Thursday, 29 March 2012
Innocence
Innocence - Evaluation
In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
short opening, and however, I think we opened up the opportunity to do this. Our idea for the rest of the film was to go back to the time when she began to be possessed and develop the story from this point. The end repeats the opening again; this would make the audience feel slightly confused and have suitable effect on them- encouraging them to want to see the rest of the film. The way in which we finished the opening (and thus the ending), also allows for a sequel as she jumps towards the camera, This happens in ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’(1997) which shows it can be a successful way to entice the audience. The way that we have chosen to order our story isn’t unique but it is uncommon which could make us slightly different and challenge audience expectations.
I also discovered that there are different types of horror films like; thriller, slasher, paranormal etc. however, we thought that they might be slightly harder to film as an amateur film crew, so we decided that psychological horror would be the most suitable route for our first attempt. I also personally believe that the scariest area of a horror film is the unknown. A shot that helped class our film as a psychological horror was when the daughter would be seen, and then suddenly she would disappear; this created uncertainty and put the audience on edge. We gained our inspiration for this shot from a part of ‘The Grudge’ where there is an over-the-shoulder shot of the creature before it suddenly vanishes in a super natural way, we found that shot effective and decided to regenerate a similar effect in our opening.
In the short opening sequence we only had two characters one a young girl, the other a single mum, these work well together as they can obtain a good relationship but the difference being that the young girl is possessed. The girl is very young and we tried to portrait this better by giving our actress ‘pink tails’ in her hair as this enhances the childlike features because she is so young when we reveal the fact she is possessed it dramatically changes the way the audience feel about her and affects the way she presents that social group. She was dressed in a casual red dress and a red coat which she removed during the opening, this clothing isn’t anything special and she still looks like a normal young girl, however, the red colour could represent the fact there is danger within her; this would also put pull her away from the typical view of her social group. We felt the park was quite a suitable place for the pair of characters as it is supposed to be quite a friendly, family environment so by adding this supernatural unknown, the danger escalates and makes the audience worried.
The mum, however, is very much the common expectation of what you would expect from a character like her; she is constantly worrying over her daughter; dresses in darker, dull clothing. The type of coat is very basic with no eccentric additions showing that she is mature and level headed. It also shows that she her wealth can just get the necessary clothing but not much else, suggesting she doesn’t have a particularly high status in society. These features make her a more down to earth character and one that the audience can relate to better. She also comes across very caring, she fits in well with the typical view of that social group primarily because her main interest would be her daughter’s well-being.


Horror films often have sub-genres and I felt that our film opening can be classed as a psychological horror or supernatural thriller as it is about a possessed girl and her story as the demon within, slowly takes over. There were various films around that are based on possessed people; I also found that exorcism films slightly related to the same category so as these closely relate to our film I researched the production companies that make them. I found that Warner Bros., despite it being an unlikely consideration, made a few similar films, for example Fallen(1998), which wasn’t particularly successful, however The Exorcist(1972) balanced this as it has been nominated for 10 Academy Awards and 7 Golden Globes, from which they won 6 in total, which suggests that these films can be successful. Constantine(2005) also managed to generate $230,884,728 at the box office and The Wicker Man(1973/2006) clearly the 1973 success encouraged the remake, which was also perceived well showing that this type of film is still good for the modern day film industry. Each of these films would have displayed similar conventions and ideas and therefore would have been directed towards a similar audience so I felt Warner Bros. had the potential to produce our film, also I think the success that was generated from these films suggests that psychological horror is a genre that is still appreciated by the audience.

