Final Cut

Evaluation Question 1

In what ways does your media product use,develop or change forms and conventions of real media products?

Evaluation Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups ?

The characters in red christmas are 17. These characters are all girls they are all classic girly girls all with long hair makeup and fashionable.The final girl (who gets killed first) is highlighted by wearing a long coat and no revealing clothing and little makeup where as the final girl is wearing a skirt and tights. The other girls are wearing normal clothes that wouldn't stand out compared to these too outfits.This also relates to the teenage theme as teens can relate to there lives.In the mis en scene there is nothing to suggest a particular social group. 

The girls are suppose to be carol singers so quite naive and are raising money to what the final girl put them up to. All teens are stereo types as english teens with mid class- upper class due to the area it is set and the designer clothing and accent. There for the social group this would be aimed at is mid class teens as they can relate most to these girls and there lives . this is also why we gave our film a rating of 15.

Evaluation Question 3

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why ?

The distribution of a film (or movie) is the process through which a movie is made available to watch for an audience by a film distributor. This task may be accomplished in a variety of ways; for example, with a theatrical release, a home entertainment release (in which the movie is made available on DVD-video or Blu-ray Disc) .Film industry covers three areas. PRODUCTION (most film projects never make it out of 'development hell') DISTRIBUTION (most UK films fail to attract a distributor willing to take the risk) EXHIBITION (the vast majority of UK films fail to get a box office release; Hollywood dominates)

    
   Distribution is changing as now there is such thing as digitilisation which is now used Digitization is the process of changing content production, storage, distribution, and consumption from an analog to a digital base. Its most important characteristic is that it changes these bases from physical form to binary electronic form.This has such an impact as it largely reduces costs dramatically as everything is done digitally. This has an impact on distribution as now there is no need for any.Although these changes had some effects on media businesses in the first two to three decades of digitization, the business models of media remained relatively stable because newspapers, magazines, and books continued to be printed on paper, recording of audio and video for retail distribution remained as a physical good, and all these types of products continued to be distributed and sold in traditional ways. There for there are a lot more opportunity  for self distribution due to low costs of digitalisation being so cheap.

    The basic context of our film is the idea of festive season and having a killer santa. However having a stalking scene which is different to our main film influence black x mas wewill call our movie Red christmas and have intertextuality throughout with black x mas and scream.My genre for my film is a slasher genre and will be a micro budget film as we have no stars  however we do have similarities to franchises and other slashers films such as Scream , Halloween , Black x mas and Prom Night .  our film is similar as it has same basic content such as the idea of the classic killer and the typical scream queen and final girl. Our film is obviously not going to be a high budget film but a micro budget as we will not have distributers and little cash.

 all these are 2012 films i used search ' top 2012 films into google to search for these and used the website top films of 2012 and imdb to find film information.
     The marketing tools needed for distribution in slasher films are posters , trailers , teaser trailers, advertisements on TV magazines etc websites and social networking. an example of this would be scream. I would budget our film at £30 to make as we already have everything we need we just need to pay for small distribution which we will do via internet and social networking sites our budget also will include cast and costumes.
  Low budget film companies (indie) however do make some money such as warp films.Little manage cinema release and little manage us distribution due to low population in Britain and the target audience been mainly brits. such as this is England  was not appealing to americans as it was not the typical english stereotype.Most films However do make it to the cinema but however sometimes do fail. There are international distributors and different distributors for different countries due to funding. Examples of this are Dark Knight , have several distributors for other countries such as Village films for Greece and road show film distributors for Australia however there are also international companies which distribute the rest which in this case are warner brothers part of the big 6. Another example of this is this is England. Uk distribution was Optimum Releasing where as for america distributors where ICF first Talk.   This is england by shane meadows is a good example of low budget distribution as he has produced alot of other films that have been a hit distributed by Warp films that have also been distributed internationally and just in the UK such as Donkey Punch and 4 lions both big hits for a low budget distribution.Warp Films also being a low budget distribution like my film have had good success from being such a low budget company and distributing films worldwide and within countries due to target audience and these being social realist genre is very specific.
    Since our film is such a low budget film we are obviously not going to be able to afford a mega budget film such as Avatar  which had a budget of $237 m and is thought to be the most expensive film ever made. Our film will not meet this as we are micro budget company and our audience is britain where as us have far more wider population and is produced in hollywood where the big 6 distributors are that internationally and world wide distribute films.These films are also more likely to feature big stars to make films more appealing for audience as if there is a well known star they may have seen previous films which makes this more important to watch.These companies can also afford to risk failures as it would take a lot for such well known distributor to come to this where as if an indie production risked a film they could be bankrupted.
   If our film fails we will use alternative distributors such as youtube and social networking sites. Films have been distributors like this and have had success such as Fred and Another earth. Which have been made and distributed by youtube and networking sites. However also on these sites there are also people who put on videos with takes on these films and there own films which also get distributed nationally and recognised.

