Our film incorporates the generic conventions of horror films as we have included classic horror features such as dark rooms and eerie surroundings. The first scene involves a girl walking down a dark pathway at night. The dim lighting produces a blurred effect on the girl which increases the mystery of the film and also creates suspense. We have chosen not to be influenced by specific films but have rather borrowed from the genre of horror as a whole and used some of the classic conventions associated with that genre. The genre of our film is horror-thriller. The horror in the film comes from the murderous part of the film, with one of the main characters being a murderer who aims to kill two of the other characters. The thrilling element to it comes from the suspense that is created in the moments leading up to the climax of the film, such as when the murderer is creeping out of the cupboard. This will make the audience tense and nervous as well as shocked and scared during the film and justify its tag as a horror thriller. Our film develops the typical horror conventions by combining the tell tale signs of horror such as dimly lit places, a dark dressed villain and girls being portrayed as the weaker characters. However, as there is no actual ‘hero’ present in our film, we are challenging the conventions by putting an interesting and sinister twist in the film that is unlike many other horror-thrillers.
The social groups that are represented in our film could be construed as being stereotypical. As all the characters are students, the film portrays them to be slightly more vulnerable than if the characters were fully grown adults. Although, students and teenagers usually have no physical or mental disadvantage compared to adults but it is widely perceived that teenagers and students lack power and are therefore weaker and more vulnerable. Females are also stereotyped as being weak and vulnerable in our film. This is another common view that females are just not as strong as males and whilst having an element of truth to it, the notion is still stereotypical and in our film we do nothing to try to rebel against the stereotype. The use of camera shots such as high angle shots show these vulnerable stereotypes by making the characters who are perceived as vulnerable, small and weak.
However, the use of students is necessary due to the fact that students are the target audience of our film. Students will not be rushing to buy tickets to see a horror film containing 4 middle age people whilst they will be much more interested in a film that they can relate to the characters in.
Our film would be produced by a Hollywood studio as they would be able to use their significant resources to both enhance and promote the film. Our film would benefit from more expensive and better quality lighting as the lighting on the film is slightly blurry at times although it does fulfill the requirement of being dark and dim. Better quality lighting could mean that we could focus the lighting from one specific direction rather than having to sacrifice other vital light to make the rooms dark. As discussed earlier, our film is an idea that has the potential to become a big earner due to the unusual step of not having a conventional hero in the film. This makes it like no other film and has the potential, with the backing of a Hollywood studio, to become a big hit. This unique selling point in our film is also likely to attract Hollywood studios that would be prepared to pay big money for the idea as the return would also be quite large. A time after the release in the cinemas, the film could be released on TV on a mainstream TV channel due to the fact that after the initial opening in the cinema, the film would have developed a reputation as being different and therefore a must see film and would be a popular film already by the time it came on TV. Being on TV would also broaden its audience to those who for one reason or another cannot get to the cinema to watch the film.
In my opinion, the film does offer opportunities for merchandising as the film is aimed at students who are the people most likely to buy products having been influenced by something such as a film. Fake weapons such as the ones used in our film could be sold as could the more conventional merchandise such as t-shirts and hats. If one of the actors in the film also becomes popular, the studio could tap into that market and get that actor to endorse the products which would make people much more likely to buy the products.
As discussed briefly above, our target audience would be students and teenagers. This is due to the fact that the actors who star in the film are also of that age and the audience would be able to relate themselves to the characters. As the film contains actors and actresses, both sexes will be attracted to the film and we have tried to make it as universal as possible and having both males and females in the film will give our target audience a much wider spectrum. Other films that are similar to ours are films such as ‘Silence of the Lambs’ and ‘Dawn of the Dead’. These films also attract a teenage, student audience and although we have not copied or imitated the films, we have drawn upon the horror conventions featured in films such as these. Our audience research, which included a questionnaire, suggested that horror films are popular with teenagers and this supports our decision to make teenagers our prioritised target audience. The results also show that a twist in the plot, as our film contains, would make the audience more likely to watch the film as it differs from other horror films and is unique.
I believe that a certificate of 15 would be suitable for our film as there are no graphic scenes in the film that would require the film to have an 18 certificate. A certificate of 15 would also allow the majority of our target audience to view the film. A certificate of 18 on the other hand would prevent the majority of our target audience from viewing the film, which in turn would affect the viewing figures for the film.
http://www.bbfc.co.uk/
To attract our audience, we promoted the fact that teenagers were staring in the film and that our film was made using research from teenagers. This gives the film a tailor made for teenagers appeal to it and can make the audience feel self important and more likely to watch the film.
