Evaluation Question 2- How does your media product represent particular social groups?

For evaluation question 2 i will be comparing my main characters, to other main characters in psychological horror genre films. 

Orphan

As you can see our protagonist 'Leena Wilkes' can be compared to Isabelle Fuhrman who played 'Esther' in Orphan, this is because they both have the same life background of loosing their mum. They also both have their hair down, but not messy so it covers their face, this hairstyle has connotations of them being normal from the outside but psychologically upset from their brain. Their costume also make them look vulnerable but on the other hand the use of colours are dark connotating they are distressed and upset. You can also see facial expressions really well because of the mid-shot being used in both frames, from these frames you can see that they both look young and quite surprised. Young female protagonists are stereotypically presented as sweet and innocent, we have also used this stereotype because we didn't want to give away our protagonists real identity and characteristics.

Dark Water

The bottom frame represents a flash black that our protagonist had in our main task of her and her mum back in the days when our protagonist 'Leena Wilkes' was about 6 years old. This frame can be compared to a frame from the film called 'Dark Water', their frame is also of Jennifer Connelly 'Dahila' and Ariel Gade 'Ceci' when they were young. Both of these shots represent happiness and vulnerability because the audience can see how it feels like to be with your mum when you are little. The audience are also able to see facial expression, in both frames as you can see they both look happy like a typical mother rand daughter would.  

The Ward

The ward is another film our main characters 'Leena Wilkes and 'Maya Stone' can be compared to their main characters who were Amber Heard who played 'Kristen' and Danielle Panabaker who played 'Sarah'. As you can see in both frames they are the typical best friends  who are caring for each other. My characters have similar costume to the Ward's characters, but opposite, as you can see the victim in the ward is wearing red which has connotations of blood and death, whereas my victim 'Leena Wilkes' is wearing a dark blue jumper which has connotations of loneliness and distress. On the other hand my protagonists friend 'Maya Stone' is wearing red party wear this was worn to denote she is in a happy romantic mood, whereas the protagonists friend in the ward is wearing a dark blue sleeveless top but is shown to be happy within the frame because her hair and makeup looks fresh. The audience are also able to see how typical both frames are shown because the best friend is the one who always comforts the one who is in trouble at the time, in both frames the 'friend' is comforting the protagonist. This a stereotypical code in all psychological horror genre films. 

I am now going to be explaining how i have represented age, gender and ethnicity in my film, and how this compares to the conventions of a horror film.

Age

In my film I have represented the age of my characters through costume, makeup and props, although my characters were the right age, of 16-17 year old, the costume and make up have made them look more categorized  for example, I made my protagonist wear a dark blue jumper, jeans and converse, this sort of costume is typical because you would tend to see in horror genre films were the antagonist is young, they would always typically be in a house on their own , wearing relaxed clothes, for example in 'Scream' the antagonist 'Drew Barrymore' is at home wearing a jumper and jeans. Overall teenagers are portrayed as an easy prey for killers because they have the untouchable arrogance and innocence which always seems to get them in problematic situations, they also lack of life experience and wisdom, this statement is portrayed in our film when our protagonist 'Leena Wilkes' lacks her self confidence and thinks someone turned the TV on, when actually she sat on the remote. Our protagonist has clearly not reflected positively because she is already paranoid and just seems everything that is happening is negative and problematic. Teenagers are also portrayed as rebellious in most horror films for example, when they are with friends at home they are fine and happy, but when they are home alone they have massive fears of someone else being in the house with them, like our film we have also used this stereotype because it gives a clearer picture of what the genre is.

