Preliminary Task Evaluation

When we were given our task to do, we were given a certain specification with techniques we had to fit into our shirt film. We watched an example film in which a man walked through a door and started talking to someone. It was not a complex film, but it included all the techniques we needed. We started planing our short film by firstly coming up with short simple ideas in our group consisting of Adam Meehan, Jade Coombes, Charlotte Docherty and I. We had various ideas, one was a character comes into unjam a printer and another was two characters have an argument and one storms out of the room. We came up with many and finally settled on a genre which was a bit different from others. We were going to do a typical romance film were one character drops some books on the floor and they both look up into each others eyes and walk off into the distance. We then decided that Adam and Jade were going to be the actors and so started thinking about were it was going to be set and what was going to happen. We chose a corner that they would walk round, Adam would walk out a building and jade would be walking down a ramp and then they would collide. We drew up the story board thinking about camera angles, camera positioning and mise on scene. After drawing the story board we were ready to film.

Picture 1

Picture 2

Picture 3

My role in the production of the film was the main camera man and directing the film. We started the shoot with Jade at a table doing some work using an establishing shot to set the scene. Jade then got up and walked away carrying her books. We then switched to a panning long shot in which Adam is inside a building walks down the stairs and towards and past the camera. He then goes through the door while he is texting on his phone and used match on action here (see in photo 1). We had a long shot of Adam walking through the door and towards the corner and Jade walking down the ramp towards the corner. They then collide and it changes to a birds eye shot of the two characters picking up the books. We the used the 180-degree rule and shot reverse shot (seen in photos
2&3) to simulate a convocation and then had the charters walk off into the distance. During the filming we were thinking a lot about the framing and how we could use the camera shots and angles to greater affect. Before we started filming each shot we made sure there was nothing distracting in the shot and we positioned the camera to get the best possible shot. We also positioned the actors so that the main focus was on them and they were always in the middle of the shot or just off centre. However, when we used the match on action, there were two characters on opposite sides of the shot so that the audience knew what was going to happen before they collided.

I was happy with the final result as it is what I imagined it would be like. I feel we used the camera angles well and our camera positioning was very good. Although I believe we did well, we could have improved on a couple of things. For example the camera flow was good, but I wasn't entirely happy with it as I thought it jumped for one scene to the next too much. Also the camera was held steady most of the time, but I noticed in the editing there was a slight shake at one point which was a mistake on my part. As a final point, I thought the acting could have been a bit better as the actors were a bit annoyed with the amount of takes I was doing to get the right shots. They didn't show the emotion that the two characters would have been feeling at that point. The editing was done by Charlotte, but we were there too help make decisions on factors in the editing process as we had to cut down a lot of film because it was meant to be about 20 seconds and ours was a lot longer. I do feel very confident when I am using the camera and Imovie as I know all there functions and how to use them, however I did not know how to do a freeze frame of a shot at first, but eventually found out.

Great expectations freeze frames

The first freeze frame
 They use a very long/ establishing shot to set the scene which appears to be up near Essex. The shot pans as it follows the boy.

Along the boys route there are what appear to be gallows for hanging people suggesting they are in an area that has a lot of criminals.

The boy is alone and there are no houses or poulated areas suggesting that it is a very lonley and solitary place


The second freeze frame

A medium shot shows the criminals and the boys expressions to show their emotion.

The shot also allows you to see the area which they are in.

The mans clothes and the state of his hygene suggest he is a criminal and the chains he is wearing reinforce the theory.

Memento evaluation

The beginning of Memento they use a blue and formal text  on a black background which makes it stand out. It then fades out to a dirty, shaking hand holding a polaroid of a man with blood around him. The man shakes the polaroid and it starts fading out. This suggest that there is something strange about this because the photo is working backwards. The hand suggest he has been doing manual labour as they are dirty and also the fact that the hand is shaking suggest that he has done something that is scary or shocking like murder. The fact he is holding a polaroid of someone that has been shot reinforces the possibility that he has killed someone or maybe he is a detective. The shaking hand maybe suggests he has been shocked by something he has seen.

Insomnia evaluation

The opening sequence for insomnia makes the audience feel like they are in a dream or that the character is slipping in and out of consciousness suggesting they are dyeing. There is also a red liquid which appears to be blood growing on a fabric. This suggests someone has been stabbed or shot and are bleeding. It keeps switching between the blood and a shot of the camera flying over white mountains which could be perceived as heaven or a place that the character holds dear to them. This gives the perception they are dying because typically when someone is dying they think of somewhere they love or heaven. They use stringed instruments to create a piece of music that keeps you in suspense and enhances the mystery which they are playing for the whole of the opening scene. The text flows or grows in like blood and then the film blurs in. This could also link to the name of the film "Insomnia," which is a sleeping disorder and could be someone at the point of exhaustion.

