Question 1

The fact that there is a lack of dialogue means that the audience will purely judge the characters on their non-verbal

language and appearance. This helps with their exposition as it adds an element of mystery to the characters.

The supernatural figure will therefore be judged negatively due to its dark physique and lack of movement and

emotion through facial expressions. Also by creating a mystery it will entice the audience to watch on and find out

more about the characters.

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?Plot- Our narrative is very conventional of supernatural horror. Paranormal activities begin to happen in the home, such as the music box

opening by itself and the flickering lights, and a mysterious figure appears. This then leads to a death. “The Amityville Horrors” takes a similar

format of this plotline.

We created the

supernatural

antagonist as an

enigma by not reviling

much information. For

example its gender ,age

and ethnicity is kept

unknown. We did this by

using mise en

scene to cover the

character. For example by

choosing certain

costume and make

up to make the figure

unidentifiable.

Also the low key lighting

and character

positioning meant that the

figure was hidden even more.

Titles- We used a dark Reddish-brown colour for our text to

connote death, horror and blood. This was inspired by

the red writing in Dawn Of The Dead.

Typography- We chose a thin font called ‘suicide draft’ It

visually works very well with our opening and is very creepy looking.

We ensure that we kept to the rule of thirds when placing the text so

that the audience’s eyes’ would naturally find the titles and therefore not

distract from the actual footage. We also didn’t animate or make the text

moving in anyway on the screen to make sure that all attention was on the

footage.

For our main title we also used a red-brownish colour

text. We made the screen fade to black so that the title

was clearly visible as the background would contrast

with the letters. The black background is very

conventional for horror films for example Insidious

used a black background with red writing.

Location- It is conventional for a supernatural horror to be set in the home of the protagonist. Supernatural horrors

are set in people’s homes because it promotes the fear of something unwanted and unfriendly entering your own personal space, making

you feel frightened in the one place designed to make a person feel comforted and safe, this is what we wanted to create for our

opening.

In the bedroom we made sure that

everything was plain and simplistic.

This way the set design didn’t distract from the protagonist

Hannah and didn’t reveal much

information about her. Also the fact

that we kept the walls bare meant

we could create stylistic shadows

on the walls.

Having it set in what is meant to be a safe environment will

automatically place the audience on the side of the

protagonist and feel empathetic towards them

because we relate to how we would feel if our own homes

were being destroyed. This makes us defensive and angry

at the spirit for ruining what is usually a new safe place.

An example of a super natural horror film

which we have researched that is set in a

house is Paranormal Activity.

Characters -Our main character in the opening is a seemingly

normal girl who appears as harmless. We created her as a

relatable typical girl which is a very conventionalcharacter in supernatural films. Characters within the horror genre are

conventionally natural women with a fresh faced look with simple

clothing , this presents the beautiful female form and doesn’t project

them as sexualised.

The first impression of the paranormal spirit is negative and confusing

as to why its tormenting the ordinary girl.

As many people believe that spirits and ghosts are just stories and not real

life its important to make the idea or notion seem as real as possible. So,

the use of characters in their own home relates them to the audience

watching, this common ground adds realism to make the characters

seem like them.

Props Usually in supernatural horrors if there are any weapons

it is, household appliances, kitchen utensils, ornaments,

and garden equipment anything that is sharp, long and or heavy.

So we have been conventional by using an iconic kitchen

knife.

This subgenre tends to have less blood and violence as it is more focused

on paranormal events. However we have challenged this convention

by making it very gruesome using a lot of prosthetics. This was inspired by

Zombieland.

For the non diegetic sound we slowly built in up through out the piece. At the start is low ambient music and then

later on we begin to overlay more sounds and incorporate high pitched sound at certain points. This way would could

slowly build tension and apprehension.

Sound- In this sub genre empathetic sound

is used to reflect the mood of the characters in

scenes of fear, panic and chaos. Using this

technique has allowed us to use sound to anchor

the visuals. For example when Hannah is

reading the article report of her own death high

pitched violins start to play to connote the fear she

feels:

In this genre, especially ones that involve a child-ghost, you can create

contrapuntal sound by adding sound that is supposed to be sweet,

innocent and endearing to a scene where something terrible is about to

occur. In our opening we have used the delicate music box sound which plays near

the start of the opening and returns at the end when the protagonist has died.

Many horror films use POV shots to make the audience feel more involved in the film and to create verisimilitude. The

audience will also relate more strongly to the character whose eyes they are looking through. We took this technique from the film

Zombieland.

The conventional flickering lights shots are inspired by Amityville. Light flickering indicates that something

unnatural, unexplainable and supernatural is about to happen. It creates tension and makes the audience feel

uneasy.

