photo montage/time lapse

 this is a motion picture time lapse of a specific scene we wanted to include in the movie of robyn 'disapearing' as the car drove past, although we didnt quite conquer the camera illusion, we took a photo stream of the action as it took place to try and split the scene into smaller sections to work with.

finished movie opening

Post film interview questions

1. Why did you choose the horror genre?
2. What did you find the hardest part of the filming process?
3. How well do you think the characters fitted in with their surroundings/location?
4. How have you used elements of sound in your film?
   DIEGETIC/NON-DIEGETIC 
5. What are your likes and dislikes on the editing software?
   ADOBE PREMIERE ELEMENTS
6. When filming, were there any barriers or problems and how did you work with them?
7. Why did you choose the location you did?
8. How did you work well as a filming team?
9. How do you think is film stands out from others?

Above are questions which we asked ourselves. We thought that these might be questions that the audience may want to find out and were the most important to guide them through our film. A short clip will be followed after this of our interviews.

Personal Interviews- Sophie

For our personal interviews we asked each other the same questions in order to view both our responses in contrast to enable us to view our strengths and weaknesses in contrast with each other. Also asking the same questions meant that we could decide on appropriate questions that would be applicable to us both and that we both agreed were relevant and necessary in our movie making process.

Personal interviews- Hollie

Sophie interviewed me in this video about some of the views i personally had towards our film production. when designing an appropriate question range for both of us we tried to consider some of the key filming aspects and terminology so that we could really give thoughtful and beneficial criticism and review towards our filming and editing.

Charachter interview- The drunken driver (colin)

This was an interview with the drunken driver character in the film. We wanted our film to be up to the interpretation of the audience to decipher who the real antagonist/villan was in our movie- whether it was the ghoulish resurrected girl seeking revenge or the drunken foolish driver- so in a way we wanted to create contrasting antagonistic qualities in both characters so audience members could relate to what they saw as more morally acceptable. For this reason, we asked both our main characters the same questions in the interviews almost so that they could defend why they believe they are the prominent antagonist.

Outsiders view interview-HARRY

Here i interviewed a younger individual who is the parallel opposite to the target audience our film is aimed at. As well as gaining feedback, criticism and reviews from our target audience and intended market...we also wanted to show why we wouldn't have intended such a young audience like this 13 year old to watch our movie. Also, this interview was effective in helping our movie making process because it enabled us to get a more clear and simple view from somebody that wouldn't necessarily watch our film or our film appeal to them. The questions we asked this interviewee differed from the questions we asked each-other  as the filming team and our main characters because this particular individual knew barley any context & content to our film and had no involvement in the process so was an effective outsider opinion to our film.

Charachter interviews-ROBYN

This is an interview with our key antagonist, the young girl who rises from the dead after being the victim of a drunk driving accident. Because of her age, and absence of prior acting ability we only casually and breifly interviewed her on some of the few key aspects of the filming process.

crash zoom and other filming techniques we could have used

A crash zoom is a sudden rapid zoom in on a subject..it is generally a typical horror movie cliche. We could have used this particular technique for the part of the scene where Robyn bangs on the car window and doom into her chilling facial expression- however this may have not been a large enough zoom radius for the camera shot& technique to appear effective.

A deep focus is another camera technique that we could have used- especially because this camera shot focuses on different depths and levels in a scene and is useful to give multiple characters prevalence which is relevant to our film with only two key characters for the main two roles. For the deep focus technique we can use premier elements 'blur and zoom' to create a similar effect.

A shallow focus was partly and subtly used in our movie making process to focus on the drunken male driver of the car because a shallow close up focus showed his features clearly and took the attention from audiences to him. a shallow focus is similar to a close up because it only has one singular focus and detail on one thing.

A pull focus was a specific transition/effect we wanted to use for our film titles rather than in the actual movie...this is because a pull focus tends to be used more in sci-fy films to appear to be artificial and fantasy.

