Evaluation Question One

In what ways does the media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

As a result of experiencing some continuity issues whilst filming the footage for our foundation portfolio film, this year we took precautions to make sure we did not encounter any major problems by creating a filming schedule, character profiles, and a detailed list of all the props we would require for every scene. This kept us organised throughout the production of the film. At a technical level, we made sure to maintain the 180 degree rule throughout in order to not detract the audiences' attention from our dramatic story line as it demands their concentration. Also, we edited various angels and different shots from the some scenes that were filmed at alternate times of the day- which therefore sported differentiate lighting- together in Final Cut Express by playing around with the contrast and brightness, in order to make the different clips appear as though they were all filmed at the same time.

Nevertheless, despite our efforts we did inevitably experience some minor continuity issues in the process. Examples of this was how the snow disrupted our filming during the month of January. A high percentage of our footage needed to be filmed outside, however the snow being featured in some shots and then not in others would have resulted in  some major continuity errors when attempting to make our film run smoothly; it simply would not have made sense to the audience. This meant that we had to wait lengthily time periods in between filming to give the snow opportunity to melt before we could recommence. However, this established continuity problems in itself considering the hair of the actors, especially that of the females actresses, had differed in colour/length since their previous scene; which in some cases was filmed two or three months prior. We tried to edit this as craftily as we could using a variety of wide shots, establishing shots an close-up shots so that no continuity errors were noticeable. One problem we faced as a result of not filming our footage in correspondence to the development of the plot was that the actor who was playing our protagonist Agnes had altered the length and colour of her hair in the midst of filming our footage. Instead of re-shooting what we had already done, we resolved this by plaiting her hair to conceal the fact it had differed.

The minor continuity errors which we experienced did not particularly effect our production in terms of how successful it was, but in my opinion if we were able to have had a larger time period to produce our film we would have had the opportunity to re-film some of the scenes that we occurred problems in, in order to make the continuity perfect. 

INTERTEXTUALITY

This year we also tried to experiment with a variety of new shots to develop our creative skills. We were inspired by Alfred Hitchcock's 1960's thriller, Psycho when looking at ideas of how to film the scene where Agnes is hanged by her parents. We knew we could not use an establishing shot nor a full-length shot of the actress physically having the noose tied around her neck as obvious safety hazards would be raised; nonetheless, we still wanted to shoot this scene in a way that was gruesome and detailed enough in order to stand at chance at being believed by the audience. The iconic shower scene in Psycho creates the impression that Marion Crane is viciously being stabbed to death, without even showing it. Hitchcock combined an array of fast-paced shots of the knife quickly dashing around the actresses flesh and synchronized the stabbing motions with a stabbing sound affect. There were no actual scenes of the knife entering the flesh, however this smart technique creates the illusion that she is being stabbed. 

We took inspiration from Hitchcock and filmed the footage for the scene where Agnes is hanged using the same technique as the shower scene above. Fast, quick-cut shots of the noose being placed around the actresses neck, her fidgeting feet as she struggles for her life, and lastly a shot of her dangling from the tree branch with the rope tied around her neck all create this illusion. We teamed the shots with a sound affect of a weighted rope to add to the verisimilitude (0.25). Despite the abrupt murder being portrayed in the scene, alike to Psycho the actress was not harmed and the 'hanging' is completely fake. The only time the actresses feet left the ground in the entire scene was when another actor, Jack, held her in the air whilst we filmed the footage of her feet having a spasm. We created the illusion of her 'hanging' from the rope by filming the shot from a low-angle.     

Another element of Hitchcock's shower scene that we wanted to use in our own film was the dissolve effect transitioning between the shot of the plug-hole at the bottom of the shower and Marion Crane's eye as she is lying on the floor having collapsed in the shower after being murdered. We felt this shot would add dimension to our film, whilst representing how Agnes suddenly remembered her murder and came to the realization that she is a ghost in her own home. We filmed a head shot of Agnes' shocked face whilst she clasped her hand around her neck, imitating the action of the noose being tied around her neck. We edited this to slowly dissolve into the actual shot of her hanging by the noose, to show this was what she was remembering. 

