Evaluation!

Results of Audience Comments

After viewing and analysing our video, we can understand that there are differences and similarities from the participants results. Firstly, from the montage, there is a series of facial expressions that contrast from confused to amused, but this doesn't give any definite qualitative answers. Therefore, we chose to ask five questions on top of simply videoing the sample group, as well as recording their results.

Here, I will divide the five questions we asked, as well as the participants different answers - with analysing their responses.

QUESTION 1: 'How much did this video entertain you out of ten?'

Participant 1 (jenna): 'About 9'
Participant 2 (lucy): 'I'd say a 9'
Participant 3 (mollie): 'Quite a lot, I'd give a 9'
Participant 4 (ian): '7'
Participant 5 (katie): '10'

Overall, the feedback from this question was very positive, with high results over the middle barrier of five out of ten. The median answer was 9, making our results almost 100% which therefore makes our video very watchable. All of our participants are very enthusiastic with their results, and appear genuine - as one can view upon the feedback video.
Moreover, our aim was the make our video entertaining - and we have achieved this.

QUESTION 2: 'What was your favourite scene?'

Participant 2: 'I like the use of the red hood'
Participant 3: 'I thought it was a santa hood, when the girl appeared'
Particpant 1: 'The bit with the girl in the hood'
Participant 5: 'The part where Emma stood there with the hood and it flashed'
Participant 4: 'The bit where it cuts to the girl in the hood, in loads of different random locations'

The most frequent answer refers back to the character with 'the hood', described as both 'red' and 'santa'-like. The participants seem to recognise the change of locations relating to the change of character, as well as the symbolism of her through the red iconic hood - making this a possible useage of iconography for this piece. They seem to refer to the use of edits, too, with the use of 'cuts' referring to this change, also highlighting change within our footage.

QUESTION3: 'What genre do you think this falls under?'

Participant 3: 'Weird'
Participant 1: 'Thriller'
Participant 4: 'Horror or spooky'
Participant 5: 'Horror'
Participant 2: 'Horror/thriller?'

The most common answer is of 'horror'. Overall, most of our participants presumably found our piece quite uncomfortable and creepy to watch, due to choosing this genre option. The clips, from their reactions in the video, correlate the 'spooky' and 'weird' responses, as they obviously find our film a scary piece. Only 'participant 2' refers to the thriller genre, which was our main aim, as through our research we believed our media piece would fit inside the psychological thriller genre best. However, as this genre has both 'horror' and 'thriller' conventions, we could view this part of audience research successful.

QUESTION 4: 'Do you think this music matches the footage?'

Participant 2: 'Um, yes'
Participant 4: 'Erm...yeah!'
Participant 1: 'Yes'
Participant 5: 'Oh yeah, very good choice'
Participant 3: 'Yes'

We are overall successful in this part of audience research. We aimed for our narration and range of music selections to correspond and parallel successfully alongside our imagery, which all of our participants positively agree to.

QUESTION 5: 'Would you watch this film?'

Participant 4: 'Probably now I've seen it, yeah'
Participant 5: 'Yeah, definantly!'
Participant 3: 'I would'
Participant 2: 'Yes'
Participant 1: 'Yes'

The main financial outcome of producing a film is luring in an audience, in order to consume revenue in order to make a profit. Moreover, if we were to produce our piece as a actual motion picture, from this short selection of the opening of 'Rouge', this niche audience agrees that they would like to watch the film. Although only five participants were asked, those asked range within our target demographics, therefore adding to a starting success to a successful movie.

Audience feedback from our film

This clip below underlines some feedback from our video. We asked a series of participants ranging from 17-19 years old to view our video, going on to ask 5 of them 5 questions. We did this in order to recieve an outcome from our video, in order to understand what a niche audience's thoughts upon our footage were. On top of this, reasons for the age range were due to our targeted demographics: 16-24 years olds, making the age group we asked of approximatley the middle of that range.
Below is the video, representing two montages of the participants facial expressions to show a series of reactions, alongside the questions asked and their responses clearly divided up, in order to be easily presentable and viewable:

Outtakes

This short video is a piece that we put together to represent the footage that we did not put onto our video. It shows that we filmed a series of shots to experiment through our production, rather than the ones alone that were placed into our finale piece. Although we used more shots than these, the shots below feature a range of ones that almost made it into the film, as well as 'out takes' where we made mistakes through filming. We made this film mainly for a mixture of entertainment, but to highlight us experimenting through our picture.

Our video

This is our finale video. We have finally completed it after our initial ideas, lengthy planning, shooting schedules and storyboards. We are both feeling positive about our work, as it converges with both our original and progressed ideas, as well as enjoying the production and editing of our piece. Overall, our video 'Rouge' has fufilled our expectations.

Editing our production logo

After completing our final ideas of our production logo, we have made a small video that shows it

This represents the opening of our entire footage. It shows our production logo of 'Magnified Productions', converging with a quick beat that we found on www.freesound.org that both match each other well. This follows alongside other production logo and distributors, where the main logo is represented with a jingle. Although sometimes silent to highlight the image alone, a tune is usually used to alert the viewer to pay attention to this part of the credits. We also decided to use a cross fade edit to black afterwards within this short opening, as this takes the attention from reality of production and the financial sideo of film, to absorbing the viewer within the actual film itself.

Although this part of the titles may not appear important, I have learnt throguh my media studies that it is in fact a large part of the production of the film, and overall the film can not even be produced if it does not have backing budget and commercialism - unless the director and those working behind the piece are to produce money for their picure themselves.

However, I feel opening our film with alongside this typical convention is important as if we were to both promote and produce 'Rouge', we would need support and 'Magnified Productions' would be key for our behind the scenes.

This week

Throughout this week, me and Jess have uploaded our video onto the Mac computers and have continued to edit our piece throughout our Media lessons. So far, it is going successfully and the sounds and images from our original ideas are idealistic, therefore showing our plans are running smoothly. We are previously experimenting with different colours to make our video appear more alarming to the audience, converging with the unusual storyline and bizarre sounds we have also used.

Our production logo

Together, we summed our ideas for our production logo up and discussed an eventual idea. Overall, we decided upon using a magnifying glass, as well as an eyeball as this relates to highly emphasizing features. On top of this, we wanted to include the title for our distributor, therefore combining all of these pieces and images together in order to converge a succesful piece of imagery. Our result was of this:

We considered producing this on a graphic programme at school, but found it quite simple completing the task simply on the program 'Paint'. We uploaded two seperate images of a magnify glass and an eyeball from Google Images, going on to converge them, and enlarge them slightly to improve the quality visabilly. We then experimented with a series of ideas for the title 'Magnified Productions', but found spreading the letters out and using capital letters was most effective. Also, the use of bold lettering on 'Productions' appears more appealing. On top of this, we decided to keep to simple black, white and grey colourings as this alerted the audience to the coloured image of the eye, which is most startling yet appealing on this piece.

