Practice for main task and pitch analysis

Teaser pitch 1 

This is practice filming for our main task. This shot of a girl in the bathtub is going to help us towards our main task.  Our idea is: With her parents on holiday, Eva Vancamp decides to live life to the full. But who will protect her when an uninvited guest turns up.

This is our new pitch. This connects with our main task. Which is gothic horror.

19 year old Ava Vancamp is not alone. Praying for her dead mother in a local church, she senses an eerie presence looming in the shadows. And it strikes.

The feedback was the following: 

 
At the end of the second pitch, 'And it strikes' seems to be telling too much of the story. Making it indirect could have a better affect and also by using a cliff-hanger to intrigue the audience. We received this feedback from our fellow classmates and teacher and this will help make our film even better.

This film will appeal to our audience, because at this stage in their life they may be interested in religion and find it familiar to them and so this relates to our gothic horror genre, because our main task is set in a church. This will also give them an idea and feel of what it'd feel like to be buried alive. This film is different to other horror films in a unique way. We chose the weapon the antagonist uses to knock out the protagonist--a shovel--as it is commonly associated with a graveyard, for digging graves and would not be seen with an ordinary person. It is also different because a lot of horror always portray the antagonist as a man but we decided to  go against the stereotype and use a woman instead which puts our film in a different light with other horror films. Originally our main character's name was Elizabeth but we decided to change it to Ava Van Camp. This makes our main character unusual and incredibly unique because the name we changed it to is uncommon. 

Exam practice.

How is homosexuality represented in this extract and how is editing and mis-e scene used?

The reason I wrote about this extract is because we are basically looking at editing effects and mis-en-scene and it is going really help us in our main task because we are going to be thinking very carefully about the mis-en-scene and things such as frequency of cuts to add excitement and tension to our horror movie, jump cuts and etc. 

In this extract, it is principally a representation of homosexual  love we are looking at. The first technique i am going to look at is editing effects. The frequency of cuts used in the love scenes are minimal which shows a sense of calmness. The fact that the people in this love scenes are homosexual portrays that it's alright to be in love even though it's the same sex. The speed of transitions are very slow which indicates romance. A lot of frequency cuts are used when Miss Maude is with her fiance, these cuts are used to create tension. The fact that a lot of cuts are used yet this is a heterosexual relationship is viewed as one that is not accepted according to this extract.


The mis-en-scene used shows these two women in a bedroom next to a fireplace. this is used to show intimacy and also to show what any heterosexual couple would do. But in this case it is two homosexuals who are in a romantic place and are being intimate. The women are shown as ones who don't why away from their sexuality because they feel this is perfectly normal for them. The women are again shown in the countryside. This indicates a sense of wanting to be alone and showing intimacy.

Shot analysis

Close up shot of a young girl with a lollipop in her mouth
The shot used is a close up, to let us see the facial expression of the actress and the intimacy of her pain.
The colours used are red and orange. Red has connotations of  anger, power and blood. Orange has connotations of fire, warmth and refers to Halloween and 'Trick 'r Treat'.
The set design is set up outside, with light and dark.  The lighting used is a candle which illuminates the face of the woman in the dark. This ties in with the idea of holding a light-up torch under the chin of someone who's telling a horror story. The director chose this to show the audience straightaway that this is a horror story. The character  has been portrayed as terrified, innocent and on death's door. We as the audience feel that she is in trouble and we instantly sympathise for her. The first reason we sympathise for her is because she is a girl first of all. Girls are seen as vulnerable and ones who need someone to take care of them and from this shot we can see she needs protection straightaway. We know that she is young and innocent from her blonde hair, her terrified face and the fact that she has a lollipop in her mouth, in reality it's mostly young teenage girls who always have lollipops.
I feel that the director has exaggerated the facial features and expressions of the actress. The director also uses a fast-zoom to be more effective, going in to a close up which makes the viewer feel quite uncomfortable because they are so close to the character's face.
The sound used references Hitchcock's Psycho. There is also some violin playing which is non-diegetic. It goes from low to high pitched which makes it quite mysterious. Most horror love using violins and in most cases they are high pitched or mysterious. This helps make the movie have a more horror sense to it.
Blood has been used for costume/hair and makeup to present intense horror.
Blood has connotations of evil, murder and in this case it just highlights intense and extreme horror straight away. The frequency of cuts is minimal which adds excitement and tension to the movie.

