Evaluation Question 1

Film Title
When it comes to titling, many films also include a subtitle, and inspired me to do it for my own, as it is an uncommon but not completely alien film convention.

Most of these films are sequels, and the subtitles is used to avoid the cliché of [film title] 2, [film title] 3 etc, and it is sometimes used in prequels, as the only other alternative is to add a zero to the end of the film (interestingly, there is a video game called Resident Evil 0, due to the fact it takes place before the first game, and Five Nights at Freddy's 2 is actually a prequel, despite sounding like a sequel to the first game).

Alien: Resurrection (1997) is the fourth film in the Alien franchise, and is the only one to feature a subtitle, as the second film is called 'Aliens' and the third is called 'Aliens 3' (The prequel is the only film in the franchise to not include 'Alien' in it's name, being called 'Prometheus' instead)














Silent Hill: Revelation (2012) is the second (and likely final) film in the Silent Hill franchise, using the subtitle as opposed to the number 2, although this is likely to stop confusion between the film and the video game from 2001.














Some films that are the first in their series also use subtitles, despite the fact there is not really a reason to do so.

Pirates of The Caribbean is notorious for using subtitles, with each film having one including the first, which was 'The Curse of The Black Pearl' (2003). In the case of this film, it uses it as a hint to the plot of the film, and this gave me the idea to use it for my own.

Another example of the first film in its series having a subtitle, much like my own, is Resident Evil Degeneration (2008).
Degeneration is the first film in the CGI series and the use of the subtitle is likely to stop confusion between this film and 'Resident Evil', which is the first film in the live action series.

There is also Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1997), although technically this was retitled to include a subtitle to clarify that the first 3 films in the franchise are actually the latter half of the whole franchise, chronologically.

Evalutation Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

In my media production, I use a reclusive type person who spends a lot of time indoors and only ventures out to visit friends.
Many reclusive people refuse to even leave the house, so that is one difference in how a recluse is represented in my media production, as opposed to real life.
Reclusive people do not appear often in films, but one example is Clear Rivers from Final Destination 2 (played by Ali Larter)

Clear is the only character to appear in more than one Final Destination film, and the reason she became reclusive was due to the events of the first film, where all her friends were killed in the order they should have been in a crash, with Clear being the only survivor.
She hides herself away so nothing can happen to her (even requesting sharp objects be left outside the room), taking safety in the form of a padded cell in a mental health hospital.
While the main character in my production does venture out at times, one major difference is that nothing bad has previously happened to them and is like that due to their own insecurities, rather than a horrible event previously happening. The opening eludes to the events that cause them to become even more reclusive, and had this been a full film, they would likely have become very similar to Clear Rivers in Final Destination 2.

Evaluation Question 3

Evaluation Question 4

Evaluation Question 5

Evalutation Question 6

Evaluation Question 7

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product

Here are some examples of when I used the 180 rule. The top image is also when I used the shot/reverse shot editing technique in my preliminary task, which I did not use to a great effect in my final production (this editing technique is at the end of the production).
I also used more occurrences of medium close ups and close ups in my final task, this also being shown in the two above images, where in the preliminary task, long shots were used more often.

I did continue to use match on action, such as the door handle in the preliminary task and walking through the door on the final task, as I feel that it is a good editing technique to use.

One technique I used a lot more in my final version was the first person shot for the camera work. This was more of a work around for there only being one me as opposed to a completely intentional camera work technique. There was only one occurrence of this in the preliminary task, which was during the match on action shot.

I also think the sound editing has improved, and while all the sound in my final production was non-diegetic, I felt as though the background music was not as intrusive as in the preliminary task.

I do think the overall quality, however, has decreased and this may be due to having to do most of the filming and editing on my own as opposed to having someone else with me.

 In conclusion, I think that I have improved in terms of techniques used, although some of the camera work and editing could have been better

 

Final Media Production

Rewriting Fate: Harbinger of Death
The actual production ends when the title first appears, following that is the production again with broken audio that was not present while I was editing the video.

Doppelganger idea and make-up

As my film opening involves a doppelganger, I decided to take inspiration from Tomb Raider Underworld, as the main character, Lara Croft has a doppelganger that looks like her in the game.

One thing I noticed was that the doppelganger is far more pale, and her hair is red as well as her eyes being yellow.
I took the idea of the pale skin and dark area around the eyes and tried to recreate that on myself

In many films that have doppelgangers, they are shown to be stronger and faster compared to their real counterparts, as well as being evil. The slight difference in appearance is also very common, as doppelgangers are not exact duplicates of the original person, but very close copies, which is how they are often identified.

