Thursday, 12 May 2011
Monday, 9 May 2011
Tuesday, 26 April 2011
Evaluation: Jamila
Our final opening sequence fits in the sub genre of J horror haunting. The main ideas were inspired by The Ring and the narrative of Black Swan.
We followed most of the genre conventions seen in most movies which being in the sub category of our opening scene.
The setting we decided on was a theatre because it seemed to have the feeling of loneliness when it was isolated which is normally a convention. Our lighting in the theatre was very controlled so that we could darken the background because of unwanted props which we decided not to include. One of the conventions to a horror film is low key lighting which was hard to achieve because our perception of a low key lighting was too dark for the camera used.
During research, we found that there's normally 1 prop that drives the narrative (Such as the video tape in the ring or a camera in Shutter). The prop we chose was a manga book because it was popular in Japan
Foreshadowed's antagonist (Yuuki - Jamila) had use of heavy make up and a white dress (although our original idea was to use a white sleeping gown). This idea for her costume is taken from J Horror The Ring and The Grudge. White is also a symbol of innocence and is normally used while representing ghosts.
One of the conventions we didn't follow is the build up of most horrors movies. We decided that we would shoot the ghost in the intro of the movie however most horror movies, it's rare for the ghost to show up in the opening sequence; contrasting the pace of J horror which normally has a slow build up.
As our film belongs to J horror, social background is not represented as much as social realism. Normally the characters belong in middle class. We followed this convention to represent Natsuko. Yuki however as a ghost does not currently belong in a social class however in the narrative in her life, Yuuki did belong in the upper class.
In our opening, we didn’t involve any male actors. However when the narrative progresses, we will likely introduce a male character possible the heroine of the story. And normally in haunting, the protagonist and the antagonists are both women and the heroine a guy contrasting most genres such as action films.
The only ethnic group represented in J horrors are Asian so we decided that choosing 2 Asian people would be the most sensible choice for our genre.
One of the major distributers in Japan
American remakes are also popular for Japanese movies especially horror. Movies such as Ju-on was remade in America
Our target audience would be from the age 15+ for both male and female. Thought this narrative is sort of similar to Hollywood horror films so the age range the movie will appeal to is most likely to be 15-21 although it may appeal to some audiences older. Movies such as The Audition are a Japanese horror but its narrative and script is aimed for 21+.
Our questionnaire and bbfc research lead us to think that this movie will be classified to be 15+ as it does not involved gore or anything inappropriate. Since this film is based mainly on The Ring (15) and Black Swan (15), the contents will be similar
From our questionnaire we inferred that the audience of this product will likely to have manga or anime interest, horror film extravagant or interests to the Japanese culture.
By knowing who our audience itself is a huge step to attracting them. Using the questionnaires, we were able to know what they expected to see in a horror movie and what interests our audience. We chose this genre specifically because it was the highest rated in our questionnaire.
We attract similar audience to the Ring because of the narratives so if they audience had enjoyed watching the ring, we sure will attract them
We were a novice group when we did our preliminary task and we were without experience apart from 1 or 2 people who had done media last year for GCSE. The preliminary task was a huge task for us and a great experience to learn some techniques and skills in terms or angles, camera shots, sounds and editing.
Planning was also one of the skills that we lacked. Back when we just wrote our own story and story boards and somehow try and estimate how long each shot would take. Once we edited our Preliminary task, it stretched out to 2 minutes which was 4 times longer than requires. For our opening sequence, we had a solid script on our hands however in the process of filming, we realised we had to make some changes such as shots or even the story line more than a few times. But we realised that by making these changed, we improved the quality and narrative of our opening sequence.
We also learned to use iMovie more fluently my using the software to edit our preliminary task. In our film intro the group had the basic idea on how to use iMovie and how to edit which made it quicker for us to edit our opening sequence.
In our preliminary, we had lots of takes on videos which are worth seconds and our decisions took longer when we were visualising which angle shot looks better. But after our research was done on intros and why certain movies use certain shots, we became more confident with what shot to take to create which effect.
Also, one of the required camera movements was to take a 180 degree shot which we had trouble with doing in our preliminary short because or how smooth and steady the shot was suppose to be. After a few tries, we grasped on how to do the shot and in our opening sequence, we decided to use a 360 degree rule which was taken in 1 take.
