I am starting this evaluation by restating what my aims and context were since these are what I was supposed to stick to when I was making my film. The context of my film was originally to have two friends travelling through the woods together.
But to save time and in my opinion to make my films horror aspects stronger I cut it down to the antagonist and the protagonist, this keeps the film simple and removes the temptation for lengthy dialogue. There are more important aspects such as stylistics of the film, the editing and how it conveys its meaning.
The aims of my film were to have an intended audience of an age group of 18-24 and people who are looking to be scared. I think that I have achieved this specific audience although I am not sure that I have met the conventions of horror. Because of the rapid change in the horror genre it is hard to keep up the conventions.
The horror genre adapts itself year by year making it harder to make a horror film, so it’s best to choose them from the year you are starting your film in to keep up with them. The horror genre keeps changing because people are becoming harder to scare.
In my opinion my film does almost fully meet the aims of my film although there are some areas were my film deviates from this such as removing the idea of two friends and just making the main character more of a loner which helps to isolate the audience since my film is called the lonely wood and in my opinion should be a recurring feature the element of loneliness throughout the film.
By isolating the audience it is easier for this film to meet its specific aims, I am not worried about the film not fully meeting the aims and context because it in my opinion is at least close to this.
I am not entirely sure that my film did actually meet the context of the film, because from the start of making it I removed ideas to make it easier to make and in retrospect maybe this is something that I should not have done.
By removing a character the film deviated from the script, although I did the storyboard after the script which the storyboard did not have the same features in it as I had originally planned for I am not entirely sure if this in the end mattered or not.
The main problem with the film is that it worked fine in planning but sometimes something that works in planning does not work for the final product. This is most likely what the problem is with my film although it is better to at least have a finished film rather than it being up the best quality because I do not think that we are expected to be professional film makers at this point in time.
The planning of the film in my opinion worked out better than the actually finished film. That is most likely because it is easier to plan something than it is to create something I found out that some of the features that I wanted to do did not work out the in which I wanted them to. I am not sure my self how good my film is although I have not taken a high opinion it is. I think that it is still good for an amateur film which is not at the top of the list in my opinion.
If I were to create a short film again I would not go for the horror genre because I found that the conventions of the horror genre have much higher demands than other genres. I would probably go with a genre that I can create another film out of without having to meet such high expectations that the horror genre seems to have it would be much easier to go with maybe an adventure film. I would go with a genre that while being easy to create a film out of is also popular because in my opinion if it is not popular than it makes it much harder to target the correct audience.
I am actually disappointed with my film because it did not turn out the way that I wanted it to, I had hoped that it would follow as closely as possible to the horror genre conventions but in the end it strayed too far from them for it to be in my opinion a horror film. I am not sure what sort of film it has turned out like but it should still be okay for an average audience. When I first edited my footage when played it would be jumpy I found out it was most likely the conversion of the footage that I did.
I ended up redoing most of my shots because they did not turn out the way in which I wanted them. In the end I chose to cut the sequence earlier because it would have taken too much footage and made it too complicated, this would most likely have reduced the quality of the work and I was looking for quality over length. A film can be 1 hour long and not make sense or having it 5 minutes long making it have more quality to it, in the end the quality is more important.
I believe that the jaws theme provides the needed tension for my film sequence. Tension is also created through shots watching the main character from buses this also adds a voyeuristic quality to the film it also makes the audience know that something is watching the main character and this is another good tension building technique.
Horror films work best when they create a lot of tension which opens up the audience to the actual fear inducing techniques in the movie. The reason that I chose to leave my film at where the main character happens upon the figure is because as well as making the audience want to see the next scene it also makes them want to know what happens to the main character, this if I were to make this a full length film would make the audience want to carry on watching. Which is how film makers like to make their films they find it important to grab the audiences attention.
Usually people do not like sudden endings to a film but because this is a film sequence I did not actually need a resolution because if there was then the rest of the film would not interest the audience. The tension throughout a horror film helps to support the conventions of horror, and the conventions are an important factor in achieving that ability to scare the audience.
Tension seems an important factor mainly because it creates the needed build up in the film. Which is a deciding factor on if you are actually going to scare the audience, without this then my film would not be able to induce fear within the audience.
I think that with the amount of planning that I did for my film is a decent amount because I made sure everything was prepared for creating the film. Some people don’t like planning but without the planning it is harder to create a structure to the film.
Without the structure in a film there is a guarantee that no audience will like it. The most important elements behind a film are done in the planning stages; this is an important factor in how the audience will like my film.
If I hadn’t planned my film then there would be no guarantee that it would even turn out remotely in the way I wanted it to. It would make no sense to an audience and if it does not make sense to an audience then no matter what you do to it nothing would make it good.
This is why the planning to my film was crucial it is an important deciding factor in the audience’s opinion in the film. This is why professional film makers make their films to be tailored to the audience, although they chose the audience so they have control over the film in that point much like I have that same control over my film.
If I had of chosen to make my film more complicated then I would have most likely have deviated from what I planned to do. Although moving from the plan by little amounts is okay, a total deviation from the plan would have most likely have left my film looking like it was thrown together. It is better to have it shorter and not have every shot originally planned in the film so that the audience likes it rather than trying to get every shot in and it turning out not like you expected it to.
Although I would have liked to actually follow the aims and context it turned out simpler to follow them the best I could because that way it makes it easier to keep the film quality up. It in my opinion is more important to keep the film quality up rather than trying to follow something that turned out to know be realistic for a set of aims. I am not sure if I have met my audience aims fully but I hope that I have if not then at the very least have gotten as close to them as possible.
Films are always judged by the audience and that I also how the film industry decides if they are going to continue making films in certain ways because of the box office ratings. This is why I made sure to do more than enough planning for my film so that an audience would be impressed by it.
I tried to make my film using a fair amount of stylistics but only stylistics that I actually need for my film because this way at least I can use the stylistics that work best in horror films there would be no point in using stylistics in the same way that they are used in a horror film because it would not be fit in with the audiences expectations for the film.
For voyeuristic shots I used a heavy breathing sound track because this helps to let the audience know that something is watching the main character. This helps to build tension and it makes the audience know that the figure is not going to be nice.
The voyeuristic shots help to make the audience feel more involved in the film while with them being outside events it makes them feel helpless and this feeling of helplessness makes an audience easier to scare.
The element of voyeurism seems to be a good feature for a horror film because it helps to involve in the audience in some ways while because they know they can’t help the main character it also isolates the audience. Because the audience feels involved it makes them want to know what happens next and because they are isolated from events they know they can’t change what will happen.
The sequence of my film that I am making is designed to be a tension building scene so I do not expect it to scare the audience. Although I do expect it to build up the correct elements to scare the audience.
The actual filming of my film was okay although I could have produced better it is better than what the average amateur film maker. Because it is designed for tension building and not scaring the audience then it is not something which.
The final edit of my film was overall good, I like the use of changing the hue of the point of view shots of the antagonist as well as crystallising these shots to give these shots a non human look which helps increase the audiences fear level. When you know that something is watching something and because the vision doesn’t look human it makes it clearer that something is out on a hunt.
I used the colour correcting effect to darken the shots because going through a wood where the audience can see through it properly does not create a fear of the unknown. This is why I chose to darken the shots especially the shadow areas and the far reaches of the shot so that the audience starts to get curious about what is out there.
The editing of this film especially the use of music adds to the effect of the film, the use of the nightmare track in my film helps to enhance this. It seems to be the element of curiosity which can help to draw the audience in and to actually scare them. By removing some of the highlights in the shots I managed to dull down the idea that it is day time and by doing that it makes the film a little bit more creepy which in my mind is important in a horror film.
In conclusion my film although most likely not as good as most films out there is better that what I thought that I would be able to produce. I thought it would not be very good but it is a least some around the amateur level. With what we learned of film language the previous year this has helped me to make my film what it is. Without this it would have been like giving a kid a camera to make the film with.
15 April 2011
final film
9 April 2011
film evaluation
I am starting this evaluation by restating what my aims and context were since these are what I was supposed to stick to when I was making my film. The context of my film was originally to have two friends travelling through the woods together.
But to save time and in my opinion to make my films horror aspects stronger I cut it down to the antagonist and the protagonist, this keeps the film simple and removes the temptation for lengthy dialogue. There are more important aspects such as stylistics of the film, the editing and how it conveys its meaning.
The aims of my film were to have an intended audience of an age group of 18-24 and people who are looking to be scared. I think that I have achieved this specific audience although I am not sure that I have met the conventions of horror. Because of the rapid change in the horror genre it is hard to keep up the conventions.
