Thursday 17 December 2009

How all of the charcters throughout Peekaboo are linked

Simon- Secretly best friends with Kieran
Kieran- Friends with Becky
Naomi- Kierans ex girlfriend
Naomi and Becky- used to bully Simon
Reece- Kierans older brother and the detective on the case of the killings

Our Character List for The Opening of Peekaboo

Suidcide Victim- Simon
Simon is a very geeky charcter. He wears glasses, dresses smartly all of the time, and always has a book in his hand. He is very smart, achieving top of the class in all exams that are taken, he enjoys playing world of wardcraft and blogging about how he feels on his internet blog site. He is the victim of very serious bullying at school and becuase of this suffers from a very string bout of depresssion, leading to him having theropy reguarly. During this theropy he is advised to blog about his feelings online allowing his bullies to see how they are making him feel. He also has a secret friendship with the most popular boy in the school Kieran and he tutors him on a regular basis.

Killer- Kieran
Kieran is the most popular boy in the school. He is rich, good looking, sporty, well dressed and secretly very smart. He enjoys attending house parties, going out with multiple girls, appears to be very shallow and cocky but he is secretly very sensitive, enjoys reading novels, recieves tutoring and is Simon's only true friend.

Naomi- Kieran's Ex- Girlfriend (1st female victim)
Naomi is a very good looking girl, well dressed, popular and the richest person in the school. She is well dressed, obsessed with boys, best friends with Becky, likes parties, clothes, money and her hobbies are social networking being shallow and coming across as very cocky.

Becky- Naomi's Best Friend
Becky is and average looking girl, well dressed, very quite and always comes 2nd to Naomi in their friendship. Well of financially, popular, likes clothes, books, parties and secretly always fancied Kieran. Her hobbies are social networking and being friends with Naomi.

Wednesday 9 December 2009

My Film Ideas

Games at night

  • A teenage girl has a sleepover at her house with 4 friends
  • They all decide to play the Ouija board as a bit of fun
  • As they start to play the bad spirits start sending messages of death and murder and the way in which they would all die tonight.
  • They stop playing the game, dissmissing it as nonsense and not real. They start drinking and playing some music very loud.
  • 1 of the girls decides to go downstairs to get some more food and drink alone. When she tries to return upstairs she looks into the mirror and see something behind her it appears suddenly.
  • The girls upstairs notice her missing from the group and 1 of them volenteers to go downstairs and get her.
  • When she walks into the kitchen she sees the body
  • They then spend the rest of the night trying to survive the group of demons who are passing through the house
  • 1 by 1 they start to get killed as the demon continuously appears and then disappears throughout the film
  • The girl who's house it is survives the night to tell her parents of the demons.
  • When her parents return she tells them what has happened and they immediatly call the police
  • After their examinations they find that the girls all dies from knife wounds and so they blame the deaths on the girl who survived the night
  • She is arrested and put in a prison cell overnight while they continue their investigations
  • Her parenst go home and spend the night in their house, but they are both killed before the morning
  • The police don't know who killed them as she was in prison and so pass the killings of as an unsolved case

In the graveyard

  • A group of teenagers go to a Halloween house party and get drunk
  • Then they all decide to visit a graveyard
  • They start to vandalise the old grave stones by kicking them, throwing drinks at them etc.
  • They all start to walk away, when all of a sudden the ground starts to shake and the tombstones shatter
  • Then zombies start to appear out of the ground walking slowly towards the teenagers with their arms out in front of them making a groaning sound.
  • The teenagers try to run away from them and hit them off, but the zombies still attack.
  • The zombies start to eat the teenagers by pulling their limbs apart and taking big bites.
  • All of the teenagers are dead except for one who survives.
  • All of the zombies return to their graves accept for one.
  • The last girl standing walks home to tell her family what had happened. She enters her house and shouts for her family but nobody answers. The television is on and she can see the back of her mother, farther and also her younger brothers head
  • She runs in front of them to tell them what happened but only to find their throats bitten with big chunks of their neck's missing.
  • She turns to find the zombie standing in the corner of the room walking slowly towards her arms out making those grotesque groaning noises, with its arms out in front.
  • She screams!