Gender  

In today's media, we generally see gender as being very stereo-typically presented, for example women/girls being presented as 'object's', mainly sexually and emotionally orientated. In our own film we have also used 'girls' and not boys because girls are typically the main victims in horror genre for example in the films 'The Ward' and 'Scream' they have used girls as the victims because girls are typically emotional and less stronger than men. However in the film 'The Ring' this statement is opposed because the victim is a man and the haunter is a woman. But in the majority of horror films the victim is a woman/girl. Traditionally women are represented in horror films as emotional and in distress and are usually being attacked by the killer because they are emotionally weak and have less power and they need to be rescued and take care of as they are incapable of looking after themselves. The women that we see in horror films tend to vary little in age and appearance, they all tend to be young women who are quite ‘pretty’ or attractive. We have also used younger girls because they have connotations of innocence and vulnerability. It has always been conventional to horror films that the women are supposed to be portrayed as a figure of beauty and innocence whilst the attacker is portrayed as a gruesome heartless killer. 

Ethnicity

In most horror films and particularly psychological horror films, there has never been an Asian protagonist, this may be due to the lack of Asian actresses. However in our film every character is Asian, we decided to make a twist instead of using the stereotypical white british protagonist, so the audeince would be more interested in watching something diffrent. In todays society most people think stereotypically of Asians assuming that they are not allowed to certain things in todays society, so are film is also representing that there is no difference between White British and Asian people, they are allowed to do the same things. 

Evaluation Question 1- In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (i.e. of film openings)

For evaluation question 1 i am going to create a photo grid using Photoshop and Choose nine frames from my main task, that represent: 

• The title of the film
• Setting/location
• Costumes and props
• Camerawork and editing
• Title font and style
• Story and how the opening sets it up
• Genre and how the opening suggests it
• How characters are introduced
• Special effects

Underneath these nine frames i will be writing  detailed explanations, explaining why i have made these choices, and how they compare to typical horror films.

My first frame which is on the top left hand corner represents the title of my film, as you can see the name of my film is Hallucinations. We decided to place out title at the end of our 2:00 sequence because we thought it fits better showing it at the end rather than giving the whole story-line of the film in the beginning and also because after the dramatic scene of the TV you suddenly end with the title fading in, with the ambient music fading out.

My second frame establishes my setting and location of the film, i have chosen to take a long establishing shot. I have decided to set the basis of my film in a house because for a psychological horror, this is a main convention which I feel will allow the audience to put themselves in the characters positions. This will also create realism, something that every film must include in order to create a film of a professional and sophisticated level.

My third frame shows the costume and props used within the opening sequence very well. Both of my characters within the frame are portrayed as their character personality look. For example, the character playing ' Leena Wilkes', i have clearly given her the depressed and lost look. By wearing a casual outfit consisting of skinny jeans and a dark blue jumper, she is able to reflect her young age and her innocence. On the other hand i have however, i planned to dress the antagonists friend 'Maya Stone' with an outfit consisting of a red party top and black skinny jeans to connotate that she is happy and cheerful and not in the same postion as 'Leena Wilkes'.  

My fourth frame shows the camerawork and editing that is used within this opening sequence. This frame is a panning shot of the antagonist's mum and her in the past. We have used an old and rusty effect to put across to the audience that this frame is not ongoing in the film but is actually in the past. As well as the editing effect we have also put a voice over to explain to the audience of whats going within the frame, this was done so they do not get confused on whats going on.

My fifth frame is our production company and title font and style. I have chosen for our logo to be a human skull with clogs filling the outline. This represents that this movie is going to play with the audeinces' mind. It also links back to the genre of our film which is psycholgical horror, which is playing with your mind. We chose for our font to be diffrent to our credits and title font becuase we wanted our production to look sleek and not to horror.

My sixth frame represents our story and how the opening sets it up. From this frame the audience can see the two charecters body language and surrondings. They can also cleary see that both chahracters are sat at home relaxing while studying this is portryed through costumes and props.

My seventh frame represents the genre and how the opening suggests its a psycholgical horror film. This frame is a shot of the TV with the anatagonists (Leena Wilkes) mum on it, this shot is portraying a Hallucination which is seeing, hearing, tasting, feeling, or smelling something that is not there. Therefore, in this case the antagonist is seeing a halluncination,   but she is not at this point aware that the perceptions are false, whereas others may truly believe that what they are seeing is real. This sets the story of what going to happen later on the film.

