Thursday, 13 March 2014
Evaluation- In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
When choosing to do a film trailer, We wanted to do a genre which we felt we were most confident and interested in. From watching Horrors and especially more lately Psychological horrors we felt this would be the perfect opportunity to incorporate our knowledge and put it into a media text(Film trailer). When noting our ideas for a film trailer we had to research conventions and different memes into this genre. From watching so many we recognise a pattern of conventions featured in many films. These could include isolated areas where the event takes place e.g. In the modern horror normally a big 'family' or couples house with 'no neighbours' around them so when the killer enters this leaves them in danger. Other things like themes containing religion. Religious books, ornaments, letters etc this is becoming increasingly popular in the 21st century as with the rise of some religions e.g. Islam, however religion has mainly declined and most horror films reference Christianity. To my opinion because of this decline, Producers may feel they want to bring back the idea of religion and incorporate this into horror movies giving religion a twist. (Rise of Cult films becoming popular).
When considering whether we would use conventions we immediately thought of course we would. Every genre has a set of conventions which makes it recognisable to an audience therefore they can establish what genre It is. This rule applies to a mass audience as many people like the idea of conventions being in place without being to emphasised, this is when audience start to get bored and class it as 'another horror movie'. Obviously conventions were there to guide producers into being successful therefore we knew we would use typical conventions in my text. We feel because we wanted to appeal to a mass audience then it would be appropriate to use conventions and not go against them or else my audience could think what a bizzare idea, which would probably appeal to a niche audience however we are appealing to a mass audience target age of 15-24 year olds. Most 15-24 year olds do not want anything that challenges conventions because they don't understand and like the idea. When they want to watch a movie, they have a motive e.g. to get scared, or to go to the cinema with a group of friends which makes it an even greater experience.
By deconstructing film trailers and analysing them in depth, even films which use many typical conventions can still be very diverse in their work, e.g. something we wanted to do. James Wann is a very successful director, directing one of the most talked about horror films of 2013 The Conjuring. This film follows many typical conventions,( isolated house) supernatural theme, family calls people to help them yet it is not successful they are warned etc. In my opnion I feel as if this film was very cleverly constructed. The film was so thrilling it build up suspense in such a chilling way, gradually making it worse. Wan really thought of the mise on scene, choice of actors and story line/composition very well while following typical conventions. He added his own imprint or tropes into his films.
We learned that in Psychological horror movies, the killer is always in mystery. The producers need to be savvy with what the audience want and building suspense through camera work, mise on scene, editing etc. Location is a key in horrors as the audience want to know where they are, how the killer got in, why etc. Good camera shots including the Establishing shot and close up are used in horrors to show the suspense on the characters.
For my film trailer we have obeyed with many conventions and not challenged them as much as we are not confident enough to break into that market without doing some thorough research and maybe with more time and resources, I'm definitely not against the idea at all though, it sounds very creative to challenge conventions completely and I am inspired by people who think outside of the box. Conventional aspects I included were the 'handheld' footage which makes the concept of the film seem more 'real' which scares the audience because they feel that if it is real then it is out there and something may actually happen to them, this would be their worst nightmare. I used very isolated locations e.g. behind the stage and in an empty park to make it again seem all so familiar to the audience. Moreover, I wanted to use ambient sounds in my trailer which included a heartbeat, breathing sounds and a baby crying this was very typically conventional and I feel that people could identify that it was a horror genre from conventions like this. In addition we used non diegetic sounds such as 'Bang' which is typical at creeping up on the audience as it has been proven that loud noises in such shock raise heartbeat and make the viewers more scared.
Again as I mentioned earlier, sound is very important in enhancing the surrealness of a movie, especially a horror movie. If you have ever watched a movie without any sound it is not the same at all in some cases it makes the movie completely not scary! One way I have maybe challenged conventions is by using a different soundtrack to what most horrors use. Many horrors use an orchestral type soundtrack or piano. I have gone against typical conventions and I used two soundtracks which some may question not to use for a horror. These two soundtracks are Gary Jules Mad world which is in some ways quite depressing and a song which makes you think about life a lot. However because my film is a psychological horror then this song is suitable as it engages the audience a lot, which will then make them want to watch the film. Also I used Pop goes the weasel which is like a carosuel song so its quite happy which contrasts with the horror genre and made the clown look really eerie and frightening.