This is a mid to long shot. It shows a number of ghosts at varying distances with blurry faces. 

The use of ghosts represents the dead covered and wrapped and shrouded in a traditional white fabric in their graves. As an audience, we obviously know such things don't exist but this makes it the more freakier because we get a sense of wondering if the there really is the unknown out there and consciously think that ghosts are scary because of this.

The colours used include red which is to show the stains of blood on the ghosts' fabric to create a sense of fear for the audience, because the colour red has connotations of death, evil, mystery (blood). The background is black to make the ominous ghosts stand out. It also relates back to the pitch-black darkness of graves. The idea of graves helps us with our main task because we were thinking of having graves as part of the mis-en-scene in our main task. As the audience, we know that this is a horror film because of these colours and the implications. If the director decided to use bright colours then it wouldn't be a horror movie anymore because most horror movies tend to use dark colours in which case makes these movies watchable.

This is also a mid- long shot. we are shown a number of pumpkins with wide smiles and lights in them. The use of these pumpkins represents Halloween a tradition that has been going on for years. the lighting used is red, orange and black. Red has connotations of blood, danger, fire. In this case there us fire in the pumpkins' eyes which could mean death and destruction but also protection because they are used to chase away vampires. Black has connotations death, evil, mystery and grief. In this case the black is used to show the viewer a dark night and the also the house they are protecting could mean there is the unknown in that house. Black is also used to specify which genre this movie is.  The black adds tension and the unknown to the movie that is why the director used this colour. the set design is outside which specifies where the pumpkins are put to scare away the unknown. 





At the start of the scene we are shown a city, the camera zooms into a city which is dimly lit and very busy with a great number of people. The camera then zooms in on a girl and a high angle shot is also used. The effect of high angles are to make the character seem weak and powerless.  In this shot we are shown a girl standing in the middle of the city with people walking past her. even though there is a large number of people around her we are still shown that she is lonely and vulnerable because of her body posture and also the fact that there is no one else next to her or coming to talk to her. We are shown that she is an outsider because everyone else around her seems to have an umbrella whereas she doesn't. The sound used is non-diegetic. It is a mixture of drums and violins. The music is also fast-paced. This is again typical of horror movies because they have a tendency of using violins and fast paced music which adds tension to the movie.  The set design is outside.  We as the audience sympathise with her because we feel she needs protecting because she is all alone and no one is with her. we as the audience want to be there for her because we feel that she is being neglected by the people around her.

This is a mid-close up shot of the same girl from before. in this shot the girl is looking at the camera. the effect of close-ups is to show the emotion of the character. At this stage the director gives us a glimpse of the girl's face. Her face is not exactly cheerful it looks a bit evil as if she is planning something. This puts the viewer on edge a little bit because it feels as if she is staring at the viewer.  In the first shot we as the audience felt sorry for her because she was all alone, at this moment we are sort of changing our minds because now that we are close to her face we are able to see her emotions and its quite uncomfortable. The sound used non-diegetic drums that are bit muffled. The set design is blurry. The director uses this set design to make the viewer focus on the character instead of the things around her.

This is a close up to mid shot, showing a man backing away from the camera. The effect of this is to show the character's emotions and in this case the character looks very frightened of a really blinding light. We are shown that he is defenceless because he is using his hands to shield himself from the light instead of holding a weapon to defend himself from what is scaring him. The colours used in this shot are different shades of blue from the shirt the man is wearing. This links in with the idea of water. The white background of the tiles is used to portray a sense of hope or to be used as a contrast behind the man wearing a water coloured shirt. This also shows that the man is vulnerable as it makes him stand out in the shot. The lighting is stronger in this shot which makes it easier for the viewer to see the actor. In this shot we cannot see where the light is coming from  which makes us a bit frightened for the actor. He is also bearing his teeth which reveals that he feels pain. The sound we hear is diegetic. It is one of someone threatening the man and it is also coming from a recording device which is shown later on. The make up/costume is the shirt the man is wearing which gives us the impression that he is a normal working class man who has no clue of how he got in this place and who brought him here. His clothes are wet which links us back to the idea of water. He might have been drowning and somebody must have pulled him out.

