The Brief

We have been asked to create a 2 minute opening to a horror film, and to document our planning process, including a 1 minute preliminary film. We decided to create a POV style art-house horror, similar to the Blair Witch Project or Cloverfield.
We want to create a more sylistic piece than either of these films, and have both POV and normal filming however both these films are influential. Blair Witch was a low-bidget high revenue film, which is also what we are aiming for.

The exorcism of Emily Rose - opening sequence analysis

The exorcism of Emily Rose has one of the best title sequences that I have seen throughout my research. The film starts with writing on a black background, with quiet atmospheric music playing over the top. "This film is based upon a true story" and then 'The Exorcism of Emily Rose' is played across the screen. The title is very effectively done, in red writing over the background of a photo of barbed wire. A series of images follow that are not archetypal of horror, but placed with the dark lighting and the scary music, become relevant to the film. You then see a man walking up to a house, with very loud footsteps to show the importance of this. The actor's names are played across the screen during this. The feet are well framed, as they close up on the feet then follow the man. The man looks up at the house, and sees a boy. The door opens and a woman comes out. Whilst nothing happens that is particularly scary, the quiet music and lack of dialogue make the film seem pro-leptic of something very scary. The use of a bees nest in this has connotations of something attacking, again very effective. The title s continue over the family at the table, and then of a scene at a bar.

The Shining - Opening Sequence Analysis

This is the opening sequence for the film 'The Shining'. This title sequence is very effective as it gives an eerie atmosphere. It also tells the audience just how isolated the house is, and the lack of help that they would be able to receive. However the audience isn't even aware of this recognition, as the message is subliminal.

When the camera follows the car down the tree tunnel it is very well framed, as it makes the car easy to see but still allows the audience to see the setting. Even throughout the pan and zoom, the camera shot is very steady, and is always clear.

the very dark music ands an edge to the beautiful setting. The image and the music are almost at paradox, as the image with different music could be the start to any film. The effect of this is that it show the audience that later on in the film you will have to look carefully to see a more subliminal part to the film. An example of this is when Danny, the little boy writes "red rum", on the wall and the audience do not recognise this as murder until the character of Wendy sees the reflection in a mirror. This effect is very cleverly used throughout the film, showing Stanley Kubrick's excellence.

This film is popular amongst most ages, but I would say that it is aimed at an 18-30 age-range, as the scare effects are typical of a teen horror. However as the film also has more subliminal messaging and gore, it is not a teen film. It does follow the conventions of a horror, with the exception of a final girl. The film has a human monster - Jack, but also a more scary otherworldly essence, as we see that Jack has been there before, and at a much older period.

The titles in 'The Shining' are not very effective', just blue words scrolling up the screen over the images of the car travel. They do however mean that they do not take away from the film. The titles give the directors name, Stanley Kubrick; the title of the film; the names of the key actors; the executive producer; the screenplay writers; and then Stanley Kubrick is listed as producer and director again.

Westwick - 1st edit

This is the first edit of 'Westwick' and there are lots of improvements to be made!!

Production and Distribution

To convince a television company to invest in our film I would explain that the way we have challenged the conventions of a horror and not tried to ape a Hollywood blockbuster shows that the film would be popular. I would also show the example of Blair Witch Project, a low budget film that made a high margin profit because, like ‘Westwick’ it was original. Also, like many programs on television today our film reflects the typical life of a teen, just gone wrong. The exciting side of our film is that it could happen to any group of teenagers in this situation, making it more hard-hitting for our demographic. Also as our film was a British home-grown talent created project, we would look for an independent film production and distribution company, such as the Met Film School or Working Titles film, both producing typically British films.

Evaluation of 'Westwick'

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


Our film ‘Westwick’ challenges the conventions of a horror film in that it starts with the death of the characters, showing that the film will inevitably end with their demise. However the purpose of the film is to discover the way that they died, so this pre-emptive scene does not ruin the film.
Another way that our film challenges the conventions of a horror is that there is no ‘final girl’. By removing this element, we challenge the audience’s expectations, adding to the scary side of the film, as although the end is known; this element shows that the methods would also be unknown.
To adhere to Todorov’s theory of a new equilibrium at the end of the film would have been a predictable turn to the movie, so in the decision to follow films such as 'The Blair witch project' we have removed this equilibrium.

