Here is the final cut of our 2 minute opening to a feature length slasher film, Underground.
Wednesday, 4 April 2012
Evaluation Question 1
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Any film usually begins with company idents and ours does the same, starting with our four company idents.
We have titles on screen at the start of the film which is also often used. In old films full credits would usually play at the start of the film, however today's films usually only show a small selecting of credits at the start of the film and show the full credits at the end. We have followed this convention and only put the following credits in our opening:
Our soundtrack is also similar to other slasher films in that it combines long, slow notes with fast notes, and also varies tempo throughout depending on the mood that is trying to be conveyed.
The killers in slasher films are usually masked or not identified until a bit into the film, so we did the same and didn't show the killers face during the opening. This creates narrative enigma which in turn makes the film more interesting and will keep the audiences attention better because they will want to find out who the killer is and what there motives are. The most commonly used weapon in slasher films is a knife, and we have also used one.
Isolated locations are often used in slasher films because they connote that the victim is helpless. We thought that the best way to convey this isolation would be to have the killing in a basement.
Another way that we use the conventions of a slasher film is that the victim is drinking before being punished and killed. Characters in slasher films are usually killed after breaking the moral code, this mainly applies to Scream Queens.
Carol Clover's theory of the final girl is that these are characters who are usually shown in the opening, so we have challenged this convention by planning on introducing her further into the film.
Scream Queens are usually attractive, young, blonde women. This is a feminist theory.
We, however, have developed this convention to have a young blond male victim in our opening. We think that the main benefit to this is that the victim will be similar to our target audience, therefore the audience is more likely to associate with the character and feel as though they could be him.
Any film usually begins with company idents and ours does the same, starting with our four company idents.
We have titles on screen at the start of the film which is also often used. In old films full credits would usually play at the start of the film, however today's films usually only show a small selecting of credits at the start of the film and show the full credits at the end. We have followed this convention and only put the following credits in our opening:
- Company credits - '... present' and ''In association with...';
- 'Introducing Will Lennard'
- 'Sean Burke'
- 'Music by Andy King'
- 'Edited by...'
- 'An Andy King film'
Our soundtrack is also similar to other slasher films in that it combines long, slow notes with fast notes, and also varies tempo throughout depending on the mood that is trying to be conveyed.
Soundtrack from our film opening
The killers in slasher films are usually masked or not identified until a bit into the film, so we did the same and didn't show the killers face during the opening. This creates narrative enigma which in turn makes the film more interesting and will keep the audiences attention better because they will want to find out who the killer is and what there motives are. The most commonly used weapon in slasher films is a knife, and we have also used one.
Isolated locations are often used in slasher films because they connote that the victim is helpless. We thought that the best way to convey this isolation would be to have the killing in a basement.
Another way that we use the conventions of a slasher film is that the victim is drinking before being punished and killed. Characters in slasher films are usually killed after breaking the moral code, this mainly applies to Scream Queens.
Carol Clover's theory of the final girl is that these are characters who are usually shown in the opening, so we have challenged this convention by planning on introducing her further into the film.
Scream Queens are usually attractive, young, blonde women. This is a feminist theory.
We, however, have developed this convention to have a young blond male victim in our opening. We think that the main benefit to this is that the victim will be similar to our target audience, therefore the audience is more likely to associate with the character and feel as though they could be him.
Tuesday, 3 April 2012
Evaluation Question 2
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
There are only two characters introduced in our opening.
The Victim
The stereotypical victim in a slasher film is a Scream Queen. This is usually a blonde, attractive young woman who breaks the moral code and is therefore punished for it. We wanted to challenge this representation to associate it more with our target audience social group of 15-24 year old males. This target audience was the inspiration for this character which we felt would direct their preferred reading of the character to themselves or ordinary people that they know, therefore making them feel as though it could happen to them. This was mainly represented through the clothing - a dark hoodie and jeans. We were also aware that the majority of our target audience had seen Scream, in which Billy Loomis and Stu Macher appear to be ordinary male teenagers but turn out to be the killers. This will hopefully make the audience associate our character with them, creating false expectations.
The Killer
The audience only partly get to see the killer in our film opening to create narrative enigma. This was used in Saw and we thought it worked really well. What we did show of the killer was that he was:
There are only two characters introduced in our opening.
The Victim
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| Victim from Underground |
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| Billy Loomis and Stu Macher from Scream |
The Killer
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| Jigsaw from Saw |
- wearing boots - this suggests that he had been out to get a victim and not for social reasons; also suggests it's a male, possibly an older man
- wearing a grey hoodie - this could make the audience think the killer is of the same age as the victim, possible wanting revenge for something
- using a large knife for stabbing - this is the most commonly used weapon in a slasher film and doesn't reveal anything specifically about the killers personality
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| Killer from Underground |
Class and status of the characters is slightly withheld, however it is clear by looking at the victim that he is not working class as his clothes are good quality and he is clean. Working class characters don't usually appeal to an American audience, so this will appeal to them. It is also a representation of our target audience's class and status.