My eigth frame represents how my charecters are introduced. In this frame they are talking about whats exactly is going on within the frame.  In sets the story and establishes who is the victim and friend. It also portrays their body language and how 'Leena Wilkes' is depressed because she is clearly not focusing on her work whereas 'Maya Stone' is.

My ninth frame represents a special effect that we have used, so it doesn't get boring. The special effect we have used is, a voiceover of the antagonists friend 'Maya Stone' when she is walking out. This is used to keep the audience engaged as well as to show the inner feeling and expressions of the characters. In the voiceover she is expressing what she thinks about'Leena Wilke's' situation. Straight after this there is a dramatic cut into a scream, from this the audience suddenly thinks everything is going smoothly until the next shot which makes them jump.

Main Task Film Name and Production Company Logo

Main Task Film Name

When researching what i should title my main task as, I thought that i should use a straight forward title, that represented the theme of my film quite well. The theme of my main task circles around an experience involving the perception of someone really important in life not being present.  I decided to research different words that would best reflect psychological horror and the situation of the whole film as well as a title that would be easy to remember and read.

HALLUCINATIONS

A hallucination  is seeing, hearing, tasting, feeling, or smelling something that is not there. Therefore, some people experiencing hallucinations may be aware that the perceptions are false, whereas others may truly believe that what they are seeing, hearing, tasting, feeling, or smelling is real. 

This name fits in with our main task and pitch as the university student Leena Wilkes (Oria Malik) has lost her mum because she has died, but due to this loss she is now having Hallucinations of someone always watching over her and gets freaked out every time shes alone. This is also a Psychological disorder which again links up with the concept of Psychological horror and puts a straight forward message to our target audience.  

Why did you choose this title?
Why we chose this title?

We chose this title name because we thought that it very relevantly summed up our movie opening in one word, also we thought that it was quite an interesting title and could have a lot of meanings behind it, therefore grabbing the viewers attention. By using the word "Hallucinations" it suggests to our viewers that it will be a psychological horror, rather than slasher or comedy horror, which automatically attracts people that know they will enjoy a movie like ours.

What connotations do these words have?
The words that we have used to connotate our title represent mystery, psychological problems, a dark past and for something to have gone drastically wrong in their life.

How will this title appeal to your target audience?
We feel this title will appeal to our target audience because of the word "hallucinations". Our target audience are teenagers, and generally you can associate teenagers as sometimes feeling lost. Part of hallucinating is feeling lost. But because our title is short and sweet, we hope that it will leave the target audience intrigued and wanting to know more about the short clip, therefore resulting in more people coming to view it.

Production Company Logo

Why did you choose this text and design?
We chose this production logo because we thought it was an effective way to give the viewers a gist of what our film is about We also thought that it was clever to use the shape of a head with clog works filling it. We thought that this strongly linked with how the brain can work in many different ways and shows it clearly. For us, it worked because the film is about a young girl and she sees things in a different way to 'normal' people, so the picture with the clogs filling the head, represents how her brain works.

Do the colours or images have any specific connotations?

The colours we used are black, orange and grey.

The black represents darkness in someones life. Black is always associated with bad things, for example death or sadness. In our film, the main character loses her mother and her life is then full of sadness. Black is a mysterious color associated with fear and the unknown. It usually has a negative connotation (blacklist, black humor, 'black death'). Black is not a colour, it is the absence of all colour. This links with the way our main character feels after her mother has passed away. She feels her life has no meaning anymore.

Orange is associated with joy and sunshine. Orange represents enthusiasm, hope, happiness, determination, success, encouragement, and stimulation. Orange is a power colour. It is one of the healing colours. This colour links in with our main characters life because even though she has lost her mother, she still has hope in her life to finish her education and be successful with determination.


