that is an comedy it cuts to some gross shots in the opening two minutes for example 0.22 - 0.29 shows an very graphic shot indeed of an zombie spewing up which is being shot in a mid shot, which indicates that Zombieland still wants to keeps it's grossom edge towards the film. Another interesting pointer is that all of the titles are in red which suggest a sense of death and blood. Falling back to the high budget point, it's not just the opening shot that suggests that the film on high budget, it's every single shot, there's a different shot approximately every five to ten seconds and every one proves that this film is on high budget. Scene by scene the characters have different props, costume, make ups, different stunts going on right through the the end of the opening shots and to make this even more captivating it's all shot in slow motion.

Textual Analysis of Opening Scene - By Member Of Group

The introduction to the film 28 Days Later begins with a compilation of news footage showing rioting and uprising throughout different countries, this is filmed mainly with handheld cameras to give these clips a ‘homemade’ feel. It also adds to the panic of the people in the clips along with the frantic surroundings they are in. These clips don’t have a lot in the way of sound, but when it is featured, it is usually heavily distorted and chopped up. The sound enhances the frantic environment the people are in.

The scene then tracks away from a television screen that carries on showing these clips. As this happens, non-diegetic music fades in to match with the camera tracking away from the TV. This music is in a minor key, so it is very sad and emotional; the pace of the music is slow to show the viewer that the clips being shown aren’t what people would expect at the time the film is set.

The camera then cuts to a science lab where there is a chimpanzee strapped to a table in front of the TV screens. There is very little lighting at this point, making the viewer focus upon the chimpanzee on the table; this shows the chimpanzee’s emotions as the camera tracks around the table it is on.

After the camera tracks around the table, it focuses on a TV screen where a security camera’s feed is shown, through the TV, there is a man blocking out the cameras, he is wearing dark, concealing clothing to show the viewer that he is a character that will most likely cause trouble.

Other people are shown in the same fashion as the man, there are a few close ups of these characters wearing balaclavas to hide their identity. After they break in to the laboratory, they take off their masks to reveal their faces, as they do not have any clear weapons on them, and wielding cameras, they are portrayed as social activists, breaking into the laboratory to get research about what’s going on there. 

Textual Analysis of Opening Scene - By Tom Fifoot

Shaun of the Dead opens with a close up of the main protagonist’s feet as he walks into the living room. The camera slowly pans upwards as he is walking, already the director has used these camera angles, along with the diegetic sound of the protagonist yawning and how he walks to trick the audience into thinking that he is an antagonist zombie. With this scene, there is some upbeat music, possibly showing that everything is normal, this music is non-diegetic as the actors do not seems to acknowledge it.

 The camera then cuts to a long shot of the protagonist sitting down on the sofa, after this long shot, there is then a two shot of the protagonist and another character. With the main protagonist being shown lower than the other character, we can assume that in this scene, the other character has more dominance over the main protagonist. This evolves as the other character tells the main protagonist to go to work, leaving the camera to zoom into the other character as the main protagonist leaves the room.

 After this scene, the camera shows a series of fast paced close ups of certain actions that the main protagonist is doing, each of which zoom in very fast and use synchronous sound to enhance the action the character is performing. These fast close ups cut to an over shoulder shot of the main protagonist looking into a mirror where another character soon appears, also with synchronous sound to show the genre of the film.

 There are a few more fast paced shots of the characters actions until the pace slows down with a two shot of two characters, on being the main protagonist, again, the main protagonist is show lower than the other character, having his dominance again lowered over other characters in the scene. Overall, the genre isn’t fully established as much as in other films in its genre, but there are still some features that shows the audience the film’s horror genre.

Establishing The film Opening Sound Track

My research into music consisted of various of types of old horror genre music and modern horror day sound track music.  I wanted a sound track which would give the audience viewing a chill down their spine. This ensures the audience are oblivious to the scenario of the film, so the music will emphasis with the unexpected scenes of the film making the audience more frightened. Many recent horror films released have applied this technique. For example 'The Woman In Black' 2012 allows the audience to be sucked in with the frighting music, this enhances the spooky scenes, this makes the audience viewing less likely to expect whats happening.
This emphasizes the response to the unexpected shots shocked. However this film is a bit more of a psycho horror category. In order to please are viewing audience i must consider that the film is more a horror action genre so i need to consider the appropriate music to suit this. Above shows a soundtrack from a film opening which i believe would work well if we create something similar for are action horror genre.

The above video shows various numbers of famous horror film soundtracks of all categories. I especially like the 'Halloween' film soundtrack as it is slow pace emphasizes the disturbing scary atmosphere which i would like my film opening to similarly create, also it has an action punch to the rhythm between different time intervals
This soundtrack would work well the intended film opening I intend to produce because its sort of action, but
has an innocent slow quiet chime to it which makes it scary to listen too.

Initial Character Script for Film Opening by Member Of Group

Jack: When do you think Richard will be back?

Tom: No idea, hopefully before it gets dark.

Jack: What will we do if he doesn’t come back?

Tom: We leave. We can’t wait here forever.

Jack: Ok...

(Richard appears at the window)

Richard (quietly): Shh! We have to leave, now.

