Evaluation

By Freya Luff

Evaluation 1Titles are

conventional in the sense that they are

simple and basic, and don’t detract from

the action (similar to Insidious) however,

like Insidious the main title, ‘Flesh’ is attention grabbing.

The title is bold and red to symbolise the blood and horror aspect. It is positioned

central to the screen, in a sketchy, bold font to make it stand out, and to carry the

conventional horror ideas of ‘not the norm’.

Titles are in hierarchy of font size; the credits are smaller than the title.

The text is quite large and all in upper case, and placed on a black background to make it the

focus point.

The title quickly enlarges, and then slows down but continues to enlarge. We thought that

considering the dull nature of the title (black background and simple, central font) it would

make it more attention grabbing to enlarge it. It also matches the nature of the music.

Plot is a stock sequence, follows the normality of a

family and then it becomes more sinister as

the plot develops.Tension is built through the gradual exposure of the ‘dark’ and sinister

activities happening in the house.

Evaluation 1The plot and characters conform to the

psychological genre by presenting characters as initially ‘normal’ and sane, then later exposing them as quite ‘mad’.

Mise-en-scene is used to juxtapose the happy, normal kitchen with the

dark, murderous downstairs. This fits the psychological genre of normality

versus what’s underneath.

Similar to the film ‘Sightseers’

(Wheatley, 2012) which is similar as it focuses on a on-the-

surface ‘normal’ couple, who commit

acts similar to our couple in private.

Sound is also juxtaposed, (similar to above) normal versus creepy and dark. We used light hearted, simple piano notes for

the kitchen, however in the basement we used violins and deeper piano notes with layers to build tension and the sinister-

nature. Kitchen –

https://www.freesound.org/people/Setuniman/sounds/222741/Basement –

https://www.freesound.org/people/thanvannispen/sounds/30274/

Evaluation 1We used editing to create a seamless narrative, using continuity editing; this helped the flow of our

narrative, because the juxtaposition of the upstairs normality and

downstairs darkness was pivotal to the narrative.

Editing involved increasing the cutting rate so that when it reached the basement the cutting rate was a lot faster. This increased the tension

and made it more fast, which is a frequently used technique in psychological thrillers to

increase the audience tension.

Montage editing was used to build tension, which is a stock technique, which builds tension through the use of

flashback footage and sound overlay.

Colour is similarly juxtaposed like sound and mise-en-scene, and the colour is

bright in the kitchen and dark and moody in the basement, so present the change in atmosphere and increase tension and

not knowing what’s coming.

Evaluation 2

The male antagonist represents a a patriarchal society. He is a working businessman, which is quite a

stereotypical representation. He is shown as the dominant figure of the household, bringing in the wages

etc..

Our antagonists are young, white, middle class adults (although played by teenagers, due to casting budget and

availability). They are represented as negatively, but shown as a well-off, ‘normal’ couple, which is shown through their

costume and house (location).

The female antagonist is residually ideologically loaded. She is a housewife;

which is quite a regressive ideology suggesting that women stay at home and

cook and men go out to work.

The victims are both male and female, suggesting that

teenagers are vulnerable and adults as dominative. Within

the horror genre, children/teenagers are often used as the victims because they’re more vulnerable and

easily manipulated, this fulfils generic horror expectations.

Evaluation 2

Mise-en-scene was used in the location to show the wealth and status of the antagonists. For example, a

large house with a modern kitchen was used. We used costumes such as a suit and apron to represent

the antagonist’s occupations (and fulfil representations). Makeup was used on the victims

face to show them as abused, and mistreated.

Sound was used in the initial kitchen scene to create ‘normality’ and a small essence of creepy. The light, upbeat piano overlay helped reinforce the

social group of young, civilised, middle-class adults. We also had violins and piano to create a more sinister atmosphere in the

basement, the layers of sound helped to build tension.

Eyelevel shots were used for the antagonists to portray them as ‘normal’

(at the start). Also, high angle shots were used to look down on the victims

and portray them as inferior.

Evaluation 2

• Our opening reinforces the ideology that women have a lower status than men within society, due to the antagonists occupations. However, this is later challenged in the text when it is shown that the woman is also helping the man in this manipulative, evil plan.

• It reinforces that teenagers can be easily manipulated and taken advantage of, especially by adults. As shown by the victims being all children, and the people whom caught them as adults.

•However, within the youth it represents that neither male nor female are weaker/stronger, because all the victims are both male and female.