It has become normative for characters to be physically able. This makes the film more commercial and it would have been extremely difficult to find an actor with a physical disability. One example of a character who is disabled is Franklin Hardesty from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, but we think that adding a disabled character to our opening would have been unnecessary.
We didn't want talking in the opening of our film so we couldn't use accents to connote regional identity. We instead used a rural location to connote the stereotypical British location to an American audience, creating a global appeal for the film. After the snow had melted we thought that we should have added a shot of a large detached house and an extreme long shot of a countryside, but these did not fit in with the footage we already had and like because of the snow.
Physical Ability/Disability
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| Franklin Hardesty from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre |
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| Location from Underground |
Monday, 2 April 2012
Evaluation Question 3
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
I think that it is first important to consider the budget that would be required. All of the actors in our film are new, so none would require high wages. This is one of the key factors that separates low budget slasher films with medium/high budget ones. The actors used wouldn't need to have no film/television acting experience, however, to be paid very little. There are many examples of unknown actors being used in successful low budget films. One example would be Leigh Whannell who played one of the leading roles in Saw. He began his career in television shows and short films and was relatively unknown before his role in Saw. Due to this, Saw managed to be produced on a budget of just $1.2m, and grossed $103m worldwide. The Woman in Black on the other hand, starred Daniel Radcliffe, and the film was produced on a budget of $17m. This large difference in budget is primarily due to the wages of the actors in the films.
Another important factor in deciding which distribution company to choose would be whether to go for a British or US company. It is likely that US distribution companies would rather go for higher budget, low risk film. British distribution companies however are often much more willing to take a risk, but don't have as much money. It would therefore make sense to choose a British company to distribute our film.
I think that StudioCanal UK (formally known as Optimum Releasing) would be the best for distributing our film as they are a successful company, having distributed over 200 films, and they often distribute low budget British films, such as Donkey Punch and Submarine and Wolf Creek.
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| Leigh Whannell in Saw |
Another important factor in deciding which distribution company to choose would be whether to go for a British or US company. It is likely that US distribution companies would rather go for higher budget, low risk film. British distribution companies however are often much more willing to take a risk, but don't have as much money. It would therefore make sense to choose a British company to distribute our film.
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| StudioCanal Logo |
Sunday, 1 April 2012
Evaluation Question 4
Who would be the audience for your media product?
Usually slasher films are aimed at either 15-24 year olds or 18-24 year olds depending on the film's certificate. Recently however, The Woman in Black was released and given a BBFC certificate of 12A. This has meant that it has been able to appeal to a much larger audience that previous slasher films have not addressed.
First I checked the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) website's classification guidelines section to see what rating our film would be most likely to receive.
To receive a rating of 12 or 12A, 'moderate physical and psychological threat may be permitted, provided disturbing sequences are not frequent or sustained.'. This unfortunately meant that our film would not be able to receive that rating as it would go onto include several murders and violent scenes. The 15 rating however allows 'strong threat and menace [...] unless sadistic or sexualised.'. This fitted best with our film.
Further looking through the 15 rating guidelines, our film met the criteria of everything, as it would contain occasional use of strong language and drinking of alcohol.
Only male characters were used in the film opening, which would suggest that the film should be aimed at a primarily male audience, which was originally what we wanted. I know think though that it would be best to make the film appeal to a female target audience as well. In our treatment, I said that all but one of the original victims friends are killed. I said this so that the film could lead to a sequel, however I also think that by making this character the original victim's girlfriend, she could become a final girl which would appeal to a female audience.
The characters in the introduction are also middle class, which would appeal to a middle class audience. To increase the target audience, the characters who are introduced later could be lower middle class or working class.
From researching the ten different horror film openings I noticed several ways in which the film was intended to appeal to their target audience. An example of this is that the majority of these slasher films feature either young adults or teenagers.
We only featured two characters in our slasher opening but we made sure to make these both aged 16, therefore helping our film to appeal to people aged 15-24. From what we had been planning on our production we wanted a taller character to play the killer as it would look more menacing and make the main character look weaker, also knowing the killer would be masked or either the identity hidden.
Another feature we noticed in how these films appealed to their target audience was the editing. Both the pace and the shot variety were carefully controlled. In our case, we aimed for fast paced editing and lots of shot variety to appeal to our younger target audience. We wouldn't a slow opening as this may put off our core target audience and make them bored, which would lead to them not wanting to watch the rest of the film. We knew we would have to have a lot of shot selection to use when editing to keep the audience attracted. We also thought that we could have an event going on all the time, even when the person wasn't being kidnapped or murdered, but we soon deciding not to do this as it may overcomplicate the opening of the film and again put the audience off viewing any more of it.
