My Evaluation

1. how I presented this is just by easily presenting it as a word document file.


In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?


What we wanted to do with our short horror film is to make it as unique as possible but as well use different types of horror conventions and use it in our film so that we have shown that we know what horror conventions are used in a horror film. This shows we have a good understanding of what goes into a short horror film.

The many conventions that are used in a short horror film are things like that the running time, according to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes or less. u

For the story line a short horror film they are usually kept quite simple and straight to the point. This is because due to the fact they only have a limited amount of time to fit the story in, so they would have to keep the story short and sweet as they. I think that because of this it makes the horror film more scarier in a way because the horror features will be more quicker into the film so you will not be expecting what will happen whilst you watch the film.

I think due to the fact that this is a short horror film there can't be a lot of characters in there because it could take to long to understand what each characters role is to do in the film, so this is why we have kept it to at least 5 characters for the film.

I think the main part of a horror films is mainly the part where the climax of the story appears. Such as the parts where people start to get scared or jumpy. This is the parts where usually someone dies in the film, or maybe even where there is a twist in the film. So there could many ways of making the climax part of the film in your own unique style.

What short horror films want to basically do is make the audience feel worried, scared, etc. by doing this, this makes them feel about things in life and how things that occur in a horror film could be based on reality and what happens in the present world. So for them to see these kind of events in a horror film could make them feel un easy and worried. And if this is successful the director has done a really good job.

How we used most of these conventions in our short horror film was that when it came to the script of the film we all had our own ideas and basically chose the best ideas and linked them together to make a story. We thought a lot about how far into the film we need to start the climax of the story to reach the highest point, but we thought that we could break this and try and make more than one climax in the film. This was a challenge for us, but we felt confident in our ideas and it payed of in the end, because in the film it came out really good and positive.

The characters in the film were just the right amount of people we used, because we had 5 simple characters and they all played there role really well and each character had a massive part to play and they all succeed within their role.

I think the most challenging horror film convention we faced was mainly timing, even though we read that a short film can be under 40 mins, our exam board told us that our film had to be around 5mins long, so we did have trouble with the film and timing,, but in the end we did manage to try and cut out as much as we can, and we ended with the running time of around 10-14mins.

For the movie poster the main conventions used in a poster would mainly the font, I think that the font used in any poster can either make or break a poster. I think for the font to work on a poster it has to link really well and also show it belongs on the page with what else on the poster. Also another main convention used on a horror poster is the pictures used to put on the poster. I think that the pictures used are linked to film, this is so that when people see the poster they would think what could this mean, and then when they go away from the film and see the poster again they would know what the pictures mean and understand the film.

The conventions I used in my poster that usually used in a lot of horror posters is mainly the colours. I think the colours I used are very popular in a lot of horror posters. I think due to the fact that the colours a re quite dull and gloomy it makes the poster look very dull and mysterious, and that is a very popular technique used in horror posters.

What I decided to challenge was to try and make my own symbol that I could use and place on my poster, this was a difficult idea at first, but then I found it easy when I looked at the mask we were going to use for the film, on the cheek there is a red swirl, I thought that maybe I could recreate that sir and add my own spin on it, and that is what I did, I added dripping blood on it to make it look more gloomy. I think it had worked well on the poster overall.

For a film review the main conventions used in that is I think the layout, the layout seems to be the most important thing about a review page, I think if the page doesn't look presentable no one will look at it and take any interest in the review page and they have to say about it. also the images on the page could be a big help as well, I think if the picture doesn't catch the audience's eye, the audience might not show an interest.

From what I took from my research on the review page I decided to go with the main feature of the images used and the layout, I went with the image of giving away the identity of the mask,but merging a face into the mask so you are not able to see which face is used in the film. Hopefully this gives of a mysterious and also a scary feature. Also the layout I used was again the main feature as well, but also I decided to challenge it by changing it around such as the layout would have to match the way the image was shown on the page, I think the layout in the review could have been set better, but I am overall proud of the outcome.




