We will include this production logo at the opening of our piece, likewise to most films, as this can be represented at the title norm. We will research a sound, too, such as a 'ding' or a 'bell' that would traditionally be recognized through iconography in reflection to a logo. Playing them together will overall open our piece.

Make-up used

During make-up, we used talcum powder for the pale effect, lots of eyeliner for both the eyes and the heart-shape idea on the lips, purple eye shadow to create a misty 'dead' effect and moisturizer to keep the layers of make-up in place. Here is our finished result:

Final make-up

After previously both conducting our independent ideas upon the make-up to use upon the villain within our piece, we discussed our ideas and have decided upon an idea. We wanted a pale face used, although the eyes and lips highlighted through the use of bold make-up. Here is my final idea of our make-up:

As I am playing the villain within our piece, I will probably conduct the make-up on myself. I will use:

• Talcum powderon my face, as this will create a ghostly, death-like affect. I will look extremely pale from this
• Dark, coal eyeliner on my eyes, with maybe some liquid eyeliner, as this will emphasize them. Using lots of black will give me a ghostly, hollow look
• Purple and blue eyeshadows - used under and around my eyes will achieve a death-like look. It is the typical norm for ghouls and corpses to almost appear bruised around their eyes, therefore we will follow this trend.
• Mascara - this will also emphasize my eyes. If we can find any false eyelashes by Sunday this would be more ideal, as they will appear even larger, but we are unsure at this time. We may also draw some eyelash affect strips around my eyes, to give myself a doll-like appearance
• Eyeliner on my lips - as we don't have access to black lipstick, we will result to black eyeliner. We will draw a small mouth in the centre of my mouth, so I appear to be constantly pursing and pouting my lips. However, I will appear even more ghostly and almost ill.
• My hair will just be down and straightened, and possibly slightly messy, as this is not our focus. We also want to achieve a little girl stereotype, so long wispy hair is ideal for this. Also, it needs to be down as before her face is revealed, the character's locks will fall our of her red cloak.
  

Here are examples of how we want to lips to appear, taken from google images:

They show various images that feature quite similar make-up likewise to ours, such as the use of the make-up on the lips. The various use of lips - such as the Edward Scissor Hands and first Lady Gaga example - are ideal to our piece. I also like the Edward Scissor Hands and the second Lady Gaga make-up effect, which is a combination of our ideas. Added to this, the paleness is ideal. The use of dripping blood from Lady Gaga's eye is an added idea to our piece, as this is effective and works well.

Making our production logo

For our opening psychological thriller, to make our piece appear more realistic, we have decided to produce a production logo that would distribute the film and market it. Therefore, we discussed ideas for this and decided on the name 'Magnified Productions', as this can follow typical names that are objects or words that become effective as a distributor company. Other examples along this line are such as 'Universal', 'Dreamworks' and 'Paramount' which all represent powerful sources, as the films' are underlined under these overwhelming authorities. Therefore, 'Magnified Productions' also falls under the dominant catergory, as the magnified relation hints at small things being exposed and therefore highlighted. The use of productions hints at its purpose, and can be likened to other distributors such as 'Columbia Pictures' and 'Alfa Films' which are obvious to what they relate to. Therefore, if we were to actually promote this film, to lure in an audience. Therefore, the use of 'Magnified' should, consquently, magnify the film.

After further discussion, we thought images that relate to the words would be appropriate for the iconography. Therefore, the blatent option being of a magnifying glass. We decided this would be a definite image for our piece. Whilst producing ideas, we drew various logos that would work alongside this, emphasizing this object, as well as the title 'Magnified Productions'. Therefore, I compilled various ideas that featured both the title and this image. However, we felt more was missing, so after more discussion we realised another object and image would correlate well alongside the rest of this, and conducted the imagery of an eyeball.

Therefore, we both seperatley produced our own inital ideas, which feature similarities - complimenting each other well - but are all unique and stylized independently.

These are my own ideas:

Shooting schedule

Below is our shooting schedule for this weekend, as we plan to complete the filming for our opening film. They have been developed by Jess to help us track out a plan, as well as follow our plans in linear order. They have been divided well, to help us acknowledge our different plans quickly and to not confuse us further - for example, our tasks, characters, locations and props are clearly presented and can be read seperatley. On top of this, the dates are representable, stating that we are filming in various locations over two set dates. We do not want to cram all of our filming in within a day, in case we feel rushed and run out of time. Also, we wan to seperate periods of the day out clearly, due to needing certain lights and seperated locations during different areas of our filming.

However, these print outs will be easier and more portable compared to using these blogs. On top of this, we may forget certain areas of our production, therefore these are key objects replacing our memory.

Weather

Although we have almost planned everything for our video (apart from deciding our shooting schedule, although we have roughly decided this and realise it should flow easily) one unnecessary with could avoid is bad weather. Although murky clouds would be okay, within our photo storyboard harsh sunshine is shown and is effective with the long shadows. Therefore, I have browsed on a series of weather sites and found these results on http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/uk/em/em_forecast_weather.html:



Therefore, the weather appears quite hopeful. Although cold and quite cloudy, no rain is featured, which is hidely ideal in this piece. Although sunshine is now featured, which would be ideal for our piece at times, there is not a problem. The image does, however, feature slight sunshine behind clouds, which leaves me slightly hopeful. However, we film much of our piece at nightime, therefore only needing us to focus upon this. Overall, we will just wait until the day and hope for the best!

Still to do!

• Make a shooting schedule - we have booked a camera for this weekend as well as have our tapes ready, so we are preparred. However, we have not officially decided upon what order we will film our film, as well as needing to get our props preparred and make sure the lighting/weather is fit for that time
• Decide on finale make-up: I am going to do practise make up set this week on my face, in order for less time and simplicity upon our filming day. With this, I can track what make-up props I will need to include and take with me upon the day, as well as time how long it takes, in case we have time limits. We may shoot this scene last, as the make-up may be visible upon my face if we are to do this before or even if I wipe it off, it may leave smudge marks.
• Design a production logo - as I am aware on a visit this week, Jess may have to design this on her own. However, the final decisions may be made when I am back, or we may decide to design it together. With this, we will need to sketch this and then make a graphic piece on the computer

Influence from my research

After all of my research, I have realised some of the studies I have looked at have thoroughly influenced my ideas, whilst others can be rejected. Although overall my media research has been helpful, some have more than others. For example, the video's that we have produced -for example, our preliminary task - have helped us acknowledge more recently what it is like to work behind the camera, and therefore give us extra progress throughout our work. Therefore, we will be more ready to work through our production, with the cameras, as well as handling editing skills. Although I have previously edited short film clips before, I have not had practise for a while, so the practise me and Jess have had with our other videos featured has also influenced us too - added to being upon a variety of editing programs, adding to more experience.

