My Personal Feedback and Task Evaluation Having viewed our film for the final time I have come to notice several key faults with it. The sound and editing are both serious issues with the film as their bad quality effects the overall feel of the film. I really struggled with the editing as it was the first important video I had ever had to edit and so I became very stressed and worn down by it all. This was one of my main issues with the whole task because I spent several days editing for hours just to make it look presentable and in the end I didn't really achieve my aim. So when it came to watching them all I struggled to sit and watch it because I kept on seeing the video's flaws and in turn the flaws in my editing.
I did feel like there were a few positives with the overall film like the storyline which I loved as it had a twist and wasn't completely obvious to the viewer until the end. I enjoyed working on the film and working in a group but when it comes to my final task I will ensure to delegate tasks more efficiently so that one person isn't left doing the majority of the work.
This experience has been invaluable to me as I have learnt a lot about media and what it takes to be successful. The lessons I have learnt throughout this process I will put to use in our next task after half term.
Horror is a very broad genre as it can be split into several subgenres:
The Monster Scare
Psychological Thriller
Slasher Pics
Zombie Films
All of these horror films have specific conventions that make them easily recognisable to an audience. These conventions include:
Setting
Isolated towns or small communities. Small farmhouses or cabins in the woods are common settings for horror films. As well as this, cities and dark alleyways are becoming more frequent in modern horror films.
Often settings include a "dark" or "haunting" history such as abandoned cabins or asylums.
Horror films that feature these settings: Misery (1990), The Shining (1980), The Amityville Horror (1979), The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), The Others (2001), Grave Encounters (2011).
Sound/Music
Horror films often feature a large amount of non-diegetic sound in order to set the mood. Some of the best film scores have come from horror films as they can perfectly capture the atmosphere and emotions of the characters,
For example: the famous shower scene in Psycho has become so infamous as the classic horror film score.
Characters
Every horror film has a typical set of characters because these types of people create an emotion in the viewer when they are suddenly killed off. For example, in every horror film there is the female victim.
In the first Scream film the opening scene is of Drew Barrymore, the teenage girl alone at home, being harassed on the phone and then killed.
There is also the common theme of the promiscuous girl who gets killed off, usually in the beginning of the film or programme.
I have chosen this opening as one of my three to analyse, and score out of 60, because I loved the premise and the editing.
Using the G321 Mark Scheme I gave this film opening a Level 4 with a mark of 58.
This is because there is clear evidence of excellence from the outset and throughout this opening. From the opening shot I was aware that the genre was a horror/action film with the target audience being young adults because it has a rating of 15 meaning it is not for young children and you see a man tied up covered in blood.
The titles are used appropriately as they flicker and move in jagged movements which is common of titles in horror films and they are an appropriate length so that they can be read but do not linger on screen and distract from the opening.
The use of sound within this clip is to an excellent standard as well because all of the sounds are appropriately incorporated and work together to help create an eerie atmosphere. There are examples of synchronous sounds- the sound of the blood dripping and seeing it fall into the puddle below, the sound of the CCTV monitor cutting off and seeing the image disappear. There are also examples of music being used as there is atonal music used throughout that establishes the horror/action genre with its increasing volume.
Controlled use of camera is clearly displayed here as the camera work is accurate and precise as well as varied with the use of close up shots, high angle and tracking shots. Not to mention the effortless transitions between shots and the excellent editing throughout.
Overall this film opening scores a 58 for me because there were elements of the narrative that I felt could have been improved. I did not understand the relevance of the women with the doll and why she had a doll in the first place so this was something that could have been improved. However, this film opening is extremely professional, well-executed and of an excellent standard.
This is the second film opening I have decided to analyse as I found the titles creative and fitting of the genre as well as the plot line interesting and well thought through. I score this opening 51 marks out of 60 because it displays excellent understanding of genre conventions but lacks some varied shots.
The genre was clearly established by the symphonic music throughout it as well as the added scratch/popping noise in the background. The opening also displays appropriate material for the target audience of twenty-somethings who enjoy horror/thriller films.
The moving and flickering titles that appear, and disappear rapidly, convey the horror genre and they also have an appropriate length on screen and are placed in order thus obeying institutional conventions.
The sound throughout this clip is appropriate for the film's genre and adds to the suspense created by the visual. The camera work is good and steady but the opening could do with more varied shots and angles as you only see a few different shots throughout- shot/reverse shot etc. Also the mise-en-scene of the girl's bedroom is very detailed as you can see pictures of her and her friends on the walls making it seem like it is actually her bedroom.
The editing throughout is well thought through and fluent and it aids the audience in understanding the film's storyline. The flashes between the famous women's pictures tell us a lot about the girl/killer's personality and why she does what she does. The title of the film 'Blink Murder' also appears on screen when we see the girl blink thus conveying to the audience the reason for the title.
However, there are elements of this opening that could have been improved such as the use of more varied camera shots and more diegetic sound when the girl is opening the drawer and picking up the knife.
Overall I give this film opening 51 marks, as it features effective titles and clearly establishes genre however, fails to deliver some diegetic sound and varied camera shots.
This is the last of the three film openings I have chosen to analyse. I liked this opening because it was a different genre to the others I have seen and analysed. The genre is clearly shown to be a teenager/romantic film and overall I give this opening 48 marks out of 60.
The material throughout this opening is relatively appropriate for its target audience as you can see that there is going to be a romance between these two young people which is fitting of a romantic film. However, there is swearing featured in this opening which suggests that this film's rating must be above a 15 as it is inappropriate for viewers below that age to watch due to explicit language.
The titles in this opening are the one element that significantly needs improvement as they were not all in order with traditional institutional conventions. They began with the cast as appose to what production company and institution the film is associated with. The title 'in association with Film Four' should have appeared first as appose to at the end of the opening.
The use of sound in this clip could have also done with improvement because the diegetic sound of the wind, at times, overpowers the dialogue and makes it difficult to hear. On the other hand, the diegetic sound of the skateboard is very effective in adding to the atmosphere and works well with visual. Good use of synchronous sound.
The camera shots are steady, varied and the shot on board the skateboard is inventive, creative and well executed. The visual editing is impressive however the sound editing needs improving as the diegetic sound is too loud during the conversation scenes.
Overall this film scores a 48 out of 60 because of its bad sound quality during the conversation scenes and its careless placement of the titles.
Completing this task was quite difficult for me as I had never filmed something before let alone edited anything so I struggled throughout this process. However, from this task I have learnt a lot about what media requires and what is needed to create a good piece of film.
Some elements of our video are quite good however the majority I could have done better, and will do better when it comes to my preliminary task next week. When I come to devising my preliminary task I will focus on the elements that I did wrong in the Juno task so that I do not make the same mistakes twice and I learn from them instead.
For example:
When I start my preliminary task, if I am on camera, I will not smile directly at the camera whilst filming. This was one of the clearest mistakes I made throughout this process and one which I will not make again.
From Pete Fraser's talk I learnt a lot about what is needed to devise a Level 4 piece of work when I come to devising my film opening. His talk was interesting, very helpful and eye-opening in terms of all the different elements of AS Media.
I learnt a lot about the research I will need to gather when preparing for my main task, as well as the five elements one must consider when creating their film opening and title sequence.
Here are the notes I collected from his speech which I will use when I come to devise my film opening:
