Sunday 14 February 2016

Final institutions


Above are a couple of screen captures of our final institutions. As you can see we have used dark colours as our film is a horror. Again, the software we used to create our institutions was Adobe Premiere Elements which we found the most efficient for many reasons. We managed to add these into the start of our film so that it would all play as one rather than having them separately. The title of the institution was our own and we managed to think of one which linked with our images in the background.


The Ring - Opening scene (analysis)


The film begins with a young school girl as presumed by her clothing. Clothing is a part of mis-en-scene and is very important in representation of characters. The teen is dressed in a white t-shirt and a grey skirt. The first acknowledgement is shown through a side on mid shot and as she begins to walk away from the kitchen side, in the background through the glass window, a light flashes on which we can assume is her television. The noise along side this shot was fuzzing, suggesting the television had no signal or something was wrong. Followed from this, the girl immediately reacted and stood still as we could here the diegetic sound of her gasping breath. As the audience, we can tell that she was in utter shock and slowly moved her drink downwards followed by the close up shot which revealed her turning her head to see what the sound was. The close up revealed her facial expression, and we could identify how she was unsure of what was going on and was extremely scared. And again we could assume that she was alone in the house which was more daunting for the audience. The slow panning movement of the camera round the corner was significant as it makes the audience feel as if something might jump out or that there is someone watching her. The fuzzy televisions screen is then revealed through the girls point of view. The camera then switches to a mid shot which shows the young girl shocked again as there was no one there that could have possibly switched on the television.

She then looks around and says "quit being a bitch where's the remote". She quietens down when she says 'remote' as she notices where they are. The camera then focuses on the sofa which looks as if someone had been sitting there and placed them in that exact spot. She then grabs them and switches it off. At this point, the sound of the television stopped and we could here the diegetic sound of the rain on the window ledge. She then walks away and as the audience we think its done now and that it wouldn't come back on however as she walks away, the fuzzy sound reappears and the television is back on. Shown through a medium shot, we see the girl slowly turn back around in shock again as she has no clue who's doing it. The camera slowly pans towards the girl as if someone is getting closer to her. She looks to the side of her and shouts "Becca quit it"; at this point we are unsure of what is going on as if someone else was in the house to begin with or the young girl just wants to assume it is a friend of hers. She runs over to the television and the camera is side on revealing the fuzzy screen and the girls face as she stares directly at it . The noise of the TV continues as we can hear the diegetic gasping sound repetitively of the girl as she is getting more and more scared. She eventually yanks out the television lead and the screen goes black and the sound stops. She then looks into the black screen and we are able to notice her reflection and in the background of the reflection, there was a shadow that ran across the kitchen. She quickly turned around and pushed up against the screen and the point of view shot revealed nothing but the glass panels and the faint view of the kitchen. She walks slowly into the kitchen and the medium shot reveals the young girls face as she notices something else. The camera switches and we are shown the fridge door slowly opening with no one there. She then runs quickly again and slams the door shut and continues to take deep breaths.

We are then shown a high angle shot from the top of the stairs which is affective as it has many connotations. There could possibly be someone standing up there which we are unsure of or alternatively it could show power and dominance of a character who is yet to be revealed. There is a non diegetic sound dragging on in the background and as the girl appears round the corner, we are able to here the diegetic sound of her deeply breathing. She then says "Becca can you hear me"; earlier on in the film she used the same name however as the audience we are unsure as to whether Becca is in the house or if she was meant to be there or even if it is who the young girl wants it to be. She then runs up the stairs and there is a use of match on action as she reaches half way the camera moves to show her feet from side on. As she reaches the top of the stairs, there is a low angle shot used from the opposite end of the corridor. We are able to hear fast-paced thuds which build up tension for the audience. The floor is covered in water and as the girl notices, she slowly walks over. The assumption is that she may have left the tap running as the water is coming out of one room in particular however this is possibly not the case as she looked in shock as if she had not been upstairs or touched the taps. As the girl continues to walk slowly, we are able to here the diegetic sounds of her footsteps in the puddled water. The camera then moves to a close up of the girl as her facial expressions reveal how she is extemely scared and is look down in expectancy to see who she hopes is her friend. The camera moves to a close up of the door handle which is dripping off water and the girls hand slowly moves towards it again building up tension for the audience as we don't know what to expect. The girl takes a deep breath then bursts open the door to find her television is on. At this stage the camera pans quickly in as we here a loud scream and as the camera reaches her face the fuzzy screen appears and it ends.

