Short film analysis

Exsisting films - analysis

Here I done another analysis of an existing film I am going to take ideas from. This is the original first Halloween out, directed by John Carpenter. One of my favourite things about this opening is that it is all from the killers perspective, so we as the audience follow the killer round building up tension so we don't know what the killer is going to do. I am going to do this in my film and I am going to use a mask within my film. I will then add an effect on the mac which make it look like the audience are seeing the stalker from the stalkers point of view. I think this is effective and will make it look professional. Again I like the screeching sound that is used in this, it seems to be common in old horror films I think I will use a sound similar to this when I do sound for my film. I think the film is very dark at the beginning but this builds up tension, I will try and film mine when it is dark as possible to create a mystery, if not I will use filters and effects on the mac t make it look darker and scarier. 

Exsisting films - carrie

Here I have began to find conventions from previous famous directors and adapt things that I can use in my short film. Here is the original Carrie director is Brian De Palma. I decided to use this as an existing text because I like a few of the unusual techniques he uses that aren't really used anymore. Here are a few examples, I like the affect of the split screen idea to show two different things coming together or two different scenes. I will use this in my short film so I can show what the stalker is doing and what the girl he is stalking is doing. Along with copying that technique I am also going to include the red hazey filter that is used throughout the whole of this scene. I think this effect is clever and I think it can be used professionally to connote certain thing but also to be a bit unusual. I will use this affect on a close up of the killer/stalker face, when he has just killed the girl, I think this will work and we will really emphasise the red of the blood on the knife.

Previous directors

Here I have included a scene from the world famous Psycho created by Alfred Hitchcock. I have decided to use this as an existing text to look at as it is a well known horror world class film. The shower scene in particular the motion of the knife stabbing violently is something I am going to use in my short film, I think I will copy the length and size of the knife being used and the motion, just because its well known. I want my killer/stalker in my film to be as violent as they are in this film because I think that is one of the conventions that makes it a classic scary horror. The loud screeching noise in the back ground, along with the screaming I think is a good way of showing what Is happening, I might use a particular noise every time my stalker appears because then I think the audience will understand the storyline better. The dripping of the blood I found effective and im going to use fake blood on the knife in my film.

script final draft

News report - opening

Good morning and welcome to channel 5 news. Our top story today is all about the one year death anniversary of Jessica green. This poor young girl was violently murdered by what we believe to be a duo kill.
She was brutally stabbed 3 times in her neck and 7 times on her torso. She was left in a pool of her own blood to die a slow, painful death.
This is still an ongoing investigation involving the local police and crime team. Forensics have found traces of Jessica's DNA in the local area, however not enough evidence to piece together a full story. There has been rumours however that Jessica was being stalked up until her death.
The criminals who did this are still out there so we urge all parents and children to have a safe but happy Halloween and if anyone knows anything please contact the hotline that will be on screen in a second.
Thank you and goodbye!


news report - emergency newsflash

We are interrupting programmes to tell you there has been another tragic death. The victim identified is a 13 year old girl named Angie White.
It has been said she has been stabbed several times in her neck and around her torso area, because of this MO we believe it was linked to Jessica's death a year ago today.
Once again if anyone knows or suspects anything ring our hotline which will be on screen in a second.

 

carol clover - final girl theory

This final girl theory was create by a woman named Carol Clover. The final girl is a trope in thriller and horror films, particularly slasher films. It refers to the last woman alive to confront the killer, ostensibly the one left to tell the story. The final girl has been observed in a lot of films such as alien, Halloween, a nightmare on elm street and Friday the 13th.
The term was coined by Carol clover in her book men, women and chainsaws: gender in modern horror film. She suggested in these films the viewer began by sharing the perspective of the killer, but experienced a shift in identification to the final girl partway through the film.
An example of this is as follows. Buffy Summers, the protagonist of the buffy vampire slayer, the TV series, was deliberately designed by the creator Joss Whedon as an alternative to the 'final girl' cliché. Buffy is subverting the final girl trope of horror films. Jason Middleton observes that although buffy for fills the monster killing role of the final girl, she is the opposite of Carol Clovers descriptions of a final girl in maydays. Buffy is a cheerleader, a beautiful blonde with a feminine first name and get the have sex with the boys and still kill the monster. I think with examples like this it can really support or undermine carols theory.