Evaluation Question 4

who would be the audience for your media product and why?

Our BBFC rating was 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.
 we chose this to be our target audience due to the 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. 

Evaluation Question 5

How did you attract/ address your audience?

We attracted our audience by sticking with the stereotypes for the genre such as the final girl , scream queen and killer and focusing on the common slasher conventions. We tried to stick to Laura mulveys theory of the scream queen too making references through out our film.Also we attracted the audience through the female character like most films do , using attractive stars. This attracts male audience as well as female due the characters been female. This attracts male audiences because of the male gaze.

We addressed our audience through the characters we used by making references to teen life as the characters used were teens.We were also able to address the audience with the help of digitization by using the social networking sites facebook and twitter, by using these we're enabling ourselves and our production to be accessible by thousands over the internet, mostly family and friends, but they are also open to give us feedback on how to improve the media product and get a good insight in what the audience are looking for and want.

Evaluation Question 6

What have u learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product ?

throughout my project i have used a lot of different technologies such as blogger , final cut express , imovie , and much more .

First i used Blogger this has been a big part of technolgy i have used as i have used it for many blog posts and researching topics. I have also used to blog and extract information.Blogger is where i have put together my coursework, by following lesson schedules and typing up main things i have learnt. When constructing my product i have found blogger to also be a way of distribution of products and my film as well to get feed back.Without this i would have to pay to distribute my products and my course work would have to be by hand . Without this technology media studies would be a lot harder.It has also been alot easier to build this up as it is quick and easy to use . Personally i have also used it off my smart phone this has also been very useful in itself.

I have used Final cut express and final cut pro both for making the movie and vodcasts them selves.I have used final cut pro the most as it has been very easy and useful for editing at home and in school.I have used final cut to make vodcast first for my blog.This was very simple as all i had to do was insert footage or pictures and talk over them. I then edited my video on this technology this was fun and once i got to grips with it i found it very easy to work.

I have also used garage band , i have used garage band to create my sound track for the film.This was easy and simplistic. The features were laid out on how to work it.However i did find it challenging putting it together with my film.Without garage band i would of been very hard to make such thing as a sound track to the film that fits perfectly and was our choice.I have learnt from constructing this product the different types of music that fit with different genres. I have also learnt how to work it for feature use this has been very helpful.

I have also used hd cameras to film my product as a form of digitisation. These have been very easy to work. I taught myself how to use them after playing around with them on the different shoots. It was very simplistic.Without this technology our media course work would have been alot harder to produce and alot more expensive.It was also very easy uploading the footage as you used an sd card to hold the footage this was very good and really helpful . from using this technology i have learnt how to create different shots, angles and more importantly how to create different footage to achieve purpose.

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?