Practise institutions



Above is a short clip of our practice institutions. We didn't use these as our final institutions however we decided on doing a few trials to ensure that our final was the best possible. We filmed this short clip of our phone as we wanted to show the background of the software we were using. We struggled slightly with doing this as we wanted it to be as realistic as possible and be like normal institutions are. To do this, again we used the Adobe Premiere Elements Software which allowed us to edit the images or clips and add transitions and also sound if needed. We thought of all the well known institution such as Warner Brothers or Universal Pictures and eventually came up with a title which we thought was original and was not replicating anything else.

Shots used in our film


We have used low angle shots in our film as they have multiple connotations. At this point in the film (images above) the audience did not know who character was and what they had done and for this reason we though it would be a good idea to use low angle shots which don't reveal there whole identity. This is kept as an enigma. Also low angle shots can show dominance and power that one character may have and in this case, who we can assume is a man is in control. Alternatively, we could make the assumption that it is a point of view and that someone may be below him. As the genre is a horror, it is often that is some sort of mythical creature or something like a ghost however we are unsure as nothing has been shown or evident.


We have used few long shots in our opening two minutes however the few we have used are fairly significant. The image on the left shows the car driving away which realistically we could think is the end and nothing more could happen however followed by this the young girl comes back to life which would scare the audience massively as it must have been very unexpected. The long shot on the right is one of the final shots showing the young girl and we are faintly able to identify the evil look in her eye. This shot is significant as after dramatically scaring the man who supposedly killed her, she is standing on the side of the road; as the audience we are completely unaware of what she may have done to the man and what may happen next. The non-diegetic tune playing alongside this shot is quite eerie for the audience and following on with this is a loud thud which again scares the audience and leaves them on the edge waiting to see what happens next.


We have used quite a few medium shots in our film as it was often that we were just revealing body language rather than the face of the antagonist. The two shots above are significant as they reveal the body language of both characters. This particular stage of the film shows the man as he realises what he has actually done. The first image on the left shows the man as he looks down upon the girl and the was he is standing suggests how he is shocked and is unsure of what to do as there is no movement. The second image shows the positioning of the young girl on the ground and again the man, who is towering over her. This shot would also be a two shot as it is showing both characters. 


Both shots above follow on from each other and are an example of eye line match. This shot technique was significant at this stage of the film. Although this can often be shown through a point of view shot, this is more specific as stated in the shot name, 'eye line', the man is looking directly at the girls face. Possibly suggesting that he is tying to look if she is still alive or if her eyes are moving. 



Close ups are very important in film as they reveal the action/shot in more detail. For example, when focusing on the face, it reveals facial expressions and in this case, more detail on the cuts and bruises. Also, close ups have more of an effect and are more likely to scare the audience. The screen capture on the left is a big stage in the opening two minutes and i think that the close up has more of an impact as it is very unexpected after the audience must have thought she was dead. Along with this shot on the left there is a loud non diegetic thud which again makes it more daunting for the audience as they must be focusing on the face as that was the only thing on the screen. 


Match on action is a form of continuity editing. This editing technique involves cutting from one shot to another showing the same action however, through a different shot and/or angle. The action carrying through creates a bridge between the two which could possibly draw the audience attention away from the cutting. It is often that the camera moves from a close up to a mid shot as both are clear enough to identify the action made.


We didn't use this shot alot in our opening however when we did it was a significant point in the film. The images above are further in the opening where he is in his car and left the girl on the side on the road not knowing what was happening behind the camera. This shot was used to show the action being made, however not actually showing his identity. An alternative interpretation of this would be that someone is behind the character, although they could be unaware. This shot allows the auidence to view what the character sees from his perspective. Although we could use a point of view shot, this shot allows the audience an insight into what the character sees as well as revealing his partial body language.

Thursday 11 February 2016

Title Research

We done a lot of research on our title as we originally struggled to think of something. We thought of having something in relevance to a young girl as she was our main focus. We had a few title inspirations which we thought we could link with our idea.