When developing concept we looked at a film called ‘The Possession’. Objects moving unexplainably and this is very

conventional of supernatural horror. It creates unease and breaks down verisimilitude which would be very disconcerting for the

audience to view.

We really liked the use of a box and how it

contained the power to possess the characters.

In ‘The Possession’ the box appeared to be alive.

We took this idea but decided to use a music box. This

way we could incorporate the delicate music box music

as well.

We were inspired by a clip in Donnie Darko. To recreate the clip we used a steady cam frame and rotated the camera. The shot

created a sense of uneasiness and almost places the audience in the confused mind of the character themselves.

Creating discomfort through camera movement is very conventional of horror films. It plays mind games on the audience and makes

them focus more on the film as they try to grasp what is happening.

We used continuity editing through out the piece to create verisimilitude. We achieved this by cutting on action. Continuity editing

meant that the piece is more realistic and believable as many people wouldn’t believe in the supernatural figure.

The continuity editing gave

prevalence to the protagonist

Hannah. This makes the audience

sympathise more with her than any other

character.

We used character blocking to convey which character was in control and superior in the situation.

As the antagonist is

placed behind the

protagonist it is in the

position of power as it can see her but she

can’t see it, giving a huge

advantage to the

creature.

It is very conventional for the monsters in horror films

to be placed behind characters. This means that the

audience usually sees the monster before the characters

do, this adds apprehension to the audience as they

wait in anticipation for the character and monster to come

into contact. This is used in the film Insidious.

The protagonist is

oblivious to the fact

she is being watched,

her guard is down and

attention is being

averted to the article

on the wall. This

places her in a very

vulnerableposition.

It is very conventional for horror films to use slow and steady camera movement to build tension and

apprehension. We looked at Insidious and particularly liked the use of a slow pan from right to left across a room to

reveal a figure. We imitated this in our sequence.

This allowed the figure to only be in shot for a

short amount of time allowing the figure to stay

an enigma.

Question 2

There are no males in the opening or any other ethnicities other than a White

American. This was unintentional, other ethnicities would have worked in our

opening but our main character established in the opening is appropriate for

the plot.

The fact that we have not included a broad range of ethnicities and

older generations means that we could possibly be narrowing

the demographic which our film would attract.

Social groups- The main Character in our opening is White

American young girl, working class. We chose to use a young

main character as this reflects horrors core audience, so she is

more relatable.

The supernatural figure is left unidentifiable in our

opening, you cannot tell the figures age gender or

ethnicity.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The main social group we

represent is White America,

this is an ideologically

loaded choice of ethnicity. This ethnicity is used in most

Hollywood films as this means it

can relate and appeal to the

target audience, this

therefore creates a white-

centric convention for their

films.

We also bring in a second social group into our

opening through the Japanese mythology of the

paper cranes.

Paper cranes were hang around the garage to

represent the spirits of all the people that have died

due to the spirit. The cranes were the main part of our

set design.

In our opening we have challenged the patriarchal society by presenting an emergent ideology. There is a main female

character, where as this genre is usually male dominated and orientated. Also we have thought about the rest of the film and would

have a strong female character as the protagonist, therefore reinforcing the progressive ideology that women are capable of being the

hero. Therefore our film would be targeted more aimed at females rather than males.

Our opening reinforces

some of the stereotypical

views of women in

society, such as them being

viewed as over emotional

and weak. The Binary

opposition is that a male

is strong heroic, in

control and powerful,

where as a female is weak

and not in control of

her emotions. This is due

to the patriarchal society that we live in.

Representation:The Supernatural figure is presented as an enigma, this means

the audience doesn’t know the gender or ethinicity of the

character. This means that there are no clear ideologies about

gender based or ethnic issues in the opening.

Hannah depicts both negative and positiverepresentations of women. In some ways Hanna is

represented as the stereotypical final girl. A final girl

is often included in horror films, this refers to the last woman

or girl alive who has to face the killer. The final girl has been

included in many films such as Halloween, Friday the

13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street.

Hannah is also represented as quite weak. Her will power is

displayed as low through non verbal language and use of

post production special effects. She is instantly

possessed and walks into the garage. We edited her eyes to turn

black to highlight the fact that she has been possessed and is no

longer in control.

However this shot also connotes power as you see herself come back and the

blackened eyes disappear as she is for one moment Hannah again and isn’t

being controlled. She has broken the power that the supernatural figure had over

her. This goes against the residual ideology that women are weak and

inferior to men.

The CU shot also makes the

audience relate more to the character

and relate to the emotion that she is

feeling.

The residual ideology that all women are very

emotional and

vulnerable is highlighted

through our protagonist

Hannah which is very

regressive. There is a

CU shot of a tear

streaming down her face. The

non-verbal language displays the fact she can’t

hide what she is truly feeling.

