Reflective evaluation question 2 - Joe

Representation is the use of stereotypes of certain groups of people within films. Examples of the things that are seen within films are gender, social class, age and sexuality. I will be looking at the representations within these films because then i can see how films use them and then use them in my own film.



1.

This is a video for the slasher film 'scream'. I chose to analayse this video in relation to gender as the victims in this video are all female. In slasher films, the majority of the time the victims are young females as the stereotype of young females is that they are weak and defenceless. Also, the killer in the film is a male, which is usually the case in slasher films.

This video is for another slasher film, Friday 13th. I chose to anyalyse the video in relation to age as in the video, all of the victims shown are teenagers who are out camping. This is another common film of slasher films, that the victims are young. This is mainly because, again, teenagers are seen as being in threat to others in todays world. And on the other hand, the killer is older, which is again a convention of slasher films.



2. in our planning for our own slasher film, we have used all of these techniques to represent our characters in the way a slasher film would. For example, our killer is male and our victim is a teenage girl. We decided as well to use a small teenage girl in order to make her look more defenceless.
In terms of our storyline, our film opening fits in with the stalker/slasher genre because the teenage girl is being followed by an unknown man.

This is our final film. When planning the film we had to think about representation and who we would have acting in our film, so we looked at other films of the same genre to get ideas. When thinking about the actors, we decided to use a young, small, female character for the victim and the threat was a tall, male character.

reflective evaluation question 1 - joe

Question 1

I have chosen the images below because they are films that are from the same genre as the film i have made. For our own film, I used conventions of a slasher film to make sure that it fitted in with the genre that we have chosen. Instead of trying to develop or challenge any of the forms and conventions my group decided to make our film completely conventional so that it was recognisable as a slasher film.

This image is one that establishes character. The character is the main one, Freddy Krueger who is the killer of the film. The way they establish the character and make him fit in with the conventions of a slasher is by giving him a disfigured face, which is usually seen with the killer in slasher films. Also, the weapons he uses, the knives on his finger show his threat and in slasher films killers always need weapons.

This is the image from our own film
that establishes character. The image establishes the character of the threat and it uses the conventions of the film well as it shows the character wearing a mask and by showing his weapon down by his side.






This image is to show the use of mise en scene in the film. The area of mise en scene i'm going to talk about is the props. The mask used for freddy, along with his weapons are the main props in the film and these are used to make the audience feel uncomfortable with the killer.





again, this image shows mise en scene in our film as it shows the characters costume of being all dark and the mask that the threat has. it also shows the threats weapon. both of these thins use the genres conventions as they are used to make the audience feel uncomfortable about this character.












4 key images:

1

2

3

4

1 - the blood is why i chose this picture as that is a big convention of slasher films, also the fact that the girl is the victim.
2. i chose this image because the composition of the image shows Freddy as the character being in power and the victim doesn't know she is about to be attacked and surprise attacks are big parts of slashers.
3. I chose this image because it introduces the main character. I also like the fact that there is very little lighting so Freddy is in the dark, which lets the audience know he is the villain.
4. This image shows Freddy's weapon he uses throughout the film emerging from the bathwater and again the female victim doesn't know shes is about to be attacked.

4 key images from own film:


1. this image is one that establishes the main threat. i think it is a key image because it is the one where we first see the threat's mask and it leads the audience into knowing that there's something strange about the character. it also fits in with conventions as the threat is wearing black.






2. this is the second key image. i think it is a key image because it's the one that first introduces the victim into the film. it fits in with conventions as the victim is a female, and she is also wearing white.

  3. this is the third key image from my film. i think it is a key image as it shows the threat coming up behind the victim and the victim does not know the threat is behind her. this fits in with the conventions as the victim doesn't know what's happening.

 4. the fourth key image shows both the threat and the victom through gates. i think this is a key image as the mise en scene used is quite good, it's dark which shows that it's mysterious. it also shows the difference between the threat and victim.










Here is an image of the logo used in nightmare on elm street. The logo uses the colour red in order to fit in with the conventions of a slasher film as it is a colour usually represented with danger and blood and both these things are things that appear often in slasher films.

here is an image of our own logo. it follows conventions as it has the darkness of the black figure and also has the red writing, to portray red for danger or blood.

 

The titles from nightmare on elm street use the same conventions as the logo does by using the colour red to imply danger and also to represent the colour of blood

this is an image of our logo for our film. again, it follows conventions as it has the black background and has red writing to hint at blood and danger.






