Evaluation Questions

Editing difficulties

When editing out footage we found a number of elements difficult however there were two in particular aspects that caused us the most trouble;

1. Colour Matching:

We had to film our footage over a number of day and one element out of our control was the weather. We found that on one of the days we filmed it was cloudy and dull and on the other it was sunny and bright. This meant that the footage we got didn't match up because the colours were so different. In order to fix this problem we had to take the brighter clips and try and adjust the colours to match the other clips. We found it very difficult to match the colours exactly because of glare and exposure, however after a long time carefully testing the colours we eventually matched them enough to maintain a high level of continuity.

2. Sound:

On the days we decided to film there were high winds meaning the vast majority of the sound was low quality and un-useable. There was also a lot of background noise in some of the clips that we didn't want. In order to get rid of this we decided to mute the vast majority of the clips and add sound effects over the top. We chose realistic sound effects off iMovie and faded them in and out so that they appeared to belong. This element of the editing was very difficult, however once achieved it vastly improved the overall quality of our film opening.

Peer Feedback

After producing a final version of our film openings we held a meeting in which a number of groups, including ours, presented their films. For this occasion we created a simple questionnaire in order to receive some peer feedback on our opening.

From this questionnaire we received some very positive and useful 

feedback. 

Having looked at all the questionnaires we got handed back to us we generalised all the comments and found that overall our sub-genre (psychological horror) was clear to the audience. We were also told that the music was appropriate and fitted the opening. Everyone stated that our plot was believable and that the setting and location choice was fitting for the type of horror we were trying to create. The majority of the feedback we received stated that the slow motion turn in the tunnel and the end shot of the villain's eyes were the most successful elements of our opening. In general the only negative feedback we got was about the hug goodbye between the two characters and the dialogue as some people felt it seemed slightly awkward and forced, however we decided that it would be most  beneficial for us to keep that element as it was, in order to ensure the continuity stayed at a high quality.

Overall we got really positive feedback about our film opening and we were very happy with it.

Shutter (Final Cut)

This is our final cut of our horror opening 'Shutter' we have made improvements that were advised by other group members...

• Soundtrack
• Sound clarity
• Credits

Overall we are pleased with our final piece as we feel that we have achieved a psychological thriller in our opening.

Interim evaluation

After having completed our first cut of our film opening we noticed a number of things that we are not entirely happy with and want to change. Firstly we decided that we want to replace the logo at the beginning as it looks out of focus and unprofessional. A second element we decided  
to replace is the film name at the end, because it doesn't capture enough attention and is a bit plain. We also noticed that the sound isn't particularly high quality and the continuity is bad so we plan to add in sound affects and mute certain tracks to fix this. We also feel looking at the first cut that we would greatly benefit from a soundtrack to ensure attention is captured and held and to aid the build of tension. Our first cut is also a few seconds too long so we have decided to cut the scene of the girls walking down the hill. We though

this would be the best scene to cut as the filming is unsteady and has an amateur feel to it. A further element we noticed that needs adjusting is the clips in the woods at the end. These were filmed on a different day to the rest of the footage and therefore there is quite a noticeable colour difference between some clips, affecting continuity. In order to get rid of this we will need to adjust the colour on the clips in iMovie. Finally we need to add in credits in order to meet the specification for our film opening.

Shutter (First Cut)

Raw footage

This is the majority of our raw footage we shot. We selected elements from all of this to include in our final film opening.

Costume Planning

Kira (main character):
White top symbolises innocence and purity. Casual clothes makes her relatable to the audience. Hood needed for thunder scene.Typical clothing worn by teenager to emphasise the young age.


Emily (friend):
Casual, every day clothes to make her relatable to the audience and appear as an every day teen.Coat on to emphasise bad weather setting the atmosphere.

Oliver (stalker):

All black clothing worn symbolising danger and death. Virtually all skin covered to emphasise anonymity and unknown identity.

Shutter Storyboard

Initial Idea #3

Initial idea #2

Interviews on psychological horror

Questions asked:

1. What do you find psychologically scary?
2. What locations do you find scary?
3. What characters would intrigue you in a psychological horror?
4. What sound affect you most, psychologically?
5. Do you think the use of violence in a psychological horror film is effective?
6. What is your favourite psychological horror film and why?

Target Audience Research

From our target audience research we can establish that out target audience, people of ages 15-20, generally like the following:

1. Psychological horrors
2. Teenage/young characters
3. A female main character
4. An outdoor setting such as the woods
5. Do not feel violence is necessary to enhance a horror film opening

After discovering this we will try to include these elements in our film opening so we suit our target audience as best as possible. 