The horror genre adapts itself year by year making it harder to make a horror film, so it’s best to choose them from the year you are starting your film in to keep up with them. The horror genre keeps changing because people are becoming harder to scare.
In my opinion my film does almost fully meet the aims of my film although there are some areas were my film deviates from this such as removing the idea of two friends and just making the main character more of a loner which helps to isolate the audience since my film is called the lonely wood and in my opinion should be a recurring feature the element of loneliness throughout the film. By isolating the audience it is easier for this film to meet its specific aims, I am not worried about the film not fully meeting the aims and context because it in my opinion is at least close to this.
I am not entirely sure that my film did actually meet the context of the film, because from the start of making it I removed ideas to make it easier to make and in retrospect maybe this is something that I should not have done. By removing a character the film deviated from the script, although I did the storyboard after the script which the storyboard did not have the same features in it as I had originally planned for I am not entirely sure if this in the end mattered or not.
The main problem with the film is that it worked fine in planning but sometimes something that works in planning does not work for the final product. This is most likely what the problem is with my film although it is better to at least have a finished film rather than it being up the best quality because I do not think that we are expected to be professional film makers at this point in time.
The planning of the film in my opinion worked out better than the actually finished film. That is most likely because it is easier to plan something than it is to create something I found out that some of the features that I wanted to do did not work out the in which I wanted them to. I am not sure my self how good my film is although I have not taken a high opinion it is. I think that it is still good for an amateur film which is not at the top of the list in my opinion.
If I were to create a short film again I would not go for the horror genre because I found that the conventions of the horror genre have much higher demands than other genres. I would probably go with a genre that I can create another film out of without having to meet such high expectations that the horror genre seems to have it would be much easier to go with maybe an adventure film. I would go with a genre that while being easy to create a film out of is also popular because in my opinion if it is not popular than it makes it much harder to target the correct audience.
I am actually disappointed with my film because it did not turn out the way that I wanted it to, I had hoped that it would follow as closely as possible to the horror genre conventions but in the end it strayed too far from them for it to be in my opinion a horror film. I am not sure what sort of film it has turned out like but it should still be okay for an average audience. When I first edited my footage when played it would be jumpy I found out it was most likely the conversion of the footage that I did.
I ended up redoing most of my shots because they did not turn out the way in which I wanted them. In the end I chose to cut the sequence earlier because it would have taken too much footage and made it too complicated, this would most likely have reduced the quality of the work and I was looking for quality over length. A film can be 1 hour long and not make sense or having it 5 minutes long making it have more quality to it, in the end the quality is more important.
I believe that the jaws theme provides the needed tension for my film sequence. Tension is also created through shots watching the main character from buses this also adds a voyeuristic quality to the film it also makes the audience know that something is watching the main character and this is another good tension building technique.
Horror films work best when they create a lot of tension which opens up the audience to the actual fear inducing techniques in the movie. The reason that I chose to leave my film at where the main character happens upon the figure is because as well as making the audience want to see the next scene it also makes them want to know what happens to the main character, this if I were to make this a full length film would make the audience want to carry on watching. Which is how film makers like to make their films they find it important to grab the audiences attention.
Usually people do not like sudden endings to a film but because this is a film sequence I did not actually need a resolution because if there was then the rest of the film would not interest the audience. The tension throughout a horror film helps to support the conventions of horror, and the conventions are an important factor in achieving that ability to scare the audience.
Tension seems an important factor mainly because it creates the needed build up in the film. Which is a deciding factor on if you are actually going to scare the audience, without this then my film would not be able to induce fear within the audience.
I think that with the amount of planning that I did for my film is a decent amount because I made sure everything was prepared for creating the film. Some people don’t like planning but without the planning it is harder to create a structure to the film. Without the structure in a film there is a guarantee that no audience will like it. The most important elements behind a film are done in the planning stages; this is an important factor in how the audience will like my film.
If I hadn’t planned my film then there would be no guarantee that it would even turn out remotely in the way I wanted it to. It would make no sense to an audience and if it does not make sense to an audience then no matter what you do to it nothing would make it good.
This is why the planning to my film was crucial it is an important deciding factor in the audience’s opinion in the film. This is why professional film makers make their films to be tailored to the audience, although they chose the audience so they have control over the film in that point much like I have that same control over my film.
If I had of chosen to make my film more complicated then I would have most likely have deviated from what I planned to do. Although moving from the plan by little amounts is okay, a total deviation from the plan would have most likely have left my film looking like it was thrown together. It is better to have it shorter and not have every shot originally planned in the film so that the audience likes it rather than trying to get every shot in and it turning out not like you expected it to.
Although I would have liked to actually follow the aims and context it turned out simpler to follow them the best I could because that way it makes it easier to keep the film quality up. It in my opinion is more important to keep the film quality up rather than trying to follow something that turned out to know be realistic for a set of aims. I am not sure if I have met my audience aims fully but I hope that I have if not then at the very least have gotten as close to them as possible.
Films are always judged by the audience and that I also how the film industry decides if they are going to continue making films in certain ways because of the box office ratings. This is why I made sure to do more than enough planning for my film so that an audience would be impressed by it.
I tried to make my film using a fair amount of stylistics but only stylistics that I actually need for my film because this way at least I can use the stylistics that work best in horror films there would be no point in using stylistics in the same way that they are used in a horror film because it would not be fit in with the audiences expectations for the film.
For voyeuristic shots I used a heavy breathing sound track because this helps to let the audience know that something is watching the main character. This helps to build tension and it makes the audience know that the figure is not going to be nice. The voyeuristic shots help to make the audience feel more involved in the film while with them being outside events it makes them feel helpless and this feeling of helplessness makes an audience easier to scare.
The element of voyeurism seems to be a good feature for a horror film because it helps to involve in the audience in some ways while because they know they can’t help the main character it also isolates the audience. Because the audience feels involved it makes them want to know what happens next and because they are isolated from events they know they can’t change what will happen.
But to save time and in my opinion to make my films horror aspects stronger I cut it down to the antagonist and the protagonist, this keeps the film simple and removes the temptation for lengthy dialogue. There are more important aspects such as stylistics of the film, the editing and how it conveys its meaning.
The aims of my film were to have an intended audience of an age group of 18-24 and people who are looking to be scared. I think that I have achieved this specific audience although I am not sure that I have met the conventions of horror. Because of the rapid change in the horror genre it is hard to keep up the conventions.
The horror genre adapts itself year by year making it harder to make a horror film, so it’s best to choose them from the year you are starting your film in to keep up with them. The horror genre keeps changing because people are becoming harder to scare.
In my opinion my film does almost fully meet the aims of my film although there are some areas were my film deviates from this such as removing the idea of two friends and just making the main character more of a loner which helps to isolate the audience since my film is called the lonely wood and in my opinion should be a recurring feature the element of loneliness throughout the film. By isolating the audience it is easier for this film to meet its specific aims, I am not worried about the film not fully meeting the aims and context because it in my opinion is at least close to this.
I am not entirely sure that my film did actually meet the context of the film, because from the start of making it I removed ideas to make it easier to make and in retrospect maybe this is something that I should not have done. By removing a character the film deviated from the script, although I did the storyboard after the script which the storyboard did not have the same features in it as I had originally planned for I am not entirely sure if this in the end mattered or not.
The main problem with the film is that it worked fine in planning but sometimes something that works in planning does not work for the final product. This is most likely what the problem is with my film although it is better to at least have a finished film rather than it being up the best quality because I do not think that we are expected to be professional film makers at this point in time.
The planning of the film in my opinion worked out better than the actually finished film. That is most likely because it is easier to plan something than it is to create something I found out that some of the features that I wanted to do did not work out the in which I wanted them to. I am not sure my self how good my film is although I have not taken a high opinion it is. I think that it is still good for an amateur film which is not at the top of the list in my opinion.
If I were to create a short film again I would not go for the horror genre because I found that the conventions of the horror genre have much higher demands than other genres. I would probably go with a genre that I can create another film out of without having to meet such high expectations that the horror genre seems to have it would be much easier to go with maybe an adventure film. I would go with a genre that while being easy to create a film out of is also popular because in my opinion if it is not popular than it makes it much harder to target the correct audience.
I am actually disappointed with my film because it did not turn out the way that I wanted it to, I had hoped that it would follow as closely as possible to the horror genre conventions but in the end it strayed too far from them for it to be in my opinion a horror film. I am not sure what sort of film it has turned out like but it should still be okay for an average audience. When I first edited my footage when played it would be jumpy I found out it was most likely the conversion of the footage that I did.
