Main Brief: The Demon

Mini Brief

Evaluation: Question 7

Evaluation: Question 6

Evaluation: Question 4+5

Evaluation: Question 3

Evaluation: Question 2

Evaluation: Question 1

Evaluation: Question 4+5 Script

Interviewer

I see that you have a new film coming out this December. So what target audience are you hoping to attract for your new film ‘The Demon’?

Interviewee

Well the demographic profiles of our audience will be aged 12-25 and hopefully will appeal to both genders. The psychographic profile would be mostly mainstreamers and possibly some explorers.

Interviewer

So why did you make that decision?

Interviewee

Based on our research on horror films, we found that most people are teenagers or adults. Teenagers are typically more of a thrill seeker in contrast to older adults. Our certification of ‘The Demon’ is marketed as a 12a. Most horror films are a 15 but the rare few which were a 12a was a huge success, such as the horror film ‘Signs’ which had the same certification. Hopefully, we will earn a similar profit.

Interviewer

And what about your choice for the psychographic profile?

Interviewee

Most horror films will have mainstreamers as their audience because they are all similar. Our horror film will not contain any extremes. However, some could say that it will suit explorers as well because ‘The Demon’ is slightly different to typical horror films.

Interviewer

Right, so what can we expect from the film? Anything new?

Interviewee

For one thing, our protagonist is not your typical character. She is a teenage female aged 16. She does not conform to gender stereotypes which makes her different. This would be shown in the film as being independent and tough. Hopefully this will attract more people because people generally like to see something different and not the typical damsel in distress.  However, some aspects of the film are similar to horror films, such as the mise en scene. The film takes place at night because it gives off a more mysterious and scary atmosphere and is also set in a house.

Interviewer

It sound pretty similar to other horror films.

Interviewee

Actually, our inspiration comes from the film Scream, where someone is watching the main character . But to make things different, many of the shots are almost a POV shot as if someone is following her and engages the audience as if they were really there.

Interviewer

An do you think that this will appeal to your chosen target market?

Interviewee

Yes. Recently, a questionnaire took place about horror films and what they like about them. We found that mostly teenagers answered the questionnaire which gives us confidence that it will appeal to people. The questionnaire also shows that the majority of people like the genre of paranormal the most which confirms that we have made the right decision on choosing the genre. We also got feedback from our class after each rough cut which was very useful because they are from our chosen target market. The feedback made sure that the film would appeal to the audience.

Interviewer
And I I understand that there was some kind of pitch presented before production started?

Interviewee
Yes, well the pitch was extremely important to our horror film. It included all of the initial ideas which was presented to various companies such as the target audience, the narrative and the characters. This really influenced and developed our ideas as we were asked questions and received feedback which all together helped us improve.

Interviewer

Well, looks like that's all we have for today but thank you for your time.

Interviewee
No problem.

Evaluation Question 3 Script

Evaluation Question 1 Script

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

As the brief was to create a horror film opening, I spent several hours watching and analysing the first few minutes or so in horror films to find out what the key features were. To ensure I fulfilled the generic conventions, and so audience expectation, I zoomed in on the micro elements of the horror genre to influence my ideas for my own horror film opening and how they make up the macro elements.

The mise en scene in horror films are generally all similar. An example of this is the horror film ‘Scream’. The opening begins in a house surrounded by many glass windows and doors This emphasises vulnerability of the main character who is a young woman, as glass can easily be broken. Therefore, for the main brief, we have decided to film the beginning in the kitchen because there is a lot of glass.

Stereotypically, women are seen as inferior to men and are weak, hence the choice of gender for the protagonist. The costume she is wearing are quite light colours, reinforcing the idea that the protagonist is innocent and pure. Her makeup is minimal which supports the innocent character, but is then contradicted by the red lipstick, making her seem more sexualised. In the main brief, the protagonist will be a young female which links with the stereotypical gender representations. This links with Laura Mulvey’s ‘Male Gaze’ theory, which states the audience of a film have to view the characters from the eyes of a heterosexual male, meaning that women are admired by their appearances and are often seen as objects rather than humans.

