Film Presentation

Evaluation Activity 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?
In our media our we linked our protagonist (Hannah) shows that her social group is very insecure as a girl as it shows what her stereotype as a girl can be which is young and innocent.
I have compared our film 'The Hood' to the film 'The Ring' which also represents a young, innocent girl in her house and a antagonist jumps up on her. We’re able to see that both girls are portrayed to be vulnerable and naive as they’re both alone. The character’s facial expressions may suggests that they’re frightened, troubled.. The film The Ring and The Hood are both a horror genre so the audience would expect the setting to be in an isolated places so the character are more accessible to danger which are all the connotations of a typical horror film. Both characters conform to the stereotype of a younger women as they as they are naive. 
The film The Ring also has a similar concept which creates suspense as the audience try to figure who the antagonist is.
However there are also differences due to the different filming locations. The character in the film Scream is indoors so her costume is different whilst our film setting is located in outdoors which means that the costume would be different. The characters indicate that they’re both young, innocent and they’re abandoned and will die tragically.

Evaluation Activity 1

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (i.e. of film openings)


Title/Font Style/Institution of the film:

 To the left you see the institutions and title for our film that are shown at the beginning and end of our opening 2 minutes. We decided to place the institution at the beginning as we wanted to show the audience who helped us with our film and who contributed towards it. We took this in consideration form films such as 'Scream' and 'James Bond' films also have the institutions at the beginning of the films as it conforms the conventions of the genre. With the institution we wanted the audience to be able to be engaged 

with the film and this is why we decided to put the institution at the beginning of the film instead of half way through so the audience can be alert from the start. We decided to make the institution up, 'Lion Production and Wave Films as we thought it would be creative and realistic for the audience to see. It made our film our own and unique as it had our twist to it by creating our own institution.
At the end of our film we decided to introduce the title of the film. We showed it at the end as we thought with the a cliff hanger and we thought it would be dramatic as it reveals the title and show the suspense of the film. The color of the title show the evil and the conventions of horror in it. The font links with the conventions of horror as it is bold and the audience can see clearly from it and it makes it more tense for the audience and with the black background it really shows the dark red features clearly.



Setting and Location: 

 For our film we obviously decided to film our opening 2 minutes in the woods as it conveys the conventions of a horror location. We also filmed our film at a train track which makes it more dramatic as the antagonist walks over the crossing and the train goes passed and disappears which creates a tense atmosphere towards the audience. Filming in the woods makes it more intense and it is a public open space and anything can happen so filming there was a lot of fun. We had to be careful though as we didn't want

anyone to see the knife that we used as it would be dodgy, so it was a risk. In the woods we mainly used long shots and medium shots so the audience can she the location more clearly. We used some close up shots as well as we could see the fear in the protagonists face, which converted well with the convention of horror by seeing the fear in the characters face. and making the audience feel one edge.


Costume and Props:

In our film we decided to use a knife and a scarf, with the knife it was a bit risky as it was real and we were out in a public place with it but we wanted to convey the tense suspense and conventions of a horror film by using these props.Also by putting blood on the scarf and the knife shows the audience hooked at the end as it leaves the audience shocked and surprised at the events which link to a horror film and reach the expectations of a horror film. Whilst filming with the knife we had to be careful with when to film as we didn't want the public to think we are up to something dodgy. In our film one the antagonists costume was an important one as we have to try and hid the antagonist identity by putting a mask over there face and wearing black which is a natural color when it comes to antagonists as they need to be disguised as that is the point of a horror film with antagonists as they must hid there identity. So putting Amy in black and covering her face so know one knew who she was and that it will be a mystery and convey the mis en sene of a horror film.

Camera shots and editing:

In our film we show a various amount of different shots such as a high shot which you can see to the left. We decided to do this shot as it outlines the view of the antagonist from a high shot which it is effective as you want to see the location surrounding them. Also using this high shot you can see the characters movement more clearly and to see what there really up to from a high point of view which gives the audience a sense of what the characters doing and making it look realistic.

Another shot that we considered is a close up over the shoulder shot which was effective as we felt like it made it more realistic taking a shot from over the shoulder taking a shot of the character texting which shows the audience from the characters perspective. Mainly in horror films you see many close ups as it conveys the conventions of horror and subverts the tense atmosphere by showing the character close up which makes the film more effective by using these sort of shots

In our film we took this time lapse of the sunset and edited it our film to change the time of day and to show the audience the time of day has changed. In our film we found editing good as we grabbed most of the footage and just cut the footage that needed to be cut and make it clean so that the finishing product was good and realistic. Also with the train shot we had to make sure that Amy had to disappear whilst the train goes past so we had to edit her walking across the train track and cut when the trains goes by which was quite difficult

The Story and how the opening sets it up: 

In the opening we see me walking through the woods, see straight away people we think 'oh an innocent girl walking in the woods by herself' So instantly we see the conventions of horror a lonely innocent girl walking by herself there is bound for something to happen. This is good as at a start of a horror film the audience instant reaction is to look at where the character is and
the location they are set in. as it sets up the story and what it may be about.
In the opening we get introduced to the antagonist so the horror conventions continue as we get introduced to the antagonist which is stalking the girl. This sets out the story and as it fits into the horror conventions as it is set in a public place with little surrounding it, also it sets the story up by having a crime at the beginning and then the real film be about detecting the investigation and finding out about the murder which will get the audience hooked by saying what happens next.