I ended up redoing most of my shots because they did not turn out the way in which I wanted them. In the end I chose to cut the sequence earlier because it would have taken too much footage and made it too complicated, this would most likely have reduced the quality of the work and I was looking for quality over length. A film can be 1 hour long and not make sense or having it 5 minutes long making it have more quality to it, in the end the quality is more important.
I believe that the jaws theme provides the needed tension for my film sequence. Tension is also created through shots watching the main character from buses this also adds a voyeuristic quality to the film it also makes the audience know that something is watching the main character and this is another good tension building technique.
Horror films work best when they create a lot of tension which opens up the audience to the actual fear inducing techniques in the movie. The reason that I chose to leave my film at where the main character happens upon the figure is because as well as making the audience want to see the next scene it also makes them want to know what happens to the main character, this if I were to make this a full length film would make the audience want to carry on watching. Which is how film makers like to make their films they find it important to grab the audiences attention.
Usually people do not like sudden endings to a film but because this is a film sequence I did not actually need a resolution because if there was then the rest of the film would not interest the audience. The tension throughout a horror film helps to support the conventions of horror, and the conventions are an important factor in achieving that ability to scare the audience.
Tension seems an important factor mainly because it creates the needed build up in the film. Which is a deciding factor on if you are actually going to scare the audience, without this then my film would not be able to induce fear within the audience.
I think that with the amount of planning that I did for my film is a decent amount because I made sure everything was prepared for creating the film. Some people don’t like planning but without the planning it is harder to create a structure to the film. Without the structure in a film there is a guarantee that no audience will like it. The most important elements behind a film are done in the planning stages; this is an important factor in how the audience will like my film.
If I hadn’t planned my film then there would be no guarantee that it would even turn out remotely in the way I wanted it to. It would make no sense to an audience and if it does not make sense to an audience then no matter what you do to it nothing would make it good.
This is why the planning to my film was crucial it is an important deciding factor in the audience’s opinion in the film. This is why professional film makers make their films to be tailored to the audience, although they chose the audience so they have control over the film in that point much like I have that same control over my film.
If I had of chosen to make my film more complicated then I would have most likely have deviated from what I planned to do. Although moving from the plan by little amounts is okay, a total deviation from the plan would have most likely have left my film looking like it was thrown together. It is better to have it shorter and not have every shot originally planned in the film so that the audience likes it rather than trying to get every shot in and it turning out not like you expected it to.
Although I would have liked to actually follow the aims and context it turned out simpler to follow them the best I could because that way it makes it easier to keep the film quality up. It in my opinion is more important to keep the film quality up rather than trying to follow something that turned out to know be realistic for a set of aims. I am not sure if I have met my audience aims fully but I hope that I have if not then at the very least have gotten as close to them as possible.
Films are always judged by the audience and that I also how the film industry decides if they are going to continue making films in certain ways because of the box office ratings. This is why I made sure to do more than enough planning for my film so that an audience would be impressed by it.
I tried to make my film using a fair amount of stylistics but only stylistics that I actually need for my film because this way at least I can use the stylistics that work best in horror films there would be no point in using stylistics in the same way that they are used in a horror film because it would not be fit in with the audiences expectations for the film.
For voyeuristic shots I used a heavy breathing sound track because this helps to let the audience know that something is watching the main character. This helps to build tension and it makes the audience know that the figure is not going to be nice. The voyeuristic shots help to make the audience feel more involved in the film while with them being outside events it makes them feel helpless and this feeling of helplessness makes an audience easier to scare.
The element of voyeurism seems to be a good feature for a horror film because it helps to involve in the audience in some ways while because they know they can’t help the main character it also isolates the audience. Because the audience feels involved it makes them want to know what happens next and because they are isolated from events they know they can’t change what will happen.
8 April 2011
film eval
I am starting this evaluation by restating what my aims and context were since these are what I was supposed to stick to when I was making my film. The context of my film was originally to have two friends travelling through the woods together.
But to save time and in my opinion to make my films horror aspects stronger I cut it down to the antagonist and the protagonist, this keeps the film simple and removes the temptation for lengthy dialogue. There are more important aspects such as stylistics of the film, the editing and how it conveys its meaning.
The aims of my film were to have an intended audience of an age group of 18-24 and people who are looking to be scared. I think that I have achieved this specific audience although I am not sure that I have met the conventions of horror. Because of the rapid change in the horror genre it is hard to keep up the conventions.
The horror genre adapts itself year by year making it harder to make a horror film, so it’s best to choose them from the year you are starting your film in to keep up with them. The horror genre keeps changing because people are becoming harder to scare.
In my opinion my film does almost fully meet the aims of my film although there are some areas were my film deviates from this such as removing the idea of two friends and just making the main character more of a loner which helps to isolate the audience since my film is called the lonely wood and in my opinion should be a recurring feature the element of loneliness throughout the film. By isolating the audience it is easier for this film to meet its specific aims.
I am not entirely sure that my film did actually meet the context of the film, because from the start of making it I removed ideas to make it easier to make and in retrospect maybe this is something that I should not have done. By removing a character the film deviated from the script, although I did the storyboard after the script which the storyboard did not have the same features in it as I had originally planned for I am not entirely sure if this in the end mattered or not.
I think my film does not achieve its audience aims because it does not feature the conventions which would help me meet those aims that are common throughout horror films which means that the film can’t have achieved its audience if it did not meet the conventions which is a crucial factor in getting the correct audience.
The main problem with the film is that it worked fine in planning but sometimes something that works in planning does not work for the final product. This is most likely what the problem is with my film although it is better to at least have a finished film rather than it being up the best quality because I do not think that we are expected to be professional film makers at this point in time.
The planning of the film in my opinion worked out better than the actually finished film. That is most likely because it is easier to plan something than it is to create something I found out that some of the features that I wanted to do did not work out the in which I wanted them to. I am not sure my self how good my film is although I have not taken a high opinion it is. I think that it is still good for an amateur film which is not at the top of the list in my opinion.
If I were to create a short film again I would not go for the horror genre because I found that the conventions of the horror genre have much higher demands than other genres. I would probably go with a genre that I can create another film out of without having to meet such high expectations that the horror genre seems to have it would be much easier to go with maybe an adventure film. I would go with a genre that while being easy to create a film out of is also popular because in my opinion if it is not popular than it makes it much harder to target the correct audience.
I am actually disappointed with my film because it did not turn out the way that I wanted it to, I had hoped that it would follow as closely as possible to the horror genre conventions but in the end it strayed too far from them for it to be in my opinion a horror film. I am not sure what sort of film it has turned out like but it should still be okay for an average audience. When I first edited my footage when played it would be jumpy I found out it was most likely the conversion of the footage that I did.
I ended up redoing most of my shots because they did not turn out the way in which I wanted them. In the end I chose to cut the sequence earlier because it would have taken too much footage and made it too complicated, this would most likely have reduced the quality of the work and I was looking for quality over length. A film can be 1 hour long and not make sense or having it 5 minutes long making it have more quality to it, in the end the quality is more important.
I believe that the jaws theme provides the needed tension for my film sequence. Tension is also created through shots watching the main character from buses this also adds a voyeuristic quality to the film it also makes the audience know that something is watching the main character and this is another good tension building technique.
Horror films work best when they create a lot of tension which opens up the audience to the actual fear inducing techniques in the movie. The reason that I chose to leave my film at where the main character happens upon the figure is because as well as making the audience want to see the next scene it also makes them want to know what happens to the main character.
Usually people do not like sudden endings to a film but because this is a film sequence I did not actually need a resolution because if there was then the rest of the film would not interest the audience. The tension throughout a horror film helps to support the conventions of horror, and the conventions are an important factor in achieving that ability to scare the audience.
Tension seems an important factor mainly because it creates the needed build up in the film. Which is a deciding factor on if you are actually going to scare the audience, without this then my film would not be able to induce fear within the audience.
I think that with the amount of planning that I did for my film is a decent amount because I made sure everything was prepared for creating the film. Some people don’t like planning but without the planning it is harder to create a structure to the film. Without the structure in a film there is a guarantee that no audience will like it. The most important elements behind a film are done in the planning stages; this is an important factor in how the audience will like my film.
If I hadn’t planned my film then there would be no guarantee that it would even turn out remotely in the way I wanted it to. It would make no sense to an audience and if it does not make sense to an audience then no matter what you do to it nothing would make it good.
This is why the planning to my film was crucial it is an important deciding factor in the audience’s opinion in the film. This is why professional film makers make their films to be tailored to the audience, although they chose the audience so they have control over the film in that point much like I have that same control over my film.
If I had of chosen to make my film more complicated then I would have most likely have deviated from what I planned to do. Although moving from the plan by little amounts is okay, a total deviation from the plan would have most likely have left my film looking like it was thrown together. It is better to have it shorter and not have every shot originally planned in the film so that the audience likes it rather than trying to get every shot in and it turning out not like you expected it to.
