Our Finished Opening

Evaluation Question 7

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

My preliminary task

Our brief for the preliminary task was to include someone walking through a door and to include some speech. It has allowed us to practice a variety of shots and skills that helped us to create our thriller opening. For example, the opening shot of Freya walking is similar to the close up shot of Freya's feet in our opening. It also allowed us to get used to setting the scene which was relevant to our storyline. Our preliminary task was set in an isolated and deserted setting as the scene was meant to be secret and suspicious whereas, our thriller opening is set in an forest to fit in with the common conventions of a thriller film.

Developed skills

My preliminary task allowed me to experiment with different shots and skills to see which ones work and which ones don't. This was crucial as it allowed me to know what would work in our opening. One skill that I learnt was editing and having continuity a series of clips into a smooth and flowing video. I also learnt about the importance of the 180 degree rule and how to incorporate it into our opening. The preliminary task also allowed me to learn how to use the editing software which made it easier when it came to editing our thriller opening.

Problems

During the production of our thriller film we came across a few problems but we easily resolved them. The first day we filmed the camera battery ran out very quick so we couldn't get much filming done, we easily resolved this by making sure the camera had full battery for the next day we filmed. The second day of filming we realised that a few of the shots were too shaky and had to re film them. This wasn't really much of a problem as they didn't take long to film and we learnt how to hold the camera from our mistakes. During editing we wanted to use a typewriter style font for our opening credits but the school computers would not allow us to download fonts. We overcame this by having to compromise to a pre-downloaded font which actually turned out to work better than the font we did want originally.

Evaluation Question 6

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

During the filming and planning of our thriller opening I learnt how to use a variety of different camera angles. Some of these include: close ups, point of view shots, pan shots, long shots, medium shots and over the shoulder shots.

Close-up

We used a close-up to show Gemma's hand as it falls to the ground. We used a close up because we didn't want to reveal to the audience how she did die and wanted to keep it to the audience's interpretation.

We also used a close-up of Gemma's face when she hears the loud splash. This allows the audience to see Gemma's reaction and facial expressions.

Over the shoulder shot

An over the shoulder shot was used here so the audience is able to see what Rachel can see as well as being able to slightly see how Rachel reacts. It also allows the audience to see the whole scene and the relationship between Rachel and the girl; the fact that Rachel has stopped quite far away suggests that she isn't too sure about what she should do and that she is weary of the girl.

Very long shot

We used a very long shot to show the complete setting and the character's clothes. This is one of the very first shots so it allows the audience to get a sense of the setting and what the characters are going to be like. It also suggests just how far the girls are away from home, giving off a sense of danger to the audience.

Pan shot

This shot allows the audience to see the full environment as well as it allowing us to reveal certain things that the audience would not have been able to see before. We use it to reveal the possessed girl to the audience, making it seem like she just magically appeared.

Medium shot

A medium shot was used here to easily show the character's expressions as well as being able to see a more detailed view of their clothing. It also allows the audience to gage what the characters are like.

Point of view shot

We decided to use a point of view shot here to show the audience what Gemma could see and that she couldn't see the danger, explaining to the audience why she was confused as to why Rachel was running away. It also allows to audience to see more of the scene and shows how deserted the forest is.

Establishing shot

An establishing shot was used as the very first shot in our opening to allow the audience to get a sense of the setting and also to allow them to make a judgement of what they think the rest of the film is going to be like.

Editing

After filming the range of shots we then used Adobe Premier Elements to edit the film together. For this we used a range of tools and techniques:

Timeline

The timeline played a crucial part in the editing of our film opening as it allowed us to identify the different shots and clips and also allowed us to see how long our film was. It also shows where the music and sound effects have been placed. It made it easy for us to cut clips accurately as you are able to zoom in and out.

Slow motion

We used slow motion in two of the shots in our film opening. We did this by going onto the time remapping feature and selecting the areas that we wanted to slow down. You are then able to select how much you want to slow the frame down. This enabled us to create tension during our film.

Changing the clip volume

In some of our clips the sound was slightly too quite or too loud. To fix this we used the volume tool by going onto adjustments and selecting the volume option. We could then make the sound in the clip quieter or louder to make the volume consistent throughout the entire film opening.

Adding text

In our opening credits we use text to indicate to the audience: who is in the film, director/crew, the production company and to set the scene. To add text we clicked onto the adjustment section and selected the text tool. We were then able to select the font, size, position of text and the colour of the text.

Fading music in and out

During the frames where we start or end music we wanted it to be a smooth start/end so we decided to fade it in/out. To do this we right clicked over where we wanted to fade the music and selected either fade in or fade out. We used three different pieces of music and a couple of sound effects throughout our opening to create a soundtrack. Luckily we also managed to record quite a lot of digetic sound while we were recording our opening.