(Jack and Tom stand up and make their way to the window)

(Next shot is all three characters walking out from behind the abandoned house, Richard leading, Jack and Tom walking behind)

Tom: Why did we have to leave? That was an awesome hideout we had there.

Jack: Yeah, what’s up?

Richard: They followed me... I couldn’t lose them, they were so fast...

Jack: What!? They followed you!? We could all be dead soon...

Richard: I couldn’t... They wouldn’t stop...

Tom: Pull yourselves together, this has happened before, and we’re still alive,      don’t worry.

Jack: I suppose...

(Characters find path to walk on)

Jack: So, where do we go now?

Tom: Good question...

Tom: There’s not a lot of safe places around here either.

(Characters stop)

Richard: I know a place; it’s a fair walk though, if it hasn’t been overrun.

Tom: Sounds good, where is it?

Jack: I don’t like this; we should have stayed at the house.

Tom: Nah, not if those things followed Rich.

Richard: Guys stop. I heard something.

Tom (Quietly): What is it?

Jack (Quietly): I heard it again.

Tom (Quietly): Where?

Richard: It’s in the trees.

Jack: You think it’s one of them?

Tom: Gotta be. What shall we do?

(Rustling and growling noises from trees)

Jack: There it is again.

Richard: Wait... I can see it.

(Shot of the trees, nothing there)

Tom: Where? I can’t see anything...

(Another shot of trees, zombie is seen)

Richard: There it is.

(Title sequence fades in) 

Location Shoot - Provided by group member. These are photos of the filming location for my groups film opening. This involves an isolated rural area in Hannham woods. This location is brilliant as the isolated scenery really enhances a spooky atmosphere,perfect for are intended horror genre.

           

List of Shot Types in our Film Opening

·         Establishing shot of building
·         Two shot of Tom and Jack in building
·         Close up of cigarette
·         Mid shot/close up of Jack
·         Mid shot of Tom
·         Two shot of Jack and Tom
·         Mid shot of Jack exchanging dialogue
·         Mid shot of Tom responding
·         Close up of Tom as he exchanges dialogue
·         Close up of Jack to show expression
·         Long shot of Richard throwing bars through the window
·         Cuts back to two shot of Jack and Tom
·         Long shot of Richard climbing through window
·         Mid shot of Richard jumping from window
·         Long shot of Richard running from the window
·         Two shot of Jack and Tom standing up
·         Shot of Jack grabbing a hockey stick
·         Cuts back to Jack and Tom finishing standing up
·         Mid shot of Richard saying ‘We need to leave’ to Jack and Tom
·         Long shot of all three characters walking out from behind building
·         Mid shot of Tom talking to Richard
·         Mid shot of Jack talking
·         Mid shot of Richard talking, Tom shown over shoulder
·         Mid shot of Jack talking to Richard
·         Close up of Richard talking
·         Long shot of all three characters as Tom talks
·         Establishing shot of path
·         Two shot of Jack and Richard, Jack talking and shown slightly behind and to the right
·         Mid shot of Tom talking
·         As Richard turns to face the other characters, they are all show together with mid shots
·         Shot stays the same as Tom talks
·         Shot stays the same as Jack talks
·         Shot stays the same as Tom talks
·         Close up of Richard talking
·         Mid shot of Tom talking
·         Mid shot of Jack talking
·         Mid shot of Tom talking
·         Close up of Richard talking
·         Mid shot of Jack talking
·         Mid shot of Tom talking
·         Close up of Jack
·         Mid shot of Jack talking
·         Long shot of Richard talking and pointing to trees
·         Establishing shot of trees
·         Mid shot of Tom talking
·         Another shot of trees, but this time there is a zombie
        barely visible walking out from the trees
·         Close up of Richard talking
·         Title sequence 

Title Sequences

I have analysed a horror film introduction in my groups chosen genre which is horror. I have conducted a textual analysis for the opeming of the horror film 'Dawn of the Dead'. When analysing this film i noticed the
title sequence appeared much later in the opening scene. I do beleive this is the best way to present a title
sequence as its more effective, and allows the target audience whos watching the film to have an insight into the film scenario first. When constructing are film titles and sequences we need to make sure they are reassuring to are specific genre were trying to establish in our film. In this case the 'Dawn of the Dead' Film title sequence is in a red colour. This symablizes blood and straight away establishes to the target audience
its related to a horror film. The title sequences can also present the pace of the film and how much action will take place. For example in some cases title sequences for horror genres can either appear slow indicating its a creepy, eery film, or appear quick indicating the film is jumping straight into action at the oppening.

 The 1988 version of the film 'Woman in Black' title sequence is a good example of how an eery atmosphere is created through the title sequence. The title sequence is faided in to the opening scene slowly with bold white capital letters in the first few seconds of the opening. This shows how eery the film is and the sound of piano keys loudly played emphasises with the title sequence the film is going to be scary and unexpected to what could happen. From this research i think thie best way to approach a horror film title sequence is to allow thetarget baudience whom watching to emphasise the secnario briefly then the title sequence slowly faides in  to create a confusing understanding of the film. This will allow for the film to be jumpy and unexpected scenes. We will have a bold font for the title sequence to indicate it will be a eery and scary film, and quite confusing.

Character Profile Three

Character Profile Two