        

  

                       

One particular shot we knew we wanted to incorporate  into our film from the beginning was a pull focus shot. This type of shot has become renowned in Hollywood cinema, and has been famously used in successful films such as Jurassic Park (1993) and Jaws (1975). Apart from generally liking the overall appearance of the shot considering it adds dimension to our film, we wanted to use it during a scene to attract the audiences attention to a particular object. This type of shot can be used in a positive way and is by no means only associated with horror films like ours, but we knew that paired with some sinister music this shot would create suspense when used. We conducted research in the connotations of the shot to make sure it would present the desired outcome, and then watched a YouTube tutorial of how to create the shot on our camera.

We feel that the example of a pull focus shot in our film, adheres more to the one demonstrated in the YouTube clip above of the pull focus in Jaws rather than the one used in Jurassic Park merely due to the fact that the director in Jurassic Park uses the focus pull to present a positive image and to convey feelings of hopefulness; whereas the shot in Jaws provides the same feelings of tension and suspense as we conveyed in ours. We decided to use a pull focus shot in the kitchen scene at the beginning of our film. We begin to show how Agnes is preparing to make a cup of coffee; she boils the kettle and places a coffee cup on the kitchen cabinet beside her. We shoot this action from several different angles, demonstrating our creativity. Furthermore, Agnes turns way from the coffee cup for a few seconds as she is distracted by a flower display and is seen to read a sorrowful note attached to the flowers. When she turns around to recommence making her coffee after the kettle has boiled, she notices that someone had suddenly moved her cup to the other side of the kitchen, (this action is demonstrated from (5.38 on wards). We use a wide shot to show how the mug has moved, making sure Agnes was in focus whilst the coffee cup was out of focus. This could also be named as a shallow focus shot. We then twisted the lens of our camera as Agnes walked toward the cup, gradually creating a deep focus shot by involving everything in the shot in a full focus.

     

Considering the fact that all four members of our group each had unique story line ideas- along with contrasting genres to suit each plot- we determined it suitable for each member to present their story line to the rest of the group. The ambition was to sell our idea as much as possible. Emma chose thriller, Amber chose a psychological plot, Alice chose action and I chose romance. After being enthralled by each presentation, we concluded that it would be fair to evenly split the story line between us all. This was achieved by taking ideas from each story line; combined, they created the genre for our group film: a horror.

We injected elements of the thriller genre considering that our protagonist, Agnes, is murdered. This supports the typical 'thriller' stereotype as deaths are commonly used in this genre to create a sinister atmosphere and cause tension, whilst supporting Richard Dier's theory of intensity as we portray our characters to experience extreme lows: Agnes' parents drug addiction becoming so overpowering that it impulses them to murder their own daughter.

Evidence of a psychological plot is the climax in the narrative caused by the menacing music to build tension throughout the film and the flashbacks of Agnes' abusive childhood. The flashbacks adhere to Dier's theory of transparency considering that the use of flashbacks allows the audience to be informed of our protagonist Agnes' inner thoughts feelings.

The action aspect is presented through the fast-paced cutting between shots of sinister happenings taking place as a result of Agnes thinking her house is 'haunted'; when in actual fact it has merely been inhabited by new home owners, and she is the one who is haunting it. This adheres to Dier's theory of energy. We give the audience energy through our editing; the quick cutting of various shots between dramatic scenes. We teamed this with a loud sound affect of a heartbeat beating loudly over said scenes- gradually getting faster and faster to evoke the feeling of a palpation in the audience as our plot starts to unravel before their very eyes (5.07). 

