Evaluation - Kurtis Hetherington

Evaluation
By Kurtis Hetherington

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

Titles
• The placement of titles showing the names of the cast and crew is conventional of older
horror films as the titles are all grouped at the start, and while some horror films do
open with a list of names, like Nosferatu the Vampyre (Herzog, 1979), Rosemary's
Baby (Polanski, 1968), more modern films spread them out or integrate them into the
frame
• Placing the film title early in the opening but after the pivotal establishing shot helps
give it added significance while also divorcing it conventionally in terms of editing,
from typical horror trailers. In these, the title would usually be revealed after an
especially noteworthy scare and the end of the trailer
• The typography has a typical Gothic serif style to it which is both fitting of the
Victorian period setting and of the more formal style of the film
The more complex and colourful
background of the main title give
it greater importance than the
other titles

Plot
• The opening prefacing the main plot is highly conventional of other horror
openings like The Amityville Horror (Douglas, 2005), as it is comparable to
flashbacks and significant establishing plot segments that act as exposition,
designed to establish a character's back-story and provide context to later events

Camera
• Our opening uses a variety of high and low angles to imply
dominance and power in relation to the character's eye-line, which is
comparable to dialogue scenes in Silence of the Lambs (Demme,
1991) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5V-k-p4wzxg). For
example our opening starts with the camera on the floor in the church
so that only the protagonist's shoes are visible as she walks down the
aisle which reflects how she is not initially intimidated by the church,
but as she goes further in, she gets close to the centre of the frame,
especially when she kneels. This implies her mind-set has changed
and she feels less in control of the situation. The following low angle
seen from the cross on the altar implies that the threat in the church
actually holds the power in the scene, but the protagonist is oblivious
to this at that point
• Additionally our use of mid shots when a threat is present are typical
of horror as they shown the scale of the threat and its connection to
the character being attacked, while simultaneously showing the
character’s reaction and emotion
The protagonist moves away
from the audience and into
centre frame
In both examples the protagonist
is clearly shown in relation to the
threat but she is the focal point
of the frame, which leaves the
antagonist somewhat enigmatic

Misé-en-scene
• The church setting and location, along with the religious
imagery (the angel at the grave, the cross at the altar) is
obviously very typical of horror, especially gothic horror.
The emotionless face of the statue along with its somewhat
worn down appearance establishes the eerie atmosphere of
the church
• In terms of misé-en-scene, we used the props of the flowers
to deliver character exposition for the opening's protagonist.
The picture of the mother (evident from the comparatively
young age of the lead actress) shows the protagonist
obviously cares for her and is trying to cope with her death.
By having her hold it close to the letter in the same frame it
allows the audience to connect the props and ties the
mother to the story on the note. This method of delivering
exposition is more common in more subtle, art-house horror
• The cold and muted look is largely achieved through filters
applied in after effects and comparable to The Woman in
Black (Watkins, 2012), one of our main influences, and to a
lesser extent Antichrist (Trier, 2009) which has a similar style
using fog in it's more surrealist sequences

Editing and Sound
• In terms of sound the opening conforms to horror conventions.
As is appropriate of the period, we used a fairly slow piano
piece that punctuates more melancholy moments, but the
sustained notes have the added merit of maintaining a sense of
underlying tension and dread
• In some scenes when we really wanted to build tension we
stopped using music entirely and would rely only on diegetic
sound. This is most evident in the build up to the sound of the
candle falling, in which only the sound of an amplified draft
rushing through the church is audible. Absence of music is
common in building tension in horror
• The cutting rate of our opening conforms to horror conventions
to a fair degree, most obviously in the sense that the cutting
rate increases when the threat of the ghost becomes more
pronounced
• In our climax we also intercut our protagonist being dragged
down the aisle with a close up of her face, which makes for a
jarring scene that is designed to create a sense of panic for the
audience as we alternate between two very intense shots
Cutting between a tight close up
of the protagonist screaming with
the visible blood prosthetic and
an action shot of the protagonist
being dragged to overwhelm the
audience somewhat

Question 2: How does your
media product represent
particular social groups?