Grey is the color of sorrow. Grey is the symbol for security, maturity and dependability. It connotes responsibility and conservative practicality.Its energy imparts void, emptiness, lack of movement, emotion, warmth and identifying characteristics. Because of this, gray can be restful. It has a detached and isolated feeling. This strongly links in with our characters life because her life is empty with no meaning now that her mother is deceased. She also feels isolated because when she tells her friend that she see's her mother sometimes, her friend doesn't believe her. This causes Lena (main character) to feel lonely and isolated.

Psychological Horror Inspiration

Our inspiration for our Main Task has come from this film which is called the "Orphan", this  film is also a Psychological horror about a girl called "Esther", she has been adopted from an orphanage home after a couple has a miscarriage and sees no hope but to adopt a child. But the couple are unknown of what "Esther" has been through and what problems are awaiting with her presence in the family.

For our own Main Task we have decided to use a university student rather than a younger child because we think our target market will be more wider. We also thought that instead of the typical orphan we decided to make a unusual opening sequence by our protagonist already having loosed her mum and the opening would be the after life of this consequence for her, this would make it more interesting and scarier.

Main Task Storyboard

For our first shot we are going to be using a establishing shot of my house, this shot establishes the context because is shows the relationship between its important figures and objects.  We will also be adding an ambient sound effect to create a insecure atmosphere when the audience is looking at the frame.

For our second shot we will be using a long shot of our protagonist 'Leena Wilkes' and her friend 'Maya Stone', this shot typically shows the entire object or human figure and is usually intended to place it in some relation to its surroundings.

This is a mid shot of the two characters studying, and the protagonist is looking away. The reason why we chose to have Leena looking away was to show that she is being distracted by something and her mind is elsewhere. Also, we decided to change the characters names from Jennifer, to Lena and Ellie to Maya because we thought that the name Lena and Maya suited the characters face more than Jennifer and Ellie.  

For this shot, we decided to use a close up shot of Lena’s face to show the expression on it and to let the audience know that even though Lena is denying that anything is wrong. Her face expression is saying otherwise, and that perhaps she is holding her emotions in for some unknown reason. 

This is a close up shot of Maya talking to Leena. We have written that we'll use a close up shot, but we may change it to mid shot to enable the viewers to be able to read the top half of their body language. We are going to use shot reverse shot in this scene to show off the skills we learnt from the preliminary task. Also, we think that it is an appropriate technique to use to show off conversation.   

We used a close up point of view shot from Maya, facing Jennifer, this was to show the viewers her face expression so they can keep up with the story and understand it.

This is a mid shot of Maya from Leena's point of view, this was again used to show body language and to show that Maya is worried about her friend, Leena. 

This shot is a point of view from Maya, with a close up of Lena. This was used to build suspense and to let the viewers know that there is now definitely something wrong with Maya; we will fade out and into the next shot to create a sense of mystery

This shot is showing a pan movement around the room. It will be a long shot so they viewers can see what is going on. In the background there will be a suspicious non-diegetic soundtrack playing to create suspense.

This shot is a mid shot of Maya from Jennifer’s point of view, to show body language, the non-diegetic sound will still be playing in the background to create even more suspense

This is a close up of Lena from Maya's point of view to show emotion and a reaction shot from what Maya has just said. We used shot reverse shot in this scene because its the best way to show a conversation between two people.

This shot is a long reaction shot of Maya, after Jennifer has just said something to her. We chose to use a long shot so the viewer is able to read her body language.

This is a mid shot of Lena from Maya's point of view. We used mid shot because she was sitting down and we thought it would fit well

This shot shows Maya leaving the room with a long shot and pan movement. We may decide to have her doing a voice over talking about how worried she is about her friend Lena, this would allow the viewers to connect with the film because they have an insight into how she is feeling and that is something that only she would know.

This is a long shot showing Lena sitting down. We chose to use a long shot for this scene so that it is clear to the audience that after her friend, Maya leaves, she sits back down

This shot shows Lena's deceased mothers face appear on a TV screen, which turned on by itself. We will put some kind of non-diegetic horror/suspenseful soundtrack over this part.