The variety of film analysis' that I completed have also helped me progress, too. The work I have done both in and out of class related to analysis has added to the development of our project, as I now thoroughly recognise more 'hows and whys' in relation to the reasons behind the camera - such as the angles of the equipment, the mise-en-scene, the reactions of the character's faces, etc... Therefore, I am able to relate this to my own work, and instead of focusing upon a simple narration, I can outline the overall feature of the shot. For example, we have decided to use red in every shot to represent the 'Rouge' title as well as be an omen towards the red hood. We also took note in the red hood, for example, as in early production we wanted one character, object or trait to stand out and be iconography for the films narrative, therefore being represented within the red cloak. We both also noted our camera shots, as we wanted each shot to be unique and representative related to the scene.

In relation to our 'Coventions of a Thriller' piece, we have tied these typical norms in within our piece. For example, we use typical flashbacks, as the change of time period is used frequently throughout - even within the opening. As our piece is unknowing and doesn't really answer any questions, our plot is left open, with the audience curious as to what is happening as well as having to work out the narrative for themselves. The piece is also told from a first-hand account, as the narrator's voice practically opens the film. However, our plot didn't fully tie in with these stereotypical norms, therefore with further research we found that our piece is in fact a psychological thriller, as more horror undertones are tied within. Thrillers usually star an all-male cast, therefore we do not tie in with this, as well as violence being unknown as the use of blood is more frequently used, rather than actual contact, making our piece ambiguous. However, psychological pieces include a 'stream of consciousness', as the narrator describes their point of view. A back-story is also included at the start, as the narrator describes sequences of the plot before the movie completelty starts, therefore including the viewer more thoroughly. The first-person also tackles typical norms, such as reality, perception and even death, therefore this being a more ideal genre label here.

In relation to our Film Noir work, our piece is suprisingly likewise. Although maybe not obvious at first watch, as the typical norm is of the use of black and white throughout (unlike ours), 'Rouge' will in fact feature some of this colour throughout some of the bizarre montages. The use of the 'femme fatale' is also hinted at, as the main female character actually dominates - as although her dreams are fixed within her head, she actually has them held within her own mind, therefore showing a female in control. On top of this, she is the lead role. Another norm is of the piece being told in retrospect, with our piece featuring many flashbacks and narratives. Although we cannot use actual actors within our piece, this film - if released - would probably be based around independent, art films, therefore featuring a little-known cast.
The use of working progressivley upon our initial ideas has helped dramatically. For example, the use of the early images and their bizarre editing helped influence us, as we plan to complete this within our editing. We have also gradually changed and altered our ideas, as we realised some parts of filming cannot be completed or we scrapped ideas due to personal dislike. However, with the help of the storyboards featuring post-it notes for us to move and express our ideas more freely; the use of a photo storyboard as well as wearing the props first hand and witnessing the sights in linear order helped us express our ideas and come to final decisions.
The help of 'to do' lists helped me list out clearly what I plan to do, as well as make mental checklists and complete the lists in order. They helped me gradually go through my pieces, as well as complete them in order.

On top of this in relation to planning, I have also explored a variety of ideas that will be used within our film. For example, the use of drawing the costumes and make-up ideas has helped me recognise what we will use visually, as well as help me change ideas and explore a range of different availabilities. This is likewise with the titles, as producing ideas and then getting help from audience research was widely appealing as well as interesting to acknowledge peoples' thoughts.
Added to this, the help of researching in depth to particular films has helped influence us, too. For example, after realising that 'Dont Look Now' is very similar to ours, I realise that we are following many of the typical film norms, which is quite reasurring. On top of this, the similarities throughout this are very useful with ours, as the red cloak and the mass amout of low key lighting throughout is very similar to ours. Added to this, the comparision of the storyline within "The Nightmare On Elm Street" is very likewise to ours, as the haunting plot to our piece also follows somebody taking over somebodies dreams. All in all, these narratives are likewise to ours, although the sharp differences make ours unique. On top of this, the montage within 'Dont Look Now' was very useful, as we realised that the use of many shots to emphasize that plot is effective. I also noted "The Ring"'s famous montage, where the use of quick graphic disullusional images is highly effective. Therefore, we have taken these ideas and will portray them within our piece, by editing images strangely and using piercing sounds alongside quick shots.
Small extras have also helped proccess my ideas and help make finalized decisions, such as the safety hazards and planning the sounds. These, all in all, will help me move along my ideas and be reflected within our work.
In finale, practically everything I have researched throughout this project has been influenced into my piece so far. Whether it being technology-wise, research into particular films or just generally enticing particular elements of other films and genres within our own, this production has been both educational and entertaining so far and highly useful towards my eventual piece through production.

Safety Hazards

BLOOD: We will have to take extra care with not spilling the blood in this case, too, which may lead to us slipping and harming ourselves.

BROOK: as we are filming near a large brook, there are dangers of falling in ourselves and injuring or harming ourselves, or possibly even drowning. We may even drop the camera or other equipment into the water. Therefore, to avoid this, we will not go too near the edge of the brook or near the water, in order to avoid any damages to both ourselves and our equipment.

BRIDGE: on top of this, we are also filming both near and on top of a bridge. Added to the previous hazard, we will also not go too near the edge, or even be immature in any way on top of this bridge, as it's peak is very high and the consequences may be dire. However, a sturdy, steel barrier has been built along this bridge dividing the edge and the risk of falling off the edge, therefore reducing our risk of injury. We will also take extra care with our equipment - in particular, our camera - in this instance, as we do not wish to break it

SINK: we are filming next to a sink, as we take a photograph of one as well as take care of pouring fake blood/food colouring during one scene and through production. As we are leaning right over this sink, we'll have to take extra care throughout this, in order to not drop the camera in - this may damage or even ruin the equipment.

Planning Sounds

WARNING: 11 seconds in, loud screech is heard!

Above is a short video featuring a collection of sounds for our piece. Although not in order, they are our selection of sounds used from a variety of sourced words (such as 'tension' 'atmosphere' and 'screech') from http://www.freesound.org/, which compliment our video well. The website marks the length of the sounds, which parallel our shots well (such as a two second sound converging with a two second shot). However, some of the sounds are rather long (such as the dreamlike, eerie sound that is used within the dream, which is not lengthy enough and therefore we aim to repeat this twice. We tested this to see if it sounded unusual, but coincidentally sounded quite effective).