My Film Ideas

Cluedo
  • Six teenagers are staying over at house that they have rented for the night.
  • They decide to play a murder mystery game of cluedo.
  • Before they start playing one of them goes of to the kitchen to get some food whilst the other look noisily around the large mansion type house.
  • All of them return to the main room to play the game except for one.
  • So someone from the group goes to look for that person and finds them dead.
  • They return to tell the others who are mortified and question who could have done this as they were the only people in the house. They start to blame each other and get into an arguement.
  • They try to contact the police but the phoneline of the house is dead and non of them have any signal on their phones.
  • They decide to try and survive the night until the morning when the owner of the house returns.
  • The rational member of the group decides that they must all stick together and stay calm at all times.
  • As the night goes on this plan starts to fall apart as they each one by one leave the main group for the toilet, food and to move around the house.
  • The all start talking in their groups of who they think the killer could be within their group of friends.
  • The person that they think it could be is then found dead, ruling them out of the murder.
  • Another member of the group is also noticed missing from the room for a long time and they are now the target of blame for the killings.
  • This person does not return and their body cannot be found making everyone else believe that they are still in the house.
  • The three remaining survivors decide to all stick together to keep safe and so when one of them needs to got to the toilet they all go togther.
  • While this person is in the toilet the other two wait outside for them, but they start to argue and agree to walk away from a fight and return in 5 mins for their friend to come out of the toilet.
  • When they then return the door is smashed up and their friend is face down in the bath, they have been drowned.
  • The two remaining friends blame each other for this murder and decide to split up for the rest of the night as they dont trust each other.
  • They both survive the night untill the owner of the house returns and the police are called.
  • They both blame each other and are arrested, but as they are lead away one of them notices that the owner of the house has some spots of blood on their trousers and fresh scratches on their arm.
  • They then realise that this person is the only other person with a key to the house who knew that they would all be in their. They also know the layout of the mansion better than anyone.
  • Was he/ she the murdered

Peekaboo

  • Simon is the school geek, bullied by the popular group
  • This bullying leads to serious depression and he goes to see a therapist after mediaction does not help
  • This therapist suggests that he start to blog his feelings and emotions as a release from his mind and not talking to anyone
  • He does this, but finds that he is bullied more for this and is ridiculed at school
  • Eventually he cant take anymore and deciedes to end his own life
  • At his funeral we fins out that he did have one friend that nobody knew about, this was the most popular boy in the school called Kieran.
  • They both kept their friendship a secret as they were so opposite and didnt think that others would undertstant their friendship
  • Kieran feels guilty for this secrecy of thier friendhship and starts to analyse himself and his friends who bullied Simon, which lead to his death
  • From this he starts to justify to himself why they should die and how he will kill then all
  • He then picks his victims and one by one he kills the whole group of his own friends who all contributed to Simons death, recording eahc death and putting them on a blog site called Peekaboo.com.
  • Kierans own brother Reece is the dective on the case of these killings and he is worried for Kierans safety from becoming the next victim not knowing that he was commiting the murders himself
  • At the end of the film Reece finds out about what Kieran has been doing and asks him to explain himself
  • Once Kieran tells Reece what he was thinking and what they did to Simon, Reece decides that Kieran was right and does not arrest him
  • They go back to thier normal lives and live as though nothing has happened.

We decided as a group that Peekaboo would be the film that we will take forward as our main idea.

Monday 7 December 2009

Analysis of Questionnaires on Horror Films

As part of my research into horror films i created a questionniare and handed this out to people within the age range of 16 and 40, as this is the age that i want to appeal to most through my film. In this questionnaire i asked the specific questions that i felt ranged in all of the areas of a horror film and that were the most important elements of the film from the audiences point of view. I also asked the questions that i felt were nessersary for the questionnaire. Here are my questions and the answers that were given.

1) What gender are you?
6 male and 11 female

2) How old are you?
16, 17, 18, 24, 30 and 38 were the most popular answers

3) How many horror films have you watched this year at the cinema?
0,1,2,3,4,5

4) What is your favourite horror film?
The Shining, Scream, Saw, I Know Who Killed Me, Halloween, Jeepers Creepers, Ring (Japeneese version), Audition, The Orphan, Nostfaratu, Haunting in Conneticut, Disturbia, The Ring,

5) How much would you rate this film out of 10 (10 being the best)
6,7,8,9,10

6) Who is your favourite horror villain?
Freddy Kreuger, Sada, Esther (orphan), Jigsaw, Dracula, Chucky, Samara (the ring), Jack Torrance, The Joker, Hannibal, Jason X

7) What scare tactics used in this film did you find effective?
Lack of music, visual effect, story, shocking gruesome scenes, element of surprise, psycholgical and physical torture, entrapment, sound effects, the suspense, masked killer, silence, wide angled lense, large empty spaces,frame flickers, screams, someone being followed.