2. here I have created a little animation for my second question, I have uploaded the video on to youtube


http://www.powtoon.com/p/cBB99grKjcL/








3. for my third question I shall be using a format called prezi, this allowed me to make a short animation of a presentation with all the comments and my views on there comments.


http://prezi.com/gewrpcuzva7c/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy










4. For my fourth question I decided to make an mp3 audio file of a voice talking about the question

Evaluation for Media.odt

My draft process of the review page

review page analysis

Review page research

Film premiere night

Today was our film premiere night, it went down as a massive success. everyone seemed to enjoy each others films. everyone was much appreciated. the feedback that we got was really good, there was a good variety of answers that we could use. there were answers to do with the acting, camera shots, music and even characters. there were positives and negatives and also improvement comments. we could then use these comments and take them on board for next time we make a film.

Premiere night prep

Our teacher decided that we should hold a premiere night, as a class we decided to agree with the idea, this is when all of our short films that we have been creating for the past couple of weeks would be shown to our friends and family. this even would be held in our main assembly hall. we thought that this was a great way for our friends and family to watch the film that we have made and also for everyone to comment on the film and what they thought about it. in our groups everyone made a little questionnaire. this would be handed out after each film, the audience would then write down what they thought about the film. this was a great way for us to get our feedback from our family and friends, so that we could use it to do our evaluation questions. Here is an example of the questionnaire that we used for our premiere night:

Also to make the audience feel like that they were special and make them interested about the film more, everyone made there own ticket for the film and gave it out to a limited amount of people. this would make the guest feel that they are wanted by us to come and see the film, and the fact that we have only a certain amount of people, it makes them feel more special. here is my ticket that I gave to my chosen guest:

Poster Step by Step

Film Poster Analysis

Film Poster research

Final edited version

Here it is!!
the final edited version of the film Entrada. we have spent a lot of time on this short horror film, we hope you like it :)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=355eeWKfgrA

The unedited version of the film

Here is the unedited version of the film.
This is the film that we made before the actual editing. we found that this version was actually more better than the edited version, because it made more of a story.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7mxuM9sW2s

Evaluation

On how we did the characters profile was by looking at the cast and basically casting there character around there personalities, we thought that by doing this it will make it look more realistic and more believable, instead of having fake personalities, which would be harder for our cast members.

Now that we have our characters for our film we can then start to build the script around them and make the best possible script as possible. i think the characters that we have will make the script better for us to write because we can add certain things for each character which could make the short horror film better.

How the camera shots/angles helped was that they gave us a good idea of what kind of parts we need to film. it helped us understand what need to be filmed and what needed to be done next. 

The script

this is the script that our group had came up together for our short horror film


http://www.scribd.com/doc/222483663/Entrada-Script

Shots/Drafts

The shot angles that are being used for this film is mainly going to be shots for the scenes that used in the film. the shot scenes that we used are going to be a draft for where we want to film. these are just going to be some rough shots of different angles views on the scene and main props used that could be important within the film.

Here is a shot of the woods that we will be filming in, I think that these woods are great for us to work in because they have a good open space for when we need to certain things for the film. 

Here is a mid shot of Charlie, here we see Charlie turning into the monster. this is a good shot because we see Charlie in the woods and him about to turn into the monster. so this basically sets the setting of the monster and his story. 

here is a close up of the mask used in the film. here with the close up you get to see the detail on the mask and what it is actually like.

Here in the prologue you see the mother looking up the stairs where she heard the noise. here it shows a normal house and it looks safe. but the tense look up the stairs makes it look like something is wrong, the type of shot used here is a established shot, this is because you can see the mother and also the surrounding scene.  

this is POV short for point of view shot, this is were we are first introduced to Danny,  this is the view of Danny from Timmy's camera. so we a re seeing what Timmy is seeing. 

Here is another established shot of the house used in the prologue, we did this in the dark so that it give it more of a mystery. I think that this is a nice shot it looks very mysterious, dull. 

here is a close up reaction shot of the mother watching the door shut of Charlie's bedroom. this shot is really well done, the mothers face is really well captured here. the acting with the facial expressions on the face is really realistic.

We did actually use most of the shots here shown in our film because we thought that they were really good shots and also we had space for them to be in. each shown has a certain meaning and has its own effect on the film. some might have more than other, but all these shots do have a meaning and a purpose within the film.

