micro drama and reflection

I think our micro drama went well however we did manage to loose alot of footage and we had a few small hiccups like the camera running out of battery and not been able to find all footage. I think we could make several improvements such as longer scenes wider shot variety and i think we needed more planning as we did not think of some aspects.

My favourite slasher

My Favourite slasher film is scream. This is my favourite slasher because it is very gripping and actually scary. I also like it because it fits the theories and stereotypes.Scream re-invented the horror slasher sub-genre when it was on its knees, all but dead in the mid 90s. Horror director Wes Craven brings screen writer Kevin Williamsons clever and also comedic script to life brilliantly. From the now classic opening scene featuring Drew Barrymore, you're guaranteed to be hooked. 
The basic plot is pretty simple. A killer is taking the lives of likeable student Sidney Prescott's friends, with the inevitable final showdown with her a shoe-in, but just who wants her blood and that of her chums so badly. 
I'm confident you'll be intrigued to find out! The cast are excellent, with all the leads exceptional, and some cameos from several stars of horror from over the years, such as Linda Blair, and even Wes Craven himself! 
The region 2 dvd features several good extra features. Behind the scenes info, interviews, trailers, trivia. Which add to the enjoyment and value of buying this dvd. An influential, mid 90s, self referential horror-comedy that gets the balance of both near perfect, is great fun and still holds up well today.

Micro Drama

This first thing we noticed when transferring our footage onto the camera was that one shot was missing. At first we thought this would be a major problem and we would have to arrange for a re shoot, but when we had edited the rest of the footage we saw that it actually created narrative enigma and probably improved the drama by doing so.

For editing we split the group into two so that everyone had input and there would also be two totally different versions of the micro drama to compare and see where we could have made improvements. On the group I was in's version we decided to make the footage look more like night time. By doing this it did have a slight purple tone to it but we still thought it looked more effective and slightly more scarier. The other group thought it looked too purple though and kept the natural daylight.

We also struggled to put writing on at the beginning of the drama at the part that was meant to look like a live news report. Due to the time we had to edit we didn't look up on youtube or the internet how to do this. We should of done because it would have made a big difference and improved our drama. But, the more we have been working with final cut pro the easier it is starting to be and I am really getting the hang of how it works.


In the shoot we went to the river at about 3 pm we did not realise how busy it would be so it took longer than we thought to film as it was busy . we put the tape up we got and filmed the first scene talking about what shot type we should use to set the scene and to make sure we got no un wanted extras in back ground. We followed the story board to make sure we got in right order . We did this until we got it right doing different scenes we then did several other scenes and made them which wasnt necessarily in the right order we just wanted to try get different shots such as panning in and point of view shot. However doing this we faced problems such as the camera running out of battery
    But it was okay as we good use an iPhone 4s which was just as good and filmed in HD.it was also very windy which did not help so we expect there to some interference .
   over all i think we could have had some scenes and had done some retakes but we got the different shots and used techniques such as a false scare like in slasher films. I also think next time we need to take into consideration the weather and setting again although our idea was good afew aspects let us down.


The class split up into 2 groups Boys and Girls in my Group was 'Poppy , Hannah , Kate and Millie we had to come up with a micro drama focusing on slasher genre as this what our next project will be on.

First we decided to brain storm ideas together of what this could be about we discussed setting , plot ,characters. We then went back into the class to pitch our ideas to the class and chose one from our group. we chose Kates as it was most popular and good and we could develop it. After we chose the idea we got a story board sheet where scene by scene and shot by shot we went through and chose possible scenarios.We then decided on when to shoot and where we decide late day and ilkley park as this could be good to build narrative enigma . We planned several scenarios that could be the outcome as we could not decide which way round to do it . It was easy plan and very agreeable as we worked well together and each presented there own ideas.
     when doing the story board we had to choose the most suitable places of the park to shoot we chose by the river and under the bridge as this could be scary. we then planned date and time to make this film it was hard as it was light when we filmed this but hopefully when editing is done it will look like it is dark. We also planned our props we needed and any other equipment e.g. tape for the news report scene which we planned in advance to get. We also needed to work out which character was who which we did easily we all decided to take it in turns to film as well which was good.

Peeping tom

Peeping Tom

Budget- 135k

Denotation- This is a serif this is uncommon in slasher films. It is swirly and coloured yellow and blue this shows that it is quite old by the fonts used and the times new roman at the bottom.It was designed like this to introduce the characters in a calm way this does not show that this would be a slasher film in anyway. This could be purposely so the film is very unexpected as it is an old film this could of been not very popular at the time.This is a binary opposite to what we expect the opening titles to be for a slasher film . such as a black background and san serif font that really stands out and signifies drama .