When applying my film trailer to theories I think it can be applied to many including the uses and gratifications theory. We think this theory applies to many horror films as the audience take out what they want from the media text. The theory is concerned with mass communication and what people do with the media. We believe in our horror trailer people have a motive to get scared and they get what they want from the film. Especially as we think this will appeal to a mass audience because a lot of people have been following the Northampton clown story, this will attract them even further.
In a way we have also challenged conventions by going against character stereotypes e.g. The cute girl. Our story was more concerned with serious life events e.g. the theme around kidnapping and suggested Paedophilia. Our film trailer makes the audience more aware of this is a more subtle way.
Vladimir Propp proposed a theory on narrative functions. According to Propp characters have a narrative function. They provide structure for the text. I agree with Propp to some extent. The typical characters he found was the hero, the villain , the donor , the dispatcher, the false hero, the princess. Now in consideration of our film trailer many of these characters do not exist e.g. The princess, we don't have a prize at the end our main theme is concerned with real life events rather than just a story line.
In terms of development, In my ancillary tasks, we kept developing them to ensure my media product was up to tip top condition. we kept developing the font on my magazine cover as we knew in my head what we wanted however, it was hard finding the font, therefore development was key here. Fonts in horror tend to be bold and striking mainly in rich colours such as red and black. Some can be slimline and gothic illustrating the concept of horror.
When considering whether we would use conventions we immediately thought of course we would. Every genre has a set of conventions which makes it recognisable to an audience therefore they can establish what genre It is. This rule applies to a mass audience as many people like the idea of conventions being in place without being to emphasised, this is when audience start to get bored and class it as 'another horror movie'. Obviously conventions were there to guide producers into being successful therefore we knew we would use typical conventions in my text. We feel because we wanted to appeal to a mass audience then it would be appropriate to use conventions and not go against them or else my audience could think what a bizzare idea, which would probably appeal to a niche audience however we are appealing to a mass audience target age of 15-24 year olds. Most 15-24 year olds do not want anything that challenges conventions because they don't understand and like the idea. When they want to watch a movie, they have a motive e.g. to get scared, or to go to the cinema with a group of friends which makes it an even greater experience.
By deconstructing film trailers and analysing them in depth, even films which use many typical conventions can still be very diverse in their work, e.g. something we wanted to do. James Wann is a very successful director, directing one of the most talked about horror films of 2013 The Conjuring. This film follows many typical conventions,( isolated house) supernatural theme, family calls people to help them yet it is not successful they are warned etc. In my opnion I feel as if this film was very cleverly constructed. The film was so thrilling it build up suspense in such a chilling way, gradually making it worse. Wan really thought of the mise on scene, choice of actors and story line/composition very well while following typical conventions. He added his own imprint or tropes into his films.
We learned that in Psychological horror movies, the killer is always in mystery. The producers need to be savvy with what the audience want and building suspense through camera work, mise on scene, editing etc. Location is a key in horrors as the audience want to know where they are, how the killer got in, why etc. Good camera shots including the Establishing shot and close up are used in horrors to show the suspense on the characters.
For my film trailer we have obeyed with many conventions and not challenged them as much as we are not confident enough to break into that market without doing some thorough research and maybe with more time and resources, I'm definitely not against the idea at all though, it sounds very creative to challenge conventions completely and I am inspired by people who think outside of the box. Conventional aspects I included were the 'handheld' footage which makes the concept of the film seem more 'real' which scares the audience because they feel that if it is real then it is out there and something may actually happen to them, this would be their worst nightmare. I used very isolated locations e.g. behind the stage and in an empty park to make it again seem all so familiar to the audience. Moreover, I wanted to use ambient sounds in my trailer which included a heartbeat, breathing sounds and a baby crying this was very typically conventional and I feel that people could identify that it was a horror genre from conventions like this. In addition we used non diegetic sounds such as 'Bang' which is typical at creeping up on the audience as it has been proven that loud noises in such shock raise heartbeat and make the viewers more scared.
Again as I mentioned earlier, sound is very important in enhancing the surrealness of a movie, especially a horror movie. If you have ever watched a movie without any sound it is not the same at all in some cases it makes the movie completely not scary! One way I have maybe challenged conventions is by using a different soundtrack to what most horrors use. Many horrors use an orchestral type soundtrack or piano. I have gone against typical conventions and I used two soundtracks which some may question not to use for a horror. These two soundtracks are Gary Jules Mad world which is in some ways quite depressing and a song which makes you think about life a lot. However because my film is a psychological horror then this song is suitable as it engages the audience a lot, which will then make them want to watch the film. Also I used Pop goes the weasel which is like a carosuel song so its quite happy which contrasts with the horror genre and made the clown look really eerie and frightening.