This is an image that establishes
the sub-genre of the film, which is slasher. I believe the image establishes the genre because the girl shown in the image is covered in blood and quite clearly in distress. Both these things are related to the genre of a slasher.

i think this image sums up our sub genre very well. It is a shot showing the threat following the victim, without the victim knowing he is there and so it shows the stalker side of our genre. it also shows the conventions of the genre with the weird mask and the costume that both characters are wearing. black for the threat shows danger and the pink of the victim shows innocence.

Question 1, Matt!

I have chosen to use aspects of the film Scream by having our threat wear a mask. I used aspects of a slasher genre to make it the same as our slasher genre. Instead of developing or challenging the conventions of the film, I decided to make it recognisable as a slasher movie.

This is the opening logo for a production company. I think this shows that the film is going to be dark and scary. It suggests that there may be blood due to the red colour scheme. I like how the "LIONSGATE" is in capitals as it makes it stand out, also how it is grey increases the darkness of the logo because grey is often associated with horror.

This is our logo. Our logo has a knife in it so you can see that there will be a murder weapon in the film. 'Blood Shed' is in big red writing as red it associated with blood, and death and anger and these are common in horror movies. Our company is called Blood Shed Production but there is nothing much scary about 'production' but our name would've sounded silly if it had just been called Blood Shed.

This is the title of the film 'Scream 4' It is fairly simplistic with the exception of the '4' being in red and it is a '4' instead of an A. This showers a normal slasher theme because there is never anything to complicated in a slasher film. It develops a longing for something interesting to happen because of the simplistic title. It uses the red colour for the '4' is because there are many stabbing's throughout the film resulting in us seeing a lot of blood.

This is the title to our film called 'Stalker' It is simple but stands out. The scary font makes the audience feel like 'wow' when they see it. We have the title start off in red with a yellow streak come across it and then going back to red. 

This is a shot from a sub genre of a Slasher film. It shows blood coming through her neck just after being stabbed, we may use something like this because the girl is on her way to being tortured by the man in our film. She may at some point in the future be stabbed.

This image establishes character from our own film as it is a medium close up so you can see the characters facial expression. We can see she is scared which is logical because she is the victim.

This picture shows an image from the film 'Halloween' We are going to use a mask in our horror film, so this could be one type of mask we may use. It appears to be going for a comedy aspect to the kill which we would not use in our film because we are going to have a serious film.

This shot establishes mise en scene by showing that she is all alone in an area, you can see a road in the background but she is walking away from the road suggesting she is going into an isolated area.

This picture demonstrates the mise en scene because it shows they are isolated so anything could happen and no one would know. There is a look of shock on the woman's face because she has realised that someone is behind her. This is similar to our film because the 'stalker' in ours follows the girl home in an abandoned alleyway and then she realises that the threat is behind her.

This is a key image from 1408. We would use a shot like this to show they are isolated.

This is another key image from 1408. We may use a shot of the girl running her hands through her hair to show that she is scared.

This is a key image from Scream 3. This would appear in our film for when our stalker catches up to the girl and grabs her from behind.

This is a key image from Scream 4.

This is a key shot because it is the first time that we see the weapon that the threat it using.

This is another key image because we see both of the characters and we see that one is behind the other and that he is following her.

This is a key shot because it is when the threat grabs the victim.

This is the first time that we see the threat because in the titles before we do not see his face.

Filming

We arranged to film last friday, but unfortunately we weren't aloud to take any filming equipment out because the A2 students were working to a deadline and needed the equipment available. So we took some photo's that we have printed to use for our title sequence (when the stalker is burning photo's of the girl he is obsessed with) and we have now booked to use filming equipment next Friday and Sunday (the 3rd and 5th of February). I have attached some of the photo's we took last Friday.

Media Reflective Evaluation (Abby Charleton)

My existing film shot by shot analysis (Abby)

This is my screen grab of a logo from an existing film. I like this logo (from halloween) because it uses a black background which makes it very dark and horror films are usually very dark and creepy and the writing is in orange which relates to the movie title Halloween and its main image (a pumpkin). 

 

 Here is a screen grab of opening credits that already exist. They use a dark background like the previous screen grab but they also have  small square of screen shot from the film, it is a dark and eary picture which adds to the scary effect.

Question two-

Our film must follow the conventions of a slasher movie, we have looked at the regular conventions of a horror movie over the past few weeks to find that our film must follow some of the following rules... We must have a threat which increases during the film (a stalker or murderer), a victim someone who is vunerable and easy for the threat to get to, a weapon is needed often a knife or hammer (something for the threat to use). Usually a horror will have a lot of fast paced editing to make the film exciting and increase tension.