Although I would have liked to actually follow the aims and context it turned out simpler to follow them the best I could because that way it makes it easier to keep the film quality up. It in my opinion is more important to keep the film quality up rather than trying to follow something that turned out to know be realistic for a set of aims. I am not sure if I have met my audience aims fully but I hope that I have if not then at the very least have gotten as close to them as possible.
Films are always judged by the audience and that I also how the film industry decides if they are going to continue making films in certain ways because of the box office ratings. This is why I made sure to do more than enough planning for my film so that an audience would be impressed by it.
I tried to make my film using a fair amount of stylistics but only stylistics that I actually need for my film because this way at least I can use the stylistics that work best in horror films there would be no point in using stylistics in the same way that they are used in a horror film because it would not be fit in with the audiences expectations for the film.
But to save time and in my opinion to make my films horror aspects stronger I cut it down to the antagonist and the protagonist, this keeps the film simple and removes the temptation for lengthy dialogue. There are more important aspects such as stylistics of the film, the editing and how it conveys its meaning.
The aims of my film were to have an intended audience of an age group of 18-24 and people who are looking to be scared. I think that I have achieved this specific audience although I am not sure that I have met the conventions of horror. Because of the rapid change in the horror genre it is hard to keep up the conventions.
The horror genre adapts itself year by year making it harder to make a horror film, so it’s best to choose them from the year you are starting your film in to keep up with them. The horror genre keeps changing because people are becoming harder to scare.
In my opinion my film does almost fully meet the aims of my film although there are some areas were my film deviates from this such as removing the idea of two friends and just making the main character more of a loner which helps to isolate the audience since my film is called the lonely wood and in my opinion should be a recurring feature the element of loneliness throughout the film. By isolating the audience it is easier for this film to meet its specific aims.
I am not entirely sure that my film did actually meet the context of the film, because from the start of making it I removed ideas to make it easier to make and in retrospect maybe this is something that I should not have done. By removing a character the film deviated from the script, although I did the storyboard after the script which the storyboard did not have the same features in it as I had originally planned for I am not entirely sure if this in the end mattered or not.
I think my film does not achieve its audience aims because it does not feature the conventions which would help me meet those aims that are common throughout horror films which means that the film can’t have achieved its audience if it did not meet the conventions which is a crucial factor in getting the correct audience.
The main problem with the film is that it worked fine in planning but sometimes something that works in planning does not work for the final product. This is most likely what the problem is with my film although it is better to at least have a finished film rather than it being up the best quality because I do not think that we are expected to be professional film makers at this point in time.
The planning of the film in my opinion worked out better than the actually finished film. That is most likely because it is easier to plan something than it is to create something I found out that some of the features that I wanted to do did not work out the in which I wanted them to. I am not sure my self how good my film is although I have not taken a high opinion it is. I think that it is still good for an amateur film which is not at the top of the list in my opinion.
If I were to create a short film again I would not go for the horror genre because I found that the conventions of the horror genre have much higher demands than other genres. I would probably go with a genre that I can create another film out of without having to meet such high expectations that the horror genre seems to have it would be much easier to go with maybe an adventure film. I would go with a genre that while being easy to create a film out of is also popular because in my opinion if it is not popular than it makes it much harder to target the correct audience.
I am actually disappointed with my film because it did not turn out the way that I wanted it to, I had hoped that it would follow as closely as possible to the horror genre conventions but in the end it strayed too far from them for it to be in my opinion a horror film. I am not sure what sort of film it has turned out like but it should still be okay for an average audience. When I first edited my footage when played it would be jumpy I found out it was most likely the conversion of the footage that I did.
I ended up redoing most of my shots because they did not turn out the way in which I wanted them. In the end I chose to cut the sequence earlier because it would have taken too much footage and made it too complicated, this would most likely have reduced the quality of the work and I was looking for quality over length. A film can be 1 hour long and not make sense or having it 5 minutes long making it have more quality to it, in the end the quality is more important.
I believe that the jaws theme provides the needed tension for my film sequence. Tension is also created through shots watching the main character from buses this also adds a voyeuristic quality to the film it also makes the audience know that something is watching the main character and this is another good tension building technique.
Horror films work best when they create a lot of tension which opens up the audience to the actual fear inducing techniques in the movie. The reason that I chose to leave my film at where the main character happens upon the figure is because as well as making the audience want to see the next scene it also makes them want to know what happens to the main character.
Usually people do not like sudden endings to a film but because this is a film sequence I did not actually need a resolution because if there was then the rest of the film would not interest the audience. The tension throughout a horror film helps to support the conventions of horror, and the conventions are an important factor in achieving that ability to scare the audience.
Tension seems an important factor mainly because it creates the needed build up in the film. Which is a deciding factor on if you are actually going to scare the audience, without this then my film would not be able to induce fear within the audience.
I think that with the amount of planning that I did for my film is a decent amount because I made sure everything was prepared for creating the film. Some people don’t like planning but without the planning it is harder to create a structure to the film. Without the structure in a film there is a guarantee that no audience will like it. The most important elements behind a film are done in the planning stages; this is an important factor in how the audience will like my film.
If I hadn’t planned my film then there would be no guarantee that it would even turn out remotely in the way I wanted it to. It would make no sense to an audience and if it does not make sense to an audience then no matter what you do to it nothing would make it good.
This is why the planning to my film was crucial it is an important deciding factor in the audience’s opinion in the film. This is why professional film makers make their films to be tailored to the audience, although they chose the audience so they have control over the film in that point much like I have that same control over my film.
If I had of chosen to make my film more complicated then I would have most likely have deviated from what I planned to do. Although moving from the plan by little amounts is okay, a total deviation from the plan would have most likely have left my film looking like it was thrown together. It is better to have it shorter and not have every shot originally planned in the film so that the audience likes it rather than trying to get every shot in and it turning out not like you expected it to.
Although I would have liked to actually follow the aims and context it turned out simpler to follow them the best I could because that way it makes it easier to keep the film quality up. It in my opinion is more important to keep the film quality up rather than trying to follow something that turned out to know be realistic for a set of aims. I am not sure if I have met my audience aims fully but I hope that I have if not then at the very least have gotten as close to them as possible.
Films are always judged by the audience and that I also how the film industry decides if they are going to continue making films in certain ways because of the box office ratings. This is why I made sure to do more than enough planning for my film so that an audience would be impressed by it.
I tried to make my film using a fair amount of stylistics but only stylistics that I actually need for my film because this way at least I can use the stylistics that work best in horror films there would be no point in using stylistics in the same way that they are used in a horror film because it would not be fit in with the audiences expectations for the film.
28 February 2011
film evaluation
I am starting this evaluation by restating what my aims and context were since these are what I was supposed to stick to when I was making my film.
The context of my film was to have two friends travelling through the local woods together. But to save time and in my opinion to make my films horror aspects stronger I cut it down to the antagonist and the protagonist, this keeps the film simple and removes the temptation for lengthy dialogue as a film can not on its own just try and move the story along with pure dialogue this would not be entertaining and frankly the audience do not want dialogue they have come to watch a horror film to be scared and this means that the less dialogue the better.
My film also has a short flashback to avoid using dialogue to explain how the main character ended up in the middle of the woods. This flashback shows a newspaper with an old date printed on the page which at first tricks the audience into thinking that this film is set in the past but then the camera shows the main character looking at his watch which has the date included and shows what the date actually is. This is where the flashback ends and takes you forcefully back into the woods.
The aims of my film were to have an intended audience of an age group of 18-24 and people who want to be scared. I think that I succeeded in achieving this because the majority of horror films are 18s and in my opinion my film is true to the conventions of horror. My film did to some extent use the stylistics common in horror films. Although the common stylistics of the horror genre is hard to keep up since the horror genre is a rapidly evolving genre which the horror films from the 80s are now considered as thrillers.
In my opinion my film does almost fully meet the aims of my film although there are some areas were my film deviates from this such as removing the idea of two friends and just making the main character more of a loner which helps to isolate the audience since my film is called the lonely wood and in my opinion should be a recurring feature the element of loneliness through the film.
The context of my film was to have two friends travelling through the local woods together. But to save time and in my opinion to make my films horror aspects stronger I cut it down to the antagonist and the protagonist, this keeps the film simple and removes the temptation for lengthy dialogue as a film can not on its own just try and move the story along with pure dialogue this would not be entertaining and frankly the audience do not want dialogue they have come to watch a horror film to be scared and this means that the less dialogue the better.