Title Ideas

• The Doppelganger
• The Double
• The Other
• Harbinger of Death
• Writer's Curse
• Rewriting Fate

Final Idea:

Rewriting Fate: Harbinger of Death

I'm using this as the title because it fits well with the plot of an author being transported into their own story and having to rewrite it from the inside, hence the 'Rewriting Fate' part. The 'Harbinger of Death' subtitle is meant to go with the second major plot of the film, which is that of the story, which is about a doppelganger. (Doppelgangers are said to be haringers of bad luck and have been said to appear to some people before they die)

New props

Props for the intro so far:

• clothes
• makeup to make myself look pale-faced but have darker around the eyes
• Short story
• phone
• computer

New Plot

As I am no longer able to do the original plot, I am currently working on a new one.

An early idea that I have already decided I cannot do is playing a video game, then going to sleep because I feel ill, then waking up in the video game. I was originally going to use Five Nights at Freddy's, but as that requires more than one person (someone needs to be the security guard, someone else needs to be the animatronics), I am unable to do this particular game. I was also going to do guitar hero but as that game uses licensed tracks for the most part, I am unable to do that too.

Another way I thought to do this was to make my own video game using RPG maker VX and have myself end up in that game instead, but creating a game, even a short one which consists of only a couple areas and minimal dialogue, is somewhat difficult.

My current idea for the new plot is that the main character is writing a story, in which the main character of the story dies at the end. The author feels ill afterwards and goes to bed to see if they feel better. They then wake up inside the story they wrote as the main character and realise that they need to change the events otherwise they will die at the end.
 The story will obviously be a horror one, and I likely will write the story that the opening is based around as a short story to help me further with the planning, which I will post a link to when it is done.

The short story is about the main character being chased by their doppelganger. I may have the intro recorded in first person, therefore I can be visible as the doppelganger, and someone else can be acting as me behind the camera.

Mini Demon Possession Mood Board

Script

Amy- Lizzy (Elizabeth)
Chay- Lexi (Alexis)
Lizzy and Lexi are on different streets until otherwise stated in the script.

Lizzy: Hello?
Lexi: Hey Lizzy, I'm just at [location], are you nearly here yet?
Lizzy: I'm nearly there.
          Have you seen the electric bill for this month? it's huge!
Lexi: No? We don't use that much?
Lizzy: You always leave the TV on!
          Wait...did you leave it on again?
Lexi: *Thinks for a second* Whoops...sorry...

-Cuts to TV scene-

Reporter: Breaking News! 

                Recent reports show and increase in abnormal behaviour. Those that experience the abnormal behaviour show signs such as an increase in aggression, bleeding from the mouth, bloodshot eyes and unusual injuries that are believed to be self inflicted. We advise you to stay indoors and and only leave your house if absolutely necessary.

-Back to street scene-

Lexi: Have you noticed how empty town is today? Where is everybody

Lizzy: Yeah, barely anyway came in today *phone crackles*

            Hello? Lexi? Can you hear me? 

Lexi: *screams* Liz!

Lizzy: *frantic sounding* What's going on?

-Lizzy on same street as Lexi now-

Lizzy: *Gasp* Alexis!

           Lexi, what's wrong?

*Lexi gets up and starts towards Lizzy*

Lizzy: Lexi. This isn't funny, stop!

*Lexi continues walking towards Lizzy*

Lizzy: Stop! *punches Lexi*

-After running to house-

*Lexi grabs Lizzy by the neck and starts strangling her*

Lizzy: *Gasp*

-After waking up scene-

*Lizzy wakes up and goes to bathroom*

Lizzy: Hey, I just had the weirdest nightmare! You'll never guessed what happened, you were...

Lexi: *Demon snarl*

Lizzy: *screams*

Storyboard

Shot types can be found on this post: (On that post, person A is called Chay and person B is called Amy)

Camera Shot Types

This is the final plan for the camera shots

Props and Clothes

Props:

Indoor, Outdoor

• Fake blood- Used for outside scene (post-possession) and the indoor scene towards the end.
• Key- Used for post-possession fight scene and opening the door
• Contact lenses- Post possession scene. May or may not be used
• Mobile phones- Used during the start of the opening
• Alcohol cans/bottles- indoor scene, latter part of the opening.
• Injury makeup- Latter part of the opening.
• Mirror- Latter part  of the opening

Clothes (used in both outdoor and indoor scenes):

• 2 x vests
• 2 x hoodie/sweater
• 2 x leggings
• Shoes (trainers or boots)

Target Audience Research

Filming schedule

As the main two filming locations are in town and at a house, we will film them at separate times.

The scenes in Town will mostly be done between the 17th and 21st of February, as this is half term and there will be more time to film during daylight hours as we won't be required to go to school. Any extra takes will be done on the weekends following school starting again, as we once again won't be required to be in school and have more daylight hours to film.

The times between which we will be filming are 11AM and 5PM, although this may be extended as it gets lighter.