8) Where do you prefer the setting of the film to be?
anywhere that's rundown and haunted, quiet countryside, big house, isolated and dark, old building, graveyard, inner city, forest, hotel, suburbs,

9) What type of horror film do you prefer?
  • Vampire 3
  • Serial Killer 8
  • Zombie 2
  • Monster 2
  • Alien 1
  • Other 4 (Ghosts, Religious, Slasher and Unknown creature)

10) What is your favourite murder weapon in horror films?

  • Knife 4
  • Gun 3
  • Chainsaw 6
  • Disease 3
  • Bite 3
  • Other 7 (killed myteriously, sword, tourture, ropes, machete, axe
From this analysis i can see that the most popular types of horror fims are a serial killer and the most popular murder weapon used in horror films are Chainsaw and other methods of killing people. From the other questions i gained the inforation on what details of the film are prefered by the audience such as the location and scare tactics that they feel works on them and their inner most fears.

From this inoformation i can now consider all of these elemensts when deciding on my final story for a film and what details I am going to use to make it effective and appealing to my target audience. I will also know what is most likely to work in the film and be successful and what elements are less likely to have an impact and make and be less successful within the film and the storyline.

Thursday 26 November 2009

Horror Film Codes and Conventions


Horror films are known to play on audiences worst fears of tourture, the unknown, death and murder and exagerate them to an extreme in the situation and the action taking place. They then add some entertainment into the piece for the story to make sense and be more appealing and reaslistic to the audience and finish it of with a shocking and most commonly gruesome ending with either none or maximum of 2 survivors of the whole ordeal. This imagery and story being told of our worst fears and hates in the world but in a safe, controlled and comfortable envionmnet allows people to be scared but also know that they are safe from what they are seeing on the screen, is what entises people to go and watch these horror films continously, making this one of the most successful and highest grossing genres of all. Horror films are also known as Chilllers, Scary Movies, Spoookfests and the Macabre.


Horror films were researched and developed out of old scary folktales of witches, ghosts and the devil as these were told on nights such as Halloween to scare all listeners. They then became gothic and victorian novels that would still be influencial to film dircectors over 100 years later and were written by now famous Horror authors such as Mary Shelley (Frankenstein) and Bram Stoker (Dracula). They were then brought into the world of cinema by silent German films, creating supernatural sequnces of terror for all of those watching. One of the most successful ghost stories of those was Das Kabinett des Doktor Caligari (1919) (aka The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari) from director Robert Wiene. One of the most successful and earliset vampire films created by the silent German cinema was Nachte des Grauens (1916), aka Night of Terror


Some Horror films are also connected to another genre aswell to add a sense of realism to the film, such as an escaped prisoner, science experiment gone wrong or a mental patient that had escaped, as all of these are situations that as humans living in todays world, we have a sense that they could come true. In the most successful Horror filsm the horror and danger is usually defeated and comes to and end by the end of the film with the last scene being of the victims or the killer going back to their life of normality and calm, showing the passing of what they had been fighing and their victory in know being able to live a normal and safe life again.

Wednesday 25 November 2009

Our Continuity Piece

For our continuity piece me and my group member firstly decided on what we wanted in the piece and what shots we wanted, to make sure that the required three of Match on Action, 180 Rule and Shot Reverse Shot, where incorporated into it. We then drew up a detailed storyboard, which detailed each shot that we would use for the sequence and the action that would be taking place in each of these shots, with images of the actors and their movement used to indicate this. We then numberd them as to which order they would taking place in, to ensure that we kept to our original plan when filming the piece.

When we started filming, we firstly set up all of our equipment and worked with the camera and actors until we were happy with the way in which it looked. We then filmed the shot that we wanted and then watched it back to make sure that it was correct and had all the elements within it that we needed. We then continued this until we had completed the seqeunece in the order that we wanted it to be.

Once it was finished it was then showcased to the class and we found that the feedback on the piece was very good. The comments we recieved were 'it flowed well from one shot to the next' and 'it was a good use of the differant shots that we chose'. The constructive critisism comments that we received were ' the match on action could have been more clear and one of the shots could be re-filmed and amended to make it a better match on action.