My film also has a short flashback to avoid using dialogue to explain how the main character ended up in the middle of the woods. This flashback shows a newspaper with an old date printed on the page which at first tricks the audience into thinking that this film is set in the past but then the camera shows the main character looking at his watch which has the date included and shows what the date actually is. This is where the flashback ends and takes you forcefully back into the woods.
The aims of my film were to have an intended audience of an age group of 18-24 and people who want to be scared. I think that I succeeded in achieving this because the majority of horror films are 18s and in my opinion my film is true to the conventions of horror. My film did to some extent use the stylistics common in horror films. Although the common stylistics of the horror genre is hard to keep up since the horror genre is a rapidly evolving genre which the horror films from the 80s are now considered as thrillers.
In my opinion my film does almost fully meet the aims of my film although there are some areas were my film deviates from this such as removing the idea of two friends and just making the main character more of a loner which helps to isolate the audience since my film is called the lonely wood and in my opinion should be a recurring feature the element of loneliness through the film.
starting evaluation
i am starting my evaluation, as i can at least evaluate all of my work apart from the editing which is not finished yet. i will be evaluating my work as critically as i can, as well as making sure that i keep it as a fair analysis. the first thing that i will evaluate will be my aims and context and all of my other work related to planning since this was the first work i did for my film and it in my opinion is the most important because if you do not plan something then you can't expect to get anything good out of the final product. i will use a multitude of factors when i am evaluating my work such as how well the final film stays true to the plan, and the storyboard.
i will also be analysing changes from the original plan such as changes in the amount of characters, changes because of lack of enough actors to fill the character roles. other factors include technical problems such as the camera footage not wanting to actually work with the program chosen. i will most likely be analysing the macro and micro features of my film and my work since film language is important for a film, it is important for a film to actually have a sense of structure and film language is the backbone to a film, without it it can't be coherent the audience would not be able understand the film, in the end the film would just b a series of images unrelated to each other.
i will also be analysing changes from the original plan such as changes in the amount of characters, changes because of lack of enough actors to fill the character roles. other factors include technical problems such as the camera footage not wanting to actually work with the program chosen. i will most likely be analysing the macro and micro features of my film and my work since film language is important for a film, it is important for a film to actually have a sense of structure and film language is the backbone to a film, without it it can't be coherent the audience would not be able understand the film, in the end the film would just b a series of images unrelated to each other.
editing
i have started my edited at home using adobe premire cs4.
so far i have edited the first 2 minutes of footage, i will be uploading the footage soon.
so far i have edited the first 2 minutes of footage, i will be uploading the footage soon.
18 February 2011
evil laugh sfx
this evil laugh i might use when the figure is blocking the main characters route, this will help to make sure that the audience knows that the figure is pure evil so that any sympathy they could possibly have for the figure is crushed at that moment. although if i were to make the full film i might allow some identification with the figure depending on the needs of the film. but i am only making a film sequence so this does not really matter. this evil laugh hopefully will make the hairs on the back of the audiences necks stand up, like in most horror films since my film is a horror film i want to achieve this as well.
i might also use it at the end of the film sequence when the main character finds every route he tries to use blocked off by the figure, who seems to be able to move almost instantly from one point to another. this will be when the main character starts to pass out from the shock of a revelation which the audience doesn't learn about until near the end of the film. the sound will be much quieter than earlier on in the film simply because the main character can't hear it properly because he is passing out.
an evil laugh in my mind is a convention of most horror films, not so much if it involves zombies but for the use of other horror films an evil laugh lets the audience know what is happening and what the antagonist is like. by making the main character not have any escape then the audience has no escape.
breathing sfx
this is a steady breathing sound effect, it sounds good enough for me to use in my film for the point of view shots from the figure and when the main character is near where the figure is to alert the audience that it is not just a camera shot but actually someone being watched.
if i find a more heavy and creepy breathing sound then i will use that as it will better illustrate to an audience the significance of the breathing which is that the main character is not alone, and the audience knowing this makes them want to try and warn the main character but can't which could make them fear what is going to happen simply because that they are helpless to do anything about it.
this is a evil breathing sound effect which i might overlay with the steady breathing to try and portray to the audience that the figure is not human to try and illustrate to them that the figure doesn't have emotions like people do, the only emotion that the figure really has is hate which means the figure hates everything, similar to daleks from doctor who, which are usually scary so if the figure is similar to daleks then it must be clear that the figure is meant to be feared.
heartbeat sfx
this might be one of the sound effects i decide to use in my final film depending on if i can change the pace of the heartbeat or if i find a more erratic heartbeat which will illustrate fear easier. although i will use a calm heartbeat at first slowly quieting down the slow normal heartbeat and at the same rate making the faster heartbeat louder. so eventually one is muted while the other goes to normal volume.
this is a fast irregular heartbeat which might be the one i decide to fade into depending on if i think that it is erratic enough for the purposes of my film. i want a erratic heartbeat simply because it is a good device to illustrate intense fear.
this is another normal heartbeat which i could possibly use because it is at the normal pace which means that it will show the audience that the main character isn't scared yet and when the scary stuff starts to happen the rate of the beat increases by slowly switching sounds.
14 February 2011
update
trying to find a heavy breathing sound for figures pov shots watching the main character so as to increase the efficiency of the shots to scare the audience as much as it is possible to. once i have found this sound i will post a copy on my blog as well implement it in my final film. i also want to find a heartbeat sound to illustrate to the audience how scared the main character is. this will help them hopefully to identify with the main character while being distanced from the figure. I want the heartbeat sound to mirror how scared the main character is to hopefully get the audience to mirror the main character.
heart beat sfx and heavy breathing sfx will need to be downloaded at home since it is harder to download them at college for security reasons i will also be able to have it in the format that i want instead of being more restricted on it. hopefully these sound effects will have the desired effect of both makng the audience identify with the main character and to mirror the main character in the aspect of the level of fear which the audience experiences.
to bring in the sounds which I want will most likely use a flashdrive since this will not have as many restrictions on it compared to trying to download it.
heart beat sfx and heavy breathing sfx will need to be downloaded at home since it is harder to download them at college for security reasons i will also be able to have it in the format that i want instead of being more restricted on it. hopefully these sound effects will have the desired effect of both makng the audience identify with the main character and to mirror the main character in the aspect of the level of fear which the audience experiences.
to bring in the sounds which I want will most likely use a flashdrive since this will not have as many restrictions on it compared to trying to download it.
4 February 2011
animatic (with sound)
The sound in the animatic starts just after the flashback, at the point where the main character approaches the broken fence.
I used the jaws theme in my animatic and hopefully in my final theme, because it is useful for generating tension and extracting fear from the audience. Because the audience will have most likely have watched Jaws then when they hear this they know something is going to happen and they also from the increasing pace of the sound know when it will happen. Yet they are helpless to do anything about it and this is useful for a horror film.
By isolating the audience you make it easier to scare them, isolation in the audience seems to be a useful tool in horror. I want to use this to increase the effectiveness of the audience, I have also been working on a rough flashback transition which will be like the character closing their eyes and then eventually opening them into the flashback. I intend to use the conventional flashback where by having the edges slightly blurred so the audience can differentiate the flashback and present day.
From what I have noticed about the Jaws theme is that the closer either the shark gets or the main character to danger because you know what is going to happen you feel like your heart has sped up in response, this in my opinion is the perfect response to have for a horror film. You want to make the audience's hearts race with fear, you also want them to try and find out what is going to happen, as well as making them feel alone and helpless to do anything about what is going to happen.
I feel that if you make the audience feel like the main character is a lamb to the slaughter, but you need to make them identify with the main character since by the audience doing this is a good way of making them fear the antagonist just as much as the main character fears the antagonist. Creating fear through more methods than just pure gore is more effective because if an audience only sees gore and nothing else to create fear it will mean the horror would be more of a thriller if it didn't scare the audience enough. its like horror films such as a American werewolf in London have since their release lost their edge due to people adjusting to the gore in the film. This means that you have to try not to rely on gore alone, physchological features must be used in balance as well.
An audience needs to be dragged into the film so that they truly feel like a part of the events of the film and not just a outsider watching through cameras. If you make the audience forget that it is just a film they get immersed in the film and want to know what will happen next and who will actually survive. If you can get the audience to want the main character to survive then if the main character gets to close to danger the audience feels like they are too close to danger as well.
I am looking to use as many methods as combinable to create the amount of fear which I want to in the audience, I will not know if this is successful until somebody watches the final film. as well as using elements of physical horror I will also use elements from physcological horror. It seems that as time as gone on for horror films unlike the other genres, the films in horror get demoted to thriller within a decade. This is understandable since people easily adjust to things that they fear when they are commonly used by other films of this genre.