This is a mid-shot of another character. He is leaning on a wall and again with his hands holding on to something that looks like a pipe. He seems to be staring at something in the far distance. the set design is again the tiles we saw in the same shot before which must mean that these two men are both in the same situation. They both seem to be trapped in the same place which means that whoever wanted to harm them planned it very carefully. The man seems to be sweating which means that he must have been running away from the person who wanted to harm and he has no where else to run. The man is also terrified and tired from being chased. He also seems just as shocked as the other guy because he also doesn't seem to have any idea of where he is. He has blood on his face which could suggest that he could have been hurt by his tormentor then blacked out and he's now awake again. The make-up/costume is again the shirt the guy is wearing which is blue. This links again to the idea of water. The actor in this shot is portrayed as frightened and very scared. He also looks as a normal working class man. Both these men seem to have got themselves in very extenuating circumstances because they are both in the same place and they both seem to know each other.

Does the frequency of cuts directly correlate to tension/excitement in a film extract?

Having analysed a two minute extract from Gregor Gore Verbinski's The Ring. I have found out that with the increase of excitement, there has been an increase in the frequency of cuts. In the last 15 seconds of the film, there are 11 cuts this creates more tension and excitement. This relates to our main task because we want to make to make sure that we use a lot of cuts to increase the tension and excitement in our main task.

The 13 Treasures

I have recently been reading this book. The layout of the title really stands out for me because we could use it for our horror movie. The reason i'm writing about it is because the title and layout just really stand out and we can have inspiration from this on our main task.

Interviews to help with our main task

This interview is going to help us with our main task. The audience we asked told us that their worst fears were basically snakes and not going to heaven. We did these interviews to help us  have a better idea of what sort of things we can put in our opening sequence. we would have to thoroughly consider all of the factors that contribute to making a horror film. Our interviews have provided for us a clear vision of what we expect our horror film to look like. So, if one of our interviewees said that they were afraid of snakes, then we would possibly record a snake maybe moving on the ground but then we'd need to have the right resources to be able to pull something like that. 

What is the age group of the audience?

The audience we interviewed are teenagers from sixteen to twenty upwards. The film we would want to make applies to ages sixteen and upwards.

What gender are they?

We don't have a specific gender but the target audience for our movie is females.

What is their job?

The fact that most of them are still teenagers would maybe specify that they are probably studying full time or are studying and working part time jobs. for example jobs like sales assistants, waitressing, counter assistants and etc.

Why did we choose this age range?

We chose this age range because we believe they will be the type of people who will be able to watch our movie because most teenagers enjoy horror movies. if we had chosen an age group of the age of thirty and above it would be different because most people of this age and above don't really like horror movies.

What do they spend their money on?

It would probably be shopping, tuition fees, food and clothes.

What is their marital status? For example, single, married, divorced.
Our target audience is not married, but I'm sure most of them would be in relationships.

Horror parody research

A parody is an imitation of the style of a particular writer, artist, or genre with deliberate exaggeration for comic effect. this is when you use someone else's idea and turn it into a mock film.  Examples of horror parody are: 
Shaun of the Dead (2004; parody of zombie films)

Shaun of the dead is a parody of zombie films, it is mocking zombie films because the zombies portrayed in here are not really how they are portrayed in Resident Evil. Parodies are made for people's entertainment, parodies just basically imitate other movies just like Shaun Of The Dead imitating Resident Evil. They also show how nothing is without flaw, much like human nature. Parodies show how each situation has humour in it, no matter how bad the situation may be. They show how trivial many things may be, especially those highly commercialized by society. 

Horror genre research

Gothic fiction sometimes referred to as Gothic horror, is a genre or mode of literature that combines elements of both horror and romance. This genre is used to play on the audience's  emotions. In most cases Gothic horror films or books always have a damsel in distress and there is always someone portrayed as being powerful and someone portrayed as being weak. Gothic horrors tend to have the supernatural, death, demons and etc.Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is also part of Gothic horror. This film indicates what Gothic horror is about. It includes things like guilt, sadness, going against religion, revenge, death and romance. Most of these things are common in Gothic horrors for example in  movies like Dracula, there's always romance and death.In Dracula they also use props for example castles, crosses, holy water and religion is also a very important part in these movies because we believe that if we have God and a cross by our side we are safe and protected. 