Character Profile

CHARACTER’S PROFILE:

Cole Orwell/Vinay Kilaire – Cole in this film is out of the three friends it the leader, he controls the group. At times can be stubborn. He hasn’t got much of a sense of humour also he is a bit of a snob. However he has many skills when it comes to map reading and surviving in the wild. Although he is stubborn, he does care about the other when it comes to friendship.

Charlie Foster/Ghost/Ajay Chander – When we first meet this character we don’t really know what this character is about. It’s a mystery when we first find something about him we see he is possessed by the mask. And really this is all we know about him.

Janet Foster/Renu Tank – Janet comes across as a concerned mother who is worried about her son. As she only appears in the prologue. She seems very protective over Charlie.

Timmy Goodwin/ Ashley Sangu – This character when we first meet him, he is seen as a funny laid back guy, but who at times he is very clumsy. He is known as the joker of the group. Although because due to his clumsiness he is the one that is saved to the end by the ghost but we never know the reason why.

Danny Kundera/Sharukh Ali Farrakh – Danny is like the decent character within the trio of friends. Although he can be at times influenced by Timmy to be immature. But he can be controlled as well. But mainly most of times he can be the one who is just messing around at times and just adventurous

Evaluation

What i have learnt from doing story boards is that they are really helpful for when it comes to filming. it gives you a better understanding of what shots/camera angles you should use in the film, by having the story board with you whilst you film the film could help so much in the matter of that one misplaced shot could change and mess up the film. The story board can help so a lot with what the mise en scene could include within the shot as well.

 There are many ways for someone to create a storyboard, they can either create it on a computer and use the technology to make an advanced story board, or you can use the traditional methods of a pencil and paper. How a story board is created is all through imaginary, because all you are given is a script and from the words you have to turn that into to a image so that the director could can you it in the film. 

Story Boards

Because we have a big group we decided to cut up the script into 4's, this is so each member of the group would get there own part for the script. then depending on what kind of style you want to do the story board it is up to you. for me and my part of the script i had the last part. i decided to create the script with the standard pencil style, i felt that it would be more comfortable for me to do. Here is my part of the story board:

I think that these storyboards did turn out quite good, the effect i tried to give of was a rough sketchy picture. the point of a story board is to give you a rough idea of the camera angles/camera shots that would be used in the short horror film, it could be used for a guideline for the shots in the film. 

Evaluation

From what i have learnt by looking at the audience responses and the horror industry, is that in the modern era a lot of people do prefer horror films to any other film genres. This is because of the recent film releases of certain films that have been based on around true events that have happened within someone else life. so knowing that things like that have happened in real life it starts to create fear within someone and will start make them paranoid, and that is a great thing for the audience to have for the purpose of the director, they want to create that fear inside of them so that the audience get tensed and start to get scared. 

from looking at the audience comments on some certain films they really like the horror film to have a great story line, i think this is what i have learnt from looking at the audience research. so hopefully by taking this knowledge in our script we can make a really good story line for the film and make it unique and scary so that we can start to create fear in the audience. 

Audience and Institution Research

I think that when it comes to horror films there are many name out there that people could name that have had a very high successful rate with there films. Here are just some of the names of those Directors/Producers: James Wan, Tobe Hooper, Roman Polanski, Tod Browning, Sam Raimi, Wes Craven and Alfred Hitchcock. These directors/ producers have all been apart of some of the best horror films made such as films like Psycho, Halloween, Scream, Drag me to hell, Saw, etc.

I think that horror films are usually aimed at the age of 15+. This is because the idea of a horror film is to make the audience feel uncomfortable and feel on edge. I think that because the age that this is usually aimed at, this allows the film directors to let there imagination run free with the ideas that they want to put into the film. I think that what people would like from a horror film is basically for them to witness a really good story with parts that make you feel on edge. A lot of people do like to go and watch a horror film just to see if they get scared. But personally I think in order to get scared or feel uncomfortable with the film it has to have a good story line in order to let the story and the scary scenes link.

There are many ways that the director can target audiences to see their film. Because of the technology outburst with the modern society, social networking sites are probably the fastest way for people to know about the latest films. Another way is through TV, because a lot of the youth watch TV, they are usually fed the information about a new horror film through adverts. This is where the film could catch the youth’s eye, and also by showing a trailer during the adverts the youth would be intrigued to find out what happens in that horror film. Posters around place such as on public transport. This is because a lot of people like to travel to work on public transport, and this is where the film companies could put there posters because they can catch the eyes of these people and this could interest the people.