We received audience feedback on penultimate cut via Twitter from two different sources. Paul is a 16 year old male who regularly watches slasher films and has a broad knowledge of a wide range of these films. LostZombies are a company who are 'creating the first ever crowd-sourced zombie scrap book and film'. They have over 35,000 followers on Twitter.
Usually slasher films are aimed at either 15-24 year olds or 18-24 year olds depending on the film's certificate. Recently however, The Woman in Black was released and given a BBFC certificate of 12A. This has meant that it has been able to appeal to a much larger audience that previous slasher films have not addressed.
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| BBFC logo |
First I checked the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) website's classification guidelines section to see what rating our film would be most likely to receive.
To receive a rating of 12 or 12A, 'moderate physical and psychological threat may be permitted, provided disturbing sequences are not frequent or sustained.'. This unfortunately meant that our film would not be able to receive that rating as it would go onto include several murders and violent scenes. The 15 rating however allows 'strong threat and menace [...] unless sadistic or sexualised.'. This fitted best with our film.
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| 15 Rating |
Only male characters were used in the film opening, which would suggest that the film should be aimed at a primarily male audience, which was originally what we wanted. I know think though that it would be best to make the film appeal to a female target audience as well. In our treatment, I said that all but one of the original victims friends are killed. I said this so that the film could lead to a sequel, however I also think that by making this character the original victim's girlfriend, she could become a final girl which would appeal to a female audience.
The characters in the introduction are also middle class, which would appeal to a middle class audience. To increase the target audience, the characters who are introduced later could be lower middle class or working class.
From researching the ten different horror film openings I noticed several ways in which the film was intended to appeal to their target audience. An example of this is that the majority of these slasher films feature either young adults or teenagers.
We only featured two characters in our slasher opening but we made sure to make these both aged 16, therefore helping our film to appeal to people aged 15-24. From what we had been planning on our production we wanted a taller character to play the killer as it would look more menacing and make the main character look weaker, also knowing the killer would be masked or either the identity hidden.
Another feature we noticed in how these films appealed to their target audience was the editing. Both the pace and the shot variety were carefully controlled. In our case, we aimed for fast paced editing and lots of shot variety to appeal to our younger target audience. We wouldn't a slow opening as this may put off our core target audience and make them bored, which would lead to them not wanting to watch the rest of the film. We knew we would have to have a lot of shot selection to use when editing to keep the audience attracted. We also thought that we could have an event going on all the time, even when the person wasn't being kidnapped or murdered, but we soon deciding not to do this as it may overcomplicate the opening of the film and again put the audience off viewing any more of it.
We received audience feedback on penultimate cut via Twitter from two different sources. Paul is a 16 year old male who regularly watches slasher films and has a broad knowledge of a wide range of these films. LostZombies are a company who are 'creating the first ever crowd-sourced zombie scrap book and film'. They have over 35,000 followers on Twitter.
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| Audience Feedback from Paul |
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| Audience Feedback from LostZombies |
Saturday, 31 March 2012
Evaluation Question 5
How did you attract/address your audience?
We have used two main strategies for addressing and attracting an audience. The first is using actors who are similar to our target audience, which allows the audience to associate with the characters.
Our film was primarily targeted at people aged between 16 and 24. We also knew that many other slasher films, such as the Scream franchise, have successfully used teenage actors to make the audience associate with the characters. We therefore only used actors in this age range. Through research we also discovered that it was mainly males who watched slasher films, so we used only male actors.
We then thought about what the stereotypical person who fits this description would wear. The character has just been out with his mates, so jeans, a black hoodie and trainers seemed like the best choice of clothing to go for.
All of this made our target audience connect with the characters and feel as though it could be them in that situation.
The other strategy we used for attracting our audience is by promoting the film and addressing the audience through Twitter and by regularly updating our blogs to keep them interesting for people to look at.
Twitter allows millions of people worldwide to follow us and we can show anyone who is interested our final cut as well as the work that went on prior to that. It also allows us to follow people/groups of interest, such as Wes Craven and House of Hammar.
We have also shown people we know our work and asked for feedback. This has allowed us to improve our film opening to further appeal to our target audience.
We have used two main strategies for addressing and attracting an audience. The first is using actors who are similar to our target audience, which allows the audience to associate with the characters.
Our film was primarily targeted at people aged between 16 and 24. We also knew that many other slasher films, such as the Scream franchise, have successfully used teenage actors to make the audience associate with the characters. We therefore only used actors in this age range. Through research we also discovered that it was mainly males who watched slasher films, so we used only male actors.