This signifier suggests he is looking at something not directly at the camera but something past it.This signifies there is something there.
Connotation-we interpret this to be something past the camera which is around the corner which we should be looking at and wanting to know what it is . it is unusual however to introduce the killer this soon.This gives little anchorage as we do not 
know what he is looking at or the point of why he is looking at this. Communication test-we do not see his face we just see his eye . i think the producers have rejected the rest of his face to draw the emotion to his eye and to not show his full features as this is more powerful and is an extreme close up. As an eye can show so many emotions.This also creates narrative enigma.






this is oppositional reading as we block out what we don't see in the text in this case we would not realise unless you have knowledge of the era that this is a prostitute .

this signifies that the lady could be a prostitute due to her been stood on the street and then by the clothes she is wearing. She is also wearing an ankle chain and net tights , in this era this signifies she is a prostitute as they use to wear them to say they were a lady of the street.

Target Audience

slashers box office appeal:
Slashers box office appeal are low due to these been mid budget films.They are also all the same genre and don't appeal to all audiences as perhaps a romcom would with big stars. The stars in slashers do not seem to well known they however if this is a franchise often the start of there career such as the shower scene in psycho such as janet leigh this really made her career as it such a famous scene. 

Typical slasher audience : The typical slasher audience is teens ranging from 16-24.This is a typical slasher audience because this genre is most common amongst teens due to the stars been teens and the storyline been about teen life. Teens then can refer to this in there own life's making the element if the slasher genre more scary. Aiming at this group also makes it popular by narrowing down the audience to make all references to the teen age group. 

 Our BBFC rating :our rating is 15 rating due to the violence. However it is not an 18 due to the storyline there is no use of sexual references or gory. Our film is intended to build on tension with some violence but not much.The idea is to create narrative enigma for the audience to follow the killing though the killers eyes.This in itself bring down the rating due to there been no violence and innapropriate scenes fro younger years than 15. 

Our primary target audience:
 The primary target audience is teens due to this been the typical slasher film audience. The films that have influenced our film we have also taken into account there rating such as halloween , scream , black x mas and cherry falls. These films vary from 15 to 18, cherry falls been the 18 after watching this film we also decided our film would not be as violent and gory with sexual references this was also a big help in the rating we gave our film . By having the film rating at 15 this also brings in a wider audience its self , as we are also 17 and stars in the film are 17 this helped aim the audience from 15 and above. 

 Our 2nd primary audience: 
Our 2nd audience is adults above 25. It will be hard to target this audience as we have narrowed down our references to fit the teen age group and to refer there lives. However we are targeting this audience as the film is also creates suspense and tension which can be common with an older age group to watch it for this appeal.

Casting

i have done auditions for my production. I have asked people if they would willing to take part in in my media production. This audition is briefly what they are capable of and if i actually want them in my production as i need the acting to be good. I have selected the auditions carefully on who i think will fit the parts best. I have chosen my friend amy for the final girl and a pupil at school for the killer santa.

My friend amy will fit the part for the final girl well as she is very studious and brunette. She is also very interested in acting. She also did her audition very well and i think this will be effective for my production.

Black Christmas

Black Xmas ( Glen Morgan , 2006)

Budget: 9 m

Production companies: Dimension films , 2929 productions .

Distributors: Bazuca Films, concorde video ,20th century fox home entertainment.

Storyline : In the 70's, the boy Billy is born with yellow skin due to a lever disease and his dysfunctional mother rejects him. Later he witnesses his mother and her lover killing his beloved father and burying him in the basement of their house, and he is locked in the attic alone along his childhood. When he is a teenager, he is sexually abused by his mother and she has a baby girl called Agnes. During Christmas, the deranged Billy escapes from his imprisonment, kills his mother and stepfather and blinds one eye of Agnes. He is declared insane and his sister is sent to an orphanage. In the present days, Billy escapes from the Clark Sanatorium to spend Christmas with his family. Meanwhile, his former house is the Delta Alpha Kappa sorority house in the campus of the Clement University, and the housemother and the sisters .

the film opens with idents - dimension films and 2929 productions signifying this film is quite a low budget film .

the film then goes onto open with an establishing shot of the house zooming in at the christmas decoration with the classic christmas music in the back ground 
and we see a long shot of the girls in the bed rooms at a mid angle this is to introduce the first character to be killed as we then see the first girl She is not the classic scream queen as she has brown hair , not busty or sexually available. Which is classic in this genre
however we do have have the classic weapon used which is shown at the beginning a fountain pen which is shown several times the audience can guess this is going to be the murder weapon as it is shown in focus with the back ground faded and then when then the girl goes to closet there is a extreme close up on the pen.then there is an point of view shot , and the audience then feel more involved this creates tension as it shows someone is there. This is almost a false scare.there is next a high angle mid shot which signifies she is weaker than the killer and very vulnerable.

when she is killed we see the girl panic and look for the pen this is a mid shot and zooms in and out to a a close up to emphasis emotion.when she is killed there is fast pace editing which shows this is a slasher film as we see her getting killed and stabbed with the pen however we do not actually see her dead we just presume she is the titles black xmas come up with loud music which is very jumpy as it was silent then these are shown when she goes to the cupboard there is a panning shot as we follow her up to the closet there is music just the wind which we can hear which builds suspense this is a long take.