Now I am going to look at what the audience have taught about films that have been released already. There opinions on films are important as the films themselves, by knowing if the audience's comments are positive or negative could make or break a film. The first film I am going to look at is-

The Conjuring: 'It's atmospheric, terrifying, and brilliant in its intricately placed bouts of horror and suspense'

'A strong cast and an atmosphere of real dread mean that despite a catalogue of immediately recognizable ghost devices, The Conjuring amounts to more than the sum of its scary parts.'

by looking at these comments I would say the film is quite good according to the audiences' comments. Looking at the comments the audience think mainly the big success towards this film is mainly because of the audience, the cast have successfully done there job and made the film believable. Also the according to the audience, the suspense build up in the film was really well done. This is so that it made the film more jumpy/scarier, and the film directors have done that that because of the way the audience mention that they found it scary. Overall this film did really well because it gave the audience what they wanted to see from a horror film.

The second film I will look at is-

Insidious: The film never approaches being scary, but its colossal silliness makes it both intriguing and unpredictable

Good for a handful of jumps and guilty giggles before it quickly reaches for the slipshod, hokey contrivances you don't expect until number 2 or 3 in the franchise

By looking at the comments towards this film there are some quite mixed opinions on this film. A lot of comments do say that this film has a great story, but they think it isn't really a horror film, it is just a bit jumpy at times. Also people are saying that this film is one of the scariest films that they have seen. Because of really different and unique story line people might think that the story is not for them. But the directors have done well overall on the film, because it did make people scared so it has done the job of a horror film. 

Ideas Stage

To start of the idea stage, we as group thought that it was a good idea to do a quick brainstorm of what ideas we would like to put towards the short horror film. here is my brainstorm of what i would like to put into the film. 

As a group we decided that we would try and be different from other horror films so we thought that we would do a first person type of film. films such as Blair Witch project, paranormal activity, etc have done films like this and all these films have been successful. so hopefully we can do well with our film and make it as believable as possible for the audience. with these ideas that we have all produced we hope that we could then put these together to give us an idea for a good script and make a good a short horror film.

There was a lot of discussion within the group about what we could with this horror film. we all had great ideas and we wanted to put them all in, but we had to be sensible about the ideas we chose and how we put them together. After the discussion about the choices we made, we were all happy about the concept of the direction we are going with this film. 

As you can see in the idea brainstorm there are certain words on there that are red, this is because these were the main words for what we could use in our film. as a group we discussed the main conventions of what is included within a horror short film and then we set our selves different targets so that we got our part of the film ready. 

Evaluation

What i have learnt in this weeks lesson is about the genre 'horror' what i did this week was basically to look at ready made short horror films and to break down the main parts of the short horror film and have a look what things they have used to create the horror film. things that were being looked for was things like sound, mise en scene, editing, camera angles, etc. by understanding these conventions and also knowing where they should be in a film. this would help us all as it gives us an understanding of what should be in a short horror film, and also when everything should be placed. how this would help our film is that it will make it more professional and make it look much better. now that we have this knowledge of the conventions all we need to do is now put them into action into our short horror film.

Also now because we know and understand the meaning of a horror genre after doing some research on it, this will benefit us on how we can add links of a horror film into our short film to make it that scary. from what we have learnt by looking at the horror genre is that everything is mainly dull/negative. something bad intend to happen a lot. so now that we know this we can add things like this into our script to make it the best as we can.

Short Horror Films research

Before we start to think about making the story for our short film, it was best to get so research done on how and what to include in to a horror short films. i think by looking at some short horror films could help us a lot as a group because it can give us fresh ideas for our story and by using the ideas we could add our own twist on to them.

Also by researching horror films we could get an idea of all the conventions that are used to make a short horror film, things such as sound, text, film title, actors, etc.

Now i will be researching on some horror films, the first film i will start my research with is:

Lock Up

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dH95Ls5mZJU

At the start of this  film, first of all the production company appeared this shows the audience the company of the film it was produced with. here it shows that with the colour of how it presented it has the word 'Bloody' in the colour of red this is known as colour representation.

