Evaluation Questions - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? - Sarah Carter

What are the forms and conventions of the Horror genre? Give some examples of films you have studied.
Typically, films in the genre of Horror tend to follow the same conventions. For example, many horror films tend to use a multitude of close up shots to create tension. Provoking fear is vital when filming a horror and the conventions of a horror are very important. When creating our own film, it is important that we take into consideration these stereotypical views and conventions, therefore we have tried to incorporate as many close ups into our film as possible.

A female is usually used as the victim, and a male as the threat in conventional horrors. Children are also commonly involved in horrors, but this alternates between threat and victim depending on the film. For example in films such as "The Grudge" the child is the threat, as seen below:

In other films however, children are used as victims to provoke sympathy and pity from the audience. This is seen in the film I studied for research;  The Others. Here the children are very much a part of the victimization:

The setting of a large, mysterious house is also typical of a horror and reinforces this idea of mystery and threat. We decided to use a house in our film to emphasise this feeling of familiarity.

Here you can see how we have mimicked the use of setting in "The Others" in our own film. We thought this convention would be particularly effective.
Being a psychological horror, this film uses a lot of the idea that it's what you can't see that scares you. For example, noises in the house and slamming of doors is something that we thought was particularly interesting.
How have you used this research to make a Horror film? Why is this important?
We have used this research to influence our film and help to reinforce the ideas and conventions of a horror to inevitably make our film successful. We took into account this idea that females are often seen as weak in terms of character and that they are often sought after to become the victim in a film. We therefore used this idea of a female victim in our own film.

We liked the stereotypical idea of a woman victim and within the film "The Others"the ideology that women are weaker is very dominant.
I think that the research we conducted before starting the production process helped us to understand that conventions and techniques used in horror films create tension and fear. Without research, it would be difficult to pinpoint exactly what are the most successful features of a horror film.
Did you challenge these conventions? If so, why? If not, why not?
I believe that in some cases, we did challenge the conventions of a horror. For example, instead of using a male character as the threat, we used females in this case. This is partly to do with the fact we wanted to use witches, however we also felt that by challenging this convention we would put across this idea that females can not only be the victim, but also the character in power (the threat).

By using this specific choice of casting and through the use of camera work, we are showing that females are dominant and powerful in this particular situation.
By casting only females in our film, we are challenging this idea and reinforcing our own idea and going against the stereotypical views. We tried to generally follow the typical horror conventions in all other areas however (i.e. an empty house, a female victim, series of close ups etc.) to try and make our film a recognisable and successful horror that will provoke a reaction of fear amongst our audience.

Evaluation Question One - Sancha

We have decided to create a psychological, satanic horror with the aspect of witchcraft being a key element. We had one term to create a 2 minute short introduction to the horror film. We carried out research into the types of films we'd personally want to create, meaning each of us watched different films relating to our topic. I watched The Others and Stigmata, from which a great element of ideas came. The Others provided us with the basic idea of a person not knowing what's happening and the feeling of being lost and trapped within themselves.

 The ideas from Stigmata, having Biblical links throughout captured our imaginations even more so. This was where our film title came from '10.38,' a biblical link as it's a certain passage in the bible which talks about the relevant subjects we wanted to capture in the film. We decided the flashing images in her dream could capture biblical themes but to make it even more atmospheric and grasping we thought it best to put a real threat into the film, consisting of two witches chanting and calling for the girl.

 The title sequence of having an angel statue cry blood, was also an inspiration from 'Stigmata,' (as seen above.) With our aim for the film being to scare the watcher into feeling  physchologically disturbed, as if the next victim could be you. Working in a group of four, made the tasks easier as we worked together to achieve the best ideas and shots. It was an effective relationship as we get along well, which made the filming decisions easier.
Religion in our human life, is always a big debate and religious events such as exorcisms are always themes that make the general public scared and thinking deeply into the issues raised.

 We've taken this film and made it more relevant for the target audience of young adults living in England, to allow them to relate to it more and thus get more scared. We adapted it by using actors of similar ages and a small location of a house to make it seem more personal and realistic.

Character Design

It's important that we've done a test shot as to check how scary our threat will look in the shots. The decision of using the cloak was to enhance the idea of scary witches, with the decision of the hood having to be up to save all the hassle with make up etc.

Storyboard

Sound Outline

Room Plan and Camera Positions

Release Form

The release form is in place to say that we give permission for our work to be used in all sorts of different ways - for promotion around college and teaching aids etc. Each of us in the group had to sign this if we agreed with the terms and conditions stated above.

Recee Images

Recee Sheet

Equipment Loans

To ensure that we were able to book equipment correctly and efficiently we had to fill out a loan form. By doing so we are abiding by the booking system put in place at college - we must book out at least 24 hours before we need to take the equipment.

Make Up Design Sheet

We wanted inspiration for our make up designs and therefore researched what has been used before in previous films. We thought that the use of make up in the film "23" was effective and would be relevant for our own film. We therefore designed our own with this as a guideline. Ours differs in the way that instead of having markings on our character's face, we have used her arms.

Health and Safety Certificate

Health and safety is particularly important in the filming process. By signing this sheet we have agreed that we have gained permission to use our locations and that we will be responsible and sensible when filming.

Equipment List

Making a note of our locations and how to access them is vital so that both our cast and crew can easily find their way and shooting will be made as easy as possible. We have also made a note of some of the equipment needed so that we can be fully prepared when it comes to booking and shooting.

Casting List

Here is a list of all the actors participating in our film. By gaining their details and listing their roles we will avoid any confusion and we will always have the ability to contact them if need be. 

FIRST SHOOT

This is an example of our first shoot and the footage we have acquired from it. We have made a rough edit of how the film should fit together, although not all the shots we need are there yet. By doing this we have established a vague idea on how the film will look and we are also now aware of any issues we have and what may or may not need to be reshot. There are several positive things we can take from this initial shoot whilst we can also evaluate our weaknesses and improve upon them.

BBFC research

Here, we had to do some research into film certificates and how films are rated depending on their content. This was valid and important research as it gave us a clear impression of what our film could include to be suitable for our audience. By having knowledge on this, we were able to make conscious decisions on what we felt would be suitable and effective in our film.

Sound clip