However, whilst researching I also discovered that United Artists might also produce our film as I found a similar number of films that they had made that generate similar psychological fears as other ‘possessed’ films. For example they made films such as Jeepers Creepers(2001) which had a low budget and still managed to generate nearly $60 million at the box office. Another example would be Burnt Offerings(1976) that achieved six awards including best horror film and best director also Carrie(1976) received great reviews such as one from ‘The Movie Guide’ that named the film " the landmark horror film" as well as being successful enough to gain the equivalent of $135 million in today’s money. Again with the ideas and fears shown with these films I also believed that they could possibly distribute our film.
After interviewing several people from different social groups specifically about horror films, I established that teenage boys prefer the gore and physically scary films compared to the girls who either don’t particularly like them at all or are very open minded. I spoke to some adults on their perspective of horror films and also discovered that males still enjoy the physically scary films, however a few responses would suggest that they are more open minded towards horror as they are older. However, the main point was that the majority of older females mentioned how psychological horror and suspense were the main things that they like from a horror film as they feel its something they can relate to, so I think that definitely helped narrow down the target audience. Some of the films that were mentioned were the extremely successful ‘The Sixth Sense’(1999) that received $673 million, another film was ‘Silent Hill’(2006) which was also considerably successful bringing in nearly $100 million. These two films both contain the idea of children being involved which mum’s will often find quite a scary idea. We used this information to create our film around the idea of the Mum loosing their child so we think it could be successful. I also believe that psychological thrillers are more for the patient/tension aspect and so teenagers may not be as interested due to the slower pace of the film, this would suggest that the target audience of our film is Women aged 20+.How did you attract/address your audience?
From the research that we discovered I wouldn't consider our target audience as being big YouTube fans so I don't think it would become majorly successful through viral videos, as that may be better aimed for teens, although I do believe they use social networks like Facebook and Twitter so we could aim to get adverts on there or try and generate a viral campign using them instead of YouTube. Also, in regards to radio stations I think the likes of BBC Radio 1 and 2, HeartFM, Magic or CapitalFM would be ideal radio stations to cover the majority our target audience, as national stations that can also be a good advertising slot, as I mentioned before, my mum is a fan of these stations so she would definitely be aware of the film if it was advertised this way.
I think the ending of our opening would be a particularly useful part of the film in terms of interesting the audience, as it is a scary moment that can make the audience interested in what happens next and possibly why it happened. The contrasting image of an innocent young girl with the inner demon she has become is quite an odd personality trait and could also be something that would interest viewers.What have you learned about technologies from the from the process of constructing this product?
Final cut was completely new to me as a film editing software and particularly jumping from windows moviemaker to that required me to get used to the new software; I felt that I managed the software well.Looking back at your preliminary task what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?
Monday, 26 March 2012
Innocence - Analysis
This is a low angle shot and the bars thecome over the camera can suggest the idea that she is trapped and has no escape from the events that are about to happen. The slightly canted angle enhance the fact that there is something wrong and almost foreshadows the unfolding events. The girl is wearing a small, pink coat that represents the stereotypical view of someone from that group of people, the psychological horror comes from the fact that we contrast this typical image with an inner demon so the clothes are quite effective.





Film Institutions - Logos
20th Century Fox

Warner Bros.
- Shaped like a super hero badge with the initials inside created the idea that they are 'heroes of film' and it can also relate well to children's interests, which is relevant to their films.
- The fact the logo is in the sky indicates that they are successful and also relates to the idea of being a super hero.
-The heroic music again emphasises this hero image and brand.
- The shiny gold colour represents wealth and value which could again encourage the hero idea even more.
Sunday, 25 March 2012
Audience Research


1. What is your favourite film genre?
2. What are you top 2 films?
3. How often do you watch films?
4. Where is the most common place for you to watch films?
5. Where do you find out about various films?
6. Do you watch horror films?
7. What is your favourite sub-genre of horror films?
8. What do you like/dislike about horrors?
9. What are your top 2 horror films?
I created some charts to give a clearer indication of what audiences prefer:


This graph shows how many films each gender collectively watch each month, the first pair of bars are about films in general and the next two are based on horror films. Interestingly both genders watch a lot of horrors which would suggest that the horror genre is popular amongst this age group. Also females tend to watch more films in general which could make you think that they are the target audience however when specifying horror films males actually watch more of them so appealing to them should gain more revenue through sales.From the questions I also found out that the majority of students who disliked horror it was often due to the graphic images that can be considered disturbing, i feel that as our horror film is a psychological horror we do not contain any of that content. This means that our film could still be interesting for the population that tend to dislike horror films, alternatively it was occasionally mentioned that the anticipation and suspense before a scary moment is something that is disliked, this could mean that our film isnt as good for them so appealing to that audience will be dificult to judge.
But for nearly everyone who likes horror films it was said that the suspense is one of the reasons they are so good, so we will definitely appeal to that market.
Preliminary Task - Analysis
This is a low angle shot and gives the character a dominant power over the audience and suggests that he is of importance. We later go on to realise that the object he is holding could be the reason why he is important. The dark shadows in this shot create an eerie atmosphere as we get the impression that danger is near and in this shot he is walking towards darkness which foreshadows his death.



