The audience/class's feedback was that the takes were too long which made the clips look less believable or real compared to the fast paced cuts you see nowadays.
The killing was also too long on both the doll and the body being stabbed, so we plan to make these cuts fast and sharp and also probably change the fake blood as the mixture we used for this was too orange.
Another bit of criticism was lack of sound or a sound track, so were are going to try make on ourselves either on garage band or simply with guitars and bass.
The target audience for LS29's film opening is younger people rather than old, roughly 16-25. We have gone for this target audience because the storyline of the film opening is similar to that of Child's Play; a series of films based on a killer doll, that's brought to life also through electrocution but through other methods too such as voodoo. Some differences with LS29's film opening and the Child's Play series is that the doll is the spirit of a person; a serial killer called Charles Lee Ray where as Sam and I's film opening hasn't got that included, it could be the case but there simply isn't enough time to expose that.
Our film opening, we believe, also fits in with the Child's Play film's target audience (16-25) and this is because the younger the person, stereotypically the more imaginative they are when it comes to films, either imaginative or simply easier to please. This means that the younger the person, the more they are supposedly going to enjoy the idea of a doll being alive and not only alive, but a killer too. Sam and I believe that the older the person, the less likely they are to embrace the killer doll concept and they may see it as being childish, especially with the story line being similar to that of Child's Play. It's not so much that Sam and I think that the older age group won't enjoy our film opening, it's simply that we believe they may not enjoy the storyline; however, we may be wrong and they could possibly enjoy the film opening as long as they find the killer doll's role in the film believable and effective.
The young audience that Sam and I are targeting could be easily accessed through social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. The older age group may be harder to promote our film to because there is a lot less older people on Facebook and Twitter. Our film opening, like the Child's Play series may be seen as inappropriate by some people due to the killer in the slasher genre being a Child's toy, in this case a doll. If this was to happen, it would most likely be older people thinking like this and this is another reason why they're less likely to targeted as an audience. The young people however may feel even more encouraged to watch the film if older people are contesting it like they did with the Child's Play films.
Sam and I bought this doll with it looking completely child friendly and the first thing we did in order to change that is burn it's right arm and the side of it's face. Because of the burn marks, we think it would be a good idea to make our slasher opening look as if it's a sequel and we are thinking about opening the scene with a shot of the doll being buried and the person burying it looking old fashioned, possibly wearing a suit and top hat, then checking a pocket watch. By doing this, the suit, top hat and pocket watch will connote to the shot being set around 100 years ago and therefore the doll being very old which adds to its scariness. To bring the doll back, Sam and I are going to try and film a dog digging in the ground and then bringing the doll into the house; it will be difficult to make a dog do this but we'll try our best and we think it'll be a very effective way of bringing the killer doll back to life. The dog will then bring the doll into the house and then drop it onto the wire which will then electrocute it and bring it back to life.
Sam and I, after burning the doll, nailed a bolt into its head just to make it look scary, this could connote to someone having tried to kill it in a past life and the blood stains signify that the doll has endured pain or caused pain to someone, the bandage also connotes to the doll having endured pain, possibly from someone trying to harm it. The doll is quite hard to make move, the legs aren't very flexible. However, Sam and I have filmed some practice footage of the doll walking and it will be uploaded on Friday so that we can receive feedback on it. We are filming and editing tomorrow in order to get our 2nd rough cut finished. This doll can perform the same movements than the original action figure can, however it is harder and may look less effective. This doll though does look a lot scarier than our original action figure and we're happy with how it looks.
The only problem with this doll is that it doesn't relate to the colour red at all, apart from the blood and this isn't enough to keep the name Red Run. 'Red Run' however is a working title and can be changed at any time, the only problem is that Sam and I don't have any other names that we have thought of so we are going to concentrate more on trying to get some red clothes for the doll which we can rip up and make to look scary to fit the slasher genre. It was suggested that we dye the blue pants that the doll is wearing red so that we can keep the name and we are considering this.
