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?
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.
How did you attract/address your audience?
What have you learned about technologies from the from the process of constructing this product?
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
come 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
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: