Film Title Sequence Analysis- James Lawson

The first 10 minutes of the 2004 film ‘Dawn of the Dead’ contains many features that suggest that the film will be a film from the horror genre.

One of the most obvious is the actual titles, which are written in bold red writing on a black background. Red symbolises blood, which is a prevalent feature in horror films and red is also a colour that represents danger and the black background on which it is written makes it stand out and suggests that danger is imminent.

The sound that runs over the first part of the tiles also adds to the effect. The music is creepy and haunting and makes the audience tense whilst also giving the feeling that any moment, the film will burst into life when the audience is least expecting. Again, this helps create suspense and tension.

Intermittently placed during the fist titles are quickly cut images of terrifying things such as a tortured man which gives the audience a sense of what to come and the quick cuts mean that the audience cannot relax for one second as they are likely to be caught unawares. It is this suspense that creates horror films.

A particular emphasis is put on the word ‘Dead’ in the titles. This reinforces the fact that the film will be about death and death is a subject that almost all horror films focus on and this gives the audience a clue about what will happen eventually in the film and that they should not take their eyes off it throughout the film.

Also featuring at the beginning is several minutes of a man talking at regular intervals throughout the titles. The expression on the man’s face is one of a terrified man and this again helps re-emphasise the fact that the film will be scary and that the audience should come to expect sporting the same expression throughout the film.

In addition to this, during one of those scenes, the man is asked a question of whether the villains in the film are dead or alive. His unsure response also adds mystery to the film. Mystery is one of the features that create suspense and the audience just does not know what is coming. This will put the audience on edge throughout the film.

This also allows the audience t relate to the characters as it is clear that neither the audience nor the characters know what will occur in the film and this gives the impression to the audience that they will live through the story along with the characters and this makes them feel part of the story and more in touch with the characters and the characters feelings and emotions.

Stereotypical scenes of horror, such as war and riots are also used and these give an idea to the audience that graphic scenes will be used throughout the film and that the films producers have taken no prisoners in the creation of the film and the film will be genuinely scary.

Explosions also present during the title sequences show that the film could ‘erupt’ at any moment, transforming the film from being merely haunting to genuinely terrifying. Again, this will create suspense amongst the audience and the explosions of the red titles result in the titles dripping from sight. This is to represent blood and to show that during the film, there will be bloodshed and scary moments that contain a certain amount of gore.

Overall, the combination of colours, characters and cutting techniques set the audience on the road through an extremely scary film and the first few minutes set the scene and makes the audience tense and gripped on the film already.

Film Evaluation- James Lawson

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.

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


The full video of our target audience evaluation is below;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaraRs35PyY

Evaluation by Stacey

1
Our film includes several generic conventions. For example, in the opening scene, it is night-time, which opens a lot of films. The female characters are also conventional, because they are typical, feminine teenagers who are naïve about their situation. We also have a villain who hides his identity with a scarf, which happens in a lot of horror/thriller films.

In our film, we challenge conventions by allowing the killer to have some sort of connection with the girls. In some parts of the film, the actor playing the killer will be shown as a friend to the girls and also trying to defend them. We also make the person who is seen as friend from the beginning as actually being a dangerous enemy in one of the endings. Another convention that we challenge is that the girls will have personalities. In a large proportion of horror films, the main girls are bland and brainless which makes their demise less exciting. In our film, the girls will be portrayed as strong women.
The weapons used in our film will indicate that it is in the slasher genre because there will be knives and other such objects used to attack the characters. These weapons will cause stereotypical horror injuries and deaths. The motives for these injuries are typical teenage issues; being shown up at school or in the wrong place at the wrong time which shows that it will mostly be aimed at age 18. The characters are everyday teenagers in circumstances that aren't ordinary. The killer will be a stereotypical horror monster.
Our film was partly influenced by "Paranormal Activity", and the idea of multiple endings. We used this idea so that people would talk about the film, and so that people would also, hopefully, see the film again to watch another ending.
In the opening of our film, we are introduced straight away to the main characters in the story. We also have the location shown and the time of day. In the opening to "The Hills Have Eyes", we are shown seemingly random images of nuclear bombs, mushroom clouds and deformed people. Even though these things are connected, they don't seem relevant to the film. In the beginning of our film, we are introduced to the villain. In "The Hills Have Eyes", we don't see any people who could be the villain, just some people being massacred by an unseen character.