To improve our rough cut, Sam and I need to pay more attention to little details when filming. One of these details is the amount of time that the shots are one for; for example, on our first rough cut, there are point of view shots of the action figure walking towards the teenage boy who has just been tripped and fell down the stairs. For this shot, Sam and I need to make it shorter or break it up into seperate parts so that it's more believable and doesn't lose its effectiveness. Also, we were thinking about adding an effect to make the shot more blurred by using layering and and adding to layers over to make it look as if the character is dizzy after falling down the stairs, we were also thinking about adding a video effect or transition to make it look as if the character is blinking; it's little effects like this that should make the overall product more convincing and mroe enjoyable to watch. Another aspect of our rough cut that needs improving is the mise en scene. Sam and I are going to change what's lying on the floor at the beginning of the rough cut as the electrocution occurs, we will add things that are more scary and more suitable to the slasher genre. We're not sure what yet but we could link it in with another film to add intertextuality to our film opening. Another idea is to add a slaher film such as Halloween or Friday 13th poster to the wall of the room to provide some intertextuality.
Also, taking the feedback that we received from our first rough cut into account, we need to change the lighting of the shots and make it darker to make it scarier and mroe intense as everything is scarier in the dark and once again, this will suit the slasher genre more.
This is LS29's first rough cut for the Red Run film opening. The feedback that Sam and I received made it clear that the red action figure used as the killer wasn't appropriate for the slasher genre that we are attempting to achieve and that instead we should use a doll like in the Child's Play films. I will look for a new doll, preferably a child's toy. However, Sam and I need to focus on keeping the doll part of a red theme to avoid having to change the name of our working title this late. Also, I think that the lighting in the shots is too bright and that it would be more suitable to the slasher genre if the lighting is darker. As well, obviously the rough cut doesn't have a good ending and Sam and I are still deciding which ending to go with; we like the idea of having another doll that looks scary, however kills the other doll and saves the teenage boy. We will have another rough cut up on Thursday with both endings so that we can receive feedback as to which one to go with. Some other feedback that we received is that the electrocution of the action figures at the beginning is good but would be better with sound effects
Last night, Sam and I did some more filming towards our rough cut video. We re-filmed the movement of the action figure (doll) and of the action figure entering the room and walking around on the other side of the door. We filmed this by turning off all of the lights in the room in which we were filming, placing the camera on the floor, looking underneath the door into a room where the light is turned on. I then control the doll, moving it's legs to make it look as if it's moving and walking around on the other side of the door. Watching this back, Sam and I think it looks good but Sam forgot the battery for his camera so we had to use an iPod camera which obviously didn't work as well and the quality wasn't as good. However, we are still happy with how the filming went as we think it looks realistic as if the action figure really is walking around on the other side of the door. We will definitely re-film these shots using a better camera though.
When filming, we also filmed the action figures hand pushing open the door and then walking in; this was harder to do because we had to be very careful how we filmed the shots as we had to avoid filming my hands which were controlling the action figure. We did this well but it was made harder by the fact we were using an iPod camera because it wouldn't go on a tripod and the shots are most likely going to be very shaky which isn't good at all; this is even more reason to re-film these shots and Sam and I will do so tonight and tomorrow, using better cameras!
At this stage, we are still behind on filming and should have already produced a rough cut video including all our practise footage and a basic idea on what happens in our film opening. We haven't filmed all of our idea yet and haven't filmed the whole of the opening. We will have this completed though within the next two days.
Practise footage should be up soon, we have filmed the scene of the boy in his room and how he comes to life, but it is hard to see and of course this will only be the rough footage, so we will improve on this. We also filmed the stairs scene we have described in one of our podcasts, but the tape we recorded on was corrupted and had lines across the video. This footage though looked really nice and we will defiantly use it for the actual finished project as it really gives the effect of someone falling down the stairs and looks realistic as the mattress is out of shot, and fast paced cutting should make it even more realistic and be more effective for the audience watching.
Practise footage should be up soon, we have filmed the scene of the boy in his room and how he comes to life, but it is hard to see and of course this will only be the rough footage, so we will improve on this. We also filmed the stairs scene we have described in one of our podcasts, but the tape we recorded on was corrupted and had lines across the video. This footage though looked really nice and we will defiantly use it for the actual finished project as it really gives the effect of someone falling down the stairs and looks realistic as the mattress is out of shot, and fast paced cutting should make it even more realistic and be more effective for the audience watching.