Looking back at the prelim task i feel i have learnt a lot in the progression between that and my final product. When we started our prelim i didnt really think about what the purpose of the shots were i just tried to stick to the different rules. This was our first film shoot and getting to grips with the cameras. From then till now i have learnt such a lot. i have learnt about the different techniques that have helped me progress such a great deal.
   Since my prelim i have gained a better understanding of shot variety and diversity. I have also built up my knowledge of different angles and there meanings.This is a lot different from the prelim as i did not know any of this . I have also since then learnt how important it is to have a steady camera. A shaky camera can make it look un professional and down graded I have also learnt how the quality matters.Since my prelim i have also learnt about editing. I have learnt about fast pace editing and how important this is within this genre, This means that the shots move fast and create tension and drama. Now i have learnt this my understanding has become a lot better and much more sufficient a. I think the main reason for this is exploring the different technologies and my research. I am very impressed in how much i have improved since from the prelim now when i look at my final cut.I am a lot more confident now i have more knowledge of the software and what it takes to make a good slasher film.
    Since my prelim task i have not only improved my skills on computers but i also feel my knowledge of media has broadened. I have learnt about the term semiotics which at the start before the prelim didn't know existed. I have used this to try apply throughout my blog to deepen my understanding and context it can be used in this will also help my in my exam.I have also learnt about time management and how important it is to manage your time and keep organised , other wise it can lead to getting behind as i have once or twice. I then found it very hard to keep up.I have also learnt how important it is to work well as a team. This means setting tasks and everyone completing them , and sharing the work equally however our group found this hard, which sometimes was a negative on our production.
    Also since my prelim task i have learnt that it is not about quantity but quality of your work. And how important it is to get things right the first time as we as a group had several re shoots due to this reason.Looking back at my prelim it is clear we did not understand this as we rushed it and put it together within 1 lesson to get an idea of what it is like.I have learnt that focusing on the details can make such a huge effect and statement to your final product.Such as shot variety and putting the shots together in an effective way . Also to remember that this has to apply to everything in this course.
    I have also learnt how important feed back is as we had little of this so it was hard to improve up on. I have also learnt since the prelim task how important it is to take criticism and improve up on them as this is very key detail to success in media film as a 2nd opinion on perhaps a target audience can change the final product a huge deal as we found out which lead to may final adjustments.

Slasher opening Peeping tom :Applying semiotics to a slasher film

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.

summary of genre common conventions

The Final Girl The final girl is almost always a virgin, innocent and towards the end she starts building confidence.  The clothing the final girl wears may not be considered to be sexually attractive and she is unlikely to be blond this is argued by some that it is due to young boys who are one of the target audience of slasher films and so they are able to identify themselves with her.
   The Monster/Killer The monster or killer’s identity is often unknown, this is achieved by a mask or creative lighting and camera techniques. This is to keep the audience on edge because they don’t know who the killer is and so leaves the killer without an identity. It is almost likely to be a man, and their weapon of choice is a knife or chainsaw, sharp claws and anything jiggered and sharp and they tend to prefer hand held weapons. Usually at the end of the movie the killer’s identity is revealed. The reason behind his killings is often a childhood trauma, which explains his choice of victims and it also explains his choice weapon and location. The killer is often made out to be understood by the audience and is pitiable. He is often silent and unstoppable, able to survive stabbings, falls and shootings by his victims. As this sub-genre has developed through the years some would argue that the actual star of the film is the killer and not the Final Girl
     The Location The location is a quiet and a suburban town, this helps to keep the audience with a sense of fear because it is a place that you would consider to be safe in. The location could be apart of the killers identity because it could explain a bad childhood or a significant event which the killer was involved in or which took place in. The location is often low in population and the location is often far from civilisation. The killer destroys his victims means of escape i.e. their vehicle which makes their escape nearly impossible and allows the killer to kill his victims freely without interferences.
    Lighting The lighting is used to add tension to the scene, it is mostly dark and it is used to add shadows in order to give the mysterious feeling. The connotations of shadows are mysteries, this is one of the conventions of slasher films and it is one of the important aspect of this genre of film .
    Other Conventions The first girl to die gives the film its meaning and sets the audience into the film setting by giving everyone a warning that this is a slasher film and that the killer has come to do their job. This character is often a girl who is sexually active and almost always goes off to have sex but ends up being killed. The benefactor is used to give hope to the audience and the characters within the film, the benefactor can be anyone within the film who gives the final girl a little information on what is going on or who the killer is going after next and he/she can even give the final girl/hero a weapon in order to defeat the killer. 