Gothic tales depend primarily on atmosphere for their effect on the reader: such as creaky staircases, damp
dungeons, and gloomy mansions are used, sometimes with elements of the Occult, to produce a sense of inescapable Gloom and Doom which threatens the Heroine with unmentioned terrors. The plot of such stories almost always involves the heroine meeting a Dark and Forbidding Lord, who winds up rescuing her from the menace - or whom she rescues. Monsters, Vampires and the Undead, combined with buckets of blood and gore, are the usual tools employed. Sometimes, this genre brings out the "Monsters Under The Bed" of small towns,  Sometimes it can be socially valuable, as with Frankenstein, in which the monster is actually the victim of intolerance. In some Gothic horrors the monsters are just plain folks. Think of misery.

Media studies:
Questions for evaluation

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Our media product uses shot reverse shots to get the ideas of our film across to the audience and a clear view of what is happening instead of taking a long shot or a close up one. 

The match on match action technique is seen when the protagonist walks towards the door and then walks in to the room. The way we have used this media technique is standard, but improvement may be needed for the shots to flow more naturally. A suggestion for this could include a shot of the main character turning the door knob before walking into the room. This may help the scene flow easier, and avoid the viewer from being confused. Our media product also obeys the 180 degree rule. You can see this during the shot reverse shot. Towards the end of our media product, the shots are taken from the other side. Though this seems wrong, it is relevant and goes well with the rest of the finished media product.

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
 
 Our film represents a mentally unstable person in need of help and has come to talk to their psychiatrist .There aren't any other social groups represented in the film. It represents mentally unstable people in a subtle and mild way, compared to most other media products involved in this kind of (probably horrific) genre. It conveys the situations of the mentally ill person through speech, though the music is played over some bits of the conversation.
3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

A media institution that may be interested in distributing our short film would be a magazine or the internet to provide assistance for those that need it in their condition and possibly unstable state. This could be because for example, in a magazine it would re-tell the film in text and pictures, making it clear for readers and others to understand. And by the internet, comments on this topic and references to professional psychiatrists would be available, offering a variety of readers' thoughts and opinions and ultimately aiding mentally unstable people. 
4. Who would be the audience for your media product?
  
The targeted audience for our media product are people who are able to appreciate mentally unstable people in society and also individuals with less confidence than others. A young audience would benefit from this, learning and maybe gain some knowledge and quite a fright, if our media product is to be displayed as a genre of horror.

5. How did you attract/ address your audience?
  We did this by giving the impression of a mentally unstable character in our media product seeking help and a general check-up from a psychiatrist. We also established certain traits to both characters to develop a more reserved and not an out-of-place atmosphere. 

6) What have you learned about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

I have learned that to produce a media product- such as a 90 minute film or even a short advertisement-it takes a lot of effort and time to get everything just right. There are many things to be aware of like continuity errors and checking that the camera is fully charged. All sorts of technologies require extra care in constructing and producing the overall media product. Our group have learned to make this our first priority throughout this preliminary task and we have taken this responsibility knowing that our media product would be successful.
in our main task we are going to make sure we don't use a hand held camera. though there are areas we could work on to try and improve and develop our preliminary task.

Overall our media project is not as good as it we can do far better if we could redo it.

Preliminary task

ABBA and VERTIGO mash up

This is the video mash up we made of the opening sequence of Hitchcock's Vertigo and part of the ABBA Mamma mia music video. In the ABBA video, there is a camera technique (focus) which we attempted. Instead, we used the same shot composition because the focus was difficult to execute on the camera.

 

Draft for preliminary task

For our preliminary task we have decided that we want to use a mid shot of the character. The reason for this is to show facial expressions but also body language.
We also decided to use a bird's eye shot. The effect of a bird's-eye view is to make the subject appear smaller and, by association, weaker or more subdued. We want to use this shot because we want to make the protagonist look weak and vulnerable. We also want to use an extreme close up of the character because we want the audience to feel intimate with the character.

Shot compositions

 

                                                  Leading lines.

                                           

Natural frame

                                                                  Simple shot

Background

Simple blurry shot. The background used in this shot doesn't show any kind of disturbances, which is yet another way of directing the view of others on the intended subject.

Rule of thirds

This image is an example of balance, with a range of colours and patterns on each side of the Mona Lisa. It is a balance because the Mona Lisa is black-and-white, surrounded by a wide variety of colours.