This is the ending to 'The Blair Witch Project'

One film in particular that adheres to Todorov's theorys and ideologies is 'The Dark Crystal'. The equilibrium is introduced, thre is a disruption, they attempt to fix the problem and the movie ends when a new equilibrium is created. Here is the trailer for the film:

How does your media product represent particular social groups?


Our film represents the naivety of young adults, as this is both the target audience and the subject matter of the play. It doesn’t represent the entire demographic, just those that would go camping in woods they did not know. This idea was based loosely on an episode of Skins, where a group of teenagers went to get drunk in a forest. Whilst both of these media concepts end differently, this shows that these naïve and falsely confident groups of teenagers are present in society.


This is the trailer for the second series of Skins




What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?


It is more likely that an Art House would distribute our film. The Metropolitan Film School (for a link to the Met Film School click here) has distributed films such as ‘Little Ashes’ and would fit to our more stylistic film. Having made a decision at the beginning of production to make a film that challenges the conventions of a horror, we have created a more arty film.

This is the trailer for 'Little Ashes'




Who would be the audience for your media product?


The audience for our media product would those in the 16-24 demographic, more likely to be female than male, as that is the subject matter to the film, and teenagers are more likely to relate to that which they know and understand. Also because the film would require the use of the imagination, and has scare but not gore, it is less likely to appeal to boys within the 16-24 age range.

We also used music that would not normally be associated with horror. Debussy’s ‘Clair de Lune’ had previously been used in films such as ‘Ocean’s thirteen’ and ‘Twilight’ showing that it is popular, but original within this genre.

Clair de Lune - Debussy





How did you attract/address your audience?

To attract/address my audience I would create a trailer for 'Westwick' and get it played in a multiplex. I would also create a youtube and facebook page for the film,in order to advertise it, as word of mouth is one of the most effective forms of advertisement. I would also get a radio trailer made as this would increase the audience. Whilst we have created our film for art-house, advertising it for that medium would be difficult, so we would advertise it as a normal film aswell. As a final marketing technique, I would get it posted on the lovefilm envelopes. When you recieve a film from the company it has a film on the return envelope. This would be a good advertisent technique as lovefilm caters to those looking for a more sylistic film.


What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?


To create the two minute opening to this film we had to film numerous times and ended up with about 2 hours of footage. This has showed me that whilst the technology we have used is excellent, we would have to be more careful and have planned better to get a more productive use of equipment. I have also learnt a lot about the process of editing, and become proficient in the program LiveType, creating clips not just for use in this film but in other media convergence products. I have also learnt that when something looks good in the storyboard, it won’t necessarily turn out how we wanted. We had to redesign our storyboard and by proxy our film as it just didn’t fit in with out concept and vision for the film.

Looking back at the preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?


Having rewatched our preliminary task I can see that whilst the basic were present in our preliminary task it lacked the penache and originality of our full product. I also feel I have learnt a lot more about the editing tools on the computer, as our preliminary was basic and quite boring. I also have learnt to better see the mistakes that have been made, and not to feel worried about having to making seemingly unending changes. I have also learnt to see that whilst you have to watch the product many times to check for mistakes, using an audience to see it helps to understand that it is just as effective as in the beginning, even when you lose that insight after too many watches.

Here is our preliminary task:

My Jobs

As a group, we sat down and discussed the 9 roles that we needed to seperate out. The roles that needed to be allocated are:

1. Researcher
2. Planner
3. Storyboarder
4. Scriptwriter
5. Location and props fixer
6. Actors
7. Camera Operator
8. Director
9. Editor

We have decided that for the role of actors, we are going to use 2 drama students and the whole of our team. The rest of the allocations are as follows:

1. Researcher - Francesca
2. Planner - me (Katy)
3. Storyboarder - me (Katy)
4. Scriptwriter - Laura
5. Location and props fixer - Serena
6. Camera Operator - Serena
7. Director - Francesca
8. Editor - Laura

As Planner and storyboarder, it is my job to develop the ideas of the group, and display them on paper. Being the planner means that I have to develop our main idea, using the narrative stages of horror, to create the narrative sequence. As storyboarder I will take the narrative sequence and put it into the diagrams that create the story. In the storyboard I will need to include the key moments of the production, the sound and lighting that moments will necessitate. It will also track the camera movements, and mean that the director will know how to create the shots.