This is a shot of Lena getting scared when the TV turns on. We chose for this shot to be close up so that the viewers are able to read Lena's expression easily. We will end this shot with it fading to black, this is to create a sense of mystery.

This shot will be a mid to long shot and it will shot Maya exiting the house but hearing a scream. Then it will suddenly go to a close up shot so the viewers are able to see the expression of worry on her face.

This will be a long shot of Maya rushing back in to the room, we have chosen for this shot to be a long shot so the viewers are able to see her walking fast, there will also be tense non diegetic music playing over this scene to make the viewers feel scared and tense.

This will be close up shot of Lena looking scared and nervous, we used a close up so the viewers are able to see her face clearly and follow along with the story-line.

This will be another close up of the TV from Maya's point of view with nothing on the screen, we chose for this shot to be a close up so it will become clear to the viewers that there is definitely something mentally wrong with the main character (Lena Wilkes)

This is a mid shot of Maya looking for the remote. We chose for this to be a mid shot so it is clear to the viewers what she is doing (looking for a remote).

This is a shot from Maya's point of view looking for the remote. We chose for for this to be a point of view shot so the viewers feel more connected with the film, seeing things from a characters eyes.

This shot shows Lena standing up to reveal that she was sitting on the remote. We have chosen for this shot to be a long shot so it is clear to the viewers that she stood up to reveal the remote

This is a shot from Maya's point of view, to reveal that she has seen the remote and she now thinks her friend has gone crazy.

This shot shows Maya and Lena having a heated discussion, a long shot is used so that the viewers are able to read the two characters body language, there may be some tense non diegetic music playing over this part.

This is a mid shot of Maya talking to Lena, this shot was used so that you are able to read the characters face expression as well as her body language

This is a shot of Lena crying, we chose for it to be a close up so that the viewers are able to see the distress on her face and feel sympathy towards her.

Main Task Locations, Cast, Costume and Props

Locations:

Jasmine's House
I have decided to set the basis of my film in a house. For a psychological horror, this is a main convention which I feel will allow the audience to put themselves in the characters positions. This will also create realism, something that every film must include in order to create a film of a professional and sophisticated level. I am going to also use a few other locations, so the audience do not get uninterested in where the action is taking place, e.g. flashbacks, but the majority of footage will be found inside of the home. Also,the idea of using a home is a place my target audience would normally associate with security and comfort because they will be living away from home, so the idea of a family home that presents scenes of terror and horror should unnerve them completely.

Cheney School (Drama Room)

Me and my partner thought it would be practical to film in school rather than out of school, this was because it would be more convenient, for e.g if we had any filming errors we wouldn't have to travel to a far location to shoot again. All of our film is based in this room because it presents a sense of homeliness.

Cast:

Leena Wilkes (Oria Malik)-Protagonist

For the character playing 'Leena Wilkes' , i have chosen one of my friends to act her below. As you can see she has pulled of a very upset and depressed look, i have planned for her to be wearing dark clothes to connoatate that she's not happy and jolly like her mum. She fits in with her role because she looks simple with no makeup and special hair done.

Maya Stone (Zahra Malik)- Protaginists Friend

This is our protagonists friend, who is a typical teenager, who likes her education and fashion. As you can see she doesn't look like a very mature neither very young teenager and pulls off a realistic look. 

Maya Stone (Zahra Malik)- Antagonist's Friend

 Alveena Wilkes (Elly) Protagonist's Mum

For the character playing ‘Leena's’ mother, I have chosen to use the actor below. With hair and makeup she is able to pull off a sophisticated look, where the audience can believe her to be a mother. She has a normal look which I think is important for the mother to have in my film and she also seems happy and joyful.  

Hair, Costume and Makeup:

For my main task have decided to go with a more natural look for my cast, i intend not using dramatic makeup and hair as the normal horror genre would use because our film needs to look realistic. If dramatic makeup is not used the audience are also then able to relate to the characters, making it scarier when they begin to put themselves in their position and understand the characters more well rather than the usual stereotype.  I also feel that in psychological horror films, you do not tend to see characters with overwhelming makeup; it is more subtle and realistic. I am aware that the makeup of the antagonist needs to look tired and tormented. I am going to try and achieve the look where by ‘Leena’ will look pale, but fresh faced, again reflecting a pure and innocent person, but also reflecting the fact that she is troubled and determined. 