In our preliminary task, I took the role of directing and filming the shots which was valuable experience for me. In our opening sequence, I took the role of being the antagonist considering I was one of the two Asians in the group. The role was different. It was less stressing compared to actually directing the actors, narrative and the camera. But I also took some shots along side Reuben and Diamond. During the editing of the preliminary task, I watched Diamond navigating around iMovie and from there I picked up some skill. The editing was done by me and I learnt more and more about iMovie and the effects and transitions which can be used. Continuity was a skill that I had not much of.
The opening sequence definitely had more freedom but it came with great responsibility as we had to plan the details, narrative, shots etc. unlike the preliminary which had some requirements which made it easier on us to decide what should and should be included. We definitely gained lots of valuable skills from our preliminary which was a great help for us to project those skills in the opening sequence
Wednesday, 6 April 2011
Evaluation: Reuben.
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Our film intro follows most of the conventional forms of a J Horror film. We have included asian actors, dark lighting and heavy make-up to follow these conventions. Many J Horror films may film outside to get a spooky and scary setting whilst using nature to help out. However we have challenged this horror convention by filming entirely inside. The place we have filmed cannot be clearly made out as it is predominately dark. Which is good because we don't want it to look tacky or like a school or something we have not thought about. Our characters are also very typical of a J Horror, as we have used both Asian actors. I think it is important to use Asian actors when doing J Horror otherwise it can seem cheap and tacky and people will not get it if certain conventions are not followed. Certain conventions must obviously be followed to attract your audience.
Often in horror films the evil character is distinctive because of the costume he/she is wearing. We have gone with an all white dress (albeit a dressing gown was the original idea). The white dress indicates purity and angelic features, marred by the evil that is apparent in her face. Most successful J Horror make it clear what a character represents by how they are dressed, this is usually white or black so you could say we have followed the conventions in most part.
In regards to out intro alone, it might not look as dramatic or as horrific as conventional J Horror films try to portray at the beginning of their films. As our background setting is basically pitch black, with a spotlight focusing on the action, we are unable to really create a horror feel in regards to the background and creating a setting that shows horror. Before the pitch black room, we film from the library which is in daylight. However most J Horror films may try and create a mysterious background, whereas our background looks pretty normal throughout. Certainly nothing that suggests horror at least in the library scene.
Lots of films in general, including Horror and J Horror decide to use a narrative at various points, including the intro. In the end we decided against a narrative, although we had seriously considered it for a number of weeks. Eventually towards the end of the film making and editing, we decided against it. Partly because we couldn't come up with a good narrative. Also some of us, including myself, felt the music would be better throughout as apposed to a narrative. This is because music often shapes the story and the images that are being shown, it also allows the audience to interpret in their own way and doesn't give too much away so early on in the film.
Our product appears to fit in to the typical genre of J Horror and doesn't really include any other genres or sub genres. Our idea is slightly similar to 'The Ring' where there is a mysterious Asian girl dressed in white with scary make up, and she is haunted. We have tried to replicate this idea in our own way and have used the idea of wearing white and the make up have been added very effectively. In 'The Ring' the girls comes out the TV, and we had originally hoped to have in our version, Yuki (Jamila) coming out of the comic book. However this was very hard to produce and reflect convincingly on camera so we had to alter this and make something that could be shown clearly and professionally.
As explained 'The Ring' had originally been the main influence behind our film idea, and although we didn't go with Jamila coming out of the comic book (similar to The Ring but instead the TV) we were still influenced by the film in regards to costume and make up. We were not specifically influenced by any particular directors however having looked at Spike Lee in earlier coursework and done research on him we were motivated and encouraged by some of the work he had produced.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
As our film is a J Horror the characters are not really represented in any sort of social background. You could say Natsuko (Zainab) is the normal school girl, from an ordinary middle class family and of course Yuki (Jamila) is some sort of evil spirit and cannot be represented in terms of social class.
We do not have any male actors in our film intro, and it is likely that we wouldn't of had any in the entire film, unless perhaps brief appearances/cameo roles. There are just the two characters in our film intro, both female and Asian, and both are represented very differently. We have the innocent and normal Natsuko and then the very evil, mysterious and supernatural human being Yuki.
The only ethnic group that has been represented is Asian as it is a Japanese Horror it would appear to make the most sense to have Asian actors, otherwise the film may not have been taken seriously, and some may regard it offensive if the chosen characters or actors are not appropriate. This is also why we didn't include any other ethnic groups, and we felt that the two characters we have shown in the intro were sufficient and we didn't need anyone else to be shown.