Evaluation Question 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

In Devil's Daughter we have attempted to keep the audience attracted and intrigued by using a variety of different camera angles and using music at times of tension.
For example, we use an over the shoulder shot paired with quite, tension building music when Rachel first sees the possessed girl. This indicates to the audience that something bad is about to happen.

We used calming opening credits to create an eerie setting right from the start. This helps to indicate to the audience that something isn't quite right as it almost seems too quiet. The only sounds in these shots are the background nature sounds (birds, water, wind etc).

Our questionnaire helped us to find out what teenagers like in horror/thriller films and also helped us decide on what kind of characters to include. The majority of our questionnaire participants thought that a young girl would work best as the antagonist, this helped us to choose a young possessed girl as being the villain. We also found out that the majority of people thought that teenage girls would be the best choice for the protagonists in the film.

To gain audience feedback we showed our film opening to our media class. We got generally good feedback with one person even saying that when the possessed girl was revealed it "made them jump". People said they liked the opening sequence as they felt it gave a false sense of security. To improve we were told that some of the cuts between shots could be cut slightly shorter.

Evaluation Question 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Our film opening is aimed at older teenage girls and boys, for this reason we have decided that our film would be rated as a 15 certificate.

To decide this I looked at the BBFC website to see what conventions are allowed in a 15 rated film:

Strong language: There could potentially be a great deal. At 15 there is no upper limit on the number of uses of strong language. However, there may only be occasional uses of the strongest terms (e.g. c***), continued or aggressive use will not usually be passed at a 15.

In our opening there is no strong or bad language; as the the tension heightens there may be the use of strong language.

Violence: At 15 there may be strong violence. It should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury, the strongest gory images and strong sadistic violence are likely to be unacceptable.

We don't show any blood or gore in our opening, however, we do show the hand of one of  the girls drop to the floor to suggest that she has been killed.

Horror themes: At 15 there can be strong threat and horror as long as there is no sustained focus on sadistic or sexual threat.

We rely on suggestion to cause some threat and there was nothing that had been sexualised or sadistic.

Dangerous behaviour that the audience imitate: Dangerous behaviour such as hanging, suicide and self harming should not dwell on detail that could be copied.

We didn't show any dangerous behaviour that could be copied in our opening, only the suggestion of violence or death, blood or gore would have taken away the tension we wanted to create.

Our film will not focus on nudity, sex, drugs or any discrimination and it would not be relevant to use these conventions.

Other films similar to ours:

The Ring- This is similar to our film as the main 'villain' in it is a young possessed girl. We choose to use this convention as we thought it would create a lot more fear than if an older character would have been used.

The Blair Witch Project- This is similar to our film as it is about a group of teenagers who disappear in the woods and were never found. Our film opening is also set only a couple of years after it.

 Carrie- This is similar to our film as it focuses on teenagers. It is also about a young girl with supernatural powers which links to our possessed young girl.
















Questionnaire Results:

We used our questionnaire results to help us decide who our target audience should be and what certificate we should make it.

As you can see, the majority of our participants were in the 16-18 age group. This was helpful to us as we were planning on making it a 15 certificate.

This question influenced our decision on who to make the villain in our film. The majority answered young girl so our final decision was to make it a young possessed girl.

Our full questionnaire results can be seen here.

Evaluation Question 3

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

Distribution companies:

In order to decide a distribution company that would be appropriate to distribute I researched into many companies. I decided that Channel 4/Fim4 and Entertainment One.

Channel 4 is a public-service British television broadcaster which owns sub-channels such as: Film4, More4 and 4Music.

Film4 is an independent British film production company. The company is behind many successful films that have been made in the UK. The company also has a TV channel which shows some of their films, commonly thrillers, this channel is popular with teenagers and would allow our target audience to see our film.


Entertainment One is an international entertainment company that owns a film and television distribution company and a music brand. Some films that they have distributed include: Insidious: Chapter 2, Insidious: Chapter 3, as well as having a partnership deal with Lionsgate which has released some of the most popular films among teenagers recently (The Hunger Game series, The Twilight Saga and Divergent).

Cinemas

I think that our film would benefit from being distributed at all major multiplex cinemas (a cinema with more than 3 screens), these include Vue, Odeon and Cineworld. I would also like it to be shown at some independent cinemas too to allow as distribution to all areas of the country. If the film was successful in the UK then I would like it to be shown in other countries such as the USA and Canada.

Advertising

Advertising is done through a variety of ways in the film industry; trailers, posters, billboards, social media and many more. I think the most affective way to advertise our film would be through social media as our audience, teenagers, use sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube on a daily basis. I would start advertising a few weeks before release to create a hype around the film, teaser trailers and pictures from the film would also be released a few weeks prior to release to gain an audience.