Once we evaluated these comments we then decided to improve our piece by taking this advice and re-filming the last shot to make it a more clear match on action and also taking out the original last shot of the sequence to replace it with the new one. We then planned out this simple but very effective second to last shot and how we would make sure that it linked with the previous shot well in action and shot type and made sense on camera to the audience. Once we had done this we decided from which angle we were going to film it and the exact action that was going to take place in order to make it a full and clear match on action. The camera was then set up by me and my group member and we informed the actor on what was going to be happening in the shot and what movement and timing was going to be needed from them. The scene was then recorded how we planned it and we again watched it back from the start of the piece to make sure that it was correct and flowed well from the original scenes to the new one. We then decided that it didnt need any changes to be made to it as it was correct and we were happy with it.

The link for our continuity piece
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyuSqCewNfQ

Tuesday 24 November 2009

Top 10 Horror Films of all time
  1. Shinning
  2. Excorsist
  3. Rosemary's Baby
  4. Jaws
  5. Halloween
  6. Poltergeist
  7. American Werewolf in London
  8. Evil Dead 2
  9. Frankenstein
  10. Dawn of the Dead

Horror Films in the UK-business data

Horror Films in the UK in 2007
Number of releases = 24
Percentage of all film releases = 4.7%
Gross at the box office = £28.8 million
Top performing title = Saw 4
Cinema Audiences
Once per year
Male = 61%
Female = 62%
Once per month
Male = 20%
Female = 16%
Films with a greater female audience
Hairspray
Enchanted
Miss Potter
St Trinians
Atonement
Shrek the Third
Films with a greater male audience
300
Transformers
Die Hard 4.0
Spider-Man 3
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
I am Legend
The Simpsons
Films with an equal audience
Amazing Grace
Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Becoming Jane
Notes on a Scandel
Stardust
Ratatouille
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phonenix
Oceans Thirteen
Run, Fat Boy, Run
Mr. Bean's Holiday
The Golden Compass
Pirates of the Carbibean: At World's End
The Last King of Scotland
The Bourne Ultimatum
Hot Fuzz
Sunshine
28 Weeks Later
Go to the cinema at least once a year
Age 7–14 = 86%
Age 15–24 = 82%
Age 25–34 = 71%
Age 35–44 =70%
Age 45–54 = 61%
Age 55+ = 34%
Go to the cinema at least once a month
Age 7–14 = 28%
Age 15–24 = 42%
Age 25–34 = 23%
Age 35–44 = 16%
Age 45–54 = 10%
Age 55+ = 5%
Investors
There are mutiple investors in the UK film industry that put money in the production and creating of a majority of the films come out of this country every year.
• the Department for CultureMedia and Sport
• other central government departments
• the governments of Scotland, Northern Ireland andWales
• the National Lottery
• HerMajesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC)
• BBC Films
• Film4
• the European Union
Top UK films internationally
1 Harry Potter and theOrder of the Phoenix = $937 million
2 The Bourne Ultimatum = $442 million
3 The Golden Compass = $254 million
4 Mr Bean’s Holiday = $226 million
5 Stardust = $134 million
6 1408 = $122 million
7 Casino Royale = $99 million
8 Fred Claus = $96 million
9 Hot Fuzz = $81million
10 Hannibal Rising = $81million
Overall horror films did not do very well in the year 2007. Not many of them were released, but the ones that were did create a buzz amongst the media and the viewing audiences grossing a large amount of profit (Saw 4). From the percentages of the most popular genders and age groups that were visiting the cinemas i can also see that my film must be eitha a 15 age restriction, as if it is 18 then it is too restrcting and could cause me to lose audiences, on the other hand it cannot be a 12 as this may be seen as not scary enough and again this may lead to me losing viewing audiences.
I can also see the overall high sucess of British films of all genres all over the world, and therefore this means that my film will be more likely to be received and watched by a large number of people in varies countries as the British film industry has built up a very good reputation by delivering classic, high quality material over the past 10 years.