2

The social groups represented are middle-class, white-British teenagers, both male and female. The male characters are shown to be dominant over the female characters, and are shown as violent and aggressive through attacking the girls and each other. However, Alexis is shown to be willing to stand up to these characters as she pushes the person strangling her friend out of the way to give her a chance to escape. This makes the female characters seem to have temporary power over the male characters and show them to be defensive and protective, breaking the stereotype. Amelia is shown to be a more stereotypical female character as she lets Alexis fight, while she escapes. She is shown as a more passive character. This links to the target audience by the male viewers seeing the male characters fight, but also letting the female viewers see the female characters stand up for each other.

3
This film could be produced by a Hollywood Studio. The company could add special effects to the film to help make the film seem more realistic. They could also produce sets with proper lighting equipment to make the atmosphere of the film more exaggerated. The props and costumes would also be more realistic and up-to-date to fit in with the time that the film is set in. This would help to sell the film as it would make the film similar to a film like "Scream" which was immensely popular. I think that at first, the film would be released in the cinema, then DVD and Blu-Ray, then digital TV and finally regular analogue TV. I don't think that it would be an Art House film, because it is not a specialist-type film with a niche audience. My film would be released because I think that films like this tend to do well in the box office. It also gives opportunities for merchandising with things like stills from the film or photos of the characters for posters and calendars. There could also be badges and key rings with quotes from the film on them, t-shirts with the cast on and possibly things like mouse mats that could sell well.

4
The narrative of the film and the style that it is, I would say that this film is for anyone over the age of 18, because of the frightening narrative and the fact that there is graphic violence and gore, making the film unsuitable for viewing by people aged under 18. This film would also appeal to viewers of films like "Scream" because of the similarities between the stories. For example, the characters in both films are young people trying to save their own lives. I think that the classification that would be the most appropriate to my film would be 18, because most of the weapons that are used are easy to get hold of, there will be graphic violence, bad language and possibly references to suicide.

http://www.bbfc.co.uk/

5

To attract the audience, I considered what my audience was. Because the film is mostly aimed at people aged 18, I thought about which things appeal to people of that age. In the film there is a teenage cast, which would scare the viewers because of the similar age that the viewers are to the characters. The location could also scare viewers because a lot of 18 year olds will be at college, which is where most of the action takes place, giving the audience the feeling that this could happen to them. In the opening two minutes of the film, we have point-of-view shots which help the audience to connect with the characters by seeing what they can see, and putting themselves in their position. We have a point of view shot of the villain as he looms over Alexis. This has the effect that when the audience sees this, they will see themselves as the victim and feel what the victim is feeling.

6 The camera equipment that we used was suitable for the tasks that we had to do. For the internal shots, we used a Sony HDV1000 camera. These cameras are easier to focus and the manual settings give you more control over the image that you end up with. For the external shots, we used a JVC-DV camcorder. These had a good quality image, however with the built in microphone, we had little control over the sound. These cameras were harder to focus and every time we switched it off, we had to reset the white balance which became time consuming.

During the filming process, we didn’t encounter many problems. However, during editing we had trouble finding some important shots but after checking our tape, we managed to find them and capture them onto the software again.

The editing software that we used was Final Cut Express. I thought that this was a good program to use because the controls are simple and effective, and it creates a good quality product. We made a rough cut, refined this cut, manipulated the images and finally added music, effects and titles.

For the music, I had a catalogue of copyright-free CDs that had different styles of music, so this made it easier to choose what music we needed, then choosing which song from the category best fitted our project.