As mentioned there are only two characters in our film intro, and these are both female teenagers. They are represented in two different ways, despite being of the same social background. Good and normal contrasting with evil and supernatural.
What kind of media institution might distribute your product, and why?
The oldest film company in J Horror is Nikkatsu ,founded in 1912. Our film would be a Major Studio based Japanese Horror film. Major film studios is a movie production and distribution company that releases films annually and consistently. Both might be interested in distributing our product because they are open to new ideas and new propositions and our very highly rated and successful which is why they would interest us. They would allow our film to be shown universally and spread the film as far as possible. We have also researched into Toho Ltd, a Japanese film and theatre production and distribution company. They look at all sorts of J Horror films and would be interested in our ideas, and might look to distribute it. As well as studio Ghibli who make Anime films. If ever we were interested in animation based films we would look to get involved with studio Ghibli. We have researched these particular Japanese companies, in making sure we know what production company we are looking for.
Who would be the audience for your product?
Our target audience is people aged 15 and over. This means our film is mainly aimed at teenagers from 15-21 either male of female. However there is no limit, anyone over 15 can watch, or may be interested in the film.This is because we have some conventional horror scenes in our movie, however there is nothing inappropriate and or too gory to show young teenagers. There is no sexual scenes or that which involves drugs and alcohol. A film can be scary without being an 18, and we felt by making it 15+ it would allow for a greater audience to watch our film. The audience are important because they determine the impact of many forms of media. In the film industry the target audience of a film affects all aspects of how a film is written and portrayed. If the audience does not like the film then it will have no chance to succeed. A film must interest your chosen target audience to have any chance of success. We have insured our film intro appeals to teenagers and horror fans by including most of the typical horror conventions, using actors around the same age as the target audience, and trying to make it come across as current and original.
We have reflected our teenage audience by making the film a 15+ therefore allowing most of our target audience to watch it. Some people may suggest a successful and scary horror film should have an 18 certificate, but it does not necessarily work like that. We also decided against making it 18 as it is not extreme violence and we feel we would benefit more from allowing 15,16, and 17 year olds to watch, and get a greater audience watching.
How did you attract/address your audience?
We attracted our audience by including most horror conventions, and using camera techniques that would interest or attract our viewers. We tried our best to make it original and although following the conventions adding our own twists. We tried to imagine we were the audience and think about what we would look for in a film and specifically in a J Horror film. We also referred to our questionnaires. We used the results from our questionnaires to see what people were interested in and looked for. This allowed us to aim for this in our film, thereby appealing and addressing our audience and their demands. The questonnaire results also helped us choose an appropriate BBFC for our film, and what people thought was an appropriate age.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
When we started the preliminary we were all very inexperienced as filmers and actors, bar a few in the group who had done some drama work. However none of us had done anything of this scale and it was a major learning curve for all of us. However when faced with the proposition of a film intro we felt more confident as we had made a preliminary and although there was a lot that could have been improved, we knew this was our chance to learn from our mistakes and make all the necessary ammenments from the preliminary. There is no doubt that the film intro was much more effective and enjoyable than the preliminary. This was partly down to the fact we had a lot more freedom as to what we wanted to film and how we wanted to film it. On starting the preliminary we all felt a little phased and daunted by the prospect and began clueless. It took us an awfully long time to get all the filimg down. This was due to inexperienced filmers and the actors weren't so sure about how to position themselves and be fully aware of the camera. My role changed drastically from the preliminary, where I was one of the actors. This involved repeating a lot of scenes and going over things time after time, and it got quite tiring. Sometimes we as the actors weren't 100% accurate in what we were doing, other times the filimg wasn't up to scratch. We also had certain guidelines to follow which didn't allow us to express ourselves in the way we had hoped. For the film intro, as I said I had a very different role, I was in charge of filiming along with Diamond.
Filming is certainly no easy thing, and having wanted the freedom to film as we wished, once we were given that freedom it became a bit tedious to begin with, because there were so many possibilities and we weren't entirely sure where to start. However ideas began to come to us and we used some clever shots and initiatve to make a good film in regards to both filming and acting. We were also in charge of the actors as to where they had to stand, walk and move to and there was a lot of responcerbility on our shoulders. If we had not done the preliminary we would have been totally lost and probably given up. Despite the experience from the preliminary it was still difficult for us to pull everything together in time for the deadline (filming, acting, editing) and we had to race to the finish line, with practically no time to spare.
