Question 1- what did you make, who did you work with and where did the original idea come from?
Our brief said that we had to make an opening to a Horror film. This was to assess our ability to construct a media product and our ability to undertake, apply and present appropriate research. In our research we looked at other horror films to see what they had in common and what techniques they used which scared the audience and made the audience interested in watching the rest of the film because without that those elements it wouldn’t be a horror. We therefore used some of those techniques for our film opening as we wanted our film to be as interesting and scary as possible. To get our idea, me and the person I worked with sat and talked and brainstormed ideas with each other and we tried to come up with an idea which would enable us to use lots of the elements which horror films use to be as scary as possible. We came up with a lot of interesting ideas but of course, we couldn’t use all of them so we just added elements of the ideas into one idea which would then be the storyline for our film opening. We decided to make a vampire themed horror film opening and used films such as “Let the right one in” for inspiration as we found that opening very intriguing and scary and we felt like we wanted to watch the rest of the film which is exactly what we wanted our audience to feel. We therefore studied and analysed that film opening to see what elements of that film worked. I worked with a friend so our production worked out quite smoothly as we really got on throughout the process and were open to each other’s ideas and had an equal involvement in the production of our film. This also helped when coming across problems we had to solve which we solved quite effectively and quickly.
Question 2- In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Most of the forms and conventions used in the Horror genre consist and rely hugely on costume, make up and setting. Due to the research we did in watching some horror film openings, we realised that some horrors create the villain as being someone you wouldn’t expect (a little child for example) therefore shocking the audience and making it lots more scary and creepy for the audience to watch to see a perfectly innocent figure becoming so evil. Some film opening we watched were “Halloween”, “Nightmare on Elm Street” and “28 days later”. We decided to develop forms and conventions used as we really wanted to create a film opening that was typical and appropriate to our sub genre (vampire) but was also modern because we thought it would make it loads more scary to make it modern day as the audience would feel like it could happen to them. We therefore used white make up for the faces of the vampires in our film and put red around their eyes. We didn’t use capes or coffins however which made it more modern. We developed the forms and conventions of a horror by finding a very scary and creepy setting which was an underpass near my partner’s house and we filmed when it started to get dark in the late afternoon. We didn’t want to challenge the forms and conventions of the horror genre as we felt like if we did, it wouldn’t be a typical horror film opening and wouldn’t scare and interest the audience which isn’t what we wanted our film to do.
Question 7- What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
The technology we used to make our film helped us immensely to make our film because without it our film wouldn’t have effects that are crucial to a horror film. For example, we used garage band to make the music for our film and we were able to create the perfect music for the mood we wanted to set for our film and using that music, we were able to manipulate the audience’s reaction to the film and the music makes the film more interesting for the audience to watch. Especially a horror film as when we did our research we found that horror films use music a lot to create and evoke feelings in the audience. Personally I have learned a lot about different technologies such as garage band and Imovie and so on making this film whereas before I wouldn’t have known how to use them at all. The different technologies definitely helped to be more creative as we were able to put effects onto our film during the editing process of the film making and be creative by using and making our own sounds for our film. The technologies helped to structure our film as effects were available to make our film flow and make our edits tidy.
Question 8- Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
The difference from our finished product from our preliminary task is that we had learnt a lot more by the time we shot our finished product therefore we were able to improve our film because we had learned and acquired skills to make our film look more professional. In our preliminary task we learned to make our shots and angles a lot neater and steadier and how to put the different shots and angles together. We were able to apply this knowledge to our finished film and made our finished film look better and gave us more confidence when we came to make our finished film as we then knew what to do. If we were to do the production again we would definitely give ourselves more time to re shoot some scenes to perfect them even more and develop our knowledge even more.
Question 9- What was your contribution to the process during the planning, production and post production stages?
During the planning, I watched some horror film openings and looked at what effects and techniques they used and told my partner my findings to see if we could add some of those effects and techniques into our film. I also organised what equipment we needed for the production such as camera, tripod and so on and also created the shot list we needed for the film so on the day of shooting we knew exactly what we were doing. During the production stage me and my partner directed the production and she would ask me to look back at the camera shots to see how they looked and to see if we needed to re shoot it. I was also cast as the victim in the production. During the post production stage it was my job to create the music for the film and I also gave advice on the editing process as it was my partners job to edit the film. I have also done evaluation questions 1,2,7,8,9
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