Danni Foundation Portfolio Evaluation

Media 2 minute film clip production questions In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Our group was named ‘Creative Films Productions’ (CFP) and we decided to make our 2 minute opening to a film based around a horror and thriller theme. We have names our production ‘Fixation’ we started by looking at lots of different horror movies to get a ruff idea of plot, story line, setting and themes. Some of the openings to films that we textually analysed for our project were; Saw 3, Psycho and Slither. This was done due to the fact that they all had a bathroom scene in them.

Saw 3; In this scene the bathroom is much dirtier than the one we have used in ours. The contrast of dark grime against lighter, still dirty tiles makes the dirtiness seem more servers. The girl in this shot is also leaning into the bath and not actually sitting in it, this also differs from our scene, as we see the girl in the bath. Our girl is placed in the bath to dive deeper in to eh scene and to make the audience feel like the bathroom is in part of the scene, not just a passing motion. The girl in this scene is also wearing clothes, unlike ‘Fixation’ where our character is seen to be naked in the bath. This also builds suspension as the scene has more permanence Physco; In this clip of Physco the murder has just crept up behind the Curtin, the shadow is shown through a blurred shower Curtin. In Fixation we have used a similar shot to this except from the murders point of view as the shadow rises up against the glass bathroom door. In this shot the black shadow is blurred and distorted. The shot is in black and white this is because of the era the film was made in (1960’s). We thought this idea of black and white contrasting in to colour would be an effective method for us to use in fixation. We have put everything from the murders point of view in black and white, to increase his concept of ‘tunnel vision’ and all other shots in colour to represent the view of the ‘normal’ world,

In this shot of Physco the murders features and facial expression are hidden. We chose to use this concept as well as a director doing a talk over on sky movies said that it makes the idea of a murder much more frightening if you’re not able to see their features, hence not knowing if they are friend or foe. We used this concept but instead of having his face darkened out we used a mask and a hood. This updated the image and also made it appeal to a more current audience.

PICTURES NEEDED FROM FIXATION How does your media product represent particular social groups?

‘Fixation’ is for mostly a horror movie but looking under the surface it’s got a Psychotic sub genre this is probably the most disturbing of the sub-genres of horror. It takes an otherwise normal average person next door and turns them into an unsuspecting victim. In our production we chose to only show two characters, the main character and an example of one of his murders. We thought this would be a strikingly affective way to open the film because it provides a simple yet still shocking opening. The character included in this 2 minute opening are; Grace (Grace) – who is a middle class woman, she lives alone in a town house. Both of these things increase the scare factor as they are both relatable to most people. The female population is venerable, as it is a man killing a woman. This also scares people as it is such an ordinary, normal setting, to the majority of the population. Any one could be attacked in the own home, through no fault of their own. We chose this as the opening to our film as whilst looking at most horror movies we realised the majority of set and actors were all a typical, every day people. Like some of the characters from Physco.

The clothing we chose for each of out characters where chosen very carefully, considering mise en scene. For instance, we had all the murders shots done in black and white, hence we put the murders in all black, boots, jeans, hoodie and gloves, but with a white marks to highlight the fact that the features could not be seen. We also considered mise en scene when choosing props, for instance the screw driver used to gain access into the house had a read handle, and this was shown as a close up to contract with the blue door and the black gloves. Another example of mise en scene was when Grace’s figures were dripping over the edge of that bath. She had red chipped nail vanish on, to symbolise blood, but also not everything being quite right. A bit broken. We chose not to have any dialog in our opening to ‘fixation’ as it makes the audience take note of actions, and expressions. For instance the lack of expression and the hiding of the murders face also create a feeling of uncertainty and unease.

PICTURES NEEDED!!!

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

‘Fixation’ although being slightly art house, using black and white as well as colour, it also has many features that would be perfect for commercial film, like its famous actors, its careful consideration towards representation and also its story line. I believe that one of the best distribution companies suited to distribute it would be Metro–Goldwyn–Mayer films, this is because not only are they a big name in film distribution but they are also based mainly in America, but to distribute films in England. This is a benefit for us as the American market is very keen on British films, the accent, actors and life style. Metro–Goldwyn–Mayer films are able to keep up with the changes in media, even though being the 5th oldest production company in the world; they are still bringing out new modern ideas every day. For instance On November 10, 2008, Metro–Goldwyn–Mayer announced that it will release full length films on You Tube. This attracts a wider audience than those who would just go and see a movie or rent a DVD. Metro–Goldwyn–Mayer is also famous for realizing very popular a famous horror films like Hannibal which is a psychological thriller film, just like ‘Fixation’ and also Halloween which is an American horror film, its also got an up coming re make of 1980 horror film, Motel Hell. Also looking at their up coming production there is a perfect space for a physiological horror film to be release in late 2010, this is due to the other films being released in this time of different genres.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Our target audience for our media horror thriller are the middle class teenage to adult (15 – 40) audience, we chose this because it allows a wider range of audience, but ‘Fixation’ also relates to all theses people, for example, the murder is about 30, were as his victims age from about 16 – 40. the setting and actors we have used are all of a middle class, this means a middle class British accent, (even though this is not seen in our 2 minute opening, it does become apparent during the rest of the film) which will then appeal to our American audience as well as the British one. During our production stage we made sure that we didn’t include or exclude anything which would tie our production to one social stereotype, for instance; emo, preppy or chav. This then allows all social sub categories to relate to the film.