Represented groups
• Due to the small and focused nature of our cast, very few groups are represented in
the film. In the opening, the only group that receives any representation is young
adult, white, upper-middle class, Victorian females. These are the only relevant
traits shown in the opening, sexuality and other traits are not shown and not
important to the plot or character. The context here is important, as our piece is not
a representation of people with these traits in a modern setting, it a representation of
people with these traits in a Victorian setting

How they are represented
• The representation of this group in the context of Victorian society is somewhat
reminiscent of emergent ideologies as the protagonist is seen to be vulnerable and
hurt by the death of her mother, shown by her repeatedly looking at the note and the
photograph, rather than distanced and cold, as is often typical of representations of
the upper-class members of Victorian society. However, she does not openly
express these emotions, and can be seen as strong in that she has somewhat come to
terms with her mother’s death, but is still ultimately hurt and upset by the events.
She is resilient but not cold.
• In terms of horror, it is not unreasonable to expect that the audience would fear the
threat in the same way our protagonist does, but their death may act as a
punishment for their selfish nature, and not be somewhat sad for the audience, as
the protagonist's death seems unjustified in our opening

How representation is constructed
• Our representation is constructed through the protagonist's costume, which highlights her
class through her modest but well-crafted dress and the golden broach pinned to her
blouse, along with the props of the note and photograph, which establishes how she has
not fully come to terms with her mother's death.
• The amplified sound of the protagonist's footsteps initially implies dominance and
control. She upset at her mother's death but does not consider the church a threat initially.
• The high angle used from the cross at the altar places her below the ghost in terms of
power and the eye level shot used with the candle subtly places the audience with her, in
that they should react to the jump scare together, which helps make her more relatable
and sympathetic.
The intricate pattern
of the broach
combined with its
reflective surface
make the broach look
expensive and upper-
class
Although the
costume is mostly
simplistic in
design and colour
to reflect the
protagonist’s state
of mind, the
blouse has a
pattern and shape
to it that feed into
her class

Macro Issues
• In a sense, our production challenges dominant ideology regarding the upper class
in that they are somewhat self-centred and uncompassionate, particularly in
Victorian representations of the upper class, but our protagonist is shown to be
fairly selfless and caring by putting herself in danger, even while mourning her
mother's death.
• In regards to gender, there is a progressive element in the independence and
emotional resilience of the protagonist, when Victorian women at the time were still
very much subject to conservative values and patriarchal gender roles
• However, in regards to more modern representations of women it can be seen as
challenging dominant ideology loosely but not properly subverting it, as
independent, resilient female characters are more common

Question 3: What kind of media
institution might distribute your
media product and why?

Distributor
• Our film could likely succeed in securing a distribution deal with
Momentum Pictures
• They have distributed an increasing number of fairly low budget
horror films in recent years, The Crazies (Eisner, 2010), Insidious
(Wan, 2011), House at the End of the Street (Tonderai, 2012),
Sinister (Derrickson, 2012), The Woman in Black (Goldman,
2012), The Bay (Levinson, 2013), Antiviral (Cronenburg, 2013),
V/H/S (Wingard, 2013), all of which have medium to low
budgets, and this is relevant to our production
• Most notably they distributed supernatural horror movies
comparable to our opening, The Woman in Black has upper-class
characters and a 19th century period setting
• Both Sinister and Insidious are more orientated around
supernatural events affecting a middle-class family

Industrial Model
• Our film reminiscent of an independent film due to some it's low
production values. Using a DSLR camera gives our production quite
a deep field of view that is not typical of major studio productions,
and our prosthetics do look somewhat cheap, for example the blood
in some of our more clearly lit shots looks a little unconvincing
• Alternatively our film could pass as a somewhat high budget
production shown in our protagonist sitting in front of the window.
The after effects work and lighting look more reminiscent of higher
budget productions and the shot composition also showcases talent -
it is possible that a larger distributor like Momentum may pick up
our film after it being scouted at a film festival
• The important question is whether our production is conventional
enough to appeal to a general audience on some level, and in a
number of ways it is, with the release of tension coming from jump-
scares that are extremely common in mainstream horror currently,
such as in the Paranormal Activity franchise (2007-2015, Peli) and in
the young protagonist in our opening, and some other young
characters that would appear in the rest of the film that would attract
younger audiences
These two shots are less
than a second apart to
create a jump scare

Target Audience
• Our film could target a similar core audience to Insidious and Sinister, of about 15-
24 year-olds, but in some ways the title could appeal to a broader audience with it's
family of characters and overall genre cross-over with the character and period
drama element would appeal to an older, more middle-aged demographic that is a
core part of the art house audience of middle-class 45 year-olds and over
• This also includes typical white collar workers who can give the film additional
niche exposure as part of "water-cooler culture", which could earn it a cult
following

Distribution
• Due to the more niche nature of the production it is likely that it would begin with a
platform release to test the audience interest in the film, before moving it onto a
wide release in multiplex cinemas if it is successful
• If our film were picked up by Momentum then it may receive print advertising
targeted at more specific audiences using mosaic profiling. This would not be
possible with lower budget productions as print advertising is too expensive, Web
2.0 being a much more affordable alternative
• Whatever type of release the film would receive, the campaign would use Web 2.0
with a website and trailer that would be most readily available on YouTube, which
has functionality in its comment section that encourages discussion. If the film
receives a narrow release then there would be minimal advertising across the
internet, and more specialised advertising targeting the core audience in areas it
would be most visible, such as forums involving horror discussion and blogs that
can generate buzz
• Reviews are also openly available to general audiences, but recommendations from
critics most strongly appeal to a more art-house audience, which is beneficial to our
production