Overall I would say most things were improved from the preliminary to our film intro. Having said that we finished in good time with our preliminary, and this wasn't the case for our film intro. However the filming, editing, and acting were all much better, and this was because we were able to express our talents a lot more effiiciently. We were able to use our knowledge and understanding from the preliminary to improve and impact our film intro hugely, and hugely for the better. So without a doubt the preliminary task helped us a lot and we are thankful we were given this opportunity before it came to the real thing (the film intro's).
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
During this whole process of making our film intro we have come across a range of new technologies as well as existing ones that we could improve our understanding of. Before we even got to filiming we had to make storyboards on comic life. Most of us including myself had used this before, and I had used it earlier in the year as well as last year it was one of the programs we used. Comic life is good because it is a very simple and fun way of getting your ideas down without it feeling like an overwhelming task. It also allows your work to stay organised and neat, and you can improve on it easily without having to erase things all the time which you might have to do if it is drawn and written out.
We also used iMovie after filming to edit our work and make all the necessary tweaks to improve our final product. Agsain, I think iMovie is very efficient and effective. It saves a lot of time and allows you to experiment and try out different things without having to do too much. It also allows you to make small but effective changes which can make a big different to your overall film intro and your eventual grade..
During the whole build up and aftermath to our film intro I used a lot more of comic life than iMovie. This was because I was responcerble for making some of the storyboards. I also didn'u use iMovie much because that was where most of the editing was done, and I am not so good at editing, so I let the more capable take over and didn't interfere too much with editing or iMovie. However I did enjoy filming and was good at it. Between the two of us we did most of the filming and we had to agree on what to do and what shots would be best. There were times when there was just one of us filming and we then had to confirm and check it out with the other member of the group who also is responcerble for filming to decide whether it was good enough and we agree on it.
Next time I would like to improve my skills on iMovie as well as Garage Band which we used only briefly when trying to find some music. However as a group we found the program quite complicated and eventually gave up on it, and got a nice suitable piece of music from youtube. However I feel comfortable using Comic Life now, as I polished up on knowledge from last year.
Our film intro follows most of the conventional forms of a J Horror film. We have included asian actors, dark lighting and heavy make-up to follow these conventions. Many J Horror films may film outside to get a spooky and scary setting whilst using nature to help out. However we have challenged this horror convention by filming entirely inside. The place we have filmed cannot be clearly made out as it is predominately dark. Which is good because we don't want it to look tacky or like a school or something we have not thought about. Our characters are also very typical of a J Horror, as we have used both Asian actors. I think it is important to use Asian actors when doing J Horror otherwise it can seem cheap and tacky and people will not get it if certain conventions are not followed. Certain conventions must obviously be followed to attract your audience.
Often in horror films the evil character is distinctive because of the costume he/she is wearing. We have gone with an all white dress (albeit a dressing gown was the original idea). The white dress indicates purity and angelic features, marred by the evil that is apparent in her face. Most successful J Horror make it clear what a character represents by how they are dressed, this is usually white or black so you could say we have followed the conventions in most part.
In regards to out intro alone, it might not look as dramatic or as horrific as conventional J Horror films try to portray at the beginning of their films. As our background setting is basically pitch black, with a spotlight focusing on the action, we are unable to really create a horror feel in regards to the background and creating a setting that shows horror. Before the pitch black room, we film from the library which is in daylight. However most J Horror films may try and create a mysterious background, whereas our background looks pretty normal throughout. Certainly nothing that suggests horror at least in the library scene.
Lots of films in general, including Horror and J Horror decide to use a narrative at various points, including the intro. In the end we decided against a narrative, although we had seriously considered it for a number of weeks. Eventually towards the end of the film making and editing, we decided against it. Partly because we couldn't come up with a good narrative. Also some of us, including myself, felt the music would be better throughout as apposed to a narrative. This is because music often shapes the story and the images that are being shown, it also allows the audience to interpret in their own way and doesn't give too much away so early on in the film.
Our product appears to fit in to the typical genre of J Horror and doesn't really include any other genres or sub genres. Our idea is slightly similar to 'The Ring' where there is a mysterious Asian girl dressed in white with scary make up, and she is haunted. We have tried to replicate this idea in our own way and have used the idea of wearing white and the make up have been added very effectively. In 'The Ring' the girls comes out the TV, and we had originally hoped to have in our version, Yuki (Jamila) coming out of the comic book. However this was very hard to produce and reflect convincingly on camera so we had to alter this and make something that could be shown clearly and professionally.