Ever since 'Laurie Strode' in Halloween, t has become almost a cliche that a lone woman will be the one left standing at the end of a slasher film. Before Halloween, heroines had survived horror movies, but the climactic battle between Laurie and the bogeyman was a 'veritable blueprint' of what was to follow. Sometimes there was a final boy (Alfred in The Burning) but that was a rarity.
The final girl was usually a virgin (unlike most of her friends) Shy, but smart and she turns the cat and mouse games to her advantage in her battle to make it to the closing credits. In many ways, the final girl has taken over the role of the traditional male hero in slashers.
Some final girls, such as the one in The Dorm That Dripped Blood make it through the movie, but in a cruel ironic twist of fate, fall at the finish line. However, even if the girl does make it to the end of the film, there is still no guarantee that she will live through the sequel.
The final girl appeals to both males and females, through her possible attractive looks and also an inspiration to the female audience.
Today, Sam and I re-filmed the shots of the house which we are using to set the typical slasher scene; an isolated, big house, usually in the dark. However, this time we went to re-film the house because it's snowing and we think that this adds extra effect to the shot. We will post videos of both the shots, one with the snow and one without and get feedback from people on which one looks better. The first time we filmed the house with the snow, it was light and we did this simply because it might not still be snowing when it gets dark but if it is we will film it again and then we will have even more footage to compare and get feedback from other people.
Tomorrow, Sam and I will film again when the is more snow on the floor because we think it will look better, we may even film it in the morning and again at night, we could then play around with the idea of fading one into each other. Also, when filming tomorrow, Sam and I will do more filming inside and re-film the shots which use the stairs and show the teenage boy falling down them, onto mattresses obviously which won't be seen by the camera. We need to film these shots again because the first time we filmed them, the tape broke and put lines across the videos so unfortunately we can't use them but hopefully this time we can get more footage and film it better this time.
Sam and I are slightly behind on filming and haven't yet produced a practise footage video which we need to do. Even though we have the footage, we haven't yet filmed practise shots of everything that we're doing in our film opening. We know what we want to do but haven't yet got around to it; we will film some more next week and produce a practise footage video which we can show to people to gain some feedback, comments and advise.
The mattresses on the stairs used to cushion the fall.
Today Sam and I filmed some practice footage to test some of the scenes from our slasher film opening. In our film opening which involves a killer doll, similar to 'Child's Play', the doll is attempting to kill a teenage boy with the boy desperate to escape, he sprints through his house until he's stopped by the doll jumping and grabbing hold of his leg causing him to fall down the stairs. To film the boy falling down the stairs, Sam and I put two mattresses down the stairs to make the fall comfortable and filmed from the top of the stairs, making sure that the mattresses weren't visible because if they were, it would be obviously how to shot was filmed and it would lose its effect. We didn't film the shot where the doll grabs onto the boy's leg but as he's holding the boy's leg when he falls down the stairs, we tied the doll around the leg making it look as if he was holding onto it, causing the boy to fall. Obviously at this stage of filming, the shots aren't as good as they could be and there are definitely some things that will need to be changed to improve them. Sam and I will upload our practice footage to Vimeo and embed it on our blogs so that others can watch it and give us feedback, helping us to learn what we've done wrong and what needs to be done to make the shots better.
We also filmed some practice footage of the doll's feet moving in light underneath a door; this was easy to film as I could control the doll's movements whilst Sam filmed and after watching the footage back, it looked good and we were happy with it but we know it could be better and the shots will be uploaded with the footage of the stairs scene so that they can be reviewed and analysed, giving Sam and I feedback to make the shots better.
Sam and I are also planning to film on Saturday, by then we will have gained feedback and we will be able to use it to improve on what we've already filmed. We will film the shots that we've already filmed before but also film some scenes that we haven't yet filmed. We are doing the filming in my house although we're setting the scene in a different house which is big and Victorian, making the setting scarier and more suitable for the slasher genre.
Students were tasked with looking at at least the 1st 25mins of a horror film (mostly slashers), and make notes on how it reflected (or tweaked) the conventions of the slasher genre; this vodcast summarises these findings, plus compares the film to their own current ideas for a slasher opening...