‘Leena’ will be wearing a casual outfit consisting of skinny jeans and a dark blue jumper reflecting her young age and her innocence. Also, I think this will also reflect the stressful  side of ‘Leena’ as the dark colours will present a lone and boring life. I plan to dress the antagonists (Leena's) friend's outfit consisting of a red party wear top and black shiny jeans, this connotates she is happy and cheerful and not in the same position as 'Leena'.

I am going to have 'Leena's' hair straight and down, reflecting a young and girly person, but i don't want her to look perfect reflecting the fact that she has been neglected. I therefore think that she should look hard done by stress, and by having messy hair I believe that I can achieve this look, along with makeup and costume. The antagonists friend 'Maya', will have her hair long and straight as I think that this is a typically teenage girl hairstyle, this look  will allow the audience to appreciate her age and make it more believable to the fact that that she is a teenager. 

Props:

For my main task i only need a limited amount of props, these include:

Some school books that Leena Wilkes and Maya Stone are going to be working from

This is the book that our protagonists friend is reading, ans is really concentrating hard on her English Literature exams.

This is the book that our protagonist is supposed to be reading because she is depressed and isolated.

A TV and remote:

Makeup for the mum (Alveena Wilkes) person that scares Leena Wilkes when she looks into the TV:

Codes and Conventions (Psychological Horror)

In this post I am going to identify the codes and conventions that we have used in our psychological horror opening.

Production Company logo at the beginning: this is a typical convention in most film genres, including horror, to have the institutional information at the very beginning of the film. This typical convention in every film, helped our product seem more like a real horror film, and also draws audience attention because of the good reputation that our company –Clockwork Productions – has amongst horror fans.

Non-Diegetic Soundtracks: All horror films rely on music at the beginning to build up an atmosphere, we have also used this typical code and convention. A typical horror soundtrack would be eerie, jumpy and on edge, we have chosen to use a soundtrack that was pre-loaded on iMovie called 'Dragons Den', this soundtrack had an exact beat that went with our credentials. We did this, as not only did we want a sound that was haunting than scary, we wanted to convey the fact that our film is the most typical of psychological horrors because it was based in a house, and we wanted to build up the tension gradually.

Black and White Typography: we chose to use these two colours because; black is a typical convention of horror films, as the colour has connotations of danger and White is associated with light, goodness, innocence, purity, and virginity. It is considered to be the color of perfection. This gives the audience the message that this film is consisted of mixed emotion between characters. The style of the font for the title is also a typical horror style, and makes the genre obvious.

Typical House Location: A house is somewhere you would expect to feel secure, and most Psychological horror films, are established in a house which makes it one of the key codes and conventions we have used. Its links with the supernatural which makes it an ideal establishing shot to set the scene. However, we didn’t play it up as the typical convention it is in other horror films (in the dark) because the idea was to show the afterlife of the protagonist after her mum had died, and make it seem from the first shots that someone was watching over Leena Wilkes's House.

Types of Character: Our two characters, Leena Wilkes and Maya Stone are the typical characters you see in other horror films; the one who panics at the first sign of strange things, and the one who is disbelieving, and thinks everything will be fine.

Reaction Shot: This was included a lot when our protagonist kept seeing someone in the TV screen . This type of shot is used a lot in many horror films, as it creates tension and with reduced vision, the audience are on edge at the possibilty that something may be hiding.

Flashback. Flashbacks are used in quite a few horror films, as there is often a dark secret that gets out of hand, and can be a good way to unravel parts of the story, bit by bit, to create a sense of mystery. This is what we aimed to do with our flashback of Leena Wilkes and her mum in the past, this helped the audience understand where all this depression was coming from in Leena Wilkes.