The sounds in the video above are not in linear order, due to technical difficulties. However, they are all included. The start features the ambient owl and cars sound, which signifies the nightime stereotypes; an atmospheric atmosphere follows, which is dreamlike and builds slight tension, which converges well with the narrative (as we have practised); a combination of more sounds follows, with the tension building dreamy sound following throughout the dream, (interruptued with a screech-like rewinding sound in the jump cut). A choir-like sound is then heard when the slow-motion scene featuring the heart, as this is unknown and adds a symbolic reference - possible religion? Statik-like, screech-like sounds are heard throughout both montages, followed by the threatening 'old sick piano' on the last scene, as the camera slowly leads up to the figure and their revelation. A waily-shocking scream then concludes the piece, as this is in aim to threaten the viewer.

Overall, the sounds work well and combine together to show a series of repelling but horrificly intriguing sounds.

Further audience research: Title of our film

After conducting a small survey based upon our films title, we handed out 10 small checklists to 10 participants, who gladly took part in order to contribute to our project. After consent, they completed their personal opinions upon our title's name, therefore then contributing to our psychological thriller piece. The checklist looked like this:

We aimed to make the sample representative, so a range of people could be included in this. Therefore, a range of different peoples values/opinions could be valued, and be reflected upon this. For example, we asked both male and female, as well as people we knew and didn't - so the data would not be researcher bias - as well as a range of ages, such as our teacher completing one form. Therefore, our data would be of a higher range. The results were of:

Presented in a bar chart, it clearly shows our results, with both Crimson Shadows and Rouge recieving 3; Midnight's Child 2; and both The Lost One's and Distortion with 1.

Therefore, 'Crimson Shadows' and 'Rouge' have a draw. From this, we have decided to personally choose as a team the title of our film, and have decided on 'Rouge' together, due to this being more mysterious. It is not obvious to what the narrative will follow, as the french term of 'red' could represent and follow anything. The typical use of red also follows blood, therefore hinting at horror, although we are diverse from this genre. Added to this, the iconic use of red is of the red cloak, on top of the use of red within almost every clip within our piece throughout. Overall, 'Rouge' is the ideal option, and our audience research was overall a success.

I also recognise that the film 'Rouge' already exists, from Krzysztof Kieslowski's 1994 work based on the trilogy of the three colours. However, this is diverse and little known, and as as our piece is not actually being produced as a film, I do not think this matters

Audience Research Into Our Film Name

Based upon the script within our narrative, as said me and Jess both seperatley recorded our voices in order to see how different people sound from the same script. As we were unsure upon which voiceover suited our piece best, we included some audience research which followed Jess uploading the two seperate versions upon Itunes and then allowing people to listen to them both on her ipod. We then asked nine people their opinions upon this subject. We recorded this in a video on Jess' mobile phone. The results were of follows in this video:

Overall, Version 1 was preferred, therefore showing that Jess' voice will be shown on our video. Although version 2 was preferred by some, as five out of the nine participants found it to be more "realistic", relating to "red riding hood", and emphasizing it being "more nervous", the first recording retrieved more positive votes, as most of the participants found the speech to be more 1 - dull, "dramatric", "generally better", "clearer" with more "strength." The second verion was also described as "dull". However, one participant did state that it "depends on the context" of the overall opening, therefore being of our decision. However, to back up our research, we have decided to choose the audience's favourite selection, therefore being of Jess.

Todays work

Today I have completed much of my to do list, which I am pleased with. I have uploaded all of the images that I planned to do, as well as the outcomes alongside them - such as explaining what they mean and why we have used them. As well as this, in the lesson this morning me and Jess began asking people to complete the forms for our Title names, on top of researching sounds. These sounds will converge with the images and their feelings within the scenes - such as quiet, ambient nighttime sounds within the opening alongside non-diegetic screeches and wails within the dream and the montages. Therefore, this will be more effective alongside the visual imagery and cinematography of the piece. Added to this, we found all possible sounds that could converge within our piece, as well as deciding whether they would time properly or if not would be repeated.

Added to this, last night Jess uploaded our seperate audio sounds of our speech upon her ipod so this could be easily transferable, moreover so we may allow others to listen to 'Version 1' (Jess) and 'Version 2' (Myself). After this, we made a small video on Jess' Sony Ericsson mobile phone, which shows the participant, with Jess' voice asking who they decided to choose as well as why. The participant will then answer both questions quickly - within 10 seconds. So far we have asked two particpants and plan to complete the remaining 3 at lunchtime.

They will be in small form, and the results will be presented in a pie diagram after we recieve the data.
We will upload the various sounds from http://www.freesound.org/ soon

Titles

We discussed a series of titles that may be used for our film's name. We wanted this to be original, as well as relate to the format of the film and spin-offs of concepts within our scenes - such as the red cloak, the unusual little girl and nightmares. Therefore, in yesterdays lesson we made a quick spider diagram of some possible titles. These were of follows:

The five films we selected as favoured possibilities were 'The Lost One's', 'Rouge', 'Distortion', 'Midnights Child' and 'Crimson Shadows'. We limited these down from personal favourites, and then we are currently deciding to form a checklist with these possibilities on, followed by a closed question-style type questionnaire. From here, the participants - approximatley 10 people - will answer their opinions, followed by us reflecting our results onto another blog. From here, we will then choose the most selected title as our films name, and present this as the title of our psychological thriller.

Make-up continued

Here are a range of make-up ideas I completed Tuesday night. They feature both girl-like and horror elements, as well as gothic and dirty make-up. We have dicussed these ideas, and have decided to combine some, as well as draw a main idea to which we will practise on my face before the day of shooting, in order to see if this looks visually presentable - as well as horror-like. Therefore, the lead up to this will help us plan out our ideas more thoroughly.

Photo storyboard

Audience Research

We have decided to aim our opening titles of our film for the Cert '15'. This is due to the genre of our film being of a psychological thriller, therefore referring to more of an intelligent text and narrative and stereotypically not being understood or appreciated by those of a younger audience. Those pieces that are aimed at the elder '18' audience usually include sexually explicit scenes, strong language, violence, horror references, etc... Therefore, this doesn't refer to our piece and seems too extreme for our narrative. However, a Cert 12 would only include some minor strong language, as well as sexual references, which appears too soft core for our piece. Therefore, we've agreed that the '15' audience would be appropriate. On top of the educational based reference, we have also decided our film would include some varied language, as well as minor horror scenes. The demographics for our piece, overall, would be of the 16-28 years generation.

Production shots

Storyboard

• Here is our pilot ideas within our rough storyboard. After completing this, we have deicided to stick to these ideas, although we have used stickynotes in certain areas of the video's plot in order for us to move around our initial ideas - both mentally and physically - as we are not 100% sure yet to what order our shots will be completed in, as well as what we will use, confiscate, etc. Therefore, it was really helpful to use the notes. We will decide our final ideas when completing our photo storyboard, as this will be more visual and actually include our locations and props.
  
