2. Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop
or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Sound: when we were looking at the sound in the film, it is one of the most important
things since the sound can really set the tone for the film, and people will immediately
know what type of film it is. Due to the ideas of building up tension, and having the shots
much like a heart beat (transition wise) we thought about having a heart beat over the
top of some of the scenes, especially at the beginning, when she’s walking into the
bathroom and when there are pans of the graffiti. For the CCTV shots, we wanted to have
a slight buzz that’s a little unnerving, but at the same time is extremely realistic.
When Chante comes into the shot and starts to wipe off the lipstick, the sound has been
edited so it sounds like a tape being re-winded, making it quite unnerving. We then chose
to keep the sound of the water running to create a sense of realism, and because it was
an over the shoulder shot, we wanted to create the feeling that we were actually in the
room, looking over her shoulder and watching her. Towards the end, we wanted to finish
off the tension, so we thought about having one single heart beat as if Danika’s heart has
stopped (even though she is still alive it’s almost as if the bullying has lead to the loss of
her heart.
3. Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop
or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Mis-en-scene: We managed to get hold of a head who looks like a maths teacher, and 3 hands
which had fingers missing and had blood on them. We used these to represent the murders
that took place in the film, but these meant we didn’t actually have to show the murders.
These hands and the head also added to the genre or horror, and the fact that they are from
cut up bodies adds to the tension. We made our own title credits by writing them and insults
in a graffiti like manor on some paper and the stuck it up on the wall in the toilets making it
look like people had written on the wall. This was to suggest ideas of school and the ideas that
people graffiti on walls in the toilet. This also adds to the effect of bullying, since there are
mentions of the main character and there are abusive comments about her.
Editing : When it came to the editing, we changed the contrast and the colouring a bit to
create a darker tone in the overall film. We also cut it so that there were flashes of her walking
into the bathroom, but then there were cuts to the graffiti, building up tension and surprise.
Each transition we had in the film, for example the scene, to black and then to another
scene, created a sense of mystery, and it was almost like a heart beat. If you look at the link, it
is a trailer for a horror film. When you look and think about the editing for this film, you can
see that for most of the clip, the lighting is low and there are mainly dark colours. Any bright
colours are to distinguish certain aspects of the film, for example the cross. If you look at the
cutting and the transitions, there is a lot of black, and people associate this with fear because
with darkness, comes fear; the fear of the unknown.
http://www.youtube.com/user/MomentumPictures?v=PhZm1vV6sFQ
4. Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop
or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Shots/ Camera Angles: Through the use of different camera shots and angles, such as
over the shoulder shot, match on action, and the effect of a CCTV camera, we were able
to capture things that the other characters in the story wouldn’t of been able to see, but
a twist that the audience will know through out the film. The idea of the CCTV camera
was to create a sense of all knowing, the idea that you are being watched constantly, and
capturing shots that would bring the story to life and interest the audience. If you look at
the link here, you can see that the idea of a CCTV camera is to pick up things that not
everyone might be able to see, and to use it as evidence if it is needed. CCTV camera’s also
add to the realism of the film, since they are almost everywhere we go.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgzapUaA-DM&safe=active
Theme: When we were planning the film, we wanted to explore ideas of bullying. We
know that there have been a lot of films based around this theme, and wanted to
match it with a genre that could show the effects of bullying. We finally chose to
match it with the horror genre because through this, we could create tension and
show the dramatic consequences of bullying.
5. Question 2: How does your product represent
particular social groups?
In school, especially secondary school, there are bound to be cliques and certain
group. The general idea is that if you are in a particular group, its because you act in
a certain way and dress in a certain way. If you are in one group you stay in that
group.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRteokw7m80&safe=active
If you look at this clip from Mean Girls, this is a perfect example of the sort of
splitting off of groups that happen in every day life. American’s tend to have groups
that they stick to, whereas in England, we tend to have the same thing but people
are friendly with everyone else, so it’s not like we have mini wars with other people
from other groups, where as in America, teenagers tend to stick with one particular
type.
6. Question 2: How does your product represent
particular social groups?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_LQhtND2VM&safe=active-
If you look at this video, you can see what the effects of bullying are. Even though this isn't a
horror film, it does look at bullying, and the cliques of girls that can force people to feel like
they are worthless. We want to film everything in the school, to capture the type of people
who get bullied and who the bullies are. Quite often, it’s everyone that joins in in the bullying
and the victim is either alone or has a few people around them. In our film, we wanted to
capture the importance of this, and there hopefully will be scenes where we see everyone
(from all different ages and groups) who bully her.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAInSUNMTsw&safe=active-
The image and sound quality of this clip isn’t very good, but this is a horror film based around
the idea of a young girl with powers who is being bullied. When the blood pours onto
her, everyone starts laughing, which angers her even more. This looks at the issue of victims
feeling worthless, and like they have no one to turn to. Where as normally people may try
hurting themselves at this point, to give it our film a sense of horror, we wanted to capture
the idea of her not having anyone to turn to, so she ‘creates’ an imaginary friend, who kills
the bullies for her, however, it turns out because she is an imaginary friend, it is Danika who
is killing the bullies but she doesn’t know it. Throughout the film, there are only hints at the
fact that Chante is an imaginary friend, since to the audience, she looks like another
character in the story, but the characters within the story cant see her.