Preliminary Task
Paramount Pictures, Alfred Hitchcock, Psycho

Paramount Pictures is a production company that has become a well-known success in selling films, it was founded in 1912 by Adolph Zukor and has generated an Operating Income of $300million. It has created some well known horror films such as ‘Paranormal Activity’(2009)-(2011), ‘Friday the 13th’(1980)-(1989), ‘Psycho’(1960) and ‘The Relic’(1997).
As well as horror films it has also created many successes outside of the horror genre including ‘Star Trek’(1979)-(2009), ‘Jackass’(2002)-(2010), ‘King Kong’(2005) and ‘Mission Impossible’(1996)-(2011). Paramount also co-produce with other film companies for films such as ‘Kung Fu Panda’(2008)-(2011), ‘Transformers’(2007)-(2011) and ‘Titanic’(1997)

Alfred Hitchcock
(13th August 1899 - 29th April 1980) was a British producer and director who used many praised techniques, when filming the psychological thriller genre, to put his audience in suspense and discomfort. He began by producing silent
films and in England, he then moved to Hollywood and became an American citizen where his career took off and his directing ability was more appreciated. This well known style of directing became successful and distinct; he would use camera shots and movement that would force the audience to experience voyeurism. This would generate many emotional links between the audience and the film, whilst his artistic skill enabled him to create great suspense, which gave him the title ‘The Master Of Suspense’. The plots he used often-contained things relating to crime, violence and murder however there will often be thrilling twists surrounding the subject, also a lot of the characters in his films have a form of psychological problem.
His most successful work include films such as ‘Psycho’(1960), ‘The Birds’(1963) and ‘Rear Window’(1954), the increasingly well known techniques used in these films are the perfect representation as to why Hitchcock’s work is appreciated so much.

Psycho is a horror film released June 1960, it was directed and Produced by Alfred Hitchcock and distrib
uted by Paramount Pictures and Universal Pictures.
It is about a woman who steals some money and runs away from here home place; she then stops her journey to rest at a hotel where the owner unexpectedly murders her as he obsesses over his dead mother. The murder, shower scene became very famous and one of the reasons why this is one of Hitchcock’s greatest films, the film was also n
ominated for four Academy Awards. The film is based on the book by Robert Bloch, which was inspired by the crimes of a serial killer named Ed Gein.
The Ring(2002) - Gore Verbinski

Luke did his presentation on 'The Ring', he looked at a scene from the film and discussed the connotations of various aspects that represented the atmosphere of the scene, some of the points he mentioned were:
Saturday, 24 March 2012
Film Title
Majority of titles were one word or a few shorter words that create a title of 3 or 4 syllables.
Repulsion(1965)
This psychological horror is about a young girl who is harrassed by the demons of her past.
Similar titles with 3 syllables include The Aura, Misery and Anamorph. All films represent a psychological horror and the 3 syllables appeals to me in creating a professional sounding film.

Frality(2001)
This is a horror about the relationship between brothers and their father who believe killing demons is right by God.
Frality means a weakness in a persons morals. This comes through the characters whilst remaining a short 3 syllable word.
So when we thought about the film we felt that 'A Lack of Innocence' would be too long, and 'The Possessed' seemed to sum the film up in the wrong direction as it sounds like a group of people rather than the one girl. This encouraged us to cut out the 'The'. Following that we like the idea of Innocence from the first idea and thought that on it's own sounded punchy and mysterious.

When I researched it the closest I could find was 'The Innocents'(1961) which was a psychological horror that used deep focus moments and specific music and lighting to gain the interest of the audience. This film was nominated for 2 BAFTAs and generated $1.2m at the box office. The relevance and success of this similarly titled film suggested that it was a good idea.
Friday, 23 March 2012
Jennifer's Body(2009) - Karyn Kusama

Another presentation was shown, again looking at the 4 areas of film. It was presented by Becky, Amber, Harri N and Harri L, they discussed the opening of 'Jennifer's Body', some of the points they made include:





