Paranormal activity

One of the films which I have gathered inspiration from is Paranormal activity. This is a 2007 American independent found footage supernatural horror film. It is the first film entry into the paranormal activity film series.

The film centers on a young couple, Katie and Micah, who are haunted by a natural presence in their home. It is presented in the style of "found footage", from cameras set up by the couple in an attempt to document what is haunting them.

As this is a horror, like my final production is, I decided to look at this film and pick out key aspects and common features to get inspiration for my own film. For example, something very popular in horror films is the technique of foreshadowing which is where something small happens to highlight the actual big problem that is going to occur in the movie. I have used this method in my movie when the girl trips over and ends up losing the dog. I have used this to foreshadow the real problem which is when the girl goes into the abandoned house where the door slams shut on her.

I have added a link of the trailer below:

Evaluation questions

In our most recent lesson we have begun to talk about the seven evaluation questions that must be completed after the filming of our opening sequence. In order to do this I must have a good understanding of what each of the questions mean and what they require me to say in my answer to them.

Question 1:

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

- Give examples of clips researched to explain why you've used something or why something is the way it is.
- Director's commentary (have opening sequence playing and explain why things such as camera shots/location/props are used and what it was used to achieve. As well as where the inspiration for the methods used has come from.

Question 2:

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

- Explaining why you have picked the character that stars in the opening sequence.
- Addressing stereotypes and how your character fits the genre of the opening sequence.

Question 3:

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

- Which producers would take on your film depending on which is most appropriate and why it is or may not be.

Question 4:

Who would be the audience for your media product?

- Address importance of audience and who your audience is targeted to.

Question 5:

How did you attract/address your audience?

- What's the best form of promotion to attract viewers?

Question 6:

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

- Identify different technologies you used and advantages and disadvantages to using them.

Question 7:

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

- Area's you have improved and things that can still be improved.

In conclusion, it is very important that I have a deep understanding of each question in order for me to be able to answer them accurately and on detail.  This way I will not have misunderstood any of the questions and can answer them well.

Feedback from live action storyboard

After creating our live action storyboard we had to present it to our peers in small groups and then give feedback based on the camera shots/movement, narration and framing. From this, we would be able to be completely sure that our opening sequence had flowing continuity and also that we hadn't missed out anything or made a mistake. Some of the feedback we got back from our peers after watching our live action storyboard was:


- All the camera shots/movement have been thought out well and seem to fit how the audience should view the scene.
- The narration of the opening sequence make sense and the continuity flows well as it all comes together very well.
- You might need to think more about framing and where you actually place things in the scene as well as applying the rule of thirds to determine where you want the audience to see certain things based on what type of effect you want to have.
- You also might need to think about the places you actually couldn't go out and shoot a practice shot for the live action story board. For example the first establishing shot through the treetops might need to be though about more as to how you are actually going to achieve that.


I have attached the link to our final live action storyboard that was exported to YouTube:




In conclusion, getting feedback from our live action storyboard's was very helpful as it increased our understanding of our opening sequence and informed us on what we still needed to think about in order to be completely prepared for when we begin to film.

Live action storyboard

In our most recent lesson, we were given the task to make a live action storyboard of our opening sequence. A live action storyboard is a mix of actual drawings you have made as part of your storyboard and pictures or videos you have taken in real life to bring to life what you want the shot to look like. These would be put together in movie plus and edited so that we could present it to other people in our class.