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| Will in Underground |
All of this made our target audience connect with the characters and feel as though it could be them in that situation.
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| Our Twitter Page |
Twitter allows millions of people worldwide to follow us and we can show anyone who is interested our final cut as well as the work that went on prior to that. It also allows us to follow people/groups of interest, such as Wes Craven and House of Hammar.
We have also shown people we know our work and asked for feedback. This has allowed us to improve our film opening to further appeal to our target audience.
Monday, 26 March 2012
Evaluation Question 6
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
Before we began constructing our film I didn't have much knowledge of the technologies used for it. I now know a lot more about what's used and how. Here's a list of the technologies that I've learnt about:
Blogger - Blogger is a website that allows you to create a blog for free. We used this for writing about everything to do with the production of our film opening and for sharing videos and audio related to the film. This is good as it allows us to have all of our coursework in one place and organised, and it also allows other people to see what we have been doing and read what we have written about things related to the slasher genre. Blogger has also allowed me to put up a poll about the slasher genre as well as letting me receive feedback on my work quickly and easily.
iMovie - iMovie was what we first used to edit out footage. Although we were limited to what we could do, it did allow us to focus on the basics of editing so we learnt to get things such as the continuity of footage right before moving onto adding blue filters, for example, to our work.
Final Cut Express - After a short while iMovie became annoying to use because it was so limited, so using Final Cut Express gave us a lot more options for editing. This was important to us in editing our final cut as we needed to give some shots a CCTV style look, and we needed to make outside in the daytime look as though it was during the night. We were able to do this through the video filters available in Final Cut. We also used multiple layering which was not available in iMovie, but was an important part in creating anchorage that the victim was drunk when he was out.
Camcorders - No one in our group had much experience with camcorders so we learned how to use these to film our footage. The cameras we used were not very expensive compared to the cameras used by a lot of filmmakers, however they were good for what we needed them for.
DivShare - DivShare can be used to upload audio files, so we used this free online resource to upload our podcasts. We then used the embed code to put the podcasts onto our blogs. This was useful as Blogger doesn't allow you to directly upload audio files to your blog.
Scribd - I used Scribd to upload our treatment and post it to my blog. Scribd allows you to upload documents for other people to read, so was very useful for our treatment.
LiveType - I used LiveType to create my company ident. I was surprised at how many options there were for creating my ident on LiveType, and I think that people's idents that were made using it were all quite good.
GarageBand - I used GarageBand to write and record our soundtrack. I was surprised that you could use the computer's keyboard as an instrument along with the different instrument sounds that were on GarageBand. I think that it can be quite slow and difficult using the computer's keyboard to play the soundtrack, however I think the end result sounds good.
YouTube - We created an account on YouTube which allows us to upload our videos and post them onto our blog using the embed code. YouTube also has a comments feature so people have the option to give us feedback for our work through that.
Twitter - I already have Twitter but for creating this account we read Twitter's advice for businesses, as we thought that this would be relevant for our account. Twitter has allowed us to interact with people on a global scale and lets people follow us to see the latest news about our film opening.
Before we began constructing our film I didn't have much knowledge of the technologies used for it. I now know a lot more about what's used and how. Here's a list of the technologies that I've learnt about:
Blogger - Blogger is a website that allows you to create a blog for free. We used this for writing about everything to do with the production of our film opening and for sharing videos and audio related to the film. This is good as it allows us to have all of our coursework in one place and organised, and it also allows other people to see what we have been doing and read what we have written about things related to the slasher genre. Blogger has also allowed me to put up a poll about the slasher genre as well as letting me receive feedback on my work quickly and easily.
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| Blogger New Post |
iMovie - iMovie was what we first used to edit out footage. Although we were limited to what we could do, it did allow us to focus on the basics of editing so we learnt to get things such as the continuity of footage right before moving onto adding blue filters, for example, to our work.
Final Cut Express - After a short while iMovie became annoying to use because it was so limited, so using Final Cut Express gave us a lot more options for editing. This was important to us in editing our final cut as we needed to give some shots a CCTV style look, and we needed to make outside in the daytime look as though it was during the night. We were able to do this through the video filters available in Final Cut. We also used multiple layering which was not available in iMovie, but was an important part in creating anchorage that the victim was drunk when he was out.
Camcorders - No one in our group had much experience with camcorders so we learned how to use these to film our footage. The cameras we used were not very expensive compared to the cameras used by a lot of filmmakers, however they were good for what we needed them for.