Genre and how the opening sets it:

The genre is horror and the opening shows that it is a horror as you see an antagonist slice the girls neck,this conveys the conventions of horror as you see someone kill someone which is very common in a horror film which it gives a sense of fear and makes it very dramatic. I think that doing a horror is good as it can bring out your creative skills. In the the opening it conveys the genre, by the sound in the background which can be really tense and dramatic

How Characters are introduced; 

 Hannah (me) get introduced right at the beginning of the opening 2 minutes as Hannah is the protagonist and she gets killed so when she is being introduced people automatically will think a young innocent girl walking through the woods,this could all go wrong and she may be in danger in the sense that she is on her own so being introduced shows that the film is about her

 After Hannah incomes the antagonist (Amy) and stalks Hannah which is typical as it conveys a horror convention as theirs always one person that is the antagonist on a horror film who kills someone. So Amy is in the woods know one knows who she is and kills Hannah and it leaves the audience shocked and Amy walks off like nothings happened

 The next character to be introduced is Hannah's Mum (Chloe) as seen at the beginning Hannah texts her mum to say she is coming home but a few hours later shes still not back. so Chloe is worrying and goes to look for her. We decided to introduce a worried parent as it shows the audience that parents do get worried about these sort of situation and shows that it can happen in real life

The final character to be introduced is Hannah's mums friend (Caitlin) who gets a call from her to say that Hannah is missing and goes to help her look for Hannah. We decided to put her in the opening as it was nice to have someone relating to Hannah's mum and help her in this investigation, and i think it helps as the film has more flow with more characters making it an intense film to watch.


Special effects;

In our opening 2 minutes we didn't have that many special effects but if we had to choose something it would be the time lapse of the sky as it shows the change of time of day which can illustrate to the audience what time of day the next scene is changing to as it makes it more realistic and more understanding for the audience which gives it a effect and a more sincere effect which gives the opening a better review and a better effect.

The Hood- Opening 2 minutes

The Hood

Pre-Filming Diary

Pre-Filming Diary 

Before filming we had to do several make up attempts. On the first day of filming we had planned extra time in order to complete the make up to the best of our ability. For Hannah's make up we used a combination of Vaseline and flour, mixed it together and applied it to her neck. Once allowed to dry I put foundation matching Hannah's skin tone so the cut would look realistic. I used a cocktail stick to make a slit like a real cut and applied fake blood. If we had more time we would have liked to include some shading around the cut to look like bruising and therefore look more realistic. Although we only used very basic technique it worked effectively for what we wanted to achieve.

We also did some make up on Chloe in order for her to appear older, as she plays Hannah's mum in the opening two minutes. If we had a larger budget we would have liked to have used a more complex technique of creating wrinkles. As Chloe did not have prevalence it didn't matter that her make up was not up to a high standard.

Our Editing Technique

Editing 

In our lessons we have been using Adobe to edit our film and production credits by doing this we have each done a role in what we have to do I have been doing the research and production credits, While Caitlin has being editing our film. we have decided to do this as we feel as Caitlin has the stronger role in editing when as I can do the sound research and edit the production credit.






Whilst we were editing we found it difficult at first on how adobe works but as the lessons went on we got the hang of it. We were more confident in putting the video clips in the right order and cutting it so that it there not any unnecessary footage can be cut so it looks clean and fresh. The struggle was the transactions and the transfers from one shot to another and trying not to make it jump and making it fade in and out of the shot smoothly and effectively.
Over all I think that editing has gone really well we have enough footage to make 2 minutes and we hope that the film is at a standard of where it relates to the genre and that the intending audience understands the opening 2 minutes.

Influence of Production

Influence of Production 

Normally in a Horror film the location is normally somewhere where where there is nobody there and there is just an abandoned shed for example and nothing around you but woodland. We had the idea from the film ' Cabin in the Woods' as it is an isolated place and it is quite scary as you are in a middle of nowhere and plus it has the same target audience. We felt that by watching the film we got ideas of how to target a male dominate audience. Also the location of 'The Conjuring' made us consider the time of day to film and what weather conditions we wanted.We filmed in the dark/dusk and if we did film it in the same weather conditions as the picture it will be unpredictable.

The costumes of our actors were not influenced by a specific film, in many films within this genre the antagonist is kept as a mystery in dark clothing with their face covered. An example of this can be seen in the film 'Scream' the antagonist is covered in order to hide their identity and thus building the tension. We wanted our victim to see more vulnerable and innocent hence why Hannah was dressed in light clothing. In our opening we intended to give the antagonist the most prevalence in order to build the tension.

When we were planning our opening, as a group, we discussed multiple different locations which we both agreed should be in a remote place where there is no people/cars around. This sort of location helps to build tension as it presents a fear of the unknown. If the victim dies in this location no one would be aware for a long time
The character we included are very stereotypical as the girl is very young and innocent but finds herself in a different situation, this is inspired by multiple different films.