  
• The opening for our film begins with a black background. This is due to little time for all of our titles throughout the rest of thie film, so we plan to include at least three of our planned titles within this section. The black will begin with no sound, as this adds tension and the audience will ponder over its meaning. The black will then fade into the clip
• This fade edit reveals a window in a bedroom. The camera lingers here for a moment, and begins to pan slowly to the right of the room. During this, natural night time sounds are heard, whilst credits (in white, to contrast the darker settings) contrast the scene. The camera halts to a stop at the bookcase, lingers once more, and begins to pan left, whilst slowly tilting down, too. The camera eventually stops on the bedside table, as well as with the opening titles halting. This opening lasts for about 16 seconds. A cut in, revealing an extreme close up of the clock on the table follows, lingering for approximatley four seconds to emphasize the ambient ticking sound, which emphasizes ticking thoughts. A cut edit then reveals a girl in bed next to this asleep. She turns over, adding to another ambient sound.
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• A cut follows, showing the girl in bed from an aerial shot. This shows her more clearly, introducing the character. The camera begins to slowly zoom in, and the non-diegetic narration of her voice follows, as she begins to explain part of the narrative of the story - based upon her dreams, from our speech. After 5 seconds of this shot, a flashback folllows, and as she continues to talk we witness part of her daily ritual repeated three times (her getting into bed, plumping her pillows and turning her light off to go sleep) although each time in different pyjamas to show a change in costume. This use of repetition emphasizes how she carries on her normal life, with these dreams occuring. It emphasizes how they come back every night, and the use of her innocence is toyed with as she naturally gets ready for bed, almost forgetting that she will soon be tormented. In the shots she will appear natural - almost happy - so at this point she was probably unaware. We may show her mood gradually getting worse throughout the shots. Overall, these three shots repeated three times continues for about 24 seconds, when her narration is cut and a jump cut of an extreme close up of her finger turning her light off follows. This is to show normality quickly being shut off. This only lasts for about a second.
  

• The cut then shows pure blackness. This is to highlight how alone she now is, as everything else has been shut off in the world and she is just alone with her thoughts - and her dreams. One last narration follows after about 3 seconds, to finalise her speech and make it more dramatic, when a dissolve edit follows as we enter her dreams. The first shot shows a figure in a red hood - appearing to be a female child - as she stands in a tunnel with her head bowed and her stance is lingering. We hear non-diegetic, foreboding sounds, that are almost hissing and screechy. After three seconds, the same time period for the next shot follows, showing the girl again, now in a grassy field. The sounds continue. We then see her under a low-key lighted tree, standing next to a road. It is unknown who she is and what she is doing, as well where she is and why. A cut then follows, the reveal her from an establishing, long shot on top of a bridge, also from a high-level position.
  

• A cut then follows, showing the girl from a low level position, as she almost doesn't acknowledge the camera and continues to stare. After two seconds, a cut follows again, revealing a long, dirty path. A jump cut follows, as she appears on the image. We may use a scream to parellel this. After this, a longshot reveals her walking past the camera under a bridge. The darkness of the shot adds to the eeriness. A cut follows, showing trees from a longshot position, in a woody area. The figure is in the distance again, hiding behind a tree. A cut follows again, to reveal her in a different destination, with a black background. She is standing still again, although we can see a slight more amount of her face, showing her slightly more revealed. At the point, we plan for the music to change to suit this scene.
  

• A jump cut shows her even closer. We now see her mouth, which is smirking slightly - it adds a slight sinister insideness with the girl, which is even freakier. After 2-3 seconds of this, a shot reverse shot follows showing the girl from the previous medium shot, although she is now holding an object in a her hand - a gold heart necklace. A cut in to her hands emphasizes the object, although it is slowly beginning to fall out of her hands now. A long shot reveals the object in slow motion falling through the air from her hands. A montage then begins, firstly featuring an upclose of a womans lips, as she slowly applies bold red lipstick.

• The montage then continues, all featuring 1 second shots. Next shows an extreme up close, tilt on paper, which will feature fake blood or food colouring dripping. Next is a shot reverse shot of the lips again, although now the lipstick is now smudged. This highlights feminity being fractured. A shot follows of a long shot of the figures shadow running past - unsure whether this will be at night or in the day. An upclose of a doorknob follows, as the handle moves with somebody attempting to get into a locked room. Throughout this montage of clips, static-like freaky music will be played. Afterwards, a shot of the necklace on the ground follows, highlighting.

• The second montages follows, with more bizarre sounds following. An up close of a finger with bright red nail varnish is shown, as it is pressed onto the surface. A cut follows, revealing an unknown individual with a camera, which hints at research throughout the film. A SVS of the finger up close then follows, although the nail varnish has been severly chipped, also relating the feminity being injured. This may hint at one of the females within the dream being hurt. More research is then highlighted, as an up close of a large book with the page turning is shown. A flash of a bloody hand will then follow, hinting at possible pain and gore, followed by more blood with an aerial shot of an up close of a bloody sink as the liquid pours down the drain. A SVS follows of the necklace, although now it is covered in blood. At this point, the music has stopped to show a disruption.

• After three seconds of this, to emphasize lingering. After this, a cut follows, to reveal the girls bedroom from the start. However, the light is now on, showing ambient lighting. A piercing sound will then be heard, as the camera is hand-held and shakes slightly. We can see the bed from a longshot, although a net has been thrown over the top and a figure is seen. After two seconds, the shot repeats, although we will be slightly closer to the bed and to the right. We can now recognise the figure as the red hooded figure from before. A close up cut follows, then showing the girl very close to the camera, althoguh hidden slightly from the net. Her head is also bowed. However, as the music continues, she parallels its freakish-ness and grabs the netting, pulling it back as well as throwing her hood backwards. Her face is then revealed as a freaky mess, which is complimented well with the non-diegetic sound of a overwhelming screech/wail/scream. The figure has been shown on the bed, to show how overwhelming she is, and how she takes over the girls overallness - in particular, her dreams hence the use of the bed. A cut then finalises our opening sequence, as the original dreamer is revealed from an aerial shot, as she wakes up from the dream and gasps, to show how affected she is by these nightmares.