The horror genre is a genre that needs to evolve so that it can still achieve what it is meant to do and that is to be a set of films which scare the audience. Which means that I will make sure that my film easily meets the conventions of horror. This is where the animatic can help, it will help me to identify if my film will meet the conventions of horror. Using a wood is a good idea since the trees help to block out light but not too much light either. It helps to isolate the audience since when you see a wood it leads you to believe that the main character is far away from civilasation when the main character could just as easily be round the corner from where the audience is.
The audience will want to know what the nature of the film is but if you keep it hidden as long as possible i believe that this makes them more open to be scared by the film than they would be if the actual film was any different.
I used the jaws theme in my animatic and hopefully in my final theme, because it is useful for generating tension and extracting fear from the audience. Because the audience will have most likely have watched Jaws then when they hear this they know something is going to happen and they also from the increasing pace of the sound know when it will happen. Yet they are helpless to do anything about it and this is useful for a horror film.
By isolating the audience you make it easier to scare them, isolation in the audience seems to be a useful tool in horror. I want to use this to increase the effectiveness of the audience, I have also been working on a rough flashback transition which will be like the character closing their eyes and then eventually opening them into the flashback. I intend to use the conventional flashback where by having the edges slightly blurred so the audience can differentiate the flashback and present day.
From what I have noticed about the Jaws theme is that the closer either the shark gets or the main character to danger because you know what is going to happen you feel like your heart has sped up in response, this in my opinion is the perfect response to have for a horror film. You want to make the audience's hearts race with fear, you also want them to try and find out what is going to happen, as well as making them feel alone and helpless to do anything about what is going to happen.
I feel that if you make the audience feel like the main character is a lamb to the slaughter, but you need to make them identify with the main character since by the audience doing this is a good way of making them fear the antagonist just as much as the main character fears the antagonist. Creating fear through more methods than just pure gore is more effective because if an audience only sees gore and nothing else to create fear it will mean the horror would be more of a thriller if it didn't scare the audience enough. its like horror films such as a American werewolf in London have since their release lost their edge due to people adjusting to the gore in the film. This means that you have to try not to rely on gore alone, physchological features must be used in balance as well.
An audience needs to be dragged into the film so that they truly feel like a part of the events of the film and not just a outsider watching through cameras. If you make the audience forget that it is just a film they get immersed in the film and want to know what will happen next and who will actually survive. If you can get the audience to want the main character to survive then if the main character gets to close to danger the audience feels like they are too close to danger as well.
I am looking to use as many methods as combinable to create the amount of fear which I want to in the audience, I will not know if this is successful until somebody watches the final film. as well as using elements of physical horror I will also use elements from physcological horror. It seems that as time as gone on for horror films unlike the other genres, the films in horror get demoted to thriller within a decade. This is understandable since people easily adjust to things that they fear when they are commonly used by other films of this genre.
The horror genre is a genre that needs to evolve so that it can still achieve what it is meant to do and that is to be a set of films which scare the audience. Which means that I will make sure that my film easily meets the conventions of horror. This is where the animatic can help, it will help me to identify if my film will meet the conventions of horror. Using a wood is a good idea since the trees help to block out light but not too much light either. It helps to isolate the audience since when you see a wood it leads you to believe that the main character is far away from civilasation when the main character could just as easily be round the corner from where the audience is.
The audience will want to know what the nature of the film is but if you keep it hidden as long as possible i believe that this makes them more open to be scared by the film than they would be if the actual film was any different.
28 January 2011
update
Uploaded animatic, added comments to the post.
Started adding sound to the animatic, adding a transition for the flashback, might change it depending on what I want the final version to look like. need to create a image the same size as the others of the animatic but have it all black so that the flashback image looks like someone opening their eyes instead of one image transitioning straight to the other image.
Started adding sound to the animatic, adding a transition for the flashback, might change it depending on what I want the final version to look like. need to create a image the same size as the others of the animatic but have it all black so that the flashback image looks like someone opening their eyes instead of one image transitioning straight to the other image.
animatic (with comments)
This is my animatic it is of my film sequence of my imaginary film the lonely wood. I chose to create a film sequence rather than a 5 minute film because for me creating a film sequence is easier than trying to fit a full film into a short 5 minute time limit.
my animatic helps to give me and idea what the finished film sequence will look like and give me a good idea of the timings as well as if the different shots are going to work. without the animatic and the storyboard I would most likely have a harder time creating the film since these give me an idea of what it will actually look like.
I don't have any of the music or planned effects or transitions on my animatic although I might add them just to see what it will look like with some effects and transitions. I do not think the timings used in my animatic are final I might change them to see what it looks like if I do change them.
This animatic is in my opinion correct in the timings that I have used and all of the shots work from what I can tell. The shots look ok to me although depending on if they do look like I want them to then I might use different shots during filming. If I add music to it I will see if it works if I do add the music such as the Jaws theme. A benefit of adding in the sound on the animatic is that especially for horror it allows you to find where in the film that the sound works best. there would be no point on adding the Jaws theme in at the start of the sequence as it would not have the effect which I want to achieve.
In creating my animatic it will help me to finalize what my film sequence will look like, I don't know yet if I am going to change the shot timings but I will add sound into my animatic to help give me a proper idea of the shot timings. As without music it is much harder to find this out as the sound can be pivotal to creating the desired effect. The reason for this is that I want to use the Jaws theme in the same way the Jaws films use it and that is to create fear and tension in the audience.
The animatic will give me a good idea of if the different shots are going to work and if I need to make any changes to the planned film. I do not expect the film to work exactly like I want it to but hopefully using the animatic to help I can get it close to what I expect it to look like.
For the flashback in the animatic I will be using a simple image with no colour to make the flashback look like the main character is opening his eyes. I want to make the flashback look like the main character closes his eyes and sort of day dreams remembering why he came here in the first place. This is to show the audience why the main character is out wandering through the woods.
When I do add transitions to my animatic it will help to give me an idea of what the final film will look like and where the individual pieces of the film will be. I might even change the transitions depending on how they look in the animatic. This will help to make me aware of what the final film sequence will look like, as well as the final starting points of the music. although the music could change its starting point when I do add it into the final film.
25 January 2011
24 January 2011
update
added all my storyboard pictures to my rough animatic. just need to change the timings now instead of them being stuck at 5 seconds each. this i will do soon, i saw it as the most important thing to get all the images in first since they are needed to illustrate what my film sequence will be like.
21 January 2011
update
started rough animatic (using storyboard images as a basis)
going to put jaws sound starting 2 minutes through the animatic.
going to use majoritably point of view shots for the figure (will add to the horror)
decided to have point of view shots watching the main character, (the figure)
for the point of view shots from the figure i will include some heavy breathing to let the audience know it is not a long shot or a medium shot it is someone being watched.
jaws theme should add to the horror of my sequence. by creating a sense of physcological horror.
making animatic out of storyboard pictures since they are best for showing what my sequence will be like.
i want to make the audience have sense of fear for something which they do not know is there, this hopefully should be achieved through point of view shots, the jaws theme, and the main character getting tense.
started putting images into movie maker to create my animatic.
going to set up the correct timings once all of the images are inserted.
going to put jaws sound starting 2 minutes through the animatic.
going to use majoritably point of view shots for the figure (will add to the horror)
decided to have point of view shots watching the main character, (the figure)
for the point of view shots from the figure i will include some heavy breathing to let the audience know it is not a long shot or a medium shot it is someone being watched.
jaws theme should add to the horror of my sequence. by creating a sense of physcological horror.
making animatic out of storyboard pictures since they are best for showing what my sequence will be like.
i want to make the audience have sense of fear for something which they do not know is there, this hopefully should be achieved through point of view shots, the jaws theme, and the main character getting tense.
started putting images into movie maker to create my animatic.
going to set up the correct timings once all of the images are inserted.