Similar Campaigns 

Many films nowadays use social media and the internet to advertise. A good example of this is Paranormal Activity; a very successful low budget film that used viral campaigns to attract an audience. One advertising technique they used was a website which allowed people to demand the film, once it got to 1,000,000 demands it was released nationwide. There is also an official website for the film series http://www.paranormalmovie.co.uk/.

Evaluation Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

In Society

Our film opening shows two teenage girls taking a short cut through the woods; children and young children often go missing and are often found dead or never found at all. One of the girls senses that something isn't right and that they don't think they should be there, this helps to heighten the tension. Our thriller emphasises the dangers of being unsupervised, going to unknown/known dangerous places and showing how vulnerable teenagers can be.

Actresses

Both of the girls in the opening are of teenage age and the possessed girl is also of teenage age but is portrayed as being younger. Our opening is aimed at teenagers aged 15-18.

Music

Our opening does not include any age specific music. We decided to use generic copyright free horror music in order to heighten tension when needed.

Speech

The girls in our film speak clearly and both very similarly. This shows that the girls have been brought up in a similar environment and live in the same place. They also do not have any particular accent which means it is easier for teenagers of all backgrounds to understand them and relate to them.

Clothing

Both girls wear typical 90s style of clothing to help relate to the time that the film is set. Gemma is wearing a flowery, girly dress which suggests that she is the one out of the two that is scared and worried about going into the woods. However, this is juxtaposed as Rachel is the one who is worried but is wearing jeans and a greenish jumper. They are both wearing Doc Marten style boots which suggests that they are following trends and do like to be similar in some aspects. The possessed girl is wearing a dirty white t-shirt/nightie and wellington boots which suggest that she ran away from home during the night.

Behaviour

The two girls in the opening act as 'normal' teenagers with Gemma having a sense of adventure and wanting to take risks. Rachel is shown as being the inferior one of the two as she goes along with what Gemma is saying but really she disagrees with it. 

Comparison to other films

In the opening scene for American Horror Story: Murder House two young teen/tween boys (Troy and Bryan) are shown entering a house that is allegedly haunted. This scene is also a flashback like our opening and once one of the boys becomes in danger the behaviour of the other changes dramatically. Again like ours, the way that they are killed is not shown however, more blood and gore is shown in American Horror Story.

Evaluation Question 1

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

Our film opening that we produced was developed from themes and conventions that are in many successful and popular horror and thriller films such as, Paranormal Activity, Carrie and The Ring. We also used looked at some of our research into Hitchcock in order to help film, produce and edit our opening.

Alfred Hitchcock' ideas

'Blondes make the best victims. They're like virgin snow that shows up bloody footprints'- Our film opening uses brunette victims but I feel that this still gives the same effect as they are portrayed as being innocent.

'Music cannot stand apart from the movie. Its function is to set the mood and give continuity to separate strips of film'- We use tension building music when necessary throughout the film and when we reveal the possessed girl the music becomes its loudest and comes to an end to create a jump scare.

'It's better if we know who the perpetrator is and the characters don't'- We suggest to the audience that the perpetrator is the possessed girl however the two girls don't initially know who the villain is but they get an suggestion that she is dangerous.

Characters

We took the idea of a young possessed girl as our villain from The Ring. We thought this would work well having a young girl as a villain contradicts the idea of her being pure and innocent. This also causes the villain to be portrayed as much scarier and creepier than if the villain was an older person or a male character.

Camera angles

We took the idea of just showing Gemma's hand in the final shot from a poster for Mean Creek. We thought this worked well as it did not show too much gore for the opening and was open to interpretation for the audience.








We took the idea of a panning shot from Paranormal Activity 2. This allows the audience to see what the characters can see and emphasises how they feel. We also took the idea of revealing the antagonist in our opening through a panning shot from this too.

Setting

Devil's Daughter is set in a quiet and derelict forest to show how alone and in danger the girls are. We took this idea from Hitchcock's Psycho where the 'Bates Motel' and his house is set in an eerie area. This made our film into a conventional thriller film.

Sound

The common sound conventions used in thriller films tend to be silence, tension building music and heavy breathing/footsteps. Silence allows tension to be built and heightens tension when at its fullest. We also use music to create an eerie atmosphere from when Rachel and Gemma go through the gate right up until the end which also helps to create danger. In our opening there is diegetic bird song. This helps to create a calm  atmosphere which juxtaposes the real theme of the film.

Lighting

All of the lighting in our opening is natural light. We filmed in late January/early February so the lighting was usually quite dull. This helped us to create a suspicious setting without the need for artificial light or heavy editing. We did go against the common conventions as little or no light is normally used but we felt that, given the setting and nature or our opening, natural daylight would work well. The setting of the forest also means that trees blocked out some of the light.

Film Opening Storyboards

How this will help us to create our thriller opening:

The storyboards that we have created allow us to have a detailed, frame by frame plan for when we're filming. This will mean that while we are filming we will be able to see exactly what we need to film and what isn't necessary.