Scenes at Chay's house (my friend who will be present in the filming) will be shot shortly afterwards (about a week or so later) as this is a secure area where we can film at any time of the day where it is still light, as these scenes are supposed to be somewhat gloomy during this part of the opening.

Ideas for title and company names

Production Company Logo:

(Paßtelemô)

Risk Assessment

1) During the punch scene, the key could do some damage to the other person, therefore scene should be shot at an angle where we can avoid the impact without it appearing obvious that the punch never really occurred.

2) If contact lenses are used for the demon character, the instructions must be read carefully to avoid injury to the eye.

3) As the opening is being shot in a street, there is the risk of being run over so we should be careful when filming, therefore we will be careful when filming and ensure that there are no cars.

4) There is a brief running scene where someone could fall over, so make sure there is nothing to trip over.

5) All the scenes in the street will be shot during the daytime for safety against anyone who could possibly attack us if we were filming at night.

Ideas for Horror Film Opening

Final Idea (subject to change):
The final idea for the horror film is that a girl is meeting up with her friend/roommate when her roommate is attacked and possessed by a demon in an alleyway. The girl who is not possessed hits her (punches her with a key in between her fingers) in an attempt to get away and manages to get back home, where she is finally attacked herself.
She later wakes up and feels ill. As she leaves the room she finds her friend in the bathroom and realises that her nightmare is actually a reality.

The opening will happen in the daytime, as this goes against the conventions of a standard horror film.

(The storyboard will be here when it is finished)


Scrapped Ideas:
1. Originally we were going to do a horror-comedy that involved something chasing people around a shop for the horror aspect and the reality that the enemy was a giant chicken for the comedy aspect. We decided against this idea because it would be very, very difficult to do in terms of editing, props and filming in a crowded area.

2. The second idea had the girl and her friend meeting up in town, only to have the friend possessed before she got there and when they do meet up, they were attacked. This idea is present in most other ideas, but has been tweaked as we worked along.

3. Here we had the girl and her friend meeting up in a shopping centre, with the friend being partly possessed in an elevator and attacking the girl when they got up to the car park. The next idea was similar to this one but with the elevator removed due to issues with people wanting to use it when we would be filming.

4. This time the girls had already met up and were in an alley way when the friend got possessed, evident by a scratch that mysteriously appeared on her arm. The girl had met up with her friend using a skateboard and was then going to hit her with it to deter her possessed friends attack. We kept this aspect but switched the skateboard out with a key, as there is a larger risk to hit someone with a skateboard than there is with a key that can be dropped/moved into someone fingers before the person playing the possessed friend got hit.

5. This idea is very similar to the final one, as the idea of the two friends meeting up during the opening was far better than having them already together. The only difference was that the friend who was possessed was to be similar to the behaviour of the witch special infected in Left 4 Dead.

(Witch video here)

Possible Setting for Film Opening

 So far into planning, I have decided to use a sidestreet as the primary setting for the opening, as I feel that this is a less common convention for a horror film and for one that has demons as the main 'enemy'.

 I also plan on using a house setting later on in the film opening as a secondary setting

Demon Possession in American Horror Story: Asylum

One of the subplots in this particular season is demon possession. The second episode has a 17 year old boy, called Jed Potter, admitted to Briarcliff Manor Asylum because his parents are concerned that he has been possessed by the devil as he killed a cow, ate the heart and started speaking in Latin.

His face is pale and he is sweating. There is also blood and the veins are evident on the side of his face as the demon/devil is being exorcised.

He is able to refer to Sister Judes (Jessica Lange) past crime of a hit and run accident, and he makes the ghost of the girl she killed appear in the room adjacent to his, saying "you never even got out of the car".

After the exorcism the demon jumps into Sister Mary Eunice (Lily Rabe) who, in a later episode can be seen with red and yellow eyes. She also kills someone in a later episode while they are praying and makes references to the fact that she "is the devil".

She keeps her human appearance (aside from when her possession shows through in the picture below) and eventually breaks free long enough to ask someone to kill her, which they do. When she dies, the demon is taken at the same time as her soul.

My film opening is using the idea of demon possession and the way it is represented in American Horror Story: Asylum is useful in terms of how I can represent it myself in my film opening.

Resident Evil (Horror) Film Opening

Full Opening Scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zuDZrySShA

The opening scene starts with non-diegetic sound that is eerie yet modern. The backstory to the film is explained at this point. In the background, the screen is similar to a computer terminal, which hints at laboratory and office setting that is later shown in the opening.

Following this the music sounds clinical and the camera zooms in to someone working in a lab, which is a stereotypical for the resident evil franchise and the modern setting could also be reminiscent of the Nostromo ship from the first Alien film,moving vials of fluid into a case, these vials being relevant to the rest of the film.

There is more focus with close ups and focus pulls on the blue vial, which is the T-virus, as this is the virus responsible for what happens later in the film.