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| A camcorder similar to the one we filmed with |
DivShare - DivShare can be used to upload audio files, so we used this free online resource to upload our podcasts. We then used the embed code to put the podcasts onto our blogs. This was useful as Blogger doesn't allow you to directly upload audio files to your blog.
Scribd - I used Scribd to upload our treatment and post it to my blog. Scribd allows you to upload documents for other people to read, so was very useful for our treatment.
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| We used Scribd to upload our treatment |
LiveType - I used LiveType to create my company ident. I was surprised at how many options there were for creating my ident on LiveType, and I think that people's idents that were made using it were all quite good.
GarageBand - I used GarageBand to write and record our soundtrack. I was surprised that you could use the computer's keyboard as an instrument along with the different instrument sounds that were on GarageBand. I think that it can be quite slow and difficult using the computer's keyboard to play the soundtrack, however I think the end result sounds good.
YouTube - We created an account on YouTube which allows us to upload our videos and post them onto our blog using the embed code. YouTube also has a comments feature so people have the option to give us feedback for our work through that.
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| We were able to upload our music video and rough cuts to YouTube |
Twitter - I already have Twitter but for creating this account we read Twitter's advice for businesses, as we thought that this would be relevant for our account. Twitter has allowed us to interact with people on a global scale and lets people follow us to see the latest news about our film opening.
Sunday, 25 March 2012
Evaluation Question 7
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Preliminary Task:
Final Cut:
One of the first things that I learnt was the importance of continuity editing and how to use it. This involved using the 180° rule, match on action, cross-cutting and shot-reverse-shot to create the impression that everything is happening in sequence.
I have also learnt lots of different technologies that are used in the film making process which I have mentioned in Evaluation Question 6.
In our preliminary task we didn't use a tripod so all of our shots were shaky. This made the video look cheap and unprofessional and it also was distracting, so in our final cut we made sure that none of the shots were shaky.
We also thought a lot more about mise-en-scene in our final cut and what signifiers it was giving. In our preliminary task we had the camera bag on the table for example, so we didn't think about mise-en-scene. In our final cut we considered it a lot more and used what we'd learned about semiotics to improve our mise-en-scene.
Something else that I've learnt during this process has been to take lots of shots when filming so that we have more to edit with and there will be more shot variation in the final product. We not only took shots of the action but got loads of cutaway shots which we could add to our final cut if they were needed.
I also did more directing when we were shooting as the time went on. In our preliminary task I only told Will and Sean what to say and where to walk, but in the final cut shooting I was concentrating on directing the smaller aspects as well such as facial expressions and the characters movement.
We've also learned a lot about the film industry, such as different companies in the film industry and the differences between British and US Cinema.
The majority of what we have learned between making the preliminary task and the final cut comes from our research and planning. Through studying codes and conventions by analysing past film openings, looking at related theories, studying key directors and so on, we were able to obtain a good understanding of how to produce a good film opening by applying what we learned to our final production.
Preliminary Task:
Final Cut:
One of the first things that I learnt was the importance of continuity editing and how to use it. This involved using the 180° rule, match on action, cross-cutting and shot-reverse-shot to create the impression that everything is happening in sequence.
I have also learnt lots of different technologies that are used in the film making process which I have mentioned in Evaluation Question 6.
In our preliminary task we didn't use a tripod so all of our shots were shaky. This made the video look cheap and unprofessional and it also was distracting, so in our final cut we made sure that none of the shots were shaky.
We also thought a lot more about mise-en-scene in our final cut and what signifiers it was giving. In our preliminary task we had the camera bag on the table for example, so we didn't think about mise-en-scene. In our final cut we considered it a lot more and used what we'd learned about semiotics to improve our mise-en-scene.
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| Our basement mise-en-scene |
Something else that I've learnt during this process has been to take lots of shots when filming so that we have more to edit with and there will be more shot variation in the final product. We not only took shots of the action but got loads of cutaway shots which we could add to our final cut if they were needed.
I also did more directing when we were shooting as the time went on. In our preliminary task I only told Will and Sean what to say and where to walk, but in the final cut shooting I was concentrating on directing the smaller aspects as well such as facial expressions and the characters movement.
We've also learned a lot about the film industry, such as different companies in the film industry and the differences between British and US Cinema.
The majority of what we have learned between making the preliminary task and the final cut comes from our research and planning. Through studying codes and conventions by analysing past film openings, looking at related theories, studying key directors and so on, we were able to obtain a good understanding of how to produce a good film opening by applying what we learned to our final production.
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| Initial Research and Planning |
Friday, 23 March 2012
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Thursday, 22 March 2012
Soundtrack Update
Today I began learning Garage Band which I will be using to record our film's soundtrack. I think that the range of instruments is good, however the limitation of one octave at a time whilst playing could be restrictive, therefore I think it might take a while to get it sounding right. I will begin recording the soundtrack tomorrow.