Merlin essay

The reason I wrote about this is because it will help me with our main task. we analysed camera movements and camera shots and angles used in this extract which means it would help me have a better idea of what they are when it is time to edit the main task. In the princess scene, there is a part when she is walking in the hallway. Here a panning zoom and a long shot are used to signify what is she is wearing and how she is walking with calmness. This highlights the power and status. The fact that we are shown what she is wearing already tells us that she is a powerful and poised princess and it also shows that she is important and she belongs in that castle and then the camera gets shifted on to Merlin. A mid-shot of his clothes already tells us what category he's in (the poor category).A quick close up and a zoom of his face are used to make him look like an intruder who shouldn't be in the room he's in. a zoom and close up is used to show a doll and book that Merlin is holding. the fact that they highlight these two things shows their importance and that he shouldn't be touching them and it also highlights that these things don't belong to him because of the way he's holding them. it's so stereotypical showing the poor person Merlin looking like an intruder. this shows us that the castle is not where he is meant to be. when Merlin walks out of the castle to go to the market, a high Angle boom shot is used to show he's vulnerable and not important. A pan shot is used to show the surroundings and people in the market and the fact that there are people walking in front of him tells us he's a commoner and this is his scene, he belongs here. the pan shot also shows him looking so comfortable in the market. in the fight scene, we are looking forward to see lots of camera angles showing power and status because there is a prince involved in that scene. but camera plays with our minds a bit because when you watch the scene you see that both of them are on eye level and no one has more power than the other. although we see the prince and Merlin on the same level every time, there is a in the fight scene where a low angle shot is used on prince Arthur where we finally see status and power. this low angle shot is used to show who has more power than the other but we are shown this for just a millisecond, there is also a bit of status and power shown when we see Arthur talking to Merlin before the fight we are shown that has these two buddies who are there to support him whereas Merlin has no one. this shows a scene of hierarchy and inequality because obviously Arthur has more power than Merlin, he also has an advantage with the status and power because he's a prince whereas Merlin is not. and then as the scene goes on they are back to being equal.

Sebastian's voodoo(powerpoint)

The effect of this mid shot is that it helps the viewer to follow the eye direction of the doll.     It also helps the character to see the emotion of the character. It also shows the body language of the doll. It's making it's hands do a sort of a shape that shows the fact that he feels strong. But at the same time it also looks likes he's putting his hands on the hips to make it look like he's asking himself "what can I do".

  This is a long shot and it's effect is to help the viewer know more about the surroundings and it helps show the viewers where the movie is taking place. The image shows a sort of rusty place which indicates that he is poor. It also shows the dolls in a line looking confused. The image shows Sebastian looking raggedy, bony and evil because he is about to stick a pin in the doll. this indicates to the audience that this is a bad person and that they should be scared.

This is a high angle shot. A high angle shot can have a reverse effect of a low shot. The character photographed by a camera above the characters eye level will appear small, weak or vulnerable. This makes the viewer feel sympathy or pity for the character. In this shot it shows Sebastian's dirty and bony fingers sticking a pin in the doll. The high angle is making the doll seem powerless. it also makes the audience feel like they are the one sticking the pins in the doll.

This is a an eye level shot.  eye level shots are the most common camera angle, both in still photographs and in movies. The photographer positions the camera at the level of the subject or at the average human eye level. This angle calls less attention to the camera's presence and may make the viewer feel like she is in the same space as the subject, confronting it directly. In this shot it shows the voodoo doll and it's friend looking at each other. this makes the viewer feel like he/she is the voodoo doll looking at the friend and trying to work out what to do.

                     

                   

This is an extreme close up. it gives the audience a detailed view of the most important or action within a scene. Extreme close ups also help to build the viewer's interest in the film. The extreme close up is used to move the scene. It eliminates non-essentials or isolates a significant incident. In this shot the character is about to stick  pin in it's chest, it makes the viewer feel like the pin is being stuck in him and not the doll.

               

             

Camera movements lay it on me by kelly rowland

The reason I wrote about this is to show the camera movements that we can use in our preliminary task and our main task.

 These shots are to help to me with camera movements in editing.

This is boom movement, in this shot it is used to make Kelly look powerless and look a bit like a sex symbol. It is useful for showing the audience an overview of your scene or shooting area.

Pan shot- A movement which scans a scene horizontally. it is also used to follow characters in motion. in this shot it helps the audience look like they are the ones scanning the scene.









This is a dolly shot, it is used to make the viewer sway and move around with the characters in the video.

In this scene a pan shot is used to show a guy holding wine/champagne and he's taking it to Kelly, the more he keeps walking toward her the more we get to see more characters in the shot.