When applying my film trailer to theories I think it can be applied to many including the uses and gratifications theory. We think this theory applies to many horror films as the audience take out what they want from the media text. The theory is concerned with mass communication and what people do with the media. We believe in our horror trailer people have a motive to get scared and they get what they want from the film. Especially as we think this will appeal to a mass audience because a lot of people have been following the Northampton clown story, this will attract them even further.
In a way we have also challenged conventions by going against character stereotypes e.g. The cute girl. Our story was more concerned with serious life events e.g. the theme around kidnapping and suggested Paedophilia. Our film trailer makes the audience more aware of this is a more subtle way.
Vladimir Propp proposed a theory on narrative functions. According to Propp characters have a narrative function. They provide structure for the text. I agree with Propp to some extent. The typical characters he found was the hero, the villain , the donor , the dispatcher, the false hero, the princess. Now in consideration of our film trailer many of these characters do not exist e.g. The princess, we don't have a prize at the end our main theme is concerned with real life events rather than just a story line.
In terms of development, In my ancillary tasks, we kept developing them to ensure my media product was up to tip top condition. we kept developing the font on my magazine cover as we knew in my head what we wanted however, it was hard finding the font, therefore development was key here. Fonts in horror tend to be bold and striking mainly in rich colours such as red and black. Some can be slimline and gothic illustrating the concept of horror.
Analysing Previous Students Work
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6U9BTX5ucus
This is a film trailer I stumbled across when on Youtube. It is called 'Believe' and I think it is brilliant. Its that effective that I had to turn it off as I watched it at night in the dark!
It uses great camera angles at the start when the girl is walking off the swing. It really gives an eerie feel to the trailer and spooks the viewer out. The composition and camera work could almost come across as professional and the sound and editing is brilliant. I have took a lot of tips from this trailer to include in my own.
This is a film trailer I stumbled across when on Youtube. It is called 'Believe' and I think it is brilliant. Its that effective that I had to turn it off as I watched it at night in the dark!
It uses great camera angles at the start when the girl is walking off the swing. It really gives an eerie feel to the trailer and spooks the viewer out. The composition and camera work could almost come across as professional and the sound and editing is brilliant. I have took a lot of tips from this trailer to include in my own.
Ancillary Task- Poster
Wednesday, 12 March 2014
Monday, 10 March 2014
REECE
It was important to understand and respect health and safety at all times when filming the footage for my film trailer. Every location that I filmed in I had to access if it was safe and what dangers could occur whilst filming or moving the equipment around.
Whilst filming backstage in a corridor on the second floor, I had to be sure that myself and my cast were going to be safe when climbing up the steep ladder to reach the location. I firstly warned my cast about the steepness and assured them to step slowly and carefully. I also had to assure myself to be careful when walking up and down the steep ladder and making sure that any equipment was passed up and not carried up myself. Before passing the equipment it was also important that it was shortened to its smallest setting (tripod) so it was easily accessible.
Whilst filming here, we decided to peer in on the PE lesson going on next door. As Mr Swain was in full costume, we decided that this would be a good opportunity to get a reaction from the girls taking part in the lesson and record their screams! It was important that we did not film the girls screaming but aimed the camera at the floor and just received the audio as we did not have any of the girls permission to be on camera. The outcome would not have been as good if we had warned them we were going to film, so it was important that we took these precautions. This worked out very well, however we never got to use the footage in our trailer as we later on realised it would not have effectively fit in.
In the second part of my filming I had to use a local park to film my nephew. Before doing this I had to access the safety aspects of taking him there and filming whilst trying to keep him and the equipment safe. I decided to take my mum and sister with me to help me film Liam and make him do exactly what I wanted him to do. This gave me a great advantage as I could direct behind the camera to assure the equipment was safe and that I was getting the correct footage that I wanted. This made it a lot easier for Liam to be safe as there were so many people watching him. I made sure that I was not obstructing the public and was not getting film with anyone else in it apart from Liam. I also made sure that I took a first aid kit with me to the park along with all the essentials needed by a 2 year old in case of an emergency.