SB - Key Films in the Horror Genre
1960- Psycho was released. Now known as the first real horror film, directed by Alfred Hitchcock who is now seen as an auteur. Psycho is famous for it's frantic shower scene where it features 78 shots in less than a minute.
It is known the the screeching sound track played on top of the killing. The film is also renowned for killing off it's main star Janet Leigh a third of the way into the film.
"The combination of the close shots with their short duration makes the sequence feel more subjective than it would have been if the images were presented alone or in a wider angle " Wikipedia
The budget for Psycho was an estimated $800,000 and has grossed more than $50,000,000 worldwide.
1978- Halloween was released in this year, or also known as John Carpenter's Halloween. The story of a psychotic child murderer who had been kept in prison since childhood after murdering his sister. The film was a massive hit and one of the most, if not most known horror film ever. It was made on a budget of $320,000 and grossed more than $60,000,000 worldwide. The film is also famous for Jamie Lee Curtis, the daughter of Janet Leigh who was the scream queen in Psycho, being featured as the scream queen in this film. John Carpenter was not only the director for this film but also a editor and sound producer.
1980- Friday the 13th is an American horror franchise that comprises twelve slasher films. The first film directed by Sean S. Cunningham. The film is based around murders which happen at a camp at summertime. It starts as two counselors at Camp Crystal Lake are murdered by an unseen assailant after they sneak away to a cabin to have sex. Set on a budget of $550,000 it grossed just under $40,000,000 in the USA alone.
SB - Our BBFC Film Rating
After researching various other films that are similar to ours after post production and the majority of editing done, we have deciding to find out what our BBFC rating would be if our film was to be released. After I had researched various films were similar to our own such as Wolf Creek and Saw. Wolf Creek and Saw both feature high levels of gore from the beginning of the film, our film opening is the same.
18 Rating Certificate Logo
"where material or treatment appears to the BBFC to risk harm to individuals or, through their behaviour, to society – for example, any detailed portrayal of violent or dangerous acts, or of illegal drug use, which may cause harm to public health or morals. This may include portrayals of sexual or sexualised violence which might, for example, eroticise or endorse sexual assault" Quote from BBFC
This is one guideline set by the BBFC when they last updated the age ratings, which was in 2009. Our film portrays detailed and high levels of violence from the start, an example of this is when the main character is abducted and murdered while being tied to a pole by chains.
The main character is also drinking alcohol which is illegal to anyone under the age of 18 which is another of the requirements for an 18 age rated film.
Wednesday, 21 March 2012
Final Cut Editing Update
Will edited the very beginning of our film opening last week and this week me and Sean have been editing it. We are nearly finished however some important footage seems to be missing. Tomorrow we will check to see if we can find it, however we might have to re-film the missing footage tomorrow so our cut is finished for Friday.
WL - Audience For Slasher Films
The typical audience for most slasher films we have researched has been an audience of 15-24 years old. This is normally the case due to the content of the slasher genre and also to do with the actors that are often teens/young adults cast in these films. However often slasher films will be part of a hybrid genre to bring more people into the film for example 'Jason X' The sci-fi slasher film the 10th in the Friday the 13th series. Female audiences may be also drawn in due to romantic content and the final girl character who is of herioc and ends up defeting the killer at the end of the film. However this is combated my the scream queen character who is often killed of near the start and to some can be seen as misoganistic. Another tactic at drawing in an older audience to slasher films is labelling it as a 'psychological thriller' Which will bring in aa older audience even if the film is really following many of the slasher conventions. In conclusion the slasher genre can spread over a large audience mainly depending on marketing and the characters involved. Audience Feedback
We private messaged a few people our latest rough cut on Twitter. Two of these people were kind enough to reply.
This shows us that our audience thinks we are on the right track, and we just need to make the few necessary changes now.
Mise-en-Scene
The main location in our film was Will's basement, however this seemed too clean and 'homely' as it was to be taken seriously. We therefore added broken glass, blood (which we made by mixing golden syrup, water and red food colouring) and showed the exposed piping, to create a feel of grime and help to foretell that the character will be killed. I think that it worked well, although we did have difficulties as there was a curtain next to where we were filming and there wasn't any other suitable position in the room which we could have used to connote the same messages. We got by this difficulty however with the framing of our shots.
Tuesday, 20 March 2012
Genre: Key Directors
There are many important directors who have worked in the slasher genre. Horror film directors who have a distinguishable style and deal with social issues are known as horror auteurs.
Some key directors include:
Wes Craven: Wes Craven has played an important role in the development of the horror genre. His works include A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Hills Have Eyes and the Scream franchise. Like most directors that I mention in this post, his work explores the nature of reality and his style is distinctive to him, so he is considered by many to be a horror auteur.