This CU was inspired from the

film Amityville.

This CU shot was inspired by the film Amityville.

We have used sound to makes you feel sympathetic for the character. For example as you see the CU of her face and the

fear in her eyes high pitched violins start to play. This connotes her fear and panic which she is feeling on the inside.

Question 6

Survey monkey-this was very useful when testing out our ideas and getting

recorded feedback. Survey monkey allowed us to create a broad range of

questions with different ways of answering. For example open ended

questions and to what degree someone agreed with an idea. This enabled us to

see what our target audience through of our ideas and alter our ideas to meet

their opinions.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

The first online tool that we used was our blog

on blogger. It enabled us to share ideas in a

number of formats such as text, videos,

pictures and slideshows. This made it

easy to see each others ideas, what we were

looking at for inspiration, any genredevelopment ideas, sharing research and any

location ideas. It also allowed us to comment

directly onto the posts and interact with each

others ideas easily.We also used Prezi. This was very helpful when

developing out concept. We could easily make it visualand communicate to others exactly what we had

envisioned. It also meant that we had an easily accessible

and managed way of storing our concept

development, and if anything changed along the way

it was easy to edit or add too our ideas.

Social networking sites such as Facebook and twitter allowed us to show a wide audience of people our

opening and receive feedback very easily and quickly.

The internet allowed us to do majority of our research. Such as looking into different horror sub genres, what were there conventions etc.

You tube- Firstly it was very useful when

researching title sequences and other horror

openings. It enabled us to find out a lot of information

and get a lot of inspiration. Also it allowed us to upload

any experimental shots we did before filming the actual

opening sequence, and also we were able to export our

finished product. This meant that these clips could receive

feedback through comments or likes and

dislikes. Now that our finished product is on you tube it

meant that we could market it though various forms of

social networking.

We also used the steady cam frame for a couple of shots. For example we were inspired by a clip from Donnie

Darko where the camera frame tilts and rotates. We imitated this in our opening and to achieve this shot:

The only small issue with the camera was the fact it was quite heavy,

so when using the steady cam frame and taking the rotating shot it

was difficult to keep the rotation smooth.

When filming our opening we used my DSLR camera which is a Canon 60 D. Using a

DSLR was very useful as it meant that we could adjust how bright the footage we were

recording by adjusting the camera settings. Also the camera enabled us to have HD quality

and create different depths of fields.

We used a tri pod to achieve still steady shots ensuring that

there was no unwanted movement or jerking making our

opening look more professional and high quality. We

could easily use the tri pod to move the camera frame to

different heights and angles, this made it possible to try

out a large variety of shots. The tripod also allowed us to

achieve steady slow pans. These were very effective.

As we shot at night we didn’t use any natural light. So in a way it was easier to keep lighting continuity as we weren’t relying on the

weather. For lighting we used one tall light which could adjust to different angles and positions very easily. This was very useful when we wanted to

create interesting shadows onto walls and faces. We could create dark figures through the low key lighting. We also used the built in

lighting in the garage. By having a free standing light it meant we were able to create a variety of shots and experiment and play with the lighting

quickly while on set. It allowed us to create a silhouette when Hannah has the knife in her hand which created tension :

The only difficult thing about the lighting was ensuring that nothing was too dark, as otherwise the footage would look grainy. So instead we

made the shots brighter than we wanted as we knew that in editing we could dark the shots if we wanted to. Also sometimes if the lighting was

behind the camera a shadow of the camera or tripod would be casted so we had to move around until it worked.

Lighting allowed us to

create a dramatic

silhouette shot for when

the protagonist is about to

die.

Intense shadowing on

the face created a more

stylistic shot .

The lighting

enabled us to

create a crisp

silhouette of

Hannah when

she first enters

the garage.

The shine on the

blood made the

sequence more

gruesome and

made prosthetics

look more realistic.

Colour grading- We took inspiration about colour grading from ‘The Road’ and ‘Sweeny Todd’. They both had the iconic

desaturated style. It makes the footage look more cold, creepy and sinister. So in Post Production on Premiere Dandy and I

desaturated the clips. As we used artificial lighting it meant that our footage had a yellow tint however in post production we were able to

change the colouring. Desaturating the clips illiminated the yellow tint on many of the shots which appeared due to the over head lighting.

BEFORE: AFTER:

‘The Road’ and ‘Sweeny Todd’

colour grading both look very

grey and unnatural. This

creates an uncomforting image

and also makes the characters

in the films look unhealthy .

We imitated this colouring

by lowering the saturation

of the clips and slightly

increasing the contrast to

make the shadows in our

piece more bold.

On premiere we selected a clip

and then went onto ‘edit effects’.

We selected image control and started to experiment with how

saturated we wanted the

sequence and what contrast

and brightness looked best.