Sunday 1 November 2009

research into existing products- thirller - 2

Eagle Eye
The scene first starts with a low angled long shot of 2 young male boys running along the sand dunes towards the bottom. Some non diegetic music then begins with an orchestra style sound. The diegetic sound of the childrens laughs and banter can also be heard over the music as they playfully race to get to where they are going.
The direction of the camera then changes as now the camera is in front of the boys instead of behind them, with them now running towards the camera. The camera is at a low level allowing the boys to easily run past as though it was not their. From this shot the clothes that they are wearing can be clearly seen and, we can see that they have on robe materials such as linen and light weight cotton. The colours of the costumes can also been seen, such as whites, creams, baige and browns. They are both also wearing brown religious head caps, with all of these factors such as the sand dunes and clothing we as the audience can now guess that this scene is set in a middle eastern counrty were light weight clothes are worn and sand can be seen everywhere. Their religion can also be guessed by the head cap that they are both wearing, as this is a known symbol of the Islam faith along with the dialogue of the boys speaking in a differant language that is not understood or recognised.
In the next shot the camera then changes direction again as though following the boys, this time though it starts of at a low level as though flat on the ground and rises up on a crane to a high angled shot over the edge of the mountain to reveal a long shot of a middle eastern style small village. The non diegetic sound of the music now climaxes and reaches a higher tone becoming louder as though something very important has been revealed by showing this village. The film credits then start to come across the bottom of the screen.
The editing then cuts to a long shot of a sand track road in the hot desert with the sun beaming down on the location, with 2 4x4 trucks and one town car travelling along in a convoy form, towards the camera at high speeds. The non diegetic sound of music now tones down and starts to slowly fade away.
The scene then changes to a medium shot of the villagers sitting around happily getting on with daily life. Children playing playing adults chatting and camels being loaded up for walks across the desert. The clothes that these men are wearing is also adding to the Islamic faith interpreted and the middle eastern culture guessed, by them wearing their head wraps and robes style light weight clothing for the hot and sandy conditions. The surroundings of the village can also be seen from this shot, with the location being very isolated and minimal in the middle of the desert sands and hot sun. The buildings are also very simple and basic structured, connoting that the area is not very wealthy and lives more of their own land and produce then buying from larger citites as there are non nearby.
The next shot is from the eye of a riffle gun with the convoy of approaching cars on the target centre, the cars are being watched by advanced technology which does not come from the basic and inadvanced villege which we had just been introduced to. This suggests that there are other organisations in the area and they are watching everything that is going on.
The editing then switches to the inside of a control room, of which looks like the goverment, as it is very luxurius, modern and comfortable for the workers inside, with multiple high-tech computers. These features also denote that these people may not be in the same location that we as the audience just were. The first diegetic dialogue that is used it the commander in charge saying 'we have a visual on a possible high jacking target' these words state clearly that they have a target that they are watching and their accent states that this is the American goverment.
The camera then zooms into a medium shot of the main screen, which is high-tech tracking system, which when instructed locates the target straight away. The use of this high-tech system connotes a very important operation is taking place in this scene.
The basic plot of the film has know started as they are now are into the action of tracking this target and so have now established the tone of the film.

research into existing products- thirller

Taken

The opening of the film starts with footage of a homemade video recording. The occasion that is taking place is firstly established by a close up of a colourful red party hat that has 'Happy Birthday' written on it in bright yellow large lettering. The next shot then estalishes the identity of the birthday person, as the camera pans right, to the head of the table and then zooms into an medim close up, on the small female sitting on the end in a party dress and plastic princess tiara on her head, excitedly opening up her birthday present. The diegetic sound of laughter of young children, playing and having fun can be heard over the soft and slow paced non diegetic sound of the music playing.