The first inspiration was 'The Grudge'. This film is a horror and the storyline is focused on an eerie looking girl who is presented as a curse throughout. Although this is not necessarily the case in our film, we thought that there was some relevance as our main character was an eerie looking young girl who haunts the man who supposedly killed her. The design of this title is significant as the writing is bold on a dark background. The colour of the text has many negative connotations such as blood, pain, death, etc.
By seeing this title, we made a few decisions on how we would present it; for example, font, colour, style, size, etc.



'The Ring' was another title inspiration. This is another horror film which we thought linked with our film through its title presentation. We thought that the way the title was presented inside a ring, as evident through its title, was quite effective as there was obviously a clear link between the background image at the title name itself. After seeing this, because we have a car involved in our film, we thought that it could possibly be a good idea having the title of the film projected of the car headlight. Again we thought this would be affective as it would symbolise the main prop in our film however the title would be displayed at the same time. The obscure colours connote evil, death and darkness which are good connotations within a horror film as the aim is to scare the audience which those certainly will. Also, the font of the text is significant as, personally, I think it looks fairly childish having no capital letters and also the letters are very spaced out again suggesting how the person may be unable to write. This would have a clear link again with our film as our main character is a young girl which we could therefore relate to the childlike font. 

Monday 8 February 2016

Post-film Questions

  1. Why did you choose the horror genre?
  2. What did you find the hardest part of the filming process?
  3. How well do you think the characters fitted in with their surroundings/location?
  4. How have you used elements of sound in your film?
    DIEGETIC/NON-DIEGETIC 
  5. What are your likes and dislikes on the editing software?
    ADOBE PREMIERE ELEMENTS
  6. When filming, were there any barriers or problems and how did you work with them?
  7. Why did you choose the location you did?
  8. How did you work well as a filming team?
  9. How do you think is film stands out from others?

Above are questions which we asked ourselves. We thought that these might be questions that the audience may want to find out and were the most important to guide them through our film. A short clip will be followed after this of our interviews.

Question 4 of Questionare



We decided that this was the most important question in our questionnaire as it actually helped us along the process as we were yet to decide on what kind of sound to add. This was again important as we originally decided to remove all of the diegetic sound such as footsteps, car doors, etc. This is because of the interference of wind and bad weather which made the sound quite fuzzy. For this reason, we needed to really consider the quality of the sound effects and the voice overs (if we were to have any). The most popular sound effect was the sound of young children singing, this is because young children are more eerie in horror films; you do not usually expect young children to appear in conflict and horror themed scenes.

Scipt

  • The camera pans round from along shot showing the side view of a silver car
  • The car door is opened and the close up/low angle shot shows the man shoes as he steps out of the car
  • The man walks around and looks at his car, at this point a mid/long shot is used followed by a match on action shot where the camera moves to the back of him
  • The man stops when he sees the girl that he has hit
  • Eye line match is used showing how he is looking at her followed by a close up revealing the young girls identity and the cuts and blood
  • The man is shown again and the quick cuts show panic and confusion
  • He has a look of urgency as he tries to lift the girl and place her down else where to cover up what he has done
  • He places her down on the side of the road and slowly walks away
  • He looks around to see if anyone has seen what he has just done
  • Once he gets back to the car, he opens the door where match on action is used showing his hand and the door as it opens
  • He leans in and pulls out a bottle of vodka and drinks some
  • As he reverses the car to drive away, he runs back over the young girl to make sure that she is not coming back
  • He then continues to slowly drive away but stops further down the road
  • At this stage the cameras go back to the young girl
  • A high angle/close up shot reveals her as she eventually opens her eyes again
  • Match on action is used again as she moves her hands slowly
  • She then sits up and gradually stands up
  • The cameras refer back to the man who is further down the road
  • The side on close up reveals him having another swig of the vodka whilst the -non-diegetic sound of radio music is playing 
  • Behind is car is the young girl walking towards him
  • She is shown through his mirror staggering slowly towards the car
  • The man is unaware of this as he thinks she was dead
  • Whilst the man has another swig of the vodka the girl slams up against the car
  • The film finishes when the car drives away with the girl standing on the side of the road