We tried to keep to the rule of thirds in our movie opening and direct the audience attention to the prominent thirds of the screen, especially in the car scenes where we filmed and edited our male character to be on the far right of the screen. The only time we cleverly aimed to use the direct center of the scene and grid of thirds was when the girl was filmed in the car mirror after rising from the dead and was center of the mirror and of the road.

representation in our horror

What actually is a Horror? typical conventions

The horror genre is one of the most popular film genres, typically restricted by age certificate 15/18 and has the direct intentions to frighten, scare or to haunt the audience by including  graphic, mythical, Gothic, disturbing or chilling scenes which are portrayed in a believable way to enable the audience to feel as if they are watching something genuine. Horror films often have fast-paced progressive story-lines and action to build up tension and again, to keep the audience on edge. There are many stereotypes and representations you would expect in a Horror which are shown below, however we wanted our movie to subvert to typical conventions and bring audiences something which isn't so typical- for example the idea that we actually want audiences to sympathize and relate to our main antagonist. Unlike the drama genre for example which has many sub categorizations and each drama movie can be entirely different- usually conventions of horror are relatively similar meaning plots can almost be expected or predictable. 

Clothing (mis-en-scene)

the costume was the main thing to consider for both characters when considering representations and stereotypes especially relevant for us as we include no dialogue in our movie opening- and so we need clear symbolism and connotations expressed through our costume choice for the characters.  appearance has a large impact on the way your character is perceived throughout the film, whether this appearance changes during the movie, or whether the appearance is sustainable and stays the same to signal the particular importance of a character.  For Robyn (the young girl), we wanted her to have that look of innocence and purity relating to her childlike nature. For this reason, we chose to dress her in an old fashioned dress/nightie, which could represent childhood and a historical theme-bringing in contextual themes like the different historical periods where nightdresses like these were common.  the color too could symbolize innocence, purity and goodness-white is a parituclar color with clear connotations because of its links to angelic themes, biblical themes and as prior mentioned- innocence and purity. Most horror movies have typical conventions of going against god- themes involving hell and an opposing force or power and this color choice could bring in biblical links to our movie and how the dress is completely destroyed and blood stained could represent the contrast between purity and destroyal/pain. The stark red blood stained contrast is particularly prominent in our movie opening because the audience will be directly drawn into the deep contrasting colors. The white colored gown connoting purity could also assist towards our film twist where we attempt to make the audience think positively and sympasise with the girl- meaning later on in the film it will come as a shock/scare that she rises from the dead. 

However, the representation of our second character is dramatically different as we want the audience to believe that he is the villain. For this reason, the clothing we decided on was tracksuit bottoms with a work-style jacket and top, alongside with a hat. The hat, in fact, was used to make the character more discreet as we did not want to reveal his identity. Stereotypically, you would assume that the character is off the lower/working class with the work gear he was dressed in. We also focused on his over grown stubble in close up shots to suggest his lower class as he looked almost unclean and incapable. 

Editing

In horror films you would expect to see a lot of jump cuts to show uncertainty in scenes and to partially scare the audience by cutting quickly from one place to another; jump cuts can often be done at different angles to show a specific feature or area. Jump cuts also limit the prolonging of scenes, so that the action happens at an effective pace. This often makes the audience more engaged as they are awaiting a climax point to be revealed, where they can see something clearly rather than seconds of it. Jump cuts can have a negative representation on a character as for example, they could be shown at different angles and the fast-paced camera movement could signify many things such as urgency and panic which could suggest that something bad has been done.Another editing technique that you may see in a horror film would be cross-cutting, where the camera cuts between two situations that are happening simultaneously. This builds up tension as you would, again, stereo typically expect a tipping point where something bad happens. This is significant as it engages the audience and makes them want to watch on. To the right is a video editorial tutorial on jump cuts that i found useful because of the example jump cuts it used to portray the technique.

Additional Conventions

- Fast-paced camera movement

- Jump Cuts

- Villain 

- Deaths

- Blood (gore)

- Eerie music/sound track

- Dramatic endings

Sound

Sound is significant in horror films as you would often expect non-diegetic sound as it builds up tension and makes it more scary for the audience. Rather than soundtracks, jingles and common music sound in horror movies is often warped and child-mobile sounds are often common as well as repetitive sound effects like bangs and crashes. Although you would often expect to hear the eerie diegetic sounds, for example of a door creaking or someone screaming and these kind of sounds are important as they make the situation more realistic.

Location

Stereotypically, you would expect the location to be derelict, possibly in dark streets and narrow alleyways. These kind of areas have the representation of danger and characters often go there at their own risk. In many horror films you would see the typical abandoned house location or alternatively they would be in a completely isolated area where nobody knew about.