7

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaraRs35PyY

In the video is our audience feedback. We took a sample of our target audience and asked them to give us some feedback. The comments we received were mostly positive and I am sure that the negative comments we received, we can use to improve our films in the future. Some of the comments the people we asked gave us are as follows:

- Good editing

-Lots of suspense

-Good choice of music

During the planning stage of our project researched the horror genre and found out the various conventions and the certification system. By storyboarding our film, we were able to use our filming time more effectively and plan out all of the shots that we were going to do and how we were going to edit them. In our project, we used eye-line matches to show the points of view of our characters. We also used the various aspects of continuity, learned in the making of our Preliminary Task, in our film to make sure that everything flowed smoothly and that the story remained consistent. After completing this project, I feel more confident with the equipment and technology I used. I think that this is shown in the work that we have done and in the film itself.

I think that this project was good because I learned a lot about using the equipment and the technology. I think that our time management could have improved because all of our group members were rushing to get things finished. I think that overall, our project was successful because we did what was asked of us in the task, and we completed this to a good standard.

Questionnaire Results by Stacey

Males

Of the males that completed our questionnaire, all of them said that they watch horror films.

The most common type of horror films that they watch is a Thriller with half saying that that watch Thrillers and 1/4 saying that they watch all of the types of horror films that we put as options.

Around 1/4 said that they watch horror films more than once a week.

Roughly 1/4 said that they watch them about once a week.

About 1/4 said that they watch them once a month

the final 1/4 said that they watch horror films once a year.

The most common ways of watching horror films according to the males that completed the questionnaire is going to the cinema and watching them when they come on television.

The second most common way is on DVD/Blu-Ray.

1/2 of the people who did the questionnnaires said that horror films are aimed at all ages.

1/4 said that horror films are aimed at 15-18

the remainder said that they are aimed at 19-21 year olds

Of the stereotypical characters, beautiful but weak women were the most common things that came up. We also got monsters/killers and small creepy children

Half of the males interviewed said that charaters shouldn't go against the stereotype, with the other half saying they should.

Females

Of the females, one person said that they do not watch horror film, with the rest saying they do.

The most common type of horrror film watched by the people surveyed was thriller.

Second place was slasher, followed by fantasy and supernatural.

Most of the people surveyed said that they watch horror films once a month.

We had the most votes for watching horror films on the television, then the cinema, then on DVD.

Most people said that horror films are aimed at people aged 15-18.

Some people said that they were aimed at 19-21 year olds, and some people said that they were aimed at anybody.

We had varying results for what people percieve as the stereotypical characters. We had people suggesting:

A young pretty girl who dies at the beginning and one that survives.

A strong female character

Young teens/couples

Large groups of teens

Monsters/killers

Strong men

A shady character

Most females interviewed said that the stereotype should be broken in some films because "it would be nice to see something different"

Some said that they would like to see the stereotype broken, but not all of the time because it wouldn't always work.

Questionnaire by Rachael, Stacey and James

Which age group do you fit into?

15-18
19-21
22-25
26-30
31-35
36-40

What is your gender?
Male
Female

What is your occupation?



Do you watch horror films?
Yes
No

If no thank you for taking the time to fill in this questionnaire.

If yes what type of horror films do mainly watch?
Thriller
Teen
Slasher
Fantasy
Supernatural
Other (please state)

_______________________________

How often do you watch horror films?
More than once a week
Once a week
Once a fortnight
Once a month
Other (please state)
________________________________


How do you watch horror films?
Cinema
TV
Internet
DVD/Blue Ray
Other (please state)
______________________________________________

What age group do you think most horror films are aimed at?

15-18
19-21
22-25
26-30
31-35
36-40
Other (please state)
__________________________________

What do you think are the stereotypical characters in horror films? (Please state)

_______________________________________________________________
Do you think stereotypical characters should go against the stereotype?
______________________________________________________________

Matthew's Costumes by Stacey

In the beginning, Matthew's clothes are all dark and overing him up. This could not only mean that he is trying to keep his identity hidden, but that he is also hiding some sort of secret.

Throughout the rest of the film, his character will continue wearing dark clothes; mostly black and very dark blues.

Andrew's Costumes by Stacey

Andrew, during the opening two minutes, is again in normal clothes to try to help him blend in with people.

Throughout the film, he will wear dark clothes.