II made this vodcast using I-Movie. I simply watched the opening of it through twice, taking notes on what I thought were important aspects of the story line and mise-en-scene and then I went through the opening again for a third time, taking screen shots. Once I had all of the screen shots that I wanted, I then played them through and spoke about what was on screen and why I thought it was important. I also used I-Movie to record my voice and I chose to use this software over other possible software i'm familiar with and had access to such as Final Cut and Sony Vegas because the I.T skills required for the task were very basic and I see I-Movie as a simple and basic program where as Final Cut and Sony Vegas are a lot more complex and a lot of their features are irrelevant to the task we had been set.
Please feel free to leave comments and suggestions as to how I can improve this vodcast so that I can take ito consideration what I could do to make my next vodcast better.
Some of my favourite films are Kill Bill, Pulp Fiction, Snatch, Inglorious Basterds and The Wind That Shakes The Barley; Kill Bill, Pulp Fiction and Inglorious Basterds all being films directed by Quentin Tarantino connote to me having a specific taste in films and enjoying Tarantino's techniques and methods such as not being afraid to be explicit with violence and use completely wild ideas that are just passed as being the standard norm in the films. Also, Tarantino's films can usually have a twist or leave a lot of things untold to confuse the audience. Sam and I could include some of these ideas in our media product and take a look as to how Tarantino portrays violence in his films, how he films it as in the shot types etc, the length of the shots and how much he reveals and how much he leaves to the audience's imagination.
Tarantino often uses the technique of keeping his characters secretive when they are first introduced and doesn't give a lot away, for example by maybe showing extreme close up shots that aren't revealing and only give away small features about the character. I think that this is a good technique as it builds up suspense and when the character is revealed, it's more effective. Sam and I did some practise filming and filmed some shots of an action figure moving; we don't intend to use this action figure for our real media product but we haven't yet bought a doll to use for the real thing. Watch the video to see some of the shots we filmed such as a shot under the door, filming from a dark room into the light where only the action figure's feet can be seen. I like this shot as it doesn't show a lot of the action figure, yet it's effective as it shows it walking.
When LS29 film again, I think that we need to improve on the mise-en-scene which is the design of the set such as the scenery, people and objects etc and how they're portrayed such as the positioning of objects and the arrangement of them. This can normally be a visual theme, and used to both connote and denote certain aspects of the film. Sam and I could improve on our mise-en-scene as we didn't include a lot of visual representations in our practise footage as we filmed the doll in the light breaking through into the room where as the rest of the room was dark and therefore the posters and objects left lying around on the floor, connoting to the room being that of a teenage boy, can't be seen.
Sam and I have been using Sam's own HD Camcorder rather than the school's and this is simply because we are more familiar with it and it's easier to access, however, we have done some practise filming with the school's camcorders and we got on well with them. We picked up quickly the settings on it and how to record and play back our footage, although we would rather film with Sam's camera as it records the footage onto an SD memory card rather than a tape which we can only upload onto the school's computers rather than our own computers at home and this just makes our work more difficult to access. Even though Sam and I are using a camera that we're familiar with, we're still learning more things about it and improving our knowledge, especially with the lenses and learning which one to use and how to focus it. Another aspect of our filming that's used to us is using a tri-pod and i'm pleased that i've now learnt how to use one well and know which each turning does.
When editing our footage, Sam and I have been using i-movie and final cut. We made our own prelims using practise footage that our media technician filmed. I don't like using i-movie as I think it's too simple and basic and there's not a lot that you can do to make your product individual and therefore a lot of people's media products created on i-movie are similar and not unique. I much prefer using Final Cut however as it's quite similar to Sony Vegas which I have used before and I really enjoyed using it. Final Cut however does have its unique points that I have been picking up and becoming familiar with and i'm very pleased with my progression using both new software and equipment.
This is my ident. I filmed it using a Nikon HD Camera and it took a lot of shots to get right. I got the idea from a man called William Tell who lived in the 1300s. William Tell was forced by a bailiff to shoot an apple from his son's head and Tell did so, striking the apple and not harming his son; he was however not freed by the bailiff which was part of the deal. In my ident, an apple is shot from the head of the doll, hence the name William Tell with the two names the other way around, Tell William (Productions). I added a colour effect to the shot to make the colour look more interesting, bold and deep. I also added a sound effect of the gun which I recorded from a Play Station 3 game, Call of Duty - Modern Warfare 2.