Exhibition
• In terms of exhibition, our film could be shown in art-house cinemas, but with the
support of Momentum Pictures such as Curzon and Odeon, it could be bought to
multiplex cinemas if it proved successful, as they have done with some of their
more successful horror films like the Woman in Black and Sinister

Question 6: What have you learnt
about technologies from the
process of constructing this
product

Using the blog
• We used the comment facility on our blog to discuss details of the project and reached
mutual decisions both during pre and post-production. It helped make receiving feedback
and possible areas of improvement more efficient by allowing our teachers a method of
giving us a direct response to each piece
• Generally, we all gained a level of mastery over using blogger to present our work - bullet
points were useful for the more informal style that is typical of blogs, subheadings assisted
with structure and we used the insert image and link functions to embed evidence into each
of our blog posts
• The layout options like bullet points helped structure and present our first hand research
like our questionnaires after our screenings and how we intend to act on our feedback, and
secondary research such as analysis of film openings in which we could embed the video
we were analysing
• We used You Tube to publish our film online. It was exported and uploaded on Harry's
channel, and the comment section allows those that watch the chance to give us any
feedback they want to
This is an example of how we used Blogger’s
comment function to communicate
The comment option
The like and dislike system
is another way viewers can
give us feedback on our
work and provides an easy
way to gauge audience
reaction

Filming
• The camera we used was a Sony Alpha 65 DSLR which has a deep depth of field, something
that is more typical of low budget films, as major industry cameras in high budget production
can have a very narrow depth of field
• We used a tripod for all of our steady shots, which was most appropriate for the more formal
and controlled style and tone of our film, due to the Victorian period setting
• We used a boom mic to capture diegetic sound while on set, which was valuable as it gave us
access to our own original sounds of good quality and saved us having to find other
appropriate sounds without copy-right that we could add in post production
• The slider was used to follow Cat into the church, but it is doesn't follow her completely,
which is effective in showing how Cat is straying deeper into the church and further into
dangerous territory, by having her distance herself from the audience.
• We used a tracking shot with the track for a simple establishing shot of the church

Filming continued
• We used the fog machine to create a cold and hostile atmosphere that felt somewhat
uncharted. I also helped accentuate the light, as shown by our profile shot of Cat sitting on
the pew with the intense light from the window highlighted behind her
• It was difficult working with the prosthetic blood as it was more runny than we expected,
which made it difficult to keep in the correct position. This is evidence of our low budget -
major Hollywood productions would obviously be able to afford and create better prosthetics
with their make-up and effects departments
• The majority of lighting was natural as the church was fairly well lit, but in some more
poorly lit areas like Cat being the dragged down the aisle at the end, we had to use the light
from one of our phones as there was nothing else available for lighting. While this was
certainly inconvenient, the take we used still looked fairly decent as we held the light at a
fair distance that prevented it from looking too unnatural
• The shoulder rig was used when we shot a pull over of Cat's shoulder both in and outside the
church to reveal the props of the picture and note she held which provided smooth way to
them that didn’t break the pace of the opening while simultaneously highlighting the
importance of the props

Editing
• We decided not to use the tracking shot to establish the location in the end as it wasn't
necessary, and it was more impactful to introduce the church by having Cat walk into
it and letting the audience become gradually more aware of what the location was.
Essentially the decision aided the continuity and flow of the production.
• Harry added filters in post production using separate editing software, Adobe
Premiere, which had more advanced options than the school's Premiere Elements.
Typically we would adjust the lighting to make it darker or lighter in small amounts.
The best example of this was when we made the shot of Cat in profile in front of the
church windows which was slightly too bright and vaguely idyllic looking but by
lowering the intensity of the light it made the outline of the window visible, which was
most fitting of the gothic tone

Editing
• We also added a fake sun to the background of the opening shot, which helped establish
the tone and atmosphere and highlighted that the production opens at midday, thus
justifying why the opening becomes progressively darker in terms of light throughout –
thus solving lighting problems in post-production
• Our titles are introduced using a watery, somewhat distorted animation to fade in and a
direct simple fade out with no animation, so that the titles still feel fairly minimalist and
simple and don’t distract from the main production
• Our main title of the opening is the only text using any overt animation, and this is
effective in highlighting its importance, while keeping with the tone and down-beat
style of the overall production. The greater emphasis on colour, the extended animation
and zoom and the introduction of the soundtrack to the point where it is most noticeable
all help underscore the significance of the title. It helps continuity by creating a smooth
transition between the exterior to the interior of the church

Evaluation - Kurtis Hetherington

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