Still to do:

• Later on this day I plan to upload my rough storyboard ideas, as well as my ideas for make-up, to which I have sketched out myself from influence from my previous blog of secondary research.
• Upload our finished storyboard, which features pictures of our settings with costume and props. We completed our pictures on Monday, in order to understand how our video would look visually. On top of this, we recorded audio sounds alongside our pictures upon a simple video tool on Jess' computer, which explains clearly what each shot shows, what they represent, their edits, timing etc... this will give a clearer picture upon our ideas. Previously, this is on Jess' blog but can only be uploaded from her computer, therefore I am waiting for her to complete this for me
• Make a collage of leftover pictures from Monday. Some of these are useful as they show us making and handling certain props and prove our work, as well as emphasizing the pictures that didn't quite make it onto our finale storyboard
• Upload our spider diagram of possible titles for our films name. From this, we are making a short survey of audience research, with the public choosing their favourite name by ticking a checklist of a closed questionnaire (these will also be provided upon the blog) from here we will choose the most popular selection
• Decide through audience research which voice is better for the narration
• Audience research - a short blog selecting our cert with reasons for this, as well as interviewing a small sample with questions based around our piece
• Research sounds upon http://www.freesound.org/ - we still need to select particular sounds to put onto our video: from ambient sounds like crickets to harsh non-diegetic sounds like violin screeches
• Design and make a production logo, representing our fake distributor
• Safety hazards
• A blog based on influence from all of my research - what I have chosen/rejected for my video...why...what... etc. Be particular about areas that have helped me

Nightmare on Elm Street Influence

This is a horror classic, directed by Wes Craven in 1984. It follows baddie Freddy Kreuger stalking a group of teenagers within their nightmares, as he hunts these friends down one by one and kills them as they sleep. Nancy, a typical average girl who lives upon Elm Street, notices these strange occurrences, and acknowledges Freddy within her visions. However, with the help of lucid dreaming, she manages to escape her dreams each time and fit the pieces together. From here, she is able to attempt beating Krueger down, as well as aim to save her friends before it is too late. With the struggle to stay asleep taking over her as well as her friends dropping off one by one upon Elm Street, this film really is a nightmare, although the horrific make-up of actor Robert Englund (Krueger) and the massive build up of eerie tension throughout helped this picture achieve three awards, as well as two nominations. On top of this, it has numerous sequels, different movie versions and songs in relation to the narrative, as well as a sequel being released next year.



Although this films actual direction may not relate fully to our opening psychological thriller, the plot idea is a massive coincidence, with the idea of a haunting sadistic individual stalking a vulnerable person's dreams'. For example, the main character Nancy appears a fragile teenage girl - until she manages to fight back - likewise to the afraid teenager within our piece, judged by her reaction shots and shaky, nervous speech. However, as she is brave enough to tell of her tale, it is likely within the opening that she is going to defeat this demon, as the research relations (such as the camera and books) hint at this. Therefore, the idea of someone taking another form within somebody else's dream is horrific alone, let alone in our situation being of what appears to be a little girl, morphing into a grotesque being once their face is revealed (likewise to the gruesome appearance of Krueger, with the specialised make-up adding tremendously to the baddie stereotype.) Therefore, although it may not have as many similarities as 'Dont Look Now' and 'The Ring', our opening credits and 'Nightmare On Elm Street' have some particular similarities, which can portrayed within our storyline.

Our script

On Monday, like planned, we completed the script of our character's narrative before the dream sequence starts. In this, they speak about their dreams - in order for the story to be understandable - as well as introduce the nightmares themselves. From here, me and Jess both recorded ourselves speaking this speech, and are planning on asking approximately 5 people their opinions upon our voices, with the higher poll being selected to be used within our video. We will allow them to listen to our voices through an ipod - on either an audio format or a video - and forapproximatley then film their reactions with asking questions alongside this. The speech lasts 20 seconds, and is separated by an ellipses, which divides the speech as this continues onto a different part of the video - about 5 seconds later, when the screen will go black. The speech is of follows:

'The dreams started around two weeks ago. At first I thought they were just simple nightmares- you know the scary stuff that spook you a little. But then it returned. Exactly the same; with the same girl. I don’t really know what they mean. Have I seen her before? Is she a ghost? Is she trapped? All I can think about is her and her red hood… her red hood'

Costume and props:

Here are a selection of props that we need, in order to complete our planned video:

-Props within bedroom - e.g. bed, books on bookcase, alarm clock, bedside lamp
-A red cloak, polka dot dress, heart-printed tights, brown brogues
-Three sets of pyjamas
-Red lipstick
-Red nail polish
-Fake blood or food colouring
-Gold heart necklace
-A lamp
-A camera - both for filming/old fashioned camera within video
-A tripod
-A tape
-A sink
-A doorknob
-A piece of white paper (for fake blood/food colouring drip effect)
-A large book
-A variety of make-up
-A net to put on bed


Here are my costume designs, to which we plan to use within our video:
























Above is the layout of the costume that I will be wearing within our video. If you click on the image, you will see notes for it, which is helpful to understand why we have used certain areas of the costume.

Below is the costume ideas for the three sets of pyjamas. Although maybe not 100% accurate, they are our pilot ideas upon the pyjama scene.

Make-up

Towards the end of the video, when the unusual, red-hooded figure within the dream (played by myself) is revealed, we have planned that her face will have horrific features, that will frighten and startle the audience. Therefore, I am going to research some make-up ideas that appear frightening, in order to inspire us for our bizarre character's appearance:

'The Ring' influence

Me and Jess also noted that the film 'The Ring' has similarities to our opening film, too. 'The Ring' was distributed in America in 2002, directed by Gore Verbinski and based upon the remake of Japanese 1998 horror, 'Ringu'. It follows the never-ending recurrence of death from a video tape that is soaring secretly throughout America, which individuals die after seven days of viewing. The video tape features a series of disturbing, surrealistic montage images, to which reveal clues to the individuals death and relations to the narrative behind the videotape. The film begins with two teenage girls, where one - Katie - admits to watching the tape seven days previously and results in dying bizarrely. From here, we follow her aunt Rachel (Naomi Watts) as she researchers through her journalist links in order to find the result of her nieces death. However, she is working against time, having too studied the tape. The film features a series of horrific cut in shots alongside screeching sounds, as well as the iconic Samara character, well known for her gruesome, dreary appearance. The film is a horror hit, noted in positive reviews widely by the critics as well as even producing a sequel. This horror-mystery-thriller has been viewed by me numerous times, as well as being widely studied in Year 11 for my GCSE Media.



Above: an image from the actual movie, this is an example of the startling imagery that the character represents. Although her clothes and make-up on her arms do not relate to our piece, the use of her stance and hidden face with long locks do correlate ours, therefore her character being a major influence. The use of the colour edit is likewise to our piece, too, as we are considering editing our images upon the AppleMac's to make our character and surroundings appear gruesome in low-key, contrasting colours.
I noticed from analysing this film, also, that are film also goes through a state of DISEQUILIBRIUM: THE STATES OF NARRATIVE WHICH IT MOVES BETWEEN; HERE, A DISRUPTIVE ENDING (BASED ON TODOROV'S THEORY, AROUND BEGINNING, MIDDLE, END AND FLASHBACKS)

Here are some similarities I noticed from analysing the overall film between 'The Ring' and our own film:

• Begins with ambient sounds - rain falling - and a natural setting outside of a house. The dark light is a premonition, likewise to ours


• A whippish sound upon the first cut - which is freakish


• Circles within each scene. This is likewise to the use of red within each camera shot on 'Don't Look Now', and likewise to the similarity to us using red within our video


• Teenage girls


• A story being told at the start


• Use of opening in room - even clock next to bed and curtains half drawn, emphasizing entrapment. An up close of the clock follows, highlighting a ticking sound, likewise to ours - time is ticking down


• The use of the TV sound is fuzzy/blurry. Surreal, like our sounds within our video. This is followed by diegetic sounds - footsteps - that are almost not audible. The use of this is effective, as the non-diegetic, horrific sounds are overpowering.


