The shots I chose to use in my media product were influenced largely from real media products. I use an establishing shot as I noticed that it works very well in creating a spooky effect right from the beginning and has been effective in other products. I used an extreme close up of blood in my film as it has been proven that this works in building up fear within the audience.A time passer is used as it emphasises the clock and indicates that it is getting late at night and shows bad things are happening over a period of time.
The opening sequence to my horror film is stereotypical to other horror films as right from the start it allows for the audience to know the genre of the film. Low-key lighting is used throughout the opening sequence in order to build up tension right from the start. Slow eerie music is used at the start where the actors and actresses names appear on the screen. This is breaking the usual rule of a film where the actors names appear at the end however we thought it was necessary to introduce them at the start as it is only a short film.
The title we used on for our short film is quite plain and doesn’t relate much to the horror genre. However we chose to use this font as it is big bold and stands out. We can then go on to use the same font throughout the short film when introducing the characters which would make it look more professional and maintain a good house style. These are some of the fonts I looked at to use for our title but now these can be used in my ancillary tasks in helping promote the film.
Our horror film uses the typical conventions of a regular horror film where things appear to be normal at the start and gradually go wrong. The story is helped to be told with the use of camera lighting within the different scenes. Low key lighting is used in the opening sequence to allow the audience to know the genre of the film, it also allows to create a spooky effect right from the start. The film then uses high key lighting in the house where the group of teenagers are. This is done as it shows that at the start everything is fine but implies things may change due to the fact low key lighting has already been used to establish the genre. As things start to go wrong in the film low key lighting is then used. This is done as it helps in creating a distorted effect and allows for imagery to perhaps be unclear but the audience are able to hear what is going on. The darkness draws the reader in and makes the audience focus more on the film which builds up tension.
Shot reverse shot is used various times throughout the short film as it shows the interaction between two characters. Reaction shots are used to emphasise something has happened. In our media product we used a reaction shot which indicates the character has seen something unusual building up tension within the audience.
The point of view shot is used in our short horror film to create an effect that the teenagers are being watched. It is taken from outside the house and creates an effect of somebody looking into the house at the teenagers giving the impression they are not alone.Extreme close ups are used to focus on highly significant things. For example the clock shows time ticking by and that it is late at night creating the spooky effect. The extreme close up of the girl shows emotions and allows the reader to see something awful has happened. The extreme close up of the blood emphasises the deaths that have taken place and create a stronger sense of fear within the audience.
A high angle shot is used of the victim which makes them appear vulnerable. It creates an effect that they are very small and the camera over powers them. A low angle shot is then used of the murderer which allows them to dominate the screen. This implies they are in control over the situation and have power over the victim. Two shots are used to show the interaction between two characters. In most cases they are used showing the characters talking to one another however we challenged the typical two shot by showing a girl alone with the murdered lurking in the background. This shows the closeness of the two characters which creates a sense of fear as implies something is going to happen to the girl.
In the construction stage the main two software’s used were adobe premiere and audacity. Adobe premiere was the programme which we used to construct our whole video. It was used to import the video’s onto the computer and then to edit each clip in an effective way. Its many devices allowed us to change a variety of aspects of the film in order to make it look professional. Audacity was used to edit the music in which we have used on our final product. This allowed us to alter the sound in order to make it sound effective in the video for example slowing it down or perhaps making it louder. Once happy with the sound this could then be imported onto adobe premiere where our video could be completed.
Blogger has been used for me to present all of my work online. I have organised all of my work and presented to my teacher in an effective way to gain feedback in order to improve. I was also able to look at other short films which have been published on students blogs and take note of their feedback.Youtube has been used largely in the research stage of my product as I was able to go online and have a look at other short films for inspiration. I have done many analysis's of a variety of films where I could take into account sound, lighting and mise-en-scene. I then posted our film onto youtube so I could get a variety of audience feedback in order improve the film. Slide share has been used for me to import my evaluative presentations onto the blog. It allowed me to evaluate different media texts in a variety of ways and present it professionally. Dafont has been used to investigate different fonts which can be used on my film or ancillary project in order to create a spooky effect and make it look professional. Photo shop has been used for me to make my ancillary project. I was able to easily make a film poster and film review page using photo shop in order to make it look professional. Google has been used as the main search engine which has enabled us to collect lots of data and images in order to help with the different stages of our project.
Microsoft office has been a very useful software which I have used throughout. I have used microsoft word to obtain lots of information that I would need for the creation of our film. I was able to store lots of detailed analysis of work before putting onto my blog. Publisher was used for lots of my work to save as a jpeg and convert to my blog. I was able to make mood boards on publisher and make charts and graphs of the information I had obtained from questionnaires and secondary research. This can then easily be put onto my blog.Powerpoint has been used for me to look at other short films and break them up into small sections to analyse with imagery for the audience to look at. It enables you to separate your work into sections making it easy to present. I also used powerpoint to make various presentations about camera editing techniques I have tested.
I used a canon video camera to capture the footage for my film. I was able to experiment with the camera zooming in and out, learning how to create a good pan and clear focusing on specific objects. I used the marantz voice recorder tor record the speech for my presentation, I was able to display more images throughout the presentation and talk in the background making it more visual and interactive for the audience.
For my first ancillary text I made a poster promoting my short film midnight massacre. I used an image from the film so that the poster is directly related to it however changed the colour to black and white. I used a colour scheme of black, white, red and grey which relates to the genre horror. I have included the name of our production company on the poster making it appear more professional and again links it directly to our film. The text used is very similar to what is used on the credits of the film in order to maintain a strong house style. By making this film poster it gave me a clearer understanding of how horror films are supposed to look and the typical conventions I can involve.
For my second ancillary project I have made a film review of my product. I set in out in the style of a newspaper article in order to make it look more realistic and professional. I produced a review of my film which highlighted the great parts of it as well as including some positive criticisms. I researched other review articles first so I was able to relate my review to these. I used a screen shot image from the film in so that the article clearly relates to ‘midnight massacre’. I included a star rating which is the same one used on my other ancillary project. I included the associates of our film which combines everything together. I also listed the cast and the running time as an extra for the audience.
I conducted a questionnaire in order to obtain some primary research about what to include in my film. I found out that the slasher horror genre is what the majority of people said they prefer and therefore we decided to create a slasher horror film ourselves. I also found out what there favourite horror film is so I was able to relate features of our film to some of the most popular ones. I found out that most people prefer to see teenagers as the victims in a horror film and therefore we decided to base our film on a group of teenagers as they would appear most vulnerable. It appeared that people felt that the woods or a house was most effective at creating fear in a horror film which is why we chose to set our film in a house.
By obtaining secondary research we were able to back up the evidence from out primary research and expand on any other findings. We were able to see that males watch horror films more than females and the predominant age is 15-24 year olds and therefore this is the type of audience we should be targeting.
For my focus group I asked further questions relating to their answers on the questionnaire. I found out why people prefer slasher horror films so I could involve some of the features into our production. I asked about their favourite scenes and actors so I could help to involve this in my film.