An Artist's Impression Of William Tell
I like the doll that I chose for the ident as it looks quite scary and desolate and it looks as if it could feature in a slasher film which is a relevant thing because my ident will be played before LS29 Production's media product, 'Red Run'. I still think however that my ident can be improved and to achieve this i'm going to extend the shot and make the ident longer; the shot will fade both in and out and the word 'productions' will stay on screen longer, making it stand out more and giving the ident more of an impact. Please feel free to leave comments, suggesting what can be improved with my ident and what parts of it you did like.
First ident "A compass international pictures release" followed by "Moustapha akkad presents" fades to a lit pumpkin with the camera moving very slowly towards it from a extreme longshot as more titles are shown. There is also a audio bridge across all of thios, a unsettling piano tune made to add suspense and is slowly getting louder. Each title shown also fades out to a red clour symbolising blood and that this is a horror film. Inside the pumpkin there is a programmed light that is made to flash on and off to add effect and keep the viewers eyes fixed on the film. This then fades out and fades into "Directed by John Carpernter". the musicpitch and sound then changes as it goes to the title "Haddonfield, Illnois." this then tells us the location and that its quite serious as a serif font is used. Title then changes again to "Halloween night, 1963" Thia tells the audience when this is taking place and also relates to the title of the film. Children are also singing in the background as this is taking place changing the mood of whats happening. Title fades out and music abruptly stops. 2:18 in, opening scene starts, extreme longshot of a house and a steady cam is being used so it can reinact the view of someone walking without jolty movements. This is moving towards a house, the house is terraced and looks like a urban setting. Over this there is also no music. This gives a a creepy atmosphere. First 2 characters are then seen at 2:31, as the cam is moving towards the house you briefly see a young couple kissing through the front door window. This tells us that these people are going to be victims as they are unpure and possibly sexually active. The steadycam then moves round the side of the house to a window, here you can see the couple from before kissing on the sofa and then go upstairs shortly after to possibly have sex. From this now you definatly know that one or both of them will die in this opening scene. The steadycam goes back round the the front of the houseand looks up at a upstairs window, as the light then goes off in that room a sharp piano note is played ringing, and the steadycam/potential killer then moves quickly to the back of the house.This then moves through thr backdoor turning on the kitchen light and takng a knife out of a draw. By this we know that this is a POV shot and we also saw the killrs arm as he reached out for the knife. By showing a knife this also show's that this film is going to be a slasher. The killer then walks through the house to the stairs just when the male is coming back down the stairs and leaving the house. The killer then walks up the stairs finding a mask on the floor and putting it on. This emphasises the POV shot as it shows that the camera is the killers eyes. as the mask makes a shadow template onto the camera. The killer then walks into the girls room up behind her, when the girl turns around her reaction is of as she knew him "screaming michael" Killer then repeatedly stabs her not showing much graphic shots so it still gives a realistic look. Killer then walks down out of the front door where a car is just pulling in. 2 adults then come out of the car walking towards him, also knowing who he is they say "Michael?" Camera then changes from the POV shot as the man takes off the killers mask zooming out showing a small child wearing a halloween costume holding the knife.
The opening begins with diagetic sounds of a high pitched screaming denoting that the voice is of a female.
The first shot is a dark side on medium shot of a girl running through an isolated woods at night time (this is denoted by the darkness).
There is an extreme long shot of the girl running past and then a torch light on the right hand side following the girl, denoting that she is being chased.
The next shot is a long shot head on view of the girl (in which we first see her facial features, she has blonde hair, denoting that she is a scream queen and connoting that she will die). The girl runs diagonally past the camera and the subject with the torchlight is following her. (The audience can still hear diagetic sounds of her out of breath and screaming)
The girl falls into a heap full of leaves, the audiences hears diagetic sound of a twig breaking which could possibly denote that she has a broken bone, connoting that she is unable to move.
A P.O.V shot is shown of the person with the torchlight searching for the girl, moving the torchlight across the leaves, connoting that she is his prey.
There is a close up shot of a phone, anchoring the time era, the subject scrolls down his contact list and stops at 'Becky', the then rings the phone.
The scream queens phone starts ringing, using exposition to tell the audience the scream queens name, and also denoting that the predator and scream queen have a relationship, they know each other.