The credits now start to appear on the screen to the right hand side. As though not to distract and take away from the footage being presented to the viewing audience. This not wanting to interupt, shows the importance of this video footage to the film and the reason why it is the first scene that we as the audience see of the film. More deeper information is also presented to the audience during this home video, as the bond between the mother and daughter is also shown by the body lanuage used. For example her mother always being positioned right by her daughters side, with a protective arm around her while she celebrates her birthday, and the fact that her mother is the only person who she interactes with in the video, as though no one else in the party is significant to the mother, daughter or camera person filming.
The only dialogue used in this homevideo footage is used to convery the young childs emotion and happiness about her horse figurine present. Mother asks 'Do you like it'. The child responds by simply smiling and nodding conveying an excited and pleased emotion.
The camera then shakely tracks forward to the childs mother presenting her daughter with a lit birthday cake until a medium close up. A 5 candle is the only one on the cake and this is done to make it clearly visable to the audience the age of the child. The positioning of the cake is also specific to make the number clear to the camera and the audience ensuring that this piece of information cannot be missed. As she puts the cake down on the table the footage is cut up in as though multiple photographic frozen images all being played to create the look of movement. The non diegetic sound of knife blades being sharpened against each other are also played in sync with the chopping of the image. This convention is usually used in thriller films to allow the audience to remember certain images and also to add some intensity to the sequence.
The camera then zooms in until it is at a close up position on the young girl as she leans forward and blows out her candles. This scene has been edited to make the blowing out of the candles a trigger to the next scene, linking the two together by making her blwoing emphasised in sound and so as though she is blowing the memory out of the males mind. The adjoining scene is a medium close up of a male suddenly waking up from sleep, and from the surrounding mis en scene it can be seen that he is in a dark room alone. The way in which he suddenly wakes up connotes that the previous scene was either a dream or memory of his past. By having these two scenes together a vital piece of information is shown and then when the male is introduced he is quickly established as the main character.
The camera then zooms out until, a long shot of the male from across the room establishing his surroundings of a living room in a house and he sits on the sofa in the dark. The credits then contiue but only at this point is his real name presented on the credits and it freezes there next to him for a while to add that he is the main character in this film. This is very unconvetional of any film as usually the main character is introduced first at the start of the naming credits. The credits then continue to roll as usual, but this time they start to appear at the centre bottom of the screen, also adding to the specific way in which this male was introduced. The male then switches on a table lamp, only allowing minimal light into the room, as this conveys a serious tone to the scene and establishes a serious tone to the rest of the film. The non diegetic sound of the piano music now starts to get louder in tone as he stars longingly at the photo which he holds in his hands.
The only diegetic sound that is heard in this scene is his sighs as he excepts his missing the female and places the picture back down on the side table.
A medium shot is used as he gets up and leaves the room to get ready for the day. The camera hangs back and does not follow him, it then zooms into a close up shot of the photo he had been looking at and reveals a female sitting on a horse smiling happliy at the camera.
The words of the title of the film then appear again to the right hand side of the screen and photo 'Taken' The placing of this title of the film connotes that the female in the film has been taken, by either death or kidnapping and that the rest of the film is going to be based around her safe return. His acceptance of the situation also shows that she may have been missing a long time as he does not seem angry or sad, just missing her more than any other emotion.

Thursday 29 October 2009

research into existing products-2

The Unborn
The opening scene starts of with an overhead extreme long shot taken from the air, looking down onto a highway/motorway system. There is snow covering the ground that is surrounding the network indicating that it is the middle of the winter season in this part of the world. The scene of the area and the expected weather style for the rest if the film is now set. The credits for the film are also shown across the bottom of the screen during this shot.

The follow up shot of this is an overhead long shot, of an old, classic and very picture perfect bridge in the middle of an icy winter river follwing silently by, that fits perfectly into the setting of the frozen but beautiful landscape. As this is a horror film we know that it wont be picture perfect for very long and so the director gives us this shot as an opening to tell us this. A female then comes into the shot from the bottom of the screen as she jogges across the bridge from south to north at a mid range pace, indicating that she is not runing for fear or away from somthing but she is running for pleasure at this point in the film. She will most likely be running away from something later on in the film and this is used in the opening scene for irony as we know that she will later in the film become scared and in danger. The camera then tracks down towards the female until the shot is directly flat on the bridge with her continuously jogging now away from the camera. The use of the tracking can be used to make us feel as though we can see her and are watching her from behind but she cant see us as she continues to move away and does not look back allowing us to hear her diegetic sound of panting as she moves. The bridge is empty apart from the lone female and so this also adds to this feeling of isolation and that only us and her are on this bridge in a very derilict and empty area. During this scene the non diegetic sound of a very simple, high pitched ery music can be heard, which along with the location, camera movements and her movements adds to the feeling of everything is not as simple and innocent as it seems from the visual aspect of the scene, as she jogs along the icy winter bridge.

The third shot in this scene is edited so that the camera switches to a medium shot of the front the female, which is introducing her to us as someone very important to the film, as she is the only person that we have seen so far and also the fact that her face is shown to us very clearly to ensure that we remember her. It identifies the main character to use quickly. In this shot she is still jogging but this clearly shows to us that she has in her ipod, which tells us that one of her senses has been taken away as she cant hear anything around her, making her vulnerable on this remote road, as she is surrounded by trees and from what we can see there are no houses or people around in the case of need of help or assistance. The diegetic sound of her panting can now be heard more loudly over the non diegetic sound of the ery, high pitched music.