• The use of different ringing pitches used - variation of sounds (silent screeches. screech/chime-like sound heard when her face is shown. Technical digital sound at hint of death - iconic. Piercing and sharp throughout.


• Doorknob up close, like ours


• Extreme up close of girls face - a zoom of it. Her face is freaky/distorted, which shows revelation of horror within this film. Ours is likewise to this, as our figures face is revealed in a horrific manner (for this, I will produce ideas for our make-up, as we need to elaborate upon how we wish to stylize this.)


• Repetition of scenes/flashbacks.


• Unusual sights -blurs in TV, for example


• Questions and clues hinted at when documents are studied e.g. photographs with blurred faces. We used the 'Se7en' example of a large book and its page turning from a level shot, hinting at researching within the montage*(see bottom)


• Up close reaction shots - likewise to girl waking up in bed.


• Girl hidden by hair - likewise to Samara. This adds a horrific mystery, adding to psychological thriller norm of needing to concentrate throughout


• Jump cut of her moving


• Scenes show normality, followed by short montages and back to reality - known as a non-liner sequence, also likewise to ours

Likewise to 'Dont Look Now', I have noticed many more similarities. However - also like the other film - there is a main montage scene. This montage scene within 'The Ring' is iconic, as it is the core of the film with the clips being based around the video, which is focused around the horrific narrative of the feature. Below is an image I created of a selection of the shots used throughout the montage:

MONTAGE:

• An unusual setting of a montage - this is shown as a videotape, whilst ours features within a dream
• A ring opens this - highlighted with light, emphasizing a dream-like atmosphere. This film opens up with the image paralleling the title of the film - could use this for ours?
• Cuts to jagged static of video tape for a few seconds. Then cuts to black water running, with deep red blood. This is eerie, and lingers, with a muted screech played alongside it - almost thoughtful
• Cuts to black/white scratchy shots of a chair alone in a white room. Its shadow is emphasized
• Up close of black with white speckles splitting up shot. Although this is a brush in hair - revealed in the next shot - it appears like unusual dripping blood presented in negative, or possible barriers
• The next shot shows a cut away of a woman brushing this hair. She appears to be in a photograph, although startling as she is moving. Still presented in black n white. She appears happy
• Cut to same wall, revealing the mirror now on the left hand side of the screen. Low key lighting alongside b+w makes it difficult to visualize, but it reveals a moving image of a girl covered with black hair almost being sucked away into darkness away from the photograph.
• Shot-reverse-shot of previous shot of woman, although she is looking to left and and appears happy - admiring the other photograph
• Sharp up close of a bare needle, blood dripping from top
• Cut to low angle shot showing a farmhouse. A man is in the window, admiring the camera, although he appears serious and concerned. The weather behind is dull, representing pathetic fallacy. The man then looks to the right, as though he has turned away from situations
• Cut establishing a scene, from a cliff side. The weather is dull, with a tree being blown in the wind and the clouds looming
• A jump cut of a fly appearing follows, whilst the weather has been fast paced
• Cuts to a black background
• Extreme close up of a persons mouth, which appears in bad condition, as their face is dirty and their teeth jiggered. Something is being pulled out of their mouth, with a gurgling undescribable non-diegetic or diegetic sound being heard
• A fast paced shot of whats appears to be a bin bag. This bin bag gives the illusion of somebody struggling inside of it, as it kicks out and moves rigorously
• Shot reverse shot of the ring
• Cut of a burning tree
• Close up SVS of the nail again, although a finger is lingering over it. A jump cut shows the finger fall through it, and release blood and a damaged fingernail. This is a very sharp shot - happening within a second - therefore being effective
• Aerial shot of maggots crawling, with a non-diegetic high pitched sound adding a piercing factor. A negative colour edit follows, with a jump cut afterwards revealing what appears to be humans struggling or swimming. This is disillusioned
• A high angle shot of a table, with a glass reflecting an intense shadow. The chair is slowly pulled out by an unknown force, when a pan to the right shows an abnormally large centipede appearing from under the table.
• Cuts to a lamb hobbling behind a door in a barn, almost struggling. Hints at the farmhouse reference
• Jaggerdery edit
• Extreme close-up of a horse eye - more farmyard animals - hints at a main location within this film
• SVS of ring, although the ring appears to be closing
• Fingers cut off, wiggling in a box
• SVS of the tree burning - now with a flickering shadow
• SVS of bin bag effect
• SVS of room with mirror, although woman is now combing hair, looking into mirror. She turns around and looks confused and startled at the camera. This shot makes the audience uncomfortable as she appears ghostly pale and killer-like, as well as her reflection not appearing in the mirror. This mirror may be a main motif within this film
• SVS of farmhouse again, although the man has vanished
• SVS again of chair, although it is now spinning on its head
• Long shot of a ladder against a blank wall. A shaky hand held shot - someone watching?
• Low-key lighting, long shot of a beach, showing an animal's corpse on the sand, with waves lapping back and forth. It appears to be a horse, relating to the previous horse shot
• Pan - now with colour - of landscape again, although woman is now there - woman brushing hair? She is standing on the edge, and falls forward, falling of the edge
• High angle shot of ladder falling, - almost graphic match
• SVS of ring - now closed
• SVS of ladder now hitting ground and bouncing, with emphasis on shadow - this builds tension as it is a lingering shot
• An establishing shot of outside, featuring a wood with dim colour. shows trees and a well. This lingers for a moment, and cuts to a static shot with a fuzzy, crackling sound, concluding the video footage

Likewise to this, we use cuts frequently; will edit the colours within our montages/dream as negative and with dull colour; use similar screechy sounds and fast-paced, unusual images that may seem unreal but relate to the narrative.

'Dont Look Now' influence

Plot: Directed by Nicolas Roeg and released in 1973, this combination of a ‘psychic mystery thriller’ follows John and Laura Baxter, as they tragically lose their daughter in a drowning accident and take a break to Venice to escape the trauma. They meet an elderly pair of sisters, whom one blind sister claims to be psychic and insists upon seeing the spirit of their recently drowned daughter. Although Laura takes interest, John resists, although as the narrative continues he questions his sanity as he appears to have his own telepathic hallucinations, as he appears to see flashes of his daughter walking the streets of this strange city in her iconic red cloak. However, not is all as it seems, as these images turn into psychotic, traumatic coincidences that turn into a dramatic, devious and yet demonic twist at the end, leaving the naive John in danger.
After viewing 'Dont Look Now', I recognise many similarities to our own narrative, which are pure coincidences. After analysing the overall film quite roughly, I recognise many similarities to our own piece. These are of follows:

• Begins with ambient sounds and credits


• Child in iconic red cloak - contrasts as she's a innocent blonde (not quite the final girl) and appears happy, whilst ours is sinister and secretive.


