The task that we had to do was to create a film opening lasting no longer than two minutes, which established character, setting, and built enigma, and also it had to include titles. The film opening that we planned and created was a typical horror/thriller zombie film. It consisted of two remaining people on the earth, the last to survive the infection that had taken over the world.
Before we were set this task, we reviewed and deconstructed many different film openings from ‘City of God’ to ‘Sin City’; however the lessons focused more on the film noir style films, and their conventions. Most of our classmates had decided to go with film noir style openings, so we decided to produce something different and go for horror/thriller. This required additional research of conventions other than the noir work we had been doing in lessons. We decided that in order to achieve the targets set in the task; we would just use a simple narrative with two characters in a house hiding from the zombies in order to remain alive. We had initially decided to use establishing shots as an opening sequence to achieve one of the task objectives straight away. However, after using establishing shots to see how they would look, we decided against them and proposed to meet an alternative task objective, and build enigma straight away rather than establish setting. Although showing desolate locations would have built enigma we thought to have a character running instantly built enigma, and it was also a classic horror/thriller film opening showing the running and having the heavy breathing in the soundtrack creating fear. It was also more obvious rather than the audience having to understand that the establishing shots were desolate for a reason, as the footage we had perhaps did not show this.
Our media product challenges and follows the conventions of other media products in a number of ways. For example, within the mise-en-scene, especially the costumes of the two characters. Both are wearing torn t-shirts with blood patches all over them, which fits in with the genre. This would be found in most zombie films.
Also the music is very eerie which matches that convention in most horror films, not just zombie. Another is how the pace of editing is fast; this represents the genre which is linked to the convention, and also what is actually happening within the shot. The conventions of film openings were also matched in our product as this was an objective of the task. Film openings have the conventions of establishing character and setting, and building enigma. Character was easy to establish because we only had two actors in the film, and it was obvious that they weren’t zombies and that they were hiding away because of their costume and acting. Also initially we had planned on showing the zombies, but in the end we decided it was better not too, because we didn’t have the budget for the appropriate make up to ensure the zombie characters were scary enough. Instead we decided to not show the zombie, but to include zombie roars within the soundtrack which also created enigma as well as establishing character. The setting was again easy enough to establish, as we had planned on setting the film in a house and obviously filmed the footage within a house which added to the verisimilitude also. We created enigma at the end of the film in a few ways. Just after the male character said “If we survive the night, we’ll make a run for it in the morning”, a series of fast paced shots were shown. It was all abstract, unusual footage, like a close up of a street lamp and an extreme close up of someone’s eye which we edited by adding effects too, to represent the abnormal theme of the quick paced sequence. This built enigma as the audience is suddenly viewing this sequence, and doesn’t know what is going to happen or where it will stop. It is then cut to black, which immediately creates further enigma as the audience still don’t know what is going to happen next. As it cuts to black on the soundtrack you can hear a window smash, and a roar of which is intended to be a zombie, although this is another example of enigma, as it could be anything. After the final titles, there is then one final title screen which says ‘12 hours earlier…’, which is the opening sequence, finishing on created enigma, as the audience won’t know what happened. The titles themselves are actually another convention of film openings, as al film openings have title sequences at some point. After analysing many title sequences similar to our genre, such as 'Dead Set', '28 Weeks later', and 'Dawn of The Dead', we realised that they were all the same conventions within their titles.. Our titles borrow from the conventions of horror/thriller title sequences as they match the titles that many have. For example, 'Dawn of The Dead' has a clip, which cuts to a black screen with red text, pausing on the words, and then cutting back to a clip. Others have a long sequence of clips, and then after building enigma cutting to black with the title, usually in a red or white font colour. We decided to mix the ideas from different films, whilst displaying the conventions, and we decided to start off by having short red text on black titles cut between sequences of clips, and then after having a long sequence and building enigma cutting to a final title with the name of our film, always using the same font style, size, and colour.