Alfred Hitchcock: Alfred Hitchcock is said to have started the slasher genre with his film Psycho in 1960. Initially reviews for this film were mixed, however it is now considered a classic and by some, the greatest slasher film of all time. Hitchcock was already a well established director prior to Psycho, with films such as Rear Window and North by Northwest. Many would argue that he is the greatest ever director.
John Carpenter: John Carpenter has worked on many different genre films and has taken different roles in the production process, however his most notable film is Halloween, which he directed. Other horror films he has directed include 'The Fog' and 'The Thing', which were both quite well received. He has become known as the 'Master of Horror', after his Masters of Horror TV series, which ran for two seasons.
Michael Powell: Michael Powell only ever directed one slasher film, and it was one that was so controversial that it almost ended his career as a successful film director. The film was Peeping Tom and was the first slasher film to ever be released (soon followed by Psycho). The film explored the voyeurism of a killer. At the time this was something that hadn't been done before and was shocking to the audience. I think that this film alone has been one of the most important in establishing expectations of slasher films.
Some key directors include:
Wes Craven: Wes Craven has played an important role in the development of the horror genre. His works include A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Hills Have Eyes and the Scream franchise. Like most directors that I mention in this post, his work explores the nature of reality and his style is distinctive to him, so he is considered by many to be a horror auteur.
Talking about horror movies: "It's like boot camp for the psyche. In real life, human beings are packaged in the flimsiest of packages, threatened by real and sometimes horrifying dangers, events like Columbine. But the narrative form puts these fears into a manageable series of events. It gives us a way of thinking rationally about our fears."
Alfred Hitchcock: Alfred Hitchcock is said to have started the slasher genre with his film Psycho in 1960. Initially reviews for this film were mixed, however it is now considered a classic and by some, the greatest slasher film of all time. Hitchcock was already a well established director prior to Psycho, with films such as Rear Window and North by Northwest. Many would argue that he is the greatest ever director.
"There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it."
John Carpenter: John Carpenter has worked on many different genre films and has taken different roles in the production process, however his most notable film is Halloween, which he directed. Other horror films he has directed include 'The Fog' and 'The Thing', which were both quite well received. He has become known as the 'Master of Horror', after his Masters of Horror TV series, which ran for two seasons.
"Movies are pieces of film stuck together in a certain rhythm, an absolute beat, like a musical composition. The rhythm you create affects the audience."
Michael Powell: Michael Powell only ever directed one slasher film, and it was one that was so controversial that it almost ended his career as a successful film director. The film was Peeping Tom and was the first slasher film to ever be released (soon followed by Psycho). The film explored the voyeurism of a killer. At the time this was something that hadn't been done before and was shocking to the audience. I think that this film alone has been one of the most important in establishing expectations of slasher films.
"The great innovators have always been fearless"
Sunday, 26 February 2012
The Making of Revelation Pictures Ident
I created my ident primarily using LiveType and Final Cut Express.
First I began experimenting with different backgrounds, fonts and transitions on LiveType to create a result I was happy with. I had initially planned on filming the ident myself, however after using LiveType I found that the results that could be achieved were surprisingly good, and so decided to keep what I had made to be used for the final ident.
I then exported the video from LiveType and imported it into Final Cut Express. I felt that the music I added needed to have a horror sound to it, so I experimented with recording different sounds at my mates house. Unfortunately I don't have any screenshots of this.
I then imported the audio I had created into Final Cut Express and began trying the different sounds I had created with the video I had. I found one that I thought worked well and exported the ident.
I then received feedback on my ident (which I mentioned in my blogpost here). I made small changes to the video in LiveType and updated the audio, adding a bang sound from GarageBand.
The process of creating the finished ident involved lots of small changes to make it work well in the end.
First I began experimenting with different backgrounds, fonts and transitions on LiveType to create a result I was happy with. I had initially planned on filming the ident myself, however after using LiveType I found that the results that could be achieved were surprisingly good, and so decided to keep what I had made to be used for the final ident.
 |
| Screenshot of final LiveType project |
I then imported the audio I had created into Final Cut Express and began trying the different sounds I had created with the video I had. I found one that I thought worked well and exported the ident.
I then received feedback on my ident (which I mentioned in my blogpost here). I made small changes to the video in LiveType and updated the audio, adding a bang sound from GarageBand.
 |
| Screenshot of completed ident in Final Cut Express |
The process of creating the finished ident involved lots of small changes to make it work well in the end.
Saturday, 25 February 2012
New Rough Cut
Here is our latest rough cut. We have taken advice previously given to us to improve what we previously had however I still think that this cut needs improving. For example, the framing in some of the shots isn't quite right in my opinion and also the mise-en-scene needs changing in a few places.
