Second Cut Feedback
This is a much better version, although we are still in danger of this looking too much like a Trailer. You have made great strides to add interesting effects and sound effects.
However it is still missing a narrative, I would like you to think about how to tackle this, possibly adding a voice over to start to explain some element of narrative.
I would also like to see an animated logo and of course the titles.
I think it may look more sophisticated if you were to cross fade some of the images and add some interesting 'glitchy' transition.
Thursday, 27 November 2014
Wednesday, 26 November 2014
Second Cut
In our second cut of our film, we added a translucent distorted video over our film to add a sense of mystery and to incorporate features from the film 'Se7en', starring Brad Pitt. We had to find out how to do this ourselves which made the editing time a lot slower than we would have liked. We tidied up some edits and cuts and we have still got to add titles and do some colour correction, as some shots are quite dark. We also are yet to do dialogue and add it to our film, we are considering a voice over from the main character explaining what happened to him, as we feel like this will add some narrative and story. I think that we should also cut the soundtrack down a little so it doesn't become reminiscent of a trailer, and also add some sound effects, such as a bird caw when we have the scissors going down. I think this would also help the cult links in the film become more prominent, which will add more of a horror theme and it'll really fit into the horror genre.
Our scene has been criticized by a few people saying that it has no narrative, but this is only our second cut and I think that the third cut will be much more refined and a lot better, with added narrative and definitely a sense of story. We are following the conventions of the 'Se7en' opening, so we think that it doesn't necessarily need too much in it. I think that the abstract nature of our film helps to add tension to the audience and the film overall, but I do also think that a voice over is needed for the narrative.
Tuesday, 25 November 2014
The First Cut
For our opening scene, we wanted to establish a supernatural element to introduce our film. We decided that we wanted to incorporate a cult-feel to our scenes, which follows the horror genre, this also helped to establish how the main character got his powers. We used a lot of imagery and abstract pieces of film in this opening, such as the chess pieces, we did this to symbolise good and evil and how the innocent can be broken and changed to evil.
I showed this to some of mine and Harvey's friendship group and a lot of them thought that it was quite bad and needed a lot of work doing to it, this motivated me to improve the editing, as I don't think that this first cut was up to the standard of editing that Harvey and I can actually do. I feel like we can really do well and make our film look quite professional.
Miss Spencer told us to improve on the following:
- Make the opening shot so it's not halfway through a zoom
- Tighten up on some edits
- Add titles with a suitable font
- Add a vignette
- Add a cinematic feel
- Add transitions
- Add sound effects
Saturday, 8 November 2014
Role Allocation
Director - Cathy Maddox
Writers - Cathy Maddox & Harvey Perry
Editor - Harvey Perry
Starring - Harvey Perry
Camera Man - Cathy Maddox
Writers - Cathy Maddox & Harvey Perry
Editor - Harvey Perry
Starring - Harvey Perry
Camera Man - Cathy Maddox
Casting
For our film opening, there is only one role, the demon who cursed the protagonist with his supernatural abilities. We thought that we should have this as a man, as men generally seem stronger and more capable than women, especially in the film industry, and so we had Harvey be the main role. I personally thought that by having Harvey instead of someone else play the role, it would save a lot of time getting another actor to get into character or understand what drives the character.
Target Audience Research
Horror
Horror and the BBFC
[ information taken from the BBFC's website]
Historically, the BBFC has treated horror as a special case, so much so that in the late 1930's they introduced a 'H' sign to show (or warn) an audience that the film would have horror features and content. Horror films were also banned from distribution during the second world war in case they damaged public morale, often not released until afterwards when they could have the desired disturbing effect on an audience. This shows that horror films have always been made to disturb or shock the general public, even from the beginning of horror during the middle of the last century.
Throughout the years, horror has been marketed at almost all ages. From films such as 'Nightmare on Elm Street' and 'Dawn of the Dead'
Our target audience for our film is preferably 15-20 year olds, as most young people around these ages are willing to a watch a horror film with friends. Most horror films such as Paranormal Activity are rated 18/R, due to their nature, however I don't think this prevents younger people from actually seeing the films marketed or made for over eighteen year olds.
In films such as Paranormal Activity and Cloverfield, a handheld camera is used. I feel like this is an effective way of attracting an audience to a film because the handheld camera adds realism to the film. This makes the scare factor a lot more prominent for the audience and would encourage them to see the film and recommend it to their peers. In our opening scene, we used a mix of handheld camera and a camera on a tripod, which not only reflected how the characters mental state could fluctuate between stable and unstable, it also reflects how easily people can change sides between good and bad, which also links with the story of the film, as the protagonist switches sides and turns out to be evil. This attracts audience as it happens in a lot of Hollywood films such as Transformers, Olympus Has Fallen, and Iron Man 3.