There is non diagetic sound of a siren like sound, building tension, as the music gets faster, there is a dutch angle (denoting that something is wrong) of a medium close up of the scream queen crying.
A diagetic sound of a gunshot is heard denoting that the girl has been killed.
a Transition is used straight afterwards to denote the ending of the opening.
THE OPENING LASTS 2.02 MINUTES
(Which is similar to the time allowed for the AS student opening of a slasher film)
Peeping Tom (1960) Michael Powell (Director) £135,000 (Budget)
The opening shot of the film is of a closed eye, blinking as if it's going to open and then it does open, suddenly rather than slowly as if the person's shocked and has been distracted by something and this connotes that there's something wrong. Once the eye's open int keeps opening wider and wider as if the person's seeing something that they can't quite believe. It's such a close up view of a blue eye that it's hard to imagine whether the eye belongs to a male or female, let alone what they look like.
The next shot is down a dark alley covered in litter with a woman looking into a shop, she looks vulnerable and then turns around dressed in a skirt and top looking like she works the streets as a mysterious man in a long coat walks down the road. It's sunset so it's either late night or early morning connoting she could be working the streets as it's too late for shopping and she's looking into a shop window. The next shot is of an old fashioned camera, it's hidden in a coat a similar colour to t he man's coat who walked past the possibly hooker connoting that he's a creep and that he's filming her.
Original poster.
The camera zooms into the lens of the camera until the screen's black and then the next shot is of the woman on the street being filmed and the viewer can see through the camera's point of view as he walks up to her and checks her out suggesting he could be a pervert before she says 'could be 2 quid' and then walking down another alley in which he follows, still through the camera's point of view. They then go into a house an upstairs denoting that she's a prostitute as she undresses. He then moves closer and closer to the woman as she's lying on the bed and she starts screaming 'NO NO' as if he's got a weapon such as a knife in his hand. It's still being shown through the camera's point of view as if the viewer is enjoying seeing through the killer's point of view as if it's them doing the killing.
The film then skips from the killing straight into a completely different scenario of a man sat in chair watching back the video made of the woman being killed. This connotes that he's the killer. His identity is kept secret in the opening of the film but from the back he looks young and also rich as he has a big screen to watch his film back on; it looks like he has his own cinema room.
Opens with a close up of the telephone with diegetic sound of the phone ringing. The phone is answered by a hot blonde teenage girl who could possibly be the scream queen because she is blonde. After putting the phone down and being called again, the teenage girl puts the phone down for a second time after making a joke about there being a sex line number that he should call instead. The fact she talks about a sex line connotes that she's sexually active and this is another example as to why she could be the scream queen. A shot of the outside of the house is then shown with the rope swing moving on it's on. The shot shows that the house is worth a lot of money and looks to be quite private and desolate which makes it a good setting for a slasher movie and for killings to take place. Also, no one else can be seen which denotes the girl is on her own and is vulnerable. The girl says she'll call the police but he tells her that they'll never make it on time suggesting that authority figures are useless like most over slasher films.
The vulnerable, blonde, sexually active, alone teenage girl then gets another phone call from the secret man after putting on some popcorn. The girl continues to talk to the man even though he's weird, creepy and stalking her slightly; she tells him what she's doing and that she's about to watch a scary movie with some popcorn. The man on the phone takes interest in the fact she's going to watch a scary movie and asks her what her favourite movie is; she then plays with knifes, this is supposed to be a joke as she's playing around with a deadly weapon as if it's nothing.
The man on the phone gives away the fact he's looking at her which completely changes the feel and mood of the situation; it becomes tense as the girl becomes worried and panics. She gets angry with the man on the phone and as her fear rises, so does the popcorn. When she puts the phone down on him once again, the door bell rings and it sounds like a teasing little tune and when the girl is running around the house, the drum beat in the music gets louder and louder and faster and faster, making the audience feel more tense as their heartbeat speeds up. The girl makes a comment about her boyfriend, proving that she was lying earlier and she describes him as a jock, connoting that she's sexually active if not even denoting it. This is even more reason to believe she's a scream queen therefore she's going to die.