Whilst I was filming my nephew, Lucy took it to her opportunity to film some footage at her local park with some blue helium balloons. The blue balloons were important to us as they signified a link between the child and the clown who are both filmed holding the balloon in our trailer. It was important that we had some footage of the balloon by itself to enhance the representation and underlying link of the idea we were trying to portray to our audience. It was important that Lucy stayed out of the public's way and did not get them in any footage. To make sure of this she filmed at the end of the park where it is not busy and no one is around.
As myself and Lucy did most of the filming ourselves with few cast members, we really had to use our own initiative to make sure we were being safe in public area's and was aware of the things around us. All filming was successful and no one was hurt or injured during which was down to our excellent planning before hand!
Whilst filming backstage in a corridor on the second floor, I had to be sure that myself and my cast were going to be safe when climbing up the steep ladder to reach the location. I firstly warned my cast about the steepness and assured them to step slowly and carefully. I also had to assure myself to be careful when walking up and down the steep ladder and making sure that any equipment was passed up and not carried up myself. Before passing the equipment it was also important that it was shortened to its smallest setting (tripod) so it was easily accessible.
Whilst filming here, we decided to peer in on the PE lesson going on next door. As Mr Swain was in full costume, we decided that this would be a good opportunity to get a reaction from the girls taking part in the lesson and record their screams! It was important that we did not film the girls screaming but aimed the camera at the floor and just received the audio as we did not have any of the girls permission to be on camera. The outcome would not have been as good if we had warned them we were going to film, so it was important that we took these precautions. This worked out very well, however we never got to use the footage in our trailer as we later on realised it would not have effectively fit in.
In the second part of my filming I had to use a local park to film my nephew. Before doing this I had to access the safety aspects of taking him there and filming whilst trying to keep him and the equipment safe. I decided to take my mum and sister with me to help me film Liam and make him do exactly what I wanted him to do. This gave me a great advantage as I could direct behind the camera to assure the equipment was safe and that I was getting the correct footage that I wanted. This made it a lot easier for Liam to be safe as there were so many people watching him. I made sure that I was not obstructing the public and was not getting film with anyone else in it apart from Liam. I also made sure that I took a first aid kit with me to the park along with all the essentials needed by a 2 year old in case of an emergency.
Whilst I was filming my nephew, Lucy took it to her opportunity to film some footage at her local park with some blue helium balloons. The blue balloons were important to us as they signified a link between the child and the clown who are both filmed holding the balloon in our trailer. It was important that we had some footage of the balloon by itself to enhance the representation and underlying link of the idea we were trying to portray to our audience. It was important that Lucy stayed out of the public's way and did not get them in any footage. To make sure of this she filmed at the end of the park where it is not busy and no one is around.
As myself and Lucy did most of the filming ourselves with few cast members, we really had to use our own initiative to make sure we were being safe in public area's and was aware of the things around us. All filming was successful and no one was hurt or injured during which was down to our excellent planning before hand!
Tuesday, 4 March 2014
Progress
Filming Stills
Monday, 3 March 2014
Ancillary task- Magazine
I noticed that film magazines like 'Empire' used a lot of close-up angles as there main image. Obviously this was to show of the actors/actress' who were staring in the film and to reveal a bit about their persona or character in the film. They were extremely eye catching and had to be as a way of advertising the film. The 'Masthead' Empire was always in a bold capital serif font. This was to illustrate the importance of the name, when I think of empire I think of a nation of strong people, and obviously the magazine is trying to portray that the films are the best you can get. The font colour choice seems to be in a bold red which to my initial thought creates a sense of glamour and a sort of Hollywood esque feel; after all these movies that are featured are big budget films created in Hollywood so the directors and producers obviously want to portray it in a glamorous way. This also leads me to conclude that this is what directors think audience want, an escapism from real life everything is pixel perfect and people like this HD feel to a character it makes them attracted to learn more about the character and the story line, so when you see the magazine you think wow, that looks amazing. The Empire magazine looks hyper real and this is insinuating this is what the film will be like. Furthermore the Empire Magazine varies with how much text it will put on the front cover, some covers have a lot of text whereas others are completely blank with the picture and only minimal text. The magazine tries to capture the films best portrayal for example sometimes one picture can speak many words. I feel as if these magazines are amazing works of art and are a credit to the film industry. It makes me as a fan want to go see every film on the cover even if I am not a fan of the genre e.g. Sci Fi.
Below is the final magazine cover for our film trailer. We have called it 'Evolve' as we believe the way we have evolved the magazine from the first copy of production to its brilliant final piece.
Questionnaire
Myself and Lucy devised a questionnaire to ask our target audience to get an idea of the exact conventions that they like and prefer.