The other person in my group drew out all the shots we wanted to achieve throughout our opening sequence. We started off with an establishing shot through the tops of the trees as our first shot. The camera would plan down through the trees and link to the second shot which is a medium long shot showing the behind of our actress walking her dog through the woods. Next, their would be a close-up of the dog panting and a close-up of the girl listening to music through her headphones. After this, the girl accidentally trips on a fallen over tree and so we planned to have a close-up of her leg connecting with the wood. Then, we will have a medium close-up of the girl laid on the floor when the camera then pans to show the dog running off into the distance. As the main character gets up, a medium closeup will be used to show her rubbing her head and after realising the dog is gone, start calling out for it. The camera will then follow behind the girl as she hears the dog barking and the sound leads her to an abandoned house. There will be a close-up of her opening the door to the abandoned house and then as the door closes the camera will being to pan away from the house and go back into the tops of the trees as the last sound the audience hears is the character screaming. I have attached a picture of the story board below:

Once we had the storyboard drawn up, we went to an empty classroom to take the pictures that would re-in-act the drawings. However we were not able to complete some of the shots such as the establishing shot through the trees, the close-up of the dog and the shots of the abandoned house as we did not have the resources to do so and was not essential for a live storyboard as we could just add in the drawing to fill out the story and keep the continuity. I have attached the picture we took below:
                                                                  
In conclusion, this helped greatly with the understanding of what our opening sequence was actually going to look like and gave us an idea of what shots we were definitely going to use and any shots that might need to be changed.

 

Influence for title sequence from The Conjuring

One other opening sequence that we looked at from art of the title is The Conjuring. As it is another horror, we knew I would be valuable to gather as much knowledge and understanding about horror opening sequences as possible in order for us to create the best title sequence we could.

The opening sequence uses smiling family portraits, faded newspaper clippings, and photo negatives are clinically presented by an unseen person. As shadowy figure move prints in and out of frame, layering on a creepy atmosphere with each new sheet, some troubling changes can be observed. Therefore awakening memories of darkened classrooms and dull lectures. The music equivalently makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up. This blending of the ordinary and terrible, the dull and the evil-minded, sums up the paranormal connotations of The Conjuring. I have attached the link to the opening sequence of the Conjuring from art of the title below:

In conclusion, I have learnt that in order to get a wide and developed understanding of the opening sequences of horror movies you need to look at multiple clips to fully be influenced towards how you are going to make your own. From looking at the two opening sequences: American Horror Story and The Conjuring, I can now acknowledge and develop my ideas on what to put into my own opening sequence.

Influence for title sequence from American Horror Story: Freak Show

To create our title sequence, we first needed to get some influence from other opening sequences of the same genre we were focusing on. Because of this, we decided to go on art of the title and look at some opening sequences to aid and influence us in making our title sequence.

One of the opening sequences we looked at was American Horror Story: Freak Show. A freakishly functional mix of stop-motion and CGI, the sequence play's with body horror and disfigurement. The characters that feature in the sequence includes a three-legged woman, worn old masks, two-headed critters, conjoined skeletons, and clowns all shuffling to the carnival-infused theme. The sequence is a terrifically powerful opener and can greatly help us in making our own sequence. I have attached the link from art of the tile for the title sequence from American Horror Story: Freak Show.

In conclusion, this greatly helped us in our understanding of what to expect from an opening sequence with horror as a genre. This therefore also gave us some idea's as to what to include in our title sequence and also informed us on what should not be in our sequence that could confuse the reader or ruin the continuity of our opening sequence.

Making our opening credits

In one of our most recent lessons we created our opening credits for the title sequence of our main task. Even though the reader may be unaware of it, things like the font of the text and the style of how the credits are laid out contribute a lot to their understanding of what the film will be like or about. Therefore, as our title sequences genre is a horror, we have used a very 'sketchy' font and used effects to blur the words in and out. We have done this to fit our context and to keep the continuity of the title sequence.

To create this, we used movie plus and picked our font and browsed through the options of different effects until we could pick the right one to make the audience feel how we wanted them to feel by the end of our opening credits. Due to our genre, we wanted the audience to feel apprehensive and anxious about what is to come. I have attached the link to watch our opening credits below:

In conclusion, it was very helpful to make our opening credits now as it means that we already have an idea of what our opening sequence is going to look like. Even though we do not have any film to base the credits around, it has given us a chance to think about where the credits should be in order to have a certain effect on the viewer and give them an idea of what the film will be about or what genre it will be.