We have used point of view shots in the film to give the audience a feel that they are in the film themselves and this allows the audience to relate themselves to the characters even more. They are allowed a very up close view of the action and this can increase the tension and suspense in the film.
An example of this if towards the end of our clip is when one of the characters is knocked to the floor. A point of view shot of that character follows and gives the impression that that character is vulnerable and this can make the audience also feel vulnerable and scared.
During the filming process, we have learnt about many types of equipment and how they are suited to different tasks. To film, we used both a SONY HDV1000 and a JVC DV Camcorder and we found both strengths and weaknesses in both pieces of equipment. The larger SONY camera is the better quality of the two in terms of picture quality and this is the camera we used to film the majority of our shots. Its average sound quality and bulkiness lets it down in that respect. The polar opposite of the SONY is The JVC camera which is extremely small and portable but is let down by average picture quality and as a result we deemed it only suitable for the outside shot in the dark. The cameras for the most part, apart from the point of view shots, were placed on tripods. Both tripods that we used were capable of doing the job efficiently, both remaining stable on numerous footings. The ability to adjust the height was also of use to us as it made it easier to change the angle of the camera quickly in anticipation of the high and low angle shots.
During filming, the biggest problem we faced was altering the setting on the SONY camera for it to adapt to different levels of lighting. We resolved this problem by enlisting the help of our teacher and now we are fully competent at adapting the settings to the lighting. To edit the film, we used Final Cut Express on the Apple Macs. This software enhanced our film as it made it easy to cut the film shots to the exact millisecond, something that is very difficult to do without this software. Using Final Cut Express also allowed us to create the titles for the film,
The preliminary task we undertook before the main project has helped us create our film clip. It enabled us to plan out the shots efficiently, without the need to film anything we knew we wouldn’t need which cut down on the time we needed to produce the film and helped up become more efficient. It also taught us to film our shots in order which makes it easier to edit as the shots can be imported in order which again saves time.
How to use different shots was also something we picked up from the preliminary exercise. Basic rules such as the 180 degree rule were adhered to by us and this helped us create a better film. As discussed earlier, having been taught how to use the cameras we are much more familiar and comfortable with the equipment. Being comfortable with the equipment allowed us to spend more time filming rather than setting up the equipment;
Overall, I feel our product fulfills the task. Our film challenges the conventions and this creates a unique product that would be successful if it was ever produced by a Hollywood studio. Our aim was to create something different from you average horror film, and I believe that through our product, we have achieved our goal.
The social groups that are represented in our film could be construed as being stereotypical. As all the characters are students, the film portrays them to be slightly more vulnerable than if the characters were fully grown adults. Although, students and teenagers usually have no physical or mental disadvantage compared to adults but it is widely perceived that teenagers and students lack power and are therefore weaker and more vulnerable. Females are also stereotyped as being weak and vulnerable in our film. This is another common view that females are just not as strong as males and whilst having an element of truth to it, the notion is still stereotypical and in our film we do nothing to try to rebel against the stereotype. The use of camera shots such as high angle shots show these vulnerable stereotypes by making the characters who are perceived as vulnerable, small and weak.
However, the use of students is necessary due to the fact that students are the target audience of our film. Students will not be rushing to buy tickets to see a horror film containing 4 middle age people whilst they will be much more interested in a film that they can relate to the characters in.
Our film would be produced by a Hollywood studio as they would be able to use their significant resources to both enhance and promote the film. Our film would benefit from more expensive and better quality lighting as the lighting on the film is slightly blurry at times although it does fulfill the requirement of being dark and dim. Better quality lighting could mean that we could focus the lighting from one specific direction rather than having to sacrifice other vital light to make the rooms dark. As discussed earlier, our film is an idea that has the potential to become a big earner due to the unusual step of not having a conventional hero in the film. This makes it like no other film and has the potential, with the backing of a Hollywood studio, to become a big hit. This unique selling point in our film is also likely to attract Hollywood studios that would be prepared to pay big money for the idea as the return would also be quite large. A time after the release in the cinemas, the film could be released on TV on a mainstream TV channel due to the fact that after the initial opening in the cinema, the film would have developed a reputation as being different and therefore a must see film and would be a popular film already by the time it came on TV. Being on TV would also broaden its audience to those who for one reason or another cannot get to the cinema to watch the film.