The camera then returns to an overhead long shot of her continuing to jog along the road. This has been edited as a continuation of the first shot of her jogging along the road, so that the audience is seeing her from where they left of. From this overhead long shot we can see that the main path is clear of snow and due to this is a very black tarmack colour. The darkness of the road then contrasts with the woodland area on either side, as this is covered in a very clean white snow allowing anything on the ground to be seen very easily, and the darkness of the bare tree trunks to stand out away from the ground. These also are a dark brown/black colour and leafless at this time of year,allowing the camera to see straight down to the ground, without being blocked by and canopy style leaves. The contrast between these show that she is alone on this road but if anything does come from the trees towards her, then we as the audience and she should be able to see it very clearly against the white snow on the ground, brightening the whole area and making everything visable.

The camera then switches into a medium close up shot and her face is once again introduced to the audience for a second time allowing the audience to recape on the fact that she is the focus during the long shots. The scenarey behind her is also visable to us allowing us to recape on the picture perfect icy river, snowy ground and bridge that she first crossed, and this is also setting us up for a scare by making us feel as though she is in the middle of this beautiful location and is safe, because she can see everything in the trees surrounding her and on the road ahead of her. The camera then pans left still within a meduim close up range to reveal the whole scenary behind her as she jogs also adding to this feeling a safety that they audience now has. The female then suddenly stops jogging and looks directly past the camera to the right hand side as though she has seen somthing interging. Allowing only the diegtic sound of her panting heavily for breath to be heard once again over the non diegetic music.

The editing then swithes to a reverse shot of what she can see ahead of her. Also allowing us to try and find out why she stopped running so suddenly and what has intreged her so much. From the shot we can only see the open road ahead of her, and a cold but unexplained mist rising from the cold snow on the ground surrounding the road giving an ery and uncomfortable feeling to the audience. There are also trees to the right hand side of the shot that are visable but do not fit in with the previous images of the surrrounding bare winter trees as open with bright snow on the ground at their feet to brighten the area up. These trees are in a dark dense group all close together, with no snow on them or around them, making it dark and difficult to see through them. This image in the shot has been used as a sign of danger and as a sign that their is no longer safety surrounding the female on this open road.

The camera then changes into a steadicam with a close up of the females face. It shows her distarction by something laying on the middle of the road which the audience cannot see but is going to find out.

A reverse mid shot has then been used showing from her feet up to her knees, as though the camera is laying on the road and is tilted upwards towards her, with a focus pull on the object in the road that has taken her attention away from jogging. She bends down into the shot of her lower quarter and picks up the unknown object.

Another steadicam shot has been used, for a close up of her face, as she stands back up straight into an upright position. A presence is then felt behind her by both herself and the audience, with only her head to block the image of what it is as her face is in the centre of the frame. As she slowly turns around an over the shoulder shot is used to reveal a small boy standing erily in the middle of the road further down the lane, where she was jus running. He is awardly silent and standing compltey still, simply staring at her erily. He is now centre of the frame and centre of the audiences focus. His presence there is unemxplained as if he came from in the trees we as an audience would be able to have seen him during the over head shots and if he came during her jogging he would have been visable coming through the trees against the white snow by either us or her as she jogged. A focus pull is agian used to show him an she is not in focus as she stands very close to the camera still in a close up range. The non diegetic music is now unheard and there is just silence, making this shot even more effective as all attention is on the situation betweent the female and this unidentified small boy.

A shot reverse shot is then used as the camera changes to an over the shoulder shot from the small boy looking at the female. This has been editied to give the audience the view from him and also clarifying that he is really there and is looking at her standing in the road looking back at him with no words being said, showing that she doesnt know who he is, but he seems to know of her and seems to have been either waiting or lookinf for her. This is the climax that the scene as been building to straight from the begining of the film, giving the audience as scare within the first 3 minutes and also building for the action in the rest of the film.

The camera then swithces to a shot of the small boys shoes, as though the camer is on the ground and slowly begins paning up his body, all the way to his face. Once it gets to his face the camera freezes for a few seconds, allowing the fact that he has no eyes to be revealed to the audience. Also the condtion of his grey, cold and dead like skin complextion is revealed to the audience. The editing has been done like this to give the audience a scare and also to allow them to analyse the boy and to reaslise that he may not be alive and so how is he here watching the female?