There were a couple of scenes that we were unable to get due to weather conditions and not having anything to make blood, however we have indicated what these scenes will be and where they will go in our rough cut.
There were a couple of scenes that we were unable to get due to weather conditions and not having anything to make blood, however we have indicated what these scenes will be and where they will go in our rough cut.
Tuesday, 21 February 2012
Rough Cut Filming
On Tuesday 14th Will and Sean filmed some of the indoor shots for our rough cut but I was away so couldn't do any filming. The tripod broke but they managed to get some point of view shots and added dirt and fake blood to the basement to improve the mise-en-scene. Tomorrow we will re-film some of the indoor scenes and edit everything ready for Thursday.
Conspiracy Cinema Blog
Our company blog is up here. We will be putting all of our podcasts, vodcasts and everything to do with the production on there, including the final cut.
Revelation Pictures Ident Complete
Yesterday I updated my ident to include a bang at the end as suggested. I think that this has improved the ident by giving it a definitive ending and also associating it more to the horror genre (as bangs are often used in horror films). I have also made the text exit slightly quicker and in turn made the text stay on screen for a little longer. I think that this is better because it allows the viewer to get more of a chance to see the company name, and also adds a variety of pacing to the ident, with a slow start followed by a very quick ending.
Here is my finished ident:
(I have recently updated this for a higher quality export - 22/03/12)
Here is my finished ident:
(I have recently updated this for a higher quality export - 22/03/12)
Sunday, 19 February 2012
Revelation Pictures Ident Update
I have created my ident and added sound to it, however I have received feedback that there needs to be a bang or something similar at the end. I will try to update this tomorrow.
Sunday, 12 February 2012
SB - Appealing to the Target Audience
There are many things that we can do to appeal to a certain target audience, the first thing that will help us to discover the genre we are aiming for is research.
From researching 10 different horror films and looking at the openings you can notice several patterns that emerge. An example of this is who they feature, in the majority of horror films that I watch and have researched they feature either young adults or teenagers.
The casting we did was very simple as we only featured 2 characters. From what we had been planning on our production we wanted a taller character to play the killer as it would look more menacing and make the main character look weaker, also knowing the killer would be masked or either the identity hidden. This made casting a lot easier.
From watching previous slasher films we all had our opinions on which ones were good and which were bad, a major influence of these were how the editing worked and what shot variety they had placed. As we were teenagers we knew what we wanted, which also meant we knew what our audience would want. We wouldn't want to be bored by a slow opening as this may put them off watching the rest of the film, we knew we would have to have a lot of shot selection to use when editing to keep the audience attracted. We also thought that we could have an event going on all the time, even when the person wasn't being kidnapped or murdered, but we soon deciding not to do this as it may overcomplicate the opening of the film and again put the audience off viewing any more of it.
From researching 10 different horror films and looking at the openings you can notice several patterns that emerge. An example of this is who they feature, in the majority of horror films that I watch and have researched they feature either young adults or teenagers.
The casting we did was very simple as we only featured 2 characters. From what we had been planning on our production we wanted a taller character to play the killer as it would look more menacing and make the main character look weaker, also knowing the killer would be masked or either the identity hidden. This made casting a lot easier.
From watching previous slasher films we all had our opinions on which ones were good and which were bad, a major influence of these were how the editing worked and what shot variety they had placed. As we were teenagers we knew what we wanted, which also meant we knew what our audience would want. We wouldn't want to be bored by a slow opening as this may put them off watching the rest of the film, we knew we would have to have a lot of shot selection to use when editing to keep the audience attracted. We also thought that we could have an event going on all the time, even when the person wasn't being kidnapped or murdered, but we soon deciding not to do this as it may overcomplicate the opening of the film and again put the audience off viewing any more of it.
Wednesday, 8 February 2012
Saturday, 4 February 2012
First Rough Cut
We have now finished our first rough cut. We encountered some problems, the main being that one of the tripod's legs wasn't working, so we had to shoot handheld. Also there is a problem in the editing in that there is some footage at the end of the clip that of should been deleted. We will learn from that though and I think that we have got some good basic shots that we can use similar framing for in our final cut.
Wednesday, 1 February 2012
Sunday, 15 January 2012
Wednesday, 11 January 2012
Final Cut Express 4: First Impressions
I think that Final Cut is a lot better than iMovie because it has loads more options which means that you can edit footage in more interesting and varied ways. I think that multiple layering is something that looks good when it's used well so we will probably use that at some point in our opening. Final Cut is a bit harder to use than iMovie at the moment because there's more you can do on it, but when we get used to it I think it will be really good for editing our openings.
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