There is non diegetic sound of heavy drum beats, making the atmosphere intense and they're heard when the man on the phone tells the girl to turn on the patio lights. With her boyfriend tied up on the patio, the man on the phone tells her to play a game which is ironic as she's not enjoying it much. The question he asks her is to do with Halloween, her favourite slasher film and because it's a slasher film it's post modernism of Scream being a slasher film too. She gets the question wrong resulting in her boyfriend being killed and as he dies and she crawls away from the window, scary music made with string instruments is played over it. After the man breaks into the house, chases the girl around it and then outside again, the girl sees her parents but they don't notice her as they drive past in a car and this is another example of authority figures being of no use in slasher films. As the masked man catches up to the girl as she runs across her garden, he stabs her in the breasts with a long sharp knife, this is a phalic object.
First scene with Chucky’s eye being gorged out after he’s been burnt - I think this represents violence and was done to reflect on all of the violence an pain that Chucky has caused. As his eye is being gorged out, his face looks angry and annoyed, representing his evil character and how he’s out to look for revenge. There is a camera angle owner of the Good Boy’s company that produces the dolls and the angle is of his car in front of New York sky scrapers. It’s a low angle shot and I think that this represents the power of the company but more importantly Chucky and how he’s going to come back and haunt Andy, after all there wouldn’t be a film if he didn’t.
The next shot is of the burnt material being scraped off the doll on the burnt corpse of Chucky. I think this was done to represent more violence and it may give the viewing audience pleasure to see Chucky being hurt without him being able to do anything. Also, the tool being used to do this is a scalpel which is obviously a very dangerous weapon and this could possibly represent one of the weapons that Chucky could use. As the doll is being repaired and the face is put on, the doll looks happy and this could be representing irony as in fact the person who’s soul is inside the doll is far from happy, he’s an angry serial killer that’s desperate to get out from the doll’s body.
There’s a shot of a Good Guys doll on a billboard outside of the factory that the dolls are being produced in and the billboard is moving; the dolls arm is waving could be used for humour and representing the fact that one of the dolls really is alive, even if on the billboard it’s only moving for advertising purposes. The man in the car from the first scene arrives at the factory and as soon as they pull in, another man runs to the long car with blacked out windows and opens the door for him, this connotes that the man is of some importance and makes the audience worry about him as it will be him that undoubtedly makes the decision that puts Andy Barclay in a troublesome situation with Chucky.
A man is talking to the man that seems of high importance and he says that a one of the workers is a bit of a joker and tampered with one of the dolls devices to make it say ‘I’m Chucky and i’m going to kill you.’ This represents Chucky being alive and it’s narrative enigma in order to tell the audience that Chucky is alive and will be coming back. Six minutes into the film, the doll that was supposedly tampered is having the eyes put into it using a manufacturing machine as they are testing it to see how it was made to speak differently to the other dolls and as the machine is about to place the eyes in...the machine stops representing the power of Chucky. Once the machine works again, it puts the eyes into the doll and then stops once again, electricity flows through the machine causing lightning bolts and killing the worker, representing the re-birth of Chucky.
The first scene is the camera looking up at the stars, this gives us a feeling that space or stars may have a key meaning or important role in what is going to happen in the film. The camera then starts coming down showing fireworks, this could then mean that the film or opening scene is set on bonfire night or some sort off other celebration. In the next scene there's a woman on the phone in the underground, this tells us that its set in London. The camera then follows this woman throughout the first couple off scenes as she appears to be walking home, By this time it shows us that this woman is a important character in the film or she's linked with a key event in the film. During this it tells us that it is made by/associated with Studio Canal, Film 4, UK Film Council and is produced by Big Talk Picture.
The woman then gets confronted by a gang of masked youth's and gets mugged, followed by a meteor or star shooting down out of the sky and destroying a car next to the mugging that was taken place, this gave the woman time to run away, and this is where we see the "monster" this film, as the gang ring leader got attacked by it. They then start to hunt the creature down and this is where the plot of the film starts.
The film starts with diegetic sound of young men shouting, laughing and talking in southern Irish accents and also sheep making noises in the background; this connotes that the film is set in Ireland and with the scenic background of hills and mountains, it's tranquil, peaceful and quite. The men look to be around their early 20s and they're playing Hurling which also connotes that they're in Ireland. The clothes that the men are wearing are old very old fashioned and wouldn't be worn now, denoting that the film is set in the past, roughly the 1920s or 30s. Also, with the condition that some of the men's clothes are in connotes that they could be poor. However, the men are laughing and cheering whilst playing sport which connotes that they're happy and having a good time. More connotation that the film is set in the past is the fact that their Hurleys aren't a modern shape with bands or grips on, they are old fashioned Hurleys.
