Our Film

The Gift

Evaluation question 7

The third slide doesn't work on slide share, originally it was the prelim video, which I'll put underneath.

Evaluation question 6

If the prezi doesn't work click here

Evaluation question 5

I do believe we meet our target audience. When we produced our film we used a young cast because we thought this would appeal to a younger audience (the replies to the first questionnaire showed that most people was between the ages of 11-20 so we aimed it towards 15-20 year olds), each character was dressed in a different style too, to appeal to a larger audience (each fitted into a cliché that made that cliché want to want the film). We made sure no scenes were too disturbing, (another reason it’s aimed at 15 and above).

We used a young person’s room, with a lot of posters. All the posters may have attracted an audience, because they shared the same taste of music. The bedroom wasn’t too feminine or masculine, so we didn’t aim it at one gender. Although we made the antagonist female because we knew our target audience was slightly more female than male, because of our questionnaire results.

I believe we managed to attract horror/suspense lovers, as our two minute introduction had some suspense and shocks in it.

Our camera angles were successful, and looked professional, except for two shots where heads were cut off (looking at the gift instead).  Good camera angles help the audience feel like they’re part of the film, and in the scene, poor camera angles make the audience more aware of the fact they’re just watching a film.
'Good, but in one shot the characters heads were cut off'
'I think you have used a variety of different shots to make it more interesting, especially when the boy goes up the stairs.'
'Nice camera work! Expertly done!'
'Good but sometimes their heads were cut-off.'

What do you think of the editing?

63% said 5/5 while 38% said 4/5.

What do you think of the lighting?

19% said 5/5, 56% said 4/5 and 25% said 3/5.

What do you think of the music choices?

56% said 5/5, 31% said 4/5 and 13% said 3/5.

I believe the editing was very successful, and the replies show this. I believe the music choices were fairly successful, but might not have been to some peoples taste. I believe the lighting was the least successful thing, and would need to be changed in the future.

Next time we could ensure the lighting is better in rooms, and light up the characters faces better, and send out questionnaire about what music they’d like to hear in horror films. 

Evaluation question 4

Prezi <-- if prezi doesn't appear!

Evaluation question 3

Evaluation question two

Social groups from edenabbi

Evaluation question one

Our media product is a two minute introduction of a horror film. The majority of the film is dark and gloomy; the river is a dark scene, as it was a dark cloudy day. The dark shots follow the dark horror conventions.

We used a pan shot in our the opening sequence, we used this to establish the scene. In our opening credits we showed the necklace to hint that this had something to do with the rest of the story (the same necklace the girl is wearing). The film is linear and all the scenes happen in chronological order.

We used a pan for the first shot to establish the scene. We use a pan latter on when the girl first appears, this was to shock the audience.

We then used a tilt shot down the door, we also used this when Archer walked up the stairs.

The party scene uses a long shot, then uses close ups a medium shots to show the conversation. We used shot reverse shot, and didn’t cross the 180o line.

I used non-diagetic music in the opening credits, this build up the tension, and uses the conventions of horror.
I put diagetic rain over the entire clip, this was to help the continuity and built up the uneasiness. In my research I found that the film seven uses rain throughout the film to express loneliness (which the girl is feeling) and the end of the film is ironically sunny, something the gift could do.

All the props followed the horror conventions, the gift was black and red (horror colours, red- blood). The girl wears a torn dirty dress, and has white eyes, these are similar to the ring. Another film I researched, these are used to scare the audience, because the girl looks creepy.

The majority of locations are dark, expect the party scene, here we overexposed the light, this was to change the mood. This was meant to also have a sense of irony, as a supposedly happy time (party) leads to a devastating event in Archer’s life.

The typography uses a white font in the beginning to contrast against the dark background, it faids in and out to look mysterious. It's similar to the typography used in se7en, but doesn't flash as much.

The crucifix was the main iconography used, it has links to religion and suffering. Crucifixes are a popular prop in horror films, like the exorcist.

practise pan of the river

Risk Assessment

Audience feedback responces

audience feedback 'click here'

The questionnaire about the gift

Audience feedback questionnaire

Tempory link to feedback questionnaire

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1FePNPllnXXO_xMC_gRU_c_QiR-q5NufauZ2JpLkh30I/viewform

Further research into Alien

Extra film research: alien

There is a low humming throughout the scene, this is ambient. It creates a tension, and adds to the idea of being on a space ship. It is an environmental factor, and diegetic.

Later in the actual chest bursting scene, there’s a sound like a heartbeat, which seems to get a bit louder when the alien is about the burst from Kane’s chest, this adds a sense of fear, and because you don’t actually listen to it or pick the sound up when you’re watching it for the first time, it makes you scared, and manages to do it in a subconscious way. It seems to mirror the characters pulse, and gives you a insight of what they’re feeling, as well as allowing you to feel like your there too.

The characters tone changes throughout the scene, at first their relieved, then become happy. This happiness, over the speeding heartbeat gives the audience an idea that something’s not right, you know the film is building up to something. On the other hand, the fact that the characters are happy could put some viewers in a false sense of security, making the following scenes shocking and terrifying.

There is some non-diegetic music over the scene later on just before Kane’s body is released into space (like a funeral). It gets louder as the camera pans around the room ,its fairly quite, and down beat, this could represent the characters feeling. Just as the body is about to be released it gets louder, and seems to sound a bit triumphant, maybe implying that he’s the likely one. Slowly it fades away, just like his body into space.

Most of the characters have a similar accent, with two of the men having slightly different ones. All of them have some type of American accent.

This scene could represent gender; it appears to put men above women, as men speak louder and more assertive. The men are always in the middle of the screen, and directly address the other characters. In this scene the women rarely speak, so this could imply that men are more powerful than women. 

2 minute story board

This is the rough story board for our 2 minute film. I included illustrations of the scenes as well as shot types, audio and the character's script.

Possible bedroom location

I do not think my room is suitable for filming because it's too girly for the character archer. It may be too small for all the cast as well.

Prop: the dress

Before and after

We bought this dress because it has a floral design, which is quite innocent and sweet. The 'girl' needed something 'innocent' about her but in a twisted way. We also bought some patterned pop socks to tear as well.

Why films use props

A prop (theatrical prop) is an object used on stage by actors  to add to the plot or storyline of a theatrical production. Smaller props are referred to as "hand props", whiel larger props are know as  decoration, like chair or table. the difference between a set decoration or prop is use. if the item sin't touched by the preformer for any reason it's a decoration. If it is touched by the actor  in accordance to the script then its a script.

Many props are ordinary objects. A prop must look real to the audience, to pull them into the scene more. In some cases, a prop is designed to behave differently from how the real object would, often for the sake of safety.

Sometimes a prop becomes so famous it can remind us of a film.

in the film Psycho the stuffed owl, shower curtain and knife are famous props.

Possible filming locations-photos

Possible Film Location-The Boys Room

These photographs are of my room at home which my group are still debating whether or not to use to film for the final scene which takes place in the boys bedroom. Whilst it may be useful to film here, as my house is easy to get to from college and it is spacious enough for our group to film in, there is a problem that my room looks too girly to pass off as a boys room