Horror Sub Genres

Equilibrium

Tristan Todorov is a Bulgarian literary theorist. Todorov suggested that most narratives start with a state of equilibrium in which life is 'normal' and the protagonist is happy. This state of normality is disrupted by an outide force, which has to be fought against in order to return to a state of equilibrium. 








This model can easily be applied to a wide range of films, including Horror. This would be a very good aspect to include in our film to create more of a contrast between the characters normal life and the negative events that occur during our Horror film opening.

Claude Levi-Strauss - Binary Oppositions

Claude Levi-Strauss was a French anthropologist. He examined how stories unconsciously reflect the values, beliefs and myths of a culture. He stated that there are usually expressed in the form of oppositions in the text.







Umberto Eco applied this theory to a group of Bond novels and uncovered a number of oppositions in them including:

Bond <-> M

Bond <-> Villain
Bond <-> M

Villain <-> Woman

Woman <-> Bond

Duty <-> Sacrifice

Love <-> Death

Luxury <-> Discomfort

Chance <-> Planning

and many more...

Binary oppositions are a key feature in many narratives and films and we should work to include these in our opening.

Propp's narrative functions

Vladdimir Propp was a Russian critic active in the 1920's who came up with a theory based on his observation. Propp stated that narratives did not have to include all the functions he noted, but they should be in the order listed. His functions were:

1. Preparation
2. Complication
3. Transference
4. struggle
5. Return
6. Recognition

As we are only doing a film opening if we were to follow Propp's narrative functions we would only need to include aspects from the "Preparation" category. 

Preparation:

• A member of family leaves home
• A prohibition or rule is imposed on the hero
• This prohibition or rule is broken
• The villain makes an attempt at reconnaissance
• The villain learns something about his victim
• The villain tries to deceive the victim to get possession of him or his belongings
• The victim unknowingly helps the villain by being deceived or influenced by the villain 

When we are planning our opening we should take these things into consideration, and if we decide to oppose them we should come up with a valid reason why we did this.

Horror Sound

In any film sound is a key element. With the horror genre there are typical element of sound you usually come across. In any film diegetic sound is used, however in horror films certain elements of diegetic sound are much louder, for example heavy breathing. These sounds are used in order to create tension and make the audience jump. Music is also an important element in all films. In horror films the non diegetic music is often composed of string instruments and tensional scores, building a sense of suspense. Parallel sound, created by events on screen is also a generic feature of horror films. Finally, possibly slightly less frequently used, is contrapuntal sound. This is sound that doesn't match the action on screen. This can be used very effectively in horror films because you can contrast violence and death with calm, peaceful music, creating a sense of unease.

In our horror film opening we will need to incorporate some of these elements to ensure we are using codes and conventions of horror films, and successfully sticking to the genre.

Horror Camerawork

The Camerawork of a film is arguably one of the most important aspects. In order to create a successful horror film opening we need to identify and apply some generic camerawork used in horror films. The camerawork in horror films is often expressive and not very natural, emphasising unknown, alien qualities. Depth of field is one of the key elements of camerawork. In horror a low depth of field is often used in order to distort the background, creating potential to hide the villain/monster, making the audience wonder what is there and creating a sense of danger. An element i observed in most of the films i have looked at is the use of close ups and extreme close ups. Throughout horror films they are used numerous times in order to show the heightened emotions of the characters. Varying angles are also used a lot. High angle shots are used with the victims to make them look small and vulnerable, in contrast to this low angle shots are used with the villain to emphasise power and control. Point of view shots are another aspect we should try to include in our opening. They are used in order to put the viewers in the place of the characters, helping them relate and making the film even more scary. Finally a aspect sometimes used is handheld shots. They are used in order to create a sense of fear and unknown and distort the action, creating a more realistic feel.

Horror Editing

When creating our film opening we also need to consider the typical editing used in Horror Films. There are a number of aspects I picked up on when looking at the editing or horror films. I noticed that there is a lot of use of slow-pace editing contrasted against fast-pace editing. This builds tension slowly then allows the action to unfold at full speed. Lots of fast cuts are also usually present, this again is used to build tension in the scene. Shot-reverse-shot editing is another type of editing seen a lot in horror films. This is a series of fast cuts from one point of view to another and back again. This is often used to track both the villain and the victims actions in sequence. Finally I noticed that eyeline matches are commonly used, allowing the viewers to look at the action through a point of view shot, making it easier to emphathise and relate. These shots are often followed by reaction shots.