1. Would you prefer a psychological horror or a classical horror e.g. gore
2. What entices you in a film trailer?
1. Would you prefer a psychological horror or a classical horror e.g. gore
3. What is your favourite horror movie?
4. What are your biggest fears?
5. What scares you about psychological horrors?
These results show that the narrative and mise-en-scene have to be very successful to make an audience want to watch the film or trailer. I think that audiences prefer older films due to them being more realistic and having to think more in depth about the narrative rather than spoon fed the information. Three out of eight people said that 'The Exorcist' was their preferred horror movie made in 1973. Most modern horrors nowadays prefer the demonic and possession side to horror films. This shows that factors relating to religion are more popular in society which I think is because religion is seen as less important to a person and society has a broader mind on Christianity and religion used in horror films. This may also make the factors more believable as they are associated with modern elements in everyday life. This evidence also shows that audiences are more terrified if what they are watching is something that could happen to them. This makes the idea of creating my film trailer interesting as I know that the narrative involved happens a lot around the world in society and may be a sore subject for some. I hope that this would mean that my film trailer will be popular.
IMR
The IMR stands for the Institutional mode of representation. In film theory the IMR is the style of films that developed during the classic era of Hollywood cinema and still continues to represent film to this day. Some of the innovations developed from D.W.Griffith who edited film to create a lengthy, dramatic and epic narrative. Subtitles, cross cutting panning and close ups to show emotion were used extensively. However we often do not notice the IMR as we don't really see any films that challenge this mode. Most shot angles, distances and conventions of sound all mean the same to us despite any difference of language and culture in any film. An example of this would be 'A Tale of Two Sisters' which is typical of the IMR for its invisible camera crew, typical close ups that show emotion and continuity editing with a linear narrative, beginning, middle, end. Even though the film is in a different language and has subtitles that we can read, it is evident that we know there is something wrong because of the camera shots and angles and the music used in the scenes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anF5XiN8QY8
I am going to use this in my film trailer by following typical conventions of the IMR and using the understanding of the audience to create tension and suspense through the elements mentioned above.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anF5XiN8QY8
I am going to use this in my film trailer by following typical conventions of the IMR and using the understanding of the audience to create tension and suspense through the elements mentioned above.
Enigma Code
The Hermeneutic code refers to any element of the story that is not fully explained and hence becomes a mystery to the reader. The truth is often avoided and the purpose is to keep the audience guessing, arresting the enigma, until the loose ends are all tied together. This applies to my film trailer as the audience have to think about what is going on as there is not a voiceover telling the story. I decided not to have a voiceover as I think it sounds very cheesy and does not do the representation and justice. Although I have followed most conventions of a horror trailer including colour theme, fonts and sounds, I have steered away from the cheesy stereotypical horror trailer and decided that silence is more affective than a voiceover that is just feeding the information to the audience without them having to think about it. In recent studies I have found that most viewers of the horror genre like to work things out for themselves and find a film more interesting if they have to think about it rather than have every detail spoon fed to them. This shows the post modernism of society and that we are more intellectual that the media world thinks. My target audience is the age group that tends to think of new ideas and opinions for themselves. This means that they may not apply to the 'Two Step Flow' theory by Paul Lazarsfield that shows how younger audiences can be influenced by what other people say and their opinions are filtered through which are then shared by them to other audiences. This can be anybody from family and friends to celebrities. This also means that my target audience are more likely to negotiate with media texts and add their own ideas to them to understand what is going on. This is a positive thing as I would not want my preferred audience to be oppositional. The Referential code touches on the cultural aspects of narrative and shows symbolic features that link to certain calssics. An example of this would be using nursery rhymes in a horror film to create anticipation and fear of the unknown for the audience, as nursery rhymes are seen as innocent which juxtaposes with the sinister element of the storyline.
An example of a typical cheesy horror trailer would be 'Devil's Due'. I think that when watching this film trailer, the audience is spoon fed too much information and the whole story is basically told during the 2-3 minute trailer. This is what I am trying to avoid and what I think I have avoided when editing my psychological horror trailer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9G9Ce7e-gws
An example of a typical cheesy horror trailer would be 'Devil's Due'. I think that when watching this film trailer, the audience is spoon fed too much information and the whole story is basically told during the 2-3 minute trailer. This is what I am trying to avoid and what I think I have avoided when editing my psychological horror trailer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9G9Ce7e-gws
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