17 January 2011
update
need to book a camera since mine records in a format which won't play on the edit suites
added a new sentence to my aims and context.
explained why i am going to use the jaws theme for my film sequence.
added a new sentence to my aims and context.
explained why i am going to use the jaws theme for my film sequence.
sound: jaws theme
for my film sequence i have chosen to use the jaws theme because even though it is a simple set of two notes played repeatedly they symbolise dangers getting closer because as the shark in jaws gets closer the notes play faster. for my film sequence i intend to use this as the main character draws nearer to the lonely figures lair and afterwards as the main character is running away i will use it as he does this. a simple piece of music used for horror films seems to have a greater effect on an audience than a more complex piece of music. this is because the jaws theme is more animistic and seems to be able to have some physcological effect on an audience because they know that something is going to happen and they are powerless to stop it.
where as a more complex piece of music requires an audience to try and figure out what is going to happen but for most horror films the film gives the audience a way of knowing what will happen before it does. it seems that parts of films that create some sort of physcological link have the greatest effect on an audience it is not just the blood and gore of horror films which scare an audience. the physcological factors are important as well.
it seems that in a horror films when an audience feels more connected to the film it has a greater effect of extracting fear from the audience. it seems a good idea to try and get the audience to identify with the main character so when something happens to them then the audience feels the same way, making it easier to scare them. it is much harder to scare an audience if they know that they are not in any danger. but physcological effects help to soften the audience making them much easier to create fear.
the jaws film was very effective in jaws and even though an audience will have most likely have linked this to sharks it is very effective in warning the audience of incoming danger. as the music gets faster it creates more tension and fear in an audience. this simple music can make an audience easily fear something that they can't see or hear. until it is too late, i had considered tricking the audience into a false sense of security but it seems when the audience knows something is about to happen they are much more susceptible to fear.
in jaws you know what is going to happen because of the music but that does not prepare you for it in fact it actually weakens the audience enough to get some extra fear out of the audience. the sound seems to be to be a important factor for generating fear in a horror film. if you don't have any music non diegetic or not which means the audience has a harder time trying to find out when the full horror is going to happen. the audience finds it harder to cope with fear from a horror film if it feels more personal to them, some horror films rely on blood and gore alone but i feel a mix of these is best blood, gore and physcologicial effects should be balanced so none of them aren't too much but are controlled to allow the audience to be scared as much as possible.
the jaws theme is the perfect physcological medium.
the jaws theme is the perfect physcological medium.
14 January 2011
The context of my film sequence the lonely wood is about the journey of two friends exploring the woods after hearing of the strange happenings in the local news paper and want to investigate the mysterious events for themselves. I intend to show the audience the newspaper using a flashback.
My intended audience for this film to conform to people who are looking to be scared buy a horror film and want the film to send chills down their necks this is why a audience in the age group of 18 and over would most likely want to see a horror film. I plan for my film sequence to be of the horror genre so it will conform to the conventions of the horror genre, I will use mise en scene to convey the grim darkness of the scene, I will use dark damp patches of light to deliver the darkness of this sequence and to enstill fear into the audience. My sequence will use dark colours to further unsettle the audience and to conform to the conventions of the horror genre. I intend on having the 2 main characters being on opposite ends of intelligence to try and capture more people into the narrative of this sequence. I aim to make a sequence which draws an audience in and keeps the audience watching. I intend to use the stylistics which are common to horror films to give the audience what they want since a film cannot be its chosen genre unless it conforms to the conventions and stylistics that a typical audience expects from it. This sequence is intended to create fear and tension in the audience.
My intended audience for this film to conform to people who are looking to be scared buy a horror film and want the film to send chills down their necks this is why a audience in the age group of 18 and over would most likely want to see a horror film. I plan for my film sequence to be of the horror genre so it will conform to the conventions of the horror genre, I will use mise en scene to convey the grim darkness of the scene, I will use dark damp patches of light to deliver the darkness of this sequence and to enstill fear into the audience. My sequence will use dark colours to further unsettle the audience and to conform to the conventions of the horror genre. I intend on having the 2 main characters being on opposite ends of intelligence to try and capture more people into the narrative of this sequence. I aim to make a sequence which draws an audience in and keeps the audience watching. I intend to use the stylistics which are common to horror films to give the audience what they want since a film cannot be its chosen genre unless it conforms to the conventions and stylistics that a typical audience expects from it. This sequence is intended to create fear and tension in the audience.
10 January 2011
horror genre conventions
realised this has never been posted i think.
Films in the horror genre are designed to elicit the emotions fear, disgust and horror from the audience. Horror films usually feature jump scenes which are purposely designed to make the audience jump and startled through the use of macabre and supernatural features. Macabre is used to emphasize the details and symbols of death. this causes frequent overlapping with the fantasy and sci-fi genres. The horror genre also frequently overlap with the thriller genre.
The horror genre deals with the viewers nightmares, their hidden worst fears, any revulsions and the terror of the unknown. But a sizable chunk of the horror genre focuses on the supernatural. Most films which contain a plot about serial killers, disease or virus breakout are usually defined to be in the horror genre. Its plots often involve the intrusion of an evil force, event, or personage, mainly of supernatural origin, into the everyday world.
Some of the most common elements of horror films are; ghosts, torture, gore, werewolves, ancient curses, demons, vicious animals, vampires, haunted houses and zombies. When horror films use these elements they seem to have the best ability at scaring the viewer. Some elements scare other people more than others do because these elements have become convention most people tend to be scared of them.
What is defined as a horror film varies from decade to decade this is because people are harder to scare because a lot of the older horror films compared to some more modern horror films don’t seem to have as much gore in them. As time progresses horror films have to display more explicit gore, jump scenes/scares, and supernatural content. Horror films such as Psycho are now seen as thrillers instead of being a horror film like they were when they were originally released.
Horror films tend to be based on literature of the gothic/horror genre. The conventions of the horror genre are blood, death, killing, haunted houses and isolated settings, monsters, evil, weapons, darkness, storms, chase sequences, gore, violence, screams and ghosts. These create fear because they are not new ideas they are taken from peoples deepest fears, literature, and built up from some of the earliest horror films.
Films in the horror genre are designed to elicit the emotions fear, disgust and horror from the audience. Horror films usually feature jump scenes which are purposely designed to make the audience jump and startled through the use of macabre and supernatural features. Macabre is used to emphasize the details and symbols of death. this causes frequent overlapping with the fantasy and sci-fi genres. The horror genre also frequently overlap with the thriller genre.
The horror genre deals with the viewers nightmares, their hidden worst fears, any revulsions and the terror of the unknown. But a sizable chunk of the horror genre focuses on the supernatural. Most films which contain a plot about serial killers, disease or virus breakout are usually defined to be in the horror genre. Its plots often involve the intrusion of an evil force, event, or personage, mainly of supernatural origin, into the everyday world.
Some of the most common elements of horror films are; ghosts, torture, gore, werewolves, ancient curses, demons, vicious animals, vampires, haunted houses and zombies. When horror films use these elements they seem to have the best ability at scaring the viewer. Some elements scare other people more than others do because these elements have become convention most people tend to be scared of them.
What is defined as a horror film varies from decade to decade this is because people are harder to scare because a lot of the older horror films compared to some more modern horror films don’t seem to have as much gore in them. As time progresses horror films have to display more explicit gore, jump scenes/scares, and supernatural content. Horror films such as Psycho are now seen as thrillers instead of being a horror film like they were when they were originally released.
Horror films tend to be based on literature of the gothic/horror genre. The conventions of the horror genre are blood, death, killing, haunted houses and isolated settings, monsters, evil, weapons, darkness, storms, chase sequences, gore, violence, screams and ghosts. These create fear because they are not new ideas they are taken from peoples deepest fears, literature, and built up from some of the earliest horror films.
update
tried to put some footage onto the edit suite wouldn't work so i am going to try converting it at home into another format.
uploaded my storyboard onto the blog
posted my film influence videos again after i found out the embed code had stopped working
this week i have uploaded my storyboard.
edited my screenplay mainly to take out the camera descriptions and edits.
described in more detail on why george romeros night of the living dead (1968) influences my film sequence
added another film influence
uploaded my storyboard onto the blog
posted my film influence videos again after i found out the embed code had stopped working
this week i have uploaded my storyboard.
edited my screenplay mainly to take out the camera descriptions and edits.
described in more detail on why george romeros night of the living dead (1968) influences my film sequence
added another film influence
7 January 2011
film influences 2
the film wendigo (2001) also influences my work because of the wendigo chasing one of the characters and being able to change shape which is similar to what the lonely figure does in my film sequence being that it is able to change what it looks like everytime someone goes missing.
i couldn't find any other videos about the film so the one which i have had to use is a trailer to the film. which does give me some good scenes from all the different parts of the film so it is good for giving me a more broad analysis of the actual film. the film trailer seems to play as if it is made from individual pictures and shows a good range of scenes which i do think are good examples for my film. the quick movement of the trailer seems to signify that the film is fast paced which is what i want my film sequence to be like.
i couldn't find any other videos about the film so the one which i have had to use is a trailer to the film. which does give me some good scenes from all the different parts of the film so it is good for giving me a more broad analysis of the actual film. the film trailer seems to play as if it is made from individual pictures and shows a good range of scenes which i do think are good examples for my film. the quick movement of the trailer seems to signify that the film is fast paced which is what i want my film sequence to be like.
film influences
1:07-2:14
i think this scene influences my film sequence because of the feeling of being trapped which the auidence recieves from seeing the main characters stuck in a basement with no hope of escaping. the auidence feels this because throughout the film george romero uses techniques which help the auidence to identify with the characters. which means that when something happens to one of them the auidence feel the same way as the other characters. this scene also shows the characters turning on each other which could potentially make the auidence do the same depending how much they actually like the character who threatens to shot the others.
screenplay
EXT. wood. DAY
RICHARD & DAVE are walking through the wood DAVE is walking in a worrying fashion. RICHARD is walking in a way which makes it seem like he knows what is in the wood.