The type of media institution that might distribute our product would be a small scale institution such as Channel 4 or Channel 5. I think this because they often show low budget one-off films, such as zombie horror or thrillers in the early hours of the morning. Especially Channel 4 as they often promote low budget independent film makers. It would be this type of institution because of the making of the film itself. It was small scale, and extremely low budget, and the equipment wasn’t the best standard. So typically the distributor matches the budget. Also, such places as Art House cinemas. These are cinemas that show low budget independent films, and would be ideal for our product. There is an Art House cinema in Exeter called the Phoenix. As it is fairly local to us, it may be the most appropriate.
The audience for our film opening would most probably be a wide audience rather than niche, because of the genre. The genre would appeal to a large number of viewers, but the amount that actually watched it would be down to the distributor. If it is small scale, then less people are likely to view it, because of the recognition of the company and their strategies of how they attract their audiences. I think we have targeted our audience to be teenagers to mid twenties. I think this is once again because of the genre of the film, as it is a horror younger audiences may not feel comfortable watching it, and also maybe the certificate on the film if it were to be fully produced may be a 15. Another factor is the age of the actors, the actual age of the actors being both 17. This would target teenagers as they could perhaps relate to them whilst watching the film.
We asked 10 people to fill out a survey whilst they watched our product and the results were very positive, although there were a few criticisms. They felt that the dialogue should have been more in-depth, and the blood on the costumes should have been more realistic. Apart from these comments, 100% of the audience that we surveyed said that they enjoyed the film opening, and would want to watch the rest of the film. 100% also said that it would appeal to a teenage audience as well, and this is what we were hoping to achieve. 80% of the audience also said that our product would appear in an Art House cinema, or on small budget television channels such as channel 5.
What I have learnt about the technologies from the process of constructing this product is that ‘iMovie’ has many features that you can use to your advantage to produce a professional quality product. We edited the footage as simply as possible to start off with, and then once we were happy with what we had, we then explored ‘iMovie’s’ features to see what effects would be suitable to enhance our product. As we had done two tasks previously, the preliminary and the introductory task, we were familiar with ‘iMovie’ enough to edit a well produced product, and also knew where to find the tools and effects. However, it was specific effects that we experimented with to see which was the most suitable. Another program that was essential to create this product was ‘Garageband’. As one of the task objectives was to create an original soundtrack, ‘Garageband’ was the best program to use to produce it. The main focus for our soundtrack was an eerie score to fit the type of film. After finding it, we then browsed through ‘Garageband’s’ loops to find effects such as the window smash and zombie roars. Again, as we had already used ‘Garageband’ in other tasks, we were comfortable developing our soundtrack using it. We edited some of the loops that we found to add dramatic effect to the film and create verisimilitude within it. For example, we found a ‘crazy people’ loop and decided it would be perfect for the zombie’s motif. We edited the re verb and echo on the loop and made it sound as if it was distant. When we added it to ‘iMovie’ it worked extremely well with the sequence where the male character is on the sofa, and sounded as if the laughing was coming from inside his head. The exact effect that we were looking for.
Throughout producing the product and upon completion I have noticed advances in my learning in terms of framing and composition and skills in camerawork and editing. When looking back at my previous work it is clear to see that every small detail within the shot is now considered, whereas when I lacked knowledge of framing and composition my footage could have been much more effective and professional if I knew then what I know now. As for camerawork and editing, the variety of shots, and the type of shots are continuously improving as I am trying different shots that may or may not be effective. Some shots work better than others but my shot inspiration is hugely based on previous products that I have done, and the type of shots I used in them, and expanding on them. I have also learnt, for editorial purposes to shoot sequences at least three times before moving on. I have learnt this because in previous tasks I have lacked footage to edit, and then realised it was too late so I have just had to make do with what I had. Within editing, I feel much more comfortable to explore ‘iMovie’s’ many features in order to make my product unique and professional, allowing me to show the skills that I have learnt and developed.
Overall I think that our final media product was a success, as it does everything that the task has stated you to achieve. Right from the beginning it creates enigma, and then leads to establish character and setting. Our final product follows and challenges conventions from the same genre, and it is shown most evidently through mise-en-scene and costume, and also the soundtrack. I am very pleased with our film opening as it represents how much we have learnt since the first task, and also how our skills have developed and it also achieved everything we wanted it to. Perhaps one thing I would have changed if we could start again would be to start much earlier than we did with the product, giving ourselves even more time to finely edit small details, even though we finished well before the deadline.
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