2. Evaluation 1 The Title of the film The name of our film is ‘Creep.’ We wanted it to be short and snappy for effect and the use of the full stop (.) does this. An advantage of having a short and snappy name is that it is easier for an audience to remember. We also used to word creep in our film when Jack is being interviewed about the missing character. Below is a screen grab of our title.
3. Setting/Location (Evaluation 1) We first filmed at the common in Marlborough which was very boring. There wasn’t a lot for us to be creative with so we decided it would be a good idea to do the filming somewhere else. This is when I thought it would be a great opportunity to film up a path called Long Drove near where I live which would be the ideal setting for our film. It was good because it started off as a lane and then ended up as just a path running through a field. This meant that the background/mise-en-scene would be simple, leaving all the attention and focus on the scene and what was happening. We also used my office as the room which the stalker character put up his pictures of the victim. It was important to keep this simple as well, so a plain white wall was ideal. We used only a lamp to light the room as we wanted to create tension through the lighting. We finally used a classroom for when we filmed the interview which was good because it had a whiteboard exactly behind where we sat the character which meant that we were able to write a brief description of the ‘missing girl’. Below are a few screen grabs of these settings/locations.
4. Costume and Props (Evaluation 1) We wanted our costumes to be kept modern as we wanted them to relate to our target audience. We definitely wanted the stalker character to be wearing a hoody as it creates tension and is also a typical costume for a criminal. We didn’t want any overly bright colours which would distract away from the tone of the film. The props used were the images that we printed off for the stalker and the Ipod touch which our girl character was using when sat on the bench. We did this to again relate to our target audience as most of them would own some kind of mp3 player. Below are some screen grabs of the costumes and props.
5. Camerawork and Editing (Evaluation 1) We used gorilla and standard tripods to film. We used the standard tripods when the characters were moving slowly or stood still. For example, when the stalker character was putting pictures onto the wall. We also used a standard tripod when filming the interview at the end. We used the gorilla tripod when we wanted to be more creative with the camerawork. We attached the gorilla tripod to a fence whilst we were filming the chase and this worked nicely as it captured all movement and also facial expression as well. It allowed us to film from and angle which we wouldn’t have been able to if we had used to standard tripod. For the editing, we wanted to start slow so that it would fit in with the music and the titles. We then wanted it to slowly get faster to create more tension. We used a method of switching between present and past to create a dramatic start and to get the audience really thinking what could be happening. During one shot of the running scene we wanted to completely remove the music so that we were only able to hear the sounds of feet hitting the floor whilst running. We then slowed it down completely and kept with the present time. Below is a screen grab whilst editing.
6. Title Font and Style (Eval 1) Max tried to mix and match with different style of fonts but chose to stay with the colour black because he believed it looked smarter/ more professional and was easier to read. He kept using different fonts and styles to reflect the changes that were happening in our opening titles in terms of pace and tension. Below is a screen grab of one of our titles.
7. Story and how the opening sets it up (Eval 1) The story is about an obsessive character who decides to stalk his victim and capture her. We can tell that he is an obsessive stalker by the pictures shown on his wall. Our opening titles is this character chasing her and what we can only assume as completely his mission. It then leads into a police interview with one of the victims friends who seems to be very emotional. This is then open to interpretation for the rest of the film. Below is a screen grab of how we tried to capture the story through the opening. You can clearly see it is the victim being followed by the stalker.
8. Genre and how the opening suggests it (Eval 1) Our genre is horror/thriller and this is shown through pathetic fallacy, lighting, editing etc. Personally, I think the main suggestion of the genre is through the lighting in the scenes where the stalker is either putting up pictures or looking at the pictures on his wall. The lighting is very dull and only just bright enough to make out what is happening. This creates tension through the fact that he is clearly a dark and mysterious character and we cannot see his identity. Below is a screen grab of this lighting.
9. How characters are introduced (Eval 1) My character is introduced very quickly as being lonely and vulnerable. She is percieved this was through the point of view shot that has been used to create the impression she is being watched by somebody. Straight away we can tell she is the victim. Max’ character (the stalker) is then quickly introduced when he runs down from the trees and we can see him following his victim. It then quickly jumps to a scene where he is looking at the pictures on his wall with his hood up. We instantly from this can tell that he is an evil character which makes us feel sorry for his victim. We are only introduced to Jack at the end when he is being interviewed in a small clinical room. We find out that he is quite an emotional character and was clearly very close to the victim. Below are some screen grabs of our characters.
10. Special Effects (Eval 1) The only effects we added were the fades and texts for titles. We used iMovie to do this as it has an easy to use interface and is also very quick and easy to add different text types and other aspects like this. Below is a screen grab of imputing these effects.
11. Evaluation 2 This picture below is of the main stalker character in the film Fatal Attraction. Her costume suggests that she is wearing her victims t-shirt as it is too big for her – showing that she is obsessed. Clearly she is a woman which is different to our stalker character as he is a male. She seems to be well presented when it comes to her hair so we get the impression that she is a fashion conscious woman. Her facial expression comes across as extremely nasty and maybe in fact angry. Her role in the film is crucial, as she is the stalker. She falls in love with a man who is happily married with a family. Once he realises an affair is not what he wants and tries to end it, this character is immediately angry, and turns to be very envious of the wife of the man she has fallen for. She then sets out to stalk not just her lover, but his family also.
12. This other picture is of the stalker character in our media product. We cannot see the characters face due to the costume which involves a hood being up. Although we are not 100% sure of the sex of the character as we cannot see their identity, we assume from the typical masculine clothing that it is a male. The use of the hood is effective because it creates tension and allows the audience to start to wonder who this character could be. Because we have only created an opening sequence, we cannot say exactly what the characters role is in the entire film. However, in the opening scene, we are able to see the stalker creeping up on, and then chasing his victim. We also see clips of him looking at a wall covered in pictures of his stalker. Without this character, there would be no tension created and the film wouldn’t convey the stalker theme.
19. Likes to see friends and play on games console in own time
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21. Evaluation 6 We used iMovie on the Apple Mac and garage band to create the music. We have also used YouTube and Blogger to create our complete media coursework.
22. Evaluation 7 I feel that I have learnt lots of different techniques in the progression from my preliminary to my full product. On the preliminary task, our camera work was very basic and didn’t consist of many interesting shots. This was probably because it was the first time I had properly filmed something, therefore I found it hard to be creative when trying to film. I now know many more shots after filming my full product and know how different shots can add to the feel of the film, for example through tension. In the preliminary we used one of the most important shots, the 180 degree rule. This is a very important shot and the rules of the shot must not be broken otherwise the film would not make sense for the viewer/audience. You use the 180 degree rule when you are filming to characters speaking to each other. It is very important that when using the 180 degree rule you use one side to film from and do not change to the other at any point, otherwise this would cause confusion. In our preliminary we also use shot/reverse shot when the two characters are speaking to each other. This leads the audience to believe that the characters are looking at each other from opposite directions. We have not used this basic shot in our full product because we do not have any two characters speaking to each other.
23. Shot/reverse shot (preliminary) Over the shoulder shot Over the shoulder shot in our final product does not show a conversation but shows a situation from the characters view. It adds tension because we cannot see the identity of the character 180 degree rule: camera must now be kept on this side of the characters to avoid confusion for audience