How did you attract and address your audience?

After deciding on which genre to make our film, we decided to get some ideas for the audience we would be targeting (middle class people, ages 15 – 40). The result came back as the most preferred, scariest sub genre of horror, is physiological thriller, instead of gore (Saw), Supernatural (Dracula) and gothic horror (The Ring). This is the reason we chose physiological horror thriller. After creating an original story bored and showing it to a few peers, parents, friends and teachers, we decided that our story board didn’t have enough logic in it, for instance the main query that came up was “but how does the murders get in the house, how does he get to be there” this then lead to us changing our story board to include the murder arriving as the scene (he walks down the street) then entering the house (brakes into the back door, using a screw driver). Then we made the decision not to reveal everything about the murder right away, to leave a little suspicion about him. This can then be reveal during the movie. Then we created a new story bored, which was much preferred when we asked all the people which we had questioned before.

We created the story bored with the fact in mind that we didn’t want to tie the story down to one social group, this would allow a wider range of audience, and hence it would be more commercial and profitable. We made the end product more appealing to this target audience by having a range of murder victims, that where all still single women, who live alone, aged 18 – 40. This allows women to relate to the film, to increase the reality scare factor, but also men to relate to the film, to the killer.

PICTURES NEEDED FROM FIXATION What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

During the construction of our film, we had many technologies available for our use; the first one we came across was the video camcorders. We had the option to use an HD camera, but chose against it because it was not a guarantee that we would be able to use that camcorder every time we went to film, and it would be strange if half was in HD and half was normal, so we chose just to do it with the normal camcorder. We figured out how to use this camcorder quite quickly and became very comfortable using it. The only problem we cam across with it was that on our very last day of filming we where using it on location for a few hours, but forgot to bring a spare battery, so we had to keep turning it off until the shot was ready to go, turning it on, filming quickly, then turning it off. It dies just as we got our last frame, so luckily it was ok.

We also used the apple imac’s to edit our film; these were available to us through the school.

We used imac’s to run packages like final cut express, garage band, photo shop and live type. We used final cut express to digitize and edit out film. As I joined the group late in the year I didn’t get the usually tour of how it works, but I did manage to pick it up quite quickly and managed to quite enjoy using it. It took us about 5 hours edit all the clips together, cut them, arrange them, change the colour, and add all the effects. We managed to get on with this quite well, except for the odd pointer given to help us discover new things that we could add to increase the quality of the finished product. The program we used to create the music on was called garage band, luckily Tom Arch in our group is very good at music technology, so he showed us how to create all the different sounds and mix them together, we have now ended up with a brilliant early sound, that uses lots of strings to create suspense thought the movie. We also used live type to create all the title and text of our movie, we have chosen to have our names appear through the fist to minutes of the clip, they appear in red, like blood shake for a while then just disappear. This is quite effective as they are subtle but still noticeable. Then at the beginning the same text comes up and announces our group production company name ‘Creative Films Productions’ then this fades into the first shot. At the end of the first murder (end of the two minute clip) just as the murders turns slowly towards the camera the title ‘Fixation’ appears slowly over the frame, then the title stays and the back group turns black. We then decided to create all our posters and advertising in photo shop, this was done by taking an image of a knife and a bath, putting them together, creating blood and adding titles. We got on very well using this and found it interesting to see how much images can be manipulated.

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

The first day I joined the class was the day when every one was filming the preliminary task, so I got thrown in at the deep end, but I wouldn’t have had it any other way, it was a great way to start the course. I got taught as I went along and learned it all practically. On looking back at my preliminary task I realised a few things; I could of used much better angles to achieve the shots I wanted, I really had no idea about the theory behind it, example; the 180 degree line and not moving the camcorder wit the people, letting the people walk into shot.

But the biggest thing I realised was that I had no idea how to hold a camcorder still. Although I didn’t do any planning for the preliminary task, I didn’t quite realise just how much planning was involved in creating a two minute clip. I was then worried about not planning enough so I went much to over the top, planned every little detail, filming schedule, mise en scene, sound, lighting. Story line and cinematography. Over the year I have also learnt many little techniques to help the filming process, like the use of a tri pod, a spare battery and tricks, like balancing the camcorder on the actors shoulder to get a shot from their point of view. My editing skills have also improved by a mile, on my preliminary task, the cuts where not sharp, they just flowed form the order in which I shot them, and the cross cutting between action and reaction was off. I have also learnt how to add effects and to cover filing mistakes, for instance adding white noise to a slug, to create the image of an analogue TV. An also how to do things like pull the sounds forward, so a door slamming could be hear, even if its not in shot. I realised also just hoe important it is to put all the theory I learnt into practise, and how after a while it just becomes natural. For instance the feeling that a shot is not quite right and releasing that you have crossed the 180 line.

PICTURES NEEDED FROM BOTH FIXATION AND PRELIMANARY TASK