Evaluation Question 4 - Who would be the audience for your film opening?

This is a typical member of our audience. Because our audience is quite broad, we made sure we showed our film to both men and women, young and old. However, our protagonist is a teenager for the majority of the film (our film opening shows her in the present, then we move into her past) so younger teenage girls would be able to relate to her. 

 

 

 

 

 

After asking four different people who watched our trailer we decided to ask the audience to fill in a questionnaire on their opinions. These were the questions as followed:

 

• Effectiveness of overall film
• Effectiveness of music
• Effectiveness of setting and actors
• Likely to watch

     After receiving this feedback we gathered all the data and placed it in the form of a bar chart.

From the bar chart we can conclude, overall the areas mentioned in the questionnaire were positive just as we hoped! This clearly suggests that our film opening was successful as we have met the audience requirements and provided them with a thrilling opening.

It’s evident that the most effective element of our opening 2 minutes were the actors and setting.

These are both are essential factors when producing a thriller/horror film! 

 

 

Evaluation Question 3 Continued... - What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

We further discussed kind of media institution might distribute our film...

Evaluation Question 3 - What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Evaluation Question 2 - How does your media product represent particular social groups?

When choosing the protagonist for our film we decided to choose a woman in her late 30's as this was a similar convention in other films.  We wanted to take a character who appeared to be very conventional and respectable and then gradually expose her seedy past.

This character is similar to those in many other thrillers and TV dramas, for example Last Tango in Halifax (2012) and the character played by Sarah Lancashire. They share many similarities such as they are both head teachers and appear to do everything by the book. However they both have secrets they don't want their families and work colleagues to discover.

Evaluation Question 1 - In what way does your film opening use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real film openings?

Whilst watching a few opening Thriller films, we noticed that the titles were often one word. We therefore decided to follow this convention by giving our film a one worded title to create the effect of tension and mystery. We chose the colour red to make it stand out and because the colour red has connotations of danger and risk.  

This is a shot of the main setting and location of our film opening. We chose this location because in the drive, there was a big enough space for us to move and pan the camera while filming and film several shots from different angles. This location was also ideal because it had the scope of the long gravel path around the house which created a superb crunching footsteps and creaky gate sound effect which are conventional sounds of the Thriller genre. 

As our film is about a teenage son who is seeking revenge on his mum, we chose to stereotype his clothing. Therefore his costume was tracksuit bottoms, trainers and a hoodie.

This shot shows our main character dressed smartly in typical work dress. This stereotypes her to fit in with a career woman who works in an office. The colour black also foreshadows the dark nature of the film. We restyled the actor's hair and makeup to reflect our ideas of a conventional mid 30s suburban woman who has been quite successful in life. The mise en scene of the large, spacious kitchen and stylish accessories adds to the effect of the affluent lifestyle.

We decided to do several cut away shots to help increase the pace of our film opening. We wanted to create a sense of calm everyday life and so we focused on ordinary household objects. To create tension we juxtaposed these slow moving shots filmed on a tripod to keep the camera steady with the handheld chaotic shots of the boy running.

We chose to shoot our film opening around twilight to create a sense of fear and to build tension. We chose to do this because we noticed when watching other Thrillers most were filmed in the dark to make them more eerie.

We chose this special effect for the flashbacks because it gives the impression that the audience is in the mothers point of view and gives a slightly blurry picture as if she has tears in her eyes. It is conventional to show the transition between the verisimilitude of the clear shots showing the present time to the less clear images that show the woman's memory.

Film Poster Analysis

Here are two film posters which we have analysed. This includes the analysis of design, colours, characters portrayed, atmosphere, fonts, audience expectations and connotations of images.

Iconic Sounds for a Horror Film

The majority of horror films all use iconic sounds which help to create an unusual atmosphere. The main function of the sounds are to build up suspense which therefore make the film seem a lot more scary than if there was to be no sound at all. Some films only use diegetic sound, which therefore creates a more realistic feel to the film, and others use non-diegetic sound, which builds up fear. For example they may play a piece of creepy music or have instruments make a big ‘clashing’ sound, usually when an evil character appears.

Diegetic sound

This is sound which you would actually be able to hear in real life if you were there.

E.g.

       voices of characters 

       sounds made by objects in the story 

Non-Diegetic 
This is sound which you wouldn’t actually hear in real life as it has been added on top to create fear. 
E.g.
       narrator's commentary
       sound effects which is added for the dramatic effect
       mood music 

Typical Sound Effects Found in Horror Films

Thunder 

This is a typical non-diegetic sound effect because most horror films are filmed when it its dark and by using thunder, it makes the atmosphere eerie and scary. 

Screaming

This adds tension and makes the audience aware of the fact that the actor is in despair and needs help. It can also make the audience jump out of their seats if they are not expecting it. 

Creaking

This gives an un-easy atmosphere and makes you as the audience feel like someone else is in the same building. This is often used when an actor is in an isolated building by him/herself. 

Silence

This builds up the suspense of what’s about to happen. You often have silences before a loud scream or before a shooting scene takes place as you audience are in a state of harmony and they are least expecting it.   

Footsteps

This builds tension and makes the audience think about who could be coming round the corner. You can also emphasise this sound by adding on no-diegetic sound which will make the footsteps louder.