As explained 'The Ring' had originally been the main influence behind our film idea, and although we didn't go with Jamila coming out of the comic book (similar to The Ring but instead the TV) we were still influenced by the film in regards to costume and make up. We were not specifically influenced by any particular directors however having looked at Spike Lee in earlier coursework and done research on him we were motivated and encouraged by some of the work he had produced.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
As our film is a J Horror the characters are not really represented in any sort of social background. You could say Natsuko (Zainab) is the normal school girl, from an ordinary middle class family and of course Yuki (Jamila) is some sort of evil spirit and cannot be represented in terms of social class.
We do not have any male actors in our film intro, and it is likely that we wouldn't of had any in the entire film, unless perhaps brief appearances/cameo roles. There are just the two characters in our film intro, both female and Asian, and both are represented very differently. We have the innocent and normal Natsuko and then the very evil, mysterious and supernatural human being Yuki.
The only ethnic group that has been represented is Asian as it is a Japanese Horror it would appear to make the most sense to have Asian actors, otherwise the film may not have been taken seriously, and some may regard it offensive if the chosen characters or actors are not appropriate. This is also why we didn't include any other ethnic groups, and we felt that the two characters we have shown in the intro were sufficient and we didn't need anyone else to be shown.
As mentioned there are only two characters in our film intro, and these are both female teenagers. They are represented in two different ways, despite being of the same social background. Good and normal contrasting with evil and supernatural.
What kind of media institution might distribute your product, and why?
The oldest film company in J Horror is Nikkatsu ,founded in 1912. Our film would be a Major Studio based Japanese Horror film. Major film studios is a movie production and distribution company that releases films annually and consistently. Both might be interested in distributing our product because they are open to new ideas and new propositions and our very highly rated and successful which is why they would interest us. They would allow our film to be shown universally and spread the film as far as possible. We have also researched into Toho Ltd, a Japanese film and theatre production and distribution company. They look at all sorts of J Horror films and would be interested in our ideas, and might look to distribute it. As well as studio Ghibli who make Anime films. If ever we were interested in animation based films we would look to get involved with studio Ghibli. We have researched these particular Japanese companies, in making sure we know what production company we are looking for.
Who would be the audience for your product?
Our target audience is people aged 15 and over. This means our film is mainly aimed at teenagers from 15-21 either male of female. However there is no limit, anyone over 15 can watch, or may be interested in the film.This is because we have some conventional horror scenes in our movie, however there is nothing inappropriate and or too gory to show young teenagers. There is no sexual scenes or that which involves drugs and alcohol. A film can be scary without being an 18, and we felt by making it 15+ it would allow for a greater audience to watch our film. The audience are important because they determine the impact of many forms of media. In the film industry the target audience of a film affects all aspects of how a film is written and portrayed. If the audience does not like the film then it will have no chance to succeed. A film must interest your chosen target audience to have any chance of success. We have insured our film intro appeals to teenagers and horror fans by including most of the typical horror conventions, using actors around the same age as the target audience, and trying to make it come across as current and original.
We have reflected our teenage audience by making the film a 15+ therefore allowing most of our target audience to watch it. Some people may suggest a successful and scary horror film should have an 18 certificate, but it does not necessarily work like that. We also decided against making it 18 as it is not extreme violence and we feel we would benefit more from allowing 15,16, and 17 year olds to watch, and get a greater audience watching.
How did you attract/address your audience?
We attracted our audience by including most horror conventions, and using camera techniques that would interest or attract our viewers. We tried our best to make it original and although following the conventions adding our own twists. We tried to imagine we were the audience and think about what we would look for in a film and specifically in a J Horror film. We also referred to our questionnaires. We used the results from our questionnaires to see what people were interested in and looked for. This allowed us to aim for this in our film, thereby appealing and addressing our audience and their demands. The questonnaire results also helped us choose an appropriate BBFC for our film, and what people thought was an appropriate age.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
When we started the preliminary we were all very inexperienced as filmers and actors, bar a few in the group who had done some drama work. However none of us had done anything of this scale and it was a major learning curve for all of us. However when faced with the proposition of a film intro we felt more confident as we had made a preliminary and although there was a lot that could have been improved, we knew this was our chance to learn from our mistakes and make all the necessary ammenments from the preliminary. There is no doubt that the film intro was much more effective and enjoyable than the preliminary. This was partly down to the fact we had a lot more freedom as to what we wanted to film and how we wanted to film it. On starting the preliminary we all felt a little phased and daunted by the prospect and began clueless. It took us an awfully long time to get all the filimg down. This was due to inexperienced filmers and the actors weren't so sure about how to position themselves and be fully aware of the camera. My role changed drastically from the preliminary, where I was one of the actors. This involved repeating a lot of scenes and going over things time after time, and it got quite tiring. Sometimes we as the actors weren't 100% accurate in what we were doing, other times the filimg wasn't up to scratch. We also had certain guidelines to follow which didn't allow us to express ourselves in the way we had hoped. For the film intro, as I said I had a very different role, I was in charge of filiming along with Diamond.
