WELCOME!

An Introduction to Flick Trick 

Welcome to AS Media Team: Flick Trick's blog. On this blog you will find the process that we ventured on in creating our 2 minute horror film opening 'Ten'. 

We categorised the blog into 6 sections; Preliminary, Research, Planning, Production, Editing and Evaluation, which can be navigated using the contents tab on the top left of our blog. This way every post that we have created is ordered in a way that shows our progress and development towards our finished product. 

By Alexandra Gibson

Ten: Final Cut

The Final Cut 

Evaluation Question 1

How We Challenged/Followed Conventions of Horror 

We found when studying and researching successful horror films, that certain aspects were used to build suspense, including music, antagonists and unnerving locations. As we chose to follow the conventions of horror, we became highly influenced by the films that we studied. For instance the music in Jaws - single tones, sharp notes, the sound of violins, all compiled to create one of the most suspenseful pieces of music in a motion picture. This influence is evident in our original score. Also the  antagonist in Psycho, during the infamous 'Show Scene' is only seen through shadow. In our piece our antagonist is only seen as a black figure, allowing a sense of ambiguity and the unknown, which we believed added to the overall suspense of the piece. Our location of a park or 'A Safe Place' was inspired by horror movies featured in said safe places such as the hotel in 'The Shining' or the homes used in 'Paranormal Activity'.  

By Alexandra Gibson, Emili Hone, Melissa Owen and Harry Crotty

Evaluation Question 2

HOW DOES OUR PIECE REPRESENT PARTICULAR SOCIAL GROUPS?

Our piece has particular representations associated with gender and age. Here I will break down how we have represented these two groups in terms of mise-en-scene, sound, camera work and editing.

Gender

Through our two male characters, we have presented males as the source of action. This is a common stereotype as males signify strength and resilience, which is associated with action.

 

Our mise-en-scene shows the male characters actually move around the setting, which poses as a direct link to the stereotype that males are active in action roles.

 

We accentuated this through our use of camera work here, where we used a close up of the feet running.

The non-diegetic sound of the music works hand in hand with the mise-en-scene that presents our male protagonist as strong and powerful, another stereotype associated with the male sex. The music builds tension as a result of this character, showing his power and control over the situation. This is emulated by his costume, presenting him as dark and mysterious as his hood hides his identity. If a mystery can cause such disruption in a scene, it must be strong and powerful.

 

 

Despite the sense of action and control from the male characters, there is an essence of vulnerability shown through our male teen. His expressions show fear and worry, which is not necessarily expected of a male character due to the common stereotypes. It could be said that by placing him in a dangerous situation, we have challenged the idea that men convey power.

 

 

When it comes to the female character, we chose to represent her as vulnerable when left alone. The mise-en-scene shows her to be in an open space throughout the opening, which highlights her solitude.  

 

Our use of camera work is very important in the female representation. We used extreme close-up shots to make it feel as though her personal space is being invaded, which foreshadows her suggested fate in the hands of the antagonist. We also used downwards panning shots to give the idea that she is being watched.

 

The over-the-shoulder shot displays our female character as completely alone yet being closely watched. The suggestion that the antagonist will attack her is very apparent through the build up in music, which really adds to her vulnerability.

 

The diegetic sound of her gasp highlights her shock and fear at the situation. This then again shows her weakness and helplessness.

Despite the fact that the stereotypes that we represent are not accurate in realistic day-to-day life, they are the idea's that are normally presented in horror films. Therefore we made sure that we materialised these idea's in our piece in attempt to keep with the conventions of horror.  

AGE

The youth of the protagonist characters is shown through the innocence of the game 'hide and seek' and through the actors obvious age.Teenagers are often represented in all media as reckless and irresponsible. Our piece does suggest a sense of this, as they are in a dangerous situation, however they are not the reason for the danger. Instead, we have presented the youth as slightly exposed and defenceless.

By Emili Hone

 

Evaluation Question 3

What type of Media Institution might distribute your media product and why?

Above is a video demonstrating some of our choices as to what media institution might represent our film opening. 
We wanted to find a reputable film studio that would popularly distribute our film. As we researched we found that New Line Cinema, and Paramount Pictures would be two possibilities to associate with our film, however for two juxtaposing reasons. New Line Cinema has produced franchises, and some of the biggest horror films, and would be able to distribute the film to a wider audience. A common misconception is that because the film is low budget, only a small institution would be able to distribute it appropriately. However when researching I found that production conglomerate Paramount Pictures distributed Paranormal Activity, which had an extremely low budget of only $15,000 and no well known actors attached to the project, despite this it has developed into one of the biggest horror motion picture franchises. Therefore it is not unrealistic to select New Line Cinema or Paramount to be attached to our film. Such big studios producing low budget films with unknown actors, would be beneficial to the reality and believability of the film, therefore making the experience all the more terrifying for an audience. 

However as our film is strictly British another film studio that would distribute our film could be Momentum Pictures, who distributed 'The Woman In Black' and 'Insidious'. 

By Alexandra Gibson

Evaluation Question 4 & 5

Who are your audience and how did you attract/address them?

Our target audience are teenagers, both male and female, aged 16-25 so that we can attract a broad audience. In order to attract this audience of both genders we used a relatable cast who are aged 17, Gareth and Lily. We found that through watching many horror films, the majority of the victims of the antagonist involved within the narrative are teenagers as this is more likely to attract the teenage audience.

During the research process, we interviewed some of our target audience so that we could gain information about what they found scary and what they did not. We found out that many of them felt safest in a place where there are lots of people surrounding them and they felt less safe in a place that was secluded from people and society. It is demonstrated in our film opening that we have listened to what they have said as we have set the opening in a park (a place where there are usually lots of people) and a woods (an isolated location). 

Furthermore, by setting our film opening in woods we are also following the conventions of horror as this is a stereotypical setting for a horror film.

We also found that, when researching into our target audience, that they had a fear of the unknown. Therefore, by not revealing our protagonist to the audience in the opening of the film we are applying the research to the opening in order to engage our audience and build suspense. 

Finally, we thought to make our characters more relatable for the teenage audience we would also use realistic costume. For example, by not obviously displaying designer and expensive clothes, it is not creating a specific representation of the characters and so all of the target audience will be able to relate to the characters and find the film opening more engaging.

By Melissa Owen

Evaluation Question 6

What have we learnt about technology and social media?

Through producing our opening, we have collectively learnt a lot about the technologies that we have been using.

1)  imovie

We have learnt how to import footage and music.

How to match sounds to clips.

How to export the footage once it is complete.

How to cut clips.

Adding titles to clips, including changing the font type, size, and colour.

2) GarageBand

We used this program to create the music to our piece.

We have learnt how to find instruments and create sound tracks.

3) Google Blogger

Using this blog itself has taught us a lot.

We now know how to create, edit and publish posts.

We have learnt how useful it is to keep organised with our work and progress.

4) Social Media

We have seen the importance of social media in terms of feedback for our piece. After posting a link to our opening on facebook and twitter we received a lot of positive messages such as:

We have therefore learnt the value that social media can have when reviewing not just a film opening, but all films.

By Emili Hone