A serif font is used. The style looks Gaelic which also adds to the idea that the film is set in Ireland. The first character to really stand out from the crowd is a big guy that argues with the referee, connoting that he's an aggressive man and that he may be one of the main characters in the film. Almost 2 minutes into the film, non diegetic music fades in. The music is slow and it sounds like a sad military song that would be played at a military funeral or remembrance connoting that these men are involved with the military. The men start talking about the British and slagging them off, quoting 'They all lick the King's arse'. This denotes that they don't like the British very much.
The first house that appears in the film is a tradition farm house and looks very old fashioned. It's been made fairly clear by this point that the film is set in the past. Once again, there is peaceful diegetic sound, this time of birds and I think that this was done to show how peaceful Ireland is. Another character enters, she is old and one of the young men starts to talk to her in a friendly way, connoting that they are nice men and are respectful rather than abusive. He talks to the old woman about how he's going to London to be a doctor, denoting that he's clever.
3 and a half minutes into the film, you hear shouting and a group of men dressed in Black and Tan military uniform running around the corner, confirming suspicion and denoting that the military is involved in this film.
They are agressive and ask for the men's names, not letting them speak in Irish, connoting that they don't like the Irish and seeing as though the Black and Tans were British and they are speaking with a British accent, it suggests that the film is about a battle between both the Irish and the British. The Black and Tans were violent, unfair and horrible and as this film is written from an Irish point of view, that point is certainly put across. The leader of the group calls all of the Irish men 'Bastards' and states that they're not allowed public meetings and to play games such as Hurling, although he calls it 'Your poxy games'.
Because one man won't say his name in English, the leader of the group says that he's speaking riddles and he's taken into a barn and killed. This denotes that the men are brutal and violent and as soon as he's killed, slow non diegetic music fades in. It's sad music which certainly suggests that the film is going to be sad, which indeed, it is.
On Thursday the 6th October 2011 I visited the Bradford film festival with both the AS and A2 media class. I signed up for the lights, camera, action workshop and filming in 3D. The lights, camera, action workshop was really good, I worked in a group of 3 with 2 other people from my class and we were given a camcorder and tri-pod to film around the media museum to gather footage that we would later edit to create an advert for the museum.
Once we had collected footage of the different displays, rooms and features of the media museum we started to edit it to make an advert for the museum that was roughly 30 seconds long. We edited our clips using the new iMovie and i loved it; I prefer it to the old iMovie we use at school because I found it easier to use and it saves your project for you as you're going a long which is useful because I lose my work a lot due to not saving it.
The advert we made was 35 seconds long and it showed us walking into the museum from various different angles and then it just displayed what the museum had to offer. I think our advert was really good and the man hosting the work shop has burnt the advert to a disk and is sending it to us. The second thing we did was watch a screening in a cinema/theater type place of videos that had been created by young children around 13. Considering the people that made the videos were only young, they were good and I enjoyed the cartoon ones more than the real life.
I would definitely go again next year but I would do different workshops.
Friday, 7 October 2011
Ignoring the gun, the character on the poster looks innocent. I think she looks innocent because she's small and timid and she's hot with long hair and her facial expression looks as if she doesn't want to be holding the gun and she looks stressed.
However, when holding the gun, the character looks like an assassin and she's holding the gun as if she knows how to use it and the way she's resting her head on the gun gives me the impression that she's used this gun on several occasions and if anything she's feeling stressed from it. Although the character is holding a gun, the stressed and worried look on her face makes me think that she doesn't really want to be using it and it's more a fact of having to use it.
The fact that it's a small gun signifies that she's quite feminine rather than it being a huge manly, macho machine gun. Because it's small and looks feminine this could attract a male audience.
The houses in the background of the film poster look run down like slums on the right of the character but to her left the buildings look like New York sky scrapers which suggests that she's from a poor place in Columbia such as slums and has found herself New York and as far as we can tell from the poster she seems to be using weapons and killing.