Filming is certainly no easy thing, and having wanted the freedom to film as we wished, once we were given that freedom it became a bit tedious to begin with, because there were so many possibilities and we weren't entirely sure where to start. However ideas began to come to us and we used some clever shots and initiatve to make a good film in regards to both filming and acting. We were also in charge of the actors as to where they had to stand, walk and move to and there was a lot of responcerbility on our shoulders. If we had not done the preliminary we would have been totally lost and probably given up. Despite the experience from the preliminary it was still difficult for us to pull everything together in time for the deadline (filming, acting, editing) and we had to race to the finish line, with practically no time to spare.
Overall I would say most things were improved from the preliminary to our film intro. Having said that we finished in good time with our preliminary, and this wasn't the case for our film intro. However the filming, editing, and acting were all much better, and this was because we were able to express our talents a lot more effiiciently. We were able to use our knowledge and understanding from the preliminary to improve and impact our film intro hugely, and hugely for the better. So without a doubt the preliminary task helped us a lot and we are thankful we were given this opportunity before it came to the real thing (the film intro's).
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
During this whole process of making our film intro we have come across a range of new technologies as well as existing ones that we could improve our understanding of. Before we even got to filiming we had to make storyboards on comic life. Most of us including myself had used this before, and I had used it earlier in the year as well as last year it was one of the programs we used. Comic life is good because it is a very simple and fun way of getting your ideas down without it feeling like an overwhelming task. It also allows your work to stay organised and neat, and you can improve on it easily without having to erase things all the time which you might have to do if it is drawn and written out.
We also used iMovie after filming to edit our work and make all the necessary tweaks to improve our final product. Agsain, I think iMovie is very efficient and effective. It saves a lot of time and allows you to experiment and try out different things without having to do too much. It also allows you to make small but effective changes which can make a big different to your overall film intro and your eventual grade..
During the whole build up and aftermath to our film intro I used a lot more of comic life than iMovie. This was because I was responcerble for making some of the storyboards. I also didn'u use iMovie much because that was where most of the editing was done, and I am not so good at editing, so I let the more capable take over and didn't interfere too much with editing or iMovie. However I did enjoy filming and was good at it. Between the two of us we did most of the filming and we had to agree on what to do and what shots would be best. There were times when there was just one of us filming and we then had to confirm and check it out with the other member of the group who also is responcerble for filming to decide whether it was good enough and we agree on it.
Next time I would like to improve my skills on iMovie as well as Garage Band which we used only briefly when trying to find some music. However as a group we found the program quite complicated and eventually gave up on it, and got a nice suitable piece of music from youtube. However I feel comfortable using Comic Life now, as I polished up on knowledge from last year.
Tuesday, 5 April 2011
Production process; Mise-en-scene
The antagonist in our opening sequence Yuki, will be played by Jamila. We are following the conventions of Japanese horror by using simillar mise-en-scene. Jamilas costume will consist of a white robe and pale white makeup will be applied on her.
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| As Yuki translates to 'snow goddess' we have decided for the character to have striking eyes so we have used blue contact lenses. This slightly subverts the conventions of makeup in Japanese horror but is effective within our narrative. |
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| Dark black eyeliner is a vital element for a spirit like character as it creates a mysterious yet eerie effect. |
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| White powder being applied to Jamila to recreate the pale skin of the 'Yurei' spirits. |
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| We also created wound appearances to present the torture the character has been subjected to, also making her appearance frightening to the audience. |
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| This is the complete transformation of Jamila into Yuki. |
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| A Close-up of Jamilas face. |
For the protagonist in our film, Natsuko played by Zainab. The characters costume will be the complete opposite. Natsukos costume is simple, a typical japanese school girl look, including; a shirt, short skirt, tights, and hair done in two ponytails, giving off the typical asian school girl look. A School skirt would infer her young age to the audience and props such as glasses would stereotypially suggest intelligence or avid reading.