My idea of a romance genre presents itself in the characters Agnes' mother and father as they are married in the film, and the romantic relationship between the 'ghost girl' and 'ghost boy'. The romance element evokes empathy in the audience; creating emotion when something negative impacts on them, such as the interrogation scene where we view the characters in a distressed state.

From observing several films produced by AS last year, the films with a horror/ thriller genre appear to have gained the highest grades- therefore, we felt that filming a horror genre would guarantee us a better grade rather than something like a comedy, for example.

An advantage our group had to filming a horror is the fact that a couple of the group members, myself included, have previous experience in this genre as I produced a film with a similar genre (a psychological thriller) for AS media which shared the same conventions and iconography, such as knifes and blood. A psychological thriller is also a sub-genre of horror: therefore, by choosing to film a horror allowed me to apply my previous experience and knowledge of this type of genre, and helped develop my skills in this particular area.  

This was our final story line: please click here to view.

Whilst creating our story line, we were inspired by horror films such as The Others (2001) and Shutter Island (2010). We decided that we wanted to subvert the stereotype of a psychological horror film centering around a male protagonist, as demonstrated in Shutter Island, and base our film from the point of view of a strong female protagonist instead: Agnes. This relates to Richard Dier's theory of community, as viewing the plot unravel from one particular persons point of view creates a personal tone. We were inspired by the female protagonist, Grace Stewart, in The Others when creating the character profile for Agnes. Alike to Grace, Agnes too discovers that she is a ghost at the end of the film. The majority of horror films feature a young, attractive female actress who is scared and, more than likely, seen running away from the antagonist (which is usually a male criminal or monster). We invert this stereotype considering our female protagonist Agnes is abused and eventually killed by the dominant male figure in the film: her father. This is a representation of how women and males are presented in horror films- for example, representing women as the weaker sex while men remain as the superior one. This supports Laura Mulvey's theory explained in her 1975 novel 'Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema' that, in films, women are viewed as objects; for example, Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman is portrayed as a sexualised object. I explore the ways in which women are presented in film further in one of my blog posts when I was in the process of gathering research before the production stage of our film: please click here to view.  In addition to this, one of our other female characters- the 'Ghost Girl'- believes she has seen a ghost (Agnes) in the house that she has just moved into, and immediately calls for her boyfriend. He dismisses the 'Ghost Girl's' allegations, even going as far as telling her "don't be stupid" (4.44) which creates a sense of the female character being naive and subordinate to the male who is so intent that she is letting her imagination run away with her. We were inspired by the idea of featuring flashbacks based on the protagonist Agnes' memory in our film after discovering how Martin Scorsese used them in his film Shutter Island to gradually leak clues of protagonist's (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) true identity. Therefore, it could be argued that Scorsese uses flashbacks as semiotic technique to help encourage the audience to 'click' onto the fact that the world the protagonist thinks he lives in is in fact a lie. 

Originally, we intended our film to be a horror. However, after conducting an audience questionnaire on what people thought the genre of our film was, our data was split into two categories: 50% of the people guessed it was a horror whilst the other 50% thought it was a thriller. This is understandable considering our non-linear story line and use of flashbacks, as well as the climactic narrative towards the end of the film, are all conventions of the thriller genre as well as horror. Despite not reaching 100% of the audience guessing it was a product of the 'horror' genre, the result still made us feel confident in achieving the scary tone we set out to create with our film. The answers did not stretch as far to genres that have nothing in common with horror, such as romance or comedy, which evidently means our film still projected the theories we wanted to considering that a thriller is a sub-genre of horror. Overall, we felt positive about the results; our film thankfully portrayed the major message we wanted it to: fear.

For the link to our final audience questionnaire responses that illustrates this, click here.

CONCLUSION

Overall, I feel that we provided the audience pleasure that we set out to achieve through our use of interesting shots, editing techniques and our dramatic, non-linear narrative- which provides our audience with the opportunity to delve into our protagonists point of view; sympathising with her and accompanying her on the emotional journey she encompasses throughout the film.