Evaluation task 1

The title of our film was 'The Hood' we decided to call it this as the antagonist in our opening is wearing a hood so the viewer is unaware of their identity. During our research we noticed that many other horror films have short snappy names that do not reveal much about the plot of the films, so we decided to stick with this idea. Examples of this include 'The Conjuring', 'The Exorcist' and 'Annabelle'. The bold font is quite typical of horror film openings however the pattern we decided to fill with the words with are more typical of older horror films. In more modern films they tend to use a bold white text or something very plain when we decided to use more of a blood splattered effect which was more common in older horror films. The title of our films appears at the end of our opening two minutes to make sure the title is imprinted on the viewers mind making them want to watch more.

In our opening two minutes we included two locations, one being the woods and the other being a house. The use of the woods is very conventional of horror films as it connotes danger. Also as in the woods you are very isolated meaning their is no one around to help if anything was too happen. The second location we used was in a house for a phone call that took place between two of our characters. Also by including the train track in our opening two minutes it connoted danger to the audience which is also conventional of a horror film. Filming in the woods had its difficulties because it is a public place we had to make sure we were not in any ones way, also as we filmed in the natural lighting it made it difficult to film in the lighting we would have hoped for. Originally we wanted to film in a more low key lighting but after the first day of filming we released this would not be possible. As the location was key for our genre we wanted to make sure we used long shots to highlight this to the viewer. This is also conventional of horror films as they usually incorporate establishing shot to create the eary atmosphere expected in horror films.

 

The costumes for our protagonist were very simple and standard for someone of that age, we did this as we did not want the viewer to pay too much attention to them. This is not portrayed in all horror films as sometimes they are dressed more childish in order to make the viewer feel pity for them as they may be helpless and unable to care for themselves. The majority of horror films portray the protagonist as normal and vulnerable which is what we wanted to stick with. By using normal clothing it makes the opening seem more realistic. The protagonist was wearing a grey jumper which would connote innocence, this is contrasted by the dark clothing worn by the antagonist. Our antagonist was dressed in dark clothing so you were unable to see their face, we did this because we didn't want to reveal their identity to the audience therefore building tension. We decided to not change the identity by putting a mask on them as we still wanted the viewer to be able to relate to the situation. This helped to build tension and portray the genre of horror. The dark clothing and hidden identity of our antagonist is conventional of horror films as the mise on scene plays an important role in highlighting the genre.

In our opening two minutes the main props we included were a knife, a scarf and fake blood. Fake blood follows the conventions of all horror films as its can be found in the majority of them. Without the use of fake blood it makes it difficult to portray the genre and to create tension hence why we included it. However we could have gone into a lot more detail with the make up in order to make it more realistic. If we decide to incorporate make up into our media next year we would carefully plan how we were going to do it rather than making a last minute decision to use it. The knife was one of the key props in our opening two minutes, which is portrayed by the use of several close ups on it. Although a knife is not directly conventional to horror films a weapon of some sort is usually included in some way. We decided to use a knife as its a more relatable object as its something everyone has at home, making it scarier for the viewer. Using a knife had it difficulties because we filmed in a public places we had to be careful that people wouldn't be concerned about what we were doing. Despite it having its difficulties we believe it helped to add tension and create the desired atmosphere. The scarf was just used so the viewer had something to recognise when it was discovered later on in the opening, we put some of the fake blood on it helping to build the tension. This would also follow the conventions of horror films as their is usually a item that the audience can pair with the protagonist making them feel pity towards them.

In our opening two minutes we tried to include a variety of different shots that are conventional of horror films. We open our opening two minutes with an establishing shot to introduce our main character and the setting, the woods. As the camera begins to follow the main character it creates the effect as if she is being stalked/watched thus building tension. The name of our institution can also be seen written on the bottom of the shot displaying to the audience the production company we designed.  We faded in and out these words so the tension of the shot was not disturbed by anything drawing away the audiences attention. Also we used white as the colour of the font to make it more sinister contrasting to the usual connotations of white being innocence and peace. The fading in of the non-diegetic music also helps to build tension within the opening and works well with this establishing shot. Throughout the opening we used lots of different close up shots to portray key aspects of the opening to the audience. An example of the close ups include over the shoulder of a phone and of the knife. By including multiple different close up shots we follow the conventions of horror as close ups are often used in lots of successful horror films as it helps to build tension. Another shot we used in our opening was a high angle long shot of the antagonist walking away from the killing. We decided to use a high shot as it highlights the location and portrays the body language of the antagonist and how they are unaffected by what is happening. The high angle shot allowed the audience to feel as if they were looking down on the situation and playing god almost. On the other hand next time we think we could have included a low angle shot to make the antagonist seem more superior and intimidating.

Our opening starts with the establishing shot so immediately the viewer is introduced to the location and the main character. We decided to introduce the character straight away so that the viewer doesn't suspect what is going to happen, they notice the girl is vulnerable and alone. To improve on this we would include more shots of the location and the protagonist before the antagonist was introduced. This is conventional of horror films as it gives the audience time to think about what is going to happen.

The genre of horror is portrayed from the start of our opening, especially through the location choice. Using the backing music from the start of our opening also helps to portray the genre of horror, as non-diegetic music is also a convention of horror films. Once the antagonist is introduced it becomes obvious to the audience what the genre is and also the use of the inception thuds when the antagonist is revealed. Someone being followed/chased and killed is a common theme in horror films so we decided to stick with this idea to portray the genre.

The first character to be introduced in our opening is our protagonist, the reason she is first to be introduced is because we wanted the audience to be able to relate to her which they are only able to do if she's on screen. As the audience do not yet know the plot of the film they can tell that something bad is about to happen because there is a young girl alone in the woods, normally suggesting horror film.

The second character to be introduced is the antagonist who is the person stalking and eventually killing the protagonist. This is conventional to horror films as the antagonist is usually introduced second so the viewer can piece together in their head what they suspect is going to happen.

The third character to be introduced is the protagonists mum, we decided to included her to make the situation more relatable for people and they think about what the effect of this is. This character is also given prevalence, shown last on screen, this is so the audience feel pity for them. This challenges the conventions of horror films because the viewer is not normally shown what happens after someone is killed and the effect it has on other people.

The only special effect we incorporate in our opening was the use of a time lapse. The time lapse was of a sun setting and we used this to represent the passing of time. We were unsure of how we would portray that time had past apart from this but this was quite a rush decision. Next time we would make sure that we carefully planned each shot before filming/editing because the time lapse did look slightly out of place.