Evaluation Question 1
- 1. In what ways does your media film product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products. Our film is called Anonymous. We decided to call our film this as it gives a sense of mystery and uncertainty and makes the viewer feel unsettled as they're unsure of what it's about. Our film is about a young woman, called Lucy, who is attacked by her boyfriend, Danny, in their home. The audience are unaware that he is her boyfriend but they get the impression that these two characters are linked somehow due to Lucy's reaction when she sees him and the dialogue used. Sound Our opening sequence begins with with diagetic sounds of Lucy getting ready for her bath (the sound of the taps running etc). Throughout our film opening, we used long, minor key notes to give a mysterious and unnerving effect whilst Danny is walking through the house. This sound was parallel to the action in the clip and non-diagetic. This indicates that Danny is up to no good and that he isn't a very nice character. The sound from the bathroom is a juxtaposition to the sound of Danny walking through the house. The sound used in these scenes of Lucy in the bathroom is a happy, uplifting song. The sound is non-diagetic and sets a relaxed and comfortable environment. When Danny walks into the bathroom, there is diagetic dialogue of Lucy calling out his name. This scene is done from Danny's point of view. We decided to make Danny's hearing appear to be distorted to create an uneasy atmosphere and to show that there's something up with him and that he isn't in a good frame of mind. We added an echo type effect to Lucy's voice to enhance the disorientation and to make her seem unfamiliar. When the knife is dropped, there is a sharp and powerful noise which conflicts with the upbeat, happy music still playing in the background. Mise en scene In our horror film, we decided to subvert the usual stereotypical settings for horror films, such as graveyards, abandoned warehouses, forests, haunted houses etc, and set ours in a nice, modern looking house. We did this to create a false sense of security for Lucy. The house sets a calm and relaxed atmosphere and appears inviting. The walls in the bathroom are yellow. Yellow has a semiotic meaning of happiness and relaxation, which isd misleading to the audience and contradicts to the action of the film. However, we did follow some standard codes and conventions of horror films in our film. For instance, our main character, the villain, is dressed in dark clothes which greatly reflect the nature of our film. There's strong shadows on the walls around him which add to the mysterious, eerie effect. The other main character in our opening scene is a young, vulnerable, female which immediately makes her an easy target for the villain. The opening sequence is also set at night which creates a more haunting, unnerving effect for the audience. The final shot of our opening sequence is of the knife hitting the floor. The composition of this shot has the knife dominating the shot to highlight its significance. We also did it so that we could edit our film title over the top of this.
- 2. Camera angles and shots We decided to use a series of unfamiliar shots in our opening shots. We had the camera tilted slightly to give an unnerving effect and to make the audience think that something isn't quite right. Most of the shots of the villain are low angle shots to show his power and superiority throughout the clip. We use a lot of POV shots from the villains POV to make the audience see what Danny is seeing and engages the audience as it feels like they're the ones walking through the house. We had close up shots to somethings to highlight their significance, for example; Danny unlocking the door. He had his own key which shows that there was a strong link between him and Lucy. Also, the close ups of the radio were significant. This is because they highlighted the fact that the radio was playing, making Lucy even more vulnerable as she is entirely unaware of what is about to happen to her. The fact that the camera actually follows Danny through the house, whether through his POV or otherwise, challenges the conventions of horror films. This is because typically, the villain appears out of no where to attack the victim and it makes the audience jump, whereas in ours you can see the villain approaching the victim slowly. This creates added suspense to the clip as you know something bad is going to happen but you don't know when, or what exactly will happen. Editing To edit our opening sequence, we used Final Cut Pro. Our titles fade in and out in a plain white colour, we did this to make sure it didn't distract the audiences attention away from the actual footage. We predominantly used straight cuts to make our sequence flow consistently and to make it run smoothly. This is a common edit to use in horror films as it helps to keep the tension building and make the footage seem seamless. After Danny has walked up stairs, a black screen is shown. We did this as the next scene is of Lucy in the bath so these two clips contrast to show the difference between the relaxed atmosphere in the bathroom and the dangerous, cruel action that is about to occur. We edited the music to sound distorted when Danny is in the bathroom to show the audience how Danny is hearing it and that he isn't his usual self. We also colour graded our clips to make them darker, this creating a scarier and more mysterious effect.