PITCH

FEEDBACK

The most occuring feedback was to the length of the film and the amount of information being crammed into it for example the number of scene's and dialogue would easily over-run the allotted time, another positive element of feedback was the plot in general and several people commented on how the type of shots and roughly outlined plans worked well to the genre we used. Also some of the potentially planned dialogue was too misleading. Another idea with the phone call was dismissed. 

Another key problem

Textual Analysis-Samuel Hutsby

Foundation Production Research: Textual Analysis (technical codes)

To make a successful Horror Film, you will need to carry out some research into the Horror genre. Use the following chart to note down your analysis of the opening of a Horror film. Consider how all the technical codes (in the left column) construct the themes and motifs along the top. You will need to look at a number of different Horrors to give you a clear analysis of the genre.

Film Name:The hitcher

Director:Dave Myers

Year:2007

Certificate:18

	Threat (Where does the threat come from? How is this established?)	Vulnerability (Who appears to be venerable and why?)	Characterisation (Good guy/bad guy, binary opposition, motivation etc)	Genre (Codes and Conventions)
Camera Shot/Angle (How is the camera used to control the audience?)	Threat is intitially shown from a distance(long shot) and in shadow. Its from an eye-line angle which gives a sence of the victims point-of-view and the way they view the hitcher intitially.	The couple because the way the shots are taken it shrinks the car compared to the hitcher,and automatically gives them a sence of being trapped. The angles are low to impose the hitcher upon them and the couple are seen from eye-line angles.	The hitcher after the opeing scene is always shown fully to he audience which gives him an apearence of having no fear of being captured. The shots always show him in clear sight and don’t mask his appearence. And several close-ups show the anger emitting from him.	The conventions that the slasher is always an imposing monster is somewhat challenged by eye-line angles,and constantly seeing the human hitcher without turning him into a monster and dehumanising him.
Lighting (Dark lighting, Backlighting etc, how does it present characters?)	The threat is mainly cast in darkness, even though alot of the plot happens during the daylight hours. And the light seems too degrade John Rider (the hitcher) and shows a  human side.	The darkness of night is generally the sign that danger is approaching the victim from then on are immediately portrayed as victims until that evenings bloodshed is over.	The lighting doesn’t show a gap between good and evil which I think makes it more effective on the whole because it equals out both parties as human and biologically and essentially mentally the same.	Although most of the plot is shown in daylight, the idea of murder in the dark is a conventionwhich this film lives up too.
Music/Sound (What does the music or background sounds bring to the opening?)	The music is quiet relaxed or rocky in places which seems too show disregard for the horror happening under the threats hand this is a good metaphor for John Riders callousness.	The same music is used in the same scene mostly because it can also represent the students care-free attitude towards life at the beginning of the film.		It challenges the atmospheric convention by the relaxed or normal scial music which plays. Yet it still maintains an element of fear.
Location/Setting (How important is the setting and location to the film?	It gives the threat a sence of being everywhere much liek the desert surrounding them.	It shows there’s nowhere to hide or escape in this barren wastleland.	The location simply shows the isolation of the victims and the sence of no escape from the desert or there killer which is where the metaphor summarises both there stereotypes.
Other (Does the mise-en-scene have a role in constructing meaning, are there any props etc?	The threats initial weapons are knives yet as he progress he gains more deadly attire which also represents his growing repetuare as a serial killer, getting deadlier and deadlier.	Although weapons are usually the threats speciality the victims aren’t as vuulnerable as they seem.		The genre of slasher is key and the use of the knife matchs this convention easily.

Name: Samuel Hutsby

Production Name:

Leanne's textual analysis

Narrative analysis: Opening

We will be watching the opening of films to get ideas for our own film opening. 

What lies beneath

The first film we watched was 'What lies beneath'. In the introduction and title sequence it suggests the death of a character within the film by water related causes. The next part only sets the scene and story. The film is set in America near waterside. The lighting suggests no threat due to bright daylight scenes. 

The Haunting 

This film was old and in black and white but despite this it still sets the film well with the use of other aspects. They use a voice over to explain the history of the house and throughout the opening use good camera shots and all are continuous. We don't see the victim or threat so gives us a mysterious feeling towards the house.

Poltergeist 

The lighting shows potential danger because of similarity too police sirens which suggests danger. Also the sounds such as when the girl is walking down the stairs sounds like a heartbeat. When the girl speaks to the TV and then touches it, it gives us a sense of a connection between the two. It also suggest the TV will have something to do with the girl later on in the film. 

The Grudge

The titles were both red and black which suggests blood and the hair of the Grudge. On the sentences at the beginning it picked out a word that was violent and highlighted it in red. The camera shots were good as they were short and snappy. The lighting and music played a big part in tension and helped build up the face of the grudge. This film was also mysterious and didn't give us much detail in story and who the old woman was.

Video 3 - The following - Leanne

I would give this video a level 2, 34 marks. I would give this as firstly I didnt understand the story and what it was all about. I thought that the camera shots were basic and some weren't as steady as they could have been. I also thought the actors werent the best as  they kept smiling throughout the video which didnt add much tension to the scene. The titles were good but over all I didnt get the storyline.

Video 1 -11 hours? - Leanne

I would give this video a level 3 and 42 marks. I would give this mark as it had good use of panning and shots, The title was good thoguh not everyone knows roman numerals so it was also good that they drew a tally of the number 11 to show 'his' time was up. I thought the story could ahve been better which is why I gave it 42 marks as it started of good and built all this tension up with the good use of music and ends with him being killed with a golf club. If they had changed the ending I would have gave them a level 4 and 49 marks. I also think the costume and props were used well.

Title's

With our title's we decided too use a combination of explaining the storyline, with our main character contacting friends and the key dangers highlighted such as the deceased. 

Homework Exercise - Marking Previous Work

- Have a look at the mark scheme below to get an idea of each level.

- Then watch all 4 videos

- Now using the mark scheme give each video a mark out of 60 and explain why...?