With my horror film, I think it is too risky to try and undermine any of the theories so I am going to go with what I think people will enjoy and understand. In my horror film the poor young girl does get killed and the killer does win, like we would expect in a normal horror film I just don't think the final girl theory would work for my short film.





 wiy

reece - filming locaton 1

here is a recce of out first filming location. There are also a few pictures showing the props and us in action when filming. This scene was supposed to look like a normal housing estate where the stalker is following a young girls everyday move. There are a few up close shots you can see, I think I am going to use these and put quick flash effects on them to make the audience jump at the end. There is a few collaged pictures of where we were filming, for example the school, a normal street. We set up the tripod in the different locations so we could film accurately.

synopsis

synopsis...
this is the first synopsis I wrote, because of filming we had to change this.

my film begins with a mid shot of me reading out a news report, with the green screen behind me with a news reporter back ground, and then me being projected onto an old fashioned TV. the camera then zooms in onto me reading a news report about a missing child anniversary one year today. In the news report I will mention that it is Halloween, to make the audience aware, also explain how the killer of the young boy is still out there and may strike again. There is then a graveyard mid shot of a grave, this will quick flash to the different graves, and then a quick shot of the killer (jess) with a mask on. Then there will be a cut to a happy, fun Halloween party, there will be banners, sweets, kids, food, games etc., showing everyone having a good time. The next scene is cut to a dark scary woods, where the killer is around in the mask, scampering off behind trees and being creepy, this Is the killer who killed the young boy a year ago today on Halloween, and he's out to do the same this year. After cutting back to the news report saying 'be careful this Halloween, he is still out there' there is a cut to the killers black gloves knocking on the door of the party, the film will end there.


Here is the updated version of my synopsis..
My film begins with a news report, this is done with a green screen and a news report background is put in as the background. The news report is talking about a one year anniversary of a little girl who died and the murder is still a mystery, the news report urges anyone to get in contact so they can find the killer, in which they believe there are two of them, that stalked the young girl so they knew her everyday life.There is then a series of shots of a young girl doing day to day activities, walking home, walking in to school, but in the corner, secretly hiding/watching is one of the killers that the girl is completely unaware of. These shots are shown through a shot that is called 'mask', hence why there is a black circle around the shots, as the other killer is watching her too. The last shot you see of the young girl is walking into her house... The next shot is one of the killers knocking on the door of the young girl with a knife. There is then a flash back to the news report but this time it is an emergency announcement, that another little girl has been killed and it is the same MO as the young girl a year a go today. The next shot is the killer leaving the house with a bloody knife, laughing. The last shot cuts to the killer stood over the young girls grave he has killed, creepily staring...

Stick Up For Me

This film is called stick up for my by a previous student called Sarah Johnson. It is about a girl who is being bullied and then finds out her only friend she thought she had was one of the bullies. I chose to analyse this film because there was a lot of things that I liked about it, in particular I liked that the texts that the character were texting were on the screen, I think this worked well and it worked for the target audience, younger people due to it using slang and smiley faces and things. I also liked the whole storyline of it, I think people our age can see that things like this do happen. I liked the silhouette used of the mystery person she was texting, this is a simple but effective way to show a conversation between the two of them however I wont be able to cooperate this into my film. There were a few shots used where I thought it looked a bit messy, by this I mean there were things in the background or a shadow that you could see, I think without these it would of looked more professional. The music over the top worked well, it almost made us feel more upset for the girl. There are a few camera angles I will use in my short film that i copied, like the over the shoulder shot that was used, along with the black and white affect that was given too, I think the black and white affect made it more sad and we felt more sorry for the girl.



 

technologies i will use

I have planned what technologies I intend to use to create my text. The first technology is the Mac computer. I have used the mac to do my research for my short film and use blogger to upload things. Google/YouTube I have used on the macs to look at existing films and doing my textual analysis'. The mac I will be using to do all my editing on, using software's such as final cut pro, where I will upload all I have filmed and edit lighting, transitions etc. There is also software's such as pic monkey, or pixlr which are used for editing too but my main software will be final cut pro. Another technology I m using will be a video camera and my iPhone 6. The video camera I will be using, along with a tripod to balance it on to do my filming, ensuring all the settings on the camera are put how I want them. With the video camera I am also doing a scene where the camera is going to be hand held and look shaky, this is good with the school cameras because they are small and practical. My iPhone 6 I will be using the camera on it so I can do a recce, take pictures of the location, props, costumes, cast etc. I decided to use my iPhone because it will be quick and easy to take a picture and then upload it. I will also use my iPhone to take shots for my film review page, to make it exciting. For my evaluation questions I may use prezi or sound cloud as another form of technology to do these, I will use these so I can keep my evaluation exciting and show my blog in different forms. In terms of editing and sound, I will need a creepy lullaby in my short film so therefore I will have that playing over the top. I will make this sound on garage band and upload it to fit with my short film. The green screen will be in use when filming my film, this I another technology in which is effective and will look good for the background I will be needing.