We will use this research to help us create our film as we can use it to influence when we film, what characters we have and how we edit the film.

So far in our filming we have chosen not to challenge these conventions as they are proven the work so far and are very popular. As our film is about someone being stalked it fits to have an increasing threat and a vunerable victim (celeb in the eye of the public so easy for the threat to get information on her).

Scary Music

This is the inspiration for our horror film music. We think it's creepy without being to slow and it's not associated with a certain genre of film. We think this style music would fit with our film.

Filming plans

We have decided we are going to film our title sequence in our media lesson on Friday the 20th of January 2012, this will be at about 2 'o' clock in the after noon. We will be filming with our male lead character but not the girl as she isn't in the titles.
We will be filming the opening with both characters on Sunday the 22nd of January 2012. We will be filming at night as we want it to be dark and we're going to be outside.

Matt's Previous Student Marking.

Slasher 2

In this short film, we see a range of techniques being used. At first sight it is not obvious to be a horror film, the only clue is the spooky font used and the music playing in the background. However, I think this is effective because it makes you wonder what is happening and whether it is a horror film or not which increases the scariness of the film. It does have a range of shots, the opening shot is two lads in an extreme long shot in an abandoned forest. When one lad goes back it uses a well placed over the shoulder shot of him looking at his killer. It is well framed, it mainly uses the rule of thirds apart from one scene where they are having a conversation but this is effective because it shows they are in an isolated place. It flows well and there are no continuity errors. It uses the mise en scene well because it shows us they are in a forest alone, they edit well and it flows smoothly. The sound is high pitched and screechy to create a spooky effect.

I would give them a B and 47 out of 60.

Abby's Previous Student Marking.

Slasher 1

This film looks like a horror film because the opening sequence is spooky and flashes a lot to disorientate you. It does not have a range of shots, it is just a long shot of the girl lying on the sofa picking up and putting down the phone. To make it better the should have used close ups on the phone to show the importance of the phone. It is not well framed, the girl is in the middle of the screen throughout almost the whole of the film. It flows through the film because there is only one shot type used. It does not break continuity. It does not use Mise En Scene very well because there is only one shot used so we just see her surroundings and nothing else. The sound is a high pitched scraping which is used to create fear but does not do this very well.

I would give it a D and 29 out of 60.

Joe's Previous Student Marking.

Slasher 1

There are many strengths and weaknesses to this short film. You can instantly tell it is a horror film because of the dimmed lights, the fuzzy television and the creepy music in the background. It has a range of shots, it opens with a long shot of the girl as she is watching the television and it pans across to find the source of the dialogue which is her speaking down the phone. They use lots of close ups for instance on the light when it does not turn on and the knife dripping in blood when we see the killer. It is not very well framed because there is a lot of the girl in the middle of the screen. They only use shots of the girl in the middle of the screen. It mainly flows well throughout the film, there are a couple of times when there are slight jumps, but nothing major. The sound has been used to create fear by it being high pitch and isn't very nice to listen to. It creates fear well because as you are watching the film you are unsure of what will happen next.
I would give them a B and 49 out of 60.

Test Shots

This is the girl who is going to play the girl in our film called Samantha Baker.

In our film we shall put lots of make up on her to show that she is a celebrity.  

                  This is the man who is going to play the Stalker in our film. This is him in his normal clothes.

This is the stalker in what he will be wearing when we film. we gave him a mask and dark hoody in order to make him fit in with the conventions of the sub genre that we have chosen.

Matt's Scream 4 Target Audience.

Males 35,610 6.4
Females 7,025 6.3
Aged under 18 2,201 6.6
Males under 18 1,653 7.7
Females under 18 524 7.7
Aged 18-29 28,883 7.9
Males Aged 18-29 23,581 6.5
Females Aged 18-29 5,087 6.5
Aged 30-44 10,585 6.7
Males Aged 30-44 9,255 6.0
Females Aged 30-44 1,227 6.0
Aged 45+ 1,114 6.1
Males Aged 45+ 956 6.1
Females Aged 45+ 141 6.1



These are the user ratings from IMDB for the Scream 4 which I chose to watch and research. You can see from the graph that males aged 18-29 are mostly attracted to Scream 4. The film presents itself to be a stereotypical white american family and friends which means it may appeal to white men and women more. We see that not many people 45+ have watched this film, this is most likely due to the age difference between the characters and them and the watchers understanding that it is not real.