• Use of many jump cuts


• Foreboding images and reminders - e.g. up-close shot of river at the very start of the film is almost an omen for the girl drowning. Up closes of rivers of shown throughout the film, being of reminders to the audience


• Many scenes are featured outside. These are shown from ambient lighting, then towards the end of film low key lighting is used. Shows bad things will happen


• Red is shown in practically every shot, which adds to a reminder of the red cloak as well as an omen for a red-hooded figure to be shown later on. We have decided to use red in most shots - the montages - from influence from this film. RED = RAGE, ANGER, BLOOD, PASSION


• Shots at night = very dark which is foreboding. Low key lighting highlights little of the mise-en-scene, making the audience have to think/imagine more and parts of the film. This is likewise to other psychological thrillers. Our dream goes through disequilibrium, adding to a disilussional sense


• The first shot of the red hooded figure is fast. A quick zoom highlights her. Doesn't appear until 34 minutes - obviously a difference with our little time limit. However, the use of variety of camera shots is used upon our figure, too, adding thoughts and different possible personality's to her as she is unknown. Adds curiosity/caution towards the girl within our dream


• Large use of shadows = e.g. red figure running - likewise to ours


• Wide range of reaction shots, zooms, cuts, etc...


• Flashbacks - within 'Dont Look Now' flashbacks are shown of the girl dying, likewise to ours of memory of girl in dream and her getting ready for bed


• Deep lingering music - use of heavy violins/organ when negative/horrific moments. We will use harsh, screechy, negative sounds.


• Overall quite low-key lighting - likewise to ours. Adds a darkened mood likewise to the darkened settings. We will edit parts in deep contrast or darken them, too


• A peculiar ring is heard when figure appears - done on a flute? Ours will feature distinctive sounds


• Can't grasp figure - both physically and with the camera. Within our piece, the dreamer can't grasp the individual mentally, as she is only within her mind. Also, she disappears and is too far away to be seen from camera. Both characters hide their faces, too


• Use of handheld camera adds a shaky effect, as well as the sense of being watched/ chased/ followed. Ours follows this norm, too


• Repetition throughout e.g. - chases, carrying same walks/paces/destinations - ours follows this, such as repetition of dreams in narrative, repetition of shots - pyjama sequence and girl standing still and getting nearer in bedroom, as well as shot reverse shot used throughout


• Figure constantly disappearing past camera


• Contrast of sounds: ambient to diegetic alongside non-diegetic to just non-diegetic back to ambient, etc... e.g. leading mans speech, then used with an organ playing, then just non-diegetic through parallel editing, back to a shot-reverse-shot of him alongside these sounds


• Figure standing still from behind and shadow emphasized (use of standing still eerily and shadow highlighted)


• Sound of a girl crying - we may use this sound if we can find it on http://www.freesound.org/ as it is highly effective


• Huge shock when face revealed - shock as not what expected (believed to be his daughter but in fact an elderly old woman.) Within ours, an innocent young girl is presumed due to her clothing, but through make up we will elaborate with freaky features


• Use of cut in on distinctive object - cut in to her revealing knife from pocket


• Highly effective montage used*(see bottom of blog)


• The cover art of this film also reflects our piece, as a girl is standing staring on a bridge. The landscape has been showed in black and white, whilst the girl has been edited in colour - her iconic red hood shown effectively. Therefore, this piece of prop is obviously essential within the film, as well as our piece. We simply decided through our idea process to use a piece of prop that can be represented again and again and recognisable, to which Jess produced her home-made red cloak. Therefore, it was by pure coincidence and quite pleasing that our opening will parallel a successful psychological thriller.
  

MONTAGE:

• A shot of somebody waking up, followed by a cut to red figures face, a cut in of the knife that she produces from pocket


• A flashback from the mans perspective of his wife screaming from the opening of the film - showing a repetition of the same edits, likewise to ours. Cut to, from side view, the red hooded midget hacking man with a large butchers knife in the neck.


• Flashback of man cradling daughter. Cut in of his neck being slit and a jump cut of his reaction. Another flashback to ball in pond - innocence has been destroyed


• Him shouting as he falls back - use of parallel editing of his son innocent in England, away from disruption. Flashback to figure revealing face (another use of edit reused)


• More flashbacks - e.g. him clinging on to his life in chapel, as non-diegetic church bell sounds start. He rocks in time to the church bell rhythm. This signifies a religious reminder, as Venice is quite a religious city and he has been working on a chapel. Also shows religion has not helped him.


• More flashbacks representing his life flashing before his eyes e.g. - innocent daughter's face, a zoom in to the haunting blind woman who is screaming. Although she's tried to help, she is still harsh at appearance. More sounds start, such as a messy orchestra band which sounds messy/horrific to the ear - alongside the juxtaposition of church bells.


• Even more flashbacks - quite quickly - are used, in order to represent the omens throughout the film that hinted at this point. Is a clever twist.


• Ends on an eye-level shot of the spinning ceiling from his point of view

Overall, as I went to analyse 'Dont Look Now', I only expected obvious similarities - such as the use of a small child or the iconography of the red cloak. However, although I only briefly skipped through sections and chapters of the film, I found many many similarities - with some being the exact of our video, whilst others just being of slight coincidences. However, overall analysing this has helped with my research, on top of even influencing me - e.g. we have now decided to put red in most shots - if not every - likewise to this film, which I noticed it used whilst studying. Moreover, 'Dont Look Now' is very similar to our opening psychological thriller film, due to its conventions listed about and the use of a well-known montage.

Above: The film cover of "Dont Look Now"

Above: When the red hooded figure of the startling appearance of the midget old lady is revealed. This shot is a priority example of the use of the iconic red, as well as a medium shot showing most of the persona. On top of this, most of the film is featured in low-key lighting - likewise to this shot above, which appears freaky and eerie

Above: An iconic scene from the opening sequence of the film. It shows John Baxter finding his daughters dead body in the lake outside of his house. Her red cloak opens up the film, highlighting its trademark iconography - likewise to our piece. The establishing landscape piece is also highlighted, drawn in with a shallow focus as the characters are focused upon. We may also do this. The use of a murky scene/landscape is ideal, too, as ours is similar within some of our settings. As the season is of winter slowly morphing into Autumn - likewise to the picture - another similarity is found.