Psycho movie analysis

We watched a horror clip from a film in the 1960s called Psycho which was directed Alfred Hitchcock. The clip we watched was a famous shower scene were a girl is murdered by a dark figure. At the beginning of the clip, everything is white and clean which signifies that the girl was innocent and pure. It is just a normal day for her with no special occurrences which adds a element of fear because it makes the audience believe it could happen at anytime. You can see silhouette walking towards the shower, the shower curtain is used as a component of mystery as it is unclear who it is. The figure then attacks her with a knife which is a symbol of danger and death. It also shows the character is mentally unstable because if you are attacking someone with a knife you will see a lot of blood and you also get into a repetitive motion which shows he has problems with control. They use tense, repetitive on edge music when the murderer is attacking which is similar to the motion of the knife. There is then a shot of the girls expression of pure fear. When the attack if finished, there is blood on the wall and floor colouring the white.  Her hand is sliding down the wall showing her desperation, she clutches for the shower curtain and it falls down which is a symbol of her last hope gone. She falls down with the curtain and the camera zooms out from her eye. It shows there is no more life in her eyes anymore and her blood washes down the drain similarly to her life

Research on the film The Grudge

The Grudge is about an American nurse living and working in Tokyo. She is exposed to a supernatural force when she visits a house. It is a little boy and his mother who are the living dead who were both murdered by the Father and they stay in the house and lock people in a terrible rage before killing them.

The Grudge was directed Takashi Shimizu and stars Sarah Michelle Gellar. It won a BMI Film Music Award in 2005 and has been nominated for six others including Best film award. It was written by Stephen Susco and was produced by Takashige Ichise. The film editing was done by Jeff Betancourt and the cinematography by Hideo Yamamoto. It had a budget of $10,000,000 and had a gross product of $110,175,871. In the opening week in the USA alone it made $39,128,715 and had 3,245 screenings.

The film uses very good components. The mother, who is the one who kills everyone, has a signature noise which is like a crackling noise and every time I hear it I think of some famous scenes from the film. The cinematography is also very good. They use a lot of floating camera and perspective shots to add fear. Another element they use is the low lighting and the dark colours which have a good impact on the atmosphere.

The Comparison between the films "28 Days" and "American Werewolf in London"

American Werewolf in London evaluation
In the film American werewolf in London it uses may different horror components.
There re two guys walking along what appears to be a mountain pass in the Yorkshire dales. They are portrayed as average normal people as they are talking about girls they think who are good looking which is a typical convocation for two men. They walking into a small village or a hamlet which appears to be very innocent. They walk in to the pub and there is an awkward silence and people are hostile towards the boys. It makes the audience feel as if there is something different about this place as the country is typically welcoming. There is a star on the wall surrounded by candles and when the boys ask about it, there is a silence again suggesting that there is something scary behind it. They leave the pub and they are told to stay of the moors and stick to the road a second time. It creates a sense of importance as it is said twice. When they have left, the villagers talk about death and murder which makes the audience believe the boys will die. There is a typical shot of the moon suggesting there is a werewolf

28 Days later
In the horror film 28 days later, it gives you an impression there has been a disaster as there are clips on the TV, but it is just a ape watching the clips of pre-recorded footage. This links well with the rest of the film as there is a disaster later on. The ape seems to be in an evil lab as he is tied up to machines and strapped down. It is also very dark and low light suggesting that what ever is going on isn't good. A group of people then come in wearing balaclavas and your first guess is that they are terrorist as they are braking in. It then reveals that they are helping the many apes trapped in small boxes. The sound of the apes and their actions suggest that there is a sense of panic and fear. A professor then tries to signal the centre, but is stopped by the group. The film uses a typical technique of the professor telling them not to do something and the group ignoring it. The doctor tells them not to let them out because there infected with rage. This strikes fear and curiosity into the audience because you can't physically infect someone with rage and it suggests that there will be death. They let one ape out and it bites the girl and her eyes go red symbolising evil. The apes are finally silent after the girl has been bitten to create a sense of shock.

The similarities in these two films are as follows:
-They both use dark setting to create tension
-There is something going on that the watcher doesn't know about that the inhabitants are hiding
-It is a strange atmosphere, it is unusual and builds suspicion

The differences between the two films are:
-In 28 days the characters are first seen as terrorist figures and then it reviles who they are and what they're doing
-In American Werewolf in London, the two characters are just normal guys who go into a pub
-In American Werewolf in London, they use repetition as they get told to "stick to the road twice."
-In American Werewolf in London, they use the classic moon shot to imply that there is a werewolf near.
-In 28 days they use animals to create fear as animals can always sense fear
-In 28 days they have a scientist who is warning them and says there "infected," this gives it a felling of tension as you know something is wrong.
-In 28 days, they give the girl red eyes after she is bitten which makes her seem evil