Halloween

Halloween 1978

Budget:

  $320,000 

Production : Compass international films 

The titles used in this opening are in a serif font which actually contradicts a conventional font for a horror film. The text is an orange/yellow colour almost exactly the same as the colour of the pumpkin

     The long title sequence at the start before any characters appear on screen is typical to this particular era of film. Today a faster pace of editing is required to maintain the interest of a young audience and a entire 2 minutes of titles would not do this. The now iconic soundtrack which is played over the title sequence as there is a slow zoom on the pumpkin creates a feeling of foreboding and creates tension

     The first shot is a POV shot looking at a large suburban house, this fits in with the slasher conventions and meets the expectations of the audience straight away. Diagetic sound of crickets and owls can be heard as the music stops, this has connotations of an isolated location and denotes that it is late at night.

     The continuation of the POV shot creates narrative enigma as to who's eyes we are seeing through some expositions comes when Judith Myers says "Micheal's around some place" as the POV shot looks in on them kissing. A sudden high pitched sound when the light turns of shows its significance to the character viewing it, the sound also continues throughout the scene raising the intensity, more non diagetic sound is added as killer enters the house and picks up the kitchen knife. 

     It is all in one take using the Steadicam up until the point where Micheal puts on he mask. The shot is still the POV shot but clothes on the floor and angle of light change clumsily showing it is a new shot. When Myers is in the bedroom a quick glance at the unmade bed is yet another of many signifiers of sex.

Scream

Scream ( 1996) ( sample stalking scene)

Directed by  Wes Craven
Budget : $15m
Production : Dimension Films

This is the opening title for scream It is a son serif font. It is very dramatic the colours signify blood and death due to the red on black. This is a very striking open as it is so simply done from the start this is first impressions you can tell this will be a slasher film.

The telephones rings this is a close up and signifies the telephone is going to be a main motif in this scene .

 We first see the scream queen we can tell this by her been blonde , busky and having a boyfriend which she says on the phone this is a close up shot to show her emotions which later on will contrast with the same shot but a different emotion.

This next shot shows the scream queen being very  isolated however it is also like a point of view shot as it suggests the killer is spying . ( stalking ). This is also an establishing shot which shows the setting and sets the scene. 

 The scream queen , puts pop corn on this also builds tension as the crackle goes on through out , and is played when the killer is coming. This gets faster and louder.

When the killer has approached and is stalking the girl we see this shot as she looks out the window of her boyfriend apparently saving her in this case he gets killed , the killer twists this on her so its her fault. This is a very dramatic shot it is medium close up , he fits the stereo type of the scream queen boyfriend we can see this from his rugby jacket and his manner.

This is a false scare it is a common slasher convention and often used in lots of films. To scare the audience and make them jump before the final killing. 

 This how the killer is hidden via the mask and camera work this is the only shot we see a close up of his face. This shot is when he jumps at the window when the girl is running away this the main stalking part.The audience also feel like they need to be running away from this hidden killer.

 Long shot of the killer and the girl here we can see the mis en scene and see this shot fits with the stereo types and the theory of the scream queen and masked killer.

This pop corn is getting put out by her mother as the daughter is getting killed this is very cleverly done as it cross cuts fast paste between them both. 