Once we had decided on the exact

colouring we used this same

grading for all of our clips. So all we

had to do was copy and paste this

effect onto all of our clips.

However we did decide to leave this effect off of a few clips.

For example in some clips we used fire and as we liked the

intensity of the orange/yellow fire against the other

desaturated footage so we decided to leave it un edited.

In and out points- after first initial editing stage realised how much more we could cur out, also making the swish pan shots faster

made it more dramatic and scary as it meant the supernatural figure wasn’t seen as clearly as was on screen for a very little amount of time.

.

Time stretch- when Hannah drops

the knife we decided to expand the clips time.

This made the clip appear as if it was in slow

motion. We wanted this shot to feel dramatic

and focus the audiences attention on the clip.

To do this we right-clicked on the clips and

then ‘time-stretch’ and decreased the speed

to 80%.

The swish pan was used to break

verisimilitude and create

something un natural and

discomforting

I have learnt about the 180 degree rule. It was completely new to me.

We ensured that in our opening we kept to this rule as it meant that

audience perspective would be kept. It was essential that we thought about

this rule while filming through out the opening.:

Initially when we edited together our rough cut we accidently didn’t abide by the

180 degree rule.

As we had made sure to take multiple shots of all our footage we had another shot which was at a

slightly different angle. This meant we could edit in this footage and ensure that it was clear to the

audience where Hannah was.

For the credits we decided to use the font

‘suicide draft’

I edited the credits and decided on the placement of

the text. We adhered to the rule of thirds when placing the text so that the audiences eye

could easily follow the text.

The order of our credits were: Anchor bay

films, then key actors and key crew,

ensuring that the director was the last person

credited.

We researched opening sequence credits and

followed the typical pattern which opening credits

adhere to. For example we looked at Shutter

Island and Evil Dead.

In premiere we edited the titles so

that they faded on and off screen.

This meant that they flowed onto

the screen better.

When placing the credits we

made sure that they were

on plain surfaces so were

easy and clear to read.

Main title- I created the title using stop

motion. I used a pen and paper and slowly

wrote the title taking shots in between. I then

edited all of the clips together and reversed the

colours. This way the background was black and

the writing was white. Then I added a colour

tint so that the writing was a red/brown colour.

I also edited the title so it flickered on and off screen

to mimic the flickering lighting in the shot which was

before the title.

The stop motion was very effective

as it is conventional for

unnatural and for things to

appear/move with no explanation.

Black background meant that

the title appearing flowed with

the opening sequence very

well. As we made the room go

black and then the title

appears.

The main title appears after all of the

credits have been seen. This means

that the title will be left in the minds of

the audience. We decided to have the

title appear on a black background with

nothing else on the screen so that the

audience focuses 100% on the title.

We achieved continuity editing as we

made a specific effort to do so. We ensured

that the characters looked exactly the same in

each shot. We made sure there position,

costume and facial expressions were the same

if a shot angle changed.

Another way we achieved continuity

editing was successfully cutting on

action. This meant that an action looks fluid

and creates verisimilitude. We edited the

in and out points on the clips very

carefully on Premiere to make sure it was

perfect.

We did this very successfully at the

start of the sequence when Hannah

places the photo album onto the bed.

In post production we used an editing technique called

overlaying. We did this by selecting two different clips and

placed them on top of each other on the timeline. We then

lowered the opacity of one of the clips. This meant that both clips

could be seen on screen at the same time.

Firstly we used this technique to emulate that fact that time had

passed as Hannah folded a paper crane.

We also used overlaying to give added information to

the audience at the start of the sequence in a stylistic

way.

For example we overlayed shots of paper cranes as

Hannah made her way to the garage.

Also when Hannah is dying blood is dripping from her

neck. We then overlayed a shot of a crane dripping with

blood to emulate the fact that Hannah's spirit would be

transferred to that crane.

I utilised the option of manual focus on the canon60D and used pull focus to give a cinematic feel. This made our

piece look more stylistic and drew the audiences full attention on to what the article was titled.

I used a shallow depth of field focus when filming

the words on the article. This means that the

audience could pick out words appearing on the

article easily.

I shot a ECU of the

article title to ensure

that it was clear what it

was about.

When I was filming this scene I made

sure that when the knife was meant to

be cutting her throat that you couldn’t

actually see her neck. I did this by using

closer shots instead of MS and LS where you would be able to see exactly

what was happening. This way the

suicide looked believable and

created verisimilitude.

If at any point her neck was shown we

edited it out or her hand was covering

the supposed slit on her throat.

In post production on

premiere we added

diegetic sound of

Hannah’s throat being slit. This

made the action more realistic

and also more gruesome and

uncomfortable to listen to.