We wanted to create a protagonist who is vulnerable and emotional to increase audience sympathy but we also wanted to contradict the assumption that all women are weak. Therefore, the protagonist is shown walking alone in the dark which portrays her independence which subverts from the gender stereotypes. Her makeup is also limited so it is more subtle and her clothes are not bold colours to reflect on her personality.

An important iconography in the film is the set of knives in the kitchen table. It foreshadows the coming events of death and danger. Another iconography is the cooking popcorn which is a visual representation of the build up of events. As the foil cover begins expanding, it shows the climax of the opening. There was limited iconography in the main brief however, because most of the shots were filmed outside so not many props were needed.

During the first minute of the Scream opening, an establishing shot is used to give the audience a sense of where the film is set. This was an exterior shot from the garden where we can see it is set late at night. Most horror films tend to be set when it gets dark. This is because it increases fear as many people dislike the dark. The darkness also makes it difficult for the characters to see and people tend not to travel late at night which means the area is likely to be isolated. The research influenced our decisions on what time during the day to film and we noticed through all our research that most horror films are set at night. However, it was not possible to film during the evening as it would be too dark and we do not have professional lighting. Therefore, we chose to film at 4pm just as it was getting dark and when the streetlights have turned on.

A variety of sound was used in the main brief, both diegetic and non diegetic to illustrate the genre of horror. The influences came from the research of many horror films, particularly the film ‘ Blade.’

In the film ‘Blade’, different use of sounds were used to convey the sense of horror in the opening. As the film begins, there is non diegetic low background music. The minor key and sustained notes immediately sets the tone of the film which suggests that something unpleasant is going to happen. In the main brief, we had chosen a piece of background music with dissonant chords and long held notes played with string instruments. This is so that it gives of an eerie atmosphere and the long lengthed sounds increases the suspense.

When the location changes, there are faint sounds of metal racks and cages which is quite unnerving because it can suggest inescapability. This is diegetic as they are walking through a slaughter house which has many metal gates. The background music changed into a slightly different style due to the change of location. Therefore, in the main brief, the non diegetic background music changed when the location switched from indoors to outdoors. This juxtaposes the contrast between the protagonist’s danger and the antagonist.

As the Blade progresses, diegetic club music can be heard faintly in the background. It gradually gets louder to show that the characters are getting closer to the source. A door finally opens to reveal that the music is from a lively club. The loud fast-paced music combined with the fast paced editing and montage of shots makes it quite disorientating to watch. This makes the audience uncomfortable. There is uses of foley in the next few shots, where there are sound effects that have been edited in. For the main brief, diegetic sound effects such as rustling leaves and whispers will be edited in afterwards. This would increase the volume and make it more noticeable. The background music would also increase to create tension and suspense before it reaches the climax of the opening. There is a sudden silence just before the build up of events which makes the scene more dramatic, yet confusing to the audience as they are probably wondering why the music stops. During that brief moment, quiet sounds of raindrops can be heard to emphasise the silence and isolation of the area.

Many horror films have similar camera movements and angles to represent the genre. A good example of this is the film Signs. The opening begins with a long shot to cover one side of the room showing the bedroom door and the surroundings. This then follows with a close up of the males face whom is positioned on the left side. Similar to the opening of the main brief, Emily is also positioned on the left side as the other side is of significance. The glass window on her left emphasises her vulnerability as glass is easy to break.

During the first 30 or so seconds in signs, a scream is let out from the distance, the camera follows the man using a variety of medium and long shots to capture his body language but to also show the surroundings so the audience has an idea of where they are.  As the protagonist reaches the door, another close up shot is used to show his concerned expression. Throughout main brief, a number of close up shots were used to capture how her facial expressions change throughout. there are also medium and long shots to show what the inside of the house looks like as she is walking out the room.