This is a close up as we see her dying however she is still holding the phone which is motif throughout her parents then can hear her die . This is a very common convention in a slasher to have the scream queen dead infront of everyone the death is very dramatic and makes it more as the pop corn goes off as it has built up to this and then put out like the death is over.

how we found working with camcorders

We found working with the cam corders.We found working with the cam corders easy. They were very easy to use and are very good quality. We picked it up easy how to use them as the layout was very clear and simplistic. As we filmed some in the dark we also managed to work the lighting on the camera to get some good shooting . We also worked out how to take photos on it. This was very useful for our blogs when we were filming. Each one of us the group had a go at filming this was good as we all had a chance at filming to see who wanted to film . In the end me and hannah took it in turns to do a selection as well as using a tripod with another camera on to get a wider range of footage. The filming on these cameras also helped us manage our times as it didnt long and was very easy to reshoot if we needed to . we did do this many times and it was very easy. If i was to make a movie again i would defiantly use one of these cameras again as it was very simple and easy to work .The quality was also very good.

Similar version of the cam corder we used to film

expectations of film openings

prior to research my expectations of a film opening are the film opening to start with an establishing shot then to lead to a panning shot to set the scene or a shot to introduce the main characters and perhaps who will get killed first.I expect to see Each slasher films to start with a establishing shot to set the scene and introduce the setting and mis en scene. This then should lead to the plot.The area should always be a suburban area where the house is detached or quite decollate.This creates the house to be issolated and more approachable for the killer the audience also feel this.This Creates the first equilibrium.


Usually the final girl , female hero exists and is introduced from the beginning she is highlighted as been the often sensible one , less popular, and less attractive than her other friends that are killed.she is innocent,virginal and always brunette. She will survive to the end where she has confrontation with the killer in sequals this is then left open for the next film.

   


Usually the main victims are part of a group of friends in the film.The group is often both girl and boy teenagers at high school or uni.The final girl is also part of this group of friends this is why she stands out.The first girl is often blonde attractive and is known as the scream queen she often killed during sexual acts with a boy , or boyfriend involved.
       

The villain in the slasher film is usually physically deformed and mentally wrong. The killer is nearly always a male.His hidden identity is hidden usually by a mask or by the camera to create enigma.The character is often recognised easily by motifs such as the weapon he holds such as a knife , axe, chainsaw.
     

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.

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.

Teaser Trailer

This is my teaser trailer for our film red christmas . This trailer is suppose to grab your attention and give you some idea of what the film is about. It is gripping and builds tension. We went through a series of film shoots to get the correct footage we needed . This trailer also focuses on the twist of the scream queen being the final girl. This also has intertexuality with the film black x mas which is our main influence on the film idea and this trailer.

Audience feedback.

audience feedback-
here is some brief audience feed back on our final film, which we showed in the 6th form centre at break, where we asked people to make notes on there opinions of the film.

Quote from Lottie Wright

i found your film scary and thought it had a lot of potential to expand on however i did not understand a few small details of what was going on this was not made clear. I think when made into a 90min film this would be great .

Quote from Emma Roberts

thought it was good , there was a lot of tension built up which had me on edge. i also thought that it was good how the editing has been done at the killing scene but it is very rushed.

Quote from Alex archer

It was good. I enjoyed it. Yeah it was good i like how it was a santa you dont usually get this in slasher films but it was good.

Quote from joe Dennis

I think it is good i liked it but it does happen very quickly. i dont also get why its a santa but its cool. I also like how it starts with the singing this makes it very scary and builds the tension from the beginning but yeah , i think its good yeah.

why we have called our film red christmas

We have chosen to call our film red christmas because of the twist on the films main influence black christmas. Black christmas title makes the film scary and you can tell just from the title that this is going to be a scary film. due to the darkness of the title. we have put a twist on this and gone for red christmas still having intertexual references but this does not give the same feel of darkness however it does suggest blood. Red christmas the title could also seem jolly however there is a strong contrast with a normal christmas to this one which also fits very well. Our idea was to play on this the jolliness of christmas with what happens in our film to the bloody side of what the colour red could mean in this case blood. The title red christmas also relates to the santa in our piece who will be wearing all red and be killing with a knife ( common slasher weapon). At the end we also had the idea to use this blood to create some titles depending on how long our piece was . We also wanted to call our film Red christmas as you dont often here this saying its usually white christmas which we also took into consideration and will have relations to x mas throughout and if possible if it snows this would be great and also contrast with the idea of RED.
   We related the colour red to blood however this could be seen as romance so we also had to make sure our font and style would be suitable so we decided on red to also stand out and be eye catching against the background. As we want the emphasis to be on the red we also decided to do the christmas part of the title to be in white to make it even more christmasy but still have meaning and relate to both the genre slasher and relate to the films we have studies and our main influences.