In other films such as X-Men, chess pieces are used. This attracts audiences to the film because it shows the underlying game playing that the protagonist and antagonist participate in. This is effective because it foreshadows plot lines, such as conflict or a character falling. In films such as X-Men, we are shown Magneto's plans to overthrow Xavier and get his way, this was a clever way into looking at a character's plans and hidden thoughts. We decided that for our film, this would be useful to use as it shows us what's happened or what's going to happen. We also decided to put this in the opening, as like in Se7en, we used our opening to give hints at future or past events, and to confuse yet intrigue the audience and captivate them into watching more.
Moreover, our use of candles and cult-like symbolism shows that
Horror and the BBFC
[ information taken from the BBFC's website]
Historically, the BBFC has treated horror as a special case, so much so that in the late 1930's they introduced a 'H' sign to show (or warn) an audience that the film would have horror features and content. Horror films were also banned from distribution during the second world war in case they damaged public morale, often not released until afterwards when they could have the desired disturbing effect on an audience. This shows that horror films have always been made to disturb or shock the general public, even from the beginning of horror during the middle of the last century.
Throughout the years, horror has been marketed at almost all ages. From films such as 'Nightmare on Elm Street' and 'Dawn of the Dead'
Our target audience for our film is preferably 15-20 year olds, as most young people around these ages are willing to a watch a horror film with friends. Most horror films such as Paranormal Activity are rated 18/R, due to their nature, however I don't think this prevents younger people from actually seeing the films marketed or made for over eighteen year olds.
In films such as Paranormal Activity and Cloverfield, a handheld camera is used. I feel like this is an effective way of attracting an audience to a film because the handheld camera adds realism to the film. This makes the scare factor a lot more prominent for the audience and would encourage them to see the film and recommend it to their peers. In our opening scene, we used a mix of handheld camera and a camera on a tripod, which not only reflected how the characters mental state could fluctuate between stable and unstable, it also reflects how easily people can change sides between good and bad, which also links with the story of the film, as the protagonist switches sides and turns out to be evil. This attracts audience as it happens in a lot of Hollywood films such as Transformers, Olympus Has Fallen, and Iron Man 3.
In other films such as X-Men, chess pieces are used. This attracts audiences to the film because it shows the underlying game playing that the protagonist and antagonist participate in. This is effective because it foreshadows plot lines, such as conflict or a character falling. In films such as X-Men, we are shown Magneto's plans to overthrow Xavier and get his way, this was a clever way into looking at a character's plans and hidden thoughts. We decided that for our film, this would be useful to use as it shows us what's happened or what's going to happen. We also decided to put this in the opening, as like in Se7en, we used our opening to give hints at future or past events, and to confuse yet intrigue the audience and captivate them into watching more.
Moreover, our use of candles and cult-like symbolism shows that
The Pitch
A boy has grown up with a supernatural ability to become invisible at his control. During adolescence, he falls into a life of crime and his path becomes intertwined with the very demons that cursed him with his power.
The opening scene will involve the demon responsible for the boy's curse surrounded by items of witchcraft (religious iconography, old books, candles, etc) in a dark, out of the way room, we want it to be dark, creepy, and perhaps slightly hard to follow, as we want to confuse the audience and make them feel less secure while watching the opening.
The opening scene will involve the demon responsible for the boy's curse surrounded by items of witchcraft (religious iconography, old books, candles, etc) in a dark, out of the way room, we want it to be dark, creepy, and perhaps slightly hard to follow, as we want to confuse the audience and make them feel less secure while watching the opening.
Friday, 7 November 2014
Feedback - Miss Spencer
Representation feedback - You have covered the basics of representation, outlining what it is. However you need to go into more detail talking about why directors use stereotypes etc. I would also like to see some discussion of the stereotypes in your genre and to use so me clips or images to illustrate your point.
Genre research feedback - again you have covered the basics, with some detail.
In order to improve you should:
You have looked at equilibrium - but you have not mentioned the theorist who came up with this idea. Look into Todorov and add research about his narrative theory to your work.
Add some images to illustrate your points.
discuss the history of your genre.
This work is at a level 2 - the above will help you move into a safe 3 or even a 4.
Genre research feedback - again you have covered the basics, with some detail.
In order to improve you should:
You have looked at equilibrium - but you have not mentioned the theorist who came up with this idea. Look into Todorov and add research about his narrative theory to your work.
Add some images to illustrate your points.
discuss the history of your genre.
This work is at a level 2 - the above will help you move into a safe 3 or even a 4.
Thursday, 6 November 2014
Representation
Representation in Media
Representation in media is to represent or depict something that may have already been presented, for instance, things like class, age, gender, sexuality, disability, and ethnicity. Often these stand in for stereotypes which are represented throughout. Stereotypes help the audience know more about a character as soon as they have been introduced, make predictions about the character, and understand the character and who they are and what their opinions may be.