The close up on the case the virus' or in locking suggests the danger that they have.

The opning ends with the man who was wearing the hazard suit throwing a vial of the T-virus so it breaks, this being the final part of the scene needed to set up the events of the film.

As I have watched this film, I know that the opening scene is actually setting up all the events for the film and provides and introduction to the whole backstory. My opening scene is intended to be similar to this, in the way that it is setting up the events of the film and providing a backstory. (Had it been a full film, the rest of it would be set further into the future, about a year after the opening).


Silent Hill Film Opening Analysis

Full opening scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJspxq_btno

The opening scene starts off with a non-diegetic sound that is an acoustic guitar being played with the tremolo picking technique. As Silent Hill is based around a video game of the same name, this piece of music is associated with the series and provides some of the horror feel.

The sound then changes to being far more mechanical and having an eerie feel to it before the non-diegetic sound is replaced by Rose, the main character, screaming for her child.

The ellipses editing technique is used so you hear her calling for her child before you actually see her outside her house. 

The sound also emphasises the surroundings and makes the breathing seem louder that it actually is.

The use of camera angles shows the frantic worry of the characters looking for Sharon. This also allows for a good close up on he teddy bear Rose finds that obviously belongs to Sharon.





Many panning shots are used in the extract to show the surroundings, such as the forest that is a stereotypical setting for a horror film, even if it does not last for the entire duration of the film.



There is then another setting that is stereotypical to horror films, which is the graffiti ridden underpass with a busy main road above it.

An ariel shot shows a waterfall just outside the tunnel, connoting the danger of the area if the child is around there, with the possibility she fell down the waterfall.

The scene then cuts to show Sharon standing near the edge of the waterfall, with non-diegetic sound returning with background music that provides the feel of danger and mystery as well as the horror that is present elsewhere in the opening.

The camera pans to show Rose standing away from her. There is then a close up to show her face as she notices her and it shows her emotions of concerned and relieved that she found her daughter but she is standing over a waterfall.

The camera eventually goes to a close up of Sharon before travelling down the waterfall pit which has transformed into what appears to be a mine that is on fire and looks like hell itself.

The extract then goes on to Sharon being saved by her father and she starts screaming "Silent Hill!" which adds to the mystery of what happened in the opening and sets up the movie for what happens later in it.

The final scene is the Silent Hill title card.



Similar to Resident Evil, this opening is setting up the events of the film, hence why Sharon screams Silent Hill, which is the name of the town where a majority of the film is set. Once again, because my opening is supposed to be setting up events, this will be useful in terms of sound and explanation.









28 Weeks Later Opening Analysis.

Full Opening Scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHf6Th-E3kE

 The scene starts with a close-up of a man reading a newspaper, with the only sound being russling pages.

The scene then cuts to show a framed picture of a girl with candles burning in front of it. This seems to be a memorial for her, and would line up with 28 weeks later being a horror film set 28 weeks after a virus infected the UK, where many peoples loved ones would have been killed.

The setting is dark with most of the lighting coming from candles (this further fits the post apocalypse theme), and the sound as a whole is diegetic, as it is mainly the ambience of the setting and people talking.

There is then a close up of a bowl of food being served at the table. The food does not look appetizing, as shown by the look on the girls face as it is being put in front of her, once again emphasising the post-apocalyptic feel.

 The conversation that follows is tense, as Jacob talks about the possibility of the womans friend having survived the zombies outside.

A knock at the door, which is the loudest sound in the scene at this point, causes everyone sitting at the table to turn around, and a long shot sows them all looking in the same direction.

A close up on the character Don's face shows conflict of emotions when the realise the source of the knocking is a child, and he is deciding whether or not to allow the child in.

At this time, non-diegetic sound comes in and provides the opening with a tense feel, that is further emphasised by the urgency in the child's voice. The music builds as Don gets closer to the door and hits a climax when he opens the door to see the young boy standing there.
After this, the tense feel of the music dies down and sounds similar to a choir but still has an uneasy undertone to it.

The scene then cuts to show the burnette woman hugging the child and it cuts again to show the people who are still at the table looking anxious at the new arrival.

The background music completely fades out shortly after, now that the tense moment is over, and there is a close up oof the child eating the food with his bare hands, suggesting he has not eaten in a while.

As the other survivors ask the child about where he came from, the blond woman leaves the room and looks outside, while the non-diegetic background music begins to build again, this time with an eerie feel to accompany its tense feel.

While the woman is looking out a gap in between the wood siding for the pace they are staying, a zombie comes into view and the growl sound that is louder than all else in this scene shows the shock of it appearing and its dangerous presence.

The jumpscare may be useful for my film opening, as it is a common convention for horror films (the other heavily present type of scare being tension scares). Survivors huddling together is also a good idea but anything of that sort will not fit the opening of my horror film.