DAVE
(in a loud whisper)
Why are we here?
RICHARD
(in a clear calm voice)
I told you because of that 18 year old newspaper I want to solve the mystery.
INT. RICHARD’S living room. DAY.
RICHARD is looking through a old newspaper dated 13th November 1992.
RICHARD
(excited)
Hey DAVE come and read this there’s an unsolved mystery.
DAVE
(bored)
What do you want to do about it?
RICHARD
(in a lets go solve it tone)
Well try to solve it.
EXT. wood. EVENING.
DAVE is walking with RICHARD to the end of the wood’s tourist trail.
DAVE
(in a questioning tone)
Well there’s nothing here lets go back.
RICHARD
(in a matter of fact tone)
Whatever is here its not going to be in the public eye
DAVE
(in an eerie voice)
IT?!
EXT: deep into the wood. NIGHT.
RICHARD & DAVE are both creeping in a fidgety manor as they are both scared of whatever is out there.
DAVE
What’s that? (points finger in direction of figure)
RICHARD
(in a confused tone)
I don’t see anyone
DAVE
(bored tone)
How long left to go anyway?
RICHARD
(all knowing voice)
Not long now.
EXT. deepest part of the wood. NIGHT
FIGURE watching RICHARD and DAVE from nearby.
DAVE
(scared voice)
I saw the FIGURE again.
EXT. FIGURES hideout. MIDNIGHT
DAVE & RICHARD are looking suspiciously at an old tree which the ground around it looks like its been disturbed.
DAVE
(really scared voice)
Some is going on here RICHARD.
RICHARD
(less scared voice)
I know it must be what causes the disappearances.
DAVE
(confused left out of the loop voice)
What disappearances?
RICHARD
(forgetting voice)
I forget to tell you about that didn’t i.
EXT. FIGURE's hideout. MIDNIGHT
DAVE & RICHARD are running from the figure through the trees in a extremely fearful movement.
DAVE
(slightly fearful tone)
What is that thing
RICHARD
(extremely fearful tone.)
I don’t know
EXT. beyond entrance to tunnel. NIGHT 3:13 AM.
DAVE & RICHARD run towards the entrance to the tunnel under the road.
RICHARD
Where has that thing gone anyway
DAVE
What do you mean
RICHARD
Its disappeared.
INT. tunnel near exit. NIGHT 3:30 AM.
DAVE & RICHARD are nearing safety
CAMERA: tracking shot of DAVE and RICHARD, from behind them to give the illusion to the audience that the FIGURE is behind them.
DAVE
Nearly away from this mess
RICHARD
It’ll be good to get away from this thing.
FIGURE
(backwards voice)
I don’t think so.
RICHARD
Not again, DAVE lets get out of here. DAVE?
RICHARD starts to run, towards the end other end of the tunnel.
EXT. wood near tunnel. NIGHT 3:50 AM.
RICHARD is sprinting through the trees, occasionally looking behind him making sure the lonely figure is not too close to him.
RICHARD
Where did DAVE go?
(in a loud whisper to himself)
FIGURE
He’s gone!
(reversed again creates fear in the audience)
EXT. nearing tourist trail.
RICHARD is slowing down as he gets closer to the tourist trail getting less scared as he gets closer to it.
RICHARD
Nearly there.
(in a slightly fearful voice)
FIGURE
Want to bet.
(reversed voice grainy)
FIGURE steps out from behind a tree blocking his way back to the tourist trail.
RICHARD
What but you was behind me?
FIGURE
Well I m not am I?
(grainy strained voice(no reverse))
RICHARD sees the FIGURE behind him.
RICHARD
How did you get there?
RICHARD sees the FIGURE has moved from behind RICHARD to in front of him.
RICHARD
No it can’t be.
How is this possible?
(sleepy voice as RICHARD starts to fall asleep)
FIGURE
Sleep!
(loud voice with a cackle behind it)
RICHARD
Why DAVE?!
(a last bid for freedom with a lot of shock in the voice)
END
RICHARD & DAVE are walking through the wood DAVE is walking in a worrying fashion. RICHARD is walking in a way which makes it seem like he knows what is in the wood.
DAVE
(in a loud whisper)
Why are we here?
RICHARD
(in a clear calm voice)
I told you because of that 18 year old newspaper I want to solve the mystery.
INT. RICHARD’S living room. DAY.
RICHARD is looking through a old newspaper dated 13th November 1992.
RICHARD
(excited)
Hey DAVE come and read this there’s an unsolved mystery.
DAVE
(bored)
What do you want to do about it?
RICHARD
(in a lets go solve it tone)
Well try to solve it.
EXT. wood. EVENING.
DAVE is walking with RICHARD to the end of the wood’s tourist trail.
DAVE
(in a questioning tone)
Well there’s nothing here lets go back.
RICHARD
(in a matter of fact tone)
Whatever is here its not going to be in the public eye
DAVE
(in an eerie voice)
IT?!
EXT: deep into the wood. NIGHT.
RICHARD & DAVE are both creeping in a fidgety manor as they are both scared of whatever is out there.
DAVE
What’s that? (points finger in direction of figure)
RICHARD
(in a confused tone)
I don’t see anyone
DAVE
(bored tone)
How long left to go anyway?
RICHARD
(all knowing voice)
Not long now.
EXT. deepest part of the wood. NIGHT
FIGURE watching RICHARD and DAVE from nearby.
DAVE
(scared voice)
I saw the FIGURE again.
EXT. FIGURES hideout. MIDNIGHT
DAVE & RICHARD are looking suspiciously at an old tree which the ground around it looks like its been disturbed.
DAVE
(really scared voice)
Some is going on here RICHARD.
RICHARD
(less scared voice)
I know it must be what causes the disappearances.
DAVE
(confused left out of the loop voice)
What disappearances?
RICHARD
(forgetting voice)
I forget to tell you about that didn’t i.
EXT. FIGURE's hideout. MIDNIGHT
DAVE & RICHARD are running from the figure through the trees in a extremely fearful movement.
DAVE
(slightly fearful tone)
What is that thing
RICHARD
(extremely fearful tone.)
I don’t know
EXT. beyond entrance to tunnel. NIGHT 3:13 AM.
DAVE & RICHARD run towards the entrance to the tunnel under the road.
RICHARD
Where has that thing gone anyway
DAVE
What do you mean
RICHARD
Its disappeared.
INT. tunnel near exit. NIGHT 3:30 AM.
DAVE & RICHARD are nearing safety
CAMERA: tracking shot of DAVE and RICHARD, from behind them to give the illusion to the audience that the FIGURE is behind them.
DAVE
Nearly away from this mess
RICHARD
It’ll be good to get away from this thing.
FIGURE
(backwards voice)
I don’t think so.
RICHARD
Not again, DAVE lets get out of here. DAVE?
RICHARD starts to run, towards the end other end of the tunnel.
EXT. wood near tunnel. NIGHT 3:50 AM.
RICHARD is sprinting through the trees, occasionally looking behind him making sure the lonely figure is not too close to him.
RICHARD
Where did DAVE go?
(in a loud whisper to himself)
FIGURE
He’s gone!
(reversed again creates fear in the audience)
EXT. nearing tourist trail.
RICHARD is slowing down as he gets closer to the tourist trail getting less scared as he gets closer to it.
RICHARD
Nearly there.
(in a slightly fearful voice)
FIGURE
Want to bet.
(reversed voice grainy)
FIGURE steps out from behind a tree blocking his way back to the tourist trail.
RICHARD
What but you was behind me?
FIGURE
Well I m not am I?
(grainy strained voice(no reverse))
RICHARD sees the FIGURE behind him.
RICHARD
How did you get there?
RICHARD sees the FIGURE has moved from behind RICHARD to in front of him.
RICHARD
No it can’t be.
How is this possible?
(sleepy voice as RICHARD starts to fall asleep)
FIGURE
Sleep!
(loud voice with a cackle behind it)
RICHARD
Why DAVE?!
(a last bid for freedom with a lot of shock in the voice)
END
6 January 2011
storyboard
i will be flipping these images since most of them are the wrong way up but its simple to do so it won't take long.
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