The camera then reverses shots back to a close up of the females face once again and reveals her expression of confusion and unbelief of the small boy and his condition. This has been edited though so that we as the audience do not know whether she can see in as much detail as we can and so dont know if she can really analyse his no eyes and dead like state in the same way we can. We might know something that she doesn't adding enigma to the story.

The camera then reverses shots once again back to where the small boy was just standing, giving the audience the females point of view again. But to the audiences confusion now, she has seen something that they havn't and instead of the small boy standing in the road, a bulldog stands there in his place. Behind the dog in the background is same mist that was seen just before the boy was revealed, but this time after he has disapeared so quickly. The editing in this shot has been done in this specific way to state a pattern to look out for throughout the film, of the mist being seen in the scene just before the boy is revealed and after he as left, allowing the audience a warning from now on that danger is around.

Thursday 22 October 2009

Task 2:Research into Existing Products and Codes and Conventions

Codes and Conventions
All genres have specific conventions that are used when intoducing a film to the audience during the starting credits. This is done to allow the audience to recognise the genre of the film quickly, allowing them to then be able to concentrate fully on the plot and and dialogue knowing where the film is genrally leading them. These conventions can usually be related to the tone of the film and so the audience is aware from the very start of what they are in for.
Horror
Horror films usually start by setting the scene, whether that be in the middle of suburbia, the desert, country lanes or in the city. They then go on to start to introduce either a previous victim and situation for the killer, showing thier power and what they are prepared to do, or the main character for this story. The film is set in either one place with the victim trying to survive the night or a certain period of time or it is a hunting game of the killer chasing the victim or victims in pursuit of killing them specifically.
Thriller
Thriller films usually start with the crime being committed or the victim being in their final state whether that be in prison or hospital, then the scene starts with the story of how this came about and why it ended in this way. The most common thriller films are police officer based or have some police/goverment involvment, with crime or murder being a large element in the plot. Someone usually loses their life and the crime is not always solved without and casualties .
Romantic Comedy
A romantic comedy usually starts with the male and female either in the middle of their normal lives before they meet and how they are not very happy with what they are doing or them at the end of their relationship, with the story explaining what happened and revealing how they get back together. Romantic comedy also always certain scenes and moments within them that are recognisable to the audicence. The male always gets the female in the end, their is usually a fight for the female whether that is with another male or having to over come something in order for them to be able to be together.

Scream
For example in the Horror movie 'Scream', the film starts of by firstly introducing the name of the film before anything else is shown. This is done in keeping with the genre; the word scream appears in white against a black background adding contrast and making it stand out , a knife being swing is heard non diegetically then followed by a female scream, as the word quickly flashes to red, indecating death and murder. By this being the first visual given to the audience the genre and outlineing plot of the film has be stated. The next scene then quickly gets into the film, as female is then seen alone in a kitchen of what looks like a respectable, suburban home. The phone then rings and she happyily answers it. The voice on the other end can clearly be heard by the audience allowing them to feel as though they are being spoken to and are part of this converstaion, this technique adds to the feeling of you being in the scene and you being spoken to by this person, doing exactly what a horror film aims to do and that is to mentally put you in that situation and scare you through this tactic. The voice of the person on the other end has also been carfully chosen to fit the tone of the film. It is realistic and belivable but also creepy and wierd, fitting the role of this normal human who is planning a muder for thier own pleasure, as he asks who he is speaking to as though this was a specific call to the female of his choice but he is still unsure of who she is and how she will react. The repitition of this phone ringing then turns into a sign of danger as the scene continues with the conversation turning more aggressive and threatening from the man towards the female in the house, this sign of danger within the scene also works with the popcorn slowly burning and popping more loudly and repetitivly as the conversation evolves into more of a negative. The camera movement in this scene is also very general of horror films as there are alot of lingering shots looking out of the french doors or out of windows into the darkness after the dialogue or action within the scene has ended. This tricks the audience into expecting something and not getting it making it more of a shock when they are given a fright that was unexpected as these scary moments are not placed in the more general timing slots, although these lingering, expecting shots are now more widely used in horror films. Another camera technique used in this scene is the camera looking from outside of the house in, as though looking in from the view point of the killer, wathcing the victim become more flustered and scared as he scares her down the phone, by saying that the can see her. This makes the audience feel as though they can see where the killer is and want to portect and warn the victim of her future killers whereabouts. All of these conventions are warning the audience about what to expect from this film and are also introducing them to the tone that will follow throughout the piece.