 

 

Here I am using the green screen to film my news report part. As you can see I also used the studio lights to get a good bright background. I thought the lights made it look professional and make it look clearer on the camera. I really enjoyed using the green screen it meant I could change the background and add other things on to it and take things away. However once we had filmed the news report we uploaded it on to the mac and we found that once we had inserted a background of a news report on to the back of it that there was a bright reflection on the end of the table, and this meant it went all hazy and pixilated. We decided to change this and we filmed it again but this time we lowered the professional lights and made it less dimmer and by doing this meant the light reflection would hopefully disappear. The pictures below show the improved green screen where the light isn't as bright and it is clear. We added the news reporter background and we are going to add a picture on to the TV screen which is linked to the news report that we are talking about. I think our outcome of this looks professional and I am glad we overcame this problem and I am happy with our end result.

Camera shots and angles used in horror movies

Here I have attached a YouTube video as it talks about the different camera shots and angles in horror movies. The majority of the shots used in the video I will be using, like the close up, the panning shot, the hand held camera. I think this YouTube video explains why all of the shots are used for different reasons and sums up how I am planning to use most of these shots in my own short film.

Slideshare wouldn't embed and post to blogger so here is the link for my presentation on Vladmirr Propp.





http://www.slideshare.net/lillytrkulja1/vladmirr-prop

planning for short film

first draft of news interview script

audience profiling - Psychographics moodboard

My audience profiling is mainly mainstreamers. These people tend to be domestic, conformist, conventional, sentimental - favour value for money, family, brands. Nearly always the largest group. Above you can see I have done a mood board for my target audience. My target audience is 15 years plus. At this age I think they are developing teenagers so social media would be very important in there lives. There social status in schools would be important to them because I think they would have their designated friendship groups and be quite close. As we have said the target audience is 15+, what a 15 year old does may be completely different to what an 18 year old does, my profiling for an 18 year old would be things like looking at university, driving, socialising, festivals. This is why I think my horror genre works well because there is two different groups (15+18) but I think they will still understand the horror genre as it is just scary, they will go for the thrill of it.

uses and gratification theory - horror genre

This uses and gratification triangle is the basis for every human being and its all about our needs in every day life to survive. I think this is a good template however I don't completely agree with it. I think some of the things we obviously need to survive but some of the things we can survive without.

This uses and gratification theory is about how people use media for the gratification of their needs. It propounds the fact that people chose what they want to see or read and the different media compete to satisfy each individuals needs.
My genre for my film is going to be horror therefore there will be different gratifications for why people enjoy it.

Surveillance - An audience gets pleasure from the knowledge that the text is offering to the audience as they feel more secure watching a disturbing text knowing the story isn't 'real'. I think this also can test the audience, for example if the text said 'based on true events../real life story..' the audience see it as a text and in particularly males, it may make them feel strong and masculine, while in females they may be cuddled up and scared and expect the man to look after them. 

Personal identity - this is all about the audience connecting and relating with a character. In horror the killer might go on a killing spree and kill loads of people, or vice versa the 'good guy' might go and kill the killer. We then as the audience opt for them to do this, and almost adopt them traits of bravery, putting ourselves in that position, making it realistic to us. This is another reason why people enjoy horror, the sense of the build up of what the outcome is going to be.


Personal relationships - this is another gratification as to why people watch horror films. This gives them a chance to discuss and share the experiences they had with the film. It may be a social thing, where a group of friends all went to see a horror film, and after spoke about how someone jumped, or someone couldn't watch. This links another reason why people get the thrill out of it, and it makes it into a social thing.

Escapism - is another gratification as it allows the audience to escape there normal lives and put themselves in a world of fantasy. I think this is really common in horror as there may be a lot of killing or unnerving characters, the audience imagines themselves in the place the character is. I think with horror its such an intense genre that they want that person to die and believe people should die, I think it takes them out of reality and lets them use their imagination.