These two characters are very contrasting as the costumes and the way they are are extremely different, Yuki having a more supernatural haunting ghostly look whereas Natsuko having a more modernized look, also contrasting the characters' colour of skin, having Yuki's skin much more paler in contrast to Yuki's much more tanned and darker skin.
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| This is Zainab in role as Natsuko reading. |
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| This was the original costume for Natsuko, however we decided to change it as both characters were wearing white and although it is a neutral colour we wanted the characters to be contrasted. |
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| This is a still shot of Natsuko during filming in the library. We changed her costume and added an extra prop, a backpack. |
Monday, 4 April 2011
Music.
Music is an integral part of any film as it conveys a certain message across and evokes certain moods. For example fast tempo music with instruments such as guitars and drums would suggests an adrenaline, high impact sound that would suit the action/thriller genre. As our genre is J horror so we have decided to use slow piano music as it evokes mystery and suspense. It is horror film music we found on youtube 'isisip original piano music'. We believe it would fit perfectly with the images and the setting we aim to create.
It creates an eerie mysterious surrounding and can be interpreted in a range of ways, as the action goes on in the background. We don't want music which only represents one certain mood or emotion, as it doesn't allow for the viewer to make their own assumptions and have their own ideas through their own imagination. We used piano music because it is a slow and soothing, but there is still a horror aspect to it. It also allows suspense to build. It is subtle but effective and still creates the kind of aural imagery we hope to convey.
This is the music we have selected for our opening sequence.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSHBCXSHxaQ
It creates an eerie mysterious surrounding and can be interpreted in a range of ways, as the action goes on in the background. We don't want music which only represents one certain mood or emotion, as it doesn't allow for the viewer to make their own assumptions and have their own ideas through their own imagination. We used piano music because it is a slow and soothing, but there is still a horror aspect to it. It also allows suspense to build. It is subtle but effective and still creates the kind of aural imagery we hope to convey.
This is the music we have selected for our opening sequence.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSHBCXSHxaQ
Location Shots
The setting of our opening sequence is a vital aspect in the success of our piece, a setting can establish an environment or certain characteristics for example an alleyway with graffiti would be typically used for an action film, particularly an urban street life portrayal.
We decided to use our school setting for our location, for our first idea when our group wanted to use the library to film some shots, this was impractical as we had to ask the librarian for permission before every occasion for our filming, and we only had a few hours to film there each-time. Also, because of the importance of our school library it was always unavailable as it was full of students. Unfortunately we didn't use any shots we took in the library however it gave us even better ideas, we found it difficult to film in the library because we planned to use very complicated shots at a particular time of day, instead we used our school hallway for the establishing shots of our introduction. We also used the theatre in our school for the haunting scene, we found the theatre the best place to film the haunting scene, where we actually see Yuki appear behind Natsuko, and also our school library to film Natsuko finding the comic for the first time randomly dropping down from a shelf. because of the spot lights and different lights the theatre provided.The space in the theatre was also very useful and wooden floor made it very easy to track and the wood gave off the tense loud roaring noise.
The equipment we used to film were a simple video camcorder, tripod and a swivel chair as it had wheels and was useful whenever we used it for tracking. The sound the swivel chair made was also very effective and useful in our introduction, as we weren't aware that the sound created tension in our introduction, we found this very useful as the sound the swivel chair gave off fitted in with our theatre scene.
We also used the technicians lightning box set up in the school theatre in order to create a scary and tense atmosphere. We found the lights very useful and effective because of the eerie atmosphere it created, this is also a major convention in japanese horror as low key lightning is emphasised with shadows and dark areas.
The equipment we used to film were a simple video camcorder, tripod and a swivel chair as it had wheels and was useful whenever we used it for tracking. The sound the swivel chair made was also very effective and useful in our introduction, as we weren't aware that the sound created tension in our introduction, we found this very useful as the sound the swivel chair gave off fitted in with our theatre scene.
We also used the technicians lightning box set up in the school theatre in order to create a scary and tense atmosphere. We found the lights very useful and effective because of the eerie atmosphere it created, this is also a major convention in japanese horror as low key lightning is emphasised with shadows and dark areas.
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