Individual idents and group indent TBC

this is my ident i got the idea from a supernova been something quite unique and it being something special . also i thought it went well with studios as this is an alliteration and its easy to remember.

James W Ident 



Hannah R ident 











Red Christmas Group Ident 

characters and casting

AUDITIONS AND PICTURES OF ACTORS AND ACTRESSES PLAYING THE PART. add to group blog ...meet the cast

Red Christmas

Cast

-Santa

-Carol singers

-Group of people in car

possible cast member

choir girls

 choir girl

Tilly modelling santa costume

Props

-Fake blood
-Christmas decorations
-A sack

-Pillows

-Santa posters

Our film starts with a group of carol singers going house to house collecting money. the opening will start with an establishing shot then move into a mid shot as they approach the door to sing. This opening will be in silence after the opening idents and titles which will have the carol singers music in the background this will be like the opening of halloween where there is complete silence after the music at the beginning this will first create suspense and build the narrative enigma.

Then we will cut to the first house where we see the carol singers singing and collecting money from there singing . Then we have close ups of the scream queen so the audience know she is the first person to be killed and the target. we then cut to a long shot of the children leaving this will be panning shot and will built the narrative enigma and make it feel like someone is watching. Next we will cut to inside the house and have the christmas music in back ground . we will have the camera going round the house in one long shot to show the setting. the camera will then go into the kitchen and we will have a knock at the door and then the killer will stab the turkey which is in response to the knock at the door. The house will be filled with christmas decorations ands christmas posters. The killer will then walk down the stairs to the door and the camera shot will be a close up of the the boots walking down the stairs. We then have santa opening the door and the group singing . Then a close up of the
 santa s face then the target girl.Santa then slams the door in the faces. long shot.Then we see the group walk away and you see the girl walking home. The street is silent and we see a extreme close up of the girl as the thumbing noise in the background gets louder. there is long shot to see the car headlights zoom down the street. 

Assessing pass coursework notes with class mates (jw blog)

Tiny Terror:

Initial titles based upon those used for 'Scream' (1996) Wes Craven.

Soundtrack includes long, drawn out notes that are commonly used in slasher films. Opening shots have connotations of a POV shot as the camera is positioned looking through hanging branches. A slight wobble further suggests that someone is watching the main character. This then leads into a false scare, as the POV character turns out to be known to the main character.

An ellipses acts as a bridge between the outdoor scene and the bedroom, fading to black in the space between. There is some use of exposition in dialogue. Short shots of a box opening very gently and a bra later being tossed over it to suggest sexual activity.

An example of a good technique used is to place the camera in a cupboard or other space that can help break up shots and provide more coverage. Tension isn't quite used effectively here, due to a couple of misplaced ellipses.

More over the shoulder shots are used to show the killer doll, as well as several cut away shots and use of the doll's giggling, established in an earlier scene.

Underground:

After first shot, titles come in using white font on black background, signifying realism. First character introduced is carrying a bottle of beer in his hand, immediately suggesting his vulnerability. A brief POV shot helps to confirm his drunken state, and afterwards a shot from just off the path suggests another figure watching.

The following scene in which the character collapses is not as effective, as it lacks any diagetic sound which would connote an attack. There is a much more successful example of narrative enigma straight away though, as we only see the figure dragging the first character away from the legs down, and we have nothing to anchor ourselves with.

The scenes set in the underground room are introduced with a shot that suggests a CCTV camera, before we see multiple shots of the character chained to a pipe.

Red Run:

Opening titles are animated and matched to a sequence of a kettle being filled and turned on. There is a lack of diagetic sound that is a problem; it breaks the verisimilatude.