The scene in signs changes to an exterior shot through a bedroom window, which gives the audience a feeling as if someone is watching. This shows a new character being introduced. Our horror film opening has also got an exterior shot, so it engages the audience as if they are watching through the eyes of the antagonist.

The camera then pans quite quickly throughout signs which is quite effective as it shows the direction of gaze from the characters. This however, did not work quite well during filming for our main brief because as emily was quite close to the camera, it made the pan look quite disorientating. The quick camera pan is linked with POV shot afterwards limiting the audience to see what they see which is what we did in the main brief but only from the antagonist's point of view.

Throughout Signs, many tracking shots were used to follow the action when the two protagonists run through the corn field. For the main brief, we used this idea to make it seem as if someone is following her. To make this effective, it was done using a hand held camera we filmed this from a distance to show the space between the antagonist and protagonist.

Near the ending of signs, there is a close up of the man's feet walking towards something that the audience is unknown to. This keeps the suspense as the audience knows that there is something there. The slow camera movement following the direction of the feet shows the contrast in the corn fields and shows the importance it has to the film. We used this idea but filmed the feet from the side to reveal that someone is following her but not showing what the antagonist looks like to keep the mystery. Before the opening ends, an aerial shot is used to reveal the setting of what seems to be a crop circle. However, this shot was not possible during filming, as we did not have the technology to do so.

Editing techniques can be really effective in horror films as it can convey a certain feeling and add tension to the scene. The beginning of Hush begins with a simple black background with white credits which conforms to the idea that most horror films start of with a black screen. For our own horror film opening, we have decide to have all our credits white on a black background as these are the typical colours used in horror films. The white credits on a dark background really contrast each other making it stand out and can show the representations of the protagonist and antagonist. The title of the main brief appears at the end which fades from white to red which associates with danger. In comparison to this, the title of Hush appears immediately after the first lines of credits in a bold black font which can forebode the danger and the antagonist’s dominance over the protagonist. This is presented over an establishing shot showing the isolated house, which is a long length shot leading up to the house door. It moves at quite a slow pace to build up tension almost like a walking pace to give some sense as if it was a person looking around the house.

The shot then cuts to a montage of clips showing various actions of cooking, only close up so it does not reveal the face just yet. The shots have been edited to be a shallow depth of field, only focusing on the food and hands. The main brief also had a montage of clips near the end showing various news reports and police cars. This was used to show that the death of the character was very important to the narrative.

After the face of the protagonist was shown, low and echo music was edited in. Whilst this was happening, she carries on cooking, where there is short lengthed shots again. The rest of the sounds have been edited out except for the background sound of low noises which sounds like it would be underwater. As the scene continues, it reveals that the protagonist is actually death so the lack of sounds were intentional. The low sounds were probably diegetic to the protagonist and gives the audience and insight of what she can only hear.

Throughout the opening, the shots were all quite short which is similar to the main brief. The length of the shots help move the narrative along and follows the action more. There is good continuity in Hush as  match on action used to change the angle of the shot but to make it look seamless at the same time. This editing technique was used in the main brief to show Emily walking out the door and down the alleyway. The shot was filmed from down below at a high angle which makes it seem as if someone is hiding which is then continued by a shot through the car window as if someone is sitting in the car.

Finally, Shot reverse shot was also used to film the conversation between the two characters in Hush. It followed the 180 degree rule to ensure that the characters were looking at each other. We used this editing technique as well in the horror film opening, but it was between the alleyway and the protagonist. This highlights the fact that the person in the alleyway has now disappeared after Emily looks up again.

Final Rough Cut Feedback

Before I finish the final edit, I got another round of feedback from the class about what went well and what could be improved.

To respond to the feedback, I will slow the credits down so people are able to read them. I will also increase the brightness in the videos so it's not too dark to see.