In my opinion, the film does offer opportunities for merchandising as the film is aimed at students who are the people most likely to buy products having been influenced by something such as a film. Fake weapons such as the ones used in our film could be sold as could the more conventional merchandise such as t-shirts and hats. If one of the actors in the film also becomes popular, the studio could tap into that market and get that actor to endorse the products which would make people much more likely to buy the products.
As discussed briefly above, our target audience would be students and teenagers. This is due to the fact that the actors who star in the film are also of that age and the audience would be able to relate themselves to the characters. As the film contains actors and actresses, both sexes will be attracted to the film and we have tried to make it as universal as possible and having both males and females in the film will give our target audience a much wider spectrum. Other films that are similar to ours are films such as ‘Silence of the Lambs’ and ‘Dawn of the Dead’. These films also attract a teenage, student audience and although we have not copied or imitated the films, we have drawn upon the horror conventions featured in films such as these. Our audience research, which included a questionnaire, suggested that horror films are popular with teenagers and this supports our decision to make teenagers our prioritised target audience. The results also show that a twist in the plot, as our film contains, would make the audience more likely to watch the film as it differs from other horror films and is unique.
I believe that a certificate of 15 would be suitable for our film as there are no graphic scenes in the film that would require the film to have an 18 certificate. A certificate of 15 would also allow the majority of our target audience to view the film. A certificate of 18 on the other hand would prevent the majority of our target audience from viewing the film, which in turn would affect the viewing figures for the film.
http://www.bbfc.co.uk/
To attract our audience, we promoted the fact that teenagers were staring in the film and that our film was made using research from teenagers. This gives the film a tailor made for teenagers appeal to it and can make the audience feel self important and more likely to watch the film.
We have used point of view shots in the film to give the audience a feel that they are in the film themselves and this allows the audience to relate themselves to the characters even more. They are allowed a very up close view of the action and this can increase the tension and suspense in the film.
An example of this if towards the end of our clip is when one of the characters is knocked to the floor. A point of view shot of that character follows and gives the impression that that character is vulnerable and this can make the audience also feel vulnerable and scared.
During the filming process, we have learnt about many types of equipment and how they are suited to different tasks. To film, we used both a SONY HDV1000 and a JVC DV Camcorder and we found both strengths and weaknesses in both pieces of equipment. The larger SONY camera is the better quality of the two in terms of picture quality and this is the camera we used to film the majority of our shots. Its average sound quality and bulkiness lets it down in that respect. The polar opposite of the SONY is The JVC camera which is extremely small and portable but is let down by average picture quality and as a result we deemed it only suitable for the outside shot in the dark. The cameras for the most part, apart from the point of view shots, were placed on tripods. Both tripods that we used were capable of doing the job efficiently, both remaining stable on numerous footings. The ability to adjust the height was also of use to us as it made it easier to change the angle of the camera quickly in anticipation of the high and low angle shots.
During filming, the biggest problem we faced was altering the setting on the SONY camera for it to adapt to different levels of lighting. We resolved this problem by enlisting the help of our teacher and now we are fully competent at adapting the settings to the lighting. To edit the film, we used Final Cut Express on the Apple Macs. This software enhanced our film as it made it easy to cut the film shots to the exact millisecond, something that is very difficult to do without this software. Using Final Cut Express also allowed us to create the titles for the film,
The preliminary task we undertook before the main project has helped us create our film clip. It enabled us to plan out the shots efficiently, without the need to film anything we knew we wouldn’t need which cut down on the time we needed to produce the film and helped up become more efficient. It also taught us to film our shots in order which makes it easier to edit as the shots can be imported in order which again saves time.
How to use different shots was also something we picked up from the preliminary exercise. Basic rules such as the 180 degree rule were adhered to by us and this helped us create a better film. As discussed earlier, having been taught how to use the cameras we are much more familiar and comfortable with the equipment. Being comfortable with the equipment allowed us to spend more time filming rather than setting up the equipment;
Overall, I feel our product fulfills the task. Our film challenges the conventions and this creates a unique product that would be successful if it was ever produced by a Hollywood studio. Our aim was to create something different from you average horror film, and I believe that through our product, we have achieved our goal.
Below is a video that contains a sample of our target audience evaluating and giving feedback on our film.
A few comments that they made are as follows;
- The music used was good
- Some of the acting was good
- The titles were all in black and white and not interesting to watch
- The dramatic climax worked really well
- The team worked well together
- The film was well edited
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