After the production company has been shown the title of the actual film then appears on to the screen with a small animation. Here the word lock has been smartly presented because in the letter 'O' instead of the hole there is a the symbol of a key hole in which way could be related to the name of the film 'lock up'.

The main actor is firstly introduced as a person who is working in a office and has a pretty good job that pays well, how you can tell is because of the way the man is dressed and well groomed. and also it shows he is a family man because on the phone it sounds like he is talking to his wife and taking about his kids. the shot for this scene is a simple panning view starting behind an object then slowly panning to the left to capture the man on the phone.



The first real part of any sign of it being a horror film is when the man is about to leave the office building and about to turn of the lights and just when he does he hears a noise. he then turns around a responds with a nervous 'hello'. The camera is zoomed in the face of the man to produce a close up of the face this is to see the expression of the mans face within this situation.  And after he says 'hello' there is just silence. as he is about to lock up he then notices he forgot his keys in his office then he goes to get them, but the lights all of a sudden don't work in building so he pulls out a torch.

When the man picks up his keys, he then start to walk back out the office he starts to walk down a corridor. he is stopped in his tracks because of a sound he hears, the camera is then zoomed in to the face to capture his reaction to the sound.

He then starts to walk more faster with an anxious look upon his face, then again from the noise he hears again he turns around tries to see what the noise was, but there was no noise. he then carries on walking, after a while his torch starts to flicker and then turns off.

When the man starts messing around with his torch he then gets it to work again, but there is a face behind him and leans towards to bite his neck. 

The next film i will start to look at is:

Amy's Touch

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01AI0lAq_uY

Again at the start of the film before it starts the production company is shown on the screen. with this company logo it is quite simple with there effects. this could be done so that it is just focusing on the name of the production company itself.

again after the production name, the title of the film appears on the screen, again with this title scene it shows a very simple text of the actual name of the film. with this effect it could look a bit boring but the person who has edited this film has saved the title scene by adding some soft spooky music, this now makes the title scene even scarier as it just shows it simple.

it then starts to show establishing shots of the location of the film and where it is being set in. then there is a narrator explaining each scene that appears on to the screen, it is basically explaining the story of the film. the first person to be introduced is the little child, she is shown as a normal girl playing with her toys.

when she is introduced, that is when the narrator start to introduce to the audience that this is a horror film, because he is talking about a monster living under the little girls bed. then shortly after this has been announced, another shot of the little girl is presented on to the screen but she is with her mum, and the narrator is explaining to us what the mother and daughter are speaking about, which is about the monster.

When the little girl explained about the monster to her mother the narrator explains that the mother has no interest and calls her a 'silly girl' and from then the mother didn't believe her. the narrator then starts to explain the next scene which the little girl getting ready to go to bed. and shows that the little girl has a special magic torch that kept away the monsters, so every night explains the narrator the little girl stayed awake. here we are shown a close up of the girls face to see the emotion on her face. Then the narrator explained she would fall asleep in the day when she felt it was safe.

One night the narrator explains that the batteries from her magic torch ran out. all of a sudden you hear a loud scream, the mum then walks up the stairs to see what the noise is.

The mum then walks into the room and finds Amy sitting on the floor in the corner of her room, the asks whats the problem, Amy then point to underneath the bed. here i think the person who edited this scene did really well because just before the mother sees the monster the music used was really spooky and could then start to build the tension between the film and the audience, because they didn't know what to expect. Then all of a sudden with the music being played it was sudden high pitched noise and then the monster appears on to the screen.

Then the mum is dragged under the bed and never to be seen again. after this has taken place the camera turns around to face Amy and then zooms into her face to capture her reaction to what has just happened.










I think what i have learnt from researching both of these films was that i personally think music/sound plays a massive part of a horror film. i like the way it builds up tension just by adding a bit of music. i think it is the music that does make the audience start to feel a bit tensed and gain suspense towards the film, and then it is all the matter of making that scary scene unpredictable as possible. that is how to get the audience scared of a horror film.
Also most horror films are within a dark surroundings, i guess this makes the horror film more scary because no one knows what to expect from the dark. so i think that the time of the day you do film is very important because of the mood it can build up within the audience.

Horror Genre Analysis

What are the conventions of a horror film?

