Evaluation Activity 1

In this area of my blog I am going to be evaluating certain aspects of my film and why I chose them to give the effect that I wanted to pursue.

The title of my film:

The name of my film is "Waiting", I was inspired to use this name for my film after I saw that my audience thought this was the strongest title for a horror film and also reflected what was going to occur within the film and so they believed that this title suited the film the best. I also received feed back from my audience feed back and they believed that my title suited my opening 2 minutes of my film well.

I used the Chiller font to create these titles which can be found on word. The font style is effective because it creates the illusion of blood that has been used to draw on the wall. 

I also used the smear effect on top of the font when it was fading out which created the illusion of the blood falling down the screen and creating the appearance of a more realistic and fresh looking blood.

The title of my film follows the stereotype of a horror film as the noun "waiting" shows the audience that someone is doing something and the idea that they are staying there for someone to arrive follows the stereotype of that of a horror film.

Having the titles at the end of my opening two minutes of my film allows my audience to recognise what the film is called and will cause them to remember what they film is called because it is the last shot that they see.

Camera work

My first shot is an establishing over the shoulder, long shot. This follows the expectation of a horror film because it introduces to the audience while at the same time, also intorducing to the audience where the film is set. The camera is not using a tracking shot and following behind the character due to the fact that i thought it would be more affective to keep the camera stable while the character walks towards the house. However, if I was to film this shot again, i would have used a tracking shot because this would of given the audience the illusion that something / someone is following the character, which would therefore play on the idea that it is a horror film. The setting meets the expectation of a horror film because it allows the audience to relate to the setting which will then make the film appear more scary because it plays on the audiences ideas of what scary experiences they have had within their own home and also can play on the idea that they will be scared when they go home after watching this film.

In this shot however, I used a medium panning shot. This allowed my audience to see what the character is wearing and also see his face. This builds up suspension as with every shot as the character gets closer to the house, the audience get to know a lot more about the character which therefore allows them to relate to him due to his clothing and his age. The use of panning means that the audience is following the character to his destination so they feel like they are part of the film, which therefore creates the idea of the audience being able to relate to the film.

Here for this shot, I used and over the shoulder, low angle shot. I used this shot to introduce to the audience the protagonist and antagonist and shows who has power. By having a low angle shot, this shows the audience that the antagonist has the power within this shot as they are shown to have a higher status. Having an over the shoulder shot also allows the audience to be aware that the protagonist knows that the antagonist is there. However, the use of cross cutting is used to show a medium shot of the protagonist which will show the audience the characters facial expression to the antagonist being within the house. If i was to film the next shot of the protagonist again, i would have used a close up to show the characters facial expression as i have used a medium shot which is normally used to show body language so it is not as strong and powerful to use a medium shot to show facial expressions so it does not give off the same effect.

Here I used dark lighting as it followed the stereotype of the house being haunted and by using dark lighting, which meant that this character was a silhouette, it only allows the outline of the characters body to be seen, therefore only showing shadows which are linked to the idea of the house being haunted.

Costumes and props

Within my opening 2 minutes of my film, I used a BB gun within my film to mimic the idea of it being a real gun. I am allowed to use this because i filmed this within my own house. I filmed this within my house because i know i am not allowed to have a prop that looks like a real weapon in a public place. I used the gun to show that the protagonist tried to defend himself. However, as we see, at the end of the opening two minutes, he does not defeat the antagonist. This therefore shows the audience that the antagonist is powerful and not a real person and instead is a spirit or ghost of some sort.

Also, by using a gun the audience consider this to be quite a serious and scary film and they are warned that there is going to be blood involved.

The protagonist is shown wearing a school uniform, I chose to put him in this costume to show his age and also to show his vulnerability. This therefore makes the audience feel pitty for the character and also plays on the idea that he is helpless within this situation. It also allows for the audience who are still in school to relate to this character because they also will go to school if they are 15 or over.

Here i used blood on the antagonists white t-shirt. This emphasises on the idea that he is a dangerous person and the medium shot used allows the audience to see his wide body positioning over the window and also see the detail of the blood on his top and under his eyes. This shows the audience that he is not a normal person and shows that he is a spirit or a ghost. If i am going to include a character who is meant to be a ghost within my future films, i am going to research how to edit their body in a way that allows them to look like they are see through which will look more realistic.