Evaluation 3A film similar to our budget would be distributed by Vertigo Films, an independent distributor.

CASE STUDY:A film also distributed by Vertigo is ‘Monsters’

(Edwards, 2010), with its total budget being $500,000.

A film with such a low budget (similar to ours) made a total box office of $237,301. Our budget would be kept low by using basic props, existing

locations, and a low rank cast.

Similarly, both Monsters and our production, used Guerrilla film making, which involved basic props

and a basic script.

From this screenshot here you can see our use of basic

props, therefore showing our minimalized budget and use of guerrilla filmmaking.

Evaluation 3Vertigo Films have previously used marketing schemes, such as:• Cinema discount promotion

• App promotion

• On-the-spot prize winning

This would directly target our audience and encourage them to watch the film due to its discounted price. This would then lead to an increase in buzz due to the larger

amount of people viewing the film.

This would encourage our audience to want to see the movie to take part in the competition, and as a result it will increase buzz.

Our audience would be teenagers and adults, which are the prime users of smart phones. This means we could advertise our movie directly to our prime audiences

eyes.

Evaluation 3For our release strategy, I

think we would use platform, which means we stager our

release over cinema showings, then DVD release etc. This is the most efficient method considering the size

of our production.We could even consider limited platform release, which means that we will only distribute it in a few

cinemas and slowly increase the amount to which it is

distributed, this means it is dependent on how well the

audience receives it.

Our film would be exhibited by Curzon cinemas, as I think this is a substantial

independent cinema who would be interested in our psychological horror.

Curzon have repeatedly shown psychological horrors, for example ‘The

Conformist’.

Our film would aim to heavily use Web 2.0 and viral marketing, due to the fact that

our target audience is aimed at teenagers and adults, who are positive technological

determinists.

Evaluation 6

We used our blog to share our ideas within

the team and gain inspiration from other films. We shared our work for the whole

team to see, we could then comment ideas and feedback to each

other, as shown above.

When displaying our work, for example our Wilderness Woods film, our preliminary task and our final film opening, we used

YouTube. This allowed the entire group to access the work and easily view it as well.

Furthermore, the use of Prezi was very helpful when we made our pitch to our class. We could easily convey our ideas, as

well as showing them in an interesting and organised manner.

Evaluation 6When filming our final opening we

used:• A tripod (full length and

handheld)• One Nikon Camera

• A small light that clipped onto the camera

• A temporary track (consisting of a skate board and plank of

wood).

LIMITATION:• A main issue on set was lighting. This was due to the fact that half of our film was

filmed in the basement. • We wanted to keep the lighting

as dim and dark as possible, but still make it light enough for the camera to pick up the

action.• To solve this we used a

spotlight, from a distance, over the actors faces to ensure they

were lit up, yet it still looked natural within the basement

environment.

LIMITATION:• A main problem we found was ensuring we

had the right amount of shots with a variation of lengths and distances.

• On our first shoot we (unknowingly) made most of our shots quite similar, i.e they were

from the same angle and distance.• To overcome this, on the second shoot we

ensured that we varied our shots and take them from 2 or 3 different angles and

distances. This meant that during editing we had a choice of which shot to use, which is

match cutting.

Evaluation 6

MAIN ASPECTS:During editing, we mainly focused on:

• Shot stabilisation• Continuity editing• Montage editing

• Titles• Sound (diegetic and non-diegetic)

We needed to stabilise a lot of our shots, in particular our early kitchen scenes. A lot of

these were shot using handicam meaning that they were a bit wobbly. This ensured the

overall finished look was a lot cleaner and professional.

Continuity editing was very important within our narrative, this involved us making sure each shot was cut precisely at the ending so that each shot

flowed well into the next. I particularly focused on continuity editing in the basement shots.

For sound, we used overlays to enhance diegetic sounds, such as the felt tip marker. However, we also used a chain rattle as diegetic sound. Furthermore, I

helped lay the background soundtrack for the kitchen scenes, this was an upbeat, calm piece of

music, which juxtaposed the soundtrack used in the basement. Titles was very important

within production. We used a basic, small font for the

names (PHOTO).

For our main ‘FLESH’ title, we used after affects and

edited it using shadows and colour, these all fitted with

the generic expectations of a horror film, e.g red for

blood.

We also included some montage editing. This was used when we showed the newspaper and flicked between different shots, and had radio sound effect overlays. This added to the ‘flashback’ idea of our narrative.