Although the media can be useful for helping us understand more about characters and their opinions, it's also a very negative medium and can spread negativity quickly. For instance, celebrities like Amy Winehouse, Amanda Bynes, and Lindsay Lohan have all been depicted in the media as negative role models due to drug use, alcohol, and mental health issues. This, in turn, creates a bad image for people going through these problems. For instance, people complained that the media representation of Amanda Bynes provided a negative stigma for mental health problems.
Directors use stereotypes to get across a personality of a character almost immediately, it helps the audience understand what kind of person they are and how their story will go. This is useful for a director because it helps them to not have to introduce the character as much. Along with costume, props, and setting, stereotypes are a useful way of the director giving the audience a little back story and personality without having to go into an excess amount of detail.
The media in different places reports things in different ways. This shows that people in different groups will react differently depending on who is witnessing the events in the media. For instance, in places of war, the media may spread propaganda to their people, whereas if the media reporting in this country told us about events in that country, there would be more liberal coverage of the situations.
Media is our understanding of the world, as the media control what we see and what we think; it shapes our opinions and beliefs on the world, however corrupted these beliefs and opinions may be. Representation may be a negative thing, as it leads people to believe whatever they cover.
In TED, directors and writers broke the stereotype of a nice teddy bear by making him a foul mouthed, drinking, drug abusive individual. Although he looks like your standard issue child's teddy, the disruption of the stereotype not only make a hilarious film to watch, but also helped build TED's character more and more. The more we saw, the more we thought about him, making this film almost limitless in possibilities for all the things and situations TED could get himself into. By breaking this stereotype, the director was able to open the audiences minds, and therefore come up with more and more outrageous things that could happen.
In my film, representation will be used to display stereotypes and issues in both positive and negative ways. For example, I want the two female characters to break their stereotypes and not conform to gender norms. I think that women are usually portrayed as weak and useless, or usually used as a sex symbol. I think by breaking these norms, the film will become even more developed and the characters will become more well rounded. I feel like this will also help the story to become more interesting and will surprise audiences as the female roles won't be generic and boring, this also stops sexism in the film as it shows the women as heroes, as in most horror films, women are rarely seen as the hero.
For the male characters, I wanted generic, but in no way boring characters. I wanted the male characters to be like real people, with confidence issues and underwhelming and overbearing personalities. For example, one character may be quiet and have low self esteem, while another might have a totally overbearing personality. Although this does conform to some genre conventions, I feel like a lot of characters in horror are very two dimension and written poorly, whereas I wanted three dimensional characters with actual layers of personality who were written well into their story.
Representation in media is to represent or depict something that may have already been presented, for instance, things like class, age, gender, sexuality, disability, and ethnicity. Often these stand in for stereotypes which are represented throughout. Stereotypes help the audience know more about a character as soon as they have been introduced, make predictions about the character, and understand the character and who they are and what their opinions may be.
Although the media can be useful for helping us understand more about characters and their opinions, it's also a very negative medium and can spread negativity quickly. For instance, celebrities like Amy Winehouse, Amanda Bynes, and Lindsay Lohan have all been depicted in the media as negative role models due to drug use, alcohol, and mental health issues. This, in turn, creates a bad image for people going through these problems. For instance, people complained that the media representation of Amanda Bynes provided a negative stigma for mental health problems.
Directors use stereotypes to get across a personality of a character almost immediately, it helps the audience understand what kind of person they are and how their story will go. This is useful for a director because it helps them to not have to introduce the character as much. Along with costume, props, and setting, stereotypes are a useful way of the director giving the audience a little back story and personality without having to go into an excess amount of detail.
The media in different places reports things in different ways. This shows that people in different groups will react differently depending on who is witnessing the events in the media. For instance, in places of war, the media may spread propaganda to their people, whereas if the media reporting in this country told us about events in that country, there would be more liberal coverage of the situations.
Media is our understanding of the world, as the media control what we see and what we think; it shapes our opinions and beliefs on the world, however corrupted these beliefs and opinions may be. Representation may be a negative thing, as it leads people to believe whatever they cover.
In my film, representation will be used to display stereotypes and issues in both positive and negative ways. For example, I want the two female characters to break their stereotypes and not conform to gender norms. I think that women are usually portrayed as weak and useless, or usually used as a sex symbol. I think by breaking these norms, the film will become even more developed and the characters will become more well rounded. I feel like this will also help the story to become more interesting and will surprise audiences as the female roles won't be generic and boring, this also stops sexism in the film as it shows the women as heroes, as in most horror films, women are rarely seen as the hero.
For the male characters, I wanted generic, but in no way boring characters. I wanted the male characters to be like real people, with confidence issues and underwhelming and overbearing personalities. For example, one character may be quiet and have low self esteem, while another might have a totally overbearing personality. Although this does conform to some genre conventions, I feel like a lot of characters in horror are very two dimension and written poorly, whereas I wanted three dimensional characters with actual layers of personality who were written well into their story.
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