Well within a normal horror film you would expect to get a scare from it, either a jump or a scream or to get a fright. people go to see a horror film for this. so what they would expect from the film is that there is either a person with a negative past or maybe due to a lot of old films a religious meaning behind the story for them to try to convince the audience as much as possible with the story to try and scare them.

also when it comes to scenery within a horror film it is most likely to be in the night, I think that is because in the dark everything seems to be easier to scare someone, because everything can be hidden, so people can use that and use it to make people jump with sudden actions. also with the scenery a lot of film do take part in the woods were it is wet, damp and cold, I think that why a lot of horror film directors do this because using the conventions use usually get in the woods, it easier to scare a targeted person because you never know what can happen because of the surroundings in the woods.

I think that what a lot of people like the use of sounds this is because it builds up tension inside a person and can get them at any time. with the use of sound it can lead to anything, it also can be used to build up fake suspense, so that it fools the audience into that something is going to happen. I think it is clever of the people who make the sound for the film because I think in a horror film it is the main thing that makes a horror film what it is, with the suspense and tension from the sound can have a massive effect with the audience.

Due to recent events with recent film called 'paranormal activity', this film became very popular very quick. this is because of the use at the end is had the line 'based on a true story' this had got peoples attention very quick, because of those simple words it scared people more. I think that this is because of them words people thought that they could relate to it, if they have witnessed any paranormal events in the past, and then they could think that what happened in the film could happen to them. I think due to this craze, film directors started to base their films of real life stories. This is now getting more views from the audience just so that they can find out about the story, and see if they can relate to it. so I think that a lot of people now like to expect the horror films created these days are based on a true story.

Evaluation

What i have learnt from looking at my research of what a short film is, i now understand the definition and also what he purpose is for a short horror film. knowing this will benefit me for when it comes to actually producing the actual film. also by understanding what the actual properties of a short film means helps in the case of knowing the actual time length of a short film, the main conventions used in the short film, also things like the cast names, director, producers name. all these things would be important to put into the film.

how knowing this information about the short film is that i can put theses conventions into our group film so that it makes it as professional as possible and also believable. the things that will be the main part of the film would be things such as the characters, also the music used in these short films can be very important, the sound can either break suspense or it can build it.

Main codes and conventions trailers/short film

What is a short film?
A short film is any film which is not your standard feature film, which is normally 90 - 120 minutes. According to the academy of motion picture arts and sciences they define a short film as 'an original motion picture that has the running time of 40 minutes or less. There are two types of short films, professional or amateur. Short films are usually screened at local, national or international film festivals. A lot of people create short films for any profit, but just for fun. At times they might have a low budget, or if they are sponsored they might have certain things for there income that goes towards the films.

The most popular type of short films were comedy, there any many funny faces of the short film world such as Charlie Chaplin or laurel and hardy, etc.

These big names made short films really popular, but in todays world people forget about short films because they are shadowed by normal featured films. Hopefully big film companies such as Pixar, DreamWorks and Warner Brothers are trying to bring back short films, but they are going to feature mainly animation short films, because they think with todays modern era people would enjoy animated short films more due to the society with live in.


The main thing to understand when making a short film/trailer is that to understand what is the purpose of their job. so by re searching on what there job is, here is what i have concluded in a short paragraph of what there purpose is:

As because a trailer/short film is pronounced before the actual film is out. The purpose of the trailer/short film is that it gives the audience a advertisement or you could say a commercial for the actual film that will be announced release. 

What a trailer consist of is that a collectible of shots are made into a short 2-3 minute preview of the film. the purpose for this is that it attracts the audience even more to go and watch the film, it is like a tease, because you have viewed only a little bit of the film, you are most likely if interested want to view the whole film to see what happens at the end. an important technique that they use in trailers is that they always depending on the genre of the film would show the parts that would attract the audience to watch the film, for e.g if it is horror film the people who create the trailers would then pick from the film the scariest parts of the film a put them together to build the 2-3 minute montage of all the scariest parts. the plan is to that because they are showing the scariest parts of the film this would then draw the audience to film even more, because then the audience is most likely to think what is going to happen in that film. 

What are the main codes and conventions that are used in a short film? 

. film production logos

. film title 

. directors name/produce name

. age certification 

. actors involved 

. music 

. release date

. last up to 5-40 minutes (depends on film)